DISCLAIMER: How many times do I have to tell you that I do not own these characters!???! They're Square's!!!! And the song's not mine, either!!!! It's from Dreamworks' 'The Prince of Egypt'!!!!! So, DON'T SUE!!!!!!

AUTHOR'S NOTES: ARGH!!! I must have read this chapter at least twenty-four times and I'm still not happy with it!!!! It's just so difficult to keep good writing standards!!!! ;P Oh well, I tried my best… don't be two hard! (Yeah, I know I took zillions to update, sorry!!!! ^0^) Oh! And thanks for all the reviews and support!!!! I LUV YA!!!! ^_^ 

DEDICATION: This chapter is specially dedicated to my buddy Sagara!!! She's the best!!! ^_^

PART ONE: WITHIN THE MISTS CHAPTER THREE: A RIVER'S LULLABY

Softly and soundlessly as the flapping of a butterfly's wings, small eyelids fluttered open, revealing, to the peaceful dimness of the room, intense pools of sea-blue.

Quietly, the five-years-old child blinked several times, her beautiful eyes peeking lazily through heavy half-open eyelids, her brain searching to dismiss the blur that slumberness had caused to her sharp feline-like senses by gradually focusing her vision and her thoughts.

Easing her head from her pillow slightly, the girl's gaze was greeted with the vision of the stonewall parallel to her bed and the closed window perpendicular to it.

"I wonder what colour is the sky now…" She thought. "It was of such indigo violence just hours ago…" Narrowing her eyes slightly, so as to extinguish all the darkness around her and focus only on the window and the little light it shed, the small child tried to grasp any clues of what the outside would behold her in the morning. "I can't see clearly and it's still so dark… What time must it be? I don't know… maybe the storm has moved on… Oh, well!" 

Deciding to go there and see for herself instead of dazzling off to sleep, the blonde girl took a deep breath, noticing, for the first time, how elaborate and heavy her heaves sounded in the silence of the room, the dryness of her throat making itself evident to her.

Furthermore, the young child sensed an awkward wetness on the skin between her blonde brows and so, she searched for her hand to wipe the transpiration off.

"By the Mother--!"

Questioning sapphire orbs widened slightly as the petite blonde acknowledged the sudden inertia of her slender arm, searching, underneath the white sheet covering her small frame, the reason of her immobility.

Gingerly, her free hand tore the light material away from her curled body…

Quistis' eyes widened slightly in surprise, the events of the previous night slowly creeping back into her memory as her brain finally brought itself into awaking terms.

Softly, the little child's expression melted into a whole-hearted smile, the surprise in her sapphire gems quickly dissolving into the tender brotherly love she felt whenever he was around.

"What a cute little sight…" She mused, her eyes travelling along the sight of her tiny four-years-old bedmate: a blonde rebel-haired small boy with a strange black tattoo across his left cheek.

Almost as though he thought he was holding a soft teddy bear firmly against his chest, Zell had happily entangled his arms in hers, holding it close as he sucked contentedly the thumb of his free hand.

Cautiously, Quistis tried to free herself from Zell's hold, pushing his tiny possessive arms away from her own.

Sweatdropping, the blonde girl found her attempts to be completely futile, since her small companion refused to let her go, his peaceful expression shifting to a light frown and the sucking on his tiny thumb becoming stronger.

"Okay," she thought. "this is going to be more difficult than last time…"

Analysing her situation carefully, Quistis' mind couldn't help but wonder if he knew. If he ever knew about their connection or if that strength was meant to her: "So that I wouldn't let go." She added mentally. "Because he never would."

She shook her head gently, dismissing those thoughts.

"Yes," She complied.

She had to get to the window.

Something that lingered over her most delicate senses and which urgency seemed to increase, if nothing, because of the uncomfortableness the perspiration between her brows was causing her, was calling her - whispering her to rise and search for the comfort she had always found in the ocean.

And she wished to obey that call.

She desired the freedom that that call offered her…

Gazing at the sleeping blonde boy, Quistis resigned herself against the idea of taking his spirit away from Dreamland and sighted, a playful smile crossing the girl's features as she reached for her dear friend's ear and whispered tenderly to him. "Zell, quit being a baby. Take that thumb out of your mouth now."  She told him, emphasising the word now, somehow reflecting the nervous anxiety that was slowly setting in.

Quistis was sure that, since the little boy knew how much it annoyed her, he would surely shift in his sleep just by her mention of it-- "Bingo!"

The small blonde boy unconsciously let his thumb slip from his lips, his expression gaining a cute addiction of innocent guilt – resembling the one he showed whenever he took a cookie from the jar without Matron's permission and got caught – and he shuddered, but, still, his arm refused to let her go.

Sighting in exasperation, Quistis leaned closer to her little bed-mate's face, her other arm squeezing his small frame against her own, feeling his peaceful breathing on her bare skin. Then, her voice, smooth as the purest of silks, murmured in his ear the lullaby she had been singing to him since the day her mother died, therefore not being able to sing it to him herself.

"Hush now, my baby

Be still love, don't cry

Sleep like you're rocked by the stream" She sang sweetly, her arm leaving it's resting place around his back to permit her fingers to caress anew the boy's blonde hair lightly, while watching him lovingly through semi-closed eyelids.

"Sleep and remember

My lullaby

And I'll be with you when you dream" Nudging his cheek gently, like her mother used to do, Quistis drifted momentarily, a picture she cherished slowly fading into view.

Giggles and laughter could be heard like delicate silver bells above the sound of waves gently caressing the rocky formations of the crescent-shaped cove.

"Mommy!!! Mommy!!! Can I touch him?" A small restless girl inquired, dancing around the tall beautiful woman sitting on the low levels of the purplish rocks, the soft murmur of the thin stream of water running down the cove's blue walls being heard in the familiar background… - a whispered humming the two-years-old child instinctively related to 'home'.

"Mommy!!! Mommy!!! Oh, please… Can I touch him?" She asked anew in a hopeful chide, her petite frame twirling as incessantly as a newly-born chicobo, her blonde short curls creating a golden halo of light around her tiny face.

"Drift as I'm singing to you"

"Now, now, Quitis, calm down!" Advised the seated woman as she tugged the blanket closer to the eight-months-old baby resting in her arms, her long dark-strawberry blonde hair caught in a exquisite bun in the back of her head. "You'll hurt yourself if you don't stop soon!"

"Oh, zut!" The blonde child protested as she came to an abrupt stop.

"I see you smiling

So peaceful and calm"

Quistis wished he remembered the same blurry pictures that perpetuated in her mind, as her voice whispered the lulling song in Zell's ear, the peaceful smile he wore faded in her eyes into the one of the woman she had known since the very first day of her life.

Watching the irritated face her daughter was pulling, the beautiful woman giggled quietly before subduing her crystalline laughter into a charming serene smile, her rosy lips unable to betray the love she felt for those two children, a small bundle of clothes – Zell like Quistis remembered him from those days – held in her delicate porcelain arms.

As the blonde child approached her mother, the strawberry-blonde woman lowered the bundle for her to see.

Contentedly, the girl peeked into her mother's lap, catching sight of her baby 'brother's cute little face, his big ice-blue eyes staring at her with awe, his tiny little arms stretched out for her, his mouth opening for a short laughter of happiness.

Caressing lightly his blonde rebel hair, Quistis pale hand descended to his left cheek and traced the peculiar black design drawn on his soft skin.

Quistis ocean-blue eyes locked with Zell's ice-blue ones, her fingers entwining in his.

Smiling beautifully, the blonde child held her gaze steadily upon the tiny creature in front of her for long quiet moments.

Suddenly, Quitis turned her attention to her mother's watchful expression and beamed at her, her silky voice exclaiming proudly: "He has a black drawing like yours, mommy!"

The blonde woman smiled, her free hand reaching for her left cheek, her fingers searching to feel the black tattoo underneath them.

"Quisty, would you like to help me put him to sleep?" She asked.

Shifting her gaze uncomfortably between Zell's yawning face and her mother's, Quistis looked insecure and doubtful. "Do you think I can?" She asked the older blonde, a peculiar expression of unfaith crossing her cute features.

Laughing lightly, the beautiful strawberry-haired woman used her free arms to squeeze Quistis against herself and her brother's bundle. "Of course you can, my little mermaid!" Her mother said, encouragedly.

Soon, daughter and mother joined in a melodious duet, the sound of the silvery stream in the background providing the tunes for their peaceful lullaby.

"And holding you I'm smiling too"

Quistis noticed that Zell's grip on her arm had weakened, - so completely relaxed he was – and she carefully pushed him away.

Quickly, the young blonde girl wiped the light eavesdrops on her forehead with the back of her pale hand, sliding down from her bed as quietly and undisturbly as a shadow, and, grabbing the covers that had fallen onto the ground during the night, Quistis covered the small boy's body, straightening the ends and tugging them around him, gently.

"Here in my arms

Safe from all harm"

Snaking her arms around his neck for one more hug, Quistis kissed him on the forehead.

"Holding you, I'm smiling too"

Withdrawing from her feathery embrace, Quistis retreated to the window, giving into the anxious desire that had been eating her as long as that night had lasted, one last thought crossing momentarily her busy mind. "Someday I, too, won't be able to sing it to him anymore."

AUTHOR'S NOTES: ^_^; So………………………………… how bad was it? I mean, admitting you actually read it to the end…….?  Did I confuse you much? I sure hope I did!!!!! ^_^ I like to confuse people a lot… (that's what Sagara says…) Anyways, be sure to tell me what you think!!!!!

P.S. – Once again, thanks for all the reviews!!!! ^_^