DISCLAMER: I don't own any of the characters here. They belong to their proper owners. And as I usually say...PLEASE DON'T SUE ME.
note: words inside mean their thoughts.
~*~ means they're in the dream mode.
THE LEGEND OF ATLANTIS
by: Rhys Icewind
Chapter 3 - Danger in Dreams
After the incident, they returned to the Lunar Dome. They didn't wake Umi, Rinoa, Shayla-shayla and Sakura though. Quistis made sure of that. Squall then immediately decided to go back, since the backup had already arrived, with Zell saying that the 'lunar atmosphere' is not good for your health.
Still, Ami convinced Squall to stay and rest before they leave back to the Lunar Base. And even if Umi was well-cared for, nobody noticed her new necklace.
* * *
Rinoa and the others woke up just in time to prepare themselves for leaving and going back home. Umi fixed herself up, forgetting about the pendant. Sakura and Shayla-shayla kept on telling the others on how they killed the dragon beast.
"yeah...I know already!!!" Zell complained as the red-head followed him around, bragging on her latest heroic deed.
"But, really Zell, you haven't heard the half of it!!" the red-head grinned mischievously.
"hey! you two! stop that! It's time to get in the Ragnarok" Squall ordered.
"sure." they both answered.
Then Squall left them, with Sakura folloeing behind.
"but you know..." Zell told shayla.
"what?"
"if you don't stop bragging, your ego will be as fat as your body!" Zell said, then ran left to follow Squall.
Shayla was silent for a moment. "WHAT DID YOU SAY!?!???" Shayla-shayla screamed, which seemed to echo in the whole Lunar Base, following Zell angrily.
* * *
"Good work! I'm sure your SeeD ranks have raised" Cid patted Squall on the shoulder, after hearing his report.
Squall just kept silent.
"Squall, you've grown so much!" Edea smiled sweetly. "I'm sure you're bound to do more great things!"
"but Matron, can you explain tome how that 'thing' happened?" Squall inquired.
"Its very hard, its the first time that I've ever heard of such happening as well." the Matron looked deeply into Squall's eyes. "But you better rest for now. I'll find that out sooner or later.." she smiled again.
Squall just nodded and bowed in respect to Cid then, he left.
"why look so down? there seems to me no reason for you to look like that." Cid turned to his loving wife.
"The event that Squall was asking about, I think I know what it is...but I just can't put my finger in it!" she said in a fulstrated voice.
"why worry? there seems to be a lot of time to think about that...but not today. I think you better rest my dear." Cid looked at Edea's eyes deeply.
Edea smiled and started walking towards the direction of her room. "I just don't think it's right.." she whispered to herself.
* * *
"why do I feel like this" she scolded herself.
Umi just couldin't sleep. It was like trying to sleep with a thorn on her back.
It was plain horrible.
"ARGGHH!!!" Umi sighed as she tossed and turned at the bed. Then, she noticed a shine on the table.
Umi reached for it and found out that it was that necklace she got.
It was beautiful, especially with the soft moonbeams shining down on it.
"a tear from the moon..." she absent-mindedly said.
* * *
Rinoa stared at the sky.
It was a starry night.
And what better way that to watch it from the secret room.
Rinoa then sighed as she recalled what had happened two days ago.
"what are you trying to say?" rinoa asked, facing the sky, waiting for an answer.
There was silence.
"Those dreams... who was that girl? what had Ultimecia got to do with her?" Rinoa asked again.
Nothing was heard but the howl of the wind.
Rinoa sighed again as the wind blew softly past her face.
~*~
"the end is near..." a pale-faced girl with deep purple eyes and short black hair wispered.
"wha-?" said her own voice.
"the end is near....and nothing can stop it..." the girl whispered again.
"What are you talking about!!" came the shout that echoed in her mind.
~*~
Rinoa sapped back to reality.
what was that? she thought.
The brown-haired SeeD just sighed once more as she knew that the answers won't come today. Rinoa walked away, taking one last look as the starry sky, and left.
* * *
"We can't go on like this!!!" a tall, green-haired man shouted.
"but...we can't act now either" a blonde woman said.
"We just have to wait until the perfect time..." a green-haired woman said.
"and when is that?" asked a little, pink-haired girl.
"when she comes...." the green-haired woman replied.
The small group looked at each other. There were many hidden fractions just like them, enough to overrule the ruling empire. But they all waited fot the same thing: The Maiden from the deep.
* * *
Umi, Selphie and Zell walked together along the corridors, heading for the cafeteria to buy hotdogs. It was a wonderful sunday.
"Ahh...no line as usual." Zell smiled.
"how did you know that there would be no line at this time?" Selphie asked.
"Don't you know? This is the time when the Diciplinary Comitee comes and eats" Umi replied.
So, the trio entered to find the diciplinary comitee: Jinnai, Vegeta and Alcyone.
"eeeww... how I hate to see THEM!" Selphie whispered to her companions.
"yeah, I like Seifer better." the blonde SeeD whispered back.
"speaking of seifer, isn't today his SeeD exam?" the elemental asked.
"yeah... he better get it this time!" Zell said.
They all laughed.
"can't you keep quiet?!" a voice from one of the tables shouted.
"DICIPLINARY..." the trio murmured disgust.
It was Vegeta, and they knew that it would get ugly.
* * *
"UMI! are you listening?" Quistis shouted.
"wha- ? OH! ya !!" came the reply.
"good." the instructor continued her of explaining the present mission.
One of Umi's eyebrows raised in question. What happened? the last thing she could remember was Vegeta going to 'dicipline' her, Selphie and Zell, the next thing...a mission breifing with Quistis?
"psst. Zell, what happened to Vegeta? and Seifer... did he pass the exam?" the bule-haired SeeD whispered to her seatmate.
"WHAT? HELLO? have you forgotten already?" came the inquisitive reply.
"what are you talking about? that was just a while ago!" Umi whisper-shoutedly said.
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT YOU TWO??" Quistis shouted.
"nothing!" the both replied.
When Quistis resumed again...
"a while ago? that happened last week man! y'know, we even held a party for Seifer, remember? and Vegeta was scolded by Matron when she saw us being 'diciplined' and found out that the reason we were being scolded was so light....REMEMBER???" Zell whispered.
"last week...?" Umi murmured. that last week felt more like a while ago...what's going on? she asked herself.
Rinoa listened to Quistis as she told them their mission breifing. For a breif, it sure was long! But, Rinoa listened anyway. Even though she wasn't really a SeeD, she was treated as a "Special" Member of the group...hey! she did help fight Ultimecia.
Rinoa looked at the other end of the room to see Seifer, talking with Rajin and Fujin. It was the first time they grouped up with them. She wondered what was going to happen there.
~*~
"take this you insolent fools!!" a woman with red orange hair and a strange dress-armor shouted as she blasted energy balls. "You WON'T do the same thing to me again!!"
"....you must understand...we didn't lie to you.." a woman with funny hairstyle said in a gentle voice.
"listen, whoever told you that we were lying to you just wanted to break our friendship!" a youth with an exceedingly more funnier hairstyle said.
The two women looked alike and almost had the same hairstyle but had different hair colors, one was pink and the other was yellow.
"not another one..." Rinoa sighed.
"I've kept it inside me all these years just to see if she was right....and she was!!!" she screamed as she threw another set of energy balls.
The two women avoided the attacks with ease and grace. The blonde spoke again, "Please believe us. This ultimecia...she must have used a hypnotic device on you..."
"so...you must be that kid.. all grown up" rinoa muttered to herself.
The red-headed woman kept silent. Then, she looked up with eyes burning with hatred. "NOO!!! LIARS!!! I'LL KILL YOU ALL!!!" she screamed.
"STOP!!" a dark-haired youth came, with a huge weapon in her hands.
~*~
"Rinoa! Rinoa! wake up!!" Squall's worried voice pierced in her mind.
The downed girl woke up to find her friends surrounding her.
"What happened?" she asked.
"you fainted." came Shayla-shayla's simple reply.
Rinoa sat up slowly, getting support from her lover. Though she lay on hard ground, she felt that her head was sittong on a pillow. When she turned around and looked, it was Squall's 'fluffy' jacket.
Rinoa smiled sweetly at him and he smiled back.
"are you ok?" seifer asked. Even after being dumped by Rinoa, they were still friends. Anyhow, he's got Fujin now.
"yes. I'm fine" Rinoa smiled.
"SURE?" Fujin asked.
"yes" she smiled even sweeter.
Zell pretended to act disgusted then said, "stop that!! ants will be comin' here any minute!"
They just stared at him.
a sweatdrop appeared behind Zell's head.
* * *
Sakura walked along the shoreline, looking for Fasistocalon-Fs to turn into cards. Quistis needed them for a junior-high training class. Not far away, she sees an orange red blur amongst the cloud of sand.
"blizzara!!" sakura casted immediately.
But, instead of hitting a fish, the attack was avoided by a huge lion creature with wings.
"hm. you're a magical child. You're the first one to see me here." it said.
The creature was strange, unlike anything sakura's seen before. This lion creature had a helmet of somesort on its head with a big red gem on the forehead. It had an earring on the left ear and had a huge, strange-looking collar with another bigger red gem in the middle.
"wha- you talk!" she shouted, pointing at the creature.
"of course I talk!" it protested.
"you must be a GF then..." sakura said, going into battle stance.
"try to get me if you can" it challenged.
* * *
It had been four weeks since they arrived from the moon. Umi sat alone by the lakeside dangling her feet over the edge. She had gone there for refuge from the noise inside the garden. With Shayla-shayla fighting with Zell until that day and Sakura telling about the new GF she had defeated using only her GF Urd, it was a big noise.
"Anything wrong?" a sweet voice said.
"nothing." Umi replied and turned to face her GF Belldandy.
"are you sure? you seemed troubled these past few days.." Belldandy looked at her with worried eyes.
"I don't know.... ever since we got back from the moon, everything seems to be mixed up! Rinoa fainting every now and then, the mystery of that whitle light still unsolved...." Umi sighed.
Belldandy looked at her weary companion. she had know something about Rinoa's mysteryous faintings, when one time she was with Rinoa. But every time she would try to tell somebody else, the memory just disappears and returns after you've given up trying to remember.
Belldandy put a hand on Umi's shoulder. "ther are some things in life that cannot be explained....you better put yourself to rest..it seems like its going to rain"
"thanks." umi embraced her GF before it went back to the depths of her junction orb.
* * *
Squall and Rinoa walked through Balamb, just coming from the items shop.
"We better walk fast...I think it's going to rain" Squall told Rinoa, looking at the sky.
Rinoa gazed up high as well. "Yup. Think so too..." she looked at Squall's face. "...um, Squall"
"yes?"
"you think I can go to Winhill tomorrow?" she asked, keeping her gave to the sky.
"Why go there?" squall asked, gently placing both of his hands on the both sides of her face and gently putting her gaze back at him.
"I have too...." rinoa said before she fainted again.
"RINOA!"
* * *
Sakura and Kero walked along the G.G.'s corridors. The both of them were sent there with Irvine, since both of them came from there, to talk with it's headmasters about the comming junction meeting.
Sakura stopped short before a door. "Kero, why is it that you can't be kept in a junction ring like the other GFs? and why do you looke like a stuff-doll when not in battle mode?"
Kero looked at her. "what? what's a Junction ring? and what's a junction anyway?"
"Well, you see, um..." Sakura sweat-dropped and face-vaulted
"Junction is when you equip yourself with magic and GF's..." Irvine said from behind.
Sakura hugged him. WOW! to be this close to my crush!!! she blushed. "WHAT took you so long??" she looked up, the blush fading from her face.
"sorry lil'lady," he smiled & carried her on his back. "the bussines wasn't easy to talk about"
"WAIT A MINUTE!" Keroberos shouted.
The Irvine sweat-dropped.
"KERO--BEROS!!" sakura gasped "you can do that even outside battles??"
"more importantly, can you continue explaining about junction??" he asked.
"s-sure..." he tipped his hat slightly. "when you junction, magic and GF's are stored in the part of the brain where memory is stored. Magic did no effect with the memory so they thought it would be the same for GF's"
Sakura tapped him on the head lightly. "You mean...junctioning didn't require any junction rings at all??"
"yup." he replied "BUT, during the out quest for Ultimecia, we discovered that GFs DO affect memory. The more powerful it becomes, the more space it requires and the mind makes up this space by deleting previous memories." he paused to take a breath.
"and" kero asked in his cute voice.
"and...when we reported this to the headmaster, he immediately asked help from Dr. Odine and Dr. Hyne and they procedded with the research. And that's when they found out a natural crystal that can store both magic and GFs...and that's what we use today." he inhaled deeply and exhaled in fustration.
"Let's just go home..." Sakura rested herself on Irvine's back.
Irvine smiled and said, "let's go Kero, seems like the lil'lady's tired."
"agreed!"
***~*~***
Rinoa saw a pale-faced girl wearing an odd, dark-purple suit sitting on the edge of a cliff with the wind blowing her short, dark hair looking at the moon.
"The Winds will die down an the forces shall run amock"
Rinoa just looked in puzzlement.
"The wind shall be swollowed by the sea, paralyzed forever..."
The little girl looked at Rinoa with an innocent look.
"haven't I seen you berofe?" the SeeD asked.
The girl looked back at the moon, which suddenly turned Red.
"The Fires shall be next, quenched by the sea, forevermore lost it's brightness." the girl continued.
Rinoa sat beside the girl. "can you tell me what that means?"
"Then the Earth will dry the seas and the forces will fight and run amock." the girl continued, ignoring Rinoa. "The Princess must be found, to put all things in order...find me and you shall know the answer."
~*~
Rinoa felt the warmth and the softness of the bed she was lying on. she looked around and recognized that the room was Zell's. From another corner sat the sleeping Squall, covered in blanket. Rinoa then sat up, recalling what the little girl had said.
"find her....and i shall know the answer..." Rinoa muttered to herself.
Then, suddenly, there was a knock on the door. and before Rinoa could stand up and open it, Squall stood up.
"morning zell." Squall greeted.
"hiya. how's....OH!....mornin, Rinoa!" he waved his hand.
"morning." she smiled.
Squall went over and checked Rinoa for any signs of fever, but found none. Rinoa then, stood up and kissed Squall on the cheek.
"thanks for guarding"
Zell grabbed Squall's shoulder then said, "hey, we better go down an' taste ma's home cookin' or she'll get angry now" she grinned.
"what did you say Zell?" Ma Dincht shouted from downstairs.
Zell winked again. "nothing"
Smiling, they all went downstairs.
* * *
"SHAYLA!!!!!!!!!!!" Selphie shouted from the other end of the hall.
Shayla looked around to see the gleeful Selphie running towards her.
Selphie stopped and held her knees and breathed hard from all her running. "*hah* they're *hah* coming *hah*"
"I know." she said, pointing towards the red dot in the sky.
Sakura happily sat on the seat humming a tune while Irvine drove the Ragnarok. Kero was sleeping on Sakura's lap, happily dreaming about food.
"HEY LOOK!!!!" Sakura screamed. "they've even gone out to greet us!!!"
Irvine looked and smiled as he saw them.
Kero then woke up to Sakura's voice. "wha---t???" he yawned.
* * *
Umi was with Quistis, helping her with the students's fighting training. It was their resting time. Umi was talking with one of the students she had recently sparred with.
The student smiled. "that was a really cool move ms. Ryuuzaki!!"
"thanks. And please, UMI, ok? Now you better rest for out next battle, Geo!" she winked.
"sure!" he smiled as she blushed and left.
Umi stood and took her glass of water with her to the terrace. The wind blew gently across her face and dried up the beads of perspiration forming on ther forehead. As she closed her eyes to relax, she felt a warmth on her chest.
She felt nothing.
Umi's body remained standing as her eyelids opened revealing glowing, blue eyes.
"The wind shall be swollowed by the sea..." she murmured.
The water in her glass started to spin and form a small whirlpool, while the sky outside started to turn dark...
* * *
END OF CHAPTER 3
note: words inside mean their thoughts.
~*~ means they're in the dream mode.
THE LEGEND OF ATLANTIS
by: Rhys Icewind
Chapter 3 - Danger in Dreams
After the incident, they returned to the Lunar Dome. They didn't wake Umi, Rinoa, Shayla-shayla and Sakura though. Quistis made sure of that. Squall then immediately decided to go back, since the backup had already arrived, with Zell saying that the 'lunar atmosphere' is not good for your health.
Still, Ami convinced Squall to stay and rest before they leave back to the Lunar Base. And even if Umi was well-cared for, nobody noticed her new necklace.
* * *
Rinoa and the others woke up just in time to prepare themselves for leaving and going back home. Umi fixed herself up, forgetting about the pendant. Sakura and Shayla-shayla kept on telling the others on how they killed the dragon beast.
"yeah...I know already!!!" Zell complained as the red-head followed him around, bragging on her latest heroic deed.
"But, really Zell, you haven't heard the half of it!!" the red-head grinned mischievously.
"hey! you two! stop that! It's time to get in the Ragnarok" Squall ordered.
"sure." they both answered.
Then Squall left them, with Sakura folloeing behind.
"but you know..." Zell told shayla.
"what?"
"if you don't stop bragging, your ego will be as fat as your body!" Zell said, then ran left to follow Squall.
Shayla was silent for a moment. "WHAT DID YOU SAY!?!???" Shayla-shayla screamed, which seemed to echo in the whole Lunar Base, following Zell angrily.
* * *
"Good work! I'm sure your SeeD ranks have raised" Cid patted Squall on the shoulder, after hearing his report.
Squall just kept silent.
"Squall, you've grown so much!" Edea smiled sweetly. "I'm sure you're bound to do more great things!"
"but Matron, can you explain tome how that 'thing' happened?" Squall inquired.
"Its very hard, its the first time that I've ever heard of such happening as well." the Matron looked deeply into Squall's eyes. "But you better rest for now. I'll find that out sooner or later.." she smiled again.
Squall just nodded and bowed in respect to Cid then, he left.
"why look so down? there seems to me no reason for you to look like that." Cid turned to his loving wife.
"The event that Squall was asking about, I think I know what it is...but I just can't put my finger in it!" she said in a fulstrated voice.
"why worry? there seems to be a lot of time to think about that...but not today. I think you better rest my dear." Cid looked at Edea's eyes deeply.
Edea smiled and started walking towards the direction of her room. "I just don't think it's right.." she whispered to herself.
* * *
"why do I feel like this" she scolded herself.
Umi just couldin't sleep. It was like trying to sleep with a thorn on her back.
It was plain horrible.
"ARGGHH!!!" Umi sighed as she tossed and turned at the bed. Then, she noticed a shine on the table.
Umi reached for it and found out that it was that necklace she got.
It was beautiful, especially with the soft moonbeams shining down on it.
"a tear from the moon..." she absent-mindedly said.
* * *
Rinoa stared at the sky.
It was a starry night.
And what better way that to watch it from the secret room.
Rinoa then sighed as she recalled what had happened two days ago.
"what are you trying to say?" rinoa asked, facing the sky, waiting for an answer.
There was silence.
"Those dreams... who was that girl? what had Ultimecia got to do with her?" Rinoa asked again.
Nothing was heard but the howl of the wind.
Rinoa sighed again as the wind blew softly past her face.
~*~
"the end is near..." a pale-faced girl with deep purple eyes and short black hair wispered.
"wha-?" said her own voice.
"the end is near....and nothing can stop it..." the girl whispered again.
"What are you talking about!!" came the shout that echoed in her mind.
~*~
Rinoa sapped back to reality.
what was that? she thought.
The brown-haired SeeD just sighed once more as she knew that the answers won't come today. Rinoa walked away, taking one last look as the starry sky, and left.
* * *
"We can't go on like this!!!" a tall, green-haired man shouted.
"but...we can't act now either" a blonde woman said.
"We just have to wait until the perfect time..." a green-haired woman said.
"and when is that?" asked a little, pink-haired girl.
"when she comes...." the green-haired woman replied.
The small group looked at each other. There were many hidden fractions just like them, enough to overrule the ruling empire. But they all waited fot the same thing: The Maiden from the deep.
* * *
Umi, Selphie and Zell walked together along the corridors, heading for the cafeteria to buy hotdogs. It was a wonderful sunday.
"Ahh...no line as usual." Zell smiled.
"how did you know that there would be no line at this time?" Selphie asked.
"Don't you know? This is the time when the Diciplinary Comitee comes and eats" Umi replied.
So, the trio entered to find the diciplinary comitee: Jinnai, Vegeta and Alcyone.
"eeeww... how I hate to see THEM!" Selphie whispered to her companions.
"yeah, I like Seifer better." the blonde SeeD whispered back.
"speaking of seifer, isn't today his SeeD exam?" the elemental asked.
"yeah... he better get it this time!" Zell said.
They all laughed.
"can't you keep quiet?!" a voice from one of the tables shouted.
"DICIPLINARY..." the trio murmured disgust.
It was Vegeta, and they knew that it would get ugly.
* * *
"UMI! are you listening?" Quistis shouted.
"wha- ? OH! ya !!" came the reply.
"good." the instructor continued her of explaining the present mission.
One of Umi's eyebrows raised in question. What happened? the last thing she could remember was Vegeta going to 'dicipline' her, Selphie and Zell, the next thing...a mission breifing with Quistis?
"psst. Zell, what happened to Vegeta? and Seifer... did he pass the exam?" the bule-haired SeeD whispered to her seatmate.
"WHAT? HELLO? have you forgotten already?" came the inquisitive reply.
"what are you talking about? that was just a while ago!" Umi whisper-shoutedly said.
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT YOU TWO??" Quistis shouted.
"nothing!" the both replied.
When Quistis resumed again...
"a while ago? that happened last week man! y'know, we even held a party for Seifer, remember? and Vegeta was scolded by Matron when she saw us being 'diciplined' and found out that the reason we were being scolded was so light....REMEMBER???" Zell whispered.
"last week...?" Umi murmured. that last week felt more like a while ago...what's going on? she asked herself.
Rinoa listened to Quistis as she told them their mission breifing. For a breif, it sure was long! But, Rinoa listened anyway. Even though she wasn't really a SeeD, she was treated as a "Special" Member of the group...hey! she did help fight Ultimecia.
Rinoa looked at the other end of the room to see Seifer, talking with Rajin and Fujin. It was the first time they grouped up with them. She wondered what was going to happen there.
~*~
"take this you insolent fools!!" a woman with red orange hair and a strange dress-armor shouted as she blasted energy balls. "You WON'T do the same thing to me again!!"
"....you must understand...we didn't lie to you.." a woman with funny hairstyle said in a gentle voice.
"listen, whoever told you that we were lying to you just wanted to break our friendship!" a youth with an exceedingly more funnier hairstyle said.
The two women looked alike and almost had the same hairstyle but had different hair colors, one was pink and the other was yellow.
"not another one..." Rinoa sighed.
"I've kept it inside me all these years just to see if she was right....and she was!!!" she screamed as she threw another set of energy balls.
The two women avoided the attacks with ease and grace. The blonde spoke again, "Please believe us. This ultimecia...she must have used a hypnotic device on you..."
"so...you must be that kid.. all grown up" rinoa muttered to herself.
The red-headed woman kept silent. Then, she looked up with eyes burning with hatred. "NOO!!! LIARS!!! I'LL KILL YOU ALL!!!" she screamed.
"STOP!!" a dark-haired youth came, with a huge weapon in her hands.
~*~
"Rinoa! Rinoa! wake up!!" Squall's worried voice pierced in her mind.
The downed girl woke up to find her friends surrounding her.
"What happened?" she asked.
"you fainted." came Shayla-shayla's simple reply.
Rinoa sat up slowly, getting support from her lover. Though she lay on hard ground, she felt that her head was sittong on a pillow. When she turned around and looked, it was Squall's 'fluffy' jacket.
Rinoa smiled sweetly at him and he smiled back.
"are you ok?" seifer asked. Even after being dumped by Rinoa, they were still friends. Anyhow, he's got Fujin now.
"yes. I'm fine" Rinoa smiled.
"SURE?" Fujin asked.
"yes" she smiled even sweeter.
Zell pretended to act disgusted then said, "stop that!! ants will be comin' here any minute!"
They just stared at him.
a sweatdrop appeared behind Zell's head.
* * *
Sakura walked along the shoreline, looking for Fasistocalon-Fs to turn into cards. Quistis needed them for a junior-high training class. Not far away, she sees an orange red blur amongst the cloud of sand.
"blizzara!!" sakura casted immediately.
But, instead of hitting a fish, the attack was avoided by a huge lion creature with wings.
"hm. you're a magical child. You're the first one to see me here." it said.
The creature was strange, unlike anything sakura's seen before. This lion creature had a helmet of somesort on its head with a big red gem on the forehead. It had an earring on the left ear and had a huge, strange-looking collar with another bigger red gem in the middle.
"wha- you talk!" she shouted, pointing at the creature.
"of course I talk!" it protested.
"you must be a GF then..." sakura said, going into battle stance.
"try to get me if you can" it challenged.
* * *
It had been four weeks since they arrived from the moon. Umi sat alone by the lakeside dangling her feet over the edge. She had gone there for refuge from the noise inside the garden. With Shayla-shayla fighting with Zell until that day and Sakura telling about the new GF she had defeated using only her GF Urd, it was a big noise.
"Anything wrong?" a sweet voice said.
"nothing." Umi replied and turned to face her GF Belldandy.
"are you sure? you seemed troubled these past few days.." Belldandy looked at her with worried eyes.
"I don't know.... ever since we got back from the moon, everything seems to be mixed up! Rinoa fainting every now and then, the mystery of that whitle light still unsolved...." Umi sighed.
Belldandy looked at her weary companion. she had know something about Rinoa's mysteryous faintings, when one time she was with Rinoa. But every time she would try to tell somebody else, the memory just disappears and returns after you've given up trying to remember.
Belldandy put a hand on Umi's shoulder. "ther are some things in life that cannot be explained....you better put yourself to rest..it seems like its going to rain"
"thanks." umi embraced her GF before it went back to the depths of her junction orb.
* * *
Squall and Rinoa walked through Balamb, just coming from the items shop.
"We better walk fast...I think it's going to rain" Squall told Rinoa, looking at the sky.
Rinoa gazed up high as well. "Yup. Think so too..." she looked at Squall's face. "...um, Squall"
"yes?"
"you think I can go to Winhill tomorrow?" she asked, keeping her gave to the sky.
"Why go there?" squall asked, gently placing both of his hands on the both sides of her face and gently putting her gaze back at him.
"I have too...." rinoa said before she fainted again.
"RINOA!"
* * *
Sakura and Kero walked along the G.G.'s corridors. The both of them were sent there with Irvine, since both of them came from there, to talk with it's headmasters about the comming junction meeting.
Sakura stopped short before a door. "Kero, why is it that you can't be kept in a junction ring like the other GFs? and why do you looke like a stuff-doll when not in battle mode?"
Kero looked at her. "what? what's a Junction ring? and what's a junction anyway?"
"Well, you see, um..." Sakura sweat-dropped and face-vaulted
"Junction is when you equip yourself with magic and GF's..." Irvine said from behind.
Sakura hugged him. WOW! to be this close to my crush!!! she blushed. "WHAT took you so long??" she looked up, the blush fading from her face.
"sorry lil'lady," he smiled & carried her on his back. "the bussines wasn't easy to talk about"
"WAIT A MINUTE!" Keroberos shouted.
The Irvine sweat-dropped.
"KERO--BEROS!!" sakura gasped "you can do that even outside battles??"
"more importantly, can you continue explaining about junction??" he asked.
"s-sure..." he tipped his hat slightly. "when you junction, magic and GF's are stored in the part of the brain where memory is stored. Magic did no effect with the memory so they thought it would be the same for GF's"
Sakura tapped him on the head lightly. "You mean...junctioning didn't require any junction rings at all??"
"yup." he replied "BUT, during the out quest for Ultimecia, we discovered that GFs DO affect memory. The more powerful it becomes, the more space it requires and the mind makes up this space by deleting previous memories." he paused to take a breath.
"and" kero asked in his cute voice.
"and...when we reported this to the headmaster, he immediately asked help from Dr. Odine and Dr. Hyne and they procedded with the research. And that's when they found out a natural crystal that can store both magic and GFs...and that's what we use today." he inhaled deeply and exhaled in fustration.
"Let's just go home..." Sakura rested herself on Irvine's back.
Irvine smiled and said, "let's go Kero, seems like the lil'lady's tired."
"agreed!"
***~*~***
Rinoa saw a pale-faced girl wearing an odd, dark-purple suit sitting on the edge of a cliff with the wind blowing her short, dark hair looking at the moon.
"The Winds will die down an the forces shall run amock"
Rinoa just looked in puzzlement.
"The wind shall be swollowed by the sea, paralyzed forever..."
The little girl looked at Rinoa with an innocent look.
"haven't I seen you berofe?" the SeeD asked.
The girl looked back at the moon, which suddenly turned Red.
"The Fires shall be next, quenched by the sea, forevermore lost it's brightness." the girl continued.
Rinoa sat beside the girl. "can you tell me what that means?"
"Then the Earth will dry the seas and the forces will fight and run amock." the girl continued, ignoring Rinoa. "The Princess must be found, to put all things in order...find me and you shall know the answer."
~*~
Rinoa felt the warmth and the softness of the bed she was lying on. she looked around and recognized that the room was Zell's. From another corner sat the sleeping Squall, covered in blanket. Rinoa then sat up, recalling what the little girl had said.
"find her....and i shall know the answer..." Rinoa muttered to herself.
Then, suddenly, there was a knock on the door. and before Rinoa could stand up and open it, Squall stood up.
"morning zell." Squall greeted.
"hiya. how's....OH!....mornin, Rinoa!" he waved his hand.
"morning." she smiled.
Squall went over and checked Rinoa for any signs of fever, but found none. Rinoa then, stood up and kissed Squall on the cheek.
"thanks for guarding"
Zell grabbed Squall's shoulder then said, "hey, we better go down an' taste ma's home cookin' or she'll get angry now" she grinned.
"what did you say Zell?" Ma Dincht shouted from downstairs.
Zell winked again. "nothing"
Smiling, they all went downstairs.
* * *
"SHAYLA!!!!!!!!!!!" Selphie shouted from the other end of the hall.
Shayla looked around to see the gleeful Selphie running towards her.
Selphie stopped and held her knees and breathed hard from all her running. "*hah* they're *hah* coming *hah*"
"I know." she said, pointing towards the red dot in the sky.
Sakura happily sat on the seat humming a tune while Irvine drove the Ragnarok. Kero was sleeping on Sakura's lap, happily dreaming about food.
"HEY LOOK!!!!" Sakura screamed. "they've even gone out to greet us!!!"
Irvine looked and smiled as he saw them.
Kero then woke up to Sakura's voice. "wha---t???" he yawned.
* * *
Umi was with Quistis, helping her with the students's fighting training. It was their resting time. Umi was talking with one of the students she had recently sparred with.
The student smiled. "that was a really cool move ms. Ryuuzaki!!"
"thanks. And please, UMI, ok? Now you better rest for out next battle, Geo!" she winked.
"sure!" he smiled as she blushed and left.
Umi stood and took her glass of water with her to the terrace. The wind blew gently across her face and dried up the beads of perspiration forming on ther forehead. As she closed her eyes to relax, she felt a warmth on her chest.
She felt nothing.
Umi's body remained standing as her eyelids opened revealing glowing, blue eyes.
"The wind shall be swollowed by the sea..." she murmured.
The water in her glass started to spin and form a small whirlpool, while the sky outside started to turn dark...
* * *
END OF CHAPTER 3