A Dream of Reality: Chapter Two
Barriers
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A/N: I wrote more! Thanks for reviewing, I decided that I really should continue the story, now that I've finally remembered the plot I was planning for it…^^ Hope you like. It'll probably take a while before I can post again, though please be patient and keep on reading and reviewing! I have to keep up my other story(s)…
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"Help! Oh god, help me! Squall…where are you? Where are you? Why aren't you here…with me…"
Squall clamped his hands over his ears in an attempt to stifle the voice crying out in his mind.
"No! No!" A scream. Then, "Oh, Squall…"
Voices cried incessantly in Squall's mind, voices that he heard every night in the dream. That dream. Experiencing it at night was one thing, when he could just awake to a bright, cheery morning in the Garden dormitory, to see everyone's faces smiling at him during breakfast, and Rinoa waiting for him, wearing that beautiful smile of hers. But, during the day, those despondent voices crying aloud in his mind… He could not ignore it, no matter how he tried. His throat burned and tears came unbidden to his eyes. Squall closed his eyes.
A sudden jolt of the ship brought him back to reality. Squall sat up straight (something he rarely ever did… and it never did last for long before he began to slouch again), wondering why the Ragnarok was experiencing turbulence. The Ragnarok had taken off from Timber hours ago, and was making its way towards that white house on the beach. Quistis had decided that since they had no notion of where Rinoa could have ended up, the only place to start was to ask Edea and the Headmaster Cid if they had had any contact with her.
"Sorry about that, kids," Irvine's voice announced across the ship's intercom, "we're, uh, experiencing some technical difficulties here--"
"Oh, Ifrit!" Selphie voice could be heard now, and she sounded extremely frustrated. The ship jolted another time, and Squall could have sworn that he felt the Ragnarok back up and then accelerate to full speed. "There's something…blocking my way."
"You can't be serious?" Irvine asked inquisitively.
"Yes, I am! Why else could we be flying in midair and suddenly come to a complete stop? I don't get it."
"Give it a go again," Zell's voice suggested.
"I already did, but here goes--"
The intercom was cut off in a flurry of static as the ship rammed into an invisible barrier for the third time. Squall was thrown against a wall. He muttered a few curses under his breath as he struggled to regain balance. You'd think they would stop ramming it after a couple of times…as though I didn't already have a headache. My head hurts. Squall hit his forehead in frustration.
The intercom buzzed to life again, and Quistis' concerned voice sounded through the ship's empty corridors to the engine room where Squall was standing--more like holding onto the wall in the case that someone in the cockpit managed to persuade Selphie to ram the barrier yet again.
"Squall? I don't know what this is--it's a clear blue sky, there are clouds dotting the horizon, and the ocean is directly beneath us. I don't know what I should be looking at. You may want to get down here…well, whenever you feel apt to show your face in public again."
Standing still for a few moments to be sure that the ship was at a standstill, Squall made his way through the corridors to the elevator, which he activated after wiping his eyes on his coat sleeve, feeling rather foolish as he did so.
"Squall!" Zell yelled when Squall appeared, "there you are! Look at this--I've never seen anything like this in my life…"
"Wait, Zell, that's not quite true--" Quistis began, but she was interrupted by Squall's monotonous voice.
"The barrier around Lunatic Pandora."
"Hey, he's right!" Selphie joined in, speaking over her shoulder as she kept the Ragnarok hovering in the air. "But, what does that mean? Do you think Lunatic Pandora is back?"
Irvine looked at Selphie as though she had donkey ears instead of hair. "The place is history. You know what happened. Ultimecia disappeared, as did that creepy fortress of hers."
"What I'm thinking," Quistis muttered, "is that the Lunatic Pandora barrier was generated by a powerful source of magic. But we did get through that one with our propulsion and guns--not to say that you should try that, Selphie," she added with a steely glare at the overly eager young girl, "this one 'looks' different. I don't know if it's even penetrable."
"Which means that there is greater magic behind it. More powerful than we have yet encountered," Squall finally cut in, voicing everyone's dread. Even Zell, who had been thinking of eating hot dogs with the cute library girl with the pigtail, felt the hairs raising on the back of his neck. He took a battle stance and began punching the air fiercely.
"What the heck does that mean? That we can't beat it? You're kiddin' me! Come on, let's get out there--"
"Wait, what do you plan on doing, Zell?!" Irvine exclaimed, "there is nothing below us but salty water. Unless you want to fight the water…"
Zell stopped punching the air restlessly and his expression fell. "OK, fine, I get it. Let's just sit here and talk while Matron and Headmaster Cid are in that impenetrable bubble…"
"By Shiva, he's right!" they all seemed to exclaim at once, or something to that extent. Then Quistis, Zell, Selphie, and Irvine all looked to their leader for a solution.
"What?" Squall asked, his brow furrowing. "I don't know what to do…we can't get through it."
"Squall," Quistis protested, "this is one of those times that you're supposed to take the initiative and tell us what to do. You have a brilliant mind, and we know it. You led us against Ultimecia, and it was you who kept us together during the Galbadia Garden raids."
"…Whatever." That trademark saying. A sure sign that Squall had truly gone back to his old ways of lone-wolfishness and isolating himself with his own pent-up feelings.
"Squall, listen to me," Quistis said quietly, but urgency was in her voice, "we don't know where Rinoa is. The best thing we can do is to ask Edea what could possibly be happening--and with this strange invisible barrier, who knows what is going on? I know it's difficult, but you can't sit here and punish yourself. You just can't do this. Not to yourself, not to us, and especially not to Rinoa. Gather yourself together and push through those barriers in your mind, or we may be too late for whatever is happening out there."
The others nodded their acquiescence and watched Squall's face for any sign of change. He stood quietly, staring at his feet. Then his blue eyes drifted upwards, and they held a fierce determination in them. "I…I'm sorry, Quistis," he sighed. "You're right, of course. You always are. I haven't been taking the initiative, especially when I need to. Come on, Selphie, fly around this thing with at least a ten meter perimeter around the barrier. There may be some sort of niche in it."
Irvine and Zell grinned while Selphie yelled, "Whoo hoo!" and Quistis positively beamed at Squall. But everything--his expression, his words, his determination--it was all a façade. Squall felt a nagging sensation in the back of his mind, a nagging guilt that accused him of hiding everything. The dream, he thought, I have to tell them about it. What if it's all in it, what if everything we don't know is hidden in my dream? What if, when we get there, wherever 'there' is,…it's too late? He didn't want to think about it. Squall merely tried to smile reassuringly at Quistis' worried glances after his short spell of pondering.
After several minutes in which the Ragnarok skirted around the indiscernible barrier, Selphie managed to bring it back to their starting point.
"There's no sign of it letting up. I shot it in lots of different place with our strongest guns…I don't know, Squall. I just don't know," Selphie sounded tired.
Squall shook his head, his teeth clenched nervously. And they expect me to know what to do? He stood, motionless, for so many moments that the others were beginning to sigh in frustration. Squall saw the looks of resignation written on each of their faces, and he was frightened by it. Rinoa, where are you? How can we possibly find you if we can't even get through this barrier? Hell, I don't even know where it came from, or what's inside…
His thoughts were interrupted by a shout of exclamation from Zell. They all turned to look at him. Zell was leaning against the cockpit window, staring down at the ocean below.
"What, Zell?" Quistis asked, a wariness creeping into her voice. Squall saw her fingering her whip where it hung on her belt.
"I just saw--there was a big fish. Or a shark, or something. Some water creature. It was right below us, and I could see it--it went straight through the barrier. But under water. Does that mean that the barrier doesn't extend into the water?"
"Are you sure you saw that, Zell?" Irvine was asking. He looked at Selphie and they exchanged doubtful glances.
"Does the Ragnarok fly under water?" Zell had that adventurous gleam growing in his eyes.
"It flew in space. It flies in the air. Why not?" Selphie asked.
Squall shook his head quickly. "Wait. Don't try anything rash. We don't know that…it was originally designed only for space travel, and through the atmosphere. There wasn't any chance of it being submerged under water when the scientists in Esthar designed it to bring Sorceress Adel up to her confinements in space…"
Zell looked as though he would start punching the air again. "But…but…"
"No, Zell." Quistis' voice was firm. "But say that the thing you saw really did go through. What if we dove…"
"No way!" Selphie exclaimed. "I'm afraid of water."
"So I'll stay here with you," Irvine reassured her.
"How far is it from here to the nearest coast?" Squall asked. Selphie checked the radar and reported that it was approximately 10 miles to the shore of the peninsula on which Edea's house rested. "There's no way we can swim ten miles."
"So we get diving gear."
"Zell, that's preposterous. We would still have to swim for ten miles, anyhow," Quistis reprimanded him.
"Submarine, then."
Squall shook his head. "We can't possibly find a submarine. We have to stop wasting time. And there's nothing left to do…but bring the Ragnarok under. Come on, Selphie. Let's do it."
Selphie nodded with a visible swallow and carefully lowered the Ragnarok. The ship's belly was just touching the surface of the water, and so far nothing had happened. Selphie reported, "All signs are normal. There aren't any warnings that I can see." Then she brought it down, foot by foot, and finally it was completely submerged in the ocean water. They looked out of the cockpit window, as the Ragnarok dipped lower, seeing only darkness below them and light above. There were a few fish swimming nearby that quickly dispersed at the waves the large ship was causing. Squall was tense. He heard the ship give a low moan, somewhere down in the lower reaches.
"So far, no engine problems. Just so long as the water doesn't get into the hull or the engine…" Selphie said shakily.
But there was a louder groan from the ship, followed by a flashing red light on the controls.
"Damn!" Squall muttered. "Go, Selphie! Just go!" The crew fell backwards against the walls as Selphie pushed the acceleration lever up as far as it would go. The Ragnarok took off, sluggish at first, but then gaining speed, and all the while more warnings were appearing on the screen.
"We're through!" Quistis shouted above the din of warning sirens. "Up, Selphie!"
The Ragnarok emerged into the air finally, and they all let go of their breaths as though they had been unable to breathe while they were under the water.
"Systems report," Squall said.
"Fuel leakage. The transmission is close to dead. We might be able to push it just ten miles more…" Selphie said as she urged the ship through the air. And after a few very tense minutes in which the ship was gradually losing altitude, they could all see the line of islands and peninsulas on the edge of the horizon. "Come on…" they all whispered under their breaths.
The Ragnarok finally sputtered and gave its last dying cough as Selphie guided it to land. There was a large jolt, and they all lost their balance. Looking up, Squall squinted through the settling dust cloud and managed to discern a small white lighthouse just a short walk away.
"Forget about the Ragnarok," he said. He stood and rubbed his head. Surprisingly, his head had ceased its pounding in all the commotion. The others were standing and brushing themselves off. "We can't do anything about it now. Come on, let's go."
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