Chapter 9: A Nightmare and Onward to the Journey
Miranda was having a fitful nightmare (hence the title .). She was running down a strange, dark corridor. She was breathing heavily, and heard sounds coming from behind her. Unearthly sounds, wailing and groaning. She turned a corner and skidded to a halt, stopping just before she hurtled over the cliff that just appeared out of nowhere. She looked around. She was no longer in the strange castle, but on a cliff by the sea. She still heard the sounds coming toward her, and she whirled around. The sight she saw before her made her gasp in horror. A black monstrosity with it's eyes hanging out was coming toward her (::shudders:: Ugh! Gross thing I'm thinking up. See if you can picture it). The face was deformed, one side lower than the other. The upper body was hunched over, a serpent's tail behind it. It wielded a black, razor sharp, hooked sword. Blood was dripping from the blade. It kept chanting the same thing over and over: "Bloooood of my masssssster…you must sssserve him…or you musssst die…"
"I don't care who you're master is!" Miranda yelled. "I'm not going to serve anyone but my allies!" She glanced fearfully at the jagged rocks below.
"Blooooood of my massssster…bloooooood of my masssssssster…" It hurled itself at Miranda, it's blood dripping blade coming closer to her. "Die like your friendssss did, then fool!"
Miranda watched wide eyed in horror as scenes of her friends fighting and Chris killed brutally by a man covered in black shadow flashed before her eyes. Her friends laid slain on the floor of some throne room, the man laughing insanely at them. She screamed in pain, for both the blade slicing through her body and the pain of her friends dead.
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!"
Her door burst open as Kristin and Chris ran into her room. Miranda sat up wide eyed panting, not noticing the two come running toward her.
"Miranda!" Kristin yelled and grabbed her. "Miranda! It's alright!"
Chris sat beside her bed, unsure of what to do. "It was just a nightmare!" He put a comforting arm around her. "It'll be okay!"
Miranda threw herself onto Chris and cried uncontrollably. Chris and Kristin exchanged glances. Chris was nearly soaking wet because of Miranda's tears, but he didn't notice. He held her closer to him, and turned to the door when he heard the rest of the gang appear.
"W-what's wrong with miss Miranda?" Vivi asked concerned.
"Did she have a bad dream?" Eiko persisted.
"Hush now," Freya scolded them. "Let her be for now. She'll tell us in good time."
By now, Miranda had calmed down a bit and choked back sobs. "It was horrible! Just horrible!" Another wave of tears threatened fall. She buried her face onto Chris's shoulder. "There was this horrid monster…and…and…," she choked back sobs. "I saw…I saw…"
Kristin placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to."
Miranda looked up at both of them. Then she noticed for the first time the FF9 gang in her doorway. "I…I saw all of you…d-d-d-" She looked tearfully into Chris's eyes and cried harder.
Everyone looked at each other, wanting to help comfort her, but they knew they couldn't. They knew what she was trying to say. The FF9 group quietly went back to their rooms, hoping Miranda would feel better in the morning. And also that her dream, or nightmare really, didn't come true.
Miranda cried herself to sleep again, still held by Chris's arms. Kristin pulled a chair over to the bed and sat down sighing. "Do you think she'll be okay, Chris?"
"I dunno. I've never seen her like this."
"You and me both." She looked smugly over at Chris. "You must like that position, eh?"
Chris turned beet red. "W-what are you t-talkin' about?"
A look of satisfaction came over Kristin's face. "Uh huh…sure act like you don't know. Typical reaction."
"I have no clue what you are talking about," he lied.
"Pssssssh. You keep telling yourself that."
Chris glanced down at Miranda. "Well, looks like she's not having any more of those nightmares."
"Yep, and it looks like your stuck there, buddy."
"W-what??"
"Well, you don't want to wake her do you? That would be very rude, you know."
He sighed. "Guess you're right."
"Well, I'll spend the night here, too." She covered them both in blankets and then got herself one. "You okay in that sitting position?"
He shrugged. "I can take it."
"G'night then."
"Night."
Kristin soon fell asleep, but Chris was kept awake by troubled thoughts. What in that nightmare made Miranda cry like that? he kept asking himself. He glanced down at her again, sleeping peacefully, as if she felt secure there. He remembered how she had looked into his eyes. They were filled with pain and sadness, and he thought he had seen himself fighting and dying in her eyes. He shook his head and leaned back against the pillow. I must have been imagining it. He closed his eyes. Eventually sleep overcame him.
It was raining the next morning. The Regent and Hilda had spent the night and offered the group to take them to Madain Sari. Miranda had returned to her normal herself, as if she had forgotten the night before. In reality, she hadn't. When she woke up to find herself that she had been sleeping on Chris again, she had quietly gotten out of bed with disturbing him and had walked out to the balcony. It was overcast at the time. She had stared out at space, letting anything get into her mind. When Chris and Kristin finally awoke, she walked downstairs with them, acting as if she wasn't troubled anymore.
Eiko jumped up onto Miranda. "How ya feelin'?"
"I'm fine," Miranda replied smiling. "I can't wait to ride on an airship! That'll be so cool!"
"You mean to tell me you three have never ridden on an airship?" Eiko asked incredulously.
"Yea," Chris said slowly. "We don't have airships where we come from. We have planes."
"Planes?"
"They're kinda like airships in a way," Kristin said. "Don't worry about it."
"Good morning, Kristin," Kuja said as he kissed Kristin's hand. "I hope you slept well?"
"Um…" Kristin stammered.
Chris, Miranda, and Eiko turned and walked away. "Lets leave those two on their own," Eiko said. "We have more important matters than to flirt."
"Good. I don't think I could stop myself from laughing if we stayed there," Miranda said smiling.
"Me neither," Chris agreed. "Gah! I still can't believe she liked that girly man!"
"Well he's not acting like a girl now," Miranda commented. "Really a gentleman."
Mikoto walked up to them. "Good morning. How are you feeling, Miranda?"
"Alright," Miranda shrugged. "Didn't dream a thing after that horrid nightmare."
"I heard you had someone protecting your dreams last night," Zidane said, a mischievous gleam in his eyes as joined them. "I wonder who that could've been." He glanced at Chris, who had turned away.
"Aw, quit it, Zidane!" Chris said. "It's bad enough to have Kristin talkin' about it all the time without you including yourself."
Miranda looked down to hide her blush. "Guys…"
They continued walking until they reached the airship dock. (don't know where that is so don't ask) The others were already on board, waiting for them. Miranda bounded up the plank and leaned against the rail.
"Come on! Hurry up! I wanna see how the view looks from an airship!"
(can't do sweatdrops…gaaah!!!) Kristin (woulda done a sweatdrop but nooo…) sighed. "She's acting like a 6-year old…"
Eiko glared at her. "Is there something wrong with that??"
Kristin looked around nervously. "No, no, hehe, didn't mean you…"
"Hmph." Eiko boarded the airship huffily and stood beside Miranda.
The rest boarded onto the Hilda Garde 3 and listened to Zidane as he gave them advice.
"Looks like you guys are going to have fun without me," he said ruefully. "Well, I gotta stay here. But does everyone have their supplies, like weapons, food, clothes, etc., etc.?"
"Yes," they said in unison.
"Alrighty! Well, just send a moogle over whenever you guys have trouble. If you visit Lindblum, tell my Tantalus Brothers I said hi."
"Will do!" Miranda saluted.
Zidane walked off the airship. "Good luck! And be careful!" he yelled as the engines roared to life.
"We will!" they yelled back.
Zidane watched them until they became a speck in the sky. Please make it back.
Author's Note: Hm, shorter than the last, but hey. Hm hm hm, more premonitions? What could it mean? Maybe I'll write in script form?? Nah…phooey. ::rocks to the FFX Battle music:: hehe, inspiration! Come to me! Ok…. well, see you in chapter 10!