BLACK RAIN
Chapter 3 – Different Visions – Same Nightmare
Squall walked out of Cid's office, and was immediately confronted by Zell.
"What happened? What's going on?"
Squall didn't know where to begin, but tried. "I need 2 SeeD's to accompany me to Esthar on a mission."
Zell was puzzled. "Esthar? Why?"
Squall frowned "Balamb Garden got a request from Esthar this morning to embark on a mission to assassinate Dr. Odine. Edea and Cid figured that if we take him out, then Odine can't build the time machine that Ultimecia uses to go back in time, therefor preventing all the things that happened in the past… whatever. Quistis? Zell? Will you come with me? The sooner we get this over with the better. Selphie? Irvine? Cid asked me to ask you two to stay here to organise the monster communication and organise cadets into squads to take out the various monsters, also to help organise the SeeD's into squads so they can take out the stronger monsters on The Heaven and Hell islands."
"Cool! More monsters to trash!" Selphie leapt into the air with joy. Irvine smiled.
"As long as I'm here with my Sefie, I'm happy"
Squall nodded. Rinoa spoke up "Umm. Squall? What about me?"
Squall looked at her, straight into her brown eyes. Again he felt that calmness overcoming him. Rinoa couldn't help but smile, almost as if she knew she was calming him down.
"Edea wants to talk to you, but I don't know what about"
"Oh!" Rinoa smiled again, she thought it was bad news "OK, see you soon. Good luck." She darted up and kissed him on the cheek, the walked into the office.
Selphie giggled under her breath.
"What?" Squall asked, with a hint of amusement in his voice "Come on, let's go"
Squall,Quistis and Zell were all aboard the Ragnarok, ready to take off. Zell had immediately positioned himself in the pilot seat. Squall moaned about this because of what happened the last time Zell had been the pilot, and almost immediately reminded Zell of his 'near catastrophe' which Zell himself had dismissed as a 'slight hiccup'. Zell thought he had merely messed up, he had simply (accidentally) made the ship go backwards instead of forwards, and almost (accidentally) destroyed Esthar's Presidential Palace, if it wasn't for Selphie, the palace would now have a rather fetching 'Ragnarok's front end' motif embedded into the front of the Palace.
But it was Quistis who took off, and then gave control to Zell, making sure that the only thing he could possibly 'accidentally' crash into was the ocean. This insulted Zell, and refused to speak to Quistis for the rest of the trip. Squall couldn't help but laugh, but that quickly disappeared when Quistis asked him about the 'faint' again in the passenger lounge.
"For the last time Quistis, I don't want to talk about it"
"Why not?"
"Because"
"Because How?"
"Because it's none of your business"
"Oh" Well then I see!" Quistis stood up, a grin on her face "and what would the situation be like if I was Rinoa?"
Squall glared at her, but also realised she was right. "OK, you'd better sit down"
Quistis sat "still learning how to open up to people I see"
"Do you want to hear this or not?"
"Of course, carry on"
Squall stared at the floor, and closed his eyes.
…Rain, heavy rain, so heavy, it's almost…unnatural…
…He has his back to me… now he's turned around…
…Explosions…
…This isn't a building… a ship? Were floating?…
"Squall?" Quistis asked. She placed a hand on his shoulder, and was immediately rocked by a flash of some sorts.
"I..I'm fine, trying to piece it together" His voice sounded shallow "What happened there?"
Quistis looked scared "I'm sorry, I touched you, but I think I saw something too"
"What? You sure?"
"Yes" Quistis was starting to sound more worried.
"Do me a favour, give me your hands" he asked
"What? Why?"
"Please Quistis"
"OK" Quistis placed her hands onto Squalls, and closed her eyes. She was vaguely wondering how nice the leather felt on her hands. No, she thought He and Rinoa belong to each other, forget about i..
…Rinoa?…
She screamed a little. Squall broke their grip.
"You saw something?" he sounded genuinely worried.
"What was that?"
"Yes show me more, if you can" She took Squalls hands in hers and closed her eyes.
She saw something, but it wasn't what Squall saw
…Rinoa! Don't! Don't get angry!…
…Rinoa screams, almost like a cry, energy crackled around her…
…Red Light-ning?…
…Angel wings.. a beautiful white..now silver..now a steel coloured grey..now…
…No! Rinoa! No!…
Suddenly a spark shoots between them, separating them. Squall blows on his hands, almost like they were on fire.
"What happened to Rinoa?" she pleaded
"Rinoa? What are you talking about?"
"Rinoa!" Quistis shouted, then settled down "she was going crazy she was angry, real angry, she was unleashing her power. She had these wings, they were changing colour…she was angry at something..someone"
…Timea…
"I didn't see Rinoa!" Squall shouted "I think I was myself, but I was fighting someone, I think it was Seifer…"
…It was…
"Seifer? Where? Where were you fighting him?" Quistis was concerned for Squall more than herself.
"I don't know. All I know is that were on a roof or something, and its raining heavily"
…Unnatural in colour…a black colour.. black rain…if there is such a thing…
Quistis shrugged "What did we see? Was it. The future perhaps? Is that it?"
Squall didn't reply. Rinoa? Why were you angry? What happened? Or is going to happen? What are these visions? It reminds me of…
"Ellone" he said aloud.
"Hmmm? Ellone? What about her?"
"These visions. They're a lot like the one's we experienced when Ellone sent us to the past"
"Could it be possible she can do both?"
"I don't think so, no, it can't be her. I don't think she can do that. Unless she can, and hasn't told us"
"Hm? Squall?" Quistis decided to try to get Squall out of his thoughts
"Can you take over from Zell? And ask him to come through here?"
"Going to see if it works with him?"
"Yeah"
"OK" Quistis got up and headed for the pilots room.
A few moments later, Zell appeared.
"Sit down Zell" he said.
"You OK? Sorry for asking man, but you look under the weather, mind you so does Quistis" he sounded concerned.
"I want you to give me your hands, and close your eyes"
Zell laughed "Didn't know you liked this sort of stuff Squall"
Squall laughed himself "Very funny, just do it, I'm serious."
"Ok." He said, and did as he asked.
…Standing outside, looking at the floating structure…
…Get out of there man get ou…
…Looks Down at Quistis…
…Looks Down at.. someone? A man?…
…He screams as the structure explodes…
…White light…
…a ship was nearby…
"What the hell?" Zell also shouts as the same 'jolt' that Quistis and Squall experienced breaks them. "What the?"
"I don't know" replies Squall " I truly don't know."