"Transcending Reality" by: Emerald Eyes
Woo-hoo! Tis chapter 5, my friends! Are u bummed
because u haven't seen ur fave character yet? Well… we're starting to see a few
more people in this chapter… and I can't stand to leave anyone out of the
madness, so eventually, everyone will get a part. Now… sit back, relax (but
don't sleep), and enjoy the show! And no getting up in the middle of the fic to
pop a bag of popcorn! You should have done that BEFORE you clicked the button!
O_o AND I AIN'T MAKIN' GIL OFFA DIS FIC, YO! er…
and I don't own the characters, either.
"Where
I go, what I'll become or who I am or what I'll be, I'll never know…" –K's
Choice
Chapter Five: Another Time, Another Place
With a start she woke up. She appeared to be in a back alley of a town. A real unindustrialized place, she thought as she examined what she could of her surroundings, Could this place be Kalm? Despite the rural feel to the place, she could hear the voices of many people coming from around the bend.
Getting up, she noticed an unconscious bald man in a Turk's suit lying next to her on the ground.
"Rude?" she whispered. Elena gently nudged Rude awake with the tip of her foot. His startled expression at seeing the unfamiliar place was quickly replaced by his usual stoic face.
Elena could sense the questioning glance he gave her from behind his sunglasses. "I don't know where we are," she answered truthfully, "I think we might be in Kalm, or maybe someplace near the mythril mines."
Getting up, Rude nodded his head and began to walk towards the end of the alleyway. Elena stared after him as he rounded the bend.
"Elena—!"
His rather urgent call upset her. Very rarely did Rude ever let any emotion be heard in his voice, yet this time it was there.
Elena deftly moved forward, trying hard not to let whatever lay beyond the alleyway intimidate her. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and stepped around the corner.
She gasped upon opening her eyes, and she understood why Rude had sounded so urgent.
The bustling street before them was filled with people going about everyday life—except some of them weren't people at all. Some looked entirely inhuman in appearance. There were creatures with tails, glowing eyes, animal-like bodies, and almost anything else the imagination could think of.
Elena glanced at Rude, who stood beside her.
He shook his head. "This isn't Kalm, Elena."
Rude had regained his cool, and was now taking in the scene with apathy. Elena, on the other hand, was taking the situation rather badly.
She tried to stifle a scream as a little boy that resembled a rat bumped into her, almost knocking her to the ground.
"Hey!" the rat-kid growled, "Move it, lady!"
"S-sorry," Elena stuttered, too stunned to say anything else. She quickly moved out of the child's way to let him pass.
No sooner than the rat-kid had moved on, another child that looked equally strange came running past. Although his clothes were odd, and the oversized pointy hat on top of his head made him look peculiar, that wasn't what made Elena gape. It was the boy's face that left the blonde Turk so intrigued. It was completely black, void of any features whatsoever. And his eyes… they glowed with such an intense golden yellow color. Whoa, she thought, Mako doesn't make eyes glow like that!
"Hey, Puck!" the boy said in a rather quiet voice, "wait for me!"
In his rush to catch up with his friend, the boy with the glowing eyes tripped and fell in the middle of the road. Puck, the rat-child, had continued on his way. Soon, Puck was out of sight, lost in the crowd, and the strange looking boy was left behind.
"Are you okay?" the Turk asked the boy hesitantly. He may look strange, but he's only a child. Right?
She cautiously moved forward to help the little boy to his feet. Behind her, Rude watched with curious eyes.
"T-thank you," the boy choked out.
"You're welcome," Elena smiled, trying to be nice, "Was that your friend?" she asked looking in the direction that the rat-child went.
The boy nodded, "Uh-huh. His name's Puck. He's the prince of Bermecia."
"Oh, really?" she asked incredulously, "Are you someone important too?"
The boy shook his head vigorously, "No way!" he said with amusement, then his mood changed completely. The boy hung his head. "I'm just a black ma"—he paused in mid-sentence, and changed what he was saying—"Er, I'm just Vivi."
"Well, Vivi," Elena said, not noticing the boy's distraught look, "My name is Elena, and this is my friend Rude." She pointed to the bald Turk behind her.
Rude nodded in greeting to the boy and then asked, "Would you mind telling us where we are?"
Vivi nodded. "You're in the Business District," he responded simply.
"Where?" Elena asked immediately, "What town? What continent?"
"Um, um…" Vivi looked at the two ShinRa employees oddly for a moment before answering. "Lindblum, on the Mist Continent."
The two Turks exchanged concerned glances with each other before Rude spoke up.
"We're… not from around here," he said feebly, "Could you tell us a little more about Lindblum? About this 'Mist Continent'?"
"Um," the boy responded, "I guess so. I guess I could take you to Regent Cid too, if you want."
"Regent?" Elena asked exuberantly. Maybe, just maybe, they would get some answers to the many questions they had about this place.
"Yes," she replied to the confused boy, "that would be perfect."
^_^_^_^_^
Raijin stood staring at the rather morose-looking man with contempt. Fujin stood beside him looking equally upset, if not more so.
"SEIFER. WHERE?" the girl asked in her usual curtness, antipathy soaking the words.
"Yeah, you know?" Raijin backed his posse up rather dumbly.
"No, I don't know," the man replied in a barely audible voice. Raijin could detect a hint of annoyance coming from the man. He could understand why, of course. He and Fujin had asked him that same question for the umpteenth time.
Fujin looked around the dark, creepy foyer of the mansion they were now standing in. "SPOOKY," she said, "LET'S GO."
Raijin had to agree with her. The more he stood in the sordid place, the more it displeased him. It was as if he was interfering in something that should be left untouched. He felt deep inside of him, that this mansion was haunted. Not by an apparition, but by many unpleasant memories of the past.
"Yeah," he said to his posse, "let's get the hell out of here." Following Fujin out the front door, he stopped and paused to think. After a moment he turned around to face the morose man.
"Er, where are we?" he asked the man.
"Nibelheim"
"…and that is where?"
"In the Nibel Mountains," the man replied insipidly, as if he'd rather be doing something else.
"Um… Nibel Mountains?" a perplexed Raijin asked, "I've never heard of them before. Do you know how far Fisherman's Horizon is from here? That's where we last saw Seifer."
"No," the man replied apathetically, "The nearest town is Rocket Town, on the other side of the mountains. Cosmo Canyon is to the south. I've never heard of Fisherman's Horizon."
"NO?" Fujin asked in a disappointed voice. She glanced around at her surroundings. It was getting dark. The sun was a fiery red ball in the west horizon, painting the sky above in orange and yellow hues. To the east, the sky was already a hazy twilight, the stars twinkling brilliantly in front of a violet heaven.
"Uh…do you know if there's an inn anywhere around here?" Raijin asked uneasily. The man before him made him nervous, the way his cold crimson eyes would stare at him. "It's getting dark, you know?"
"There's an inn at the entrance to the village," the dark man replied tersely, expecting them to leave immediately.
Instead, Raijin reached into his pocket and retrieved a wad of gil. He looked at it dubiously. "Do you think ten gil would be enough to get a room?"
Ten gil was certainly not enough to rent a room for the night, but that's not what the other man noticed when he stared at Raijin's stash. "That's not gil," he stated factually.
"Hm?" Raijin asked curiously.
"That's not gil," the man repeated, "look." He dug into his own pocket and produced some of his own gil. "The inn won't take your kind of money."
"BORROW?" the female Disciplinary Committee member asked hesitantly.
"I'm sorry," the dark man said, "But this is all I've got with me." He examined the money for a moment as if he were counting it. "Seventy five gil."
"Oh…" Raijin's mood darkened to an extent, and he anxiously looked around the small village for anyplace he could spend the night. After failing to see any other viable alternative, he had only one option left.
"Do you mind if we stay the night?" he asked timidly, trying not to think of how frightening spending a night in that mansion would be.
"Yes," the man said coldly, "I do mind."
"Er, well, can we stay anyways?"
Raijin could feel the look of displeasure Fujin gave him. "RUDE," she said under her breath.
The dark man sighed, giving in to the two travelers' exhorting. "I suppose so."
"THANK YOU." Fujin said.
"Yeah," Raijin agreed. "By the way, I'm Raijin," he pointed in his posse's direction, "and this is Fujin."
"Vincent," the man said monotonously and walked back into the mansion, not waiting to see if the two would follow.
As soon as Vincent was out of sight, Fujin immediately kicked Raijin in the shin. "RAGE!" she screamed.
"Ow, you know?" Raijin said as he hopped on his uninjured foot until the pain subsided enough. He bent over to rub the sore spot where a nasty looking bruise was sure to be in the morning.
Fujin stared uneasily at the front of the dilapidated mansion. The "ShinRa Mansion" was what Vincent had called it. She didn't know what the title meant, but it didn't sound very pleasant to her at all. Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself for the long unpleasant night that was sure to take place, and followed Vincent through the door and back into the foyer.
^_^_^_^_^
He was there and she was reaching out to him, but he kept on getting farther away. He was slipping out of her mind now.
He was now in another time, another place. And she was
lost. Lost in the maelstrom of a thousand universes.
But he was still there, reaching out to her.
And she saw an explosion of faces. People of all
different ages and races, who were trapped in a conundrum without an end.
People lost in forever, like he was.
But out of all the worried and lost faces swarming around
her, only one had bothered her. This face had upset her beyond words, and had
haunted her in her nightmares. No matter how hard she tried to hide from it, it
was still there. And it loathed her.
And this face was taking him away, slipping him though a
thousand and one realities.
And then he was gone…
And she was alone…
"Squall!" Rinoa screamed, "Oh my God, Squall…"
She broke down into uncontrollable tears, and hoped beyond all hope that her dreams were false, and that Squall might be safe somewhere. But how could he possibly be safe, she thought, the dreams are so real.
Before her thoughts could make her feel any worse, she reprimand herself. Don't act like this, Rinoa!
She decided that the best way to temporarily forget the horrid nightmare was to go to the cafeteria. There was always someone there to talk to.
She looked around the almost abandoned space, looking for anyone she knew. It was late at night, and hardly anyone at all was there. She spotted Zell at a nearby table, eating the delicious hot dogs he was so fond of.
Sighing, Rinoa pulled up a chair and sat down next to the SeeD. Before she could talk, he spoke out.
"Hey, Rinoa," he said cheerfully, "What's up?"
Rinoa did not return his cheerful greeting. Instead she sat numbly in the chair, eyes red from crying.
"Yo, what's wrong?" Zell asked, taking in Rinoa's disheveled appearance.
"I had another dream," she replied monotonously.
Zell's expression shifted from cheerful to concerned, a frown growing on his face. "Just now? Isn't this, like, the fourth one already?" he asked.
The sorceress nodded her head absently, only half paying attention to his words. "God, Zell," she choked out with tears in her eyes, "it seemed so real."
Zell couldn't think of an adequate response, and Rinoa spoke no more of the nightmare. Both sat in an uneasy silence for a while, contemplating each other's words, when finally Zell spoke.
"Rinoa," he said slowly in a quiet voice, "I'm going after him."
The sorceress was startled upon hearing his ambiguous answer. "What?"
"I'm going to find Squall," he said, more confident this time.
Rinoa, finally understanding the meaning of Zell's words, shook her head vigorously. "No, Zell! You can't."
"Why not, Rinoa? I'm only trying to help."
"I know," she explained, "but there's already a significant number of SeeDs looking for him, and so far there's been no trace of Squall." The tears flowed freely from her eyes now, "And, Zell, I don't think he's here."
"Well, I know he's not here," the SeeD said, not understanding the meaning of the sorceress's words, "That's why I'm going to go look for him."
"Zell," she argued, "you don't understand. He's not here, Zell. He's not anywhere. I know that if you look for him, you won't find him. And I'm afraid of what might happen to you if you do."
"Rinoa?" he asked in a concerned voice.
"Zell, if you look hard enough for answers, you'll be able to find them. That's what I fear. What if the same thing happens to you? You might be able to find Squall, but it may all be in vain."
"I don't know what happened to him," Zell said hesitantly, trying to make sense of the girl's words, "but I'm sure I'll find him and bring him back to you. And I'll be okay, too. Trust me, Rinoa."
She did trust him, but every time she closed her eyes she saw that hideous face. And no matter how many times she tried to convince herself otherwise, she knew it would find Zell if he were to look for Squall.
"I trust you," she quietly surrendered, dreading she would never see either SeeD again.
^_^_^_^
As soon as he had Rinoa's consent, he set off towards the nearest town, Balamb. It seemed as if nothing would be able to stop him. He felt that he had to do it, not for himself, but for everyone else. He couldn't stand to see Rinoa look so distraught, and the others were doing no better. Poor Quistis was hysterical when she found out that her leader was missing… and it took a lot for the instructor to lose her composure.
The skies, filled with ominous dark clouds, opened up. A heavy rain began to fall on the weary traveler, soaking him in an instant.
"Fuck!" Zell cursed, punching the air around him. He was just as upset as anyone else, and the rain wasn't helping much.
Along the road to Balamb, he noticed someone walking in the opposite direction. His long black hair was tied in a messy ponytail, water dripping from the loose strands of hair. A pair of round glasses sat on his nose and he also wore a white lab coat, indicating that he was a scientist or a doctor of some sorts. He looked just as soaked as Zell did, but the man didn't seem to mind.
"Hey," Zell called out to the man when he was close enough to hear over the rain. The man stopped and looked at Zell insidiously. The stare made the SeeD uncomfortable.
"Have you seen a man named Squall Leonhart?" he asked the man.
The man in the lab coat smirked, "Is he a boy about your age? Does he have brown hair? Does he wear a jacket with a fur collar and carry a gunblade?"
"Yeah!" Zell replied exuberantly, his mood brightening, "You mean you've seen him?"
The older man looked at him disdainfully. "Of course I've seen him!" He then resumed his trek along the road leading out of Balamb.
"Hey," Zell called, following the man, "Do you know where he's at?"
"Yes," the man replied without looking at the SeeD, "I do."
"Really?" the SeeD asked ecstatically, "Can you tell me where he's at?"
"The Squaresoft Building," the man said simply.
The way the man glared at him sent chills down Zell's spine. He didn't have any idea what the creepy man was talking about, but he knew about Squall, and that's the only reason why he was still talking to the man.
"Can I see him?" Zell asked.
The smirk grew even wider. "Of course you can," the man in the lab coat said cryptically, "But I want you to give him and everyone else there a message."
"What message?" the SeeD asked incredulously, an ominous feeling creeping into the back of his mind.
"Tell them that Sephiroth lives."
Before Zell had time to comprehend the meaning of the words, a bright light consumed him, blocking out all conscious thought.
And then there was only darkness.
^_^_^_^
In the depths of a deep nightmarish sleep Rinoa screamed.
End Ch. 5 at 03.19.01.
Damn, sorry it took me forever to upload. It took
me a LONG time to write this chapter. I wrote it everywhere: at school, at
work, at home. I spent a lot of time on it, too, writing in a notebook (and
stopping occasionally to draw feathers in the margins), typing on a Sunday
night at 4 in the morning while eating a blueberry flavored candy cane leftover
from Christmas, and finally skipping school on Monday to finish this lovely
chapter. Whew, but it was worth it. Look for the next chapter within a few
weeks. –Emerald Eyes
spookyfox1@hotmail.com