*deep breath* ...here it is.
Never mine.
--------------
In Dreams
--------------
Emptiness. Nothingness. She was surrounded by a bleak, blue-gray zero.
"Am I... dead?"
"No. And yes."
Quistis spun, trying in vain to locate a voice that seemed to be coming from all around her. The puzzle was solved for her when another person stepped through the mists to stand face-to-face with the SeeD.
"Who... are you?"
"We are I. We are one." The enigma smiled. "I am you."
"Me?" There were physical similarities, especially the color of eyes and hair, but this woman seemed so far above her as to reduce Quistis to a first-year cadet. She was remote, radiant, alien. Lofty. Her?
A smile, as if reading her thoughts. "Better to say I am your higher consciousness."
"What happened to Naltaeri?"
"I am Naltaeri. We are one."
"I... don't understand."
"I am the part of you that is ready to evolve to a higher level."
"Then... what am I?"
"You are the part of us that still has lessons to learn, and for that, you are reborn. Naltaeri's lesson is complete; she has merged with me, and so we come a little closer to our goal. As we near it, more of you-" she touched Quistis' chest- "becomes me. Our lifetimes grow shorter and shorter, until at last we are complete, and there is no further need for birth- we are ready to move past this plane of existence, to the next."
"Did I help?"
"Yes." A smile. "You were meant to- you had to."
"But how... how could I change the past?"
"You did not. Naltaeri is an incarnation you have yet to be. She is, crudely put, your future."
"That's impossible." Quistis shook her head. "She lived in my past!"
"From here, that does not matter. This place is the essence of the fourth dimension, the one we work now to master. We, here..." she gestured around them, "Are in a place in time outside of space. From here you can understand... that time, as you view know it, is a mobius strip drawn in the sands. Everything that will be leads back to everything that was; everything that was will become everything that is."
"I still don't understand."
Bending, she drew an invisible circle on the ground. "Where's the beginning?"
Quistis pointed. "There."
"Why there?"
"Because that's where your finger first touched the ground."
Another smile. "Exactly." She pointed again. "If you're a two-dimensional creature, and you're placed in this circle, to you, there is no beginning or end. Everything before you leads to everything behind, and vice versa. There's no way out, and no way in. To a two-dimensional creature, the circle cannot exist, because any one point of the circle existing implies the existence of every one of an infinite number of points. But a three-dimensional creature can see the beginning and the end, because they're coming at the problem from an entire plane of existence the two-dimensional creature doesn't understand. Once the beginning and the end have served their purpose, they are no longer there, even to the three-dimensional creature; but the difference between you and a two-dimensional creature is that you can see where the beginning used to be."
Quistis looked at her self with new understanding. "So... what you said before, about time not being linear..."
"Time is the fourth dimension. You are a third-dimensional creature; therefore, to you, time is linear. You do not control time; it controls you- like the third dimension here controls the second-dimensional creature."
"But..." Quistis thought this through. "For the fourth dimension to circle, there must be a fifth... but then there must be a sixth..."
"Infinity in all things," Naltaeri said. "Infinite points in a circle. Infinite moments in the timeloop. Infinite dimensions of existence. The last quest of all beings... to rise higher, and higher... and because life never ends, neither does that quest."
Quistis shook her head. "I can't handle all that..."
"You don't have to, yet. We're still tied to this plane. One day, we won't be, and then we'll be able to handle more. But never everything. That's just the way it works."
"So... that's why Naltaeri died? Because she came before me?"
"Her lifetime did not need to be so long, because she had come so far already. Her lesson was learned, her task completed. Now she is here, and we are that much closer."
"What about Syran?"
"There it is the opposite. Syran came before Seifer in their quest."
"But..." Quistis was starting to get dizzy. "But he died young!"
"He failed," her other self said coldly, though not without a hint of sympathy. "The lesson of Syran's lifetime was the lesson of pride. In his pride he was told he alone could save Lihalla; in his pride he refused to listen to Seifer. That lesson was one he could only learn in the Lihallan war. In his failure was lost the need for further existence. He was taken back."
"Then... what happens as a result of that failure?"
"He must repeat the lesson."
"Oh..." She shook her head. "Will he... do you think he can do it?"
A rare smile blossomed on that remote face. "He already has," her voice became warmer, softer. "As Seifer. In pride did he follow Ultimecia; in humility did he return home, and there, from the ones for whom he cared the most-" she touched Quistis' hand- "did he receive absolution. This life, for him, is a success. He will evolve further."
"Does... does that mean he's going to die soon?" she whispered, half-afraid to hear the answer.
Her self shook her head. "No one may know what is to befall them, or the others in their circle."
"Circle?"
"Do you think it an accident that your childhood siblings became your closest adult friends? We are not meant to live alone. You move through your life with them. You are linked."
"So then-" she began, but she was cut off.
"You begin to ask too clever of questions," a light smile took the sting from the words, but not the finality. "The life and lessons of Naltaeri are over. You must return to Quistis, and finish what you have started in that life. You will stand before me again, when that is finished."
"But-" lethargy crept up on her, turning her limbs to lead. "But-!"
Darkness closed in.
===========
When she awoke in her bed at Garden, it was twilight outside. The moon bathed her room in an unearthly glow, and when it mingled with the dusky light in her room, there were patches in the corners of nothingness.
As one in a dream, she arose from her bed, and unseeing leaving her room followed her heart through the empty stone and tile corridors built by ancient hands for modern use. Without conscious thought, she reached a door. It slid open at her touch, and she went inside.
Seifer was simply sitting, on the edge of his bed, watching the door. Waiting.
She went over to him, and he took her in his arms and brought her down to lie with him.
There were no more words between them.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, it's done.
*sighs* It's been quite a ride. Once again huge apologies to all for the long hiatus, choppy nature of parts, and overall delays. Writing his has been kinda rocky, and truth be told I'm breathing a huge sigh of relief that it's over and I finished it. ^^v All riiiight!
But chaptered stories are *hell*, and i'll probably doing one-shots for a while while I let my muses recuperate. *flash to: muses lying in heaps, unconscious* :p I think they're mad at me right now for all of this, but as long as everyone else is happy...
Lady Paranoid: :) Here it is. Thanks for reading
Quistis88: Again, thanks, especially for being one of the people who's stuck with my from Hourglass through Dreams. It's great to have you on board ^^
PrincessMercury: lol, you're forgiven since you did get around to doing it eventually... believe me, I've done that a few times. Here's the end; hope you liked!
Yomi 1: I was going to ask you which parts you thought were OOC... but having recieved a review from another Yomi, I'll settle for saying thanks a lot, jerk.
Verdanii: Sorry to hear that it wasn't quite your cup of tea. (You probably won't ever see this...) Thanks for giving it a try and for saying it was good anyway. There are plenty of other authors who aren't quite as... erm... out there ^^;;; may I suggest Alonia Everclear's works?
Yomi 2: Quite all right, I understand. I'd get pretty upset if someone went around stealing my name, especially as there's no way it could be a coincidence, considering that my name comes from a langauge I invented. So don't worry about it, there's no harm done. Maybe I'll get into Hunter x Hunter and come read your stuff; it looks like it'd be good if I had any idea what was going on. ^^v
And there you have it! THE END!
[readers breathe a collective sigh of relief that it's finally finished]
Review, review, review, and check back for new stuff coming soon!
Lyaka ^^
^^v and that's a wrap! I'll see you all later [I hope...]
Please review, tell me this whole mess was worth it!
Lyaka ^^
Never mine.
--------------
In Dreams
--------------
Emptiness. Nothingness. She was surrounded by a bleak, blue-gray zero.
"Am I... dead?"
"No. And yes."
Quistis spun, trying in vain to locate a voice that seemed to be coming from all around her. The puzzle was solved for her when another person stepped through the mists to stand face-to-face with the SeeD.
"Who... are you?"
"We are I. We are one." The enigma smiled. "I am you."
"Me?" There were physical similarities, especially the color of eyes and hair, but this woman seemed so far above her as to reduce Quistis to a first-year cadet. She was remote, radiant, alien. Lofty. Her?
A smile, as if reading her thoughts. "Better to say I am your higher consciousness."
"What happened to Naltaeri?"
"I am Naltaeri. We are one."
"I... don't understand."
"I am the part of you that is ready to evolve to a higher level."
"Then... what am I?"
"You are the part of us that still has lessons to learn, and for that, you are reborn. Naltaeri's lesson is complete; she has merged with me, and so we come a little closer to our goal. As we near it, more of you-" she touched Quistis' chest- "becomes me. Our lifetimes grow shorter and shorter, until at last we are complete, and there is no further need for birth- we are ready to move past this plane of existence, to the next."
"Did I help?"
"Yes." A smile. "You were meant to- you had to."
"But how... how could I change the past?"
"You did not. Naltaeri is an incarnation you have yet to be. She is, crudely put, your future."
"That's impossible." Quistis shook her head. "She lived in my past!"
"From here, that does not matter. This place is the essence of the fourth dimension, the one we work now to master. We, here..." she gestured around them, "Are in a place in time outside of space. From here you can understand... that time, as you view know it, is a mobius strip drawn in the sands. Everything that will be leads back to everything that was; everything that was will become everything that is."
"I still don't understand."
Bending, she drew an invisible circle on the ground. "Where's the beginning?"
Quistis pointed. "There."
"Why there?"
"Because that's where your finger first touched the ground."
Another smile. "Exactly." She pointed again. "If you're a two-dimensional creature, and you're placed in this circle, to you, there is no beginning or end. Everything before you leads to everything behind, and vice versa. There's no way out, and no way in. To a two-dimensional creature, the circle cannot exist, because any one point of the circle existing implies the existence of every one of an infinite number of points. But a three-dimensional creature can see the beginning and the end, because they're coming at the problem from an entire plane of existence the two-dimensional creature doesn't understand. Once the beginning and the end have served their purpose, they are no longer there, even to the three-dimensional creature; but the difference between you and a two-dimensional creature is that you can see where the beginning used to be."
Quistis looked at her self with new understanding. "So... what you said before, about time not being linear..."
"Time is the fourth dimension. You are a third-dimensional creature; therefore, to you, time is linear. You do not control time; it controls you- like the third dimension here controls the second-dimensional creature."
"But..." Quistis thought this through. "For the fourth dimension to circle, there must be a fifth... but then there must be a sixth..."
"Infinity in all things," Naltaeri said. "Infinite points in a circle. Infinite moments in the timeloop. Infinite dimensions of existence. The last quest of all beings... to rise higher, and higher... and because life never ends, neither does that quest."
Quistis shook her head. "I can't handle all that..."
"You don't have to, yet. We're still tied to this plane. One day, we won't be, and then we'll be able to handle more. But never everything. That's just the way it works."
"So... that's why Naltaeri died? Because she came before me?"
"Her lifetime did not need to be so long, because she had come so far already. Her lesson was learned, her task completed. Now she is here, and we are that much closer."
"What about Syran?"
"There it is the opposite. Syran came before Seifer in their quest."
"But..." Quistis was starting to get dizzy. "But he died young!"
"He failed," her other self said coldly, though not without a hint of sympathy. "The lesson of Syran's lifetime was the lesson of pride. In his pride he was told he alone could save Lihalla; in his pride he refused to listen to Seifer. That lesson was one he could only learn in the Lihallan war. In his failure was lost the need for further existence. He was taken back."
"Then... what happens as a result of that failure?"
"He must repeat the lesson."
"Oh..." She shook her head. "Will he... do you think he can do it?"
A rare smile blossomed on that remote face. "He already has," her voice became warmer, softer. "As Seifer. In pride did he follow Ultimecia; in humility did he return home, and there, from the ones for whom he cared the most-" she touched Quistis' hand- "did he receive absolution. This life, for him, is a success. He will evolve further."
"Does... does that mean he's going to die soon?" she whispered, half-afraid to hear the answer.
Her self shook her head. "No one may know what is to befall them, or the others in their circle."
"Circle?"
"Do you think it an accident that your childhood siblings became your closest adult friends? We are not meant to live alone. You move through your life with them. You are linked."
"So then-" she began, but she was cut off.
"You begin to ask too clever of questions," a light smile took the sting from the words, but not the finality. "The life and lessons of Naltaeri are over. You must return to Quistis, and finish what you have started in that life. You will stand before me again, when that is finished."
"But-" lethargy crept up on her, turning her limbs to lead. "But-!"
Darkness closed in.
===========
When she awoke in her bed at Garden, it was twilight outside. The moon bathed her room in an unearthly glow, and when it mingled with the dusky light in her room, there were patches in the corners of nothingness.
As one in a dream, she arose from her bed, and unseeing leaving her room followed her heart through the empty stone and tile corridors built by ancient hands for modern use. Without conscious thought, she reached a door. It slid open at her touch, and she went inside.
Seifer was simply sitting, on the edge of his bed, watching the door. Waiting.
She went over to him, and he took her in his arms and brought her down to lie with him.
There were no more words between them.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, it's done.
*sighs* It's been quite a ride. Once again huge apologies to all for the long hiatus, choppy nature of parts, and overall delays. Writing his has been kinda rocky, and truth be told I'm breathing a huge sigh of relief that it's over and I finished it. ^^v All riiiight!
But chaptered stories are *hell*, and i'll probably doing one-shots for a while while I let my muses recuperate. *flash to: muses lying in heaps, unconscious* :p I think they're mad at me right now for all of this, but as long as everyone else is happy...
Lady Paranoid: :) Here it is. Thanks for reading
Quistis88: Again, thanks, especially for being one of the people who's stuck with my from Hourglass through Dreams. It's great to have you on board ^^
PrincessMercury: lol, you're forgiven since you did get around to doing it eventually... believe me, I've done that a few times. Here's the end; hope you liked!
Yomi 1: I was going to ask you which parts you thought were OOC... but having recieved a review from another Yomi, I'll settle for saying thanks a lot, jerk.
Verdanii: Sorry to hear that it wasn't quite your cup of tea. (You probably won't ever see this...) Thanks for giving it a try and for saying it was good anyway. There are plenty of other authors who aren't quite as... erm... out there ^^;;; may I suggest Alonia Everclear's works?
Yomi 2: Quite all right, I understand. I'd get pretty upset if someone went around stealing my name, especially as there's no way it could be a coincidence, considering that my name comes from a langauge I invented. So don't worry about it, there's no harm done. Maybe I'll get into Hunter x Hunter and come read your stuff; it looks like it'd be good if I had any idea what was going on. ^^v
And there you have it! THE END!
[readers breathe a collective sigh of relief that it's finally finished]
Review, review, review, and check back for new stuff coming soon!
Lyaka ^^
^^v and that's a wrap! I'll see you all later [I hope...]
Please review, tell me this whole mess was worth it!
Lyaka ^^