Chapter Five: Always and Forever
"There you go, all fixed up," Dr. Kadowaki had smiled. "You'll feel back to normal after a day or so. I'd suggest taking a nice, long nap."
I'll agree with you there...
So he had taken Dr. Kadowaki's advice, and was stretched out across his dorm bed, recalling everything that had happened in the last three weeks alone...he closed his eyes...who's have dreamed he would have ended up being friends with Selphie? He gradually lost his grip on his thoughts, and was asleep in minutes....
.....
Everything was fuzzy. He could see the basic picture, but it was as if he was looking through a video camera on a rainy day. The place was shrouded in mist, and he had a hard time seeing clearly, as if he needed incredibly strong glasses.
He could see, however, a young boy about the age of 5 standing on a beach he'd seen in a geography book once...the Cape of Good Hope...and the boy stood there, alone, staring out at the stormy sea...
"Sei-fer?" a sing-song voice called, somewhat distorted by the strange fuzziness...he wished he could have seen and heard the entire scene, but couldn't figure out the source of the confusion...A small, brown haired girl ran down the beach towards the boy.
He frowned, crossing his arms and ignoring the girl.
"Seifer!!" she sighed impatiently, running over to the point where she was standing beside him. "Matron," she said in a matter-of-fact tone, crossing her arms indignantly. "says it's lunchtime."
"I don't care. I'm not hungry," he scowled.
The brown haired girl frowned, putting her hands on her hips.
"Did you fight with Squall again? Is that why you're sad?"
He nodded.
"I'm sorry about your fight. You should be friends again. Are you gonna come and eat lunch now?"
He shook his head 'no'.
"Oh, Seifer...puh-leaze?" she begged, drawing out the word 'please' to its fullest extent.
"No!!!"
She looked hurt, staring at the ground and digging in the sand with the toe of her old tennis shoe.
"I'm sorr-y, Seifer..." she said sadly. "I didn't wanna make you mad..."
"It's okay, Sefie."
"You know," she said thoughtfully, "even if you're mad at Squall and don't wanna be his friend, I'll still be your friend, Seifer."
"Really??"
"Always and forever," she giggled.
.....
He awoke sometime much later, a pain searing through his head. He sat straight up, wincing. This wasn't coming from the back of his head, though, this was seemingly coming from the center of his mind.
Ugh...now just let me unjunction everything and see if that helps...what was up with that dream anyways?
On multiple occasions, the little girl had called the boy 'Seifer'. Was that him, then, in his dream?
And the little brown haired girl...he had called her 'Sefie'....
So was there some connection between the girl in his dream and Selphie, or were the similarities in their names merely coincidental?
He glanced at his clock, realizing that he was hungry. The cafeteria would be serving fresh food about right now...
Might as well go eat dinner....
As he walked out of his dorms and down the hallway, he heard Selphie's voice. He looked around, and saw her leaning up against the cafeteria sign, talking to Zell.
"I don't believe a word of what you're saying. You had a mission with Seifer, and you guys got along?" Zell asked skeptically.
"We're friends now, actually."
"He didn't try to kill you?"
"Nope! Actually, I messed up on the mission and all and this guy shot me with some sort of tranquilizer-sleep=dart. I told Seifer to forget about me and leave--"
"--then how'd you get out?"
"Let me finish my story. Well, basically he risked his life and saved me instead."
"...Selph', what's with the freaky, dazed smile on your face?"
"Huh?"
Zell burst out laughing.
"Oh, Zell," she sighed, annoyed. "Cut that out..."
"I'm outta here, Selphie. See ya around. Lemme know how it works out!" he waved, and walked off.
"Know how what works ou---ZELL!" She frowned, starting to chase after him, but standing still on a second thought. She glanced up and saw him. "Hey, Seifer. How's your head doing?"
"Better," he replied. "Did you give Headmaster Cid our mission report?"
She nodded slowly.
"Despite it all, he was still proud of us. Your SeeD level went up too," she smiled, a proud look on her face, like she was proud of him too. Typical Selphie. "The stuff we found...Seishi, apparently...is some sort of Sorceress..." She stared at nothing inparticular. "I don't know...I want to be afraid, because of Ultemecia and Adel, but what if she's just a sorceress like Rinoa? Then it wouldn't be so bad, right?" She paused, looking at him. "Wait, are you sure you're feeling okay?"
He nodded, feeling guilty for not listening to her in the first place, but something else was bothering him entirely. He stared at her closely, trying to recall the fuzzy, mental picture of the child from his dreams...The brown haired girl...
"Sefie..." he said quietly, not even thinking...
She frowned, taken aback.
"Seifer? ...how'd you know about my kid nickname?"
~//~