Loving You
By Quistis88 and Quis
Chapter Two
Tragisch Traum
Only now, would Laguna recognise the sheer importance of the images on his screen. Rubbing his eyes tiredly, the older man reached for his glasses. Placing said glasses on, Laguna now turned back to the screen, reading the legend of Da'Vasha. He told himself, time and time again, that it couldn't be true.
For one thing, the legend was an ancient one; said to be older than the origins of Hyne herself. In the story, it was said that Da'Vasha had been married to a woman who was remarkably similar to Hyne herself, though various writers would never agree on the specifics.
However, the images on his screen, and the description of the dream Rinoa had, made him think otherwise. Turning back to the books with the legend written in it, Laguna perused the section that greatly interested him. It was a prophecy.
When the moon risesRed with blood
The world shalt be
Forever changed.
Laguna, pondering on those words, could only but help feel a slight sense of dread. What did it mean, he wondered, knowing that? He didn't finish his train of thought, instead, his mind drifted to other things.
~+~
It was daylight when Rinoa awoke, the sun filtering in behind grey clouds. It was approximately 0930, or so the evil known as the digital alarm clock said. The red numbers blinked out their fluorescent colour. It was Saturday, or so her somewhat irrational—though at times, quite brilliant—mind thought. Turning over in her bed with a groan, she let her eyes close once more.
However, her slumber was to be interrupted by the sound of someone pounding on the door. Groggily, she prised her eyes open, and stumbled towards the door. She pressed the automatic release function, and was greeted with the sight of the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Instructor Trepe.
"Quistis?" Rinoa managed a weak smile as Quistis entered the spotless dormitory.
Quistis smiled back at the woman. "Rinoa," she greeted as pleasantly as she could, taking in the girls' dishevelled state with a critical eye.
Quistis set herself down on one of the two chairs. Turning away, and looking at the cloudy sky, then back at Rinoa, she began to speak.
"The mission isn't going so well, Rinoa," she began, as she forced herself to look at Rinoa in the eyes. "I'm afraid that we lost communication with Squall, Irvine and Selphie, just a couple of hours ago."
Rinoa gasped. "What . . . what's happened?"
"We're not sure," Quistis sighed. "All we know is that they're out there . . . somewhere."
Rinoa's lips quivered. "Do you . . . think they're okay?"
"They should be. But then again, no one can be too sure."
Rinoa felt a crushing sensation in her chest; as though a thousand daggers had been driven in. Squall was missing--possibly even badly injured. Looking up at Quistis, she spoke again. "Do you know if they're in Centra still? Where did they say they were in their last update?"
"They were approaching Centra the last time Garden was in contact with them. I assume they must be there now."
Rinoa sat down on her bed, then jumped up. "Take me to him."
Quistis pushed on her shoulders and made her sit back down. "No, Rinoa. It's too dangerous for you to go."
"Too DANGEROUS! We've fought sorceresses, Quistis, NOTHING is too dangerous!"
"Squall gave me specific orders to keep you here at Garden."
Rinoa's eyes flashed dangerously at that last comment. "He can go to hell if he expects me to stay here, sitting on my arse doing nothing," she said, angrily. Quistis reached a hand out, and forced Rinoa to remain seated.
"Look, Squall loves you more than anything Rinoa.... There is a reason as to why he doesn't want you going there..." Quistis's voice trailed off.
"And what is that?" Rinoa asked, crossing her arms.
"Some sort of . . . legend. He doesn't want you involved." Rinoa looked away. "It's only because he cares for you. Please don't be upset with him."
"Oh, right...Now I understand," Rinoa said sarcastically. "He wants me to stay at home like a good girlfriend...He knows I can fight with him."
Quistis all but had to restrain herself from shouting at Rinoa. "Don't you get it, Rinoa? There's a reason that you can't go there.... And Squall is trying to fight against the tides of oncoming enemies to stop the Sorcerer Da'Vasha from rising!"
"Da'Vasha? I've never heard of him! You're making it up!" Rinoa pouted and turned her back towards Quistis, still sitting on the bed.
"Why would I lie to you? Most of all, why would Squall lie to you? Rinoa, this is for your own safety --- "
"What if I get so worried, I hurt myself? Then where's the safety in that! Why won't he let me go?"
"Because he doesn't want to lose you again!"
The last sentence snapped Rinoa back to reality. It was true; he'd almost lost her in space, only to give her up to the Estharians, then to rescue her again. She sighed. "I suppose you're right, Quistis," she said, conceding the fact that the blonde wasn't as evil as she'd always thought.
"I'm glad you see it," Quistis said, a grim smile on her face. "But then, there's always the possibility that we could scrape a team together, the two of us, and go in search of the missing squad," she finished. Tucking a lock of blonde hair behind her ear, Quistis stood up. "I'll just go and request for authorization...Then we'll begin discussing the mission parameters, alright?"
Grateful for the slim opportunity, Rinoa hastily agreed. She opened the door to let Quistis out and had barely closed the door again when her phone rang.
Answering the phone, she was surprised to hear the voice of Laguna. "Why, isn't this a surprise," she joked with him, "What've you found out?"
"Things that really need to be discussed, but not over the phone." Laguna sounded solemn. "Could you please tell Cid that I'm already on my way to Balamb? There are important matters that we need to take into account."
…. That bad? Rinoa thought.
"All right, Laguna. I'll tell him. Thanks again."
"No problem. Take care." As soon as he hung up, Rinoa called Cid.
"Headmaster Cid!"
" . . . Rinoa?"
"Laguna wanted me to tell you that he's on his way to Balamb."
"What for?"
"Something important, he said."
Could it be . . . Squall? Cid thought. "Ok, Rinoa. I'll go greet him soon."
After a few more pleasantries, Cid and Rinoa both hung up. Rinoa, going to the shower, and Cid, speeding up to the office. By the time both of them had done said things, Laguna arrived, wearing what appeared to be a business suit--the most formal clothes either of them had seen him wear. "President Loire," Cid said, as he shook Laguna's hand.
"Headmaster Kramer," Laguna said, remembering Kiros's instructions on how to greet people you had business dealings with.
"Please, sit down," Cid said.
"Thank you. I'll get straight to the point, if you don't mind. The less time we spend talking, the better."
By this, the Headmaster suddenly felt nervous.
"I'm not sure if you knew, but Rinoa called me at my residence last night about a very descriptive nightmare. Since she is a sorceress, the dreams she has should not be taken lightly."
Cid blanched somewhat considerably over this news. If he'd learnt anything from being Edea's knight, he knew that the dreams definitely meant something big was happening. "I see," he said gravely, "I recall Edea mentioning something along the lines of 'if a Sorceress dreams', the dream is really happening."
"Yes, and because Rinoa has a very close connection to my son, I'm afraid that the dream and his current well-being is linked. I would like to ask Balamb Garden to send out a search team to look for him and his squad. We'll supply you with everything you need."
Cid smiled. "That's an amenable idea," he said, "Which people would you like me to call up for this mission?" Cid asked, as he immediately started running the names of various SeeDs through his head.
"The very best. We need to prepare for the worst."
"Well, then . . . how many people do you think you'll need?"
"Approximately 7."
"Alright," Cid said, nodding. "I'll have seven of the finest dispatched tonight. Will it be an Esthar craft we'll be using, or what?"
Cid switched on the intercom after a few more moments of pleasantries. "Could the following SeeDs report to my office immediately? Daniel Vlahos, Guinevere Thompson, Nida Georges, Xu Wang, Quistis Trepe, Rinoa Heartilly and Zell Dincht"
"Good selections, Mr. Kramer, " Laguna complimented. "I'm sure they'll do a fantastic job. Rinoa would certainly be a great asset to the team."
"Yes," Cid sighed. "I hope everyone will be back safe by the end of this ordeal."
As the seven selected SeeD began to pile into Cid's office, the tension in the air was palpable. Standing tensely, seven pairs of eyes stared blankly at the wall, until a command was softly whispered. "At ease."
Laguna cleared his throat. "You're going on a mission to retrieve Commander Leonhart, Selphie Tilmmitt and Irvine Kinneas from the Centra plains. We don't know how long this will take, so be on your guard at all times. Of course, you as SeeDs should know that already," Laguna chuckled, before continuing. "I was woken up at about two am this morning by a phone call from none other than Ms Heartilly," here, he pointed to Rinoa, who blushed and stood back from the group, lest she feel the accusing stares of the rest of the team on her back. "She rang me with the theory of the legend of Da'Vasha, the last Sorcerer to walk this earth."
"Any comments or concerns?" Laguna said finally, looking around. No one moved. "Very well then. This mission will start tomorrow morning. I trust you'll be able to handle anything that comes your way. And no, I don't have a plan yet, actually." He scratched his head, looking a little like his old self.
Quistis pulled Laguna, Cid and Rinoa aside, furiously. "What are you playing at, Loire?" she hissed in an undertone..."Rinoa's never even heard of the Legend of Da'Vasha...How can you expect them to believe that?"
"You're a bright girl, Quistis. You won't tell anyone, will you?" Laguna pleaded slightly.
"But sooner or later, they're going to start asking. What will I say? And furthermore --- "
"Enough, Quistis," Cid barged in. "Just play along for now. What's important is that we save Squall and the others."
Quistis' face became cold. "Yes, sir."
Silently fuming, she strode out of the office, past the man named Dan Vlahos, and past everyone else. Not caring about the fact that she was getting odd stares from the cadets and SeeDs still stationed in the Garden, she headed to her rather sparse dormitory.
Quickly packing necessities and emergency rations, Quistis tried to formulate a plan for this rescue mission. She wanted it as short as possible. It was partly because she wanted to know everything that was going on, and because she wanted everyone back as soon as possible.
Approximately ten minutes later, everyone had packed, and was ready to board the Estharian transport. For a long while, nobody said anything, and then, as they headed towards the hatch, the girl, Guinevere spoke up. "I believe I may have come across something about the legend," she said in her quiet voice that even those with the best hearing had to strain their ears to hear.
"What did you find?" Quistis spoke in a voice that reminded Rinoa of Squall a few years ago.
"I found a site about it," she continued quietly, "It was in the Esthar databases--" shooting a nervous glance at Laguna, who only smiled ruefully, she continued. "And it basically said that 'When the moon rises/Red with blood/The world shalt be/Forever changed..'....Well, the prophecy has already begun....The Lunar Cry...I believe, is what the prophecy is about....But I'm not sure." Here, Guinevere took a breath.
"That's good," Quistis said, trying not to look at the president. "If you find anymore, please do not hesitate to tell the group. We need all the information we can get. Anything at all will be helpful."
Laguna noticed that Quistis was trying to avoid looking at him, and only shrugged in response. Turning to the group, Laguna smiled at them. "Alright, we head out to Centra immediately....Nida, can you pilot this thing?" Laguna asked, as the young man nodded. Soon, they were on their way. They were going on a grand adventure that would surely bring heartache and despair along the way.
Dan spoke up, "If it is feasible and wise, might I suggest we stop in Esthar for supplies?" he asked.
"Excellent suggestion," Quistis said. Finally, she looked over at Laguna, who cleared his throat a little uncomfortably and nodded.
The trip to Esthar was uneventful. Quistis spent the time talking to Rinoa and Laguna, and occasionally darting glances at Dan and Guinevere. She wasn't sure what she felt about those two, but it was a good feeling--that much she could tell. As the hovercraft pulled up outside the Palace, Laguna scratched the back of his head, and spoke up. "Well, folks...If you need anything while you're here, just holler, all right...We'll be here for a few days gathering the necessary supplies and such," he said.
"A few days, sir?" Quistis raised an eyebrow. "I think it's best that we leave as soon as we can."
Laguna laughed nervously. "Well, certainly. But I suppose you can take all the time you need."
Quistis nodded icily, before exiting the hovercraft. Rinoa trailed behind, wanting to talk privately to Laguna about her fears and the reasons she wanted to be on the mission. Knowing that if it weren't for Laguna, Cid would never have agreed to send Rinoa along. "Laguna," Rinoa began, "I want to apologise for this morning...I don't know why I was so distraught...It was just a dream--wasn't it?"
Laguna frowned. "Come with me, Rinoa," he said, leading her through the palace and into the study. It was, as he'd left it--thanks to Kiros, no doubt. He walked over to the flickering monitor, swiveling it around to show Rinoa the scene before her. Rinoa let out a gasp. It was the exact same scene as described in her dream.
AN: Kudos to anyone who can work out what the German title means….It'll be revealed next chapter.
