Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 8 or even Final Fantasy VIII. How sad am I? Ahh, I'll get over it… Really, I will… I swear…
Alternate Fantasy
By Draic
Chapter Five: A Sinkful of Blood
"Squall?"
"Squall?"
"Squall!"
"Squall!!"
"Wake up, Squall!"
I opened my eyes to the two women leaning over me. Two beautiful women, their faces looking down at me from opposite sides of my vision.
"Thank Hyne you're awake, Squall," one was saying, sounding relieved
Quistis.
I smiled at her, still feeling dopey.
"Good morning, your highness. Did you sleep well?" asked the other, a tinge of sarcasm mingling with amusement. I turned my head to look at the other woman, wondering who she was. Two dark eyes were staring down at me. Her eyes were so deep. So dark, so deep… My brow furrowed.
… Rinoa?
Something was odd. My vision was blurry, more than the normal allowance for the few moments after awakening. The two visions above me seemed too close together somehow, like they shouldn't be… close… for some reason. The blonde was speaking.
"We were afraid you wouldn't wake…" Was she talking about herself and Rinoa? She didn't even seem to be acknowledging the other's existence. The lights and ceiling were oddly difficult to make out. Where were the walls?
"Why?" I asked, my vision suddenly and inexplicably attracted to the girls' foreheads.
Quistis leaned forward to answer, "It was only a Sleep spell, but…"
I wasn't listening. My eyes widened.
Their foreheads were… overlapping!
I sat up quickly, but as I did so, a wall of sound enveloped me. A whooshing, howling noise like wind through a tunnel screamed in my ears. I was moving through sludge, rising so slowly… Quistis' face was moving ever closer, while Rinoa's was pulling away, eyes widened and mouth opening. With a hissing noise, I passed through Quistis. I gasped and it echoed in my ears, impossibly long and loud.
Abruptly, I jerked forward. The sound stopped and my vision cleared, except for a ringing silence and a tableau of flashing spots.
"Jeez, you could have warned me!" Rinoa complained. "I almost fell over trying not to get smashed in the face!"
My mind was racing. What the hell just happened?
Quistis was gone. Rinoa was in front of me. Magic Training Area…? I looked around quickly. I was in a dorm. Not mine - mine is smaller. This is a SeeD's dorm…I paused. I am a SeeD! This is my dorm! My desk, my jacket, my bed, my door…The door! I'd locked it! I had!
I looked back at Rinoa, standing there in my dorm, smiling at me.
"How did you get into my room!?" I demanded, confusion harshening my voice. Her grin became a frown.
"The door was…" She looked up at it, seeming mildly puzzled.
"Locked," I finished, and stared at her pointedly.
"Um… I…" This was obviously not a topic she wanted to pursue. She was backing away, towards the door. I leapt out of bed and blocked her escape route. She stopped and bit her lip.
"Well?"
She was looked up at me, doubt and fear all over her features.
"I… ah… well, you know…"
I cut off Rinoa's stammering and yelled, "No, I don't know! It seems like every time I wake up, you're there! How have you been getting into my room all this time? What do you want from me!?"
"Um… well…"
"RINOA!" I hollered at her.
She spoke softly, clutching her necklace and staring at the floor. "… That night in FH convinced me that…"
I happened to glance over her shoulder. There, lying on top of my desk and pointing towards my bed, was the dagger.
A sound like roaring wind through a tunnel…
I jerked forward and slammed into her forehead.
"Owww!" She slapped a hand to her head, covering her face. What was that? I wondered.
She brought her hand down from her face and--
Blonde.
"Squall!"
"Quistis!?"
Now I held a hand to my head. Wasn't Rinoa just...? Hadn't I just been talking to…?
"What was that about?" Quistis asked, then seemed to shake it off. "I'm so glad you're awake! The doctor was saying…"
…talking to…
She threw herself at me, arms around my neck and head pressed against my chest.
…to…
"Rinoa!" I shouted.
Quistis lifted her tear-streaked face and stared at me with her vivid blue eyes.
"Rinoa…?" she whispered, and her eyes went flat. She climbed off me and just stood there, looking out the window.
"I'm glad you're alright," she mumbled. She reached out a hand towards my shoulder, paused, then turned and left the room.
Go after her! Go after her, dammit! If I hadn't been so confused, I would have done just that. On the other hand…At that moment, I couldn't have cared less. I'd been talking to Rinoa in my dorm. Now I was in the infirmary… well, it looked like the infirmary, but things seemed a little strange… A little strange? This is the way the infirmary's always been! I shook my head. It was strange. I felt like… like someone was taking over my mind.
No! I jumped out of bed and fumbled through the Infirmary's chest of drawers, snatching the first piece of paper I saw, and searching for a pen.
Nothing.
"Damn!" I shouted, thumping the drawer.
I had a feeling that time was running out. I should have followed Quistis… she'll be really… No! Rinoa, dagger, dorm. Rinoa, dagger, dorm…
I raced to the doctor's desk and scrabbled around for a pen.
Nothing. Rinoa, dagger…
I leaned over the desk to pull out the drawers on the opposite side, and a pencil fell out of my hip pocket. Rinoa…
I laughed silently, grabbed it and attacked the page held in my hand.
Rinoa. Rinoa has dark hair and dark eyes. She wears blue. I met her at the SeeD graduation party a few months ago. She was wearing white at the time. We saw a shooting star. We danced. That night, Quistis took me to the Secret Area and told me she wasn't an instructor anymore. We saved Ellone from a monster, then the white SeeD came and took her away. I first saw Ellone in the Infirmary after I fought a duel with Seifer. We gave eachother matching scars between the eyes.
I glanced up at my reflection in the window. No scar. I looked a little strange without it. Actually, without it I… without…
Ri-
I stared blankly at my reflection, and he stared blankly back at me. I looked down at the creased sheet of paper in my hand. It was written in pencil, and I was holding the pencil that had been used to write it. I must have been the one to write it, and yet I didn't have a clue what it meant. This was the second time I'd somehow sent myself messages that made no sense.
The sound of footsteps coming down the hall broke me out of my funk. I quickly crumpled up the paper and threw it in the bin. It was absolutely meaningless anyway, wasn't it?
I stared at it, lying there, and felt a sudden wave of nausea.
A hand touched my arm.
"AAAH!" I yelled. I fumbled for a weapon that wasn't there, and wildly pointed the pencil at the man's throat.
"Whoa! Hey, easy there," the man said, and as he stepped back and raised his hands I realised it was Dr. Dincht.
I stared at him and stammered out, "I…I'm sorry…I… didn't…"
The doctor cut me off. "What was that all about? They don't teach you to be this highly strung, do they? I was just going to say that you looked a lot better, except now I think I've changed my mind. At least we know your lungs are working." As I just stood there and stared at him, he added. "It might help if you put the pencil down."
I nodded wordlessly, lowered the pencil and fumbled for my pocket.
"I'm just going to check if you have a temperature, okay?" He raised one hand to my forehead, but cautiously, as if I was a wild animal. I tried not to make any sudden movements. "Well, you don't have a temperature, breathing seems normal…" He held my wrist to check my pulse, then looked up at me. "How do you feel?"
"Uh… okay, I guess."
He laughed as he repeated, "'Okay, I guess'?" Being nice and detailed, I see."
I managed a slightly hysterical grin. "Ha. Ha. Yeah. Um. I feel fine. Just tired, I guess."
"You feel tired? Still?" The doctor frowned and began scribbling on a scrap of paper on his desk.
"Is that bad?" I asked.
He looked up at me and smiled. "Well, that depends which way you look at it. It's great for me because it backs up my theory of why you collapsed like that."
I looked at him quizzically. "I collapsed because I was hit by a Sleep spell, doctor."
Amused, he replied, "Well, yes and no. Sleep spells usually last only for a few minutes. The longest I've ever seen someone out from a Sleep spell was perhaps half an hour. That particular Sleep spell was cast by Miss Tilmitt. I've heard she was also your own opponent in the tournament?"
I nodded and wondered where this was leading. "Selphie's a strong magic-user. If she put someone out for half an hour, surely she can put me out for a bit longer?"
His grin only widened. "How long do you think you've been asleep for, boy?"
It would have been about eight when I was hit, and according to the clock on the wall, it was now… A quarter past one.
"Five hours!" I said, shocked.
"Nope." He shook his head. "Try adding one."
"What… six hours?"
"Not one hour; One day."
I stared at him, openmouthed. "I've been asleep for twenty-nine hours!?"
He waved a hand. "Give or take a few – one thing I've learned from working here is never to trust the Infirmary clock."
I sat down abruptly on the desk.
"You see the problem." Doctor Dincht noted.
"What's wrong with me?" I asked him faintly.
"I think it's an allergy," the doctor said, as he moved around to sit at the desk chair.
"Allergy?" I repeated. "To what? To sleeping?"
"No, to Sleeping." The doctor laughed at my expression, and continued. "I believe you are allergic to Sleep spells. Some of the Instructors thought it must have been from fatigue or stress, in which case you just needed to rest for a while. I wasn't too sure about that – you don't look like someone who has a lot to worry about, if you don't mind me saying so. But you were just about comatose for far too long. We couldn't even wake you. Your blonde friend was very upset."
I rested my head in my hands. Quistis… had she been waiting there the full thirty hours? And the first and only thing I do when I wake is call for Rinoa. I still don't even know who she is! Oh, shit… Why didn't I go after her? How am I going to explain away this one?
"Hey, don't worry about it," Doctor Dincht said. "If I'm right, the effects will wear off before dinner – you'll be your usual hyperactive self in no time." I snorted. Hyperactive? "Just be extra careful if you're fighting Grats in the training centre and stay away from any sort of sleeping pills – you never know, someone might have used powdered Sleep beads as the main ingredient. And look on the bright side – now if you sleep in and are late for class like you were yesterday morning, you've got an excuse. I'll even write you a note!"
I couldn't help but laugh. "Thanks, doctor," I said, reaching over the desk to shake his hand.
"No problem," he replied, "but speaking of yesterday morning… Your instructor passed by and said that if you woke before tonight, the detention still stands. You'll be working on the MD level. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news… you should have slept for a few more hours."
I groaned. "Okay, okay." And got up to leave.
"Oh, by the way," the doctor called, "Have you got over that amnesia you came in with the other day?"
My head snapped back towards him and I abruptly tripped over the bin, completely trashing the floor. "Ah… sorry," I said, and bent down to put everything back.
The doctor shook his head. "Don't worry about it – I'll clean it up. So… have you got over your amnesia?"
I almost didn't hear him, staring at the paper I'd been picking off the floor, covered in my own handwriting.
"I don't know."
I couldn't find Quistis anywhere. She wasn't in the library, the quad, the cafeteria or even the infirmary. I wanted to check the Training Center, but I couldn't search everywhere for the simple reason that my allergy meant I could die if I went anywhere near a Grat. I doubted she was really there anyway. I even tried her dorm, but the door was locked and no-one answered. And since Garden Policy taught that everyone should lock their doors when they left, I couldn't even be sure she was there. I called my apologies through the door, but one of her friends soon noticed and shooed me away.
"She's gone to Balamb for the day," she told me, but from the way she was glaring at me she knew I'd done something wrong to Quistis and so she would probably cover for her no matter where she was. Even so, I was out of ideas. I comforted myself with the knowledge that she had to go to detention that evening as well, but in the meantime I retreated to my own dorm.
I had kept the paper I'd found in the Infirmary, and now I lay it on the desk next to the first sheet I'd written on yesterday morning. It didn't make any more sense. If the messages were to be believed, Quistis had been my instructor, but wasn't any more - she'd lost the position after some dance… A SeeD party. How had I been at a party for SeeDs? Did that mean I had graduated? Quistis had admitted to me that she dreamed of being an Instructor… so was this some kind of vision of the future?
And the mysterious Rinoa appeared in the second message. But the small amount of information I was given about her just confirmed that I didn't know her. And if this was a message from the future, then I wouldn't meet her until I became a SeeD.
As I searched the messages again, I noted the small but constant differences between the writing on the pages and my own handwriting. Whoever wrote this might not even be me - even a future me should surely have more similar handwriting? But… who else could it be from?
Sighing, I closed my eyes. There wasn't enough information here for me to work out anything definite. I couldn't even use it to explain to Quistis. She wouldn't accept such random information as an excuse. Love was such a difficult game. But maybe I could…
Suddenly, my eyes were open again.
"I decided then that… Squall, you…"
Someone touched my arm, and I followed it up to the face of a raven-haired beauty. Actually, it looked like her hair had been streaked with brown, but what bothered me the most was that she had clearly been talking to me for some time.
"What?" I whispered, addressing the world in general.
The girl looked at me with a confused smile, but pressed on. "You need somebody who understands you, Squall. But no one has managed to find out enough about you to even attempt such a thing…
I looked around the room. This wasn't my dorm. This was a SeeD's dorm. It seemed somehow familiar.
"…Although I understand Quistis came close."
My head snapped back to the girl in front of me. "Quistis?" I asked in surprise.
The dark-eyed girl just rolled her eyes, her smile shrinking a bit. "It was a joke, Squall. Even Quistis admits that she can only predict what you're going to say by the way your face clouds over."
I suddenly recognised this room. This morning, just after Quistis woke me up in the Infirmary, I had been here, looking at this girl for just a few moments before I'd returned to the world I knew. I thought it had been a dream…
"Anyway," the girl - Rinoa? - continued, "since you don't help anyone find out about yourself - quite the opposite, actually - I'm taking up the challenge of trying to work out what makes you tick."
"I'm not a clock," I growled, startling myself. The girl just laughed.
"Of course not, Squall. It's a figure of speech. But I figured that the best place to start would be your own room." She looked around pointedly and returned her gaze to my face. "That's all I want from you, Squall. If you want me to stay out of your dorm and," she giggled, "your underwear drawer, just tell me a little about yourself."
"I'll think about it," my voice informed her. This voice was taking over, I realised with a surge of panic. And I hadn't even tried to find the answers to my questions! "Please just go."
Rinoa nodded, but with an almost sinister smile she said, "I'll get to you eventually, Squall. Sooner or later…" She trailed off, grinned and left.
I looked around the room. Almost completely spotless. How very unlike me. How in Hyne's name did this Rinoa expect to find anything in a room like this? There was a very strange weapon on his desk, a sort of dagger…
The dagger!
What? No, hang on! I have to-
She didn't answer the question! The voice persisted.
At least let me… Stop it! Go away! I pleaded, as I felt myself moving to the door.
What are you? He asked.
Please, at least let me write a note!
No answer. Of course not.
Arguing with myself. Not a good sign.
But I grabbed a sheet of paper from a drawer that was lying on top of the desk for some reason, and pulled a pencil from my pocket. I guess some things never change.
Are you from my future?
Wow, that's very helpful, Squall. How can anyone answer a question like that?
Were you writing to me in the Infirmary? Writing about Rinoa, and a graduation ball, and Quistis not being an instructor any more?
Talk about Garden. Ask if it sounds familiar.
My name is Squall Leonhart. I'm seventeen, and I've been training to be a SeeD at Balamb Garden for about as long as I can remember. I've never been to a graduation ball - I'm only a cadet. And I don't know anyone called Rinoa. But Quistis told me she dreamed of being an Instructor. It makes me wonder if you are part of my future.
The voice was murmuring again. Keep going! I told myself, and the pencil flew across the page as I wrote whatever came to mind.
In my time, Quistis is my girlfriend and we've been going out for months now. She asked me out the day of this year's SeeD exam. I told her to wait till that night, joking that if we made it, I'd go out with her, and if we didn't, I wouldn't. Ironically, the exam was postponed until this month. When we found out, we couldn't help but laugh. She claimed fate was making me decide for myself. So I did. She's very forgetful – she left her boots in my room when we were late the other day and I ran all over Garden trying to find her.
I smiled at the memory while I shook my hand out of a cramp and let it drop back onto the desk. A sharp pain ripped across my fingers.
"Aaah!"
I had cut myself on the dagger.
The dagger!
I raced to the door and out into the hallway, looking desperately up and down. Damn! How could I let her get away like that? Some well-trained SeeD I am…
My hand throbbed, and I looked down in surprise to see blood all over my hand.
Shit! I thought, more out of surprise than of pain. How the hell did that happen?
I quickly moved back into the dorm and pulled at the lower drawer of my desk with my good hand, cursing when I found it locked. I fumbled for my key, rattled it in the lock and yanked the drawer open. I grabbed the medical kit, giving a start as I noticed the dagger, bloodstained, on the desk. But my hand was aching pretty badly, so I retreated to the bathroom for the moment. As the water coursed over my bloody hand, I wondered again how I could have let Rinoa leave without answering my questions. I'd asked how she was getting into my room, and what she wanted. I could vaguely recall some long-winded explanation that she wanted to get to know me, but she never actually told me how she'd got into my locked room in the first place!
I sighed, turned off the tap and wiped my hand on a paper towel before it started bleeding again.
I pulled out a bandage from the medical kit and froze, the material slipping through my fingers and rolling across the floor.
My hand…
There was no cut.
I traced a finger around the line that was no longer there. Nothing.
I had a sinkful of bloody water and no wound.
I paced into the next room, wanting the conformation of blood on the dagger.
"Frickin' hell!" I cursed, not noticing my coining of Zell's line.
The dagger had vanished again.
The door was shut, but unlocked - as I had left it. It would have been easy enough for someone light on their feet to sneak in, grab the dagger and leave without me noticing.
Frustrated, I returned to the desk. There was a piece of paper with writing all over it that I hadn't noticed before, with a few drops of blood dotted across the page. As I read the seemingly nonsensical paragraph written on it, I realised that the only bloodstain that had come near the actual writing had covered one word.
Fate.
I shivered.
DING!
I jumped about a foot before I realised it was the goddamned intercom.
"Commander Leonhart, please report to the bridge."
I took one last look at the bloodstain and left my room, making absolutely certain to lock the door this time.
"There you are, Commander," Xu greeted me. I nodded in return.
"You look a little pale, Squall." Quistis noted. "Is something wrong?"
It was tempting to blurt out all the strange things that had been happening since yesterday morning, but even after all the madness I still believed it was best to keep your problems to yourself. The only person I trusted to help me was me. And if I ever did decide to tell Quistis -- or anyone -- of my problems, I certainly wouldn't do it in front of Xu and Nida. With my luck, the intercom would be on and my obvious insanity would be instantly apparent to every person in the building.
"I'm fine," I lied. "What's the problem?"
"We've arrived at Trabia," Xu informed me. "Their Garden is north of us, a short hike away. Will you want to leave now?"
"Yes." I needed to do something – anything - to get my mind off blood and blades.
"Who are you going to take with you?" Quistis asked.
"You and Selphie, if you don't mind." With any luck, Selphie would run ahead and leave me alone to talk - if I chose to, of course - with Quistis.
She shook her head. "I'll contact Selphie."
The brunette came almost immediately, smiling brightly and hopping from foot to foot. "Here I am!"
Her red eyes betrayed her facade. It seemed somehow familiar.
I don't know why - it's not something Selphie does often…
I wasn't sure if I meant crying, or letting the mask slip.
I guess both applied to me too.
I shook my head. "Let's go."
Well, first I guess I should explain the last chapter… but I'm not going to. Hehe! All I'm saying is that it's there for a reason.
For some of my older readers (from waay back 2-3 years ago), there has been major splitsville here. This chapter used to be combined with the next, and they were both in the same chapter as Chapter 7 is now. (Phew) The main reason they've been split up is because the chapter was so much longer than the others!! I couldn't really find any better place to stop. How DO people decide where to end a chapter, anyway?
But enough of that. Thanks to those who reviewed chapter 4:
AUTHORS:
ZidanesNEWPrincess (I haven't confused you yet? I'd better work harder…)
Solarwind Starfire (please, please finish your story!!!)
Kouryuu
Vick330 (boy do I like your reviews!)
White Crescent (If you find that Reflection fic you mentioned, please let me know! And… uh… did you actually beg me to let you WAIT for more!?)
Yaoifantasy
ANONYMITES:
CT (Eek! Um, good point actually. I really should know why Selphie doesn't like Squall in the other world. Thanks for pointing it out! I'll put my thinking cap on.)
Dark Phoenix (Thanks again, man. Check out my policy on Squinoas once I post it)
Ender
(PHEW!) Well, thanks once again to EVERYONE!!! I love you all!!!! Um, yeah, so if there's anything you don't understand or don't like about the story, please let me know. And remember the three R's: Read, Review, and… I don't know if I like ravioli… better make it rutabaga.
Draic
This chapter was brought to you by:
"Seifer's Camping Trip", a Vick330 production
It's humour! It's funny! And it's written by Vick!
(P.S. Go read it)
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