Chapter 8.

Dreaming


Squall, Zell, and Selphie laid on the floor, asleep.

Or so it seemed. Squall actually felt like he was awake, but he couldn't see anything or feel anything. It was dark, and more than dark. It felt like... nothing.

"Hmmmm...?"

Sudennly, Squall found himself running down a path, followed by two men. They were wearing Galbadian uniforms.

"What the...?" Squall tried to say, but he couldn't. He could only hear himself think.

He looked at his surrondings, or at least, he tried to. Squall didn't feel like he could control his body. It felt all wrong.

He stopped running, without trying, and heard the voice of one of the men following him.

"Uhh, Laguna..." the voice said. "Are you sure this is the right way?"

Squall couldn't answer, or 'Laguna' didn't. Either way, they all began running again.

They stopped in the road, Squall looked around, involintarily, and heard another voice. This one was deeper.

"Oh great. Not again..."

"Where am I...?" Squall thought.

Zell, and Selphie were having a similar expirience. Zell suddenly found himself running down the same forest path. Only Zell was a whole foot and a half taller than he'd been, and heavy set. He was following two men in their late twentys, wearing Galbadian military uniforms. The one in front had long black hair, and a heroic apperance.

Selphie found herself in a man's body, saying things, even though she wasn't trying to speak. And following the same black-haired soldier.

None of them could communicate with the others. They could only speak when whoever they had 'become' spoke.

"Is this a dream...?" Zell thought, as 'he' began running again.

They came across some monsters in the middle of the path. 'Zell' pulled a Huge harpoon from a case on his back. 'Squall' had a macine gun, and 'Selphie' was armed with wrist blades.

They fought, and could feel themsleves moving, attacking and being attacked, but they could not control their movments. They were incredibly confused.

After crossing a small stream, 'Zell' spoke.

"Hey, aren't we here to fight a war? You know, against the almighty Timber army?"

'Selphie' said somthing next.

"Yeah, so why are we wasting time messin' with these animals?"

'Squall' turned to face them. He saw a soldier, a young black man about 6 inches taller than he was, and a, large, heavy-set man similarly dressed. They were Galbadian soldiers alright.

"Well, you see... It's just that uhhh..." 'he' said.

"Don't tell me we're lost again." 'Selphie' said.

'Squall' looked around. They were in the middle of a forest, a thick jungle, And he had no idea which one, or where they were headed.

"Anyway... we're goin' home." 'Squall' said. "Deling city, here we come!"

"Deling city...? Galbadia's capital...?" Squall thought.

"W-wait! Laguna!" 'Zell' called.

The group ran until they found an armored military car parked in the middle of the forest. They piled in and began driving.

"Laguna..." thought Squall. "So that's my...HIS name. Whoever he is..."

"Don't worry Ward!" Laguna said, looking at 'Zell'.

"Ward?!" Zell thought surprised. "Is that... ME?!"

"...Wadd'ya think, Kiros?" Ward said to 'Selphie'.

"Kiros...what a pretty name...." Selphie thought. She had accepted this as a dream so far, though she was still a little confused.

"I think Laguna got homesick...." Kiros teased.

"Alright!" Laguna said, upset with their taunts. "We're just taking a small leave, okay? We've been out here a long time!"

They didn't speak much more the whole drive, leaving Squall, Zell, And Selphie to their thoughts.

"What is happening to me? What is this...?" Squall thought over and over.

"Am I still in the train cabin, sleeping?" Selphie wondered, not so sure that this was a dream anymore.

They finally reached Deling city.

"Wow...Sure is big." Selphie thought as they drove through the streets.

"This is too wierd..." thought Zell. "This is exactly like Pictures of Deling city that I've seen, and everything fits together... except everything looks older... How could I be dreaming all this up?!"

Squall's mind was blank. It didn't feel like he was dreaming, but he didn't know what else it could be.

"Hey!" Ward said. "You can't park in the middle of the street!"

Laguna had done just that.

"Chill man, it's cool." Laguna said.

They got out of the car, and started walking down the street.

"Alright then!" Laguna said excited. "How's about a drink!?"

"We're not just here for the booze are we?" Kiros asked. "We've got a War to fight."

Ward laughed.

"So we'll get smashed, and then we'll CHAARGE!" He yelled.

Zell laughed to himself, despite his confusion.

"I like this guy..." he thought.

Laguna turned too them.

"Wow..." thought Selphie. "Laguna's cute..."

Kiros, Ward..." Laguna said. "You two seem to misunderstand. I just want to have a friendly drink with you two."

Ward and Kiros just looked at each other, knowingly, and followed Laguna. Several cars drove up behind the military vehicle they had ridden in, blocking the road.

Laguna and his friends walked around Dollet, making their way to the Galbadia Hotel.

As Laguna walked in, he passed a soldier that he knew.

"Hey, Laguna! Back to see 'her' again?"

"...Whatever." Laguna mumbled.

Squall felt uncomfortable. That was somthing he usually said.

Laguna led Ward and Kiros in the door.

Inside the Galbadia Hotel, there was a small club/bar that was freqented by many soldiers. It was pretty empty during the week, but there were always a few personel on leave for the day or somthing, who stopped in to listen to the club's preformer.

Laguna walked down the stairs to the classy-looking bar area. They didn't fit the club's atmospshere at all, dressed in their blue, bulky uniforms. But there were only other soldiers and waitresses inside anyway.

The club had red carpet and a stage, where the piano was placed. Blue and red curtains hung dramtially from the walls and ceiling. The curtains blocked the light, giving the club a dark, romantic atmosphere.

As they came down, the waitress recognized Laguna immediately.

"Welcome!" she smiled at him. He was here more freqently than any soldier she had seen.

"Your usual table is ready."

Laguna was about to answer, but his mind sudennly went blank. Squall was still wondering what was happening, and his thoughts seemed to be reflected in Laguna.

"...What?" Laguna said to the waitress.

Kiros looked at Laguna.

"Whats wrong Laguna?" he asked.

"...I dunno." Laguna said, confused at the strange feeling that had sudennly come over him.

The waitress looked at him strangly.

"Would you like to sit down?" She offered again.

"What is this... " Squall thought.

"Huh?" Laguna said.

Kiros was a little worried now.

"Laguna... Whats wrong...?"

"Ahh... I'm not sure..." Laguna said, scratching his head.

"Wait a second..." Ward said. "Is your head buzzing...?"

Laguna looked at him in surprise.

"W-What... you too?"

"Yeah, ever since we were in Timber."

Kiros felt it as well.

"Me too..." he said.

They all looked at each other oddly, wondering what was going on.

"Does this have somthing to do with me?!" Zell wondered.

"Hey, we're just tired, that's all." Ward joked. "We'll be fine after a drink or two, or three..."

"...I guess." Laguna thought.

"Oh God... I can hear what he's thinking too ..." Squall realized.

"Let's take a load off." Laguna said. He turned too the waitress. "Sorry... Thanks..."

The waitress led the trio to their usual table in the front corner of the room.

"Is this a dream?" Squall wondered.

"Laguna's pretty cute!" Selphie thought again.

"W-Whats goin' on!? W-Whats happening to me!?" Zell began to panic.

Ward, Kiros, and Laguna all stood at thier seats.

"At ease men." Laguna said, mocking commands.

All three plopped down lazily.

"We're goin' all out tonight right boys!?" Laguna said enthusiastically.

The waitress walked over.

"May I take your order?"

"The usual!" Laguna replied.

"Me too." Kiros said.

"Keep em' coming!" agreed Ward.

The waitress walked off and Ward began teasing Laguna.

"So, Laguna... Julia should be making her apperance soon... you goin' for it tonight?" Kiros chimed in.

"Yeah go for it!"

The woman that they were speaking of came down the red carpeted stairway. She was wearing a long red evening gown which she tucked carefully under her legs, as she posistioned herself at the piano. Laguna listned to the song which he had heard her play countless times before. He loved hearing it. He loved hearing all of Julia's songs.

Julia Heartilly was the Hotel's preformer, and she played the piano marvelously. She had become quite popualr in Dollet and had develpoed a large fan-following. Laguna had chatted with her a few times before, and he had developed an enormous crush on her. Ward and Kiros always tried to get him to talk with her when they came to the hotel. But now, because of his feelings, Laguna always got nervous and clammed up.

"What-ever man!" Laguna replied to his friends, nervously. "Can't you see she's working?"

"Don't go back on your word..." Kiros said.

Laguna had promised to ask Julia out, or at least say 'hi' to her, the next time he saw her. Now was his chance.

"Com'on, go wave to her." Kiros encouraged.

"Give me a break..." Laguna pleaded.

Ward Zabac and Kiros Seagill eyed each other knowingly. They knew Laguna too well to belive that he wouldn't do it.

"So you say, but we know you'll do it." Ward said smugly.

Laguna finally gathered up his courage, and decided to go for it.

"If for nothing else, then for them to leave me alone!" he thought.

"I'll agree with that..." Squall thought. Listening to Laguna was bad enough for him. He didn't want to feel like he was being harrassed as well.

With out a word, Laguna got up and walked over to the stage.

Julia was such a beautiful person, both in her looks and her personality, Laguna knew from when he had talked to her. Before, he could speak with her freely, but now he was incredibly nervous on front of this beautiful woman.

She had dark raven hair, and fair skin. Laguna couldn't imagine someone more lovely.

As Squall looked at her through Laguna's eyes, she reminded him of someone. But then Laguna began thinking to himself.

"Ah... to be this close to Julia..." he thought.

Squall listened.

"Is this guy serious...?"

Laguna looked at Julia, and sundenly noticed that she was staring back at him. He blushed a little as he felt her eyes on him, but she was smiling and he managed to grin back at her. Then, his worst fear suddenly came true.

"Uh-oh..." he thought. "My leg's cramping up! Argh...!" He waved to Julia, wincing, and dragged his crammped leg back to his seat.

"..Sad.." thought Squall.

Laguna's leg always cramped when he became nervous.

"Mission succesful!" Ward laughed,

"Good work, Laguna." Kiros said. "Here have a seat."

Laguna sat down, nursing his aching leg.

"I didn't think you'd actually do it. Our popularity ratings gone up a point." Ward nudged Laguna.

"Yeah, but you cut a pretty pitiful figure up there." Kiros laughed. "I'd say you're about a negative 3 on the manliness scale."

Laguna was upset enough at himself.

"Say what you want!" he retorted. Then he sighed.

"...Julia sure is pretty..." he mumbled.

The music from the piano stopped. Kiros sudennly looked over Laguna's shoulder and saw someone walking towards them.

"Aaa..." he began. He nudged Ward.

"Hunhhh...?"

Then Ward saw who Kiros was looking at.

Laguna was oblivious, just looking down at his drink.

"Laguna, we're taking off." Kiros said quickly. He and Ward started to move away from their seats.

"Hey! What's the rush?" Laguna jumped up and yelled.

Ward looked over at him as they walked away.

"It's on us tonight." He said. "Relax and stay a while, Laguna." He winked at him, pointed behind Laguna, and walked off.


*------------------------------PLACE MARKER---------------------*

(Sick of reading right now? Take a break, and find your spot right here when you come back to the story!)

Sudennly, Laguna heard a soft, beautiful voice talking behind him.

"May I?" the voice asked. It was Julia.

"Aaaaa..." Laguna got up and spoke nervously. He moved over.

"Did I interupt anything?" she asked politly.

"N-N-N-Not at all." Laguna stammered. "P-Please, s-sit down."

"Oh man, oh man, it's really HER! What do I do!? Kiros? Ward? HELP! What do I say!?... But man, she is pretty..." Laguna's thoughts raced quickly.

"What's this guy thinking... ?" Squall was not impressed with Laguna at all. He couldn't keep up with this soldiers' sparatic thoughts.

Julia sat down next to Laguna.

"You ok now?" she asked.

"Kind of..." Laguna began, calming down a little.

"How's your leg?"

L-Leg? Oh, this!?" Laguna said. "Y-Yeah, it's fine."

She looked at him smileing.

"Happens all the time when I get nervous..."

Laguna coughed.

Julia continued looking at him.

"Were you nervous?" she asked.

Laguna was getting more comfortable. As nervous as he was, Julia was very encourageing. It helped him not to stutter around so much.

"Oh, yeah. I'm still kinda..."

Julia didn't want him to feel uncomfortable.

"You can relax." she said. Her voice was very reassuring. "You don't have to get nervous around me."

Laguna suddenly felt asshamed.

"Oh, sorry." he apologized.

"Say..." Julia began. Then she leaned over and whispered in his ear.

"(Would you like to talk somewhere private? I have a room here...)"

Laguna hadn't noticed that everyone in the room was staring at the two.

"I-In your room!" he said, in shock.

"Well..." Julia began looking around. "(It's pretty hard to talk freely here. Everyone's listening in.)"

Laguna looked up. All the waitresses and the other soldiers were watching them.

"If you'd like to, please come by." Julia pleaded. "I've been wanting to talk to you."

Laguna was shaking nervously, and he found it hard to respond. Julia looked at him.

"You don't want too?"

Her voice sounded sad.

Laguna gathered himself quickly at this.

"Of course I do!" he said, reassuring her.

"Then I'll go ahead and wait for you. Ask for my room at the front desk, ok?"

Julia got up, smiled at Laguna and walked to her room.

Laguna was incredibly nervous now.

"Am I dreaming?" he thought.

Squall was getting worried.

"This is a dream... this is a dream..." He tried to convince himself.

"No, this can't be a dream!" Laguna continued, with more confidence.

"This is too weird to be a dream...." Squall thought.

"Julia...? want to talk to me...?"

"He talks to himself to much..."

"And just the two of us!" Laguna was getting a lttle too excited. "Whoa... Get it together Laguna..." he thought.

"...Whatever." Squall said to himself.

"I always screw up by talking about myself too much. It's always been like that." Laguna had to admit this, even to himself.

"But not tonight! I'm all ears for Julia!" Laguna thought. "Time to use my manly charm, and help Julia with her problems... if she has any thing she needs help with, I mean... Oh man, I don't know what I'm gonna do...! ...Ok, just calm down, Laguna. You'll be fine."

Laguna got up and headed to the stairs, but he noticed Kiros and Ward still in the club.

"Those jerks... They knew that she was coming over to talk to me..." Laguna thought.

Ward spoke to him.

"Can you really carry on a conversation with Julia? Make sure the conversations sophisticated."

Laguna just laughed.

"No worries, man! Thats like, my specialty." he tried to sound cool.

Kiros chimed in.

"One wouldn't say you converse, though... All you do is yap-yap-yap and never listen."

Laguna ignored him and continued walking. He also tried to ignore the dirty glances that the other soldiers in the bar were giving him. Julia was pretty popular.

Laguna walked up the the front desk. The receptionest was freindly.

"Welcome! Checking in?" she asked.

"Ok... 'Which room is Julia's', thats all you gotta say."

But Laguna got nervous again.

"Wh-Wh-Whi-..." he stuttered.

"Is he really going?" Squall thought.

"...Oh. Mr. Laguna Loire? I've been expecting you." the receptionest said. "Let me show you to Ms. Julias room."

Laguna sighed a breath of relife.

"Here we go..."he thought, anxiously.

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In Julia's room, Laguna was standing, nervously speaking with her.

"Thanks for coming." Julia smiled at him.

"No... Not at all, uh... Thank you for inviting me." Laguna replied.

"Have a seat." she invited, noticing how much he was shaking.

Laguna walked over to the foot of the bed, and sat down.

"Aaa! What am I doing!?" Laguna panicked. "I don't want her to think that I'm here for... THAT!" He got up quickly and walked over to a chair in the far side of the room. Then he got up again and walked over to Julia.

"God! I'm so nervous...!"

Julia laughed, knowingly. Her bubbly voice putting Laguna into a trance.

"Going so soon? We haven't even talked yet." she joked.

"No, its not that." Laguna explained. "It's just that I'm a big fan of your's, so I'm really kinda nervous, y'know?"

"So that's why you come to hear me play so often." Julia said.

"She noticed me? All those times I've been here...?! She knows how much I come here just to listen to her play..."

"You... you saw me?" Laguna sttuered. He began pacing about the room frantically.

"You were always smileing while listening, right?" Now even Julia sounded a bit nervous.

"You have beautiful eyes." she said softly. "Though they look a bit scared now."

Laguna just looked at her, wide eyed, more nervous than he could have ever imagined.

"Don't worry." she laughed. "I'm not going to pluck' em and eat'em. I just want to talk, gazing into those eyes." She turned around, slightly embarressed.

"Would you like a drink? Wine perhaps?" she asked quickly.

"I must be dreamin'..." Laguna said aloud.

Laguna and Julia stayed in her room for hours, just talking. Laguna soon became comfortable talking with her, but he started rambling.

"...Yeah, I don't like fightin' too much, but you get to travel. y'know? Seeing new places n' stuff." he said.

"And it's fun, 'cause Kiros and Ward are always with me... Hey, we should all go out drinkin' sometime! Whaddya say?" Laguna didn't mean to sound so crude, but the alcohol had losened his tounge slightly.

"And...uh... What was I talkin' about? Oh yeah. So I want to quit the army and become a journalist! So I can tell people 'bout all the things I've seen on my travels."

Squall had to listen to the whole conversation.

"He's already loosened up..." Squall thought.

Julia was simply sitting there, patiently. She didn't mind that Laguna was talking so much. In fact, she kind of enjoyed it. It was different, and refreshing somehow, to talk with someone who was so enthusiastic, esspesially during the war.

"So, like, the other day, one of my articles made the reader's column. Pretty cool huh?" He stopped to catch his breath.

"Yeah, that was way cool..."

Julia nodded her head and smiled.

"I'm happy for you." she said softly.

They continued like that for even longer. Laguna talking and Julia sitting there, happily listening to him. After a while, however, Laguna finally caught himself.

"Yikes!" he realized. "I'm talkin' too much again."

He was embarressed now. He wanted to come up here and learn more about Julia, but he had wasted time chatting about himself.

"Uhh...Tell me about yourself." he asked Julia. "Like... your dreams for the future."

Julia didn't like to talk about herself too much. She was quiet by nature. But this man had opened up to her so much, how could she not reciprocate? She walked over to the window and looked outside, longingly.

"I... I want to sing. Not just play the piano, but sing too."

"Oh, I'd really love to hear it." Laguna encouraged her.

"But I can't." she said. "I'm no good at writing lyrics..."

"Hmmm... That must be tough." he said sympathetically.

Julia looked over at him, smileing.

"But," she began. "thanks to you, I think I can come up with something."

Laguna was surprised.

"Thanks to me...?" He said.

"Yes..."

She began singing quietly.

"The many faces you've shown me, times when you were hurt, worried, or felt pain deep inside you... your smile, your face, your eyes..."

Julia walked closer to Laguna, resting her hand on his shoulder.

"You've shown me something... I think I can come up with a song."

"Wow! I must be dreamin'..." Laguna said nervously.

Julia lifted his hand and pinched it softly.

"It's not a dream, is it?" she whispered as she leaned her lips over to his cheek.

Laguna's heart started beating faster and faster.

"...This isn't a dream... This is as real as it gets..." he thought happily.

Sudennly, there was a loud knock on the door. It was Kiros.

"Laguna! New orders! Meet by the presidential residence, on the double!"

Julia looked at him, saddened.

"Can we meet again?" she asked.

"Of course!" Laguna smiled at her. "I have to come hear you sing!"

Julia kissed his cheek quickly and and they smiled at each other.

"...I will come back... I'll always come back here, for her..." Laguna thought.

He left her room, still smileing at her, and shut the door.


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End chap 8.

Wow! Laguna is such a geek! But a lucky one!

(Julia... Stops my heart almost as much as Rinoa... *Sigh* I'm such a sucker for romance...)

I hope I described this scene good enough. I'm really trying to do my best, esspessilly on these type of chapters. y'know, with the love n' stuff. The warm fuzzy feelings and all that...

(Jeez... I really am a sap... ^_^)

This chapter is gonna be one of the most important in the story, as you will later see.

Anywayz, I hope some more people who haven't played the game are reading this by now. (If you are one of those people, go buy the game. Now.) But of course, I hope you FF8 vet's are enjoying this too. My aim is to please. If you think I can do better on some parts, let me know!

R+R!

So, I tried incorporating some of the lyrics to a 'certain song' in this chapter. I hope that sounded good. (I'm not gonna say the name, 'cuz it comes into play much later in the story... Besides, you should already know it... It's, like, the title of half of the fanfics on this site, anyway.)

Y'know, I never realized how many times that song is played in the game until just now. It has so many variations that I never noticed before. There's like three different variations during the 'Laguna/Julia' part, and another two or so during Rinoa's scenes. (Even during the ballroom FMV, the music, 'Waltz for the Moon', is just another variation of that song!)

So anyway, another chapter completed.

The lovey dovey crap is the most fun to write about. It gives me those warm squishy feelings inside... or maybe that's just gas...(Sorry... I had to say somthing to lighten the mood... I was getin' all emotional n' stuff writing this chapter. *sniff*sniff* ^-^())

Next up! chapter 9. The Forest owls.

It's another good one!... I hope. But hey its got Rinoa in it, so its gotta be worth somthin', even if it's crap! But be warned...It's long. (I'm talkin' chap. 3 type hugness here... possibly bigger!)

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