Tired But Not Defeated

As Rinoa trudged on through the now bright, blinding desert she discovered something. Even though she knew she was dreaming she now also knew that everything in the Dream World was very real. The piping, hot sand was terrible and though she longed to stop, for she had been going for about three or four miles, the sand would start to burn her feet each and every time she lingered too long. From so many rebelling stops her feet were becoming raw. She also had the Lefty and the Righty that she had encountered to thank for that, for even though she had escaped them they still had a parting gift.

Her shoes.

"Aaaagghh!" she exclaimed. "I'm in my own dreams and yet I can't even change it to suit my liking! Why are there monsters in my dreams anyway and WHERE AM I?!?!?!"

Frustrated, she now stomped her way through the sandy plains wearing what Squall would have secretly called a cute pout.

The heat in the place was really going all out to make her give up in exhaustion, hoping that the fact that she was wearing black would help. Rinoa, being the stubborn 17 year old teenager that she was, kept going much to the disappointment of the woman that was currently out of sight and out of mind of Rinoa.

Turning away from the scene before her she vanished, the place that she had occupied moments ago rippled, allowing the dream scape to become unstable. Unknown to the witch a part of the dream scape became too unstable revealing a cave that had an eerie, but calming blue glow. A snow white feather whizzed out of the cave and went straight for Rinoa.

Rinoa who had been looking at the ground that she walked on as she passed, was quite startled when she felt a light brush against her shoulder causing her to jump a few inches in the air. Spinning a bit too quickly, Rinoa ended up missing the feather completely. The feather ended up being behind her again. Instead of trying it again it whizzed around her making sure to be directly in her line of sight.

Rinoa blinked twice before rubbing her temples and saying rather loudly, "Great. Just great! Now I'm hallucinating! The heat must be getting to me more than I thought." At her reaction the feather shook slightly showing that it wasn't exactly pleased with her for saying something that it clearly thought was very rude.

Sighing, Rinoa then said, "And what exactly are you supposed to be? My helper?".

After saying this she removed her hand from her temples and stared at the feather not really expecting a reply and was very shocked when she received one.

"Yes actually, I am." he replied

His voice reminded her of a low brass bell. Clear, calm, and deep. She couldn't see the rest of him, but she knew someone was there. He wasn't just a feather. She could feel a presence, which she cursed herself for not noticing earlier.

His chuckle rang through the air. She stared at the feather realizing that her face probably betrayed her inner thoughts. "I was beginning to think that you were angry with that look on your face." he said confirming her suspicions.

She laughed nervously and then said "So, no offense, but how can you help me looking like that?" she asked. She couldn't see it, but she felt like he had smiled at her. "Good, you know that this is not my true form. I must say that I am impressed. In this form, however, I can alert you to possible danger. I can also tell you if the place is safe or if the place is just something that you have to be wary of. Inside any cave that looks like the one I will show you momentarily, I will be able to help you even more. Follow me and we can continue this conversation inside."

For some reason she felt that she could trust this .........feather person. So she followed him, albeit at a distance. Once she saw the cave she ran ahead of the feather person and was relieved to feel the coolness under her feet. Turning so she could thank the feather person, she jumped for the second time that day for a teenager about her age stood behind her. "Feather person?", she asked tentatively. The person chuckled and nodded. " You can call me Crest if you wish, however, if you have become smitten with calling me feather person, that's fine too."

She sighed in relief and closed her eyes so she could gather her thoughts. Once she opened them again she studied Crest. Crest was literally white to the core or at least not far from it. He had white shoulder length hair with grey streaks running through it and white bangs to match that had a single streak of grey to the right side of his forehead. His irises were silver with a black slits as pupils. His nails were long and sharp and could easily hurt someone, if needed. He had on a white tank top with white puffy pants and grey boots with white belt straps running across them. But what really got her were his wings! Yes, he actually had wings! Most of the feathers were white while others were grey, even a few were black. He smiled at her and she noted his mouth was full of canines letting others know that while he could be friendly he could also be very cruel.

"Wow.", she said when she was done. He gave her a sweet half smile and then said to her "My lady, perhaps you should rest. We will talk of what I can do to help you tomorrow."

Even though she was in a Dream World she still needed rest. So she slept inside her dream. Rinoa at first thought it strange to sleep within a dream, but she was also very exhausted, so as soon as she lay down in the middle of the cave and was in a comfortable position she drifted off to sleep.

Meanwhile

Squall had heard enough to make him wish he could cut off his ears. He now knew about the Sorcerous Ultimecia. He also knew because of this Ultimecia, Matron had been controlled for quite a while and had indeed suffered. He was now making his way back to Rinoa's sleeping form where he knew he could feel peace, but at the same time, feel so much pain. Once he was there he got on his knees by her side and put his head in his hands.

After a while he lifted his head and said to her, "Rinoa, wake up please!! Just wake up!!

Say something! Do something! I don't care if you yell at me or cuss me out!! Just don't leave me here!! DON'T YOU DARE ABANDON ME RINOA HEARTILLY!!! DON'T ABANDON ME LIKE MY PARENTS OR SISSY DID. I GOT ENOUGH FROM THEM DON'T YOU DO IT TOO!!"

Realizing his outburst, Squall lowered his head and beat his fist upon the bed's surface. "Just call out my name, please Rinoa. You can't leave me here like this!" He said while his body started to shake uncontrollably. Even though he wouldn't allow himself to cry, he couldn't keep himself from shaking.

A few moments later he drifted off to sleep, unbeknownst to him that Rinoa was indeed trying to call out to him. However it only reached the ears of Crest who now held Rinoa in his arms rocking back and forth trying to comfort her in her time of grief. He even tried to wake her, but she remained asleep while tears cascaded down her now flushed stained cheeks.

She was just as frightened as Squall, for she was having a nightmare within a nightmare and she was all alone and left in the dark.