Squall wasn't sure if he was awake. He didn't know he asleep either. He knew that he felt awake but everything around him said other wise. Squall blinked blankly at his strange surroundings; something about this place was both real and familiar, yet he was unsure he recognized it all.
Squall slowly lifted himself onto his knees, rubbing the back of his aching head. He examined his hand, making sure there was no blood or wounds. The glove was clean, no red blood stains on the black surface but there was dust, like sand. His eyes moved passed his hand till his hand was blurry and the ground was in clear focus.
Sand. The ground he was laying on was sand. He quickly jolted to his feet, suddenly getting a wired and oh so creepy vibe. Squall eyes darted across the strange sky and even the surrounding. The sky looked like grey water with a hint of blue and sunlight; as if he was in a underwater aquarium, just without the glass and the landscape was a barren desert, stretching out for miles on end, hardly anything on the horizon but sand.
"Where…where am I?" Squall asked himself, his thoughts echoing in the air. Squall face became blank, hearing his own thoughts broadcasted out of his mind. "What is this?" the same thing happen again, as though spoken his thoughts echoed. On impulse he retrieved his gunblade form its holster and swung it out in front.
"Come on!" Squall shouted into the nothingness. The only reply he heard was his own voice bouncing back. "Come out and FIGHT ME!" Squall waited. Nothing happen. He even began to slowly turn around in all direction to catch any attackers, but in every direction was the same barren wasteland, the same lifeless desert.
.
.
Squall exhaled harshly and placed his gunblade in its holster, a little displeased, but more so a little confused on his whereabouts. Squall examined his surrounding one more time; he couldn't shake off the feeling he was being watched and that he had by chance been here before.
"What is this place?" he asked to no one in particular. He was alone in a not so strange environment, something imprinted on the edge of his mind that's has stayed with him, yet unable to recall it. After his echo faded, Squall chose to head in a direction, not caring what laid in front him, he decide to walk it anyway.
.
.
Each step he took was like he was floating, this whole place all started to come into focus and could slightly recall where he was. After what seemed like hours he was still in the middle of nowhere, the same deserted terrain over and over again. His floating feeling in his steps started to leave and was replaced instead with heavy exhausting steps. He felt like he had invisible weights attached to his boots. The more he walked the more heavily everything seemed to get.
"W-What's wrong… with me?" Squall came to a halt. His eyelids were drawing over his blue-green eyes and his whole body seemed to be getting ever so heavy. "Why…am I so exhausted?" Squall collapsed down, his legs outstretched and his arms finding their way to his chest.
Squall's body felt like it was being crushed into the sandy ground, as gravity seemed to increase in this place. But he was too exhausted and tired to do anything about it. He tried to struggled himself to his feet but it just drain the energy from him. Squall, facing almost complete lack of energy decide to allow himself to just stay there and wait… for someone. As his eyes closed he final came to realize exactly where he was… his shot open his eyes but then started to draw to a close. All he could do was hear his thoughts screams in the air before he would totally blackout.
.
.
"NO!" Squall shouted in his mind.
Squall could just hear the echo of his thoughts, as his eyes were rendered useless. Squall's mind was saying too much stuff that he couldn't gather what he was thinking. He listen to the echo's to clearly understand what his mind was saying.
"This can't be…"
"My friends…all gone?!"
"I know where…I am!"
"Will I live again? See their faces?"
"After Ultimicia's defeat… I was somewhere"
"I hate to die like this!"
"In this place… I almost die…"
"I die…but Rinoa…she save me"
As Squall listened, he noticed that the echoes were fading much quicker, until he was sure he was unable to hear anymore. He could tell his body just shutting down for a long sleep. The last thing he heard was too weak to hear but was just able make it out.
"Rinoa…where are you…please save me"
.
.
.
Squall's eyes began to flicker. His eyes couldn't see anything; they were fogged by sleep. He didn't mind that he actually had fallen asleep; it was quite peaceful and relaxing, but it was his dream that was not normal, it wasn't Squall's dreams at all. Squall didn't try to move at first, he lay there trying to comprehend his dream and most of all, what had caused him to lose consciousness.
Suddenly realizing he was in his dorm bedroom, Squall sat up in his bed. The first thing he notice was he was still in his regular clothing, so someone must have dragged him to his room. Then he looked at the door. How could anyone have gotten him into his room? The dorms were pin coded locks system; only headmaster Cid and Garden Guard members had ultimate access to rooms, nobody else.
Squall also notice that his gunblade was resting against his bedpost. Someone was nice enough to remove his blade for him, but why go to all this trouble? Squall placed his forehead in his right hand and sighed, soon moving his hand to the back of his head. There was a slight bump but nothing major.
"Whoa…" Squall sighed, soon standing up on his feet. "I had the weirdest dream…and I rarely dream" Squall was a bit interrupted by the chatting of a group of girls giggling outside, in the hall. He peered at the window, seeing that sun was almost in the noon sky. He sighed and then moved towards the bathroom, splashing warm water on his face.
.
.
…Squall…
.
.
Squall dismissed his name, needing more time to himself before he saw anyone. Squall grabbed the towel from its hanger and quickly dried his face and hands.
…Squall…
Squall peered at his dorm door, threw the towel on the toilet and went to quickly answer the door. He placed a weak smile on and opened the door to an empty hallway. Squall moved pasted the door, his head scanning both ends of the hallway, but nobody was there. Squall's rather weak smile was quickly replaced but annoyances and closed the door.
…Squall…
Squall paused in the middle of his room. His name wasn't being called from outside in the hallway, but someone was calling him inside his medium size room. Squall could easily tell that there was nowhere to hide. His closet, however the only place to hide was empty and was always locked. His bed's based touched the floor, so nobody could be under there, unless they were pancaked. His bathroom was empty as he was in there just seconds before.
Squall scratched the back of his head, avoiding the annoying bump. There was nowhere to hide and nothing was out of placed. Squall sighed and moved towards his desk to see what unfinished paper work still needed to be done. As he made his way to his desk, he took a quick glimpse into the mirror and paused.
Squall stared at the mirror. His reflection was there but in an abnormal way, it seemed that the glass was replaced by water. He could see the ripples from the frame. . "What the hell…" Squall thought, slowly raising his hand to touch the abnormal surface.
.
…Squall…is the room clear?…
.
Squall paused then slowly lowered his arm before throwing it to the side.
"Who's there!? I demand you come out and show yourself!" Squall ordered. He thought that he might have been a bit to loud as he heard everyone went silent outside in the dorms.
.
…Back away from the mirror…
.
Squall shook his head at the request then slowly moved towards his bed, reaching for his gunblade as he reached the based. Suddenly the mirror surface started to ripple as a figure emerged from the liquid-like surface.
.
.
"CERBERUS!"