Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VIII.
###### Thank you for waiting. I'm sorry if I only updated now. I had a lot of work to do and I couldn't find a loophole to squeeze out of. .
Chapter nine: Missed encounter
(Dylan POV)
The trip to Esthar is really exciting and interesting. I get to travel almost across the whole world. Man! Doing the typical tourist thing, sight seeing and buying souvenirs, was kinda boring. Angeline collects weird stuff. Each town we visited for a quick stop, she buys a trinket or two. Anyways, Angeline told me that we were only half an hour away from our last pit stop, it was a place called… what was that?
"Look, Fisherman's Horizon is already within view. " Gerard announced in a tourist guide like tone from the driver's seat.
I stretched my limbs for a bit in the back, Man! My legs feel cramped; it feels like I haven't used it in ages. I admit, these trips are interesting and all but, heck! The price to pay for sitting in the car for so long just ain't worth it.
"So Dylan, what do you wanna do when you get to Esthar?" Angeline asked in a cheery tone as she switched her view from the long winding road, to me.
"Deliver the flowers." I responded a bit sarcastically.
"I know that, gosh, you're a such a workaholic! I meant what you plan to do after delivering the flowers." Angeline retorted.
"Sigh… I'm not in the mood to talk." I said trying not to sound sarcastic. Man, I've been doing that a lot lately and whenever I start to think of who I was, my head will still throb but not as bad as before.
"Alright." Angeline said in a defeated tone. I guess she just wanted to talk but it was in bad timing.
She took her gaze away from me and just plastered it back on the road. I fairly did the same as well though I wasn't really paying any heed to what I was looking at.
I shifted seat places. I went from behind the passenger's seat to behind the driver's seat. At least Gerard wasn't that much of a talker. Thank Hyne for that.
I looked out through my window and decided to pay attention to what I'm looking at in this sight seeing phase of this trip.
At first I only saw greenery everywhere, I was getting bored from seeing green. I shifted my gaze to the front. At least the sight on the front ain't that green, though I only saw the ocean pure blue. Great another color that is a candidate to being labeled an eyesore. I was getting tired and bored with the sightseeing though it was more of "color seeing" to me as if nature wants me to review my color wheel. And so I just slumped back idly and rested my head on the backrest and gladly drooped my eyelids to block out any other color candidate for eyesore.
"Wow!" Angeline suddenly squealed, probably out of excitement, causing me to jerk awake.
"What? What?" I began to question loudly in an annoyed tone. This had better be good.
" Look at that!" She said while pointing out through her side of the window. I followed her finger point.
Unbelievable, I saw this blue building like thing that resembles a teapot for me, floating on the ocean. It was an astonishing sight.
"That's Balamb Garden, home to the great SeeDs." There goes Gerard acting like a professional tour guide.
"Garden? That place is only used for planting?" I asked confusedly. My head started to have that throbbing feeling again.
"No, it's a military school that trains the best fighters there is. They were the ones who saved our world from total chaos." Gerard explained half laughing, half seriously.
"Oh." Ouch! The throbbing pain is getting worse. Man, I only saw this floating teapot and now my head hurts?????
Balamb Garden passed directly above us and crashed into the ocean, on the other side of the island. It created a huge splash and crashing sound. It continued to sail until it docked in FH.
"That was so cool!" Angeline looked at the teapot with such admiration.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna take a nap. Wake me up when we get there." I told them and without waiting for a reply, I went out like a lamp.
It was dark, so dark. I couldn't see, couldn't hear and couldn't feel. Where am I?
I tried to run but only found out I couldn't feel my legs. It's as if they vanished. Suddenly the darkness transformed in to a huge garden, there was a gray structure that looked beaten up. It looks like the place when I had a dream about the young boy that looks like me and his mother.
I looked left and right, trying to find someone or something at least. Suddenly images and shadows emerge. Weird. The images were blurry but from what I can tell, I saw six people. I couldn't see their faces but I was positive that there were three males and three females.
Each was clad in a different color. One was clad in pink, yellow, black and blue, brown, blue and black. They seem to be talking with each other. The yellow one seems very hyper, the pink one was just neutral and not really that active, the one in brown was the tallest of them and he just looked like goofing around with the females of the group, the one in blue and black looks like he was shadow boxing while conversing, the one in blue was almost as hyper as the one in yellow. But the one in black, he seemed like a loner to me, standing in a distant corner like that. Poor guy, he looks bored out of his mind judging from his actions of sighing and constant glancing at his watch or at the distant horizon. Suddenly, everything was whirled in, mixing the images and colors. Suddenly I felt a great throbbing pain in my head and I felt like I was being racked back and forth.
I couldn't see anything anymore. I only saw total darkness again. I tried to speak but couldn't find my voice, what's happening?!
"Dylan! Dylan! For Hyne's sake, wake up!" I heard Angeline's voice call out to me in a demanding but concerned tone.
I slowly opened my eyes and held my head. It still throbbed of pain and I saw Angeline almost teary-eyed leaning in front of me. My head was resting on her lap and I was now lying down on the back car seat.
"Are you okay?" Angeline asked worriedly.
"M'kay, I guess." I confessed I didn't know if I was okay or not.
"What happened?" I looked into her eyes, which showed a mix of emotions like fear, anxiety, anger and a bit of joy.
"I was trying to wake you up but you did not even stir! Your face was all scrunched up as if in pain and you were…"
"Hey Guys, I got your tickets to the train." Gerard suddenly out of the blue appeared, interrupting Angeline.
"Oh, okay." Angeline said as she tucked some loose hair behind her ear.
I slightly frowned at Gerard for interrupting Angeline's sentence.
"Well let's go!" Angeline said as she rose to her feet.
"But you………" Angeline placed a finger on my lips to silence me.
"Shhh……… Let's go…" Angeline turned away from me and quickly exited.
Weird, I thought. Well, no use pressing her for it.
I quickly got my bag in the trunk of the car and being the gentleman, I also carried Angeline's.
I quickly carried the bags over to the train station baggage section for it to be checked and loaded into the train.
Along the way to the station, I noticed some people dressed in uniforms of some kind of institute. They were staring and pointing at me. I didn't know whether it was something on my face or how silly I looked carrying a pink bag that had a Powerpuff girl printed on it.
(Narrator POV)
Dylan was walking on the flight of stairs that led to the train station in FH when a couple of Balamb students bumped into him. At first the students were speechless but when they regained some of their equanimity, it was too late. Dylan had already continued his way.
In the train station…
Nida and Xu are seen talking to each other, sorting things about the supplies needed for the Garden.
"I'm telling you Xu, we need more potions supply than this." Nida frowned as he placed a paper bag full to the brim with various items on the floor.
"Well Nida, I calculated the expenses and we can't go overboard again. Garden's expenses is under budget you now?" Xu said in a calm manner.
"You know, we could just subtract it from next month's grocery and supplies budget." Nida suggested.
"Yes and when next month requires more supplies than this month, what are you going to do?" Xu demanded
"Okay! Okay! I give up, geez! You didn't have to be demanding."
"Fine, fine. Alright, stay here and watch over our stuff. I'll buy more potions if this is what will appease his majesty's concern." Xu said while smirking at Nida.
"Heh, very funny." Nida said as a sheepish smile crept on his face.
Meanwhile…
Dylan had just entered the train station as he trudged wearily over to the baggage deposit counter. He happily took the burden of his back and stretched.
Finally! Took that infernal load off my back. Now, to shop! Squall thought as he went over to the items store that was now located in the train station area.
He entered the shop and goes directly to the drinks section (no alcohol).
Dylan was choosing what drink to buy when the bell sounded. He quickly glanced to see but only found a girl with brown hair and was clad in normal civilian clothes.
She's pretty…she also looks familiar… Bah! Stop that Dyl; you came here to buy a drink. Ouch! There goes my head, throbbing again!
Dylan finally picked his drink and paid for it and left.
Xu entered the shop with a ring on the bell that hung on the door, which served as a warning to the owner if a customer is in.
Huh? Is that guy … Nah! Impossible. He looks exactly like him from behind though.
Xu went over to the potions section of the store and filled a basket to the brim with potions and a few remedies. She kept staring at the stranger and at an angle she recognized the face.
It can't be…Squall? What's he doing here? Wake up Xu! Is this real?
Xu momentarily closed her eyes and when she opened them the man was nowhere to be found.
A dream? Perhaps… But it was so real! I… I'll consult Dr. Kadowaki.
And with that Xu paid for her items and left the store.
Hahaha! Not the prediction you all thought of eh?
Hyuk! Hyuk! Don't worry in Esthar… predict it and see if you're right! -
BTW just so you guys know, I have a new story. It's something about a love potion.
It'll be fun.