The sound.
Did it work?
Even that dance was perfect.
Looks like they have high hopes for you.
Normally, we would never accept such requests, but…
To the Future We Will Go
I just want to talk, gazing into those eyes.
Hey… You're…!
H…Hey…That girl…!
I couldn't… I just couldn't.
But… Of course, I'd rather it not happen…
"Hey."
The light blue blur was hard to make out, though the voice sounded much clearer than the others. It was obvious who it was, but it was hard to get a clearer sight of her standing in the room. The odd thing was that she was the only blur. The rest of the room was as clear as day. And what was frightening was when she moved, the area surrounding her began to become a blur as well. It was as if she were living upon a painting and smearing the colorful liquid around her even when she blinked.
She spun around, walking a couple of steps away, and then turned around again, placing her hands behind her blurry body.
"You looked so adorable, sleeping like a baby."
After her last sentence, there was a dead silence that closed in upon the room. Even a dropping pin meeting contact to the floor would be so loud. And softly, only her voice was heard…
"Come on, get up. Let's go."
……. ?…….
And then her enchanting laughter filled the fading room as it twirled into nothingness.
Complete silence.
~~~~~~~
A simple saying: Silence is golden.
Why?
In our every day life, do we ever experience this "silence"? Perhaps that is why it is golden. It is very hard to attain such a thing when sound is made wherever you go. However, does anyone stop to realize if silence is ever achieved? Of course not.
Another simple saying: Silence is loud.
Perhaps if or when we do experience this "silence" are we only left with more noise: the loudness of silence. Unfortunately, this simple saying is a paradox of the first simple saying. Maybe there is no such thing as "silence".
But right now, this boy would break his personal "silence" with the sound of his feet landing upon the tile floor of Balamb Garden. Smiling brightly, Zell stood up straight and turned around, watching Rinoa catch up to him in a casual walk. Slightly forcing a smile, the girl kept her eyes on him, soon approaching his side and walking along with him towards the cafeteria.
"How was that?" His pearly whites shown, allowing himself to be fully proud of the stunts he just preformed. Although he nearly did it every day, he was happy to show his flips to Rinoa, especially if that meant trying to cheer her up. Yes, he got a smile, but it wasn't her…
The girl placed her hands behind her back, looking down at her boots as she walked forward, before looking back up and over her shoulder at her hotheaded friend. Her brown eyes blinked softly as she stared at him a moment before speaking out.
"I'm not that surprised, Zell… I mean, don't you do that almost every day?" The martial artist stopped in his tracks and stared at Rinoa with his jaw dropped in surprise. Was he… insulted? Noticing that he stopped, the girl stopped as well, refusing to turn around and look at him. She smirked to herself, hiding it from him with the advantage that he only saw her back. That was her intention, to see if he would get upset over her statement. Before he could express that she was "dissin'" him, she interrupted him just in time.
"Why you dis---"
"---Although…" She spoke up louder than him, spinning around to show him her playful smirk. Keeping her arms behind her back, she leaned forward as she spoke. "I'm very impressed."
With that, she turned around again, continuing to walk towards their destination without hesitation. Zell stood there a moment and watched her, letting his jaw reconnect to his skull. Thinking over what she said, he straightened out his shirt, that proud smile again returning to his lips. Throwing his right fist into his left palm, he began to jog after her into the cafeteria.
~~~~~~~
"Over here, guys!"
Not too long ago, Quistis announced over the loudspeaker for everyone to meet up at the cafeteria. Apparently, she wanted to bring up what happened earlier with their "connection" concerning Ellone. Even though Rinoa had nothing to do with the situation, she was still summoned along with the rest of the gang. She was their friend.
Zell and Rinoa walked over to the round table in the cafeteria where the others were seated, and took a seat themselves.
Irvine and Selphie acknowledged Rinoas presence from the infirmary. They both knew that she mostly stayed in there from now on… or at least until he woke up. It was a surprise to see that she had the ability to leave him for this special meeting. The girl gave a nod and looked over to Quistis from across the table, resting her arms upon it.
"'Sup, guys? Is this about the dream world…thing?" Zell asked out of curiosity, although already knowing the answer.
"Yes, what happened with you?" Questioned Quistis, looking at him with a sincere expression on her features. Since she already asked Irvine and Selphie before he arrived, it was his turn to explain.
"Well, at first I got that sleepy feeling… you know, the normal process before fully getting knocked out. But then, I kinda… I dunno. I guess you can say there was this really annoying squeaking that didn't stop until the whole sleepiness faded away."
"That's it!" Selphie stood, laying her palms flat out upon the round table. She gasped at herself and looked at her group of friends with wide eyes watching her. Poor Rinoa was completely oblivious to what was going on. All she knew was that Ellone sent them to the past to view the adventures of Laguna, Kiros and Ward.
"Uh… what's what, Sephie?" The cowboy adjusted his hat, narrowing his eyes at the girl.
"Hello, don't you guys get it? Sis couldn't send us to the dream world this time because of Squall! Of course nothing different happened to us, we all experienced the same thing, you know? She cancelled it because of Squall…"
"So like, why would she cancel it for all of us just because Squall is incapable of doing it?" Irvine asked, frowning at the excited girl.
The blonde woman spoke out, releasing her internal question. "Guys, have you noticed that ever since this whole 'dream world' thing started taking place, that Squall always fell asleep, each time?"
"Whoa, you're right, instructor!"
"Oh Hyne, you're right!" Selphie squeaked, taking her seat once again. "So that means… that Sis definitely knows that something's wrong with Squall… and just maybe…"
"…she can do something…" Irvine continued her sentence.
"… To help bring him back." The girl in light blue finished the sentence, and her comrades turned their heads to look at her. Silently she stood, looking to all of them before closing her eyes and bringing her left hand to the dangling rings upon her necklace. She said no more.
Understanding what was needed to be done, Quistis stood as well, nodding to them all. "We will not remain idle any longer. We must find Ellones whereabouts and get to her as soon as possible."
"YEAH!" Zell threw himself from his seated position and faced Quistis, giving a nod. Soon after, his right fist met his left palm once again, getting pumped up for the upcoming events. "When she was here last, the White SeeDs took her away on that ship, right? I remember, man… they said somethin' about bein' Edea's SeeD. That's what we gotta look for!"
Quistis turned to Zell, folding her arms across her chest and nodding at his words. "You're absolutely right. Then let us waste no time. I'm going to go to the bridge and tell Nida to take us to Edea's house… that's where she is currently staying. In the meantime, sit tight guys." With that, Quistis ran off through the cafeteria with an excited Zell following behind.
~~~~~~~
Silence and Motion.
To think of Laguna to be a President would be a sin.
In that case, everyone was a sinner.
Like a princess, Ellone was carefully escorted down the long hallway of the Presidential Palace in Esthar with the help of several Estharian soldiers. It was a Presidential Palace, all right, although the whole city seemed to be. The wonderful, mysterious, xenophobic city of Esthar. She loved it.
Once to the sliding doors of his office, the soldiers backed off and stopped following her, allowing her to enter as she pleased. Smiling, the woman inhaled staring at the doors for a short moment before walking towards them, letting them slide open from sencing her presence.
Kiros and Ward were standing face to face, but turned towards the door once it opened. Ward didn't need words to express himself since the large smile on his lips said it all beneath the blonde beard. Ellone looked to them standing next to each other, returning the smile and jogged over with open arms, falling into Ward's welcome arms to give a warm-hearted hug.
After a moment, Ward let go of the small girl, letting her greet the graceful Kiros who patiently waited for his "hello". Chuckling softly, Kiros welcomed the hug as well, patting the girl on the back in a comforting way. Hyne, she was like their child since they have gone through so much to save her so many times.
"Elle!!!"
Gasping, the girl broke the hug with Kiros, looking to her left and over at the man who gave everything just to hear her voice and that went on a wild journey to save her.
"Uncle Laguna!"
Laughing, the man still had enough energy in him to run over to her with open arms, and so she did as well. They hugged tightly in an unbreakable embrace, and Ellone laughed whole-heartedly in happiness. Laguna pulled away some to put his hands on the girl's head, nuzzling at her cheek like he did so many times before when she was little. Afterwards, he stopped and looked her in the eyes, his smile as bright as the sun.
Kiros and Ward couldn't help but smile at the sight before them. It was as if this certain scene played back so many times in their lives. But out of all of the ones that happened before, this scene was the most comforting.
They were reunited together once again.