(Hello! This is Topaz. This fic is a rather depressing thing, so the weak of heart need not continue. This was originally going to be an one-shot, but somehow it mutated into something bigger. Hope you like it! -Topaz Fox)

(Disclaimer--I don't own Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles or any of its plots/characters or anything else.)

The dark was there, full as ever, and with it came the pain. The sharpness…the ten thousand needles, the daggers, the slow suffocation…everything. More pressure, more unseen spear points, until it seemed like everything would explode. Then, finally, the blood; the sickening warmth and the bitter smell, the red sea of death. Now there were just the bodies, scattered by the road or on the hill or somewhere near. Now…the promise of more dead bodies yet to come.

I woke up screaming and sweaty. Three words throbbed like a hammer into my skull. They. Are. Dead.

I knew that if they were dead, we would soon be dead too.

On that bleakest night of nights, I shot upstairs to my parents' room. "Mother! Father!" I practically shouted. I heard a rustling of sheets, and then my mother's face was illuminated as she lit an oil lamp.

"What is it, Alice, honey?" she muttered. I could tell she was angry, but this was important. I rushed over to her side of the bed and jumped up and down urgently. "Mother, they're dead! They're dead!" I was honestly about to cry, even though I was ten and too old for such things.

My mother was suddenly alert. "Who's dead?"

"The caravanners! They're dead; they got killed. They're not coming back! Our Crystal's gonna fade! We have to go tell Clernoc!" Clernoc was Tida's elder, and he had a soft spot for me. I knew—I hoped—that he, of all people, would believe a young Clavat like me.

My father was awake now as well. "How do you know that they're dead, Alice?"

"I saw it in a dream! Oh, you have to believe me!"

But they didn't. They tried to comfort me, telling me it was just a bad dream, and then sent me back to bed. I couldn't sleep that whole night, for fear that another terrible nightmare would haunt my sleeping mind.

At last, morning came. Not long after the sun had come up, I threw on a simple cotton dress and shouted to my parents that I was going out for a while. Honestly, I didn't know if they were awake or not. I dashed outside into the bright sunlight and skittered up the road to Clernoc's house.

I banged my small fists against the round wooden door. Norma, Clernoc's wife, answered my frantic call. "Oh, it's Alice," she said in her grandmotherly way. "Come on in, dear."

Despite the urgent situation, I tried my best to be polite. "Thank you, ma'am. Um…where's Clernoc?" She smiled obliviously. "He's upstairs, I think."

Up the stairs I flew, until I reached the door that I knew to be Clernoc's room. I tapped three times on the wood. "Come in," said a familiar withered voice. I didn't need a second invitation. Without hesitation, I swung open the door and wheeled inside.

There was Clernoc, sitting placidly at his desk and writing what appeared to be a letter. I edged my way up to his desk. He turned to face me. "Ah, Alice. What seems to be the matter?" I told him what I had seen in a single, fearful breath.

Clernoc's brow furrowed with worry. I almost rejoiced inside. I knew he'd believe me! "Alice…" he started, then paused. "Alice, perhaps the things you saw were just a dream. The may have been scary and lifelike, but the imagination can play cruel tricks on us sometimes." He winked and smiled. "The caravan is due back tomorrow," he said, smiling. "Let us wait for their return." With that, I was ushered out of the house by Norma.

The day seemed to plod by slower than a papaopamus with three legs. Every now and again, I would get the urge to jump up and shout a warning to the people of my town. Tida's caravan is not coming back. Our Crystal is already fading. We have to go NOW. Pack your things, get ready, do something! But that would be, of course, a useless endeavor. I watched with frustration as everyone chattered happily about the caravan's return.

Darkness fell. I might have slept a little, but for the most part, I remained awake, hunched under my blanket and quivering with fright. I had a lot of time to think, even if my thoughts were crowded with the demons some call nightmares. I thought about how no one would believe a little Clavat's terrible, prophetic dream. I knew the dream was real. I knew it. But anyone I would try to tell would probably say, "Don't worry, young one," or "I'm sure it was only a dream." If I had been an elder, or even a wise Yuke, everyone would have flown into action. Why did I have to be the receiver of that dream?

All I could do now was wait.