The gypsy was looking at him with a disturbing mix of interest and… and something horribly puzzling which he couldn't define. However, he dismissed it as her habit since although it was his first time to visit and actually see a fortune teller, everyone knows that people claiming to predict the future in order to earn a living are far from normal.

Staring at a low table before him and the round, glass object settled at the very center of it, he took a long, awkward look at the person seating opposite of him. "Sit down." She softly said with a grim smile. Making a quick, discreet glance over his shoulder, he checked where Rinoa was, and found her standing not too far away from him.

"Now, now… she sure won't be going anywhere."

Squall was shocked, and he thinks he heard Rinoa gasp, but he decided not to let it show. After all, he's constantly wearing that impenetrable façade. Glancing at the thick and unwashed red rag on the floor, he sat down. Nothing about the place made him comfortable: the purpose, the mood, the tent, the rags, the fortune teller.

"I suppose both of you are here for terribly tough answers."

"Most people are."

"But the answers you seek are not like those sought by most people." She said, glancing at the round, glass object… something like a glass ball. "And the answers to them, I sure can give even without question."

Squall arched an eyebrow, conveying his disbelief.

"Young man, if you do not believe in things that you cannot explain, you certainly shouldn't believe in anything at all." She said slowly. "Because there are no such thing as logical explanations… just acceptable ones." With a stroke of her hand over the glass ball, it glowed into a blinding white light which seemed to have swallowed the entire place as a deafening laughter echoed, getting louder and louder every second. Upon instinct, Squall leaped to Rinoa's side and had her wrapped protectively in his embrace until the white light had faded and the laughter had vanished into silence. Squall turned his head and slowly opened his eyes. Rinoa was still in his arms, clinging to him in fear.

"It's over." He said, running his fingers through her black disarrayed hair. She slowly opened her eyes and Squall found himself sinking deep into its depths. It took them a while to recover and finally be aware of where they are.

Rinoa's mouth was half open as she struggled to stand to her feet. The place was all too familiar to her: the cracking soil, the dark atmosphere… and to finish the touch, she glanced at Squall whom she should be cradling in her arms during the dissolution of Ultemecia's time compression spell.

Squall was completely clueless while sweeping his gaze across the ghastly scene surrounding them. His gaze finally landed on Rinoa's beautiful face. "Where are we?"

"It's from the past… no, I mean, my past. Your future."

"I'll be here?"

"Yes, yes you were. The Sorceress Wars had just ended here, and we were on the winning side." She took several steps away from him and whispered, "Yes… we were." To her surprise, Squall had appeared behind her. The usual tenderness were not in his eyes, unfortunately, though for a minute Rinoa hoped he is the Squall she once knew.

"You shouldn't leave my side…" he warned, holding her hand unconsciously. "Just in case."

You shouldn't leave my side, either… just in case…

And the "just in case" they both feared came not a minute later when the world started spinning really fast, the place changing from one familiar place to another. Memories shifting from one even to another. It was maddening, and in a snap an entire lifetime has been told to them in short glimpses… some she identified, most she didn't. And then, just when Rinoa thought this torture would go on forever, it suddenly stopped. The found themselves in quiet countryside likened to Winhill but still not exactly Winhill itself. People walking barefoot were clothed in long-sleeved, thin robes with varying colors. And they were all looking curiously at them. Obviously, their clothing were far different from theirs, making them undeniably coming from another world.

"Where are we?" Squall whispered to her.

"I don't know." She whispered back when they decided to start walking. "I've been to many places with Squall but I've never seen this place or these people before. Their culture is, without doubt, unfamiliar to me. But one thing I noticed…"

Squall finished the sentence for her. "They dress like the fortune teller."

"Exactly."

He chuckled. "And may I ask in whose time are we in now?"

"Hers."

"Ours."

"We can't be certain of that!" she growled. "But one thing's for sure: that fortune teller of yours wasn't a phony."

His shoulders shifted in bitter mirth. "Now that's assuring."

It didn't take them a long while to figure the place out. First, they learned that the place wasn't as "uncivilized" as the two of them had agreed upon first impression. It wasn't a lot different from Balamb, only, their way of life was more… relaxing. Unstressed. Unpolluted. Unsoiled… not exactly.

Rinoa gasped in surprise as a claw like hand closed around her wrist in a vise-like grip, pulling her toward a red painted bungalow house with local design. Squall was quicker, though, and far stronger, tightening his hold on her other hand and yanking the stranger's hand off.

"Get away!" he warned in a dangerous, steel-sharp hiss, casting a deadly look sidewise. In that glance he caught sight of the half-naked women standing in front of the red bungalow house with several men, doing the things anyone would expect from a whorehouse.

Rinoa's arm materialized around his waist, clinging for protection. He didn't realize until then that she was no longer as invisible as she was back in Balamb garden.

"I think we have to get a more suitable clothing for you." He told her, pulling his gaze off the whorehouse and resuming their aimless walk. The sort of clothing she's wearing is no doubt too revealing by their standards. That guy must've mistaken her for a hooker.

"I think so, too." She answered, realizing that he had came up with the similar conclusion in her mind. "Although I have no idea how the hell we're gonna do that."

They did it. Actually, Squall did it by trading his blue top. His Balamb Garden uniform, to their surprise, was worth two nice-looking local outfit. To Squall, he was surprised it was worth anything at all. But what really amazed them was how weird he looked in the local outfit. It made him feel like he was wearing his bed sheet. When he saw Rinoa, however, he thought she looked stunning. Later on, he dismissed the fact that with a face like that, she would look stunning even in rags.

"Let's get going." He said, opening the door. "We should find our way back before dark."

Still the insensitive fool. Rinoa thought to herself with a sigh. She was hoping for the slightest glimmer of approval or admiration in his eyes. There was nothing. He even completed the package by saying 'let's get going…'. Exhaling, she followed him and satisfied herself by darting daggers of glances at his broad back. She knew, no matter how she tried to be optimistic, that the two of them are stuck here… perhaps for the rest of their lives. And she knew, no matter how hard he tried to look pessimistic, that Squall is really pissed off by the fact that he will be spending the rest of his life in this mysterious place and that he was simply trying to press optimism into his bloodstream to keep his hope going. Rinoa even predicted that he had been blaming her, mentally, for things she certainly had take part of… like the two of them ending up in this place. However, she didn't foresee him submitting to the painful reality… at least, not for a day.

"Alright." He said, throwing his hands in the air and turning to face her. "I give up. We've asked practically everyone, searched practically everywhere and still haven't found a single clue to where that supernatural experience has taken us."

Rinoa, feeling utterly guilty, tried to look straight into his eyes but couldn't. "I- I'm sorry."

"For what?" he asked in a tired voice.

"For everything. You were not supposed to be included in this mess, which, by the way, is my masterpiece."

He was frowning, but the words that slipped from his mouth defied the wrath that Rinoa feared. "What's to be done?" he said with a light shrug. "I guess we'll be stuck here for the rest of our lives."

"Yeah." She sniffed. "But on the lighter side, I got my mission accomplished."

With that, a dark scowl landed on his face. "A what?"

"I got you stuck here with me in a place which, to my assessment, has never laid eyes on violence… ever."

"And?"

"And, you'll be safe."

He growled. "You know, I really don't understand why you're so ecstatic about our safety, given that it's not the perfect time nor place for us to feel safe."

"You know what the problem with you is?" she asked coolly.

"No, and I certainly don't want to hear it from you."

"Fine!" Rinoa spun on her heel and left the scene as fast as she could. Although she didn't have any particular place to run to, she didn't want to be stuck there with Squall's infectious foul mood either. Given the choice to stay behind and to keep her distance, Rinoa chose the latter. Besides, how much more blaming can a person at fault take?

So there they went, Rinoa marching her way to nowhere and Squall following not so far behind. Several steps later, Rinoa decided to give it up, fighting with him won't get them out of here. If there was one person who could think of the best solutions in seemingly pressing situations, taht would be him.. not her. "So what do you think, where are we going?" she asked.

He shrugged. "You're leading the way."

"I'm just walking."

"And I'm just following you."

Wow, this is great. Rinoa stopped walking, turned around to face him and sighed. "We can't hate each other now." she began, "I don't know where to go, and my guess is you're just as clueless as I am. Any argument won't send us back home, Squall."

He simply paused, looked at her, then continued walking. This time, he led the way and Rinoa trailed behind.

"I really don't understand why we're here. Why would the gypsy send us here? Was she angry at us? Did we annoy her in any way..? What do you think?"

Silence.

"I guess we should find a new gypsy, a nicer one, who could send us back."

Silence.

"Okay, are you still angry at me? I understand you because for one thing, I was the one who got you into this mess. But like I said, hating each other will not send us back." Doubling her steps to catch up with his long, pace-eating strides, she quickly grabbed him by the arm and forced him to turn around. "Hey.."

"I'm not angry." he said.

"Really.."

"Awhile ago you said something about sorceress wars."

"Oh, that.." Rinoa was somewhat surprised. During that time she absolutely thought he wasn't paying any attention to her. "That was a war fought - and won - during our time. You led us against the sorceress."

"Who?"

"You."

"No. Who was the sorceress?"

"Ultimecia. There were many sorceresses involved, including Matron." And me, she whispered to herself.

"Matron!" he repeated, surprised.

"Yes, and..."words suddenly died in her lips as a painful reality sunk in.

"And?"

Rinoa stared blankly at him. "Wait a minute. I came from the future and now, I'm changing the past..just like Ultimecia."

"But you're not a sorceress."

"I was."

Silence.

"What does she looklike?"

"Who?" Rinoa asked back, half of her mind drifting in mid-air.

"The sorceress.."

"Do you want me to describe her? I used to see glimpses of her in my dreams."

"No. But is there anything about this place that seem to connect to her.. like similarities with the gypsy, maybe."

"No." she started shaking her head. "no similarities."

He nodded.

"What are you thinking?"

"I'm not sure."

"Come on.. say it.."

"I was thinking maybe your sorceress had something to do with this."

"But died after we defeated her."

"I was assuming she wasn't. And I can't think of anybody else." he shrugged. "But she's dead so..."

"Leading us back to the one question: why are we here."

They started walking side by side, both in deep thought.

"Maybe that gypsy of yours was a sorceress.. remeber, your present was my past. And given that case, sorceresses are yet to be destroyed in your time. They're yet to be labeledas a threat to mankind."

Squall nodded. "I see your point."

"And if she could see the future, maybe she knew who we are... or, who wewould be in the future."

He nodded again.

"How do we go back?"

"This is a place we do not recognize.." Squall began, "Could there be any place here which is still present in our time.. in both yours and mine?"

"Yeah, something we could indentify. Something we at least know something about."

He nodded.

"But, howearly in time are we?"

Silence.

"We can find out.."

"How?"

They both beheld a huge, more formalhouse with walls and trimmed bushes. Most of the people that come in and go out carry heavy bound books - thank heavens they have books here - and it was safe to assume that the place before them is some sort of library.

Rinoa started to giggle as grabbed Squall's right arm and dragged him closer to their library.

"Don't get your hopes up." he warned.

"At least there's hope! I'll definitely die without it!"

The stale scent of wood and parchment paper hung in the air, and people inside were busy walking here and there, books and papers in hand. Rinoa could not find one friendly face who would accomodate them, so they led themselves in. Staring at the most disorganized library they have ever seen, Squall and Rinoa figured their mission here isn't going to be easy.

"You start here. I'll begin at the other end."

She mocked a salute. "Yes sir!"

An hour later, Rinoa's amusement dissolved in thin air. "This is hopeless. I give up. This," she dusted one book and coughed, "is a dead end. We'll never make it back. Hey Squall,"

Squall was on the other side of the shelf, hovering over titles of books then skimming and scanning over some that seem relevant. He saw an map, and upon noticing the absence of the three gardens, figured that they could possibly be fifty years back... or longer.

"Squall..."

What now...

Rinoa appeared from behind with a dark scowl on ther face. "This is poinless."

Shaking his head, he showed her the map. "Do you notice anything here?"

She eyed the book with disinterest but read it anyway, and upon staring at the map she realized that none of the three gardens - Trabia, Galbadia and Balamb - were present. Even the Sorceress Memorial was nothing but dry desert. Tearing her eyes off the book, she glanced at Squalland frowned. "Where and when are we?"

"I'm not really sure of that."

"But,"

"But, I can tell you that we've travelled approximately fifty years back in time... or worse.."

She swallowed hard. "That's fifty years from your time?"

He nodded.

"This is scary." she said, retreating her gaze back to the book in hand. "What if we don't get back."

"That's possible."

"I don't want to stay here.."

Squall frowned. "But what if we don't have any choice?"

Rinoa sighed and kept silent.

"I refuse to stay here either." he whispered. "But I've ran out of ideas."

"I know. Me too." Rinoa sadly added.

Not one word was spoken in the next few minutes, both Squall and Rinoa were in deep thought. Utterly occupied were they that the presence of an audience escaped their senses.

fW: I'm sorry it took a.. what the-! It's been a year since I last uploaded! What the-! Sorry folks.. but here is chapter five.. hope I didn't turn my readers down. I was busy with school, and well, kind of "inspiration-less". haha. I haven't found the drive to write until recently, and as a first move I continued writing some of my unfinished fics. Again, sorry it took me sooooooo long. Enjoy!