In Dreams We Meet : Chapter 3

They sat down, patiently waiting for the female "receptionist" to get back to them and return them to where they rightfully belonged. Although how that could ever happen was beyond them.Cloud, now quite comfortable with Squall, tried to start a conversation going again. Obviously he had noted Squall's horrible communication skills, but still it was a way to pass the time.

"So ... how old are you?"

"... 17."

"Oh. Wow. That's ... young ... I'm four years older than you. You don't act like a teenager you know."

Squall was sorely tempted to snort, however he just took it as a compliment and remained quiet. Cloud stared at Squall, and noticed something shiny hanging from his neck. A necklace?

"What's that?" asked Cloud, pointing to Squall's neck. Squall looked down at his chain, and the lion symbol dangling from it. Rinoa ...

"It's a lion. Griever."

"I see ... " Cloud was about to ask him to take it off so that he can have a good look at it, but Squall abruptly changed the topic. Damn that Squall.

"What were you doing before this?"

"Huh?"

"I mean ... before you ended up here."

"Oh. Well, my friends and I are supposed to go and fight Sephiroth ... He's an evil maniac bent on destroying the world ... He's the one who summoned Meteor. Meteor's gonna fall onto the Planet in about 6 days," replied Cloud.

"Meteor?" said Squall. Oh right, the big ass piece of rock...

"Yeah. Our magic seems to be different."

Silence again. Cloud wanted to ask Squall the same thing, but as he had already explained himself about going to defeat the sorceress, there was no point in doing so. Carrying on a conversation with him was like conversing with Sephiroth. Tiring, and it almost got you nowhere. Except that Sephiroth was fiercer. Cloud shook his head and pushed Sephiroth out of his head.

"Do you think your friends have gone on without you?" asked Cloud.

"... Maybe," said Squall after a long pause.

"Maybe? That's not a proper answer at all ..." said Cloud moodily. Clearly Squall wasn't up for chatting. "I think my friends may have gone to fight him already ..."

"...Why?"

"Meteor falls in 6 more days. Sephiroth ain't exactly a piece of cake. They can't waste time because of me."

"Do you blame them?" said Squall, turning to look at him.

"Maybe..." said Cloud, then instantly regretted saying that, as Squall hid a smirk. Then he added, "I guess it really can't be helped. But I want to fight Sephiroth as well ... I want my revenge," said Cloud, his Mako eyes boring into Squall, who looked back warily.

"Revenge...?"

"Yeah... He burned my hometown, Nibelheim ... he almost killed me ..." said Cloud softly. Then, in barely a whisper, he uttered, "He killed Aeris too ... and I couldn't stop him."

Squall decided that this Aeris was an important part of his life and decided not to pursue the subject further.

"But even if you defeat him .. Meteor would still fall. Your world would still be destroyed."

"Before Aeris died, she summoned Holy, the only magic that can counter Meteor. Sephiroth is somehow blocking Holy's power. We're gonna fight him ... and let Holy do its work."

Squall nodded, and pondered again, concluding that Cloud gains his strength from vengeance ... and that he fights for the ones he loves. Yet what would he gain after doing so? Would he feel at ease after Sephiroth's death ...?

"What would you do ... after you've gotten your revenge and defeated him, and the world is safe?"

To that, Cloud had no reply. He opened his mouth to try, but a chime sounded from somewhere again. "Squall Leonheart and Cloud Strife, you will be returning to your respective worlds shortly. Please be ready." Cloud and Squall stood up and faced each other. Cloud sweatdropped. Where on earth did that voice come from? Suddenly they heard a weird whooshing sound, and felt some wind blowing at their feet. Squall's first thought was either an Aero or a Tornado, but before he could even move he was hurled forward by a strong force behind him, clashing into Cloud who was also pushed towards him, and their foreheads collided, blurring their vision and soon they saw no more.

"He's waking up! Squall! Squall, can you hear us?" said Rinoa excitedly, fighting back tears. After 5 hours of waiting ... finally he had awoken. Blue eyes opened slowly, and his hands pushed himself to a sitting position.

"Where am I ...?" he said, clutching his forehead. "Where's Squall...?"

"Where's Squall? What are you talking about man? YOU'RE Squall," said a blonde guy with a tattoo on his face, who bent down towards 'Squall'. 'Squall' looked down at himself, recognising the black leather jacket, and Griever, and the many belts which Squall wore when they met, and also the Lionheart. He looked around him and saw unrecognisable faces, a girl who looked like Tifa except she had smaller boobs and a gold streak in her hair. She even looked like how Tifa does when she's concerned about him. There was a tall guy with a gun, a small girl in a yellow dress who was jumping about happily, thus reminding him of Yuffie, and another blonde girl with a whip by her side. Oh fuck, thought Cloud, in Squall's body. I'm in the wrong world ... and the wrong body ... and with that he fainted again.

"Cloud? Cloud? Can you hear me? Cloud!"

A groan escaped his lips as he sat up groggily, eyes still closed. His forehead was hurting terribly from the collision with Cloud ... I think I'd better lie back down again. He almost did so, but the unrecognised voices finally got to his head, and he realised something was wrong. I'm not Cloud, he thought, why are they calling me Cloud ...? As he slowly opened his eyes, a girl who looked like Rinoa looked at him in concern. 'Cloud' jumped up, swaying on his feet as he still felt dizzy, raising his hands and feeling for his gunblade at the side ... only to find that it wasn't there. What the ...? Then he looked down at himself, taking in the black outfit he recognised as Cloud's. Gulping, he looked around him and noticed Cloud's Ultima Weapon by his side, and a bunch of people gathering around him. There was the Rinoa look-alike, except with bigger boobs, a smoking and cussing man, a young girl of about sixteen, a long haired red caped morbid-like man, a dark-skinned man with a gun-arm, and a ... a white thing and a red thing. My head hurts ... thought Squall miserably. Realizing he was in Cloud's world AND Cloud's body, he groaned again and fell back to the grass.

That's the end of the chapter! From now on, when I say Squall, it'll be the Squall in Cloud's body, and when I say Cloud, it's the CLoud in Squall's body. Lol. Please review!