Moonlit Truth
Squall turned on his side, surprised to find the office extremely dark. Was I sleeping for that long?
The commander sat up and looked at his watch. It read 1:00 AM, and he realized that he had been asleep for the past eight hours. "Damn, I dozed off." He looked around his Esthar garden office. It suddenly dawned to him that Cid had designed everything according to the plans for his office at Balamb. Yawning and stretching, he sluggishly dragged himself across the room to the small kitchenette adjacent to the spacious room.
Not bothering to flip on the lamp switch, he adjusted his eyes to the natural light that bathed his chambers in the dark. He found a small glass and a decanter of his favorite Dollet gold cognac in one of the shelves. Pouring himself a shot, he opened the little freezer and dropped a couple of perfect cubes of ice into the golden liquid.
The cognac tasted smooth and yet tinged his throat with a burning sensation. It felt good to have such a wonderful luxury nearby, the smell of the precious liquor invigorating his senses. Taking another sip, he let the alcohol linger in his mouth, tasting the sweet mellowness, the wonderful overtones…before he swallowed it again. After he had finished his drink, he placed the glass on the counter and returned to the couch on this office. Sitting down to let the alcohol work its calming effects on him, he suddenly turned and opened his eyes when he heard a bit of rustling.
"Did you enjoy your drink?" he heard a husky, alluring female voice say.
Searching the office for the source of the voice, he tried to reach for his gunblade when he realized that he didn't have it in the room.
"Fighting won't be necessary Mr. Leonhart. Your strength won't do you any good here," the voice said again.
He stood on attention and began looking for his uninvited guest. "Who are you, and what do you want?" he demanded
"I just want to talk to you. Did it ever hurt anyone to hold a decent conversation?" the voice questioned him. Her tall, thin figure appeared to float across the floor towards him.
Squall was still looking around when he saw two pinpricks of green light in the corner of the room where the drapes were drawn. Walking towards the light switch, he attempted to turn bathe the room in lights when the woman said, "I believe there is a temporary power outage. At least when I'm around."
"Show yourself!" Squall shouted at her.
"Always the impatient one," the woman sighed. "Very well then, I shall come out."
The woman walked closer and closer to the window where the bright Esthar moon had shone through, and soon Squall could make out the profile of her sylph-like figure. Her head covered by a hood, but by the moonlight he could tell that she was dressed in elegant, yet somewhat archaic robes. Her long, flowing hair, probably dark brown, flowed through the parts of the hood which couldn't conceal its beautiful length. Once Squall could see her better, she stopped and asked, "Is this better?"
Squall didn't say anything. He just approached the stranger and asked, "What do you want from me, and how do you know my name?"
The stranger just replied, "I know many things Squall. I am a watcher of the times, and I come to you because I know that only you can set things right. I do not come here to attack you, so please don't fear me."
"I fear no one," Squall snapped back.
"Everyone has fears Squall. Even brave warriors like you have fears. But sometimes, we channel our fears into aggression. I didn't come here to duel with you. I wanted to talk," she coolly answered him. "Hear what I have to say. It is the only way you can save yourself from what is to come."
Squall stumbled backwards onto the couch. While feeling underneath the cushion for a knife, the woman approached him and stopped about three meters away from the couch. "I don't visit your dreams to send you cryptic messages my dear SeeD. I want to let you know that in the time to come, you shall be a pawn in evil's great game for world domination."
Finding the handle of the blade, Squall glared at her and let out a mocking laugh. "Pawn? We defeated Ultimecia. The threat is gone, so stop haunting my dreams and leave me and my friends alone!"
The woman gracefully floated in the air and took the couch facing Squall. He suddenly felt his hand feeling a bit more vacant than it should be. Suspecting that some magic was cast, he looked at the woman and her hand. Gleaming her pearly white teeth before the boy, she asked, "Looking for this? I don't want violence Squall. Besides, this is just a dream, so you can't really do any damage to me."
"Then why are you so afraid of me handling a knife then?" he questioned her. The fire in Squall's eyes seemed to be boring a hole in her chest. "Why wouldn't you face me in the day, in the light, when I can see you…Do you know why? Because you're a coward!"
"Squall…" the woman told him in a rolling, purring, reassuring voice, "there are some secrets that are better left said in the dark, when other forces aren't present to probe into the things we communicate to you in your dreams. These secrets in the dark…are best left within the human mind."
"Bullshit!" Squall shouted as he stood up and made his way for the door. "I'm not listening to any of this!" When Squall got to the door, he turned the handle but found that it wouldn't budge. Whirling violently and staring at her with pure hatred, he took the nearest object his hands could find and flung it at her. The woman effortlessly drew a green bolt of lightning in her hands and averted the object away from her.
"Fight me if you must, but I won't try to kill you." She rested her hand on her lap and held the other pointing towards the couch to invite Squall to sit down. "I won't hurt you. I just have things that you must listen to or else…" She paused to trigger some of Squall's curiosity.
She was right, for Squall did begin to move towards the couch, but did not take his seat yet. "Because what?"
"You love Rinoa, and you don't want anything to ever happen to her again." And that did it. Pleased with herself, she looked at Squall take his seat on the couch.
"If you ever do anything to harm Rinoa, I swear…"
"I won't do anything to harm Rinoa. I came here to talk. Now will you listen to me?"
Squall paused to think, sighed, and said, "Ok, what do you want? I'm listening." Placing his elbows on his knees, he prepared to hear what the woman had to say while preparing his fists for combat.
"You may already realize that for light to exist, there must be darkness, and that for good to prevail, there must be evil in this world. But evil isn't always going to be the underdog, you see, and while you think that Ultimecia is dead, somewhere in time's intricate fabric, her spirit exists. You killed her in time compression Squall. Time compression isn't a reality. It is simply a creation of her twisted mind. It was a world in which she wanted to live in, a world where she could never be hurt by the humans she despised so much, despite herself being one. She reigned supreme in her realm, if you remember, but in reality, time compression does not exist. It is, much like this dimension, a figment of the human mind's imagination."
"Why are you telling me this? Once time compression is destroyed, she can no longer recreate it."
"Because Squall, even if she can no longer reenter that dimension, she can enter any real time in space if she wanted to. Ultimecia must be destroyed in the future, or something must be done to change the course of time itself…Did you know…"
Suddenly, a large, ominous voice echoed from the other side of the chamber. "SILENCE YOURSELF WOMAN! YOUR SPIRIT HAS NO RIGHT TO ENTER THIS REALM!"
Squall turned towards the direction where the voice came from, and he found Storm hovering over his desk. "Storm…I don't understand…"
"Don't listen to her Squall! She will poison your mind!" cried Storm. He conjured a shuriken-like object from his hand and hurled it at the woman, but her speed allowed her to escape the projectile unscathed. She somersaulted from her side of the room to the place where Storm had been standing and threw a bolt of lightning at Storm. The cloaked man easily absorbed her magic and returned the blast at her, flinging her frail form across the room.
When he quickly flew to her to deliver the finishing blow, she shimmered and disappeared from the office. Storm landed close to where Squall was and asked, "Are you alright Squall?"
Squall stood up, unsure of what just happened and answered, "I'm alright, but I feel like I'm beginning to get confused. I'm not really sure what just happened but somehow…I feel like I'm a pawn in a very huge game."
"Squall, forget what she said. You must not listen to that woman. All she wants to do is to get you to do her bidding. In the end, she will dispose of you, just like she did so many others before you who were unable to fulfill their tasks."
Squall walked towards the window and stared at the artificial landscape which his mind had created. "Why are you afraid Storm? What has this woman done to make you fear her telling me whatever she had to say? For a moment there, I almost thought you didn't want me to know something which she could have told me."
"Because Squall, what she has to tell you will start you thinking about certain things that may lead to the something destructive. I don't want you to be her pawn Squall."
Squall whirled around to face Storm, looking at him in the eye. "And you want me to be yours? I don't want to be told what I should do anymore without me knowing the details. If you want me to help you, you should tell me why I am doing this. And will you tell me who that woman is?"
Storm paused for quite the long moment and sighed loudly. "I'm sorry Squall. There are things I can't reveal to you right now…"
Squall widened his eyes and shouted, "DAMN IT STORM! IF YOU DON'T TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW, I WILL LISTEN TO WHAT THAT WOMAN HAS TO SAY!"
Storm felt defeated, and finally answered, "Okay Squall, but I can only tell you so much. The woman you met earlier was Imogene."
Squall stood gaping while recollecting his thoughts. "But, doesn't she…I thought she was supposed to be dead!"
"Those who die without sufficing their vengeance don't become one with the heavens Squall. Imogene is one of those vengeful souls who think that they have not fulfilled their role in this world. You are intelligent Squall. Now that you know that Imogene is player in this game, you do the math. Like I said, there are things that cannot be revealed lest you want a quick end to this present world."
Squall moved towards his desk and put his weight on two of his hands, resting them on the flat surface. "Imogene and Ultimecia are plotting something against us aren't they?"
"Perhaps Squall, but now isn't the time to think about this things. You shouldn't be here. The world of dreams isn't always a welcome place for the conscious mind. Someday, if you frequent this world too much, you might find yourself lost in a dimension where your sole purpose is to exist forever in a lucid dream."
Squall pondered on Storm's words and said, "I have the power don't I?"
Storm suddenly felt his heart lurch. "What do you mean Squall?"
"I have the power to create a dimension to defeat Ultimecia, right? If not, then why do you and Imogene want my help?"
"I...Squall, you don't know what you are saying."
"If I didn't have the power, none of you would have any use for me. But I apparently have a certain power in me which allows you to tap into my dreams. Who else would you have contacted? I know you well enough through the time that we have been meeting each other in this world."
Storm stood up and hovered towards Squall. "When the time is right my boy, I will tell you everything. Don't think about these things. I…I must tell you that there are things that if you know right now, you might find that the enemy can use it against you. The dream world isn't the safest place anymore. Apparently, Imogene has found a way to tap into your mind. If she…if she found out that you knew more than you really do, then all will be lost. Please Squall, trust me. I only want what is best for you and the entire world. Now go back, before they worry too much. Only you can release yourself from this world. If you realized that this realm is a fabrication of the imagination, then will yourself to transport your mind back to real time and space."
Squall closed his eyes, nodded and said, "Storm, I entrust everything to you, and if something must go wrong, help me. I…I don't want anything to happen to my friends. Please be there when I need you."
Storm just nodded silently and disappeared from Squall's office. When everything was silent, Squall closed his eyes and felt a tingling sensation enveloping his entire body. At first, he heard voices, the many voices of Esthar Garden's students. And then he heard a familiar woman's voice calling out for his name. Without pausing to wonder whose the voice was, he quickly coursed through a dimensional void which led him back to his world, and when he opened his eyes, he saw Edea.
"Matron…" was all Squall could say when he saw her motherly visage.
"Squall, my boy, what happened? I tried to wake you up but you seemed unconscious. I was so worried about you. I heard you talking at this hour and I wanted to know if everything is well. Commander Ouragan gave me a key to all your rooms." She brushed away his bangs and brought her hand close to his forehead, trying to feel if he was well.
Squall took her hand and put it down, hugging the raven-haired woman to reassure her that nothing was wrong. "I'm alright Matron. I just had a dream."
Edea smiled and patted Squall on the head. "A dream? Care to tell me about it dear? I am your surrogate mother you know, so you can tell me anything."
Squall paused for a moment and thought about what Storm had said, "I don't remember anything." After another long pause, he asked her, "What time is it Matron?"
"It's one in the morning."
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Another chapter. Please add reviews to help to get me going. It is really nice to get good helpful reviews to boost my writing stamina.