Disclaimer: I only own mystery man, mystery girl, and the plot. That is all. For now.
Chapter XI
Dreams, Reality…Are They Connected?
How lonely this world is growing,
Something so desolate creeps over the spirit
And we don't know its name,
And it won't go away... -Emily Dickinson
XxXxX
The dark waves of the ocean tossed and turned, threatening to swallow anyone or anything in its waters. There was an island north of the storm, in the exact direction that the deadly storm was headed in. The small island's only town was busy with people that weren't even aware of what their future would become after the storm was over. A massive wave rose up from the ocean, rising up much higher than the small island it wanted to consume. As the wave towered above the island, several screams could be heard……
You kan't stop me. I always get my way.
Paine shot up in her bed, her breathing heavy. Wiping the sweat from her face with one hand, she looked at the clock machina on the nightstand beside her bed. 5:30 AM. She let out a soft sigh. Why would I be dreaming about the storm and Kilika? Is the storm going to- No. Not possible…right? Her legs swung over the side of the bed, feet on the floor. She had a feeling she wasn't going to go back to sleep for a while. Outside her window, she could see that it was raining extremely hard. The thunderstorm was complete with lightning and all.
Thinking about what she could do, she tried to remember what time the cafeteria started serving food. It's not like she was hungry, she just wanted to stay awake. Two words popped in her head: Training Center. A few battles would keep her wide awake. She hoped.
It didn't take her long to get ready and head toward the Training Center. As she walked, the only sound she heard was her heels on the tile. No one else other than her were up. This made things better: peace and quiet, which is what she liked most.
She scanned the area of the Training Center, looking for a good fiend to fight. Although she knew that it was possible that most of the fiends here could be much different than the ones she fought on Spira, she didn't particularly care because that made the fight a lot more interesting --if the fiend lasted more than two minutes in battle with her.
The large, green, ugly fiend caught her eye as it came toward her. It had four "tentacles" with what looked like small red head at the end of each one. The fiend waddled on multiple skinny legs and just won the "Ugly Reward" in Paine's opinion. Though, she's seen worse in Spira, so far this was the ugliest fiend she had seen in this world.
Guessing it was a grass type by just looking at it, she had thought about using her Flametongue attack. Either she could end it fast or take her time. Well, one thing was certain: she couldn't just stand around as the thing swung one of those tentacles at her. Dodging, she now stood behind it as she powered up her Flametongue.
She slashed her sword down at the fiend as fire engulfed it. As its crispy body fell over, she sighed, muttering, "Not even a minute." Now she wished for something stronger…and when she saw that large fiend several yards away, she smirked.
The fiend was huge: standing on its two legs, it was extremely taller than her. Black and red scales covered its entire body. She instantly knew this was going to be a challenge as she watched its massive mouth chow down on a dead fiend that had recently been killed.
That smirk stayed glued on her face as she tightened the grip on the handle of her sword. If things got a little tough, she could always go Full Throttle on its ass or back off. Like she was going to back off…but hey, things might get tough. Now all she had to do was get its attention, which wasn't a hard thing to do…especially when the fiend finished its meal and looked toward her with a hungry look in its eyes.
Her own eyes searched for a possible weak spot. There appeared to be none, and she had a hard time guessing what element it could be. Possibly fire or normal, but she couldn't be certain. All she knew was that it had to have a weakness. And she had to find it fast because the fiend was coming her way faster than expected.
She jumped out to the right, landing on her feet, but before she could react, she was off her feet and flat on her back. Making a mental note to keep a closer eye on that tail, she rose to her feet, hand grabbed her sword. As the tail was coming her way again, she jumped up and over it. When her feet was planted firmly on the ground again, she jumped up once more and landed on top of the fiend's head when it tried to eat her, then she was flung off the fiend and was headed toward a tree. Though, she never got time to greet the tree with her side because that gigantic tail came out of nowhere and went up against her; this time, flinging her into a steel wall, back first.
As pain rushed through her entire body, she made another little, important mental note: STAY. AWAY. FROM. BIG. DINO-FIEND.She now wanted to go Full Throttle, but didn't have the chance to when she heard the sound of an ice attack, heavy footsteps running off in the other direction, and that sickening laugh that sounded so familiar.
"Looks like I just saved your ass."
Paine opened her eyes only to see that smirk on that green-eyed face. "I didn't ask you to save me, mama's boy."
The movement was quick when he jabbed her in her extremely sore --if not a few broken-- ribs. "I'd watch what you say, sweetheart. If you haven't noticed, I'm not the one hurt."
"You're such an ass, you know that, right?"
"Yes, I know." He seemed to be studying her.
If he touches me in any way, I swear I'll- She was shocked when he actually did touch her, but not in the way she expected. His arm went around her waist and pulled her gently to her feet. He was strangely careful not to further harm her side as he helped her stand.
"Don't you dare tell anyone about this." He said, voice low but showed no sign of anger. As they started walking toward the exit, she looked up at him.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to ask questions?"
"It's not like you're known to help the wounded."
Chuckling, he spoke, "You're an exception. Besides, you ain't gettin' far with that," he looked down at her side, "I couldn't just leave ya here to die."
She was about to say something else, but decided against it. Closing her mouth, she ended the conversation, seeing no point in arguing with him. The two walked out of the Training Center, and he stopped.
"Take me to my dorm."
"What? The infirm-"
"I have some potions in my backpack that will heal me."
Nodding, he supported her as they now walked toward the dormitory. The small trip was quiet, having no one had been up and Paine didn't really want to speak, and Seifer obviously didn't want to either. When they arrived at the dorm, he opened the door and helped her inside. She held her side as she walked, slightly hunched over, to the desk where her backpack had been placed. Opening it up with her left hand, she pulled out a potion and although it tasted awful, she drunk it all, sighing out of relief as the pain went away a second later.
"Feel better now?"
"Yes, a lot." She turned to face him as he spoke again.
"We still hate each other, understood?"
She nodded. "Understood."
"Uh, here," he walked over and placed the sword that he had been carrying on her bed. "I didn't think you wanted to leave that behind so I took it with us."
"Thank you."
"No problem. Just as long as no one finds out about this."
"Why? Are you that embarrassed to have helped someone?"
As she waited for an answer from Almasy, the sound of the heavy rain outside was all she could hear.
"Just…don't tell anyone. As long as everyone else continues to think we hate each other, then I'm happy." He took a couple steps toward the door.
Shrugging one shoulder, she replied, "Okay, whatever you want, mama's boy."
"See ya later, sweetheart." He smirked as he opened the door and left, closing it behind him.
"Nice man." She found herself saying, but added, "When he wants to be." She moved her sword to lean up against the wall in-between her bed and nightstand, and then laid down on the bed, closing her eyes. Might as well stay here until I feel like eating.
XxXxX
"Good morning, Quistis," Heartilly greeted the woman as she sat down at the table with her, placing her tray of food on the table.
"Good morning," Quistis took a drink of her orange juice before looking over at Rinoa. "Is our guest up yet?"
"Yup, she just got up, look," Rinoa nodded her head, motioning for Quistis to look behind her at the entrance. Looking back, Trepe saw the woman as she walked toward the small line to get some food. She watched Paine walk to a table close to the entrance and sit down, putting her food on the table.
"Let's go join her." Quistis suggested as she stood, picking up her own tray of food and walked over to the table that Paine sat at. "May we?" She asked, motioning to the empty chairs.
"I don't care." Paine replied, watching both Quistis and Rinoa sit down.
"Did you sleep all right last night?" Heartilly asked, taking a sip of her drink.
"Yes."
"That's good." She smiled, stirring the eggs around on her plate. "I know this won't be as good as your other home, but I do hope you like it here."
"I do." Paine took a bite of her biscuit. She was half listening to the conversation the women in front of her tried to start and the rain outside. Why must they bother me? I really don't feel like talking; the headache I have is getting worse. She thought the headache had been caused by the fight she had a few hours ago, but didn't really care. How the headache got started was not her concern right now; the pain was.
"Are you okay? You look paler than usual." Quistis asked in a caring tone of voice.
"I'm fine, just a headache." As she took another bite of her food, she muttered a few random curses. It's back. Why is it back? She silently asked herself, referring to the sick feeling that now dominated her stomach. The headache just got worse, too.
The sick feeling in her stomach got worse; her insides felt like they were being poked. The world around her started to spin as the poking moved up to twisting and the headache to a pounding sound much like the thunder outside, which the storm only got worse as she did.
"Paine?"
See what I can do to you?
That voice, it was back again. So she is the one causing this? It wasn't like she wanted to find out the answer, but she found out anyway. As if to answer the question, the feeling in her body disappeared and she fell over onto the floor, limp. Though she could still see and hear, she couldn't move.
And to think: I can do much more than this if I wanted to.
"Paine!"
Why-why are you doing this to me? What did I ever do to you?
Nothing, nothing at all.
Then…why me!
The voice didn't answer her question, but simply made her feel even worse --if that was even possible right now.
"What's going on!" A male voice asked. So…familiar…
She listened, or tried to listen, to the voices and identify them, but all she could do was tell if they were female or male. And so far, there were only two females and one male…but as to who they were: she had no clue.
"Let's get her to the infirmary," said the male voice.
She felt him, or someone, pick her up, but then she blacked out from the pain.
XxXxX
She woke, a pounding in her head. Her eyes stayed closed, for she was aware of another's presence in the room. Hearing movement elsewhere in the room, she lay there. No, she wasn't afraid of getting caught; she knew what she was doing.
"The test results say she's perfectly healthy, Squall. You don't have to stay here much longer; she's in good hands." A woman, whom she figured was Dr. Kadowaki by the voice, said to another.
"I know, Dr., but her condition just isn't normal." Squall's voice was coming from her left. She guessed he was seated in the chair next to the bed she was in.
"Yes, I know. I'm trying to do all that I can do to help her. Why don't you-" A phone ringing somewhere nearby interrupted the doctor. She heard her move toward where the phone was and answer it. "Hello? Dr. Kadowaki speaking……Oh, Cid!…Yes, yes, I'll tell him right away……Line three? Okay, bye." A brief pause. "Squall, your father's on line three. It's urgent."
The man next to the bed got up and walked to where Kadowaki and the phone were. A door was opened and someone left.
"Yeah?" His voice was still coming from inside the room so Kadowaki must have been the one who left. "She's fine, for now…Resting……Get to the point."
She opened her left eye a bit. Squall stood there, yards away from her, an irritated look on his face.
"What do you mean it's something that I have to see to understand?…Yes, yes, I understand. When you get here, just park Ragnarok outside and wait, okay?…Whatever. Bye." The phone was hung up.
She had a feeling. A bad feeling. The headache had went away, and now she was interested in finding out what exactly the father and son were talking about. She had been lucky enough to listen in on one half of the conversation. Too bad it hadn't been the other half…… Now was her time to "wake up".
"What was that about?" She asked, hoping he'd tell her something she didn't already know.
"Paine, you're awake. How do you feel?"
"Don't change the subject. What was he talking about?" She sat up, her gaze kept on him.
"I don't know exactly; he wouldn't tell me much, only that he had something I'd want to see." Squall moved to stand next to the bed.
"I want to go with you when he gets here."
"No, no, no, I don't think so. You passed out and have been out cold for the past three hours. You're not going with me." He had a stern look on his face.
"I don't think I asked to go; it was more like me telling you I was going." Her voice matched the glare she was giving him.
"NO." He didn't budge. "You are not going with me. I don't care if I have to assign SeeDs to watch this room, you are not leaving and that's the end of it." He left the room, their argument over with.
She knew he would get people to watch the door to make sure she didn't leave. A smirk crossed her face. "Amazing how he thinks he can actually stop me." Something told her that she needed to go with him, but as to why, she didn't know. But she would soon find out…
XxXxX
Two people, the best SeeDs not counting the ones who helped save the world, were assigned to watch over the infirmary door, their job to make sure the woman inside did not leave. Squall Leonhart had warned them greatly about this woman, and they understood why. Word had gotten around quickly about her hitting Seifer Almasy.
It's not like they were frightened of this woman. No, of course not. Why should they be frightened of a woman who had the guts to hit Seifer? Surely no one else here had those guts, except Leonhart on occasions, but it was still against the rules here at Garden to hit another student or person here.
The two had been allowed to use any sleep spells if needed. As Leonhart explained, there would be more people watching along with them, there just wasn't the time to gather the right people. How reassuring he had sounded……
Inside they heard movement, but just figured the one inside was just bored, or trying to keep awake. Either way, they didn't think she'd try to get out. Boy were they wrong.
Paine thought about a way out, though she had very little time to think of something. Well, there's my Berserker dressphere, which will help me sneak out of Garden and board Ragnarok. I don't think any other dressphere will help me out of here. I can't draw too much attention to myself, that's why Berserker may come in handy. Or…there's an alternate… She shook her head. No, I can't get to my backpack. So that idea wouldn't work. Idea number one was still an option…
There's also the Thief dressphere. That'll help like Berserker. But Berserker allows me to be more…agile than Thief; well, for me, anyway. Rikku was always good with using Thief… Perhaps she could just manage with her main, Warrior. Yes, she will just manage with Warrior. It's not like she wants to draw attention to herself. Besides, if she were caught, she was sure that they would wonder about her change of clothes.
Now to think of a harmless way to take out the "guards". She had no sleeping spells of any sort on her, or any-wait! She always carried a couple healing potions (for emergency uses, of course), a sleeping spell, a few element spells, and gas grenades on her. Why? Just in case she was left weaponless in a dangerous place. Well, she was never truly weaponless; she did have her other dresspheres……
Quickly realizing she was wasting time thinking, she stopped her pacing around and stared at the door. Surely Dr. Kadowaki would return, right? And when she did, perhaps she could talk her into letting her out… Or she could just knock both guards out and escape that way. That was always a plan that hardly ever failed for her.
OR- She turned around, her gaze stuck on a window. Glancing back at the door, she sighed and said, "You guys got lucky." It only took her less than a minute to open the window and climb out, feet touching the soft ground, the owner thankful that she was only on the first floor and not the second. Scanning the area, she walked alongside the building, lowering to the ground whenever a window came.
She looked around the corner, but looked up instead when she heard the airship nearby. The airship, Ragnarok, lowered to the ground, coming to a complete stop seconds later. One man, whom she noticed was Laguna, ran out of Ragnarok and into Garden. He looked as if he was in a hurry. And I thought he was told to wait. Taking this time to board Ragnarok, she ran, quickly, trying to make it there before Laguna decided to come back. She stepped aboard Ragnarok, remembering back to the first time she was here inside the airship. As she went through a couple doors, she tried to think of a good place to hide until they arrived at the place they were going to.
She found a few crates in one corner of a room that she had entered, and quickly hid behind them, moving a crate or two to surround her completely so she wouldn't get caught. She was hid well, the crates being high enough that she wouldn't need to duck. Sighing softly, she closed her eyes and waited……
XxXxX
"I had to pee! How many times do I have to say that?" Laguna followed his son aboard Ragnarok.
"Whatever. Let's just go." Squall understood the fact that he had to go to the bathroom, but his timing was awful.
"We aren't exactly in a hurry, you know. What I want to show you ain't gonna move anytime soon."
"So…what is it, then?"
"You'll see, you'll see." Before long, Laguna had started up Ragnarok and they were off.
"Where is it?" Squall asked a couple minutes later.
"Outside Esthar. Well, you'll see what I mean exactly when we- uh, we're here." Laguna hovered Ragnarok in one place as he walked over to the window. "Look down."
Squall hesitated a second, then walked over to where his father was. "Oh my Hyne… Where did this come from?"
Before Laguna could answer, the sound of the elevator caught both of their attention. Squall had his hand on the handle of his gunblade. He sighed, happy that it wasn't a monster who had stepped off the elevator, but a part of him was mad. "Paine, why are you here? I thought I told you to-"
"Did you really think I'd listen?" Paine walked to where they were, her eyes going wide when she saw what Laguna had brought him- them out here for. "Kilika Island…"
"What? You know this place?" How? But-but not even Laguna or I know of this place… Squall stared at the woman, the shock showed on his face.
"I…"
He saw the shock on her face, as well as a confused look. What do you know that we don't, Paine?
