A/N: hey! Remember this story??? Sorry it took so long to update, I have been away and then having lots of things going on but I'm back now. Really hope you enjoy the chapter and so many thanks to all those who have reviewed and read and supported me so far. Enjoy!

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"Are you alright Squall? You have been acting strangely all day." Zell said to his friend.

"I am fine." Squall said, rubbing his eyes "Just tired."

The night before had been yet another sleepless one for Squall. He had once again been disturbed by mysterious dreams. Since that first dream, he had some sort of dream each night. Sometimes they were fragmented, only flashes of things happening, and other nights they were continuous unfolding events and they seemed to last forever. But each night they had gotten worse, more like nightmares.

"Zell." Squall said reluctantly, "Do you know anything about dreams?"

Squall knew as soon as he said it he had probably just started Zell on a topic that would keep him talking for hours.

Zell was innately fascinated by all things magical, mystical and spiritual and tended to be somewhat of a know it all on the subject..

"Of course. What about them?"

"I've just been having strange dreams lately, continually. I keep dreaming about the same sort of thing."

"Well, dreams are said to represent something in our inner selves or our hearts. We dream people and places, give faces and names to our thoughts, create stories to display these thoughts."

"I suppose. But it seems too real. These dreams are far too vivid to be normal. And sometimes they are frightening, it seems sometimes they are not completely fictional."

"Well there are some people, rare people though, who can see the future through dreams, events that haven't been yet, but that is highly unlikely. What are these dreams about?"

"A girl. She is a sorceress, being hunted by the soldiers, but there is someone else following her to. And she keeps running, sometimes they find her but then she runs again. Last night I dreamt of her again. She is so lost and she is all alone and she is becoming sick from the exhaustion of constantly running. It is so strange though these dreams follow on every night, like a story that stops and then starts again when I sleep. There are always things that have gone in between that I don't understand. It is like I am dreaming someones' whole life."

"That sounds very strange to me. There are many explanations for the girl, but none for the sequence and clarity of the dreams. It sounds kind of confusing. I think you need to see someone more experienced in these matters. There is a psychic in town, she is hiding because of the hunt, but I believe she could help you.

"No. I am not going to a psychic, they are all fakes. Besides its like you said, its all in my head, I just need to forget it."

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But that night things became even stranger for Squall. When he closed his eyes he was expecting-with dread- to see another strange event in his little 'dream world'. But he didn't. All he saw in front of him was a field, a vast open field. The green grass was hiding flowers of pale yellow and dusky pink and the sun was shimmering down.

It was a beautiful scene, but then suddenly the sky darkened and rain started to fall down, soaking the grass and the flowers. This was surreal, and even in Squalls sleep he felt confused. What was going on? And things only got stranger. Darkness settled and the moon and stars rose as if night, but after a few seconds the sun rose, travelled across the sky and set again, bringing the beginning of night. It was like days and nights were passing at a rapid speed. At that point, there was a whisper that echoed in Squalls head "Help me" the soft voice kept echoing before fading into nothing.

More days and nights appeared to pass and the whisper kept appearing and disappearing.

"Help me…I need you."

Squall, as if consciously observing this while unconscious, tried to force himself to wake up and it seemed he was succeeding. The scene started to fade and the voice became quieter "Don't leave me! I need you…."

Squall felt his eyes start to flicker open and he was practically awake, but just before he woke up he heard the voice one more time "you're my only hope."

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"Rinoa, wake up!" Rinoa felt herself being shaken gently. Opening her eyes, she saw a familiar face. Selphie was a young woman who had taken Rinoa in and allowed her to stay after encountering each other in the local village. She lived in quite a large house just on the outskirts of a place called Winhill, a tiny place. Her husband, Irvine, was the local doctor for the village, and thus they were quite wealthy.

"Rinoa, are you alright?" she asked

"I am fine, thank you."

"You we're talking in your sleep."

"I was?" She asked. Rinoa usually remembered her dreams, but this time it was different, it was a complete blank. "What did I say?"

"It was like you were talking to somebody. You kept saying 'help me, I need you.' and you said 'you're my only hope'. What on earth were you dreaming about?"

"I can hardly remember. If I try very hard, I vaguely remember something of a field and it was like day and night kept passing but I don't remember talking to anyone. It is very strange."

"Well never mind. It was just a dream. They never mean anything." Selphie said.

"Selphie!!" Irvine called, after Rinoa heard the door slam shut "Selphie, where are you?"

"I'm in here." she called as Irvine dashed into the room. "What is it?"

"I was on my way home and I saw them, the soldiers, they are here! They are knocking door to door, searching for sorceresses!"

"Oh no! what do we do!" Rinoa panicked

"Well you should hide, just in case." Selphie said "And I'll think of something"

But Selphie did not have much time to think as the sudden sound of knocking signalled the arrival of the soldiers.

"Quickly, hide!"

Rinoa did as Selphie said, then listened as she went and opened the front door.

"Yes." she said politely "May I help you.?"

"We are looking for sorceresses. Rumour has it there is one in the village."

"Really? I have not seen any strangers though…"

"May we look inside please?"

"Why?"

"Procedure Miss."

"Ah of course. Except as you know my husband is the doctor of the village and he has not returned home yet. I would feel uncomfortable allowing you to search his house when he is not home. Besides I am sure he would rather me not be here alone with soldiers."

"Perhaps we should come back." one said to the other.

"yes of course." Selphie nodded "Feel free to come back anytime he is home."

"Alright, we will. Sorry to bother you Ma'am"

"it is quite alright. And good luck with your search." She said, before closing and locking the door.

"you can come out now." she then said.

"thank you so much." Rinoa said as she came out form where she had been hiding. "That was too close. I am so grateful for everything you have done for me, but I think perhaps I should leave. If they come again and you are found helping me, they will punish you and its not fair for me to burden you."

"oh nonsense" Selphie said, "stay as long as you need to. I would rather you here than out there were they will definitely find you."

"This hunt is ridiculous." Irvine sighed, "Sorceresses are no threat to us. That is all a myth, they are people too, just like us."

"wow, you are so tolerant. It is so refreshing form everyone elses attitude. How come you are so open minded?"

"Well, about 15 years ago there was a huge purge of the sorceresses, much like now."

"I remember. I was only 5 or so, but I remember vaguely." Rinoa said, as she thought sadly back to that day, the day her father was killed.

"Well I was a child at the time too, I was in an orphanage with a few other children. I do not really remember them, but I do remember our matron. She was so kind and caring, but one day the soldiers came. They suspected she was a sorceress and so…they killed her. Then us children, we were scattered and split across the world. And except for Irvine, I never saw any of them again."

"You two knew each other as children?"

"yes, but we were separated, but as if by fate, we met up again a few years ago."

"That's wonderful." Rinoa said. They had obviously had good luck and good fate. Rinoa was becoming increasingly sure fate intended her nothing but a life full of misery. It was to hard to find people to accept her, this couple were such a rarity. Nobody else would ever understand. She could never find a husband or a home or settle down and have a peaceful life. Thinks like that were all pointless, empty dreams.

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There we go!! Well…again sorry about the wait. Next chapter Squall goes to see the psychic and discovers some very interesting things. Hope you enjoyed!