A/N – Okay, I'm doing something different this time; this'll be a two-parter, since my original idea was far too long for just one sitting. Here's chapter ten, part one!
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 7 or any characters from the original game...there, I said it.
Chapter 10 (part 1)
He woke up again (minus the cold sweat), greeted by the enveloping darkness of nighttime. Adjusting to the low levels of light almost too quickly to be normal, his eyes registered the same room at the inn he had been in previously. This, in itself, confirmed a new trait about him: he was officially paranoid about those scientists, and was expecting them to pop out at any moment.
'I need to get out; get some fresh air.' He concluded, pushing the covers of his bed off of him and, without the slightest of sounds, walked over to the door, opened it, and left. The quickness that he moved, let alone the lack of sound he caused, was becoming less of a shock to him now; however, he wasn't completely content with what had been done to him…not one bit. Once he was outside and in the crisp, cold weather's ever-so-chilling embrace, he began to relax little by little. He took a look at the town he was in: small, yet comfortable-looking houses surrounded him – though not as if to suffocate, but rather make one feel the slightest bit of security.
Close to his kind of town, but not exactly.
With his strained nerves finally taking some time off from the non-stop paranoia, he strolled through the quaint village, finding a boulder right outside the gates and sitting upon it. He looked up at the stars in the sky, specifically the one he remembered as his home according to the old star-maps. Thousands upon thousands of questions flowed through his mind in a somewhat ordered string of thoughts: Why was he stuck here on this rock? Is there a way to return to his own time? And if so, how? If that was even a possibility, then how would he get back to Cyphus? Most importantly, would he ever be able to see Megan again?
Snapping out of the train of thought, he heard footsteps from behind him; he turned his head to get a look, and saw Tifa.
"Can't sleep?" she asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. He shrugged if ever so slightly.
"Needed some fresh air." He replied, moving over to his left, and she sat down. He found his eyes partially glued onto his new guest, now that he had the chance to finally see another person he was probably going to be stuck with for most of the time – not like it was a bad thing, he sort of missed having actual friends…it just caused him to feel awkward.
"So, how did you do it?" she asked throwing him a glance, and he raised an eyebrow in confusion, "That lightning…that kind of spell could only come from evolved materia." She explained, and Rollin scratched the back of his scalp.
"Actually, I'm not too sure how I did that…" his voice fading off into thought, he began to wonder, 'How the hell was I able to do that?' Shaking his head slowly, he continued, "I'm not sure that it was materia, either."
"You think that you'd be able to show me?" this question caught him a little off guard; the last time he had shown anyone his skill in fighting or anything, let alone a woman, was three years ago with…
'Angie…' he stopped himself from going down that path: nothing good came from it, anyways. He nodded, pointed his right hand towards one of the trees and channeling his thoughts , watched it become encased in a pillar of ice both in his mind and with his own eyes (which were as wide as they could get). He noticed two sphere-shaped objects – one of which was green, the other blue – glowing in his upper arm; not on, not around, but in his arm. 'So that's what Hojo did to me.' He tried to examine the pair of globes embedded in his arm, but they faded away, leaving the now slightly paler color of skin behind. Tifa walked over to him and held his arm up so she could observe this oddity.
"Hmm…I've never heard of materia inside someone's body." She mumbled in thought, and looked Rollin in the eyes, "What was the blue one?" Rollin puzzled over this briefly, before hearing a voice – familiar, but the name was on the tip of his tongue, so to speak – in his head:
'Turbo.' It said, coercing him to say it in the process.
"Turbo." He replied, not entirely sure as to where the thought came from: it wasn't his own as far as he knew, and he knew he wasn't checked into the insane asylum recently. He wondered if Aeris would know anything about it. There was a long period of silence between the two, before Tifa finally spoke up.
"Where are you from?" she asked, a serious look on her face. Rollin shut his eyes in contemplation, unsure if he should tell the truth or make a sort of half-truth. Opening his eyes, he came to his decision.
"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me." He warned her preemptively, but she kept her gaze locked on his. He exhaled in slight frustration hoping for some kind of time paradox to take effect, but nothing happened. "You're not going to give up that easily, are you?" he asked, and she shook her head slowly, intent on hearing what he had to say, "Well, this is going to sound very far-fetched, so don't say I never warned you." She shrugged her shoulders.
"It's been awhile since I've heard a good story." She stated, sitting back down and letting him begin. Slowly he sat down as well, preparing himself for the somewhat lengthy account straight from the history books.
A/N – Read and review please: any reviews are appreciated!
Until the next chapter,
Lloyd Redgrave