9/30/14: Breaking this into multiple chapters - a million words is a little difficult to digest in one sitting. Added new content into this chapter that'll be key to building relationships and story in the future. Looking at a quick triple upload tonight! :)

Night by Night

More books. Lina was so close to finishing the research portion of her project, she just needed more books. So there she was at the Garden library, sitting at a little round table near the back shelves and skimming through a few pages.

Two books that she found would be useful. She took them to checkout where she met a cheerful Sadie, and headed back to the Dormitory. Lina walked without thoughts, looking here and there and enjoying the lively Garden scenery. That is, until she saw him yet again, standing, arms crossed, back leaned against the wall. Seifer. She almost dropped her books—almost. He was staring directly at her.

How suspicious would it be to turn around and sprint now to Selphie's room? He eyed her up and down, then his eyes narrowed, lips pulled back in a small smirk.

"Hello, Lina."

"Why are you following me?" she demanded. He raised his eyebrows, his chest raising with a scoff

"Aren't you curious about your past?" She froze, the intensity in her eyes interrupted with an expression of surprise, then curiosity, then fear.

How you were born in the city of Deling," he said, completely ignoring her question, and not even looking at her face to sense her wide-eyed gaze. "Then your mother J-"

"Stop!" she yelled. "I'm not interested in your lies.."

""You don't believe me, do you? Aw, tsk tsk tsk," he shrugged himself from the wall and took a step closer to her. Lina froze in her place, terrified as he approached her. He leaned in, only a few inches away from her. Act, Lina thought, move! But nothing in her responded. She felt her bones quivering with fear, or boiling with fury-which was it? Either, or, there was movement stirring in her at the words-but she couldn't move. He swept the back of his fingers along her cheek then under her chin. "Poor, Lina," he whispered. "They're the ones lying. I have all the answers you want." Lina felt his breath along her neck, tingling where his words landed on her skin and she shivered. "Just come with me."

Lina finally responded to her logic. She pushed him away roughly, grasping onto her books, and walked promptly down the hall. She looked over her shoulder and saw Seifer lean right back against wall and smirk at her. She turned her head back around and tried to walk as calmly as she could.

But as soon as she turned the corner, she sprinted. With everything in her she sprinted, the adrenaline coursing through her. She almost ran into Selphie's door, but rapped on the door with a free knuckle.

"Coming..." she heard muffled from the other side. As soon as she opened the door, Lina pressed pass her and threw the books and her book bag on her bed, "Lina? What are you—" Lina grabbed her wrist before she could finish her sentence and sprinted out the door, dragging her along. "Lina!"

She didn't respond, and pulled her around the corner, to the exact spot.

Seifer was nowhere to be seen.

But...

But he was here just a second ago.

Desperately, she turned around to face Selphie. "Seifer," she said, breathless. He was here...

He... said...my mother.. my.." Selphie straightened immediately, jumping from corner to corner of the hall, looking around to see if he'd left any trace. Lina stood there, completely lost. Her thoughts had broken loose—swirling violently in her mind.

"Are you sure it was him?"

Lina stood in a daze, lost in the swirling of the gears in her brain spinning and spinning. Deling...born in Deling...? He knew her mother...? Could it possibly be, somewhere, she had a family...? Was he...telling the truth?

"I...Yes...it was, I..." she stuttered, but she couldn't finish a sentence. Her mind was stirring now with questions she knew no one but Seifer could answer. "I'm sorry, Selph..." Her breathing became heavy, her voice distressed.

The thoughts began to cloud her vision—the memory of the dreams began to swarm her mind. Outwardly, she stood still, her eyes blank, fingers clenched into fists.

"Lina? Lina!" Selphie tried to get her attention. "Hey...come on, it's okay." She finally looked up at Selphie, but her eyes were wide with confusion, watering, brimming with her apparent fear. Selphie shook her gently by the shoulders. Slowly, with Selphie soft encouraging words, Lina's breathing began to regulate.

"Selphie..." she murmured.

"It's alright. Let's go back to my room, we can talk about it there," she directed, and they headed back together.

Selphie put in a call for Squall and the group as Lina fumbled into the room and dropped wordlessly onto the carpet. Selphie put the phone back in its hanger and stood in silence a moment, the gears in her head turning as she looked at her sullen friend.

As they waited for the rest of the SeeDs to arrive, Selphie stepped into the kitchen and set a pot of water onto the stove. Once the water boiled, she brewed a cup of tea and handed it to Lina. Lina sat, cross-legged on the carpet, sipping little gulps from her mug and staring blankly across the room. Selphie, pulled the tea pot off the stove, poured herself a second cup, then set it aside on the counter. She turned and leaned back against the kitchen wall, observing the shaken Lina.

She walked to the doorway, clicking the heavy wood panel into place, turned around and pressed herself against the handle.

"Lina..." she started. Lina disengaged with her thoughts to make eye contact with her friend and throw her a weak smile-suddenly she was bare, raw flesh exposed, and her fear betrayed her attempts to hide it. Selphie scooted in closer and crouched on her knees in front of her. "What's wrong?"

"I was just, flustered," Lina tried to shrug, but the gesture was lackluster. She wasn't convincing anyone, especially not Selphie.

"It's not just Seifer, is it? You've been a walking zombie for days now," Selphie reasoned.

"I know," Lina sighed, and buried her face into her hands. She breathed a heavy gulp of air, her body convulsing with the exhale. "I know, I know." Lina clenched her eyes shut, and as much as she willed it not to occur, with one last sigh, a stream of tears pressed their way from the corners of her eyes.

"Lina..."

"I wish I could remember," Lina said with a struggle. Selphie sat down across from her and put a firm hand on her wrist. "It's these dreams. It feels like I don't sleep at all."

"Tell me," Selphie said. Lina wiped a trail of tears from her cheek and steadied her breathing, each gulp sharp against her chest.

She took a deep breath before she began to explain. Three recurring dreams. Three guaranteed nights of restlessness, replaying over and over, night by night. She wasn't sure how much more of this she could handle before she cracked—and what the consequence of that crack may be, she wasn't even sure.

The first, she was always tip-toeing around the borders of a large stone monument, the natural wear of aging apparent in chipped gray stone and mortar of the structure. She'd pull her fingers along the exterior walls of the great building, feeling a dewey texture of the moss that covered the majority of the surface area and look up at the storm clouds forming above the two-three story tall edifice through squinted eyes. Walking along the wall to what appeared to be the entrance, she'd look down at her bare feet and noticed a small symbol carved deeply into the stone beneath her toes—what appeared to be the shape of a teardrop encased in a thin circular border. She'd lean down and touch it with her hand, and the inscription would begin to glow, as if a well of light bursting from beneath it. The dream always ended as the light grew brighter and brighter until it engulfed her entire vision. She'd wake with a headache, confused and tired.

The second, walking through a dim, candle-lit dungeon, toward a pedestal at the opposite end. As she approached, she noticed an enormous, leather bound tome sitting on the stand. She reached out with her fingers across the rough texture of the ancient bounding, then to the cover of the book, marked with the same symbol as the first dream—a teardrop bordered with a thin circular border. What did it mean? As she turned open the cover of the book to the frail, age-worn pages, she'd stir from her sleep. Frustrated, she'd try to force herself back to sleep to continue the dream—the answers were in this book, she was sure of it, but the memory would never retrigger.

The final, running. Running through brambles and bushes, her young arms scraped as she pushed stray branches and clumps of leaves out of the way of her path. The rain pounded against her body in violent sheets. She was filled with panic, with only one directive—to run. Escape. Spattered blood covered her forearms as she trudged on—was it her own? She felt the foul stink of fear fill her nostrils as her feet were caught on a root and she fell into the brush. Her pursuers were on her tail, she knew she had to hide. She pulled her legs into chest and defensively threw herself deep into a shadowed brush. In front of her, her hunters trudged on, unaware of her hiding spot—she watched as their boots lingered, mulled, and finally passed from her vision. She sighed her held breath as the last pair of shoes ran past her.

But just as she began to settle into the sense of relief, it was just a quickly shaken away as a gnarled hand shot from the dark and grabbed her arm, pulling her out of the bush. She screamed and screamed as she met a pair of golden eyes, twisted a beastlike hand tightly around her throat. She felt the breath escape her, her limbs grow weak with struggle, with screams dissipating into the crash of the rain around her. And then she woke, drenched in sweat, tears streaming down her face.

Three recurring dreams. Memories. Nightmares. And after each startled her awake, a sleepless night until the first light of dawn.

"I don't know what it means. I don't know if I ever will," Lina said, desperation in her voice. It'd become so frequent, she was afraid to fall asleep. It was true-if she could keep herself awake, she'd rather deal with the tiredness than the actual deep-rooted, murky restlessness of shallow sleep and unanswered questions. But at night, her attempts proved futile, she'd toss and turn, lying and staring at an empty ceiling until her body finally drifted off into the same three nightmares.

"Could it mean something?" Selphie suggested, tightening her grip on Lina's wrist.

"It's possible, but it just doesn't make any sense," Lina gulped as another wave of anxiety washed over her. She tried to chuckle and blow it off, struggling to compose herself. "It's just silly, really."

"Lina," Selphie held her firmly. "Don't be ridiculous. This isn't a joke."

Lina caught the heaviness in the tone of her voice, the serious shadow cast over her eyes.

"I'll help you," she offered, her tone becoming softer suddenly. "You don't have to suffer alone."

"But..." Selphie recognized the look in her eye, the feeling of her hesitation—Selphie knew she was scared. Scared that the others would see the real Lina, or what she felt herself: scared, lost, half a human. She understood why suddenly Zell's remarks had hit home. They were her greatest fears.

"I'm going to help you figure this out," she wasn't offering this time.

Lina took a deep breath, realizing she had no say in the matter. "Thank you, Selphie."