Chapter 3: Sleep

After a day of sitting in the green liquid stuff I don't remember much. All that I can feel is the searing pain like a huge burn. I just wanted to take back everything and go back home. The faces of my family were already becoming blurry. I'm sorry; I tell the mental image of my brother, parents, and the woman who had taken me in. I am so sorry! Wait for me, okay? Please, just wait.

The people in the lab visited me in my cell that day. They were asking me something, but I could not exactly hear them. I remember their faces were blurred and the words I tried to form came out as hoarse whispers. I caught one word, and that was "name". Where they asking my name? I tried to say it. The forming of the word took a lot more effort than normal but I think I got it out. I am sure I said "Lilja" at least once.

There is a small prick at my neck but I can barely feel it anymore. All I feel is the sensation like you are falling. I try to flail but my arms and legs do not move. The darkness gets heavier each second and soon I am on a cold floor of what seems like a cave. There are no lamps in there but there is some sort of eerie glow so I can see.

"Hello?" I called out trying to see if anyone else was there. Nothing but the echo of my own voice answers me. "Please, is anyone there?" Again just the echo. I walk down the only way I can go through the cave, perhaps there will be an exit?

I walked for what seemed for hours. Maybe that was just because my body hurt but each step took extreme effort. Another wave of pains breaks my concentration and make me land flat on my back again. When I open my eyes again though it is a different scene. The Scientist with the greasy hair looks over me and has a needle in my arm pushing a strange substance in me. Immediately I start to yell.

"What are you doing?! Stop this right now!" I try to fight the restraints that are on me but they are quite effective at doing their job. "Please, no! No, no, no, no, NO!" He doesn't react very much except to glare at me. I squeeze my eyes shut trying to wake up from the horrifying dream. When my eyes open again I see the cave again but I was not alone.

"You are not going to wake up that easily." The cloaked figure above me gazes down with no face. Confused I get up and face him.

"Asleep?" He nods. "So then this is a dream?" He nods again. "And what I just saw, was that reality?"

"Yes." I break down in front of him falling back to my knees. "So they are doing experiments on me?!" I sob at him.

"I am afraid so."

"How can you be calm about this situation?! While we sit here my real body is becoming a pin cushion!" I grasp the end of the coat like a child.

"You are a rather peculiar child." I look up confused. "You think that just because you have problems that they immediately become another's problem too. You sealed your fate the day you heard those executives talking about that materia you stole."

My lip trembles but I let go and let my hands fall into my lap. "Then what should I do? Just stay asleep?"

"That would be wise. What they did to you will take time for your body to adjust. If you sleep now when you wake up you will be stronger."

I calm myself more with deep breaths. "Alright. So sleep now and then take my revenge later?"

"More or less," He nods to me. "Now come with me. While you sleep in your body, we will train in your mind. This will ultimately help you bring out your true potential."

I scowl a little but force myself back onto my feet. "What must I do?"

When the cloaked man had said training, he was not kidding. Even though this was supposed to be a "dream" the pain I felt and the loss of breath felt real enough. Each "day" started off with pushups, sit-ups, and all sorts of twists and jumps. He said even if the training was not physically real it would get me into the habit of doing it when I wake up. I apparently needed it for what was to come.

We would then move onto different weapon styles and then to endurance. Surprisingly the cloaked man was very apt at using all sorts of weapons. When I asked him how he knew all of these styles he just shook his head saying it was unimportant. He trained me twice as hard that day.

Another day I did ask him what his name was. "That is unimportant." A typical response from him. Either something was important or nothing mattered at all. Talk about extremes! "But shouldn't you ask yourself that?" He left me alone to let me ponder it.

Not until I was going to "sleep" I realized what he meant. The name I had grown up with had disappeared from my knowledge. I could feel like I knew it but every time I tried to think of what it was I could not recall it. I also realized that the faces of my previous family and their names had disappeared too. I did not "sleep" well after that.

The days turned into months, and then months turned into what felt like years. "Time flows differently in this world," he told me one day. "One day here could be a 2 days in reality. It is never fixed or constant. When you wake up things may be completely different that you remember; if you remember at all."

He always left me with puzzling phrases to ponder. When I tried to think of the world outside most of the knowledge eluded me. I remembered about Mako, and energy that made the planet live. And I remember that the planet itself was called Gaia. But the time just slipped away. The fine details became hazy and every time I tried to think of my past life nothing popped up. I found that the only things I was recalling was the training I was doing. And even the details of how I arrived at this place were nonexistent. I knew that I was sleeping, but I did not understand where my real body was or why I was sleeping like this.

A day came though when the cloaked man came up to me and said we would not be training. "Your time is coming to an end here. It will be time for you to wake up soon. Thus your final task begins now. Defeat me in combat."

I stared up at him. He was a great fighter compared to me, how was I supposed to defeat him? "And no objections," he tells me firmly. He hands me a thin saber like sword and give me a little space to warm up. I give a few passes on it and stretch out my legs a little. "Are you prepared?" He asks me. I wipe my already sweating hand onto my pants and re grip my sword.

"I am ready." I try to keep down the rising fear in me.

"Begin." And then he is on me with in a moment, his broad sword pushing down on to my thin blade. Breaking away I circle him looking for an opening in his impeccable guard. Without warning he steps in and swipes the large sword around impossibly fast. I guard as fast I can and try to make it around his blade though he is quick to block those too. My muscles scream at me when he forces down on my sword again.

My hands were getting sweaty again, if I was not careful then I could lose a hold of the blade and then I would be defeated. I see a small opening and take it determined to win. But because of that blind determination I was un able to see him kicking me in the side until it was too late. My hand immediately drops the blade as I fly across the cave and into a wall. I breathe out a curse and try to get up. My legs wobble and I fall against the wall again. I find the sword just in my reach and grab it but my arms will not lift it.

"It seems," the cloaked figures moves till he is about a foot away from me, "that the training I have put you through has not done you any good. My only option is to end your life right now. If you cannot defeat me, then how do you plan to face the future?" He raises his blade and hesitates for a moment. "Any last words?"

I lower my head and close my eyes for a moment. "I'm sorry," I say very quietly.

"Is that all? No matter, I have nothing against you personally. This is just how the materia works."

My head shoots up and I look into his shadow of a face. This was all a materia induced dream. Feeling some sort of new found strength my hand grasps the sword tightly and buries the tip through the chest of the mysterious man. His sword drops and he gasps a little.

He gives a small laugh that sounds wet. "It seems that you have succeeded."

"I don't know who you are, or why I am asleep but I will tell you this. There are still things that I must do back in the real world. And until I do I will not die." I twist the sword and jar it out of him trying to make the most pain possible.

As soon as he collapses I feel my eyes grow heavy. It was a fight to keep them open so I just let myself fall back to what should be the ground. The ground shatters below me letting me fall into a pit of darkness. Was that light, coming towards me?