Here's the next chapter, guys! I'll be going to a convention this coming weekend and I'm not sure if I'm bringing my laptop with me. I know I'll have fun there… until I have to study for an exam I have the day after I get back. Anyway, enough about me! Enjoy the chapter!

September 23, X790

The Phoenix Dawn guild hall was almost empty save for Jason, Sakura, Flora and Aqua. There weren't any jobs available, everyone else was out on one and the four of them were bored out of their minds. Sakura was already sound asleep with her head on a table while the others were nodding off

"Is there really nothing to do?" Aqua asked.

"It appears so…" Jason said.

The others were about to fall asleep as Flora pulled out a newspaper to keep herself occupied.

"I wonder if I'll have one of those nonsensical dreams that serve absolutely no purpose to anything." Aqua said as her eyes closed.

"Hm, this seems interesting…" Flora said.

"What?" Jason asked.

"We could go to this fortune teller that just came to town and opened up a shop." Flora answered. "And it's not that far from the guild, so why not?"

"Do we look like suckers to you?" Aqua asked.

"… I'm going to have to get back to you on that one." Flora replied.

"I'm not the type of person who wants to get his fortune told." Jason said.

"Sakura, what do you think?" Flora asked.

"Zzzzzzz…" Sakura quietly snored in her sleep.

Flora snapped her fingers and Sakura shot up awake.

"Ah, anything to shake off this boredom!" Sakura exclaimed.

"That settles it." Flora said.

The four of them walked down a few streets until they reached a small building.

"This is the place." Flora said, looking at the address on the newspaper.

"About time our boredom is killed." Sakura said, resting her arms behind her head.

Jason and Aqua looked at each other, sighed and went inside with Sakura and Flora. Upon entering the building, they were treated with dark lighting, esoteric objects and the aroma of incense. Behind a star patterned curtain was a young woman with long blue hair and wearing a white cloak sitting at a round table with a deck of cards in her hands.

"Come in." She said.

"Are you the fortune teller?" Flora asked, looking at the newspaper again to check something. "Fortuna (Age 23)?"

"Yes." The woman named Fortuna answered. "Have you come to have your fortunes told?"

"Only because we have nothing better to do." Jason replied.

"Which of you wants to go first?" Fortuna asked.

"I'll go first." Sakura said as she took a seat at the table.

"How much you want to bet that it's something about a love life?" Jason asked, whispering to Aqua.

"Please place your hand on this deck of cards and focus your energy on them." Fortuna said.

Fortuna held out the deck of cards and Sakura placed her hand on them. Several seconds later, Sakura removed her hand and Fortuna started shuffling the deck. When she was done shuffling, she placed down three different cards down on the table. She flipped over the first two cards.

"You have quite an interesting past." Fortuna said. "You have two mother figures that you've looked up to. I am also sensing that you have had a restrictive lifestyle growing up and once you were able to leave the confines of your environment, you were finally relieved that you could finally experience freedom in body, mind and speech, able to fully express yourself."

"Wow!" Sakura said. "That's me down to a T!"

"As for your future…" Fortuna turned over the last card. "You will be involved in great battles that will determine the fate of entire towns, continents and the world."

"… I like the sound of that." Sakura said. "Thanks for the reading."

Sakura got out of the seat and Jason and Aqua played a game of rock, paper, scissors to decide who would be next. Jason had scissors and Aqua had paper, so Aqua was forced to go next. She unenthusiastically took her seat and readied her hand. Fortuna had Aqua do the same thing to the deck of cards as Sakura did earlier and she placed three cards in front of her, flipping over the first one.

"In your past, you have had a streak of losses in just about everything." Fortuna said. "Not simply in magic, but in simple games of skill and chance as well." She then turned over the second card. "Your personality is like that of the ocean; you are calm when things are peaceful, but you can get agitated at the drop of a hat."

Just as Fortuna was about to turn over the last card, Aqua slammed her hands on the table and ran out of the building.

"… That reading must have really gotten to her." Jason said, feeling bad for Aqua. "Sakura, let's not bring that up to her at all."

"I will if you promise to hear everything she has to say about you WITHOUT leaving in the middle." Sakura said.

Jason sighed and took a seat at the table, placing his hands on the deck of cards and Fortuna once again shuffling the deck and placing three cards out. She flipped over the first card.

"Your past indicates a prosperous life, but not without aspirations and tragedy." Fortuna said. "Someone you held dear was lost and you are still suffering from the heartbreak. Regardless, your feelings for them are what give you your ambition and strength and allowed you to keep moving forward." She then flipped over the second card. "You feel particularly proud about your strength, but you don't flaunt it about and you share a special connection with just about everyone you've met since joining your guild." Lastly, she flipped over the third and final card. "Oh my…"

"You don't see death in my future, do you?" Jason asked.

"In your love life…" Fortuna said. "I see… tragic events that will leave you confused and unsure of yourself. However, someone will be there to guide you and help you to regain your sense of self. That someone will be the woman whom you will marry."

"… Thank you." Jason said as he pulled out some money out of his wallet. "That should pay for all of us."

Jason proceeded to leave and Sakura and Flora followed him out.

Sakura and Flora returned to the guild hall to see that Kuroko had returned from his job.

"Oh, Sakura, I'm glad I'm not the only one here." Kuroko said, sighing with relief.

"Hey, Kuroko." Sakura said. "Do you know if Aqua came back here?"

"I think she went into the showers." Kuroko answered. "She seems pretty upset about something."

"Yeah, we went to get our fortunes told out of boredom." Sakura stated.

"Really?" Kuroko asked before he started to blush lightly. "Did they say… anything about your future?"

"Just that I'll be involved in great, epic battles!" Sakura puffed out her chest proudly.

"That's it? … Nothing about your… love life?"

"Oh, she didn't say anything about that."

"Oh… I see…" Kuroko said as he started to slink away into the corner and curl up.

"… I'm feeling hungry." Sakura said.

"Wow. That was blunt." Flora commented.

Back in the middle of some forest, Ultear was yelling at Meredy and Foster.

"What the hell were you two thinking?!" Ultear shouted as she scolded them.

Jellal was just standing a distance away. He knew not to intervene when Ultear was in mother mode.

"What if the army or the Rune Knights recognized you two?" Ultear asked. "You two would have been captured and possibly sentenced to death!"

"I just wanted to have some fun." Meredy pouted.

"Don't take it out on Meredy." Foster said. "All of this is my fault."

"Wait, Foster-" Meredy was about to say.

Foster held onto Meredy's hand and she stopped what she was saying.

"I take full responsibility for our mistake." Foster said.

Ultear just looked at the two for a moment and sighed. "Fine."

Jason went back to his small house, which wasn't anything fancy, but it was clean and only cost him 150,000 J a month. As he got in, he locked the door and fell onto his bed completely lost in his own thoughts.

*I shouldn't believe what she was saying.* Jason thought. *I mean, people only get their fortunes told for fun, right? But… damn, those words she used really got to me. And what 'love life'? I don't have one and there's a chance I never will! And 'tragedy', yeah, very encouraging… I don't know what to make of this. Should I believe her? Or just dismiss it as something that MIGHT happen?*

Jason fell asleep on his bed and his mind went completely blank.

(Jason's Dream)

Jason was returning to the Phoenix Dawn guild and upon opening the doors a bright light had enveloped his body and everything around him. When the light faded, Jason was slumped on the ground crying.

"Why… Why did this have to happen?" Jason asked.

Just then a hand had placed itself on Jason's shoulder. He looked up to see the person, but there was a bright light behind them like they were standing in front of the sun so he couldn't make out any details, not even height, weight or age.

(End Dream)

Jason woke and sat up in his bed. It was still light out so he probably was only asleep for an hour or two. He turned to see that the sun hadn't even set yet.

"What the hell was that about?" Jason wondered. "… Damn that fortuneteller."

Foster had gone to a river to wash something out his mouth.

"Ah! Ah!" He exclaimed. "I hate it when she stuffs those chili peppers into our mouths!"

Meredy then walked up to him and he looked up at her.

"Thank you, Foster." Meredy said. "I'm sorry you got punished because of me."

"That's okay." Foster said as he stood up. "But at least Ultear let you keep the teddy bear."

"Hmhe!" She giggled. "Thanks again for that!"

Foster smiled at the sight of Meredy's smile. *That smile of hers is just infectious.* He thought. *Every time she smiles, it always makes me feel better.*

"Foster, are you okay?" Meredy asked.

"Huh? O-oh, I'm fine." Foster replied. "Just… lost in thought."

Jason had returned to the guild hall to see that Azusa had returned to her job and standing in the corner again. Aqua was simply keeping her head down on the table while Sakura, Flora and Kuroko were sitting at another table and noticed Jason enter.

"Jason, where have you been?" Sakura asked.

"I was just… taking a nap." Jason answered.

"Did you have any dreams?" Kuroko asked.

"I'd… rather not talk about it." Jason said as he walked to the bar to get himself something to drink.

"… Ask me what it means! Ask me what it means!" Flora shouted and flailed her arms around.

A/N: ASK ME WHAT IT MEANS! ASK ME WHAT IT MEANS! WOOHOO! WOOHOO! WOOHOO! SOMEONE INTERPRET ME! I'M COMPLEX! Ahem, in all seriousness, I feel that dream sequence was WAAAAY too interpretive for fan fiction, but I just wanted to do that joke at the end. If you want to say what you think it means, instead of writing it in the review just PM it to me. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!