Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Final Fantasy Gaiden ❯ Five ( Chapter 5 )

Final Fantasy Gaiden

Chapter 5

by one Clockwork Pilot

Notes at 7:23 P.M: Sorry for not working on this, its just I was at a convention Boise (Anime Oasis 2002) and spend about 40 dollars on anime pins ::sigh:: They didn't have ANY good FF8 posters, and no chibi Seifer or Fujin pins. Wah. Anyway, other than that, the con was totally sweet. Hell, me and my friend Turles got "Best-in-Show" at the cosdisplay contest. I was Meryl Strife, and Turles was Vash the Stampede. Check some of this stuff out, he's got some interesting crossovers.

The usual begging: Please review me! Feedback is my reason for living.

<> represents telepathy. Yeah, I know I'm taking this from Animorphs, but it was a good idea, so bleh.

And so it begins:

<It has been so long...>

Undetected and silent above the planet, three dark silhouettes stood posed, motionless, observing the world below.

<So many aeons...>

Two of them adjusted position and nodded to confirm this. The infinite silence was deafening. A new voice rang out inside their minds, breaking the awkwardness, a soft, delicate woman:

<My Lord, do you sense him?>

Lights blinked on and off on earth, tiny beating hearts. A keen, keen eye watched as a yellow car speed down a lonely road in Galbadia.

<I would know his energy anywhere. The planet reeks of it>

The third and final voice rang out, a coarse, irritated male:

<Sire, I can sense him as well, but he is->

<Fragmented!? To think that...> the woman cut him off abruptly.

< How pathetic! Destroyed by his own creations...>

<Truly unworthy to possess such powers, Lord>

<Yes, he did not have the intelligence to use them wisely, you are by far the absolute best canidat->

<Quiet! Oni, Kardis what are these new creatures?>

<I do not know what you speak of...>

<Look, you incompenant idiots!>

<My Lord, they are, they are->

Rinoa woke with a start, her heart pounding in her chest like an iron drum. A irrational, terrifying panic consumed her as she re-enacted her dream over and over in her head.

Her nails had been digging into her hand, and her fingers were smeared with tiny rivelets of blood, seeping into her pillow. Closing her eyes to clam down, she heard Squall snoring softly beside her. Reaching out timidly, she touched his feather-soft hair.

"Squall, wake up..." Running her hand down his face, she gingerly ran her index finger along his faded scar, recollecting the past. He had been so cold, back then. So indifferent, arrogant...

"Umf..." He rolled over, shoving his arms between his legs, his knees drawing up to his chest. Rinoa grabbed his shoulder, shaking him slightly.

"Squall-honey, wake up. I had a bad dream" Things had changed so much, and so many of their friends had moved to Esthar to get away from being the limelight. Even Seifer had changed...

"Iz gone now, go back to sleep" Curling into an even tighter ball, he began to snore again, louder than before.

"Squall!" He bolted awake as Rinoa's fist pummeled the back of his head relentlessly. He sat upright, staring a Rinoa with still-sleepy eyes.

"Yes?" He asked with a groggy, uncontrolled voice.

"I had a nightmare. I don't think I want to go back asleep tonight..."

He began to reach past her, for the alarm clock "What time is it?"

She grabbed his wrist, calmly, like a teacher controlling a child. As their eyes met, anger flashed in Squalls dark eyes. Ignoring his glare, she smiled, never speaking, and slowly placed his hand on her face. His menacing stare softened at the contact, and he cupped her chin in his hand, drawing her to him.

"You know, Rinoa, I'm getting too old for this" He whispered into her ear after they kissed, his hand caressing the small of her back, the other on her leg. She giggled and sighed, pressing up against him.

"Don't be silly, your only 36! Your not elderly, just stressed. Hyne knows that Irvine certainly can still live things up a bit..." She nibbled on his ear, gently tugging on his earlobe. He shuddered at the touch, sliding his hand upward, grabbing the back of her thigh.

"Rinoa..."

* * * * * * * * * *

"Holy fucking Hyne..." Fujin trembled violently as she supressed a scream rising up in her throat. Heavy drops of sweats formed on her temple, slowly sliding down her face and soaking her nightgown with a salty, damp odor.

She could not remeber ever being this terrifed in her life. Reaching out clusmilly, she found her Choco beanie hidden under her tangled mess of blankets and sheets. She squeezed the toy for comfront as she tried to regain her composure. The viens in her head were throbbing painfully and the muscles in her legs were tightening to point of cramping. Her teeth ground together in frustation.

"Why the hell am I so scaried? The dream didn't wasn't practially frightening to it or anything..."

She sat in silence for a while, letting her eyes adjust to the dark and feeling her heart scrape agaist her chest. The seam on Choco's neck began to tear under Fujin's death grip, its plastic guts spilling into her lap. Something about the first voice in the dream was very familar and impossiable to pinpoint. It was an precise and unfeeling blade. It pentriated into something precois and well-hidden, inside and unknown to herself.

The night wore on, and unable to sleep, she crept out of bed. Her family lived in a small two-bedroom house built as as result of the expansion of Balamb, close to the docks where her father worked. She padded into the living room and saw Uncle Raijin sleeping on the folded-out couch. Once, they had shared the bed in her room, until her parents deemed she was too old to be sleeping with him and exiled him to the sofa. Raijin had no compliants, but she was heartbroken over the issue for some time.

She sat in the recliner across from him, wacthing his massive frame twist and turn under a threadbare blanket. The sofa creaked and groaned occassilly under his weight as he streched out his full 6 feet 5 inches again and again in an attemp to become comfrontable. It was somewhere near 4:00 in the morning. Her classes began in three hours, and she wasn't tired in the least. She went through Raijin's cards for a while, spreading them out on the glass coffe table. Bored after an hour of looking at Iron Men and T-Rexsuars, she got ready for school. She took a quick shower (she hated water) and tied her still-wet hair into a short, loose ponytail. She quickly changed into a loose fitting white shirt and baggy blue shorts. Still barefoot, she wandered into the kicthen. Her clothes were damp and clung to her skin, and she left a trail of water on the lineum floor. Outside a dog was barking, marching back and forth across the longest dock on the harbor. The clouds began to roll away as the first gray shades of dawn crept onto the horizon. Somewhere bewteen night and day, the stars always seemed to shine brighter. The air was cool and crisp, the moisture still thick and heavy inside it. Fujin sighed as she wacthed the shades of night shift into lighter, neutral tones. It was so corny, but sometimes the world seemed too beautiful for it's own good. She hummed to herself for a while as she dripped dry. She thought of poem she'd read in the libary once, in an old collection,"Awaking is-subtle and quiet as the-creation of life."

The alarm clock blared from her parents room, making it crude annocement to the world-time to wake up, time to work, time to suffer for your daily bread.