[Dream] Be careful what you wish for

[sorcery_fledgling]

[All Rinoa had wanted was to just take a nap. But really, seeing all these dreams being broadcasted on the network suddenly should have been a warning not to.

She was just... tired. She wanted to sleep, was all.

And so she did, curling up on her bed at her house to doze off. It wasn't going to be a nice nap, though. Oh no. Today, she was going to pay for that nap.



Her dream opens up to an auditorium. Up above on the podium is a woman in a deep black and purple feathery outfit, looking dazed. Down below, laying on the ground unconscious is a boy in a long gray coat.

The woman above suddenly collapses, but not before releasing all of her magic power. It's not an attack, but a "dying" sorceress passing on her powers before death.

Down below next to the KO-ed boy are five other teenagers, along with Rinoa. Vatheonites would recognize Squall and Selphie standing not far from where Rinoa is. Another one of the teenagers, a blonde girl with a whip suddenly shouts something, but Rinoa can't hear it. One moment she's trying to get to her feet, exhausted from the battle, and then she looks up and...

Nothing. For a long moment, everything's just white.

Rinoa then stands up, but something is clearly wrong. She's moving more like a marionette, with someone pulling on her strings. Her thoughts are blank, but she can still feel. She's terrified and panicked as her body moves without her command over towards the boy on the ground.

When she reaches him, she kneels down next to him and lifts up his torso and brings her head down next to his ear. What comes out of her mouth isn't her voice:

"Oh, my loyal knight, Seifer. The sorceress is alive. The sorceress demands."

Someone else is speaking through her, someone much more dangerous and powerful than the sorceress they had just dealt with.

"Find the legendary Lunatic Pandora, said to be hidden beneath the ocean. Only then shall the sorceress provide you with dreams again."

The boy sits up, partly in thanks to words and magic Rinoa - or more correctly the Sorceress inside of her - administers to him. As he gets up and walks away, he says, "As you wish, Ultimecia."

And then, for one last moment, Rinoa is left kneeling there, her eyes empty but slowly widening as, not normally visible to the naked eye but visible in this dream, the spirit - or consciousness if you will - of another woman exiting her body.

In that long moment, Rinoa realizes what has happened to her - what she's become - and manages one single thought:

Squall... I'm scared.

And then she collapses and everything goes dark.


[Upon waking, Rinoa lets out a terrified, blood-curdling scream as she jolts up from her bed. In her panic she knocks her SFC/Dreamberry hybrid thing off of her bed, where it had been laying next to her. It skitters across the floor, bouncing before it has a nasty face to face meeting with the opposite wall.

The last thing it records is Rinoa sobbing as she collapses to the floor, curled up into a ball before the feed cuts.]

((OOC: Rinoa is having something of a panic attack so her responses probably wouldn't be immediate and likely not entirely intelligible at first.

Also, I guess I should credit Square-Enix for this scene and the scene in Disc 3 in which Squall is sent back to watch the scene in Disc 2, since most of the dialogue that happens there is revealed only when he goes back. But yeah, credit to them since I pretty much ripped everything straight from the scenes in the game, including the dialogue. There's a wee bit of interpretation/headcanon in there, but not much.))

Comments

[voice]

[unshelledbullet]

[Squall can't help but watch her dream. Is...is this what happens?]

Rinoa.

[If she doesn't want to talk about it or if she even decides to not answer him, that's fine. But he feels like he should at least make an attempt.]

video-> voice

[sorcery_fledgling]

[It takes a good five minutes before Rinoa responds. She was borderline hyperventilating when she heard Squall's voice.

Oh God, her device had recorded that?

She's not aware the dream had been recorded, not yet, but at the very least, she knew Squall - and all of Vatheon - heard her. Lovely.

As much as she wants to crawl over and start bawling, she knows he'd probably hate that and as much of a wreck as she is at the moment, she rather not make an idiot of herself on top of it. So, with as much strength as she could muster, she calms herself down a little, enough to make her way over to where her Dreamberry thing landed.

At first she doesn't realize it's on video when she responds. She's obviously been crying and her face is blotchy. When she notices what mode it's on, she lets out a small but horrified gasp before she slams it to voice.]

...I'm here.

[That's the best she can manage right now.]

voice

[unshelledbullet]

Are you okay?

[It's kind of a stupid thing to ask, but he's asking it anyway. He just needs to know if he has to go see her or something.]

voice

[sorcery_fledgling]

[She wishes she was strong enough to lie and tell him she's fine. Except she isn't, and honestly, it'd be a pretty obvious lie.]

I don't... know.

Figures. I wanted to remember and that's what I get.

Re: voice

[unshelledbullet]

...is this what happens?

[When they attack Galbadia Garden, he means.]

voice

[sorcery_fledgling]

...yeah. I'm-I'm so sorry, Squall.

[She feels like she messed up, like this was her fault.]

voice

[unshelledbullet]

Why are you sorry?

voice

[bufudine]

[Speaking of making people jump, Serph was not expecting a scream of that pitch and volume asdf;lkj. He's not quite sure what to do about someone crying like that, though; he's never seen anyone do that before.]

...Would you like company?

voice

[sorcery_fledgling]

[lfkjlkjalkdj Sorry Serph! It wasn't intentional.

Rinoa looks over to the SFC, debating whether or not she wanted Serph seeing her like this. A part of her desperately wanted to be in the comfort that came with being around others, while another part just wanted the whole world to go away.]

I won't say no, but... I'm not exactly in great shape.

voice

[bufudine]

That's fine. I will be there.

[ ACTION ]

[Since he already knows Rinoa's address when she offered it as a safehouse, it doesn't take him long to arrive. He makes his approach known through audible footsteps, but he doesn't bother knocking and goes straight for the door handle; knocking isn't exactly a thing where he's from.

But is the door unlocked?]

voice -> action

[sorcery_fledgling]

[She nods before he clicks off, and she's left to wait, curled up in a ball on her bedroom floor.

The door's unlocked! Rinoa is a bit trusting. She hears the footsteps and peeks her head around her bedroom door threshold.]

[bufudine]

[Serph enters, eyes taking in the apartment's layout as he looks for sign of a bedroom, since that would be where he thought he'd most likely find her. Spotting her, he turns and heads in her direction.

Hopefully she doesn't mind him entering her room; it doesn't occur to him that his actions could be misconstrued.]

[sorcery_fledgling]

[Luckily Rinoa's not at all concerned with etiquette and propriety right now. When she sees him she stands up shakily to her feet and gives him a small wave.]

[bufudine]

[Serph gives Rinoa a nod in greeting and goes to her side, offering a shoulder for her to lean on.]

You don't need to stand for me.

[video]

[sonlight]

[A curious whine emanates from the tossed SFDreamberry.]

Wooooo...

[video]

[sorcery_fledgling]

[Oh, she knows that little whine. And it breaks her heart he had to see all of that.

When she reaches her SFC, she tries so hard to force a smile, but right now, she just can't.]

Hey little guy...

[video]

[sonlight]

Arf! [He presses close to the screen, worriedly scanning for cuts and hurts and ouchies... He doesn't see anything, but he's still not satisfied when he finally pulls back.] Woof.

[video]

[sorcery_fledgling]

[Rinoa knows when a dog is sniffing or looking for something. Even over this device she can tell. It was a pattern behavior all dogs and wolves - including divine ones - had.]

Sorry if I scared you. Had a ... bad dream.

[video]

[topsseifer]

[He was emotional. Very emotional. First it was being brought here, then it was your best bud acting weird, and now these crazy broadcasts! And to put icing on this great cake, these people were having dreams about his rival.

The older version of his rival from some weird alternate world or something!]

...why? Why do you know him?

[video]

[sorcery_fledgling]

[That was not a question she was expecting to hear. Of course she hadn't even realized the device was on, but still...

And who did he mean, exactly?

Upset but confused, she found where the Dreamberry had landed and picked it up.]

Know who?

[video]

[topsseifer]

[He blew out a long breath, keeping himself from snapping. She just had a nightmare, and he wasn't that thoughtless, especially towards girls.]

Seifer. How do you know him? He's from where I'm from. He shouldn't be there and he shouldn't be listening to creep body snatchers either if that is what was happening.

[Resting his forehead his hand and now mumbling to himself.] Geez. What is this place?

[video]

[sorcery_fledgling]

[Rinoa's rubbing her eyes, trying to dry the tears and get herself to wake up fully.]

Seifer... You know him?

[This was... strange, to say the least.]

I met him last year, at least in my world's time. He's - was a student at Balamb Garden, training to be a mercenary soldier. But recently he turned against Garden and joined Sorceress Edea. Although it seems it wasn't exactly her he was following.

Body snatcher I guess is... one way of putting it. Seifer's... I don't know what he's thinking anymore.

[video]

[topsseifer]

[He shook his head.]

I know him, but he isn't...that isn't him.

[A wave of his hand at the dreamberry.] None of that was him. We're both from Twilight Town. He doesn't go to any place called balloon or Baa Lamb Garden. And other than needing to call the shots around town and making the Disciplinary Committee, he's normal.

[A beat.]... this is just weird. Something straight out of Pence's books.

[video]

[sorcery_fledgling]

[Most of that goes over her head, much like her bit probably flew over his.]

The Disciplinary Committee... with Fujin and Raijin. He had that back at Garden with them. Your Seifer sounds pretty similar to mine, although I hope yours doesn't go off the deep end.

...Honestly, I'm sort of half surprised but half not. We all come from different worlds. I suppose "doubles" are possible. Maybe.

[video]

[topsseifer]

[Pretty much!]

Rai and Fuu as well, huh? [Maaaaan. He wondered if there was another version of him. How weird that would be!

He wasn't going to ask. He was afraid of whatever the answer is.]
This is seriously messed up. I can barely handle one of him... [Talking to himself mostly.] He even has the same scar.

That body snatcher isn't still like... in you, right?