Quistis walked up and down the halls, bored. She hated patrolling the stupid halls that she patrolled everyday. Maybe she should have kept her position as Instructor. The only thing that was ever interesting in the halls of Balamb Garden was when a student was occasionally sent to the third floor in search of the Headmaster for their own punishment for a wrong they had committed, but sometimes that wasn't even very satisfying. If there were just maybe one explosion, one cry for help, she could spring into action and emerge the hero, but none of that ever happened here. She guessed it was a good thing, afterall, it meant less trouble for the Headmaster and the Commander, but it was boring! Everything was so boring! She was on the verge of possibly starting a small fire herself just to get some attention, then putting it out easily with Water.
She heard a strange noise of trampling feet. That certainly was not very common here. She turned around quickly, almost happily, and saw the new students running her way. She held up her hand as they approached. "Stop! Don't run!" Quistis screamed in the most authoritive voice she could conjure, but it wasn't enough for these students; they just kept running her way.
"Sorry Trepe, later," Zell rushed by quickly and Quistis seemed stunned...Was that Zell she had just seen running with some other girl than Sally? Quistis stared at him in disbelief as he ran further down the halls with Lina by his side, falling just shortly behind him in the next couple of seconds that followed that strange meeting, but by then Dincht and Sally had run up to Quistis.
"Where'd they go?" Dincht asked Quistis, almost out of breath and standing for a moment to catch it, even though he knew that at the pace Zell and Lina were going at, catching his breath might have caused them to fall completely behind. Quistis's eyes widened and she pointed down the hall. Dincht nodded and rushed off. Lina and Zell were faster than Sally and Dincht because their Garden had been through much more troubles than Sally and Dincht's Garden had gone through, only causing them to train harder and better than most people in this Garden. "Thanks, Trepe!"
"What the hell is going on here?!" Quistis yelled at him as he rushed off in hot pursuit of these "imposters".
"I'd like to know myself," Sally appeared far behind Zell, following him with beads of sweat rolling off the side of her head. Once again the concept of the paragraph before the last takes its place in explaining the reason why compared to Zell and Lina, these people seem so out of shape.
"Where to!?" Zell asked Lina; they were far ahead of their chasers and he had a childish smile on his face as he questioned her, but she wasn't in as good a mood as him. Their footsteps would push them forward, ahead of the others because the noises heard when their shoes hit the marble ground, it would echoe all around the circular hallway and sound as if their followers were gaining on them quickly. This paranoia and sound drove them forward; for fear of being caught, for fear of being too late to bring Lina back.
"My dorm," she sighed, but she fell over, her algid knees and palms hitting the floor. Zell stopped for her immediately and the footsteps that had seemed to be chasing them stopped as well. She left as if the cut on her left arm and the gash in her wrist were starting to bleed again and her entire body was turning cold. There was not enough blood to give her heat at this moment and she knew it was not good. She was definitely still weak from the blood loss.
"Lina! Lina, come on!" Zell, extremely anxious and disturbed by her unusal behavior, grabbed hold of her numb hand with his warm hand whose flesh seemed boiling hot against her gelid skin, and pulled her back up on her feet gently, making . She looked around wearily for a second, then continued on.
"Sorry, I'm kind of tired," she mumbled softly, holding onto Zell's hand tightly with no hesitation. Zell pulled her along by her hand until she lagged just a tiny bit behind her. They were soon at the Dormitory, bolting down the passageway to dorm number twenty-one, Lina's dorm in both of these worlds although they nobody quite knew about it in this world.
"No kidding," he sighed and he gave her hand a squeeze. It was probably at the worst time to do so, but she blushed; Zell was holding onto her hand extremely tightly and wouldn't let go even if she tried to wiggle herself free of his fervent grasp, but the heat from the blush was good for her in general. There were only five minutes left until sunset when they arrived at her dorm. Zell pulled the lacy pink ribbon out of his pocket. "Hold on to this." Lina did as she was instructed as Zell finally let go of her hand reluctantly. Zell held half of it and Lina held the other half, their index fingures touching just slightly. "It'll hurt more for you," Zell informed her. She looked up at him with fearful eyes. "Don't worry, I'm right here, Lina." Lina smiled weakly as she looked into his eyes. He seemed to be telling her he would be there for her no matter what.
Four minutes left. Pounding came from the door.
"I'll get the master key," they heard Quistis say. Suddenly, a bright yellow light was emitted from both of their bodies and they knew they were being taken back to where they belonged. A painful surge engulfed Lina's body as the light grew brighter. She was still weak from the blood loss, running and everything. The coldness of her current state was hard for her to handle and her cold fingers were slipping off the side of the ribbon. Zell watched her, scared for her; the fact that she may never return to their world loomed upon him. If Lina stayed, Zell stayed.
Three minutes left. Lina let go. She was gasping for breath, with a layer of sparkling tears covering the pupils of her frightful eyes. She sat down on the side of the bed, an expression of pure agony painted upon her face along with her concern for herself. She was determined to get back to that world with Zell, but it was so hard for her to keep going.
"Come on, Lina," Zell urged her on, holding his hand out for her. "Time's running short." They glanced out the window and the quickly falling sun. Lina nodded bravely as she reached out for his hand and held onto the ribbon in the other. Back in the dungeon, the spell was performed to bring the both of them back for the entire time they were all being watched in Taitsuken's mirrors that revealed all. As pain overwhelmed every single muscle and joint in Lina's body she clenched her eyes shut. She endured the pain, but her body twitched slightly from the sting.
Zell looked down at Lina bearing the pain. He barely felt a thing for he hadn't been in this world for very long. Lina couldn't stand it, she was about to let go.
Two minutes left. Suddenly, Lina felt heat and strength flush through her body. She opened her eyes warily and look up. Zell was holding her in his arms, his eyes closed, his cheek on her forehead. Lina stepped closer to him and passionately nestled her nose and her sheek into his neck as more power entered her body and gave her the strength she needed to move on through the dimensions.