During class, the next morning, the students agreed, their instructor was glowing as she entered the room, but only a few knew the real reason why--that being Zell sitting in the back of the room with a similarly goofy smile on his face.
"Yeah, so what's up guys? Get the information on Gorld?" she'd managed not to flinch at the name so much anymore. Much to her surprise, everyone raised their hands. "Good. That's what I like to see. Who's first, let's see... Vinni, go ahead." Lina pointed to the girl in the front row.
"Well, I researched that Sorceress Gorld was some sorceress from the future like Ultimecia except with the ability to travel through portals that lead to our time. Her greatest strength is her ability to possess innocent people and the people would get stuck like a prison in their own body forever until a person freed him or her by defeating Gorld. Records state that the only sorceresses that she's possessed are three people," Vinni said.
"Did you get the names of the people?" Lina asked her. Vinni hid her face behind her papers and muttered something barely audible. "What was that?" Vinni dropped her papers to desk, face down, and looked up--eyes burning almost as red as her shoulder length flaming red hair.
"The information I gathered on the internet does not say!" Vinni called out a little sarcastically, and those who were not raising their hands laughed. Vinni was well known for her work in the theatrical area with the skill to raise her voice to any occasion when requested upon. Lina beckoned for them to quiet down a bit, then nodded. Lina then noticed that the only students who didn't have their hands raised were Seifer and Zell, but she thought of making one of them answer just for the sake of participation in class.
"Okay... nevermind then. Does anyone else have anything to say?" Lina asked and all their hands shot up--their eagerness to learn about the sorceress whose name made Lina's heart freeze and her hands grow gelid still made her enthusiastic about her job. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Seifer's hand raising. "Seifer?"
"What? Oh, no. I was just stretching. But, I was wondering, Teacher, wouldn't you know more about Gorld than anyone else here? You've met the freak, haven't you?" Seifer smirked, inclining his head towards the frail little girl sitting next to him. Lina looked hard at him, sending a pang of guilt right up his chest.
"Actually, no I haven't," Lina said and Seifer's smirk faded into an irritated frown. Seifer raised his hand lazily again, trying to pull it off as another yawn or something. "Seifer, put your stupid hand down." It dropped. "Anyone else? Kati, what about you?" The girl Seifer had inclined his head towards flinched at the sound of her name. Kati was usually a very bright girl with an extremely outgoing personality although small and frail, but today she just seemed to be lacking any cheerfulness in her.
"I don't think that my information is really necessary, instructor. -I mean I didn't find anything good." Lina said that was nonsense, that all information was welcome and asked her again to read it out loud. "No, but I really, really think it's nothing good. I didn't get anything good. Seriously." She said. "seriously." A little quieter. Seifer smirked again and inclined his head once again in Kati's direction, but Kati sat, papers in her quivering hands, eyes wide in horror staring at her instructor in a terror she could barely comprehend.
A boy named Minch grabbed the papers up and said, "I'll tell you what it says! It says Sorceress Gorld is a very dangerous sorceress." He skimmed through another few lines. "She is now in isolation and will be released in one hundred years. She possessed three people in the time that she was free. They were named Jeni Merrite, Toni Wangai, and Lina Heartilly. These people now carry some type of sorceress's blood (that I can't pronounce) in their sytems making them sorceress as well. The sorceress possesses them by entering their bodies in some form or another and taking completely control of them." He set the paper down. "Instructor, how come you're in here?"
"That can't be... possible," Lina said, utterly confused herself. She took the papers from Kati's desk and read to herself what Minch'd read aloud many times. Gorld. Shivers scaled her spine. Zell was sitting up straight in his seat now, completely aware of what was going on, and Seifer was raising an interested eyebrow, wondering what her response could possibly be. He turned around and gave Zell a nod: this was just the beginning. "I've never seen this sorceress before in my life."
"But you're right here in the paper!" Minch shouted, pointing at the paper in her hand. Kati buried her face in her hands to hide the redness in her cheeks--this was her fault! What could she do to stop the interrogation Minch would obviously not give up!? She was so embarrassed for even bringing this up, but Minch just wouldn't stop. He kept going with his questions, demanding something new each time. "You know, that would explain all the funny stuff that's been happening in this class! Who are you really, anyways? Or...What are you?"
Lina remained unmoving, very much aware that everyone was watching the scene now. She felt like she was being cracked down by her own student, and the other classmates were just bearing witness to the situation. "I-I don't... know..." I don't remember.
When you're ready for the truth...What truth, Cloud, what truth?
You okay? No. I've never been okay. For the past few months, I've been desperate for the truth, but how do I know when I'm ready?
If you have any problems at all, I just want you to know you can ask me. She looked up at Zell, looked into his concerned eyes. There was something there that she couldn't understand.
"Well, what do you have to say about this, Instructor? You should know, shouldn't you?" Minch kept asking her.
"Be quiet for a moment! I'm trying to think," Lina said. He didn't be quiet. Lina's head was already spinning and yet he kept asking, kept pursuing the questions she couldn't answer.
"I just want to know all the answers, Instructor! Who were those other people!? Do you know them? Did you guys get possessed together?" Minch went on and on. It was one of the quickest, yet longest interrogations Lina ever had to endure and the students could tell he was getting on her last nerve.
"I was never possessed by any sorceress and I most definitely do not have any powers!" she cried, starting to get angry. For a split second, her outline flashed white. Minch shut up immediately when he saw this. That's how it started. That's how Seifer was thrown out the window, how Sadie met her embarrassing defeat--the cause of so many inexplicable events and he didn't want to be added to that growing list. Just in time, the bell rang and the class walked out quietly. Meanwhile, Lina slid down into her hair and put her head in her hands as the students each stared at her one last time before they left the classroom.
She once gain felt the ice cold grasp at her heart. The lights were swirling away behind her eyes and she was blind and falling
Again.
She'd felt this before, she knew she had. The ice engulfed her body and she couldn't move. In her ears, her heart beat rapidly, leaving her deaf to all outside voices.
What? Who is this!? Where am I and what do you want?
Gorld. The sound of the name in her mind's ear burned through her conscience. She was screaming again, tear-streaked and immobilized in a frozen stream of mist, no floor, no ceiling, no walls--just black.
Leave me alone! Why can't I... even breathe?!
Gorld. Her lungs were being pressed uniformly to a pattern that was unnatural and not her own. You're mine. What was this... feeling? No longer could she think. A blade had suddenly been cut through her and it could only sink deeper and deeper into her, revealing a side of her conscience she'd never dealt with before.
And suddenly, a warmth spread from her shoulder to her body and she could feel her hands pressed against her forehead, the light seeping through the spaces between her fingers. She looked up and realized Zell had his hand on her shoulder. "Lina?" Zell was concerned--good choice--she was too.
She stood up and faced him. "It couldn't be possible, could it? I mean...I don't ever remember seeing what this sorceress even looks like. I've never studied about her either," Lina muttered. The questions were overwhelming her almost to tears. She recalled that in all the books she had read, for some reason, it always seems like a few pages were always missing. Her internet searches had always been filtered too. "I don't know... I guess I'm just thinking about stuff."
"Hey, hey. Don't cry, don't worry," Zell said as her encircled his arms around her. Naturally, she blushed, but it was uncalled for. This wasn't a time for affection, it was a time for understanding--that which she had none at this very moment. Lina thanked him for his hospitality, but left the room, leaving him to stand there alone.
That very night, Lina slept with another uneasy dream. She was falling again, faster, and harder, the wind biting at her like needles and below, that same dot on the ground below her ran towards her destination, but it was less vague, more terrifying. She woke up in tears minutes later, weeping as if she'd lost her one and only. And all she could say, all she could ask, was "why?"