Dust and gravel rose high into the air after the huge explosion. A group of people were thrown to the floor, including Lina Heartilly. She had black hair pulled back in a neat ponytail and coffee brown eyes. Lina stood up wearily. A girl stepped out of the cloud of dust. She had brown hair pulled to the side of her head to form one pigtail; only one. She was named Sadie.
"Give me back my powers," Lina screamed at her between breaths and gasps for air. Lina was flustered and battle worn with many cuts and scars already, but she couldn't put down this fight. It wasn't really a fight, it was merely a one sided battle, but either way she would not let Sadie get away with her evil deed.
"No way, this is too much fun!" Sadie smirked evilly. Lina was a sorceress, her powers were a little different from everyone else, she could remove them when she pleased. She didn't know how they ended up with Sadie, but that's not where they belonged, and Sadie was doing no good with them at all. The only power Lina could fight with now was the power she had received from Nida. Lina lifted her hands up and threw a giant rock at Sadie without even laying a finger on it.
Sadie glowed white and the rock bounced off her arm as if it were a little pebble. Sadie raced towards Lina at the speed of light and punched her in the face. It was more than just a normal punch, it was a stronger punch. One you usually witness with sorceress powers. They had already been fighting for over an hour. Lina was weaker for her powers had been ejected from her. She was tired and felt great fatigue.
Sadie wasn't tired one bit. She had a plan that would get rid of Lina Heartilly once and for all. Lina and Sadie were rivals, ever since they laid eyes on each other; they knew they'd have problems. Sadie had a bad attitude and had fits all the time. Lina was usually kind hearted and thoughtful, but today she was just plain angry.
Sadie really admired Lina's boyfriend, Zell Dincht. Sadie was really jealous of Lina and was always looking for revenge, but now. She would have it. The ultimate revenge: death.
Chapter Two
Lina fell over on the floor and Sadie stood over her. The other people who were fighting as well were too tired to get up. Zell lifted his head wearily. He had spiked blond hair and misty blue eyes.
"You know what?" Sadie asked Lina. Lina wiped the blood away from the side of her mouth and narrowed her eyes as more dust and gravel rised. "I'm going to spare you..." Sadie smirked. Lina knew it was a lie. Everything she said was a lie; everything she ever did was a lie. Sadie thought Lina had ruined her life... she was wrong. Sadie ruined her own life...by being the way she was: evil. Being evil just meant that she had gained the hatred of everyone. "Actually...no, not really. It'll be just like dying." Sadie lifted her hand slowly over Lina's head.
"Lina!" Zell stood up and tried to help her, but it was too late. There was a white light that came out of her hand and a huge explosion right where Lina was lying. Lina had her eyes closed and prepared for the worst.
After the dust and the dirt settled down on the ground again from the huge blast there was a hole in the ground when went down for about three feet. Lina was lying at the very bottom, eyes still closed, breathing slowing down, and hands clutched around her silver necklace. She didn't move a muscle, she probably couldn't.
Sadie leered down into the hole.
"Goodbye Lina!" She laughed evilly. Sadie twirled around once and disappeared into thin air.
Chapter Three
Zell moved over to the hole quickly. He climbed down and picked Lina's body up. She had a huge cut over her wrist where dried blood stayed dull around it. Zell carried her to the infirmary, next to the Quad. Dr. Kadowaki saw them and immediately guessed what happened from the sounds of the explosions and everything. Sure, Sadie and Lina where famous for their quarrels, but it was kind of obvious...wasn't it? I mean... you could hear the explosions and blasts and everything all the time.
She was examined for a long while. The doctor kept checking for signs of life, but Lina showed none. Finally, she walked out and confronted Zell's worried face. "She's gone...there's nothing I can do," Dr. Kadowaki announced reluctantly. The doctor left him by himself.
Zell kneeled down to the side of the bed and cried. Everyone entered, Dan, Karen, Selphie, Squall, Rinoa, Irvine, Quistis. They saw the scene of what had happened. Dan and Karen walked out. Dan had dark brown hair and crystal blue eyes. Karen had black hair with dark hazel eyes; these two were Lina's best friends. They spoke to each other about what had just happened.
Everyone promised themselves that they would hate Sadie forever and get back at her one day. Then again, Sadie becomes another when Lina is gone...
Chapter Four
Lina opened her eyes wearily. She was lying on the messy junk piled floor of a completely different dorm from her own. There were posters all over the wall of...Zell and there were death plans all over the floor of her room...for Sadie. She tried to access her sorceress powers and her body began to glow white. They worked.
"Hey, they're back!" she cried happily to herself. "So...where am I?" She walked out of the dorm and looked at the number: four. That was strange, for Lina's dorm was number 21. She decided to ignore it and just figure it out later. Lina looked around. Yup, she was in Garden alright. The familiar halls of the Dormitory were surrounding her as she strolled out of the room and shut the door behind her. Lina saw Dan standing in the hallway, leaning against the wall as if he were waiting for someone.
"Hey, Dan!" Lina called out to him. He completely ignored her, although she was sure he had heard her. Dan walked away and shunned her. Lina ran to catch up with him, confused by his actions. "What's going on?" Lina asked him. As she got closer, Dan drew out his gunblade and pointed it at her neck. His normally crystal blue eyes were gray and cold.
"I think you know exactly what's going on. Do you want to fight? Huh?! Kill me too!" Dan yelled at her. He was on the verge of striking her with the gunblade, but Lina knew that Dan was not like that. He wasn't the one to kill people in the halls of the Dormitory for unknown reasons. His gunblde flew back into its place in his belt by his side and he turned again to get away from her.
"I...I didn't kill anyone," Lina muttered honestly and innocently. She had absolutely no clue what was going on. Who had died? Karen came out of her dorm down the hallways and began to approach the scene. Dan beckoned for Karen to go to class first, and Karen nodded, but Dan followed after her.
"Yeah you did, you bitch! And you can't f--king deny it," Dan screamed at her then walked away, leaving Lina shocked and confused in the hallway. She could feel her heart begin to shatter. Dan?
Chapter Five
Lina walked into the class she usually instructed. The class was busy talking as always, but when she entered, they stopped. Almost immediately. The silence was somewhat eerie and lina looked up to see what was the matter. Someone finally spoke.
"What the hell are you doing here?" it was Zell. Lina paused to stare at him. Why was he swearing at her? He never used to swear at her. Lina tried to search in his eyes for the comfort and welcome glitter they always seemed to possess everytime she walked by, but today it was missing; not just missing, but there was absolutely no trace of there ever being any love for her in the first place. There must have been something wrong...
"Why shouldn't I be here?" Lina asked him. It seemed kind of obvious to her...she taught this class, but everyone seemed to be on Zell's side. Everyone's glares were menacing, except Seifer who maintained his bad boy reputation by merely leaning back on his chair, half tipping it over and kicking his feet up onto his desk to show the world the bottom of his dirt soiled boots.
"You belong in the library." His usually warm voice was cold and threatening. Lina took a step towards the door; she didn't like the looks of this scene. Why was the only person she ever truly loved telling her to get lost? She wanted him to clarify what was going on, but that's not what she got. "Sadie, just go back to hell where you came from!" Someone screamed in agreement from the back of the room and they started throwing crumpled pieces of paper at her.
Lina walked out, stiff legged and hurt. Zell... she thought. As she exited the classroom, she saw Selphie walking into it. She was wearing an intsructor's uniform... for some strange reason, Selphie was taking over her class. Selphie glared at her just as Zell had done, then quickly turned her head up high into the air and waltzed into the classroom as if she and Lina had been worst enemies since forever. Lina went back to the dorm she had woke up in and mumbled to herself cautiously. Something weird was going on...
"I'm not Sadie..." she reassured herself. "What's going on..?"
Chapter Six
Lina went down to the library, hoping to get things straightened out. The librarian rushed up to her at once. There was an impatient looked smothered upon her face. "Sadie!" the librarian screamed at her. "Where the hell have you been?" Lina looked at her slightly confused, finally realizing that the librarian was addressing her. The lady rolled her eyes and sighed. "Get over here, next to the checkout desk!" the lady screamed at her, walking over to the small check out desk and slapping the surface of the shaky table meanly. Lina stood there and stared at her some more, hoping to get a clear explanation of just what exactly was going on. Sadie was the assistant librarian, not Lina. She pushed Lina over to the over side of the desk after she had failed to respond. A boy with blond hair and piercing green eyes entered about an hour later. He was known as Seifer. She swaggered a bit and strolled by coolly.
"Hey, Sadie," he said to her, leaning against the counter and smirking. Lina glared at him through angry and annoyed eyes, then continued to do the job she was so suddenly assigned. The job that Sadie was supposed to be doing: sorting out the library cards and smiling at strangers that wanted to check out books just because she had to or else she'd get fired. What kind of job is that?!
"What do you want? And stop calling me Sadie...god..." Lina said, rubbing a hand through her hair exasperatedly before grabbing another beige library card gingerly and stuffing it into the right drawer that contained similar library cards with the same topics. Seifer simply smirked, not caring about how strange he must have seemed to her at this point. Lina was clueless, what was going on?
"Pretty cool how you killed Lina." He smiled at her with admiring eyes. "You think you could help me get rid of Squall?" Lina stood up straight and screamed out loudly her own confusion in a "WHAT?!". The libriain's eyes narrowed at her and "sssshhhhh"ed until the room was completely silent. All of the students were shut up because of Lina's quick reaction. "Yeah...I heard all about it!" Seifer whispered as everyone the library went back to their browsing through books.
"I am Lina!" Lina muttered harshly. Hopefully, Seifer Almasy would believe her, but it didn't seem like that would be happening. He chuckled a little and brushed his hand through his hair coolly. Seifer patted her on the back, giving her the "you wish" look. Lina's body began to glow white and suddenly Seifer was blown all the way across Garden.
Just as Zell walked out of the infirmary, Seifer landed right at his feet, agitated and angry. Zell raised his eyebrows and gave him a funny look. "Sadie's acting weird today," Seifer explained shortly. Zell rolled his eyes and frowned at the name.
"Do I give a damn about that bitch? NO," Zell replied coldly at the presence of Seifer: someone equally as evil and annoying.
Chapter Seven
A girl carrying five books or so rushed by. She bumped into Zell and suddenly, her books poured all over the floor like spilt milk. She fell on the floor with them and flushed red immediately. Zell looked down at her apologetically, not thinking to help her pick up her books which were all over the ground with a few pages that had been torn out. She leaned down and scrambled to pick up her books. "I'm so sorry," she cried, shuffling to clear the road for the handsome boy that she had run into.
"It's alright," Zell said politely, not really paying attention. He was about to turn and walk away due to his lack of attention in general ever since his girlfriend had left him, but he was stopped.
"I know... I think... I didn't see where I was going," she cried, so flustered that she couldn't even speak properly. This girl kept his attention hooked just by speaking and he couldn't just walk away from her. Zell looked down at her as she scrambled around on the floor, reaching for distant pages that had flown of their place during the collision.
"It's okay...are you alright?" Zell thought the girl was about to cry so he tried to act a little nicer. She nodded subtly; her tearful eyes seemed almost seducing. She walked away slowly clutching her leg and limping. Zell rushed over to help her out. "Here," Zell said taking her books. He now felt bad for what he had done. "Let me hold your books for you. You might want to go see the doctor."
"Oh, no," the girl muttered quickly. "It's alright. I'm fine. I just need to watch out for where I'm going." She giggled. Zell tried to smile and slightly chuckled uneasily. "I'm new here," she explained. "Transferred."
"Oh really... which Garden you transfer from?" Zell looked down at the books he was now holding in his hands...they seemed highly advanced for a transferred student.
"Deling, class was too chaotic." She stared at him with dreamy eyes and he tried to smile back at her politely, but found it hard to.
"Yeah. I bet G-soldiers were swarming the place." She giggled again.
"That too."
Chapter Eight
Lina sat in the library, at a table all the way in the back; she did not want to talk to anyone, and she did not want to think about anything...All she wanted was to figure out what was going on and return things to their normal order...not all this strange Sadie confusion that was going on. Seifer walked in again, this time a little more cautious about talking with her in general.
"Sadie, are you alright?" he asked her, trying to sound concerned, but still frightened at the same time. Lina glared up at him, annoyance and frustrating blazing in her coffee brown eyes and her temper rose to such a great height that Seifer was sure he could feel the heated rage thrashing about the room.
"I'm not Sadie," Lina muttered out of the side of her mouth. She stared straight ahead; she had no intention of making eye contanct with Seifer. He mumbled stupidly as he kept staring at her. "The Sadie I remember had brown hair in a pigtail. One pigtail," Lina spoke quietly, turning her head slightly to stare at Seifer from the side of her eyes.
"That's Lina you're talking about. You killed her," Seifer announced, proud once again. He sat down in the chair facing hers and leaned back, kicking his smelly feet in his smelly shoes onto the table impolitely. He caused a few students to stare at him, but he merely winked at the girls who stared and smirked pridefully at the boys. The lot of them all turned away from him disgustedly, although a few girls smiled back at him.
"What?!" she screamed after letting that sink in, forgetting that she was in a library. The librarian glared at her, but Lina ignored her. "I died?" Lina was a little more shocked at that. She was sure that she was alive...and how was Seifer talking to her so plainly?
"No...you killed Lina..." Seifer argued, feeling a little more comfortable about being around her. He was just frightened by her mauling behavior before, but now he could tell that she was just confused. Lina was starting to understand what had happened. It'll be just like dying. Sadie's word echoed in her brain. "Are you sure you're alright, 'cause I really don't think your head's on straight...?"
Lina punched Seifer before walking out of the library and leaving through the front gate. She went to Balamb City: a city where the sun was always shining and the winds blew in a breezy state. She went down to the harbor and sat next to the ocean. She watched the deep blue water rise and fall, shifting in a never ending pattern.
"As a last resort...I will come to you," Lina spoke to it as if it could hear her.
Chapter Nine
"So...your name is Sonia," Zell said. Zell sat in the cafeteria with the girl he had bumped into in the morning. Zell felt like he couldn't walk away.
"Uh...just Soni for short." Soni stared at him through narrow eyes. She liked him, it was so obvious. Zell shrugged and looked away from; her staring was making him uneasy. "You have a girlfriend, Zell?" Soni asked the question that she could have answered herself. She could have answered all questions herself at this point, but she kept them to herself.
"Used to..." Zell said shortly. Soni put on a false pity face for him. How unctuous of her. She patted Zell on the hand and slightly caressed it. Zell seemed slightly shocked as well, but he knew he couldn't escape it.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," she crooned. He muttered something coldly under his breath to make her stop, but she didn't. "Well... that really sucks." Soni blinked at him, still rubbing his hand and he seemed to look at her like she was crazy, but still not mind it. Or was it that he couldn't really fight back? Zell stared at her cautiously. "Well...I'm new like I said." Zell was finally able to withdraw his hand from hers and he seemed taken aback. What the hell was that? "Do you mind showing me around?"
"Oh, no problem..." Zell said and they stood so that Zell could give her a tour of the Garden.
Chapter Ten
"Lina's gone... Sadie's missing..." Zell hid his face in his arms and sobbed loudly. He occasionally pounded his hand against the mahogony table with the anger of the world. Rinoa looked at him helplessly, they all did. The entire Alpha team was sitting at a giant round table that was in the Infirmary. They would be discussing what to do about Sadie right now if Zell weren't crying so loudly.
"It's alright, Zell," Rinoa muttered softly, patting him on the back. She tried to cheer him up after the tragic loss. He was crying even more than she was even though Lina was really her sister. That's what love does. It makes you want to kill yourself for the person you love just for the chance to be with him or her. Zell was on the verge of this, but he was smarter than that. He knew Lina wouldn't accept that.
"No it's not!" Zell pounded on the table in the Infirmary again with his wrath, wanting to punch Rinoa for even saying that it was alright. How could it be alright?! How could anything be alright!? It was too surreal, all of it! Sadie suddenly swaggered by, peeking in on their conversation as if checking in to see if Zell was ready to turn his attention to her, but Zell would never be ready after what she had done.
"There you are!" Squall yelled at her, standing up to show his authority. He could put her in jail for murdering Lina and stealing her powers in the process.
"What do you want?" she glared at all of them. The fact that Zell was still depressed over the loss of Lina was bugging her and she didn't feel like giving him any sympathy. She'd rather him to just get over Lina, so that she could put her "plan" into action in her attempt to seduce Zell and change his mind so that he was hooked on Sadie. It would never work though; she had some major issues, still thinking about these kinds of things and never getting over the fact that Zell loved Lina and only Lina, and that was that.
"The police are looking for you. They want you to take a long visit to the District Prison," Squall smirked, getting out of his seat and heading towards her.
"Tell them to keep looking..." Sadie walked away quickly, avoiding Squall. Zell got up and went back into the room where Lina was still lying. Zell kneeled down by her. Even though she seemed lifeless, he just would not bring himself to believe it. He touched her black hair and her hand. She seemed so cold and distant. He looked at the necklace that she held in her hand still. It was glowing. Just a faint glimpse of white showed around the edges.
I swear my life to it...
"Lina..." He took the necklace off and raced towards the others to show them what he had found. "You guys! Look at the necklace!" They merely stared at it, not understanding. "Don't you get it?" he asked them all incredulously.
"Get what?" Karen asked, staring at the glowing necklace.
"Lina's out there somewhere! She's alive!"
Chapter Eleven
There must be something wrong with Zell, Lina thought to herself. She was still sitting by the ocean, contemplating things... The glare Zell had given her and the words he had yelled at her lingered within her mind and her heart, biting at her deceasing soul rapidly in tiny bits and pieces that kept accumulating until she felt as if she would not be able to breath properly. He would recognize me...I know it! But what's going on?
She got up and walked back to the Garden. As she entered she saw Zell with another girl. Lina was terribly shocked. Her heart sank and she could feel herself become consumed by an immediate depression.
"This isn't Zell," she mumbled to herself. "What's going on!?" She looked at the girl, she looked so familiar. The girl turned her head, but Lina didn't see that girl turn her head... no... she saw Sadie turn her head in the same malicious manner she had already executed so many times before. It was unmistakable. It was Sadie. Sadie glared at her.
"Sadie..." Lina muttered to herself. Seifer walked up to Lina, hoping to attempt at yet another conversation with her without getting mauled, and also hoping to talk her out of doing anything stupid about Zell and this new girl. Her body glowed white with anger and he was once again blown away. Zell turned around and saw her, but he turned back around, completely ignoring her on purpose.
This isn't real...this is just another one of Sadie's games... Lina reassured herself. Then why does it hurt so much...?
Chapter Twelve
Lina walked up to Zell, not caring anymore whether or not this whole thing was real or fantasy. "Zell, wait. Listen to me," Lina said to him as he tried to walk away from her. Zell's answer was simply that he continued to walk away with Sadie, completely ignoring her.
"It's me, Lina. Why won't you listen to me?!" Lina grabbed his arm, but he jerked away gingerly and glared at her through the corner of his eye. Lina knew he couldn't ignore her comment and she was right. He stopped dead in his tracks and sighed out his frustration. Sadie or Soni glared at Lina malicious, but Lina held back the urge to flip her off.
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Zell finally stopped and turned to her, thoroughly annoyed. Sadie looked panicstricken. Lina had figured it out and she was going to reveal to Zell exactly what was going on, but then she sighed with relief, she knew Zell would never believe her.
"We switched bodies." Lina pointed to Sonia. "That's Sadie." Karen and Dan came up to the three, curious of what was going on. Dan asked if there was a problem over here, his hand on the hilt of his gunblade. "No, it's just...Dan...Dan it's me! Lina!" Lina turned to Dan, hoping that her best friend would recognize her.
"What? Liar, you killed her!" Weird things happened in Balamb Garden and for a moment, Dan believed her. "Stop it!"
"Ugh! RON! Ronny Calor! This is Liz Chang speaking to you!"
Chapter Thirteen
Dan sat up in his chair all of the sudden. "She is alive!" UGH... Ronny Calor! This is Liz Chang speaking to you! Everyone jumped a little bit in their seat and fidgeted slightly against the hard cushion of the chairs, watching Dan's englightened face as he had a light bulb moment.
"I told you!" Zell yelled, rolling his eyes at his slowness. "Look at the necklace!" He held it up excitedly to Dan's face, but Dan pushed it away, shaking his head.
"No, no...Lina's dead..." Dan said. "Well, she's not dead, but she's not like... here right now." Everyone stared at the two, confused. They did not get it. A few of them pretended to be looking around at something less confusing than them. Dr. Kadowaki even seemed to be listening now, poking her head out of one of her patient's rooms to see what was going on outside. "Liz is alive...she's here somewhere..." Karen sat up, alert. She looked around as if she were trying to see ghosts. "Let's go take a visit to Sadie." Dan, Zell, and Karen got up from the table and walked over to the library. Sadie was behind the desk in the front of the library as usual.
"Why hello Zell," Sadie looked over at Dan and Karen thinking Are you over Lina yet? And why are they here? She still obsessed with the thought that Zell might actually get over Lina. HAH...yeah sure, keep dreaming. "...Daniel...Karen..."
"Cut the crap, where's Lina?" Zell demanded, pounding his fist onto her shaky assistant librarian table again. Sadie seemed unaffected; she stood and sorted out two more library cards before finally answering his question with the coldest voice she could manage to bring up.
"She's dead," she said coldly, turning her back to him and placing the library cards under the "N" section of "Nida's Unnoticed Life" and "Never Ending Shield" which were two of the least noticed books in the library and where both written by the same author named Nida. "She's not here, she's dead! Just accept it!" Sadie turned around, her eyes flashing. Zell ignored her as well as the urge to kill her...
"No, she's not, now tell us!" Dan and Karen demanded on behalf of all three of them. Zell was sure that Lina was alive... it took more than just that to kill Lina Heartilly.
"She's dead!" Sadie walked away.
"Damn you," Zell said under his breath. He turned to Dan and Karen. "We gotta find her."
Chapter Fourteen
"Come on, Zell," Sonia said pulling his arm. Don't touch him, Lina thought, but then again, everything was messed up right now. She didn't want Zell's love if he were acting like this and so she, disappointed, continued to stand still in her place, glaring at Sadie with the rage of hell itself. "Let's go somewhere where people are... a little friendlier." Dan took out his gunblade and pointed it at Lina again. Lina nodded.
"So kill me," she said, almost smiling. She took a step forward so that the gunblade was only three inches away from her face. She looked at him welcomingly. "Come on." Dan seemed surprised actually. Lina knew why. It was because in this place where she was Sadie, they thought she had Sadie's attitude; Sadie's paranoid, crybaby, and revenge-seeking attitude, but Lina didn't. She was completely different. She was not afraid of pain and this was what had shocked the others.
"... Don't think I won't." Dan stared at her cautiously, threatening her by bringing his gunblade forward just a little and leaning down as if getting ready to strike. Lina saw this gesture, but did not back down. She stood by what she said. Zell and Soni had already begun walking away, taking one step at a time. If this Zell was walking away with some girl with a good looking face, Lina knew this wasn't the Zell she loved, but she couldn't find her Zell, so what was the use anymore, she was already three inches away from Dan's gunblade.
"Go ahead...I'm not fighting you," Lina stood still, actually hoping he'd swipe and kill her just for the hell of it. What else could go wrong. Lina had had enough shit for one day...she didn't mind ending it once and for all. Dan seemed flustered, he wasn't sure what to do. "Go on and kill me! End it now!" Lina screamed at him. Zell and Soni turned around, interested in what would happen.
"What are you playing at, Sadie?" his grip on the gunblade tightened, but it didn't move forward, it moved backwards by two inches, making Lina's chances of being killed by him less.
"What?! You can't do it?! Huh, Dan?" She mocked him. "What's the matter Ronny? Can't kill your old seventh grade friend? Can't do her a favor and send her to hell?" Lina put her palms at the sides of the tip of his gunblade and drew it nearer to herself. "COME ON! KILL ME ALREADY!" She was starting to scare herself; she sounded delirious; she wasn't even herself anymore. Lina Heartilly wasn't that harsh. If she had killed this "Lina" they were talking about, this was her punishment: the one she never really deserved because she had killed no one. Dan gently pulled the gunblade away from her hands and put it back by his side in his belt. Soni and Zell were still watching from a distance. "You can't, can't you? Never mind...I'll go kill myself!" Soni smirked. Lina lifted herself into the air with her powers and flew out of the Garden. She headed for Balamb. She headed for the harbor.
Chapter Fifteen
Zell held the necklace in his hand and walked back towards his dorm. As he turned the corner with his head held low to examine the design of the flower within the heart of the necklace and entered the Dormitory, the necklace began to grow brighter; its mysterious white glow becoming more than just subtly noticable. Zell's eyes widened and he scurried back to tell Dan and the others about what he discovered.
"You guys! Come here! I've figured it out!" Zell screamed, excitedly. Dan shot up in excitement. He thought that Zell had started acting like a little boy, excited at everything, catching every little detail in the simplest things and turning them into important clues in the mystery of what Sadie had done. "It's the necklace!"
"What's the necklace... the necklace is the necklace, Zell. It's a very nice necklace..." Dan said dully and sunk back down in his chair, propping his arms up lazily on the two goosedown armrests. Karen sat up from where she was sitting and stared at the necklace in awe.
"That's not the point!" Zell withdrew the necklace protectively from Karen's view whom he knew was merely looking at the necklace to see if it really was a nice necklace. She was already making awe-filled noises... "Oooooo!" "Aaawwweee" etc. "The point is...I know how to find Lina!" Sadie popped out from behind the marble stone pillar.
"WHAT!? No! I've kept her locked away in her soul's grave! She's dead!" she screamed. She jumped up in front of Zell, knowing she had just revealed herself to have planned this all along and tried to stop him from searching for Lina. Zell stared at her in disbelief. "Zell, you know I'd be the better one for you! What's so good about Lina? I'm way better than her!" Zell shoved her out of the way carelessly, then turned and glared at her.
"Go to hell, Sadie." Zell averted his attention to something else that was obviously more interesting than Sadie, not caring how much that hurt her. He began to walk away, following the bright light the necklace gave off. "Besides... you know yourself Lina is way better than you in every aspect possible. You just don't want to admit it and what's that gonna do? Nothing. Even if you were better than her in most categories, I still would never look at you. I love Lina and should figure that out by now." When he had finished speaking, he was already far down the hallway, but he knew Sadie could hear her.
"Well then, if my calculations are right...her soul is going to try suicide... which would make her...gone...forever!" Sadie yelled after him, tears of frustration running down her rosy red cheeks. Dan and Karen went down to the dorm area immediately, chasing after Zell, and the three of them followed the necklace's light.
Chapter Sixteen
Lina walked slowly to the harbor. Zell, Sonia, Dan, and Karen followed her and were behind her. Soni was very curious to watch Lina kill herself, but the others wanted to stop her, except Zell. He frankly did not care if she died at this point. "Sadie, even thought we hate you, suicide is not the answer!" Dan said.
"Of course I know suicide is not the answer! Suicide is never the answer, why do you think I'm doing it?!" Lina yelled. She was going crazy, numb beyond her senses and she wanted Dan to simply go away.
Dan lunged at her, "Stop this!" A clear white ball formed around Lina and it expanded far out until there was a white sphere with a ten foot radius surrounding her. Unlike Sadie, Lina could control her powers, she knew exactly how to use them and where to use them. Dan was thrown back when he touched it. He fell onto the ground with a SMACK, his gunblade being tossed out far away from him. Lina stood just in front of the calm ocean. Lina turned around for a second and smiled weakly.
"Goodbye, Zell...Dan...Karen," she muttered simply, her eyes full of tears for the people she actually did love, but where not there.
Chapter Seventeen
Lina jumped into the water, a smile still on her face until she was sure they couldn't see her anymore. The weight of the water pulled her down and her white cape flew to the surface of the water, floating there, waiting to be rediscovered. She knew she was doing something completely stupid, but she couldn't really help it anymore. Somehow, she knew she'd be alright, it was just her senses telling her that the one she loved would come around.
She was pulled deeper and deeper, not caring anymore. The pressure knocked at her a little bit, but her senses were already numb from being away from Zell for too long. She could see the sun from below the watery surface of the ocean and she closed her eyes, not feeling anything. Water was swarming around her body and all she could think about was, it's just a short swim...
Chapter Eighteen
Dan, Karen, and Zell followed the glowing signs of the necklace to the front of dorm four.
"That's Sadie's dorm," Dan informed, straightening his shirt as if he were walking in to face is own doom or fate. Zell kicked it open easily with his heel, not bothering to find a hairpin or anything and they entered. The door, blown off its hinges by Zell's powerful kick, lay helpless on the floor, covering a few papers of strange ugly drawings with huge red X-es drawn over them. They looked around at the messy room, piled with junk.
"Oohhh," Karen muttered as she poked at the stuff on the almost deteriorating desk, but her hand slipped and she accidentally pushed a strange looking vase over. It had a round body and was held up in the air with a tall mouth, its designs and patterns showing a scene of the Ancient Aeon Anima whose specialty was death. It spun around once or twice on its round circular bottom, making a really loud noise on the surface of the desk like rolling a metal pen around and around a hardwood floor for ten minutes. The three of them stared at it, waiting for it to drop, and not thinking to stop it from falling.
It fell over on the floor and broke to small pieces. Out of the pieces of broken vase came a swirling blue light. A liquid material came out and formed a sort of portal. They entered it cautiously, not knowing what to expect on the other side. They found themselves in another dorm, which looked just like the one they found the portal.
Chapter Nineteen
They walked out of the messy creepy dorm full of pictures of Zell on the wall and Sadie with Dan and Karen and saw that it looked exactly like Garden. The walls of the Dormitory were exactly the same as before as Lina had noticed when she first arrived to this place. "Uh...did we actually go anywhere?" Dan asked, looking around confused.
"Yeah! Lookie! It's me!" Karen said excitedly, pointing at "Karen." This "Karen" looked just like her, wearing the exact same outfit was Karen was wearing and had the same famous poke move where she'd poke Dan in the ribs over and over until he'd fall over laughing from the tickle. "This world must simulate ours, but it must be different some how."
They moved around the corner and saw "Zell" holding hands with "Sonia." "Yes...very different," Dan muttered, staring at Zell out of the corner of his eye. Zell was shocked, he kept staring at that girl with a disgusted look on his face.
"Aww man... that girl is so frikken ugly! Looks like... Sadie! Oh.. man!" Zell said, making a face. He still had the necklace in his hand. Karen and Dan laughed at him because the face he made was so silly. Lina would have laughed too; she would have giggled and then given him a kiss. Then, Zell would have said, "I'm so lucky I have the most beautiful girl in the world." and Lina would blush. But for that to happen, they had to find Lina.
With every single step that they took, the light grew brighter. They checked everywhere, the library, infirmary, Quad, cafeteria...but the light seemed to be leading them outside, to the front gate, so that's where they went. They followed it further and further outside. It let them straight to the city of Balamb, to the harbor. Atop the calm blue waters there was something floating. A white cape. Lina's cape. Zell was the first to notice.
"Lina!"
Chapter Twenty
Zell dived into the water. The water flowed around him, the currents pushing him around, but he went in. Deeper and deeper. He kept looking around for something to tell him where Lina was. In the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of silver. He turned his head, slowly. The water disabled him from quick movements.
It was Lina's necklace. He moved in closer and saw Lina. Or...Lina's soul. He put his arms around her and carried her back up. Her body was extremely light. Almost like air. He brought her back up to the surface and laid her on the ground, next to the ocean. Karen checked her breathing and pulse.
"She's breathing!" Karen called out which was a complete surprise, but then again, when Zell had been down there, there was an almost unnoticable bubble of white light glowing gently around her. Zell picked her up and they ran through "Garden", leaving behind them a trail of water. They brought her through "dorm four" and out through the portal. Then they left dorm four and ran down to the real Infirmary.
Zell walked up to her body. And gently placed her soul back where it belonged.
Chapter Twenty-One
"..." Lina stirred. She opened her eyes. "Hi," Lina said, staring at Zell who had an excited look on her face because he was waking up. "Did I miss something?"
"Lina!" Zell leaned down and held her in his arms. Lina wrapped her arms around him and they enjoyed their warm embrace cheerfully, but Lina didn't know exactly what was going on.
"You know...I had the craziest dream..." she said dreamily. "Uh... why am I wet?" Lina asked. Zell chuckled and kissed her forehead.
"You're alright."
Sadie walked in, holding the remains of her vase. "NO!"
Chapter Twenty-Two
"I'll get you, Lina!" Sadie screamed at her. Sadie ran away, yelling and shouting. She dropped a small white ball on the ground. Lina eyed it warily before she walked over and picked it up. It sunk into her skin and Lina knew right away that she was a sorceress again. A fully equipped sorceress.
"So...my soul....is Liz...." She looked confused; all of this was being very weird to her right now. "But...I'm Lina..."
"Yeah...you can say that," Zell said.
"I will." They both laughed and she kissed him.
[GAH! Someone remind me to edit these corny endings when I have time.]