In the morning, after cleaning up the strange mess that'd appeared on her arm over the night, Lina got dressed and went down to the lobby. She expected to see Irvine sitting in the lobby waiting for her as he for some reason usually did, but instead she saw the very pink sword from her dream, lame and dull, laid across the lobby table. Lina's sight was suddenly caught in the focus of the sword. Everyone and everything else had suddenly blended into an indistinct background. The colors around her grayed and meshed together then as the pink sword became the center of her attention. Her body urged the sword, but her heart knew it was wrong and resisted with every ounce of its power the urge.
She'd immediately become blinded, her pupil fixing themselves into a shady and deepening black. What was this desire to touch the hilt of the very saber that supposedly been responsible for the bloody mess that'd been the night before? Luckily, Lina'd been through many things, maybe too many, for she was able to fight the urge off. She broke herself free from the blade's grasp and turned around. Lina wiped her forehead for beads of sweat had burdened themselves in proving her inward struggle publicly.
The effects were painful; Lina could feel the blindness affecting her mind. Things were just now clearing up and suddenly Lina felt tired and weak. Her bones ached with a pain she was not familiar with. Her muscles tightened; Irvine walked towards her, not realizing the smarting that flushed through her.
"Morning, Lina," Irvine said to her, yawning even, as if everything were just fine. She turned around and looked blankly at him. Her complexion was unnaturally pale and Irvine could see sweat glimmering on her forehead. She suddenly collapsed, about to hit the ground. "Lina!" Irvine caught her just before the direct contact; he began to panic. "Lina! Lina!" Irvine yelled. Her dazed eyes suddenly lightened to their normal coffee brown as she looked up wearily.
"I'm fine, Zell... I'm fine" she mumbled somewhat incoherently, quietly trying to get back up on her feet, although her attempts were futile.
"Lina! What are you talking about? I'm not Zell!" Irvine squeaked in horror: she was looking it. He made sure she stood up on her own two feet, then looked over her, immediately discovering the strange gash on her arm. "Lina! Are you alright? What happened?"
"I..." Lina searched to where she'd last seen the blade, but it was no longer there. Was this all a dream? Why did things feel so surreal? "I'm fine...Just... a little stomachache is all," Lina tried to smile, but she wondered how she could ever convince Irvine if she wasn't even convinced herself. "I gotta go meet with the others, thanks, Irvy, bye." She carefully balanced herself out and walked out of the hotel lobby slowly.
Irvine walked her leave. It's not time to call Zell. No. Not yet. He thought to himself.