Locked In Time
Prologue
Locked In Time
Prologue
"What the f***?" What was a darkened room was now a vast, bright space and what was a soft, warm bed was now dry, hard ground.
"Watch your language, Seifer," Squall scolded gently. "Quistis has been on my case about it lately - saying I need to work harder at making you a model citizen."
"Yes, work harder Squall," Seifer grinned.
"Pervert."
"Eh, you know you love me."
"In your dreams."
"Always, my dear Squally-poo. Always."
"O...kay...I am slightly afraid. How 'bout you?"
"No comment." The two young men turned their gazes to the area around them, just now noticing the four other people. There were two men and two women who, with the exception of height and a tail, looked similar. "I'm Garnet Til Alexandros. This is my bodyguard- "
"Boyfriend," the young man with a tail interrupted. Garnet rolled her eyes, sighing.
"Boyfriend Zidane. And you would be...?"
"Seifer Almasy and my bo- "
"Commander Squall Leonhart." Squall finished. "What about the rest of you?"
"I'm Tifa Lockheart," the other girl replied with a big smile.
"...Cloud," the tall blond grumbled.
"Do you come with a last name too, or are you devoid of one like me?" Zidane questioned humorously.
"...Whatever," was the reply. Seifer began laughing from his spot on the ground, his muscular body shaking with it. "What's so funny?"
"It's...it's..." Squall glared at his blonder half, knowing what was going to come out before Seifer even managed it. "The reincarnation of Squall." This gained him blank looks from all but Squall, who just raised an eyebrow.
"...Whatever," both he and Cloud stated at the same time. Tifa joined in with Seifer's laughter with some quiet giggles of her own, to which Cloud just rolled his eyes.
"You need help, Seifer," Squall grumbled and pulled himself to his feet. He refused to acknowledge the fact that he and Cloud did seem to be mirror images of each other in height, body build, and hair style. There were differences, though, like the pale blonde of Cloud's hair and the freaky green glow that his eyes gave off. Squall shuddered after looking at them then kicked his foot at Seifer. "Get up you big oaf."
"Where are you all from?" Garnet asked amiably. "I'm from Alexandria and Zidane here is from Terra."
"Where's that?" Squall asked. Geography was one of his strongest points and he knew there wasn't a place on the entire planet called Alexandria or Terra. "Is it near Esthar?"
"Near where?" Garnet replied, frowning.
"Where's Esthar?" Tifa asked just seconds later. "Is it in Midgar?"
"...?..." The group of six frowned at each other before Seifer spoke up.
"I'm going to go out on a limb and say that none of us is from the planet."
"Or planets, as the case may be," Zidane added. "Does everyone agree?" Nod. "Alright, then, let's take a look at the situation. We were all dumped in a desert in the middle of nowhere. It's gettin' kinda hot out, so I'd say it's prolly the morning. Which is bad."
"It is?" Garnet asked, her eyes somewhat vacant. "Why?" Zidane sighed and shrugged, his body language clearly reading 'Women!'.
"Because then, without adequate shelter or water," Cloud began. "We'll all die. So our options are to stand around here and continue making idiots of ourselves or find shelter."
"Should we go off in groups?" Tifa asked.
"I'd say probably not," Squall began. "We all got dropped here together...there's got to be a reason..."
"Alright, then...which way do we head?"
"North."
"East."
"West."
Tifa raised her eyes at the slight outburst, watching as Cloud, Squall, and Zidane all plucked up the role of 'leader.' This was going to be a long journey.