Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Dream I Do ❯ Dream I Do ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

A/N: This is a gift!fic (one-shot) for a friend of mine on deviantART (evanescent-child). I've never written Cid and Edea before, but I figured it was fun. She drew a wonderful picture of Raine and Laguna, another couple that is neglected, so I decided to do something nice for her. -grins- Hopefully I can do a RainexLaguna fic sometime in the near future.

Dedication: To Evanescent-Child - I really hope you like it.

Note: The title, “Dream I Do”, comes from the Evanescence song “Taking Over Me” because it seemed to fit a lot of things unsaid in the piece as well as a lot of things Evanescent-Child does in her drawings (ne...I wonder...haha). And there's also a hint of Squall and Rinoa in here - can you find it? There's also a Final Fantasy Tactics reference in here, too, hehe.

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Dream I Do

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Edea awoke with a start. She placed a hand to her chest, breathing labored and heart racing. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the shadows of night, slowly dropping her hand to her lap. The scent of sea water perfumed the air and mingled with the remnants of some jasmine incense she had been burning before bed. A few curls of the purplish smoke serpentine-ly undulated before her eyes from the small crystal basin on the low dresser to her right.

She absently wiped her other hand across her face - cold sweat slid down her index finger and into her palm. Again that dream had come, the one where she was no longer herself and a silver-haired woman with glowing eyes of molten brass stared down at her, laughing as Edea's soul would slip away into a quiet, confined darkness.

`Soon enough...soon enough...' this woman would whisper and it was these words that lingered in Edea's mind even now - an escapable thing that haunted her since her inheritance of a dying sorceress' powers as a child. Could it have been this night-terror woman, wicked-smiled and malevolent-aired, who killed that other sorceress?

But how, but how. This woman seemed beyond the confines of this physical world Edea lived in, far beyond the reaches of something measurable.

True evil, she thought, has no bounds. It is unstoppable and wild and will continue to ravage all in its path until nothing remains but a barren land...But from ash and lacking soil we can start again to create a world beautiful, one free of the terror that we see now as Adel reigns in Esthar.

Edea slumped forward; long, straight cascades of ebony hair tumbled over her shoulders and pooled about her hips. The sound of waves crashing gently against the side of the vessel she was on - a white ship - filled her ears for a moment. The incense's purplish smoke continued to writhe and give the windowless cabin a sense of time, of existence, of purpose marked and determined.

...Should I have risen up? Or, because I am a sorceress, would I be feared? Would I ever choose to abuse my powers as Adel has?

Lightly, Edea wet her lips. It was true - there were very few sorceresses in the world and sorceresses were unrivaled. Often, she had wondered if Adel had turned out this way because she had lost her knight but no one really seemed to know anything except what was plainly before them - her vile nature and love of destruction. Could it have been something more tragic, more heartbreaking?

Edea found her gaze on her own knight, sound asleep with his head of mahogany hair resting on a pillow. With long, tapered fingers, she reached out to stroke his face - she didn't want to rouse him, only feel his stubbly face (he'd forgotten to shave again) and know he was real. One of her nails - long and thin, but nothing like that woman - traced his lips and she smiled quietly.

Are sorceresses to have knights to protect them or keep them in check? Why have we started this practice and where did it begin? When? How? Hyne, I'll never know...

Tenderly, she cupped his cheek in her palm; remnants of the cold sweat lingered there and sought the hot warmth of her knight's visage. Feeling inexplicably ashamed, Edea withdrew her hand. Her soft grey eyes stared at the top of the bedspread `til it morphed into a sea of blackness not even the light from low, slow burning lamp swinging near their door could soothe.

...What if I am to lose myself? What would Cid do? I do not think he would possess the sternness of heart to kill me himself, even it was what should be done.Nor do I think I could truly ever ask that of him. He is a good knight and it is his childlike love of things that has kept me so surrendered to just be in love with him. His acceptance of my powers could be naïve or it could simply be that it truly doesn't matter...

If only it didn't matter to everyone else - was not the world's concern.

For a moment, Edea's thoughts paused. Her concerns fluttered down to the other cabins, filled with orphans from this war. No doubt they all lay sleeping with perhaps a handful that dared to stay awake. Was it not that they couldn't sleep or was it that they couldn't dream? - would not dare it? How many of them looked over the ocean, only then realizes they were truly alone? - now growing with those they could chose as family but never be proven by blood, not truly.

This war had stolen so much from people - Edea's own family included.

We cannot allow for this to happen again. Only those who allow their hearts to be free can overcome a sadness so deep-rooted within...to sow seeds of a new future and create a paradise that is at least free of war of this kind...

I want to sow those seeds, the ones that will protect this Gardenof Eden from being choked by any form of weeds or destroyed by the weather. Ones that can grow from desolate, barren land when darkness has come - and the one that will rise again from a deep slumber by the light that reawakens it, even when all others may have withered away.

These children could not do anything now, but in the future...in the future they will be strong enough. They are the next generation, our hope...

Languidly, the sorceress closed her eyes. “Liberi fatali, fated children... It is up to you.”

Feathers strewn across a battlefield, a gorgeous flower-field by the sea; blood and blue-eyed gazes and only one could be true among her colliding visions. Only one would rise past the tides of fate, guided by a light while both free and confined - like the wind.

Edea whipped around and took hold of her knight's shoulders. “Cid...! Cid...! Cidolphus Kramer, wake up...!”

There was a startled noise but soon Cid had sat up, peering at her through squinted eyes. “Edea...” he mumbled drowsily, trying valiantly to become lucid, “...wha-...what is it?”

Edea gave a tiny smile - his eyes were a lovely shade of blue but not the blue. “Cid...I want to work towards the future...towards the future with these children.”

“What do you mean?” he yawned, rubbing his eyes with a fist.

“I want to sow the seeds for a better tomorrow. I want to create a place to train these children to defend themselves. Cid...I want them to know how to kill a sorceress.”

Cid, who had turned to the bedside table to grab his glasses, whipped back towards her. He jammed his spectacles hurriedly on. “E-Edea! What do you mean? You're a sorceress and you're not evil like Adel - what if they misunderstand and they have to fight you?”

With a broadening smile, Edea gave a laugh - low and velvety. “I don't think that will ever happen, my love,” she assured yet her mind scolded her giving a possible untruth.

But she could not tell him, could not explain all of this to him. Not now. Now was not the time to worry about herself but the future of her darling little ones. She was their Matron and they needed her just as much as she needed him, even if they never knew.

Reaching over, she took his hands, holding them tight. “Please, Cid,” her voice took on a soft, pleading tone, “you must trust me... I want to bring beauty back into our derelict world. I want to create a place for these children to grow - like seeds in a garden. I want them to grow and learn and be prepared to perform their true mission whenever that time comes. Will you do this for me, Cidolphus? Will you, can you, find some way to make this dream of mine come true?”

Cid stared at their conjoined hands and squeezed hers. Slowly, his peering moved up to her eyes and Edea saw the quiet, inner fire of his love and dedication burning there. “Anything for you, Edea. I trust you. We'll find a place for you to do this and I will do all I can, I promise.”

Her lips quirked into a warm smile. “Thank you, Cid.” She moved a hand to brush his cheek lovingly and he smiled lazily.

Soon, he had pulled her to him, tilted her chin up, and kissed her tenderly. Edea surrendered herself to him once more, to those thoughts far away from her fitful slumber. Now she lived a dream and the destined future would remain as held-off as long as she could manage.