Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Glass Tower ❯ Dreaming ( Chapter 1 )

#15 Dreaming

[word count:325]

 

Rufus stumbled through the door of his luxurious prison. In actuality it was a beach house owned by his father, but since his exile, Rufus could only consider it his personal hell. Cut off from everything that mattered to him with near constant surveillance, Rufus could not take comfort in the fact that he was not dead or locked away in some dank cell.

 

Today he had turned eighteen and it had been quite a depressing birthday indeed. Since Reno had been unable to come out to see him, he'd attended a party held by a few acquaintances he might have called friends in another life. He tolerated the pretenses of camaraderie because he really was lonely and he hoped one day to be able to use them for his personal gain. If nothing else, he could count on them to be loyal when the time came.

 

He was drunk and miserable from smiling too much and laughing too loud. How much longer would he have to suffer this idling existence? His father was still in good health and could very well live for another decade. Rufus could barely stand to think about it.

 

When he managed to find his bedroom, he fell into bed without undressing. He moaned as the world tilted and he had to close his eyes. That only made it worse, though. He felt nauseous yet was too exhausted to even conceive of vomiting. Rufus didn't think he'd ever been this drunk in his entire life.

 

As he lay in the darkness and waited for the vertigo and nausea to subside, he meditated on what had gone wrong. At what point had his plotting failed? Try as he might, Rufus couldn't find an answer to this puzzle.

 

Not that it really mattered.

 

There would be no second chances, no trying again while he was trapped in this purgatory. Dreaming was all that was left to him and that was quickly wearing thin.