In the desolate wasteland, she ran frantically to search for Squall. Her hand gripped the tarnished rings that tickled her chest.

"He'll be here soon. He promised..." she whispered to reassure herself.

Rinoa sat on the stony ground and moved her legs towards her body. She buried her face into her knees.

Who would believe that a cluster of kids defeated the strongest enemy of Time? She worried about her friends but most of all, she worried about Squall.

What would he do to himself if he was all alone out here? He needed her.

Grey clouds floated above the Sorceress. A ray of moonlight fell upon her raven-hair and pale skin.

She heard footsteps and stood up quickly, taking her pinwheel for defence.

Her shiny black eyes focused on the fog around her. The mysterious fumes swirled together and a young man stepped out from the shadows.

He seemed distraught. Rinoa slowly lowered her weapon when he faced her.

He had wavy blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes that suited his tanned skin. The sorceress couldn't help but blush when she noticed his well-built chest was bare beneath his short, black overalls.

"Who are you?" she asked.

He seemed about her age and possibly a few centimetres taller than Squall.

"A dream" he replied.

Rinoa gasped as the man's arms became opaque. Iridescent rays gleamed around his body.

"A fading dream...." he added.

The sorceress plucked up the courage to touch his face.

As she expected, her small hand slipped through him as if he was a being of nothing. This creature fascinated the woman. He was human but then again he was not.

"What are you doing in the Time Compression?" she asked empathetically.

The floating rainbow-coloured lights vanished slowly and to Rinoa's surprise, her hand laid gently on the dream's well sculpted face.

He felt warm, so full of life yet dead, like a fading dream.

The young man placed his gloved hand over hers and drew her away from him.

"Let me continue my journey to the Farplane. I have a story to tell someone there."

He walked past her. There was sorrow in his posture and a ghostly hint told Rinoa that the dream was once a genial and boisterous man.

She grabbed his arm suddenly without the acknowledgement of her own actions. Her rough grip caused the dream of the Fayth to glance back at her.

The force of her grip made Rinoa fall into his arms and there she wept when he held her close. His hand brushed her silky hair and she buried her face into the hollow of his neck.

"Ssh, it's okay. Hey, I hate to see pretty girls cry like this."

The dream gave a musical laugh. It was so contagious that Rinoa laughed with him.

As he swept the tears from her face with his thumb, she told him how scared she was. She told him about Squall, about Ultemecia, about the Time Compression.

"Am I dead? Could you be a dream of mine?" the sorceress asked.

Her companion placed his hands into the pockets of his overalls and kicked a few stones away from them. Rinoa took in the detail of petit, sandy yellow coat that was kept in place by the straps of his overalls. The back of his coat had a hood and he had a strange blue material on his left shoulder that she had never seen in her world.

"No. I think you're from a different world altogether. I come from a world called Spira."

He watched her perplexed expression and felt amused.

"Spira?"

"Alrighty, I'll explain."

He told her about a place where the lights never faded. He told her about a monster that was born from mankind's foetus of sin. He told her about his sports team and how he ended up in a new world of Spira.

He explained about people who worshipped a god that never was and the people who were discriminated because of their spiral-green eyes.

There was a girl who had extraordinary powers of summoning mystical creatures and he loved her. Then came the day he found out that he was not a living being. He saved his beloved from sacrificing herself. He saved Spira but he ended their dreams.

"I'm sorry to hear..." Rinoa felt overwhelmed about his world. She wanted to travel there. She wanted to see the city of never-ending lights. She wished to meet the people he travelled with, the places he had been to.

But that was never to be.

"I need your help to find Squall. Dreams can fly, right?" she smiled at the dream who looked surprised.

He took the sorceress into his arms once again and felt a lump in his throat.

"Hey, it's scary to be alone and..." he started but shook his head.

"And?" Rinoa asked. Their eyes met as the two floated across the wasteland.

"And...I'm sorry if this sounds selfish but half of me wants to keep you. Of course, I wouldn't do that though." He laughed again.

Rinoa did not respond.

Part of her wanted to leave with the dream but she had to stay for Squall. She was enticed by the creature she was travelling with.

They landed close to a body sprawled on the ground.

"Gotta go now. You help your guy" and with those words, he vanished into the fog as mysteriously as he had appeared.

"Hey wait! You never told me your name!"

No answer.

Rinoa could not sleep that night. Squall's kiss was still lingering on her lips. His taste was still fresh on her tongue but her mind was filled with thoughts about the other man.

She slept for as long as she could for the next few weeks in hope of dreaming about him.

She never did.

He was right.

He was never a dream of hers.