March 3rd, the wedding day. On that day she was to become more than just a woman, more than just the half-sorceress. On that day she was to become a Lion. On that day she was to become Rinoa Heartilly-Leonhart, and live happily ever after with her groom: Squall Leonhart.

But when August 16th came around, Squall mysteriously vanished, and a new power rose in Balamb. The Order, as it was called, began enslaving all those in the garden, and murdering those who stood in their way. At Rinoa's call, the old gang reformed. Irvine, Zell, Selphie, Quistis, and even Seifer Almasy, all rose and began plotting to overthrow the order. But, betrayal lied around every corner, and the Order got word of the resistance movement, promptly killing Professor Quistis Trepe.

Out of sorrow for the death of his favorite teacher, and the disappearance of the man he thought would always be around to save the day, Seifer Almasy picked up his gunblade, and assumed the role of commander in chief of the Balamb Resistance.

Those who stood against Seifer during the Sorceress War, now stood beside him, looking to him, admiring him.

There was one pair of eyes, however, that did not stare in awe at the new commander. There was one pair of eyes that was looking at the blackened sky, and then at the Tower of The Order, wondering what happened to her hero. Rinoa Heartilly's spirit had been broken, and she had no wishes for over-throwing the order, or of avenging the death of her dear friend. All that she wanted right now, was to see her fiancè and run to their new home. For all the dream she had, however, she knew in her heart that the odds of her living to see his face again were slim to none.

"Where could he have gone to?" The wife-to-be asked the tall and beautiful gunman standing on her right.

"Couldn't answer that for you, Rinnie. I was supposed to be his best man 'n now he up and left me hanging. You know how much I paid for that rental?" Irvine Kinneas said, choking down the notion to begin yelling at Rinoa, demanding that she tell him why she let his best friend leave without telling her where he was going. When worst came to worst, Irvine was even more emotionally-crippled than Squall. He knew he loved his friends more than anything else, but was afraid to let anyone else know it.

"It doesn't matter where the pussy went to, because what matters is that he isn't here, and we are. And, over there," The second man motioned at the large tower which erected from the middle of what used to be Balamb. "Is the enemy. At the m'ment, we're losing...But soon, we will take them down with a fury...a fury that would make Squall shudder."

"Well, Liutenant Dincht, we don't exactly have that kind of power, do we?" Irvine asked his old friend, at which Zell threw his arms in the air and made a rude gesture at the pretty man.

"Don't sweat it, Z, I'm sure that as soon Seifer is thinking of some super special awesome plan that will tear the Order a new one as we speak!" a cheerful yellow blur said as it whizzed across the beaten down room, knocking things over as it did. Finally, after it had run around the room enough to make Zell nausous, the door swung open and the yellow blur collapsed on the floor, holding it's nose.

"Tilmitt, if you spent as much time practicing as you did annoying me, you'd probably be more powerful than Ultimecia and myself combined." Commander Seifer Almasy said as he walked coldly across the room and over to the empty throne-chair near the window. He plopped himself down it and waited to see which one of the soldiers around him would speak first. After five minutes of awkward silence, Seifer turned to Irvine.

"Any news on the Missing Soldier?" Seifer said in a mock-polite voice, trying his best to sound kind and compassionate about the absence of Squall from their group.

"...No, no news on him. Not that you asked me to get any news on him..." Irvine said finally, obviously fighting the urge to whip out the rifle from behind his chair and shooting Seifer in the head.

"Oh, didn't I? Sorry, then. That aside, Chickenwuss, I have a mission for you." Seifer said, his familiar cocky grin stretched across his face. While in the past Zell would have taken offense to the remark, he realized what Seifer was trying to do. During Squall's absence, Zell had been stationed directly under Seifer, and he began to realize that Seifer was not the rude punk he had been in their teen years, and had grown vastly more mature than he had been, thanks to the second scar he had received from Squall.

"What is it, Commander?" Zell said to Seifer, trying his best to create the image that he was upset at being called Chickenwuss again.

"As you know, none of us stand a chance in hell against the Order. They've got more soldiers than we do, and each of them has more firepower than our entire army does. There's no way we could possibly take them on in a full-scale battle,"

"I love it when Commander Seifer gives us his pre-game pep-talks" Selphie muttered to Irvine, trying her best to keep it loud enough only for his ear, yet she neglected to put her hands up, or whisper for that matter.

"But, there is another way we can win this. Far from here, and I'm talking across oceans and mountains, is Esthar, and in Esthar, is it's president: Laguna Loire. He was once a soldier in the Galbadian army, and thanks to Leonhart, I have strong connections to him. Your mission: Go to Esthar, gather the soldiers he has for you there, and bring them back here. At that point we should have at least ten thousand well-trained, able-bodied men at our disposal."

"So that means we over-power the Order, right?" Zell asked Seifer, already tightening his boots for the journey.

"It means we have enough soldiers to put a pretty large dent in their forces."

It was three o' clock at night, and no one was around. He was walking alone, the leather on his shoes becoming dull, the mud on his pants becoming dirt. He had been walking for so long he had forgotten where he was going, or where he came from, but he remembered that he only needed to keep walking in a straight path, and that would get him where he didn't know he needed to be.

I'll be here

Why..?

I'll be waiting...here

For what?

I'll be waiting for you so..

If you come here

You'll find me.

I promise.

He didn't know why he heard that repeating in his head, only that he didn't want it to go. The rain started to pour down on him. "Shit" he said to himself silently as he slipped and fell face first into the ground, contemplating whether or not to get up. Then it hit him, in a flash he remembered it all. Edea walking down the hall telling her she was to die. The duel with his rival. When he risked it all in space to save her, and his death at the hands of the most powerful sorceress in the world. He placed his hands firmly on the wet ground and picked his head up, wiped his eyes free of the mud, and felt the famliar scar across the bridge of his nose.

"Rinoa" He called out hoarsely, not loud enough for anyone to hear. Not loud enough for even himself to hear. He doubted that, should the need arise, he could even summon someone to help him survive. And yet, it seemed it had been loud enough, for at that moment a mixture of fire and ice shot from the wet streets and there stood the old man he remembered from the beginning of the walk. The man who told him to walk in a straight line until he found where he was supposed to be, and didn't remember where he was coming from.

"You have done well, Little Sukoru. I'm glad to see you finally realized what you needed to do. Now, it seems, there's only one test for you to take." The old, limping man of aqua blue and inferno red eyes said to the haggard man who lay before him. The tired man had realized that it was pointless to talk, as the man would be able to hear his thoughts, and speaking would only hurt his laryngitis-ridden throat.

"I'm speaking, of course, of the last challenge. Your last trial, if you haven't figured it out." The mage said to the man on the ground. "YOU HAVE TO FIGHT ME, FOOL!" He screamed as he realized that the idiot had yet to realize what he meant.

The man on the ground, sick from head to toe, tired beyond the realm of comprehension, and barely realizing that someone was talking, was in shock. Did the old fool really expect him to fight him? Did he expect a man who was at risk of throwing up all his organs to fight one who could easily take down all the armies in the world while drinking a soda? Whether he did or didn't, the man didn't have time to ask, as the old man had held out his hand and formed a famliar sword.

"This is quite a nice blade, Sukoru, it really is. There being only three people in the world who actually know how to use it, I'd say you chose the best possible weapon." The old man said as he tossed it to his apprentice's side, drawing his own weapon: a pair of tattered old gloves which only barely stayed on his hands.

"I..cn't...d'it" The motionless body stated, hoping that the old man would accept this and let him rest a few days.

"If I were Ultemecia, or some other maniac, I wouldn't let you say that, and I would torture you until you said otherwise, at which point I would kill you." The old man said as he launched a wave of flames onto the back of his student, who screamed out in pain and turned over onto his chest, breathing heavily.

"Pleez...dn't..make me...d'it" He begged his master again, trying his best to put his arms over his chest, knowing what was coming next.

This time it was clear that the old man was annoyed. Without a word he lifted both hands and a sudden chill emerged all around the area. Houses that were over-heated began to freeze. Raindrops that were falling all around them turned into ice as they fell from the sky, and Sukoru's chest...it was turning from tan to blue, and then to white. He screamed out as loud as he could, which was only loud enough for himself to hear, and turned back onto his back, where he was greeted by more ice.

"Stp...plese..stop...yuu..crazy..old fool" He said as he lifted himself up, threw his right hand out, picked up the sword which he had carried since he joined the military academy as a young boy, and lifted it above his head, dashing aside to dodge the mage's oncoming barrage of magic attacks.

Rinoa was standing at the face of her wedding day. Her husband was dressed in a handsome blue uniform, and she dressed in a shining yellow silk dress. At her side was Quistis Trepe, who was smiling and wishing her good luck. On the side of her groom, was Irvine, he was clearly failing at his attempt to hold back tears. She looked back at Cid and Edea Kramer, locked in each other's arms and reminiscing about their own marriage. When she was at her happiest, however, something happened. The organ ceased it's playing, Quistis had run out of the room, and the man who was holding her hand in his was engulfed in a large flame, disappearing as soon as it burned itself out. She looked back at her Headmaster, wondering if this was part of the cermony, but saw he and his wife turning to stone before her eyes, the entire hall turning dark all around her. She began to scream but all that answered was her echo. Finally she looked down. She was bare-foot, and her toes were blowing away like pieces of dust. Her ankles, dust in the wind. Shins, waist, chest. Her neck was beginning to blow away, and she attempted to scream once more, and at this the rest of her body began to blow away.

Rinoa shot up from her bed, sweaty and already screaming. She threw out the covers and checked her toes, making sure that they were all still solid. She looked to the left of her feet, and saw her faithful friend Angelo sleeping in a ball, possibly having a dream of chasing squirrel's or marking territory.

Rinoa, on the other hand, was slowly creeping out of bed, reaching for the leather coat which had once belonged to the man she loved most in the world. She placed it loosely on her shoulders and walked out of her room, hoping that some fresh air would clear her head. She walked aimlessly throughout the corridor, not knowing exactly which way the door was due to the darkness. She knew that, had Squall been here, he could have led her throughout the entire compound with ease, as he had demonstrated on their first night together. The troubled princess began to remember that night. How long she had to convince Squall that she would not desert him, that she would always been standing next to him. She recalled him shyly taking his hand from his pocket and placing it in hers. Then, at the end of the night, when they retired into his room...

"What are you doing up, Heartilly?" A cold voice called to her from the end she could not see.

"Just getting some air, Seifer." She replied, trying her best to sound calm.

"Just getting air at four in the morning is not 'just' anything." Seifer said to her, flipping his hair out of his face as he walked over to her. "You had a dream about him, didn't you?"

There was no reply. Could he only be setting her up for an insult, or was he genuinely worried about her? True enough, he had been a rude prat to both her and her fiancè in the past, but could he be concerned for her mental state at the present moment? Finally, after what seemed an eternity of pondering, Rinoa replied.

"Yeah. I did. This wouldn't be the first time, either, I have them often." She spoke, walking forward with Seifer, not knowing exactly where he was leading her, but hoping it was out in the stars. "It's not that I don't like dreaming about him, I love it...It's just, I don't know where he is, and the dreams just keep telling me things..." She hung her head as she said these words, her voice breaking slightly.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, you love him. I would be upset if someone left me like that." Commander Almasy said as he opened the door to the exit, knowing that this was what she had been looking for.

"He didn't leave me. He'll come back, I know he will. He promised that he would." Rinoa said as she walked out of the stuffy militant compound, a smile arose across her face as she stared up at the moon.

"Right...He'll come back. If he doesn't, I'll be forced to kill him myself..." Seifer said, turning away from Rinoa to sit on a bench.

It was at that moment that it hit Rinoa, she didn't know why she hadn't asked this earlier, perhaps because she had been wrapped in her own thoughts.

"Seifer, did you have a dream about him?" She said to Seifer, turning on her heel to face him.

For a moment Seifer did not respond.

"Yeah. He's somewhere far away, really far...He's beaten up pretty badly, but he's fighting." He said finally, deciding that he could trust Rinoa to keep this secret.

"What is he fighting for, Seifer?" Rinoa said as she sat down next to him, her voice now more serious.

"For you...For us. He didn't actually speak in the dream, but it was like I was reading his thoughts. He knows something that we don't, and is getting killed for it." At these words Seifer began to choke up. Rinoa had never seen him cry, and always believed that he saw Squall as an inferior being, but now she realized just how special the relationship between the two men had been. "He wasn't supposed to leave. He's not supposed to die there. We're supposed to die at the others hands, that's how it is. Now he's gone off to get himself killed so we can all think of him as a hero as we die at the hands of the Order. I hate him!"

Rinoa, who by now was in tears herself, did not take offense to this, as she knew exactly what Seifer meant. She placed a hand on his shoulder and spoke. She spoke words that she knew she hadn't planned on speaking, yet they came out crisp and clean as if rehearsed.

"Squall will come back. He'll come back to us. And when he does, you and I both can kick his ass so hard he'll wish he had died." She wiped her tears away and had a large smile across her face, hoping her best that he too would have one across his.

"Yeah! I'll show him who the real hero is around here!" Seifer said as he jumped from his seat and punched an imaginary Squall. Not far off from where he had punched, a disturbance had occurred. Moggles and Chocobo were running widly in every direction, and fire was spreading faster than it had arrived.

"What exploded?!" Rinoa shouted as she hopped up and began to herd the animals safely into the compound. Her question went unanswered, however, as Seifer had already run inside and was waking everyone up.

"Attention! All SeeD and soldiers! There has been an explosion near point X97-345.9! ALL AVAILABLE SOLDIERS MUST REPORT FOR DUTY! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL!" And at that Seifer was gone. He charged out an open window, gunblade in hand, straight into the forest where the fire was at it's worst.

"Seifer, wait!" Rinoa called as she whipped the Blaster Edge out of the jacket she wore and began to run into the forest after her commander.

"Rinoa, what happened?!" Someone called behind her, causing her to stop at a halt, turn immediately, and point her Blaster Edge instinctively. It was Zell who was standing before her, fists locked, eyes still half-asleep, and his clothes wrinkled and worn.

"Some sort of explosion. Fire everywhere, we have to stop it!" She answered to her old friend as they both tore off into the forest. As she ran, the jacket which hung loosely on her shoulders fell off, however in her adrenaline she did not realize it, and continued running towards the hellish inferno.

Seifer was still running when he saw them. They were dressed in black and gold armor, each of them sporting silver hair and a scar across the bridge of their nose, similar to the one's which Squall and Seifer themselves had. Infact, if Seifer didn't know any better, he would say these were the same scars. Yet this was not what shocked him. He was not shocked to see that one of them had the same pressence as his old friend, or that one of them had the nunchaku of Quistis Trepe tied around his back. He wasn't even in shock to see them standing in the midst of the fire completely unharmed. What shocked him the most was the man who was standing at the point of their triangle. His eyes were as silver as the hair which he had flipped back, and it seemed as though he could see Seifer through the raging fire and the trees. Whether or not he could, Seifer decided not to find out. He leaped from his position, over the fires, and directly infront of them, his gunblade pointed at the silver-eyed man's throat.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to decide to pop in." The man with the gunblade at his throat said. When he spoke, however, he spoke not to Seifer, but to the air.

"Now, now, Ten, he didn't know what we could do, it's to be expected that he would be a little afraid." The second man said, his voice much more feminine than the first one, who was apparently called Ten, Seifer, who was an un-paralleled swordsman in Balamb Garden, knew that this fight would not be an easy one. The one he expected to be the most trouble was the one who had not spoken. He had his hood over his face, his head bowed low, and his arms tucked into his jacket. If any one of them seemed out of place, it was this man here. Seifer, however, felt uneasy seeing him standing there.Obviously not as violent as the other two, this man was the one who Seifer feared the most.

"I suppose you're right, Jett." The blind Ten said to the man who had spoken to him, looking over at the third man. "But, what do you think, Zeru? Should we kill him now?"

The third man did not speak, did not nod or shake his head, did not even seem to notice that he had been spoken to.

"I'm going to take that as a yes."

Seifer, who did not even realize what had just happened, just became aware of something. There was a rip in the air, he felt his hand being lifted from his gunblade, and then he saw himself flying across the grass and into a burning tree. He had been knocked out cold, and it did not even seem like anything had happened. The last thing he saw, was Ten standing above him, holding the gunblade in his hand.

"What should we do with him?"

"I say we burn him alive."

"We should make him one of us."

What were all these voices talking about? Burning someone? Making him one of them? Rinoa didn't know who was saying this, but he was certain from their tone that they were the one's who had caused the explosion. She threw her arm over in their direction, to lead Zell in as well, and they both stood directly infront of the three men, one of whom held the Hyperion, the gunblade of Seifer Almasy.

"Where's Seifer?!" Zell called out as he raised his fist. Rinoa began to look around for any sign of Seifer. Before she could actually spot him, however, the man who held the gunblade spoke.

"He's resting right behind you." He raised a lazy finger and pointed at Seifer's limp body, which, sure enough, was on the ground, beginning to smoke, yet still breathing. Rinoa ran over and pulled him out of the fire's way, and Zell launched out at the men, his fists beginning to fly. Zell, while confident in his own skills, had to accept right away that he was far out-matched. Jett had opened the attack. Zell expected him to be taken down easily, not having a weapon in sight. Right as the restless warrior's fists were about to connect with Jett's face, however, a blade shot out from his wrist and knocked the fist away. As the blood fell to the ground and Zell tried to comprehend what was happening, a second attack came, this time from Ten. With the gunblade in his right hand, Zell expected all the attacks to come from that side, and yet they did not. Zell began feeling blood dripping from his left shoulder. From his left leg, and yet he could not see what was causing him the pain. The answer came sooner than Zell had expected, as when the attacks stopped coming, Zell clearly saw a short katana in Ten's left hand. This katana was one like no other, for it had a hilt which totally consumed it's wielder's hand, and through the middle the blade was split, for what, Zell imagined, was so the attacker could catch his opponent's blade.

"So, you're mixing it up a bit. 'S fine with me!" Zell stated as he lifted his fists up in a defensive position, once again charging at Ten. Ten, being an arrogant little prick, simply held up the gunblade, intending for Zell to hit his head on it. Unlike during the Sorceress War, however, Zell does learn from his mistakes, and instead attacked Ten with a direct knee to the groin. Ten fell backwards and stuck the gunblade into a tree to steady himself. While he nurtured a broken pride, Jet decide to step in. He turned to Jett and held his knee up, readying himself for another knee. Jett cooly lifted his hands up and began shooting the blades out from his sleeve again. So, it wasn't my mind playing tricks on me. Zell thought to himself as he avoided the blades. Heel-flips, cartwheels, side rolls, all this Zell did to avoid being impaled by the blades, yet he knew he was running out of forest, which was still burning, and soon would be fatigued.

What he had forgotten, however, was that Rinoa was with him. While Zell was busy playing with Ten and Jett, (Zeru still seemed to be a stone) Rinoa had taken Seifer back to the compound and had brought Irvine back with her. The bullets soared through the air until they pierced Jett's shoulder. Jett became enraged and began onslaughting Rinoa and Irvine with blades, which distracted Zell enough to cause him to fail to notice that Ten had recovered, and was preparing to attack again. Deep into his spine Zell felt pain. He turned slowly and saw both the gunblade and the katana piercing his skin. He rapidly turned and threw a kick to Ten's chest, which promptly knocked both him and his blade off.

Irvine and Rinoa were having problems of their own. Occassionally, Rinoa would use her Blaster Edge to deflect a blade, which would give Irvine the chance to attack, yet hardly ever did the bullets actually hit Jett.

"Shit, Ms. Rinnie, I'm running out of bullets, here." He said to her, narrowly avoiding a blade to the throat. At that moment both he and Rinoa saw a weakpoint: Every blade has shot out of his sleeve, and the sleeves never touch. If he should try to shoot two blades at once, the blades will hit each other and possibly stab him, they would exploit that. Rinoa ran to the center, Irvine closely behind her. Jett instantly realized what was going on and stepped back, putting more distance between him and his enemies.

"If you think we at the Order are fools, you're way over your head." He said with a chuckle as he lifted only one arm at his center and shot Rinoa in the knee-cap. Irvine lept over his fallen friend and shot like wild, hoping against hope that he would get in a killing shot. Finally he saw a bullet fly that was going directly to Jett's head. Irvine smiled as his foot tapped the ground, the bullet only an inch away from it's target.

"Stop.." Called out an icy voice that none had heard before. At that moment both Ten and Jett smiled at their attackers, and what happened next no one can clearly say. Irvine's bullet hit nothing but air, Zell's fist slammed into a burning tree, and the three men were standing in the center of the fire, Zeru still standing quietly, his slender body glowing a pinkish light.

"You should realize that you have no chance against us. The Order will ressurect Him, and you will be the first one's we punish." Ten said as he lifted his hand into the air, and with a flash from the sky, the three had disappeared.

The fire had burned itself out, Rinoa had been taken to the infirmary, and Seifer had made a full recovery. He went back to the forest the next day to pick up his now black from the ash gunblade. Irvine and Zell spent the next few days trying to figure out, along with Seifer, who He was.

"They could have been talking about Ultemicia. I mean, she was the most powerful Sorceress ever to live." Zell stated, proud that he had solved the mystery.

"No, remember how we, including Squall, defeated her? Those guys made Ultemicia look like cake, and the Order has more like them. There's no way they're going to try and ressurect someone who's weaker than they are." Irvine said, nodding to the large amount of bandages Zell had all around his body.

"You told me they said 'him' not 'her', which means they were ressurecting a male." Seifer said, also squandering Zell's idea.

"Well, I didn't check, she could have been a he." Zell said, hanging his head because he knew it was in vain.

Seifer was still lost in thought. Who could they have wanted to ressurect? If they did have so much power in just the three of them, and there were thousands more like them, who would they want to ressurect? He looked deep into his cup of water, watching the condensation on the glass. The questions all had obvious answers, but each time he thought of one they led to more questions.

"Irvine," Seifer began. "I want you to go to the library and look up anything that could relate to Him."

"But we don't know what He would be under." Irvine told his commander sarcastically.

"I mean, look up "Him" the actual words. Maybe Him is an acronym, or something." Seifer said, walking over to the window and looking down at the young SeeD's who were examining the remains of the fire. "Dismissed."

Irvine took off towards the library as soon as he exitted the room, but Zell stayed in his seat, waiting for his commander to address him.

"That explosion was destructive." He said finally, not looking at Zell but still at the SeeD.

"But, 's only as bad as it can get, ain't it?" Zell said, relaxing in his chair and almost yawning as he spoke.

"That's not as bad as it can get, you idiot. They were just teasing us with that. They knew one of us was going to think that's as bad as they can get. If they wanted to, they could have killed us all while we were taking our sweet time with them last night. It was a trap, Dincht, haven't you realized that by now?" Seifer said coldly, turning around and now speaking with an insulting tone.

"But what can we do? Squall's gone, and without him we don't have--" Zell began, but was promptly cut off by a shout from the lips of Seifer.

"Leonhart is not here! He's not our big problem right now! Rinoa is a wreck because he left, and none of the soldiers trust me! Whether or not he's even still alive is still a debate! Okay, stop living in "If he were" because he's not, I'm all you've got!" Seifer said coldly, throwing his fist onto the desk. Zell could tell he had touched a nerve by mentioning Squall, yet still wished that he were here instead of Seifer. He rose from his chair and left the room, Seifer's head buried in the desk, still shouting about Squall. Zell had believed that no one could miss him more than Rinoa, but could he have been wrong?

"How long are you going to sleep?" The voice called to him, disturbing his peaceful dreams. He woke with a fright, shooting up as best as he could, which was only three inches due to the state his body was in. He felt warmer than he had the previous night, noticing that he was now in the house of the old hermit, wrapped in a large blanket and with a wet cloth over his forehead. He smiled slightly as he looked out at the sun through the dusty window.

"How long has it been, old man?" He said finally, turning over to face his master.

"Far too long. Get out of bed, don't you have people that are waiting for your return?" The old master said to his down and beaten student.

"Probably. Just let me ask you one more thing, Ayon. What was it that caused me to gain up the strength to fight you last night?" The man in bed said to his master.

"The reason I am called Master, Sukoru" Ayon began. "Is because I have 'mastered' myself. You can master every single form of fighting there is, and still you won't necessarily be called a master. When you discover, as you did last night, that your limits are not walls, but challenges to be overcome, you begin to attain mastery. Once you actually overcome your limits, you truly have right to the title of master. You, my friend, are on that trail"

"So now I'm a master?" The weak man said hopefully.

"Who do you think you are, Superman? No, you've still got a long way to go." Aryon stated bluntly, scratching his chin as his student groaned and turned onto his stomach. "Now, get up, we've got a lot of training to do tonight."

It was a brisk night. The wind was blowing into his face, and the rooftops were moist thanks to the rain of the previous night. He looked ahead and saw his master, clothed in only his pants and a light pair of shoes, gracefully flying across the rooftops. He became angry at how mediocre seeing an old man, who walked with a cane, made him seem, add the fact he was turning back to taunt him at every chance, the student felt more like he was being trounced, rather than trained. An observation was made during the three seconds he was blinded in his anger, and the student realized that he need only mimic the old man's movements and he too could soar. He placed his left foot forward and rest his weight on the ball of it, beginning to bounce himself on his feet. He leaned forward slightly and launched himself from his resting point. Not at a walk, however, at a full speed run. He was truly going back to the river, giving it all he had, while still knowing that he could lose it all should he fail. One step, two step, three. He had done it, his movements were almost as graceful as the old man's. The cold feeling he had (due to the fact that his master insisted that he dress only in his white tee and sweat pants) suddenly lifted from him, and he instead felt a soothing sensation massaging his body. It was at this point, however, that the winds changed. It was a very dark night, the stars still coevered by the clouds, so he could not exactly see what happened, but he definitely felt it. It whizzed past his ear, causing blood to fall slowly. He turned his head slightly, trying to see what it was that had cut him, but he saw nothing. He turned back around to question his master, and it was then that he realized what was happening. What was attempted was not exactly what happened. Sukoru attempted to, and in his mind succesfully did, perform a side-breakfall, landing on his index finger and pinky, then avoid any further skirmishes with the blades which were flying by him. What really happened, however, was as soon as his weight dragged him down, Aryon had picked up another blade and thrown it directly at the area where Sukoru's foot was, which was soon where his gut would be. The student realized this in just the right moment and brought his leg up so as to possibly get stabbed in the thigh, rather than be gutted, and then slammed his hand infront of it, to catch the blade before it could come into contact with any part of his body. Unfortunately, neither of these tactics worked, and Sukoru was imapled by the blade. His body went limp and he rolled off the rooftop, hitting sides of the buildings as he fell, until finally his back found a nice rocky area on the ground and stuck itself there. The old master laughed furiously at the sight of this, and, after five minutes of crying tears of laughter, lept down and walked over to his student, outstretching a hand to help him up. Then came the biggest surprise the old man had seen in his entire life. Rather than place a hand weakly into his hand, Sukoru grabbed onto his wrist, wrenched it aside, and drove the dull side of the blade into the forearm of his master. Aryon's eyes widened, his breathing became heavy, and his entire of view of his student was overturned.

"How long have you been able to do that?" He said finally, his voice sounded quite angry. Sukoru did not hesitate to answer, and said cockily,

"Since about twenty seconds ago."

"I'm afraid I don't fully understand." Aryon puzzeldly said. Sukoru could not tell if he was being rude or sincerely could not understand what he meant.

"I've been training like crazy since I entered Balamb Garden, and now with you. Naturally, you learn how to improvise." Sukoru informed his master, surpressing his arrogance as much as he could, so as not to get the move reversed in his sleep.

"Well, I suppose that was a mistake on my part...You're farther along on the path to mastery than I had thought. Now, apprentice, there is only one thing I can teach you. Once you learn this, you will truly become a master, and will rival me in power." At these words Sukoru froze. Ever since he had begun training, his master had been nothing but sarcasm and jokes, yet now he was speaking in the most serious of manners. He turned on his feet and walked steadily back to his home, motioning for his student, soon to be his equal, to do the same.