Disclaimer: I don't own anyone or anything here except for the kids, Mercia, and Grey.

Prologue

The thought came to her suddenly, from no where. She saw five children, three boys and two girls. She could hardly make out the faces. She saw the sheer power growing through them. And wanted it desperately. She had been planning since the death of Ultimecia 20 years ago, when she received the powers when she was just 19. She took it as a thing of pride that she was good enough to have gotten the powers of the most powerful sorceress of all time. She had decided to use the powers to her advantage. Six year ago she took over Trabia Garden, after careful planning for fourteen years, and now she planned to take over Galbadia in a few months. But the thought came to her randomly and unprecedented. She knew that it needed to come true in order to take over Galbadia, and after taking the power of these five, she could achieve her one goal that had been previously just out of reach: to take over Balamb, and then hopefully, one by one, every major city across the world, which was hers. And she owed it to this premonition.

Chapter 1

Giggling and grunting at the same time, and always trying to keep a straight face, Rilan swung out a punch towards his father, who ducked it with ease, like he always did. "Dad!" Rilan whined, "Can't you ever take a punch? Uncle Zell always lets me!"

Squall laughed, watching his son's outburst of temper that he got from Rinoa. After they're son was born 13 years ago, Squall realized things were changing. That he and Rinoa were parents, like they had always planned to be when they got married a year before Rilan was born. Squall let go of hidden emotions and instantly became more sensitive and emotional the instant he saw his own gray eyes stare back up at him. His little boy, Rilan. He had a little bit of experience from Quistis's first daughter, Samantha, who was now 14 herself, and like an older sister to Rilan, who adored and admired her.

'Uncle' Zell had been training Rilan the ways of a martial artist since Rilan was 11. Rilan was already quite good at it, and already had high hopes of becoming a SeeD one day like his father was, killing evil sorceresses he had heard about and helping liberate cities like his mother used to do.

But, even though Squall wished that he could have more children, Rinoa's giving birth to Rilan weakened her greatly. She had been sick for weeks after his birth, and it took a long time for her to recover, and the doctors told them that it would kill her to give birth to anymore children. This worried Squall greatly, for his own mother died giving birth to Squall. They were both 37 now, with graying hair and wrinkles, just like Zell, Quistis, Irvine and Selphie were, who all had kids of their own also, and they all were trying to enjoy every second of there lives, after losing them so many times 20 years ago, especially on that fateful day with the face-off against Ultimecia, the most powerful sorceress. The six of them often let their minds wander back to that day, and couldn't help but wonder what had happened to Ultimecia after her death.

Pushing those thoughts out of his mind, Squall dodged Rilan's next attack with a laugh. "Come on now, can't you do better than that?"

"Alright, you two, that's enough. Now come inside, it's getting dark and your food will be ready in a few minutes."

Ruffling Rilan's black hair affectionately, Squall turned and walked to the door and fell over from a blast of cold in his back. He turned around to see Rilan on the floor laughing. "Bet you weren't expecting an ice attack! Samantha's been teaching me, you know."

Squall rolled his eyes, wishing that Samantha wasn't so talented in the magical arts, or as much of an able instructor as her mother was.

Three years after the second sorceress war, Squall and Rinoa got married on the beach in Balamb and decided that it was a good place to live and raise a family, and purchased a nice home not to far from Zell's, and it had an Oceanside view as well. Zell himself had married Mira, the librarian girl, and they moved into a small place in Balamb near his mother's and they eventually had a boy a year after Rilan was born, named Ayden, and the two boys could not be separated since they met.

Quistis met a man named Grey just a year after the war, and called it love at first sight. They were married just two months later, and when she was barely even 20, became pregnant with Samantha, and everyone said it was Quistis's twin. Blue eyes and blonde hair, and was a bossy little know-it-all who was loved by everyone. They called her the inspiration for everyone else's children, and Samantha enjoyed having a parade of children to boss around, and she took instantly to the role of the big protective sister. Two years later, at 22, Quistis gave birth to Serena, who was the spitting image of her father, with brown eyes and hair, and a gentle spirit. Unfortunately, when Samantha and Serena were just 6 and 4, Grey was hit by a car and killed, leaving Quistis alone. She felt that a part of her was missing, and wasn't the same for many years afterward.

Irvine and Selphie were married instantly after the war, and had a boy named Deryn, who was 12. He was just as handsome as his father, with chocolate hair and emerald eyes, and they cheerful bubbly personality of his mother, who he got along with perfectly. They moved to Deling City after Deryn was born in the Garden, where they remained with Quistis at the time, who was an instructor, and currently Headmistress, giving Cid and Edea their well earned retirement, which they spent relaxing in a refurnished and redecorated orphanage, now their home.

They all stayed in touch still, and often all got together at the orphanage for the summer. But now, being another glorious spring day, they spent their time enjoying their lives, and training their children the way that they themselves were taught.

Laughing with his wife and son now, Squall entered their home for dinner with his son. A while after ten, when Rilan was up in bed, Squall and Rinoa laid on the couch, sipping coffee and talking when they heard a knock at the door. Rinoa set her mug down and stood up. "It's probably Zell and Mira." She said, and opened the front door to find herself correct. But rather than usual, the two wore trouble faces. Mira gave Rinoa a hug and Zell gave her a nod. He still seemed to look the same after all these years, with the tattoo and hardly any wrinkles. But he wore his hair normal and the blonde was starting to shift to gray. They both entered at sat in the living room with Squall and Rinoa.

"Have you heard about what's going on lately outside of town?" Zell asked.

Squall shook his head. "No, I'm hardly ever out of town, unless Garden is visiting."

"Alright, then, I'll get right to it. There's another sorceress."

Rinoa's eyes widened. "Impossible. Ultimecia can't have passed on her powers."

"Well, she has somehow. No one knows her name yet, but she's already taken over Trabia. We found out through Selphie. She's really torn up over it. Word is she's after Galbadia next."

"Oh, this can't be happening. How can she even be stopped? We're not teenagers anymore; we're almost in our forties. How does anyone expect to stop her?"

"We'll have to leave this to the armies and the people for once. We are to old, and don't know what she's capable of." Zell said.

"As much as I hate to admit it, you're right, Zell. We've got to stay out of this one." Squall said to Rinoa.

She took a deep breath, feeling troubled. "You're right, I suppose. But I don't want our children to have to go through a sorceress war like we and our parents had to before. The five of you all lost your parents over it; you had to live in an orphanage. I don't want our children to have to suffer the same way. I don't want to see them go to war and fight a sorceress like we did."

Zell nodded. "I agree. It was tough on the five of us with Adel controlling the world, and then Edea and Ultimecia. And if the rumors are true, this one is more powerful than all three."

Mira rested her head on her husband's shoulder. "I'm scared, Zell. You know how much Ayden wants to train at Garden. The second he gets old enough they'll send him up against the sorceress. Rilan, too." She said.

"The first thing we need to do is warn Quistis and get her out of that Garden. Knowing her, she won't be directing an attack against the sorceress unless Garden is targeted first. She feels the same as we do, I'm sure. Her own daughter is a student there, the last thing she wants to do is put young adults up against a sorceress she doesn't know enough about. I'll give her a call." Squall said.

The others nodded in agreement as Squall stood and walked to the corner of the room, switching on the computer and linking to Garden. Quistis was at her computer and her face soon appeared on the screen. She appeared grim. "Hello, Squall. How have you been?" She looked mostly the same after 20 years, and much more regal.

"As well as we can." He said, tilting the screen so Quistis could see all four of them, and she gave a nod to the others. "I trust you've heard?"

"Yes, Zell and Mira just told us."

"Most troubling, indeed."

"We agree. Quistis, you need to leave Garden, there has to be something you can do."

She smiled. "Thank you for being concerned, Squall, but I can't leave, not for anything but absolute emergency."

"Wouldn't you say this is?"

"Not yet. Do you know much about what's going on, Squall, or are you just being rash?"

He said nothing, but shook his head, feeling like he was a 17 year old being reprimanded by his instructor.

"Alright, then, I'll tell you. About 20 years ago, when we first defeated Ultimecia, she found some way through the time compression and into the body of the most able woman she could. The woman was just 19 at the time, practically a girl. Her name was Mercia. We know little about her past, but she lived on the Northern Continent, of ice. Over time, she learned to master her extremely powerful magic. You may not know, but once a power passes through a sorceress, and absorbs her life force, making it even more powerful, which is why Mercia is even more powerful. In order to defeat Ultimecia, we'll have to find a way to cut off this power from being passed on, because it's just going to get worse if we don't. It's basically a snowball. My plan is to unite the three Gardens and surrounding cities. There is a rebel group in Trabia that is slowly building. Selphie knows more about it than I do. Until then, I plan to take Garden to Galbadia where they can help us. If you could use the Ragnarok to get Selphie and Irvine and meet us in Galbadia, we can devise a plan from there. Do you think you can do that? You can bring the children; I know Samantha and Serena are restless from being cooped up in here for so long."

Squall looked over to Rinoa, Zell, and Mira. They nodded in silent agreement.

"It's the only thing we can do." Zell said.

"Alright, Quistis, we'll meet you in Galbadia in three days.

Quistis smiled. "Okay, I shall see you then. Take care Squall. And stay out of trouble, Zell." She added sternly with a laugh as her face blinked from the screen.

"Looks like we're going on a trip." Zell said.

Meanwhile…

Rilan nearly jumped from his skin as his window lifted open and Ayden slid inside and rolled across the floor. "Hyne, Ayden! You scare me every time with that one."

Ayden gave him a chuckle, pushing back his brown hair into the style that his father used to wear it. "You know, there's a new sorceress! I wish we were old enough to be in Garden, we could be whopping her right now!" He said, practicing his punches. He wasn't as good as his father was, but he had inherited a good magical skill from Mira.

"I doubt we could take a sorceress down that easily, Ayden." Rilan said.

"Hey, do you hear that? It's Quistis! Let's listen!" Ayden said, sneaking out the door before Rilan could protest. They crouched at the head of the stairs, watching Quistis relate the information to their parents, and they crept back in to Rilan's room silently.

"Alright, we get to fly in the Ragnarok to Garden! I can't wait! We'll get to see Samantha and Serena and Deryn! We haven't seen them since summer, huh?" Ayden exclaimed the second they entered Rilan's room.

Rilan couldn't deny his own excitement about getting to travel all the way to Galbadia. He quickly flipped off his light switch and jumped into bed when he heard Squall and Rinoa walking up the stairs.

Ayden slipped through the window while whispering goodbye as he raced home before Zell and Mira noticed he had gone.

Rilan tried to look sleepy as his parents came in and said goodnight, but he could barely keep a grin off his face, anticipating their trip to Galbadia, where he would see his friends again. But, he also felt a bit worried about what Quistis had told his parents. A new sorceress lived again. A more dangerous one.

………..

Well, this is my first chapter/ Prologue of my story. This one sort of bubbled over the top of my head. Please review if you would like, I hope you enjoyed it and that you continue reading. Thanks a lot!