Chapter One

The flame flickered and died. Lost in complete darkness, the man dropped to the ground in despair. There was no hope of escape now. He could hear the serpent slithering towards him. The image of a beautiful lady appeared in his mind, as he felt the serpent slither around his body. Slowly, its fangs sank into his neck. With his dying breath, he whispered, "Goodbye, Edea."

* * *

"Everyone has arrived, Headmaster."

Cid woke up with a start. He looked around him; he was still in his office, safe and sound. He reached up and felt his neck; he could almost feel the wound there. What was that dream he just had? It had felt so real. He blinked a few times and took in a deep breath. His head was throbbing, and he was drenched with sweat.

"Headmaster, are you alright?" Squall asked. Cid turned his chair around. Whatever that dream was, he would have to deal with it later; he had more important matters to attend to first.

In front of his desk stood the six SeeDs he was most proud of: Squall Leonhart, Zell Dincht, Irvine Kinneas, Quistis Trepe, Selphie Tilmitt and Rinoa Heartilly. Rinoa had joined Balamb Garden as a SeeD after their return from the battle with Ultimecia five months ago.

Cid sighed as memories from that time period came back to him. The six people standing in front of him right now had saved the world – no, the Universe, from Ultimecia, a sorceress from the future. Now, five months after the defeat of Ultimecia, the world was at peace.

Cid got up from his chair and took a piece of paper off his desk and passed it to Squall.

"I called you all here today because I have a new mission for you. Scouts from Centra Garden have uncovered a possibility of a hidden settlement in Centra. Ellone dispatched two SeeDs to investigate further, but it has been four days, and they have yet to return, neither have they made contact with Centra Garden, which is why Ellone has requested help from Balamb Garden. The six of you are to take the Ragnarok and fly over to Centra Garden, where you will be briefed further about this mission. Your main priority would be to rescue the two SeeDs, if need be, and help complete their investigation of the existence of this hidden city. That is all. Good luck."

The six SeeDs turned around and left Cid's office and entered the lift. Squall briefly read through what was on the piece of paper. It was a letter from Ellone, requesting help from Balamb Garden. Squall glanced at the emblem of Centra Garden at the top of the letter. Centra Garden; it had not even existed five months ago, and now it was a full fledged SeeD academy. Centra Garden was part of a large project that was started a week after the defeat of Ultimecia. Balamb Garden, Esthar Garden, Galbadia Garden, Trabia Garden, Centra Garden and Lunar Garden were all SeeD training academies stationed around the world. After the defeat of Ultimecia, it was decided that SeeD would become the force with the responsibility of protecting the world and maintaining the peace, and hence, a Garden was built on every continent to cater to each of the continents' residents. Galbadia Garden and Trabia Garden were re-built, Esthar Garden and Centra Garden finished construction about one-and-a-half months ago, and Lunar Garden was a new wing connected to the New Lunar Base, now stationed just outside the Moon's orbit. Esthar Garden was constructed over the abolished Sorceress Memorial, and Centra Garden was built over the old orphanage. Incidentally, Centra Garden also had an extra wing acting as an orphanage, and most of the children there joined the Garden as SeeD trainees after they reach a certain age. Ellone was now the Headmistress of Centra Garden. Also, all the Gardens had the ability to transform into mobile forms, but were currently deployed on land.

"Yo! Earth to Squall! Earth to Squall! Do you copy? Snap out of it, Squall!"
Squall blinked. Zell's voice had cut off his train of thought. They were all staring at him; he then realized where he was – he was standing inside the lift, and they were all waiting for him to come out. Quickly, he stepped out into the lift lobby.

"What were you thinking of Squall? And concentrating so hard at it too; you wouldn't by any chance be fantasizing about Rinoa, would you?" Irvine teased. Squall's face turned a bright red, and he looked down towards the ground, suddenly very interested in his shoes.

"Naw, he couldn't be – I mean, didn't they do it just last night? I could hear them from across the dormitory." Zell snickered. Now it was Rinoa's turn to blush and look down. They continued laughing as they walked out into the sunlight, heading to the airfield just outside Balamb Garden, where the Ragnarok was.

As they walked towards the airfield, they saw Seifer and a group of students training in a field not far from the main gates of Balamb Garden. As usual, Fujin and Raijin were with him.

After the defeat of Ultimecia, Seifer had returned to Balamb Garden, He deeply regretted his misdeeds, serving as a knight for Ultimecia, but Edea told him that he had been under her mind control. Even so, he was still determined to be punished, and Cid met out his punishment: he was to become a gunblade instructor for the SeeDs training at Balamb Garden.

"Yo Seifer!" Zell called out. Seifer turned around and nodded at them. He gave Fujin and Raijin a few quick instructions and left them to spar with the students as he walked over to where Squall and the others were.

"Hey, chicken-wuss!" Seifer laughed as he dodged Zell's punch.

"You people off on a mission?" he asked. They briefly described their assignment to him.

"Cool. Well, anyway, I've got to get back to teaching those students, Good luck to all of you. See you around." He turned around and walked back to the field, as the others boarded the Ragnarok.