Chapter One: Blood, Broken and Heartless

Most people expect there to be casualties in a war. That is the defining point of a war: the bloodshed, the broken homes and heartless people. But to the young heroes who were the main players in the war, they never imagined that these things would occur between them.

Never had it crossed their unscarred minds that entering the seemingly impossible battle with the ultimate sorceress would lessen their numbers. As always, they found out the hard way.

xxx

They approached the door, with leaden feet and just as heavy hearts. Minutes, hours, days, years, it seemed to have taken them to defeat all of Ultimecia's minions and regain their powers and strengths. And now, finally, they stood in front of the double doors that separated them from the battle that would decide their fate, as well as the fate of the world.

"Take a break." Squall said simply, his hand loosely wrapped around the blade's handle. The Lionheart's razor sharp tip dragged in the maroon carpeted floors of the castle. He ran a hand through his brown hair and sat on a small statue of some creature to the left of the doors. He leaned the blade against the wall, where the light caught the blue metal and it gleamed brilliantly.

He rested his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands. Rinoa sat next to him, concerned. She whispered softly to him, words of comfort and encouragement. They had become each others pillars of strength. Apart, they seemed like the softest breeze could destroy them. Together they were the hurricane that could rip apart any enemy with ease.

The others all found some place of mild comfort to rest their aching bones and sore muscles, as well as to nurse afflicted wounds from battles past. All settled down with the exception of the young brunette with more spark than a fire, Selphie. She stood in front of the doors, her hands on her narrow hips, a glare on her face. Utter disgust filled her forest green eyes as she stamped her foot with impatience. She sighed occasionally, a loud, groaning sigh.

"Selphie… If I ask you what's wrong, would you please stop that?" Irvine asked, his voice weary and old. She spun on him, spitting with anger.

"It's just not fair! She shouldn't be able to do that! No one ever hurt her so why should she travel through time to hunt us down? We aren't her stupid prey!" The others watched as Selphie raged on about the unfairness of the entire situation and how wrong it was. It wasn't until tears were streaming down her pale, youthful cheeks did Irvine stand up and pull her tightly into an embrace.

"Seffie, it's okay. We will make her stop it. We'll make everything okay, okay?" The cowboy whispered into her brunette hair. She sobbed into his tan overcoat, and managed a weak yes between tears. He resumed his seat leaning against this wall, but held her in his lap, cradling her like a baby. He kissed away her tears and held her hand until the sobs had subsided.

Squall climbed to his feet and hefted his gunblade up to a more graceful position than dragging on the ground. "Okay…" The group climbed to their feet, also lifting their weapons, and turning their faces to look at him with sympathy. His job was the hardest. A single mistake and it could be over for everyone. He swayed lightly and Rinoa immediately came up under his arm and helped him stay steady. He draped a grateful arm over her shoulder.

"This is it. The moment we have been training for since we all first came to Balamb Garden to become SeeD. This is our one defining moment, the make us or break us moment. I wish I could promise you that every thing will be okay, that we will all come out of this alive and well. That everything will be okay in the end. But I can't… I don't know what will happen after we step through these doors and into the ultimate battle. But I can tell you that I will be there for you, no matter what happens, if you will be there for me. A leader is nothing without those following him." Squall bowed his head before lifting his head and hand in salute to those gathered around them.

They returned his gesture and stood behind him as he and Rinoa together threw the double doors open. As one, they all ran through the doors, ready to finally end the bloodshed. But as the ran over the stone ground into the room that reminded them of a coliseum and looked around them, they were stunned. They all had expected for monsters and sorceresses to start blasting them and attacking them but nothing had happened.

They remained close to each other, eyes scanning the area around them, searching for Ultimecia. But she couldn't be found. The only thing that was in the coliseum was a tall pedestal with a statue of a winged woman seated upon it. Zell ran a hand over his brass-knuckles and shrugged uncertainly. "Maybe we came to the wrong room."

Rinoa shivered. "No… This is the right place… I can sense her… It's so cold…" She shivered again and Squall pulled her close. She smiled sadly up at him. Irvine hugged Selphie again, fearful of her safety. She was so little, so easily hurt. He had to protect her at all costs, just as Squall had protected Rinoa all of this time. But Selphie obviously didn't want to stay hidden under Irvine. She pulled away from his grip and ran out to the middle of the roofless room.

"Where are you, you witch? Come out and fight us!" Her small fists pumped up and down as she screamed into nothing. Her small voice echoed against the walls, becoming a booming yell. She cowered momentarily at her own echo before taking charge again. "This is wrong what you are doing to the world! You will not win! I won't let you harm them anymore!"

"Selphie, come back here!" Irvine yelled. Rinoa screamed and both the cowboy and the lion leaped forward to try to snatch the young girl back from such a vulnerable position. But before either of them could reach her, a black lightning bolt struck her from the building storm clouds above. Her small body crumpled to the ground.

Squall fell to his knees, in disbelief. The first casualty of the battle and not a single weapon had been drawn, not a single enemy to fight. Rinoa sobbed from behind and ran into his arms, hiding her face from the small body. Quistis screamed, Zell latched onto her. And Irvine… He knelt beside the small girl, his amber eyes wide and staring.

"Se-Seffie…" He pulled her lifeless body into his lap, running his hands over her face, trying in vain to wake her up. "Seffie, please, baby, answer me… I love you… Seffie… Please…" He lowered his head to rest on her stomach. His body shook with sobs. Selphie was dead.

The winged statue stood, took a step off of the platform and drifted to the floor, eyeing the situation with piqued interest. And slight amusement. "Why take such pity on a worthless being as that little girl with a big mouth?" She asked, slashing at the air in front of her with blood red claws. She took a few steps towards them, a sick grin on her face. "She was doomed to die. You all are." She growled.

Before any of the others could react, Squall pushed Rinoa away, grabbed the Lionheart, and charged at Ultimecia, storms in his eyes. She watched with spaded eyes as he tried to strike at her. Instead of reaching its mark, the weapon bounced off an invisible wall and flung backwards. It flew out of his hands and Quistis had to dive to the floor to avoid being stabbed clean through. Weaponless, Squall didn't stop his assault. He didn't even miss a step.

Magick, fists, feet, anything that he had, he flung upon the barrier, trying to reach the sorceress inside, wishing to inflict the same fate on her that had met Selphie. The others could only watch, stunned, as Squall continued his barrage in a furious rage. She narrowed her purple eyes at him, her claws dragging in the air. She wanted to plunge her talons into his chest and fish out his heart but she held back instead. She was curious as to the limits of his power – and his emotions.

The coliseum lit up with the same black lightning that had struck Selphie dead and the group fell back against the double doors. Even Squall had enough mind left to pull back and wrap his arms around Rinoa to protect her from the deadly bolts. But as he held her close, he felt feathers brushing against his fingers. He pulled his hands away and stared, confused, at the white feathers on his hands. Rinoa looked up at him, a hopeful look in her eyes. She turned on Ultimecia with malice in her chocolate eyes.

She stepped into the middle of the coliseum, and stood with Selphie at her feet. The white feathered wings spread gracefully from her back and curled high above her, like snakes waiting to strike. Ultimecia's eyes turned away from Squall and widened at the girl in front of her. A child sorceress? This is interesting… She thought, weakening her barrier lightly. She knew that Rinoa was a new sorceress, she wanted to experience her power firsthand.

Rinoa turned and looked over her shoulder at Squall. Together, Squall… I can't fight without you… Hearing her words spoken clearly in his mind, he nodded and grabbed his gunblade up from where it had fallen. He stepped up to her side and started the ultimate battle.

xxx

She giggled, putting a hand over her mouth not unlike a little girl. Her eyes glittered with laughter and happiness and she spun in a circle, her arms wide under the bright summer sun. She stopped and looked at him, her smile just as warm as the air around them. "Irvy…"

He grinned at the use of his childhood nickname. She had been the one to supply him with that nickname after he had run after day end and day out, calling her 'Seffie'. "Yeah?" He asked, resting his head on his arms as he lay on his back.

"What is to become of us?" She asked, sitting cross-legged beside him. He didn't answer her, just reached out for her hand. She looked at him and smiled again, brighter and happier than ever. She pulled him up and she and him spun in a circle before falling to the ground in laughter.

"Anything we want to, Seffie."

xxx

While Rinoa unleashed a barrage of sorcery and Squall slashed the barrier, Zell had joined in the fight, pummeling any visible weak points. Quistis tried to serve as a watch out and as a healer when she saw that any of the fighters were growing weary or weak. Occasionally, she sent an attack spell in the direction of the black-winged sorceress. As an Instructor, she had the most magick stocked. Irvine remained close to Selphie, still cradling her. But now he was whispering unintelligible words to her. Quistis kept a close eye on him since he had developed the air of not caring whether he lived or died.

Ultimecia must have noticed this weakness and raised her claws to the sky, summoning the storms over the distraught man. Quistis screamed but he didn't hear her. Quistis bolted and knocked Irvine out of the way of the same fate his love had come to. Instead, the lightning bolt shot through Selphie's small body once more.

Irvine screamed and Quistis kept him pinned to the ground as he tried to do whatever crazed idea his distraught mind had thought up. "Irvine, please, stop! There's nothing you can do now but help us defeat Ultimecia… We need your help, Irvine!" He stared at her blankly, but had stopped his squirming.

"I… I miss her so much… " Irvine whispered, closing his eyes. "I can't believe she's gone… I couldn't save her… I couldn't do it… I wasn't fast enough… I miss her…" Quistis pulled him to his feet and pulled him behind a pillar to escape the fight momentarily. He hung his head but didn't fight when she yanked him close to her so she could whisper to him.

"We all do, Irvine. But there's nothing we can do for her right now, except to defeat Ultimecia. You heard what Selphie said. What she wanted more than anything was to defeat the sorceress and end the world's suffering." Quistis forced him to look her in the eye. "Will you do that for Selphie? Would you fight this battle for her?"

Irvine nodded and tipped his hat back. He strode over to the dead girl, lifted her body and set it in front of the double doors. She was slumped in a sitting position against the red wood, her head resting on her shoulder. She looked like she was worn out from battle and was taking a rest. Too bad that she would be resting for the rest of her life… Irvine placed his hat over her face before aiming his shotgun at the sorceress and pulling the trigger.

The bullet soared past the three others fighting to weaken the barrier. Rinoa, sensing the bullet, focused all of her energy at one point, the point where the bullet was to hit. Ultimecia merely glanced at the young girl, questioning her actions. Intrigued, she shut down her barrier, and watched, her spaded eyes narrowed.

Irvine watched with tear-brimmed eyes as the bullet shot past them and embedded itself in the shoulder of the black sorceress. She screamed in pain, her clawed hand reaching up to the wound. Zell jumped forward and brought punch after punch to her stomach, chest and face. She continued to scream as black blood oozed from the bullet wound. Squall stepped forward, swinging the gunblade, slicing her whenever he could without hitting Zell. Rinoa started hitting the witch with her strongest stocked magick. Quistis used Curaga on all of the group, in disbelief. Was this the end of the battle already?

Irvine lifted the gun one last time and fired the gun. The bullet hit the sorceress between the eyes. Darkened feathers surrounded the fighters and filled the room as the witch crumpled to the floor after several more blows from Zell. Squall stood over her, storms raging in his eyes. He lifted the gunblade over his head before burying it deep in her chest.

White feathers overcame the black and soon there was nothing but white feathers as Rinoa's wings slowly curled and vanished from her back. She turned her face away from the blood and death and she felt Squall wrap his arms around her and lift her from the ground. She buried her face in the fur of his collared jacket and sobbed, unable to believe that they had managed to survive the battle.

Irvine dropped the gun and it clattered ominously in the quiet coliseum. Eyes turned to him as he turned back towards the double doors where Selphie's body rested. But when he looked to her, all he saw was his hat, resting on the ground where she had been sitting. Her body was gone. It had vanished. He turned back, retrieved the gun, and lifted the hat to his head before pushing open the double doors and vanishing beyond them.

Quistis ran her hand through her hair, brushing it out of her face before turning to run after him. She had no idea what to say to him, or what she would tell herself but she knew that it was up to her now to take care of him.