[As told by Terra Branford]

A flash of red caught her eye. Terra turned, worried that the blood color meant that someone was hurt.

What she saw surprised and frightened her. She gasped.

"Terra?" The Onion Knight turned to her, stepping defensively in front of her as he saw it, too.

"What's going on?" Cloud. Soon, everyone was turned around, staring in stunned silence at the flowing crimson.

The color was the flowing hair of a girl, pulled sloppily back into a loose, low ponytail. A chill ran through Terra's spine as the girl opened her eyes, the nearly transparent blue less than ice and more than white. She stood, leaning against the side of an entryway, half-sideways from them.

"Who are you?" the commanding voice of the Warrior of Light demanded.

A small smirk crossed the girl's sangria lips.

"I assure you, I am in no way affiliated with your enemies…" A quick glance told Terra that none of the others believed the strange girl.

"You did not answer my question," the Warrior of Light stated. A small burst of laughter seemed to have escaped the girl.

"My name is Thorn," she replied, the smile on her face and laughter in her eyes melting away the cold Terra had felt earlier.

"What is your business here?" The Warrior of Light—all business.

The girl gave a little half-shrug, taking a step down the steps and forward, towards the group. "I'm looking for some people." The guys closest to her drew their weapons—Thorn was face to face with the buster sword—in one piece, the smaller blade still locked within the larger—, gunblade, Firion's javelin, and both Cecil and Tidus' blades. "Anyone ever told you not to shoot the messenger?"

The weapons lowered if only slightly. The tension was making Terra nervous.

"If you have a message," the Warrior of Light demanded, "tell us now."

The girl let out another little laugh, stopping a few steps from the group's level. "Well, this message is only for a few of you."

"Who?" The Warrior of Light made his demand almost before she had finished speaking. Terra moved a little closer to the Onion Knight, nervous.

"Um… One moment, please…" The girl pushed up the one black sleeve of the mini coat she had over the red sleeveless top. Her entire lower left arm was covered in scribbles.

"Is that the message?" Tidus asked, looking at the seemingly collective scrawl on the inside of her arm.

She pointed at it. "This?" He nodded. "Oh, no. This is the crab cake recipe I found on the way here. Awesome crab cakes." She smiled a bit before returning to her search of her own arm… Terra figured she wrote a lot of things she wanted to remember there. "Dance steps for 'Real Emotion'… Lyrics to 'Redemption'… Ah, here we go." She seemed to be looking at a series of short scrawls on the side of her arm. "Um… Tidus…?"

"That's me," Tidus said, lowering his weapon a bit more.

"Okay," Thorn smiled at him. "Next is… Squall…?"

Squall lowered his gunblade in response.

"Alright," she smiled again. "Um… Oh… Let's see if I'm right here… Cloud?"

He returned the buster sword to his back. Thorn let out a bit of a laugh.

"Just like he described…"

"Who described me how?" Cloud demanded, his typical monotone broken just barely.

"Let's just say a mutual friend said you would be the 'emo-looking blond'." Terra wasn't the only one trying to hold in laughter, although Tidus, Firion, and Cecil seemed to be having the hardest time of it. Cloud, as usual, was not amused, nor was he pleased. "Well, next up is… Ravi…?"

"That's me," Ravi rose a hand, coming up to stand next to Terra.

"Ah… No wonder she goes on and on about you like that…" Thorn smiled a bit. Obviously, even Ravi had no idea who she was talking about. "And, last but certainly not least… Oh…"

"Is there a problem?" the Warrior of light asked.

"Well, I'm not certain I can pronounce this one right…" Thorn frowned at the name written on her arm. "Although, she did give me something else to call him… "The leading man"?"

"Balthier," the sky pirate in question took a step forward, resting his gun over his shoulder.

"Ah, Balthier… Got it." Thorn smiled, pulling her sleeve back over her arm. "Well, the message I've got memorized. To put it simply, some friends of yours would like to see you. And I suggest you come along before the ladies decide to send me back to slap you in the face—or worse. I don't know how… militant some of the girls can get; not to the full extent, at least."

"Uh…" Tidus gave her a confused look—okay, most everyone gave her a confused look.

"Well, if you want to know what that's all about in more detail, I suggest you follow me." Thorn turned to leave. "Otherwise, I bid you farewell. Au revoir. Sayonara. Adieu."

She began to make her way out of the Kabaab Aljana. Surprisingly, Tidus, Balthier, Ravi, even Squall and Cloud all moved to follow her. And not only them—the Onion Knight began pulling Terra along. All twelve of Cosmos' warriors wanted to know what was going on. No man left behind—they were all closer than Terra might have thought.