Lianne slammed her dormitory door shut behind her for the second time that day, making Angelo bark in surprise. She sat down on her bed with a heavy thud. Angelo came over and lay at her feet. Lianne looked at her with a frown.

"I hate not knowing what's going on!" Lianne felt like she wanted to scream. "Dad won't tell me a thing! He's too busy sulking in his dorm to tell me! Who is that kid?!"

Angelo looked up at her with her gleaming eyes as if she didn't understand what Lianne was talking about.

Lianne clenched her fists as she thought back to what had happened on the Bridge.

When Alix had finished delivering his 'message', and her father had finished babbling on about the stranger known as 'Xinn', Alix had nodded, and continued speaking. "He told me to find you if I needed any help, he wanted me to pass on that message too. And I also came here to warn you, Seifer's..."

"Enough!!" Squall had yelled, tossing Lianne's gunblade aside in his rage. Everyone in the vicinity jumped aside in shock as the gunblade spun across the floor.

"Squall, I really think you should..." Quistis started.

"No! I don't want to hear what he has to say! I don't want to hear about Xinn, or anyone else he has to talk about! I just... I just don't want to hear it..." Squall appeared, to Lianne, to be on the brink of tears.

Her father had then sulked off to his dormitory, seeming more anti-social by the minute. Lianne had been told to go back to her dormitory, and not to bother her father. Of course, she protested, but Xu was then instructed to escort her out. As she walked, being prodded in the back by Xu all the way, she threw fleeting glances over her shoulder at the group of people she left behind. All the way out, she could see Alix, watching her. His bright blue eyes were fixed on her, some kind of hopeful glint in his eyes. She stared back, until she was no longer able to see him.

And now, here she was sitting in her dormitory, feeling completely clueless. "Who is Xinn? Who is Alix? Who is – wait a second..." Lianne's eyes widened as she hit something. "Seifer?"

Angelo looked up sharply at Lianne, as if the name was familiar to her.

"I've heard that name before!" Lianne stood up sharply. "But where?!"

Angelo barked a few times, as if trying to tell Lianne something.

Lianne looked at Angelo thoughtfully for a few seconds

"Seifer... didn't my mom used to know someone named Seifer?"

Angelo barked again, as if answering Lianne's question.

"Yeah! That's right, isn't it?!" Lianne grinned, clapping her hands together. "And he was my dad's rival, yeah?!"

Angelo barked yet again, making Lianne's smile even bigger. She knew she was on to something.

Just then, a knock came at the door.

Lianne shut up quickly, then walked over to the door to open it. Angelo padded along with her. As Lianne pulled it open, she saw Quistis.

Quistis smiled to her, somewhat nervously. "Lianne, Alix would like to speak with you."

"Me?" Lianne looked puzzled. "Um... okay... where is he?"

"I told him to wait in the Quad. He'll meet you there." Quistis explained.

Lianne nodded. "Okay!" she was already half-way out of the door..

Quistis put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Wait a minute! Your father asked me to give you this." Quistis held out Lianne's gunblade to her.

Lianne took it with a not-so-grateful smile. "Thanks." She said, before dashing off down the corridor towards the Quad.

She soon regretted carrying her gunblade all the way there. By the time she reached the Quad entrance every bone in her body ached. But it wasn't really bothering her now; maybe she was about to find out what was going on!

As she walked inside, gunblade dragging on the ground behind her, she saw Alix sitting on a nearby bench, looking out across the sea with a smile on his face. As she approached, the sound of her footsteps made him turn. He gave her a grin, and stood up.

"So you're Lianne, right?" he said, then threw her weapon a surprised look. "I've never seen a girl with a gunblade before."

Lianne looked at her gunblade, then back at Alix. "Well, I'm not that good with it. My dad's been teaching me how to ..." she cut off. "Hey, wait a sec, that's not what I'm here to talk about! What was all that about on the Bridge?!"

Alix looked awkward for a second, then said. "Well, before I start, I think you ought to come and sit down."

Lianne nodded and walked around him, watching him all the time. She took a seat on the bench, and he sat down next to her. She knew whatever was coming couldn't be good. Well, he at least expected it to shock her, or he wouldn't have told her to sit down. It was obviously something he didn't think she could take standing up.

They sat there in an awkward silence for a few seconds, staring blankly at each other. "So...?" Lianne said, growing impatient. She propped up her gunblade so it leant against the bench, just to the right of her. She gave a sigh of relief, glad to be free of the weapon's weight.

"There's a message I need to pass on to your father. It's very important. But he doesn't seem to want to listen to me." Alix said, shortly.

Lianne frowned. "So where do I come into this?"

"I need you to speak with him. Maybe he'll listen to you."

"Okaaay... so this message is...?"

"This will concern you too." Alix hesitated. "Are you sure you want to hear this?"

Lianne nodded, a determined look on her face. "Yes, I'm sure."

"Alright then, if you think you're ready." Alix took a deep breath. "You remember sorceress Edea, right?"

"Yeah." How could she forget sorceress Edea? She was the woman who had brought up Squall and his friends as if they were her own children. She was also the wife of the Headmaster of Garden, Cid Kramer. But she had died on a visit to Esthar quite recently.

"Since she passed away eight years ago, Esthar have had her body preserved in the old Sorceress Memorial, as part of their newest experiment. You see, Esthar have found that when a sorceress dies, a small entity goes on living in their body, like some kind of energy. They want to know if they can somehow use this energy to advance their technology." Alix looked down at his feet. "And any sorceress who died since that time has been preserved along with her. That means... your mother's there too."

Lianne watched him closely as he spoke, then frowned at him when he finished. "But I knew all this already! And so does my dad!"

"Wait, I haven't finished yet!" Alix said. "You do know about how Galbadia's missile base plan started a couple of years ago, right?"

Lianne started to get annoyed; all she was being told were things she already knew, and had known for ages. Fourteen years ago, Galbadia tried to take over Timber to build a missile base where the town once stood. Her father and his friends had thwarted the plan, but then, seven years later, it had started up again, which was when her mother died. Her mother had dedicated her whole life to giving Timber its independence, and had died doing so. Lianne also knew that after Timber was destroyed shortly after Rinoa's death and Galbadia's missile base foundations were put down, the Galbadian Army had, for some reason unknown to anyone else, called off work on the missile base.

"Of course I know that!!" She felt like screaming at him, but managed to keep her cool, and her voice calm. "But who is this Seifer and Xinn and what..."

"Hold your chocobos! Let me continue!" Alix interrupted. "Seifer is the leader of the Galbadian Army. He started the missile base plan, and he called off work on it too. I need to tell your dad what he's up to now."

"Which is?"

"Well, I believe he called off the missile base construction to send his main troops into Esthar. I think he wants that power of the sorceresses for himself. Possibly to try and resurrect Ulitimecia."

Lianne's eyes flickered. "Did you say Ulitimecia?"

"Yeah, you know who she is, right?"

Lianne began to lose her temper with Alix then. "Of course I know!! Stop treating me as if I don't know anything! I wasn't born brain-dead, and I'm not blind, deaf or stupid! So please, just carry on and stop asking me if I know what you're talking about! If I don't know, I'll ask, okay?!"

Alix fell quiet for a second, just staring at her as if he couldn't believe she was capable of such a tantrum. "Right... well... yes I did say Ulitimecia. And Seifer might be trying to bring her back to full power, which would undoubtedly lead to another Sorceress War."

Lianne nodded slowly, starting to come to terms with what Alix was talking about. "So he's going to try and steal that power from Esthar?"

"Yeah, more than likely. You know what that means, right?" Alix said, a smirk on his face.

"Yes, it means I'm getting annoyed with you, right?!" Lianne said, clenching her fists, realising that Alix was trying to wind her up.

"Okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Alix said, laughing. "But what it does mean is that Seifer would probably try to take the bodies of the sorceresses from the Memorial." He hesitated a little as though trying to be careful with his words. "That includes your mother."

Alix studied Lianne's face carefully. Whatever she was thinking right then was very unclear to anyone, even herself. She diverted her eyes to the floor as she tried to piece together what she was feeling. Was it anger? Or sadness? Guilt, even?

"Listen, I understand how hard this might be for you to hear - after all, I didn't really want to tell you in the first place." Alix reached out and put a hand gently on her arm. "But I had to. I don't know anyone else Squall will listen to. I need him to hear my message, and to listen to my warning about Seifer's next plan."

Lianne felt the touch on her arm, but didn't react. She sat completely still, and continued to stare at the floor, trying to get a grasp on the whirlwind of emotions spiralling inside her. "He won't listen to me. He never does."

Alix looked a little confused. "I'm sure he does. How can a father not listen to his child?"

"Easily. Ask my dad, he'll explain."

"I bet it's not that bad." Alix tried to give a reassuring smile.

Lianne glanced up and looked Alix straight in the eye. "What's not that bad? The fact that a father doesn't listen to his daughter? The fact that he can't even look her in the face when he's talking to her? The fact that he wants her to live the perfect little life he and her mother planned out for her months before she was even born? But you wouldn't even know what that's like, would you? I bet you've lived all happy with your little family, with lots of friends, without freaky powers that make everyone brand you a weirdo, just living life just how you want to!"

Alix blinked a few times, seeing the anger pent up inside of Lianne. Her eyes shone with tears, but she was holding them back. "Lianne, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you..." His grip on her arm tightened, as he began to feel sorry for her. But it wasn't as if his life had been picture perfect either.

As she felt the pressure on her arm grow, she stood up hastily from the bench, harshly wiping away tears that were starting to fall from her eyes before Alix could see them. "Don't pretend to feel sorry for me!!!"

Alix jumped up from his seat too, alarmed by Lianne's sudden outburst. He could see the situation getting dangerous, and the last thing he wanted was to upset Lianne. Without her, he wouldn't be able to deliver his message. "I'm not pretending, honest." He said, as calmly as he could.

Lianne found his words somewhat soothing, but it didn't stop all those emotions raging inside her. She stood there for a moment, at a loss for what to say next. Then, all of a sudden, she stormed off towards the entrance of the Quad, making her gunblade fall with a clatter to the floor. She didn't look back once, nor did she backtrack to collect her weapon.

Alix just stood and watched as she stormed off out of sight. Then with a heavy sigh, he sat back down on the bench, picking up Lianne's gunblade as he did so. He rested it on his lap and examined it for a couple of minutes, thinking about Lianne's reaction. It was a bit like her father's really. Alix hoped she didn't think he'd set out to upset her, because he hadn't. All he needed was some help. But he wasn't too worried about getting help from Lianne - he knew all she needed was some time to think.

Author's Note: What a chapter.. Lianne's had one of her famous tantrums already, and she's been talking to a dog...