A/N: Thank you everyone! Finally some explanations for you guys, hopefully now you'll have a few answers to your questions. Been so busy lately, been workin', datin' (woot!) and reading some really brilliant squinoa fics! Hope you like!

'Importance of a name'

SUNDAY

13:45

After Zell had mentioned Rinoa's surname, they had decided to meet at Zell's house earlier than planned. They couldn't discuss anything standing in the street, and they certainly couldn't talk in front of Rinoa. Therefore Quistis would collect Rinoa later and bring her to Zell's house, pretending that the others had only just arrived.

"So, the plot thickens, hey?" Seifer said, as he casually looked through the titles on Zell's bookshelf. Some of the books on the shelf were so old that their spines were crumbling and the covers held together with rubber bands. Many he hadn't seen for years, having thought they had been lost forever. Others he had never come across before. Zell certainly had a collection, and nothing shouted amateur. These were hardcore magic books, but from where he had got them, Seifer could only imagine.

From this he could tell that Zell was not the small-time magician he appeared to be, but someone with aspirations of great power. Picking a small book, he toyed with it in his hand, but not daring to open its pages.

"So it would seem," Quistis said, her pen in her hand, ready to continue the next chapter in her story.

Selphie watched Quistis' pen tap on the page as they waited for someone to explain what was going on. It seemed everyone was either waiting on Zell or Squall to speak. Eventually Quistis realised that she needed to ask some questions. Everyone else had gotten past the revelation stage, but she was still confused.

"OK, so can someone please tell me why Rinoa's last name is so important?"

Her question was met with more silence and some uncomfortable glances. No one wanted to give away how much they knew, or didn't know about its relevance.

"Heartilly is the name of the Royal family, in the country that we come from," Squall said.

He was sitting as out of the way as he could manage, and yet he still couldn't escape everyone's gaze. If Zell had made lucky guess, then today he was going to have a lot of suspicions confirmed. That or Zell was more informed about their world than first thought. Squall hadn't wanted to be the one to explain things, but if someone didn't start talking then they'd be here forever.

"Right," Quistis said, her voice sounding slightly sceptical.

"They preside over the city of Deling, and, well plenty of other places too. They have control over all the magic used in the land, and have an army of warrior mages, and assassins," Zell explained. "Like Seifer and Squall."

"How do you know that?" Seifer demanded. "How could you possibly know that? What the hell is going on?"

"Seifer," Selphie said warily, worried that an altercation was about to occur. "Does it matter?"

"Yes it freaking does!" Seifer shouted, throwing the book he was holding onto the ground.

Quistis flinched as the book barely missed her legs, and tried to shift out of the way. The sudden change of mood had destroyed all thoughts of writing everything down. Instead she fished inside of her bag to find her Dictaphone, and switched it on.

"We've been alone for years, no one even knew we existed. Then this weirdo shows up, and he knows everything about us!" Seifer yelled pointing at Zell. "I want to know what the hell is going on? And if you don't tell me…" His finger shook in the air as it pointed accusingly at Zell.

Calmly sitting in a chair by the window, Zell waited for the storm to blow over. Seifer's words had tailed into a threatening glance, but he knew he couldn't escape the question. Whilst he had been studying Seifer and Squall in every text he could get his hands on, he had had no idea that they were so clueless. Any person they had met along the way, with even the slightest connection to the magic-circle, had been compiling a file on them. Writing down what they had learnt of them, what they had seen. Ever since the first magicians had called them from the alternative realm, there would always be someone interested in them.

Zell looked down at the ground. Seifer had gone silent, waiting for an answer.

"Fine," Zell said standing. "I'll explain. I've been researching you guys for years. Look," he walked to the bookcase and pulled down some books. "You're famous. Any mage worth his salt knows about you two."

Seifer took the book from Zell and looked at the black and white photograph on its page. There looking back at him was his own face. His eyes drifted across the page and found the date '1917'. Suddenly a memory drifted back to him as he stared at the clothes he had been wearing. Suddenly he realised once again how long he and Squall had been here, and how there was still no end in sight.

He passed the book to Squall.

"I didn't know I would ever meet you," Zell said. "But when Rinoa told me what she had seen, and what you looked like…"

Seifer stared back at the bookcase. In any one of those books could be all sorts of information about him.

"You seem to know more than you should," Squall said looking at the book. "We have never spoken about the world we come from."

Zell shifted his weight under the collected stares of everyone in the room. He had hoped he wouldn't have to reveal too much more, but it was too late. He'd already shown too much of his hand, and if he didn't want them to disappear, he'd have to be honest.

"OK, fine. I'm a descendant of those that summoned you."

"Well put us back!" Seifer shouted immediately.

"I can't!" Zell said stepping away from him. "I mean, I don't know how."

"You've been studying us for years, you know how," Squall said reading Zell's reactions. He was nervous and knew more than he was letting on.

"Yeah, you freak," Seifer goaded.

"That's enough!" Selphie said, unable to stand the shouting any longer. "Seriously you guys! The fact that Zell knew about the Bleaks, should have been a clue that he knew about you also."

Squall wasn't surprised that Selphie was standing up for Zell. Having been picked on by Seifer many of times, she didn't want to stand by and watch him shouting at someone else. They could hardly expect to know everything about Zell. They had only been acquainted five minutes. No one introduced themselves, then flowed into a detailed narrative of their life and history.

"I have an idea," Zell said after everyone had finished shouting. "But I'm not sure I could ever pull it off. Which leads us back to Rinoa."

"How so?" Quistis asked, glad that the conversation had come full loop back to Rinoa. She didn't want to keep being the one asking the questions about Rinoa, but it looked like she had no choice.

"Because if she is one of the Royal family, then she might have more power than I could even imagine," Zell informed her. "If…"

"If! If what? She's just some girl," Seifer said dismissively.

"No she isn't," Squall replied. His voice sounded ominous compared to Seifer's thoughtless tone. He didn't believe in coincidences. Everything happened for a reason, or led them somewhere. For some reason they had crossed paths with a magician and a girl that could have high-magic connections; and Squall was beginning to think that perhaps at last, they had found their way home.

"Why would the Bleaks be so interested in an ordinary girl? Zell is right, she could be holding onto some serious power," Squall continued.

"The Heartilly's are like super bad-ass fairies," Selphie explained for Qusitis' tape. "But without the shiny wings and stuff. They can cross through the universes without even lifting a finger. My people, pixies, can surf the edge of universes, but cannot pass between them. That's what allows me to fly, I can hitch a ride on the outskirts of the divides."

Quistis' face was unreadable, but if Selphie had to guess she would have gone for stunned.

"You can fly?" Was all the Quistis said in return, shakily, and with a ghostly white face.

"Oh sure," Selphie said nodding. "It's no big deal."

Selphie heard Seifer snort at her explanation, but paid no attention. He was only jealous, since he couldn't fly.

"But what are you going to do now?" Quistis asked, looking from one face to another. "Are you going to tell Rinoa?"

Squall folded his arms. There was nothing they could do without her, therefore…

"We'll tell her," he decided.