A/N: Here's the next chapter, there's not much about the games in this one but there will be in the next. Hope you enjoy and thanks to all you patient readers who have put up with my late updates and who keep reviewing

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 13: Strangers In the Night

Zack Fair walked through the near empty streets of the Capitol briskly, wanting to get to his destination fast so that he could return to the hotel and continue to monitor Cloud's actions in the game. So far his friend had been doing well in the games, he'd found water, acquired a suitable weapon and most importantly stayed alive. He really felt Cloud had a good chance at surviving the games, he was smart, strong, fit, he had good instincts and had knowledge of fiends, although his skills fell slightly when it came to hunting and magic defence. Even though he had gotten Cloud lots of master materia, the warrior preferred to use his sword which wouldn't bode well against extreme magic users like Rinoa or Kefka.

Cloud was a lot of things alright, however if he had to choose one word to describe his tribute, it would be unpredictable.

Sometimes he just couldn't understand Cloud, he just couldn't wrap his mind around what he would do next and what his motives were for his actions. Before Cloud had gone into the games, he'd told him that the trick was to stay hidden, don't look for trouble because in the end it would only find him and his tribute had followed his advice for the most part. But on occasion he had ignored his advice like in the opening bloodbath, when he picked a fight with the Cloud of Darkness for no apparent reason.

Zack had felt like screaming at the screen when he saw that but relaxed slightly when he saw Cloud had collected a nice buster sword for himself and some supplies before escaping with inhuman-like speed into the surrounding trees. The last tributes who remained at the Shinra monument in the centre were Garland, Gabranth, Kain, Seifer and surprisingly enough… Aerith.

He had never pictured such a beautiful and innocent girl like her falling in with such a rough crowd like them. Sometimes he even feared for her even though his main concern was Cloud; it was just that she was travelling around with four grown, strong men; there was no telling what they might do with her.

But he could also see why they needed her, she was a white mage and therefore capable of healing them and protecting them against magical attacks. They in turn protected her by making up for her absence of strength and skill in combat, of course she had a staff but she couldn't do much damage with it.

She was also an excellent tracker, but Zack didn't exactly understand how she did it. She seemed to just put her hand flat on the ground and close her eyes, then she'd just point in the right direction and so far she hadn't been wrong.

She'd led her group towards Yuna the first time but they'd lost her when she'd gone up into the tree for rest. He had actually been praying they wouldn't find Yuna at that moment, partly because he liked the summoner since she had the guts to attack the Turks and partly because of Paine. He knew she had grown close to the summoner and only a select few people on the planet could make the stoic warrior smile. Yuna happened to be one.

Thankfully Aerith had been left at the camp while the four scouted the area for Yuna so they hadn't found her straight away and she'd escaped but they'd caught up with her twice more, once at the lake and then at their camp. He wasn't sure why Aerith seemed anxious about Yuna but perhaps Angeal knew, he was in charge of her after all.

Maybe it was because Yuna could fight both with magic and weapons; after all he had seen Aerith watch her, hidden away in the bushes around the camp, while she took on Garland, Gabranth and Seifer all in order to save Garnet.

He remembered right before Cloud had gone into the games, he'd seemed interested in the gunner. At the time Zack hadn't known much about her, only that she was Paine's tribute and seemed to be a strong-willed girl, facts Cloud had already known. He wondered now if he was simply interested in her as an opponent or as something more.

Zack let out a sad sigh at the thought. I hope not, but he did go out of his way to re –

His thoughts of past events in the games were cut off as the sound of something similar to a shot rang out through the night along with a feminine scream of agony. He found himself sprinting towards the source before the echo had even faded into silence. Grabbing his buster sword off his back as he turned a sharp corner he stopped dead in his tracks at the scene before him.

What at first he thought were bodies littering the cold ground of the street were actually unconscious men who were twitching and muttering mad phrases as their sheet white faces scrunched into agony. In the centre of them all was a man clad figure-covering robes and a hood shielding his facial features. He was walking towards him holding a small white glowing object in a black bag and a woman clad in leather in his arms.

"Paine!" he shouted as he sprinted towards them with a hammering heart full of terror, his breath caught in his throat when he saw how bloody and battered she really was. Blood was dripping onto the man's clothes from a wound on her back, blood from a stab wound on her shoulder was soaking the white cloth that had been placed over it and a nasty looking burn covered a large amount of skin on her bare shoulder. Numerous smaller scratches covered her skin as well and he hoped she was unconscious so that she couldn't feel any of the pain but he couldn't see her face, it was turned into the man's shoulder.

"What did you do to her?" he shouted pointing his sword menacingly at the man when he got within ten feet of him.

The man however didn't seem fazed in the slightest, he just kept walking towards him, holding Paine firmly against his chest in such a way that made Zack feel sick to his stomach. He pushed the feeling down, gritting his teeth in anger.

"I said, what the hell did you do to her?" he shouted again, taking a threatening step towards the man again and this time making him stop. He looked towards Zack silently and though his eyes could not be seen he was sure they were cold and calculating like Paine's.

Said warrior groaned and shifted in the man's arms, causing both men to look down at the woman. "Zack…?" she managed to breathe out, trying to turn her head but not having enough strength to do so and allowing it to rest against the man's chest once more.

"Paine?" he responded almost immediately although his voice was far more soft mimicking his facial features which had turned from angry and hard to gentle and concerned. When he got no response from her, his features returned to their furious state, focusing on the stranger. "Let her go," he ordered putting a dangerous edge on each word.

The stranger did nothing and remained silent. He stepped to the side as if to simply walk past the SOLDIER as though he meant nothing and posed no threat. Anger boiled in Zack's chest and acting on impulse he swiped his sword horizontally at the man, though careful not to injure Paine.

The stranger ducked expertly, laying Paine on the ground as he did so and pulled out his own blade to meet Zack's oncoming one. Zack applied more pressure on the man's block and both men's arms began to shake with the effort until the man broke the connection with a quick swipe of his blade.

Zack jumped back and recovered quickly before rushing the man again and following up with a series of deadly slashes and hits. Frustration grew inside of him as the man only blocked and dodged his swipes, not going on the offense at all. Zack could feel that his opponent's blocks were weak against his strength, proving that he was more than likely not a part of SOLDIER but he was still quite talented. His footwork was excellent and swift, along with the way he changed his grip lightning-fast giving Zack the impression he was no ordinary warrior.

He kept on swiping and slashing, putting more effort into his strokes and moving faster, taking advantage of his SOLDIER attributes. The stranger kept up well but he was slowly being pushed back more and more and his defence was weakening, so that it was near to the point of breaking.

Paine would've kicked this guy's ass, he mused as he continued to lash out at the hooded man. He wanted to risk a glance at the injured woman but didn't dare risk it. She was strong and wouldn't give up so easily, he'd seen it before in the games, in the 70th games and those had been one of the hardest. Sponsors hadn't been allowed send in any food, water or medicine only weapons and yet Paine had survived and she had only been sixteen at the time.

More anger rose in his chest when he thought about how outnumbered she must've been. How could she have defeated all the men who lay withering on the ground? How had she survived until now? And how had she been defeated? Loss of blood? Tiredness? Or maybe the stranger in front of him had taken her on when she was weak? Why was she attacked at all in the first place?

He drew his sword back over his head with a cry of fury and brought it down in a swooping arc just as the stranger dodged backwards. His buster sword lodged firmly into the ground creating a deep crack but as he was about to pull it out he found the tip of a shiny metal blade pointed at his nose. The familiar click of the safety-lock of a gun being released resounded through the now eerily quiet night.

Zack raised his eyes to meet the cold grey ones hidden beneath the hood of the man holding the gunblade in one hand, barrel pointing toward his face along with the blade. Using his free hand, the man pulled his hood down, revealing a pale masculine face marred by a long red scar and framed by brown hair.

"Paine needs medical attention immediately and I can't afford to waste any more time on you," he said in a bored tone of voice. "So you can either help me, or die. Which is it?"

Zack's glare melted into an expression of shock at the man's words. Millions of questions circled his mind as to how this man knew Paine and what his business was with her. He looked back to the battle field, wondering what the hell was going on. First this man attacked her and now he was trying to save her?

That's when he saw that one body in the centre of the all the unconscious people was laying still, clad in more expensive white robes that were now being stained by the open bullet wound in his head. He looked back to the passive man, knowing he wouldn't hesitate to kill him – or anyone for that matter – if needs be, so he only nodded his head and the man took away his gunblade, heading towards Paine.

"Who are you?" he asked to the man's back, standing up but hesitating before following him.

"Squall Leonhart."

The sun was shining brightly down on the forests of the virtual gaming field, making the atmosphere warm but not so warm that it was irritating. It hadn't rained all morning or the night before, making any tribute's journey more pleasant than it could've been. No wind ruffled the leaves, leaving the forests eerily silent except for the sound of two girl's footsteps on the dried ground.

Rinoa and Yuna walked side-by-side, each carrying a backpack through the dense cloister of trees. Both felt a sense of comfort with the other beside them as they continued on their journey and the silence they shared was not one of awkwardness or discomfort but one of contempt.

However, despite how much Yuna loved silence, she still needed answers. Rinoa had slept right through the night and had then allowed Yuna to have a few hours that morning when she woke up, so they hadn't had much time to talk. When they had left, over two hours ago Yuna had still been sorting out which questions she needed to ask and how she'd do just that.

"Rinoa?" she asked almost hesitantly looking to the girl to her left.

"Yes?"

"How did you… I mean… not that I'm not grateful but…how did you save me from Garland?" she asked. "It's just that… well you don't really…"

"Look like I'd be able to match his strength?" she finished with a quirked eyebrow and at Yuna's shy nod she smiled gently at her before looking down at the ground in thought as though contemplating what to say before lifting her head to look at Yuna once more. "I… I'm not just a mage Yuna… in my sector, I'm what's known as a sorceress," she explained allowing a ball of fire to appear in her hands, she moved it from palm to palm and levitated it in the air almost as though she was playing with it as they walked. "I don't just cast spells and fire them at my opponents, I can manipulate elements and even cause status ailments but it takes a lot of energy. My mentor Edea, taught me all she knew and even passed down some of the great sorceress Ultimecia's powers onto me, so time magic comes easily to me now."

"But being a sorceress isn't easy, I didn't want to be one at first, I was so scared," she sighed extinguishing the fire and turning to face Yuna with sadness in her eyes. "Sorceresses are feared in my sector, we can easily become corrupt by our extensive powers and I guess people feared us because of that, even hated us. I was so afraid of what my friends would think of me, of what my… loved ones would think of me," she nearly looked like she was about to cry at this stage and Yuna laid a gentle hand on her shoulder for support. The sorceress gave her a small smile to show she appreciated the gesture and continued with her story, however lowered her voice to little above a whisper.

"I was part of a rebellion group against the Capitol before this. My dad is head of the SOLDIERs in our sector and although he doesn't fight, he has great control over finances and political matters. He abuses that power though and so we're quite well off but I…" she shook her head taking another deep breath before continuing. "I guess I just wanted to make a difference and so I funded the rebellion group and named it the Forest Owls, we just tried to make life easier for normal people like giving them money that we stole from rich SOLDIERs and keeping them safe from SOLDIERs who were harassing them. We never really showed our faces, we had masks and all but we really did make people feel safe."

"Then I became a sorceress and that changed everything. Training took up a lot of my time and the Owls nearly fell apart. We asked some of the SeeDs, they're the students of the best fighting academy, Garden, to help us out while I took a leave of absence and they agreed since I… well I was close to one of them. They hadn't known I was a sorceress and I hadn't bothered to tell them, I just left and trained," Rinoa let out a shaky breath. "To cut a long story short, I trained in the arts of all kinds of magic and became very powerful and my friends did find out eventually and although they were weary they accepted it and we used it to our advantage against the SOLDIERs."

"As for saving you from Garland, I just put him to a long deep sleep with a strong poisonous spell for discomfort," she added a cute mischievous smile here, her optimistic personality returning. "I think it's a suitable enough punishment for him, you know, to make him think twice about crossing us again."

Yuna let out a small giggle too at the thought of Garland twitching in his sleep and muttering deranged thoughts due to the poison working its magic on his body. "Very creative," she commended the sorceress with a wink, but her expression turned from one of giddiness to curiousness. "But how do you know which spells to cast and when? I mean with white magic it's easy enough, 'cure' if you're injured, 'protect' for physical attacks, 'shell' for magic ones and so on… How do you know with black magic?"

Rinoa looked ahead of her, brows scrunching in thought before she turned back to Yuna with a small smile. "It just takes practise, I guess," she explained. "You just act on instinct when in battle as you do with white magic. For example when you saved me from Garland in the training room; you didn't think about how you'd block his sword, you just did it."

"I see…" Yuna answered after a moment of contemplation even though she was still slightly confused. She didn't see how physical defence was the same as magic defence, when it was physical your body just reacted on instinct and the movements were completed before you even knew it. How could magic be so similar, magic was controlled by the mind and the aura around your body, so how could it work on instinct?

"I can help you learn if you want," she continued on sensing the summoner's confusion. "You only really need basic spells in most battles, they're the easiest and quickest to cast and you'll cast the spell you're most connected to more often than others. Judging by what I saw in the parade, I'd say you're most connected to water, but that's just a guess."

"It is true, I did grow up by the sea playing water sports," she admitted with a small shrug of her shoulder. "I have mastered all of the water spells and some of the fire but I'm only on the basic with lightning and ice."

"That's ok, like I said, you only really need the basics in most battles," Rinoa replied with another one of her easy smiles. "What level are you at with earth and air? And have you looked into stronger magic like flare and ultima?"

"I don't think anyone in my Sector knows how to use earth and air magic, I've haven't heard of it ever being used at all."

"Really?" Rinoa turned to look at her with a surprised look in her eyes as though Yuna had just said the pigs in her Sector could fly. "Well I could teach you and then you'd be the first person from Sector Ten to ever master it."

"Rinoa… not that I'm not grateful or anything…" she began hesitantly, she really was grateful that the powerful sorceress was helping her out with such powerful magic. Although she had tried not to think about it, the vision she'd had before the reaping still hung like a dark omen at the back of her mind. Paine had given her the necklace to protect her against fire but she had no defence against earth and when she really thought about it, she had no idea when her vision would take place. So the sooner she learned the better but she still couldn't help but wonder… "Why are you helping me?"

Rinoa's smile faltered slightly at the question and hurt flashed in her eyes briefly as the words fell from Yuna's mouth. She fiddled nervously with the small disk on her forearm as she walked but Yuna could see her eyes dart in every direction, searching for something in their surroundings.

It was very unlike the sorceress to become so guarded and so quickly and she only spent a second looking at her in confusion before she realised exactly what the sorceress was looking for:

Cameras.

Whatever the sorceress wanted to tell her was very confidential and would more than likely get them both into a heap of trouble if anyone else heard. So she gently laid a hand on Rinoa's arm, startling the sorceress a bit but when Rinoa saw her understanding look she seemed to receive the silent message clearly and visibly relaxed.

"I'm eternally grateful for your kindness and it would be an honour to have you as a teacher," Yuna told her quietly and with a mischievous smile and a small wink she stopped in her tracks and bowed lowly to Rinoa. "I am ready to begin my training master."

"Very well pupil," Rinoa replied in a firm posh voice as she raised her chin ad stood on her tip-toes to look down at the summoner although Yuna could faintly see how hard she was trying to keep the smile off her face. "You may rise and we shall begin immediately."

Both girls giggled slightly, feeling a small amount of stress and sorrow fade from their minds as a tiny yet sustainable amount of joy replaced it. It was nice to have someone with you, someone you could share your problems with because really… no one wanted to face anything alone no matter how much they portrayed it on the outside.

"I'm worried about her," Lulu said in her usual calm velvety voice to the man sitting beside her monitoring the games.

She fidgeted nervously with the belts of her dress as she sat on the couch, an act that was very uncharacteristic of the black mage. She usually never showed any state of distress however now she reminded Auron of the summoner he had once called worthless.

"Yuna?" he questioned, taking his eyes off the screen to look at her and study her appearance.

"No, Paine," Lulu answered casting her worried ruby eyes over to meet his dark ones. "She didn't return from her trip to Barrett's last night."

Auron's brows furrowed in the smallest indication of concern but smoothed out his features so Lulu would not see. He had noticed Paine's absence however he dismissed his worried as silly thoughts. He figured she was probably out doing… whatever young people do however unlike Paine that may be.

"I'm sure she is fine," Auron reassured the gothic woman giving her an uncharacteristically kind smile. "Paine is an independent woman who is more than capable of taking care of herself."

"I know…" Lulu sighed. "But with all the assassination attempts and the events of the games…"

"I understand your concern," Auron cut her off gently, "however Paine is more than capable of dealing with both problems, she has been through worse before as you and I both know."

"I know, I know…" she repeated shaking her head. "It's just-"

A knock on the door interrupted her as Auron gave a small signal that they would continue the conversation later and arose to open the door. Lulu turned her head more quickly than she intended to, causing it to crack, in her anticipation that it might be Paine at the door.

Disappointment arose in her chest when Auron was greeted by Angeal's deep masculine voice rather than Paine's monotone. It was unlike Paine to just stay out all night and not inform anyone of where she was. She doubted she stayed at Barrett's, his workshop was cramped enough as it was with him and his young daughter and even if he did have all the space in the Capitol, Paine knew it would put the small family in danger if she stayed with them. Paine wouldn't be so careless.

Besides that, she would've returned anyway to monitor Yuna's game and make sure her tribute was alright and not in need of any help from sponsors. Lulu had watched to make sure Yuna was alright and so far she was, but Paine wouldn't simply expect her to do so while she went AWOL. Granted, she was expected to help Paine on the matter of conversing with sponsors since her social skills weren't the best but that wasn't a problem. No, something about the situation wasn't right…

Abruptly, she got off the couch and began to make her way to her room to get her PHS. She didn't really know how to use it, she wasn't very skilled with handling machina, however Paine had taught her how to make a call so she was sure she could manage it. She doubted Paine would answer, but she had to try, she had to do something…

"You look troubled," Angeal's deep voice cut through her thoughts and made her stop in her tracks with a small jump as she had completely forgotten his presence. Auron was nowhere to be seen, but she guessed he was getting an access card to the training room for Angeal since, apparently, Zack kept misplacing all of theirs. "I apologise, I didn't mean to startle you," he added as she relaxed slightly after her fright.

She tried to fight the blush that was creeping onto her cheeks and mentally scolded herself for acting like a shy school girl in his presence as she regained her composure. "It's alright I was just deep in thought," she answered with a polite smile.

"Ah, I see," he replied with his own polite smile. "Are you worried about Sector Thirteen's tributes?"

"No, it's just that I-" she stopped abruptly and looked at him with confusion in her eyes. "What about Sector Thirteen's tributes?" she asked.

Angeal gave her a grim look before answering; "they've already killed four tributes, they took out both Sector Five and Eleven's female tributes in the opening bloodbath and since then they've been tracking down others and eliminating them too. They killed both of Sector Two's tributes, Firion and Maria."

Lulu's expression changed from worried to confused as she turned her eyes to the ground, crossing one arm over her waist and using the hand to support the elbow of the other as she rubbed her temple. Even though Yuna was travelling and learning from a powerful sorceress, both of them put together wouldn't stand a chance against those two. "One of them is an l'cie," she said turning her eyes back up towards his. "And the other is some sort of weapon's master?"

Angeal nodded once, "and he can teleport using his weapons, only short distances though." At seeing Lulu's worried expression, his eyes softened and he gently tilted her chin up and gave her a small smile. "Don't think too much on it though, I'm sure both Yuna and Tidus will both be fine."

"Thank you, Angeal," she replied with a small smile of her own.

Silence stretched out between them and neither broke the connection their eyes made to one another. For some reason she loved his eyes, they weren't the colour of mako like Zack's but a beautiful light blue, like a clear summer's sky. They contrasted so well with his raven hair and fair skin, she felt as though she could just get lost in them, just look into them forever.

But she wouldn't trust her actions if she did stare too deep into his eyes, so she cleared her throat awkwardly, successfully ending the moment and took a shy yet firm step back. She found the slight tinge of colour on his one cheeks slightly cute but distracted herself from the thought with her next question. "Have you seen Paine anywhere?" she asked not looking directly into his eyes but focusing on the area around his nose, knowing that if she focused on his lips another fatal idea may come to her mind.

He cleared his throat as he regained his composure and shook his head. "I can't say I have, but you should ask Zack, he would see her more often than I do."

"Alright thank you," she replied with more calmly than she actually felt.

Another silence fell and Angeal looked as though he was about to say something however Auron returned with an access card in hand, cutting off whatever the SOLDIER was about to say. Lulu didn't know whether she was relieved or disappointed. "Here you go Angeal," he said handing him the card. "Don't let Zack near it."

"I won't, thank you Auron," he replied with a grateful smile as he took the card and started to leave the room however he paused and turned back to Lulu halfway out the door. "Goodbye Lulu," he murmured before shutting the door behind him.

Lulu let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding and rubbed her temple once more, careful not to smudge her make-up. She felt drained of her energy for some reason as a wave of tiredness caused her to close her eyes as she forced her breathing to become even again.

Sensing a pair of eyes on her, she opened hers and immediately found Auron staring at her both intently and slightly sadly as though he was disappointed, but why would he be?

"Angeal is an honourable man, Lulu. You may not ever find better in a city like this-"

She cut him off with a wave of her hand, not wanting to hear the same old lecture from him. She had heard it enough and she was in no mood to hear it once more. "I don't recall asking for your opinion, Auron," she said coldly before turning her back to him and retreating to her room, long braids swishing behind her.