Disclaimer: I know disclaimers get on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves. I know disclaimers get on everybody's nerves and this is how it goes! I know dis…SMASH!

Squall: Will you shut up?

A/N: Ahem. Well anyway, now that I have had sufficient time to recharge my brain, I introduce to you the next chapter of Guardian Fury.

There was some fumbling and a female voice came over the system, "Look, I'm really sorry but we're gonna have to cut this short. Were trying not to get killed at the moment, so we gotta go."

The communicator went dead.

Everyone in the room was silent for a few seconds, "Who was that?" asked Rinoa.

No one had an answer for her.

Shiva and Squall were still struggling with the steering wheel as they rocketed towards Trabia Garden.

All of a sudden a loud snap was heard and the steering column snapped off and sent Shiva and Squall tumbling to the ground with the ice queen on top of him, holding the remains of the steering shaft.

Fortunately in their last ditch effort the machine had angled slightly upwards, just barely skimming the top of the garden.

"Well," spoke Squall as if he was talking about the weather, "That wasn't so bad now was it?"

Shiva instantly went from a prone position to one where the had her hands around Squall's neck, "WASN'T SO BAD? YOU NEARLY GOT US KILLED!"

"It's…cough…part of…cough…the job!" he protested.

The ice queen stopped strangling Squall but her hands didn't leave his neck, "You job is to STAY ALIVE! That means the opposite of death!"

"Hey, you were with me on my adventures so why are you so freaked out? This kind of stuff happens all the time."

Shiva calmed a bit, "Well, your right. I guess I'm just not used to a front row seat of the action."

It was then that the two finally noticed their position. Shiva was straddling a prone Squall with her hands around his neck in a very suggestive position.

Squall looked up at Shiva who shrugged and replied nonchalantly, "As much as I enjoy our position I think we should keep our mind on the task at hand."

The Seed commander had to work very hard to keep from blushing as Shiva got up and got back into the co-pilots seat. Squall limped over and sat back down in the pilots seat. Picking up the communicator he contacted the garden.

"Headmaster Cid, this is Squall Leonheart calling in. Do you read me?"

Some static then a reply, "This is headmaster cid, you're on speaker. Mind telling me what the hell you're doing?

"Trying to stay alive sir. The Ragnarock controls are malfunctioning."

"I'll send in a call to Esthar to let them know of your status. They're the only ones that can do a midair rescue."

A loud beeping sound alerted Squall to the dash again. This time the fuel light was blinking. There was silence on the other end for a while, then…

"Do I even want to know what that was?" asked Cid sarcastically.

Squall leaned forward and banged his head on the dash not really caring about anything at the moment, "No sir, not really."

"Just make sure you hit the water instead of a city. Good luck. Over and out."

Tired and waterlogged Shiva and Squall came ashore near the town of Dollet.

"Well, that wasn't so bad was it?" asked Shiva.

"…"

"I mean any landing you can walk away from is a good one right?"

"…."

"At least you didn't hit Dollet."

"….."

"Your still alive right?"

"………………"

The Ragnarock was totaled. Anyone who looked at it would not recognize it as an airship anymore, rather a scrap pile. Since the controls had been destroyed they were unable to control their decent and ended up crashing on the beach instead of in the water. The ship had continued right into the mountains after skidding for several yards along the ground.

Bottom line, the thing was a metal graveyard.

Amazingly they had both gotten off real light. Squall and Shiva had the sense to move to the back of the ship and jump out of the airlock before the thing actually crashed into the mountains.

"Are you okay Squall?"

Wincing in pain Squall answered, "I've…had better days."

Let's just say that the fall was not kind to Squall's injuries.

"Shiva, you know as soon as we get to Dollet there's going to be a crowd of people wanting to know what's going on."

"So? What's your point?"

"If we want to keep this mission under wraps you cant go in looking like that."

Shiva looked down at herself and nodded, "Hmm, I guess blue skin does manage to stand out in a crowd."

Shiva concentrated for a few seconds and then disappeared completely.

"What the-"

Squall can you hear me? The voice had come from inside his head.

"Shiva? Where are you?"

I'm in the place GF's go when your not using them.

"That's good. I don't feel like explaining things just yet."

Try thinking to me instead of talking, unless you want people thinking that you're talking to yourself.

Squall focused his thoughts Like this?

Perfect

Making slower progress than before, Squall limped the rest of the way to Dollet where he was met by half the town guard and the mayor.

"Is that your ship?"

Being supported by two guards Squall nodded.

The mayor addressed the guards, "Get this man some medical attention. Questions later."

Squall vaguely remembered being half-carried to a medical ward and lying down on a bed. He did, however, vividly remember the dream he had that night, if you could call it that.

Squall opened his eyes but he still saw darkness. He could feel and see his body but his surroundings were blank.

'Where am I?'

"Your in a subspace pocket where the GF's live when not being used." Came a reply.

Looking behind him Squall saw Shiva standing a short distance away from him.

"Why's it all dark?"

"Because this is your mind. If you think of something, then it will happen. For instance, you already pictured yourself in your clothes so you're already wearing them."

Squall looked at himself and realized Shiva was right. Experimenting, Squall pictured his Gunblade, and instantly it appeared by his side. Nodding in satisfaction he banished it back to wherever it came from.

Looking again at the darkness surrounding him Squall pictured a room with two comfortable chairs and a couple couches with a fireplace. He had seen it in a magazine once. Suddenly, the room appeared.

"Ahh…much better. You have no idea how dull darkness it." Shiva sat down on one of the chairs and motioned Squall to sit on the other one.

Squall didn't beat around the bush, "So what is it?"

Shiva sighed, "Straight to the point as always. You really need to learn to relax a little bit."

"I take my missions seriously."

"Yeah well your going to be on this mission for a long time so take it easy. I'm surprised that expression hasn't locked on your face."

Squall twitched.

"Anyway, what I wanted to talk to you about was that I'm sensing the Siren guardian around this area."

"Do you know where she is?"

"In Dollet." She said simply.

Noticing Squalls incredulous look she amended, "I can't get an exact fix on her location, however it is likely that her soul is also being guarded by a monster."

"There's only one place where monsters would be in Dolett, and that's the communication tower."

Shiva nodded, "Then we'll head there once you wake up," Squall turned to leave but he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder, "Oh and Squall?"

Squall looked over his shoulder.

"Cheer up. There's more to life than work. Live a little." Saying this she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek before disappearing.

Not much can surprise Squall Leonheart. When he learned of Ultimecia he barely batted an eyelash. Even when Seifer had gate crashed the presidents speech at Timber he had hardly been surprised at all.

This however, left him standing stock still for about 2 minutes before he finally regained conscious thought. Even after he thought about it, he was still confused.

'The bottom of the sea is easier to fathom than the mind of a woman,' Squall thought to himself, 'I need some sleep,' tuning out his surroundings Squall drifted off to sleep.

Squall, wake up.

No response.

Blink if you can hear me.

Squall turned over in his sleep.

WAKE UP SQUALL!

In a fluid motion Squall jumped out of bed and grabbed his gunblade, scaring the hell out of a nurse who was bringing him breakfast, causing her to drop the tray, causing a doctor walking in the opposite direction to slip on the mess and fall down a staircase, scaring an old guy out of his wits, which caused him to have a seizure.

Oops.

Even though Squall couldn't see Shiva, he could almost imagine her sheepish look.

With a thought that somehow was able to project Squall's icy cold demeanor, he thought back, Don't do that again.

An hour later found Squall in the office building of the mayor.

"Well glad to see you healed up nicely," he said cheerfully, "Drink?"

Squall shook his head.

"Very well then. Now I feel that we must address the situation of your illegally crashed aircraft. You are a Seed are you not?"

The man spoke elegantly and formally like a person of high rank normally would. He was a nondescript type of person who fit into the perfect stereotype of a mayor.

"Yes." Squall answered.

"Well then, I don't see too much of a problem with the accident as long as the Garden is willing to remove the wreckage. I am inclined not to press charges due to the help your garden provided in that nasty business with the communication tower."

"Thank you sir."

"Now that that's out of the way, were you planning on leaving or did you have some other business here?"

Don't tell him about your mission here. If too many people know then Omega weapon might start his attack before we're ready.

Squall chose his words carefully, "I have…business that I need to attend to here."

The mayor nodded in understanding, "One of those top secret mission eh? I understand. Although I must warn you, the communications tower is still under the control of Galbadia and they don't react kindly to intruders."

Outside of the office:

So why cant we tell anyone about this? I understand the need for secrecy but surely a few people knowing wouldn't hurt. questioned Squall.

Maybe. Maybe not. Omega weapon was the one who sealed us all away in the first place. Every time we destroy one of his monsters and free a GF he will feel the connection being broken.

Then why hasn't he found me and killed me yet?

To put it plainly, you're small. Insignificant. But you're powerful enough to defeat his monsters. That's why you're the only one suited for this job. If more people gain awareness then we will be easier to track.

Although he didn't like being called insignificant, Squall had to admit Shiva had a point. Compared to the GF's his power was relatively small. They walked in silence for a minute before Squall thought of something else.

Hey Shiva, any idea on how to get past the guard?

Not really.

The finally approached the town square where Seifer and the party had decided to disobey orders to go to the communications tower. As usual, the guard was standing there, denying access to anyone who approached.

"I'm sorry sir, I'm afraid I cant let you pass."

'The heck? Something about that voice sounds familiar'

"Hey wait a sec… I recognize you!"

Then it clicked, "Wedge? Is that you?"

"S…s…Squall?" the voice was shaky.

"Long time no see. Last time we met you were beating the crap out of your CO."

Squall swore he could see steam rising off of the man's helmet.

"I was demoted to guard duty because of you! You're the reason I'm standing here day in and day out guarding this stupid path! DIE!"

The shout was all the warning Squall needed to sidestep the sword swing. He then casually drew his gunblade and blocked the swing to his back.

"Chill out man. I just want to go to the communication tower."

"Oh so now you're trying to ruin me again by getting by me! Well not this time!"

He hadn't sensed any magic go off but he was sure that someone had cast a berserk spell on him. His attacks were full of power but had little accuracy to them and Squall easily batted them aside.

He doesn't seem to like you very much. thought Shiva conversationally.

Meh. I've seen worse.

Thinking that he had toyed with him enough Squall ended the fight with a swift punch to the jaw, knocking him out instantly.

Well, that solves that problem. said Squall as he walked unhindered down the path to the tower.

Concentrating for a moment Squall summoned Shiva from subspace.

"So, what do we do now?"

In response Shiva summoned a spear of ice much like the one Edea had impaled with him and threw it in such a way that it passed within an inch of Squall's unmoving head.

Squall slowly turned around to see an Anacondaur impaled by the icicle.

"Take out your weapon, the cavalry has arrived."

A/N: A little late, even for my standards. Hope you liked the chapter. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and please continue to do so.