Lionheart

by Adam Clayton Jones

The Ballad of Squall Leonhart. New Chapter "Gathering of the Storm" uploaded. **Apologies for the delay** The early skirmishes of the SeeD Forces against the Pandora forces.

25. Edge of Perdition

THE EDGE OF PERDITION

Like a monkey, Squall Leonhart scaled the crumbling infrastructure of the second floor support walkway. The mecha who blew up the walkway ruined every part of the portside vestibule, and the Quad and Cafeteria were very much wholly destroyed.

His blood was pumping, and his breathing was erratic. What Zell had told him was a complete understatement. The place was entirely wrecked.

No! You will not give up on her! He had been steadily, over these simple two months, coming to realize just how much she affected him. Her presence, her coolness, her attitude really swung him in directions he never thought he would take. The ballroom dance, the very event that set the dials turning for them, and quite possibly both of them did not even know it. The Timber mission that was really fucked up and caused them to gnash at each other's throats. The Tomb of the Unknown King where she first advanced her fighting capabilities. Deling City where he had to save her ass for the first time. The prison when he was kind of glad to see her after his torture-- that one familiar face that he had thought about the most for some reason before he blacked out from the electrocution. Balamb Garden after the faction war and her dragging his lazy drunk ass out of bed to "tour" the place. Fisherman's Horizon and her slapping him upside the head. He remembered that as well as the white cocktail dress with the revealing V-cut oh so well.

All those memories melded into one of unique and palpable lust and longing. A feeling that was so foreign to him, he stopped for a brief minute on the second floor causeway and held onto a rail to ease his swooning head. He was just yards away from a broken-down patchwalk of rubble that might possibly lead him down to her. Yet, he couldn't leave just yet.

More memories came fast and furious. Her elegant figure that he had held twice in a dancing embrace. Her cute and loyal pooch who was starting to act like Squall was his master as well. All four of his friends and pretty much everybody else goading him to make the move. Her sleeping next to him in the Chocobo forest. The reminiscing at Trabia. His fucking ring was in her dress!

So much. So much.

Yet, he couldn't speak these words to her. To tell her how much...

A loud blast shook the walls of the Garden again; Squall couldn't tell the impact but the source was more than likely Galbadian SeeD weaponry. Something like a heavy duty gatling gun or rocket launcher.

He sighed once, gritted his teeth, and lunged himself off the rail and stormed across the causeway. Leaping over broken patches, he scaled like a fucking lemur across the thin pipes and rails and came to the edge of a wide platform and looked down. The battle was fierce up by his vantage point, but he only took it in for a second.

There she was curled in a fetal position and shaking. Scanning her up and down, he saw blood and pus forming on her leg and he cursed. She was badly hurt and fading away.

"Rinoa!!" he yelled, hoping his voice could reach down there.

It took a minute, but she stirred and looked up. The look on her face stripped him of his control. He had never seen her this vulnerable, not even in Deling City.

"Hang on, Rinoa! I'll get you out of there as fast as I can."

He flinched when she made a slight movement of her body, causing the weak shaffolding supporting her to give slightly. She crouched back then and fought to stay on with all her might.

"Goddammit sonofabitch," he cursed to himself. He looked around him for some rope, planks, tools, anything that could descend down all that length or could carry him down it. He looked to his left, right, below him, but found nothing.

He looked behind him in the corner of a badly damaged wall and thought he saw something twinkle at him. He looked closer and saw nothing. Changing his view, the twinkle happened again in that same area and he brought out the Twin Lance. The wall collapsed, and the aerial gunner hiding in front of him shot a laser into Squall's gunarm dropping the gunblade. The Commander cried out in pain, and the aerial gunner barrelled over to him and knocked him into a loose wall, crumbling him through and down to a lower ledge of the platform. The laser wound had burned his flesh to the bone, leaving a steamy hole in his coat sleeve.

The Galbadian gunner was levitating above the ground in his slick green corporate jetpack, and he was sneering down at the SeeD. "Lt. Johnson, at your service, sir," he slyly replied. Producing a stun baton, he smacked the sharp end of the stick onto Squall's wounded limb and shocked the piss out of him flinging him into the bottom edge of the upper level. His lower back cried out in pain, and the gunner advanced. Squall used his good arm to block another blow, and his wounded arm grabbed the shirt of the officer. Squall headbutted and kicked the guard off of him and drunkenly got up and scurried to get his blade. The gunner fired another laser, missed but shook Squall off-balance. He grabbed the hilt of the Twin Lance, spun around, and rocketed a bullet into the leg of the gunner and another in the other leg's kneecap. Lt. Johnson cursed vehemently and sped to the sky out of sight of the SeeD.

Squall angrily shifted more rounds into the chamber and hauled himself up. His arm felt numb and his back was bleeding, but the adrenaline rush was shooting up to his brain like a healthy dose of heroin. He scanned the sky for the cocksucker, but the gunner got him. It barrelled into view and Johnson grabbed him from behind and sailed out into the open land.

Rinoa saw Squall sail captive above her, and she almost had a heart attack. Squall in his captive embrace almost had one, too, and he almost dropped his weapon. Quickly, he sheathed it and looked for something to grab onto. Johnson released him with a snicker, and he fell. His heart jumped to his throat, but his hand caught hold of a ledge. Yet, it depressed and he found himself sinking fast again. Johnson was descending, too. Then everything happened fast, and Squall stopped short of falling to his death a second time. The depressed lever had released a rope from the gunner, and he was hanging at the very end of it floating above the carnage down below. He was about ready to vomit.

"You little shit!" Johnson yelled at the top of his lungs. "You're ruining my aircraft!!" He grunted viciously and descended down on his own rope pully. With one hand strapped onto the rope, he used his free fist to punch Squall's jaw. The gunblader saw stars and bled from his left nostril. The officer was coming again, and Squall barely blocked it in time. The green-clad officer then went cheap and sucker-kicked him in the crotch. New shades of stars clouded his vision, and Johnson laughed slowly getting out his pistol. Blood was forming in Squall's mouth, so he spat in Johnson's eye, and the officer yelled out in disgust. With his free hand, Squall fought Johnson for the gun. The aerial gunner spun out of control, slowly veering towards the walls of the Garden. Both of their movements spun the craft around in dizzy circles, and both of them began to groan with nausea. The pistol's grip came in sight, but both of them had a hand on it. The barrel kept changing directions, first at Johnson then at Squall then back again. Both of them were wearing gloves and fighting for control of the trigger. Minutes passed, bombs exploded underneath them rocketing the craft against the repercussions. Rinoa looked on, helpless to do anything.

Johnson kicked again in Squall's dick but lost grip on the handle. Squall bit back the pain, flipped the gun to the officer's chest, got the trigger and pulled. The bullet ripped through Johnson's sternum and blew his body back against the wall. Sticking for a second, it slowly oozed down to the grounded halo blades of Balamb Garden cutting into shreds. Squall dropped the pistol and somehow bit back the vomit. He shook his head three times and slowly crawled up to the gunner's cockpit. The equipment was not entirely foreign, but he had to remember which knob was which. Finding the correct scheme, he slowly descended the craft and the closest ring to Rinoa's waiting grasp.

"It's pretty strong!" he yelled down to her.

She grabbed the ring with one hand. "You... sure?" Her voice was weak, but she seemed to be garnering her reserved strength.

"Yes! Just hang on really tight!!"

She nodded once and gripped the ring with both hands and closed her eyes. He slowly, gently rose up to the sky, and she gritted her teeth at the pain in her leg as she left the platform. The movement did it for the scaffolding, and it fell beneath her to the blades. She opened her eyes and gasped.

"Hang on, Rinoa ! Please!"

She couldn't stop looking, but his voice calmed her a bit and she fought back the swelling pain and closed her eyes once more. The battle was terrific below them and horrifying at the same time. He watched both SeeD forces cut each other to pieces, as he sailed down to the earth below. A missile flew past him in a wayward direction, and the sonic rush whizzing by was quite a weird sensation.

Rinoa dogged herself enough to open her eyes once more, and she was thrilled to see the ground again. She wasn't quite so thrilled at all the bloodshed. Missiles were going off, magic was slinging from the Balambians, the Dolletians were causing mass chaos, and the Galbadian SeeDs were doing wicked sword moves cutting people apart three persons at a time. Some big heavy metal monster was ripping apart Irvine's and Zell's teams like a hot knife through butter. The ground was feet away, and she sucked in breath. Her good foot extended farther, and she rolled on it to the ground. Of course, that erupted into pain that rocketed up her spine and she teared up.

Squall dropped to the ground just as an explosion ripped apart mere feet away from them. Their ears deafened and sand in all their pores, Squall choked his way towards her. He had to scream above all the chaos. "Can you run!!!"

She looked at her leg and shook her head.

He didn't waste anymore time. The good arm went in the crook of her back, the wounded arm under her legs. He grunted and hauled her up and ran across the field. The goal was Galbadia Garden. There was an entrance in its southern capacity. The problem was a shitload of people bloodying each other up. She looked on in amazement both at his exertion and at the devastation wrecking around them.

He was nauseous but determined to see that she survived. A headless body of a Balamb SeeD crumbled into his path, and he jumped over it. Fire magic blazed near his right and a Galbadian SeeD was incinerated. Dying screams mixed with war cries, and a grand cacophany of machine gun fire spurted from multiple Dolletian assault rifles. Several Galbadian SeeDs saw Squall carrying Rinoa and advanced onto them. One of the SeeDs hurled into the air with his sword aimed to cut Squall's head open. A shotgun stopped that, and Irvine appeared punching a second one in the gut while blowing a hole into the chest of a third one. Squall gasped in surprise and realized just how vulnerable he was-- a feeling very foreign to him. A fourth one ducked by Irvine and stabbed Squall in the back. The Commander stumbled badly to one knee, and the Galbadian SeeD whirled around to attack in front. Squall ducked the blow and Irvine came to off the lithe fighter.

The heavy metal monster was ripping people apart with chaingun fire and rocket launcher boosts. A Dolletian ATV sped towards it and opened huge gaping holes in the shaft of the beast, but a well-placed rocket smacked into the engine and rocketed the flaming heap straight into the air. The fiery missile clump hurled straight to Squall, Rinoa and Irvine. The cowboy and the Commander gulped in defeat and crouched to the ground. A blue aura shield formed around them, and the destroyed ATV broke apart on the dome of it. The sheer weight and force of the impact knocked the three of them further to the ground and opened up Rinoa's wound by accident, causing her to scream. Pieces of the ATV fell all around them, and Irvine looked to see a badly wounded Quistis wave at them behind a wall of dead bodies. The cowboy painfully acknowledged a thanks to her and hauled Squall up. The Commander looked at the situation briefly, but Irvine's stern expression told him he needed to move. The huge mecha monster was still up and steamrolling people left and right. Squall cursed and hauled a still screaming Rinoa up further to his chest and stormed across the earth.

By the looks of it, the Galbadian SeeDs were dwindling and highly relying on the metal monster. He couldn't tell at the moment just how his troops were doing, but he could definitely tell that the force was quite smaller than it was twenty minutes ago. He was but a hundred yards from the entrance when another rocket blast picked up the dirt just four feet away from him on his right. He dropped Rinoa, and the blast lifted him off the ground and tumbled him head over heels into a ditch. Galbadian SeeDs were coming, and he heard their sabres drawn. Rinoa was closer to them, and he felt a heated berserker rush fly through him. The Twin Lance came out as well as some lightning magic. He fried the gut of one of them who bent down to stab Rinoa in the face, and Squall hauled himself off. One of the SeeDs hurled his weapon like a boomerang, but Squall deflected it off with a looming thrust. The other two SeeDs charged him, and all three swords struck each other up, down, to the side and many times in between. Squall was hit, kicked, and stabbed before he slit the throat of one of them. His vision was blurring, and his breathing was getting raspy, but he managed to knock the weapon out of the other SeeD's hand and blow his fucking head off with a bullet from the chamber. He didn't see the last SeeD rally the punch, and he wondered at first why his chin hurt again. The Galbadian Seed knocked his gunblade out and grabbed the back of his head. Squall was too weak to fend him off, and the SeeD laughed and pulled out a knife so sure to scalp the Commander of Balamb Garden. Yet, so sure he was that he didn't see Rinoa weakly ready a dart and fire it into his back. He dropped the knife and gasped. Rinoa spat at his back, put another dart in, and sailed it into the back of his head. Squall gasped and then nodded with sick fascination as the bloody point dangled right between the stunned man's eyes.

He shoved the dead man to the side and crawled over to her. She looked quite surprised and happy at the same time. Her Shooting Star bowgun lay to her side, and she was a sweaty mess. Yet, he kind of felt that appealing at the moment. She was numb, anxious and very weak but at the moment she looked as strong as an ox and as hearty as the most noble warrior. The sounds of the battle seemed far off in the distance. The wind blew the rotting smell of corpses around them, but all he could take in was her scent. He wanted then to tell her, but he was powerless to come up with any words.

She appeared ready to say something, too, but both of them looked up sharply at the sounds of the mecha monster reeling in astonishment. A grenade launcher from Selphie's greedy fingers had opened a massive hole in its chest. From where Squall and Rinoa lay, they saw Galbadian SeeDs kneeling on the ground and Balamb and Dolletian forces cheering as a small figure was running to the stumbled mecha. Squinting closer, Squall saw it was Zell and he gasped in surprise. The mecha was still very much alive, but the tattooed brawler somersaulted ontop of it with no heeded attention. The mecha attempted to fry him with a laser beam, but Zell avoided it and went to its neck where the hardwire was. He started beating it furiously, attempting to expose the main wires. Achieving the goal, he held a free hand to the sky and a light shone down to his stance. The mecha froze, and Zell jumped off it to the ground stumbling a bit on the impact. High up in the sky, a hurling meteor from Zell's new repetoire of spells snaked its way to the exposed and stunned mecha beast and beheaded the creature with one direct hit. The cleaving sparked an internal fire and blew the mecha into millions of electrical pieces. Zell received quite a few scrapes, as he attempted to dodge the explosion.

The grand finale defeated the remaining Galbadian SeeDs, and all two thousand of them surrendered.

Squall stood up and gave a hoorah shout of joy. Irvine heard it and so did Quistis. Both of them weakly stood up and shouted hoorah, followed by a bevy of shouts from every Balamb and Dolletian fighter still alive until finally the Galbadians on the top deck of their Garden could hear the mounting and raucous chorus echo up to them. Seifer Almasy scanned one long time around him, snuffed out his twentieth cigarette and went to check up on his queen.

Squall listened to his men and women and felt instantly proud. He breathed a long sigh of relief and collapsed to a sitting position. What he would do for a bed at this moment.

The sounds of her whimpering drove him back to reality, and he looked at her condition. She was slipping fast. "Rinoa, hang on." He didn't get an immediate response. "Dammit! I got you hear this far, I'm not gonna lose you now."

"Y-You.... haven't....l-lo-lost me..." she smiled weakly, one eye slightly open at him.

That indication enlightened him a little, but he was now hurling over the edge. Why don't you just come out and say it!!! he cursed at himself.

When all seemed perfect and the words were right there, he opened his mouth and shut it instantly. Angelo's barking alerted both of them, and the smart dog slowly made his way over the bodies and the blood-stained earth towards them dropping off medicinal vials to the many that needed them. He was carrying a thin blue vial in his collar that shined in the cloudy sky. The rain had died down for the moment, and his fur was a messy mop of matted length. The smell of wet dog, though, was morphed in the copious stench of decay.

"An-ge--lo ......" she cooed, reaching out to touch his fur.

"What you got there, boy?" Squall asked.

The dog barked happily and shook his collar. Squall grabbed the vial and opened it. He smelled it, knew what it was, and then looked into her waiting eyes. "This will... hurt a bit."

She looked around, saw Angelo's collar and took it off. She wrapped it slowly into a taut piece, bit down on it, and nodded. Squall sighed, held her tight with his good arm, and poured the liquid onto her gravely wounded leg. She reacted instantly, and the sound of her bone slowly peeling back into her skin and merging back with the other bones was a sickening sight. He didn't realize she had claws on her hands, but he sure felt them now. Angelo's collar fell from her mouth, and she screamed out in pain. Several people, including Irvine, around them covered their mouths aghast and stupefied. The pain engrossed her for a good solid three minutes until it finally mended back together and only a veneer of blood coated her skin. He wanted to scream a bit from her vice-like grip, but he didn't thing that that would be appropriate so he let it go somehow.

Angelo probably didn't realize the sheer effect of his present, but it worked. Squall eased her back and wiped her face and soothed her forehead. "Somewhat back to normal now," he joked lightheartedly.

She looked down at her leg and looked back at him. "Y-Yeah. If you say so."

"Think you'll remember this story when you're older?"

"Yeah," she replied a bit deeper than he had anticipated, "I'm sure I will."

Footsteps behind them turned out to be Irvine, who was chuckling like a little schoolboy. Angelo tossed him a vial, and he sighed contentedly as its contents nourished his body back to health. "Oh, Squall, when are you ever going to trust my better instincts?"

"Well... sometimes they work."

Irvine scoffed. "They always work!"

"Well, in this case, yes," Quistis said coming up behind them and accepting an Angelo vial. "We lost way more men than they did, but we won in the end."

"Not quite," Squall corrected.

"Well, okay, the first one then."

"How many lost?"

"All told, as far as our last count, we lost almost six thousand people compared to their twelve thousand, but they still have at least fifteen thousand that fled. And these two thousand SeeD troops have surrendered. We've only got about 3500 people left, I'm afraid."

"Could..." Rinoa asked, "could they form a counterattack?"

"Very well might."

"I don't think so," Squall said.

"What makes you so sure?" Irvine asked.

"Matron wants us to meet her. Plus, we just slaughtered 12,000 people. Would you want to counterattack that?"

"....Nah, I wouldn't want to," the cowboy said with a grin, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and lighting one happily.

More footsteps appeared, and Zell led the charge with a wild gleam in his eyes. His body was cut up to shreds from the mecha explosion and various other forms of disasters the motherfucker always got into. He looked at Rinoa and looked back at Squall. "Holy shit, you are a badass!!"

Squall was acutely aware of Rinoa, Irvine, and Quistis looking at him admirably, and he shrouded himself in that old familiar Squall Leonhart way again.

Selphie came up with Mila, Xu, Duke Haydyn (looking mighty pleased and sporting a bloodied smile) and a whole host of soldiers wanting to get a glimpse of their victorious Commander. The spunky SeeD was sporting a Galbadian grenade launcher and seemed a bit too interested in holding it. "Whatdya think of that?!?" she asked Squall.

"What do I think? I think we just fucked them up, that's what I think!"

Everybody gave a round of applause and started cheering again. Questions were then raised as to what next to do, and Squall calmed them all down. "Get some rest for a little bit! I have a hunch the Sorceress will not leave this Garden or this general area. She is waiting for us and is probably keen on spreading a trap within this vessel here. Get a little rest, regroup, do what you need to do, and be ready to move out by the end of this hour at the latest!"

Everyone saluted and cheered and went to clean themselves up as best they could. Somebody raised a question on the dead. Irvine answered for Squall; the dead would be given their respects when all was accounted for.

Dr Kadowaki worked overtime with Quistis and Selphie for taking over half of the wounded and needy while Irvine, Mila and Zell took over the other half. Duke Haydyn went to talk to the surrendered Galbadian SeeDs with a cadre of his crew to try to "pry" some information out of them. Squall sat on the ground with Rinoa, for the sole reason that she didn't want him to leave.

Angelo decided to fall asleep for a few minutes, but his tail was thumping indicating that he was still keen on listening in to the conversation. Squall could tell that Rinoa had something to say, as she was visibly working it over in her mind.

"Thank you," she breathed suddenly.

This was a second time that he saved her. She owed him twice. Or... maybe he was finally out of the contract for her Timber Forest Owls gang. "It was nothing. Don't worry about it." Boy... did that sound odd. Come on, Squall. Come on.

She giggled. "Well, you know something. I couldn't afford to fall off that scaffolding. No, no I couldn't afford to die just then."

I know.

She winked at him slyly. "I have something very important that belongs to you. I can't die until I give it back to you, right?"

So you do have it. Damn that Zell.

"Zell gave it to me, you see." She held the strap tight with a pinch of her fingers and then slowly fell into her shirt and played with the ring between her breasts. She closed her eyes for a second and thought about something really good before pulling it out into the light. "I've been holding onto it ever since."

He felt suddenly lighthearted. "That's my favorite ring now. Promise to give it back."

"Haha, don't worry I will. I can see why it is your favorite. It's really cool-looking. What is this monster that's carved on the outside?"

"Not really a monster. It's a lion. A griffin, in its old namesake. The creatures that used to roam on this very continent we're on right now, long ago before we were ever born. I've always liked lions. They symbolize great strength and pride and the feeling of protection and comfort."

"Hmmm..." she purred, setting the ring back where it belonged, "great strength...pride.. protection...comfort." She scootched closer to him. "Sounds you like, Mr. Lionheart."

"Psh, I wish."

She chuckled and played at something with her foot. "Hm, so this lion of yours. Does it have a name?"

"Of course." He closed his eyes and remembered the very first name that came to him when he saw it at the blacksmiths shop in Balamb Port. "Griever."

"Griever?"

"A solid and powerful name of the legendary griffin who was thought to dispel all grief from the universe and so hold up the power of Eden's reign. Basically, Eden's right-hand man... or Guardian Force."

"You religious?"

"No. Probably never will be either. It's just...well..I pick and choose what sounds good to better my life. I'm not one that's easily fooled by mystical elements such as that. Besides the GFs aren't really vast cosmic superhero gods or anything. They're more like depraved stronger caricatures of us humans here on this earth. They seem to be dieties of bestial and homo sapien quality, which makes them unique and somewhat disturbing at the same time."

"Hm. Never heard it called that before."

"Why, are you?"

"I was at first. More of the spiritual nature stuff after working in Timber. If only until I met you at the ballroom and on that assignment. Before when I was growing up in Deling City, no I couldn't care less about that shit. Deling's a big city, and there were many opportunities to go if I wanted to. Lots of GF worship and GF usage, now that I recall. None of it appealed to me, and it still doesn't. I think.... I think a lot of that had to do with that senator who was also a GF shaman at the city's biggest temple."

"Why's that?"

"He was a pedophile. Had a thing for both sexes, and I was thirteen and fourteen at the time when he came after me. He used the religious texts to justify his wanting my flesh so badly, and my father at the time either was aware and let it persist or wasn't aware and thus didn't take a more aggressive stance at watching me, so I was caught with very few avenues to protect myself. I was really scared at the time."

"Oh. Did...did he--"

"No."

"Is that why you ran to Timber."

"Yes. Deling City is a corrupt place. And my father did not pursue me, because he knew how badly I hated it. That whole drama made me so disgusted at the GFs and the religion and sowhat that when I found Zone and Watts as interested in it as they were I was immediately horrified. Yet, the rural areas and the city life have nothing in common. Nothing in common. I came to recognize just how special the earth was and how all the GFs recognized it, too. The two of them dabbled in GF gems and all that, but I wasn't ready to take it that far. After seeing you all use it, I'm still not that interested in it. Of course, I really don't like fighting either so that takes care of that."

Squall looked behind him. "I don't know, you sure fucked that guy up earlier."

She blushed. "Yes...well.. he was...was...er.."

He laughed. "I think you got a bit of strength in you that far surpasses mine."

"Bull," she laughed. "You're not called a lion for nothing."

Now Squall found something to play with his foot. "No, I'm not a lion."

She watched his movements silently for a minute or two. "Zell says he's going to make me one exactly like yours."

"He is?"

"Yes. Who knows, maybe I can become a lion, too."

He wanted to tell her again that he wasn't a lion, but that thought intrigued him, and he wondered if she would catch his piqued attention. She did, and he could tell he was blushing.

She giggled. "Oh but that would be crazy, right? I mean, heh, everyone might get the wrong idea about us."

Crazy? Maybe. You sound delighted, though. He turned to look at her face, and he was confident that she didn't think it crazy in the slightest. Movement caught his eye, and he saw Irvine and the Duke waving for him. He turned to give her a look that said Why? to which she giggled. She watched him get up and walk over to them. Angelo stirred and whimpered at his leaving frame, and Rinoa sighed contentedly.

It felt good to walk again in a fully cured state. Those damn vials that Kadowaki made tasted so fucking bad that he wanted to retch at just the mere memory of it, but they sure did the fucking trick. Every soreness, laser wound, sword stab, and crotch hit had been vaporized and cured from his body, and he felt as free as the day as he was born. Well.... maybe not that free but you get the idea.

The Duke was excited and not in a good way. Irvine looked a little pissed, too. "What's going on?" Squall asked.

Irvine blew out an irritated puff of smoke. "This basterd here says there's another platoon of combat SeeDs within the Garden."

Squall looked sharply at the SeeD officer. He looked to be a Rank 24-- a captain of their ranks. "I thought you all only had seven thousand men."

The captain had his hands tied, and his greatest wish was to spit on the feet of Commander Leonhart someday. Except now that the man himself was standing right in front of him, he didn't have the balls to do it. He was a stuttering guy, and he couldn't find the voice to reply.

Squall Leonhart was not the type of man to fuck over easily. He looked around the area and scanned the Galbadian army. "Where's the leader of this fucking crew?"

"We're pretty sure he is, Mr. Leonhart," Haydyn said, pointing down to the timid officer.

Squall took a look at the captain's shirt and found a crooked and smudgy badge that said something like Schmidt or Pitt on it. "Schmidt or Pitt or whatever your name is, did we cut your tongue out or are you too lame to talk to us?"

"P-P-P-Pitt, sir. Th-The name's P-Pitt."

Squall kicked him in the crotch. "Spew it out, Pitt. Why are there more platoons in the Garden?"

"Seifer's orders, s-sir."

"How many?"

"A thousand of our very b-b-best. The an-animal h-handlers."

Squall looked at Irvine for answers.

The cowboy blew another irritated smoke. "The animals that live on this here continent: Death Dealers, Grand Mantises, Blitzes, and possibly Tonberries though I'm not too sure about that--"

"Great. Just motherfucking great." He kicked the captain up to a more upright position. "Is that all that is in there?"

"Them and the regular SeeDs who don't perform in combat, s-sir."

"What do they do?"

"S-Su-Support."

"Meaning?"

"Medics, equipment, st-staff."

"How many?"

"Five hundred."

"Hm. Not too many of them."

"W-We don't c-care for them too m-much."

"Yeah, I'm sure you don't." Squall scanned the crowd again and turned to Haydyn. "You mind escorting these SeeDs back to Galbadia with you?"

"Don't mind at all. You need my help with the Sorceress, though, right?"

"Yeah, I suppose we can take them after that."

"Oh!" the captain named Pitt cried out.

"What?"

"There's a b-big GF guarding her. Seifer's orders on that too."

"Cerberus?" Irvine asked.

"Y-Yes."

Irvine flicked out the butt and shook his head.

"Bad news?" Squall asked.

"It'll be a haul."

"If you like to spare a few men," Squall asked Haydyn.

"Squall, no trouble at all. Take as many as you need."

"Thanks. By the way have you seen Headmaster Cid?"

"No, I have not. I was just about to ask you the same thing."

"Why would he not be here in this hour of need?" Irvine asked. The thought was deeply troubling him.

Squall was troubled, too. He hadn't seen the guy since early morning yesterday. The Commander turned sharply to the ruined Balamb Garden some hundred yards away. "I..." he couldn't finish. None of them knew if he was underneath all that rubble. He turned back to the both of them. "Don't think of this as heartless or anything, but we need to confront her first before we find him. She is his wife... or was...and this is probably what he wanted to happen anyway."

"You're probably right, Squall," Duke Haydyn said. "You take a contingent of my men with you, and I'll keep the bulk of them out here to guard these SeeDs and make sure no one inside the Garden escapes. I'll make some calls to Fisherman's Horizon to see if they can salvage any equipment for your Garden, too."

Squall reached out and shook his hand. "Much obliged, Mr. Haydyn."

"Always a pleasure to work with you Balambians."

"For a first fight, we sure fucked them up!" Irvine applauded.

"You got that right," the Duke laughed. "But we're facing a tougher challenge now. Best of luck to the six of you, you hear?"

"You got it, sir," Squall smiled.

Irvine followed Squall past a vast array of bedazzled and impressionable fighters on both sides of the field. Yes, even the Galbadians were literally impressed with the young leader's gait. Zell and Quistis hurried up to them while Rinoa and Selphie made a small table out of a rock. Someone had drawn up maps and blueprints of Galbadia Garden's infrastructure with some key points highlighted on it. The two girls laid it out as best they could, and someone handed Squall a bottle of alcohol and he slowly drank it while scanning the yellowed paper.

"You prob'ly already know this," Irvine said in a cocky voice, "but I know this place--"

"--like the back of your hand?" Selphie asked with an equally cocky tone.

Both Squall and Irvine looked at her, surprised.

"Why yes, that's right," Irvine said.

"Good enough," Squall responded. "Then spill it."

"Roger, sir. We're facing the southern end right now. Nothing but classrooms on this side. Galbadia Garden is approximately three times the size of y'all's Garden, so there's plenty of places these SeeDs can hide in. Now, the problem is that Galbadia has always been concerned about safety measures, so they've tended to rely on security-lock doors. Scattered throughout the first and second floor are numerous locked doors with gun checkpoints all around them. Now I'm not sure, but I can find out rather easily, but the crash of the Garden could have disrupted the gun systems a bit. That is, of course, unless the support SeeDs got it back up and running."

"Better make sure of that before we go in," Squall replied with another swig.

"I'll help with that," Selphie said emphatically.

"They're nasty pieces of work, Selph," Irvine said.

"Boy, did you not see me out there with that grenade launcher?"

Irvine chuckled and seemed to blush.

Squall rolled his eyes. "Where are these checkpoints at?"

Irvine pointed to several locations on the map. "One door right in the back of the entrance hallway as soon as we bust through this door. One by the western staircase leading to the second floor. One by the gymnasium and the hockey field. And....one on this second floor, overlooking the mezzarina and the elevator to the conference hall. That conference hall is a definite point of interest."

"Why is that?"

"She might be holed up there. The Dolletians have said there's a large magicka field binding around it."

"Then that's where she is, if the Galbadians don't use magic."

"Right."

"What's this Cerberus creature?"

"It's exactly like in the myths. A large three-headed dog that does nothing except pounce and bite you. Nasty piece of shit. The Galbadians kept it in pens down below the Garden for use in the gladitorial fights up in Ithius. Except, they realized it was a GF so it couldn't lose. The Galbadians have been able to make money off it, as it pretty much decimates anything it comes in contact with."

Squall looked at him. "So, it's unbeatable."

"Of course, it's a GF."

"But, if we use GFs against it, or it recognizes that we hold some, what then?"

Irvine scratched his chin. "I dunno, I've never been in a situation like that."

"Well, no sense in worrying about a stupid little dog right?" Zell asked in his dumb boyishness.

A growl and small nip on his leg came from Angelo, and he immediately apologized.

"Well, then, fuck it we'll deal with that when it comes up," Squall snorted. "How best can we get to this conference room while avoiding the bulk of the trouble?"

Irvine pointed at the door then back to the map. "Go through that door and head east. The north and western sections are where the most security is at. That's where Martine was located, and he didn't care for his pupils to address him that much. Head east up the stairs to the second floor and to the mezzarina. There should be one checkpoint up there, and then we'll have to deal with several locked doors."

"Hm, I might be able to help with that," Rinoa said suddenly.

"What's that?" Squall asked.

"Remember the Timber mission? I have an extensive knowledge of Galbadian codecs. The blugus never seem to learn, and I am pretty confident that the SeeDs use the same systems as the soldiers do."

"You're probably right, Rin," Irvine said. "What do you think?" he asked Squall.

He didn't answer at first. The thought of using her in the frontline part suddenly stopped his breath short a minute. What is this? Have I become a totally different person now? He realized he was being silent, so he quickly muttered, "Yeah, that's good. We'll just keep watch."

Irvine looked ready to say something, so Squall quickly countered, "Alright, after that then what?"

"The third floor stairway should appear leading us up to a vast atrium where only the priviledged get to enter. Cerberus should be up there....as well as..Seifer and Edea."

Squall nodded and said nothing for a little while.

"This is it, guys," Quistis said. Everybody nodded to her. "This is the moment where we confront our past and conquer it. And... hopefully.. there will be a light at the end of the tunnel."

"There's always a light at the end of the tunnel," Squall corrected her. "Always. I cannot fully explain what it would look like, but I know without a doubt that there is always another end in sight."

Everybody looked at him in a spectral wonderment. Not everyday you heard this guy spout that off.

The boldness in his response died swiftly, and he laughed nervously and looked down at the floor. "Heh, I'm not quite good at explaining myself sometimes. We've come this far anyway, there's probably no use in me saying anything about it."

"Wrong," Rinoa said. "We're still listening. We want you to tell us how you feel."

"Damn right, Squall!" Zell shouted. "Come on, where's that badass self you always display in battle, huh?"

Quistis folded her arms lightly across her chest and smiled, and he could tell the other two were doing the same thing without looking at them.

Squall mulled it over one more time. "Alright. We've come this far, we know the past. She knows the past, she made the decision to fight the succubus power that dwelled within her, and it consumed her being. Thus, we have no choice but to help her fight it back and possibly out of her completely-- if that's even possible. I can't fight her as Matron, because I will personally lose." He saw everyone nod in affirmative. "We fight her as Edea, and we stand a slim chance of winning. I don't like slim chances, but this one's all that I'd ever take. So...let's go in there and not only make history for the day... but possibly save someone who we all can call a sister we never had."

"Well put," Irvine said, cocking his pistols, assault rifles, and Bismarck firmly taut. "Let's show some thunder, Mr. Commander."

"Booyaka!" Selphie shouted, brandishing her Crescent Wish.

Zell was silent, but he was caught in a variety of enthusiastic motions and he was fistbumping himself all over the place.

Quistis was as silent and cool as she always was, and her Slaying Tail was out and ready to snake around anything that dared to move towards her.

Rinoa readied more darts into her bowgun, but she kept a beaming eye on him all the time. Squall returned the gaze more than once, unsheathed his Twin Lance, and turned back to his waiting fighters.

Duke Haydyn and Xu came to his position, eager to hear the news.

"We make way, Mr. Haydyn. Give me the First and Second Infantry. Xu give me some of your hard magicka users. About a hundred. That should be good enough. Have the infantry units scale into that massive hull there and regroup at the eastern staircase. The magic users come with us six. You two commanders keep charge out here and make sure no Galbadian leaves this peninsula."

"Affirmative, sir," the two of them sounded in unison, saluting him crisply. He returned it and watched as his four hundred strong army split into their respective places. On his signal, the two infantry units marched into the open hull with their sabres ready. He turned to his five loyal companions, and the dog as well, and nodded. They returned it, and he raised his hand to beckon the magic users, and the whole Balamb and Dolletian force outside the dilapidated Gardens shook the area with a raucous chorus.

History would be made that day.

---

Squall Leonhart thrust open the door with a powerful kick of his boot.

The hallway was eerily quiet and torn to pieces. The ceiling shaft lights had been downed and now littered the floor with shiny sharp chunks. Walls had been gutted, and slabs of gray wall piled atop entrances to classrooms and carved open the first gun checkpoint. The assembly was indeed down for the count; it needed engineers to fix it back up. Several female and junior classmen were crushed underneath the slabs, and trails of blood dribbled in a zig zag fashion over much of the floor. All of the manmade lighting was dismantled, and only the dim gray cloudy light from the sky filtered into large gaps of the ceiling. Rain had drenched part of the floor, and the place smelled pretty horrible.

Squall stood in the forefront of the opening, his gunblade held menacingly at the ready. His sihoullete shone against the pearly glow of the outside abyss, his five friends huddled behind him with their weapons at the ready, and Angelo panting slightly between Squall's legs with a determined anger covering his furry face. The Commander scanned the narrow walkway carefully. If there really was a sizeable portion of combat SeeDs left, they could be hiding anywhere now in this bombed-out ghetto of a Garden-- much like that indefatiguable paratrooper who had surprised him earlier. He signalled to his crew to be on alert, and he plunged into the enemy's camp.

The air was thick with blood, rainwater, and fear. They wanted to move cautiously, but the ambience was horrible and their feet made echos across the floor. Squall held his gunblade like an assault rifle, the deadly chamber cocked at the ready for the nearest bogey that showed his face. Irvine came swiftly to his right side and Zell to his left. The brawler's fists were glowing with fire, and the cowboy's pistols were out in both hands. The girls were trailing softly behind them, and rank-and-file magicka SeeDs equipped with staves brimming in fire, lightning, and ice strode up behind them. One of the classrooms was sealed off, and the smell of death lingered heavily inside. A hole in the wall to the right of the blocked door revealed that much. The plan was to head east, so they chose to avoid the gun point north of them. However, Squall paused and stood still for a moment.

Better to use all available resources. He motioned for twenty magic SeeDs to head north, and he watched them disappear from sight. He circled back around and took the eastern route. Balamb Garden's hull had invariably caused a great deal of damage on the eastern side, and it looked like a misplaced bomb from a Galbadian mecha blew a massive damage in the commons area located along the eastern side. More dead bodies littered the place, and the stench was almost unbearable.

The stairs were in sight at the very end of the hall, and they heard voices. Squall motioned ten more magic SeeDs to guard the hallway, and he led the way to the stairs. Footsteps sounded on the steps of the descending ladder, and Irvine cocked his pistols twice to stop the movement. "Whoever's up there, show yourselves!" Squall demanded. "There are too many of us, and not enough of you!"

"Squall?" a familiar deep voice emitted above them. "Hey, it's Squall, ya know?"

Squall cocked an eyebrow at his crew, who mimiced his movement.

"AFFIRMATIVE," came the expected response.

Squall took his chances, kept the Twin Lance out, and moved up the stairs, Irvine and Zell hot on his heels. Raijin immediately threw his hands up and feigned surprise. "Whoa, there, Squall, ya know. We're not here to cause problems."

"Too late for that, Raijin."

"I know, I know." His voice was pleading, and his eyes told Squall that he was very disturbed about something. After a full minute, the Commander relaxed his stance and the others did, too. He stole a glance at Fujin and was shocked to find the usually rigid gray-haired warrior shellshocked.

"FATIGUED," she said wearily.

"Me too, ya know. Allow me to say that you guys are, like, real badasses."

"No shit," Zell said, crossing his arms, "thank you Captain Obvious."

Selphie and Rinoa giggled, and Irvine had to smile at that, too. Sometimes, the brawler's impeccable hyperness had a humourous streak to it.

"Uh...well, maybe. Listen, things are, like, really fucked up, ya know?"

"Like how, Raijin," Squall asked.

"Seifer's gone, like, really psycho, ya know. He's like killed off six of his top generals, ya know. The guy's been chain-smoking and beer-swillin for almost five hours straight now."

"So he's inebriated?"

"Nah, not in the slightest. There's some kind of weird pulsing energy surrounding him." His voice was stammering a bit, much to Squall's confusion.

"Well, yeah, the Sorceress is in the conference room."

"Yeah, man, but he's pulsing."

"He is?"

"Yeah, ya know. Something's inside him, kind of. He's not the same Seifer we used ta know."

Squall looked at the others. That seemed to be the obvious, and they were just now realizing it? His friends gave him the same look of confusion.

"REQUEST."

"Yeah. We're leaving him up to you. We want you to get the real Seifer back, ya know."

It was a true request, and both of their eyes showed it. Squall wasn't sure what to make of it, so he blindly nodded in approval.

"Thanks, Squall, ya know you're not that bad of a dude."

Squall levelled his eyes to Raijin's. "You're... not that bad yourself."

"Heh, keep in mind that once you get him back we're still gonna knock ya some for the wounds you all inflicted on us back at Balamb."

"Oh, of course. Of course. I'm already geared for it."

"WONDERFUL," Fujin said snarkily.

"Well, then, ya know. Watch your back, ya hear? This second floor is crawling with little monsters."

"Are there any SeeDs?"

"The bulk of them departed back for Galbadia, though I'm not sure if any are still left."

"How did they escape?"

"By boat through this vessel's basement. They hit the spring canal in that forest and escaped back to Sutterman's Island north of here. They're probably on the mainland now as we speak.":

Squall sighed angrily and nodded his head. "Alright, you two, get the fuck out of here and take this."

"What is it?"

Squall handed him a coin. "This is to say to Duke Haydyn that I permitted you to leave as a "friendly" enemy. That way, you won't suffer the humiliation of the surrendered Galbadian SeeDs out there."

"Ah, much obliged, ya know." He gave it to Fujin for safekeeping, for she knew that he would lose it. They turned to leave, but he stopped and said, "Be careful, Squall. It would suck to lose you at this time."

"Much appreciated, Raijin."

The group watched them go, and both Irvine and Zell looked ready to refute Squall's decision. It was all it physically took to keep Zell restrained from beating the burly quarterstaff-wielder up. Quistis even looked a little puzzled. "Squall, they're part of Edea's force. You sure it's a good idea to let them go?"

Hardly the responses he wanted to hear. He turned to them sharply. "Look around you. Probably 20,000 people died today. A lot of people are weary and tired and sore. Should we add two more people who have been part of our squad for a long time to the list of deceased or unfortunate? I'm ready to call it a day myself, but there's still important work to do."

Quistis nodded. "You're right. You're right."

Squall motioned for thirty more to secure the staircase area of the second floor, and the Commander headed for the mezzarina. A sturdy checkpoint door guarded the entrance to the vernacular walkway, but the guns were jammed and inoperable. Rinoa looked at the control panel and frowned. "Needs a master key before I can do anything to it."

"Hm," Irvine said scanning each of the five rooms located in this hallway. Not much damage was seen in this walkway except for some ruptured floorboards and one downed shaft light. "Maybe it's in one of these rooms."

Squall motioned for the rest of the magic SeeDs to wait in the hallway, and he kicked one of the doors open. Twin Lance out at the ready, he barged in and found nothing but overturned chairs and desks. A map of potential targets of Balamb shipping points was torn in half. He checked the desks and filing cabinets, and Zell checked another room for the same. The girls checked a third room, and Irvine provided lookout with the magic SeeDs. The three checked rooms turned up nothing, and Squall jammed a fourth door open. More damage revealed itself as a bomb must have blown open the back wall. Tons of ceiling boards were plunged down, and it was quite dark inside.

Rinoa and Selphie followed him in. Whimpers pricked their attention, and the sharp snap and the deathly cock of the Twin Lance aimed at a pile of rubble with two small feet sticking out the opposite end. Trails of blood leaked out underneath. Squall slowly walked around the wreckage and found a gravely wounded girl clutching onto a small envelope. She was dying slowly and painfully, and the wound was deep; there was nothing anyone could do. It seemed the mere sight of Squall, Rinoa, and Selphie was enough to finish her off. She breathed "Open" once and expired, her eyes rolling back in her head.

Squall felt a lump enter his throat, and he pried the envelope out of her cold hands. Ripping it open, the key fell into his palm, and Rinoa muttered, "That's it."

Squall took another look at the dead girl and tossed Rinoa the key.

A loud smack of feet hitting the floor sounded outside followed by shrieks from some of the magic SeeD. "Squall!!" Irvine shouted. Zell followed suit. The Commander stormed into the hallway and stopped cold in his tracks. A hideous creature with four spindly arms topped in greenish-blue blades stood defiantly in the center of the walkway atop three dead magic SeeDs. It had crashed from the third floor atrium, and its hideous maw was wrathfully gnashing at air and its yellowed teeth looked hungry for flesh. The four bladed arms spun wildly in the air and caught a shocked SeeD in the throat, flailing him to the floor like a fish out of water.

Irvine unleashed his pistols, but the bullets only dripped out of the flesh spilling scant amounts of blood. The creature, known to many Centrans as the infamous tarantula-like Death Dealer, slammed two bladed arms into the floor with the whiplash rocketing Irvine into the air and into one of the rooms. The other two arms immediately whirled around slashing stomachs and heads off the dumbfounded SeeDs.

"Fight, goddammit! Fight this bitch!!" Squall shouted, firing a bullet off his gunblade. The massive force of the Twin Lance bullet sank into the creature's chest. It too fell out, but a larger gush of blood followed. The SeeDs jolted and spilt fire and lightning magic into the creature's hide, drilling the creature to the ground and snaring off one of its limbs. Angelo barked and dodged thrusts of the creature's limbs to aid some of the fallen SeeDs, while Rinoa fired sharp darts into the creature's belly and head. It stuck in the Dealer like porcupine pins and caused the creature to hurl. Zell was not overzealous to charge, on account of the swinging arms, but he churned up an incinerating fireball from Ifrit and plowed the magic into the creature's face, burning half of it away. The Death Dealer screamed loudly and fell on its back, another of its legs burning away by another magic spell from Zell. Quistis whipped her bladed Slaying Tail around and slit the throat of the Death Dealer, killing it instantly.

More screams occurred below them on the first floor, as well as more growls. The staircases heaved from a massive blow that must have been the Death Dealers smacking SeeDs straight into the steps. At the crossroads of walkways on the second floor, more Dealers plowed through walls. There were three on the second floor, and from the sounds of it at least five on the first. Zell, against his best wishes, charged unleashing wave after wave of fire magic. The first Death Dealer perished instantly under the heat of a combined force of Zell and four other SeeD's fiery spells before the second Death Dealer impaled three of the SeeDs. Irvine brushed his spill off and charged with Quistis and Selphie firing the assault rifle this time and gaining some traction on that.

Squall grabbed Rinoa's shoulder and hurried her to the door. She stuck the master key in, and an affirmative sound replied. He turned back as she dabbled with the codes and fired lightning magic into the Death Dealer who barrelled past his friends straight for them. The lightning spell merely rebounded off the creature and zapped into a wall. The four arms were waving madly, and Squall cursed and charged at it. He ducked under one swing and slashed at another arm. He hurled over another thrust and narrowly missed a lunging bite of the Dealer's ugly maw. He switched to fire magic and blazed a bold thrust into its stomach, stumbling it into the wall. Swiftly he chopped off two limbs before being forced into the opposite wall. The Dealer lunged forward with another bite, but Squall duck and stabbed into its gut. The Death Dealer made a sound and used its stumpy arm to give a blow to Squall's back. Squall rolled on the ground and blazed another fireball into the open wound in the gut, stumbling the Death Dealer further to the ground. Finally, he stood up and decapitated the creature with a heaving swing. Rinoa got the door open, and Zell and Irvine combined to finish off the last Death Dealer on the second floor.

The Death Dealers had slaughtered all of the SeeDs on the first floor, although they had lost two in the process. They couldn't find ways to ascend the stairs so they hurried drunkenly to gain ground on Haydyn's men who could be heard firing somewhere in the distance at something.

"Goddamn that Seifer," Squall shouted, "why is he sending forest creatures out to get us?!?"

The door slid open revealing the large second floor atrium and mezzarina, and more combat reached them. A Death Dealer and a Blitz leaped up onto the second floor, and the Blitz hurled its electrified sabre into the throat of the last standing magic SeeD in Squall's company. Squall cursed and wondered why his SeeDs could so easily be defeated--- then he remembered they were one class above the juniors, and he cursed at his poor planning.

The Death Dealer barrelled in front of the Blitz and smashed through the checkpoint doors disabling the equipment and sending both Rinoa and Squall flying through the air and smashing into the walls. Another powerful thrusting swing slammed into the left wall, with the whiplash falling Zell and rocketing Quistis in a twisted angle to the side. Irvine spat at the creature and produced his Bismarck. He was running low on Blitz shells, and he was greedily eyeing the Blitz's hide behind the Dealer. The tarantula creature stormed towards him, and he unleashed all four of his shells straight into the face of the creature. A bit of an overkill, the head had exploded on the first impact. The creature was so cut up that the last shell sailed straight through a coat of blood and smacked into the shoulder of the Blitz falling it into the rail. Selphie strode past him with blazing fury and swirled around in circles the Crescent Wish smacking the Blitz four times in the head, chest, legs, and the open wound on its shoulder. The creature was badly injured and in a precarious position-- primed just for Irvine's taking. A bark alerted him, though, and Angelo raced past him and pounced the creature knocking the Blitz straight down to the first floor and a nasty death on a protruding pike.

Irvine gasped. "Dammit, Angelo. I needed that guy's shells."

The dog indicated the creature's sword lodged in the poor SeeD's throat, and Irvine apologized to him and the dead SeeD as he pulled the weapon out and filtered out all the Blitz shells lining the shaft of the sword. A full stock of twenty shells, and he was happy.

Squall was not the only one sighing angrily, and Irvine was about to say something but more sounds of those nasty creatures sounded off. However, machine gun fire and the sounds of swords smacking against flesh was heard almost simultaneously. The Commander charged toward the mezzarina followed by the five of them, and they all saw Haydyn's crew get cut up by a combined force of at least forty Death Dealers and Blitzes. The Dolletians were clearly losing, and only five of the creatures were dead compared to almost a hundred of them.

"Ifrit, unleash Ifrit," Squall shouted.

"And our memories?!?" Zell asked.

"We'll maintain some shred of memory! Unleash him now!!"

The brawler did, and the creatures stopped for a second. The fire GF barrelled down and incinerated ten of them with the first blow. The Death Dealers attempted to claw him to death, and the Blitzes tried to electrify him but they were too weak. At least three-quarters perished, before the Dolletians were able to riddle the rest with bullets and sword slashes. Ifrit sighed at the end and disappeared, happy to be used once more.

The noise, though, had caused a new and more terrible roar to emanate within the devastated Garden. Devastated was probably too weak a word, so find one that you like best to describe it. The roar was ear-piercing and foul. All of them steered their gaze above to the third floor's atrium. The mezzarina Squall's company was on had a locked door that led to the third floor and the target conference room. Rinoa still had her key and with a nod from Squall she ran towards it, Angelo on her heels.

The source of the roar revealed itself, and the Guardian Force Cerberus plummeted down to the first floor. The Dolletians scrambled as fast as they could, but over half of the survivors perished in the landing. The three-headed dog was purplish-red in color with three massive heads and tails. A jagged energy-infused scar trailed on its back, and it had a voracious temper. The Dolletians routed as fast as they could, but several were chewed up in tiny bits and spat out in mangled pieces. It appeared that the god did not enjoy the taste of human flesh but enjoyed merely the sick pleasure of "playing" with its food.

The Commander was frozen for a second, but so was his small crew. Now, it was just only the six of them, and he had no means to call in for support. He then blinked and smacked himself in the face. He turned to Rinoa and saw that she had the door open. Turning to stunned faces on Quistis, Selphie, Irvine and Zell he said, "It's now or never, people! What do you think?"

"Now!" Zell shouted.

"Now!" Irvine agreed.

"Now!!" Quistis and Selphie shouted loudly in unison.

"OH-MY!!" came a deep and disturbing voice. Squall turned around and saw that the dog was speaking to them. "BALAMB SEEDS. MY MISTRESS WAS CORRECT!!"

Mistress? "Sorceress Edea?" Squall askd Cerberus.

"THAT IS CORRECT LITTLE ONE. SHE HAS SAID THAT YOU ALL ARE QUITE STRONG. I FOR ONE HAPPEN TO AGREE TO THAT."

"Ew, Squall," Irvine said in his ear, "this is not a good thing."

"SILENCE, FORMER GALBADIAN SEED. LET ME SEE IF YOU CAN PASS MY TEST TO SEE HER, HEH, HEH."

The three-headed dog made a cackling bark that shook the very foundations of the walls around them, and crouched low seeming to conjure up a spell on the top of its heads. Indeed, for a purplish-green crystal formed and a sound of glass breaking splattered on the top of its center skull, followed by its right then its left. It was casting Triple magic on itself. Rinoa joined the others, and all six checked the status on their weapons and magic. It was just the six of them now, and they were getting tired.

Cerberus sighed and spewed nasty firaga magic three times out of each of its heads. The nine molten balls struck the mezzarina and destroyed it sending it down to the first floor. Selphie and Rinoa managed to flee the damage and rolled across to the second floor wall. Quistis was burned on her back, but she managed to survive and hang onto the tattered remnants of the second floor walkway. All three guys fell with the burnt chunks of the mezzarina and landed hard on the first floor. Angelo stayed out of sight, but his Pet Pals teachings enabled him to find the right cures on his collar and he judged his own time to find cures for each of his six masters.

Cerberus chuckled and prowled menacingly and greedily in his bloody and destroyed demain. Eyeing the three unconscious men and the dangling woman on the second floor, the dog mulled over who would be the best target to kill first. Selphie was unconscious against the wall, and Rinoa was dazed a bit and was unsure of what was entering her arm when she finally spotted Angelo pressing a vial into her skin. She accepted the liquid and readied a dart at the same time, coating it with a special searing fire liquid from Angelo's collar.

"PITIFUL," Cerberus snorted, depressed. "SO CONFIDENT AND YET SO WEAK."

He decided to kill the three men first, but Rinoa stood up and fired the dart straight into the skull of the right head. Cerberus stopped in his charge, and his right head oozed black blood over the floor. The big dog bowed down and growled viciously. The right head was down for the count, for the dart had pierced straight through the brain and gouged the left eyeball. Cerberus rallied again after another spot-on hit from Rinoa's bowgun into the side of the damaged head's neck and fired off six more molten fireballs. Three of them were bad aim but singed the top part of the second floor wall sending fiery chunks splintering on top of her. The other three smacked against the broken railing of the mezzarina. Two of them singed close to her, and at least one of the balls curled up flames on her legs. Angelo was immediately on it. The blast against the mezzarina toppled Quistis down to the boys, and she landed on Zell waking the brawler up.

Cerberus growled at the new addition and charged. The brawler got to his senses quicker than he thought, and he somersaulted past the gnashing teeth and onto the creature's neck. The impact of the foot stomps woke up both Irvine and Squall, but they were still a bit dazed. The brawler immediately began to beat at the GF's neck, savagely ripping apart a deep wound. Cerberus howled in rage and tried vainly to pry the human off its body. Quistis hauled the two dazed boys up, saw she was getting nowhere, dropped them, and then plunged her bladed whip into the face of the left head. The GF howled some more, and his lunging reaction shook Zell off and into the path of the dog's lumbering feet. The brawler did circus moves to escape being crushed to death, until the tail picked him up and flung him into a wall where he became unconscious again.

Selphie murmured a bit, and Angelo and Rinoa forced her to wake up. She did and gave the raven-haired girl the Shiva gem. About to use a GF for the first time, Rinoa closed her eyes and felt that sensational force spread through her body. Cerberus recognized it, too, snarled, and wrenched his head free from Quistis's whip. The former instructor was sent flying along with a prized eyeball from the bloody socket of Cerberus's skull. The dog was livid now, but the Ice Princess was in front of him. The two GFs stared at each other before attacking fiercely. Shiva cut his body deep with three ice blades, and his center head bit hard on her abdomen. His black blood cauterized within the rooms, and great poisonous infections penetrated his bloodstream. His ferocious bite cleaved her constitution, and she stumbled drunkenly to one knee and felt her life force draining. Neither one of them could die, and they knew it but they were just like humans-- always wanting to be the more dominant than the other. Squall awoke fully, saw the spectacle of Cerberus winning hands down and brought out Quetzacotyl. If this dog could survive two GFs, he would eat his jacket.

The three-headed monster was even more perturbed when the thunder bird showed up, creating a massive charred hole in the atrium. From its beak, the bird shot a thunderbolt that fried Cerberus's central head blinding both eyes and knocking out the front row of teeth. Cerberus released his grip, and a choking and bloody Shiva disappeared in a cloud of ice dust. Quetzacotyl flapped its powerful wings and barrelled into the wounded beast; the smacking sound of their bodies whiplashed throughout the atrium and temporarily deafened them. The dog's teeth were still gnashing, and it bit once in the neck and brought down the bird with his clawed arm and increased the bite. Squall stood along with Irvine and each loaded their chambers. Raising simultaneously, a Twin Lance bullet and a Blitz shell smacked into the neck of the three-headed GF, leaving it hanging by a hair's breadth. Quistis whirled her bladed whip around and severed the last connected piece of flesh and watched the head disengage from Quetzacotyl and flop uselessly to the ground. The thunder bird limped steadily away and disappeared in a cloud of feathers.

The headless body pulsed a few minutes, releasing sporadic jolts of blood from the open smelly wound before finally stilling itself. The head, though, was still very much alive, however, the GF seemed to be rather taken aback. Zell was awake again, but delerious, and Selphie and Rinoa were looking over the edge with Angelo tending to their wounds.

"DAMN YOU, FOUL HUMANS! FIGHTING GFS WITH GFS! HOW COULD YOU?"

"Enough is enough, Cerberus," Squall said a little unsteadily. He supported his tilting frame with the gunblade and tried to remain calm. "We've stalled long enough."

"OH YES, YOU HAVE!" The decapitated beast slowly reformed back into its original disgusting scope, and the transformation was a sickening sight to watch. Tentacles within the bloody, porous hole slithered out and wrapped around and into the bloody, porous hole of his skulls. They slowly pulled it back to the wretched body, and suction sounds curled and conjoined together. The legs lifted the body up, and he spilled out more black blood and sighed a hearty barking sigh before defiantly looking at them all again.

"Give us a break, already!" Zell shrieked.

"Yes," Squall said, not bothering to refute him, "please do."

"PSH. SIMPLE-MINDED HUMANS. OF COURSE I AM. ALTHOUGH, IF YOU PERMIT ME TO JOIN YOU, I WOULD BE MOST SATISFIED."

Squall looked around and found no dissenters. "Of course."

"GOOD. NOW, TAKE THIS ELEVATOR IN THE BACK HERE. A MUCH QUICKER WAY TO MEET HER HIGHNESS."

The GF sighed inwardly and dissolved in a thick mesh of black blood that slithered out into an open drain in the bottom of the floor that his big body had produced from all the stomping around. A large opal gem sat in the middle of the floor, glistening admist the copious blood, and Squall plugged his nose to reach it and secure it in his pocket. The dog's essence immediately sucked at his heart, and he wondered then why they used these GF gems when the consequences to their mental and physical health would be so compromised.

Selphie and Rinoa followed Angelo down the length of the mezzarina to a dilapidated structure that was able to lead them down to ground level. Everybody was sighing and nauseated, and there was still the Sorceress to fight. And that bastard Seifer.

They could see the elevator now, unblocked and open for delivery. The Garden was now more deathly quiet than it was an hour ago. More people were dead, and more grief was sticking them. Squall pushed it aside as best he could and turned to them all. "We've gone this far....now...no time to give up... now."

"Damn right, Squall," Zell said patting him on the back. "I'm with you all the way."

"What do you think Raijin meant with Seifer?" Selphie asked.

Squall looked at her but couldn't find a ready response. He merely just shook his head. "Whatever it is, we'll take care of it. Seifer's a pushover."

Everybody murmured in the affirmative, but he caught a somewhat icy stare from Rinoa.

"Anybody have any last wishes before we go?" Squall asked.

"Nothing except," Irvine said, "to always remember where we came from. Always remember where we came from."

"Amen to that, cowboy," Quistis said.

"Damn," he joked, "where you gettin all saucy, Quistis?"

"Any humor is good at this point," she laughed.

They all laughed a bit, and then took a strong collective sigh.

"Let's do this," Zell said putting his hand out. Each of them put their hands out over each other in a tight circle.

"Let's do this," Squall confirmed, and they immediately headed for the elevator with Angelo in tow.

---

At the elevator's gate, the presence of the succubus energy smacked them hard. Steeling themselves, they hopped on and worked the machine to life. As the first floor became the second, the presence got stronger. When the doors opened on the third, they were quaking. The energy was intense beyond measure, and it took all their strength to enter the small hallway. There was no light save for one small candle burning profusely but with no wax. A strange sight. They prodded their way down, and their ears picked up on chanting. That old familiar sorceress chant that plagued the country of Esthar when Adel roamed the earth.

Fithos....Lusec....Wecos....Vinosec

The faint feminine chorus of longago yesteryear when men were hunted like wild animals by the bestial spawn of the succubi overlords. With each step closer to the doorway at the end of the hall, the sounds of the chants continued in their haunting pitch unabated and unperturbed. The energy was so strong that their legs felt like iron pipes. With each step, the door seemed to get farther and farther away. They wimpered and groaned to assail it, and they almost gave up before they realized they had arrived.

The song ended, the energy ceased, and Squall's hand was on the knob. He inhaled sharply and exhaled slowly and painfully. His heart was in his throat and each turn of the knob accelerated the beating inside his neck. He thrust the door open.

---

The conference hall was enormous and overarching, quite easily the largest room in the Garden. Shaped like a bowl, hundreds of seats and tables fanned against the walls on both the left and the right side. The room was almost a two-story frame for a giant narrow strip of walkway connected their platform to a ring around the hall that made access to the fanning seats as well as connect them to the center platform. Below all this was the lower floor where the lesser dignitaries sat. This floor descended sharply by roughly nine meters, and one did not want to fall off the walkway unless he or she wanted a nasty spill. A strange design, but the Galbadians were never quite hospitable to foreign dignitaries. The room was quite different anyway with numerous succubus decorations and sweet scents dotting every nook and cranny. The seats were still there but draped in green, yellow, and purple colors to designate the main succulent colors of the Sorceress. Atop the central platform was the Sorceress herself, calmly filing her nails, her face hidden behind a grotesque red mask that beheld a pained expression nauseous and disturbing. She was either aware or ignorant of their presence.

The mood beguiled all six of them and for a while they could not do anything. Squall, for one, recognized Edea once again like he had done at Deling City. A stunned panic mixed with the feeling of want and desire overcame him then as it did now. Yet, now he knew the truth, and it was the only thing that now kept him sane. His eyes darted briefly to his gang, and he could tell they were thinking the same thing.

The conference hall, despite the presence of sorceress paraphenalia, garnered a blueish hue. It suddenly turned bright red, and all six of them freaked out.

"My, my, my."

Their faces darted around. The sound. The voice. Where was that bastard at?

Nothing came into view, until the sound of a doorway opened above them. They craned their necks but could not see anything. Footsteps sounded to their right, and they waited. Slowly the top of his blonde head came into view, followed by the face and the trenchcoat and Hyperion.

"My, my, my."

"Give it up, you fuck, it's over!!" Zell cursed ahead of schedule.

"Mmmm...." Seifer mused. He kept on walking, obviously uninterested. He also seemed to be glowing, and that was the first thing that bothered them. "Oh, you guys are really naughty, you know that? Really, really naughty. Coming in here, barging I should say, and causing a big fucking stink."

Squall could see Zell growing more and more infuriated, and he was even surprised that Selphie and Quistis were growing that way, too. He knew how he felt, but something told him this time that a joint effort would be needed to dispose of Seifer Almasy. The blond gunblader was at the end of his walkway. He beheld his lovely Sorceress, who seemed to be not paying any attention to what was going on, and then hurled himself in a somersault to a perfect landing on the narrow walkway.

He twirled his gunblade and slowly walked toward the group of six. "You and I have sure made quite a mess of things around here, haven't we Squall?"

"Their deaths did not go to vain."

"Ah, maybe so, maybe so. You and I don't really know that, though. It could be that all of those people died for absolutely nothing at all. Absolutely nothing at all."

"I don't believe that."

"That's evident. Too much so-called honor in you. Too much self-esteem and all that bullshit." He chuckled a bit. "Did you really come here to fight Matron? After all she has done for each of us? Sharing in all our memories, teaching all of our tricks, saving us from the onslaught of both the Estharians and the Galbadians."

"Seifer," Irvine said, pointing a finger at him, "she's using you!"

"Not exactly, cowboy, and by the way I got an incredible beef with you. Sticking your fucking nose in businesses where it does not belong."

"Cannot afford to have childhood friends suffer and die like that."

"How fucking noble.... and sickening at the same time!" He was halfway to them at the moment.

Irvine snarled, and Zell and Selphie joined him. Quistis folded her arms. "Seifer, you are in very grave danger of befalling yourself to total hopelessness."

"What do you mean, my beautiful instructor?" he answered with a snicker.

"If you only repent right here, we won't give you to the state to be hanged for your crimes against humanity!!" She let it out with a curl in her throat.

Seifer stopped within a quarter of the distance between them. "Only repent, eh?" He let out a blood-curdling laugh. "Only....repent." He snickered again and shook his head. "Heh, heh, you never fail to impress me instructor with your insane psycho-babble. Your delerious pile-of-shit accusations!"

The rage inside her boiled up, and it was all she could do to quell herself.

Seifer gazed at all of them individually and delighted himself in conjuring up special ways to slice their bodies to ribbons. His eyes, though, caught the sight of that familiar wretched dog and his master. He widened his eyes. "Rinoa, Rinoa what the fuck are you doing here?"

She pursed her lips.

"Ah, now, don't be telling me you're about to throw your life away now. How inconsiderate of you! Remember all those fun times we had last year? Huh? Down on the beaches of Winhill, eh?"

"Stop it!!" she screamed uncontrollably.

"Oh, shit, struck a nerve, heh, heh."

Squall tilted his gunblade at a different angle. "Enough of the bullshit, Seifer, get out of the way."

"For what?"

"For the redemption of Edea!"

The Sorceress seemed to stir in her sanctuary, and Seifer seemed to glow brighter. "The redemption of Edea, eh?" he repeated in a dark and dreary tone. The six of them looked at their peer with fright, as he continued to glow ever brighter. For a minute, they noticed that he was changing. A lighter side of him shown through, the old content Seifer beamed through for a moment of seriousness. "Sure, you can Squall. I have faith in you, but now, though, now things are different between you and me." The old self diminished and what was left a white-skinned corpse-like version of death that none of them had ever seen before.

"SQUALL LEONHART!!!" Seifer screamed in almost agony. "I AM THE SORCERESS'S KNIGHT!!!" A blue halo formed around him and snapped his hand out. A shockwave force slammed into Squall's chest, caught the other five on their sides and ripped them into the air binding them in a strange gravity spell twisting their bodies in weird contorted ways. They heard his voice again from down below, yet it sounded as if he was talking right in their ears. "Now... bow down before your daddy..." They saw him leap, and his Hyperion blade slashed through their gravity ball and cut their bodies into scrapes and gashes and sending them hurling back to the platform. Angelo was swept up in the cacophany and plunged down to the lower floor, breaking a leg in the process. The six of them fell to the platform and lost their breath for a minute.

Seifer lunged then and grabbed Squall's coat. "Never mess with a demon, Squall!" Seifer cackled, headbutted the Commander into a wall and then slashed with his gunblade. The Hyperion now was decked out in a spectral succubus glaze. The sharpened blade was no longer prevalent, but an energy field was there. When the field swiped across Squall's chest, it did not kill him but drained an enormous amount of strength and spirit from him and sailed him into a seat on the far end of the hall. Squall lay crumpled against the chairs, and he coughed up green mucus from the energy field. His vision swayed in and out of clearness, and he wondered if he was dying.

Seifer stared crazy-eyed at the five remaining stupefyed Balambians. He eyed Zell first. "It's your turn, now, motherfucker!"

He cleaved down vertically, and Zell went to block the blade. The blade went straight through, and Zell felt the same thing Squall felt. He coughed up mucus onto Seifer's coat and vainly tried to kick Seifer's feet away. Seifer swung around and into Selphie and Quistis's head, getting the same results. The two girls blacked out for a minute, and Seifer came back around for another blow. Irvine brandished a variety of curses and unleashed a full clip from both of his pistols. The bullets penetrated Seifer's stomach and legs and flew him back against the walkway. Irvine got up to finish the job, but he was horrified to find the bullets slowly snaking out of his skin.

"So sad, cowboy. I can't be brought down that easily! I thought I was part of your orphanage gang, too!"

"You're a monster now," Irvine said weakly.

"A monster? Fuck! YOU ARE THE MONSTER!!" He angrily swung Hyperion around in a circle and a gigantic thunderbolt scorched out of his body and zapped Irvine straight in the chest, stopping his heart for a second and smacking down the narrow hallway and into the elevator.

"No! Stop, Seifer!!" Rinoa yelled, standing directly in front of him. Quistis, Selphie, and Zell slowly and groggily attempted to get up, but their nausea confounded them to stay put.

Seifer stared at his former girlfriend with disgust.

"Seifer, please," she pleaded, her hair falling into her eyes. "This isn't like you!! None of this shit you would ever do!! NONE of it!!"

"You're always so so sweet, little girl," he sneered at her. "So simple-minded and hearty to everyone you meet."

"You used to like it!" she snapped, her pleading turning to anger. "You used to always come to Timber when you weren't supposed to. You always used to--"

"Stop right there, princess!" he demanded coming forward and grabbing her dress. He lifted her off the ground, and his grip tightened and caused her great discomfort. A look of panic formed in her eyes, and she was powerless to even aim her Shooting Star into his stomach. "The key word in your whole conniption is used to."

"This isn't a conniption, Seifer," she said nervously. "This is your sanity."

"I am the most sane one here, Rinoa."

His grip tightened more, and she felt her breath disappearing. He was strangling her to death. Her eyes started to roll back in her sockets, and she felt that inebriation of death slowly consuming her soul. "It'll all be over soon, my lovely beautiful princess."

An intense heat sliced into his back, and he yelled and dropped the girl. The blade had penetrated deep, and a bit of blood splashed out onto the walkway. He turned slightly in time to see Squall's fist slam into his chin. He fell in a twirl into one of the dignitary seats. Squall, pissed now beyond belief, somersaulted off the walkway and both gunblades met each other. Within the seats, they traded blows and Squall penetrated harder and faster backing Seifer further and further down the walkway. It was a vast room, and the sounds of their swords echoed fiercely and exuberantly. Squall whirled around and kicked Seifer hard in the chin knocking out a tooth and a gush of blood. The sword followed and stabbed Seifer's body across the chest, slamming him into some chairs. A wild rage of passion surged through him and he stabbed repeatedly at the prostrate Seifer. The Knight deflected as many blows as he could while getting stabbed twice. Anger flowed through him, as well, as the succubus energy began to wane from his grasp. More and more blood was flowing from his body. In a fit of rage, he deflected sharply Squall's blow thrusting the Commander off-balance and then sent a shocking firebolt into Squall's chest. The SeeD fell backwards into the wall and blacked out for an instant.

Seifer slowly stood up and gave a pleading look to Edea to give him more succubus energy. He wasn't totally free of it, but it was significantly weakened. The Sorceress still was not paying too much attention. She indeed looked quite bored. Hurried footsteps caught his ears and he turned to see Rinoa jam out the hidden dagger from her bowgun and plunge it straight into his chest. He felt a large weight smack him hard on the impact, but he stood his ground. She had a wild look of fury in her eyes, like a lioness mad as hell over the danger of her cubs, and she slowly twisted the blade in him. He felt a sickening pain overcome him, but he managed to hold on. "What's wrong, Rinny, you love that little cocksucker so much?"

She stopped turning the blade and looked pained herself. "What if I do?"

"Then you're easy to off," he grinned wickedly, pushing her off of him and frying her body with a fire spell. She screamed out loud and fell over several chairs, her skin burning profusely from the spell. Seifer, through his energy, pulled the blade out and came face-to-face with her dog. Limping, Angelo guarded her stunned and whimpering form and growled as viciously as he could. Seifer twirled both his Hyperion and Rinoa's blade around, looking ready to slice and dice his former love into a nice, saucy stew when a barrage of bullets and magicka blew him backwards. Irvine and Selphie stumbled as fast as they could across the chair-strewn walkway firing as hard as they could. Seifer sailed Rinoa's blade into Irvine's shoulder, falling the cowboy, and swiped Hyperion through Selphie's body. She stumbled but maintained her composure. Another fire spell released itself from Seifer's palm and blew her into a table, spilling a gush of her blood. Quistis jumped over several tables and whipped her bladed weapon into his back and twarked him at a weird angle. Zell leaped past her and whaled on the Knight with brutal kicks and punches. Seifer spun around, flicked the blade out of his back, and slashed at the brawler falling him. Quistis rushed in to punch him in the face, but he ducked and kicked her in the stomach. Irvine pulled out the knife, produced his shotgun, and fired into Seifer's gut. The shotgun shell broke a sizeable chunk of his succubus shield off, and he fired a fiery spell in return singing Irvine's chest and dropping his gun. Squall recovered and jumped up to their level, slashing at Seifer's back one more time. The shield disrupted again, and Seifer kneeled hard and received a kick in the stomach from Squall. Zell and Selphie jumped up to aid Squall and it was three-on-one. Seifer became enraged and lunged out, connecting first with Selphie then with Zell but missing Squall. Squall ducked again, slashed the Knight's stomach, swung the Hyperion blade out of the way, and then fired a Twin Lance bullet straight into Seifer's stomach. The bullet penetrated through the shield entirely and hit gold in his bloodstream. Seifer Almasy vomited blood and slumped down to the ground, trickles of red streaming out of his nostrils, right ear, and left eye.

Squall kept the gunblade levelled at him, triggered again to ring out, and the other five looked at him in shock. Seifer was on the verge of death. For a long gruesome minute, nothing was said and the only sounds were each of their raspy breaths.

"Pah!" came a loud voice.

Edea.

Slowly, all of them looked towards her. She reclined in her chair as peacefully as if at a resort. The hideous red mask lit up and melted away, revealing the beautiful creamy face that they all knew so well. The green eyes, deliciously bright; the smooth lips, fullest to the full; the high cheekbones; filled with desire. Her petite and curvy body was welcome and voluptous. She was truly a deadly piece of work. "Worthless child."

Seifer hiccupped and splashed blood on his shirt. Squall brought down his weapon from the Knight's face and turned full attention to Edea. He walked onto the narrow walkway, the Twin Lance steady at his side. He was now a mess of a look with burnt skin and bloody limbs. Blood was even starting to float in his eyes. The others joined him, but Rinoa kept a steady position back behind them. She did not feel good at all; something was happening to her, a dizzy and lighthearted feeling was eclipsing inside her head. Seifer remained where he was, partly because Angelo was still growling at him but partly because he was close to death.

Fithos....Lusec....Wecos....Vinosec

The chants started again, as she slowly walked out of her confined quarters. Her grace was elegant as it always was, but a menacing stature accompanied her. It seemed as if the light dimmed as she drew near. She walked towards her five warriors whom she personally knew so well. The faint girl with the dog was also of interest to her, and she kept a close eye on her at all times.

She loosened the enormous headdress that beseiged her back and dropped it to the floor with a clang. Her long brown hair was pulled into a bun, but she slowly unfastened it and let it drape across her chest. She came within five feet of them and stopped. The chantings became deeper and deeper, and the red light encircling the conference hall became dimmer and bloodier almost as if it could choke them itself.

"So...." her lips parted to say. The voice of Matron was absent. A nasty guttural voice echoed from the lips and contorted her face in a disgusting visage of hellish proportions. "So... the time has come. You are the legendary SeeD destined to face me?"

What? He looked quickly at his friends to see if he had heard them right. They looked just as confused as him.

"I am impressed." She tilted her head to the side and studied Squall first and then the others. "Quite.... impressed."

Squall's muscles went taut.

"An impressive nuisance, though," she snorted with much disgust. "Your life ends here, SeeD."

That did it. Squall twirled his gunblade around in a circle, and his friends followed his lead. "No, Edea. Your life as a Sorceress shall end. We will bring you back!!"

Zell led the way with the others in garnering a second applause.

The Sorceress widened her eyes slowly and then formed a small grin.

A nasty laugh occurred to their right, and they all looked to see Seifer attempting to stand up. The six of them reeled in shock. Angelo even backed away. "There's....no...way...you can...beat...her...Squall....heh heh...no way."

Squall gritted his teeth at him and turned back to Edea. "You're not our Matron! But we will bring you back!!"

The Sorceress laughed wickedly. "All SeeDs will perish." Point in case, a dark blue shield arose around her followed by a swift movement of her hands. Squall blocked the power with the broad length of his dual-edged sword, but the others weren't as lucky. Squall himself reeled from the blast, but the others fell backwards. The Commander charged her and swiped at her shield. The blade attacks were useless, but they were enough to stumble her back a bit. He charged up a lightning bolt and incinerated it through the shield knocking her right arm. She cursed out in pain and fired a bolt back. Lightning was immune to him, so he continued to charge with harder thrusts-- the shield couldn't hold forever. Seifer spat up blood and yelled, catching Squall off-guard. The badly wounded Knight charged into Squall and knocked him over the walkway, and both sailed down to the lower floor. Squall landed into the seats, and Seifer landed on his stomach opening up more of his wounds.

Edea laughed and turned her attention to the recovering five. Angelo barked to get her attention and then charged, despite having a bad leg. Rinoa screamed out in horror, but the spunky dog lowered his head and rocketed like a cannon into her shield, penetrating it and breaking it apart. His muzzle even managed to nip her in the chest a bit. The Sorceress stumbled a bit, and Angelo reared back for another charge. Rinoa fired a dart in Edea's exposed frame, and Selphie swung her Crescent Wish around to the succubus's head. Edea reeled from both hits and pulled out Rinoa's dart with much disgust before smacking Selphie off her feet with a blizzaga spell.

Down below, Squall eyed Seifer warily as the Knight inserted some needle into his neck. "What is that?" he asked. Seifer made a pained expression as all the juice flowed through his bloodstream. "I have lost Edea's power now. You're bullet wound you gave me.... it's ...it's affecting my capability to stay alive." He dropped the needle. "I...must now... resort to the usual medicine to survive." He clumsily got up with a wild and highly dangerous look in his eye. The sounds of his friends fighting Edea echoed above them, and Squall grew intense. "Seifer, please come to your senses. You know as well as I do--" "--Oh, Squall! Go and fuck yourself!!" The Knight charged him, and they fought once more. He swept Hyperion down for a low slash, and Squall hopped over it and punched him in the face. Seifer whirled back into some more chairs and tables but held his ground. Squall swung the Twin Lance at Seifer's head, but he blocked it and parried a second thrust in the midsection. Seifer lunged the Commander off of him and attacked wildly, this time sending Squall back in retreat. The wall was coming up close, and Seifer was whirling and spinning with his blade and not allowing any range of free room. One opening came up, and Squall took advantage; he kicked Seifer in the stomach and then somersaulted off the wall to the upper floor. Seifer steeled himself and followed suit, landing haphazardly beside Squall. They continued the fight, just as Edea became more dangerous.

Zell had landed a punch that jarred her back into her quarters, followed swiftly by rapid fire magic from both Quistis and Selphie, along with some darts from Rinoa and a shotgun shell from Irvine. The succubus energy teaming through her was waning just like it did for Seifer, and the five friends could see they were gaining ground. Yet, Edea surprised them some more. Her hands stopped their attacks by singing each of their fingers making them drop their weapons. A maelstrom cloud of gravity and poison then formed over her head. The friends watched stupidly in awe, as the cloud grew larger and brighter. She swirled sweepingly with her arms and then hurled it at them, watching it consume into their bodies. The gravity force flung them to the ground, and the poison constricted their movements. They immediately retched again, but an iresome temper erupted in the guys. Irvine quickly grabbed his shotgun and fired at her. She sidestepped it and took to the air, hovering over her quarters and laughing at the top of her lungs. As good a sharpshooter as he was, he could not pin her down. He expelled all eight rounds without even hitting her cloth. She fired a thundaga spell at him and lifted him up off the ground in a flurry of sparks.

Rinoa was having problems. A strong surge of force was tightening her stomach, and she wanted to heave, but she couldn't do it. Her anger was increasing, as she could tell Edea was doing something to her. Her focus was shifted, though, to Squall and Seifer who were trading monstrous blows against each other on the outer leftmost wall. The two gunbladers fought hard and heavy. Squall spun out of the way of a thrust and slashed open further Seifer's back. The Knight stumbled to the ground, and Squall cleaved down low for a bitter strike. Seifer deflected the blow and knocked a chair into Squall's feet dumping the Commander to the floor. The Knight stood up very drunkenly and sprayed a firebolt into Squall's neck and chest. The smell of burnt flesh reached even Rinoa, and she cursed and stood up, firing a dart into Seifer's exposed back. The Knight cursed at her, dodged two more of her darts and fired a bolt straight to her right side. The impact kneeled her, and she felt an intense buzzing sound afflict her. Seifer cackled wildly and thrust his boot into Squall's burnt and bloody chest, sending him sickly careening across the floor.

Edea hovered viciously above the conference room, and nobody could reach her. Summoning telekinetic powers, she unhooked several tables mounted to the floors and sailed them straight at the SeeDs. One table mast bashed Zell in the face and broke his jaw and collarbone. Another table narrowly decapitated Selphie, had she not ducked in time. Quistis blew up a table missile with a bolt of fire, leapt off a railing and flung her Slaying Tail up to Edea's left foot. The bladed whip embedded into her ankle and stopped a flying chair inbound for Irvine's prostrate form. Quistis was forced to flick out her whip, having lost balance, but a great deal of Edea's blood poured out. The Sorceress stumbled in her flight, her powers waning fast. Light was beginning to show in patches on her skin.

Seifer slashed his sword at tables and chairs for the fun of it, slowly advancing toward Squall, both of their blood staining the floor. Squall could feel his own life leaving him from his loss of blood, but there was still work to do. He worked up some copper taint in his mouth and spat the shit into Seifer's face. He hauled himself up terrifically and parried the blades at his midsection. He lunged Seifer off him and slashed high then low. Hyperion dangled momentarily to the side, and Squall kicked out Seifer's leg from under him. The Knight spun around, and Squall sliced his blade across Seifer's chest. The blond gunblader guzzled up blood, and Squall pushed him away. The Knight stumbled and could barely make out a curse before falling hard on his stomach and seeming to expire.

Edea cursed loudly from her position up high, and everybody looked at Squall. The Commander cocked his gunblade and fired at the Sorceress. She ducked it narrowly, but the bullet blasted apart the ceiling beside her and toppled her closer to the floor. Zell and Selphie pummeled magic of all types into her, Irvine managed a lucky shot in her stomach with his shotgun, and Quistis curled the whip around her waist and plunged her down to her quarters, smashing part of it to pieces. Angered and severely weakened, she unleashed a torrent of energy from her body knocking both Selphie and Zell down to the lower floor and falling Quistis against the sharp end of the rail. Part of the former instructor's side lay bloodied on the end of the rail and she painfully oozed herself off it. Angelo braved the ire of Edea, as the Sorceress lunged out to attack Irvine and Squall, and immediately went for Quistis with as much aid as he could provide. The Commander and the cowboy were bashed by Edea's energy as she lunged at them. Irvine crumpled against a table, but Squall held on and sliced open her back. She blasted him with energy and a firaga spell. More burnt flesh consumed him, but he uppercutted her and revealed more of her light. For a minute, he wondered if he had seen the real Edea highlighted in a ghostly form admist the pall of the disgusting succubus inhabiting her body. Blood was coating his pupils, and he was becoming delirious. Yet, now he was embued with a special aura. An aura of his own making. His Renzokuken training was now firmly in his grasp. With all his might, he kicked Edea away from him to garner distance. Then his eyes closed, and he remembered. Swiftly, he spread his body into a T shape, and his gunblade glowed. A powerful force of energy erupted off him and blasted a hole in the top of the Garden reaching out into the highest sky. He raised the Twin Lance up to the heavens, and the blade became saturated in the glow. Possibly the great god Eden's glow imbued itself upon the blade and showered Squall Leonhart in all his glory. The most powerful attack he had at the moment: the Blasting Zone. The Sorceress looked at him warily, and only at the last moment did she attempt to escape, yet she was too late. Squall brought the heavy power down, and the blade's energy sliced her down the middle, sliced the horrid stench of her succubus visage straight down the middle. A cacophany of sound penetrated the barriers around them, and massive chunks of Galbadia Garden caved inward and outward. The attack was so devastating, his friends tried desperately to get out of the way, but all of them were hit by some sort of debris. Quistis and Angelo huddled painfully together under a table. Selphie and Zell stayed under the walkway and prayed it would hold. Irvine fell back to the entrance. Only Rinoa seemed able to withstand the impact. The Blasting Zone cut its way through, and everything drowned into a vacuum of whiteness.

---

He was on his back and in great pain. Sounds were morphed and vague. Colors blended together and stretched out in abstract visions. It looked like the conference room still, except there was a lot more damage. He shook his head twice to gain some ground around him. That helped a little, but not much.

He turned his head to the left and saw Seifer still lying face down.

Seifer... Squall asked himself. He couldn't see the others. There was a murky whiteness covering everything, like a fog. There was extensive damage everywhere. He had not perfected that Limit Break so well in his training.

Oh fuck....did I kill everyone?

He instantly panicked.

NO! No, I didn't. I didn't.

He tried to get up, but he was in great pain. Yet, he had to. He just had to. There was a flimsy railing in front of him, and he grabbed it, gritted his teeth and hauled himself up. He heard a bone crunch somewhere inside him, and he cursed hard and cried.

Oh my...fucking god.

Was he dead, too?

Nah...I don't think in death you feel pain.

He turned back to Seifer and was surprised to see Rinoa kneeling beside him. He stopped. She was looking all funny and strange. Her face was twisted in an unrecognizable form. Her eyes were glowing bright green.

Something was happening to Seifer. He was breathing weird and doing rapping motions with his knuckles. Rinoa grabbed him and flipped him onto his back and then bent down to speak in his ear.

What are you doing?

For a long time they lay like that, until Seifer got up. Yes... got up! She remained kneeling, extending her hand out as if she wanted to say something. She was almost pleading for something.

Seifer only stood. Not a sound was emanating around them. Everything was deathly still. Suddenly, Squall heard him sigh. His mouth appeared to say something. At least two words, but Squall couldn't tell what he said. The Knight slowly walked away, appearing as healthy as he looked before the fight began. His face was shrouded in grayness, and he did not even look at the devastation that had been created. He merely walked away and out of sight. Squall wanted to follow him, but his gaze remained on Rinoa. She remained kneeling and pleadingly extending her hand.

Go to her, damn you!! he yelled at himself. But he couldn't. He just couldn't.

Then, without warning, the whiteness lifted, and she fell hard on her face and did not move again.

The devastation came into view, and Squall saw Quistis and Irvine on the main floor. Selphie was pulling Zell up to meet them. Everybody looked like shit.

A soft feminine voice broke the nasty silence.

Within the damaged quarters rose the muffled and bloody heap of Edea Kramer. Matron. The greeness of her eyes were dim and dull. Her hair was a mess, and her creamy skin was flushed and burnt. Her voice was raspy, but still soft and very sad. She looked quite distraught, but her eyes met those of the five people she knew so well. She started to cry.

"Squall...." she said, looking straight at him and remembering the day she found him in the orphanage attack.

"Matron?" the Commander asked.

"Ma---tron..." Zell asked, queasily almost falling out of Selphie's embrace. The spunky SeeD looked in shock at her, too.

"Zell....Selphie..." Edea cried. She remembered the silly boy who always used to get fired up at the littlest things. She didn't remember the tattoo, but she figured it was a good addition to his personality. Oh, she remembered Selphie. The sweet little girl that could be quite exuberant sometimes.

Irvine started to get up, but his flesh wounds were too grim. "Matron," he said cooly.

"Irvine..." Edea smiled. The littlest cowboy. Ah, how she admired his generosity and compassion. She found Quistis next to a handsome dog. "Oh, Quisty, you're always pushing yourself too hard," she cried taking note of her extensive wound.

"Matron..." Quistis choked.

Edea slowly got up and ignored her wounds as best she could. "I.... still...have a little power left. Let me help you all..."

"A.... little bit of power?" Quistis asked.

Edea shushed her and knelt beside her. Her fingers touched her side, and Quistis felt a warm soothing force coarse through her body, and her wound swiftly closed up. "You might feel a little nauseous," Edea said gently.

"Ah! I feel loads better."

"I'm so proud of all of you," Edea smiled, her face teeming with tears, as she moved to Zell and Selphie. "I have waited for this day to come. I've... feared that this day would come, too." Zell's body splintered with the magic, and his wounds closed up as swiftly as Quistis's. "My dear Squall, you are much stronger than I ever imagined."

Squall could only breathe and not respond. He didn't think it was that powerful.

As she was healing Selphie, she suddenly stopped, "Where is Ellone?!? Have I protected Ellone!"

"Ello-- I don't understand," Squall asked. Edea looked to the others, but they also responded with confusion. She then looked a little depressed and then saw Rinoa lying face down on the floor. "Oh no," she said in a truly worried voice.

"What?" said all five at once.

Quistis moved over to her, and held Rinoa's body. "Great Eden! She's as cold as ice. There's a pulse, but it's so faint!!"

Squall, despite the extent of his massive injuries, groaned his way over to her. He opened more wounds than he cared to know, but he couldn't stand it. He reached Rinoa and felt her face and neck and arms. She was so cold, so lifeless.

No. No, no, no. He said it over and over, until it was practically the only word he knew.

Time froze....

And everything in it.

---

Headmaster Cid Kramer knew how much of a coward he had acted today. He knew how much he was going to be dissed and disrespected for not being there on the ship when all six thousand of his men and women lost their lives.

Yet, he knew from day one that this would happen. He had trained them to die.

He had also trained them to fight for the ones they had loved and for the ones that they would eventually love.

So, in that light, he knew he had done the right thing. He had stayed in the orphanage's garden the entire time, quietly sneaking out when the first naval offensive had begun. Everyone was so distracted, and Squall had performed expertly well.

When Galbadia Garden caved in two from Squall's Renzokuken, he knew the SeeDs had won.

He knew she had been saved.

But at what cost he did not know.

Hopefully, he prayed, hopefully the cycle had finally been broken.

---

A/N: Well how about that... Disk Two finally down.