Edea's Boys.

Edea rung her hands as her boys walked off the airship. She had walked about a mile along the beach from her house when she saw the Ragnorak II descend from the skies, her kinght, Cid, following a step behind. She didn't speak, her heart was thundering furiously, and so loudly that she barely heard the roar of the dying engine before her.

Her boys were here, after so long.

She saw that Selphie hung back a little, chatting animatedly with Laguna who was followed by Kiros and Ward. Quite the party she had to entertain. She looked round only when she heard Zone and Watts running to catch up with them, her new boys. They had been so depressed since they'd returned from Timber, but they were smiling for the first time with the thought of having people around.

Looking back around, her eyes widened slightly to see that Squall and Zell were clasping hands. She noticed then how they had coy smiles as they spoke with one another, and the gleam in both their eyes became more noticable as they got closer. She felt her eyes watering and her lips turning upwards.

Her boys.

"Matron!" Zell exclaimed, his face lighting up (even more than it had been talking to Squall) and he broke away from the scarred brunette to scoop Edea into a warm hug. She hugged tightly back and she felt her kiss his forehead as he lifted her off the ground. "It's great to see you!"

"You too, Zell...And Squall!" She let go of the blond and embraced the taller teen, who she was happy to see smiling for once. "It's good to see you too..."

"You too, Matron."

She hugged him for a little longer than necessary, pouring everything she had wanted to tell him when Rinoa died, everything she wanted to do, into this one hug, before finally pulling away, running her fingers toyingly through his hair and turning to Selphie.

They spent ten minutes on the beach, hugging, shaking hands, get reacquainted with old friends and introduced to new. Zell was surprised to see the house in the distance was not in the state of disepair it had been last time he visited – the stone building was once again whited than white, the path down to the beach was free from any rubbled and the lighthouse was no longer decrepit and neglected.

"It looks like home.." he whispered happily as they made their way up the small cliff to the house, Edea's arm looped around his.

"It is your home, Zell, whenever you need it" she whispered back.

Edea cooked a delicious lunch for them all, any meat you can name and any vegetable you can stand, along with a wide range of drinks, from coke to vodka, lemonade to cosmopolitans. They all ate and drank and talked and laughed, and Zell comfortably enjoyed the afternoon, though he and Selphie had been careful to place themselves between Squall and Laguna so as to advoid upsetting either of them. They still needed a lot of work, and everyone could tell they were thankful for the small distance.

The sun had begun to set and Zell was helping Edea clear up when the conversation turned to the reason he was here.

"So what exactly is the problem Zell? You were very vague when you spoke it about it before. Are you okay?"

Zell's face darkened slightly and he mumbled a bit before giving a coherent answer.

"It's...it's not something I really know how to explain..."

"Is it you and Squall?" Edea chipped in, her face fixing into a sly grin when she saw Zell's mouth and eyes widen and his cheeks redden.

"N...N-no! Well, yes, there is that, but that's not the reason we're here...but how did you-?"

"Zell dear, I don't need my powers to tell what's going through both your minds. I might not have given birth to you but you're the closest things to sons I've got, aside from Irvine, and I know you as well as any mother ever could." She stood smiling for a moment while she saw Zell busy himself bashfully with the dishes before calmly putting her hand on his arm and whispering "And I'm delighted, you're obviously both very happy."

Her heart skipped a beat as she saw his eyes water and his mouth split into a wide smile. She put her arms around him, her boy. She was genuinely happy, both for him and Squall and to see them both again.

"Thanks...matron." They stood like that for a few moments before Zell got to the real reason we were here. "But like I said, that's not what I came to talk to you about."

"Well what is it then?" She said cheerfully.

"It's...about these dreams I've been having..."

"Oh dreams. Dreams?" She looked perplexed for a moment. "What kind of dreams?"

"Dreams like...magical type dreams..."

The smile faded from her face, and her eyes steeled slightly.

"Oh...those dreams..."

They all gathered along the beach once the sun had gone down, and while Zell and Edea had locked themselves away in her room, everyone else had thoroughly enjoyed their day and was looking forward to an equally enjoyable evening. The stars were twinkling, the waves were gliding slowly to hit the rocks on the shore, and the gulls overhead were beginning to disperse, off to their nests and their young for the night. Squall felt a twinge of apprehension cloud his good mood, but it wasn't enough to stop him having fun. Maybe it was being back at the orphanage. Maybe it was being with Selphie and the others. Maybe it was because he and Laguna had actually been getting on reasonably well. Maybe.

He reasoned with himself that it was no good worrying about Zell just now. He was with Edea, the best person to be with, and until Zell understood what was going on, there was no way Squall could hope to help. And so he laughed, and joked, and drank, and ate. But always, in the back of his mind, he was listening for the back door to the Orphanage closing behind the young blond and his Matron.

He knew Selphie was thinking along the same lines. Every time there was the slightest noise from the house behind, her head whipped round with a nervous, apprehensive gleam to her eyes, only to find a window closing, the wind banging doors closed, or some figment of her imagination. She brushed these occasions off with finesse and drew no attention to herself, but Squall had been watching her. He'd come to look round at the same times as she had.

But overall, they were enjoying themselves. Squall only wished that Irvine and Quistis could have been here, that Rinoa...

Thankfully, he didn't have to long to think this last thought before he was called back into the present.

"Squall?" It was Edea. He looked back at the house with apprehension, and everyone around him quietened to hear what Edea wanted to say. Selphie grasped Squall's hand, sharing his nerves. "Selphie? Can you both come inside for a moment?"

They shared a nervous glance, before Selphie squeezed just a little harder on his hand. They made their way back up to the house without a glance back behind them. They heard the others strike up conversation again as they closed the door behind them.

The change in atmosphere inside was polar opposite to that outside. The air inside was thick, heavy, there was no joy in the air, no happiness, as if all that had been there earlier had been sucked out. Edea had dark circles round her eyes and she had visibly been crying, and while she hadn't said anything yet Squall and Selphie both knew there was bad news on the horizon.

"Zell's through here..." she said quietly. Squall walked through the door to the master bedroom, and while Selphie tried to follow, Squall heard teh door close directly behind him. Edea must be giving us a moment he thought to himself.

Matron's bedroom hadn't much changed, even since the renovations. Obviously, it wasn't falling apart like it had been, but it still retained the same features - simple dark wood floor, unpainted, undecorated white marble walls, the bed made of a darker wood than the floor, with covers of satin and silk and cashmere, in a cascade of purples and blacks.

One thing that was diffrent though, was the figure which lay under all the sheets.

Zells head lay on one of the massive pillos, a small pink ball in a sea of darker hues. His blond tuft of hair barely stood out against the audacious colours it competed against, but his tribal tattoo seemed to flair out, deeper and more prominent than ever before. His blue eyes, a colour that Squall could swim in forever, were twinged at the corners with pinks and reds; Zell had been crying, lots. His skin was blotchy and red, and there were tear streaks cutting right down his cheeks and his jaw. Squall's heart raced.

"Zell...? Wh-What's...?" Was all he coul mutter as he sat beside the blond, one hand wiping away the tears while the other encompassed his form under the sheets in a loose but meaningful hug.

"It's me, Squall, it's all me..." more tears fell as Zell began to ramble, as though talking to Squall was the greatets release he had ever had "...I'm a sorcerer, Matron told me I'm a sorcerer! And it's my fault that Ifrit, and Pandaemonium, and Cerberus all went crazy like they did, and it's my fault that Rinoa...that Rinoa died..." with the last statement Zell tried to hide his face under the covers, tried to pull away from Squall, but the brunette held his ground, and after a moment's struggling, Zell gve up and sank back into the same position he'd been in before.

"Zell? What do you mean? How is Rinoa your fault...?" And though Squall sounded compassionate, and though he wanted nothing more than to stop Zell crying and to assure him everything was alright...he prayed to Hyne that it wasn't true.

"M-Matron can explain...better...but..."another bout of sobbing "...b-but I'm sorry Squall! I never knew, honestly, this is all new...and I...I-I lo-love yo..."

"Squall?"

Both boys looked around as Edea's voice pierced their ears. Selphie stood to her side, that nervous look still on her face. She took one look at Zell and Squall could see the tears welling up in her eyes. He admired though, how she didn't let any tears fall. Instead, she held them back, and walked to the opposite side of the bed from Squall. She sat procariously on the edge of the bed, and her hand found Zell's, which had been working it's way through the folds and folds of bedding towards her.

Edea motioned for Squall to join her outside.

"I'll be right back..." he whispered into Zell's ear, his lips brushing the soft skin where the jaw meets the neck. Zell whimpered slightly, but Selphie took over Squall's hugging and Zell nodded silently.

Squall smiled uneasily before standing and heading towards his old Matron.

The smoke from her cigarette was filling the small study tehy had retreated to. A small, slitted window was not enough to let it escape, and it, mingled with the heat form the roaring fire in teh grate that had been lit, made the room stuffy, and teh atmosphere heavy. Or maybe that was just Squall's imagination.

He couldn't remember Edea smoking. no matter how hard he tried, he could never pinpoint an exact memory of her drawing on the long, opera length quellazaire. He could tell she needed it though. her eyes, though no longer watery, and without all the redness that had been there before, still looked a little sunken, a little subdued. as though a little life had been sucked from them.

"My Boys..." she whispered it slowly. They had left Zell and Selphie over half an hour ago, but still Squall had not gotten any explanation from her. He had poured himself a scotch, which he despised but which he thought must be good in these situations, judging from all the old Galbadian films he watched as a teenager. He sipped, and gagged, and pulled a funny face, before Edea continued. "I never used to smoke in front of you as children, Squall." she said, matter-of-factly, but Squall sensed she merely wished to avoid more delicate subject matter for the moment. "I only ever smoked at night, on the beach, with an invisability spell shrouding me. I never wanted to expose you to this. Just as Cid never wanted to expose any of you to drink..." she nodded to the glass in Squall's hand "...but I suppose, your a grown man now. And what you've already been exposed to, what you've alreayd overcome, is far more dangerous than a cigarette or a little drink." she chuckled, but there was no mirth. it was sadness. "All that I tried to protect you from. All that I tried to do, as well as any mother, and I've failed you. miserably."

"Matron..."Squall began, his hand reaching over to hold hers as she launched her head into the palm of the one holding the quellazaire. "...you never failed. We're okay! We're all okay! Please Matron..."he took a handkerchief from the box on her desk "...don't cry..."

Edea looked round at him for a moment, a single tear streaming down her right cheek. What a fine boy she'd raised.

She took the tissue and wiped up her eyes, stubbd out the cigarette and hid the quellazaire out of sight, in a drawer in her desk. She then composed herself and stared directly into Squall's eyes. He sensed that she was about to get deadly serious, so the scotch got left on the mantlepiece.

"But Squall...I tried, and I tried to protect you, form perhaps more than i should but I don't consider that a bad thing. But there was one thing, one thing above all else I wanted none of my children to have a part in." She sighed "Magic. Magic and Sorcerery...I formed SeeD as a way to combat and protect from it, not to be ensnared by it..." Another sigh, this one more protracted. "...But, alas, it was in vain. You sit before me Squall, and inherited sorceress. Rinoa's heir. My heir. And that perhaps, is irony in action." Another mirthless laugh."But Squall, that pain, and believe me, I feel it, deep in my heart and my soul, I feel pain for what has become of you, for while you have received a phenomenal gift, you now have a burden of responsibility that I wish I had never shirked to you, or Rinoa for that matter. You have an obligation to rule your powers, not vice versa, and while you may feel they are weak within you just now, rest assured, they will grow, like a raging tempest within you, they will grow. I give you the advice that I gave Rinoa, the only advice I know of to help you with this burden. Take for yourself a knight, a person whom you trust, lvoe enough, enough to keep you grounded and sane."

Squall snorted. "I don't need a knight, Matron, I AM a Knight for Hyne's - "

"Pride and Arrogance are dangerous tools for a sorcerer to weild, Squall." Edea's cutting remark silenced Squall immediately. He looked over at her from where he now stood at the fire. He thought silently for a moment. "Remember Ultimecia. Remember Adel. You are not what they are Squall, do not letyourself become them. Do not instil yet another generation with fear of the Sorceress. Or...Sorcerer..."

"Well...I suppose..." Squall swallowed. Relying on someone again. THAT's irony, he though. "It'd have to be Zell. As much as anyone, as much as Selphie and the others are really liek brothers and sisters to me...it's have to be him..."

Edea was silent for a moment. She smiled, her heart swelling as she realised just now in love her Boys were, even if they hadn't yet. But then a melancholy filled her, and from the pit of her stomach she got a sense of foreboding.

"But...Squall. There might be a problem there..." the brunette sat down again, a look of confusion crossing his magnificent features. Yet another sigh. "There is something...something big, on it's way, Squall..." she took a moment to compose herself. What she was about to tell Squall would not be easy to hear.

"I know, Rinoa told me..." It was Edea's time to be silenced.

"R...Rinoa...?" Squall merely nodded.

"She comes to me sometimes. Let's me know she's okay. Help's me out a little..."

Edea's jaw dropped. "You...You get messages from Rinoa...?"

Squall shrugged. "Sometimes. Not a lot, and not for very long. Everytime she comes to me there's certain things we're not allowed to say or do, but whenever she does come she always helps me out, cheers me up...kinda like she did when she was still here..."

"That's why you got over her so quickly!" Edea clicked her fingers, a small smile creeping onto her face.

"Yeah, I guess...why, do you know something..?"

"I don't know anything! Nothing at all! Only some sorceress lore which I had though of as silly superstition before now..." She smiled, and laughed again, but this time with happiness edging it's way in as she stood up from her seat and began to pace around the small study "..oh don't get me wrong, it's dangerous, and it will test your abilities to the limit...but this is Huge! Much bigger than I though before..." She was getting quite animated, excited, bordering extatic, when she seemed to just remember "...Oh...But Zell..." She returned to her seat "I almost forgot how tough this is on him..."

"Matron!" Squall chipped in, after trying to get a word in for the past few minutes "What exactly is happening to us?"

She stared across the desk at him. Her Boy. Her Protegé. She had always known there was something special about Squall, ever since he and Ellone had turned up at this very orphanage, drenched form head to toe. It had been a miracle that they'd reached her. Both very special children.

"Squall...you know you're a sorcerer, right?" Squall nodded, apprehensively "Well, there has been a legend, dating back Hyne knows however long, that every generation of Sorceress is stronger than the last. This is why Ultimecia was such a big threat, because her power had been inheriting strength for generations into the future. What the power is said to culminate in, is a fragment of Hyne's purest power, a tiny sliver of his own soul, made manifest on Gaia. And I think that that sliver may just have manifested itself in you."

Squall was dumbstruck. "What?" Was all he could manage.

"Bear with me...your powers were received from Rinoa, whose were received form me. Now, the condition that sorceress powers increase on succession is that they pass to a more powerful human than before...do you follow?"

"So...the powers get stronger...but only if the host of the pwoer is stronger..as well?"

"Yes, exactly! Now, I first inherited my powers when I was five years old. I remember the woman who passed them to me to be incredibly old, and I seem to remember that people didn't think me much of a threat when i was younger because she had been so genteel, her powers were extremely limited. i've since come to understand that she merely elected not to employ the majority of her powers but I am confident that I was a more powerful sorceress than she was. Now, my powers were powerful in their own right, I mean, I kpet Ultimecia from finding Ellone for more than two years with strength of thought alone! So, we can assume there was a natural progression of powers here."

"Right..." Squall had his arms folded, wondering where Edea could be going with this.

"Well, Rinoa was even more powerful than me. I heard her describe the way her powers manifested themselves and it was phenomenal, nothing at all I could ever do compared even in the slightest. The way she could cast spell after spell, without using up any of her magic reserves, and they way she described instinctively knowing what spells would be most effective in which situation...amazing! But what is most impressive Squall, is your manifestation. Now, I've no doubt that you could also go into 'berserker' mode with your powers. in fact, I'm sure your spells could make Rinoa's look insignificant. And from what Selphie told me earlier about your fight with ifrit, the way your telapathy destroyed him...another increase in powers, although, as Ive stated that's what is to be expected. What is truly compelling, Squall, is that you have communicated with someone who has passed beyond. Is there anything specific about your encounters with Rinoa that stick in your mind...?"

Squall thought for a moment. "Not really...I mean, I know that everytime she comes to me, I'm in a forest or a jungle. And there's always a strange smells in the air, like...patchuli, or sandalwood...but...nothing else really...well, there was one time she showed me a battle, where we all got beaten...but it was only a possibility of what could happen, it wasn't a proper...'premonition' as you would call it..."

"Amazing..." Edea whispered. She snapped herself out of a reverie "Well, the forest or the jungle...it sounds to me like your subconscious is creating a place where Rinoa will be more comfortable - she fought for Timber, right? Forest capital of the world? And those scents...I don't know if you remember, but sandalwood incence was a particular favourite of mine when you were younger...the whole house reeked of sandalwood! And I also wore pathcouli perfume that Cid would give me every birthday!"

"I don't remember that..." Squall said, smiling.

"Yes...so I think your subconcious sounds acutely more aware of your powers than your conscious mind does. Which is the exact same case with Zell..."

"Zell? Zell's a sorcerer too...?"

"In a minute Squall, Iill get to Zell in a moment! So, we can deduce that your powers are a culmination of many sorceress generations, first my elemental prowess, then Rinoa's inexhaustible supply of magic and now your own communications with the souls of the past and glimpses of the future. Like I said, a sliver of Hyne's soul. There's no doubt that you will be a tremendous sorcerer, when your powers have fully developed into your own."

"But...but wait a minute, wait a minute..if what your saying is, sorcerer's, or sorceress's get stronger over time, why wasn't Ultimecia able to defeat us? She had hundreds of generations of a headstart!"

"Yes...that is a tricky one, although...i think Ultimecia's ego was her biggest downfall. From what I understand from your accounts of the battle, she changed tactic a few times, yes?"

"Well, yeah..." Squall agreed "First she tried to fight us just as we would any other opponent, but then she summoned a GF, Griever..."

"Which, I believe, is not a GF...it is a symbol of pride and power to you Squall, yes? A symbol she used to try to get you to submit out of fear!"

"Hmm...yeah...but she still didn't beat us with him so she junctioned herself to Griever...and then after that she revealed her true form..."

"And her true form was repugnant, yes? Hideously ugly, but powerful and gigantic...is this true?"

"Yeah! But by then it was like she'd stopped trying...she spoke to us while we faught but she spoke slowly and out of breath...she didn't seem all that powerful then!"

"Ah Squall! But you must remember, you had alreayd defeated her three times before she unleashed her true self. She must have been exhausted, both from the fight but also form the constant changing. And if she had started to cast the Time Compression spell, she must have been using phenomenal reserves of magic just for that! Sorry to say this Squall, but I guarantee that if she had fought you in her ultimate form any sooner, the outcome would have been different..."

Squall sat in silence. He had to give to Edea, it was feasable.

"So, we can see that both you, and Ultimecia, have gained vast power over the course of many sorceress now..." she sighed, another frown crossing her features "...Zell. he did not receive his powers through inheritance..."

"What? Then...he was born a..a...?"

"Yes Squall. Zell is the culmination of a bloodline of sorceresses. He is the direct descendent of Hyne...he is a pure sorcerer."

R&R Please?

Sorry for the long wait for this chapter, but now that I've got the plot sped up I'll be able to get right into it form now on. Thank you so much for sticking with me and please Review!