A/N: A whole lot of action from this point on! Please leave a review to tell me if you liked it or not. D

Chapter 51: Battle with Galbadia Garden

The next day, about lunchtime, I was in the Library on duty. The intercom came on with it's ding sounds and Squall's voice could be heard. "This is Squall speaking. This is an emergency so listen carefully. We're going into battle against Galbadia Garden. The enemy will probably come aboard. We must concentrate our forces at the front gate and the Quad. If your Student ID number is even, report to the Quad. If it's odd, report to the front gate. 1st and 2nd Class Sabers, assemble in the Parking Lot. Those with MG Rank 3 or above, head to the 2nd floor deck and await instructions. Be sure to warm up."

He paused before continuing, "Those who have Student ID numbers ending with an 8, take care of the junior classmen. Cafeteria team, collect all the hot dogs and flavored bread and store everything in the secret shelter. Don't leave anything for the enemy. As you may know, Seifer is with them. I plan to settle everything, once and for all, with this battle."

I swallowed after Squall mentioned Seifer. I continued to listen as I made my way to my dorm, I ran as fast as I could. The Garden was in chaos as everybody began to run to their destination. Squall continued with his speech. "The Garden will proceed straight ahead. Set speed at 50 in case we need to take evasive maneuvers. Quistis, Zell, Selphie. Come up to the bridge right away! Oh, and Ariana or Eternity, get Kaelen to your dorm and protect him with everything you can!"

"I'm already on my way!" I yelled even though I'm sure he couldn't hear me. After I punched in the number code, I was greeted with Ariana, Mathias, Solaria, Johann and Yuna already in the dorm with Kaelen.

"We already heard the intercom," Ariana smiled. I nodded as I quickly went into my personal room and shut the door. I changed as fast as I could into my red dress with the long bell sleeves. The collar and the edge of the sleeves, were layered in dark grey feathers. I took my hair out of it's ponytail and let it hang down my shoulders and back. I put on the black belt with the silver skull belt-buckle. I wanted to strike fear into the human opponents I would be facing, as Lulu suggested two years ago in Mysidia. I got my black lipstick, eyeshadow and mascara out and quickly put them on. I then mixed my black mascara and my dark red blush to create a darker shade that made my cheeks look sunken in. My eyes also looked sunken in after I finished with my make-up. I already had black nail polish on my long nails, so I didn't have to worry about them. I hardly ever wore make-up, unless it is instances like this that I have prepared for.

I left my room and noticed that everyone was staring at me, "I was told that looking evil will strike fear into humans," I loosely quoted Lulu with a laugh.

"This would do it," Mathias told me with a wink.

"I am going to help your daddy," I told Kaelen before I left the dorm.

I confidently strode down the hallways of Garden until I got to where I was suppose to be, in the Quad. There were lines of students standing at attention while they waited for their orders. I took my place among them in the very front of the line.

Zell ran into the Quad and stopped before us, "Alright, listen up! This is the big one, guys! We gotta win, no matter what! S'up, Squall! I got this place covered."

"I thought you were sleeping?" Squall asked.

Zell laughed nervously, "Oh...! Yeah, y-your announcement woke me up! My student ID is even, so I'm supposed to be here, right? Yo, Squall come here for a sec." He led Squall over to the side out of earshot and they began to talk. I watched from my peripheral vision as Squall handed Zell his ring.

"YEAH! THANKS MAN! I didn't think you were gonna give it to me. Rinoa is gonna be so happy!" Zell exclaimed happily. I was curious what he was so happy about but stayed my ground.

"Rinoa?" Squall asked.

"Alright, Squall! Leave this place up to me!" Zell interrupted while coming back to the line of students. He spotted me and his mouth hung open in surprise. "Wow, Eternity..."

I smiled at him as he was speechless. "What do you think?" I asked.

"Sinister," Zell smirked. "I like it."

"Is Kaelen safe?" Squall asked as he walked over to us and I nodded with a smile.

"Yo Squall, doesn't she look sinister?" Zell asked.

Squall eyed me up and down before answering, "Yes."

"The Galbadians will think twice before attacking me," I grinned mischievously.

"I thought you weren't gonna hurt anymore people?" Zell asked.

"The Galbadians will not know that," I laughed.

"True," Zell replied while walking closer to me. "Is your lipstick smear-proof?"

"Yeah, wh?" I was interrupted as Zell gave me a deep kiss.

"Zell, you're here!?" Quistis asked as she made her way over to us. Zell broke his kiss off and turned toward Quistis, and Seymour was walking alongside her.

"Hi Quistis, Uncle Seymour...what's up?" Zell asked as he leaned into me.

"Guys, I'm gonna fight, too. I don't wanna just hide. I know I can fight. I want to fight alongside everyone," Rinoa said while running over to the rest of us. She stood beside me in line. I watched as Squall began to leave the Quad.

"I hope this is the last time we have to fight in our home," Zell told us. "Do you all agree?" he asked as he turned his head toward the crowd of students behind us.

"Yes, sir!" most of them shouted.

"I love being a SeeD," Zell grinned.

"I have to fight. To prove to myself that I can do it...that I belong with you guys," Rinoa said to nobody in particular.

The loudspeaker came on as somebody on it exclaimed, "Squall! Get back to the bridge right away!"

"Zell, I'm counting on you. Good luck, everyone!" Squall yelled to us before he turned to run out of the Quad.

Zell stood facing all of us and exclaimed with a shaking, raised fist, "Time to get it ON!"

A few minutes later, the loudspeaker was met with Squall's voice, "The enemy Garden is right by us! Quad team! Watch out!"

"Go straight ahead, to the left! We gotta stop 'em from comin' in! Don't forget to equip your GF!" Zell shouted to everybody.

Motorcycles began to crash into the Quad area and everybody began to scatter as they avoided getting hit by one. Some of the students began to fight the motorcyclists. Soon, chaos erupted from the invasion. "C'mon, c'mon, they're dead ahead." Zell grabbed my hand and we ran together, followed by Rinoa. Zell stopped and turned towards her, "...OH yeah! Rinoa, here you go. I got it from Squall. Like I said, I'll make you one just like it. 'Til then, hold on to it for me, will ya?"

"What did you say to him?" Rinoa questioned.

"I told him to just hand it over," Zell replied.

"It looks cool, but it's too big," Rinoa told him after taking the ring back off.

"Talk about it later. Let's go!" Quistis interrupted. We were heading towards the edge of the Quad, as we felt the impact of the two Gardens crashing. Zell held onto me as I was about to fall to the floor. Part of the Quad's floor collapsed from the cracks that had formed and Rinoa began to fall. We all went to the edge of where the floor collapsed only to see Rinoa hanging onto a jagged edge, below her was the spinning blades of the hover machine and beyond that, the ground.

"DAMMIT! I CAN'T REACH HER!" Zell yelled in frustration.

Quistis began to look around the Quad, "We need a rope or something!"

I used a Maelstrom attack on one of the Galbadian soldiers as he got too close to us, "C'MONNNN! Isn't there anything we can use!? What about your powers?" Zell asked me.

"I don't know," I replied.

"That's just fucking great!!" Zell hit the palm of his left hand with his right fist.

"I'm sorry!" I told him apologetically.

"Nah, I didn't mean it that way, just...the situation." He turned to look at Rinoa and yelled down, "HANG ON!! I"M GONNA GET SQUALL!!"

"You keep looking for something," Quistis ordered me. I nodded and ran over to the building supplies that were always used on the stage, while Zell and Quistis ran out of the Quad. I searched everywhere, attacking when I absolutely had to, but couldn't find anything except for ladders, which wasn't very helpful.

"Squall, listen up! The enemy is attacking the classroom. The junior classmen are there. We have to do something fast!" The intercom blared. I slapped my hands onto the floor, then stood up. I quickly made my way out of the Quad and over to the main hallway. I looked up to see more Galbadians crash into the windows on the second floor. I lifted my arms to the side, with my palms facing upward. I focused my energies and began to use them to fly into the air to the second story. I normally wouldn't do that, but I had to get to the junior classmen as fast as I could. I didn't have a problem lifting myself into the air, but I haven't figured out how to lift other people yet, although I can shove them back through the air if I attacked them. I was doing it with my psychic energies, I believe it is called telekinesis or something like that.

I landed onto the walkway connecting the elevator to the classrooms on the second floor. I ran to the nearest classroom only to find some of the children hiding behind a single Garden cadet. He was trying to protect the junior classmen from the Galbadians. The four Galbadians attacked the cadet, so I joined in the fight. A Galbadian took a shot at the cadet, but I used a Protect spell to make the bullet richochet and hit the soldier who shot it in the arm.

I was caught off-guard as another Galbadian sliced his sword through my arm. I screamed and used my mind to throw the Galbadian backwards and he hit the far wall. Before he could stand back up, I used one of my Maelstrom attacks on him.

"NOBODY SAID ANYTHING ABOUT FIGHTING A SORCERESS!!!" another Galbadian exclaimed in anger. He unhooked a walkie-talkie and shouted into it, "WE NEED BACK-UP!! THE SEEDS HAVE A SORCERESS!!!" He hooked the object back onto his belt and continued, "Sorceresses are all scum of the planet."

I laughed and replied, "At least I am not trying to take over the world like the Sorceress you work for!" I slowly walked over to the Galbadians, "And you can tell Aunt Edea to stop controlling MY SEIFER!!!"

"Hey man," one of the other Galbadians started, "We're right in the middle of a family feud! Let's get out of this while we still can!"

"Don't be an idiot!" another one hissed. "Where are we gonna go huh? We're high up in the air!"

"We're here!" I heard a voice behind the Galbadians. I watched as about ten more jumped in through the broken windows. "Get the Sorceress!"

The cadet turned to the group of junior classmen and yelled, "Get out of here!! Get help!!" The kids all ran in a group towards the door, as they were leaving, some of the Galbadians began to run after them. I waved my hand and a wall of fire erupted from the floor, blocking the door. The cadet unhooked his chain whip from his belt.

The intercom came on, "Squall! Go to the 2F classroom. The enemy is coming in from the sky."

I continued to fight the Galbadians with the cadet by my side. I could hear the battles coming from the classrooms next to this one. I managed to knock out three of the Galbadians, which left a handful. The cadet was knocked out after one of the Galbadians used a Blizzard spell on him. I hadn't expected that, so now I was alone, fighting about eight Galbadians. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by the Galbadians and attacked by all of them at once. One Galbadian slashed me with his blade, while another back-handed me across my face. I fell to the ground and tried to get back up, but I was kicked in the stomach. I seen the boot about to make another connection to my stomach, but I blocked it with my arms. I moaned in pain as the force made impact.

'ZELL, SEIFER, PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!!' I thought in my head. I began to cry as the pain got to me. I looked up to see a blade about to stab me, but I used as much power as I could to throw the attacker back.

"ETERNITY!!!" I heard Zell shout. I heard a battle within the room I was in. Soon, all of the Galbadians were unconscious and Zell fell to his knees beside me. "ETERNITY!! SPEAK TO ME!!" he gently held me in his arms.

"Zell?" I asked as tears blinded my vision thanks to the pain. I held onto Zell as I cried into his chest, "I was so...scared," I admitted. I held on tight as I hugged Zell, "How did you know I was in trouble?"

"This is gonna sound crazy, but I heard you calling out to me in my head," Zell answered. His answer made me cry even harder as I realized that our bond as Sorceress and Knight strengthened within so short amount of time. "W-what's wrong?" Zell asked.

"You're my Knight now!" I cried happily.

Zell's face showed his shock, "Really?" he asked and I nodded.

"Squall! Squall!" The intercom interrupted our moment. "Squall, come up to the bridge. Doctor Kadowaki is here."

I was in a lot of pain and I think Zell could see that I was. "I don't have any Cure spells," he told me sadly.

"All you have to do is manipulate the energy around you...you don't need to draw magic now, remember?" I asked.

"I haven't been practicing...I'm sorry," he told me.

I shook my head and replied, "Just hold me?" Zell nuzzled his face into my hair.

The intercom once again came on about two minutes later, "...Everybody, this is Squall. How's everyone doing? You're all probably too tired to even stand up after all the fighting. But I want everyone to listen to me...We still have a chance to win, and I need your help. This is going to be our final battle. We're going to attack them before they come in again. To do that, we're going to head straight into their Garden. So I want everyone to prepare for a major collision..."

I took Squall's pause to tell Zell, "Concentrate...focus on me and use my energy to heal me...I know you can do it Zell..." Zell gazed into my eyes as his hand held my stomach.

"...Take care of the junior classmen. Irvine, Quistis, Zell, and Selphie will lead the attack into their Garden. As for everyone else, please support them if you can. SeeD was formed to fight the Sorceress...at least, that's what I heard. And Garden was created to train SeeDs..." Squall continued.

I noticed from my peripheral vision that Zell's hand began to glow with a white light. His eyes seemed to glow with a fire from within as an orb formed above us and shattered into many pieces. They began to heal my wounds and I felt stronger. I began to sit up on my own, which caused Zell to stand and he helped me up as well. "Come on, we have a fight ahead of us."

"You go ahead," I smiled.

Zell shook his head and replied, "If I'm your Knight, it's my job to make sure you're safe and the only way I can do that is if I'm beside you." Zell took my hand and lead me out of the classroom. We made our way to the elevator and then went down to the first floor.

As we emerged from the elevator, we could hear Squall continuing his speech, "So this battle is Garden's destiny and also our destiny. It's a grueling battle, and I'm sure you guys are all exhausted. But I don't want to have any regrets. I don't want anyone to look back and regret this day. So just this once, I want you guys to give everything you got! For yourselves and for me!"

We crashed again and we all made our way to the front entrance of Garden. "OHHH YEAHHH!!! We're in!" Zell shouted in triumph.

Quistis ran up beside Zell and myself, "Ready guys?!"

"You bet'cha!" Selphie exclaimed while swinging her nunchaku around her.

"For Garden and our future!" I put in as I got into a battle stance beside Zell. The first wave of Galbadians swarmed us and as Zell, Selphie and Quistis, among many others began fighting them, I was healing them whenever necessary. I also offered Protect spells and Shell spells.

"KILL THE SORCERESS!!!" one of the Galbadian soldiers ordered his men.

"NOT WHILE I'M AROUND!!!" Zell replied as he began to pummel the enemy. "I"M HER KNIGHT!!!" I could tell that he was proud to be able to say that. "Let's rock!"

I glanced around me as explosions rocked the large battlefield. There must have been over three hundred people now fighting outside alone. "Come on guys!!" Selphie shouted. "There is the entrance to Galbadia Garden!!" Zell grabbed my hand and we ran side by side as we fought our way to the entrance.

Before we went inside, I told them, "I'll stay out here and heal any cadets that need it."

"Be careful," Zell replied before giving me a kiss. I nodded and began to run in the opposite direction before he could say anymore. I spotted Lulu and Steena fighting alongside each other, so I made my way over to them.

"I'll help heal you," I said while sneaking up behind them. They both turned, but not before a Galbadian came at them. I waved my hand and the Galbadian was hit by a Fire spell. He yelled as he fell to the ground unconscious.

"Thank you," Lulu replied before going back to the fight. Steena smiled at me with a nod before turning to help Lulu. Steena crossed her arms in front of her chest, then extended them in front of her as she made motions with her fingers. A spirit of a young warrior in armor and two swords appeared out of nowhere and began to slice the Galbadians in front of him. Lulu was going into overdrive as she cast one spell after the other with the help of her Limit Break.

From what I understand, every person has a limit of how much pain, anger, frustration or a combination of these they can take, which results in extra powerful attacks, hence the name. In certain people though, their power is extraordinary and seems to come from legends. I have seen Squall, Seifer, Quistis and Zell perform these "legendary" feats. Before them, I have never seen anything like it...most people only get stronger with their physical strength, for example, if they were in a fist fight. The limits I see Squall and the other do, however, they are able to focus magical energy into their Limit Breaks and unleash a power I cannot even begin to describe...I can even sense the air around them crackling with the energy as they go into their Limits. They also seem to go into a sort of trance, but fully conscious of their actions.

I began to wonder if what I did at the Triumphal Gate against the Galbadians, and again against Mathias at the time of the missile attack, was my own Limit Break. Mathias told me that it was demonic power that I inhereted from him, but I was full of mixed feelings before I went into a type of trance myself. My train of thought was interrupted when Steena yelled out from pain. I saw that she was shot in her leg and she was now sitting on the ground. I quickly waved my hand and used a Cura spell, which completely healed her leg as well as forced the bullet out of Steena's leg.

'ETERNITY!!!!'

I looked around me as I heard Zell's voice. It sounded like it was right next to me. "Zell, where are you?" I asked out loud.

"I do not see Zell," Lulu told me.

"Something's wrong," I told myself.

"Go to him," Steena smiled. "We'll be fine." I nodded and ran in the direction of the Galbadian Garden.

I entered and explored the place until I got to a large area with a circle in the middle. It resembled the area with the elevator in Balamb Garden, even with the smaller hallways branching off in all directions, however, this room was empty. I continued to explore until I got to an elevator on the second floor. I took it up to the floor above, and the elevator stopped at a room. As the doors opened, I walked in and studied the medium-sized room. It had a raised dais on one side, with a throne-like chair in the middle of it. I noticed a body on the floor, with Seifer's coat. I walked over to him and kneeled down, I seen that he was unconscious. He was bleeding in several places, so I healed him with a Cura. Seifer slowly opened his eyes and looked up at me. I had been holding him in my arms before I healed him.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"You shouldn't have come here," Seifer replied while sitting up. He slowly began to stand and made his way to the elevator.

"Where are you going? You need to rest! You are in no condition to go anywhere!"

"Why can't you mind your own fucking business?!" Seifer demanded as he turned to me.

"Because..." I couldn't finish what I was going to say, out of respect for Zell, so I improvised, "you are not yourself! You're being controlled!"

"I'm doing this on my own!" Seifer countered.

"You told me that you were being controlled, or were you lying?" I asked with anger lacing my voice.

"I don't have time for this," Seifer began walking to the elevator again.

"You didn't answer me," I replied harshly.

"Get a life, and stop interferring with mine," Seifer spat.

"This isn't like you! You'd never have treated me like this before!"

Seifer turned back toward me, "Of course this is me. I didn't care for you, I only used you for the sex! Are you so stupid that you can't coprehend that I only wanted sex from you?"

"Then why did you always tell me that you loved me?" I asked.

"Guys will always tell a girl what they want to hear, so we can get what we want," was Seifer's answer.

I shook my head, "No, I don't believe that one bit...our bond went deeper than being physical with each other!"

"Keep telling yourself that," Seifer replied.

"Then why did we have a telepathic and empathic link to each other? You were my Knight!!! You promised that one day, the two of us would get married, you even gave me a Promise Ring!"

Seifer stared at me as he pushed the button to go down and the doors closed, followed by the sound of the elevator going down. I stamped my foot and yelled in frustration. Soon after, I walked over to the elevator and pressed the button. I got on, waited until the elevator stopped and explored the second floor of Galbadia Garden. I heard the sounds of battle coming from one of the rooms and I made my way quickly over to it.

I saw Squall and the rest of the group fighting Seifer. Before I could intervene, I heard a group of singers from somewhere near me. "Fithos Lusec Wecos Venosec!" I searched the area until I found them on a balcony on the other side of the room, and they were above me on another level. There were four black-robed figures standing there singing this song. I could tell by the shape of their bodies that they were women. I felt light-headed as my body started to glow with a white light and I began to hover in the air. That is when the visions began...