Final Fantasy 8: Islands
by Corvus kanelocke@hotmail.com


----------------------------------------------------------

Part Two

----------------------------------------------------------



"So as you can see he's got his fingers in a number of pies," said the deep, quiet voice from the telecom panel.

"He always did," replied Cid as he reclined in his chair. The fading evening light pooled in his office, gilding everything around him. This was the time of day he usually allowed himself to become nostalgic. But today, he was concerned with the current activities of his old nemesis, Vinzer Deling. For a moment he pondered the years that he and Deling had danced around each other, each motion made by proxy -- Galbadia here, SeeD there. How long had this been going on? It was getting hard to tell. "Though what he's up to right now is beyond even me."

"I will tell you this," the voice continued. "This situation is very serious. A teammate and I were attacked today by Fastitocalon-F's that had obviously been mutated, and the other team member reported losing a vehicle to mutant Bite Bugs. The target has chosen fast-breeding species to work with, probably to test the viability of controlling the results."

Cid rubbed his jaw slowly as he pondered this information. Those three new cadets had reported that the Bite Bugs they had fought had been more vicious and numerous than usual. It would fit with what he was being told now. If this were true, and he had no reason to believe it was not, then he had to act swiftly to counter this move.

What troubled him was this: why would Vinzer Deling deliberately turn lose a scientist with genetic samples that one of his own labs had created and label that scientist a renegade, and then send three of his Matrix agents after that renegade? What did he stand to gain by playing both ends against the middle like this?

"Oh, and just a warning," the voice went on. "You've got three cadets treading a little too close to us. You need to control them before they get too curious for their own good."

"I'll make sure they don't get in your way," said Cid. He knew who those cadets were. Already a plan had begun to form in his mind. Deling was up to no good no matter which way he moved, and since Cloud Strife, Vincent Valentine and Tifa Lockheart were already in over their heads, Cid could make use of their talent and status as mere cadets. He would just have to move carefully. "Is that all?"

"Yes. I'll keep in touch, but don't expect anything."

"I never do." He leaned forward and broke the connection, then settled back into his seat. The only one who might be able to help him figure out Deling's motives and goal was someone he could not ask for help. A brief moment of sadness fell over Cid despite all his efforts to ignore it. No matter how many years went by, no matter how long he used people for his own ends in a great game of human chess against Vinzer Deling, no matter how cold and unfeeling he tried to become in an effort to prepare himself for the even greater battle to come, he would never be able to ignore the human heart inside him. And that heart grieved for a very specific loss.

Somewhere, out in that great, wide world, was Edea.

All he had left of her now was this Garden and the Instructors, SeeDs and cadets who lived and worked within its confines. That, and the words she had spoken to him, long ago. A part of Edea was still with him and one day, the spirits willing, they would be together once more, and he contented himself with that. Never let it be said, he thought, that Cid Kramer wallowed in self-pity.

Still... Garden's purpose, one he and Edea had created, could very well mean the destruction of everything Cid loved in this world.

No. No time to think of that. The future was an undiscovered country that would not reveal itself to those who tried to reach for it. The present was what mattered, and in the present he had a situation with which to deal. And whatever the purpose of Garden, it was his, and he would do the best he could with it.

Cid stood from his chair and made his way to the elevator in the office's receiving room. He hadn't eaten yet, and he wanted to talk to Quistis Trepe and Raven Argent. He knew just where to find them.

The cavernous central commons area of Balamb Garden was a drastic opposite to Cid's office. Here the light was bright, shining from lamps overhead, along the walls of the walkway ring and above the doorways to the various Garden sections. Here was the buzz and hum of conversation as Cid emerged from the elevator. Three SeeDs passed him on the stairs and greeted him warmly. As he turned to make his way along the ring to the cafeteria he saw a Shumi Instructor approaching, its alien form hidden beneath a voluminous white tunic, a deep crimson tabard-like overtunic and a golden-yellow cowl over its head.

"Good evening, Headmaster," it said as he stepped up to speak with it.

Cid nodded and smiled warmly. "Good evening, Instructor. All is well?"

The cowled head bobbed once in affirmation. "Yes. Instructor believes the students in the cafeteria are excited."

"A good dinner will do that," joked Cid. When the Shumi's head tilted to the side in a dog-like expression of confusion, he choked off a laugh and said, "Never mind. What's got them all riled up?"

"Instructor Trepe and SeeD Argent are playing Triple Triad."

Oh, the poor, poor man, Cid mused. Raven's skill in Triple Triad was renowned throughout Balamb Garden, but Quistis Trepe was quite possibly one of the best to ever play the game. It would be quite exciting to watch. "I'm on my way to eat, myself. Have a good evening, Instructor."

The Shumi bowed its head once and continued on its way, leaving Cid to smile in its wake. Though the Shumi had strange ways, their support had been invaluable in constructing the three Gardens, in particular... (Ugh. What an unpleasant thought.) Shumi made up a large percentage of the Instructor staffs at Balamb and Trabia Gardens, at Cid's request and Headmaster Rebecca Bennett's approval. There were no Shumi at Galbadia Garden, however -- Headmaster Corron Martine was forced to dance on a knife edge betweeen SeeD and the notoriously prejudiced Galbadian Army, which received many of Galbadia Garden's failures and drop-outs as the price of Garden autonomy in that country. Of the three Gardens Martine's had the lowest graduation rate which, though something of a disappointment, also served to misinform Vinzer Deling about SeeD's numbers.

Cid made his way to the cafeteria in time to witness an event that would have the Garden abuzz with talk for days to come. A large ring of students surrounded a table, the surest indicator of the card match. Cid nudged his way to the interior of the ring. Quistis and Raven stared at each other across the table. Six of the nine spaces on the board had been filled, and from the presence of counters reading "+1" and "-1", as well as small flame, ice and wind glyphs, he could tell they were using the Elemental rule. Both players held their cards close in their hands -- the game was not Open. And from a quick glance at the middle-left position, which held a red card with an "A" rank on its left, and the card above it, which matched the color and top number of the card below it, Cid could guess that the rare Same-Wall rule -- which included the Plus rule -- was in effect. These two were going for broke.

Quistis was playing blue, and it had just become her turn. She squinted down at the board and traced the cards in her hand with her thumb as she thought. The silent tension in the room continued to mount as she considered her possibilities. Immediately to Cid's left, a dark-skinned man with a geometric design shaved into the hair on the back of his head that Cid recognized as SeeD Derek Thompson -- rumored to be one of Quistis's fanclub, the "Trepies" -- slowly let out a breath he probably hadn't even realized he had been holding. Finally Quistis selected one of her two remaining cards and placed it at bottom center, flipping the card to its right to her blue color. Raven's eyes narrowed dangerously.

Cid considered the Argent as he calculated his next play. The glint in Raven's eyes reminded Cid of the man's feathery namesake. For as long as Cid had known Raven an intensity had burned just behind his moss-green eyes, and now it was in clear evidence. Perhaps ninety seconds went by before Raven placed Bahamut, the card he had so recently won, at bottom left. The center card flipped to red.

Quistis calmly placed her last card in the remaining slot. "Plus," she said as she began flipping cards. "Combo," she continued, and flipped more. Raven stared at the table in silent shock. He had been beaten. Not just beaten, but "owned" as the younger cadets might say.

The gathered crowd erupted into cheers.

Quistis leaned over and gathered up the cards she had brought to the game, and then smiled at Raven. "If you don't mind, I know which card I'm claiming as my prize." She gathered up Bahamut and reclined in her chair, making a show of slipping it into her deck. She was immediately surrounded by several SeeDs, including Derek.

Across the table, Raven let out a breath and chewed on his bottom lip. (Looks like she's going to be the one teaching me now,) he thought as he squared his cards with a couple taps on the table. He looked up and saw Dia L'nar's face in the crowd for a moment, watching him. Before he could even smile or wave Dr. Kadowaki's assistant turned away and disappeared into the throng. (I wonder what that was all about.)

"A truly eventful evening, it would seem," Cid remarked. Raven's head whipped around to face the Headmaster. "It looks like you've met your match, Raven," he continued "Have you eaten yet?"

"I got a bit sidetracked," the SeeD admitted. Not many things would disrupt Raven Argent's focus, but the promise of a good game of Triple Triad could do it. "Have you?"

With a laugh Cid said, "I was about to remedy that situation right now. I would be delighted if you would join me."

Raven nodded his assent. "Certainly." Not every day one got the honor of dining with the Headmaster of the Garden, after all.

The admiring horde surrounding Quistis at last began to disperse. A tiny moment of exasperation slipped through the beautiful blonde's control. (They're really helpful for getting information, but I could do without the attention.) She attempted to blow aside one of the twin locks of golden bangs which was now drooping in front of her face, but the stubborn hair simply drifted right back to where it had settled in the middle of the hubbub. Raven's chuckle at her distress reached her over the din of the cafeteria; she returned a little raspberry and brushed the hair away with her hand.

"Congratulations, Quistis" the Headmaster told her. "Very well-played."

"Oh, thank you," the blonde replied with a blush. "I didn't know if I'd be able to pull it off until the very end."

"And so modest, too," Raven quipped, which earned him another raspberry.

"Would the Champion honor us with her presence at our evening meal?" Cid gallantly asked Quistis as he bowed and extended his hand to her. Roses bloomed on her pale cheeks once more. Quistis delicately took the proffered hand and stood. "Shall we?"

Once they had been served, Cid led them to an empty table as far from overhearing ears as they could get. Both the Headmaster and Raven pulled out a seat for Quistis, which made the willowy young SeeD roll her eyes and sigh, "Men." She pulled out her own seat and flounced into it.

Cid kept the conversation light, and for a few moments he was able to set aside the true purpose of his search for them. "I should warn you right now," Raven joked with Quistis at one point mid-way through the meal, "that I fully intend to challenge you to a rematch. My honor is at stake, after all." His honor being, of course, the Bahamut card.

"Good," Quistis retorted, "you have a Carbuncle card I want. But you'll have to wait, I was thinking of challenging Jason Arkady next, he's got an Ifrit that I need."

Raven reclined in his chair and affected a long-suffering sigh. "That card," he said, "will be mine."

"Doesn't matter." Quistis sniffed and looked back to her plate. "I can win it from you just as easily."

When their plates were clear and they sipped hot tea, Cid allowed his smile to fade. He hated to put an end to the aire of easy camaraderie, but there was a reason he had brought them to this table. "I received a call this evening," he said, "which shed some light on a recent... situation... with which I believe Quistis is not acquainted."

"Actually, Raven told me about it earlier," Quistis told him. "The problem with the mutant Bite Bugs?"

Cid nodded in agreement. "Yes, exactly. However, there's more to it than Bite Bugs. Apparently some of the Fastitocalon-F in Balamb Bay have mutated as well. I can't say at this point what's causing it," he lied to them easily, "but I'm fairly certain it's related. An official SeeD presence in this matter might not reflect well on the Garden, but I'd like more information."

Quistis took a cautious sip of her tea. She felt she knew where Cid was going with this and she didn't know if he liked it much. "I could put out some feelers through the Trepies and see if they've heard anything."

"If they know anything at all, it would be very helpful. I was thinking in a different direction, though." Quistis stilled a groan that threatened to escape her as Cid went on. "The cadets who had contact with the Bite Bugs could use this situation as a perfect training mission." He looked to Raven, his eyes searching for the other man's reaction.

"Cadets Valentine, Strife and Lockheart do have to fulfill the mission requirement before they qualify for the Field Exam at the end of the term," admitted the SeeD. He was becoming uneasy about this entire situation, and even more uneasy about sending cadets into it, but once Cid Kramer made up his mind... "It's not the Fire Cavern, but this would certainly satisfy that requirement, I think."

Quistis agreed with Raven. She was more sanguine about the possibilities, however; she had spent more time going over Cloud, Tifa and Vincent's files and she felt they would be able to handle the problem quite well. "Their performance in class is exemplary. I'd almost say unbelivable if I wasn't watching it happen. They're already setting the curve for the rest."

"Did you also want to include Lucia Seagill?" Raven asked. He was almost afraid to find out. Lucia was the daughter of Lyra Seagill, a friend of his parents and a formidable woman Raven did not want to cross under any circumstances. Should she find out that Lucia had been sent on a mission like this, it was quite likely she would tear Balamb Garden apart singlehanded.

Cid shook his head negatively. "No, I believe Tifa, Cloud and Vincent can handle this quite well as a team. I'd like for you to excuse them from class, Quistis. Be sure to provide them a copy of the rest of the week's syllabus. This shouldn't take longer than that. Give it to them when you see them tomorrow morning, and send them to my office, please."

Quistis forcibly swallowed the sip of tea she had been taking. The rest of the week? The volume of material the three cadets would miss could set them back considerably. The Headmaster had to have something up his sleeve. "Okay," she agreed, though inwardly she wished she could have declined.

There was a stretching moment of silence, and then Cid said, "That went well. What are your plans for the evening?" he asked them amiably.

"I have some progress reports to file," said Raven, "and I was planning on a workout in the Training Center later."

The blonde Instructor shrugged a bit. "I'll be preparing the excuses and going over my lesson plan for tomorrow. After that, I hadn't planned much." She looked to Raven. "You up for a strategy meeting tonight?"

The other SeeD nodded. "Strategy meetings" were as much get-together parties as they were planning sessions, and the two of them hadn't had time to let loose for a while. "Sounds like an idea. What about your own plans, Headmaster?"

"I have a lot of paperwork, and I was planning on retiring early." After the events of the past few days, he certainly needed the rest. "Very well. Thank you ever so much for joining me for dinner, good company always makes a meal more enjoyable. I'll see you both tomorrow." Cid left the table carrying his tray, leaving the SeeDs to watch him go.

"This just keeps getting more and more bizarre," Raven mused.

"Tell me about it." Quistis regretted the words as soon as they were out of her mouth and shook her head quickly. "On second thought, don't."

----------------------------------------------------------



Lucia was waiting for Tifa in their quarters when the long-haired girl returned from Balamb. The dark girl's jade eyes searched her roommate's face and tried to untangle the knot of emotions displayed there. It was obvious that Tifa was upset about something, the way she walked through the door and straight into her cubicle to throw herself upon her bed without even a "Hello", and from the way she didn't move when Lucia turned off the music she had been listening to. "Tifa? You want to talk?"

"Not really," came the response, muffled by the pillow into which Tifa had buried her face.

Lucia stepped into Tifa's cubicle and sat gently at the edge of the bed. "Did something happen while you were visiting your parents?" Tifa said nothing. Lucia could feel the tension rolling off the other girl and her concern was rising. After a few silent seconds Lucia picked up the hairbrush on the dresser, then reached over and gently slipped Tifa's hair from the band that held it back. Lucia spoke as she began to brush the ends of her roommate's luxurious dark cascade of hair with long, slow strokes. "What can you tell me about Cloud?"

Again, Tifa was silent. After a few seconds, however, she reached into her pocket and withdrew the chain and iolite pendant that she had refused to wear back from her parents' house. With an almost lazy motion she held it up and let the pendant dangle from her fingers. Lucia never stopped brushing as she observed the stone. "That's your GF stone, isn't it?"

"Yes," Tifa said finally. A few seconds later, she said, "No," and dropped the chain and stone onto the bed. Then she was still once more.

Somewhere deep inside Lucia's mind a familiar presence stirred. A figure emerged from darkness into her mind's eye. Her hands continued to minister to Tifa, but her concentration turned inward.

The figure that appeared to Lucia took the form of a muscular man wearing a white linen wrap-kilt secured by a wide belt of gold, the buckle of which was a winged scarab inset with shining jewels. His skin was the deep bronze of a desert-dweller, his head was that of a noble falcon, and upon his feet were open sandals woven from river reeds and gilded. A sword, its blade hooked out and back halfway along its length, hung from his belt. In one hand he grasped a gleaming cruciform amulet, its ovoid head radiating the warmth of the sun.

Lucia bowed her head in respect and no small degree of awe. No matter how many times she spoke with this, her Guardian Force, she would never fail to be moved. "Greetings, Heru," she said.

The ancient Guardian Force's free hand gently lifted her chin so that her jade green eyes looked into his golden avian gaze. Amusement shone there. "We've known each other far too long for that, young one." The hand moved to take Lucia's. As she returned the warm, comforting clasp the darkness around them brightened into an early-morning vista. They stood on a high precipice, looking southward over a desert plain. "Your friend is deeply troubled."

"I can feel it, but she hasn't said anything. When I asked her about her GF stone she said it was hers, then changed her mind, like she was trying to distance herself from it."

The raptor-visaged man stared out across the plain. For a brief moment Lucia felt power surging forth from him, questing, searching for something. Then it retreated. "Leviathan, the one the fishermen call the Old Man of the Sea. That one was ever beyond even our ken."

(Our? What does he mean?)

"You have forgotten that thought is speech in this place, young one," said Heru with vast mirth. "I hear your question, and I regret that I cannot tell you more than this, until the time is right. Not all of my kind, what you call Guardian Forces, are the same. Like you humans, we have our own minds and wills. Some of us have agendas. Leviathan has always been inscrutible, appearing, disappearing and moving as he wishes with nary an explanation."

Fear began to chill Lucia's spirit despite the warmth around her. "What does he want with Tifa?"

"I cannot say. I believe he acts with honorable intent, but I cannot make any assurances."

The dark girl's eyes widened. "You're playing a hunch?"

That solar gaze shifted from the sun-fired plain to her. Lucia felt the spirit bore into her very essence. "To be blunt... Yes."

"Is there..." She attempted to swallow around a sudden tightness in her throat. "Is there anything I can do?"

"This is why I wished to speak with you. Stand by her and the other two. They will need your strength and purity of spirit. They are facing a great trial, a prelude to something that will shake the world. If they fail..." Heru fell silent. His words hung in the air, pressed down on Lucia, full of dreadful import. He was silent for long moments before speaking again. "I must go. Call upon me when you need me. My strength is yours, as ever, Lucia." The Guardian Force touched the first two fingers of his free hand to his beak, then to the girl's forehead. A glorious fire seared through Lucia's consciousness, filling her with light and hope, then burst forth from her, directed toward some other.

When the blaze dimmed Lucia's mind had returned to the present. Before her, Tifa had propped herself up. Her brushing had worked itself most of the way up Tifa's long hair. It was then that Lucia understood where Heru's power had gone. "Feeling any better?" she asked.

"Yeah," Tifa said, "thanks."

A companionable quiet settled over the two, free from the tension and concern that had filled the air a few minutes before. Tifa told Lucia about her parents, about how they hadn't changed. She carefully avoided bringing up the subject of Leviathan and her family, but her eyes were continually drawn back to the blue stone that glittered from the bed beside her. Tifa resolved to keep the stone shut in a drawer as much as possible. Just knowing it was near her was starting to make her feel nauseated.

Having Lucia around, however, was like having an extra reservoir of strength. Lucia's supportive presence blended with Tifa's friendship with Cloud and Vincent, becoming a talisman against the fear and uncertainty. Tifa knew she would have to eventually confront Leviathan if she was ever to be free of this fear; until she was ready, her friends would allow her to go on. "No one is ever an island," her mother had once told her. "We're all adrift in this sea together. Be there for the people you care about, and they'll be there for you." Was that how Laurel Lockheart had moved on with her life after that accident? It seemed to Tifa that it was the most likely possibility.

The meditative repetition of Lucia's gentle brush strokes lulled Tifa into a light doze, and when Lucia set the brush back on the dresser and turned back to look at her roommate, Tifa had curled up on the bed and completely drifted away into sleep.

----------------------------------------------------------



The next morning, Cloud and Vincent met Tifa and Lucia in the corridor learing from the dormitory to the central commons. Everyone's mood had improved from what Tifa could see. Vincent was his usual charming self, she felt one hundred percent better, and even Cloud was smiling. "Ready to tackle another head-stuffer class?" Cloud asked her.

"I don't know if I have any room left in my brain after yesterday," replied Tifa. Instructor Trepe had promised them that eventually the information she had crammed into their minds would become second nature, with enough practice, but from the students' point of view it was a mountain of concepts that dared them to attempt a climb. That morning after dressing Cloud and Vincent had practiced transferring spell quanta; each of them proudly wore his Guardian Force stone, and as they walked along Cloud flashed Vincent a quick look that they had developed for use in combat situations, then sent a charge of Cure spell energy across the link they formed in that instant. Tifa knew what they were doing, though she could not feel or see it. Her hand reached into her pocket and clasped the iolite pendant that she refused to wear.

"Want to get some practice in, Tifa?" asked Lucia.

Tifa shook her head, her hair swinging from the motion. "Maybe later."

When they arrived at the second-floor classroom they were met by Instructor Trepe. In the willowy blonde's hands were folded pieces of official Garden stationery, which she quickly handed to Vincent, Tifa and Cloud. "Sorry to throw a wrench into your morning," she said, "but the Headmaster would like to speak with the three of you. Those are your excuses from class. He'd like to see you immediately."

Vincent opened the paper Quistis handed him and read over it carefully. "The remainder of the week?"

Quistis nodded a fraction and struggled to control the smile that threatened to break through her neutral expression. She had finally been able to convince Raven, after several hours of talking the previous night, that classroom work simply wasn't challenging enough for this "terrible trio" and that Cid was on the right track. "That's right, Vincent."

Lucia smiled brightly at her companions. "Looks like the Headmaster has something special in mind for you. I'll try to catch you later, okay?"

"The word 'special' could have so many meanings," said Cloud as he frowned at his excuse.

Quistis choked off a laugh. "You catch on quickly." With Cid Kramer, anything was possible.

"You'll do just fine," said Lucia. She leaned over and pressed a quick, noisy kiss to Cloud's cheek, and then scampered into the classroom. Cloud blinked once, twice, a third time and rubbed his cheek.

"I didn't know you were such a ladies' man, Cloud," Vincent said slyly. He held up a placatory hand when his friend scowled a thunderhead in his direction. "Easy there, killer." He looked to Instructor Trepe and hefted the excuse paper. "You realize this is gonna set us back in class."

"Oh, I think you're doing well enough that it won't matter much," she said cryptically. "You'd better get going, he's expecting you." She smiled at all of them and walked into the classroom to begin the day.

"What do you think he's going to tell us?" Tifa wondered as they made their way back to the elevator.

Vincent glanced at the paper in his hand again. What indeed? If they were being excused for the rest of the week, it had to be something important, possibly field work. Could this be related to the monsters they had encountered? "Only one way to find out."

The Headmaster looked up briefly from his computer panel for a moment as they entered. Vincent noticed a distinct sense of deja-vu as he, Cloud and Tifa stood at attention in a line before the desk and waited for Cid to speak. "At ease," Cid said, and they relaxed. The Headmaster adjusted his glasses and turned off the panel, then looked up to them. "It's good to see the three of you are adjusting well to life at Balamb Garden. Instructor Trepe and SeeD Argent have been keeping me apprised of your progress, and I can say with certainty that I believe the three of you will become very fine SeeDs."

"Thank you, sir," said Tifa. "The work has been... very challenging." The memory of her spar with Xu was quite vivid -- some of her muscles were still sore from the mock combat.

"That is something at which Garden excells," said Cid with an enigmatic smile. "What of you, Mister Strife? Finding Balamb Garden to your liking?"

To Vincent's surprise, Cloud answered immediately, "Yes, sir, very much so. Like Tifa said, it's been challenging. I like that."

"An excellent quality in a SeeD cadet," Cid replied, amusement written large on his face. And a bit of... pride? Vincent wasn't sure. The Headmaster turned his gaze on Vincent and said, "Instructor Trepe mentioned to me that you have shown quite a capacity for para-magic, Mister Valentine."

Vincent blinked at the praise, uncertain if the Headmaster was looking for something in his reaction. "I've found the concepts quite easy to understand, sir. I've been working with Cloud on Junctioning and passing techniques, too. We've begun working on a system of gestures and signals for use in tight situations when we might need to pass or cast and can't spare a shout."

Tifa looked sharply at Vincent. "Were you planning on sharing?" she asked him, momentarily forgetting she was standing in front of Cid.

"This afternoon, after we'd hammered out a few more ideas," Vincent told her with a grin. Then they both remembered Cid and faced forward quickly. "Sorry, sir."

"Oh, no need to apologize," said Cid. "You've taken the initiative in your studies. I like that." He adjusted his glasses again -- giving himself a moment to think, in Tifa's opinion -- and stood from his chair. "I'm certain the three of you will be able to handle this little... situation... quite well. Possibly better than some of the other candidates I had pondered." This was, of course, a lie; he had considered no other candidates, cadet or SeeD. He knew, however, and was assured by their subtle changes in expression that such praise would bolster their confidence. "The other day, the three of you came into contact with monsters out in the open field, is that correct?"

"Yes sir, Bite Bugs," Vincent explained.

"Was there anything unusual about these Bite Bugs?"

Tifa cleared her throat. Was the headmaster quizzing them or did he honestly not know yet? "They attacked in a large swarm, sir, and were much more aggressive than normal Bite Bugs."

"I see," Cid remarked. Tifa would know, having grown up in Balamb. "Anything else?"

It was Cloud's turn, now. "When we took a car to Balamb yesterday, we passed a truck that had apparently exploded. There were several... bits... of Bite Bugs that had been caught in the explosion. A bit further down the road we picked up the man who had been driving the truck. He said that he had been attacked by the monsters and that they were probably the cause of the explosion."

"Anything unusual about the man?"

None of them said a word. How could they explain the shared feeling they had experienced? How could they tell the Headmaster that the man they had picked up had left them uneasy, as if they knew he had a bad reputation, when none of them had met the man before? Several seconds passed. Cid was waiting for an answer. "Not that I noticed, sir," Vincent volunteered. "He was wearing a blue suit, quite disheveled, but being attacked by monsters could do that."

"Indeed it could." Cid reclined against his desk and studied the cadets. They were hiding something, that he could tell, but what could it be? There had to be a way of finding it out without tipping his own hand. Letting them know too much could be fatal for them, and there was no way he would permit that. "Did you overhear anything while you were in Balamb?"

"No," Tifa said, perhaps a bit too quickly. "We had dinner with my parents, chatted for a while, and came back to the Garden."

"Hmm... Well, to get down to the reason you're here. I want the three of you to get to the bottom of this little buggy mystery." He allowed them a moment to exchange startled glances, then continued, "This will count as the prerequisite to the Field Exam at the end of the term. Your goal is to find the source of these unnaturally aggressive monsters and either report it or, preferably, eliminate it. Do not risk yourselves any more than is absolutely necessary. I expect this should take no more than four days at the utmost, which is why you have been excused for the remainder of this week." That would give them a day to rest before returning to class at the beginning of next week. "Do you have any questions?"

"Balamb is a big place to search. Four days doesn't sound like enough time," said Cloud.

Before the Headmaster could answer, Vincent looked to Cloud and said, "We've got a pattern to work with already. Both of these attacks took place in the Alcauld Plains area."

"Not much of a pattern," Tifa interjected, "but we could start in Balamb and see if anybody else has seen these things."

Cid remained quiet as the cadets began formulating their plan. He was quite pleased to see how quickly the got down to business, rejecting useless ideas and honing the useful ones into a framework for their mission. Most of his hidden uncertainty was assuaged; there was, however, one lingering doubt that he would have to address when the cadets left. "Since you seem to be eager to start your mission, I'll let you go. I'm confident you'll succeed."

The cadets saluted the Headmaster in textbook unison and left his office. Cid quietly counted to sixty breaths to make sure they wouldn't come back, then moved behind his desk and placed a quick call.

----------------------------------------------------------



"For the fourth time, I don't see what we're doing out here."

Rude never raised his from the scanner he held in his right hand. Reno's constant complaining was wearing on his prodigious patience, but the slightest moment of inattention could be the instant he would miss what he was searching for: another sign of the mutated Fastitocalon-F's. Elena decided to take the task of shutting up Reno onto herself, for which Rude was silently thankful. "We heard you the first three times," she growled, her voice filtering out from the cabin of the small bay cruiser they had borrowed, where she was busy donning a wetsuit. "And just like the first three times, the answer is, we're going to capture a live specimen. Clean out your ears!"

The redhead scrubbed his face with his hands as his irritation grew. The so-called team leader wasn't telling him anything beyond the obvious, and the rookie was mouthing off way too much. "We already know he's here. What the hell is catching a freaking fish going to do?"

"By seeing exactly what sort of mutations our quarry has made to the Fastitocalon-F, we can ascertain what he's been doing with the information he stole." Rude held up a single finger to silence Reno as the other man began to splutter an interjection. "This information will allow us to upgrade our search criteria and determine what we might be facing. You don't think he's going to come quietly when we catch him, do you?"

"Well, no..." allowed Reno. But according to his mind, every moment they wasted trying to figure out what their prey was up to was a moment wasted that could be used to actually catch the idiot. He'd had that argument with Rude the previous evening, an argument that had ended with Rude retreating to the balcony, Elena stalking out of the room and slamming the door behind her, and Reno caught between wanting to throw Rude over the side and to track down Elena and beat her senseless with his electromag rod. He'd done neither, and eventually he'd gone to sleep, still fuming at the complete lack of common sense his teammates were displaying.

Elena emerged from the cabin, her body sheathed in the skintight wetsuit and her mechanical gill apparatus and net-gun dangling from her hand. She walked to the aft of the cruiser, her swim-fins flapping noisily on the deck, and stepped over the side onto the diving platform. "Keep your eyes in your head, Niles," she cooed at Reno, who was staring unabashedly at her figure.

"I'm just wondering how you're gonna look with huge bites taken out of you."

"You could always come down with me," she fired back.

Rude's strong voice cut through their banter. "Shut up, both of you. I think I have something."

Reno moved from the aft bulkhead to look over Rude's shoulder. The screen of the scanner was displaying a weak signal, but it was getting stronger by the moment. Something was definitely approaching. "That one of your fish?"

Finally, Rude looked up from the scanner. His shaded eyes turned to Reno. "More than one. Probably two, perhaps three. Elena, wait a minute, I'm coming down with you." With that statement he strode into the cabin to don his wetsuit.

"Looks like you're stuck topside," Elena taunted.

Reno shook his head, his eyes rolling, and sighed. "At least I'm not turning myself into fish-bait."

"No, you do a good enough job attracting bugs. Birds of a feather, I guess."

"Now just a damn minute, rookie--" Reno's retort was violently cut short as he threw himself to the deck just in time to avoid having his head chewed off by a leaping fish at least four feet long. The gold and orange Fastitocalon-F sailed up over the deck, its vast sail-like fins granting it a kind of feral grace, and splashed into the water on the other side. "I'm really starting to hate this job!" Reno spat. He picked himself up and flicked his arms out, flinging the ends of his weapon into his hands.

Elena vaulted back over the aft bulkhead and yanked off her swim-fins, then readied her net-gun. On either side of the cruiser several of the golden amphibious fish emerged from the water, their bodies levitated by internal gas bladders. Each fish had a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth in multiple rows for shredding their prey effortlessly. "Rude, we have a problem out here!"

"They look hungry," Reno muttered as he thumbed the activator on his weapon. The electromag rod sang out its familiar hum. He wasted no time in aiming it and releasing a bolt at a fish that charged forward on the starboard side, its teeth gnashing. The ball of electricity slammed into the Fastitocalon-F and sent it spinning out of control back into the water of the bay. Two of its fellows on the port side took advantage of Reno's turned back, streaking forward to chomp at his head and kidneys.

Elena knew if she tried to use her net-gun to capture at least one of them she would tangle Reno in the net with it. Thinking quickly, she slammed the butt of her gun into the body of one of the fish and kicked the other one up into the air as it turned on her sudden motion. At that moment the cabin door slid open and Rude stepped out wearing only his suit pants, flinging a small white stone. In midair the stone flashed and transformed into a streak of lightning. Thunder rumbled and the stricken fish fell, twitching and smoking, to the deck. Its companion floundered in midair, stunned by the sudden crash.

The thunder came again as Rude flung a second stone at the floating Fastitocalon-F's on the starboard side. Another fish dropped lifelessly into the sea and its ravening companions dove after it, sensing a less dangerous meal opportunity. Elena brought up her gun and snared the fish floating over the deck with the titanium-mesh net. On the port side the remaining fish retreated, venting gas from their bladders and diving into the waves. "Got one," Elena said calmly.

"I think I've been cursed," Reno mused. He swallowed down a rising tide of bile as he picked up the still-smoldering Fastitocalon-F on the deck. It reeked of ocean, fish and burnt flesh. The fish could very well have summed up everything wrong with the entire mission so far, and Reno snarled as he tossed it overboard. Seconds after the body slipped into the water there was a sudden boiling fury as the still-prowling monsters below consumed it. "Every damn time I get into a vehicle I get jumped by monsters."

"Don't know what we'd do without you," Elena told him. She turned to a large container that stood next to the cabin bulkhead and tapped a button on the top. A large portion of the front side rose. Elena shoved the net-bound Fastitocalon-F into the makeshift cage, kicked the gun in with it, and pressed the closure button. "Are we gonna feed this thing, or what?"

"If we have to," said Rude. "Now that we have one, we can move on to the next step. Reno, take us back to port." He returned to the cabin to dress.

"More fish," Reno muttered as he jabbed the engine activation button. "And not one single decent beer."

"How did you ever make it as far as you have in Matrix?" Elena asked him.

Reno turned to regard his rookie teammate and glowered darkly. "By eliminating people who got in my way."

"Whatever, Reno." Elena sighed with distaste and leaned on the bulkhead, watching the horizon as the cruiser glided back toward Balamb. Niles Reno, she thought for what must have been the hundredth time since she had first met the man in Deling City, was a complete idiot who didn't deserve the uniform he was wearing.

Dealing with the locals at the dock wasn't difficult. Rude ordered the container to be taken to their room at the hotel, and several dock-workers began moving it immediately. He weighed the possibility that the stunned fish-monster in the box would begin thrashing around, alerting the men carrying it, and decided it was worth the risk. They couldn't leave the container on the cruiser or at the dock, and he didn't feel like carrying the thing. Any questions could be dealt with in a proper manner. After assuring himself that the dock-workers had understood his instructions to leave the container in the room and not mess with it, he began making his own way up the hill, Elena and Reno trailing after.

----------------------------------------------------------



At that precise moment, Vincent Valentine stood outside the shop at the top of the hill. "No doubt about it," he said to Cloud, who sprawled on a bench a few feet away. "The truck wasn't destroyed by those monsters. It was deliberately detonated. I knew something was odd but I couldn't figure out what until we took a closer look at it."

"Oh, so that's what that lollygagging was back there," Cloud drawled. "Any reason you didn't mention it until now?"

Vincent scratched his chin. He hadn't been able to put the pieces together until just now, but once he did he mentally kicked himself for not seeing it sooner. There was no way any of the Bite Bugs could have caused ignition of the truck's fuel, and the blast mark on the frame near the fuel tank spoke of an electrical attack. Bite Bugs didn't use Thunder magic. What was the driver hiding? "I wanted to make sure I had everything worked out. I'm sure of it now. Somebody hit it with electricity, like a Thunder spell."

"Maybe the driver's got enemies and he didn't want to tell us about them."

"Could be," Vincent agreed, "but that's a line of speculation that won't get us anywhere."

"You sure about that?" Cloud asked him. Sometimes the most incidental bits of information could prove useful, especially in a case like this. "Need I remind you how freaked we all were by the guy we picked up?"

Though he tried to suppress it, Vincent couldn't stop the shiver. "No. I remember that all too well." He looked up the street toward the train station and watched the people coming and going on their earnest errands. "I hate standing around here waiting. We should be doing something."

Cloud chuckled and turned his face up to the sun. "I'm doing something right now. Enjoying the sunshine and fresh air."

"You know, I think Lucia's done you some good," said Vincent. Cloud turned a skeptical eye on his friend, who continued, "Ever since you started talking to her you've been loosening up, more social. You've said more this morning than you did in the entire week previous, and I know for a fact that you've smiled six times today already."

Rolling his eyes, Cloud looked away toward the hotel. "Only you would keep track of something like that." A tall, bald, tanned man wearing sunglasses and a navy-blue suit was walking up the hill from the dock, followed by a blonde woman in a similar suit... and the man they had picked up on the road. "Hey, Vincent, check this out, there's the guy now. And he's got friends."

Vincent turned to follow Cloud's gaze. The redhead was trailing behind the others, scowling and walking with his hands in the pockets of his trousers. "He's unhappy about something." The woman turned her head and spoke to the red-haired man, whose scowl darkened. Evidently the woman had scored a point of some kind on him, because when she turned her head back she was grining broadly. "And I think she's it."

"Think we should go talk to him?"

The redhead's eyes found Cloud and Vincent and the man missed a stride. "We might have to, he's seen us," Vincent observed. The man spoke to his companions, who stopped and looked at the cadets as well. A short discussion ensued, and then the bald man and the woman walked into the hotel. The redhead crossed the intersection toward Vincent and Cloud, his expression suddenly lightening.

"We meet again," the man said. "Thanks again for your help the other day. I don't think I properly introduced myself. I'm Niles Reno, from the Deling Commonwealth Foundation."

On impulse, Cloud lied through his teeth. "I'm Clark, this here's Louis."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, even if a bit belated." Reno leaned against the wall of the shop, doing his best impression of complete innocence. Making SeeDs, even just cadets, suspicious would be nothing but trouble. But they were probably here for a reason, and he wanted to know what it was. "You guys are from Garden, right?"

There was no denying that. When they had met Reno on the road, they had been wearing their uniforms. "Yeah," Cloud told him.

"Never really hear a lot about Garden in Deling City. I mean, the Galbadian army gets a lot of officers and soldiers from the Garden in Galbadia and all, but they don't talk about it. What's it like?"

"School," Vincent said with a sly grin, "with big, sharp teeth."

Reno's response was cut off as Tifa came trotting down the road. "Hey, guys! I-- Oh, hi," she breathed as she came to a stop.

Reno nodded a greeting and reintroduced himself. "Louis and Clark here were just telling me a little bit about Garden."

(Louis and... oh. Makes sense,) Tifa thought. (No idea who this creep is, no need to tell him our real names.) "Sorry to interrupt," she apologized. "And it's good to see you again, Mr. Reno, I was wondering how you were doing."

"Very thoughtful of you... what was your name again, miss?"

Tifa blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Carol."

"Carol. Let me assure you I'm doing just fine." This wasn't going at all the way Reno wanted it to. Getting bogged down in pleasantries and him giving ground wasn't where he wanted the conversation to lead, and now there didn't seem to be a way to redirect it. Time to go. "Unfortunately I have to get moving, my associates and I have work to do. Maybe we'll meet again."

"Doubtless," Vincent said. He watched Reno walk away without blinking, following the man with his eyes all the way to the hotel door. "I don't like that guy."

"I'm supposed to be the paranoid one, Vincent," Cloud said. The blonde stood and stretched. "You find anything out, Tifa?"

Tifa nodded. Indeed she had. "Dad tells me one of his acquaintances who lives in the village of Waltrop heard some people talking. Apparently our buggy friends have killed some cattle."

Neither of the others had ever heard of the place. "Waltrop? Where's that?" asked Cloud.

"A few kilometers northeasterly of here. There's a back road that leads out that way."

"Let's go check it out," said Cloud.

Tifa chuckled and looked to Vincent for a moment. "My, isn't Cloud the decisive one today." They headed back to the car, which was parked in the Lockhearts' driveway, and left Balamb on their way to the village.

----------------------------------------------------------



Not far outside Balamb, the pavement of the road gave way to a packed dirt trail that wound its way among the gentle hills of the Alcauld Plains. Tifa allowed herself to relax, drifting back into memories of picnics and nature hikes. She could almost taste the sandwiches her mother would pack. Oftentimes she would sneak bites while they were walking, then blame the nibbles on sly wildlife.

Though her father was a fisherman he had a wealth of knowledge about the land around Balamb as well as the ocean. Once he had taken her into the wood that lay to the west and shown her a cave. It had been evening when they left, and dark fell around them as Cole related a tale about a horrible monster that lived in the cave. Tifa remembered the thrill of terror that had run riot through her as her father described its huge fangs, its glowing golden eyes that could light up the night, its terrible roar... and then the fit of laughter that had followed when an irate raccoon had popped out of the brush nearby and hissed at them, sending Cole scampering behind a tree.

Waltrop lay six kilometers from Balamb. Just before it was a dairy farm, nestled between an arm of the forest and a large hill. Lines of barbed wire fence sectioned the hill's slope above the road, penning in a herd of grazing cattle. Several windmills stood on the hill's brow, twisting slowly in the lazy breeze. The windmills were attached to small generators that evidently provided much of the farm's power. A man dressed in denim over-alls was attending to a section of the wire and paused a moment to look up as the car approached. Vincent pulled the vehicle to the side of the rough road and they got out, making sure to leave their weapons. "Hello," Vincent said to the man.

"Afternoon," the man replied. His mostly-gray hair framed a face that was lined with years of exposure to the elements, the look of a man who won an honest living. "What can I do for you young folks?" he asked, his speech tinted with the particular accent that seemed to be common to most rural dwellers.

"We're looking for a Mr. Shane Onder, could you tell us where to find him?"

"Sure could," the man said. He took off his gloves and wiped his brow. "He's right here."

Tifa stepped forward and offered her hand. "I'm Tifa Lockheart, Cole's daughter. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Onder."

"You're Cole's daughter? Yeah, I can see it in the face," Onder said as he took Tifa's hand in a rough, strong grip. "I remember him tellin' me he had a girl in school somewheres. Who're the fellas here?"

Cloud and Vincent introduced themselves, and Onder invited them all to join him and his family for a late lunch. "Been up workin' on the fence all day. Somethin' came in an' tore it all to pieces last night."

Vincent asked, "Would this be related to the cattle that were killed, do you think?" If it was more Bite Bugs, they could certainly cut wire with their claws. But why would they go after the wire and not the cattle this time?

Onder shrugged his broad shoulders. "Could be. I'd rather not start in on that, people 'round these parts get a little twitchy about monsters."

The farmhouse was old, the white paint peeling back from graying wood, but the unmistakeable sensation of a well-loved home radiated from every room. Mrs. Onder, a lanky gray-haired woman who wore her spectacles on a chain around her neck and picked them up to look at everything rather than wearing them on her face the whole time, kept everything neat and clean, welcomed the cadets warmly and invited them to wash up, then sit at the dining room table while she fetched lunch. "We don't get many visitors out this way, especially youngsters like yourselves. What're you doing all the way out here?"

"They're here lookin' inta those strange killings, Martha," said Onder. His wife barely remarked as she breezed into the kitchen. "We try not to make much of things like that. Stuff like this happens, time t' time, it's nothin' big."

"Is it true that you overheard some of the villagers saying there was something strange about the... incident?" Tifa asked.

Onder settled into a creaking chair at the head of the table and shrugged again. "Yeah, old Bill MacReady was yammerin' about it to his sister Eleanor. You'd think every monster for a hundred miles had come stampedin' through his living room the way he was on about it. Says a couple head got cut up, like some kind of wild slaughterhouse, and left there in the field."

"How long ago was this?"

"Oh, musta been... three days? Four? Martha, what day was that?" the farmer asked his wife.

Martha walked back into the dining room carrying a tray piled with sandwiches. "Three days ago, Shane."

"Too late to get a look at the cattle," Vincent remarked. "Being able to see the cuts and so on would have helped tell us if it's... what we think it is. But maybe Mr. MacReady will remember."

"If you don' mind my askin'," Onder put in, "just what do you think it is?"

"We think some Bite Bugs got into something they shouldn't have and got a little mean," Cloud replied smoothly.

"Heh. Stupid insects. Figures they'd do something like that. Well, dig in," the farmer invited.

As the meal progressed, the trio learned something about life in and around Waltrop. The Onders didn't live alone, but their three grown children were helping another farming family on the other side of the village to fix a barn that had been mysteriously vandalized the week before. That was the way of things around here -- everybody pitched in to help, and in time of need could call on their neighbors to help them. The primary income of the villagers came in marketing the dairy products produced by the farms around Waltrop. Tifa was especially surprised to learn that the Onder family held the secret of her favorite cheese. Altogether, there was an idyll in the lives of these people. But unless the mystery of these vicious monsters was solved, that idyll could wind up shattered into a million bloody pieces.

After lunch, Onder volunteered to personally show the cadets the way to the MacReady farm. He identified every person they passed, usually leaning out the window to holler a greeting. Tifa suspected he liked showing off how he was riding in a fancy vehicle with "hip" young people, a thought that made her giggle several times. Onder did notice Tifa's heavy gloves sitting on the rear seat next to her, and glanced back to see the SeeD-marked cases containing Vincent's Quicksilver and Cloud's Hardedge, but he said nothing at all.

Bill MacReady was easily seventy years old, and must have worked hard all his life to save up every single bit of grumpiness he could. If anything, the withered old farmer's accent was condensed, and his beady pale-blue eyes stared at everything with piercing suspicion. From the moment Onder opened the door to greet MacReady and received an irritated, "What do you want?" in reply, Vincent knew this was going to be a trial in patience.

"City people comin' up 'ere pokin' 'eir noses aroun'," MacReady grouched. "What kinda hoo-haw you tryin' ta stir up, anyway?"

"We're working on a project for school, Mr. MacReady," Vincent said gently. "If we could ask you a few questions, we might be able to help-"

MacReady cut him off by hawking spit into the dirt. "Ya wanna help? Go bring 'em head'a cattle back ta life. Them was my prime breedin' stock! Dam' monsters come in an' hack 'em ta bits outta spite, I tell ya!"

"I'm sorry, sir, I wish I could. But if we can figure out what's going on, maybe we can keep it from happening again."

The old man glared at Vincent, then shook his head. "'least they didn' get ta my chocobo."

"You have a chocobo?" Tifa asked, her eyes lighting up. Cloud wasn't positive it was just an act to get the old man talking, but he caught Vincent's relieved expression. "Can I see him?"

Some of MacReady's irrascibility lifted as he pondered the request for a moment. "Sure, over here." The old man began walking toward a small stable with wide-open doors. Tifa walked alongside him, asking a non-stop stream of questions about the bird, keeping MacReady's attention. Vincent, Cloud and Onder trailed behind.

"She certainly has a way with people," Onder commented.

"That she does," Vincent agreed, feeling a smile tugging at his lips.

The interior of the stable was divided into four stalls, two on each side, facing a three-meter-wide path between. At the far end of the stable were two large doors like the ones the group passed through, but closed and barred with a heavy wooden beam. The floor was hard-packed earth and was strewn here and there with loose straw.

When the group entered the stable, a large, beaked yellow head popped up in the far stall on the right. The wide, soulful eyes fixed first on MacReady, then the others, and the great bird warbled a querry. "Wark?"

"Got yerse'f some vis'tors," old MacReady said to the bird. He unbolted the stall's gate and pulled the wooden-slat door open. The bird craned its head forward and peered around the post, examining the newcomers. "This here's Firefoot," the wrinkled man said to his guests.

Firefoot stepped out of the stall with rolling, oddly graceful steps. The bird straightened, his head soaring two and a half meters above the floor, and flapped his atrophied wings. "Wark!" he chirped by way of greeting.

Tifa was instantly enchanted. She walked up to Firefoot and ran a hand gently over the bird's lemon-yellow feathers, eliciting a pleased coo. "He's beautiful. How old is he?"

"Four years."

The bird's massive head dropped down and nuzzled Tifa, pushing her back two steps. When he saw what he had done, Firefoot warbled a dismayed, "Wark?" and dropped his head further, eyes full of contrition.

"Oh, it's all right," she assured the bird. She tickled him behind his ear and was rewarded with another coo of pleasure. "He's very strong."

The first hint of a pleasant expression MacReady had shown took light on his face. "Fastest runner here'bouts. Least, he used ta be. Don' get out much no more."

"I always wanted to ride a chocobo when I was little," Cloud mused. Old memories long buried of galloping down the street with a stick between his legs surfaced and played out for him as he watched Tifa with Firefoot. "Guess life got in the way. Still... I don't think it would be that hard."

"Maybe your parents took you when you were really little?" Vincent ventured. Yet as he said that, the peculiar sense of deja-vu that had haunted the three cadets settled over him once again. (What is it?) he wondered. (What's going on?)

"Maybe." But the blonde wasn't convinced and it showed in his tone. He was feeling it too, and his thoughts echoed Vincent's. One look at the wonder in Tifa's eyes was enough to tell him that she was experiencing the same sensation. "Mr. MacReady, about your livestock..."

"Huh? Oh." The old farmer sniffed and scratched his chin. "Yeah, all right. They was all cut-up, like somethin' wit' big ol' claws ripped 'em. Some bites. Happened in th' middle'a th' night. Thought I heard a buzzin', figgered I was hearin' thin's. So's I went back ta sleep. Woke up nex' mornin' and the cattle was cut ta pieces."

Vincent said, "That sounds like our target."

"You kids mentioned something about Bite Bugs at lunch, right?" Onder asked.

Cloud nodded agreement. "That's right. We're trying to track down the nest, and we figured the easiest way to do that is find a pattern in the locations of these attacks."

"Well ain' that somethin'. Whatcha gonna do when ya find it?" MacReady demanded, his sour hardness returning.

"Hopefully," Vincent told him, "wipe them out." MacReady's irritability was starting to grate on his nerves. The sooner they got out of here, the better.

"Buncha school kids goin' monster huntin'? Faugh." MacReady spat into the dirt. "Ain' never hearda no school sends kids out chasin' monsters."

"Actually, Mr. MacReady," said Tifa, "we're from Balamb Garden." She continued to stroke Firefoot's feathers, fascinated by the feel of them passing under her fingers.

MacReady harumphed and patted his hand on the wood of the stall gate. "C'mon, bird, back in yer stall." The chocobo warbled forlornly at the interruption of its visit and trudged back into the stall, then turned and hung its head over the gate. "Time fer y'all ta be movin' on. I got thin's ta do."

Thankful for the opportunity to leave but intrigued by the sudden dismissal, Vincent led the way back to the car. "Don' mind him," Onder said to them as they buckled in. "His grandson applied to Garden and got turned down. Ol' Bill ain't too happy about that."

"If the boy's disposition is anything like his grandfather's," said Vincent, "I can see why the Headmaster turned him down."

MacReady's sour dislike of his visitors seemed to trail after them like a ghost. A sheep that had somehow gotten loose ran across the road in front of the car, forcing Vincent to swerve violently to the right. Somewhere in the grass beside the road lay broken glass, or perhaps a shard of metal; the passenger-side front tire blew. Vincent nearly lost control, barely managing to bring the car to a safe halt. After a comedy of errors ranging from a missing jack, which forced them to hike to the nearest farmhouse and borrow one, and one of the wheel's lug nuts going missing to the spare tire being low on air, they finally made it back to the Onder farm, only to witness the spare also going flat.

"Not to worry. One of my boys can take one of you inta town tomorrow mornin' ta get a new tire and a lug nut," said Onder with a fatherly smile. "We got two old rooms we ain't usin', one for you fellas and one for the miss here." The cadets unanimously thanked the farmer and followed him inside, where he left them in his wife's care before heading back out to continue his work with the wire fence.

After stowing their gear in their room, Tifa, Vincent and Cloud spent the afternoon helping Onder with the farm chores. Once Onder's sons, Kyle, Richard and Aaron, returned, their father introduced the boys to the cadets and the seven set to work stacking the bails of hay the boys had brought back with them in the barn. It felt wonderful to be working with their hands and contributing to the farm. For a time the three cadets were able to forget their mission and enjoy the moment. Hot showers and a homecooked dinner later, Vincent sat with Tifa atop the hill, gazing at the stars in the newly-fallen night.

"I used to stargaze all the time from the beach when I was little," Tifa said. She traced her finger along the familiar lines of the Balamb-fish constellation her mother had shown her long ago. "My mother used to say, 'As long as the fish shines down on Balamb, we'll always have what we need.' I'd go to the beach and look up at the fish and whisper to it, 'Please watch over us.' I always thought it heard me."

"Maybe it did." Vincent turned to look at Tifa, but his next words paused as he saw, for the first time with more than his eyes, the faint starlight washing over her face. Never before had he let himself notice how beautiful she was. His mouth was suddenly dry. He swallowed and pushed on. "I don't know what's happened to Cloud, but I'm really happy he's breaking out of his shell."

Tifa nodded her agreement. She wasn't certain what had finally liberated Cloud from his gloom but after five years of waiting she wasn't about to argue. So far the new Cloud was everything she had hoped lay waiting inside her quiet blonde friend. "Think maybe it was Lucia?"

"I mentioned it to Cloud this morning. He didn't seem too sensitive about the subject, but he didn't say anything about it either." Uncertain of exactly what he was feeling, Vincent reclined on the grass and stared up into the heavens. Maybe something was indeed developing between Cloud and the gorgeous dark-skinned cadet, but his mind had trouble focusing on them. Tifa kept coming into focus in his thoughts; her eyes, her voice, the way she moved. They'd known each other for five years. Why would he start thinking about her this way only now? Shoving the thoughts into a dark corner of his mind, Vincent forced himself to concentrate on the sky. "So what do you think we should do next?"

"Well," replied Tifa, "after we fix the car tomorrow we need to see if we can get more information on the attacks. I printed a hardcopy of a topological map of Balamb that I found in the Garden's database. We can add in the locations of known attacks and start triangulating from there. Maybe we can pinpoint some likely nest locations. We wasted a lot of time today, you know."

Vincent sighed in partial agreement. They had indeed spent quite a bit of their precious time, though he wasn't sure the time was wasted. Making contact with the Onder family could prove extremely valuable in the future. "People hear things, and the things they hear can be valuable," they had been taught.

They lay on the hill in companionable silence while the stars turned a lazy wheel overhead. Somewhere in that time Vincent slipped into a dream...

----------------------------------------------------------



He was exercising, lifting weights in the company gym on the sixty-fourth floor. The burn felt good, let him know he was alive. Sometimes this city got to be too much, pressing down on the spirit. There was hardly anything alive besides humans on this giant metal plate. Sure, the company paid lip-service to its employees' comfort by providing potted plants. There was even a tree in the center of the sixty-first flour lounge area. How it grew in the inadequate artificial lighting on that floor was beyond him. The company couldn't be bothered to dip into their own overflowing energy resources enough to provide bright light. He supposed that there was something in the water the tree was given.

He replaced the weight bar on its rests and sat up on the bench. He wiped away the sweat that rolled down his face. The company wanted him to go with the research team to Nibelheim. He didn't mind. Getting out of this city and into some relatively fresh air was enough incentive on its own. The fact that Lucrecia was part of the research team only made it easier.

He made his way out of the gym and down the dark-tiled corridor to the locker room. It was empty, which was to be expected. He worked out late at night, so that he could be alone to think. It was one of the few spare moments he had besides sleep, and even that wasn't always private. At least the pay was good. And if he hadn't signed up, he never would have met Lucrecia. He'd come a long way from the little borough outside Kalm where he'd been born.

At least the company was willing to shell out for hot water. He stood under the near-scalding spray and let the heat soak into him. Yes, going to Nibelheim and spending some time with Lucrecia would be very good. The only hitch in what would otherwise be almost a paid vacation was that creepy scientist, Dr. Hojo. The man carried an aura of tension, like his mind was forever about to snap. He'd seen the scientist talking to Lucrecia several times and had always waited for Hojo to move on before going to her. Hojo was the head of the research team and would be going to Nibelheim as well. He vowed to do his best to stay out of the scientist's way.

The hissing of the water was slowly undercut with an odd buzzing. At first he wondered if something was wrong with the pipes. But an odd sensation of being shaken made his reality twist and fade away...

----------------------------------------------------------



Vincent jerked awake. Tifa was shaking him. "They're coming!" The air was full of the same droning that had come with the Bite Bugs they had fought the other day. Tifa let go of his arm and scrambled to her feet. Above them, the stars had shifted position slightly; not quite an hour had passed. The full moon, newly risen, cast its light across the countryside, throwing disorienting shadows and bringing objects into odd, sharp relief.

"Where's Cloud?" Vincent asked as he rose from the ground. He scanned around for the source of the sound and cursed himself for being caught unarmed.

"Right behind you!" Cloud sprinted up the hill holding both his own Hardedge and Vincent's quicksilver. He tossed the sidearm to his friend and drew his blade. Starlight rippled across the polished steel. "Came out to look for you two when you didn't come in."

Down the slope of the hill on the other side from the house, a swarm of Bite Bugs boiled out of the moonlit woods. Even as Vincent raised his weapon and lined one of the insects up in his sights he could see the difference that marked these monsters as something new. His finger moved; the Quicksilver barked and a blazing crimson carapace shattered. Again, and again the firearm spat death and two more of the mutants fell, but it wasn't nearly enough. Beside Vincent, Cloud reached out and grasped the air, focusing his mind as he drew the spell potential from one of the rapidly-approaching monsters. The night lit up as the Fire spell exploded, charring its target. Still they came, every fallen one seemingly replaced by two more.

"Fall back to the house!" Cloud shouted as he leapt in front of his comrades. His left hand reached up and clasped the pendant that hung around his neck. Sky-blue eyes closed in concentration. The air became suddenly charged as if lightning were about to strike from the clear night sky. Tifa bolted, her legs carrying her down the hill toward the house like one of Vincent's bullets. Vincent himself was hard on her heels. They had to warn the Onders, quickly.

Behind them the night exploded with light. A piercing shriek echoed across the hills and woods, the battle cry of Quetzacoatl, Guardian Force of Thunder. The blindingly-bright avian appeared above Cloud, hovering in midair by virtue of the downdraft created by its huge wings, reared back, gathering in the fury of a breaking thunder storm, and spat a thousand-tined fork of lightning at the oncoming swarm. The storm caught the mutant insects full-on and fried them mercilessly. Their shells cooked and burst as they fell to the ground.

Cloud opened his eyes as Quetzacoatl faded back into the spirit world, and looked down on the devastation the great thunderbird had unleashed. The hillside was littered with smoking red shells and scored with blackened streaks. The air was thick with the aroma of ozone and smoke. Some of the bodies were still twitching, temporarily animated by the power that had slain them.

No -- some of the monsters, including those Vincent had shot, were still alive. They began to rise, their wings fluttering unsteadily at first but gaining more sureity. One by one they were surrounded in a sparkling glow. Cloud didn't need to wonder what was happening. Somehow these mutants were able to use Cure spells. He turned and ran; there was no way he could face them alone.

The Onder house was brightly lit. Vincent stood guarding the front door. He leapt over the porch railing and watched the hillside as Cloud approached, then backed up the steps and into the entry foyer. He slammed the front door closed and locked the old-fashioned mechanical deadbolt. "What happened?"

Cloud shook his head. "Quetzacoatl hit them pretty hard, but some of them got back up. These bugs must be tougher than the normal ones, and the spread pattern didn't hit each individual as hard. All three of the ones you dropped got up, too. And they used Cure spells on themselves."

"Oh, fantastic." The humming of the swarm's approaching wings drifted through the closed door, getting louder with each passing second.

"We can't stay in here," Tifa added quickly. "They'll tear the place apart."

Vincent nodded. This momentary retreat had allowed them to regroup and gather their wits, but it also endangered the Onder family. If the mutant Bite Bugs decided to attack the house in an effort to get at the cadets -- and there was every indication that such a possibility was quite likely -- then the Onders could easily be hurt or killed. They had to head back outside and face the swarm. "We're going to have to hit them hard and fast. Cloud, you and I will switch off summoning our GF's, you first. I'll pin them down with my Quicksilver and you can hit them with Fire spells. Tifa, you be our extra eyes and make sure we don't get surprised."

The brunette girl nodded with a look of great relief. For a moment Tifa had thought Vincent would ask her to contact and summon Leviathan, and the revulsion that had stirred felt like it would choke her. "Right."

The sound of a pump-action shotgun being cocked drew their attention from their huddle. Shane Onder nodded to the cadets. "Can't sit by while you all defend my farm for me, now, can I?" he remarked.

"Sir, trust me, it's no shame. These things are vicious. It would be best if you stayed inside and covered your family in case any of them get past us." Vincent drew his Quicksilver and loaded a fresh clip into the weapon. Driving the clip home with a smack of his palm, he continued, "If you could call Balamb Garden and get in touch with Headmaster Cid Kramer, we'd greatly appreciate it. When they ask what your business is, tell them it's a message from Cadet Vincent Valentine and it's extremely urgent. Tell him what we're facing here."

The farmer considered the three young people before him. He hadn't seen bravery quite like this in... Well, it had been a long time since the aftermath of the Sorceress War. Briefly he wondered what had become of that Loire fellow. But it didn't matter now. What mattered were the SeeD cadets standing in front of him, ready to lay down their lives for him and his family and depending on him to contact their Headmaster. Onder nodded firmly -- he could do that much for them. "I'll get right on it."

"Thank you, sir," the cadets said as one.

Tifa grabbed the door handle, looked to Vincent for the silent count, and yanked it open on three. Vincent brought up his Quicksilver and scanned the moonlit country revealed by the open portal. The thrumming of the swarm pressed all around them like the weight of an approaching storm. Vincent edged onto the porch, his eyes sweeping from left to right and back again. The swarm had spread out, its members attacking the wires Onder had spent so much time putting up, the barn, and... their car. Vincent cursed. Cloud stepped through the door onto the porch, saw the same thing and grit his teeth.

"Change of plans," Vincent whispered. "Looks like it's going to be a free-for-all now." Cloud nodded his agreement, having reached the same conclusion, then turned to catch Tifa's assent. The closest targets were on the car, busy ripping it to shreds.

Cloud didn't need to examine the SeeD vehicle to know that the cost of repairs would be nearly as prohibitive as replacing the thing, and trying to pick the bugs off one by one would only draw trouble. But if the car were to explode, it would give them the cover of a distraction as well as aiding them in killing the mutant bugs. He wondered if the same thoughts had gone through Reno's mind that day on the road out of Balamb. "You get everything out of the car?" he asked quietly.

"Yes," Tifa hissed, "why?"

"This is why." Quetzacoatl felt Cloud's call and responded eagerly, leaping into the battle from the spirit world. The massive Thunder spirit swooped over the car and let fly with a blazing storm of lightning. The car exploded violently as the air and fuel in the tank sparked and ignited. Crimson insects shrieked horribly, punctuating the roar.

"Go!" Vincent called. He leapt off the porch and turned to face the barn. The massive insects crawling over the structure were momentarily startled by the explosion and the death of their hivemates, and paused in their splintering attack on the wood. Deep within himself Vincent touched the icy presence that was his link to Shiva and urged her forth. Before him the air was illuminated by a ghostly presence, the aurora filled with the twinkle of ice and snow. A beautiful woman, ten feet tall and blue as a clear winter sky, took shape in the light. Cutting arctic winds swirled around her and gathered in her hands. Shiva reared back and thrust her hands forward, spraying a devastating blizzard of howling gales and razor-sharp ice crystals at the mutants. The sudden assault froze their joints, chilled their hydrostatic motion, dropped them to the ground. Even as the powerful Ice spirit faded away the moonlight night flared again as Cloud grasped the Fire potential around the Bite Bugs and brought it to life. Frozen shells cracked under the sudden strain.

Vincent could hear Tifa's voice screaming.

A sudden weight and searing pain and knocked Vincent to his knees. A deep gash had been ripped open in his back by one of the mutant bugs. Agony ripped a cry from his throat, jagged as the rent in his flesh. The weight was flung aside as Cloud delivered a vicious kick to the attacking insect. The blonde spun around, severing the head of one of its companions, completed his turn and blasted Vincent's assailant with one of his own internalized Fire spells. Though he felt his own strength diminish ever so slightly it had been worth the cost to save the time casting about for the Fire potential around the bug. And he could always Draw more.

Ten feet away Tifa was fighting like she had never fought before. Her fist collided with one monster even as another slashed at her hamstrings and a third flew at her face. She clutched the oncoming bug and drove her fist into its head, screaming the whole while. Warm blood slicked down the backs of her legs. She staggered, tripped over something she could not see, and fell to the ground.

Huddled on the ground, Vincent desperately reached inside himself to find the Cure spells he kept. In a split second he felt the pain in his back subside. He rolled to his feet and dodged aside in time to avoid having the side of his head split open by an opportunistic mutant. Anger flared in his heart as he brought up his firearm and pulled the trigger twice. The first shot missed widely but the second ripped off one of the bug's diaphanous wings, sending it spinning out of control. Cloud's sword made short work of the bug as it careened past.

The swarm kept coming. In the moment it took Vincent to reload his Quicksilver he was surrounded by four more monsters. One came at his head, one attacked his calves, one latched onto his right forearm and the fourth latched onto his back. The anger burning in his mind transmuted to fear as their claws pierced his flesh and spilt his blood onto the ground. In desperation he blasted the bug attached to his face. It flew off in a shower of gore, ripping a gash in his cheek as it did. Vincent himself fell backward and pinned two of the bugs benath him. The one attached to his arm hung on, its terrible claw nearly scissoring the cadet's forearm in half. He couldn't control his fingers. The pistol dropped to the ground.

Searing heat blistered the side of his face as the mutant on his arm was incinerated by Cloud. The one under Vincent's legs squirmed its way to freedom only to meet the edge of the blonde cadet's blade. The one under his back made an uncomfortable pillow of gore.

Unable to spare the time to examine Vincent, Cloud wheeled and swung, dancing deadly steps as yet more of the monsters converged on him. Their tactics changed. Instead of trying to latch onto him and cut him apart they were circling and slashing, wearing him down. Ten different cuts dripped away his life and he could feel even his enhanced strength beginning to fade. (This can't be it,) he thought as he backslashed, reversed his blade and cleaved another crimson Bite Bug. (I promised Zack. I promised Mom and Dad. The Galbadians owe me. I can't go out like this.)

Pain rolled through Tifa's mind unrestrained, dulling her world. In desperation, uncaring of the chance she otherwise would not have taken, she drew out Leviathan and clutched the stone, reaching out to the Old Man of the Sea. Her mind's eye revealed the great winged sea serpent rising from the waves, reaching out to her in turn. From him passed a Cure spell, enough to get her on her feet but not quite enough to dull the pain. She only then realized how close to death she had been. Indignant anger sparked into burning rage. She saw Vincent lying on the ground, his arm nearly severed halfway between the wrist and elbow. She saw Cloud spinning like a whirlwind of doom, yet still beginning to fail. Burning rage froze into cold, righteous fury. Something orange exploded before her eyes and she fell on the nearest monster. Her fists and feet drove again and again with uncanny, supernatural force and precision, slaughtering her opponent with no mercy. Another target entered her sight and fell to her onslaught. And another. Cloud was heartened by her renewed assault and leapt into the air, cleaving three bugs apart on the way down. The enemy was dwindling.

Vincent groped about for his firearm with his left hand. Finding it, he raised it, pointed at a suddenly retreating group of monsters and pulled the trigger. Agony and terror swirled through his mind and turned into power. Power which flowed down his arm. Power which loaded into the chambered round. Power that exploded out with it. Power that detonated among the fleeing foe. Power that shattered them.

Assured victory had turned into a rout for the hive. Those that remained scrambled away, seeking cover. In the cacophony a single shot went unnoticed. From a second-story window, Richard Onder, Shane's middle son, gazed out at the fleeing bugs and held up a small black metal and plastic device about eight centimeters long. The small monochrome screen on its front side lit up with concentric rings and a single bright dot which was moving away from the center. Richard smiled as he watched the device, the receiver for the tracker he had just attached to one of the monsters. It was working perfectly.

Vincent gratefully tapped one Cure spell, then another, and felt his wounds close and his arm reknit. Cloud knelt on the ground, breathing great gulps of the night air, and did the same. Tifa put Leviathan back in her pocket and walked over to first Cloud, then Vincent. After seeing that they would pull through, she made her silent way back toward the farmhouse.

"Let's not do that again, okay?" Cloud gasped.

"I hear you," agreed Vincent. "This is getting ridiculous."

Cloud levered himself to his feet, supporting his weight with the Hardedge. "I wonder what's wrong with Tifa."

The answer was obvious to Vincent, at least. "She had to use her GF to tap her magic. After what her mother told her about Leviathan, she doesn't want to get anywhere near it. Have you noticed she hasn't been wearing the stone ever since that little chat?"

"I didn't really pay much attention," Cloud admitted. He looked up at the sky and wondered briefly how Lucia was doing on this beautiful night. He couldn't wait to see her again, which disturbed him more than a little. His entire world was turning on its ear because of her warm presence. "We should probably check and see if the bugs left us any compensation for the hassle," he said, referring to the strange habit of Lunar-born wildlife species -- monsters -- to occasionally leave behind crystals of undifferentiated para-magical potential, which could be "refined" into specific spells, or pieces of their own bodies charged with para-magic which could be used in place of spells. These crystals and pieces were a valuable commodity, often trading hands in games of Triple Triad at Trabia Garden when the participants didn't feel like trading their cards.

"Go ahead and get started. I need to check with Mr. Onder and see if he contacted the Garden." Vincent stood, brushed off his uniform and made his way back to the house.

As he passed into the entry foyer he saw Tifa lying on the couch in the living room, her beautiful eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. Before he could approach her he was accosted by Richard. The young man pressed the tracking receiver into his hand. "I managed to tag one of the bugs with a radio transmitter before they high-tailed it. The range isn't that great, what with the signal interference that's got all the old radio and television stations shut down, but it should help."

Vincent considered the lit screen of the receiver. The glowing blip moving away from the center, he assumed, was the transmitter. "What would you estimate the range is?"

Richard clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction. "Two, maybe three kilometers on a good day. I've tried just about everything to enhance the reception, but nothing works. Boosting the output power on the transmitter just burns it up, and tweaking the sensitivity on the receiver just draws more of the interference."

"Have you tried changing the frequency?"

"Yeah. The interference covers all bands of radio transmission, it seems. I could change the transmitter to infrared, but that would require line-of-sight and defeat the purpose of the thing anyway. Dad used to use these to track animals in case they wandered off the farm, but ever since the interference started after the Sorceress War they've been up on a shelf. I'd been playing with this one for a while. Pretty lucky, huh?"

The cadet nodded and smiled. "Might be just the break we need." Vincent turned off the receiver and looked up. "Where's your father?"

"In the kitchen. He called the Garden while you were dealing with the monsters."

"Thanks." Vincent stepped into the kitchen and sat across the table from Shane. "What did the Garden say?"

"They're sending some people to handle the situation, that's all I was told. The Headmaster wants you to call him back so he can talk directly to you."

"May I use your phone?"

"Of course," said the farmer. "Right over there."

Vincent picked up the receiver and dialed Balamb Garden. Once connected he gave his student ID number and asked to be transfered to the Headmaster's office. After a few seconds of waiting his call was patched through. "Good evening, Vincent," Cid said from the other end. "I trust all is well?"

"Yes, sir," replied Vincent. "We're all right, the Onders are fine and we drove off the swarm. Mr. Onder told me you wanted to speak with me directly?"

"That's correct." There was the sound of Cid's chair creaking as the Headmaster reclined. "I have evaluated the situation and I have decided to bring you, Cloud and Tifa back to the Garden. You've all done extremely well, so please don't think this is a punitive act. I've dispatched a team of SeeDs to your location, and as soon as they arrive I want you to return."

"Yes, sir," Vincent repeated. Despite the Headmaster's reassurance he felt somewhat crestfallen. He was sure the three of them could finish this mission -- unless there was something Cid wasn't telling him, something that made it more dangerous than he thought. "Do you want us to call in before we leave?"

"No need. As long as the three of you make it back safely, that's all I care about. You've done well, Vincent."

"Thank you." Vincent hung up the phone and sighed. How were Tifa and Cloud going to take this? Not that it mattered in the grand scheme of things, of course, but they were probably going to be just as disappointed as he was. He stared at the phone for a few seconds before thanking Shane again and making his way to the living room.

Tifa was still staring at the ceiling and Cloud was gazing somewhat anxiously out the window. Vincent really didn't want to have to be the bearer of this news, but if there was one thing he had learned in his time as a cadet, it was that there were many things in life he would have to do that he didn't want to. "The Headmaster wants us to return to the Garden as soon as the SeeDs he sent get here." He expected something, maybe just a groan from Cloud, but all he got was silence. In an attempt to change the subject and satisfy his own curiosity, he asked, "Have either of you ever heard of a place called Nibelheim?"

Both of the other cadets looked sharply at Vincent. As one they opened their mouths to speak, and just the same they closed them again as the realization that they didn't know where this "Nibelheim" was took hold. But... "Must mean something," concluded Cloud. "I could have sworn I knew where it was for a second. Got a picture of this big mansion, and strange mountains. Reminded me of the dream I had the other night."

Tifa added, her voice shaking slightly, "Me too. Not the mansion, but the mountains, and some strange building, like a factory, or a power plant or something."

"Why do you ask?" Cloud inquired.

The images of his dream came back to Vincent, and he described them in the best detail he could. "There were two names that stuck out in the dream, two people that were important. One was a woman named Lucrecia, and the other was a scientist named Dr. Hojo. I guess I had a thing for Lucrecia, because I remember wanting to spend time with her. Hojo gave me the creeps. Something about him being always on edge, like he was about to go crazy."

Perhaps Tifa had heard about a man named Hojo a long time ago, or maybe she was confusing the name with something else, but the ghost of a bespectacled face floated in her mind's eye for an instant. There were whispered rumors among SeeD cadets that Guardian Forces could steal memories from those Junctioned to them. Had the three of them suffered this memory loss, forgetting a story they had heard in childhood? "This is creeping me out, guys. Do you think we should tell someone about this?"

"I think we should keep it to ourselves until we figure out what it's all about," said Cloud. "Don't want them thinking we're crazy, do we?"

Vincent nodded his agreement. "I say we keep a lid on this for the time being. It might be nothing."

"Then again it might be something," Tifa argued. "You're right, though. I do want to explore this later, it feels... important."

----------------------------------------------------------



The night around the Onder family home was dark and still in the aftermath of the mutant Bite Bug attack. Cloud, Tifa and Vincent sat on the front steps awaiting the arrival of the Balamb Garden SeeDs. No one spoke.

Eventually two points of light appeared on the horizon, the headlights of the car from the Garden. The cadets rose and picked up their belongings. The car pulled up and stopped, and three uniformed SeeDs stepped out. The driver was a dark-skinned man easily identifiable as SeeD Derek Thompson. His two passengers were a lanky blonde with the launch mechanism of a wingedge on her right forearm -- Doctor Kadowaki's assistant Dia L'nar -- and a petite auburn-haired young woman, carrying a rante much like Instructor Trepe's, whom the cadets couldn't recognize. Thompson hauled a large hardcase much like Cloud's out of the back seat of the car and approached the cadets.

As one the cadets saluted. "Cadets Valentine, Strife and Lockheart," Vincent announced crisply.

Thompson tossed a half-hearted salute back to them and chuckled. "Glad to see you're all in one piece. Anything we need to know before you folks take off?"

"One of Mr. Onder's sons, Richard, attached a tracking device to one of the surviving monsters," Tifa said. "He's got the receiver unit. You should be able to use it to verify the location of the nest, along with the map we marked with the locations of previous known attacks for triangulation."

"Thorough, aren't they," said the redhead with a small degree of sarcasm.

"Makes our job easier," Thompson replied sagely. "Ready, Dia?" he asked of the blonde, who silently nodded as she loaded the drone onto her wingedge. "I guess that's it, then. Have a good drive back."

The cadets loaded into the car and pulled away from the farmhouse. The drive back to the Garden was uneventful, and by the time Vincent drove into the garage Tifa and Cloud were both asleep. He was half-tempted to leave them as a friendly joke. Cloud stirred when Vincent shut off the engine, however. "I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to my bed," Cloud said as he climbed out of the car.

The next morning as the trio walked into class it seemed like the previous few days were a strange shared dream. The normalcy of the classroom, Instructor Trepe's calm voice drifting back to them from behind her desk in the front of the room, Seifer Almasy's self-important swaggering, Squall Leonhart's self-absorbed silence, Wimbley Donner's incessant rambling about the Garden Festival, it all wrapped around them and folded them back into everday life at the Garden. Instructor Trepe informed the trio that they had fulfilled their requirements to take the Field Exam and dismissed the class for lunch. The day went on.

After personal training in the afternoon they regrouped for dinner, joined by Lucia. She listened intently to their tales, absorbing every detail. Most of all she focused on Cloud. The group split up for the evening, Lucia dragging Cloud to the Quad to watch a talent competition and Tifa and Vincent heading to the library to search for information on the names Nibelheim, Lucrecia and Hojo.

That night as Tifa lay in her bed she turned over the events since her arrival here at Balamb Garden not even a week ago. It was hard to believe so much had happened in so short a time. As she drifted off to sleep she thought she felt Lucia watching her, and she was comforted.

----------------------------------------------------------



For Niles Reno, Victor Rude and Elena Mitchell there was no such comfort that night. After narrowly avoiding a run-in with three SeeDs on the road, the trio finally discovered the cave where the mutant Bite Bugs were laired. The insectoids seemed oddly reluctant to confront the agents. Rude kept them out of the cave, not wanting to push their luck any farther than necessary.

They still hadn't found their quarry, however, and the SeeD cadets had slipped their grasp. Rude muttered a curse and slammed an iron-hard fist into a tree trunk in disgust. How much the cadets knew about this situation was anyone's guess. President Deling was not going to be happy with their report. Privately, though he was angry with himself for his failure, Rude was pleased that the cadets had gotten away; he had no desire to harm any of Cid Kramer's people. The bargain struck between the two men two years ago had made no mention of preventing conflict between Matrix and SeeD, but Rude was, if nothing else, a man of honor.

Still, the Matrix agents had a job to do. "I'll be damned if this guy gets away," Rude growled.

"Standing around here isn't going to help. Ten to one says those SeeDs are here to take out this nest," Reno said, jerking a thumb at the black hole of the cave's mouth. Privately he bemoaned the fact that full-fledged SeeDs were on the case. The cadets had probably been recalled, and that meant he couldn't arrange any convenient accidents. "I've got an idea."

The fire-maned agent surprised Elena with his knowledge of the geography of this area, gained by several headache-inducing hours of pouring over topographical maps. There was another cave about three kilometers away to the north-northwest, and if their prey was sticking close to his experiments, they might find him there. The blonde woman found herself struggling to keep up as the men strode in that direction.

They had traveled no more than a kilometer through the woods when the first explosions sounded behind them. The SeeDs had located the nest, and the extermination had begun. The trio paused, then Elena and Rude looked to Reno in silence. He simply shrugged, a satisfied smirk on his lips.

What a prick, Elena thought.

The cave Reno had mentioned dug into the south side of a steep, shale-lined ravine. To this point Rude's pattern scanner had been silent, but as they emerged from the trees at the top of the ravine's southern face it whooped out multiple warnings. Elena and Reno whirled at the sudden sound. The bald agent cursed himself for a fool and stabbed at the key that would mute the audible alert. Whatever it was, it knew they were coming. And it was already on its way. "I've got... three signals, coming up--" he began. The sound of loose shale clattering down in a pebbly avalanche finished the warning for him. Rude calmly pocketed the scanner and adjusted his sunglasses. "Looks like we're gonna do this the hard way," he said, and cracked his knuckles.

Behind him, Reno snapped together his electomag rod. Elena drew forth twin curved kukri knives, their polished blades reflecting the moonlight that bathed the scene of the coming carnage. The redhead muttered to himself about beer under his breath, then lost the comment when the first of their adversaries launched itself over the edge of the ravine at them. Rude threw himself away to the left as the creature landed. Elena backed up three paces in shock.

In the moonlight it was initially hard to tell what the thing was. It was bipedal and scaled, with a wiry predator's body and a long balancing tail held parallel to the ground. Nimble grasping arms sported three-fingered hands. Eyes sparkling with feral intelligence glittered over a snout full of knife-like teeth. A double row of sharp bony ridges started behind the creature's skull and ran down past its hips.

Reno leveled his weapon and thumbed the energy-release with a surprised yell. A ball of lightning blasted off the rod and slammed into the man-height creature's head, knocking it back into the gorge. "The hell was that thing?" Reno shouted in the aftermath of his strike. He was answered by one of the beast's companions.

A saurian head popped up and ball of blazing flame illuminated the night, scattering the Matrix agents even further than the pounce of the first beast. Elena ducked behind a tree and pulled her arms tightly against herself. She didn't want to believe what she had just scene. (The head... It's a T-rexaur, probably a juvenile to judge from its size But it was breathing flame! How? And what's with those spines?)

Taking advantage of the space cleared by the firebreather, the third T-rexaur levered itself up and swept its gaze from left to right. Reno popped out of hiding from behind a rotting fallen log at just that instant, pointing his weapon at the beast. Its eyes narrowed in irritation and its fanged maw opened, spewing forth, not fire as its companion had, but a jagged crystaline ball of ice. The orb sailed at the agent, missed his head by mere centimeters as he ducked and shattered against a tree a meter beyond. The tree's trunk splintered under the assault. Sharp ice and wood showered down on the agent.

"Any brilliant ideas, Rude?" Reno called. He reached up blindly and discharged his rod once more, missing so wildly the creatures standing at the lip of the ravine didn't even flinch. Reno risked another glance; the third beast had rejoined its companions.

The bald agent flexed his hands and released them repeatedly. T-rexaurs were incredibly dangerous, even when young, and these ones had been tampered with by the agents' quarry. He saw a pattern, however, and a theory began to form in his mind. "See what that third one does!"

Reno momentarily pondered which was more dangerous -- his foes, or his supposed teammate. "Are you insane?" He poked his head up once more. Immediately he yelped and ducked again as a brilliant bolt of lightning sizzled through the space his head had just been. It scorched the abused tree beyond him. "Dammit!" At least they had their answer now.

Elena shifted the knife in her right hand to her left and reached into her pocket to feel for the small stones she had kept for an emergency of this magnitude. Just her luck, she had two of what she needed in addition to several Fire Fangs she'd picked up. And she knew that Rude carried one other thing she would need. With these, she could probably get two of the beasts to kill each other. They'd have to keep the monsters relatively close together for her idea to work, and then handle the lightning-spitter, but three on one was much better odds in her mind. "Reno! We need to get them into a place we can keep the fire-breather and ice-breather penned up!"

"Yeah, but..." Reno's reply was cut off by a trio of roars from the T-rexaurs. Evidently tired of playing with their food, the monsters charged, one directly at Reno, one closing on Rude and one searching out Elena. "Shit!" The agent bolted from his hiding spot and dashed deeper into the woods. Years of training paid off in keeping him a few steps ahead of the saurian predator, but it wouldn't last forever.

Rude closed his eyes and listened to the ground-pounding tread of the beast as it approached. He knew it could smell him where he stood behind this tree, but that was fine. He just needed it close enough... Now. He whirled around, stepping to his right and swinging a fist at the head of his adversary. A miscalculation; the beast ducked at the last minute and plowed its massive bulk into the agent, sending him flying. Rude sailed through the air and miraculously avoided having his head dashed against the trunk of a towering oak. The breath had already been crushed out of his lungs by the body slam and his vision blurred as he crashed to the forest floor. His sunglasses flew off into the underbrush. The saurian roared in triumph and stalked toward him, jaws spreading to reveal dagger teeth.

A globe of fire sizzled out of the dark and smashed into the beast's head. It staggered, shook its head and roared again, this time in rage. Nostrils flared as it sought out the source of the attack. Rude took advantage of the distraction and scrambled to his feet. Elena, who had hooked back in her flight from her own pursuer and lobbed the fireball that saved his hide, dashed toward him. Rude wound up and slammed his fist into the head of the creature, in the sensitive area just behind its jaws, and sneered as the monster fell over onto its side, stunned. "Where's Reno?"

"I don't know, but here comes the one that was after me!" Elena shouted. She took off running, the bald man hard on her heels.

Niles Reno had never run so hard in his life. Not from bullies in the streets of Deling City. Not from monsters, or SeeDs. But now he ran for his very life, leaping over bolts of bright white that seared the ground and ducking under and aside from blasts that split the air around him. Spell-breathing T-rexaurs... this was too much! At one point he dug in his feet and twisted around, bringing his charged electromag rod down on the snout of the beast chasing him. The creature paused, blinked, snorted, and proceeded to knock the Matrix agent into a tree with its muscular tail. Reno heard something crack, and he knew from the flare of pain that it wasn't the tree. All this way to be killed by an overly-attitudinal monster. What a joke.

More fireballs flew out of the dark. The redhead hadn't heard his teammates approaching over the roaring in his ears and the noise of his brief clash with the young T-rexaur that was about to bite him in half. The twinned flaming orbs missed the monster, impacting with the ground between it and the gasping agent, but it was enough. The beast reared back and appeared to be reconsidering its strategy.

"No time to sit down on the job, Reno!" Rude hollered as he and Elena dashed up to the wounded man. The bald agent hauled Reno to his feet. The redhead's scream of pain drew the attention of the monster that had smacked him. Rude drew forth a vial filled with a viscous liquid, popped the cap with his thumb and dumped the contents into Reno's mouth. The redhead swallowed quickly.

The para-magic contained within the concoction was released. Bone reknit in an instant, and not a moment too soon. The T-rexaur standing in front of the agents was joined by the one that had been chasing Elena, and then by the one Rude had punched.

"You wanted 'em together," Reno gasped. It was nice that he wasn't in pain now, but he was willing to bet the pain was about to start all over again. "There they are."

"Where's this spot you mentioned?" Elena asked. The monsters exchanged glances and hissed at each other, almost as if conferring about what to do next.

"About two hundred meters from here there's a cut formed by a creek. Should be able to have your round up in there, but why?"

"I've got a surprise for these ugly freaks. We just have to take out the lightning-breather and get the other two to fight each other in a place where we can keep them from running away if one gives up."

Rude flexed his hands again. He would have prefered a stand-up fight to all this running and para-magic, but against these beasts that wasn't going to happen. He could see the basis of Elena's plan; T-rexaurs were vulnerable to cold, and it seemed logical that the fire-breather would be even more so. If the genetic alterations that gave these monsters breath weapons also altered their weaknesses, then it was possible that the ice-shooter was vulnerable to fire, like many cold-based monsters were. The third one... it was another story. But what was this surprise? "Let's do it. Reno, you're in the lead. Elena, you follow. I'll keep these things off your tails." The monsters continued to consult each other, but one of them was watching the agents at all times.

"Don't you do anything heroic, Victor Rude," the blonde woman snapped with an unusual harshness. "You ready, Reno?"

Reno nodded and clenched his teeth. This was gonna suck...

"One... two... three!"

The redhead put everything he had into making his legs move. The dark forest echoed with the whooping warcry he bellowed, partly to give himself courage, partly to make certain the T-rexaurs were paying attention. Elena charged after him, screaming as well, and Rude brought up the rear. He made no sound. It didn't much matter anyway.

Still, he had to wonder why Elena had been so sharp with him. He planned to live long enough to find out.

Maybe it was luck, maybe it was fate. Maybe the tales about the spirits were true and someone was watching over him. But Niles Reno didn't trip over a single root or rock or hole in the forest floor as he sprinted through the night-shrouded wood toward the cut. He heard the trickling of water cutting through the pounding of his heart, the thundering of T-rexaur footsteps, the sizzling and blasting of their breath weapons. This just might work after all. He rounded a curve in the hill, and there it was, perhaps twenty meters wide and deep, a hollow for Elena's chosen targets. Reno scrambled up the hill on the opposite side of the hollow and clambered into a tree, then aimed his electromag rod. The one in the rear should have been the lightning-breather. With a whisper of, "This had better work or I'm gonna be pissed," he let loose another charge. The glowing ball impacted with the monster's snout and snapped it to the side, causing the beast to fall and roll. Too much to hope for that its neck might be broken, he thought. He aimed and fired again, this time to keep the two other T-rexaurs off his partners' backs.

Elena and Rude pulled themselves up the hill next to Reno. "Hit one of them with one of the Fury Fragments you carry, Rude," Elena said. The bald man had no idea how she knew he was carrying the bone shards charged with Berserk energies, but he drew out a blood-red fragment and whipped it at the two monsters. It bounced off the hide of the one on the left and shattered into a crimson fog as the para-magic within broke free. The spell-stricken beast shook its head in confusion, then turned and swiped at its companion with a howl of rage. The T-rexaurs were suddenly tangled in a nasty ball of scales, fangs, claws and blood.

"That won't last long," Rude said. Reno shifted his fire to the third monster, which was getting back to its feet. His blasts weren't wounding the saurian in the slightest but they did keep it off-balance.

"It won't have to." Elena pulled out her surprise and handed one to Rude. The stony orb was a startling golden-orange.

The bald man stared in disbelief. "Flare stones? Where did you get them?"

"I have my sources. Don't gawk, throw!" Together the agents hurled the spells. Power like nothing Rude had ever seen before lay tightly curled inside the stones, ready to explode the instant the orbs impacted. The energies erupted with a terrible vehemence, an almost gleeful detonation that surprised them both.

Searing heat melted through the scales of the twined monsters and the forest echoed with their cries of pain. In its unnatural frenzy the ensorcelled beast lashed out at the closest thing to it, its companion, and that strike drove the other into a matching rage. Fire and ice blasted forth from their deadly mouths as the altered T-rexaurs shredded each other.

Reno knocked his target over again and laughed. "I'll be damned! They're tearing each other to pieces. Nice job, rookie!"

"Thanks. Now just keep that one pinned for us, would you?"

Their natural defences already melted away by the powerful para-magic, the battling saurians quickly ended each other's lives with their breath weapons. Tails twitched, then fell still; breath escaped from the T-rexaur's bodies one final time. "Bingo," Rude said. "Let's finish the last one."

Reno blasted the remaining monster once again. By this time the beast was furious, frustrated by the repeated knockdowns the redhead had inflicted on it. It charged forward. Reno placed a shot carefully in front of the beast, making it stumble. Rude and Elena dashed out to meet it, swinging around to each side in a pincer attack. The beast swung its head aside from Elena's slashing kukri only to receive a steel-hard fist to its nose. Razor-sharp metal slashed across its vulnerable eye, blinding it on one side. The monster thrashed in agony and its tail swept Rude's legs out from under him as it wheeled and bit at the source of its pain. The blonde woman brought her other knife down in an overhand slash, scoring the creature's nose. It howled and backed away, crackling lightning gathering in its mouth.

The blast never got a chance. As the monster retreated its wickedly-clawed feet came increasingly closer to the stunned Rude. Reno shouted his partner's name and readied another shot to knock the T-rexaur off to the side. Rude's arm moved and a bead of gold bounced off Elena's knee. The woman's eyes went wide, then her whole world erupted in a blaze of light.

There was no way she would let this thing hurt Rude.

Another yell tore from her throat as she dashed forward with unnerving swiftness. Her kukri were lined with golden flame as she slashed again and again at the astonished monster. Its blood flew through the air with the force of her strikes and terrible pain registered in its mind for a moment before the blonde woman leapt into the air and drive one of her knives into its skull. It died instantly, the body teetering, then falling lifelessly to the side.

There was silence for several seconds. Then Elena said quietly, "What was that?"

"That," Rude said as he levered himself to his feet, "was a Limit." He tried not to think about how close the T-rexaur had come to stepping, then falling on him as he lay on the ground gasping for breath. He didn't know the first thing about Limits, except that they appeared in times of great stress, and that the object he had hurled had contained a rare spell which brought that potential to the fore. Whether or not Elena would be further affected by the incident he could not say. There was one man who might know, though. He'd have to make a call later.

"A what?" Reno inquired.

"Nevermind," Elena breathed. She didn't want to think about it. Whatever it was, it was over. "Let's just get out of here."

As quickly as they could the agents made their way back to the ravine. Fortunately there were no scaly surprises waiting for them. The sound of a man's voice, oddly pitched and repeating a few strange phrases, drifted up out of the gorge to their ears.

Reno smirked as he leaned over the edge of the ravine. "He's down there."

"Then let's get down there and dig him out," rumbled Rude. He began to clamber down the ravine, dislodging shale and pebbles in a clattering shower.

The mouth of the cave was perhaps two and a half meters in diameter, easily passable by the creatures that had just tried to kill the agents. Moonlight penetrated only a few meters into the darkness beyond. The voice was coming from inside. After taking the time to ensure no surprises lay in store for him, Rude stepped into the cave.

Beyond the boundary of the exterior illumination his foot crunched down on... something. He froze; nothing came at him out of the dark. Behind him Reno and Elena entered the cave, and he whispered a warning. It didn't do much good. The cave floor seemed to be littered with more of whatever it was Rude had stepped on. Though the agents took to sliding their feet across the rock floor the clattering of the hidden detritus was more noise than they wanted to make.

Still nothing came to meet them, and they neared the source of the voice and a flickering light as the tunnel rounded a gentle curve. The illumination of a single battery-powered lantern traced a gawky figure, sitting in a metal folding chair next to a wobbly-looking table. This was their mark. Rude straightened, adjusted his jacket and strode into the lantern's globe of light.

The disheveled man that pulled himself out of the chair looked nothing like a scientist. More like an accident victim, perhaps. His dungarees and shirt were stained and torn. Wildly unkempt brown hair waved about as his head snapped from side to side, like a cornered pigeon in a city park. His brown eyes, intelligent yet almost feral, took in the three agents. An expression, not of fear, but of bewilderment settled over his filthy face. "You... You're the test subjects? But how... The G-rexaurs..." The man turned quickly, nearly sending himself sprawling, and looked upon three great broken eggshells.

"Is that what you call those things?" Reno sneered. "They're taking a little dirt nap." He closed in on the man.

The man's face twisted into astonishment, then outrage, finally settling on disbelief. "No," he said with a firm shake of his head, "that's not possible. The three of you couldn't have defeated them."

Rude chuckled, then moved forward to take hold of the man's upper arm. "Believe what you like," he said, "but it doesn't matter. We're here to take you back to Deling City."

"You can't do that!" the scientist shrieked. "He's calling me. Now that I've succeeded with the T-rexaur variants I have to go to the ruins where my master awaits!" He began to struggle, trying vainly to pull his arm from the bald agent's firm grip. "Let go!"

"What ruins?" Elena demanded. There were a few towns in Galbadia that had been torched during the Sorceress War against Esthar and left dead. Maybe he meant one of those.

Unfortunately no answer was forthcoming. Strength drawn from the edge of madness gave the scientist the power to wrench free of Rude's grip and shoulder past Reno. The bald agent flicked the spell bead he held and concentrated briefly; the tiny orb hit the man in the back and shattered. The scientist tumbled to the ground, instantly unconscious.

Reno sniffed derisively. "Cute."

Rude hefted the sleeping scientist and draped the man over his shoulder with little effort. "We've got a long walk. Let's get out of here." He began making his way out of the cave with Elena.

The flame-haired Matrix agent lingered a moment, glancing around. He could see now that they had been stepping on pieces of eggshell and Bite Bug, probably from their prey's experiments. The man's journal lay on the table, wide open. Reno flipped backward a couple pages, scanning the entries; complete nonsense, for the most part, except for one.

"Subject #452981A-04GR unviable. Integration of strains XR-091, XR-092 and XR-095 failure. Strains incompatible. Disposal to follow." Evidently something had gone wrong, which was probably a blessing. No telling what this thing was supposed to be. Reno pocketed the journal and began making his way out of the cave.

Something large, round and hard tripped him. He sprawled on the floor, muttering curses, and kicked out at his inanimate assailant. Whatever it was, it rolled away. The agent picked himself up, brushed himself off and stalked out of the cave.

Behind him, a large egg rolled into the lantern's light and came to rest against a leg of the folding chair. It was still for several minutes... then quivered once.

----------------------------------------------------------



Cid glared at his terminal panel and tried for the forth time to read SeeD Argent's report. Too many things on his mind; the words refused to make sense. Despairing of ever being able to concentrate again, the Headmaster took off his glasses with one hand and rubbed his eyes with the other. The sound of his office's door opening drew his attention. Cid couldn't make out the face, but he could feel the other's eyes from across the room. He knew before he put his glasses back on his face what he would see. Headmaster Corron Martine of Galbadia Garden had arrived.

"Certainly been an eventful couple of days, hasn't it," the Galbadian Headmaster said. A sarcastic smile twisted Martine's lips as he crossed the distance to Cid's desk and sat on the edge. He turned his head to look back at the Balamb Headmaster and said, "You got away with a pretty dangerous gamble this time around, Kramer."

Cid sniffed and rubbed a finger along the side of his round nose. "I assure you, Martine, everything was well in hand. The cadets fulfilled their mission with remarkable skill and, more importantly, knew better than to protest being pulled out. There are great things in store for those three."

"Hey, you don't have to explain yourself to me. Just letting you know how close you came to a real disaster."

"Thank you," Cid replied with heavy sarcasm, "for your unflinching support." Martine was one of Cid's most helpful allies, but Cid had no need for his fellow Headmaster's casual reminder; he'd already spent too much time pondering whether he had crossed the line this time. "As you can see all turned out for the best. Strife, Valentine and Lockheart are now qualified to take the Field Exam at the end of this term, the Galbadian rogue has been apprehended and the mutant problem is well on its way to being eradicated."

Martine lifted his eyes toward the blazing blue sky visible through the glass dome. "Yes, but we still don't know what Deling gained from this."

"If anyone can find that out, it will be you," Cid told him.

"You flatter me." The Balamb Headmaster chuckled at this and was about to speak when the desk's terminal beeped in a peculiar pattern. "That's peculiar," Martine observed.

"You'll want to hear this. Stay silent." Cid touched the screen and accepted the voice-only call. "Kramer."

"I thought I told you to keep those kids out of the way," said the man on the other end of the line. One of Martine's eyebrows twitched upward in amusement. "They came damn close to dying last night."

"Everything was in control," Cid replied calmly, "and as you can see we all got what we want. You have your scientist and we have an end to the genetically-altered monsters."

"I also have a suspicious teammate who would be more than happy to track your cadets down and kill them just because they know what he looks like. I had to call him off and now he's wondering where my loyalty lies," the man growled. "You're coming rather close to making me reconsider our agreement."

"We can't have that," Cid said, maintaining his composure. "Please accept my apology. Now that the matter is settled there won't be a problem."

A moment's pause, and something that sounded suspiciously like a muttered curse. Then the man on the other end said, "Let's keep it that way."

"I'm glad we agree. Was this the only reason you called?"

"No," the man told him, "there was one other thing. When we found him the scientist said something about 'ruins' and a 'master' that was waiting for him. I didn't like the sound of it. You might want to give it some thought and put some pressure on your infamous information network. I'm going to put out some feelers of my own."

Martine and Cid glanced at each other. This was definitely not good. With what was happening to... Hopefully it wasn't related to that. Hopefully. Otherwise things were about to get a lot worse much quicker than anticipated. "I'll do that. This is definitely important news."

The man made a noise of agreement, then, after another pause, said, "Your people continue to impress me. Makes me think there's still some hope."

"We all hope so."

"That's everything, then. You know how to contact me if you hear anything."

"I'll do that." The line went dead, leaving the two Headmasters in silence. Nothing was ever simple, Cid mused. Everything seemed to have ripples of effect stretching out through space and time.

Martine broke the quiet first. "It's starting."

"It began some time ago. But now things are accelerating. We'll have to be more attentive from here on out." Cid noticed the Galbadian's eyebrow quirking again, and he knew the man was wondering where Cid got the idea he wasn't being attentive already. With a self-depricating laugh Cid continued, "We certainly won't be bored."

"That we won't," Martine agreed. "That we will not indeed."

Above the two men in that azure sky, the yellow sun continued its daily arc across the sky. What it saw, it kept to itself. But underneath its unblinking gaze there were no islands to themselves. Each person and thing was connected. Those connections had begun to pull the world toward an uncertain future in which its fate would be decided in an eternal instant.

----------------------------------------------------------

Author's Notes:

The members of Tifa's family, mentioned in Part One, are my creations, as are the Onder family, Bill MacReady, Derek Thompson, the unnamed redheaded SeeD and Firefoot the Chocobo. A whole lot more original characters will be appearing from here on out as the plot thickens.

Special thanks go once again to Dianna Silver and Greenbeans, as well as the folks on #fanfics and #finalfantasygamers on sorcery.net on IRC.

No animals or monsters were harmed in the creation of this fanfic.