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(The New Sorceress)

"You fools," Elise said in a low voice. "How am I to achieve my goal if I have an army of idiots on my side?"

"Forgive us," said the large man she had been fighting earlier, "but the Guardians were on their side."

"So what?"

"Well..." The man said nervously, "They are our Gods, we can't fight our own Gods."

"Those are not your Gods!" Elise was now wishing she had not fooled them into thinking that GFs were Gods. How could she not have thought that they would eventually have to fight GFs? She could not afford another mistake of that magnitude. She would need to think carefully. When she spoke again her voice was calm and concerned. "They are no longer the Gods we have come to know. I have received some news that deeply sadden me." She lowered her head; there was absolute silence.

"Prior to the battle I conferred with Guardian Force Luna, whom we all know is one of the Great Hyne's Knights. She informed me about a rebellion, one to which humans are oblivious." She was quiet for a few seconds, she needed to choose her words with care. "Some of the Guardian Forces have grown tired of serving Hyne...Therefore they have decided to join those who oppose him."

"No!" A young woman cried, there were soon other yells of surprise and disbelief.

Elise held her hands high in the air. "I know this is devastating news!" She yelled over the noise, everyone started to slowly quiet down. "I myself could not believe it, and even though it pains me to say this...we must fight against the Guardians."

"But we can't." Someone in the back shouted.

"We must." Elise said her voice full of determination. "We must stay loyal to our Gods, especially to Hyne, God of all Gods. Any enemy of His is an enemy of ours, and if the Guardians oppose Him, we can no longer see them as our Gods." There was absolute silence, Elise knew she had to end this quickly, Garden would be leaving shortly and she didn't want to be left behind. "Are you with me?" She asked.

Silence.

She needed to convince them quickly.

"Remember who I am. I am the one chosen by Hyne's own hand, the one chosen to lead you to your destiny. Hyne wants you to help me, I need to have my revenge on those who hurt me, those who oppose Hyne; those who will not rest until they see me dead. They know that only I can bring you closer to Hyne and they will stop at nothing to prevent that from happening." She gave them a dangerous look. "Don't make me think that I made a mistake by choosing you."

"We are with you, Sorceress!" They all yelled.

"I knew you would understand. Hyne thanks you." She looked around. "Where is Zander?"

"He and a few others went into the city to get some supplies." A young woman answered.

"Inform him about everything we covered. I need to go, but be prepared to attack. I will let you know when the proper moment arrives."

What fools, Elise thought as she walked back to Garden, to believe that GFs were gods, the Guardians of Hyne. "Luna, Knight of the Great Hyne." She laughed. Luna was a GF she had acquired when she was still a student at Balam Garden, it wasn't a very powerful GF, but it did look impressive. She quickened her step, the last thing she wanted to do was get left behind. "Time to wreak some more havoc." She said as she reached the gate.

Balam Garden flew most of the night. Nearing morning Squall had decide to stop near a forest in the Centra continent, he had chosen this area because it was unpopulated, he didn't want to put innocent people in danger.

A few hours later Riona sat alone in the cafeteria, staring at a bowl of oatmeal. She saw Irvine and waved at him to join her.

"Mornin'," Irvine said sitting beside her.

"Hi. Have you seen Quistis this morning?"

"I've seen her around, she's busy giving everyone orders."

"That is so strange."

"Have you seen Selphie's pretty little face around somewhere?"

"Yeah, she's in a really bad mood. I saw her in the classroom working on her website, I asked her what she was doing and she said, 'get lost, it's none of your business'."

"Selphie said that? Geez, that's really strange."

"Tell me about it, Squall and Zell are acting strange too."

"You don't have to remind me."

Rinoa thought for a moment. "Irvine, don't you think we've been saying that word a lot lately?"

"What word?"

"Strange."

"I guess."

"Ever since little miss What's Her Name appeared. There's something really...not normal about her. I can't explain it, but-"

"I think you're just jealous of her," Irvine said without thinking.

"What?"

"I mean...so you think Elise has something to do with all this strangeness?" He tried to fix the damage.

"I am not jealous! And yes, I do think she has something to do with all this...or maybe...I don't know."

"You know, you really shouldn't judge a person and call them 'not normal' before you really know them." Irvine wasn't really defending Elise, but it upset him whenever he heard someone talk about another person in the way Rinoa just had. He had to live with that, people judging him before they got to know him, people going by the first impressions.

"Maybe." Rinoa knew she shouldn't, but with Elise, she just couldn't help herself.

"I know she's a little nosy but that doesn't mean that she is causing all our problems. Besides, she's really fine."

Rinoa rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I can't explain it, but there's something wrong about that girl."

"Everything looks right to me." Irvine smiled.

"You know what I mean!" Rinoa snapped.

"I better go," Irvine said getting up.

"Good riddance." Rinoa sat there a few minutes staring at her oatmeal again. She just knew that Elise had something to do with all this, there was something in her eyes that put her on edge, not to mention how she was always trying to get close to Squall and smiling at him. She pictured Elise's face in the oatmeal, she grabbed her glass of orange juice and started to pour it into the bowl, the face quickly started to melt. "Just like the Wicked Witch," she said.

"Interesting combo." A voice startled her.

"Eek! Zell, I was just...Wow" She said when she saw his messy hair and wrinkled clothing. "You look awful...I mean, very anti-Zell." She corrected herself.

"Thanks. You would too if you had spent the night in the Disciplinary Room."

"Oh, sorry."

"I need to show you something, it's way weird."

"What?"

"Come on, it's important." He said pulling back her chair.

"OK. Geez, I'm coming."

A few minutes later Zell and Rinoa were in the second-floor classroom. "Zell, why are you keeping me in suspense?"

Zell ignored her, he was doing a search on one of the computers. "Here look." He said once he found Selphie's website.

Welcome to Selphie's new and improved website! I have added a new section, it's called 'The Squall Hate Page'.

"What?" Rinoa looked at Zell.

"Just keep reading," Zell said, "it gets better."

Click here to enter. Rinoa clicked.

If like me, you're sick and tired of our new 'leader' please join my club. I have already recruited my first member. I would like to nominate her as our new Commander: Miss Quistis Trepe. She's caring, intelligent (both of which Squall is soooo not) and has much better social skills than Mr. Leonheart. Quistis is also better liked by everyone and has her own fan club! What more could you ask for in a leader? Her vocabulary also expands way beyond 'Whatever'. If you're interested in joining my club e-mail me at:

Rinoa was speechless for a few seconds, Zell sighed. "That's exactly what I said."

Rinoa finally spoke there was unmistakable shock in her voice. "How could Selphie do something so mean? This is not like her!"

"Quistis too, you should've seen her yesterday."

"And you." Rinoa turned to look at him.

"I thought you were the only one who was on my side!"

"Zell, I'm not on any side, I'm just worried about everyone."

"Worried, yeah." Zell scoffed. "Why can't you open your eyes and see that I'm right! Irvine is nothing but a dirty dog!"

"Zell-"

"Where the hell is Selphie?" Squall demanded as he burst into the room.

"We don't know," Rinoa responded.

"Are you two hiding her?" Squall asked in dangerous tone.

"NO!" Zell and Rinoa said in unison.

"If I find out that you-"

"HERE I AM!" Selphie yelled from the door. "Come get me! You uncaring, anti-social FREAK!" She challenged Squall, then ran off.

Squall was about to run after her but thought better of it. He turned to Zell and Rinoa. "I will make an example of her, and Quistis too." He said in a very low voice.

"Squall," Rinoa started, "are you-"

"I WILL NO LONGER BE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF!" He yelled making both Zell and Rinoa jump, he then stormed out of the room.

"I am acting weird?" Zell looked at Rinoa. "I'm gonna go take a shower. If you see Irvine, tell him we're not finished." He walked out leaving Rinoa alone in the classroom.

What is happening to everyone? Even Squall is acting strange now. It seemed that only Irvine and herself were still normal. She had no one to turn to, unless...She ran out of the room, a smile forming on her lips.

Elise brushed her hair in front of the mirror. "You are so clever. Soon you will have your revenge." She smiled at her reflection, she was amazed at how easily she had been able to manipulate the minds of her followers...and Squall. The thought of manipulating Squall saddened her, she wished...no I mustn't think about that. She forced Squall out of her mind.

Her soldiers were ready, they would do whatever she wanted them to do, they had blind trust in her, the fools. But if they ever discovered that she had been lying to them and manipulating their minds all these years, there would be dire consequences. But there was no need to worry about that; everything was going extremely well.

There was a knock, she put her brush on the table and got up to open the door. She never imagined who would be standing in the hall.

"Hello."

Elise was speechless for a few seconds, she could not believe her eyes. "...Seifer." She finally managed to say.

Seifer's voice was cold. "You're not as smart as you think, you little sorceress bitch."