~

No one saw the men arrive. They simply appeared, it seemed, at the front gates. They walked through without a question. It was not until they reached the main hall that some opposition faced them.

It began with a routine identification check; one of the guards did not recognize the men. They refused. More guards rushed to the scene, and threats of force were called.

The hall now lay in a scene of terrible gore. Mutilated bodies were disseminated upon the the marble ground, thick with darkening blood. Smoky black uniforms were torn cleanly apart. The once-crystal water of the hall's stone fountain was poisoned by the lifeblood of a struggling victim.

The men ascended in the hall's central elevator, which did not return to the ground floor. Balamb Garden adopted a terrible silence.

~

Headmaster Cid stood behind his office desk. Silent alarms flashed on a computer console that sat beside his phone. A few seconds ago, they were the object of his attention, but it had shifted since then.

Two men stood in the double door entrance. The first he did not recognize - a tall, imposing man, dressed in black military fatigues. His face was edgy, as if diamond-cut. His deep blue hair stood high on end, and his flesh shone a light, pale blue.

But the second man was one he recalled. Cid had not seen Seifer Almasy in nearly two years. He'd hoped to be rid of the young man after the Sorceress' War, and in a chain of events immediately following, assumed to have gotten his wish.

But Seifer stood in the plush office once again. His grey trench coat was worn, and frayed at the bottom with a few deep tears. Beneath it, he wore military boots, and black pants lined down the front with thin pieces of metal. His chest was covered by a polished plate of soldier's armor, emblazoned with the cross Hyperion.

Cid folded his arms. "What do you want?" he called.

Seifer stepped into the room; his accomplice followed, and they shut the doors. Seifer crossed his arms and mimicked the headmaster's stance. "I want to kill you."

He stepped up to the desk, where Cid stood defiantly. "And I'm seriously considering it. After all you put me through, I'd love to see you bleeding into that nice carpet of yours."

"Is that what you're here for?" Cid thinned his eyes. "Revenge? Fine, go ahead. Kill me, and get the hell out."

Seifer shook his head. He leaned against the headmaster's hardwood desk. "Business before pleasure. I'll take you up on it when I get my vacation. But I'm on hire at the moment, so time's of the essence. I'm gonna make this nice and sweet."

He bared a scowl down upon Cid. "We're watching you. We know you're still connected with Selphie Tilmitt. And we know you've traded information with her party regarding Trabia Stratagem. We know everything."

"I've got no idea what you're talking about," Cid scoffed.

"Shut up, old man!" Seifer growled. He gripped the headmaster by his neck, and pinned him against the glass of his office's giant window. "We're going to kill Tilmitt, and Quistis Trepe, and Irvine Kinneas. And we're going to kill everyone who helps them, or gets in our way. We're not fond of killing Garden Headmasters, so we're letting you live this time around. But we'll take any measure necessary to keep Trabia Stratagem down."

Seifer threw Cid against the ground, and joined his accomplice in leaving out the giant double doors. "This is way over your head, Cid," he called over his shoulder. "Consider today a warning."

Cid stumbled to his feet, and cleared his throat. Through the open office doors, he heard the sound of nightmares. Voices screaming, and voices moaning, and voices bawling without hindrance. He saw alarms flash in the empty hall, and he smelled the thick and uneasy odor of blood.

~