Video…

"Woah!" Zell exclaimed, breaking the long and awkward silence after they finished reading the diary of Cid.

"I-I-I can't believe it!" exclaimed Selphie in total disbelief. "How could Seifer be Cid's son?"

"I wonder if Matron is his mother?" Squall tried to keep calm on the outside, but within he was disarray of emotion. He had always thought of Cid as a father figure, despite his real father, Laguna, who was never there. Now Cid was the real, actual, biological father of his most hated rival, Seifer. What kind of a world was this?

"Maybe we should talk to her," suggested Irvine.

"I don't know, guys. Are you sure you want to involve her in this?" Selphie tried to remain protective of her only mother figure.

"Look, Selphie, if she is his mother then we could have a lot of questions solved. As well as find any kind of information on Quistis and Headmaster Cid." Squall began to turn and lead them to Edea, when he bumped straight into an older woman with long, black hair.

"Matron!" Squall exclaimed, not sure of what she heard.

"Squall. What on earth are you doing here? What's going on? Where's Cid?" the older woman's silvery voice asked in sweet innocence.

"Oh Matron!" Selphie ran up and hugged her.

"Oh my! Selphie, dear, what's gotten into you?"

"Seifer is Cid's son!" Selphie blurted out.

"…Cid… has a son?" Edea backed away from them, beginning to become light headed. "And it's Seifer? Why wouldn't he tell me about him? Does Seifer even know? How do you guys even know this?"

Edea sat down in one of Cid's comfy, black leather sofas and closed her eyes after they had explained the whole story.

"Oh Matron!" Selphie embraced her and saw tears in her eyes. The room was solemn and silent, when a soft rap came at the door. Squall exhaled and reluctantly went to get the door.

"Oh! Commander!" A very surprised messenger girl exclaimed and then saluted. "I was expecting to see the headmaster, but I guess you could give this to him, right?" The cheerful girl was totally clueless about the disappearance of the Headmaster and Instructor Trepe as she handed him a package. Squall let her go impatiently. Back inside he scrutinized and observed the small package.

"Hey Squall, what's that?" Rinoa inquired curiously.

"I'm not sure, but this is strictly for the headmaster's eyes only," he replied as it had read on the label of it.

"Well we already broke the rule of privacy any way, might as well go through with it!" Irvine quickly snatched the package away. "The hell is this?"

"How should I know?" Squall snapped.

"There's only one way to find out!" Irvine exclaimed excitedly as he began to tear through the small, brown package. The only reason Squall didn't object was because of his own curiosity and maybe it might have something to do with the disappearances.

When it was finally open, there was videotape that had no cover.

"A home video?" suggested Squall.

"I'm not sure. Let's pop this baby in." Irvine took the tape and stuck in the nearby VCR. They all waited earnestly as it began to play.

There appeared to be a dark room with a bare light bulb hanging. There was a blonde woman tied to a chair with a gag. Her hair was tangled and loose strands covered her eyes. Apparently she had struggled. She appeared unconscious, but still alive. It was Quistis! Then a tall blonde man emerged from the darkness, wearing a black sweatshirt and dark blue, baggy blue jeans. They could hear the heavy footfalls of the man's heavy boots as he approached her. His hair was disheveled and was long enough to have many strands covering his eyes. There was a familiar scar across his forehead…Seifer!

"Shit! That's Seifer!" exclaimed Zell as his face reddened with anger.

"And he has Quistis!" Irvine gasped as the tape continued.

Seifer smiled cruelly at the camera as he brushed his now longer hair form his eyes. He came up and kneeled by Quistis's chair and then he became serious. He harshly pulled Quistis's head up by pulling back her now let down hair revealing her frightened face. She appeared in and out of consciousness and her sapphire eyes opened and closed with much effort. Seifer looked from her to the camera.

"Hello Cid," Seifer's recorded voice said to the camera. "Let's make a deal, shall we?"

Quistis tried to protest as she attempted to shake her head and scream through the gag, "Mmmm-mmm!"

"Shut up!" Seifer pulled her hair back even more. "Now Cid, this is one of your most revered students at Balamb Garden, is she not? We wouldn't want anything unfavorable to happen to her, now would we? Listen up, Cid. I'm only gonna say this once. You mail 5 million gill to the address of 1290 Winnerow, Timber in less than 48 hours or you give us no choice but to terminate our little miss instructor here. No cops, no SeeDs or pay the consequences. Once the gill is paid we'll drop her off somewhere in Deling. Deal?"

Seifer caressed Quistis under the chin and Quistis shut her eyes and shivered with fear. Seifer then turned to the camera. "Oh and the longer you wait, the more fun we can have."

Then the video turned into nothing but static.