A/N: I'm back from Scotland - had a great time (was a great growing experience.. All that time to think really makes one realize how little some peoples opinion's matter ;) ). I'm now ready to write! Not quite sure what a "Mary Sue" is but I could honestly care less. My fic equals my characters and if you don't like 'em, don't read my fic.

~ = Someone else's voice/thoughts

**

I sat down at the table in Squall's office, waiting for Irvine and Selphie to arrive. Across from me sat a very stern looking Seifer; I made a mental note he was probably in a bad mood today. I didn't even have to concentrate on his emotions to realize he was grumpy. Or maybe that wasn't the right word?

'Damn it, I told them to be here fifteen minutes ago,' I faintly heard Squall mutter as he paced back and forth between two plush armchairs in his office. I sighed, the muffled thumps of his boot's on the carpet was getting annoying and so I started picking at my fingernails, something I had the habit of doing whenever I was bored or tense.

'They'll be here soon,' Quistis said softly, obviously trying to cool Squall off; I guessed she'd given up with Seifer, 'If my memory is correct, I believe she and Irvine had gone to inform Zell's mother of what happened.'

'Yes, if I recall oh great leader, you were the one who sent them to do it.'

I looked over at Seifer, sending him a nasty frown. He shrugged it off and put his eyes back to Squall whose fists were tightly clenched, his leather gloves crunching from the pressure.

'Shut up Seifer, that was half an hour ago, they told me they'd be here and that was supposed to be now what, twenty minutes ago?' Squall snapped, dropping down onto one of the armchairs heavily, the chair groaning beneath him. He crossed his arms and tilted his head down; his long bangs covering his eyes.

'Guys, knock it off, the last thing we need is you two in a cat fight,' Quistis said firmly, her arms now crossing underneath her breasts, her head turned to look out the window. The anxiety and aggravation in the room was choking me, I groaned and buried my head in my arms.

'You ok, space cadet?'

I didn't even look up as I flipped Seifer the bird. He let out a slight chuckle and, from what I could hear, started rocking in his chair. Oh how sweet the sound of the chair slipping beneath him and the wondrous 'CLUNK' of him falling on the floor would amuse me. Alas, my dream did not come true. Curse you gravity, working against me all the time.

'We're here!'

The loud shout and the bang of the door being thrown open made me jump, my eyes instantly falling on the figures of Selphie and Irvine. Selphie looked cheerful enough and her positive waves of emotions wafted over me, which I welcomed whole-heartedly. Considering what had just happened in the past hour, Selphie was obviously holding her own - and her spirits. I was thankful for that.

'Sorry for being so late,' She sang, flopping down in the armchair across from Squall. He looked at her through his bangs but other than that there was no real reaction. Well, at least no physical one.... his annoyance level just went up ten notches. I could feel it.

'Yes, you ARE late. Why did you take so long?' Squall growled, lifting his head up all the way and running a hand through his hair, pushing some of his bangs back and out of his eyes. Selphie frowned, wrinkling her nose and looked very indignant.

'For your information bub, we were calming Ma!' She snapped, turning around to look at Irvine, ' She made us stay for a bite to eat didn't she pumpkin?'

Irvine, obviously fearing both Squalls and Selphie's wrath, looked tongue-tied. I stifled a giggle as his thoughts wafted over into my head; he was torn between going onto Selphie's side and feeling Squall's wrath, or going on Squall's side and feeling Selphie's. To be honest, I would have felt like him and would have feared both. Neither is very nice.

'Uh...'

Selphie raised her clenched fist, slowing rising it to her chest. I could have sworn I saw a vein pounding at the side of her head. Uh oh, she was going to blow. No, that's last thing I need is my one source of emotional pep going out the window!

'They were Squall,' I blurted, standing up. I blushed when all their eyes turned on me and I swallowed but continued, 'She made them.....' I closed my eyes, focusing on Selphie and Irvine, reading their minds, 'She made them Lamb chops and sweet and sour rice. So like.... give them a break, Squall' I felt stupid for proving it in such a stupid way, why couldn't I have been more mystical? Ah well, I don't think this was exactly the right situation to be "mystical",

Selphie did a double take then turned in her chair, facing me, excitement and amazement just oozing from her, 'Oh my Hyne! Do that again!' She cried out, now starting to bounce in the chair.

'Ugh,' Quistis groaned and put a hand to her head, still not too good at handling Selphie's uh.. Spunky-ness. 'Calm down Selphie and sit properly in that chair. Irvine you have a seat too, there's something we need to talk about.'

Ah good ol' Quisty, always so upfront and to the point. Of course, that had its drawbacks at times... like when you're as klutzy as I am. Training with her is no walk in the park. She can't stand people who are disorganized (whoo, go me!) or clumsy (Ah, another point goes to Leona). I can never understand how or why she tolerates me, but she does seem to like and care about me, so I won't probe.

'Ok, but um... How come Leona can read minds?!' Irvine cried out, taking off his hat and using it to fan some cool air against his flushed face. He was still getting over the aftermath of the Squall and Selphie wrath thing.

I laughed nervously and sat down on the table, crossing my legs.

'Leona, sit on a chair please,' Quistis ordered, shaking her head. I did so, my face flushing as I sank as low in the chair as possible. Ok, so Quistis has killer mood swings at times, but this one is like the ultimate mood swing of death. Then again... it's just her going into battle mode. She knows something's up, and she's tense. I must stop being so goofy, why can't I be more like her?

'Leona, get your head out of the fucking clouds and answer us!'

'Wah!' I jumped at Seifer's explosion, wishing I could disappear into the floor as everyone's annoyance grew. No, I don't want to know their thoughts right now! They're all annoyed, even Selphie.. I tried not to focus on Squall because I could tell he was close to exploding himself.

'Get your head out of your ass and tell us what's going on!'

'OK!' I snapped back, not too happy about his tone of voice or the fact he was saying some pretty crude remarks about me in his mind, 'Stop bitching about me in that stupid head of yours and I'll get on with it!'

'I'm not saying anything,' He said, trying to look shocked but I could tell he was very intrigued. He called me a dirty space cadet who did nothing but chase my precious hot dog boy in his head, as if challenging me. I groaned and turned my head to the side exasperatedly.

'I'm not dirty, I don't chase Zell all day, and only at times am I a space cadet, ' I sneered, sticking my tongue out at him. Seifer stared at me for a second then burst out laughing, his fist pounding on the table.

'Well I'll be damned!' He cried out, thankfully giving the table some mercy and bit his fist, his eyes totally gleaming with glee, 'What am I thinking now?'

Before I could finish reading what he was thinking (thank Hyne), Squall interrupted by firing off his gunblade. A loud explosion erupted through the room and everyone in the room went silent and tense, my body had gone as ridged as a two by four. I looked over my shoulder to see a chunk of Squall's gorgeous wood desk missing. I swallowed, hard.

'Cut the crap and focus on what's at hand here,' He growled, his hand still clutched on his gunblade. I swallowed hard again, but was still as tense as before, as was everyone else.

'What exactly IS at hand here..... Boss?' Seifer sneered, trying to cover up his anxiety with bravado. Hyne, you're such a dick, Seifer.

'Seifer don't fuck with me! I'm not in the mood!'

'I don't think we even need Leona to tell us that,' Seifer grunted right back. Squall narrowed his eyes and walked over to where Seifer, his long strides cutting the distance between them in no time. He lunged onto the table, brining down his gunblade right in front of Seifer, cutting the table into a separate piece. I stood up as the table fell beneath me and looked at Squall in shock.

'Squall, cool off,' I said sternly. He whizzed around and looked at me threateningly but I held his glare. He sniffed and turned back to Seifer who didn't look phased at all by Squall's little episode. In fact, he looked amused.

'Squall my dear friend, little outbursts like that are what costs us missions and lives. I think, as Leona so perfectly put it, you need to "cool off",' He scoffed, brushing some slivers of wood and dust off his trench coat and shirt.

'Bastard I'll show you "cool off", Squall threatened, his hand going to the hilt of his gunblade and ready to strike. Seifer reached for his gunblade as well, Hyperion, and began to raise it.

'That's ENOUGH!' Quistis shouted, coming between the two, wrenching their Gunblade's out of their hands with her Save the Queen. In one swift movement she flung them across the room and grabbed both of them by the collar of their shirts, 'That is enough. This is the last thing we need. People are dying, two of our friends and comrades have been taken and Hyne knows what's happening to them. We need to all just chill out and make a plan,' She looked at Seifer dangerously, 'If you cant keep your snide remarks to yourself, then I'll stick you in a holding cell like I did so many years ago, and you,' She looked at Squall just as dangerously, 'If you don't get your emotions and temper under control, I'll stick you in there with him.'

I grinned, admiring Quistis for taking such control over the situation. A second before she had stepped in I was going to say something but she handled it perfectly herself - much better than I could have ever done.

'Fine,' Seifer spat, letting out a long breath before sinking back into his chair, his face flushed. Squall let out an equally as long breath and ran a hand through his hair, stumbling dumbly backwards until he was leaning against his desk.

'I'm sorry,' He muttered, looking very flustered. Quistis sighed and regained her composure, straitening out her skirt, ' It's all right, but never again is it to happen. You guys have made peace and to break that peace between each other would be disastrous. You need Seifer as much as he need's you, your teamwork together is a great asset to our battle.'

'Alright Quisty, we get the idea,' Seifer muttered softly and before Quisty could say anything to him he caught himself, 'I'm sorry for being an asshole, I'm just as tense and worried as the rest of you.'

Selphie timidly stood up from her chair, raising her hand as if she were back in a SeeD trainee lecture, 'Um, so how 'bout we finally cut to the chase and get on with this.'

'Right,' Quistis said, nodding then turned to Squall, 'what do you think Squall?'

Squall looked up and nodded his head towards me, 'I think Leona should come out and tell all of you, in clear detail, what she's experiencing, and then.... We put our heads together, using the information Leona's told us, and make a plan from that.'

Squall looked at me and winked and I knew I was going to be even more valuable than he and Seifer working as a team, I was going to be the weapon against the enemy.

**

'So, how long have you been able to do this?' Irvine asked as he, Selphie
and I walked to the equipment and weapon storage room. We stopped in
front and I watched as Selphie punched in the pass code and followed
inside.

'Only recently, it started when I arrived back here,' I said,
following them down a long corridor that opened up into what looked like
a giant warehouse. I gasped when I saw the arsenal of weapons and
vehicles. They had tanks, armored cars, cannon's that obviously didn't
fire real ammunition.... and of course, hand to hand combat weapons of
all sorts.

'Whoa,' I murmured, walking over to one of the cannons that was
attached to an armored car and would obviously be pulled on the cart it
sat on, 'I never knew we had all this.....'

'Balamb's had it for ages, of course, some of it's pretty new - like
that cannon you're looking at!' Selphie said as she happily hoisted a
rocket launcher onto her shoulder, 'what do ya think? Man I could blow so
much stuff up with this!' She said joyfully as she pretended to aim and
fire at something. She carefully put it back down and walked over to
Irvine and I.

'This baby's brand new,' Irvine said, rubbing one of the armored
plates on the cannon we stood beside.

'Yup!' Selphie said, climbing up and jumping into it, 'Squall ordered
loads of new weapons just in case something like what's happened.. Well..
Happened!' She pretended to steer the turret and fire it then climbed
back out, 'This fires plasma and is SERIOUSLY a bad ass weapon! I helped
Squally pick it out!'

'She was very proud of that,' Irvine said, tilting his hat and winking
at me. I chuckled and put my hands on my hips, stopping and staring at
our arsenal.

'I think we will kick some serious bad guy butt!'

'Booya to that sista!' Selphie chimed in, taking my hands and swinging
me around with her.

'Girls, please concentrate at the task at hand.'

'WAH!' Selphie and I both cried out and jumped at the sound of
Quistis' serious voice.

'You were sent here to prepare two armored cars and collect some body
armor... Not to dance around like idiots,' She said, eyeing us sternly.

'Aw, take a chill pill Quisty; we were only having some fun! It's been
so dreary lately!' Selphie protested, she, Irvine and I following Quisty
down a long aisle filled tall shelf to tall shelf with armor.

'I don't care, you need to focus in order to do your tasks correctly.'

'Sheesh, I forgot this is what you were like in a situation like
this,' Selphie muttered grudgingly, 'You've been so much fun lately, so
care-free, where did that Quisty go? It was refreshing.'

Quistis turned on her, looking as if she was close to baring her teeth
and taking a chunk out of Selphie, 'I'll tell you where she went! She
died because people she knows and loves have gone missing or have either
been killed our seriously wounded because of this whole mess! Screw being
refreshing, I want to get to the bottom of this and kick whatever's ass
is causing this mess!'

'Booya to that sista!' Selphie cried out again, thrusting a fist into
the air almost triumphantly. Quistis looked at her, confused as hell and
I stifled a giggle; Selphie had meant to get her riled up.

'What?' Quistis asked, bemused.

'Feisty, feisty, feisty! I betya Seifer enjoys that,' Selphie grinned
cheekily and poked Quistis' belly. Quistis rolled her eyes as Irvine and
I grabbed onto each other, laughing loudly.

'Your such a pervert Selphie, I think Irvine's taken over your mind,'
She said, swiftly walking ahead of us but I caught the smile on her face,
not to mention I could read her thoughts and found Selphie's statement
was true. I laughed harder, telling myself I should stop and that it
wasn't right of me to read someone's mind for that purpose.. but still!
Hyne, can't I just for once use it against Seifer?

'Here, I have marked off the section of armor I wish for you to pack
into the armored car,' She tossed Selphie some keys, 'In the lot three
rows down from here there is a yellow tank like car, it's the newest
model, I want you to get it started and bring it here so we can load it
up.'

'Yes ma'am!' Selphie said, excitedly jingling the keys as she ran down
the aisle and disappeared from sight. Quistis turned to me and handed me
a set of keys.

'Go and unlock the hand to hand combat isle and we'll meet you there
in a second to load up.'

'Uh...' I looked at the shelves here and turned back to Quistis,
confused, ' Um Quistis, the shelves with the weapons are like these
ones.. There are no cages or locks on them.'

Quistis rolled her eyes and gave me an impatient smile, ' Leona, be a
dear and walk up to the shelf and extend your right arm.'

'Er... Ok,' I said, stretching out my arm and my hand, walking towards
the shelf. I don't get why Quisty is asking me to do such a dumb thi-

'OW! HOLY FUCK OW!' I cried out as an electric pulse was sent through
my body as soon as my finger tips tried to touch the armor, I blinked
away the tears of pain and quickly saw a flash of electric looking mesh
before I clunked to the floor, motionless.

'You tricked me,' I protested, slumped down on the floor, trying to
let the cold cement floor cool me off. I felt hot but then, I also could
barely move my limbs. Quistis shrugged and knelt down in front of me.

'You questioned my authority and judgment. As I recall, I've been here
much longer than you,' She said then smiled and hauled me back up,
rubbing down my arms until they finally had feeling in them again, 'I'm
sorry but I had to make an ass of you for you to realize your mistake.'

I pinched my fingers together and mock whined, 'Ego is this big now.'
Quistis laughed out loud and pushed me towards the end of the isle.

'Go on, get those weapons ready, soon enough your ego will be back!'

I turned around and grinned cheekily at her, shaking my fist jokingly,
'Don't you know it!' I turned around, laughing once I saw Quistis turn to
Irvine and obviously give him some order. Quistis could be an ice queen
at times, but she did have a sense of humour to her..... even if it could
be slightly morbid. Wow, her and Seifer really were meant for each other.
They really were pretty decen -

~ I'm going to make his blood run... her screams will permeate the
night... they're cries of pain will mingle with the others.. For none can
stop us, for we are one.. ~

I stopped dead in my tracks; the creepy voice still reverberating in
my mind. It had chilled me to the bone, the voice sounding as if it had
been actually breathed and not spoken..... Each word a long, scraggly
breath. The hairs on the back of my neck rose.

'Who are you?!' I cried out, looking around me, fear shaking through
my body.

~ We are those... who you do not.... know ~

'Shut up!' I cried out, shaking involuntarily as a cold draft swept
around me, making me shake terribly, 'What have you done with Rinoa?
Where's Zell?'

~ The ones you love will all die... But not yet..... no... we have a
plan, we who can never be stopped... We will show you what true torment
is... For we will bring down apocalypse.. ~

I screamed as a surging, white-hot pain shot through my head and all
fell black.

**

A/N: I'll get the next chapter up as soon as possible. I've taken off the
anonymous review mainly because I don't want any more people's pennames
being used without their consent. Writing pointless flames like that wont
work on me anymore but I don't appreciate getting emails from others who
are scared they offended me because some idiot with no life has gone on a
flame spree. What nerds you get on the net these days. How sad.

Just remember everyone, if someone's flamed your fic under a penname,
and it's not a SIGNED review (which means you can click on the name and
go to that persons biography page) then it's not them.

Anyhoo, I'll update again as soon as I can!

-Dinchtbaby