AUTHORS NOTE:

Well, here it is! The sequel to Revolution of Heroes. I've included a little bit of the last part of the story, for those who may want to refresh on exactly what happened.. AND for some people who haven't read this, here is the address to where you'll find Revolution of Heroes and my other fics:

OR, if you don't care to read the other and start right away on this one, well, I'm sure you'll pick up on what's going on soon enough but I'd recommend reading the other for details.

WELL ANYWAY, I hope that you'll enjoy this one as much as the first story if not better. I do know, however, that this story has much for action and mystery. it was truly a pleasure to write and I'm hoping it will be as much to read!

Previously on Revolution of Heroes..

At the end: Seifer and Quistis's wedding

Sirus sat beside Aurora, debating in his mind whether or not he should ask her to dance. (I should. NO. Yes.) then he said, "A.Aurora. do you want to dance?"

He looked at her, thinking about what a coward he was but instead of her refusing like he'd thought she smiled and took up his hand. "I thought you'd never ask!" she said excitedly as they got onto the dance floor and began to dance.

"I'm sorry." he said.

"For what?" she said confusedly.

"Well, you know. last month. I was, you know." he began but Aurora put a finger to his lips, "Don't worry." She said simply and the danced some more in silence.

A slow song came on, it was 'Eyes on Me' and Sirus was ready to keep dancing but Aurora backed off a bit and began to walk off but Sirus grabbed her hand lightly and she turned around, it looked like a few tears were rolling down her face.

"What is it?" he asked while frowning and she looked at him sadly. "It's just. this song. The first time a boy told me he loved me it was to this song. then he found out what I really was and." She stopped.

Sirus stared at her, mad at who-ever this stupid guy was. "You know. if he was afraid of that then he didn't love you. anyone who really loves you wouldn't care about a silly thing like that!" he said softly and this seemed to make Aurora feel a little better and she began to dance with him again.

"Aurora. would you ever consider going out with me or something.." He said, regretting it right away when he remembered that this wasn't a good time for her but she smiled anyway. "Y...Yes. I would like that, Sirus." She said softly.

After she said that something happened, he wasn't sure what but her eyes turned black, her hair flared out breaking her perfect hairdue and it turned black too. Sirus held onto her, not knowing what to do, and Aurora swung her head back up and looked at Sirus before throwing him to the ground.

"Aurora?" he said with his voice wavering and his eyes widening. "No. Not Aurora, you little fool. Adel!" she said in a dry harsh voice. Sirus stared at her, everyone was gathering around and her parents rushed over, shocked to see what was happening, they tried to get to her but she blasted them away.

"I told her I'd be back, that little girl." said the deep harsh voice again, then she cackled, her body raised into the air and floated out the doors. Sirus looked up at her parents and are at everyone else, he wasn't the only that was dumbstruck on what just happened.

~~Chapter I: The Finding

As Aurora moved through the ballroom doors, Squall held his hand out to help Sirus stand up. "What was that all about. What's going on..?!?" Asked Sirus frantically, as he brushed himself off.

"I don't know. but I'm about to find out.!" Squall said, with a strange look on his face. He ran after Aurora as fast as he could, with Sirus and Rinoa at his heels. The others remained in the ballroom to calm everyone down.

"AURORA!!!!" Squall called, as Aurora came into their line of sight; close enough to hear them, but she did not reply, she didn't even seem to acknowledge the fact that they were running after her.

"Where is she going," asked Sirus breathlessly, "I mean, there really isn't anywhere to go, is there? The garden's not in one place, we're still moving."

Squall didn't answer and soon, they lost sight of her. She entered the elevator and went up. "Look's like there is somewhere for her to go." said Sirus, exasperatedly.

As the three of them stood, Rinoa pressing the 'up' button quickly, Squall suddenly made a violent gesture with his fist in mid-air, as if to hit someone. "Dammit," he said, "They're still up there!"

"Who?" asked Sirus.

"Laguna, Kiros and Ward," said Squall, he frowned, "I'd figured they left but come to think about it, I never heard their jet take off. I hope they did leave, though. if that really isn't Aurora." Squall trailed off. The elevator door opened and they got on the empty elevator and went up.

They reached the top floor where the aircraft platform was Rinoa gasped. They could see Laguna's aircraft taking off but Laguna, Kiros and Ward weren't on it, they were lying on the platform and they looked to be unconscious.

"Oh my god." said Rinoa, as they walked onto the platform. Squall ran straight over to Laguna to see if he was alright.

"He's fine," Squall said, standing up (he'd checked Laguna's pulse) "He just seems to be unconscious."

"Kiros is fine too." Said Sirus as he checked Kiros's pulse.

"Where's Ellone?" asked Rinoa.

"I'm not sure." Squall said, frowning.

"Oh."

"What?" asked Squall urgently.

Rinoa kneeled over Ward and checked his pulse. There was a long silence and finally Rinoa stood up with tears in her eyes and shook her head. "Nothing." she said sadly.

Squall gaped at her. "What!" he started walking slowly towards them but stopped short and stared down.

"He. he's.." Rinoa started.

"No." Squall gasped.

"We have to get him down to the infirmary," said Rinoa, looking back down at Ward, "I'm sure he'll be fine."

Sirus had run downstairs already and by the time Rinoa and Squall were ready to leave he had six students and three stretchers; they put Laguna, Kiros and Ward on them and headed down to the infirmary; all of them fearing the worst.

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"He couldn't have died." said Laguna with his head in his hands. Laguna and Kiros awoke in the infirmary next to Ward; Squall, Rinoa and Sirus sat near them.

"We. don't know for sure." said Rinoa softly, "When I checked his pulse." she trailed off.

"He just. couldn't have died. not Ward, he's too strong for that." said Laguna again.

"Where's Ellone?" asked Squall, suddenly.

"Oh." Laguna was taken by surprise but answered quite definitely," Umm, she went back into the ballroom to talk to Zell and his wife about living in Balamb. Didn't you see her there?" he asked.

"No," said Rinoa, placing a hand on Squall's arm to re-assure him that she was all right. "But I'm sure she's still there with Zell and his wife."

Dr. Kadowski walked into the infirmary room and looked at them all sadly; she shook her head. "Laguna. Kiros." she started, but Laguna already had tears in his eyes, Kiros sitting there in complete shock.

"I'm sorry.." She said sadly. "Ward died of severe trauma to the head." she trailed off, realizing that maybe it wasn't the right time to explain what caused his death.

"Rinoa?" Dr. Kadowski asked. "Why don't you take Laguna and Kiros to the guest dormitory room. let them rest. They need it. Kiros has a concussion so he needs to rest, but not sleep, make sure he doesn't fall asleep. Laguna has a fractured skull, he should probably lie down."

Rinoa nodded and summoned Kiros and Laguna to follow her, they did willingly. Laguna rubbed the back of his head where there was a piece of thick white gauze wrapped around his head. Sirus followed.

"Squall." Dr. Kadowski started, but stopped, unsure about the look on Squall's face. "Maybe I'll just wait until tomorrow to tell you."

"No." Squall said, "Please, just tell me now. I need to know, and we need to take action to find out what happened to Aurora."

"Alright," Dr. Kadowski said, "Ward seemed to have had some sort of blast the back of his head. It seems to me that Aurora blasted all three of them in the head and took-" Squall interrupted her.

"That wasn't really Aurora." he said angrily. "She'd never do that."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean too.." Dr. Kadowski trailed off, not knowing what to say next.

"Its alright. what were you saying?" Squall said politely.

"Well." she regained her composure, "As I was saying. they seemed to all have been hit on head. with an energy blast. very hard. Obviously whoever was in Aurora must have intended them all to die but Kiros and Laguna didn't die. They're very lucky they got out with only minor injuries."

"Yes. they are." Squall looked up, frowning, "What did you mean by whoever was in Aurora though?" he asked.

"Well, like you said, Aurora would never do something like that, so, I assumed that maybe something is in her. or someone. like when Rinoa was possessed." said Dr. Kadowski.

Squall's eyes widened. Dr. Kadowski was right, Rinoa was once possessed, by none other then Ultimecia. He ran through the night's events through his head until the point where Aurora began to act strangely.

"Squall?" asked Dr. Kadowski after a moment of silence.

"Oh yes, sorry. I think maybe I should head out to Quistis's office to tell her what happened. she'll need to know." Said Squall absentmindedly. "Thank you."

Dr. Kadowski nodded and led Squall, who was still deep in thought about the night, out of her office. Half way down the corridor he stopped dead, his eyes widening.

"It was Adel. she said so herself." Squall said out loud, thinking of the words last spoken through Aurora's mouth.

"Wait a minute. Adel can't possess people. only Ultimecia can. but why would Ultimecia say it was Adel? It must be Adel." Squall thought and slowly continued through the several dark corridors, up the stairs to the elevator.

He pressed the button to Quistis and Seifer's office and as doors began to shut a hand came through and prevented the doors from closing. As the doors opened Squall saw a young girl with blond curly hair, about Aurora's age standing there breathlessly.

Squall put his hand on the elevator door to keep it from closing as the girl began to speak breathlessly.

"Mr.. Mr. Leonhart-Loire?" Said the girl.

"Yes?" said Squall, frowning.

"I'm Aurora's friend, Dawn. I thought I should tell you something." Said the girl who was beginning to talk normally; she was no longer struggling for breath.

"Now isn't a very good time. can't it wait?" asked Squall exasperatedly and he let go of the elevator door but Dawn caught it and kept it open.

"No. really.. This is important." Said Dawn. "There's this boy, and he's disappeared, you see."

"And why is this of importance to me?" said Squall impatiently.

"Because the last time I saw him, Aurora was with him. She was leading him to an aircraft. He looked like a robot." Said Dawn rapturously.

"What!?!" blurted out Squall, with his eyes widening. His tone of impatience was gone.

"D'you know that boy that was with Aurora when she first arrived here. that Dean boy?" asked Dawn.

"Yes." said Squall, knowing where this was leading.

"Well, it was him. I saw him being summoned over to Aurora. He was outside the aircraft gate with some other girl. That was when I saw him, and now he's gone. What do you think this means?" asked Dawn.

"I'm not sure. but I'm going to have to find out." Squall was frowning again, "Thank you," he added with a nod.

"No problem, Mr. Leonhart-Loire." Said Dawn politely, but there was a look of sadness in her eyes, and Squall knew why. Aurora was gone and nobody knew what happened.

"Do you think you could possibly keep this a secret for me?" Squall asked.

"Alright." Said Dawn.

"Oh. and don't worry. we will find her. she'll be ok." Said Squall reassuringly to Dawn, who nodded and walked away quickly, heading towards the cafeteria.

Squall let the doors close, and he traveled up to Quistis and Seifer's office, feeling not so sure of what would happen, himself.

~~Chapter II Theories

The midnight moon shone down through the balcony doors into Quistis's office where Quistis, Seifer, Rinoa and Squall all sat on the sofa's in silence after receiving the news about Ward.

"My goodness." said Quistis sadly as she shook her head, Seifer's hand placed on hers firmly but he said nothing, he just looked at everyone with sympathy. Squall figured he didn't say anything because he didn't know what to say.

"I know." said Rinoa, shaking her head. "It's just terrible." Rinoa's eyes drifted out into the night sky, she seemed to be waiting for something.

"And now. Aurora's gone." she trailed off, tears ran down her cheeks.

Squall put his arm around her and whispered softly in her ear. "It's ok. she's not gone forever. we will find her. I promise you that."

Rinoa looked at him, her eyes flickering between gratitude for Squall and the sadness of the situation.

Finally Seifer spoke up. " I hate to. well, you know.." He trailed off, Squall could tell there was a guilty look in his eyes. He continued anyway. "We need to start taking action. and we need to live our lives."

Squall had a mixture of feelings toward what he said, he somewhat disagreed, it seemed too soon to do anything; but Seifer was right, for once. They needed to do what they could soon, and fast.

"I agree." Said Squall finally. Seifer eyes seemed to brighten up a little at that.

"I should tell you this now." Squall continued. "There's been a disappearance."

Quistis's head raised and her eyes widened, "Who?" she asked quickly.

"Dean. the boy who showed Aurora around the first day we were here." Replied Squall.

"How did you know that?" asked Rinoa.

"Dawn - one of Aurora's friends saw him. he was lead away by Aurora - or whoever that was." Said Squall to all of them. He stood up and began pacing the floor, back and forth steadily.

"What are we going to do?" asked Rinoa; though, her thoughts still seemed to be somewhere else.

"I'm not sure yet. but we need to figure something out." Said Squall, shaking his head.

"What would she want with him anyway?" asked Rinoa.

Seifer spoke up again, his eyes flickering between anger and grimace. "A knight."

"What?" asked Squall, almost immediately.

"A knight," Seifer insisted as though it was the most obvious reason there was, "You know that every sorceress needs her knight. I was Ultimecia's, you are Rinoa's. I imagine that whoever is in there wants a knight, chose Dean. he probably has a mind like mine. He did not give his mind willingly, like me. You gave your mind to Rinoa willingly."

"I suppose," Squall said thoughtfully, "But why him, there were others around. lots of people have minds that can be taken."

"Well, remember when I became Ultimecia's knight? At first you thought it was Edea but it wasn't. A sorceress's night always has some sort of similarity in dreams. I wanted power, as did Ultimecia. You wanted peace and love, much like Rinoa. They have the same beliefs." Seifer said. "I imagine that whatever sorceress is inside Aurora is much like Dean."

Squall nodded in understandment. "It's Adel." He said.

"What? How do you know for sure?" asked Seifer.

"That voice, the one that came from Aurora, said it. But I don't understand; can Adel really control people? I thought only Ultimecia could? If it was Ultimecia why would she say it was Adel..?" Asked Squall.

Seifer seemed to be considering what he said for a moment but he simply shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "I'm not sure. maybe Adel can. I don't know."

"So, you mean Dean is Adel's knight now?" asked Quistis, "So, then, Dean must have some sort of hatred in him, right. because Adel did. what do you think they're going to do?" asked Quistis.

"I'm not sure yet but we need to find out soon. I think that they will go straight to Esthar. Laguna isn't there; it will be easy for her to take over. We'd better get there right away." said Squall.

"Yes, I suppose that you're right. Esthar was Adel's country. and continent. do you think she'll try to find the Lunatic Pandora?" asked Seifer.

"Maybe. but she won't find it. We didn't hide it in the ocean this time, remember? Years ago, after we came back from the defeat of Ultimecia we thought it'd be safer to hide it somewhere else, somewhere not many people know about and if they do they're afraid to go there." Said Squall.

"Where?" asked Seifer.

"You know that gauge in Trabia. just north of Trabia Garden. we put it in there. It was always bezerk whenever we went near it with the mobile Garden, but we sent the Lunatic Pandora straight into it, nobody ever knew. except our group of six and Laguna's group." Said Squall.

"I see." said Seifer.

Squall stopped pacing as he heard the elevator doors open. Sirus, Laguna, Kiros and Ellone came in.

Squall nodded to them, and walked over. He shook Kiros hand and as Laguna held out his hand Squall ignored it and gave him a hug. The first hug since his and Rinoa's wedding, since Squall always felt so strange around his father; not really feeling like his son.

Squall stepped back and looked at Laguna's shocked face, but Squall said nothing and reached over to hug Ellone.

"Are you guys alright?" he asked them. They all nodded, Laguna walked forward and gave Rinoa a hug, and Squall noticed some tears swelling in both Laguna and Rinoa's eyes.

Ellone took Squall aside. "Squall.?" she asked.

Squall nodded. "Yes?" He said gently.

"Umm, Kiros was talking to me earlier. they think there should be a funeral for Ward soon. is it a bad time?" she said.

Squall shook his head. "Of course not. we'd better do this soon. Tomorrow?" he asked. Ellone nodded and gave him another hug.

"I'll go down and tell Dr. Kadowski to get him ready." said Ellone.

Squall nodded and turned back to the rest of them, to tell them that Ward's funeral would be in the morning.