AN: Well, this is the first chapter of the sequel to History Repeating and it's rather death filled.  Btw, I'm splitting this into 'books', and at the mo it looks like there's gonna be bout seven inc History Repeating.

Disclaimers: ff8 characters aren't mine, sniffles  they are © Squaresoft – who won't give them to me, meanies! – but original characters and creations are mine, so I have to take full responsibility for their crappiness :)

Warnings: Character death, angst, language, graphic violence, general darkness.  Basically, don't read if you can't bear to see any of the ff8 crew die, be tortured or be taken control of.  Also probably not a good idea to read if you have a graphic imagination and a weak stomach

Book Two of the Sorcerer Arc Death's Angel Chapter One Destiny's Fortune

Things always change.  Mainly for the better, but there are always moments you could look back on and wonder, with hindsight, that maybe if another path had been taken, if there might be nothing to regret...

Seifer stared at the ruins of Trabia Garden.  There was only one thing that could have caused the damage and destruction, clear even from where he stood.  A sorceress.  Moreover, a sorceress determined to crush everyone within the Garden before they knew what was happening – never mind before they could react either defensively or offensively.  He didn't want to think how many had perished – although part of his mind was methodically estimating the number of casualties – didn't want to dwell on the knowledge that both Selphie and Irvine were amongst the dead.  Later, when the survivors didn't need him to be strong, in command – later, when he and Squall could grieve together, then he would let himself understand that two people who had virtually grown up with him, were gone forever.

Fortunately – for his mind was morbidly counting its blessings even as it counted the dead – Trabia was the smallest of the three Gardens.  Add to that the almost too coincidental timing of the rank evaluation and SeeD exams, and really Squall had done better out of the whole incident than Kylari.  Over thirty cadets taking or re-taking their SeeD exam, and around forty full SeeDs of varying ranks.  Plus Kylari had blatantly demonstrated her intentions were hostile.  Yes, Squall had done almost too well out of this...

Frowning, and making a mental note to grill Squall over the issue later, Seifer gathered the cadets under his command together, and began to lead them down the mountain, back towards what was left of their home.  There were unlikely to be any survivors amidst the carnage, but a search had to be made, just in case.

There had been no survivors.  Not in the end.  Magic could only do so much, and once beyond that point the only mercy was a swift end...  Somehow a few of those within the Garden had been unfortunate enough not to have been killed outright in Kylari's attack.  It had been left to Seifer and a couple of other, older SeeDs, to bring that mercy to them.  It wasn't something any of them felt could be asked of the cadets, most of whom were too busy weeping on one another's shoulders to be of much help at all.

Squall's voice had been tight and colder than usual when Seifer radioed for further instructions.  He sounded furious, perhaps even as though he blamed those who had survived for the disaster – but only to those who didn't know him.  Seifer could tell his voice was tight with the effort of not surrendering to his emotions, could feel the tears the sorcerer was fighting back.  But more importantly, he could feel the frantic relief that there were survivors, and especially that Seifer had not been caught in Kylari's attack.  It was the latter that convinced him that, however low the probability of both the SeeD exam and the rank evaluation tests taking place on the day Kylari finally moved against the 'sorcerer', it was pure blind luck.

AN: short chapter grins  just a little teaser to make sure you really wanna read the impending darkness.  All Selvine fans who are about to explode and napalm me, I will make it up by doing a selvine of some sort...  sometime...  honest... grins I will, when I get time and if I can catch the right mood :) – til then check out 'Cowboys and Kisses'

REVIEWS FROM VERSION 1:

Reviewer: catsMarch5

Date: 01/11/2002

For Chapter: 1

Review:  I read the first story and felt that it need more. So I'm happy that there is a sequel to it.

         The strange thing is that I like reading darkish types of fiction.

         So I don't really care about who dies and so forth.

Author's Response:   Good o :)  Hope this is dark enough for your taste.  And yes, don't worry, I'm working on the sequel at present ;)

Reviewer: Drake

Date: 04/11/2002

For Chapter: 1

Review:  Ooooo! You read my review Zephyr-sama AND acknowledged me! I feel particularly special. And what a teaser you have here. SHAME ON U!  Interested I am, write more u please!

Author's Response:   grins  I'm glad you feel special.  I do try and acknowledge people who review my work as I'm working, but I'm afraid those who read and review after the next chapter's been written may not be so lucky - gomen, I'm lazy I know.  Rest assured, even if I don't respond, I do make an effort to read reviews and take their points on board.

                     And I will, of course, continue to write ;)  But don't expect me to give up teasers and cliff-hangers!

Reviewer: (Anonymous)

Date: 02/12/2002

For Chapter: 1

Review:  I don't mean to be rude but do u mind putting a yaoi warning in the summary, because I'm not a big fan of yaois and if the warning isn't int the summary I get really disturbed when AI read into the story.

Author's Response:   Ooops O.o  my bad.  Apologies to you and anyone else similarly caught out.  I could point out that the summary states this is a sequel to History Repeating, and that summary has a yaoi warning, but yes, I admit it was an oversight (now corrected) on my part there.  Gomen all!