Wandering into the shop he could hear the crackle of flame and had to close his eyes as bright sparks filled his vision. The light died away and he opened his eyes to see Nadine holding up a bright red blade which faded as it cooled. It was triangular like his original Hyperion although the end had two prongs and there was a long hole along it. He grinned as he noticed that she'd copied his original gunstock which helped since he wouldn't be able to handle a gunblade without a right-angled gunstock.

'Hey perfect timing!' Nadine smiled happily as she laid the gunblade down on the counter the warm metal making soft 'pinking' noises as it continued to cool and she then pushed her goggles back up into her hair.

'So Amelia sorted out?' she asked as her gloves came off.

'I guess so.' Seifer said softly, watching as the blade became dark and thought of how weird things had turned out.

'So what do you intend to do next?' Nadine asked him sitting up on the counter.

'We'll leave pretty soon, there's no sense in bringing Garden to you, your mother would probably kill me if I did that.' He told her grinning.

'She never minded you or Zell.' Nadine replied.

'That was different. It all was back then.' He sighed.

'Anyway I suppose I'd better go see Boco...' he added in a lighter tone.

Nadine dropped from the counter and led him through the back out to a small stable.

She stuck two fingers into her mouth and whistled shrilly. There was a flutter of wings and a tall golden chocobo strode from out of within the stable, its head held up proud.

Nadine smiled and tickled the back of his head. 'Stop showing off you!' she chuckled to the chocobo.

'Wark!' Boco replied and turned to look at Seifer, tilting his head.

'You're going to take Seifer here and his friend wherever they want okay?' Nadine said softly.

Boco gave her a quizzical look but then nodded.

'Good.' Nadine replied and handed over the reins to Seifer. 'You two get acquainted and I'll fetch your Hyperion Dos and Amelia.

After Nadine wandered back into the house Seifer cautiously petted Boco. Boco nudged his shoulder playfully in reply. Seifer grinned and said softly 'I'm glad to see we'll get on alright.'

A sound behind him made him turn and there was Dana carrying a bundle of cloth.

'What's that?' Seifer asked surprised.

'Just a few things to help you along. We both know you have a long and hard path ahead of you and you'll need a few things I'm guessing.' She told him.

'But I'm already taking so much...' Seifer replied softly.

'Don't worry it's just a few bits of food and some money. You helped me before and now I want to help you.' Dana told him firmly as she thrust the bundle into his arms.

'I never helped you to get anything in return.' Seifer told her.

Dana smiled. 'I know that, not all of us thought you were that bad... at least those of us who really knew you.' She told him softly.

Seifer smiled faintly, lost for words.

Nadine and Amelia then appeared, Amelia dressed in the faded black jeans and top she had picked out earlier, her twin gun-daggers holstered on her hips now visible and within easy reach. The straps of a rucksack were also visible on her shoulders.

'How much did you take?' Seifer teased.

'Enough!' Amelia retorted sticking her tongue out at him.

Nadine handed over the now finished Hyperion Dos. 'Well I guess you're all set. Let's hope this isn't the last time we see you.' She said to him.

'Don't talk like that...' Seifer said softly pulling her in for an embrace.

'Be good.' He told her.

'Practice what you preach!' she retorted with a grin.

Seifer then gave Dana a brief hug and then helped Amelia up onto the broad back of Boco so she straddled his neck and then got up himself tying the bundle to the leather saddle and grabbed hold of the reins.

'Okay let's go!' he told Boco gently tugging on the reins and Boco dug his spurs into the ground preparing to go as Nadine gave him one final stroke and they rode off away from Timber leaving the two women behind, tears slowly welling up in their eyes.

They spent the rest of the day heading south across the ocean, Boco running across the surface of the water, waves flowing around his feet. By nightfall they had made it to the Centran continent and now the decrepit tower that was the Centra ruins loomed before them the broken cuboid frame around the higher reaches hidden by darkness.

'What's this?' Amelia asked softly as she slid off Boco's back.

'The Centra Ruins, it'll be our hotel for the night.' Seifer told her.

'And then after that?' Amelia asked as she slid the rucksack off her shoulders and headed into the decayed piles of mortar that surrounded the main tower.

'We go to a safe place, a place where it all begins and ends.' Seifer said softly holding Boco's reins and leading him into the central courtyard of the ruins.

The night was uneventful, the soft breeze causing the flames of the campfire to dance as they lay around it in silence, deep shallow breaths and Boco's soft 'Wark!'s the only sounds that could be heard in this dead ruin.

They awoke early next morning, the fire now a pile of dully glowing embers and clambered back onto Boco who duly led then across the sparse rocky ground that made up the Centran Continent and down a beach back into the ocean to the subcontinent to the south.

'Where are we going?' Amelia asked as the waves sloshed around them.

'You'll see.' Seifer replied softly.

As they drew closer to the land Amelia spotted a tall thin building at the edge of the coast. 'A lighthouse?' she muttered to herself.

'Yep, I spent a lot of my forgotten youth staring up at that in every thing I did.' Seifer told her softly.

'We're going to stay at Grandma Edea's old orphanage? Isn't that where you all grew up?' Amelia asked, the small grey stone building now coming into view.

'Yes we're going to stay there but we never grew up there, Garden had always been our homes. Let's just say this is where our destinies began and will eventually end.' Seifer told her urging Boco on.

'What do you mean?' Amelia asked her young mind not grasping Seifer's philosophical turn of phrase.

'This will be where your castle stands in the future.' Seifer told her firmly.

Amelia turned round on Boco's back and looked at Seifer. 'And just the two of us will build it?' she asked meaningfully.

'No, my child.' A voice called to them.

'Matron!?' Seifer muttered in disbelief as Edea appeared from the doorway of the decrepit orphanage.

'Grandma Edea!' Amelia called out excitedly.

Boco came to a stop outside the orphanage where Amelia leapt down and ran over to hug Edea. Edea wrapped her arms around Amelia in turn, a smile playing on her lips.

Seifer was slower to get down off Boco, stroking the chocobo so that it wouldn't run away from him. The woman he called Matron still looked youthful after all this time, a side effect of her possession by Amelia. He thought it ironic that he would look older yet he was technically her son. But extended youth was also a curse, the pain of watching those you love around you die of age. He knew how heartbroken she had been when Cid had passed a few years ago, how pained she was that she wouldn't be able to rejoin him any time soon. And so this is where she had disappeared to, kind of obvious really since her most precious memories belonged here.

'So you know?' Seifer asked her whilst Amelia still swayed in her arms.

'I know who Amelia will become, yes. I have been waiting for you both.' Edea replied breaking away from Amelia and taking her hand before leading them both into the mouldering stone building.

Seifer gave up on asking exactly how Matron knew all this and followed her out the orphanage and onto the beach.

'Now watch.' Edea told them both as they stood on the sand the waves crashing onto the beach before them.

Then the sound of the waves changed, pulling away from the beach and swirling around furiously further out to sea. The centre of the spiral sunk down and revealed a metal spire and then a further three behind it as dark tiled roofs rose from the water. Further turrets, balconies, walkways and walls appeared with high stained glass windows only slightly marred by time and seaweed. The water flowed down the dark stone walls until the whole castle and the island it rested on came to the surface of the water, the waves returning to their normal soft motion.

'What the..!?' Seifer said whistling hoarsely.

'Your castle Amelia.' Edea said softly.

'Wow!' Amelia said to herself staring up at the gothic building looming out at sea.

Seifer still stared in disbelief.

'After all you've seen and known you still cannot trust your eyes can you my boy.' Edea said to him.

'But...' Seifer stuttered.

'The castle has been here for a long time, waiting for its next occupant. I only knew of it myself when I became a Sorceress, that's why I came here and built the orphanage. All Sorceresses can find Hyne's Castle if they really need it or if they are powerful enough to call it. I was neither but Amelia is both.' Edea explained.

It was then a huge chain came hurtling across from the island and embedded itself in the sand near their feet.

'Your new home is inviting you in.' Edea told them and they all walked across to the castle.

The door was as dark and foreboding as Squall had described it to him and as they entered the inside was dry and exquisitely furnished.

'Where are all the monsters Squall said they had to fight?' Seifer asked aloud as they wandered the rooms and halls.

'That will be up to Amelia but she won't need guards yet.' Edea said mysteriously.

'Will you be staying with us Grandma Edea?' Amelia asked.

'No my dear I'm afraid my time here is over. I have a few things to do before I rejoin my dear Cid. Seifer will protect you just like he did I.' Edea replied and started to leave the castle.

Seifer caught up with her. 'You're really leaving? You're dying? I thought...' he said softly, tears he couldn't deny welling in his eyes.

'Yes my child, we all have to die. Besides I can't bear to watch the power devour poor sweet Amelia. Only you can prevent it taking over her soul completely. Yet I also know that she can't fulfil her destiny without knowing the truth of her past.' Edea said in a sad low voice so Amelia wouldn't overhear.

And so Edea faded away and time passed as befits its job description. Amelia grew, her body shooting up through puberty as her innate talents did too. At thirteen she was suddenly able to use magic without junction, the first spell of which was Cure followed by Fire, both helpful in their need to survive in the wilderness on the south Centran island. Seifer released Boco and sent him back to Nadine not long after they had settled in the castle. By the time she was sixteen Amelia was full grown, finally filling out Nadine's borrowed clothes and had a full repertoire of magic she could use at will. But she still couldn't contort time or use the other abilities Seifer had witnessed in his youth. Seifer now aged forty had decided that she was now old enough to be told the truth about the past, was now ready to face up to what was hidden within herself.

'Amelia....' He called to her one night as they were both in the library, Amelia reading up on Hyne's own journals as well as other tomes related to Sorceresses whilst Seifer was reading his battered copy of his much read favourite book "The Sorceress' Knight."

'Yes Seifer?' she asked looking up from her book, her long black hair trailing down her shoulders whilst her skin had become paler as she spent less time in the sun and her eyes well full of mystery.

'I think it's time you knew how your mother and father died.' He said softly.

Amelia's brow furrowed in bewilderment. 'But they died on a mission...'

'Yes but they were killed by their own.' Seifer told her.

'What!?' she sputtered in shock.

'There were some SeeDs at Garden who were against you being raised in Garden, said you were too dangerous. Your father argued against them and Squall countered them by saying that they never had a problem with Rinoa.' Seifer started to explain.

'Rinoa?' Amelia interrupted.

'Squall's first real girlfriend. She was also a sorceress... you'll meet her later don't worry. Luckily there was no one in that group of SeeDs suicidal enough to bring up the fact that Rinoa was dead. Her murder was a very painful thing for Squall.' Seifer continued.

'Is that why he is so withdrawn and stern?' Amelia asked.

'I guess so, that's how he was before Rinoa. Though he was different when we were around especially Quistis.' Seifer said sighing and then continued. 'Anyway, it all seemed to have been sorted out, you were to stay and be trained as a SeeD. Then when you were six your mother and father went on a mission with a few other SeeDs. Turned out that some were from the group opposed to you and Zell seemed to sense something wrong because he made me swear to look after you if anything happened the night before they left. And a few days later we found that they had been killed in cold blood, shot in the back and left for dead behind enemy lines. We only knew the truth because one of the remaining SeeDs was loyal to us and told us what had happened... risking his life for the truth for those traitors would have killed him for doing so.' Seifer growled, closing his eyes.

'Not that they got a chance to get to him... I've never seen Squall in such rage. He rounded them all up and executed in front of the whole Garden. Never knew he had it in him. He became even colder after that which is probably why you think he's so distant. Don't blame him really, the people he'd worked the hardest for had betrayed him, killed one of his closest friends... what could he believe in anymore?' Seifer finally finished.

He opened his eyes to see that Amelia was gripping the table tightly and her jaw was clenched. She let out a scream of rage her hands crackling with fire, which slowly faded as her eyes darkened and a cruel smile played across her lips. 'I'll make them pay soon enough.' She whispered to herself.

'I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner...' Seifer said softly.

'It's okay Seifer.' Amelia replied soothingly. 'The anger has triggered further latent powers within me, an old spell Apocalypse is now mine alone... also I know how to create the guards my father and the others will battle, but what I really desire is a GF of my own.' She continued softly as Seifer listened enraptured