"CERBERUS!" Squall shouted his hands thrown to the side. The spirit dog sat on its hind legs in the corner of the room, rearing back its head at Squall's uproar. "What the hell are you doing in my room?! What are you doing here?!"
Cerberus's faces were kind of sad looking, even the right head look a little depressed, but still kept its angry face on. Cerberus pushed off from its hind legs and moved towards the mirror.
"I'm sorry to intrude Squall, but this was a matter of great importance!" Cerberus spoke in a clam voice. "We require you and your team to help us…"
"Stop!" Squall interrupted, not letting Cerberus finish, lifting up his right hand to Cerberus. "I can't do it"
"Why not?"
"There already to much for me to do…I've got to train other students to become SeeDs, I have to give orders and sign orders, and I also have to go around the world to take care of a few things… in short I have no time" Squall paused then sighed at the end and turned his head to the side, crossing his arm about his chest.
"I have no time…none… hardly any at all"
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"Please… help us!" a soft voice echoes in the room. Squall and Cerberus both peered at the mirror as the ice spirit appeared, carrying her crystallized friends in hand. Squall went quiet for a few seconds, staring at both Shiva and Cerberus and the tiny crystal in Shiva's grasp.
"Wait a minute…" Squall suddenly asked, moving closer to the two GF's. Squall stood from arms length and poked at Shiva's skin. Cold, even through his gloves. Squall moved back and scratched the back of his head. "How is it that you both are here? I mean, don't you belong in another realm or something?"
"GF's can venture into the human world when they want. There are portals that allows us to venture between both worlds" Cerberus explained.
"Don't you remember, Squall?" Shiva interrupted, moving closer to the confused Squall. "The fire caverns. Ifrit appeared from a portal to challenge you, remember?"
Squall turned away to think. His memory was clouded with recent events and past hardships and even his own thoughts. Squall didn't say anything.
"I can't remember…"
"You will…" Cerberus assured.
"We may exist in your minds causing some memory loss. But it isn't permanent, just wait a few minutes" Shiva further explained to Squall, who still had his back to the GF's.
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After what seemed like an hour, Squall slowly saw the whole battle in his head against the Fire Demon Ifrit. It was clouding at first, dark but soon, as Shiva had said, he began to remember it again. Squall opened his eyes, lowering his folded arms and the turned to Shiva and Cerberus.
"I remember now"
"Good" both GF's replied. Having smiles on their faces.
"But I didn't see no portal"
"Some portals can only be seen by us GF's, other can be seen by mortals" Cerberus explained, all heads nodding in sync.
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Squall placed his head in his hand. He tried working things out, about everything lately. And now this jumps into his lap. He rubbed his forehead hard, his fingers rubbing deep into his skin.
"Cerberus and Shiva are here?" he thought. "They want me to help them? I can barely help myself!" his fingers running even deeper into his skin, till he felt them almost reach inside his mind. "I have no time to help them…I got to much work as it is…" he peered at the GF's and turned away from them.
"I have to tell the others…but how do I hide them from everyone else?"
Squall turned around, with a worried look on his face. He scratched the back of his head before saying something.
"You'll guys have to wait here… I'll go get the others to meet us here…"
"There is no need for it Squall" Shiva interrupted.
"Only you can see us now…" Cerberus explained. Squall frowned and lowered his head.
"Oh Great! People already think I got enough on my mind... and if they see me talking to nothing, they'll say I've lost my mind!"
"I can't be seen talking to you…" Squall mentioned, getting a vague image of people seeing him talking to nothing but air. "People would think I've lost it if they see me talking to nothing"
"We know that Squall!" the right head shouted.
"Calm down!" the middle quickly shouted back at its counterpart's rudeness. "He didn't know!"
"Sorryyy!" the right head dragged on. The middle head's glowing orange eyes narrowed at the right head. And suddenly both right and middle head broke into an argument. The left head turned away and sighed.
"Can…can people outside hear this?" Squall asked, again scratching the back of his head.
"No, they only hear you…" Shiva explained. Over Cerberus's noise he moved closer to the door trying to make if anyone was trying to listen in on them…or just him. Squall could just make out the faint talk from the hallway over Cerberus' loud howling.
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"Would you knock it OFF!" Squall shouted, spinning around with his right arm out stretched to the side. Both heads went silent. The left head's sad expression went even sadder. Shiva was shocked and almost fallen over. In the mist of the peace and quiet, Squall again thought that everyone had heard his screams and that now everyone could be listening in.
Squall calmed down and slowly stood up straight, moving a lock of his hair out of his face. He shook his head and grabbed his gunblade from the bedpost and placed it firmly in his holster.
The came a soft whimper from behind him.
"You're not going to slash at us again, are you Squall?" the left head of Cerberus asked, tears flooding his puppy like eyes. Squall didn't turn around but became still.
"Again?" Squall asked, slowly turning to face Cerberus. "When was the first time? I haven't done it to you lately"
"In the hallway… outside the dorms in the main hallway last night!" the left head explained, its voice sounding even softer. Squall then notices a huge scar across all three heads that he really didn't take any notice to.
"Outside the dorms…last night?" Squall went silent. His arms again folder about his chest and his head lowered. He didn't reply or speak, as his mind wondered about last night's memory.
"I remember that strange dream…I remember going to the dorms from the training centre and then I…" Squall's eyes opened and he lower his arms, staring about both GF's.
"Was it you guys in that silver flame?" Squall asked.
"The aura flare you mean…"
"Whatever…was it you?"
"Yes it was…we thought it would have disappeared before us hitting you, we're sorry" Cerberus apologized bowing its heads. Shiva came and patted Cerberus on the back, sending cold shiver up the Dog spirit's spine.
"We were kind of excited to be here, we thought that this place may have moved on somewhere else…"Shiva started to explain moving from Cerberus to Squall. "We were just happy, that's all"
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"Happy?" Squall thought. "At least someone is" Squall sighed and moved towards the door.
"Come on, we better find the others…" Squall reached for the control panel to the door and then paused, turning his head slightly to just see the GF's. "And when you talk to me and I don't reply…I just don't want people getting the wrong idea, but still keep talking if you want"
Shiva and Cerberus peered at each other before moving off behind Squall when he opened the door and made for the hallway. Squall tried to keep a straight face as Shiva and Cerberus tried to explain to him what was going. Squall sometimes found himself shouting at what was explained to him and people would just stare. He would hide his face and make up some excuse and just walk on.
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He found Zell and Irvine together in the cafeteria, talking and laughing while enjoying their first hotdogs in a long time, to only have Squall come in and ask them to find the others and to meet him outside the front of the school. Zell and Irvine seemed pretty annoyed at first. Irvine and Zell peered at each before stuffing down the Hot dogs and walking off to find the others. Squall, Zell and Irvine walked down the hallway, Zell and Irvine trying to figure out why Squall had asked then to meet outside.
"Come on Squall, what's the big idea? What do you want to talk about?" Zell asked, trudging just behind their commander, who looked to be between conversations. Zell awaited but Squall didn't answer. Zell shrugged at Irvine and shook his head. Irvine rubbed his chin, before he run up next to Squall.
"Squall? I know you have a lot on your mind but please fill us in on the details man…" Irvine was stopped by Squall. Squall sighed and then turned around to face his team members.
"All I can say at this time is it concerned the GF's, they may have a mission for us to undertake…that's all I can say" Squall turned around, all-silent like and began walking off. Zell and Irvine stood, baffled and confused.
"A mission to do with…" Irvine began to say.
"GF's…" Zell finished off. Both looked at each other before quickly sprinting down different direction in the main hall.
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"Are you sure that was a good idea, Squall? Why didn't you tell them the full story?" Cerberus asked, catching up to the fast pace Squall. Squall examined his surrounding leading to the entrance before speaking.
"I gave them as much info as they needed to know" Squall said, keeping his face looking straight and unchanged. "As soon as they get to the front of the school I'll explain the rest to them"
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After twenty minutes of waiting, Squall could hear the soft chatter of familiar voices heading his way. Squall stood quiet quickly and before the grouped arrived he turned to the GF's that stood beside him.
"What am I supposed to tell them about you guys?" Squall asked straight off. "Are they going to be able to see you?" Shiva gave a slight chuckle and patted Squall on the back.
"It will be alright…you'll see" Shiva explained. Squall was more hoping for a better answer then that but just sighed and rubbed the back of his head. As soon as he heard the approaching group come to a halt he turned around and paused…he forgot what to say to them.
"Damn! How am I going to say this without sounding like a complete idiot?!" Squall asked himself, again rubbing the back of his head.
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"Squall? W-what is Shiva and Cerberus doing here?" Asked Irvine, scratching at the back of his own head.
Squall went silent, even before he spoke. He turned to Cerberus and Shiva and then turned back towards his team members.
"You can see them?" Squall asked sounding a little baffled. The group gave a little unsure nod, as if they weren't sure they were seeing things. Squall crossed his arms and grunted heavily.
"I told you Squall" Shiva said as she approached him. "Everything will be alright" she again patted his back and moved in between him and the others, bowing to them while greeting them. The group didn't really know how to respond, expect for Selphie who bowed back eagerly.
"Oh wow!" Selphie shouted, waving her hands about. She ran up to Shiva, dancing happily about while examining the Ice spirit form head to toe. "A GF… in the Flesh!" Selphie shouted, touching Shiva's icy cold skin. "And without being summoned I bet!" Selphie sounded very interested at the GF's appearance, almost like a kid at Christmas.
"Squall…I'm a little confused" Quistis spoke up moving past Selphie and Shiva. "What are they doing here? No offence…" Quistis apologized to both Shiva and Cerberus, even though she wasn't trying to be rude. The two GF's nodded, knowing that she wasn't trying to be rude.
"We are here to ask for your assistance" Cerberus stated, slowly walking into the group, that was now forming around Squall and the Two GF's. "Something has occurred that we are unable to handy by ourselves…"
"Hey Shiva what are these crystals your holding?" Zell asked indicating at the shining orbs in her hands.
"Its part of the reason why we are here…we have a request…." (Middle head)
"Mission!"
"Task…"
"…For you! We need you strength to help us defeat a new foe!" Cerberus finished, after its heads started to butt in.
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"A… MISSOIN!" Zell shouted sounding excited as he began to shadow boxing. Zell had a huge smirk on his face. He stopped boxing and ran up to Squall, his hands gripping Squall's jacket. "Oh c'mon man!" Zell started, shaking Squall as he talked. "It's been so long since we had a decent fight! It's been getting boring around Garden… I need some action, man!"
Squall shook his head and then pushed Zell from his jacket. Zell, losing his footing hit the ground hard. Squall didn't say anything but went silent, as he always does when he has time to think.
"Zell you shouldn't get to carry away with this…it could be dangerous!" Shiva stated, lowering herself down to the fallen fighter.
"Hey!" Quistis shouted straight after Shiva, laughing straight afterwards. Shiva stood up and peered at Quistis who was laughing about something, "I was about to say that! Ha-ha!" Shiva smiled and chuckled slightly. Irvine noticed this reaction in shiva and began to scratched at his head.
"Hey! I've never notice GF's had a sense of humour!" Irvine stated, seeing that Shiva was finding Quistis statement funny.
"Yeah!" Selphie agreed, also notcing Shiva's reaction as did everyone else. "How come we haven't seen this side of you guys before?! Come tell us!" Selphie asked impatiently, her hands placed firmly on her hips.
Shiva peered at them, still chuckling before quieting down. Shiva quickly wiped a small tear from her eye before returning to her normal state. Cerberus grunted and sat on its hind legs.
"As you all are aware we GF's inhabit a part of your minds…"
"You mean the parts of our minds… as in our memories?" Quistis asked, lending towards the spirit dog. Quistis had already heard all the GF's rumors spreading about Garden and town, and have come dismissed them as made up stories, but lately she began to believe their truth. Cerberus and Shiva both nodded.
"To better understand our masters or summoners…we relive their memories, to better understand their strengths and weakness so we can aid them in the furture, as we have done with you…" Shiva continued after Cerberus, but stopped, as she didn't know how to continue. Cerberus notice Shiva's paused in her sentnce and quickly filled in raising its heads up higher so everyone could see him.
"We gave you more strength, more abilties to help you fight your demons…"
"Thanks to you guys…" Selphie suddenly shouted, happily butting in. "I've never felt so strong or as happy! Thanks" After finishing Selphie ran up to both GF's and gave both Shiva and Cerberus big hugs.
Shiva blushed, feeling kind of happy and overwhelmed with new sensations but just smiled and gave a slighty hug. Cerberus tried to avoid Selphie but was unable to out move her. Cerberus went silent and also began to blushed. To hide their embarrassment, all three heads put on their causal faces. The right head was mumbling while still looking angry, the middle head kept it eyes closed and just breath and exhaled and the left head was just smiling. Selphie finished her hugs and then joined the group.
"Thank you…" Shiva smiled.
"Yeah thanks…"
"It was nice…"
"It was lovely…could I have another?"
"Enough" Squall finally spoke up after his mental thinking. He moved in between the group and the GF's. Squall sighed and lifted his head to the sky. "I've already heard everything…if we are going to undertake this mission, you better explain it a bit further to all of us…"
"So are we doing this or what?" Irvine asked, grabbing the edge of his hat and bring it down over one eye.
"Yeah man! So what's it going to be?!" Zell shouted, moving a bit closer to Squall.
"As I said, I'll have to hear it out further…then I have to figure out where we stand. There so much to be done…" Squall was suddenly interrupted by Selphie shouting.
"Oh come on! Please say we can do this! PLEASE!" Selphie hugged Squall from under his arm. Squall was a bit taken by surprised but did not try to shake her free.
"We can help you out, Squall. Just let us know" Quistis reminded their leader. Squall went silent and closed his eyes.
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"I just have to figure this all out… there too much stuff to be done…maybe they can help out, as they say 'more hands make light work'… but wait…where's Rinoa?"
"Listen to us Squall… just remember we are here to help each other" a voice spoke up. Squall, as well as everyone else spun around to see the young sorceress standing by the gates to the school.
"Rinoa.." Squall sighed with a smile. Squall stared at her for a while before turning to the GF's.
"Alright…SeeDs will see this mission done!"
Cerberus and Shiva smiled at Squalls agreement. There came a cheer from everyone around Squall. Squall peered at his team member cheering and almost needing to block his ears.
"Yeah!"
"Alright!"
"Woo Hoo!"
"Quiet down!" Squall had to yell to get their attention. It took a while for them to quiet down but soon they were all silent "We'll meet up in the secret area in the training centre… at two o'clock in the morning"
"YEA HA!"