A/N: Okay, I know I kinda detoured on the whole quistis thing, but i had to think of some way to bring back seifer and edea. i mean, what would an ff8 fighting story be without those two in it. don't worry, it's not too long and it's not as corny as u think it is. and all those waiting for quistis' final battle, just be a tiny bit more patient and u'll see what happens.

Part Five: The Maiden

The Sorceress' KnightRinoa had been waiting for this moment a long time. Her powers were stripped from her a long time ago. Even though she never wanted to use them, they seemed to be a part of them now. She needed them back desperately. If she had any hope of defeat Quistis in a battle of magic, the aid of her powers would help her greatly. If she could kill Edea, then she could absorb her powers. But she guessed that getting a meeting with her would be somewhat difficult.

Instead of breaking in, she decided it was a good idea to go in peacefully. But that wouldn't work. She was already on the lookout. She would never get in that way. So she had to sneak in.

During their original escapades of trying to assassinate Edea at this very exact place, Rinoa had used another entrance. Around the back of the building, there was a car parked. She was surprised it was still there, but using it was great for her advantage. A series of boxes and ledges led up to the top floor of the palace. Using the boxes, she could easily get to the platform and into Edea's room.

She climbed her first box with ease. Eventually, she began to hop from box to box with ease. She remembered the first time she had done it, and it took her forever to climb. She had become stronger now. She was a different person than she used to be.

She reached the last ledge. All she had to do now was to climb the ladder to the platform. She carefully climbed it, trying to remain quiet. There could always be guards at the top. She breathed heavily now. She was so close to her powers, she couldn't wait to have them back. She pulled herself up to the platform. She looked across the city as she stand above it all. This is where Edea had made her speech under the control of Ultimicia. She taken control of Rinoa's body then as well. But now, Rinoa was in control.

"Admiring the view?" A deep and treacherous voice familiar to Rinoa, spoke up.

Rinoa froze, feeling as if she had heard a ghost, "Seifer?"

She saw him there. The tall, blonde man who had betrayed her a long, long time before Squall had done so. Another child of the orphanage, Seifer instantly went on the bad side. Even though Rinoa had met Seifer before all the others, she wished she hadn't. She met him one summer and fell in love with him. They dated for a while, but they eventually fell apart. But he found a new love in sorceress Ultimicia. He had used Rinoa to feed Ultimicia her powers. She could never forgive him for that. She had figured that he had gone in exile or something, but he was still here. He had come to be another sorceress' lap dog.

"What are you doing here?" Rinoa asked him.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that question?" He smirked. He no longer wore his long, white trench coat. He just wore his tight, sleeveless, purple shirt with a giant white cross in the middle. His baggy black pants were still the same. He carefully rested his gunblade on his shoulder.

"Why are you guarding Edea?" Rinoa walked closer to him.

He swung his gunblade at her to make her keep her distance, "Because it's what I'm good at. I'm good at being a sorceress' knight. It's my passion. Even though Edea isn't the same, I still feel like I owe my life for her. I will protect her to my death."

"Seifer, how could you?" Rinoa may have not liked Seifer, but she took pity on him.

"How could you, Rinoa? Now I'm gonna have to kill you." Seifer smiled, sadistically. He readied his gunblade, making Rinoa step back a little further.

"I'm not here to kill you...But I will if I have to!" Rinoa grabbed the handle of her gunblade that suddenly appeared. She unsheathed her masterpiece and swung it up to ready for battle.

"Rinoa...when did you..." He was surprised.

"Unlike you...I've changed quite a bit since the last we met." Rinoa rushed towards Seifer.

She lunged her blade at him, but he met it with hers. They pushed on their blades before finally letting off. Seifer breathed heavily before he swung at her again. She quickly brought hers back up to block it. She lifted hers into the sky and brought it down. It clashed to his, but she pulled the trigger. Seifer was flung away from the blast. He fell on his back, amazed at her skill. She had grown. But so had he. He got to his feet, laughing.

"What's so funny, Seifer?" Rinoa called to him.

"You're not the only one with new tricks." He laughed some more before holding his gunblade in the sky.

"What're you doing?" She watched him and his blade.

"FIRECROSS!" His body became enflamed with a fire. The fire began to transfer from his body to his blade. The fire began to grow from not just his blade, but created a pillar of fire.

"Uh-oh." Rinoa told herself.

He looked at her with glaring eyes. He brought the flaming pillar down. Rinoa quickly dodged, but it didn't do much help. The flames began to spread and she was already short on space.

"WHAT NOW, RINOA!?" He laughed as he swung the blade again.

Rinoa didn't know what to do. She was already on the edge of the building. The flaming pillar was coming at her, and she wouldn't be able to dodge it. She did the only thing she knew what to do. She jumped off the building avoid the hurling fire. But she remembered one thing that she still had. She pulled out the little fuel cartridge from her breast pocket that she had bought at the mall. She chucked it into the hurling fire as she fall from the building. The cartridge came in contact with the flames and burst open. The flames soon became an explosion of fire as the whole platform was now a roaring bonfire.

Rinoa caught herself on the ledge of the building, feeling the intense heat from the fire. She gripped with all her might to keep from falling two stories to the ground. She sighed at her most recent work. She carefully monkied her way across the ledge to an area not in flames. She climbed up and saw the flames still burning on the platform. But her real destination was through the little doors she saw behind her. She was on a mission to get her powers back.