Chapter 1
It has been a year since the victory over Ultimecia, but even though she had been defeated. It did not change the fact that she would still be born and inherit the sorceress' powers.
SeeD was still as set up and necessary as it was back then. Awaiting any incursions from the evil sorceress.
It has almost been 10 months since Rinoa had officially joined SeeD and became a student at Balamb Garden. Despite her experience in battle and her Sorceress powers, she had insisted to Squall that she join.
"To make it official" was her excuse back then. Squall had not believed her, she could tell. But he didn't stop her either, and for that she was grateful.
Rinoa snapped back to attention as her name was called out by Xu during the class registration. Rinoa was in the classroom at her seat, shuffling nervously. She was not the only one.
She, as well as the rest of the class, knew what would be happening later that day.
But she was probably the only one that knew the whole situation as she was also been appointed Gardens liaison to other countries.
Xu finally finished the register, put it down and looked to the class.
"For those of you that haven't heard, the field exam is today." she said, looking from one side of the room to the other "As the only students who have qualified for the exam are in this class, I am authorised to form the squads now. Remember this is fixed and no exchanges can be made, if it does happen you will be disqualified.
"Our client is the recently besieged City of Galbadia, who are under attack from the Dollet dukedom and rebel Timber factions. The two towns are saying it is revenge for the recent subjugation that the former leader placed on them. Even though they might be justified in their attack, our job is to make them think again as we cannot have any more random battles that may cause a new empire to form and give our ultimate enemy the chance to return." She did not need to state who the enemy was as everyone knew who it was and what could happen if she returned.
"The squads are, Squad A. Exploration squad; your job will be to search the sewers, disable any enemy you find and rendezvous with Squad C at the Presidential Palace. The team members are Wayne and Chelle with Starlen as Squad leader.
"Squad B. Battle squad; your duty is to search the city for enemy and disable their forces. The team members are Rinoa and Fiona with Seifer as Squad Leader."
That caused a stir in the students. Xu quickly called for quiet and then announced the other two squads. C being the defence team responsible for the defence of the Palace and protect the current President, who was elected shortly after the battle with Ultimecia. President Caraway. Also, D being the Intelligence squad, responsible for reconnaissance and message deployment..
Rinoa wasn't paying too much attention to the announcement of the other squads as she was looking at her team members.
Fiona was the pony-tailed librarian who was going out with Zell, as Rinoa spent a lot of time in the library she had gotten to know her very well and they were good friends, but she also knew that Fiona was not a very accomplished fighter.
Seifer on the other hand was an enigma, only having rejoined SeeD a couple of months ago at the personal invite of Cid and Edea; known in the military organisation as the parents of SeeD. He has radically changed his attitude towards his studying and seemed like he was genuinely attempting to get into SeeD.
Xu looked around again after she had finished her assignments, "Squads are to change into uniforms if not done so already and meet in the front hanger in 30 minutes. All other students are to meet just outside the Training grounds and await your instructor. Dismissed."
Rinoa got up and quickly went to her room and changed. Halfway through, Squall appeared from behind her.
"Aah!" Rinoa screamed
"Come on, Rinoa" Squall cringed back "we have been married for 8 months now."
"Oh, Squall," she sighed "Its you, it could have been anyone."
"Just coming to wish you luck on your exam." Squall kissed her
"Luck! Why do I need that?" She said jokingly, feigning a shocked look.
Squall laughed "Don't know!" He admitted.
"I'll take it, though." She said seriously "You do know who I've got on my squad."
"Yeah, Seifer and Fiona."
"Huh" she gasped " How did you know?"
"I made the squads, see you when you get back!" Squall kissed her again and then left, leaving a wild look on Rinoa's face.
Rinoa finished changing quickly and took a moment to reflect on the changes that Squall has had since they were married, he seemed more open for one thing, even though he still used his solid demeanour to great effect, the people closest to him knew what was happening and he was more than willing to talk to them to get their opinion on a task or ask for them to do a special duty for him. She looked at her clock and headed for the hanger, on the way she met up with Fiona and they walked together in silence, neither had to say anything as they both knew what was on the line during this exam.
………
Seifer waited by the directory, he was already set up for his part in the exam, he did not need to get himself ready for the battles as he was considered the best in Garden, only Squall could come close in matching skills and power, he did not even have to be ready to lead his squad because he had excelled in group battles during training and practical lessons, the only thing that worried him was the fact that if he failed again, would he be able to deal with another failure?
"SEIFER, TROUBLE" Fujin said coming up to him.
"Yeah, Seifer, you look like you've got a worry, ya know" Raijin said from behind Fujin
"Well, you know, I'm just thinking about them getting in my way, again." Seifer said, trying to cover up.
"Ya right! Oh, man!" Raijin shouted "I gotta go, ya know, gotta get a book that's come in, ya know."
"Go ahead, see ya when I get back." Raijin ran off towards the library while Seifer turned to Fujin. "Aren't you going with him?"
"What's really the problem, Seifer?" Fujin said changing her voice to the way she only spoke to Seifer with, while no-one else was around.
Seifer looked hard at Fujin, but after thinking a little, he backed down and explained.
"Do you really think I can pass this exam, do you know what it might do to me this time, you know what it did to me last time, it almost got everyone and everything destroyed, it was my fault. Not Edea, not Squall, not even Ultimecia, it was me that helped her, it was me that was to weak to stand up to her, it was me that was to proud to back down when I should have…"
"STOP IT, SEIFER" Fujin barked "That is in the past, you are much stronger now… we are much stronger now!"
That shocked Seifer, Fujin has never raised her voice to him before, had never interrupted him. But she was also correct. "You're right, I better get on with it then." He started down the corridor but suddenly stopped. "Say Fujin" He said not turning back to the silver-haired woman. "When I graduate, how about us going for a drink to celebrate?" he paused "Without Raijin!"
"That's the Seifer I know!" Fujin laughed "Wait!" She suddenly looked shocked. "Did you just say what I think you just said?"
"Yup"
Fujin's hard eyes softened noticeably "Sure, I'd be delighted" With that, Seifer nodded and walked to the waiting instructors. Never looking back.
………
The candidates stood in a line in front of Xu and the other three instructors. Squall stood off to the side looking at Rinoa, thinking about why he set up the squads like they are, matching her with Seifer and essentially an amateur knife-thrower in Fiona. Then it came to him and he understood, he was asking Seifer if he could deal with leadership and trust his companions in real combat, he was asking Rinoa to forgive Seifer for his actions during the battle with Adel by putting her in a position to have to work with, and trust him. Finally, he was asking Fiona to prove herself in battle and stake her claim in SeeD.
He finally took his eyes off his wife, to look across the hanger to the two ships awaiting the candidates and their SeeD supervisors. The red one on the right was the Ragnorok, the original ship that assisted him and his companions during their battle with Ultimecia. The other ship was the same class of ship as the Ragnorok except for the fact it completely black. The Dragon, as it was named, had been presented to Garden with three other ships as payment by Esthar, for the use of SeeD to face Ultimecia. The Garden committee which consisted of Himself, Edea, Cid, Xu and Dr. Kadowaki promptly authorised a hanger to be built in the old front gate to house the five ships.
They now had access to almost any place in the world and could deploy in emergencies within 30 minutes, if necessary.
After a quick role call of candidates, Cid came to the front. "Welcome to all of you, each of you are about to go on an official mission for Garden, remember, complete your goals as a squad and complete your tasks as an individual to the best of your ability. Good luck to all of you."
After he moved away, Xu came up "Remember, an order to withdraw takes priority over any other order." Squall was looking at Seifer as Xu made that comment, almost immediately after, Seifer looked at him and nodded. He was showing that he understood his mission both the spoken objectives of the mission and the unspoken mission of looking after Rinoa, but more than that Squall saw a determination in Seifer's eyes that he had never seen before and he knew that Seifer had prepared himself both mentally and physically for this mission.
Xu continued "Squads A and C are to go on the Dragon" signalling the black ship on the left. "Squads B and D are to go on the Ragnorok" signalling the red ship. "Candidates are to go to their respective ships immediately, take off in five minutes. Dismissed."
Squall quickly walked over to the side where Selphie and Irvine were standing.
"Hi, Squall" Selphie greeted him "Wats'Up?"
"Oh, nothing" Squall replied "Just wondering how the two of you are."
Irvine smiled "Really…? The ships are fine, they won't crash or anything like that."
"I guess I'm pretty transparent, aren't I." Squall said ruefully
"No;" Selphie assured him "just concerned that's all."
"I know, but that's also why I placed you two as the air force commanders, and why I can trust you. I'll see you when you get back for your report."
"Yeah, don't you worry your little head off, we'll get everyone there and back safely." Irvine said.
The two of them bid Squall farewell and went to their own ships. Selphie to the Ragnorok, the ship she has looked after and loved ever since she first stepped into it, and Irvine to the Dragon, the only ship in the class that came closest to the performance to the Ragnorok. This campaign had been planned down to the last detail, it was planned to be the safest and smoothest campaign and it had started out well as the two ships took off in tandem for the start of the mission.
As Squall turned away to deal with some other duties, he couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong and what worried him most, was that most of the time, his bad feelings usually came true.
