Everything was ready on the White SeeD ship when Juliette arrived. She was led to the conference room while the orchestra played welcoming music. Laguna, Cid and Gunzler were already waiting for her and the athmosphere was very tense.

It was silent for a moment before Gunzler said: "So, you decided to come."

"I had no choice, did I? I wanted to see how my ex-husband is doing."

"I'm fine. In fact, I've been fine for eighteen years now."

"Hmm... I heard you spent ten years in jail. I hope you had nice time there."

If looks could kill, Juliette would've been dead.

"Maybe we should discuss about the ongoing war?" Cid suggested, feeling kind of uncomfortable.

"Yes. One of the reasons why I came here, besides meeting my old husband, is that I have an impression that Esthar is considering of pulling out of this war. Is that correct?"

"No," Laguna said. "We're all here because we want peace between Dollet and Galbadia."

"I see. If that's what Dollet wants, then they can surrender. This war won't be over before Dollet belongs to Galbadia."

It was an expected answer. They were still disappointed.

Laguna sighed. "Fine. Then we shall see who will win. Could you explain why Galbadia wants to take over Dollet?"

"You will find out... eventually."

"Hmph. Then, could you explain this: how did you, Raine's sister, become the president?"

"You knew Raine! Oh wait - now I remember - you're the guy who Raine fell in love with! I knew that you liberated Esthar from Adel, but I never associated you with her. Strange, isn't it?"

Laguna didn't reply. He just stared at Juliette, waiting for an answer.

"Oh, fine, I might as well tell my life story. It's true that Raine was my sister - but only a stepsister. We had the same father. I didn't see her too often because I spent most of my time in Esthar with my mother. When the Sorceress War began, my mother sent me to Galbadia as a spy. However, I switched sides. I joined the Galbadian army as a volunteer and since I already had experience of being a spy, I decided to become a spy for Galbadia. After they had trained me, I was sent to Timber among many other spies. By the way, one of the reasons why Timber lost the war was that their armed forces were ridiculously easy to infiltrate."

"And then you became a cook for our squad?" Gunzler asked.

"Yes. And to gain more trust I got married with you. After I had given out your location, I didn't want to work as a spy anymore, but I started creating a career as a secretary. Some time after Vinzer Deling's death I got a job at the Presidential Residence. After that it was too easy to start controlling his successor, Garett Deling..."

"No wonder the guy killed himself."

Juliette ignored him.

"What reason do you have to continue this war?" Laguna asked.

"You didn't get it yet? Garett never wanted to start a war - it was me."

"But why?"

"That is none of your business. I'm leaving. It was nice meeting you all."


Laguna wasn't satisfied with results of the negotiations. Juliette was already going back to her ship when he rushed after her.

"Wait a second!"

Juliette turned around. "I think we're done."

"No, I just want to know one thing. Who was your mother?"

"Why do you want to know that?"

"You said that she sent you to spy for Esthar. Only high-rank officers have the power to select spies but back then there weren't any female persons who could've done that. So you must understand why I'm wondering..."

"My mother was Adel."

Laguna gasped. He thought that name would never haunt him again but he was wrong. It hadn't been enought that he had imprisoned her. After she had been killed by Squall and the others, he had thought that he'd never have to hear of her again. But now she had a daughter! A daughter that was related to Raine? Laguna made a quick decision and pulled out his radiophone.

"Seize her!"

Juliette heard that and started running to her ship and made it there. Then Ragnarok flew above the ship and started dropping soldiers to the deck. The Galbadians noticed this and defended their ship fiercely. Laguna started shooting at them from the White SeeD ship, making sure that they wouldn't be able to take off the ramp that connected the two ships.

"What the heck is Laguna doing!" Squall said and followed the soldiers. Seifer came there as well.

"I don't want to miss a good fight," he said.

The chaos was complete. Fire spells set the deck on fire and some of them had to escape by jumping to the ocean. Seifer really enjoyed fighting with the enemies that were quite weak compared to him. He was attacking like a madman, casting some spells occasionally. The opponents ran away in panic, expecially after Raijin joined him.

"Where's Fujin?"

Fujin was at the White SeeD ship and she rushed to the battlefield to assist her friends. Now when the trio was together, they were unbeatable. However, Squall didn't enjoy the battle as much as them.

He killed off the enemies near the ramp, making it possible for Laguna to come there.

"What were you thinking!" Squall asked, sounding rather aggressive.

"I've got no time to explain! Where did Juliette go?"

"She's downstairs."

Laguna killed all the enemy's soldiers who tried to block his access to the hatch that led downstairs. There were only a few cabins and it didn't take long when he found the one where Juliette was.

She was typing something with her computer.

"Surrender!"

She just snapped her fingers and Laguna was thrown painfully against the wall.

"Did I forget to tell you that I have some of my mother's powers?" she said and ran away somewhere on the hallways of the ship.

Laguna stood up and felt that he wasn't able to chase her. Instead, he decided to check out what she had been doing with the computer. It was something that he hadn't expected: missiles had been launched and their target was the city of Esthar!