Irvine voice blared through the speaker phone for all in the room to hear. "Yea Quistis, Rinoa is here, and she still is a sorceress. I'm afraid to report that she seems like she is unstable, possibly starting to go dark, or whatever it is that sorceresses like Adel call themselves."

Quistis sat in the commander's office, a place where she felt foreign. One thought kept running through her mind, almost every moment of the day. This is Squall's chair. I don't belong here. But of course Cid thought she did, and had appointed her acting Commander until he felt Squall could be reinstated. She sighed. Three weeks in this job and I already hate it. How did Squall put up with it? "How bad is she?"

Quistis continued to stare at the speaker phone. Irvine's reply was not forthcoming. "Irvine?" Silence reigned for a few more seconds, giving time for Quistis to look at the other two occupants of the room.

Selphie was predictably sitting with a bubbly expression, no doubt happy to hear from her on and off boyfriend of the last three years, and hearing that Rinoa was alive and well, and most importantly talking to Squall. Quistis sighed. I suppose that is good news, but somehow I can't really jump for joy at that.

Cid Kramer sat in an easy chair, massaging his nose with one hand and squeezing his eyes shut. Of all the people Quistis had met in her 7 years of being a SeeD, Cid was one of the few people she could not read like a book. His expression was unreadable as he sat there listening to Irvine's report. Quistis' heart went out to him. He lived through two sorceress wars, and it affected him so personally, in a lose-lose situation. Now he is looking straight down the barrel of a third one, and one that could tear his adopted family apart again.

Irvine's voice finally filtered back through the speaker of the telephone. "Not good, Quistis. I think it might be prudent to send some reinforcements here for the express purpose of helping to control Rinoa. Right now I think she's at the point where she could go either way."

Quistis looked at the duty roster. "I can have 3 level 15-20 SeeDs there in two days."

Irvine's answer came after a few second's hesitation. "Quistis, if you could, I'd like Selphie to come. I think having people Rinoa knows very well will help out tremendously and not make her feel hostile."

Quistis started scribbling notes on a noteputer. "Irvine, I'm well aware of that, but I think that Squall should be enough to..."

Irvine interrupted her. "Umm..."

Silence reigned again. Quistis stopped writing and looked at the speaker phone. "Irvine... what is it?"

Irvine was silent for several more seconds before his voice came back in almost a whisper. "She... attacked Squall."

A much more sinister silence prevailed in the room for nearly thirty seconds. It was one of those ominous silences, completed by the ticking of the old style clock that Squall had insisted put in his office. Over the last few weeks, Quistis had eyed the clock several times with the desire to either remove it or throw a heavy object at it. She did not know how Squall could concentrate with its relatively loud ticking, but she felt it was not her place to touch it. Now it was loudly marking the passage of time.

Quistis, for once in the three weeks she was in here, did not hear its aggravating tick. Her mind was totally blank, save for those three little words that Irvine had spoken. She attacked Squall. She attacked Squall. Quistis stared at the speaker phone. If she was looking at her own face, she would have added herself as one of the few people whose expression she could not read. She attacked Squall. The noteputer and stylus silently dropped on the carpeted floor as Quistis slowly stood up. Her hands found the edge of the desk and she leaned forward on them. She attacked Squall.

"She did what?"

Quistis would later mentally slap herself for such a stupid comment, even whispered liked she had. She looked at Selphie whose face had turned to horror, shocked beyond words. She turned to Cid, whose face was ironically easy to read now. Quistis knew exactly what was running through his mind at the moment. Is Squall alright? What did Rinoa do? Is this the end? Will we have to kill her?

Irvine's voice came through the speaker louder, but somehow more timid. "She…" Irvine's voice cracked slightly. "She attacked Squall."

Quistis' voice was quiet but firm. "Is he alright?"

"Yea... just a small concussion. It could have been worse."

Quistis nodded even though Irvine was hundreds of miles away. "It could have been. When did this happen?"

Irvine's again hesitated. "Wednesday."

Quistis jaw dropped as she looked at the calendar. What day is today? Monday? "Wednesday?!"

If Quistis had been in front of Irvine, she would have seen him wincing. Instead he was just getting a tongue lashing from one of the most feared instructors in any Garden. "Irvine, today is MONDAY, and your just telling me now that a sorceress used her powers to attack her own knight FIVE days ago?!"

Irvine's voice came back with conviction. "Quistis, if I had reported it immediately, we would have had a different problem. Squall is already wanting to side with her, some sort of promise he claims he made. I wanted to let both him and her calm down for a few days before any outside forces started pushing them."

Quistis sighed and collapsed into the seat. "What's done is done. We can't change it now." Quistis looked at Selphie. "Selphie, I want you on the 5 AM train."

Selphie nodded mutely and turned to walk out the door. "Selphie" Irvine's voice stopped her.

"Irvy?"

"Selphie I want you to go into my room. In the middle drawer of my desk, at the very back, there is a purple box there. I need you to bring it with you, its very important."

"I got it, Irvy!" Selphie transformed into her bubbly self in an instant and ran out the door.

In any other situation, Quistis probably would have made a few snide comments at this moment. Of course she knew that Selphie - and half the other girls in Balamb Garden – had a key to Irvine's room, in direct violation of Garden rules. Officially however, as an instructor she was supposed to reprimand and report Irvine to the Headmaster and Commander, since they and the discipline committee, of which Selphie was not a member and Irvine was not allowed to be a member of, - for obvious reasons – were the only ones allowed to have access to rooms besides their own.

"Irvine, be expecting me and Selphie tomorrow at noon. I'm coming myself."

Cid finally spoke for the first time. His voice was quiet and almost non existent, but still seemed to radiate his presence and be heard. "No you are not. You have a meeting with the Galbadian representative tomorrow morning."

Quistis looked over to Cid. "Headmaster, with all due respect, this is a situation that needs immediate attention from us. The Galbadian emissaries..."

Cid interrupted her. "Are coming tomorrow morning, and you will take the time to meet with them so they don't know that we are suddenly shorthanded. They will start investigating, and might discover Rinoa is a sorceress. You will leave as soon as the meeting is done."

Quistis rubbed her eyes. "And this isn't important as well? More so than worrying about the Galbadian SeeD requests? Surely Xu can handle this."

Cid shook his head slowly. "No, Quistis. They were expecting to meet with Squall. They know he is on mission, so it will not be a surprise for him not to be there tomorrow. If you aren't there they will get suspicious, especially if all 5 of the top SeeDs are on one mission. It will attract too much attention that the mission doesn't need."

Quistis sighed and sunk into her chair dejectedly. "Yes, Headmaster."

Irvine's flashy voice came through, and the instant she heard that tone, she knew that she was going to be complemented physically and most likely hear a remark about how the two should be in bed together. "Quistis, darling, it's quite alright. I think I will be able to survive one more night without your heavenly body in my bed."

Quistis sighed. Sometimes, she hated being right.

Selphie opened Irvine's door without a hitch. She absolutely loved being the special lady of the entire Garden who Irvine gave his room key too. It let her visit him whenever she wanted, often surprising him with her presence. It also let me save Irvypoo so many times from those evil cadets who tried to have their way with my cowboy!

Selphie went straight to the desk drawer, and sure enough there was a small purple box there. When she grabbed it, she found it was a velvety jewelry box. The lid was twisted slightly, like it had been thrown into something. Curious, she opened the box slowly. That's funny, what would Irvine be doing with...

Selphie's thought and even her mind stopped cold when she saw its contents. Her jaw dropped to the ground, because she knew exactly what it was.

Zell groaned as he fell 25 steps and landed with a heavy thud. Boxes of various sizes, but all extremely heavy thudded down on top of him, almost crushing him under their weight. "Will someone PLEASE explain to me again why in Hyne's we need all this garbage back at the hotel?!"

Irvine looked up from his intense game of Triple Triad. "Zell because the lady said so, therefore we carry this back."

Irvine grinned inwardly and brought his eyes back to his opponent, or more exactly to her body. Natalie was wearing a red half shirt that looked more like a strategically placed strip of cloth on her chest. Combined with the same tight black leather pants that she wore the day the three SeeDs started their contract, she was almost distracting for Irvine.

He looked at the board. They were playing with the sudden death rule, among others, and Irvine was looking for ways to continue the tie yet another match. They had been playing one long continuous game for the last half hour. Irvine had engineered the plot to get Zell off hauling the entire load by himself. He almost chuckled at the idea. First he found out that Natalie was a player, and then worked it up to where she challenged Irvine to a game as soon as they arrived at the Darvin Mansion. She ain't that bad of a player at all, but she is facing the champion of Galbadia AND Balamb Gardens. Irvine smirked and laid down a T-Rexaur card flipping a Grat and Adamantoise. There we go, she will spend her time and see the way for her to take the lead.

This was already the 17th hand played with the same cards on the sudden death rule, and both knew what cards the others had. She has the Siren card there, and she can use that to take the lead, if she places it just right. The best part of this game, besides watching Zell struggle with all the heavy boxes while he kicked back and played, was when Natalie went into deep thought. He wasn't sure if she noticed it, but every time she thought deeply, she leaned forward on her left hand while rubbing her thumb on the cards in her hand.

Irvine smirked as she leaned forward. Her golden blonde hair fell in clumps off her shoulder and forward, giving accent to what Irvine's eyes were immediately drawn to. Definitely a game worth drawing out a few more hands. Irvine smirked softly as he took in all there was to see of the new angle of Natalie's chest.

Before Natalie could finish, another loud crashing sound came down the steps, depositing Zell at the base once more with boxes chasing after him. Into the fray stepped Squall who looked at the entire situation incredulously. He's back already? Did Selphie not show up? Oh...

The bouncy bundle of energy that was Selphie came bounding through the doorway and immediately charged Irvine, tackling him right out of the chair. "IRVINE!!!"

He hugged her greatly for show. Sure he had a thing for her, if Irvine had ever experienced anything remotely close to love in his long trail of ladies, Selphie was definitely it. But he was hard to get, and he liked playing it like that. However right now, Irvine had another concern.

Picking them both up off the floor he told Natalie he would be right back. Taking Selphie aside to the corner of the room, he glanced to Squall and Zell to make sure they were occupied with Zell's (rather justified) ranting on how Irvine was not helping him. Satisfied, he turned to Selphie. "Did you bring it?"

Selphie nodded vigorously and brought a small velvet purple box out of her pocket. "Irvy? What is this? It can't be..."

Irvine nodded. "It is" He took the box and put it in one of his many protected coat pockets and sealed it tight to make sure he didn't loose the box, and its most precious cargo.

Selphie looked at him with big confused eyes. "But when did..."

She didn't finish. An explosion rocked the house, sending shards of glass and wall spraying into the room. Natalie screamed and dived forward, knocking the table over and rolling behind it, avoiding most of the projectiles. Irvine's Exeter was out in a second, and 3 seconds after the explosion the four SeeDs were in heavy combat.

Several men came rushing forward through the gaping hole now present in the wall of the main living room of the house. Some were obviously clad in military surplus camos while others were dressed in civilian clothes. All were armed and deadly. They apparently learned from their mistake, because none of them were armed with firearms this time.

Irvine knew his duty well. He was a sharpshooter; his specialty was not short range combat. Therefore it fell to him to get Natalie to safety. He didn't like grabbing her and running, but he had his duty to perform and he would do it. Like a machine, the safety on Exeter was off and the butt was on his shoulder. Two seconds later three of the attackers were down with gaping bullet holes in their chest. Cure that!

He rushed forward and grabbed Natalie by the arm and dragged her quickly across the room away from the fighting, picking off another attacker with a quick shot. The two got to a heavy oak desk that was in the main room and with Natalie's help, Irvine managed to tilt it over and setup a firing position, putting shots in with a sharp shooter's grace and skill. Over the last 4 years, he had managed to go from his failed attempt at assassinating Edea to able to be a calm, cold calculating shooter in combat. It used to be he was cavalier about shooting in combat, but after the horrors of Ultimecia he was a lot more jaded about killing.

No matter how much he picked on Zell, Irvine always marveled at his martial arts skills. He watched as the relatively short man dodged under a sword and within the useful range of another terrorist's pike, taking him down with two well placed punches. Zell used the pike to spear the sword wielder and two enemies were down. Only probably 30 to go. Irvine picked off another one when he got a clear shot.

Selphie, like normal was not challenged. People had a hard time believing that a 5 foot 1 inch girl in a short yellow dress could do damage. That was their mistake. Her Nunchuku swatted down a terrorist like he was a cardboard wall. When she found that she was momentarily without an opponent, she closed her eyes and started a Guardian Force summon. These guys are in for a world of hurt. Damn so are we… Irvine watched as a dozen or more terrorist came through the hole in the wall, making it 40 on 4.

Squall of course looked more like a ballerina dancer than a SeeD. He was gracefully dodging, bowing, kneeling, and sidestepping every attack, taking down his opponents with the Lionheart with great ease. Nothing seemed to touch him or hit him. Irvine used the opportunity to cast Aura on him. Squall immediately felt the surge of energy and assaulted in his well honed assault he called Renzokuken. He leaped up with Guardian assisted strength and swept his sword, pulling the trigger for a special burst and a circle of fire enveloped 6 attackers, killing them in a blazing inferno.

As Squall landed on the ground, Selphie finished her summoning. Suddenly a gigantic, piercing trio of howls pierced the air and the massive beast known as Cerberus was in their midst. Irvine felt his magical abilities enhanced by a triple spell, but that was hardly necessary. Cerberus' appearance had frightened the terrorists, and those who didn't immediately break and run were trampled under its massive paws or eaten in one of its three hungry mouths.

As the dust settled, Selphie dismissed Cerberus and all 5 surveyed the damage. Irvine could see several of the Darvin Mansion guards dead out on the perimeter. A piece of the ceiling fell and hit the ground, producing the only sound in the mansion. Natalie got up and walked slowly over to the table she was sitting at before being interrupted. She bent down and surveyed the cards scattered. "Too bad... I was beating you too..."

Squall covered his face and sheathed his gunblade. "You just survived an assassination attempt and that's the FIRST thing you can think of?!"

Natalie chucked. "Squall... don't think I don't know that I was nearly killed. I have been attacked at least 15 times in my life. I look at it, and move on. My overriding concern right now is those 5 guards outside, and their families, but I know my father will take care of that personally, so I can't really do anything about it. All I can do right now is move on."

Squall sighed and covered his face again. "I suppose your right... but you know Irvine was just toying with you so Zell would carry the boxes and he could look down your shirt..." Squall reddened slightly. "... or lack thereof."

Natalie laughed heartily as everybody turned to a now red Irvine. Selphie was almost flaming mad. "IRVY!!!"

Natalie walked to Irvine and kissed his cheek. "Don't worry Squall, I know why he was doing it, and I enjoyed his attentions. What he didn't know was that I was letting him keep the tie and in exchange I got him to fetch me a full fledged lunch like he was a puppy."

Irvine's shout was loud and almost an octave higher. "I did not! I... I..." He looked at the wrappers on the ground scattered by the explosion as the truth sunk in. He was played.

Everybody was so busy laughing they didn't hear one of the terrorist stir, and didn't see him open his eyes and stare around. They didn't hear the pike next to his hands being picked up. Natalie only was able to shout "Squall!" a split second before the pike pieced his back and went straight out the other side.

Squall gasped in pain and slowly sunk to the ground as Irvine and Zell charged up. Selphie screamed and Irvine shot the terrorist right in the face, but it was too late. Squall felt himself starting to fade out. One thought entered his mind though, and that was Rinoa's face. His last thought was her name on his lips and mind as he collapsed on the ground.

Rinoa woke up screaming and flew into a sitting position. She felt like something had just gone through her chest. She looked down and patted the entire left side of her chest, but felt nothing wrong. That didn't change the fact she felt like she was a piece of meet on a shish kabob stick. She quickly localized the pain to the middle of her ribcage but still could not find anything wrong.

RINOA!

Squall's voice sounded in her head, and sounded just as pained as she felt, then suddenly a gigantic, ugly void filled her mind, body, and soul. Suddenly she knew what happened. Tears started streaming down her eyes. "Squall..." Her voice was just a whisper.

Authors Notes: Okaaaaaaaaaaaay that was longer than I anticipated sorry guys! I had a few tests sneak up on me, that I had little notice about, then I ran into a huge continuity problem with the next three chapters. I finally resolved them last night, and viola! A new chapter!

Don't worry there are going to be two more chapters before I break for Christmas.