Two medical orderlies filed through the room moving damaged equipment from the darkened space. A few days earlier, something... unexplained happened here. The doctors and orderlies were knocked out cold, with no recollection of what happened, and the power through the entire hospital was interrupted, putting many people in danger. One orderly had still not recovered. He was babbling something about an angel of death appearing to take one of the patients to the afterlife in the psychiatric ward.

The woman in the room reached to unplug the heart monitor, but a spark from the machine made her jump back. Her blond hair felt like it was in a lightning storm, standing on ends and charged. Suddenly, the machine was running again, and marking the beats of a regular, healthy heart. The two orderlies looked at each other in confusion. "Unplug it."

The blond nurse looked at the power cord and reached to unplug it, but stopped. "This thing is still attached to the patient right? Why would it be regular unless..."

Both looked at the body covered by the blanket. "Carol... I was in here the night this guy died. He had a hole in his chest 2 inches wide. He is as dead as dead can be."

The first orderly looked over at the monitor again, then at her companion before crossing to the body and lifted the blanket. The man seemed almost peaceful despite being dead. She touched the corpse's neck and was surprised by the warmth, then a small throb under her finger. "Then explain why this guy has a pulse."

The other orderly's face shot up in surprise. "What?"

He moved up and pushed her aside a bit more roughly than he should have, and touched the man's neck. "Great Hyne… this guy's alive! I'm going to get Doctor Ellen."

He quickly ran out as the other nurse picked up the clipboard detailing the condition of the patient. She read it through then frowned and pulled the blanket back further and lifted the shirt of the medical gown. Where the hole in this man's chest was supposed to be was pink skin, like a wound freshly unscabbed and healed. No trace of the fatal wound was there at all. The nurse looked at the clip board again and read the name of the patient. Squall Leonhart.

Natalie was sitting in her black leather pants and a white tank top staring across at her Triple Triad opponent with narrow eyes. He was good, really good. She looked at her two remaining cards, a T-Rexaur and her opponent's own card. Tapping her cards with her index finger, she tried to find any way for her to win this. She looked at the board and then at her cards and back again. This was very difficult. Her eyes darted over the floor and suddenly she hit on an idea. She smirked. "Rule change. Removing plus."

Irvine stared back at her with a quirked eye. They had agreed on 2 small variant rules. First was rule change. For the price of stripping off one article of clothing, they could add or remove one rule from the game. The second one was whoever lost also stripped off two articles of clothing, and if one contender was left naked then had to strip, he or she lost the match and was forced to humiliate themselves in front of the entire party, by marching unclothed into the main suite. Irvine gazed at the floor. Irvine had his hat, chaps, coat, boots, belt socks and shirt on the ground, leaving him with only his pants and boxers, while Natalie had only a jacket and her knee high leather boots on the ground. She was leading, but Irvine was well on the way to winning this game. He had the more powerful cards in his hand and after regaining his own card, would be able to win the next game easily, winning the match. Irvine grinned and nodded, and Natalie stood up stripping herself of her tank top and tossing it on the ground. She leaned back and spread her arms on her easy chair letting Irvine's eyes travel south of her face and over her strapless bra, the only thing giving her modesty still.

Selphie whacked Irvine with a pillow and stared him down. The only way the petite girl allowed this match was that she was there as a judge. She made no claim to impartiality, and had given Irvine several warnings with the pillow. Natalie leaned forward and lay down her T-Rexaur card and flipped the adamantoise card, tying the game. Irvine laughed, and announced. "Rule change, adding plus." Stripping off his pants, he lay down the Shiva card and flipping two cards due to plus and overpowering the t-Rexaur. The Irvine card could only flip the adamantoise card, giving him the win of this game. "I win."

Natalie smirked again. "Rule change, adding chain."

Irvine narrowed his eyes for a moment then widened them in horror. "No!"

Natalie grinned and lay down the Irvine card, flipping the adamantoise which chained and flipped two more. Irvine had lost. "Strip cowboy"

Natalie's grin could light a dark room as she removed her pants and sat back down. Irvine swallowed then stared at Selphie who was gaping with jaw open at the board. Her eyes went up to Irvine then she burst out laughing. "She got you, Irvine. She got you good!"

Irvine's face flushed crimson as he dropped his boxers. "That's match…" his voice was about an octave higher and was dripping with annoyance.

Natalie was shaking her head when the telephone rang. She reached over and picked it up. "Yes?"

Natalie listened as Selphie continued mocking her boyfriend until Natalie's eyes widened. "WHAT!"

Both fell silent and stared at the tall blonde as her jaw slowly dropped and her expression turned more and more shocked. She was sitting straight as a pencil, not caring if Irvine was checking out her chest fully or not at the moment, not that he was. His eyes were fixed intently on her face. "Are you sure?"

Natalie listened intently to the other end of the conversation for another few minutes before saying "Thank you, we will be there immediately."

Natalie sat for a moment stunned and stared at the telephone. "Irvine, get your clothes on now... we need to go to the hospital."

Selphie was up in a second. "Why?"

Natalie looked at them both as she struggled with her leather pants. "No time to explain, just go!"

Irvine's jaw was literally gaping at the sight. He just could not believe his own eyes. This is impossible! As much as Irvine was feeling joy and relief at the sight of one of his best friend lying fully alive and awake, he could not quite bring himself to grasp that Squall was actually alive. "Squall! You're alive? How did that happen? Is your wound healed?"

Irvine immediately gave himself a mental slap. Those sound like questions Zell would ask. Natalie, on the other hand, showed why men think that women were the more intelligent of the two sexes. "Squall! How are you feeling?"

Squall glared at Irvine. "Irvine… the first thing you do when you walk in is ask the three stupidest questions in the world. Hell, I could see ZELL asking those… but you?"

Irvine sighed and rolled his eyes. He's definitely back to normal already. "Well at least could you answer Natalie's questions?"

For a moment, Irvine could have sworn he saw Squall genuinely smile, but if Irvine DID see it, it disappeared in a flash and Squall returned to his usual scowl. "I'm ready to get out of this room. They've had me here for over 6 hours and have been poking me with every single instrument I've ever seen in my many stays at a hospital and then some!"

Irvine rolled his eyes and picked up his cell phone. Dialing Natalie's room number, he told Selphie exactly what was happening. Though he anticipated it by pulling the telephone well away from his ear, Selphie's shout of joy pierced into his brain and left him with a headache. Considering her hyperactivity… she should be here with the entire gang in 10 minutes tops.

Irvine glanced at Squall. "They should be here faster than humanly possible. Squall I have to ask you… Why are you alive? You had a very large hole right in your chest that had ripped a chamber of your heart open. You shouldn't be alive. We watched you die."

Squall glanced down at the medical gown he was wearing. Underneath his gaze was the area where the hole used to be. "It was Rinoa. She did… something… I felt my… soul I guess… detach from my body and about to wander off to Hyne knows where when I heard her call me. I turned and she was there, and suddenly I could see her crying over my body. She cast some sort of spell on my entire body and I felt a strong pull to just… walk back. I did. I've sort of been in a half dream state since then. I felt like I was reliving my entire last few years, but not quite how I remember it."

Irvine frowned at that. "What do you mean?"

Squall thought for a moment and continued. "I was reliving it, but not from my own perspective. It was from Rinoa's I think, because the memory of me rescuing her and our subsequent day long stay on the Rangorok after that kept playing over and over."

Irvine was about to ask a question when shouting came from the hall. "Selphie let go of me!" Quistis voice, normally the serene picture of calm seemed very agitated.

"Come on guys its right there!" Selphie's peppy and bubbling voice called back.

"Dude, Selphie don't pull Quisty right off those heel's of hers... your gonna break her neck!"

The door burst open and a bouncing yellow skirt flew through, followed quickly by a struggling sunset orange dress and vest. Quistis finally was able to wrench her hand out of Selphie's grasp, but any thoughts of yelling at her quickly disappeared when she saw Squall. Her face smiled softly and a tear rolled down her cheek. "Squall... it's true."

Irvine looked confused. "How'd you guys get here so fast?"

Selphie grinned bubbling, but Zell burst into the room before she could answer. "Yo, Squall! You're alive? How did that happen? Is your wound healed?"

Irvine and Squall exchanged a nearly unreadable look and Squall covered his face with his hand as Natalie started chucking to herself. Zell paused trying to figure out what was going on. His eyes narrowed slightly in thought and he rubbed the back of his head. "What?"

The question would remain unanswered, because the last person expected was standing in the door. "Squall?" Rinoa's voice almost begged, not believing her own eyes.

Squall stared at Rinoa and something inside him couldn't help but pull his lips up slightly in a small but very distinct smile. "Rinoa. "

Tears started flowing down her face softly as she very slowly stared to approach him. "Your... you're..."

Rinoa stopped. Memories seemed to flash in her mind. Rinoa saw herself crying on Squall's death bed, and to her horror, she heard and saw herself scream an inhuman cry of anguish. She saw herself hurling lightning bolts at Irvine and casting flares at Selphie. She saw her wrenching Quistis against the wall. Everything that she couldn't remember, all the things which she had only imagined in horror, they were all flashing back now. She covered her eyes as she collapsed, and the voices returned, whispering maddeningly.

As Rinoa collapsed with an awful scream, pure pandemonium ensued. Squall was up in an instant trying to get to Rinoa. Zell was tackling Natalie and Selphie was casting spells at maddening speed. Irvine was shoving Squall back snapping at him. "Squall, get down!"

Irvine looked at Quistis with an expression barely readable. Quistis returned the same exact expression. They had discussed what would have to be done if Rinoa went out of control again. Squall again tried to stand and Irvine shoved him back down onto the bed hard. "Squall no!"

Quistis could not concentrate on this at the moment. She had to concentrate her entire energy on something much more draining. She closed her eyes and brought her hand to her head and concentrated hard, digging deep into her mind for a small tingling feeling she usually ignored. Now she focused her mind solely on this feeling, and with a mental finger, poked at it. It was the same, almost poetic rite of summoning every time. Shiva, I need you.

I'm here Child.

Please come to me, in the physical world.

For what purpose?

Quistis paused for just an instant. She was unleashing this awesome power on her friend, most likely to kill her. She had no choice. To destroy.

With that, the little tingle in her mind turned to an itch, light at first, but growing. No matter how many times Quistis did it, no matter how many times anybody summoned a Guardian; it never could ever be called comfortable or routine. The itched turned into a maddening tingling and numbness throughout her entire body and her mind seemed to have a giant pressure building up in it, not unlike what happens when one dives deep under water. With a gasp, her entire body convulsed and she shot her hands forward, transferring Shiva's being out of her body and into the physical world.

The temperature dropped as ice collected at Quistis' feet. She stepped back weakened as the ice jutted out of the ground seven feet high. Inside slowly, the mist cleared revealing a beautiful, if very scantily clad woman who's golden hair swirled around her. A cloth covered her body and seemed to be the only thing between her and nudity. The Guardian seemed asleep, almost peaceful. Then her eyes opened.

Shiva's body stood tall, shattering the ice around her like glass as she tossed the cloth behind her. Quistis caught it in one hand as Shiva built up her power over her head. Her hands raised up as the power continued to grow. More and more until it was blindingly white.

"NO!"

Squall flew between Shiva and Rinoa and erected a shield. Shiva paused and opened her eyes again, her energy still glowing hot. Squall never had looked more scared in his life. Slowly Shiva lowered her arms as the energy dissipated. "Knight, do your duty for the Sorceress, before it's too late."

Squall nodded and spun shaking Rinoa. "Rinoa? Rinoa? Can you hear me? It's Squall"

She did not respond, not even to the ever more desperate physical contact with her body. Desperate, Squall took her hand and squeezed it whispering. "Rinoa…"

Suddenly Squall's world flashed white. He felt insurmountable pain and he screamed in anguish as his knees hit the floor.

Okaaaaay... this chapter and the next are a lot more complicated than I thought they would be... and I'm a lazy procrastinating bastard :P sorry bout that, I'm working on chapter 21 right now, actually this chapter would be longer but I though id give you guys a bit of a cliff hanger ;) ummm updates… The sequel to this, The Awakening is coming along very well, chapters are written.

Oh btw: I was going to put the first blurb where squall was discovered alive, in the last chapter, but my Beta Reader (you might know her from my review board as AnimeDarkAngel) suggested I put it in this one to keep you guys begging for more, so bug her lol

Reviews: Thank you all who are following the story and reviewing. Every time I get a review it gives me a little spur to get going and writing. Keep em up please (and if your reading and now reviewing please do!) oh and while your doing it... tell me what you think of my description of summoning a Guardian. While I was writing this I decided to think about how that would work, and that's what I came up with.

3 chapters + Epilogue left