Chapter 1: No GF, No Magic

"This is definitely strange," said Rinoa as she fingered the find that Squall had discovered in his training at Trabia. She was seating on Squall's bed in his room, and Squall was leaning against the door lazily with his arms folded. The piece of yellowed paper lay on his table innocently.

"I mean, why would anyone, or any GF for that matter, want freedom? Don't they already have their own…freedom?"

"…………………." Squall shook his head. Rinoa took that as 'I don't know'.

"And Griever…I thought it was killed back at Ultimecia's Castle?"

Silence met her. She saw Squall nodded his head. She take that as 'I know'.

"But the last line puzzles me…why should all humans die?"

She watched Squall's expression. He shook his head.

"And you said about being unable to summon your GF. Could this two things have a connection?"

This time, Squall cocked his head in askance. 'Maybe'.

Rinoa sighed. Oh boy, she could read Squall's 'silent language' now, and a master at it. She could not stand the silence any longer. She needed some response if Squall wanted her to solve this puzzling find.

"Squall! Say something!"

Squall laughed and sat down next to her. "Sorry, angel." He kissed her on her cheek. "Thought you could figure everything out. But you did, anyway."

Rinoa smiled at him and continued. "So…how come you couldn't summon?"

She watched him shrugged. "I thought the GF might have been junctioned to you or somebody else, but it seems nobody had it." He paused as he thought it over. "Otherwise it would have answer my call." Rinoa watched him frowned.

"Have you tried summoning the others?"

"Quezacotl and Cerberus?" replied Squall, and shook his head.

"But if you can't summon this GF, could the other GFs be affected?" asked Rinoa.

Squall's blue-gray eyes slowly widened as it dawned upon him, as though her question had strike home. "Do you think…?"

"I think we better try it out. In case."

"We have to call the others." Rinoa watched Squall walked to his table and pressed a button on his telephone. "Nida."

"Hello, Commander Squall. Your command?" Nida's voice warmly greeted him.

"Tell Quistis, Zell, Selphie and Irvine to meet me…" He looked at Rinoa.

"…At the Training Centre," she supplied.

"…At the Training Centre," Squall repeated.

"Roger." The line was closed. Seconds later, they could hear Nida's voice over the intercom throughout the academy.

"Let's go," Squall said and grabbed the paper on his table. Rinoa pocketed the pendants, and they both left the room.

Outside the window, a blue translucent lady with two blond tails breathed a sigh and disappeared into a blizzard of snow.

* * *

"Okay, what is going on?" asked Zell the first thing he sighted the two.

"We have a problem," Squall said.

"What problem that our Commander here can't solved?"

"Guardian Forces," said Rinoa.

"Oh, if you mean the memory loss-"

"Zell." Rinoa shook her head, indicating him to stop.

"Sorry we're late," said Quistis as she reached them. Irvine and Selphie followed behind her.

"It's alright. We just came. Now that everyone is here…" Squall started to tell them about his findings and why they were here in the Training Centre. He showed them the message on the piece of paper, and Rinoa revealed the pendant where it was found.

"So, I want you guys to try to summon a GF. Any GF."

"No problem. Watch me summon Ifrit!" Zell said and his eyes closed in deep concentration. A few seconds passed. Nothing happened. The air in the Training Center grew still except for the constant shuffling of the wild creatures that inhabited the place.

Surprised, Zell said, "That can't be. Let me summon again." He did, and still, the flaming firedog did not appear with its usual roar. Zell looked around and called, "Oy, Ifrit! Where are you?"

"Let me summon Diablos," said Quistis. She got into her summoning stance, and closed her eyes in deep concentration. Not a single light stirred within her. The Dark Messenger did not arrive.

"Booyaka! Maybe mine can! I summon you, Siren!" A bolt of light danced about Selphie. She beamed happily. "Yeah! Mine works!" However, no sooner had she said those words, the light died out as fast as it had come. Her eyes furrowed with confusion. "Hey…that can't be…"

Irvine said, "I've haven't got any GF junctioned. Gave mine over to Selphie." Everyone now looked at the last person who had not summoned yet: Rinoa.

"Let me summon mine then," said Rinoa. "I shall summon…Leviathan!" She silently summoned, and waited for the green water-dragon to appear. No light, no feeling. Nothing. Like the rest of them. It was just as what Squall had said.

It seemed everyone could not summon a GF. Even the one they are most compatible with.

"I'll try to summon again." Squall silently summoned his most trusted GF, Quezacotl. He knew this GF would always answer him. Cactuar and Quezacotl were his two most compatible GFs, besides Cerberus.

A rumble of thunder. Squall waited to disappear and let the Thunderbird take his place. But nothing happen. Squall let out a tired sigh.

It was as if the GFs were refusing to appear. They were not answering their calls of summon.

"Maybe we need to fight a monster, then only it will appear?" asked Rinoa hopefully.

"Well…the whole time we're here, not a single monster had attacked us," said Irvine as he looked around. "Now that I've said it, the Centre seems pretty deserted to me."

"Maybe not. Look behind you," said Squall, bringing out his Lionheart. Rinoa was already armed with her Rising Sun. The rest looked behind them to find a towering T-Rexaur glaring down at them, its saliva dropping onto the ground in puddles. It started growling menacingly.

"Yowza! Don't think of sneaking up upon me!" Zell said and got into his battle stance.

"Now we can try to summon. Everyone, summon!" called Rinoa.

Everyone did. Nothing happened again. Only the T-Rexaur was getting impatient as it looked down upon the six humans beneath it. It snapped its jaws and roared. Typical T-Rexaur behavior.

"This is bad," murmured Rinoa.

"Wait!" Irvine who was silent all this while suddenly spoke up. "If we can't summon a single GF, how are we gonna use magic?"

A dreaded silence hung in the air. Even the T-Rexaur was not roaring. It was watching everyone and sniffing the air, thinking which one might be its next afternoon snack.

"Then…we can't use magic," Squall said.

"But if we can't use magic, how are we gonna fight?!" asked Zell.

"We shall have to depend on our weapons."

"But our weapons are junctioned with magic using the GF's abilities," said Quistis. "So, if we can't use GF and magic…"

"Our weapon will also be useless to us," finished Irvine. He cracked a grin at Quistis. "I'm beginning to understand our dear Quistis." He felt a jab of a wooden nunchaku at his side. "Uh…maybe not…"

"Irvine is right," said Rinoa. "In this case…"

"Just FIGHT!" said Zell, and he charged forward and started hammering at the monster's thick hind legs.

"Take that! Hah! And this!" The creature swung its reptilian head down at Zell, who was oblivious of the monster's waiting jaws inches behind him. Zell was still punching away at the T-Rexaur's thick armor-like hide. The T-Rexaur opened its jaws, revealing razor-sharp teeth waiting to tear Zell into pieces.

"Zell! Watch out!" Selphie stepped forward and hit the T-Rexaur's head with a sharp thwack from her Strange Vision. The monster reared up with surprise and swung its powerful tail at Zell, which sent him flying into Selphie. Taken unaware, the both of them collapsed into a painful heap near Irvine.

"Ouch! Zell! Get off me!" Zell rolled away and slowly got up, massaging his arm and swearing at the giant lizard. Irvine and Quistis quickly helped Selphie up just as the T-Rexaur started to bear down upon them.

"RUN!" Squall ran in front of them and quickly slashed upwards at the monster, causing it to scream with pain and retreated a few steps back as Selphie, Quistis and Irvine made for a safe spot with Zell and Rinoa. The creature recovered from the surprise attack and snarled at the humans.

"Everyone in formation!' called Squall. He went forward in the middle as the leader. Beside him, stood Zell and Quistis. Behind him, Rinoa aimed her blaster-edge with Selphie and Irvine. The T-Rexaur growled at them.

"Let's battle!" shouted Zell. The six of them started attacking the monster with their weapons (in the case of Zell, he tried pounding the creature's leg again), and after half an hour of fighting and switching formations, the T-Rexaur finally fled, overwhelmed by the SeeDs' barrage of fierce attacks and various Limit Breaks.

By that time, everyone was exhausted, their breaths heavy in the air. Zell and Selphie collapsed onto the ground, wiping their wearied brows.

"Is everyone alright?" asked Squall. Quistis, Irvine and Selphie nodded. He saw Rinoa gave Zell a Potion, and he swallowed the entire thing in one gulp. He handed back the empty vial back to Rinoa.

"Darn…creature…" swore Zell, massaging his slightly bruised arm. "I'll get you back someday when I can summon. You just wait…"

"Looks like this GF business is not a small matter," said Irvine as he kept his Exeter in its holster. "I can't believe we can't kill that thing within a few minutes, like we all used to."

"For a normal T-Rexaur, we could have taken it out within one summon," added Quistis. "But now look what happen."

A few minutes of silence past.

"We have to report this to Headmaster Cid," Rinoa said finally. Squall nodded tiredly.

"Fine…everyone, break for ten, then we meet at Headmaster Cid's office." Everyone agreed, and turned to leave, except Rinoa. She could not help but gave one last glance behind. She felt as if someone was watching them.

"Squall, is there anyone else in the Centre?" she asked.

"I don't think so. Why?" Squall's face grew concerned. Rinoa just smiled and said, "Then I guess it's nothing. Come, the others have left." Then, hand in hand, the two of them slowly followed the rest behind.

Just then, a green snake-like creature slithered out of its hiding place from behind a thick bush where it had watched the entire scenario. It reared up its serpent head and stared at its mistress' retreating back before transforming into its watery self and disappearing into a ball of yellow light, crying an echo of words.

"Humans…I pity them."

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Thanks to all who have reviewed this fic!

Nenya

CTHKSI

Maria Rose Black

I'll try my best to update soon, and this fic might just turn out to be a Squinoa, depending on the reader's reviews. Or a surprise Seiftis? Wait 'til next chapter. *grins*