"Kurse that sorceress for creating SeeDs" echoed the voice again. "Kurse Leonhart for meddling in things he does not comprehend"

Rinoa could almost now make out the voice but still it eluded her. She saw the bodies on the floor and again she knew what they signified.

All of a sudden the voice boomed "WHO'S THERE AND WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

At that moment Rinoa woke up. "Again another one, what could it mean?" she thought to herself as she looked at the time.

The clock read 4:00p.m and she knew if she didn't get up now, she would miss the meeting with the Kramers.

"Excuse me, coming through." Zell said, as he tried to catch up to Selphie and Quistis. "Hey Selphie, Quisty wait up!"

They turned and stopped. "Oh great" they both said in unison, knowing he was going to ask them if they had talked to pig-tailed girl in the library for him yet.

"Hey up Zell" said Selphie, trying to look enthusiastic. "What's up?" Zell looked a bit puzzled at the question, but answered anyway.

"Has Squall talked to any of you two yet?" Zell asked wondering because of what he and Squall had talked about earlier on that day.

"Yeah, he has" Quistis said, giving them a bit of a worried look. "He asked about what happened when me and Rinoa were together earlier in the week."

Selphie was looking a bit confused about it all, but remembered what had happened earlier that day.

"She was acting kind of weird earlier today again" she said, "It was all kind of weird, Irvine and I got into a heated discussion and I think it kind of freaked her out and that. It was like she was going to say something very important, but then she darted off." They were all worried but didn't know what to ask or say.

"So Quisty, what did you actually tell Squall about that day then?" Zell asked, hoping it was something to do with being the sorceress.

"Well, I told him the truth. That it was when we were talking about the meaning of SeeD and how they were trained to fight the sorceress." She said noticing a worried look on his face. "Zell, what's wrong?"

Zell was thinking back to when he and Squall were talking about it, he saw a side of Squall he had only seen briefly before.

"Thanks Quisty" he said a little less worried, "You've just confirmed to me and Squall that it has something to do with the sorceress thing." Zell was relieved that it wasn't something else.

"Anyway, what time are we meeting tonight?" he asked as they all walked towards the elevator to see Matron and Cid for the meeting they had with them.

She heard a knock at the door and she knew she wasn't expecting anyone, due to the fact that the gang had a meeting with the Headmaster and Edea in a short while.

Rinoa headed towards the door, making sure she looked respectable and not that she had just woken up.

"Who is it?" she asked hoping that it was one of the gang. "It's me, Rinoa." She couldn't open the door fast enough and she was pleased to see that Squall was wearing his formal SeeD uniform.

"Hey Rin" Squall said, knowing that she was in a rush to get ready for the meeting.

"Listen, we need to talk about what has been going on with you over the past few weeks" he said, noticing that she wasn't that happy with the way the conversation was going.

"You would tell me if it's got something to do with you being the sorceress, right?" He noticed Rinoa's face and the shocked looked on it. He knew at that point that it did have something to with what he had just said.

"What do you mean?" Rinoa asked with a shocked look but now her face showed a little bit of confusion as well. "I don't know what you're on about" she said, hoping that he didn't see the worried part of her.

He had totally caught her of guard with the line of questioning, and was surprised that he had asked if it had anything to do with her being the sorceress. He was so close, but not near enough.

"I wish I could tell you, but I don't understand it myself yet." Rinoa said, it was the first time she had been completely honest about the subject, but she knew it wasn't enough for Squall.

"It is something about sorceresses, but not me exactly." She also added, seeing Squall was a little bit more relieved about the subject.

"Ok, Rin" Squall answered, showing how relieved he was, "I won't ask about it anymore, because I can see that it is upsetting." He knew that it was enough Q & A for now, and he knew what he had to do.

It was during this time that Rinoa was finishing off getting ready and was now waiting for Squall. "You ready?" she asked impatiently.

"Yeah, let's go" he replied, and gave her a kiss to tell her how much she meant to him. They then started to the Headmasters office walking hand in hand.

"Nice to see that all of you could make" expressed Cid, showing his gratitude.

"Rinoa and my dear children" Edea said, "I would like to thank you all for coming here today on short notice, but due to the nature of the subject, this is a very important announcement. That being said, it is an announcement that will excite most of you." She carried on, noticing that they had the full attention of the whole group now, including Squall.

"Thank you, Edea" Cid replied, "Me and Edea are returning to the orphanage, and will be continuing to help children out there."

When he looked at everyone, they were all distraught except for Squall.

"So where does this leave us and the Garden then?" Zell asked not wanting the Garden to close down and have them separated and placed into other Gardens.

"Don't worry, Zell" Edea replied, "We have thought of that and after much consideration, we have decided to leave the 6 of you in charge of Balamb Garden."

Squall knew that was coming a mile off, since they defeated Ultimecia, Cid was piling more and more work on him and Zell was put in charge of training the cadets the basics of hand to hand combat. While this was happening, Irvine was training the cadets who wanted to specialize in using sniper rifles.

Quistis was given her license as an Instructor back, and she started to teach again as soon as the new semester started. Then there was Selphie, who was put in charge of planning the events to raise the morale of the entire Garden.

He knew Cid didn't have a specific job for Rinoa to do, so he made her his personal assistant. He had given her a few weeks off, to go to Timber and Deling City to see family and friends and sort out a few unresolved problems.

"Squall" Edea said, seeing that he was expecting something like this to happen at one point or another. "You're the only one who isn't that shocked about this news. Can you tell everybody why that is, please." She asked politely.

"It's because you've had us all doing different areas of work. Seeing how we would cope with it and to see if we were ready for the responsibility as well." He replied, seeing the shocked look on everyone's face except for Rinoa's.

"Very good, Squall." Cid replied, with a look of joy on his face. "If there was anyone who would have noticed something like this, we were expecting it to be you." Cid carried on making the rest of the group realize, that Squall was the one who would officially be in charge of the Garden, when they left.

"This meeting is adjourned for now, so you all can absorb what we have just told you" Edea said, knowing that it came as a shock for everyone except Squall.

"So go enjoy tonight and we will discuss it more tomorrow at the same, when you have absorbed it all." With that Cid and Edea left and then everyone followed and started getting ready for the night ahead.

Rinoa recognised this place, and then she heard that booming voice say "KURSE EDEA AND LEONHART FOR ALL OF THIS."

Then she noticed the bodies on the floor and knew what they signified, but this time they were wearing white.

"You!" the voiced boomed, "Kurse you most of all Heartilly, for starting this!" It was then that Rinoa recognised the face and at time she woke up.

She knew it was worse than last time, but she realized she was in Squall's room. "Must have dozed off" she thought to herself.

"Rinoa, what's the matter? You're shaking" Squall asked concerned for her well being. "It's Ultimecia, she's not dead" Rinoa replied.