A/N - All Disclaimers apply. I do own the rights to Pia, Antony and any other characters I create.

Chapter 18

Zell noticed that Quistis, Selphie and Irvine were sitting at their usual table in the cafeteria. They waved to him as he went to line to get his food. He was hoping that there was some hot dogs left.

"Yes Zell, do you want your usual order?" The chef asked him as he scanned to see what was left. "Yeah please and can I have a double helping of fries please." Zell replied, hoping the chef wasn't going to ask any questions about that.

"No problem, you must be hungry after that SeeD Exam." The chef answered as Zell nodded in agreement. He knew that the battles made him extremely hungry. He was starving at the party held in the groups name after their victory over Ultimecia two years previous that he nearly choked on his favourite delicacy.

When he got his hot dogs, he walked over to the table and sat down. He noted that everyone was deep in thought over a different aspect that went on in Timber.

"So Zell, what do you think Squall's going to say when he gets here?" Irvine started the questioning first. Quistis just shook her head in sadness as she thought about everything they had done and how they weren't prepared for what was about to happen.

"I hope it's something to do with what'll happen about the Galabadians and their new leader." Zell replied as his head went through a ton of thoughts in one go. "I'd like to get this over and done with as soon as possible."

The whole group of them understood what it meant if this was to be dragged on, it would lead to another Sorceress War and that meant that Rinoa would be brought into the public's attention and they all knew that she didn't want to be feared by anyone.

"I don't think you need to worry because if a certain invention works then this might be over within the week." The group spun and saw Laguna giving them a little smirk, "and if it does work then we don't have to worry about any other sorceresses either." Laguna finished saying.

"Laguna what the hell are you on about, if it were that easy then we would have done whatever the hell it was already." Quistis stood and said, knowing that the rest of them were thinking the same thing.

"Well if I tell you what it is, then all of you will have to promise not to tell Squall or Rinoa about it because it is their anniversary gift." Laguna looked at all of them and they all nodded in agreement. "That means not even a hint of it, I'm directing it mainly at you Selphie." He finished and Selphie looked at him with an innocent look on her face.

"My dear Cid, what is up with you. You've been preoccupied since Squall and the SeeDs have come back from Timber" Edea said as she slowly walked over towards the window where Cid was standing.

"I'm sorry my dear, I've had some disturbing news about an incident that went down in Timber and it involved two of our cadets." Cid replied, making sure to turn and show her how much confusion he was in.

Edea looked at him and soon realised what he was on about. "Oh my Ultimecia, which cadets did she hurt?" She asked and Cid just started to shake his head.

"Edea my dear, the cadets I was on about were not injured by Ultimecia. The information I received from Squall is that a Pia Jackson is actually a Sorceress and that one Antony Yubari is her Knight."

Edea gave him an surprised but intrigued look. "Now I didn't see this coming. I thought that Ultimecia would take over Rinoa's body again and not another Sorceress."

"I know dear, but to have a Sorceress inside SeeD other than Rinoa was the biggest surprise not only to me but to Squall as well. The implications of this are great, if the rest of the world fount out that we were harbouring a Sorceress here than every army will come after us." Cid replied, he knew that SeeD would not be trusted after the whole world fount out.

"I understand the implications and I'm guessing that Ultimecia also knew the implications of what would happen if it did come to that, it would lead to a war between SeeD and the rest of the world." Edea looked at Cid who just nodded his head in agreement with her.

"We are a little lucky that General Caraway didn't already tell the Galabadians about Rinoa or we would have already had a war on our hands." Edea finished saying to Cid as she hoped that they would not be held responsible for the whole thing.

"Squall are you ready to go to the cafeteria to meet up with the group to discuss what to do next?" Rinoa asked as she put on her traditional clothes and put her hair into a ponytail as Squall came out of the bathroom after having a quick shower.

"I'm almost ready" He commented "So what do you expect Ultimecia's next move to be, now that she has revealed herself." Squall finished saying as he finished pulling his pants up.

Rinoa couldn't keep her eyes of him as he finished putting on his white shirt. She gave Squall a little smirk as he saw her face, and he gave a wink back in acknowledgement to her smirk.

"Well I think that it'll have something to do with acquiring the items she would need to complete the ritual." She said in a confident tone as Squall finished getting ready.

"You have a point there, what does she actually need to get this summoning done. I know that she'll need a GF to sacrifice but that's all I know." Squall remarked on what Seifer had told them about Ultimecia's plan.

"Well all I know is the location of where Griever is and not any of the details included in anything else." Rinoa said heading towards the door making sure that Squall followed her.

As they entered the corridor, Squall heard a footstep and started to turn towards the door. As he did this a fist came flying towards him, connecting with his jaw and sending him into Rinoa. Rinoa went into the wall with a thundering smack.

Squall looked towards Rinoa , who was motionless and he then knew she was unconscious. He then turned towards the culprit and was quite surprised at who it was.

Sorry for the wait