Editors Note: And so, Gale and Cloud finally come face to face...expect a huge fight next chapter, but I think we all know who's going to win (Especially me...)

Pain. Endless pain. Gale didn't know it, but he was screaming. Every inch of him was in agony. It was like being coated in tar and then set on fire. He could barely see through the white mist which was obscuring his vision. This pain was worse than death.

He was floating in a sphere of greenish blue light, suspended several metres above some sort of projector. Thousands of tendrils of energy were hammering into his body from all sides, breaking through his skin, though leaving no blood. Gale knew that this process was necessary, but did it have to be this painful?

Suddenly, the tendrils retracted. The green light faded, and Gale fell forwards onto the cold metal floor, nearly unconscious. He vaguely acknowledged the fact that somebody was helping him up, but he couldn't see who because his eyes were tight shut due to the pain he was feeling.

"Steady on, Gale. The process took longer than we expected, but you'll be okay in no time." A calming female voice was saying above him.

"My back…hurts…" He gasped out, opening his eyes slowly. His eyes stung a little as well, and everything was a little blurry. He lifted his hand to rub them. When his hand came away, it was covered in blood.

"Don't worry Gale, we expected that to happen. It's okay; it's just a small mutation caused by exposure to Mako. Your eyesight will return in time." Said the female doctor, helping him walk to the nearby door.

"My back still hurts…aah!" Gale's eyes suddenly went wide. He screamed again, falling to his knees as the pain came back again, only this time it was only in his back. He could feel something moving underneath the skin close to his shoulder blades, muscles twisting and rearranging. Suddenly, there came a wet ripping noise as Gale's back split open in a shower of blood and torn skin.

Two blood covered wings emerged from beneath his shoulder blades, flapping weakly as they tried to rid themselves of the gore that caked them. However, this proved too much for Gale, and he passed out.

He awoke violently, drenched in sweat, in his room. The sheets of his bed were all over the room. It looked like he had torn half the room apart in his nightmare. He sat up in bed, pushing his damp hair out of his eyes as he looked around. He shivered slightly, the memory of the pain still fresh in his mind.

"What was the point of it all?" He wondered aloud to himself, his wings twitching slightly at his back, flicking off a part of the covers they had become entangled in. If only he could remember…It was as if the solution to the question of who he was was on the other side of a door, and he had a number of keys. The problem was figuring out which key to use.

Gale slowly got up, picking up all the parts of his bed lying scattered all over the room, and began to get dressed. He had just finished pulling on his clothes when there came a knock at his door. He quickly crossed to the door and opened it. A dark haired, blue eyes young woman stared back at him as he opened the door. What is she doing here, Gale thought to himself, watching as Storm quickly looked down at the floor. A long silence stretched between them, then,

"Umm…I wanted to thank you…for saving my dad." She whispered, still looking down at the floor. Gale was surprised. He had not expected gratitude. Another few seconds passed before Gale attempted to break the ice.

"I was just in the right place at the right time. I…I feel I need to apologise. I attacked you for no reason. I still don't know why I did it." He said, now looking down at the floor as well. Storm looked up, surprised.

"You don't need to apologise! It's not your fault!" She said. Gale raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean, not my fault?" He asked, sounding perplexed.

"Didn't they tell you? You have…um…you were hit hard…on the head…and…" She trailed off.

"What are you saying…" He asked, eyes narrowed. Storm looked back down at the floor again.

"Brain damage…" She whispered, not looking at him. Gale stood silently for a moment, then shrugged.

"That would explain the flashbacks…" He murmured, staring into space. Another piece in the puzzle had been revealed. The voices in his mind…the random psychotic behavure…the flashbacks…now it made sense.

"Umm…Gale?" The voice jerked him out of his thoughts. It was the first time she had used his name. He looked down at her. She was slightly shorter than he was, he realised.

"I think we all need to sit down and talk about this. I have lots of things to tell everyone." He said, looking down at Storm seriously.

"…and that's what happened." Gale finished. The other people in the room looked at him, as if expecting him to go on, but Gale remained silent. They were all crammed into the infirmary, since Squall was still hospitalised.

"So that's what I saw happen to you when you were in the Training Area," Squall said, "You were having a flashback."

"That's right. In that case it was about a fight I had with someone. When I was in the cellblock earlier and I was trying to remember my name, I had one where someone said my name. I think that the situation I am in determines what I remember." He finished. Squall looked thoughtful.

"That dream you said you had. What did the doctor say you had been exposed to?" Asked Cid. Gale thought for a moment, then answered.

"Umm…I think it was Mako radiation." There was a sharp intake of breath from all around the room.

"That's not possible. Mako is too dangerous. Anyone exposed to Mako radiation dies in a matter of hours." Said Rinoa, who up till now had remained silent.

"I'm just telling you what I remember-" Gale began, but he was interrupted by a large booming sound coming from below. The room shook, and the lights flickered. A few seconds passed, silence filling the room. Then something beeped. Cid fumbled in his pocket for a moment, before fishing out a small communications device. He held it close to his mouth and pressed a button.

"Headmaster here…Are you sure?…The elevator shaft?…What happened?…Okay, I'll be right over." He turned the device off before turning to the others.

"There's been an explosion in the elevator shaft. No known cause. I think we had all better see what's going on. Squall, you stay here." Without another word, he turned and walked briskly out of the infirmary, faster than anyone would have expected given his age. Everyone else quickly followed, all except Squall.

The scene was one of carnage. It seemed that the elevator had been going up when the explosion had occurred. The glass safety doors had been utterly destroyed, and the elevator itself was no longer in its shaft. It now lay in one of the many bodies of water encircling the entrance hall, half of it destroyed and the other half in pieces.

"What the hell did this…" Storm whispered as she surveyed the scene. The smell of cordite hung heavily in the air, probably a leftover from the explosive blast. Without warning, a second blast ripped through the shaft, sending a raging torrent of flames up through the gaping hole in its side. Everyone reeled back, stumbling out of the way as a great gout of flames erupted out of the ruined shaft.

But with the flames came something else. The figure of a man leaped out of the destroyed shaft, somersaulting into the air and landing in the middle of the scorched floor. He had spiky blonde hair and strange glowing blue eyes, which he slowly opened as he unsheathed the massive sword he had been holding at his side. Slowly, his head turned, and his blue eyed gaze fell upon Gale.

"Hello, number 1500," He said coldly, "Prepare to meet your worst nightmare."