Assassins

A pair of white, almond-shaped balls of energy glowed from behind one of the Quad's lush plant boxes, watching the group of teenagers mumbling and heading towards its direction. Its consciousness had traveled into the Garden facilities, scouring each crook and cranny for these youngsters. Now, with its target on sight, the presence patiently waited for them to approach one of the benches.

The beautiful raven-haired woman spoke first, startling the entity with her magical aura. "Quistis, I'm sorry if we had to steal you from your date, but this is absolutely important! Selphie has something to say to us." She was talking to a smart-looking blonde who was treading behind her friends.

The blonde called Quistis sighed and replied, "It's alright. It wasn't a date, anyway."

A perky brunette with an odd-looking hairdo put her right hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Quistis, I...we all know how much you feel for this Ouragan, but we can't let your attraction interfere with any of Garden's missions."

And before she could continue, a blonde boy who wore gloves interrupted her, "Whoa! This is something new! Selphie's talking serious!"

Selphie shot the boy a deadly look and looked at each one of her friends before producing a copy of the morning's Galbadia Times. "Irvine and I were eating breakfast this morning and found this on the papers."

The brown-haired man with blue eyes standing beside the raven-haired girl took the paper in his hands and read the headlines. "Slaughterhouse: Coven of Sorceresses Massacred in Esthar Hideaway."

The girl beside him immediately turned a sickly shade of pale. Her breathing suddenly became labored and she stammered, "S-s-sorceresses?"

Selphie looked down sadly on the ground and confirmed, "Yes...sorceresses. Apparently Rin, you aren't the only sorceress around after all."

A lanky redhead in a cowboy outfit continued, "According to the article, the women were killed by some kind of deadly assassin who calls himself the Black Eagle."

The entity listened more intently this time. It watched the brown-haired man stare at the piece of paper in front of him and noticed the gunblade slung from his belt.

'A gunblade wielder...he must be the girl's knight,' the spying entity told itself.

The gunblade warrior concentrated his senses on the sheet of newspaper in his hands. He noticed the picture was showing a gory blood battle of slain women, but what startled him the most was that these victims no longer looked human. There was no distinct manlike form, but a mass of rotting flesh that looked very much like strips of paper from a shredder. Torn apart into this gruesome mess, the only evidence that showed their identity as sorceresses were the pendants and slips with incantations scattered around the area. Some of the articles strewn around the room in the picture were magnified and the pendants clearly showed symbols of old. The slips of ancient-looking parchment had a mélange of archaic writing written all over it. No doubt they really were a coven of witches.

Quistis the blond approached the gunblade slinger and tapped him on the shoulders. "Squall, may I see that?"

'Squall...so that's his name.'

Quistis scanned the images thoroughly before gasping and bringing her free hand to her mouth. "This...cannot be!"

The blonde man with combat gloves asked the bewildered woman, "Quisty? What's wrong?"

Quistis shook her head while closing her eyes and said, "This morning, I watched the local news channel and saw a murder quite similar to this. A man was found in a back alley in Deling, shredded into six, uniform pieces. It just seems so strange that the same thing happened in Esthar only about an hour before this."

Squall approached the blonde and asked, "How can you tell? It doesn't even say in the article what time the murder happened."

Quistis opened her eyes and gave the paper back to Selphie. "It doesn't, but if you look closely in the background, you can see a clock that reads 1AM. The murder in Deling took place around 5 in the morning."

Selphie furrowed her brow and helped Quistis out. "One in the morning...so that means that the murder in Deling took place only an hour after the Esthar massacre. But wait...don't you think that could have been a scene taken from the night before?"

Quistis informed Selphie, "Selphie, look more closely at the photo. The blood still looks fresh, doesn't it? If you look at the scene of the crime, the blood spilled on the floor looks only an hour old, the same as it did on TV."

"But how is that possible? Not even the Ragnarok can arrive in Esthar within an hour. It takes three at most to do that!" exclaimed Selphie.

"I don't know Selphie. I guess we have to research on that," said Quistis with a very worried look. Everyone remained silent for a while.

Rinoa clung to her knight's arm and asked the blonde, "Quisty, does the murder scene in Deling have anything to do at all with sorceresses?"

Quistis looked at her sadly and nodded her head. "The man assassinated carried vials of serum from Odine that were supposedly used for endowing normal girls with powers."

Squall cursed himself and commanded Quistis, "Instructor Trepe, go to the bridge and tell Xu to ring up all the Garden students in town to go to their dorms right away. Assign forty-five of the best-trained upper classmen to guard the entrance to each sector of the Garden, five in each of the seven minor sectors and ten in the front gate. Once our defenses have been raised, tell Nida to set a course for Trabia."

"Roger." The blonde saluted the commander ran out of the Quad.

Squall turned to Zell. "Zell, ask five Level A SeeDs to accompany you to the second floor deck. One of those men have to be trained in using projectile weapons."

"Alright man!" The martial artist fumbled with a communication device in his hand before going out of the Quad.

Squall then looked at Selphie and Irvine. "Selphie, Irvine, behind one of the panels in the directory is a PA system. Tell the students to shut all their windows and anything that might allow the enemy to enter through the garden. Selphie, I want you to call twenty-five more upper classmen and position them in each of the classrooms."

"Booyaka! Alrighty!" And in a few seconds, she stormed out of the place.

"Irvine..." Squall mumbled.

"'Kay, so what do you want me to do?" asked the remaining member of the group.

Squall paused for a moment and scratched his chin before saying, "I think you should accompany Selphie."

"Awright!" He bowed his had and left.

'Alone...at last,' thought the presence.

"Which leaves me with you, Rin."

A tall man suddenly entered the Quad. "Squall! What's going on? Is there an invasion that I should know of?" he asked the other commander.

The figure's energy eyes narrowed for a moment. "It's him!" It shut it's "eyes" and it shimmered from view, but before it completely left the Garden, it noticed the tall man glance at the direction of its hiding place momentarily. Squall turned to Ouragan and informed him, "I believe that an assassin may be coming to the Garden to kill Rinoa. You've seen the new, haven't you?"

Ouragan nodded in response. "Yes I did. But how can you tell if he's coming here or not?"

Rinoa spoke to Ouragan this time. "Early this morning, the same scenario occurred in Deling City. The creepy thing is, it also had something to do with sorceresses."

Squall continued, "We need to raise the Garden's defenses because we believe that the assailant will stop at nothing to destroy its targets. We might end up with a few more casualties if we don't fortify this base."

Without warning, the ground began to shake beneath them, much like it would during an earthquake. Squall, Rinoa, and Ouragan held on to the bench to steady themselves.

"What's happening!?" exclaimed Ouragan.

Squall said from where he was bracing himself, "The Garden is making its move towards Trabia."

Rinoa said aloud, "But why is it shaking this bad?"

Squall replied, "A few days earlier, I ordered the Garden to land at the Timber area. Usually, when we stop, the golden revolving ring around the Garden still moves, showing that its engine is ready to go. A few days back, however, I ordered Nida to set the Garden on rest mode. This must be natural for the Garden."

Ouragan shouted, "Does it have to make this horrible noise?"

Squall shouted back, "I don't know! You do the math!"

In a few minutes, the Garden ascended into the air and its movement was much smoother now. Rinoa turned a sickly shade of green.

"Squall...pant...next time...huff puff...we should go to...wheez...FH...and tell...pant...the technicians to fix this...somehow," she told Squall while rubbing her temples.

Ouragan cast an Esuna on himself, Squall, and Rinoa. "Well, that should fix it. If there is anything I can do to help, just ask, okay?"

Squall nodded and thanked Ouragan. He turned to his sorceress. "You're coming with me, alright?"

Rinoa nodded. "Squall, what if something happens to me?"

Squall hugged her tenderly and kissed her forehead. "It's gonna be okay. Like I said, just stay close to me."

Rinoa rested her head against the warmth of his chest. "Oh thank you Squall."

While the lovers were hugging sweetly, a small group of people entered the squad.

"Whoa! Look at that! Puberty boy is all grown up!" said the blonde with a sly smirk.

"LOVE. SWEET," came the reply from the patch-eyed girl with silver hair.

"Like I said, they look good together, ya know," uttered the large African- American man beside his companions.

Squall turned and glared at the leader of the group, not paying attention to his companions. "What are you doing here Seifer? And how did you get past the Garden's defenses? And weren't you banned from Balamb Garden? How dare you show your face here, especially after you almost killed Rinoa!"

Seifer raised his arms above his head in peace. "One by one, Squally- wally. Hey, listen, I'm not here to kill you alright. And since when did you talk so much, puberty boy?"

Squall grunted at "Squally-wally" and faced his rival again. "Oh, go to Balamb and catch a fish Seifer. I'm going to call security to escort you now." Squall held his gunblade in fighting stance and took out a device used for signaling the Garden security.

"Relax commander puberty. Like I said, I'm not here to hurt you guys. And about the fishing thing, been there, done that. Now put down that phone before you do anything that you might regret." Seifer just stared at him while a very bored Fujin and Raijin sat down in their former school's benches.

Squall fearlessly approached the taller boy and poked him hard in the chest. "Are you threatening me Seifer Almasy? 'Cause if you are, I might find a good reason to give you an 'X' on your forehead," he said while pointing at his own scar to emphasize a point.

Seifer nonchalantly whistled and played with his fingers as if they were just newly manicured and faced the angry brunette. "You know, that wouldn't be so bad, because now I would have something you wouldn't have. But no, I'd pass that offer," he cockily told the 5'8" man.

Squall was turning purple with rage and began shouting at Seifer. "Why you cocky, self-absorbed, sorceress-lapping, son of a...!" He was about to finish the sentence when he felt a gentle touch on his arm. It was Rinoa.

"Squall, please control yourself. I'm sure Seifer no longer means any harm. Honestly, if you would look at yourselves right now, you would be mistaken for a couple of gay lovers," she giggled. Squall blushed furiously.

Seifer helped Rinoa out. "Well you know Squally here, he has had the hots for me ever since we were in Edea's house, isn't that right, lover?" he teased the furious commander. Fujin and Raijin clapped their palms on their foreheads and shook it in a classic Squall move. Rinoa laughed at Seifer's joke as well, causing Squall to clench his fists until the knuckles were white.

'If looks could kill, I bet I would end up like that man in the alley...or even worse,' he thought to himself.

"Ugh! Rinoa, you too?! I'm leaving!" With that, Squall stomped angrily on his way out.

"Oh Squall, I'm so sorry." She started after Squall but stopped when Seifer called her.

"Uh...Rinoa," he called her sheepishly.

Rinoa turned and smiled at him sweetly. "Yes Seifer?"

Seifer was surprised that this girl—the one he had thrown to the evil sorceress Adel, the one who had tried to kill Squall—was still as nice to her as she was before she had fallen in love with his friend. "Listen, I know that it has been a while, but I'm sorry...for everything," he said to her sincerely.

Rinoa beamed at him and gently told him, "Oh, don't worry about it. I couldn't stay mad at you Seifer. Given the kind of situation I was in, I perfectly understand what happened to you."

Seifer's eyes turned into puppy dog eyes and he asked Rinoa, "So does that mean you aren't mad at me?"

Rinoa shook her head and honestly said, "No. I forgive you for what you did...even if you did try to throw me to Adel."

Seifer scratched the back of his head and shuffled his feet on the floor. "Gosh, I thought you would kill me with your powers for throwing you at that ugly transvestite, but what about them?"

Rinoa just shook her head in amusement and said, "I'm sure they'll learn to forgive you in time. Now if you excuse me, I have to go cool down an angry Squall before he wipes out the entire training center's population." She winked at Seifer and left the Quad.

Without them realizing, Fujin shifted from her usual single-word language to normal speaking mode. "She's really nice. You have to hand it to her, she did change Squall a bit."

Seifer looked down on the Quad's floors sadly and said, "Yeah."

Raijin stood up and put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Shouldn't ya be happy for Squall? I mean ya did try to kill Rinoa, ya know?"

Fujin stood up and kicked her friend in the shins. "IDIOT!" Raijin howled in pain.

Seifer shook his head. "It's not that. I consider Rinoa only as a friend, you guys. But I can't help but feel guilty about doing all that to them."

Fujin glared at Raijin with her don't-you-dare-say-anything-before-you-say- something-stupid and comforted Seifer with "normal" human language. "Seifer, it doesn't matter what they think about you, does it? You never really cared before. What is important now is that you set things straight. Rinoa seems to accept you for your mistakes. Eventually, they will too."

Seifer turned to his friend and said, "Thanks Fu. You know, you should talk like this more often. To be honest, I think you're more attractive if you talk like that."

Fujin looked surprised and blushed. "Thank you Seifer. Just remember, you were given a chance to come back here. Don't mess this one, okay?"

Seifer laughed and said, "Sure Fujin." He turned to Raijin who still felt the effects of Fujin's shin kick. "Come on Rai, let's go and tell them about our little discovery."

Raijin struggled to get up and said, "Sure, whatever ya say boss."

The three went out of the Quad to look for Squall.

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Sorry this chapter took a bit longer than usual to finish. I got sick recently so I'll try to update my story faster. I think I finally got the summary right! Next Chapter: A Shot at Redemption