Hi! Thanks dragon ball Z Freak, Fatima Gochi, CTHKSI, anime diva and soulslayer7 for all your reviews so far! (Hands out chocolate and chips to all the nice fans) Enjoy!

****************

"He's going to be alright isn't he?" Rinoa fiddled with her necklace nervously, her dark eyes kept flitting over to where Squall slept.

The young sorceress could feel her heartbeat still thundering in her chest, she had never been so worried. Well, not since she saw Squall laying dead in the void of nothingness.

Why did he have the sudden urge to go for a training session this late at night? Had he no brains?

She had been awoken to Quistis Trepe banging on the door like there was no tomorrow. Her heart had leapt out of her chest when the blonde had told her that Squall had been hurt in the Training Centre.

The doctor nodded, "He'll be fine child. It's lucky Xu was there to help him before it was to serious."

Xu gave Rinoa an odd smile as she turned to her. It wasn't exactly pleasant, it was like the kind you give someone when you really trying to hide your disgust.

"Lucky I got there before there was any real damage," the slender instructor said, "Or he'd be mincemeat for the T-rex."

Xu felt her cell phone vibrate in her pocket and she pulled it out. The small screen indicated with little pride that it was her other set of friends calling. She pushed the small call ok button and turned her back on the gathered group. Hoping they wouldn't be listening in to the call.

"Hello?"

She paused as the caller spoke to her, her dark eyes narrowing in anger.

"I know! Look, something came up…I can't say what. Listen, I'll talk to you when I see you, you spikey headed jerk," Xu did her best to keep the anger out of her voice though it was hard.

By the great god Leviathan…Xu released the call and turned back to face the two women beside her.

"Huh…brothers," she lied sweetly.

I didn't know she had a brother, Rinoa thought. She said nothing but smiled sweetly at her.

Xu planned to walk out of the infirmary with the same pleasant smile on her face but it was proving hard. The uniform she was wearing was really beginning to chafe in the wrong areas. She had put on some weight since she joined SeeD but she hadn't thought it was anything special. She hated wearing it, a constant reminder to everything she was about to destroy.

"…I'm going to find if there was any witnesses to the monster attack," Xu offered.

Rinoa hid a yawn that was creeping up on her, "Keep us posted huh?"

"This is a Garden problem Rinoa," Xu said harshly, "And we don't discuss things like that to non Garden members."

Doctor Kadowaski stopped Xu before she had a chance to leave, "Xu, one other thing before you leave. I don't recognize the weapon marks. Could you be a dear and find out if you can what type it is."

"What?" the young aid to the headmaster hide the surprise out of her voice, "Weapon? Monsters don't use weapons, not the kind we have here in Garden."

"I know," the doctor said, "Which leads me to think that he was attacked by a person."

Xu forced a concerned look on her face. Perhaps she shouldn't of used her weapon? She should of stuck with the projectile one she had and not her own weapon of choice.

The Conformer had always been her weapon of choice, it was her ultimate weapon. A weapon, the planet had made for her so she could save it.

"I'll get on it right away Doctor," Xu walked out of the infirmary with determination etched on her face.

A few moments passed and she bumped into Quistis at the stairs leading up to the elevator. She let out a frustrated sigh and once again, began playing the role she had been.

Friend, ally and confident of all those she loathed. She had to get to her dorm as soon as possible and speak with Vincent, who was currently sleeping off the transformation from a Guardian Force to a mere man.

"Hey Quistis," she gave the teen a small polite wave and wished it would only be a passing greeting. Her luck failed her as the blonde woman seemed interested in having a chat with her.

"Xu," Quistis said as she walked to her, "Um…could you go to the front gate?"

"Why?"

Quistis frowned, her thin rimmed glasses sliding a little down her face. Xu held back a startled sigh, the young woman in front of her certainly did remind her of Quistis mother.

"There's some…odd looking people waiting for you there," Quistis pointed vaguely down to where the entrance of the Garden was.

"Thanks…" Xu nodded, "Hey, did they say who they were?"

Quistis shook her head, "Nope. They were really quite rude to me."

Be thankful that you are still alive, Xu took her leave and headed down to the entrance, If they knew who you were then you wouldn't be standing here and complaining.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What took you so long?" the small blonde leader said as soon as Xu stepped into view.

"You got here quick," was all she answered.

Cloud Strife rolled his eyes, she had always been mouthy. Even when he had first meet her as a naïve little thief.

"Yuffie," Nanaki spoke politly, "How did the mission go?"

The ninja's face darkened, " I was interrupted before I could finish."

"So he's still alive?" Cloud shook his head, "Yuffie, all we asked you to do was kill at least one of them!"

"If I killed him with Chaos still inside his head, then we would of lost Vincent!" Yuffie clenched her bare fists, her long nails digging into her palm.

Cloud shrugged, "We all know the risks. The fact that he decided to side with them, doesn't exactly make him as innocent as he would like."

Yuffie took a deep breath of the cold clean air, "He hasn't. You try being a being of energy and being defeated by a bunch of kids! They junction magic and summons like we do with materia."

"How much of a struggle can they put up against us?" Barret Wallace rubbed his chin with his good hand.

"……They defeated a futuristic sorceress," Yuffie recalled, "They're tough as a group but I think that they'll fall if we separate them. They're way to confident about the fact they defeated Ultimicia."

Cloud looked at the elegantly etched gold lettering of the entrance. Confidence…could easily be shattered if done right. The fact Yuffie had defeated the leader in battle was surely enough to shake the group.

We could probably take this Garden down within minutes if we really wanted to, Cloud crossed his arms, the thought turning out to be very appealing.

"Yuffie," Cloud raised a blonde eyebrow, "Think you could distract them long enough for us to get a small army up?"

"I'm pretty much head of security here," the teen said with pride, "So, I can put them on a wild goose chase."

Cloud nodded and watched as the teen headed back into the garden, "Yuffie!"

The ninja turned round, "What now?"

"Fail us again and you won't get a third strike," Cloud's voice turned colder than the frozen ground the Garden hovered over, "You'll be dead."

************

Two days later

What in god's name hit me? Feels like every bone in my body hurts like hell…Squall could here a steady beep from somewhere above him, it hurt to even open his eyes.

Get up. Before it's to late.

You again…Squall mentally frowned. Had he fallen asleep. Was he dreaming?

No. He wasn't dreaming. It hurt to much when he even tried to move his fingers. The beeping was getting rather boring and annoying. It was constant and filled the silence that had once again fell over him.

Wake up! Rest is for the weak. You should be attempting to find out who attacked you, not lying in bed.

I'll do it later. Right now, I'm enjoying the time off.

The voice turned hard, Then, when you awaken, you will see the death of all you love.

…No. Who are you? What do you want?

Who I am is not the issue right now. You will learn soon enough as I have said. You are facing an enemy who has little to lose, an enemy that doesn't even exist in this realm.

What?!

We come from where your culture claims Hyne was made. Though Hyne wasn't called that…he was called something else.

…I…

Child! People want you and your friends dead! They will stop at nothing to achieve it! If you want more answers, then wake. Time, precious time is being wasted by speaking in this way.

The voice hissed the final statement out, clearly not impressed with the teen's lack of intelligence. The voice sounded strangely familiar to him, like he had heard it before. Not because he had heard it in his dreams but somewhere else.

"No…wait!" he muttered weakly.

Squall felt a warm hand grasp his own hurting one, a second warm hand gently stroked his head.

"Shhh, it's okay. Rest okay?" a soothingly familiar voice reassured him.

He struggled to sit up, slowly opening his eyes. The world he was in shone a bright white and was one big white blurry one, interlaced with a darker colour.

"Easy!" an older female voice commanded, "Don't want you having a relapse."

"……how long was…I out for?" Squall weakly raised his hand to his head, pressing it against his forehead.

"Almost two days," Rinoa slowly came into focus in his world, her pretty face filled with concern.

The SeeD leader resisted the urge to yawn, "…where's Xu?"

Rinoa shoot Doctor Madawaska a questioning look, "Um...well, Squall…she's missing."

"Missing?" the teen frowned, "When?"

"Shortly after you were attacked. Do you remember who attacked you?" the doctor stood a little closer to the young couple.

"Xu attacked me…well…not exactly," Squall pressed the heel of his palm against his forehead, trying to figure out why Xu had been hell bent on killing him.

"Xu and I were training. She was hell bent on trying to kill me," the young teen offered, "Damndest thing was…when I summoned Diablos…it seemed to know Xu."

Rinoa frowned, "Well…don't GF's have some form of intelligence?"

"No…this was different. It turned on me. It followed her orders," Squall's voice trailed off, "…she really wanted me dead."

"Why?"

"I don't know but…when it saw her, it smiled," Squall could feel his headache growing with a new vengeance.

Rinoa's frown deepened, "Smiled? Squall, you're probably just imagining it. Why would it smile at Xu?"

"I didn't imagine it!" Squall felt his temper soar, it didn't help that his headache was getting worse. Maybe he should of slept for a little while longer?

Rinoa squeezed his hand and gave him a soothing smile, "We're not saying that but…you have just woke up after having the crap kicked out of you. Your memory is probably just a little fuzzy."

Squall pulled his hand away from her, his grey eyes clouding over with anger. His jaw clenched as he gave her a cold look.

"That really isn't important right now. Something or someone is coming and they really don't like us," Squall gazed into Rinoa's dark eyes, hoping that she would understand the urgency in his voice.

***************