The next day another body was found in the Training Ground; this one belonged to a young girl that had been in the Garden for only a year.
"Another one" said Squall as he left the training ground "Same death pattern again"
"What do we know?" Doctor Kadowaki asked
"Nothing" said Squall "Except they were deep, frantic slices that killed her"
"Anything eaten?" the doctor asked
"No, this wasn't to eat it looks like she was killed for sport" said Squall sitting down on a bench
"So there's something in there killing for sport?" said Kadowaki "What are you going to do?"
"I don't know" said Squall "I don't even know what's killing them"
"You need to come to a decision soon, Squall" said Kadowaki "Otherwise parents are going to start taking their kids away from Garden"
"Has anything like this ever happened before?" Squall asked.
"Not that I know of" said Kadowaki "We rarely get deaths, the only time it is likely to happen is in SeeD examinations"
"So there have been no deaths in the past?" Squall said
"There have been deaths in the past but they have always been months if not years apart" said Kadowaki "Most of the time they have been from fiends in the Garden or in the cavern"
"Right" said Squall as they got into the elevator. The two of them went up to Squall's office then into the control room. Squall activated the PA
"This is Squall; we are about to head for the Trabia Cenotaph, while we are travelling all students must remain in their dormitories, all Garden faculty will patrol the first floor, thank you" Squall disconnected the microphone and turned to Xu.
"The Trabia Cenotaph please, Xu" said Squall.
"Why are we going there?" Kadowaki asked as the Garden began its journey
"They have some good trackers; hopefully they will be able to track down whatever is doing this and kill it" said Squall
"What if it's only in Balamb?" Xu asked as she guided the Garden past Balamb and into the ocean smoothly.
"Then we know for a fact that it's only in Balamb" said Squall "We can then bring back a few of them and they can find out exactly where it is"
"Good plan, Squall" said Kadowaki "I knew you would think of something"
"I need to go and talk to someone" said Squall leaving the room and taking the elevator down to the first floor.
Jessie was lying on Dominic's bed again, as was Dominic, when the announcement was broadcast.
"What's a Cenotaph?" Jessie asked
"It means memorial" said Dominic who had his eyes closed and was drifting in his thoughts.
"The Trabia Memorial" said Jessie
"Yes" said Dominic "For their Garden which was destroyed" Dominic opened his eyes "Aren't you meant to be going back to your dormitory?"
"Squall said that we have to remain in our dormitories; I was in this one when he made the announcement" said Jessie
"Alright then" said Dominic who closed his eyes again.
"Can I ask you something?" Jessie asked Dominic
"Of course" said Dominic
"What are your parents like?" she asked him. For a second Jessie saw a line crease his brow as though he was unhappy of thinking about it.
"They're dead" said Dominic "I got a lot in the will from my mother which was how I managed to survive this long"
"What about your father?" Jessie asked. Dominic smiled slightly
"That's a completely different story; he's not dead but he isn't really" Dominic stopped as he thought about how he could describe his father without giving away who he was.
"He's just different" said Dominic in the end.
"Okay then" said Jessie. Jessie rolled onto her front and watched Dominic who just lay there with his eyes closed. Jessie reached out and ran her finger over one of his shallow cheekbones.
"Having fun?" he asked her
"Yeah" she said "Can I get a pen and outline your cheekbones?"
"No you cannot" said Dominic laughing.
"Aw come on" she said
"No" he said laughing as he sat up and sat with his back against the wall.
"You're no fun" she said yet again.
"So you keep telling me" said Dominic
"I have to!" she said "To try to get you to have more fun!"
"I'll think about it" he said.
"God" she said lying face down. Dominic laughed again. Someone knocked on Dominic's door. Jessie rolled over and looked at the door
"I thought Squall told everyone to go back to their rooms?" said Jessie. Dominic got to his feet
"Apparently someone isn't listening" said Dominic and opened the door.
"Hello, Dominic" said Squall "Can we take a walk?" Squall then saw Jessie who had sat up when she saw Squall.
"You are meant to be in your room" said Squall
"I was here when you told us to stay in our dormitories" said Jessie "I thought you meant dormitories that we're in"
"Of course you did" said Squall "So will you come walk with me?" he asked Dominic. Dominic nodded
"Yes sir" said Dominic. Once Jessie had left for her own room and Dominic had locked up he and Squall began their walk. Quickly Dominic noticed that they were headed for the Training Ground.
"How good is your knowledge of fiends?" Squall asked Dominic.
"It's pretty good" said Dominic
"How are you with blood?" Squall asked
"Alright, why?" Dominic asked
"I'm taking you to see one of the bodies" said Squall "I want to see if you can identify the attack pattern"
"Isn't there someone here who can do that?" Dominic asked
"Yes" said Squall "Quistis and some others have already tried to identify it but none of us were able to, I want to know if you might know of anything"
"Why me?" Dominic asked
"You have a good knowledge of fiends, apparently, and you're young so you have imagination and are willing to mention fiends that maybe aren't living in the Balamb area" said Squall
"So you think someone could have brought the creature into Balamb?" Dominic said.
"Pretty much" said Squall "Or maybe it was forced to live here"
Squall and Dominic walked past many Garden faculties until they reached the doors into the Training Ground. The female's body had been left where it was, by the pond, so that examiners could come and see if there was any sign of the fiend, but none had been found. Dominic saw the white tarpaulin that had been draped over the body.
"Are you ready?" Squall asked as he took the corner of the tarpaulin
"No" said Dominic but Squall pulled it back anyway. Firstly Dominic was hit by the smell of rotting meat. He coughed and shook his head before looking down at the mutilated body. Dominic had seen animals that had been gorged before but this young girl had been killed, not gorged, by the look of her. Dominic straightened up.
"What do you think?" Squall asked. Dominic looked up at the trees above them.
"Let me go check something" said Dominic who ran over to one of the trees that stood over looking the body and began to climb it. A minute later Dominic was shimmying across a branch. In the branch there were some large indents as though something with long claws had been crouched there. Dominic recognised the marks instantly. He walked back along the branch and climbed back down.
"There are marks in the tree" said Dominic "I'd say that you are looking for something big and bat-like"
"I can't think of anything like that" said Squall.
"Me neither" lied Dominic "But I'm guessing that's what you are looking for"
"None of the examiners thought anything like that" said Squall
"Then they must be bad examiners" said Dominic
"Okay then" said Squall "I'll take you back to your dormitory then I'll go and tell my friends what you have told me, we should be in Trabia in a bit anyhow"
Squall walked Dominic all the way back to his door then left. Dominic went into his room and quickly fished out his black duffle bag from under his bed. There was a small sheet of metal at the bottom of his bag and beneath it was a large black book. Dominic fished the book out of his bag and sat at his desk with it. This book was one of the only physical things he got from his father; other than his physical build. The book was old and it told of monsters and fiends even older. A few of the fiends from the book had become Guardian Forces but there were still the many other beings that had merely fallen into legend. The pages flashed by as Dominic flicked through the book quickly. Suddenly he stopped on a page that showed a large devil, drawn by an ancient fiend hunter, and next to it was a descriptive paragraph, again handwritten. The pages were very old but they were perfectly intact and so Dominic did not have to ludicrously careful while holding the book. Dominic had already read that one page many times before but he wanted to read it again; in case he had ever missed something before.