"Halt!" A Galbadian guard cried just outside of Deling city. A group of four teenagers, with a very heavy appearance of a gang, stood right in front of him.

"Yo are we late for the party yet?" a rather tall teen with long chestnut hair asked, making sure to show off his pair of shades to the man.

"Party?"

"You know, the one they be holdin up inside this city! Eh? EH?" a shorter man seemed to be hiding behind his grey hood grabbing it as he talked, making his brown haired mess move along with it.

The guard stammared for a minute "Y-Yes, the initiation, correct?"

"Yea" a monotone voice said, frowning from underneath his beanie cap.

"Go right ahead, but if you kids start causing any trouble I'm kicking your asses so far out-"

"Hey, hey now, it's all cool, we just wanna watch"

"Yea grandpa, chill"

"Yea…"

"G-Grandpa!?"

"Tee-Hee! Thank you Mr. Guard for letting us in!" cried the only girl in the group with a cheerful expression, leaving the guard completely stunned and confused.

"Hey Selphie calm down, you might blow our cover!" Irvine whispered

"Yea, I've never seen a Galbadian girl dressed like that look so perky" Zell eyed Selphie's rather short red leather dress she had on, accompanied with a white jacket and wig.

"Pervert!" she yelped pulling her dress down.

Zell adjusted his wig and put his hands in his pockets deciding not to say anything.

"Calm down Selphie, whoever heard of wearing something like this?" Squall frowned at his outfit as Selphie giggled, he wore a big white shirt with the words "BAD BOY" written across the front along with a dark blue vest, tight pants, and a black beanie cap to finish it.

Irvine tried to hide his laughter as he admired his simple clothing of sunglasses, a long sleeved jacket and pants. "Sorry, but you were last; all the good ones were taken!"

"I wanted Zell's outfit" Squall said looking over at the shorter cadet.

Zell laughed nervously "Well, uh, what could I do? I have to hide my tattoo yanno!"

"You already have a hood"

"Uh…"

"And the hair should be enough for you"

"Hey! Lighten up man!"

"Guys! Shush!" Selphie snapped at them, they had made it to the Presidential Palace where an enormous crowd stood cheering.

"Is that Sinistra?" Irvine asked pointing toward a tall skinny lady with sharp, bony features. Her body was outlined in a silk blood red dress that opened up at the top to expose some of her chest. Perhaps though, the most revealing thing about her was the helmet she wore: it was decorated with gems and let out her long slender white and black streaked hair that fell to her ankles; but coming out of the helmet were two demon wings the color of sapphire.

Squall watched carefully as she smiled venomously at the audience's applause and stepped up to the microphone.

"Live in fear no longer! With the children at Galbadia Garden we can surely have enough of a supply to feed to the army and the new institute I am proud to present to you here today. As of now, 100 students currently attending Galbadia Garden have had the honor of being handpicked by myself to serve in Galbadia's Black SeeD Organization!"

Selphie gasped "Black SeeD?"

Zell clenched a fist "No way! SeeD was Matron's idea! There's no way I'm letting this bitch get away with manipulating it!"

"Zell calm down," Squall urged "we're still in Galbadian ground, don't give us away"

Sinistra continued with a wicked grin, never taking her eyes off the crowd for a second "I would like to present to you the top notch SeeD's here with honor, lead by General Sole" she gestured to a strong looking man with black hair, broad shoulders, and a cold stare in his eyes, he stood up and did a salute.

"Sorceress Sinistra, the Black SeeD Organization will follow you even when hell knocks on our door, we shall not back down on any cause until you achieve your goals and let us go." His words were strict and inspiring, Sinistra grinned with approval.

"Citizens! Follow me and you shall be granted what your hearts desire, no more war, no more bloodshed, and a perfect world for all. The day the Dollet Empire will once again reign is near!"

Squall cringed as the uproar of applause and praise erupted around him, through it all he could barely see Zell mouth the words "She's kidding, right?"

"How could all these guys approve of something so farfetched?" Irvine wondered

Zell lifted his hands off his ears to speak but then something crossed his face "hey guys, listen, I think I hear chants"

"Chants?" Selphie asked plugging her ears "I hear it!"

Squall followed suit, instantly the words were made clearer "SINISTRA REINS ONCE MORE…LOYAL SERVANTS…. RISE AGAIN…HEAR SINISTRA'S VOICE…AND RISE AGAIN…" it was quite hard to make out the whole message and Squall even tried listening to it again to make sure he heard right

"What's this crap about rising again?" Zell asked.

"Is it brainwash?" cried Selphie.

Squall felt incredibly upset, and from the looks on everyone's faces they were just as mad as he was "We can't figure this out now, let's head back and report this to Headmaster Cid"

Everyone agreed and scrambled away from the gathering until they were sure they couldn't hear the voice anymore.

"Cid's still at Garden? I thought he took a break to be with Matron," said Irvine

Zell laughed "he can't stay away from garden no matter what he does; he came back after the incident."

"Laguna, we're sorry about letting them take Ellone," a sympathetic Kiros said to his friend

Laguna sighed, "It's not your fault, it would have happened either way; I just thought I could handle it this time"

Kiros spoke for Ward "You're not blaming yourself for all of this are you?"

Laguna tried to ignore the question. He rubbed the back of his head in frustration "ah…the costs for this mess are pretty high and there's still monsters running around… and all they did was attack the Palace!"

"Laguna, you're going to search for her again aren't you?" Kiros eyed the president intensely.

Laguna shook his head "I don't have a lead in the first place, looking for her would be useless right now"

His two friends exchanged glances "and Squall? We heard about the incident, and we know you told him about Sinistra this time"

"I don't know, he seemed to have taken it pretty well"

"It would have been a lot easier if you would have just told him in the first place" Wards eyes shown with rebuke.

Laguna sighed, "I know, there's not much more we can do now but wait and-"

"Sir!"

President Loire turned around to look at an Esthar guard saluting him at the door

"What is it?"

"A pair of Timber residents requests to see you. They say it has something to do with Sorceress Sinistra"

"Uh…yes! Bring them in!"

Kiros looked directly into Laguna's eyes "perhaps that's your lead."

"Maybe…If Sinistra's really behind-"

"Mr. President Loire!"

"Mr. President, Sir! It's a pleasure to meet you, sir!"

Kiros and Ward stood silent as Laguna put a broad smile on his face "Yes, so you say you have info on Sinistra for me then?"

"Super info, sir!"

"Alright, let's hear it"