When the Ragnarok finally arrived in the new airship landing ground, Squall was the last to come out. He saw Quistis and Nida at the bottom of the ramp welcoming Irvine and Selphie back from their long trip. Squall let a small smile sneak onto his lips at their enthusiasm as he slowly descended down the ramp.

Out of the corner of his eye Squall could see Rinoa's blue outfit make an entrance in the doorway with hands behind her back and an aloof appearance until she came closer to him where she smiled widely.

"Welcome back Squall" she said it so softly it was barely above a whisper, he nodded slowly and gave her a smile, instantly she became more open to him and laughed. Squall didn't look back at the others, who he knew were staring at them, instead he walked towards the door leading into Balamb Garden hoping no one would bother him as he did, Rinoa followed him slowly, beaming inside and out.

Suddenly Xu appeared in the doorway looking alarmed, she noticed the taciturn hero and gave a salute "Oh Squall! There you are, welcome back!"

Squall silently sighed to himself; he was hoping that things were finally going to go back to normal, at least for a while.

"I'm sorry to ask this but…Headmaster Cid wishes to see you in his old office" said Xu

Squall slowly nodded and continued walking, leaving Rinoa behind.

Rinoa avoided Xu's sympathetic stare and sighed turning back towards Irvine and Selphie.

"Rinoa…" Irvine said softly, hating to see her sad, Selphie noticed this and tried to keep her happy tone.

"Rinny! I haven't seen you in so long! How're you doing!? Oh there's so much we have to catch up on!"

"Hey Sefie I don't think-" Irvine started while Zell cut in "Let it go Irvine, Squall's been like this for weeks" Everyone then watched as Selphie did her innocent act of distracting Rinoa from Squall and waited for him to return.

Squall made his way silently to Cid's office, when he saw the headmaster he did a garden salute but Cid quickly gestured for him to stop.

"I'm not the headmaster of this garden anymore, you don't have to salute me" he said laughing. Squall stood still, shocked, but decided to let Cid continue.

"We've finally decided about the SeeD's, I'm sure Xu gave you the reports before you left, right?"

"Uh…yea" Squall remembered receiving them but hadn't even bothered to look at them "I might've just glanced at them though" this caused Cid to laugh once more.

"That's quite alright, there's not much more for you to know, I never stressed myself with details anyway. Everyone has decided to have the burial for the students in Balamb, the SeeD Inauguration will be held there as well"

"So you're passing the rest off to SeeD just because they survived?"

Cid looked at Squall grimly "Only three are passing this year, one isn't qualified for SeeD anymore. He'll remain in Garden until he can function on his own"

The young man remained silent, Cid decided to continue speaking "That's what was decided. I was hoping you'd be able to give us your opinion before we took any more action"

Squall held his head in his hand and thought for a moment before deciding, "Fine. I'll get Nida up here and inform the students"

Dr. Kadowaki sat in her office listening to the everlasting sounds of ocean tide while she scribbled out a prescription on her trusty clipboard. She heard the door to the infirmary slide open and looked up "Oh Kain, I didn't expect to see you back here so soon!"

The boy slowly moved his eyes around the room before shyly smiling "I came back for my stuff"

"Oh yes that's right! Sorry, I have so many students to tend to I can't keep track of them all! Ellyn was released yesterday and now I have another one ready to go today, just wait for moment, alright?"

Kain nodded and sat on one of the benches, taking in the gray skies gathering outside. Kain hated being in the ocean, too much rain, not to mention his slight discomfort with the movement of the ocean waves.

Another glance back to Kadowaki's table and he saw a tall boy with spiked blonde hair stretching his limbs, looking relieved to be up. Their eyes locked and the boy smiled.

"Hey, you're from the incident too right?"

Kain nodded.

"Name's Roy, I'm from Squad A, I just heard we got accepted into SeeD!"

Kain remained silent, if nothing had happened he would've been too happy to contain himself, but the news didn't surprise him or make him the least bit happy.

Just then Dr. Kadowaki walked in with both her hands full "Kain, here're your things, and Roy don't forget your medicine!" both boys took their possessions and left without another word between them.

After Squall had informed the students it wasn't long until Garden was on its way to the shores of Balamb.

Nida held the rudder tight in his sweating palms "Squall, are you sure we should keep going today? The winds seem to be picking up"

"We're fine for now, keep going" the leader said solemnly just as thunder roared in the distance.

Nida shakily sighed, "Whatever you say" he frowned at the weather, it was starting to become darker and the winds were beginning to make the Garden rock more than usual. He looked at Squall who had an unreadable expression on his face and then at Xu who really didn't seem to be paying attention. Suddenly a huge wave nearly knocked Nida away from the steering wheel.

"A storm…" he groaned quietly "Sir!" he called to Squall but the Garden Leader was already aware of it. He knew that they didn't have a choice now; the water would take them wherever it pleased. A tremendous wave hit again as water started to pour down from the sky. Squall took a deep breath.

"Nida! Steer this thing to shore at the best of your ability!"

Another strong force hit and the Garden continued to rock violently, Squall fell back a bit before ramming against a wall, still he continued shouting orders "Xu! Get on the speaker! Tell the students to stay in their dorms and all other activities to be postponed!" Xu rushed over to the speaker.

"And please…. tell the others to-"

Just then Rinoa busted into the room, she looked awfully concerned "Squall!" she cried "Let me help you this time, I know with my powers I can-"

"Rinoa I need you to stay safe"

Her expression stiffened "Please, Let me show you, I can be of some help, I'm tired of waiting around and feeling as if I don't do anything…I'm a Sorceress! If I can just-" she looked at her hands that formed into white fists.

Squall wouldn't look her way "I don't want you to"

"I want to"

"…I…can't let you" Squall wanted more than anything for Nida and Xu to not be present, it was bad enough he was hurting Rinoa, but he didn't want to take any more risks.

Rinoa's face tightened "I can't believe you Squall!" she stormed out, Squall made an instant move to go after her but Xu, who had just finished her announcement yelled at him "You can't leave! We need you to help navigate the garden!" there was a hint of sympathy in her voice, Squall stared at her for a minute and agreed.

Not too far from Garden two figures stood near the ocean tides equipping themselves with gear to a water speedster. One a tall stern looking girl with long dark red hair, half of it held back. The other a tall but somewhat lanky boy with brown hair that was held up by his headband and the rest was put in a ponytail. Both were garbed in black outfits that bore a silver diamond on the sleeves.

"So that's Garden eh?" the boy smirked

The girl looked at the massive thing in disgust "Don't get too excited, we wouldn't want your brain to fry out before the mission starts"

The boy scoffed "What're you getting at Rose?"

"Nothing, it's too much for your pathetic little mind to handle anyway so why don't you just act like the dog you are, Perry, and shut up"

"Geez, someone's in a bad mood" Perry pouted "must be that time of the month"

Rose glared and threw her accomplices helmet at him. "How could Sole stick me on a mission with such a bonehead? I have a higher rank I shouldn't be with a rookie"

"Live with it" said Perry getting on his speedster "Let's just get this over with"

Rose sighed and spoke into a watch on her wrist "Mission A89O52: Observe Balamb Garden, begin!" she jumped onto her speedster and took off right away.

Perry watched the rainfall onto his hand "Could've picked a better day to start" he shrugged it off and went off on his speedster as well.

Balamb Garden shook violently; a repeated announcement to get into dorms still rang in the abandoned second floor hallway as Rinoa steadily walked her way to the balcony. Slowly she put her hand on the knob of the door to the balcony and thrusted it open. The storm had grown worse and rain was pouring violently into the sea, Rinoa grabbed a hold of the wall almost slipping on water as she stepped out. She inched over to the edge and looked at the roaring seas gasping for air, it was hard to breathe with so much air and water forcing itself into her lungs and the wind was whipping hair into her face. Through the commotion the sorceress raised a weary hand and started to concentrate. The garden took a dive from a huge wave and the sorceress's concentration was cut off as the taste of salt water entered her mouth. After the wave she was left coughing and breathing deeply, the water was extremely cold and she was shivering, her body was beginning to feel weak and numb.

Rinoa silently prayed for her powers to work "Hyne…please help me do this…I can do this…" she looked up, another wave was heading towards her, her eyes widened but all she could think to do was concentrate.

Rose sped off trying to dodge the waves, it was a horrible condition to be in and she feared she couldn't steer away from the garden in time. Her eyes looked over to her right when she heard a loud scream; overhead someone was on the school's balcony struggling to keep their footing.

"A girl…?" Rose asked herself in thought. Just then something fell onto her speedster. Two rings attached to a chain; the chain and one of the rings fell into the water before her hand could grab them, though she did manage to get the other ring and force it on her finger.

Just then a wave pushed her into the garden, another one, the biggest one yet, was inching its way towards Garden. Rose looked up to see the girl with her hand stretched out at the water, stretching in an eerily frantic way.

Like magic the wave froze and started to disintegrate, Rose could feel the waves start to die down and over head the rain fell to a small drizzle, the sun was starting to peer out from the clouds.

Rose couldn't hold her expression still, "That's not just any girl, that's a sorceress! Perry!" she went to speed off only to find Perry floating in the water not too far from her. She sighed and went over to pick him up.

"I told him this was too much for you," she growled as she sped off to shore.

Rinoa looked at her hand as the storm rapidly deceased "I…did it!" she gasped not even believing her own power for a moment, the surrounding clouds were still gray and the rain was still falling but the sea had stopped its angry waves enough for the Garden to safely make its way to Balamb.

"I knew it…" she closed her eyes taking in the sunlight. It warmed her damp skin. "Thank Hyne" she whispered.