Disclaimer: I don't own ff8. that's one of the only things I am actually sure of. I used to own squall but he still never returned from when he ran away with that spoon. That lucky lucky spoon. My eyes are on her!! what I'm not mad!!! ROCK LOBSTER!!!!

Note: well here's a new chapter. This is kind of were the story kicks off. Thanks to anyone who read and reviewed, and yes I actually made an effort with my capitals in this piece, so thanks for the pointers renegade seraph. And thanks to my oh so lovely Wayne and Hannah who also reviewed for me. You guys rock. Enjoy the story y'all.

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Dawn had come and cast a majestic orange light over Balamb Garden. 6 people were assembled outside the gate to the Garden. Zell stood tapping his foot in an agitated, impatient manner. "Damn stupid Seifer. He's always late. We should just leave without him" he scowled, Selphie laid a sympathetic arm on Zells shoulder

"don't let him get to you" she advised.

Quistis was standing prim and proper as ever observing the other members of the group. She glanced over to were Rinoa was standing. She was having a conversation with Irvine and did not look entirely happy. In fact it looked as if she had been crying and hadn't slept much as her eyes were all red and squinty. Quistis was actually mildly intrigued as to why exactly Rinoa was being made to stay behind when she clearly wanted to go. It had always seemed to Quistis that Squall and Rinoas relationship contained a balance and equality of power, but she guessed when it came down to it, or at least came down to military matters, Squall had the final say.

Squall at this time was loading weapons and equipment into the large car they were to take.

"Yo" Zell said running over to Squall "Why are we taking a car, when we have a wicked-cool spaceship"

"Because" Squall answered flatly "President Laguna gave us the Ragnarock for special emergencies. And this is not one. We can just take this car on a vessel over to Galbadia and then drive to Deling"

Zell folded him arms "Still seems a bit daft" he muttered

'it is way too early for Zell' Squall thought to himself

"You can always walk Zell"

Zell muttered something to himself and got into the car. Selphie ran over to were Irvine was talking to Rinoa and grabbed him by the arm "Come on Irvine lets go lets go!!" she was unnaturally excited by this mission "Bye Bye Rinny. Look after Garden for us" she called as she dragged the sleepy looking Irvine over to the car. Without a word Quistis followed them and climbed into the car.

At that point Seifer strolled through the gate, humming to himself unconcerned that he was holding everyone up. He slowly made his way over to the car but Squall stopped him in his tracks "you're 45 minutes late Seifer and you're annoying me already. You're holding everyone up".

Seifer shrugged off the comment and headed for the car. "Morning chicken-wuss" Squall heard him say as he got in.

'Why the hell did I let him come' Squall questioned himself

Sitting in the car Zell was wondering the same thing. He was also trying to restrain himself from ripping Seifers annoying face off. He turned and looked out of the back window of the car. He saw that Squall was making his way over to Rinoa, probably to say goodbye. Selphie turned around and looked out of the window with Zell

"I hate goodbyes" she sighed

"Looks like they do too" said Zell who was closely observing Squall and Rinoa.

"You probably shouldn't be watching them" Quistis said stiffly, but Selphie and Zell ignored her and carried on looking out of the window. Zell wondered what they were saying.

They could see that Squall was talking to Rinoa who would actually not look at him. He placed one hand on her waste and used the other to turn her face towards him. Tears were Rolling down her cheeks. Squall brushed a few strands of hair form her face and continued talking to her. After a minute or two, Rinoa nodded and said something that Zell couldn't make out.

Then he saw Squall pull her close to him, and hold her tightly. Then he let go and turned around, but as he took a few steps towards the car she grabbed his arm and pulled him back to her. She reached around her neck and took of the silver chain that held both her and Squalls rings. She pressed it into Squalls hand and kissed him. He hugged her one last time and then headed for the car.

"So sweet" Selphie sighed to herself

As Squall climbed into the car Seifer chuckled "Now who's holding us up lover boy?"

Squall glared at him, and took his seat silently.

The whole journey was filled with a strange, uncomfortable tension.

"So" Seifer said "how about we just don't bother with these stupid negotiations and we go straight to taking out the army?"

"Don't be ridiculous Seifer" Quistis said coldly

"Fine" Seifer rolled his eyes "Whatever"

'What's the point , he'll probably just do what ever he wants anyway' Quistis thought to herself.

Squall sat silently back in his seat, eyes closed, wondering why in heavens name he had let Seifer come on this mission.

The rest of the journey passed silently and felt like it was the length of an eternity….

When the group arrived the scene of Deling city shocked them. After all they'd seen in their lives, this was perhaps one of the worst scenes. Deling, usually so classy and busy, was empty of citizens, but littered with Galbadian soldiers and heavily armed protesters. Shop windows were smashed and cars upturned and on fire.

"Woooh. This is bad man" Zell said staring out of the car window in disbelief.

"It's odd that they would have let the damage escalate so far before setting up negotiations and calling in reinforcements" Quistis commented

"Apparently it escalated almost over night" Squall explained "Ok, here's the address of the protest base"

When they arrived at the address they saw it was a grubby little house on the outskirts of the city.

"Real professional base" Seifer scoffed

Squall sighed. "When we get inside you are not allowed to talk"

He walked down the steps to the house and knocked on the door "It's SeeD, from Balamb Garden. Open the door" he called.

Several voices could be heard mumbling on the other side of the door. A few seconds later, the door opened and the group were facing a small blonde girl who couldn't have been more than 16 or 17. She stared at Squall for a few seconds. Then she cried "It's SeeD. SeeD are here!!!!"

An older, red-headed woman, came and stood by the girl, looking the group up and down cynically. Squall guessed she was probably about 40, and she didn't look like the friendliest person in the world. She flicked her eyes over each member of Squalls group and then huffed. "oh this is just great. We ask for the most capable SeeD and we get a bunch of……kids."

"Kids!!" Zell though angrily "we've probably been through more than she'll ever go through in her lifetime!"

"Listen lady…" he started but Squall raised a hand to silence him.

"look "Squall said trying to keep his patience which was already being tested "we're not kids, we're SeeD's and that's what you wanted"

"How old are you?" the woman asked cynically

"That's not the issue here."

"Of course it's an issue. Answer the question"

"19. I'm 19."

The woman narrowed her eyes at him "You're just a teenager"

Squall was finding it very difficult not to just turn and walk away from this woman and tell her to help herself.

"Well, if you want you can try and manage this problem by yourself and I'll come back in 3 months when I turn 20." he added with a certain sarcasm

The woman folded her arms across her chest "when I spoke to the headmaster at your Garden, he said he'd send the Commander, commander something or other, but instead he sends his students. Unbelievable"

'Only one way to solve this' Squall thought to himself. He took out his wallet and took from it his SeeD I.D card. He held it up to the woman, who snatched it from his hand and examined it.

"You're Commander Leonheart?" she asked, her voice a mixture of shock and suspicion. Squall snatched the card back from her.

"Yes. I am. And this is my best team. Zell Dincht, Selphie Tilmit, Irvine Kinneas, Quistis Trepe and Seifer Almasy"

"Fine" the woman conceded. "Come in"

After closing the door behind the group and showing them to a table surrounded by lots and lots of chairs she signalled four of her friends over and they huddled in the corner whispering in hushed tones.

"Well aren't these people just lovely" Irvine muttered taking a seat

"So. SeeD huh?" the young girl who had answered the door said as she sat down in an empty chair on one side of Squall. "And you're like the boss. that's like so so cool"

Seifer tried to stiffle a laugh, but was unsuccessful.

"Moron" Zell whispered shooting a death glance at Seifer. What was he even laughing at?

"So what's your brilliant, super plan then commander ?"

If he didn't know better he would swear this girl was hitting on him. 'She is way to excited' Squall thought.

"Well we will attend the negotiations you mentioned being held tomorrow and then if a compromise is not reached we'll act accordingly"

"Ok. I have a question" Irvine said leaning back in his chair, his feet up on the table. "This person, who is trying to re-organise the army or whatever. Why would they want to do that?"

The red haired woman joined the conversation at this point.

"well" she shrieked "That stupid man thinks that Galbadia should have an army in control to prevent future threats to peace. Can't he see he's the threat to peace. He'll build up the army and start taking over countries again and we'll be right back were we started" she banged her fist on the table "idiot!!"

"It's soooooo ridiculous" the young girl huffed

"But who is this 'he'? Do you know who's behind this?" Zell enquired.

"Who else, but the old Galbadian general, that Stupid General Caraway!"

All the SeeD's registered the same look of shock and exchanged glances quickly.

General Caraway. Last Squall had heard, he had been stripped of his title when the Galbadian military had been disbanded. Squall, however, had not actually heard from or spoken to Caraway since he had contracted them to assonate Edea nearly 3 years ago. Caraway had made no effort to contact Rinoa since that day, despite everything that happened to her, and Rinoa had chose not to invite him to her wedding.

The woman glanced round the SeeD's and noticing the shock, particularly on Squalls face, she asked "what do you know him?"

Before Squall had a chance to answer Seifer jumped in "Know him. Why Our Commander here's related to him!"

"Seifer!!!"

"Wait. You're related to General Caraway" the woman asked, looking shocked herself

Squall rolled his eyes. Trust Seifer to make things worse. That's all he ever seemed to do.

"yes I…"

"you're related to him??" she shrieked in disbelief

"Yes. But not by blood. He's my father in law"

The blonde girl pouted "You're married?"

"Yes."

"Wait, a second" said another person, a tall guy who had not spoken yet. "So you're married to Caraway's daughter? Wasn't she that crazy Sorceress?"

"No" Squall said bluntly
"yes she was. Well at least for a bit" Seifer chimed in, sounding as if he was thoroughly enjoying this.

""Whos side you on?" Zell hissed at him

The Blonde girl shook her head "Hmmph. Guess evil runs in that family"

"My wife is not evil. She is a sorceress but she's not evil" Squall said

The red haired woman shook her head condescendingly "the leader of SeeD married to a sorceress. I thought SeeD were supposed to eliminate the threats not bed them.."

'What the hell do you know' Squall thought angrily

"Look" he said trying to control his temper "my personal life and my marriage have absolutely nothing to do with this mission"

"I can't believe they sent us someone related to the enemy" the woman hissed

"it will not affect my job. I have no feelings towards Caraway. I don't speak to him, nor does my wife. This isn't any different to any other mission for me."

But already Squall could sense that somehow this mission might be different and one thing he knew for sure, that he could tell from what had already happened, was that it was certainly not going to be easy……..

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Note: well, well a new chapter shall indeed be up soon I doth hope. if you are sitting there thinking what was the point of that, I apologise, but stick with the story. Next chapter Squall comes face to face with Caraway and with Seifer playing Devils advocate for his own amusement sparks are sure to fly….