A/N: Hi there guys, sorry for taking forever with this. Anyhow, this is the result of lectures from last week ... as opposed to all the notes I should have been taking ;)

Clothes, shoes, uniform, a few textbooks, photos … Christi paused as her hand skimmed over the creased photo; he had always been there for her. They both had. Cid had been the one thing in her life, to remain constant after the crash. She had vague memories from before the crash; they were there, just broken. But Cid had always been there; drying her tears, celebrating her birthdays, watching her throw tantrums, teaching her a few lessons, always willing to give advice … but she had to go to Edge. She needed to gain her SeeD qualification before she turned twenty. It gave her two more years, but she had already failed it once, leading to her boyfriend failing also.

They all needed to hurry up and qualify; Selphie, Rinoa, Squall, Raijin, Fujin, Seifer, Irvine, Zell and herself. They all had to go, not just for the qualification, but to represent their school and defend its reputation; Sephiroth and his lackeys had attacked their Garden, they couldn't simply turn away and pretend it hadn't happened.

Christi jumped as someone knocked on the open door of her dorm; it was still early, most of the other cadets were still asleep, with only some instructors and senior recruits patrolling the corridors. She turned to explain why she was awake so early, but stopped as Cid smiled back at her.

"All packed up, I see."

"I…I was coming to find you before I left. I wouldn't leave without speaking to you first."

"I know ... I know Christi."

Cid smiled as he sat on the chair in front of Christi's desk, glancing through to her unusually bare bedroom. He had known she would go. From the moment ShinRa contacted him, he'd known. She had always expressed a wish to travel to Edge someday. More recently, she had been using the Garden's data banks to dig up information on Banora. It had taken him a while to connect the dots, but he had figured out that both of Christi's parents had been from the small village.

That was something he hadn't expected, Christi's Dad. Cid had known that there was a probability of ShinRa personnel recognising her. As far as he had known, ShinRa had known exactly where the girl had been all these years, as did her father.

Part of him wanted to be overjoyed with the unexpected turn of events; Christi would get to know her family. She knew she hadn't been abandoned when her mother had died. She would get to know the place she came from … she could go home. However, would there be enough room in her heart for two homes and two families?

Cid blinked as Christi pulled herself up onto the edge of the desk; she certainly wasn't a scared little girl anymore. The headmaster smiled as slight arms slipped around his neck in a loose hug.

"I'm coming home again … this is the only home I know, Cid."

He smiled again, shaking his head as he removed his glasses.

"No, it is the only one that you remember."

Christi frowned, taken aback by her guardian's blunt words. She took a breath to argue, but paused as the man stood and turned to face her; his deep sapphire eyes glistened as he spoke.

"You're eighteen now, I am no longer your guardian, Christi. This is a SeeD assignment, but it also strikes a personal chord for you. I do not want you to disregard your responsibility as a cadet and representative of this Garden, but your personal needs are just as important. Do you understand?"

She nodded slowly, her eyes quickly switching to the carpeted floor of her dorm; he was putting his role as headmaster to the side for a moment; he didn't want her to ignore any personal issues that could arise…she wouldn't, but she wouldn't abandon her responsibilities either. Not only did the assignment count as their field exam, they were all being trusted to uphold the reputation of Balamb Garden.

"I understand, but I need you to understand some things too. I won't ignore my personal stuff, but I won't forget why I'm going to Edge either … let's face it, we all need to pass the field exam this time around - I seriously doubt Seifer'll be happy about having to go for it again if he fails this time."

Cid laughed lightly as he stood from the chair, taking hold of Christi's bag as he steered her towards the door. Seifer was one individual who never failed to both entertain and frustrate him. Seifer and Squall were the only two cadets to choose gun-blades, and though they were both equally skilled, they couldn't stop butting heads for long.

"Keep him in line, Christi … I don't need anyone coming back with more scars."

"I will - he knows his opportunities are limited, he can only apply twice more before he turns twenty - trust me, he won't waste this chance."

He certainly hoped not. Seifer was a talented recruit, if a bit reckless at times. His unpredictable nature had led to the teenager failing the SeeD field exam on several occasions already. He rarely worked well in a group, unless its members consisted of Raijin and Fujin, but a SeeD needed to be flexible and capable of working in any group, not just one that took his fancy.

Christi rolled her eyes as she thought over their past field exams; Seifer wasn't the only one to fail it before now; she had too, twice to be exact. The first time had been the fault of her supervising SeeD, he had placed her in a full-on combat situation, fighting wasn't her strength. She worked particularly well in a group because she could use her analytical skills to come up with a strategy or find a fault in their opponent's armour. She could participate in combat when it came down to it, but it wasn't her strongest skill.

Her second fail was her own fault - she admitted that wholeheartedly. Christi still cringed over the momentous failure of an exam. Not only had she managed to earn herself a fail, she'd also dragged Seifer down with her. She had strayed from the group and fallen into a pit trap, set by enemy forces. She hated enclosed places; Seifer had known that and had ignored the orders of his supervising SeeD to pull her out.

"What do they know of Sephiroth and the remnants?"

"Public knowledge, along with what they saw yesterday - concerned?"

Genesis ignored Angeal's jibe; of course, he was concerned. They were bringing a group of teenagers into a raging war-zone, a zone even he had stayed well clear of up until yesterday. Sephiroth and his three puppets wouldn't care bout ages. He wouldn't blink or hesitate in killing them.

"They're kids … he won't spare them because of their ages."

Angeal frowned as he followed his friend; keeping his voice low to ensure that none of the airship's personnel overheard them.

"How old were we when we ran off to join SOLDIER? Younger than them. They are not walking into this blindfolded - they've seen what he's capable of and they have already proven their worth in battle."

He paused, knowing that Genesis's concern was rooted to one person in particular, Christi. He was terrified of losing her again, but he would not admit his fears. It was an understandable fear. Angeal had watched his friend fall apart all those years ago; Genesis didn't want Christi to be singled out or punished because of him again. But he needed to give her some credit.

"She is more than capable of looking after herself, Genesis. She's been at this school all along, it specialises in training youngsters as mercenaries; she survived the crash and has worked her way through the years here. If things do go the wrong way, there's always ShinRa, AVALANCE, the WRO, us and her boyfriend to help her."

Her boyfriend … he'd forgotten about him. Genesis rolled his eyes as he thought over what he'd read in the young man's file; arrogant, reckless, unpredictable - not exactly the model example of a cadet, let along boyfriend material. But what right did he have to judge Christi's choice in guys?

"I think it's time to go."

Genesis looked up as Angeal elbowed him, nodding toward the end of the airship's loading ramp, where Christi and the headmaster of the Garden stood. The man had taken care of Christi for fifteen years; Genesis was sure there were things the man wanted to say to her without having an audience.

"Be careful, Christi."

"Do you tell all the cadets that before their field exam, huh?"

Cid smiled as Christi flashed him a smirk, then took her bag from his hand. She knew he didn't. But that was how she dealt with her emotions; she generally laughed them off or ignored them. The headmaster shook his head as he held her chin and planted a kiss on her forehead.

"No, but you're not just any other cadet."

Christi blinked quickly as her eyes began to prick; she wasn't going to cry in front of everyone. All of ShinRa and the other personnel had disappeared into the airship, but she knew some were still glancing out from its glass control deck. The eighteen year old stood on the tips of her toes as she hugged her surrogate father, whispering as she tried not to lose her composure.

"I'll be careful, and I'll be back soon … love you, Cid."

Reeve surveyed the briefing room as he suppressed another yawn; three hours had passed since they had left Balamb Garden. The nine students from the Garden had been allocated rooms and had been formally introduced to everyone from Edge. That had taken almost an hour; they had all been stuck in the briefing room since then.

He took no joy in keeping everyone confined for such a lengthy period, but strategies had needed discussion and the cadets had needed to be brought up to speed with everything, Genesis also. They could recruit all the help they wanted, none of it would make a difference if they didn't figure out where Sephiroth was basing himself, or what their next move would be. They could discuss possible moves when they arrived back at the ShinRa headquarters in Edge, for now he just wanted the nine students to familiarise themselves with what they could be facing.

"These files contain all the relevant information you will need. You will know some of the information already, but there are also details that have not been released to the public. This isn't an order or a school assignment, but I would suggest you make yourselves familiar with the basics at least … I thought there were four girls?"

Numerous heads turned to face the Balamb Garden cadets, with the cadets quickly glancing amongst themselves. Seifer groaned and ran a hand over his face as he realised which girl was missing. She had been standing right next to him, how had he not noticed her disappearing? Christi had an unnatural skill of going missing during lectures and speeches, but he'd thought she'd stick around for this; she was the one who'd been adamant about taking the opportunity to work with ShinRa.

Seifer took the remaining file from Reeve's hand and turned for the door, already hazarding a guess as to where his girlfriend had escaped to.

"I think I know where she is."

"Shouldn't you have offered to do that?"

Genesis barely shook his head as he watched the blond leave. He hadn't even noticed Christi leaving either. It wasn't his place to go running after her. He might not think much of the young man, but regardless of that, Seifer knew her a lot better than he did. He wasn't about to put himself in the middle, claiming to have more of a right to care for her than the cadet did.

"You're one step forward, and three backwards, you know that?"

"What?"

He'd said that louder than he'd meant to, Genesis cringed as several heads turned to see what was going on. The SOLDIER glanced back down to his own file and waited until everyone's attention had switched back to Reeve before turning back to his friend. Angeal's smile only served to darken his mood further as he spoke in a whisper.

"Not funny. I feel like I'm back in school, you always did get me into trouble."

"You always got back out of it. After all, you were the Mayor's son - you could do no wrong."

"It never stopped you from trying - what did you mean?"

Angeal hid his smirk behind the sheet he'd been reading; for an intelligent person, Genesis could be rather slow at times. He took one step forward and about three backwards. Christi was alive, she was healthy and she had managed to work her way through a well-renowned mercenary-training school. But Genesis was still backing away.

"She's your daughter."

"And I've been no father to her."

Genesis held his friend's stare, purposely getting his point across. He was Christi's father, but he hadn't been the man to hold her as she'd cried or comfort her all these years. He had done that job up until she had turned three, then another man had taken over that role. He didn't hold that against Balamb Garden's Headmaster, if anything he was grateful to the man. But he was naïve to think he could stroll back into being a parent.

"Is that your fault? You remember how things were before the crash, right?"

Without a doubt, he remembered. He had spent many nights being tormented by the memories of life prior to Alex's death. He had hoped it had all been a horrible nightmare at first, but the nightmare hadn't lifted, not until yesterday. Not until some clueless blond had landed two chains at his feet.

"Of course."

"Then that's all that matters."

"You're some kid for disappearing acts … too crowded, huh?"

Christi nodded her head shallowly as her boyfriend sat down along side her. Her attention remained riveted to the passing clouds outside; the control deck of the Shera had offered a false sense of space, with its glass-panelled front. False or not, it was a hundred times better than the windowless briefing room she'd managed to escape from. There had been too many people in the small room, it had been uncomfortable and then her head had started to spin and ache.

"Just a bit - sorry."

"Don't be."

She didn't do well in confined spaces, Seifer knew that and he knew why she freaked out. It wasn't just a small phobia, like the other girls being scared of large spiders; Christi was genuinely terrified of being trapped somewhere. Things had been like that since they'd been kids. He'd used it against her when they'd been kids, as had the other younger cadets.

That was how he'd figured out just how scared she was. Some of the other girl cadets had pushed her into one of the Garden's bathrooms and held the door closed. He'd been passing by when he'd noticed the giggling group of girls, he'd put two and two together, knowing Christi had had several run-ins with the girls…she'd been sitting in the corner of the room, her knees drawn up and her hands over her head; face pale and eyes wide, with tears streaked down her cheeks and her whole frame shaking.

"Did I miss much?"

Seifer shook his head as Christi leaned her head against his chest, interrupting his thoughts.

"Not really, Reeve gave out some files with more information - here."

Christi took the file form her boyfriend, leafing through it idly before standing up, dragging Seifer's taller frame with her. Over three hours had passed since they'd left Balamb Garden and it looked like at least another three would pass before they were even close to Edge. She, for one, hadn't bothered with grabbing a breakfast before leaving.

"I'll look at it later, I'm starving - any clue where we can find food on this airship."

"Down by the briefing room we're supposed to be in … what? I noticed it when we were going in - you're not the only one who skipped breakfast."

It was all the eighteen-year-old could do not to laugh; Seifer never skipped meals, she usually ended up stealing some of his. Things had been up in a heap this morning though. She hadn't intended on skipping breakfast, but then Cid had appeared in her dorm and then it had been time to go. The last two days had passed in a complete blur. The Turks appearing, then ShinRa with Angeal and her Dad … and now she was going to Edge.

Midgar had been destroyed years ago, only its shell remained standing. Regardless of its dilapidated state, she still wanted to go there. She wanted to stroll around its deserted shell and imagine what it had looked like when they'd all lived there; her Dad, her Mom and her. Christi couldn't remember anything from before the crash, only some vague faces and voices, but she wanted to see where she'd once lived … she wanted to visit her mother's grave.

"Ahh!"

Christi cringed as the dull ache in her head suddenly roared into life. Her hands shot to her head as she clamped her eyes shut.

Seifer wrapped one of his arms around his girlfriend's shoulders as she swayed dangerously. He his eyes on her as several people passed them, he recognised a few from the briefing room, Reeve must have finished his talk with them. He knew she got headaches, but there weren't usually this bad.

"Christi?"

She could barely hear him over the ringing in her ears; her stomach knotted itself as a sharp pain shot through her head. She fought to keep the tears from falling, but there was little she could do to stop them. Images shot through her mind as she struggled to keep standing; Rubble … Sephiroth … Kadaj, Loz, Yazoo …

"Christi, answer me!"

Christi shook her head as she sank to the floor of the corridor, only vaguely aware of Seifer's arms around her and numerous other voices - why wouldn't it go away? Why wouldn't they all go away, more images raced through her mind as the teenager tried to shake herself free from their grip: troops with guns … another silver-haired SOLDIER … people running … ShinRa Headquarters ... Someone's hand grabbed her chin and wrenched it upwards, forcing her to open her eyes.

"Tell me what you saw."

The white-hot pain in her head remained constant as she tried to look away from Vincent, but he wasn't leaving her go. His red eyes remained calm as they held her confused and glassy gaze. Christi cringed as she spoke, fighting against the ringing in her ears and how distanced everyone's voices seemed to be getting.

"Th-they're going to attack the headquarters."

Balance abandoned her as the ringing reached its crescendo, blocking every other noise out. Christi fought to keep her eyes open, but gave up as they rolled back and darkness took hold.

A/N: Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up soon, maybe in the next few days - let me know what you guys thought :)