Author's Note: Alright, I think I have a break system figured out, although I am quite annoyed that my signature line of stars keeps getting deleted from this site...Anyway, its a short chapter, but I left you all with a little cliffhanger to try to make up for it. Oh, and thanks to the whole four of you that have reviewed. Keep it coming!

Also, I have just realized that I have failed to put in a dsiclaimer, so here goes:

DISCLAIMER: When this story began, I did not own Final Fantasy. By the time I'm done with this story, it will STILL be the property of Squeenix. Hence, disclaimer. Any original characters are mine and mine alone, unless otherwise stated. Rakunya is not mine. He is my friendly mind's brainchild of boredom.

Chapter 4

Rinoa looked out over the balcony. The view was perfect and incredibly beautiful, enough to take her breath away every time she saw it. As much as she loved it, though, she couldn't spend the whole day simply gazing out at the scenery. There was something important that was bothering her, and she couldn't quite place it

She'd had this feeling pestering her ever since the worlds united. Something about it all just never sat right with her, and nobody had sufficiently explained anything to her. Why, for instance, had the worlds merged in the first place? Were there other worlds out there for merger? If there were, why only these worlds? She wasn't as comfortable with this whole thing as the rest of the world seemed to be. Perhaps everybody just found accepting it to be easier than wanting an explanation.

She pulled her coat on and slipped quietly out of the Garden. They may not have wanted an explanation, but she certainly did. Something, anything that would put her mind at ease. She knew exactly who to go to for answers, too. She proceeded towards Balamb, hoping she wouldn't miss the train to Esthar. She needed to speak with Dr. Odine, the only man that she knew who might be able to make sense out of this crazy world.

"Again, quite sorry to have to send you without executives," Rufus told them, "but we're a little tied up in our political situation with Esthar. All I can spare is a Turk or two…"

"All that we really need is a pilot, sir," Selphie told him. "SeeD is more than happy to do our mission unescorted."

"Of course, that is your job, isn't it?" Rufus chuckled slightly to himself. "If there's anything at all that you need before departing…"

"We'll be fine, President Rufus," Rakunya said. "We're ready to leave at any time."

"Excellent," he said, stepping off the airship. "Just tell the pilot that its time to leave."

Before the hatch had finished closing, Selphie had spoken to the pilot, and the airship was leaving it's docking bay. She sighed as they quickly approached the Northern Crater. "I wish I knew how to pilot Shinra ships," she said, pretending to be depressed about it.

"I'm sure it wouldn't take you long, ma'am," the pilot said enthusiastically. "I can let you try on the return trip if you like."

The rest of the trip was rather uneventful, although Selphie was much more pleased than before. The docked the airship at the top of the crater and opened the hatch.

"So far so good," one of the pilots commented. "Last time, there was a barrier around this thing."

"Don't speak too soon," Rakunya growled, instinctively drawing his katana. "We have company."

Immediately behind them, over the lip of the crater, came four figures, the apparent oldest with the most feminine figure of all of them, despite the fact that half of the party was girls. Rakunya would have attacked had he not recognized Zidane Tribal. Selphie would have attacked if she hadn't recognized Queen Garnet of Alexandria. "Queen Garnet!" she exclaimed.

"Bit of an odd place to be taking a Queen, Zidane…or a date for that matter."

Selphie gave Rakunya a quizzical look. "Squall's right," she said. "You really do know everybody!"

"Not quite," he said. "For example," he added, looking now at Eiko, "I can't remember this young summoner's name for the life of me."

"It's Eiko!" she said, a big smirk on her face. She had previously taken a liking to Rakunya, though he was no Zidane. "And don't you forget it!"

"Ah yes," he said with a mock bow. "Eiko Carol, of Madain Sari."

"What do you want?" Kuja suddenly asked, clearly quite annoyed. Apparently, Selphie had been looking over his appearance quite thoroughly.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Please don't be offended or anything. It's just…I've never seen a guy dress so…effeminately!"

"Nor have I seen someone choose to wear their hair in such a strange manner, but you don't see me gawking, now do you?"

Zidane walked over to Rakunya and whistled. "An airship. Somebody's on Ruffie's good side. Why'd he give you an airship while we had to climb the side of this thing?"

"I'm a SeeD, Zidane. Rufus hired us to investigate this crater in relation to a being named Jenova. What're you up here for?"

"The same thing, apparently," Kuja said calmly. "We, of course, were not hired by Rufus to man his under-funded agency."

"Money's money," Rakunya shrugged. "SeeDs are hired out to do different jobs for different people. Rufus just happened to shell out the gil."

"Did Jenova attack Alexandria, too, Queen Garnet?" Selphie asked.

"Yes," Garnet said sadly. "We were fortunate not to lose any lives, and for that we must thank Kuja."

Selphie sighed. "I wish we had a better idea of what this thing was."

"Perhaps the crater has answers?" Rakunya suggested.

"Perhaps?" Eiko shouted. "Perhaps? It had better have answers! I don't want to have come all this way for nothing!"

Rakunya laughed and motioned for the SeeDs to follow them deeper into the crater. It did indeed go much deeper, and for a brief moment Rakunya wondered how exactly it got there. He thought about asking, but he doubted that anyone there new, and if Yuffie had arrived, she was hiding in the shadows.

It was as they approached what Selphie hoped to be the bottom that they're first trouble occurred. A long sword had thrust itself directly above Kuja's ear, so close that not everyone was sure that it had missed him. He spun around and readied a spell, but no one was prepared for what came up behind him.

Rising out of a crack in the ground and now floating half an inch above the surface was a tall figure clad in black. His silver hair flowed out behind him like water. The sword seemed to be rather an eight-foot extension of his hand than something that he was holding. His large shoulders, made even larger by his shoulder pads, faced his enemy squarely, as his stark blue eyes pierced Kuja's very being, searching for his inner depths. Despite his cool façade, Kuja could never have expected to face an enemy like Sephiroth.