Author's Note: Well, it's time to begin the happy "endings". No Next Time section todday, seeing as the next chapter is basically a fluid continuation of this one, broken up for length reasons. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy. Chapter 13 tomorrow!

Chapter 12

True to her word, Yuffie had sprung into Rakunya's room quite early to wake him up, and while he refused to show it, part of him was glad; no matter how early it was, at least it was a sign that he could wake up. He threw his feet over the side of the bed and, in time, stood up.

"That sure was some potent white magic," he whistled. He hadn't expected such a full recovery. True, he was stiff, and he still wasn't the steadiest on his feet, but the point was that he was up.

Mikoto walked in to check on him. Her eyes widened immediately when she saw him standing; clearly she was impressed with her own abilities. Rakunya was suddenly struck with the urge to boost her ego.

"Congratulations," he said, the strength in his voice nearly returned. "Your white magic is impressive. It let me survive an attack from the blade of Sephiroth."

She smiled meekly. "Thank you."

"No, thank you," he insisted.

"I heard earlier that some SeeDs went missing…you wouldn't happen to be one of them, would you?"

He nodded, then held out his hand in introduction. "The name's Rakunya," he said politely. "I don't think I ever caught yours."
"Mikoto," she said, accepting the handshake. "I contacted Balamb for you," she added, walking out the door.

Rakunya followed, then looked around. "How?" he asked.

Mikoto smiled. "The village itself may stay hidden from intruders and technology, but not far from here is the dwarven village of Condie Petie. I frequently go there, especially if I need to contact the outside world."

"So are they coming to get us or what?"

Mikoto nodded. "They put me through to the headmaster himself. I gave him your description, and he said it sounded like one the people he was looking for. He must know you quite well; he's coming out to get you himself."

Rakunya read her smile all to well. "Which is it; a hidden perk or a catch that you don't want to explain?"

"A perk," she laughed, a little surprised that he had guessed. She had wanted to leave that part as a surprise to him. "I was thinking about the time he said it would take him, and there's only one way for him to get here that fast: in his personal airship, the Ragnarok."

"Then it's a catch," Rakunya chuckled as he watched the color leave Yuffie's face. He had told her about the Ragnarok before. "Poor Yuffie gets airsick!"

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Rinoa hung up the phone. "Squall's on his way," she said happily.

Cloud nodded. "Did he say if SeeD is after Sephiroth as well?"

Rinoa shook her head. "Not SeeD," she said. She looked over at Selphie and added, "Us."

"What do you mean, 'us'?" Selphie demanded.

"As in you, me, Squall, and everybody else. This isn't a SeeD mission. It almost sounded like he wants to go in there personally."

Cloud looked at Tifa. "Call Cid," he said. "Have the Sierra ready by the time I get back."

"Get back?" she asked.

"I'm going to see Rufus, try to get some answers."

"Then you shall walk away disappointed," Kuja scolded.

Cloud's eyes focused on the effeminately clad sorcerer, and Kuja sighed and shook his head. "Whatever you get from Rufus shall be a partial truth; if you look deep enough, you may in fact find truth, but is it worth the lies that you must dig through to discover it?"

"The truth is worth everything," Vincent said, startling Zidane and Selphie. It seemed as though he had not moved since yesterday. "The question is: Can you guarantee that Rufus will even give you the courtesy of a half-truth?"

"We have to start somewhere," Cloud shrugged. "No one else would have any answers for us."

At that moment, Red XIII strode into the room. "Rufus won't be seeing you today," he growled. "It seems that he has declared war on Esthar."

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"Quicker than I expected, Squall."

Squall raised an eyebrow at Rakunya, looking him over and pausing on the bandage on his arm. "I could say the same thing," he said. "Mikoto told me that you weren't in great condition."

"I'm not," Rakunya chuckled. "I'm in passable condition. White magic does wonders, but I suppose I still won't be at full strength for a while."

"As long as you're in good enough shape to return to Garden."

Rakunya sighed. "Sir…" He thought of giving a report, but suddenly it seemed too formal. "Squall, Sephiroth is alive. I saw him. I fought him. I was lucky enough to come out with just this cut, which was only fatal because we couldn't stop the blood loss. You know me, though…I have to tempt fate."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm going after him, Squall. I know it seems a bit vengeful, but it's more than that. I…I just have to know. I have to know how he's alive, why he's alive, and I feel that since I couldn't stop him the first time, I must at least try again."

Squall shook his head. "Don't worry about Sephiroth; I'm going after him myself. All of the Sorceress War veterans are going." Squall paused for a moment on that sentence. That was indeed what the world considered them, but Rakunya wasn't much younger than Squall; in fact, the boy was Selphie's age. Had he become a SeeD any sooner, he may have been one of the "veterans". It felt strange using the term with his friend, but he had grown accustomed to it, and he didn't have the time to ponder a new way to say it. "In the meantime, you'll need to heal."

Expecting the immediate fight that he knew was coming, he leaned closer to Rakunya and said, "Listen, normally I wouldn't do this, but I'll leave the Garden to you while I'm gone if you'll just go back."

Rakunya shook his head. "Honored that you trust me, Squall, but I won't take that from Xu. In the same way, don't take my chance at Sephiroth from me."

Squall sighed, thinking. "This is no ordinary SeeD mission."

"It may even be my last," Rakunya acknowledged. "But if it is, I'd like my last mission to be one that meant something."

Squall shook his head. "I shouldn't be doing this," he muttered. "There's got to be some sort of catch."

"Two little ones, actually," Rakunya smiled. "The first, Yuffie needs to come along." He tipped his head towards Yuffie to make sure Squall knew who he was talking about, but it seemed hardly necessary. While she hardly ever spoke of her past experiences in the field, she was still a member of AVALANCHE, the group who had faced Sephiroth twice, and Rakunya knew that Squall, as a "world leader", made it his business to know all of the members of AVALANCHE.

"And the other?" Squall asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm rather weaponless," Rakunya admitted sheepishly. "I lost my gunblade in the battle, and my pistol was destroyed. If the others are alive, then my katana rests with a man we met when we entered the crater."

"We're going to Midgar next," Squall nodded. "We can get you some weapons there."

They began heading out of town, but they were stopped by Freya. "This Sephiroth," she began. "How great of a threat is he truly? He was defeated twice before, was he not?"

"That doesn't change anything," Yuffie whispered. "It was bad enough having him around a second time. Who knows what'll happen now?"

Freya sighed, then grabbed her lance. "I must be going," she said.

"Good luck," Rakunya said suddenly. Freya stopped, unsure of what to do. "I know that you're looking for Zidane. I hope you find him."

Freya shook her head and walked off. Rakunya was, of course, right, but at the same time she was expecting a body more than a man. For her, the primary objective was returning to Sir Fratley. Together, they would be able to achieve endless information on Sephiroth, including how to exact revenge upon him.

The other three continued to Ragnarok, but Squall stopped just before they entered. "I should let you know that we have two additional…guests aboard."

Rakunya could hardly stop himself from laughing when he saw what Squall was talking about. The obvious guest had been Queen Garnet; she had likely alerted Squall to the happenings in the Crater and wanted to tag along in hopes of finding Zidane. The other guest though…Rakunya had a hard time believing that he had come at all.

"Seifer?" Rakunya asked, as much a mockery as it was a statement of disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

"Shut it," Seifer growled.

"No, seriously, what are you doing here?" Rakunya asked, his tone only slightly more serious. "Is Sephiroth just going to be another thrill kill for you?"

"I said SHUT IT!" Seifer demanded. "If I want to come along, I'll come along, and that's all there is to it!"

"Behave yourselves," Quistis said suddenly. "Both of you," she added, sensing another retort from Rakunya.

Yuffie stepped on board timidly and rushed off to a corner, hoping to make it through the ride, and Squall followed her on. He sighed, knowing that Rakunya and Seifer had probably already gotten into it. Squall was still quite obviously at the top of Seifer's least favorite people, but if Zell wasn't second, Rakunya certainly was. The trip to Midgar would be quite short, but Squall was afraid that it could turn out to be the longest ten minutes of his life.

"Let's go."