Quistis was alone in the small tent that had been provided as a place for her and her friends to sleep. Lulu and Wakka had told them they could spend the day battling monsters—or fiends, as the locals called them—as payment. Quistis wasn't convinced they were actually concerned about eliminating fiends, she was pretty sure Lulu and Wakka just wanted to talk to Yuna alone, so they could make sure Quistis and her friends had not convinced Yuna that Tidus may still be alive.

Rikku had come along on the monster patrol, and she immediately hit it off with Zell. That was a good thing, they could certainly use all the goodwill among the citizens of Spira as they could muster, but as they'd shared a meal around a campfire at the end of the day Quistis had felt very much like a fifth wheel, so she'd cut out early. Now, alone with her thoughts, the gravity of their situation was beginning to sink in.

This might've been a mistake. A huge mistake. They weren't really any closer to finding Squall and Rinoa, and now they were on a strange world and they may not be able to get back to their own world.

Quistis mentally chided herself. She should have slowed down, she should have thought things through before now. She'd been running on adrenaline since they'd faced the Sorceress and her decision-making had suffered. Even before that, if they'd had a better plan about where they would meet after the battle they may have avoided this. If they'd had been focused on Squall instead of themselves maybe they could have saved him from the Void. At the very least, if they'd all agreed to meet in the meadow, they could have stopped Rinoa from taking off after Squall. Well, there were no guarantees on that last point—Rinoa never listened to Quistis. She didn't listen to much of anyone except Squall.

Maybe they shouldn't have summoned Diablos, at least not without thinking through their options first. Even now Quistis couldn't think of many alternatives, but there had to have been something other than stranding themselves far from home.

They shouldn't have assumed that finding Yuna would be an instant solution to their problem. Squall had suggested that they find her, but maybe this wasn't what he'd had in mind. Or maybe he was just throwing out names and didn't know any better than they did what might happen. He was probably even more rushed and distressed than they were.

Alright, so she'd pinpointed a lot of mistakes. She'd do her best to avoid those mistakes in the future, but right now she needed to solve a problem. They needed to get to Squall and Rinoa.

The locals of Spira seemed unlikely to be much help—they'd given up on seeing their friend again. A dark thought entered Quistis's mind, though she tried to push it away.

Maybe that's the only solution: To let Squall and Rinoa go, the way Tidus's friends have let him go.

Quistis fought the tears threatening to spill at the thought. She clenched her jaw and forced her mind to focus. No. She would not give up on them, not as long as there was breath in her body.

Tidus was sound asleep. It was always easy to tell when he was sleeping because he snored, and sometimes talked in his sleep. Squall'd had the feeling that Rinoa was waiting for him to go to sleep for some time.

"Squall," Rinoa said, sounding very serious. "There's something I need to tell you."

He looked into her eyes. He really had no idea what it could be.

Rinoa waved her hand in front of her. "It's not bad. It's just, I don't want you to think I'm keeping something from you." She removed the chain that held two rings from around her neck and gave it to Squall. "One ring is yours, of course. But look at the other."

Squall complied. He noticed the ring had an elongated cross engraved on it.

Rinoa continued. "The cross. It looks kinda like…the symbols Seifer wears, right? I just want you to know, Seifer didn't give me that ring. It was my mother's. I found it at the bottom of her jewelry box, right after she died. I've worn if ever since."

"Okay." Squall handed the chain back to Rinoa, not sure why she was telling him this. What business was it of his what jewelry she wore?

"You've seen the movie, right?"

"What movie?" Squall was a bit thrown off by the sudden change of topic.

"The Sorceress Knight. You know, Laguna's movie."

Squall shook his head. "No, I haven't seen it."

"Well, don't. It's terrible. Really, really terrible."

"I won't." Why was Rinoa talking about old movies of all things?

"That's…how we met."

Squall was going to ask who, but then it clicked. Seifer. That's what all this is about. But why? Does she think I'm jealous?

"I'd just started working for the Forest Owls. Zone and Watts and I saw that the movie was showing, so we went to see it. Watts called it gathering intelligence, but really we just wanted to unwind. And, like I said, the movie is terrible. The writing, the acting, the story, all of it. Zone and Watts were laughing at it, making fun of it. Until Seifer overheard them and got really mad. He stormed over and started yelling at them to be quiet. After that they were quiet—for the most part. I couldn't concentrate on the terrible movie, instead I kept looking over at Seifer. He was so enthralled. The movie was so bad, and yet he was so defensive of it, it was sort of…sweet. Of course, if I'd known it was a sign of things to come… Anyway, when the movie ended I went over to him. We talked for a while and he told me I would like the movie, if I watched it again, with just him. And… Well, that's all that really matters. That Seifer really, really likes that movie.

"So in the movie, Laguna's character—the sorceress knight—wears this outfit with these tall crosses on it. I'm sure that's where Seifer got his crosses from. And my mom, well, you know, she used to know Laguna. I think either he gave her the ring, or she bought it because it reminded her of him."

"I'd forgotten," Squall said, "That Laguna and your mom…knew each other." More accurately, Laguna had harbored a huge crush on Julia, but never gotten up the courage to actually talk to her, except for one time. Inexplicably, it turned out Julia'd had a crush on Laguna too. They were separated after their one meeting and never saw each other again.

Rinoa knew this, they'd pieced the story together based on flashbacks Squall, Zell, and Selphie had experienced through Ellone, Laguna, and Laguna's friends.

"The ring is too big for me. But it might fit you. Try it on."

Squall removed the ring from the chain and tried it on different fingers. It slid onto his little finger. He started to take it off, but Rinoa put her hands on his. "Keep it."

Squall shook his head. What is she doing? "I can't keep your mother's ring."

"Of course you can." She put the chain still holding his ring back around her neck. "It's only fair. I've got your ring and now you've got mine."

It wasn't exactly fair, or at least not even—she had his ring and his pendant—but he wasn't about to argue with her. He twisted the ring around his finger. Sometimes he just really didn't understand Rinoa.

It had been a long time since Zell had slept, and it was the middle of the night, yet he wasn't sleepy in the least. His mind was racing. So much had happened! They'd just barely caught their breath from defeating the Sorceress before the crisis with Squall. And then Rinoa. Running around, to the orphanage and then back to Garden. Then talking to the Guardian Forces. And now they were on a different world, a different planet—how was that even possible?

Then they couldn't see Yuna—then they could, but she didn't know any more than they did—why did Squall tell them to contact her anyway?—then fighting monsters all day with Rikku, er, everyone plus Rikku. Well, not everyone obviously, Squall and Rinoa weren't here. Man! Where were they? The Void, right, the GFs had called it the Void. That just didn't sound good at all. Well, it probably shouldn't sound good, the GFs had said people die of despair there.

Yikes! Squall was an awesome fighter, if it was a matter of fighting Zell wouldn't even be worried. But despair? Squall seemed halfway to despair most of the time, at least until recently. He was always gloomy. Or…morose? It might not take that much, to push him all the way over the edge. Then again, maybe it would take a lot. Maybe he'd built up an immunity, spent so many days locked up in his own head that Squall wouldn't even notice the despairingness. Despairity? Impossible to tell. Who knew what went on in Squall's head?

Rinoa was with him though. That was probably good. She'd keep him from losing it. Right? Maybe. For a while. But they couldn't survive there forever. We gotta do something. We've come all this way and now what? We just sit around while Squall and Rinoa are still in trouble?

Zell had been nervously thumbing at the deck of cards in his pocket while he thought. On a whim, he pulled out the deck and ran his finger over the top card. It was too dark to see anything, but he knew which card it was from the crease in one corner. It was his best card—Angelo. He'd won it from one of Rinoa's old friends, who had explained that Angelo's card was considered to be a Guardian Force card. Zell had pointed out that Angelo was a dog, not a GF; Rinoa's friend had simply shrugged and said the rules are different for cards.

The rules are different… Rikku had made a comment similar to that earlier today, when they'd been comparing notes on magic and summoning. Where Zell came from, if someone junctioned a GF, then they could summon and use magic. But only Sorceresses could use magic without a junction. Here on Rikku's world, only Summoners could call aeons, their version of GFs, but almost anyone could learn magic and there was no junctioning.

Zell took a deep breath and tried to slow his thoughts. There was an idea tickling the edges of his mind, but he couldn't quite grasp it. It's there, I just have to think it through. Another deep breath.

We're looking for Rinoa, a Sorceress, someone especially gifted with magic.

Squall told us to find Yuna, a Summoner, someone who can call aeons.

Aeons are GFs. GFs are powerful magical beings…

"That's it!" Zell leapt to his feet and raced out of the tent, stumbling over Irvine as he did so.

Zell heard the others stirring behind him but he didn't slow down as he sprinted in the darkness toward Yuna's tent.

He tripped as he ran—geez, would it kill them to put out a nightlight?—and fell sprawling onto the cobblestone walkway. By the time he'd stood up and brushed himself off, Quistis, Selphie, Irvine, Yuna, and Rikku had gathered around him. Yuna was carrying a lantern, which provided just enough illumination for Zell to see that the others were regarding him with concern, and perhaps a little fear.

"What are you doing, Zell? What's going on?" Quistis asked.

Zell jumped into the air, unable to contain his excitement. "I think I figured it out! I think I have the answer!"