Irvine Kinneas let out a sigh of relief as the morning brief came to an end. The brief had been in one of the Balamb Garden classrooms that wasn't shot up or damaged during the fight with Galbadia Garden. The few SeeD members that remained and Irvine's companions against Ultimecia were spread out the separate student aisles. The room was decorated with a mixture of cream and different hues of blue that made up most of Balamb's decorations. Irvine found it more relaxing than Galbadia's cold environment and less welcoming designs. Each SeeD member present had an active student console in front of them, nobody touched them. Most of the assembled people had been focused on what was being shown on the projection screen where there would have normally been a teacher. He had kept enough of his attention on what was being said to cover himself in case he was asked a question, but his mind had been on the presenter giving the brief.

She was an attractive short woman who had been a SeeD member years before Irvine and had been chosen to lead Balamb Garden's little known intelligence section. In reality, she was the senior ranking SeeD member in the room. She and her small staffed section had been left behind when Colonel Croix had departed. However, she had sided with Headmaster Cid during the NORG incident and now pledged loyalty to Squall after hearing that Cid was to be his second-in-command. Irvine had heard through the brief about Colonel Croix's failed mission to capture Atlantean Garden from these supposed rebel SeeD Sorceresses that now controlled it. That didn't even sound right to Irvine, he was still under the impression that SeeD were supposed to defeat sorceresses. Putting sorceressses in charge of a Garden sounded like a bad idea, but again he was less concerned about politics and more concerned with not letting Selphie know he was checking out the presenter's figure.

Selphie was next to him dressed in her SeeD uniform and with her brown hair slightly curled on the sides like it normally was. She was absorbed in what was being said and her mouth had dropped open at the mention of Atlantean Garden. She had an unresistable charm to Irvine, it was her indomitable cheery spirit that drew him to her more than anything else. Selphie was attaractive, but the large firm breasts of the SeeD Intelligence Officer would draw his attention faster in a crowd if he didn't already know her. He would always be like a moth to flame when it came to sexy women, and he didn't care if anyone had a problem with it. Except Selphie, most of the time.

There had only been a dozen SeeD members in the room other than Irvine, Selphie, Squall, Zell and Quistis. Balamb did not have many left after NORG and the battle against Galbadia Garden. Which was still lying in ruins out in a forest. Irvine wasn't happy what happened with his old Garden. But he was glad that the Galbadian military had kicked out all cadets and SeeD before they took over. He wondered for a brief moment where Headmaster Martine was, then decided he didn't really care.

Irvine got up, brushing his cowboy duster coat off as a matter of habit and adjusting his hat. He was about to walk away from his seat when he noticed that Selphie hadn't really moved.

"You awake?" He playfully nudged her while asking. Selphie just sighed in response and looked down more.

"How are we going to help Trabia Garden with another group of crazies causing trouble?" Selphie asked, not really expecting an answer. She looked up to the front of the classroom with a frown that she normally didn't have. Irvine swept into action.

"I'm sure Squall hasn't forgotten about Trabia, he saw how much they needed our help." Irvine explained cheerfully. "Im sure his attention is on it right now."

"At least he can pay attention, I'm sure the only thing you saw this morning was that woman's big boobs." Selphie pushed herself up and then walked down the aisle of the classroom to where Rinoa was chatting with Edea.

Irvine just coughed and fidgeted with his hat again. I thought I was careful, how did she know?

He stopped messing with his hat and went over to try his hand again at keeping Selphie happy.

X X X

Zell checked himself out in the mirror in his neatly pressed SeeD uniform. He looked good. Zell had paid close attention to how his shoulder pads fit and that his boots were properly polished the day prior. Now he was reaping his rewards. After getting dressed he ensured his blonde hair was spiked up just the way it looked best. Zell checked his teeth with a big grin one last time and then he was ready to go.

"Perfect!" He exclaimed to the mirror. Then threw out a quick succession of lead and rear punches all aimed at a single point in front of him. Everyone punch was spot on. "Just as good!"

Zell put his arms to his side and then laughed to himself. He loved being a SeeD. He glanced over to his clock which was half covered in boxing gloves and supplement bottles. It was 0800 and it was past time for him to go. Squall wanted all SeeD members present and in uniform to meet up with the stranded company under the command of Colonel Croix. Zell barely remembered the guy but wasn't too keen on having more authority come onto the Garden now that the Faculty members were a distant memory. Squall was good enough a leader and had been the driving force through most of the nightmare they had survived in the past year. If anyone had a problem with it, then they had a problem with Zell.

But right now, he had a problem with being late. He was supposed to be in that formation in the front of the Garden at 0800. It was now 0802 and he had a 5 minute run to get there. So much for his neat uniform.

"Not good." Zell grumbled as he took off.

X X X

Squall watched as Balamb Beach came into view and began to spread across the horizon until the entire small continent was visible. He stood on the command deck wearing his SeeD uniform with the Commander insignia neatly applied upon his shoulder pads. They would have felt surreal if Squall had not already been hauled through the fire a few times while in that position. A young cadet named Xist steered the Garden and kept it on course towards the beach. Another cadet next to him kept an eye on a newly installed control panel that gave coordinate readings, Garden structure status, energy levels and also scans from the area. She was new but Squall knew her as Chora. Headmaster Cid had made much needed improvements to the control center that was above the old Headmaster room. The large clunky device that Nida had once manned had been replaced with a more practical series of steering sticks and sensor balls that gave Xist incredible control over the Garden and helped limit shock and strain when the Garden made turns or emergency movements. Squall didn't want anymore people being thrown around the halls every time they were engaged. Seats had also been installed and proper restraint systems were put in place with guardrails to prevent the pilot and Commander from plunging into the office below. All this had been courtesy of the Esthar President Laguna who had somehow managed to come aboard the Garden while Squall and the others were lost in time battling Ultimecia.

Squall had a lot to ask that man. But he didn't have the time to do it now, he needed the SeeD who were awaiting him on the beach.

Nida had been taken off the controls not because Xist was better, but because Squall needed SeeD to properly run the last functioning Garden on Gaia. Trabia and Galbadia were completely out of commission. And they were not the only ones needing Balamb Garden's help.

Trabia Garden needed his help being rebuilt and the few remaining survivors there would be in trouble if a real threat came their way. Not to mention the wandering Galbadian SeeDs and cadets that had been pushed out by the army and forced to hide. Supposedly they were now being publicly shamed through the Galbadian Government's propaganda machine in an attempt to label them as war criminals.

And Esthar….. they needed help fast. Most of the city had been overwhelmed by monsters. SeeD was needed everywhere and most of it now fell upon Squall to lead and fix these issues, if he could. And he needed Colonel Croix's help to make it possible.

Both of the cadets around him could sense his brooding mood and didn't bother him unless it was necessary. Finally, Chora spoke up.

"We are approximately one mile out from the rendezvous, Commander." She said with a half nervous, half confident voice. Squall nodded back.

"Good. Slow us down and bring us in easy, give me five minutes to get down to the first floor entrance." Squall commanded them both and then entered the small elevator while ignoring his command seat that he had not even touched since being there.

"Yes Commander." They both answered in unison, but Squall was already lost in thought as the small elevator took him down. There he was met by the three people he had come to rely on for assistance in running matters outside of his expertise.

Cid had dressed more formally then he normally did with a black suit that made him look more like a politician than anything else, Xu and Nida were next to him in their SeeD uniforms. The four of them walked out of the grand office that was being remodeled for future needs and past the old secretary office which was also being redone. Nida pressed the button to call up the main elevator and then looked over to Squall.

"Engines are good, though the frame still needs some work. We were lucky Esthar brought us some supplies at Fisherman's Horizon or we would be broken down due to a lack of oil and fluid maintenance." Nida reported. Squall nodded, remembering the state he had found the Garden's lower depths in when he first went down there. Xu spoke up next.

"Were down to thirty days supply of food for the current number of personnel on board, but we have plenty of gil to restock once we hit Balamb City. After the meeting." Xu finished just as the elevator popped up and the doors opened. He was glad she only bothered to tell him of things that needed his attention.

"Good, thank you." Squall responded and then the four of them piled in and headed down.

Squall looked over at Cid, who returned the look. "I still don't see why we couldn't just meet them closer to the Fire Cavern where they were set up." Squall said.

"Squall, you have loyal followers here in Garden. But you can't be seen as running to Colonel Croix to have him join you. He needs you more than you know, he can't afford to go rogue but his pride won't let him give in to you that easily." Cid polished up his glasses as the elevator went past the second floor. "You already won, he can't stay in that forest forever and his influence is limited. So the best option is to make him do some work for the new partnership you both need and make him walk a little."

The elevator dinged as it neared the first floor and then slowed to a stop. Cid looked at Squall again and smiled.

"It's just a walk to the beach. How much could he have to complain about?"

The door slid open and they all headed out, Squall noticed several platoons in neat formation with a member of SeeD out front of in charge of each one. Each of them was properly aligned down the corridors to welcome the returning SeeD members and to march out as security while the meeting took place. A sense of pride washed through him as he looked at them, except for Zell who had just gotten into position in front of his platoon.

"It's not the walk, it's the party at the beach I'm more worried about." Squall answered. The front hatch opened as Squall felt the Garden slowly come to a stop. "And they are on time."

X X X

Squall became furious as he exchanged further words with the few members of the stranded SeeD party that met him on the beach. The waves lapped continuously against the sand behind him and the sun had long since warmed up the day. Behind the few SeeD members who met him was the endless fields of green grass and hills that he had spent a lot of afternoons training on in the past. He wasn't upset that there was only a few of them, he was upset that Colonel Croix had played his first hand in this petty political fight and sent four of his Captains to meet the Garden and Squall instead of his entire company as he had originally agreed to with Cid. Squall didn't like the meeting spot, it was too close to the ocean and in the open. There was no telling if Colonel Croix had been tracked, it was eight months since his mission failed. But you could never be sure where the enemy was and Colonel Croix had decided to waste time.

That was fine, Squall didn't care to waste any more of it. What irritated him the most was that they had come with a set of demands that basically told Squall to pack up and take Rinoa with him so they could take the Garden back. Squall had stopped them once the conversation had become absurd.

The four Captains were a tough sort, dirty and definitely not happy with their task or the current situation they were in. But they seemed impressed with Squall's display of strength with the numerous platoons of cadets lead by SeeD guarding the beach and the surrounding area. Nevermind the enormous floating Garden that had been a grounded foundation the last time they set foot on it. In reality, Squall could sense that they wanted this petty rivalry to end and to go home. They didn't know Squall, but they could also sense strength and respected that much from the upstart SeeD Commander. Squall was not in a good mood, but he did not need to waste more time or give in to Colonel Croix's game.

He gave the Captains some fresh supplies and a vehicle and told them he would wait one hour for them to return with Colonel Croix, or he would abandon them and leave with Garden. If they caused trouble, he would return in force and subdue them. None of them looked comfortable getting into the vehicle with the message they now carried, but within forty minutes from them leaving the vehicle returned. It stopped on the edge of the beach and out of it came a lone figure wearing the dark blue and grey field uniform that most SeeDs wore on long deployments. Squall didn't hesitate as he walked away from Cid and the others to confront the stubborn man who had already wasted too much of Squall's time. No, his friends' time and those who needed his help.

Colonel Croix was older than Squall but not as old as Cid, he did not seem soft either. Hard wrinkles from a rough life crossed his face, analyzing green eyes and a head topped with greying hair cropped short finished his facial features. Both of them stopped five feet from each other, looking over and measuring the other's strength and stature. Colonel Croix acted unimpressed, arrogant in the face of the younger man. Squall kept an eye on his movements and the pistol that he kept holstered on his right side. Colonel Croix spoke first, and Squall didn't like the words that came out.

"So you're the brat that Cid is hiding behind? Where is that worthless coward?" Colonel Croix began the verbal game, Squall was new but wouldn't give in.

"You're wasting the potential of an entire company of SeeD. Your mission has failed and now your hiding in the woods. Why?" Squall countered.

"Do all new SeeD come in your size? Or do they just give Commander rank away to all of Cid's weak followers?" Colonel Croix's eyes glistened as he looked at Squall, the man seemed half mad.

"No, but they make coffins in all sizes for SeeD who commit treason." Squall answered. "And I'm sure the SeeD you're hoarding in the woods would rather be out fighting battles that actually mattered."

"Treason!" The mad look got worse. Squall wasn't sure what had happened in the battles against Atlantean Garden, but something had made Croix less sane. "You filthy pants-stain! Your pathetic cadet filled Garden couldn't scare a Galbadian recruit! The only people you make nervous are the diggers who have to bury your mass graves!"

"No, just your grave Colonel Croix." Squall spoke confidently, he was mad but he had to keep his cool. "This is your last chance, as Commander of Ba-" Squall never finished his sentence as the eyes of Colonel Croix went from anger to complete shock.

Squall heard the explosions soon after and whirled around to see the sky behind Balamb Garden suddenly become filled with multiple exhaust trails of air-to-surface missiles. Missiles that were coming down from the clouds and were aimed at everyone assembled on the beach. Anti-missile shells shot out of Garden, but they were recently equipped and were too few to save anything except the Garden they were designed to protect. Squall whipped out his Lionheart gunblade from it's sheath and cast shell and protect on himself. He saw a few others do the same before the missiles impacted and the entire beach erupted into a storm of sand, death and fire.

"You brought the bitches here!" Colonel Croix screamed, then him and Squall were blown away by the concussion of a missile that landed near them. Squall's protective spells and his personal strength absorbed most of the damage, but he had no idea what was going on around him as the silence after the missile impact was suddenly shattered by the sounds of battle. Dust still filled the air, but he could see flashes of gunfire, spells, and movement of bodies all around him. He could see his cadets fighting with other people wearing strange uniforms he could not identify, and the smoke from the detonated explosives still filled the air. His Shell and Protect spells were still active but he cast a Curaga on himself and immediately felt his breathing ease and hearing improve. The entire beach was filled with fighting, dying and dead bodies. Cadets and SeeD were fighting strangers dressed in sea green camouflage uniforms. The fight was not going well for them as the missiles had done their job. Squall focused his attention and barely noticed as Colonel Croix limped past him and got in the vehicle to drive off.

Squall closed his eyes and felt energy burst from himself as he activated his limit break and charged into the mass of struggling bodies. Two enemies stepped in front of him, one holding a rifle and the other a strange sword that burst fire at him. Squall rolled through the flame and dispatched the female aggressor with a swift slash of his gunblade, bullets flew at Squall and he deflected them before bringing his weapon down on the man's head. Both of them died in a flash and before their bodies fell Squall had already cut down four more enemies and then launched himself on a squad of thirteen that had emerged from the sea. His limit break ended with their deaths. Another group emerged from the ocean and were annihilated with his Fated Circle's energy arc wave destroyed the ones in front and the back ones died in the following eruption from the ground. Squall was now half-emerged in bloodied sea-water and turned to see Zell take down four aggressors with a flurry of kicks and punches. Irvine and Selphie emerged from within Garden with more reinforcements that quickly assisted the overwhelmed beach security. Squall caught a glimpse of what looked like a submersible sinking back down into the water, but it was quick and he couldn't be sure.

Zell ran over to Squall, knocking over another enemy before getting to him. Sweat and blood glistened on him and his uniform was ruined "Yo! Squall! Are you good?" He asked Squall, who was still overlooking the sudden chaos that had erupted.

"Yeah. Zell, get inside and help Quistis keep Garden safe! I don't know what's going on but we might need to get further onto land to avoid more of those missiles." Squall yelled next to Zell's ear so he could be heard.

"You got it Squall." Zell sprinted off back into Garden, kicking a flamesword carrying aggressor back into the sea water like a pebble before heading up the ramp and inside.

Squall looked over the battlefield to see where Rinoa had gone, he wasn't sure if she had been inside or out when the fighting started. But enough of the dust had cleared and he could see more clearly. He could feel her fighting, but it was a hazy sense and something was tearing at his mind. Whatever it was, it was suddenly difficult to focus. Irvine and Selphie were fighting their way to him and the cadets that had been overwhelmed a moment ago had gained the upper hand with the arrived reinforcements and were pushing their enemies back.

Some of those enemies were still wearing what looked like scuba gear. Squall began to realize the greatest error of the day. At least, Squall believed so. Irvine and Selphie finally got to him, a frantic look in their eyes made Squall pause.

"Squall, Rinoa needs your help on other side!" Selphie gasped. Squall dashed out the water and onto the ramp, moving faster than his two friends could hope to match. His connection to Rinoa swiftly cleared up with the possibility of her being in danger, he could now feel where she was. But what he face on the other side would come to haunt him for a long time.

Whoo-hoo! That was a stretch! Since I am writing this as a personal goal to myself and to improve my writing skills I really wanted to make this chapter longer. I also wanted to get past a lot of important events in my story to get it really moving forward. There is a lot of material that will need to be written for this story to ever be complete and I can't wait to accomplish it!

I really hope people are enjoying this. If you want me to improve somewhere, you have thoughts, opinions, complaints, etc…. let me know!

Great stuff next chapter, and as always I will keep it close to 7 days gap or I will do like this one and crank out two to make up for it.