A/N: To answer all of your questions…yes, yes, yes, no, definitely not, yes, no, and maybe

A/N: To answer all of your questions…yes, yes, yes, no, definitely not, yes, no, and maybe. Now, on with the story.

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"So let me get this straight," said Cid as he eyed Shiva and Siren sitting next to Squall, "You're saying that the GF's are actually minor deities enslaved to Ultima Weapon?"

Shiva looked thoughtful, "Well, we're not actually gods, more like lesser spirits, but for all intents and purposes that's correct."

Cid leaned back in his chair and sighed. Reaching under his desk he brought out a bottle of amber colored liquid and a glass.

"Sir?"

The headmaster poured himself a glass and stared into the air as if in deep thought, holding the glass out in front of him, "I'm ashamed to admit it, but I never even really thought about it before."

"About what?"

"About this!" he practically yelled, gesturing to the GF's general direction, "We used them like slaves! Forced them to battle for us, and forced them to kill for us."

Squall stayed silent, not really knowing what to say. The only time he had ever seen the headmaster shout at anyone was when he fought with Norg.

"I never even questioned it," continued Cid in a softer voice, "Never even thought about it." He tilted his head back and drowned the glass in one drink, "What do we have to do to set this right?" he asked, a serious look coming over his face.

"Every GF that was imprisoned by Ultima weapon has three parts that need to be brought together," explained Siren after a moment of silence, "The first thing is our body, the part that you guys posses."

"When I went to fight the ice monster in the Shumi region, I had Shiva junctioned to me," put in Squall.

"The second part is the hard one. Ultima weapon separated our spirits from our bodies and fashioned his own twisted versions of the GF's from them. In order to free our spirits the monsters must be defeated, and then our bodies can re-merge with our spirits."

"And the third?" asked Cid beginning to pour another glass.

"The final thing we need is an anchor to this world. An avatar if you will. Without one, we are forced back into the divine realms. Currently, Squall anchors Shiva and I to this world. The monsters that contained our spirits were pseudo-anchors. Ultima weapon also has his own personal anchor to this world as well."

"He's a GF?" asked Squall curiously.

"No. Ultima weapon is the ultimate darkness, the representative of everything evil. Our power is insignificant compared to his, yet he too must follow the laws of the universe and therefore must have an anchor."

"Do you know who it is?" asked Squall.

"No we do not. Even if we did though, it would not do us any good. He has enough minions and followers to wipe us out if he ever got wind of our plans. That is why we must rescue the GF's in secret and not let anyone know about this mission under any circumstances. If the avatar of Ultima Weapon ever gets wind of what's going on, he will destroy us."

"Why?" asked Cid suddenly.

"Hmm?"

"Why is he doing this? What does he have to gain from corrupting the GF's like this?"

"Simple," said Shiva solemnly, "He wants to destroy this world, plunge it into darkness and devour it. Ultima weapon is the ultimate darkness, he feeds on the pain and suffering of the planet and grows stronger from it."

Silence shadowed the room for a moment. Cid poured himself another drink and sipped it slowly.

"Well god damn that's depressing," said Squall suddenly, "And that's something coming form me."

Everyone was momentarily shocked out of their stupor. Squall continued as if he hadn't noticed, "Oh please, this so called Ultima Weapon is nothing more than a puffed up version of every other megalomaniac trying to destroy the world."

Squall stood up and started walking around the room, "First it was Galbadia, then it was Adel, then it was Ultimeca, and now it's this wacko. Who cares? This guy is just another asshole in a long line of assholes and I'm going to kick this guy's ass just as I did everyone else's."

Cid paused, his glass halfway to his mouth. Smiling, he set the glass back down, "I knew I made the right choice when I made you commander of this garden."

"And I knew I made the right choice when I anchored myself to him," said Shiva. She was feeling his intense determination and confidence through the link she shared with him and it was hard not to catch the feeling.

"Tomorrow, we're going to go to the fire cavern and we're going to beat the ever loving crap out of that monster that has Ifrit's soul."

"We? Who's coming with you?"

"Wedge for one. He was the one who killed the monster imprisoning Siren, with my own gunblade in fact. He already knows too much about this to not keep him involved. I'm also taking Zell as well."

"Zell?" asked Shiva, Siren, and Cid simultaneously.

"He's got Ifrit's body junctioned to him so he's going to need to come along. Not to mention," he continued walking towards the elevator door, "He's been listening to us for a while now." With that he punched the open button and the fist fighter came stumbling out.

Squall rubbed his head, absentmindedly trying to find the familiar groove of the scar Seifer had left him even though it was no longer there. "You know Zell, it's a good thing I need you right now otherwise I probably wouldn't stop them from killing you."

Zell looked up from his position on the ground to see Shiva and Siren holding a silence blast and an ice spear respectively, "That's harsh man…"

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"Well," said Squall as he walked with Zell through the halls of the garden. "I hope you're ready to see this mission through to the end because if you want to back out, I'm going to have to kill you for eavesdropping on a very private conversation."

"Woah dude," said Zell waving his hands out in front of him frantically. "You know I'm in this with you until the end right? We're best buds man!"

"Look Zell, I don't think you really appreciate the seriousness of this situation," explained Squall slightly exasperated. "This isn't just some megalomaniac trying to destroy the world; this person literally wants to eat our universe, for no other reason than it's his nature. If he gets an inkling as to what we're doing, we could wake up dead."

"Um…if we're dead, how are we gonna wake up?"

Squall briefly wondered if he should answer him with an insult or a blow to the head but before he could do either, Zell spoke, his voice taking on a more serious tone.

"Look man, it's cool. I've always got your back. That's what friends do." With that, Zell began to walk in the opposite direction from Squall's office, hands in his pockets.

"Zell!"

The fist fighter looked back over his shoulder.

"Thanks."

The SeeD merely gave a thumbs up in reply.

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"Friendship is truly a powerful thing," mind-spoke Shiva solemnly. "Zell seemed willing to follow you to the ends of the earth even though this quest may put his very soul at risk."

Squall was quiet for several seconds before responding. 'It's hard to tell sometimes if Zell is just too brave for his own good or too stupid. Either way, he's reliable enough"

"I think he's kinda cute," spoke in Siren.

"I think you have a wide strike zone," responded Shiva

"I think you're just jealous."

"I think you need to shut up and let me work!"

Shiva and Siren were silent for a minute.

"Don't worry, he's not nearly as good looking as you," assured Siren.

"Definitely," agreed Shiva.

"I see you've gotten rid of my little tattoo."

Squall looked up from the papers on his desk. Even though he had barely been gone for a week, the amount of work that had piled up in his absence was reaching FUBAR levels.

"So how did you manage that? Some new spell of yours?"

It took Squall a second to realize that Seifer was talking about his missing scar. "A pretty magical girl took care of it for me," he replied seriously.

"Hey! I am a Guardian of Earth! Do not put me on the same level of that Sailor Moon slut!"

"How the hell do you know who Sailor Moon is anyways?" asked Shiva.

"I was just looking through Squall's memories. Did you know he was a bit of a pervert when he was a kid?"

Seifer looked at Squall strangely as he suddenly whacked himself on the side of the head. "Are you okay man?"

'Oh nothing,' though Squall silently, 'Just trying to get the voices in my head to shut up.'

Out loud he said, "Nothing. This paperwork is driving me insane."

Seifer smirked and sat down, kicking his feet on a stack of papers lying on the commander's desk.

"By all means, have a seat," said Squall sarcastically.

Seifer chuckled and picked up a random sheet of paper. "Permission to double the amount of hot-dogs ordered? Sounds like work befitting of a captain."

"Did you want something or are you just here to gloat the fact that you don't have to do paperwork?"

"Both actually. I've finally decided that I'm tired of staying at the head of the disciplinary committee."

Squall looked up skeptically. "And what does this have to do with me?"

Sefier shrugged, "You're the captain now. You have to arrange the SeeD field tests, and we are a few months overdue."

The captain paused in the middle of writing his signature. That was one of the many "perks" of being captain that Cid had failed to mention.

"Got any ideas?" he pressed.

"Yes actually. I was thinking of sending you and everyone else who gives me these papers into the fire cavern to duke it out and promoting the last one standing to a SeeD."

"Damn man, when did you pick up a sense of humor?"

"Around the time that I learned that being a depressing person in a depressing situation doesn't help morale that much. So why the sudden interest?"

"I'm bored," he said simply, "While you were off in the artic fighting giant ice monsters, I was here teaching the junior students how to shoot fire at Irving. Not that that wasn't fun," he amended quickly, "But being a SeeD has to be a hell of a lot more interesting than this."

Squall raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, being in the field and such. You couldn't push the position of commander on me if you tried."

"Yes well, Cid didn't have to try. He just said it and it happened."

The two gunblades-men were silent for a moment.

"So seriously, what are you going to do for the SeeD field test?"

"Hell if I know," said Squall, shifting another paper to his outbox. "We don't exactly have a major war going on anywhere that we can send random scrubs out to like they did you and me."

"Hell Squall, if you don't have a war going on then just make one happen."

Squall sighed, "Alright Seifer, I'll schedule the SeeD exam two weeks from now. I have some business that I need to take care of first though."

Seifer pulled another paper off of the desk. "Permission to switch the gas used in the garden cars from premium to unleaded? Yep, sounds like tough business to me."

"Leave."

'It's no use,' thought Squall resignedly seconds after Seifer left, 'I'm just not cut out for paperwork.'

Sweeping the stack of papers on his desk onto the floor, Squall grabbed his gunblade and headed for the garden entrance.

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"Do you know how to spar Shiva?"

"You mean the thing you and Seifer did where you cut up each others faces?"

Squall sighed. "Yeah, kinda like that, except without the cutting of faces. It's a mock fight basically. It's supposed to hone your skills."

The time was just after noon and Squall was with Shiva and Siren in a small forest clearing a couple miles away from Balamb.

Shiva looked at him skeptically. "Sorry Squall, but I don't think you could live through a Diamond Dust."

Squall raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? And what do you think your monster avatar did, pelt me with hail?"

On the sidelines, Siren chuckled, the sound reminding Squall of gently flowing water, "He's got you there Shiva."

Shiva humped and turned her head reminding Squall of a little kid, "I am much more powerful than that weak little monster."

Squall bit his tongue before the retort could pass his lips.

Unfortunately, Siren said it for him. "Oh really, then how did that "weak little monster" manage to hold your spirit for so long?"

Shiva glared daggers at the other GF.

"Alright, alright that's enough. The point is Shiva, what would you do if you couldn't use your immense ice powers?"

The ice guardian only gave it a second's thought, "No one can stop me from using my powers."

"Alright then, what if the thing you're fighting is an ice monster then?"

"Just because they're made of ice doesn't mean I can't freeze them in their tracks."

"Granted. But what if you found yourself in a situation where you couldn't use your ice powers? Or rather...shouldn't?"

"I don't see how that's relevant considering I can always use my ice powers."

Squall sighed and rubbed his head, "Alright, I can see we're going to have to do this the hard way."

Faster than Siren or Shiva could track, Squall's hand darted forward and touched Shiva on the shoulder. The ice queen felt a brief flare of magic before Squall took his hand away again.

As soon as the gunblade wielder took his hand away, Shiva felt an odd sensation pass through her, like a gate slamming shut. The feeling made her stagger back a bit.

"What you have just been hit with," explained Squall dropping into teacher mode, "Is a particularly nasty spell of my own invention. It's a combination of silence, curse, and pain and completely locks away the magic of the recipient and even goes as far as to shut down a small portion of their innate battle aura."

Disbelieving, Shiva desperately tried to reach for her powers only to run straight into a mental glass wall. Shaking her head to ward of the slight dizziness, Shiva shot Squall a glare.

"Of course you were able to hit me with it when I wasn't expecting it!"

Squall fought not to smirk. "Surprise is a key part of battle at times. Yes, I did take you by surprise but how does it make you feel that I can disable all those ice powers of yours with a single touch?"

Shiva's eyes fell to the ground, the obvious left unsaid.

"Nobody likes feeling helpless Shiva," he said solemnly, "and that is why, as SeeD's, we train every aspect of our being, not just our strongest parts."

With that, Squall walked back over to Shiva and patted her on the shoulder. Instantly the ice guardian felt the barriers around her powers fall. Just to be sure, she formed an ice spear in her hand.

"In truth, the spell would only last against someone like you for about five minutes," explained Squall to a puzzled Shiva, "Eventually your aura would overpower my spell, but do you think you could last five minutes?"

Shiva glared at him before using her powers to mold the ice spear in her hand to the shape of a sword. Squall drew his gunblade and flipped the safety on.

One minute and forty-four and a half seconds later…

"Not that I'm complaining," said Shiva gently rubbing her hand where Squall had hit to disarm her, "But why doesn't Siren have to go through any of this?"

"Oh she will, I just decided to torment you first."

"Great, I feel loved," she said sarcastically as she went to retrieve her ice-blade for the third time.

Shiva had obtained the faintest of fighting skills from her time junctioned to Squall. It was hard not to pick something up when it was pretty much all he thought about. Unfortunately, seeing something and actually doing it were two very different things.

Turning to face the SeeD captain, Shiva brought her blade to a ready position.

Squall made the first move, a series of thrusts that were meant to take advantage of the weapons firing capability rather than actually stab the opponent. Shiva parried a few and moved backwards to avoid the rest.

"Only give ground if you have to," Squall said parrying one of Shiva's strikes and countering, "Or you may find your back against something that won't give."

At that exact moment, Shiva's back hit a tree at the edge of the clearing. Seeing Squall close in on her, she moved forward, attacking viciously with several slashes. Squall dodged and rapped her on the wrist with the flat of his blade but allowed her to move back into the clearing.

"Always be aware of your environment," he continued, guarding against her attacks easily, "Even a seemingly open plain can be hazardous." With a push, he sent Shiva backwards into a small pothole. It wasn't enough to make her trip but she did stumble.

Squall didn't press the attack and waited for her to recover. When she regained her balance, he renewed his assault.

"Finally, and most importantly," Squall locked swords with Shiva, putting his strength against hers, "Always be alert for dirty play."

Before Shiva could respond, Squall had dropped his gunblade, causing Shiva to stumble forward. Quickly, he grabbed her wrist and spun her around, pressing her own blade against her throat.

"Dirty play huh?" asked Shiva mischievously. Warning bells began going off in Squall's head but before he could react Shiva turned around suddenly and kissed him full on the lips.

It was…warmer than he expected. A faint chill began to crawl from his lips to the rest of his body. He felt a surge of energy travel through him, making him feel cool, but at the same time his veins seemed to catch fire. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced before.

He was brought back to reality quite abruptly when he felt Shiva's ice blade press against his throat.

"You know, I think I could get to like this sparring thing," said Shiva smugly, her eyes mirthful.

'So could I,' said Squall's mind treacherously. Out loud he said, "Alright, I think you've had enough for today."

"Oh I don't know." Squall could hear the playfulness in her voice as she moved around behind him. "I kinda like having you at my mercy." The last words were whispered in his ear, her body pressed up against his back.

Squall wasn't a stranger to arousal. It was a required course at Balamb garden after all and Rinoa, despite being an emotional maelstrom, was still a good looking girl, but she was nothing compared to the level Shiva had him at.

Suddenly, Squall's hand shot up and caught the flat of the blade. Concentrating his inner magic, Squall brought the hottest fire he could manage to his hand and turned a portion of the blade into water. As soon as the blade was broken, Squall grabbed a stunned Shiva and flipped her over his shoulder and onto her back.

"I think you've had enough for today," said Squall once more as he smirked down at her prone form.

"Insufferable arrogant son of a…" Her mutterings trailed off as Squall went to retrieve his gunblade where it had fallen earlier.

"Is it my turn now?" asked Siren, getting up from the log she had been sitting on.

Squall nodded as he turned to face his new sparring partner. "What kind of weapon do you use?"

Siren raised her hand and light gathered around it. With a bright flash that illuminated the clearing, the light faded and Siren was holding a golden harp in her hand.

The SeeD raised an eyebrow.

"Believe it or not Mr. Muscle," said Siren, lightly strumming the strings, "Not every battle needs to be won with swords." With that, she plucked the highest string on her harp.

The sounds of wildlife seemed to fade out of the background. Squall's body tensed in anticipation, as if he were about to jump from a cliff face into the sea. Then, she moved her hand over the harp.

It sounded...divine. Otherworldly. Magical. Captivating. The SeeD could feel a pleasant tingle sweep through his body as his ears strained to catch every note. His senses seemed to dampen as every fiber of his being concentrated on the beautiful tune.

Then, the logic of the situation hit him like a freight train. The song was a true siren song that Squall had read about in the Greek myths of legend, something that entrapped men and made them oblivious to all else. Desperately he tried to tune the song out and force his limbs into motion but it was like trying to push through wet cement.

In the back of his mind, he noticed that Siren was moving towards him, still playing her enchanting, yet deadly, melody. He tried reaching for his magic but even his mental concentration seemed to be lacking.

Suddenly, Siren was standing in front of him. He had been so focused on breaking her spell that he hadn't even realized how far she had moved.

Then…she kissed him.

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SPLASH!

Squall awoke suddenly to the feel of near-freezing water.

"You know Siren, I'm a bit surprised he lasted that long. Usually you don't have to kiss someone to knock them out."

"He's a tough one. I tried to get him to walk towards me but his aura kept fighting my commands."

"Yeah but I still got caught by it," interjected the prone SeeD warrior, rising to his feet.

Siren smirked, catching Squall as he wobbled on his feet a bit. "The day I fail to make a man fall to my song is the day I put in for retirement as a GF. You didn't even get aroused; I must be loosing my touch."

Squall fought down the feeling of awkwardness. "It was a battle situation," he explained, "I was completely focused on breaking your spell to the exclusion of all else."

Siren pouted prettily. "Yeah but Shiva still got you going."

"Yeah…well…that was different."

The SeeD warrior nearly jumped in shock when he felt Siren's body press against his back. "Oh really? How so?" she whispered in his ear, her breath sending shivers down his spine.

Shiva blinked. One second Siren was hugging Squall from behind and the next second he was ten feet away, cleaning the dirt off his gunblade and replacing it in its sheath. "You know, I think that's enough training for one day."

Shiva and Siren shared a smirk.

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The rest of the day seemed to pass in a blur. Squall's other friends dropped by every now and again while he continued working through his stack of papers. Rinoa seemed to trying (and failing) to constantly dog his steps in the hopes of finding the "mystery girl" that Squall was with.

Cid called in a recovery team to standby outside the fire cavern in case they needed immediate medical attention when (or if) they finished their fight, under the guise of SeeD exam purposes.

All to soon, they were standing at the threshold of the Fire Cavern.

"It's gotten hotter since the last time I've been here," said Squall as he stood in front of the entrance.

"Probably thanks to Ifrit's demon avatar. I can sense his spirit in there," said Shiva who was standing beside him.

"How long do you think we'll be able to last in that heat?" asked Wedge who was shouldering one of Squall's old gunblades.

"No more than three minutes without Shiva's help. Can you do anything about this?"

"Not much," she admitted, "This place is an active volcano. Demon Ifrit is drawing on its power to supplement his own. It's too much for me to handle. I could at least keep the air temperature around us low but we'd have to stick pretty close together."

"How long can you hold it?"

"A couple hours, probably less if I have to fight."

"Considering our enemy, that's pretty much a given," cut in Wedge. "You're his weakness, he'll probably be targeting you most of all."

"So we've got about half an hour to beat this punk? Sounds fine to me," said Zell, punching his fist into his hand. "When I was taking my SeeD test I was able to clear this cavern in ten minutes flat."

"Then lets hope that Ifrit hasn't been doing some re-modeling while we were on our first quest to save the world," said Squall icily. Unsheathing his gunblade, the SeeD commander led the way into the fire cavern.

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A/N: I have no excuse but I do have one hell of a story. PM me or say so in a signed review if you want to hear it.