It was after dark by the time Caraway's briefing ended; outside, a large crowd had already gathered. Nida was trying to ignore how hard his heart was already starting to beat.

"It's time to form the teams," Caraway said. "The sniper and the leader of this operation will form the 'sniper team.' The leader's role is vital: If the plan fails for some reason, or should the sniper miss...the leader must carry out a direct assault on the Sorceress." He looked at them one by one. "This plan was devised carefully, because we intend this to be a covert operation. But our ultimate goal is to eliminate the Sorceress, and we must achieve this at all cost — even if they uncover our identities. So, who's going to lead the operation?"

Zell and Selphie looked at Nida. Nida and Irvine looked at Quistis. Quistis closed her eyes and sighed. "...I will."

"Fine," said Caraway. "I'll leave the rest up to you."

Quistis nodded. "...Nida, I want you to lead the 'gateway team.' Zell and Selphie, you're with Nida."

"Whoo-hoo!" Selphie acknowledged.

"Let's DO IT!" added Zell.

We're dead, thought Nida. "Roger," he said.

Caraway nodded. "Okay, let's begin."

He left. Quistis and Irvine followed, leaving Nida, Zell and Selphie alone in the room.

"...I guess we'd better go, too," said Nida. But he hesitated, wondering about Rinoa. They might not be able to return to Caraway's mansion after the operation; and besides, Caraway hadn't seemed particularly keen on the idea of Rinoa leaving. Since they still had some time before the operation would start, it might be prudent to try to track her down now.

A second later, Rinoa came running through the door, saving him the trouble. "Hi!" she said cheerily. "Finally got out of there! ...Did that man say something?"

Zell shrugged. "No, not really."

"...We were just leaving to assassinate the Sorceress," said Nida.

"Yeah, about that! Hold on a sec." Rinoa produced a large, ornate bangle. Nida couldn't help but wonder where she'd been hiding it. "Take a look at this! It's called an Odine bangle; I found it in that man's room."

"Odine!" Zell exclaimed.

"Whatcha gonna do with it?" asked Selphie, leaning in to examine the item.

"It's supposed to suppress the Sorceress' powers!" said Rinoa. "But, its effects are still unknown. So I don't think they're going to use it for this mission."

"If it's Odine brand, it should be pretty effective!" said Zell enthusiastically. "They're No.1 when it comes to magical goods."

"Right, right!" Rinoa agreed, nodding vigorously. "So I figured we could use it instead of that man's plan!"

"...I dunno," said Nida. "That sounds kind of like a bad idea."

"Oh, come on!" said Rinoa. "This way, we can incapacitate the Sorceress! Then we can interrogate her for information."

"Uh, how do we use it?" Nida asked. "I mean, do we just walk up to the Sorceress and say, 'Hey, dare you to try on this weird magic bangle!'?"

Rinoa shrugged. "I dunno! That's what we're going to discuss."

Nida shook his head. "Look, it's...Irvine and Quistis are already waiting. So we should go."

He started toward the exit, but Rinoa wasn't done arguing. "Well, why can't we at least talk about it?" she demanded.

"There's no time," Nida said. "And we've already got a plan."

"Don't you want your plan to have the best possible outcome?" pressed Rinoa. "Why won't you even listen to —"

"It won't work!" Nida exclaimed. He was beginning to feel exasperated. "It's completely not practical! Look, I know you don't really trust your father, but —"

"It's not about that!" Rinoa interrupted. "Don't treat me like a child!"

"Well, don't act like one!" snapped Nida. "This mission's a big deal for us, and we're not gonna turn it upside down just because of your family issues!"

"Woah, man," Zell said. Nida caught himself, and his eyes widened at his own outburst.

Rinoa recoiled, looking absolutely stricken. "...I know how important this is," she said quietly. "...It's not like I don't have a plan."

"Uh..." Nida said. "...Look, why don't you...bring the...bangle. Maybe it'll be useful for...something." Rinoa wasn't making eye contact. "...We'd better get going."

-

"Hey," said Irvine as he and Quistis made for the Presidential residence "So like...is it true SeeDs aren't supposed to question their mission?"

"Hm?" asked Quistis. "...Those issues can be a distraction. SeeDs must focus on making sure the mission succeeds."

"Well, yeah, sure," said Irvine. "But like...if you knew that your enemies were pure evil, you'd get more fired up to fight them, right?"

I wonder what he's driving at..., Quistis thought. "Things are rarely that simple. That's why it's best not to focus on them."

"...Yeah," agreed Irvine. Quistis frowned at him; he had a very distant expression on his face.

"Is everything all right?" she asked.

Irvine nodded. "You bet, Quisty!" he said, a little too casually. "Let's do this!"

Quistis shook her head.

The five regrouped with Caraway at a high, stone gateway. An ominous-looking wrought-iron portcullis was raised at either end of the gateway; the machinery probably hadn't been used in a very long time, but appeared still to be functional.

"The 'gateway team' will wait inside the gate until 20:00," Caraway said. "You can enter through this door. The Sorceress will pass through the gateway at exactly 20:00; in that instant, lower the gates using the control console located on the top floor and trap her inside the gateway."

The gateway team nodded, and entered the door; Caraway led Quistis and Irvine off to their position.

"Man, this Caraway guy's bein' really hands-on with all this," said Zell. "If we get caught, you'd think he wouldn't want to be seen anywhere near us."

"He probably doesn't trust that we can pull it off," said Nida. Speaking of which... He poked his head out the door and looked around. "So where'd Rinoa go?" He knew she had been hiding so Caraway wouldn't see her, but Caraway was now gone and Nida still couldn't see Rinoa anywhere.

"Umm..." said Selphie. "...You don't think she went to...?"

Nida groaned. "Let's hope not."

"Well, shouldn't we go look for her? I mean, what if something happens?"

"...We can't leave our position," said Nida. "If Rinoa used to live here, she must know her way around this town. She should be fine."

-

"Umm...excuse me?" Rinoa asked of the shadowy figure seated in the middle of the room. Getting into the Presidential Residence had been surprisingly easy; apart from those lining the street, there didn't seem to be any guards at all. "I'm...the daughter of, um...Galbadian Army's, um...General Caraway. I...thought I'd...come pay my respects...You know...'cause of my father and all." She held out the Odine bangle, which previously had been hidden behind her back. "So, I...um...brought you a small gift. Please."

She edged forward a bit further; the Sorceress remained perfectly still. Then there was a flash, and Rinoa was thrown several meters backward. The bangle suddenly seemed to be several hundred degrees warmer, but she couldn't bring herself to put it down; a strange energy seemed to be coursing through her from the object — which wasn't remotely like what the bangle was supposed to be doing.

In the moment before she blacked out, Rinoa realized why the Sorceress apparently hadn't needed any guards.

-

"Here she comes," said Irvine, who with Quistis was standing at a prime spot near the balcony of Galbadia's Presidential Residence. Sorceress Edea, wearing an outfit dominated by what appeared to be half a ship's wheel, was approaching the podium above them. Seeing her, Quistis got the oddest feeling, as if she was seeing someone she knew she ought to recognize from somewhere else, but couldn't place.

In any case, she certainly recognized the dazed-looking girl who accompanied the Sorceress onto the balcony.

"H...Hey...," Irvine said. "That girl...!"

"Oh, no," Quistis said, sighing.

-

"So..." said Zell. "We're just suppose'ta wait here?"

"Yeah," said Nida. "...We've got about 30 minutes left."

"Great." Zell began shadow-boxing. "I don't see why we need all this 'sniper' and 'gateway team' business, anyway. Why can't we just take the Sorceress down, like POW!" He demonstrated with a knockout blow to his nonexistent opponent.

"That wouldn't be very covert," said Nida.

"Neither is crashin' a giant gate down on top of her," Zell pointed out. "Especially if we're right on top of her while we're doin' it."

"Yeah, but..." Nida frowned. "...that's a pretty good point, actually."

There was a deep thump somewhere outside. "...Did anyone else hear that?" asked Selphie.

"Man, sounds like somethin' crashing into the wall," said Zell. The sound repeated itself. "An...then crashing into it again?" Curious, he leaned out the window overlooking the parade route, scanning the area.

A lizardlike head that was about he size of his entire body appeared outside the window as he was doing so. "WOAH!" Zell exclaimed, jumping backward. The head turned away and disappeared from view. "What the hell was THAT?"

"A giant...lizard-monster?" asked Nida, looking out the window himself. The creature, and another like it, was now running down the street towards the Presidential Residence.

"The hell'd those get into the city?" asked Zell.

"I dunno," said Nida. "...I just hope they're not gonna cause any trouble."

-

The first thing Rinoa realized when she came to was that she was standing, which wasn't usually the case when she woke up.

The second thing she realized was that a pair of giant lizard-monsters were diving straight at her. Shrieking, she ducked as they landed nearly on top of her, then looked frantically around for a place to hide.

For a moment, she was stuck hiding from the creatures behind the podium, a plan that was more or less doomed to fail as there were two of them and they came at her from both sides. She fired her boomerang into one's nose as it snapped at her, then ran past it toward the doors leading into the residence. She had barely managed to slip through before both creatures had caught up, knocking open the doors with ease but then both trying to pass through the doorway at once, and getting stuck.

Rinoa took the opportunity to make a run for the exit, but the monsters recovered quickly enough for one to charge forward and cut off her escape. Rinoa fired her boomerang again, but the weapon just bounced off, and she didn't have a chance to recover it properly.

Frantically seeking some other means to defend herself, Rinoa ducked behind the chair in which the Sorceress had been sitting. "Get back!" she said, picking up the chair and trying to use it to fend off the monsters. The monster was not impressed, chomping down on the chair and knocking it out of her hand. Rinoa stood frozen in shock as the other prepared to do much the same with her head.

Then a dark, furry object slammed into the monster from the side. The monster growled, and Rinoa managed to retreat backward into a cluster of drapes as Angelo faced off with the two giant lizard-creatures.

The confrontation did not last long, however; one of the creatures bounded right over Angelo, smacking her with its giant lion's tail hard enough to knock her away from the first. Rinoa tried to find someplace to hide as the drapes collapsed around her, but the monsters were upon her in no time.

She closed her eyes, curling up into a ball with her arms covering her head — which she knew wouldn't help at all, but she couldn't think of anything else that would. She could feel the monsters hovering over her; they had no breath, but a sort of terrifying cold seemed to radiate from them, and their growls were so close that they seemed to be whispering into her ear.

Why weren't they mauling her now?

Rinoa opened her eyes a crack just in time to see one of the monsters recoil under a shotgun blast. Both monsters quickly spun around toward Irvine and Quistis, who were now standing at the opposite end of the room.

"Help!" Rinoa called, probably unnecessarily. Even as she did, one of the monsters charged forward, tackling Irvine with an enraged roar.

—

"How much longer?" Selphie asked. She was now sitting on the windowsill, balanced a bit too precariously for Nida's liking, and bouncing a rubber ball off the opposite frame.

"About 12 minutes," said Nida, checking his watch.

"Man, how boring," said Zell. "We could'a taken the Sorceress ourselves out by now." He pointed to the distant parade float on which the Sorceress presumably rested; it was now making its rounds through the town.

"We don't have any idea how strong she is," Nida pointed out.

"Yeah, well..." said Zell. "We're supposed'ta attack her head on anyway if the sniper fails! I'd sooner just get it over with."

Selphie accidentally bounced her ball a bit too far off to the side, and it flew out the window onto the street below. "Oh!" she said, trying to catch it and nearly falling out the window herself. "...Aww. ...Heey, anyone for cards?"

"Yeah, sure," shrugged Zell. "Anything for somethin' to do."

-

Quistis caught one of the Iguions across the mouth with her chain whip as it tried to bite her arm off. Irvine, who was pinned under the foot of the other one, managed to deliver a double-barreled shotgun blast into its skull; the monster fell over with an aggrieved screech.

Irvine looked down at his chest where the Iguion's claws had been, and discovered that his jacket now had holes torn in them from its claws. "Okay, that's it," he said, and withdrew a pair of tubes that he rammed into his shotgun. "Watch this!"

And he fired off about twenty shots at the Iguion in rapid succession. The creature shook like it was being electrocuted, and Quistis hit it with a bolt of magic to finish it off. Then they turned on the last one; with Irvine blasting it from one side and Quistis attacking from the other, they managed to keep it disoriented for the ten more seconds it took to finish the monster off.

"Rinoa, are you —" Quistis started, but Irvine was already running to her side. Rinoa was still sitting against the wall, hugging her legs.

"Are you okay, Rinoa?" asked Irvine.

Rinoa didn't stop staring at where the Iguions had been. "...I was scared," she said. "...Really scared."

"Don't worry," said Irvine. "It's all over now. We're here."

"Rinoa, what were you doing up here?" asked Quistis.

Rinoa looked around the room as if just remembering where she was. "...I just wanted to help," she said. "But I couldn't...I just couldn't..."

"It's okay," Quistis said, putting her hand on Rinoa's shoulder. "Just stay with us from now on."

After another moment, Rinoa nodded. The three of them made their way to the clock tower; resting among the machinery was a high-powered sniper rifle, which Irvine silently picked up. He then sat down without a word, closing his eyes.

Quistis could still hear the crowd outside, still cheering. She had seen the Sorceress' float pass by as she and Irvine had made their way into the presidential residence; the parade had indeed been quite spectacular. She kept thinking there was something very important she should know about the Sorceress; she had no idea what it was or where this feeling came from, but it was the most persistent impression she had from the parade so far.

That, and one other thing.

-

"Hey, they're turnin' this way!" said Zell.

"Get away from the window," said Nida. "We don't want them to see us."

"Yeah, sure man," said Zell. He didn't get away from the window, though. "Wait a minute..." Then he did, although this mostly as a consequence of his recoiling in shock. "Woah!" Th...that's...on the...that's—" he said, pointing toward the float.

"?" Nida ventured a look out the window, as did Selphie. Standing at the front of the float to the Sorceress' right was a figure in a familiar-looking black leather outfit, with gunblade in hand. "...That's Squall."

"He doesn't look that dead," said Selphie, frowning. "I mean, he's not moving a lot, but..."

"I guess he wasn't executed after all," Nida agreed.

Zell was shaking his head. "Man, what the hell is going on here?"

-

The procession was intricately choreographed; the float, equipped with torches and a neon halo, glided through the city with a smoothness that was meant to evoke that of the Sorceress herself. Its only accompaniment was a troupe of dancers – natives of the Dingo desert region, who were mainly there to add to the event's exotic nature. The Sorceress didn't have any real connection to any of the costuming and scenery, but that wasn't really the point; when surrounded by it, she seemed all the more otherworldly herself.

Squall had already guessed that he was just part of the scenery – the Sorceress' knight, the only guard she needed though she had an army at her command. He didn't care that he was being used; for him, that wasn't the point.

The float was on the final leg of its trip through the city now; then it would be back to the presidential residence and on to the actual work. That was when the part that really mattered would begin.

They were coming up on the one of the gates that marked the edge of the old center city, when a commotion erupted among the crowd. Squall frowned; one of the Galbadian soldiers with riot gear seemed to be wrestling with a clump of people, but he couldn't quite tell why. Then there was a flash, and the soldier flew backwards, landing right in front of the float. The float itself ground to a halt.

Then another figure emerged from the crowd. Squall recognized him immediately, and put a hand to his forehead. The newcomer wasted no time, charging straight towards the float and vaulting onto it with the kind of jump only a GF could allow.

"Hey, Squall," said Seifer, raising his gunblade. "Thought you were dead."

"Don't interfere, Seifer," said Squall. "You don't belong here."

"The hell I don't!" Seifer yelled. "This is MY dream! And I'm not letting you have it!"

-

"It's almost time," Quistis said, looking at her watch. The sound of the crowd had changed, become more hushed; for her part, she felt herself getting a bit edgy. She hadn't been on a mission since becoming an instructor, save the SeeD exam; she wasn't quite used to being in the field again – and certainly not on an assignment as important as this.

Irvine didn't seem to be doing well either. He had been sitting and hugging the rifle for some time now, and had yet to say anything glib or offensive. "...Irvine, are you ready?" she asked, but got no response. "...Irvine?"

Then he shook his head. "...I can't," he said. "I...I can't do it."

"What?" Quistis knelt down beside him. "What do you mean?"

"I...I'm sorry," said Irvine. "I can't do it. I always freeze like this. ...I try to act cool, joke around, but I just can't handle the pressure..."

Quistis shook her head. "Irvine, you wouldn't be here if you couldn't handle it," she said. What the hell was Martine thinking? she thought. "This is just what you trained for."

"My bullet...The Sorceress...I'll go down in history." Irvine was shaking his head. "I'd change the history of Galbadia...of the world!"

"Irvine, if this goes well, no one will ever know," said Quistis. "Just focus."

"I can't!" Irvine insisted. "It's all too much...the Sorceress and...and now Squall..."

Quistis blinked. "What?" She had seen Squall on the parade float, but hadn't said anything to Irvine. "How do you know Squall?"

There was a rumbling as the machine hummed to life. Quistis checked her watch; it was 20:00. "...No, forget that for now," she said. "Everyone's waiting, Irvine; we have to..."

She trailed off as the carousel clock reached the roof and she got her first view of the scene before them. It was immediately clear that something was wrong: the float was near the gate, but by no means under it. And it wasn't moving. And there was some kind of commotion around it.

"Let me see that," she said to Irvine, grabbing for the sniper rifle. However, he kept clutching it tightly to himself. "...All right. Irvine, I just need you to look through the scope and tell me what's happening down there. Just look, okay? Can you do that for me?"

Irvine nodded. "I'll just...I'll just look." Slowly, he raised the rifle to its ready position, and peered through the sniper scope. As he did, his nervousness was replaced by something closer to stupefaction. "What the...?"

-

"Man, what is Seifer doing?" asked Zell. The three SeeDs had basically given up secrecy, and were openly watching the fight unfold below them.

"Looks like he's tryin' to take out the Sorceress," said Selphie. "...Heey, he's doing our job again!"

"Yeah, but how'd he get outta detention in G-Garden?" asked Zell.

"How'd Squall get out of being executed?" asked Nida. "None of this makes sense."

"Should we help him or something?" asked Selphie.

"We can't without revealing ourselves as SeeDs," said Nida. "There's a chance the original plan could still work. And win or lose, I think Seifer'd want to do this on his own."

-

Seifer parried a blow by Squall, and nearly fell off the float in the process. The space was too confined for a really decent fight here, but this one wasn't about style anyway. It was personal.

"You think you can be a Sorceress' knight?" he demanded. "You don't even know what it means!"

"Blizzaga," Squall replied, and Seifer shuddered as a giant block of ice momentarily permeated his body.

"Fine!" said Seifer. "I'll play like that! Fira!"

Squall withstood the blast, and charged him with a series of gunblade swings that threw Seifer off balance again. Seifer finally managed to get a parry in, but Squall just spun his weapon in an arc, nearly connecting with Seifer's leg. Finally, Seifer had to kick him to get himself some space.

"You know, Squall, this does kind of suit you," he said. "I always thought you'd make a good lap dog."

He made a feint, which Squall fell for like he always did; then he brought the weapon back to slice Squall across the arm. Squall winced, but knocked Seifer's gunblade away with enough force to forestall a follow-up blow.

Then it was as if Squall had gone into overdrive. He charged forward with so much force that simple physics dictated Seifer couldn't hold his ground. His gunblade seemed to be coming at Seifer from every direction in such rapid succession that he could just barely keep up; the weapon cut through Seifer's jacket, pants and skin. Seifer tried to parry him off-balance to regain the initiative, but Squall responded with such force that Seifer nearly lost control of his gunblade, and his arm did fly wide.

He saw Squall's gunblade flash in front of his face, tracing upward at an angle from right to left, just before his vision exploded in pain. Even with the GF reinforcing his stamina, his vision disappeared in a mottled red blur, and he felt as if he had stuck his nose into a fire.

His eyesight recovered just in time to see Squall had reverse the grip on his gunblade and drive the weapon into Seifer's torso, just below his ribcage.

Seifer coughed; blood splattered on Squall's coat. Stumbling backwards, he looked down at the wound; his own coat was quickly becoming stained with red. More blood fell from his face, past it to begin puddling on the floor.

"I...lost...?" he gasped, stumbling back again. His gunblade slipped from his hand, clanging on the float's edge before falling to the street. He had to focus just to keep his vision straight.

Squall shook his head. "You're pathetic, Seifer."

Seifer's eyes wandered to the Sorceress, who was looking straight back at him. At first, her expression seemed one of total disgust, and Seifer felt a horrible sinking feeling in his gut to go along with the pain and bleeding. But then he thought he could see something else in her eyes — something completely different.

Then something whizzed past Seifer's ear, and the Sorceress started. Suddenly off balance, she raised a hand to her chest, where a spot of red had appeared under her right collarbone, and was beginning to bleed. At first, she seemed enraged; but then her expression changed completely, to one much closer to relief.

This happened in the space of about four seconds; then both of them collapsed. The Sorceress fell to the floor of the float; Squall was kneeling over her, screaming. Seifer fell backwards off the float, falling for what felt like an eternity into a deep, darkening tunnel.

He barely felt himself hit the ground.