"Fujin!" Seifer's voice grated on the deathly quiet that shrouded the ruins of Balamb Garden, but he showed no signs of caring. "Raijin!"

He was standing at the top of the stairs that had led up to the courtyard outside Garden's main entrance. The entrance was all rubble now, and in the courtyard was a collection of tents and makeshift shelters, lit by field lamps and occupied by a clutch of students and SeeDs with a uniform look of dulled shock behind their eyes.

And all their eyes were on Seifer. Quistis and Nida, who had finally caught up with him, got a few glances; but Seifer wasn't about to let their attention drift. Charging up to the nearest student, he took the boy by the collar and hauled him halfway out of his seat. "Where are they?!"

"I, uh, I don't...," the student stammered.

"I don't think anyone's seen them," another senior classman offered. "Not since before..."

Seifer dropped the student and rounded on the nearest inanimate object, a portable grill that his boot sent flying into the underbrush. "Dammit!" he screamed. "Dammit! Dammit to hell!"

He stood there for a few long seconds, breathing heavily and generally looking about to explode, until Quistis stepped up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. He spun around with so much force that it looked like she might face the same fate as the grill, but froze when he caught her eyes.

"Seifer." Her voice was quiet, sympathetic, as firm as he'd ever heard it. He stayed frozen, and after a moment seemed to relax a little. Quistis lowered her hand. "...We should check the Infirmary." She looked behind her. "Nida."

Nida blinked; as the scene played out, he'd forgotten he was part of it. Hanging back on the second-to-last step, he felt nowhere near ready to deal with the reality that was now all around him, much less place himself in relation to it. Numbly, though, he followed Quistis as she made for the domed building immediately to the west.

As they'd approached the Garden, they'd had plenty of opportunity to look over the damage that faced them. The Training Center and Quad seemed to have taken the only direct hits, though the cafeteria, dorms and parking lot were hidden behind the central building; the bulk of the destruction they saw probably resulted from the collapse of the bell tower and ring, and though that had been enough to ruin the front of the main building and skewer the Library, the only damage visible to the Infirmary had come from the dirt, rocks and shrapnel blown loose by the near misses that pockmarked the grounds.

The doors even still worked. Inside, patients were lined up in every free patch of floor space, bandaged, beaten and weary; they were attended by fellow students who picked their way through the scene though many looked little better. Some were slumped against the walls, others just stood dazed and lost amid it all.

It was undamaged. But Nida barely recognized the place.

Kneeling next to one wounded student, who had a bandage on the side of his neck, was a dark-haired figure in blue who was unmistakably Rinoa. She glanced in their direction a moment after the door closed, froze, then sprang to her feet. "Seifer!" she exclaimed, bounding across the room and slamming into him, burying her face in his coat. "It's horrible, Seifer. It's so horrible..."

"What happened, Rinoa?" Quistis asked, not quite managing her typical businesslike tone. "Was it like this when you arrived?"

Rinoa, face still hidden by Seifer's coat, shook her head. "...When we got here, everyone was fighting," she said finally, drawing her head back to look at them. "Something about the Garden Master. We tried to warn them about the missiles, but..." Her head fell back against Seifer. "It was too much. In the end, I couldn't do anything."

"You've done more than anyone could expect, Rinoa," Quistis said. "...We're the ones who failed."

Rinoa frowned. "What happened?" she asked, glancing at Seifer. "I was really worried about you guys."

Quistis nodded. "...Why don't I let Seifer fill you in? I still need to report to Headmaster Cid; do you have any idea where he is? Or..." She quickly abandoned the last sentence.

Rinoa shook her head. "I haven't seen him. ...You might want to ask the doctor. Kinda seems like she's the one in charge."

Quistis smiled. "Of course," she said, and started towards Doctor Kadowaki's office.

A moment later, Nida remembered himself and started after her.

-

Doctor Kadowaki's medical coat was still impeccably sterile, and her office was perfectly neat, though she looked as if she hadn't slept in a week. Her face lit in a very weary smile upon seeing Quistis, and she quickly set aside the medical file she'd been updating. "I had a feeling you'd be all right," she said.

"Well, I don't know about that," Quistis replied. "...I need to find Headmaster Cid; is he...?"

"He's resting right now," Kadowaki supplied. "Can it wait?"

"I honestly don't know," said Quistis. "Is he all right?"

The doctor nodded. "He was in his office when the missiles hit; it's a miracle, but his injuries were minor. Even so, he was trapped up there for most of the day, as we tried to rescue everyone."

"It's just that we have quite a lot of information about Galbadia and the Sorceress," Quistis said. "And I don't know how much time we have. Soldiers may be on their way right now."

Kadowaki frowned for a moment. "...I suppose I could let you talk to Xu. She needs to rest, too, so it'll have to be brief."

Quistis nodded. "Of course."

They were led to the hall connecting the infirmary to Garden's main building. The infirmary's lobby had become a post-operative ward, and the hallway seemed to have taken its place. At one table, a handful of SeeDs were clustered around a folding table that contained a set of papers and tablets, talking seriously. Xu was at one end of the table, with her back to the door.

"Xu," said Kadowaki, and she turned. She looked awful, gaunt and pale; her typical imposing figure was gone, and she just looked small. Her left arm was in a sling, the forearm wrapped in gauze. The hand was missing altogether.

"Quistis," she said, raising her eyebrows. "Good to see you're alright."

Quistis, though, looked horrified. "...My god, Xu. Your arm."

Xu glanced at the sling as if she'd forgotten about it. "A lot of other people had it worse," she said darkly.

"I'll let you two catch up," Kadowaki put in, "but Xu, you need to stay off your feet for a while. If you rely on GF too much, the results can be serious."

"I know," said Xu. "There's just some things that need taking care of."

Kadowaki nodded, gave her a last warning look, and turned back to the Infirmary.

"Well." Xu said, turning back to Quistis. "Clearly some things have happened since you left. Would you mind going first?"

Quistis nodded, and related the tale of their exploits, which seemed all the more surreal to Nida through her narration. Xu listened with an unreadable expression that didn't change until Quistis had finished.

"I guess that explains a few things," she finally said.

"...It does?" Nida asked.

"We saw the news reports about the attack on the Sorceress," Xu explained. "As soon as it happened, the Faculty started acting strangely. They told all the SeeDs to assemble, but wouldn't say why. Pretty soon, it became clear they were after the Headmaster, too."

"The Faculty?" asked Quistis, frowning.

"They claimed to be acting under instruction of the Garden Master," said Xu. "But the Headmaster was convinced we had to resist them. The students didn't know who to follow. Fighting broke out. It was like we couldn't trust anyone. The Headmaster took shelter in his office, and we SeeDs did our best to keep the Garden Master's faction away from him." She halted, took a breath. "Then the missiles came. Zell and that girl Rinoa had been trying to raise the alarm, but we were too disorganized to do much of anything. Even now, I'm not sure how many people we lost, but nearly a hundred are still unaccounted for."

Quistis nodded, lowering her eyes. "I'm sorry."

Xu shook her head. "Oh, Quistis. Don't go blaming yourself. From the sound of it, you did everything you could have."

"I failed, Xu." Quistis looked up, then quickly away. "That's the end of it. First I failed as an instructor, now I've failed as a SeeD."

"No, you didn't," Xu snapped. "Quistis—"

"Of course I did, Xu! I tried to stop the missiles, and obviously I didn't succeed; what else can you call that?"

Xu's features hardened. "I call it a really bad day."

Quistis' eyes fell back to the floor. Nida had by now decided he should probably excuse himself, but couldn't really bring himself to speak up. Nor could he bring himself to just sneak away, as that might call attention to his presence as well.

"We've all had missions that didn't go right," Xu continued. "Quistis, you've been a SeeD for three years now. You think it's a failure that this is your first one?" She tried to fold her arms, then winced and gave up. "You're so spoiled sometimes, you know that? When something doesn't go your way, it consumes your whole world. And that's driven you to do some amazing things. But every now and then, something happens that we can't control. And no matter how hard we try, the goal just slips away. It's long past time you learned to live with that."

Heaving a long sigh, Quistis looked back up. "...It just seems like these are the times that really matter," she said. "When I really need to step up — to be the leader people need, or expect..." She shook her head. "I just don't know quite what to do. This sort of thing, it just...it's like it isn't quite me."

Xu laid her hand on Quistis' shoulder. "It was an impossible situation, Quistis. One you should never have been in." She winced. "If anything, it was our fault for letting our guard down. It wasn't like we didn't know something like this might happen, and we should have been better prepared."

Though Quistis barely acknowledged her, Nida frowned. "...It wasn't?" he asked, before remembering the low profile he'd committed to keeping.

Xu regarded him as if he'd just arrived. "The Headmaster didn't tell you?"

Nida blinked. "Um...tell me what?"

Xu took a breath, glancing at Quistis. "You should probably ask him; I don't know all the details either. Honestly, I'd forgotten myself before all this business got started." She hesitated a moment. "The Sorceress..."

Two shadows appeared at the edge of their vision, and Xu cut herself off. They belonged to the robed figures of two Garden Faculty members, who were coming down the hall toward them with that strange, gliding walk that seemed to set them apart from all the surrounding mess.

They came to a halt about three meters away, one taking an additional step forward before doing so — and aiming straight at Nida. His features, as usual, were completely hidden behind that massive, angled yellow hat, though it seemed to look even more sinister than Nida remembered.

"Student ID No. 42047, Nida." He turned, aiming the brim of his hat at Quistis. "SeeD No. 53, Quistis Trepe." He turned halfway back towards Nida. "Master NORG requires your presence immediately. You're to come with us."

Nida and Quistis blinked, looked at each other, then at Xu. The other SeeDs gathered around the nearby table had frozen as well, watching the scene.

"What's this about?" Xu demanded. "What are you after this time?"

The second Faculty member stepped forward. "This is not a discussion."

Xu's remaining hand tightened into a fist, and her whole body tensed into a fighting stance. "The hell it isn't."

"—We'll go," said Quistis, glancing from Xu to the Faculty, then finally to Nida. "I have some questions for him anyway."

"Quistis..." Xu began.

"Xu, I'll be fine." Quistis smiled, if with less than total confidence. After a moment's pause, then, she turned and walked past the Faculty down the hall.

Nida followed. The Faculty turned in unison, and glided along behind them.