The entrance to the main lift was buried in rubble, which they had to climb over on their way to the secondary shaft on the north side of the Garden's central column.

Power seemed to have gone out in the main building, with what illumination there was bleeding in from outside — just enough to see the towering column that held up the building's center, and glint off the waters of the pool below. The only direct light came from the panel controlling the northside lift, a glowing red-and-white square on the otherwise monolithic pillar of blackness.

"Sinister" was not a word Nida had ever thought to associate with Balamb Garden's hall before. Or the Faculty, for that matter; they'd always been a curiosity, but now, in the near-darkness, the peculiar way they moved struck him as far more unsettling, even a little inhuman. Though he could easily blame it all on nerves, and shadows playing tricks on him — there were certainly plenty of both.

The lift doors slid open at their approach, just like they always did; inside, the car was lit just as normal. Nida guessed they were run on a different circuit, but that didn't help make this feel right; who ever heard of a disaster where everything was out except the lifts?

One of the Faculty slipped a key into the control panel's reader, entered a three-digit code, and the B1 light lit up. Nida honestly felt his stomach jump into his throat when the lift began to descend — and it wasn't like he'd never been in one before.

The doors opened into a cavernous room, lined with machinery. All of it looked intact and operational, but Nida couldn't begin to guess what most of it was. An eerie glow came from all the wrong places — the lift shaft, panels in the floor — and something about it all just seemed wrong, but in a strangely familiar way.

Nida realized belatedly that the place felt a lot like the Garden's darkened hall above. Except here all the lights were on.

The Faculty glided silently off to the right, leading them around the elevator shaft. A massive enclosure had been built right onto the column, complete with something that looked like a cockpit. Two man-sized blue orbs bathed the space in front of it in eerie light.

They all came to a halt in front of it. "Whenever Master NORG calls you," one of the Faculty admonished, "be sure to be there within 3 seconds."

Nida blinked. "...What?"

"Fushururu..." A sound that came halfway between the rustling of leaves and a cow clearing its throat came out of the giant pod. Then, a booming below-bass voice emerged intoned, "3-SECONDS-ARE-UP."

The cockpit swung open, revealing the biggest creature Nida had ever seen. Hands larger than he was waved in front of a head that looked too big for itself, literally rimmed with extra flesh. It wore flowing black-and-white robes that had to have been specially tailored for it, though really only the gigantic sleeves were ever visible behind those gargantuan hands.

Nida had heard plenty of rumors about the reclusive Garden Master. But he'd never heard anything that approached this.

"FushifuruFushifuru..." The noise came from somewhere other than NORG's mouth, Nida realized — and quickly afterward, he resolved not to give it any further thought. "GIVE-YOUR-REPORT-ON-THE-SORCERESS."

Nida gulped. He'd never really been disciplined before. Not seriously. He'd never been singled out for criticism, which had made it a little more bearable that he wasn't really ever singled out for praise either. Now, it was just him, Quistis and the Garden Master, who seemed to embody the notion of larger than life.

After a moment, Quistis pulled herself up to salute. Nida realized belatedly that he probably should, too. "...Upon our arrival at Galbadia Garden," she began, "Headmaster Martine informed us that the Sorceress Edea had assumed control of the Galbadian government. He also informed us of the instructions sent from Balamb Garden, and our joint orders to assassinate the Sorceress. We—"

"Bujurururu!" NORG gurgled, making Nida jump. "JOINT-ORDERS-FROM-BALAMB-AND-GALBADIA!" The hands slashed across the air above them. "YOU-WERE-FOOLED!"

Quistis blinked. "I...I'm sorry?"

"Fushurururu..." The hands withdrew to the confines of the pod. "EXPLAIN-TO-THEM."

One of the Faculty stepped forward. "Master NORG has known about the alliance between the President of Galbadia and the Sorceress for some time. He heard it from the Galbadia Garden master himself."

"...That makes sense," said Quistis. "Master Martine said they'd been following the situation for quite a while."

"Fushururu..." NORG continued. "IT-WAS-I-WHO-INSTRUCTED-MARTINE-TO-OBSERVE-THE-SORCERESS."

"Indeed," said the Faculty. "The Sorceress and Garden are closely connected. That's why Sorceress Edea's aim is to subvert or destroy all three Gardens."

"Master NORG anticipated this eventuality," added the second. "When it became clear that the Sorceress would assume a position of power, he sent an official order to Galbadia Garden."

"The assassination order," Nida said, then immediately wished he hadn't as everyone's attention, from Quistis to the Faculty to NORG, immediately focused on him.

"Yes," said one of the Faculty shortly. "An assassination was determined to be the best means. But..."

"Bujurururu!" NORG broke in, hands flailing. "THAT-SLY-WEASEL-MARTINE-USED-YOU-AS-A-LAST-RESORT-FOR-THE-ASSASSINATION. HE-GAVE-THAT-ORDER-TO-PLACE-THE-BLAME-ON-ME!" The hands hovered around his head, then emphatically swept out of view. "THAT-THAT-BASTARD."

"...But you just said you sent the order," said Nida, shaking his head. This wasn't making sense, but the whole thing was so surreal that he had to wonder if his brain had just stopped working. "...Unless—"

"We weren't supposed to be there," Quistis supplied. "You wanted Galbadia Garden to carry out the order on its own. So Balamb Garden could deny involvement if the operation were to fail."

"And the operation did fail," said the Faculty sternly. "The Sorceress is alive and...the Sorceress retaliated. Just as we expected."

"No doubt it was the Sorceress who ordered the missile attacks," said the other Faculty member. "Something must be done to calm the Sorceress' anger."

Nida and Quistis looked at each other, in confusion at first. "...So," Nida began, "you were after the Headmaster because..."

"You were going to turn him over," Quistis finished. "You couldn't blame Galbadia Garden, so you were going to blame Cid."

"We had to show Balamb Garden's sincerity," said the Faculty. "Handing over those involved in the assassination to the sorceress was the only option."

"Bujurururu!" NORG confirmed. "OFFER-THE-SeeD's-HEAD-ON-A-SILVER-PLATTER-AND-PRETEND-WE-OBEY-THE-SORCERESS. A-SACRIFICE-TO-MAINTAIN-MY-GARDEN."

Nida blinked. "But...I don't...that's—"

"You can't expect the Sorceress will go along with that," Quistis protested. "After all she's already done?"

"BE-QUIET!" NORG snapped. "YOU-LOST-TO-THE-SORCERESS! QUIT-YOUR-WHINING!" His hands were positively flailing, and both Faculty members visibly recoiled.

"So let me get this straight."

That was a new voice. Seifer's voice. He was striding up from the direction of the lift. "You guys tried to set up G-Garden to take the fall for you," he said, "and now you're pissed off 'cause it didn't work?"

"WHAT-IS-THIS?" exclaimed NORG.

Both of the faculty were facing Seifer. "This is a SeeD matter, Mr. Almasy. You don't have authorization to be here."

"You guys are insane," Seifer declared. "Have you seen this place? Garden's in pieces up there, and you think I'm gonna be scared by your old rule book?" He walked straight up to the Faculty member, glaring at the shadowed face. "From what I hear, if you guys could really keep anything under control, they could've gotten everyone out before the missiles hit."

"Seifer—" Quistis began.

"The casualties are insignificant," the Faculty retorted, "compared to what else we have lost." He turned back to Quistis — "thanks to your team's incompetence."

"If Garden is to remain economically viable," said the other one, "particularly with the added costs of rebuilding the structure or relocating our operations, cordial relations with Galbadia are essential."

"The time for confronting the Sorceress has passed," the first concluded. "Now we must learn to coexist with her. At least until such time as we can mount an effective challenge."

"Oh, yeah, right," Seifer scoffed. "You don't give a damn about challenging the Sorceress. That's why you were playing all those stupid games when you sent these guys out to kill her!" He pointed to Quistis and Nida. "If they hadn't shown up, if you'd had your way, there'd have been a bunch of guys from Galbadia Garden doing the mission all on their own. Even though G-Garden doesn't have a SeeD force, and they aren't trained to use GF. You say you want to take out the Sorceress? Well, there was your chance! Ever think if you hadn't been so half-assed, maybe you could have pulled it off?"

"Bujururu!" hissed NORG. "MY-PLAN-WAS-PERFECT! IT-WAS-CID'S-MEDDLING-AND-YOUR-INCOMPETENCE-THAT-PRODUCED-THIS-CATASTROPHE!" He flung his hands outward, the farthest he'd come out of the pod so far. "THAT-IDIOT-CID! LOOK-AT-WHAT-HE-HAS-DONE-TO-MY-GARDEN!"

"What Cid did?" Quistis asked.

"THAT-IDIOT-CID-DISPATCHED-SeeD-TO-KILL-THE-SORCERESS!" NORG continued. "AND-IF-YOU-FAIL? THIS-GARDEN-WILL-BE-DONE-FOR! MY-GARDEN! IT-WILL-BE-ALL-OVER!" His volume was probably as loud as it could possibly be by default; when he got agitated, his voice seemed to gain a progressively higher pitch. It was rising rapidly now. "THAT-IDIOT-CID. HAS-HE-FORGOTTEN-THAT-IT-WAS-I-WHO-PUT-UP-THE-MONEY-TO-ESTABLISH-GARDEN!?" He swept his hands across in a cutting motion. "I-WANTED-TO-OFFER-THE-SORCERESS-CID'S-HEAD-ALONG-WITH-SeeD'S. I-ORDERED-THE-STUDENTS-TO-FIND-CID-BUT-THEY-SIDED-WITH-HIM! Bujurururu!"

The two Faculty members were backing in the direction of the lift.

"Bujurururu!" Nida thought he felt the room shake with that one. "THIS-IS-MY-GARDEN!"

"Like hell!" Seifer retorted, eyes smoldering. "You sit down here, in your big secret room, and think Garden's all yours 'cause you wrote a check?" He jabbed a finger straight at NORG's eyes, the sort of Seifer gesture that would usually have looked completely theatrical; but he really sold it this time. "You don't know a thing about Garden! All you did is buy a building. That means all you own now is a pile of rocks."

"WHAT-DID-YOU-SAY!?" NORG squawked. In the distance, the Faculty broke into an eerily gliding run towards the exit. "WHOSE-GARDEN-IS-IT-THEN? IS-IT-CID'S-AND-EDEA'S!? THAT-PATHETIC-MARRIED-COUPLE'S!?"

That stopped even Seifer in his tracks. Nida had become so used to NORG's vaguely deranged ranting that he needed a second for its meaning to hit him. Even then, he couldn't quite square it.

Quistis recovered first. "Garden belongs to all of us," she declared, quieter than Seifer but with no less force. "We've trained. We spent years fighting battles to keep Cid's dream alive. And this is why." She took a step forward to stand beside Seifer. "We must defeat the Sorceress. And you can't tell us not to fight that battle."

"Bushurururu..." NORG stared at them, hands frozen in the air. He stayed like that for a moment, then started up once again. "NOW-I-UNDERSTAND. CID-AND-EDEA-ARE-TRYING-TO-TAKE-GARDEN-AWAY-FROM-ME. YOU'RE-ONE-OF-CID'S FOLLOWERS-AREN'T YOU!? PREPARE TO DIE!"

The hands disappeared inside the pod. A second later, the cockpit slammed shut, hiding NORG from view. Then the two glowing orbs on the front switched from blue to yellow.

"Look out!" Quistis warned, drawing her chain whip; Seifer's gunblade was out half a second later. Nida ran up to join them, readying his daggers.

"Bujurururu..." NORG's voice boomed out of the pod. "BLUE-YELLOW-RED. LOTS-OF-MAGIC-WHEN-RED! AS-LONG-AS-COLOR-STAYS, I-WILL-ATTACK-SeeD-WITH-MAGIC!"

"The orbs!" Quistis exclaimed, starting toward one of them.

"No kidding!" Seifer retorted, charging at the other.

Quistis lashed out with her whip, striking the orb, and there was a flash at the point of contact; but it didn't show any damage beyond a scratch that might not have been there before. It did, however, turn from yellow back to blue. Seifer, however, was a half-second slower, and the other orb turned red. The telltale swirling lights of a magic spell were forming around the pod as his gunblade connected, also bouncing seemingly harmlessly off.

Then a bolt of lightning lashed down and caught Nida squarely in the chest. He didn't actually remember being thrown on his back, but that was where he found himself an instant later. Quistis was running over to him.

As he picked himself up, he noticed that something was happening to the pod containing NORG. Bolts of energy were running over its surface, as sparks rained from the ceiling. First one of the orbs, then the other, went black, looking like the energy had burned them straight through.

"WHAT-IS-THIS!" NORG screamed, as the huge machine shuddered its death throes. "DAMN-THOSE-SeeDs! YOU-CAN'T-DO-AS-YOU-PLEASE!" Whole sections of the thing were getting blown off. "THIS-IS-MY-GARDEN!"

Then there was a massive crack, and all the lights went out. The three SeeDs were plunged into total blackness, and now complete silence. The smell of burnt rubber, and Nida didn't want to know what else, came from NORG's direction.

Quistis produced a lantern, holding it up to observe the pod. "Completely ruined," she pronounced.

"Yeah," Nida agreed. "...That was easy."

Seifer was staring at it, motionless, the tip of his gunblade held just above the floor.

"The power lines took damage when the missiles hit," said Quistis. "It must have affected NORG's device too."

Nida nodded. "Do you think he's dead?"

"I don't know," Quistis said. "I'm not sure if—"

"Guys!"

All three of them turned at the new voice. From the direction of the lift, barely visible until he neared the lamp, came Zell. "Man, I've been looking all over for you guys!" he exclaimed. "Ever since I heard you were back!"

Quistis sighed, with look of tired relief. "It's good to see you, Zell."

"Hey, you too!" Zell replied, much more enthusiastically. "When I saw Xu, she told me about the Faculty, so I was headed for the lift. An' when I got near the lift, I saw the Faculty come runnin' out of it. I guess one of them dropped their keycard, so I figured—"

"No one cares, Chicken-Wuss!" exploded Seifer, rounding on him with so much force that everyone was visibly taken aback. Especially Zell.

"Sei..." began Quistis.

"Don't CALL ME THAT!" Zell screamed, pulling back like he was about to launch himself at Seifer. "You have any clue what I've been through here? Huh?" He gestured back towards the lift. "Showin' up here an' seeing the students at each other's throats like that? Monsters in the halls? You know what we had to do just to find someone who knew where Cid was, an' trying to get everyone to listen so we could warn them? An' then seeing the missiles —" He couldn't finish the sentence; he was shaking so much that it was hard even watching him.

If Seifer had been shocked by the outburst, it passed quickly. "So, what?" he demanded. "You want a hug? Think someone's gonna pat you on the head and say it's all okay?"

"Shut up!" Zell shouted.

Seifer didn't. "Yeah, you think you're so much better than us, don't you? What, because you were here when the missiles hit? 'Cause you're the biggest whiner whenever someone doesn't behave? Think as long as you cry loud enough, you don't have to bother making any real decisions."

"Shut up!" Zell's voice got so high that it seemed to pass outside the range of human healing. In reality, it had probably just given out on him.

"Oh, what's the matter, Zell?" Seifer pressed. "You want a break? You wanna run crying back to Matwyn?"

"I am NOT a crybaby!" Zell exclaimed, balling his fists. "Why are you always – —" His retort trailed off in midsentence, and he stood staring at Seifer for a minute. "...What did you say?" he asked, tone cracking.

Now Seifer was stunned. He stood frozen, not looking at Zell or anyone else, looking lost.

"—Stop this," Quistis said, belatedly taking the moment to step in. "Both of you. Look, I know there's a lot going on here—" She winced, immediately wishing she could take that back in exchange for less of a blindingly obvious understatement; "but this isn't getting us anywhere. We need to—"

She stopped, looking around. The lamplight reached to the walls, though the shapes weren't much more than shadow. Aside from Seifer, Zell and herself, there was nobody else around.

Unnoticed and unheeded, Nida had already gone.