'What the hell? The sun's not even up, yet!' His mind thrummed with a suddenly latent fatigue.

Zell stared at the window, puzzled how unlike him to get himself up and ready for the day, and realize it was still night? If anything, he was usued to waking up late, not early. He shook it off and stumbled into the hallway, ignoring his underdressed attire.

"Hey Quistis!" He yelled and went runing down the hall to catch up with the blond he had just spotted, drifting down the corridor. "Why are you up this early?" he looked at the clock on the wall, 'It's two-twenty seven!'

The woman sighed heavily and removed her glasses momentarily to clean them with the hem of her rivited pink top. She made no move to respond, she didn't look at him, much less even acknowledge his presence. She simply kept walking.

"Quistis?" he looked at her, "Hello? Quistis?"

She appeared not to have see him. She continued to walk.

Zell ran ahead and stood in front of her, she would have to see him now. She continued to walk and ran into him. She stepped back puzzled. She poked him and withdrew her hand.

"What the...?" she stared at Zell, and hit him hard, Zell stumbled back but remained in front of her. 'What's going on?'

She continued to walk with a puzzled look and ran into him again. "What is that?" She poked him and stepped back, she cast a brief scan on Zell, scowling when nothing appeared. "What? I'm running into air? This doesn't make any sense!"

Zell saw Squall coming up behind her, "Yo, Squall!"

The silent SeeD slowed his steps slightly as he approached, "Who are you talking to?"

Quistis glanced up at him and pointed to the shorter blond boy beside her, "It's like some sort of forcefield has suddenly appeared in the middle of the hallway. I can't walk through." She stared at the spot in which Zell stood in an unfocused manner, "Some people can be so immature."

Squall cautiously unsheathed his gunblade, extending the short-ranged weapon with a steady slowness. As the blade extended, the suddenly 'invisible' blond stood frozen to his spot. Just what exactly did the icy blue-eyed SeeD intend on doing with that gun blade? The invisible boy (no, not the super-hero) frowned as the tip of the blade finally reached him and poked lightly at his stomach.

Zell cursed as he felt the tip pierce a small bit of skin on his abdomen, "God damnit! Don't you see me here!?" He paused for a moment before a thought hit him and he continued, "Well, if this is some kind of game you're playing, I sure hope you're having fun. 'Cause I'm not."

Squall stepped back, examining the air before him, "There's something there." He felt forward, attempting to walk around the invisable barrack and succeeded. "It must only be in one spot."

The woman rolled her eyes as if she had just thought of some bizarre reason as to why she couldn'twalk through the hallway and felt for herself to see if the barrier covered the complete hallway. Her hands brushed against the blonds chest, causing him to blush violently (though this was not presently visible) and back himself quickly up against a wall. The woman stepped back as the "forcefield" seemed to mysteriously have disappeared, and shrugged, walking on past Zell.

She continued to speak to the stoic man behind her, "Why are you up this late? Or should I say early?"

Zell watched them continue down the hall in idle chit-chat. Well, Quistis, at least, was conversing in the 'idle chit-chat', Squall just sort of walked. He glanced down at his stomach, consciouslly rubbing the spot where Squall's gunblade had poked him, "Damnit. That bastard cut me."

He frowned at the small red stain in his shirt.

Zell ran to Selphie's dorm room and knocked. "Selphie!?"

She came to the door and looked out. "Who's there?"

Zell looked straight at her face, "It's me- Zell!"

Selphie stared outside of the dorm room and shrugged, walking back inside, yawning.

Zell stopped dead, "Why are they playing this game on me?" He got an idea. 'I'll go to the training center, if none of the monsters see me, then it's a serious problem, if they do, then there playing some kind of cruel game!'

He walked through the complex hallways to the training center. He began to wonder around looking for a fight. He passed Grats, and even a T-Rexaur, yet none of them noticed him. He had thrown a punch at a Grat a while back the Grat had gotten thrown back but it didn't attack, it couldn't find him.

What's happening?

The training center was unusually empty, no one was even in the secret area. Then he heard it.

Agony pierced the air in a obviously feminine pitch (high soprano, probably), in the form of a scream. It ricocheted through the large Training area, echoing and rebounding off of the walls in a way that almost defied physics. It was as if the trees and underbrush refused to absorb the sound, as was in their usual nature. Instead, the volume rose to soaring heights, surpassing the highest of decibals in a way so loud and clear that one might have feared it to gain a frequency beyond all possible human hearing if it were to rise any more.

Zell quickly covered his ears, vainly attempting to block out the noise, yet his hands did nothing to muffle the frightening volume of the sound. He was meant to hear this sound, and follow it. Though, how does one so easily follow a sound when it's rebounding at such a rate?

There was a frightening fact about the unnatural sound that came to the blond as he stood there, trying in earnest to block out the painful noise. The sound was not coming from the training centre, but more through his own head. It was as if someone had dialed an previously non-existant phone-line into his cerebellum and decided to scream violently through the other end, directly into his very existance.

His head was pounding as if it were ready to explode, yet the noise persisted.

He could feel the very veins and arteries transporting his life-fluid vibrating in a way beyond what one could define as 'real'.

His eyes were watering in frustration as he felt the sound rebound through his body.

Without understanding or compliance, his legs began to move themselves, his eyes, though blurry, searching in anticipation for exactly where his longer limbs were taking him. It didn't take him long until he found her. Only then did the sound finally stop, and for the few moments that followed, as he saw her, there was no sound at all.

His mind was simply to tired to receive any sound frequencies. Silence was much needed.

Quistis had been struck across her right arm, forming a large gash from the middle of her upper arm straight down, and disappearing just a few centimetres above her wrist. The crimson liquid beneath her skin's surface was flowing out quickly, tainting the visible skin on her pale arm. Her normally pinkish attire was slightly singed towards the edges and she looked as though she had just emerged from a rather violent quarrel with the Ifrit.

Not far from her tattered being stood a cloaked figure, his figures vieled by garbs of dingy sort of jade. The surrounding air rattled, hissing slightly into the ears of those present as the figure drew in his magic. An ensignia seemed to spark through the air, formed by nothing but a vibration of hydrogen molecules and an odd pattern forming to the low hissing sound that rattled so deeply into his ears.

Zell knew what this thing was preparing to do. A gathered power attack. A sort of flurry of spells all cast in consecutive order from weakest to most powerful. It was a rather unimportant foreign technique that SeeDs didn't bother themselves with using, as it drained so much energy from a user. Such an action at the moment would assuredly destroy the already badly beated ex-Instructor. Such a feat as these foreign, more ceremonial, attacks were deigned unworthy by the creators of SeeD.

Not bothering to think, the blond SeeD cast a simple firaga on the figure; he was angled diagonally at the back of the creature, with an advantage of not being seen.

The being swirled around, feeling the ball contact his shield, and sent it on a rebound backwards towards its creator.

Zell jumped out of the way just in time, the mass of fire hit the ground where he had just been standing.

Zell ran at the figure and punched it hard where it's abdomen should be, and jumped back. He flexed his fingers. Great, he had forgotten his gloves.

The figure looked around, "What is this? How come I can't see you?!"

The voice seemed slightly familiar, yet Zell couldn't Identify it. "I'm right here!" he yelled.

The figure continued to look around. Quistis started to reach for her chain whip with the rest of her energy. The figure quickly saw her and cast an Ultima on her.

Zell's eyes widened, "NO!!!"

Quistis's hand dropped into the dust and her head lulled to the side. The impact of the spell had taken her life.

The figure disappeared.

Zell looked around frantically, "WHAT!?!?!? NO!!!" He searched his magic stock, he had no cures or curagas. He stared in disbelief as Quistis lay dead against the rock. He could do nothing about it. Nothing.

He turned to where the cloaked figure had been standing. He stood there no longer, but something else did. Zell slowly approached it, 'A gunblade... Squall's gunblade?'

Everything went black. Seifer again swung his blade, horizontal this time at Squall's stomach. Squall blocked the hit with his gunblade in time. Seifer struck again at his opponent's arm, lightly seering it with it's speed.

Squall was to shocked at who was fighting him, to do anymore than try to stop him. As Seifer swung at his neck this time, he finally decided to stop thinking and just fight blindly.

Squall ducked as the gunblade went over his head, he swung at Seifer's left leg hitting it, just as Seifer decided to move. Good move for Seifer, or he would have lost a leg.

Squall was thrown back as Seifer cast Blizzara, and felt the hit, hard. He quickly cast Fira one Seifer and jumped up. Squall ran at Seifer, gunblade pointed twords him, in right hand. Ready to reflect any sudden magic he held is other hand slightly infront of him, also to keep his run straight. Seifer smiled and cast Fira, Squall feel back trying to see, 'Oh no... I've seen this battle before... This has gotta end... He's supposed to be dead!'

Squall jumped up and held his gunblade out defensively, "You're not Seifer!" He narrowed his eyes on his oponent.

Seifer smiled, "Then explain to me, if I look like Seifer, if I sound like Seifer, if I say I am who I say I am..." He paused to show an even wilder smile, "Doesn't that mean I'm Seifer?"

Squall kept his postition and clenched his teeth, tightening his grip on his gunblade, "Who are you?"

Seifer beared his teeth in anger just before his body drowned into a bright red light. Squall had to close his eyes for a moment, when he reopened them, his look-a-like stood there. His gunblade had turned into a sharp katana.

"I am Yumenegau." He smiled darkly, "Your strength is very great, you're one of the best SeeDs any of the gardens have to offer. Heh, that is why I must destroy you."