Chapter 1

In all of Balamb Garden, there was one place that was quiet. That one place was free to the two people within it. On this Balcony, Squall took Rinoa into his arms and kissed her. Both of them thought the same thing at the same time. Now I am truly happy.

Outside of the balcony Irvine stood with a camera. The little light signaling battery failure blinked once, twice, three times, then shut off. The batteries went dead, just before Squall kissed Rinoa.
"Damnit! The batteries went out. The man finally decides to kiss her and the #%@$-ing batteries go out!" Irvine was in a bad mood all of a sudden. "Sephy! Will you please give me my hat now? Please?"
"Why do you want your hat back? I think it looks nice on me. Don't you?"
"Sephy, Anything looks nice on you. You should know that." Selphie started giggling. "But please give me my hat back." Irvine started to sound a little exasperated.
"Aww! Fine. Here, take it back." Selphie took off the hat, which was almost too big for her anyways. Trying not to crumple the brim, she tossed it back to Irvine. He caught it deftly, and put it back on his head.
Sliding his fingers along the brim to get it straight, he said, "Thanks Sephy. Come here yourself."
"Selphie walked over, curious as to what had gotten into him. As she got close, Irvine pulled her up and slid into a long passionate kiss. They didn't even notice as Quistis brushed past them on her way to the balcony.

Quistis coughed politely. Squall turned towards the sound, and his redden.
"Uhh. Hello Quistis." It was the only thing he could think of to say. Rinoa on the other hand had plenty of words floating around in her mind.
"How dare you interrupt our privacy! We're out here to be alone together, which we haven't had much chance for in the past few weeks. Now caring about no one but yourself, you come out here to-"
"Let here talk Rinoa. Quistis wouldn't interrupt us unless she had something of vital importance to tell us." He looked up at Quistis. "I'm assuming that you have something to tell us anyways."
"Well, Cid wants to talk to us, just the six that fought Ultimecia. He has news that concerns all of us, especially you Rinoa. I don't know what he wants to tell us, but he told us to bring our weapons. Selphie and Irvine were a little busy right now, and Zell's already on his way. You finish what your doing here, then head up to the bridge. Goodbye" Quistis walked away, and Squall heard Selphie starting to yell at Quistis in the background.
We'll leave, thought Squall. But let's finish what we were doing first. With that, he and Rinoa embraced and kissed.


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Later, on the bridge, Squall, Zell, Selphie, Irvine, Quistis, and Rinoa, in that order, stood awaiting the arrival of the headmaster Cid.
The head master entered the room and the five SeeDs came to attention. Rinoa, not knowing what to do, tried to imitate them. All at once, the SeeDs saluted. Rinoa not knowing the proper way to salute, ended up with her arm in the wrong position.
The headmaster spoke. �Firstly, I would like to congratulate all of you. Now, I would like to tell you what I called you here for. Squall, Zell, Quistis, Selphie, Irvine, I am promoting you to the position of SeeD commanders.�
�You five will be in charge of all SeeDs in Balamb , Trabia, Galbadia, and when it is finished, Esthar Garden.  You have complete control over who gets sent out on what mission, and other stuff like that. You will be required to judge who will become a SeeD after exams. Fortunately, there are five of you, so you should have no need of an advisor like the headmasters will. Unfortunately, the headmasters still can tell you what to do, as they are still in charge of the gardens, you are only in charge of the SeeDs.�
�Rinoa, for your help in defeating Ultimecia, I have decided to give you a chance to become a SeeD  When the SeeDs take their exam, you will go take it with them. If you become a SeeD, you will be placed with the SeeD commanders, with an equal yet different rank.�
�Now, the reason I called the six of you here was not just for that. A young man came here and asked for Squall, Zell, and Selphie, specifically.�
Rinoa couldn�t control herself. �Watts!�
Cid laughed. �Yes Rinoa. It was Watts. He came and asked for those three specifically. Then he asked about Rinoa. But keeping up relations was not the reason that he came. He came because Galbadia refuses to release Timber. He decided to come and get help from the SeeDs to prove to Galbadia that they are too difficult to keep under martial law.�
�His hope is that you three will help them again. I agreed to the assignment, because the original deal was that you would be under the Forest Owl�s service until Timber was free from Galbadia.� Cid smiled.
I am assigning you five to help Rinoa. I want you to prove to them that Timber should be left alone. Irvine, I have a special task for you. As our sniper, you must take out any Galbadian officials that are in Timber. Watts requested this now because in one week the new president is traveling through Galbadia. It was his order that Timber be kept under martial law. The resistance groups, he said, were to be stopped once and for all.�
�You leave in the morning for Timber. I suggest that you train with each other. You are dismissed.�
The six SeeDs left the room. They broke into pairs and left to train.


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Squall and Zell entered the training grounds. Zell wore his Ergheiz gloves, and Squall pulled the glowing Lionheart out of its sheath. The two of them took there fighting stances and attacked each other.
Squall swung low towards Zell, who jumped over the blade. He punched at Squall, and was surprised by how fast Squall brought his Gunblade up to block. His fist slammed into the hard metal, and the shock traveled through his arm.
�Damnit! It�s like hitting an armored shell!� Zell bounced backwards, to avoid Squall�s next attack. Blow after blow rained in on Zell. Squall, seeing his attacks miss everytime, thrusted forward.
Zell thought quickly. Opening his hands up, he thrust the palms in toward each other, stopping the blade inches from his chest. Still holding on to the blade, he swung a roundhouse kick up towards Squall head. Dropping the gunblade Squall moved backwards. Zell flew forwards on his face, as he was using the gunblade for support, and had not anticipated in Squall, dropping his weapon. The gunblade flew from his hands as he broke the fall.
Squall ran forward and grabbed the hilt of the Lionheart before it hit the ground. In one smooth move he caught the gunblade, and slashed at Zell, who rolled out of the way. Zell jumped to his feet and kicked out at Squall, who blocked it with his weapon. Zell jumped backwards instinctively and felt the whoosh of air as the Lionheart sliced through his shirt, barely missing skin.
Zell ran forward and slapped aside the gunblade as he rammed into Squall. As he collided, Squall turned and punched him in the stomach. The force of the blow pushed him backwards, yet had not enough force to render him unconscious.
In a blur, Squall jumped up, and slashed upward Zell before he could move. The blow caught Zell in the stomach. He pulled back on the attack just before it hit, causing a shallow cut instead of the death wound that many other people would have received.
Zell stumbled back, grabbing his stomach. Blood seeped through his fingers. He fell backwards in shock. �Aaagh! Damnit man, that really hurts. I felt that plain as day. C�mon, help me to the infirmary so I can get fixed up by Dr. Kadowaki.� Zell coughed and blood came out. That was one strong hit there man. Nice shot.�

Later in the infirmary, Zell was bandaged up, and had had some cure spells applied to him as the punch Squall had given him had caused some internal bleeding. Zell was feeling better, but He couldn�t figure out how Squall had gotten the better of him. Zell had thrown himself at Squall, getting punched in the process. Then, Squall had attacked super fast.
As Zell thought that over, he realized that he had only ever seen people move that fast twice. The first was when Squall fought Seifer for the last time, in order to save Rinoa. The second time was when he was fighting to save the entire world for time-compression at the hands of Ultimecia.
Zell recognized the sudden burst of speed as accompanied with a tremendous power release that Squall called the Lionheart. The power of this attack was so great that Ultimecia herself could not block the power that Squall unleashed through his blade, the Lionheart.
Ultimecia was obliterated according to what they had seen. Squall had dealt the killing blow, and then all had been white. Squall returned from the trip looking thoughtful, and very, very afraid.
Squall had lost all, or so he seemed to think. Then, when he had given up on life, one person, Rinoa, had come along and helped him. She found him in the Kashkibald Desert, where he told her what happened. They came back with a secret. Nobody knew what that secret was, for they swore not to tell anybody.
Zell, however, had his own ideas about what happened. He realized that Ultimecia could not have died, for Sorceresses could not die without passing on her powers. If a sorceress died without passing on her powers, theoretically the power of the sorceress would be destroyed in the entire world. In effect that would mean that Ultimecia would have been the last sorceress on the planet.
However currently there are two Sorceresses, Rinoa, and who ever Adel passed her powers on to. Adel had survived the battle, and Zell and the others watched her leave. Adel had to eventually pass her powers on to someone. Zell had heard rumors one day while riding on his T-board that Adel had been seen in Galbadia city, then later in Timber, where she died. Somewhere along the way she passed on her powers on to somebody.
History however, has proved that only one sorceress has ever existed at one time. It all started with one of the gods granting the people of her empire a portion of her power. That empire was Centra.
When the lunar cry came, one survivor emerged from the wreckage. This person was Ethin, the first Sorceress. When she died, she passed over the power to Shinage, the second sorceress. From then on, the sorceresses would pass on the power so as to keep it alive. If a sorceress died without passing on the power, rumor had it that the goddess would not let that person�s soul rest in peace. However, Shinage had done a lot to further the world and was considered a great hero.
Every sorceress would try to pass her powers on to another worthy candidate. The first evil sorceress was Odoni. She created the kingdom of Galbadia. She selected the leader for the new kingdom for after she died. Though she was evil she knew that that was just her preference. And though she was evil, the nation of Galbadia was a pure and well-meaning kingdom. It had continued to be so until Brezin Deling, Vinzer Deling�s grandfather, turned Galbadia into a warring nation, and sought to control the entire known world. From then on, until Adel predecessor, sorceresses were generally good people. They had the needs of the people in their minds. But now there were two sorceresses: Rinoa and the other one.
All of this Zell did not know. However, he realized that now there were two, before there was one. Piecing two and two together, he realized that Ultimecia must have died in the past and given her powers to somebody. Oh well, he thought. What�s done is done. No reason to worry about the past. Ultimecia is dead, and that was our mission. There shouldn�t be any trouble with two sorceresses. Zell lay back, relaxed, and waited for Squall to come and get him for the mission.