The Zodiac War

By Blade

Chapter 31: The Final Duel

The two faced each other a few paces apart, gunblades drawn in their own styles. Seifer's grin turned into a ferocious smirk as he spoke, "So, what's the wager on who wins?"

Squall smirked back, "Why a wager?"

"Well, now that I'm a brave and you're a big GF, how do I know I'll win this fight? And what do I get besides getting junctioned to you're annoying butt?"

Squall sighed knowing all too well what he was going to hear next.

"You stole my dream, Squall, you know that!" Seifer yelled.

Squall knew this was also a feint. Seifer knew about what happens to a knight and a sorceress when they bond. It would be unlike Seifer to simply say 'yes'.

Seifer read Squall's silence as an uncertain answer. "The least you can do is give me your dream....hell....I need some form of aspiration. So....I'll ask again.....what's the wager?"

"Hmmmm......you beat me....you get Lionheart and my dream.....to become the best member of SeeD in history. And we leave..."

Seifer knew that was a lie. Rinoa wouldn't let Squall just walk away from aiding the braves in the War. Plus the fact that SeeD had no purpose now that there was no more sorceress in existence.  Besides, that wasn't what Seifer wanted either.

"What makes you so sure I'll win? What do you get if you win?"

The ball was in Squall's court now. What did they want? All he wanted was to be with Rinoa, alone. But he knew they needed a strong warrior to become a powerful GF, someone to look after them. He didn't like it that Seifer was the greatest choice, but what other option was there? He knew GFs can't junction to people outside this era. They had to take other forms, like magicite or materia or crystals, something Griever just couldn't do immediately.

"We junction to you, whether you like it or not, and we fight with you in the Zodiac War."

"Ha! That's it!? That's all you want, huh? Okay Squall, you're on!"

The two made a ready stance and charged, gunblades high, a large clash sounded as the two blades glided and scraped edge to edge. Seifer was the first to break off the lock, he swept his foot out to trip Squall who jumped to counter.

"The shopkeep was right....we did need to watch out for the black-clad man with the gunblade...." Sephiroth observed.

Squall swung the butt of his gunblade, aiming for Seifer's head, who ducked and rammed Squall in the chest. The hit seemed to knock the wind out of Squall, but he didn't appear affected by it, and rolled to the side, gunblade ready.

Not a moment too soon as a wild gunblade swipe was headed straight at his face. A loud clang kept his senses in check as he parried the blow into an offensive position. His hands moved in a quick blur to disable and knock Seifer's gunblade out of his hand, but Seifer pulled back the attack and gave an overhead strike.

Squall raised both ends of his blade to block the attack, and when it struck, Squall used the weight of the blow to flip Seifer onto the ground, pulling him down along with the strike.

Rolling back onto his feet, Squall charged down at Seifer, who at this point drew his Hyperion upward to fend off the blow.

Another clash sounded at the two pieces of steel ground at each other's edges.

Using the strength in his legs, Seifer pushed Squall off of him and got back on his feet. Then with a quick pirouette Seifer performed his Demon Slice attack at Squall.

The cut caught Squall off-guard, although his blade blocked most of the damage, it had knocked him back to the ground again.

"Get up!" Seifer yelled.

Squall's eyes narrowed, and fell into a state of combat-awareness. Quickly, in a full kip Squall leapt to his feet, gunblade still at the ready.

Suddenly Seifer lowered his gunblade and beckoned Squall.

This was all it took. Squall, now fully offensive, charged with his gunblade and jumped.

The blades clashed.....and shattered.

Squall and Seifer looked at each other, dumbfounded and shocked at what had just happened. Both still clung to their hilts, now only just that, staring at a pile of steel shards.

"Hmph.....draw....." Seifer said with contempt.

"....Yeah....." Squall replied.

"So....I guess the bet's off then.....no wager...." Squall resigned.

"Uh-uh, puberty-boy....you don't get off that easy."

Squall quietly groaned. He knew what was coming next.

Seifer turned and looked at Squall with a half-smirk, half-snarl, not quite sure he liked his outcome either.

".....Hmph...fine...you can junction to me....but I still get your dream....and as for you're gunblade.....heh..." he laughed.

Suddenly Rinoa, transposed herself out of Squall and looked at the broken gunblade pieces.

"If you're going to be a Brave, Seifer, you need a weapon." Rinoa tut-tutted.

"....Duh..." Seifer snorted.

Rinoa then raised her arms high and the mess that was the gunblades and the hilts entered a large orb of light.

"Well, what are you waiting for, dummy, grab it!" Rinoa said to Seifer.

Seifer grasped what he thought looked like a hilt and pulled out a strange looking gunblade. It looked somewhat like the Lionheart, but with a semi-automatic magnum attached to it.

"Hmm....this isn't my gunblade...!" Seifer complained.

"No...it's both yours and Squall's. He doesn't need his anymore, but you do, to fight. This gunblade is called Griever's Blade, it's stronger than either Lionheart or Hyperion, and it's a lot more powerful."

"Okay....I'm gonna have fun with this thing!" he grinned connively.

Squall turned to Rinoa and spoke, "We'd better junction to him before he goes on a monster killing spree!"

Chapter 32: Scars Healed

The couple embraced and became a large aura of blue light. Afterward the giant lion face of griever appeared in front of Seifer. He held out his hand, and the mighty GF disappeared within his body.

The party stared in amazement along with Laguna as to the events that just happened. Not only did they find out Squall and Rinoa were halves of a GF, but that Seifer was a Zodiac Brave. There were now 11 Braves and a Paladin.

"Well....what the hell are we standing around here for, let's get to fighting and finding the other Braves!!!" Seifer yelled.

Zidane was the first to speak, "Shut the hell up! You loudmouth!"

Delita and Ramza sighed in unison as the two got into a shouting match, deafening most of the lab. Cloud and Sephiroth had a really long laugh at the two, while all four girls were trying to pull them apart.

The next day they boarded the Ragnarok to find the next Time Gate. Being the only qualified pilots, Selphie and Irvine took the helm.

"So you guys are off to save the world, I wanna go tooooo!" Selphie whined.

"Sorry, Sephie, but only braves can do the time jump." Irvine said.

"I'll be sure to come back and bug you guys," Seifer grinned.

Irvine growled in response.

Laguna walked up to the bridge to see how the braves were doing. But surprisingly, only the pilots and Seifer were there.

Another surprise, Seifer spoke to Laguna.

"....Hmph......your son wants to talk to you.."

Laguna blinked, "Come again?"

"I said he wants to talk to you.....here I'll communicate it to you."

Seifer touched Laguna's shoulder and a flash of images flooded Laguna's mind, something he never thought he'd see in his lifetime. Then two images.

"Squall....Rinoa?"

"Yes."

"We......wanted to thank you for your help in organizing the protection of Esthar....and...." Rinoa nudged Squall.

"Erm......I....forgive you.......for leaving.........Sis and me...."

"Thank you Squall." Laguna wanted to talk to his son and fill all the gaps of his life where he wasn't there.

Suddenly an image of Squall as a little boy flashed in Laguna's mind.

"Don't cry, daddy, everything's gonna be okay."

"Oh.......my...s-son......"

Every pore of Laguna wanted to embrace his son, he could almost feel the little shirt wet with tears of joy. The little arms wrapped around his neck. His boy's head resting on his shoulder, all Laguna could do was cry.

Then another image, the little boy turned into a man, with a leather jacket with feather lining, black gloves and brown bangs, Laguna knew so well.

He looked into the face of his son, who for the first time since he had ever known him..

...smiled.

The two images of Squall and Rinoa returned, Squall once again had a blank face chiseled on, but the eyes were different, kind now, not hard.

"We'll come back to you, don't worry."

"I know, I won't." Laguna smiled, "I believe in you."

The images faded and Laguna was again standing facing Seifer, unaware of what just happened, took his hand off Laguna's shoulder.

"I hope what he had to say was important, I'm not a telephone service."

"Believe me......it was." Laguna could barely hold back a smile.

Chapter 33: Prelude to Terror

The next Time Gate turned out to be deep inside the crater known as the Deep Sea Research Center. Despite Laguna's warnings of unknown monsters, there didn't seem to be much of a threat down there.

"From what Squall told me when he visited this place, the ruins at the bottom sea-level floor formed a dial with several markings. He counted 11 and a pedestal in the middle." Laguna said.

"That's our gate! C'mon people, let's move out!" Ramza said.

The party marched down the set of stairs that led deeper into the bowels of the center. The place looked like a giant aquarium compared to other places they had been to before.

The metallic walls sprawled out and turned into massive colosseum ruins.

"Who would've thought that such a place existed under water?" Alma marveled at the area, but Delita was silent.

"What's bugging you?" she asked in an apparent surprise to him.

"I'm having a bad feeling about this place, the glyphs on the walls, the ancient pillars, I really don't like this place." Almost as abruptly as she had asked him he stepped in front of her and drew his sword.

"Keep an eye out, I'll guard your frontside." The sternness was there, but this was unlike Delita, being so protective, especially considering how he hadn't shown any particular feelings for her previously, that is, before Esthar.

Aeris was clutching her staff nervously when a sharp tap on her shoulder made her jump. Her spin met the gaze of a familiar Mako-eyed warrior.

"That's not funny! I should clobber you!" she yelled.

"Just testing your reflexes, besides we all need to be cautious around here." He smiled at her and walked further down. Growling at him in disgust she disdainfully marched down the spiraled staircase.

Further in the back of the procession, Beowulf was marching in stride with Reis, yet neither had spoken for some time, then Reis spoke up.

"What will you do....when the war is over?"

"Hmmm?....Oh, I suppose I'll go back to being a bounty hunter, I've got no reason to be a temple knight anymore, not that I ever really wanted to be one....I only wanted to be...with you."

"Hmmm......that's nice, but what if they need you?"

"I've no other priorities to attend to, and bounty hunting is always something I've enjoyed, if not for the money, then the sport of it."

"You didn't answer my question, what if they need you?" she pointed at the rest of the party.

"I guess I'll fight for God then, but only if they need me."

"Only if they need us." She finished, satisfied.

Backing the rear, Sephiroth and Seifer were silent for the most part, despite Seifer's shiftiness.

"Heh, to think all this time the dangerous gunbladesman wasn't a man in black, but a man in grey, I find that amusing."

Seifer shot a glare at the silver-haired warrior and asked.

"What's that supposed to mean? You talking about me or Squall?"

"Or maybe he still is dangerous, but let you win because you were a brave."

"Hey! You wanna test that theory on me or something? Cause I'm more than ready to take on your cloak-and-dagger ass!"

"Ha ha ha, so quick to get angry, don't you ever trust in your own reputation, even when others are famous?"

"Maybe I am, so what? I've got my own reputation. What of it! Hey!"

Sephiroth simply quickened his pace leaving Seifer behind asking questions.

"Reputations are important, but they don't mean anything unless you can back them up in a battle, kid, you better not hinder us." Sephiroth said under his breath.

As the party marched further down the sets of spiraled staircases, and the depths got darker and darker, they could only think of their homes, their lives, and getting back to them.

They had a long fight ahead of them, and for dreams like theirs to be fulfilled, 13 warriors had to be found, and a fallen angel had to be destroyed.

Then again, what of their friendships? Most would go their separate ways, in their own eras. Cloud worried the most about Aeris; he didn't want to lose her again. She was as part of his life as he was hers. He would exist in another time if he had to just to be with her. And no one, not even God himself would stop him.

The lone warriors, they had their dreams too, Agrias only wished to follow God, but this only seemed to fill part of a hole in her life. When all the fights were over, where would she go?

Sephiroth was simply drawn from one battlefield to another, carrying his Masamune as if it kept him from being lonely. But everyone could see, it was all he had left of whatever home he came from. Seifer was a lost cause, his dreams had dissipated when Squall and Rinoa became a GF, but he had no regrets.  The only dream he had left was to slay a demon.

The party finally reached the bottom and found a large stone gate etched with a language ancient, but still readable.

"Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here."

"Why does that sound like I've read that somewhere?" Ramza asked.

"Who knows, but let's be cautious anyway." Delita seemed in a hurry to get this over with, and with the help of the other men in the party, pulled back the large doors.

Inside, there was a massive black creature, with an immense sword and black wings.

"I AM THE HERETIC OMEGA, I AM THE SOLE GUARDIAN OF THE GATE OF TIME IN THIS ERA, IN ORDER FOR ANY TO PROCEED, THEY MUST FACE AND DEFEAT ME IN MORTAL COMBAT."

"We accept your challenge Omega! My sword will cleave you in two!" Delita's words were a boast, but they worked.

The men engaged the monster directly in battle, slicing and cleaving with their large swords. Oddly though, Sephiroth's Masamune which had killed nearly everything it touched in one swipe was very weak in this battle.

"Ah-ha! A death-based beast! Finally! A challenge!" Sephiroth had a wild look in his eye as he leapt high in the air and cut a swath of black blood into the monster's hide.

The beast groaned and knocked him off with the butt of its hilt, sending Sephiroth sprawling to the floor. Cloud's fury instantly filled to maximum as he formed his Omnislash stance, his sword gleaming in the darkness.

He charged and executed a repetitive combination of 20 sword cuts to the beast, doing incredible damage. But a massive Solar Beam Blast knocked the Ex-Soldier unconscious.

Beowulf pointed his sword at the beast and cast a Meltdown on the monster.

"That should reduce your vitality!" But the monster simply cast Haste and Swiped at Beowulf cutting away at his defenses.

Alma's hands intensified with a massive light. "Being of Darkness, be Illuminated, Holy!"

This was followed up by Agrias, "Sword of Light touch and destroy the minds of Evil, Holy Explosion!"

The two massive beams of light appeared to injure the beast, but it still moved about, and at an incredibly fast rate at that.

Ramza and Delita glanced at each other and nodded, the first time they actually fought in tandem in years.

"Ready?"

"No better time than now!"

"Chaos Blade, strike with Ultima!" A massive green blast erupted from Ramza's sword and hit the beast, stunning it, setting Delita up for the main attack.

"Legend, I drive thee into the heart of evil! Power Break!"

The monster roared in pain, the remaining power of the beast could be seen draining from it. But it still had its stamina.

Seifer had seen enough, now he wanted a piece of the action. His gunblade raised high he proclaimed, "Blasting Zone!" and a large beam launched from the gunblade tearing and searing the flesh of the beast, but it still stood.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN BEST ME WITH YOUR LIMIT BREAKS? VERY SOON I SHALL REVEAL MY OWN!"

"We have to destroy this thing quickly!" Beowulf yelled to Reis, who instinctively jumped high out of view. Ready to pounce with her large Dragoon Lance.

Omega struck.

"YOU SHALL SUFFER FOR THE PAIN YOU'VE GIVEN ME! TERRA BREAK!!!!!"

The monster leapt at a staggering height, causing the space and physical plane the braves were standing on to shatter, which caused them to have the sensation they were floating in space. The monster channeled whatever power it had left in its dark hands and fired it upon its intended targets. The pain was not pain that they felt, but pure darkness. Darkness that enveloped them and tore their lives to pieces.

"I AM THE LAST.....I WAS, I AM, AND I WILL ALWAYS BE."

"DID YOU FORGET TO LOOK UP?"

"EH?"

Sure enough Reis had surprised the beast with a leap driving the spear deep into its skull.

Black blood erupted from what seemed every pore of itself. The strike paid it's toll though as a black electricity seemed to travel it's way up Reis's spear into both her arms and ribs. The pain was unbearable, but she refused to let go of her spear.

In an eruption of black putrid light, the beast writhed and rolled about in confusion, then dissipated into a black smog leaving Reis panting on her knees, in the darkness....

In half-wheezed gasps she called out every party member's name.

No answer.

She crawled towards the form of what looked like Beowulf..

It was. But, he was dead; the cut from Omega had gutted him.

Tears came falling like rain from her face, yet she uttered no words nor cried out.

Her knight was gone.

Using an unknown strength, and leaning on her spear, she trudged over to every body. No one had survived.

And she didn't have any Phoenix Downs.

Chapter 34: Sole Survivor

The battle had made her exhausted and for the world she didn't have any way of reviving her party.

"No...so close....we can't lose like this!"

Reis stood upon her feet, and in an almost trance-like state, marched upward to the surface. There was no way of telling how long it took for her to get back up, she didn't have any monsters to deal with, and for that she was grateful. The stairs and airlocks were progressively harder and harder to open, the pain and fatigue reaching her.

Standing like a withered root, one breeze could have blown her over. She reached the surface, and sunlight hit her eyes, the waves lapped against the metallic platform designed for landing the Ragnarok.

In one desperate plea for help she cried out.

Then she collapsed, unconscious.

When her eyes opened, she saw the raven-haired face of Laguna peering down at her.

"Ph--phoen--......." the words wouldn't come.

"Shhhh.....don't struggle, you've been out for some time....what happened?"

"Omega.......f-fought.....barely...survived..."

"Where are the braves?"

She shook her head, and a grim face appeared on Laguna, he looked at the medic and said, "We need to get down there and revive those braves. This is definitely not good. Reis, can you tell me what level they were on in the Center?"

"Lowest...." she pointed downward to indicate the bottom level.

"Bottom level of the Research Center....Medic, send a rescue squad down there to retrieve the bodies, make sure they're in top condition, use caution for any encounters, junction Diablos if you have to, but get those Braves!"

Reis looked up at Laguna in surprise, he had been a very peaceful and generous man for the time she'd known him, but now it seemed like he was as strong as Beowulf.

"I guess...he cares about us."

Laguna interrupted her thoughts, "Please rest, I need to keep in contact with my men."

"Yes...."

As Laguna left the room, Reis had time to her thoughts, she considered herself a warrior, right? Yet one attack from a great monster had nearly killed her, she looked at the bandages wrapped around her waist and arms, still very severe wounds, but healing well.

Images of her friends started to appear, and she began having thoughts of each. "Ramza was a leader to all of us, I really didn't expect to be with him this long....what was it? Five years, and still we were allies. I even agreed to go along with Delita as soon as he joined us, I didn't expect him to humble himself like he's done, for the cause of a war he really didn't originally partake in. Alma's been like a sister to me, staying strong even when in a battle situation, I respect her for that. Agrias: she has been my greatest comrade-in-arms since the whole Zodiac incident happened. She helped tremendously in rescuing me in my Dragon form, and getting the stone to change me back into my human form. Aeris and Cloud, although newcomers have shown me how to love better, instead of being just simply a Dragoon, I've learned to be a woman as well. Zidane and Garnet have really taught me how to enjoy life too, I don't think I could think of them any other way. Sephiroth, although he doesn't say much shows me what nobility should be, I remember my life as a simple farm girl, how I wished to become like those of respectability, not the snobs I've had to deal with, but a truly chivalrous person. And Seifer, well, from what I've seen of him, he has dreams and goals, I should follow my own."

"And Beowulf....he is so kind to me, I could never ask for a greater friend or companion, even before the battle with Omega he kept between me and the monster. Always protecting me, even when I didn't need protection, he loves me I know this is true, but there's something more...he's always been there for me, well, I think I shall do the same for him in return, I will always be there for him. I will save my friends."

As the night drifted by, no signs of Laguna returning worried Reis, so she turned on her feet and attempted standing up, somewhat painfully at first. A doctor walked in and scolded her for trying to leave in such an injured state.

"Give me......AN ELIXIR!" She yelled grabbing her spear.

The doctor broke out in a cold sweat and ran for the door.

"Y-yes ma'am!"

Reis found herself leaning on her spear for support, when the nervous doctor came back in the room for what she had asked for.

"B-but your ribs may be broken, and they would need proper setting!"

"Shut up and give me the juice!" she snapped, grabbing the bottle and ripping the bandages off her wound which sort of stung, but pouring the fluid over the gaping hole sealed up any sort of wound there.

"I'm leaving now....don't even think of trying to follow me!" she yelled.

Donning her armor was difficult at first, since the elixir had a morphinous effect on her body, numbing it for a time. Once she was dressed she ran for her room window, looking down she saw she was on the 10th floor.

"No! Don't jump!" the doctor yelped horrified.

She looked back at him in disgust and said, "I'm a Dragon Knight, this is how I get around!" Leaning back out of the window, she dove.

Spinning and landing expertly on the ground, Reis marched over to the nearest Estharian communication terminal.

"I need President Loire....ooh how I hate these things!" she banged on the controls.

A fuzzy image blurred in and out of focus on the screen,
"Skrrrrrtkk This is....Crkkkkklllll.....Laguna, Reis, you're out of the........fazzzzzt......are you okay?"

"I'm fine...reception's bad though, give me a lift on the Ragnarok, I'll wait at the docking gate, also, we need to pick up a Phoenix Pinion."

"Skrrrrk......the Ragnarok? But we haven't found the Bra.....frrrrrzzzt...we can't afford to lose you, there might be more monsters down there.....skkkkkzzzt....besides, how are we going to get a Phoenix--"

"They're my friends, Laguna, I can't abandon them, I know you're trying to help, and I'm grateful, but I know exactly where they are down there. In order for us to resurrect them, we need to find a Phoenix Pinion."

"Do you know how hard....fazzzz....Pinions are to come by! We'd have to kill a Zuu and hope it just happens to have one on it, one in 255 chance!"

"Are you saying it's impossible!" she said eyes welling in near tears.

"No....I'm saying it's dangerous...." she blinked, not knowing he cared so much.

"....I'm a Dragon Knight....I can do this...."

"You're not doing this alone.....Kiros, Ward, and I are more than willing to help."

Did she hear right? Did he say he was willing to help fight Zuus just to get one lousy pinion. Apparently so, maybe this wouldn't be so difficult after all.

As Reis waited by the docking gate for the Ragnarok to land, she could only think about how faithful her friends had been to her, and how she just could not lose them, especially with the war so deadly close. They needed to be ready; she needed to be ready.

Chapter 35: Rising from the Ashes

The Ragnarok found its landing dock and floated down. Before the ship touched down, Reis had already jumped inside the cockpit and shocked the wits out of Laguna and company.

"We find that Pinion NOW!" She pointed to the desert surrounding Esthar.

Laguna looked dumbfounded for a moment, shook his head and moved the ship in that direction, "Yes Ma'am." Kiros snickered at how 'President Loire' just got bossed by a woman.

"You say something?" she glared at Kiros.

"Ummmmm......no?" he gulped.

If Ward could talk he would have been roaring with laughter just then, Kiros privately elbowed him in the ribs.

It only took a while, but Reis's party touched down where most Zuus habituate. Looking up, she saw a flock of the giant birds circling overhead.

"They think we're carrion.....good!" she grinned evilly.

Laguna whipped out his machine gun and clutched the trigger, not out of fear, but nervousness, those Zuu were hard to kill.

Kiros unsheathed his katal and prepared to rush the lowest diving zuu, while the loud clank of Ward's harpoon trudged behind him.

Watching carefully, the party saw the diving patterns of one of the Zuu, when it began to dive low, Reis jumped.

Stomping on the creature's head, she brought the Zuu to the ground with a loud thump, but the bird just got up and began to hover.

Using his powerful arms, Ward threw the giant harpoon like a spear, slashing the giant beast. Kiros followed up with two quick slices of his katal. This left the opening Laguna needed for his machine gun; he cocked it and fired a short burst. The bullets hit home, and the Zuu fell.

"Aww, nuts, just a Phoenix Down...sorry Reis, no Pinions." Kiros muttered as he handed it to her.

"I'm not sure, but maybe, this will help me." She pulled her Sagittarius Zodiac stone out of a parcel she kept on her person, even in the hot bright sun; it glowed a cool green hue. She touched the down to the stone.

A large flash blinded her, and she collapsed.

"Oh no, Reis!" Laguna jumped to catch her.

She was unconscious.

"You summoned me?"

"Uhhhnnn....my head hurts....who are you?"

"I am she who rises from ashes, I am the embodiment of Holy Fire, and life itself."

"You....you're the Phoenix?"

"What is it you wish of me? You did use a Pinion of my Plume to summon me did you not?"

"I.....didn't have a Pinion....I only had a Phoenix Down."

"Only a Zodiac Stone could generate such power to equal the Power of my Pinions....I sense you are one of the Zodiac Braves. I also sense your grave predicament. Because of your quest and your humble honesty......I grant you my spirit. Normally I would only grant this skill to Guardian Forces, but you have the spirit of Grace under Fire within you. You are also very kind in spirit, so I also grant you the Doctor's Code."

"B-but I'm confused.....what are these things you speak of?"

The giant Phoenix fluffed itself with plumage floating everywhere. Then spoke once again.

"A Dragon Knight is a very honorable title to obtain, yet it is a very lonesome title, is it not? Your battles up to this point have been fought with a spear, alone in the sky, all you know is the power of the Wind. I give you the power of Fire. Should the need arise, you have the power to resurrect your allies who you hold most dear to you, with but a touch you can heal their every wound. That--is the true Spirit of the Phoenix, and I have granted it to you. Always remember your friends, and never forget them, even in death, because they are never really dead, are they?"

Engulfed in an incredible column of fire, the Phoenix disappeared. Reis awoke with Laguna staring down at her.

"You okay...?"

"Yes.......we should go now, I have what I was looking for..."

"But what about the Pinion?" Laguna protested.

"The Phoenix spoke with me......she granted me the power to Revive and Recover my allies." Reis held the little fire-red down in her palm, it was soft and comforting, a memento, she placed it in the pouch where she kept the Zodiac Stone, for a remembrance.

"You spoke with the Phoenix? And got two abilities?....I THOUGHT ONLY GFS COULD DO THAT!" Laguna said, shocked beyond disbelief.

"No time to explain, we really need to leave, before it's too late."

"Tch....fine...don't tell me the really cool part of the story." Laguna snorted.

"Hey..." Kiros patted him on the back, "I guess you had to have been there."

The four took off in the Ragnarok and headed Southwest toward the Research center. It only took them a few moments to land and get past the first airlock.

"Like I said, they're at the bottom level. But what I didn't tell you is that there's a way to get down there, it's like a maze of airlocks and docks."

"And how do you suppose we find our way down their Ms. Dragoon?" Laguna retorted, "by compass?"

Reis tapped her forehead; "I have a perfect memory."

Ward and Kiros shrugged, "Figures," Kiros said.

After going down several flights of steps and through a series of airlocks, Laguna was bushed. Huffing and puffing he opened the bottom room floor airlock. He would definitely need to get a map of this place.

He then stopped breathing. There they were.

Kiros and Ward turned away in silence while Laguna nearly vomited right there.

"...Ugh.... onslaught....wasn't it?" he said looking at the mutilated bodies of her comrades.

She nodded, then closed her eyes and concentrated on touching each and every Brave, as the Phoenix had said, their wounds had healed, yet they were still not alive, not yet.

Chapter 36: The Quest Continues

"Good luck, Reis," Laguna gave her a thumbs up.

"Thank you." She raised her arms in a high arc and closed her eyes and concentrated. A flame seemed to surround her then engulf her body, then in a flaring swirl, arced out across all the corpses and towards Laguna and his party.

Thinking the flame was misdirected, Laguna braced himself and prepared to be fried, but to his surprise, all he felt was a warm sensation, no burning. Then he looked across the floor, and an anagram of the Phoenix in flames that didn't burn formed across the lifeless party.

A white light shone through the darkness on the party, and, as if they had awoken from a deep sleep, one by one, they arose.

"Ooh, my head..." Delita rubbed his forehead ruefully, "One minute we were fighting Omega, then I felt like I was getting pounded, I remember the gash that thing cut me with and now.....nothing?"

"Yaaawwwwwn," Zidane smacked his lips as if getting up from a nap, "I had this really cool dream and.....you guys were all.....in it? Waitaminit! Was I dead!?"

Ramza checked his sword and sure enough, the black blood of Omega was still caked on his Chaos Blade. "We....were dead, but someone brought us back....to fight again."

"But if we fought Omega, who survived? It wasn't me...." Alma said, she had used her Auto-Life spell up already during the battle.

"Couldn't've been me, even though I had a GF," Seifer said, "Griever's not quite strong enough to take that kind of pounding.

"Not us," Cloud nodded and thumbed at Sephiroth, "we were in the thick of the fight just like Seifer."

"It couldn't have been me," Garnet said, "I ran out of Phoenix Pinions a long time ago."

Agrias only shook her head, and Aeris said simply, "Not me."

Beowulf speculated through the course of events, "During the fight with Omega, I saw Reis jump.....," he thought, "But unless Omega was weakened enough by us...she couldn't have survived all by herself?"

"I did," Reis said with a smile, "I was injured, but I managed to get back up to the surface," she continued, "I fainted, but Laguna found me, I was treated back to health, and went to look for another Phoenix Pinion, but I couldn't find one...."

"Then....how...?" Delita stammered.

"After a battle with a Zuu, we found a Phoenix Down, only good to resurrect one of you, so I touched the down to my Zodiac stone..."

Alma caught on quickly, "And the amplified powers of both the down feather and the stone were enough to summon Phoenix."

"Not only that," Reis grinned, "but the Phoenix gave me the power to heal and resurrect my allies should the need arise."

"Which it DID." Ramza concluded.

After the brief explanation of what happened, the party prepared to time jump again, during which time, Beowulf turned aside to Reis.

"You really saved us this time, Reis," he held her, "I'll always be grateful. And don't think I won't do my best to protect you either, you're more valuable to me now than ever."

Reis's eyes narrowed, "I hope it's not just cause' I can revive you, cause if it is you can forget it."

Beowulf's eyes widened, "How could you say that? You know what I mean!"

She smiled again. Beowulf knew she was testing his love. He had passed when he said, "Doesn't matter if I die, so long as you live in my heart."

Once the party had cleaned themselves up from the mess that was Omega, they set out again for the Time Gate, each warrior standing on his or her respective glyph platform, 11 symbols in all this time, with Delita standing resolute in the middle.

"Take care of Griever, Seifer, it's family to me." Laguna smiled.

Seifer smirked his now famous smirk and said, "Not without a few scratches to prove we fought though." He swung his gunblade upward in a pseudo-salute. Laguna for some reason, trusted him.

"Wherever we go next," Delita said, Legend in his hand, "I'm glad I'm going with you guys." With that he drove the silver glyph sword into the ancient anvil. Blue waves of energy flashed out, and the party was gone.

Zidane was the first to realize where they were.

Taking a step forward, he nearly took a tumble down a massive cliff into an abyss.

"..w-w-whoa..." he backed up.

Looking around, Delita saw peals of lighting, a foul greenish color, dark clouds swirling about. Chaos to say the least.

"...Where...are we?" Ramza asked.

"Something tells me we're nowhere near Ivalice anymore..." Delita said.

It seemed they were standing on the remains of a massive pillar of stone, with a crumbled spiral staircase that went down to deep darkness.

"...Somebody tell me I'm dreaming...please...this is our future?" Zidane said, frightened out of his wits.

"Do you really wish to know the truth?"

"Who's that?" Delita said, ready to behead the source of the voice.

"Welcome........to the Zero World." Said a voice, ancient and familiar behind them.

The party whirled, weapons drawn to find the ancient face of...

"Bugenhagen?" Ramza said, in shock.

"That is correct, my friends, you have perceived of this place as the future, but what future exactly this one is, I cannot be certain."

"But why are you here? We thought you were dead?" Delita said.

"I am." Foul thunder roared with those words.

Chapter 37: A Future Uncertain

The party reeled when they heard they were speaking to a dead man.

"You see," he continued, "All souls, living or dead, have been sucked into this world, I'm not sure why, but all souls now exist in this world as if they were physical. I can say this, this world is not my world."

"This world," Ramza speculated, "was created when the Lucavi created their portal from the dead world, basically transferring all the souls into their world, while taking over the living world, making their world our world, where all things are ruinous and chaotic."

"In this world," Bugenhagen explained, "I cannot die, my soul and all others are in unrest. Those long dead see the light again, even great evils killed long ago are alive once again."

"That means," Ramza said ominously, "Altima is alive and well, in our world."

"Does it also mean," Cloud dreaded these words, "That Seph--that Jenova is alive as well??"

"Yes…Jenova and her spawn, Ultimecia, Necron, and….Chaos, and other super fiends exist in this world. I have awaited your return for over 10,000 years. Each of these fiends have their own territories and humans are merely treated like rats, or flies. We are tormented here, you must free humanity from this fate of the future."

Bugenhagen began to hack and cough on the foul putrid air he had apparently breathing in for some time.

"A-are...you okay?" Delita asked as he held the elderly man in place.

Bugenhagen continued in rhasps, "First you must find the lost Zodiac Brave here, how such a cruel fate could fall upon a Brave is beyond my reckoning, I only know the Brave's symbol." He took out the Zodiac stone, "It is Capricorn, generosity, perhaps the kindest of the braves."

He began to wheeze, but continued.

"But in order for you to defeat Altima in your world, you are going to have to find the missing Brave here, that means finding and defeating the main fiends here..."

Delita looked the place over once more, feeling the darkness and remembrances of death creep back into his heart. "I...fear, not the fiends...but...those who are trapped outside the grave here. Those I betrayed and...abandoned."

"You begin with Chaos, one of the most powerful fiends, he will attack the next time you enter a time gate."

"Oh, shit." Zidane whispered.

The embodiment of Chaos had, in Zidane's time, been a forbidden name to speak of, except that the original Light Warriors who bore the four element crystals had defeated it 2,000 years prior.

"We will fight valiantly," Delita promised, "with God on our side, we can win."

The party marched down the precipice in the dark, the only light coming from the lightning and the stones.

"You seem afraid, Zidane," Beowulf asked, "who is this Chaos?"

"An old legend said he almost sucked all of us into the Zero World," Zidane shuddered, "I guess he lost his power when Altima rose to power. We almost died because of him."

"In a place like this," Beowulf said, circumspectly, "one cannot seek even death for comfort."

"That's right..." Reis thought aloud, "how do people live, when they cannot die?"

"Tortured and restless, I should think." Delita responded, "They cannot go to heaven in peace, nor hell to face pain, it is a bland monotonous existence. You exist, yet you cannot feel, you live but death escapes you."

"Not something I'd wish even on an enemy." Said a familiar voice following them.

The party turned around once again to find a weak and despondent Nanaki huddled next to a rocky wall, the cat-beast looked leprous and half-eaten, yet in a way, not dead.

"The fiends did this to me...because I can't die, and I helped you...but it doesn't matter so long as you fulfill your mission in this era."

Alma was overcome with grief, "...no..."

"We will save this world, Nanaki, this I promise." Delita said half in sympathy half in rage.

The weakened voice of Nanaki barely registered in the ears of the party, "Focus...on...getting Capricorn..."

Thunder pealed across the expanse as they trudged downhill to the mainland. Fearful, Resolute, and Determined eyes were scattered across the group. But none suspected that they would be in for the challenges of their lives.

"If...all those who were dead ended up here...does that mean we'll see dead ancestors?" Zidane asked inquisitively to Alma.

"Not exactly, at least from what I can tell," she replied, "This is, to an extent, an anti-nexus world. That means whatever was our world and the physics in it are probably warped and altered in this one. Those dead are living, but in an altered state, probably in the form of monsters or undead."

"That means we should be on our guard everyone. If you see someone familiar that may have died in the past, don't trust them, they may suck the life out of you." Ramza warned the team.

"Especially dead warriors..." Sephiroth piped up, "They'll be especially hungry for blood since that's all they can ever hope to live for in this world, death and chaos."

As they reached the bottom of the mountain, they noticed, it wasn't really a mountain at all, but a massive pillar that seemed to be what was left of the Deep Marine Trench. At one time there was ocean kilometers deep and the platform where they had arrived the sea floor, now eroded earth.

Aeris nearly doubled over in pain as Cloud caught her, "...the...the planet...'s in pain...it's dying."

Speculating what this meant, Alma took a wild guess, "Close Aeris...I see what you mean...but in a place like this...a ball of chaos and destruction. More like, the planet's undead."

Cloud looked at Alma disparagingly, "This place is hurting Aeris, I don't think she'll be able to fight well with us."

Aeris winced and slowly picked herself back up, "No...I'll be fine, that was just a tremor...I'll just ignore the other cries from now on...there's no lifestream here. I can sense that now, just black choked out earth."

Cloud's deeply concerned look made her reply, "Really...I'm all right."

Seeing the events just occurring before his eyes Delita spoke resignedly, "I think what Nanaki said was right; we have to focus on getting the last Brave, then find a way out of here. Destroying the Fiends isn't our primary concern."

"But what about what Bugenhagen said? I thought we had to destroy all the fiends here?" Zidane said.

"...I've been thinking," Delita said, "If the fiends have already been defeated in the past, what's the use in defeating them now? They're already defeated, plus they really can't die in this dimension. I really don't want to risk losing any of you before we face Altima."

"...let me put it this way," Ramza spoke up, "We knew the risk when we entered this War, Delita, we are all prepared to die for our cause, don't think you're the only one. Whether we defeat them now or in the past or future, we prepared our hearts, our minds, and our souls for this moment. Okay so we won't face the fiends directly; our main objective is to get the last Brave. However: should we find a Fiend along the way, or if one attacks us, we will fight, and we will win, even if 50 fiends get in our way, we'll knock them all down, does that sound reasonable to you?"

"Fair enough, we look, and if a Fiend shows up, we fight." Delita said with an air of satisfaction

As they were speaking a massive Zone Eater arrived out of the ground, and made a sickening gurgling roar.

Chapter 38: In the Belly of the Beast

The creature's hide seemed impregnable as the party cut against it, and the only things that could remotely hurt it were holy and elemental spells, but due to its high resilience, the mages' energy was running dry.

"We've gotta beat this thing!" Ramza yelled taking a few mighty swings at the monster's hide.

"I'm doing all I can! But this thing is just spewing up poison at me!" Delita barked back..

"I think it's about time to summon you...," Seifer said in a collected voice, "Griever! Come forth!"

A massive vortex appeared in front of the creature, coalescing into a leonine head and body. With a deafening roar, Griever made it's presence known.. Diving down at the creature with slashes and cuts it softened the once indestructible hide of the monster. With a quick blast of wind that swept up and slammed the Zone Eater to the ground, Griever finally managed to gain some ground over the creature.

But the monster was capable of more than it appeared. Sitting on it's haunches like a massive cobra ready to strike. Then it inhaled.

Something that could only be described as an inverted tornado emanated from the beast creating an immense vacuum. The vacuum was so strong that it sucked away each individual party member until it swallowed everyone except Seifer and Griever.

"Rrrrrggghhh....," was all Seifer managed to say under the wind noise, struggling to gain footing.

Due to the fact that Griever was a flying creature, the vacuum was even stronger for it. The Guardian Force's wings battled against the fierce currents, but they couldn't hold out for long periods of time.

Suddenly Seifer got an image of a decimated Squall and Rinoa.

That's when he charged at the creature.

Using a massive barrage of slash attacks, he caused as much damage as he could in what little time he had left on the ground. But, he too, along with Griever, was sucked into the maelstrom.

It was dark, too dark.

And murky and wet.

Ramza couldn't see his hand in front of his face, but he knew by the stench of the place, this wasn't any place he'd ever been to before.

"Great, look at me, I'm Zone Eater food."

Grasping his Zodiac stone, he felt the warm glow emanating from it. It seemed to give off an intense energy, especially when one was exhausted. And he was. Very.

As he lifted it out of his pouch, it glowed brighter than usual. He then remembered that what he held was a Holy stone, these tend to grow brighter the closer they are to total darkness and evil.

"I guess this Zone Eater doesn't exactly eat normal food....well, time to give it a little indigestion."

Drawing his sword, Ramza thrust it into the ground with a wet thud.

Odd.

Normally a creature would react to the pain he'd just inflicted, not even so much as a yelp from the Zone Eater.

"Oh, yeah, it's undead."

Pulling up his sword out of the gross mess he began trekking across...whatever this place was.

Calling out to comrades, he'd noticed on the way, only seemed to draw attention to himself as swarms of weird creatures and monsters wanted to eat him. He dispatched each easily, but opted on simply looking for his allies instead of calling out to them.

"Are you brave, Ramza?"

He looked about in confusion, seeing nothing but wet and dark things around him.

"Who's there? Delita if that's you this isn't funny...."

"Your symbol, Leo, Courage, is that who you are?"

"Hey! Who wants to know! How do you know me!" He spun about, sword drawn, in confusion and....actually....fear.

He hadn't been scared since....that time, at least he'd thought he hadn't.

"You really don't sound brave, you know..."

"Wait! I know that....voice? Is that my...voice?"

"It doesn't really matter, but the fact you're scared does: in fact you've been scared for most of your life, you just never cared to admit it."

"That...that's not true! Shut up!" Ramza clutched his ears, as if blocking out some lie.

"What if your friends knew how much of a coward you were? Even when you came to this place...you were petrified! Ha! Ha!"

"Stop it! Shut up! Get out of my head!" Ramza screamed, sending a flock of bats flying out of the cavern area he was in.

Chapter 39: Disillusioned Fantasies

"You really think that you have what it takes to be a Zodiac Brave? I don't think you do, Alma..."

"What are you saying? That's a lie, I'm a possessor of the Zodiac Stone, I've known the power of these stones since I was little and my father taught me all about them."

"Do you really know? Or are you just trying to guess and speculate? You nearly messed up before just because you counted Delita as a Brave and nearly wiped out an entire city because of it. In fact you're lucky you found Gemini just in time or Esthar would have been lost. You're a fraud, a failure, and a liar."

"I....I-I'm sorry.....," she gasped between sobs, "I....should have known better."

"Plus, how can you even call yourself an honorable woman for lying to Delita like you did, you and your brother could have told him who you were instead of letting him assume you were dead?"

Alma's weeping echoed across a massive chasm, that may have spilled out below to be heard if Reis wasn't busy dealing with her own dark, faceless enemy.

"Leave me alone! I never hurt anyone!"

"Ha! That's a lie and a half! You think that by proving how strong you are is really going to win over Beowulf? By lying to him and acting like you're an expert Dragoon, when all you've ever known how to do is raise dragons on a farm! What a joke! You hurt him by lying. That--is how you hurt people! Oh sure! You picked up a few tricks of the ol' Dragoon trade along the way to seal up the facade, to add more to the charade, but I know Reis....I wonder what Beowulf would say if he knew the truth about the brave Dragoon Knight who was nothing more than a dragon farm-girl?"



The mocking voice pricked Reis with more venomous needles than any Cactuar ever had in its life time. Feeling weak, she collapsed in dispair.

"How dare you mock the Escutcheon of the Order of Sacred Temple Knighthood! You are a disgrace to your armor, Beowulf. A knight carries not just a sword, but honor, courage, and strength! You, at any rate, have none in any category! You are weak and despicable, you lie to yourself every day saying that what you're doing is right, and that everyone else is wrong! Look at yourself! You're nothing more than a weak pathetic man in a suit of armor. You may have taken the fealty oath, but you were never loyal!

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH, DAMN YOU!"

"Such vulgar words from a Temple Knight, you should have been excommunicated years ago. Ha! In fact, you might as well have never even become even a simple knight in the first place! You never had the strength to endure it. Always cracking under the pressure of others, going along with the peers. Like a piece of driftwood going along with the tide. You're a vagabond, a vagrant, a wanderer."

"I will kill you where you stand should you utter any more foul lies."

"I sincerely doubt it. You would probably become exhausted looking for me, you're so weak. You only just recently became strong enough to hold that stupid sword, you never fight in combat with your so-called allies, you mostly rely on your weak Status Magic."

Beowulf flew into a berserker rage, slashing at the slimy cavern-like walls, screaming incoherencies left and right.

"How very amusing, don't you think, Agrias, a woman becoming a Holy Knight? It was always in your families' tradition to serve your husbands? Stay at home, raise children, be obedient to your family's will. But you....? No! You abandoned your family in exchange for a sword, very foolish, Agrias."

"I'LL MAKE YOU EAT THOSE FOOLISH WORDS!" Agrias yelled.

"You call me foolish? Was I the one who nearly got lost in the Ice Caverns when they relied on me? Was I the one who ended up severely wounded for trying to attack four Zombies at once. Your symbol is Judgement and yet you are so poor at it. What a failure. You cannot even judge for yourself if you love a man or hate him. It is nothing to you. You aren't a person of Judgement, you're a fool, an idiotic woman who is so blind she cannot even see the truth."

For the first time in years, a single solitary tear fell from Agrias eye, and patted to the ground. Her sword fell out of her hand and she collapsed on both knees, in a silent plea for forgiveness.

"You think you're a mercenary? Ha! What kind of man, promises the woman he cares for that he'll join S.O.L.D.I.E.R. only to fail and end up a guinea pig for a Mako/Jenova experiment, then not show up for seven years, then lie to her, then cheat on her. Then claim to be someone he's not. You know who I think that is! I think he's a weakling! Not a man at all, really. Just a weird spikey-haired kid who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Then you claim to save the world, only to lose the woman you truly love, betray your friends, nearly destroy the world you claim to be saving, and then just happen to defeat the center 'bad guy' of it all. Dumb, do-dah, clueless luck, I think. Remember this....?"

With those words, Cloud clutched his head, and felt a massive migraine coming on. He screamed.

"rrrrrr....rrrrrrhaaaaaaaaaaaggggghhhhhh!"

"He's still here you know...you never really did kill him. And now he's your so-called ally. What an idiot! You think you're so tough, and yet you can't seem to defeat your enemies--oh, wait, I mean, you can't defeat your friends....that's it! In fact it seems like you never really killed anyone at all did you! What a weak, pathetic, fool!"

"........Aeris........help me....the pAIN....AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGHHHHH!"

At this point in time, though, Aeris was particularly occupied with her own problems.

"No, that isn't true, I would never do that to Cloud!"

"Is that so? It wouldn't be the first time that you've toyed with him. He thinks you love him, and then it turns out you have feelings for the guy that he thought he was. You betrayed him, Aeris. If not in battle, then in the heart. He needed you and all you could think of was yourself and how you felt."

"That can't be true; I won't believe your lies!"

"Are they lies though? You seem to think that Cloud's a tough Soldier and that he could take it if you told him how you really felt. What if I told you that the truth about your feelings would shatter his soul?"

"NO! I couldn't bear that!"

"You say you can't bear it; but you still bear those deeply buried feelings for Zack, and you don't seem to have any indication of letting those feelings go do you? Specifically the ones of Cloud that remind you of Zack. And speaking of betrayal, you say you care for the earth and yet you ignore its cries? You have betrayed the planet and now you have betrayed your people the Cetra as well. Why not just give up believing you're even fit to be a Zodiac Brave? You'll probably betray your friends too."

"...no....I....can't.....I...won't!" gasping for air, Aeris collapsed on the murky floor, in a complete depressed state.

"What about it? Maybe I don't care, so what?"

"So how can you say you're Garnet's guardian when all you can think about is sex and money? What exactly would drive some--thing--like you, a genome of all things, not even human to love a woman! I think it's rather ridiculous. You're basically a toy brought to life. Wound up and pumped with a head full of emotions sent to walk on another planet just to take it over. That's all you'll ever be. Oh sure, maybe stealing is fun, but that will never make you a knight, let alone a guardian."

"Guardian or no! I have a right to live!"

"--That someone else gave you, you seem to misunderstand, you're a doll, an inanimate object brought to life, something that could never amount to being human, monkey-boy!"

Zidane's tail flared up, "RRRRR--I'll beat your ass for that!"

Chapter 40: Hidden Truths, Dark Pasts, Old Wounds

"Who are you?!" Sephiroth said.

"The question is, who are you?"

"What?" Sephiroth readied his Masamune blade.

"A simple question, isn't it? Yet it hides so many answers. You don't know who your parents are, well, at least you're not sure who they are."

"What are you saying?"

"Do you want to know the truth? Why Cloud hated you when you first met? Why all the apprehension between you and the other Braves? Why no one has given you a straight answer as to who you are? Why you are who you are? I could answer them, but, one more question, would you believe it?"

"I....know that voice; but.....it.....isn't me."

"Oh, but it is. I'm you, and you are me, except; you lost something along the way, they took you out of your time before you could find out the truth. The truth about who you are and what you could become, you have so much more potential than they do."

"Whatever it is.....I don't trust you."

A figure stepped within Sephiroth's view, but was obscured in shadow. It continued to speak.

"You have a great journey to make, you and I; do you know of Jenova?"

"....the...Project father used to work on......but, what does that have to do with me?"

"You're wrong you know, you never really did have a father...or a mother...Jenova...created...you."

"WHAT?" Sephiroth was shocked but still calm.

"Search your heart.....you know I speak the truth."

This, more than anything else, chilled Sephiroth's skin like ice; he wasn't human? He was created out of Jenova cells? Was he mad? But all these thoughts turned to nothing as the figured stepped out of the shadows to reveal.....himself?

Identical, except the other had blood scars across his entire body, and a maniacal grin across his face.

"We could go to the Promised Land, you and I, together again! We could become a god!"

Sephiroth's eyes widened at the thought.....

Then narrowed.

"You're insane! You were the one Cloud was talking about! You're me! But I could never be as cruel as you! I may not be human, but neither is Zidane, or Aeris! And they're all my friends........and......I'm a Zodiac Brave."

Sephiroth produced the stone they had given him, and it glowed a deep shining silver.

"Suit yourself..." The evil Sephiroth grinned, and drew a familiar blood-stained sword.

Putting the stone away Sephiroth gripped the Masamune tightly.

This was NOT going to be an easy battle.

"So, you think you're a Queen eh? You're not even in the royal bloodlines!"

"How dare you speak that way to me!"

"The truth hurts, especially when you find out you're nothing more than a child of the summoner tribe in Madain Sairi, a simple child, not even worth a thief's time."

"Those....those are lies! They can't be true!"

"Think about it; why would I lie? Figure it out! How would I know the truth unless..."

"You...you're me?"

"That's right.....Sarah....I've known since the day we drifted along on that ship with mother; speaking of which, you never even bothered to look for her. All she did was set you on the royal doorstep and let you get adopted by the true Queen, with your little horn and all. Maybe there's a little hate in that heart of yours eh?"

"...n-no, I would never hate my real mother....she-she did the best she could for me!"

"Even if you believe that, it still doesn't explain why you haven't gone looking for your true past, especially if you knew about it the whole time. Plus, you've been so fickle with Zidane, I doubt there's any Love for him either!"

"No! I love Zidane, and nothing....not even my....self...could tell me otherwise!"

"Hmmm.....then if that's true why haven't you acted on it? What do you think if Alexandria had it's local resident thief for a King and a lowly summoner for its Queen? Sounds hilarious doesn't it? Or, should I say....humiliating?"

"Show yourself you monster! Show me who you really are!"

A feminine figure stepped out of the shadows....staff and all.

It was Garnet's.....twin?

"You seemed shocked, I'd think you'd recognize a handsome guy like me?"

"You're....not...me." Seifer growled.

"Oh, I'm not am I? You seem to forget who you are, I thought you were the famous Sorceress Knight under the legendary Ultimecia? On top of that you were this close from getting it from her. At least, until you lost, then they killed her, that weakling Squall you seem to believe is your only rival. On top of that you let him steal your dream: YOURS! You're an idiot! I don't care how strong you claim to be, you're a total jackass!"

"That's not my dream, anymore!" he yelled at the evil twin before him.

The dark Seifer grinned and lightly tapped his Hyperion on his shoulder.

"So what is your dream, fighting monsters till you drop? Or being a GF slave? 50% of Griever should have been you, now you lost out on all that power, just because of a bonehead move on your part."

"Just for that snide comment of yours....," Seifer grinned evilly, "I'm giving you a scar from both me AND Squall...a nice BIG X on your forehead should look good on you."

"You can try....but I doubt it!"

And the gunblades clashed.


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