Chapter 8 - Maniac Athena.

"No we can't stop for hot dog, Zell!" Selphie yelled as she piloted the Garden aircraft. It was a small hover called the Chipmunk, mainly because it was supposed to be as small and fast as a chipmunk. Xu had insisted that she take it because its small size would make them harder for the Galbadians to follow, also because they were assuming that after Squall was found, they could take the Ragnarok back.

Zell felt his stomach growling. He was hungry. It made him wonder how Selphie could go for so long without food and still be so energetic. Zell looked out the window at the miles of sea they were passing over. He and Selphie had spent two days straight searching for Squall. They hand gone north to Shumi Village, Trabia, and north more still to the Deep Sea Research Center. Now they were heading northeast to Edea's Orphanage. Zell thought that hey had a good change of finding Squall at the research center. Well what better place to take a sorceress than a place remote, unknown and tiny? Had he been Squall he would have slashed Rinoa away at the research center and forgot about it. But Squall had never been the one to think like him. Zell leaned back in boredom as Selphie piloted the Chipmunk. Her face betrayed her perky voice as he saw her weary baggy eyes.

"Yo Selphie, let's get some rest after Edea's house alright?" Zell asked.

Selphie nodded nonchalantly. "Let's go talk to Matron, she might have some idea where they are. She was possessed by Ultimecia before too maybe she can give us a hint."

"Do you really think Ultimecia is back, Selphie?" Zell asked.

"I think if she was she would be really mad at us, especially Squall for trying to kill her."

Zell shook his head.

"Squall won't let us down. He'll do what's right. But I'll be behind him, right or wrong."

Selphie nodded. "Me too" she said and then lapsed into silence.

Zell was worried about Rinoa, he wasn't sure if he could trust Squall to do the right thing. It frightened him when he thought about how Squall had refused to go save her when she was hanging off the side of the Garden. What will Squall do now that he didn't have his friends check his introverted queerness? Zell was afraid for Rinoa, he hadn't know her for long but her optimism and kindness had won him over. She was a hell of a woman, he just hoped that Squall didn't foul things up and lose her somehow.

"There it is," Selphie said, pointing at the tiny lighthouse that had appeared over the horizon.

"Hey yo, we're there. After a million hours of empty water. I wonder if Edea makes hot dogs. Do you remember Selphie? I don't remember anything that far back."

Selphie shook her head. "No more hot dog talk, please. Let's find Squall first."

Selphie landed the Chipmunk on the Cape of Good Hope and they walked out of the tiny aircraft stiff and weary. Zell pulled his Ehrgeiz tighter, if any tonberrys or whatnot dared to show up, he would be ready.

Selphie on the other hand, just casually tucked her Strange Vision under her arm as she smoothed her yellow dress down and began walking.

Zell followed her as they climbed up the rocky landscape to Edea's house.

"I don't think they are here, Selphie," Zell said. "This place is too open to hid the Ragnarok, we would have spotted it in an instant."

"It doesn't matter. Let's just go talk to Cid and Edea, alright?"

They walked through the crumbling archway of the old orphanage and into the front garden of the ancient place.

"Hey, Selphie, do they know about Galbadia and Garden's recent feud? It's going to be hell breaking the news to them."

Selphie shook her head. '" I think Xu phoned ahead. I hope she did. I don't want to be the one to tell them either."

"Alright, as long as I'm not the one. You know what they say about blaming the messenger."

Selphie nodded and knocked on the door.

"Yes?" Edea asked as she opened the old screeching door.

Zell and Selphie both did the SeeD salute.

She smiled, her hair tied back in a neat bun. "You have come about the current situation in garden haven't you?"

"Yes Matron," Zell said. "Can we come in for a little while to talk to the two of you?"

"We've looked everywhere for Squall and Rinoa." Selphie said, desperately.

Edea opened the door and allowed the two SeeDs to come in. She pressed her index finger to her lips.

"Sssh" she told them. "Cid is sleeping. He's been sick for a while."

"What?" Selphie asked. "How come?"

"This is bad," Zell said. "We need Cid to talk to use about Galbadia. This is terrible."

"He spoke to Xu for a few hours on end already. He was going to come see what the situation was but its really hard for him to leave his bed. I would prefer if we don't disturb him right now."

The two nodded.

"Any suggestions, Matron, on where Squall might be?"

Edea sighed. She motioned for them to sit down at the table where she had been cutting flowers.

"I think," she whispered, "that you even if you find the sorceress you won't be much better off than Squall in dealing with her."

"Why do you say that Matron?" Selphie asked. "Do you know who it is?"

"I have a vague idea." Edea whispered. "If my suspicions are correct, Squall's not in danger from any physical attack from the sorceress, but that which is within himself."

"I don't understand!" Zell exclaimed. "Can you explain that in plain language, Matron."

Edea sighed. She picked up the scissors and began to cut the thorns off the roses. Zell and Selphie felt strangely comforted by her acts of routine. They felt strange, it was almost like a sensation of being at home.

"Sorceresses need knights because by their very nature they are better at manipulating others than by using force. Squall is cunning, he won't be taken easily, but in the end, he might still be taken. I know, I was almost led astray by the seductive promises Ultimecia made me. In the end I guess it's up to Squall and how happy he is with the reality which he lives in."

Selphie nodded. "Ultimecia used Seifer's dream against him. So what you are saying is that if Squall really loves us and Rinoa he wouldn't be vulnerable to the sorceress? How about Rinoa? Is she in danger?"

Edea paused. "Rinoa." she said as though in deep contemplation. "The girl in the blue dress, right?" she asked.

Zell nodded. Rinoa, his friend. She simply had to be okay.

"I don't know," Edea said. "It depends on what the sorceress wants and how far she would go to get it. You must understand, as much as I hate to tell you this, Rinoa might need to be sacrificed to destroy the sorceress."

Zell stared at Edea, his mouth agape. Selphie was in shock as well.

"We can't sacrifice Rinoa, she's our friend. We didn't go through all that together just to lose her now. Squall wouldn't have it. He'll kill us all first." Selphie exclaimed.

Edea looked up at Selphie. She raised her hand and touched Selphie on her arm.

"Calm down, Selphie. It hasn't happened yet. But I just want the two of you to prepare yourselves in case such a thing is necessary. Think of the world and everyone in it that you love. You can't let the possibility of losing one life, destroy the future of a billion."

Zell shook his head sadly, not knowing what to say.

Selphie looked away. "How precious is one life? Is it less precious than that of two? Of four? Of a billion?"

There was a moment of silence before Edea spoke up again.

"I know of a weapon against the sorceress, Odine has been developing. It's called a Maniac Athena. This is the most powerful weapon ever developed against the sorceress. I spoke to you of the possibility of Rinoa losing her life before because that is what this weapon will entail. It is a crystal about the size of a fist made to absorb the power of the Sorceress. It will allow the bearer, no matter what gender, to completely take over the sorceress's abilities, even if the sorceress was only possessing a body. Rinoa is a weak sorceress, if that weapon is used against her she will surely die. You see the sorceress's powers is a sort of scaffolding for the body. The powers keep her heart and blood vessels from collapsing on themselves since a tremendous amount of energy is needed to cast spells that strong. If all that power left Rinoa's body, the scaffolding will fall, her heart will collapse upon its self. She will die "

"Is there anyway at all to prevent her from dying?" Zell asked desperately.

"Not any that can be achieve with anything short of a miracle. When a sorceress's powers leave her body she is on the brink of death. If the powers of two sorceresses leaves that body, it won't be able to handle the sudden influx of energy which makes the scaffolding stronger and the sudden departure, which would remove all of it. I can't think of a way to do it unless there was another sorceress nearby to replenish Rinoa with the power she lost. That idea is preposterous as well since even if Rinoa wasn't the last sorceress in our time it would be unlikely that anyone would agree to such a thing."

Selphie shook her head. "There must be a different way."

"I truly hope there is." Edea replied.

Zell shook his head. "Maniac Athena, just the name gives me the chills."

"You should go to Esthar and ask Odine to borrow it. Have it on you just in case. It can't hurt. You might need it as a last resort."

"A really really really desperate last resort," Zell added.

Edea nodded.

"We should be going now." Zell told her. "We should continue in our search. Thank you Matron for your help."

Edea nodded. She stood up and grabbed Zell's arm.

"I just have one last thing to tell you. Please, never forget that the sorceress is evil. No matter what she tells you or leads you to believe, show no mercy. Never forget that. Never, understand?"

Zell and Selphie nodded. "I don't care about the bloody sorceress," Zell told her. "We'll get Rinoa back safe and sound. Just watch."

Edea nodded sadly. "I hope you do, Zell, I truly hope that you do."

Chapter 9 - A Confession

Ellone stood quietly at the huge oval window of Laguna's office, which overlooked the massive city of Esthar. She adjusted the green shroud over her shoulders as she waited for news, happy news, sad news, anything but this constant frustration of the lack of it. For almost a decade she had done her best to watch over him, the little boy she had abandoned when he needed her the most. She had taken his family, his future and his humanity. The blame was all hers. For every insult, every fight, every wound, it was her fault, for taking seventeen years ago what fate had decreed to be his.

"There is nothing I can do right now, Ellone," Laguna whispered to her as he gently placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Uncle Laguna." Ellone said quietly as she turned her eyes towards him. He had come in so quietly that she had not noticed.

"I know you are worried about him, child. But there is no need to worry. That boy can take care of himself better than anyone I've ever seen. He'll be alright in the end, I promise."

Ellone forced a smile. The memory of Squall begging her to bring Rinoa back from the past was all too vivid in her mind. Squall needed help just like everyone else, if not more so. She hated Laguna's indifference towards his son. She did not understand how he could be so calm in a situation in which Squall's life might come to an end at any moment. Yet, that was hypocritical. Squall was a SeeD. His life was always on the brink of death. She knew that better than anyone, having watched his progress in garden for most of her life. That morning when he had had his face split in two by his training mate, had been agonizing for her. Once more, she could not save him. What would Raine have thought had she seen that fight? Ellone did not want to think about that.

"Yeah," she replied to Laguna, "I'm not worried. I just wish he would let us help him. He'll be alright, I know. He didn't survive Ultimecia and the Lunar Cry just to perish now in some silly squabble between Garden and Galbadia." Ellone patted Laguna's hand. "I'll be fine, just let me be for a little while."

Laguna nodded and smiled at her. "Don't worry." He reminded her once more before he stepped out of the room.

Ellone sighed as she leaned against the pale blue frame of the window, watching the people mill about on the transparent highway below.

In the back of her mind she drifted back to the that day on the beached of Winhill where she had met him for a short talk after Ultimecia's end. Perhaps he was always cold to the other but to her he was less so. The sky was perfectly clear and the wind blew softly, running its fingers through the wild grass that grew on the Winhill buffs. The water was as blue as it had been seventeen years ago when she and Raine had gone during the summer to collect seashells. Those times that will never come again. But if she laid down on her back and pretended really hard, she could imagine herself back there living simply, back before things got so complicated.

"You came, I didn't think you would," she had exclaimed in surprise when he showed up on the beach, wearing his matador outfit, or as she liked to call it.

"I'll always have time for you, sis, Ellone." He had replied quietly.

Just the sight of him filled her with nostalgia. He had grown up beside her, despite the fact that she could not grow up beside him. It filled her heart with sorrow to see him, sorrow and joy. She had walked over to him and placed her hands on his arms, pulling him gently by his wrists towards her.

"You've grown so much, Squall." She had said with joy as she looked up at his indifferent face. "How did you grow up so well? With integrity, pride, and courage. I just wish I could have been there for you, through it all. Quistis took care of you didn't she? And now so will Rinoa. I just wish I didn't have to leave you to the mercy of strangers."

"No, don't talk about it like that Ellone. Like I'm some wide eyed orphan. I'm not. I always had you, even when you left your memory led me through day by day."

"Is Rinoa feeling well?" She had asked.

He nodded indifferently. "We are fine."

"You don't look fine, Squall. You look troubled. Is there anything you would like to tell me?"

He sighed "I'm fine Ellone, don't pester me."

She watched him stare into the distance as though he was waiting for an answer to appear on the horizon.

"Talk to me Squall, the way we used to talk when we were little. Remember that? How we sat by the crumbling pillars in our secret place and spoke about all the little things that mattered so much to children. Let's talk that way, or at least pretend to. I know that you can't forgive me for leaving, any more than Laguna, but humor me for a little while please?"

He shook his head absently. "I forgive you Ellone. I never held it against you that you left. But I haven't talk to anyone, really talked, in such a long time that I think I forgot how." He folded his arms over his chest and walked along the beach, kicking a few shells out of the way.

"It's Rinoa," he said, after a few moments. "I don't love her Ellone."

"What? No you can't mean that Squall. You risked your life for her. How could you say such a thing?" Ellone had asked in absolute shook.

He frowned, his thin eyebrows drawing together in a look of frustration.

"I can't explain it. I just don't know. Ellone, they, Quistis, Irvine, Selphie, Zell, pulled me into it. They practically gave me the wedding ring to place on her finger. I don't know why I'm doing this. Is it for myself or for them? That day on the Lunar Pod, I felt like I had to get her because it was my responsibility, the burden that Zone and Caraway had placed upon me. Sometimes when I'm with her I feel less alone but other times I feel like I'm wearing a mask. I need to find my own reasons for loving her. If I don't then I have no right to lead her on believing, wasting her affection."

Ellone shook her head. "You think too much Squall, did anyone ever tell you that? You analyze too much."

That made him frown. "Rinoa told me that. I guess it must be true then."

"Look over there Squall, see that little town Winhill? That's our home. Whenever I needed to figure out a problem I always came back here. My memories of Winhill gave me the strength I needed to hold on. This is your home as well Squall. Your roots as well as mine. Generations are like flowers Squall, one withers while the other blooms. The ones that have passed will watch over you. Raine does, I know."

Squall nodded thoughtfully.

"I felt her presence before, when I came to visit. I helped one of the villagers get back his broken vase. It was a hell of a waste of time though."

Ellone smiled fondly. She felt the wind gently stroking her cheek like some gentle lover. The fur on Squall's shoulders stirred as he shifted his position. He was watching her now. His lovely eyes on her.

"Raine told me that my parents watched over me after they died. One guardian angel on each of my shoulders, she told me. Although I loved Raine and Laguna I never forgot my real parents and I know that they still sit on my shoulders protecting me from harm. But now and then I wish I had more than just their protection. I wish I had something to remember them by, some advice or some momento. You are lucky Squall, you still have your father. He can give you all that. Don't pass on this opportunity Squall, no matter how wrong he was in his actions."

"I'll do that, in due time. It's taking me long enough to figure out my emotions for Rinoa. How can I start on how I feel about Laguna?"

"Squall, Squall, let the past go. Remember what I said to you in the Lunar Pod about letting it go?"

"Yes, but it's hard, Ellone, so hard."

Ellone knew now what a hypocrite she had been, telling him to let the past be when no one was so preoccupied with the past as herself. The ghosts of the past haunted her from day to day. Even if he could escape the past she couldn't. She could never forget how she abandoned him. The orphan boy standing in the rain pledging his promise to her. A promise she had no right to force him to make. In the end her power allowed her to relive the past but not change it. She would be forced to watch the same unmerciful turn of events again and again, whether it be through her power or through her guilty memory.

"Please be alright, Squall." She whispered, watching her breath fog up the glass in front of her. Don't make me relive another mistake for all time.

Chapter 10 - The Orphan

In depths of the southernmost village of the Galbadian continent, a young man woke up from troubled sleep. He felt pressed his hand to his scarred forehead and shook his head to clear his mind of the dream. It was the same dream that he had been having for a long time. Walking down the empty sun cracked desert, surely if death was a place that was it. He squinted his eyes and tried to clear his mind of the image. He was safe now, in bed. Yet as he tried to move his knee bumped into something soft. He pulled back the covers to reveal to reveal the sleeping form of a young girl. Her hand was half open on her pillow as though she was waiting for a gift. Her other hand was drawn up to her chin in a position of deep thought. She was drawn up against him as though she had slept with the intent of leaning against him.

Rinoa, is that you? He wondered. He reached out sleepily to stroke her hair which laid flat over her pillow like a river of silk. He sat there in the abandoned house in Winhill which he had visited in his flashbacks. This was the bed Laguna once slept in, he thought to himself. Just that thought made him shudder. He would never be like his father. That was the nightmare beyond nightmares.

He ran his naked hand through his damp hair which had been plastered to his head by sweat. He breathed deeply and leaned back feeling the cool night air fill his lungs. From the window, moonlight streamed in covering him and Rinoa with a blanket of white light. She was like a statue of marble laying there but slowly she came to life. She looked over at him.

"Squall?" She asked, eyes wide reaching over to him.

He took her hand and clasped it in his own.

"Is that you Rinoa?"

"Yes, it's me. What happened Squall? How come we're in bed together? I don't remember a thing. Weren't we dancing together in Deling?"

Squall closed his eyes. Vaguely, he remembered collapsing on the bed in exhaustion. He noticed that he was not wearing his jacket and that his shoes had been removed. *She* must have done it, he thought to himself. He shifted his position. He would have liked to get out of the bed but Rinoa was lying on the side that wasn't against the wall. She appeared to be losing her composure fast.

"Talk to me Squall. How did this happen? I'm so scared. Please don't hold back now. Tell me what happened."

Squall tried his best to remember what had happened. It was so preposterous that he could have passed it off as a dream. Bits and pieces came back to him now.

Rinoa had been unconscious as he boarded the Ragnarok but as he began directing the ship south she came to life suddenly.

"Squall," she had whispered. "Where are we going?"

"Leave it to me, Rinoa. I won't let anyone harm you."

Then strangely she had sat up, and reached over and placed her hand on his. "Take me to Winhill, Squall. I want to go there."

"Why?" He looked at her with complete surprise. She sat back and didn't answer him. He looked at her suspiciously as he directed the Ragnarok toward Winhill as she asked.

"Who are you?" He asked, then, beginning to understand. He began to notice small things, like how her eyes had a yellowish tint and her hair reflected red sparks. He felt like he was being watched by an insect as she looked over at him with a smirk on her face, not unlike that of Seifer's.

"I'll take you to Winhill, but you must tell me who you are. What have you done with Rinoa?" He demanded.

"Rinoa is safe for now Squall, don't worry about her. She's in a state of sleep, she doesn't know that I am here." She nodded at the dark landscape below. Squall was piloting the spaceship in a stupor. He glanced at her a few times, unable to adapt to how strange it was to watch someone who looked completely like Rinoa but was not Rinoa.

"Can I talk to her?" Squall asked the sorceress sitting beside him. "To see if she is alright?"

She laughed, throwing her head back, completely the opposite of Rinoa's small shaky giggles. Squall felt a sudden nausea in his stomach as the realization hit him completely then, that this was a completely different entity.

"You can talk to her in due time. Look there," she pointed to a dark mound of earth behind a plateau surrounded by trees. "Land the Ragnarok there, we can walk to Winhill from here, its not far."

Squall did as she asked, still very much in a state of shock.

As they left the Ragnarok stepped outside, she smiled at the sky. "Look Squall," she said. "Stars, and look how numerous they are. This is a beautiful night isn't it? It's a wonderful time to take a walk."

Squall said nothing, just shifted his gunblade. She had changed out of the torn dress into her casual clothing. Somehow, from what he saw he had begun to doubt that the sorceress beside him was Ultimecia. For one thing, when he handed her Rinoa's clothing to change into, she had giggled happily at the angel wing design in the back. "These are spiffy!" she had exclaimed as she left to put it on. Spiffy? Is that a word Ultimecia would use? Maybe if she had a brain transplant with a chocobo.

"Do you have a name?" Squall had asked her as they began hiking toward Winhill. The sorceress nodded. "Alexandra. My mother used to call me Alex. I know you are Squall, the body I am in is named Rinoa and your friends are chicken wuss, Irvine and instructor and Angelo. I have a good memory don't I?

"Chicken wuss?" Squall asked her. "You mean Zell don't you?"

She laughed again. "The little girl in the sunshine colored dress called him Chicken wuss in the lobby while they were waiting for you to finish off Trauma."

Squall frowned and turned to her. "You were there while we were fighting Ultimecia in the time compressed world? I don't understand. Who are you?"

"Oh god Squall, look! It's a Thrustaevis." She ducked behind Squall who had already drawn his gunblade. Two more Thrustaevises appeared beside the initial one. Squall ran forward and slashed the Thrustaevis across the wing. He pulled the trigger of his gunblade as he did so, sending a stream of blue blood shooting from the oversized bird. The sorceress ran away as one of the birds went after her. She turned around and desperately tried to work the trigger which would send the shooting star into the vicious bird. "Squall! Help me, " she squealed. "This thing is stuck."

Squall leaped up and finished taking down the Thrustaevis before he ran to the sorceress's aid. The sorceress had tripped over a protruding rock and she was sitting helplessly, petrified by fear. With one last desperate attempt, she fired off the shooting star but in the wrong direction. It went right for Squall's neck. He ducked and caught it in his hand. He threw the shooting star aside in a gesture of annoyance and cast shell on the fallen Rinoa before the Thrustaevis could use thundaga on her. The sorceress raised her arm to shield herself as the Thrustaevis went down with its beak.

"Squall!" she screamed once more but the Thrustaevis fell as Squall impaled the bird on his gunblade. The bird went down with one last desperate scream. Squall raised his hand and cast firaga on the remaining Thrustaevis, which went down easily into a pile of ash.

Squall placed his gunblade away as he watched the sorceress get to her feet. She dusted herself off, scratched her head, and smiled sheepishly at him.

"I'm sorry, Squall. I'm not used to using my powers in this body yet. Next time I'll be able to defend myself."

Squall shook his head. "Maybe you should just get out of that body if it is giving you so much trouble, sorceress Alexandra."

"Just Alexandra is fine Squall," she said happily as she ran over to retrieve the shooting star from where it had fallen. "How do you use this thing, Squall. Can you show me?" She waved the shooting star in the air so that Squall could see it.

Squall shook his head more confused than ever. "Alexandra, why should I? Do you realize it's very irritating to have the body of my girlfriend possessed by an evil sorceress?"

She frowned and stuck her tongue out at him. "Fine, I'll find out myself. Maybe I'll just ask Rinoa, I'm sure she is less of a jerk than you."

Squall frowned. "If you speak to Rinoa tell her I finally found someone who is more of a ditz than she is. She'll be surprised."

"You jerk. I'm mature for my age. Charlie, my mog, said so."

"How are old are you?"

"Eleven."

"What?" Squall asked in complete surprise. "Who in the world are you?"

She smiled.

"I'm Alexandra. I'm an orphan. You killed my mother, Ultimecia."

"Squall?" Rinoa asked. "Squall are you listening? In your dreamworld again?" She forced a giggle. Her nature was beyond strained. She looked petrified.

"I'm fine." Squall replied as he broke out of his reverie. "Do you remember anything Rinoa?" Squall asked, "About Deling, about the sorceress or Caraway?"

"I remember dancing at the ball. I remember feeling weak and closing my eyes. Then I woke up here with you, in bed, yet somehow this wasn't the way I imagined it."

Squall disregarded the last comment. "You were possessed again." Squall climbed over Rinse and out of the bed. He reached for his jacket.

"Alexandra?" She asked. "It was the sorceress Alexandra right?" Rinoa pulled the covers up around herself as she sat musing.

"Yes," Squall turned to her. "What do you know about her?"

"I dreamed of her. I saw her standing in Ultimecia's castle, asleep on Ultimecia's throne. She was singing a song, a French lullaby, something about lambs and butterflies. She looked at me and told me that my time has passed. That I've been forsaken by the gods. I didn't understand what she was saying but she kept saying something in over and over. I don't understand Squall what she meant. I'm afraid!"

Rinoa burst into tears and began sniffing. She wiped away the tears that spilled over her cheeks with the cotton blanket in her hands.

Squall finished slipping on his boots and he walked over to the crying Rinoa. He placed his hand over the base of her skull and pulled her into his embrace.

"It's okay, it's okay" he whispered. "I'll protect you Rinoa, I'm here."

He held her like that for a little while as her crying died down to a quiet sob.

"This is where you were born, isn't it Squall?" Alexandra asked as they slipped quietly into Winhill.

Squall tightened his gloves and glanced around the tiny town. He had been here only twice before, as Laguna and during the vase quest. The walk hadn't been long as she promised. The town was asleep as him and Alexandra walked in. There was not a light to be seen anywhere. Alexandra flicked her raven hair back as she stepped forward into the town square, raising her face to the moon, a wide smile on her face. Squall checked the clock, it was amazing that it was only one in the morning. It seemed like an eternity had passed.

"I love the night, Squall. And so do you, I know. Everyone is in their houses, asleep, wandering in their own inner landscapes. That is the most beautiful place of all. Inside ourselves, on the other side of the mirror, my home and yours. It was always a place that Rinoa could never reach wasn't it Squall?"

Squall waved his hand in a gesture of nonchalance.

"Whatever. What do you want Alexandra?" He asked. "Revenge for your mother? Is that it? Or Ellone? Are you a psychopath out to take over the world too?"

She giggled happily and whirled herself in a circle.

"I'm going to take over the world and be queen!" She proclaimed sarcastically. She ran over and hugged him. "You can be my prince." He shoved her away.

"Be serious will you Alexandra?"

She calmed down and adopted a more serious demeanor. "I'm not my mother, Squall. I don't seek world domination. Just the domination of one. You'll find out my purposes in due time."

"Alexandra, I'm not a patient person. You are my enemy, I am a SeeD. You might be a child but I will not hesitate to attack you if you threaten the safety of Rinoa. I don't care that you don't seek world domination if the one you seek to dominate matters more to me than the world."

She frowned, knitting her brows. For a moment she looked exactly like Ultimecia in Edea's body. "Watch your tongue SeeD. Remember who I am. Who will you attack? I am in the body of this one whom you so called love more than the world. I would lose nothing if I took her life, and I would not hesitate to do so. She took the life of my mother, by your side. If you want to be with her than listen to what I have to say. You have nothing to lose but everything to gain."

She looked lighter suddenly. "You don't love her anyway. I'll prove that to you soon enough."

Squall sighed. He looked away and frowned realizing that he was dealing with a child. He couldn't think anymore, he was utterly exhausted.

"I don't care anymore. We can stay there." Squall pointed at the abandoned house in the upper west corner of Winhill, where Laguna had lived almost two decades ago. "No one lives there. We can stay until morning."

"Alright!" She proclaimed happily and went in the general direction of the abandoned house.

Rinoa pulled herself back from Squall. "What do you plan to do?" She asked. "Do you have a plan?"

Squall sat back and shook his head. "I don't know. I'll think of something, in time. Don't worry about it Rinoa. She's a harmless child. There is no need to be afraid of someone only half your age."

Rinoa forced a laugh again, trying to break the air of gravity in the room.

"I don't want to wake up in outer space again Squall. Please."

Squall nodded. "You won't" He assured her.

Outside the sun had begun to rise. Squall nodded at the window.

"I'm going to find a way to get in touch with Garden. You won't be afraid if all our friends were here would you?"

Rinoa shook her head. "I'll feel real safe then."

She sighed as he refused to meet her eye.

"Ask them to bring Angelo okay Squall? I would like that." Rinoa smiled at Squall one last time as the dizziness over took her and she collapsed back into the bed.

Squall felt his face growing hot. He had lied to her of course. There was no way to get in touch with Garden, not if he valued Rinoa's life. He leaned forward and kissed her smooth forehead.

"Sleep tight, Rinoa."