OOC: Oh hey, look! I did a thing! Only took...five months. Oops. For real though, if you like my writing, let me know! I'm a sucker for comments.

Squall didn't make it far before he was stopped by sirens. They froze him where he stood alone in a hallway leading from empty classrooms. There weren't any drills planned for today, this week, or the next three months. Unless someone had made a mistake, those sirens could only mean one thing.

Balamb Garden was under attack.

Squall was running before the thought landed. Whatever was going on, whoever was attacking them, he'd be needed up in command. His boots beat against linoleum floors. His breath caught heavy in his throat. All around, SeeDs were running. Some of them towards the gates outside, some of them away from it, and some of them seemingly nowhere at all. Squall didn't have time to give them orders. He didn't even know what was happening himself yet, so he pushed past them, charging straight for the main elevator at the center of the Garden.

The doors opened, he fumbled for the controls, and the elevator shot up to the third floor.

The headmaster's office was nearly empty when he reached it. There was only one person waiting there, arms crossed next to the raised platform leading to the bridge. Squall paused as their eyes met under the lowered rim of a cowboy hat. Squall hesitated before asking, "What're you doing here, Irvine?"

Irvine shrugged and shook his head. "I heard the sirens. Reckoned I'd head this way," he answered in his usual southern drawl. "But then I was the first one here. Didn't really want to go up by myself. It'd be like showing up alone to a party."

Squall wanted to argue that, but didn't think it was worth his time. Out of all the people he'd fought beside, he knew Irvine the least. Still, Irvine was better than no one if an emergency was at hand so Squall sighed and pushed the button for the bridge. The platform lowered, Irvine sauntered onto it, and they both went up together.

Headmaster Cid was waiting for them next to Xu - a teacher he only knew well enough not to doubt her insight. They turned to face him as he entered, and Cid nodded in his direction.

"Squall, you're here," he started, and Squall couldn't miss the relief in his voice. "And Irvine too." It sounded more like an afterthought, but Irvine tipped his hat anyway. "As you might have suspected, we're under attack though by who we can't say. The assailants appear to be few in number, but the reports we've received are scattered at best. We need someone to step in before the damage spreads."

"The Western sector has already been compromised," Xu added. "The casualties are unknown and our defenses against local monsters have fallen. We've been unable to reach anyone on the Northern quad. We have reason to believe it might have fallen as well."

Squall frowned. The quad and the dormitories. Why only there? Before he could ask, Cid was already interrupting him again. "Squall," he started and then paused, tugging at the sleeve of his shirt. "There's a possibility here that I think we should consider. It's possible - and I don't mean to offend - but it's possible that this might involve a s-"

"Hey, we're coming!" The elevator doors swung open and a brash voice interrupted them. Cid winced and straightened himself again, apparently more than happy to let the conversation die. Someone was repeatedly slapping the platform button. "You wouldn't start without us, would you?"

A few seconds later, Zell burst into their meeting followed by Selphie and then Quistis. They joined them on the bridge and Cid looked between all of them before nodding, straightening the edge of his sweater, and starting over.

He covered the same points - the Garden was compromised, unknown assailants, damage control - while Squall tapped his boot and tried to guess what he'd meant to say. Everyone else was spellbound by Cid except for Quistis who watched Squall cautiously until their eyes met and Squall looked away.

She'd looked almost disappointed in him. He wondered why his stomach sank at that look.

"With two possible entry points, it's recommended that you split into two teams," Xu continued. "One to confront the main threat in the Western sector and the other to investigate the silence in the Northern quad while attempting to evacuate the wounded. Squall, I think it's best for you to lead the main team."

Squall paused at his name and wondered if he'd missed anything important. He glanced from Xu to Cid to the rest of the SeeDs - all of them watching him expectantly. He'd always hated this part.

"...Right." Squall took a reluctant step forward and turned to face his team. Zell locked his hands behind his back like he was trying to be serious, but broke out in an eager grin the moment they looked at each other. After that, there was Selphie, rocking back on her heels and humming to herself. Squall skipped looking at Quistis entirely, choosing to consider Irvine instead. Irvine struck a pose when their eyes met and offered him a lopsided smirk.

That was Zell, Selphie, Quistis, and Irvine. But where was…?

"Rinoa." Squall blinked and turned back to Cid. "Where is she?"

Cid glanced away, tugging nervously at the bottom of his sweater. "Ah. Well…"

It was Quistis that answered. "She hasn't been feeling well. For almost two days now. She said not to tell you. You were busy with your own problems, after all."

Squall frowned. "She's sick?" Now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen her since their morning in Dr. Kadowaki's office, but that wasn't really unusual. He wondered why she wouldn't want him to know, but the thought slipped away to be replaced by another far more relevant one. If Rinoa wasn't feeling well, then that meant she'd have to have stayed at...

"The Northern quad." He looked at Quistis in surprise. "That's where she is, isn't it?"

Quistis touched her mouth. "Oh," was all the could manage before she was interrupted by Cid.

"We don't know that there's any danger there," he said a little too quickly. "There could be many reasons they aren't responding. Our focus should stay on the threat we can see."

Squall's stomach churned at the thought. This wasn't the first time that his orders conflicted with Rinoa's safety, but it was one of the first that he couldn't really argue. People were dying. The Garden needed him. There wasn't anything else to it but that.

"I'll take Zell," he said without looking at anyone. "And Quistis."

"Oh yeah!" Zell grinned as he fist-pumped the air, ignoring Selphie's groan and declaration that Squall really was a meanie for forgetting about her. Irvine took a moment to tip his hat before reassuring him that they'd "find Rinoa in a heartbeat, don't you worry about that." Quistis didn't say anything, but watched him with a kind of contemplative silence that he couldn't decipher. Squall wished they'd all stop looking at him.

"Selphie, Irvine. You head north and try to evacuate any wounded you find on the way." Squall's hand clenched at the hilt of his gunblade for confidence. "We'll head off the threat before it hits the lobby." Squall tried to think of anything else to add, but just nodded and started towards the elevator when he came up with nothing. There was silence behind him before Quistis added "Let's move out!" and fell into place at his side.

Rinoa. He thought of her, wide-eyed and weakened, caught unaware by some enemy soldiers or another, and his knuckles clenched hard on the trigger of his gun. Rinoa could take care of herself. He knew that, but he still couldn't shake the urge to run to her. To protect her despite everything and to never, ever let her stand alone. But he had a job to do. Something he couldn't trust to anyone else, and something he had to face without her.

"You're still thinking about her?" Quistis glanced at him, hand already steady at her whip. Squall didn't look at her as he pressed the button for the elevator.

"Man." Zell shifted behind them and threaded his hands behind his neck. "Being a leader really sounds like the worst."

Squall felt his lip twitch as the elevator doors opened before them. "Come on," he said. "We have a job to do."

Sephiroth was coming.

Cloud felt it in every scream of the alarm, in every tap of his boots against linoleum floors. It didn't make sense by any logical means, but then, he was used to that by now. He didn't know where he was except that it looked like a cross between a military base and a high school. He didn't know what he was doing except that monsters had flooded in from where the school's defenses had fallen, and he couldn't help but stand against them. Cloud had thought he'd known everything - that he'd never been a Soldier, that Sephiroth was gone, and that Zack was dead. But Sephiroth was coming, and Zack...

Cloud glanced at the Zack beside him, thrusting out his sword (their sword) in the same familiar way he thought he remembered. If Zack was alive, then what else wasn't true?

Zack turned to him, half-smirking, before his eyes widened in alarm. He was already rushing towards him as he shouted, "Cloud, behind you!"

Instinct took over as Cloud grabbed the hilt of his sword, pulled it from his back, and swept the blade in an arc as he spun around on his heel to face the slant eyes and twisted mouth of an inflated Bomb. His blade dug into the side of its head with a crack before the monster was sent barrelling into a nearby wall where it exploded on impact. Cloud let out a breath and twirled the sword through his fingers. Zack froze where he stood, blinking in surprise.

"Oh," he said. "I guess you've got it." His eyes flicked to the sword in Cloud's hand.

Silence filled the space between them in the monster-filled hallway of a school under attack. Neither of them wanted to say what the other was thinking.

The last half hour had been nothing short of a fever dream. Upon their escape, they'd found all their weapons stashed inside an empty classroom, but when Cloud had reached for his buster sword, Zack held out his hand.

"Wait, that's mine," he'd said and then laughed weakly as though to brush off the tension of it all. "I'm surprised you can lift it, actually. Guess it's the mako."

Cloud had looked at the buster sword with its familiar edges and comforting grip and froze. Of course. It had been Zack's.

"Oh," he said. "Right," and handed it over until the weight had lifted and Cloud was left feeling lost and helpless and wrong without it pressing down between his shoulder blades. Zack must have noticed his expression because he quickly holstered the blade so he could clap a hand on Cloud's shoulder instead.

"Don't worry about it. I'll let you take some swings with it later if you want. But for now I want to keep you safe. You've had a rough time. Let me take it from here." Zack gave him a familiar grin that should have been encouraging but only made Cloud's stomach churn. Zack was protecting him. Like he couldn't handle himself. Like he was-

no one.

"Right," Cloud said again as he tried to swallow the lump in his throat. Zack looked like he was about to say something else, but he'd barely opened his mouth when something crashed from the other side of the room.

"Ow, ow, ow!" The kid with the tail (what was his name again?) groaned as he stumbled back towards them. "Is someone missing a sword? Like a real big sword? There's still one back here and like hell if I can move it!"

Cloud frowned and pulled himself away from Zack. Sure enough, metal glinted back at him from the back of the supply closet. About five feet of metal with a gold embellished handle and a sharpened edge. The buster sword.

"Wha-? But that's-!" Zack held up his own sword and looked between them, eyes wide. "They look the same!"

Cloud stepped forward and hefted it with a single hand. The kid with the tail groaned again, muttering, "Sure, you make it look easy!" but Cloud ignored him as he looked over the sword he'd held onto for so long. It was the same down to the last detail. The same weight. The same glints and curves and edges, but this one had just a few more scratches etched into the side of the blade. Just a bit more tarnish. Just a tad more rust. Cloud twirled it easily between his fingers before letting it rest in its harness on his back.

"I'll take this one then," he said, biting his tongue as he tried to hold back nausea.

"But-! That can't-!" Zack looked between them, almost sputtering his protests before he took a breath, cleared the shock from his eyes, and tried for a weak grin. "Looks like you can handle it," he said instead. "It suits you." But Cloud knew that he'd meant to say something else, and from his expression, Zack knew that Cloud knew that too. It didn't matter though because the alarms were still blaring and there were monsters outside in every corridor, courtyard, and classroom. They still hadn't had the time to talk about it.

"Thanks for the warning," Cloud said and nodded towards the fiery remains of the Bomb. Zack nodded uneasily.

"Sure thing." Zack tore his eyes away from Cloud's sword and holstered his own. "We heroes've got to work together, right?"

Looking at Zack felt like drowning. Just seeing him standing there like the confident, familiar man in his dreams. Cloud took a steadying breath to focus, but his lungs were heavy and the sound couldn't reach him quite right. Zack's eyes were a reflection in glass - ghostly, untouchable, and bathed in sickly green. Cloud couldn't bridge the distance.

Someone was talking to him. The blonde woman. Her hands pulsed with magic as she finished off an over-sized bug. "You said you could find him. The man in black. So where is he?"

"Oh." It took a moment for the light to reach him again. They were in a windowed hallway that looked like it might have been sterile before they'd littered it with monster parts and splashes of blood. They didn't know where the monsters had come from, but others were fighting them still. Kids, it looked like, dressed in school uniforms down every hallway and door. Cloud couldn't just leave them, but that meant losing sight of the real threat. Sephiroth.

"He's-..." Cloud bit his tongue and tried to focus. What he felt towards Sephiroth had never been precise. Less like a radar and more like a game of hot and cold. For a long time, the urge had been subconscious. Keep moving closer. Always closer. His cells are calling. Now Cloud knew the feeling for what it was, but that didn't make it any easier to track. He shifted. Turned. Tried to figure out which direction felt right.

"He's higher," Cloud decided after a moment of silence. "On an upper floor maybe. But I don't know for sure."

The woman gave him an exasperated look but nodded and started ahead. The boy with the tail and the excitable girl were still busy fighting off a strange, multi-headed lizard down the hall. That left just Cloud and Zack. Again.

"Look. About...Sephiroth." The word curdled around Zack's tongue like he was talking about some kind of demon. "I don't think you're lying, but do you think that maybe-? Well…"

Cloud shook his head. He wasn't imagining anything. "You heard her. She said there's a man in black with a long sword. Do you know anyone else that could be?"

Zack paused. "I knew a couple people like that, yeah."

Cloud felt his stomach turn. "We don't have time for this." He started forward and thankfully Zack fall into step behind him. "Sephiroth could be anywhere, and if we're not ready to stop him-."

"Cloud." Zack grabbed his shoulder, turning him around. "Maybe you should stop and think. I saw him die. We both did. Maybe you're moving a little fast?"

Cloud yanked himself away. "I know he's here. I heard-!" His voice. He didn't say it, but it was true. Sitting there in that sterile room, his head had given a blinding throb, and in the heat of that pain, he'd heard Sephiroth's voice echoing as though whispered behind his ear.

'Come to me.'

Cloud knew that feeling. The voices. The flashes of pain and the dull, uneasy haze that seized his body like puppet strings. He could fight it now, but he knew it all the same. Sephiroth was here, even if Cloud sounded crazy. And even if he was crazy, that didn't make him wrong.

Still, he hated the concern in Zack's eyes as he repeated, "You...heard…?"

Cloud opened his mouth to argue, but didn't have a chance before he was interrupted by a scream and a shattering of glass from an open door somewhere down the hall. They both froze, looking at each other before reaching again for their swords. The blonde woman reacted first, darting ahead without a second's hesitation. There was a rush of air behind her, the spark of magic, and fire exploded out the doorway in a flash of light. Cloud shook his head.

"This can wait," he said as he chased after her into the flames. Someone was there, someone hostile. There were more important matters at hand than his sanity.

"When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end, the goddess descends from the sky."

Squall froze as a voice echoed down the long hallway leading to the ballroom. He glanced back and made eye contact with Quistis before she gestured for him to stay quiet and keep low. Finding the intruders hadn't been hard. There was a trail of blood from here to the quad, and while they hadn't found any survivors, what they did find didn't leave much to the imagination. Squall's stomach had twisted at the sight of the dead, but he'd kept moving forward so he wouldn't have to recognize them.

Squall pressed himself against the side of the door, listening, and the other two followed suit behind him. Zell was pale and shaken from the blood, and his shoe tapped behind him in a quiet rhythm. Squall gave him a look, but decided it wasn't worth the effort as he pushed the door open just enough to see polished marble floors.

"Wings of light and dark spread afar. She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting." There was a sharp snap like a book being closed and then the rustling of cloth. "While I'm more than happy to recite Loveless to you all day Sephiroth, you don't exactly make for the best company. How long are we to wait?"

Squall leaned forward to sneak a look inside. The room was cavernous with its dimmed lights and shadowed rafters. The skylight reflected the violet orange of near sunset and glared off the marble floors. At the other side of the room, a dark figure stood with his back turned facing the open balcony doors. "He's coming."

Squall's neck prickled with unease. The voice was low, but wrong in a way he couldn't quite explain. Each syllable pierced the silence like a dagger through ice. "Soon enough. He won't disappoint me."

There was a long, dramatic sigh that could have come from anywhere. "Couldn't we speed this up by going to him? Since when did you become so dramatic? Or did that come with the territory when you learned to float?"

"There's no need. I shouldn't lower myself to that."

Squall ducked behind the door again and glanced back to Quistis and Zell. Zell looked back to him with eyebrows furrowed in confusion before shaking his head and mouthing, "What now?" Quistis gave the floor a deathly serious stare as she listened for every word of their enemies.

Squall shook his head. Not yet. It sounded like there were two of them in there, but he still couldn't find the second voice.

There was a short silence before it started again in an almost dreamy sigh. "Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul. Pride is Lost, Wings stripped away, the end is nigh."

The dark one gave a short grunt and Squall bit his tongue, edging back to the crack in the door. His hand tightened on his gunblade as he edged closer. Still, the voice echoed from seemingly nowhere.

"I've said it before," it said. "We're monsters, you and I."

The other man visibly tensed. "We're gods."

"Then Shinra would say I'm a failed one." The man gave a haughty huff and Squall caught something move in the corner of his eye. Above him? "My friend, do you fly away now? To a world that abhors you and I? All that awaits you is a somber morrow No matter where the winds may blow."

Squall saw it again, a brief flash of shining black in the rafters. He squinted at it closer to find that it was the toe of a boot being kicked about almost lazily from the owner's thirty foot perch. How had anyone climbed there?

When the dark man said nothing, the first continued. "What's your obsession with this blond boy anyway?"

For the first time, the man in black turned towards them. There's was something off about his movements. Something too fluid. Too smooth. Squall only caught a glimpse of a gaunt face framed by gleaming silver before he ducked behind the door again, but what he'd seen was enough to twist something cold in his stomach. It was the eyes. The look he'd given the rafters was enough to freeze Squall in place.

The man above them continued with an almost bored droll. "Last I saw he was comatose and being carted off by Zack. Terribly threatening."

"He's just a puppet. Nothing more."

Squall's grip tightened on his blade. Should he attack now? If an enemy was positioned above then a sneak attack was almost impossible, and he'd leave himself vulnerable until someone could cover him. But waiting was just as much of a risk. How long could they wait?

"Oh? Is that why we came all the way here? Over nothing?"

'Think.' Squall looked back to the others again. Zell was leaning forward now, fist in his hand as he readied himself to charge forward. Quistis' lips were tight, and there was something fearful in her eye as their gazes met. She shook her head.

"Genesis." The dark man spoke with a deadly calm. "I told you to remove anyone unworthy of us."

"Hm?"

"The door."

Squall froze. His heartbeat quickened in his throat as he tried to think faster. He knew this feeling, the panic of a mission gone completely and utterly wrong. He heard Quistis' gasp behind him and a whispered curse from Zell, but it didn't really register.

There was nothing left to lose and no retreating. That left only one option.

Squall thrust the door open with his shoulder, charging forward directly at the man in black. He pulled his sword from its holster as he went, not wasting time to adjust his stance. He heard shuffling bootsteps behind him, a cry of "Squall, wait!" and then he swung his sword at the man before him. The man in black didn't move. He just watched Squall with an expression somewhere between annoyed and amused until the blade approached his neck. There was a metallic clink and Squall's sword hit a thin blade clutched by a leather-clad hand. Squall's eyes widened. He hadn't even seen the man raise it.

The man in black considered him thoughtfully, and Squall met his chilling eyes. They were even worse up close - inhuman with an almost neon gleam and thin, cat-like pupils. They narrowed slightly.

"Interesting." The man's lips twitched as Squall threw himself back, gunblade raised defensively. The rest of his team fell into formation behind him - Zell bouncing on his heels and Quistis with her whip outstretched. The man turned slowly to face them, sword held loosely at his side. It was so long that it looked more like a javelin than a blade. The man tilted his head slightly. "You're different, aren't you?" he asked.

Squall eyed him, glancing at Quistis before giving the man an incredulous look. "What?"

The room expanded silent and empty around them like an arena made of marble and glass. The balcony doors stood open and the wind brushed against them from the Garden's flight. Squall glanced above them to see a human figure drenched in shadow with one foot dangling over the edge.

"Surely the Great General Sephiroth can handle this on his own, can't he?" There was a haughty air to the man above them, but the one in black - Sephiroth - didn't even look his way.

No, his eyes were locked on Squall.

"You've always been stronger than the others, haven't you? More...special." Sephiroth's voice seemed to curl around the last word as his smirk widened. Squall stared at him without comprehension.

"I'm not special," he said. "I'm just here to stop you," but Zell was already yelling over him, "Yeah, he's strong! And he's here to take you down!"

Sephiroth laughed. It was the kind of soft, deadly sound that belonged in darkened forests and the bottom of graves. When Sephiroth was done, he shook his head, touching at his forehead before his eyes locked on Squall again. "We'll see."

And then he was upon them.

The man flew at him like an over-sized bat, black coat billowing behind him. Squall's hand moved on instinct, blocking one blow and then another and another in rapid succession. The force of it sent him stumbling backwards, and Squall tried to regain his balance as another strike angled in from above. There was a wild yell from beside him and Sephiroth pulled back to catch Zell's fist in his hand, throwing him roughly aside as a whip cracked just above their heads. Squall repositioned his stance and took just a moment to catch his breath before throwing himself forward again.

The man was fast, too fast in a way that didn't even seem human. The minutes passed like deadly hours, but with every strike that Squall tried to land, Sephiroth seemed capable of four more. Squall could feel it in every step, in every slash, in every time he felt that sword deflect his own time after time after time. Something here was terribly wrong.

"Why did you kill all those people?" It was Zell again. He let out a guttural cry as he rushed forward to sweep Sephiroth's leg. "Who even are you?"

Sephiroth hopped over the blow (not hopped - hovered?) before dodging back out of range, laughing. Squall repositioned himself, raising his sword defensively. There was no other way to fight him but slowly. Charging in would only get himself killed.

"Augh! Answer me!" Zell bellowed at the sky in an enraged battle cry before running straight at the man's sword.

"Zell, stop!" Quistis darted after him before Squall could react. She'd only barely touched his shoulder when the man appeared before them like a shadow. Squall's eyes widened. He started towards them as Quistis clutched tighter at Zell's shoulder and she threw him aside towards the balcony doors. The sword glinted in the sunlight and then dropped in a deadly arc. Quistis let out a muffled cry as she stumbled back, blood dripping from between her fingers as she clutched at her eyes.

"Get away from her!" Squall thrust himself between them, swinging wildly. Sephiroth's eyes gleamed with something terrible.

"Do you care about them?" he asked. Squall's eyes narrowed. He thrust his sword directly at the man's chest.

There was resistance on his grip, he saw it tear through, but there was no blood. Sephiroth didn't even flinch as he slipped aside. Squall stared as the ragged hole in the man's chest slowly knitted back together.

"Move!"

Squall started at Quistis' voice and dropped to the ground in time to see a long, piercing blade sweep the air where his head had been. There was the crack of a whip and then a series of thunder bolts, and behind him, Quistis stood her hands outstretched, blood streaming from her brow and down her nose and cheeks. Sephiroth veered backwards to avoid the chain of spells until he stood in broad sunlight on the balcony like a creature of the night exposed. Behind him, Zell had stumbled back to his feet and was waiting with raised fists. Sephiroth blocked the first blow easily, then the second before he caught Zell's wrist and twisted it. Squall cursed as he charged forward, swinging from above in a wild lunge. Just like before, Sephiroth's sword caught his, diverting it over his shoulder as Zell plummeted towards the concrete. Their eyes caught in that brief stalemate - Squall's deadly determined, Sephiroth's vaguely amused.

Then Squall pulled the gunblade's trigger.

The shot bucked roughly against Sephiroth's ear, and he recoiled away from it, letting out a soft grunt as he staggered into the iron-wrought railing. Squall elbowed the man further off balance as he swung his blade around to face him.

(Just a little more and he could push him over the side!)

Something hit Squall hard in the square of his back. He let out a pained gasp, twisting around in time to see the edges of a red coat, leather pants, and the shining tip of the boot that just kicked him. He caught a flash of auburn hair and a smirk (the man from the rafters?) before a leather glove had grabbed him by the face.

The hand sparked and then burst with flames.

Squall's eyes widened but he didn't have time for more than a muffled yell before the heat crashed into him and he blindly threw himself away from it. He heard someone laugh before he was struck again in the chest and fell backwards into the railing which gave a terrible crunch and then a jolt as he felt it give way.

Squall tried to find something, anything to grab onto, but groped only air as his heels teetered and he heard Quistis screaming his name. Zell's gloved hand reached for him, but their fingertips only brushed each other as the Squall's boot slipped and he toppled backwards off the ledge.

He saw Zell's terrified face, the flip of a crimson coat, and then he was falling.