Author's Note: Welcome back! Sorry, that wait was horrendously long. :( But I FINALLY finished this chapter. I hope you enjoy.

It's not as long as I imagined it to be, but there'll be more adventurous (along with mushy) chapters coming up; don't worry. XD

I'm still working on re-writing the first few chapters. Gotta fix some things. As of writing this note, I'm still working on the reboot of "Balamb Garden Blues." I'm also trying to give some of the OCs a little more depth here. It's partly to practice writing characters in non-fanfiction stories, and partly because they could use a little love.

. .

DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy VIII and its characters are the property of Square-Enix. Characters are by Tetsuya Nomura. I only own the story and the characters that are obviously new and made up.

Maybe It Could Work
by Elcyion Pitye

XIV. Broken Halo

Everyone, including a handcuffed Bethe who stood in-between Zell and Seifer in front, looked toward the door as Squall and Selphie burst into the Headmaster's office, all sharing surprised looks. The couple seemed quite amicable, and it was only today they had the nerve to angrily bicker during offical SeeD business.

Ignoring them, Squall scowled and stood at the end of the formation next to Fujin. Selphie cleared her throat embarrassedly and jogged to a spot somewhere behind him.

As soon as everything was settled, Headmaster Cid began to speak to the SeeDs before him.

"I know Squall was to assign you missions tomorrow, but our objective has changed, and I am assigning all of you right now," he expressed urgently. "Rinoa has disappeared from the office of Dr. Kadowaki, who has been knocked out."

"What?" Seifer cried incredulously. "How the—?"

"We don't know, Almasy," Cid broke in, fretfully running a hand through his hair. "She could be anywhere."

"So what are we doing now, exactly?" Squall asked seriously.

"This has become a global matter, especially since Rinoa is the sorceress. SeeD from Trabia and Galbadia have been dispatched elsewhere, split among the Estharian continent and some of Centra," the Headmaster explained. "Edea's White SeeD will take care of the rest of the Centra continent. Balamb, meaning all of you, will be in the remaining continent, as it is the most condensed area, and we are currently the largest SeeD program." He eyed each of the SeeDs. "I've sent out lower levels to scout areas all over the world, but we will need bigger players to take care of anything specific that might be beyond their level. Your group will go to Galbadia. Since there are only so many areas to cover in the continent, we will only split into three parties."

Cid pointed at Squall. "Commander. You, Selphie, and Dev will cover Deling City first thing. If there is nothing there, hit Dollet." He turned to Quistis. "Instructor Trepe. You will lead Almasy and D'Artemus. You will be the party to take Rhiannon into the REVOLUTION hold, which I have been told is near Winhill, to find information. Gather as much as possible. And finally..." He nodded at Zell. "Mr. Dincht, you and Mr. St. Germaine will start at Fisherman's Horizon and make your way toward Timber and along the south. Nida will remain here with us as the second-in-command to me in the control center."

"Sir?" Dev spoke up, saluting. "Isn't Raijin Ameno missing? What is he assigned to?"

"From what I gathered," Cid said regretfully, "Ameno is not in Garden. I heard he was the last one to visit Rinoa. It may be possible that he is with her right now. For what reason, it's still unknown, but it's still possible."

"That's a bold thing to assume, Headmaster," Seifer piped up with a frown. "Maybe he's just being annoyingly lonesome somewhere. Maybe he's sick."

"But he wouldn't abandon his priorities like this," Fujin stated in a serious but concerned tone. "Especially since this is a job... an important one at that."

"We can't waste anymore time on wondering," Squall said sternly. "We're short on time. If something happened with him concerning Rinoa and Hecate, we'll deal with it then. If it isn't that, it's his problem."

Cid nodded in agreement with the commander. "If there are no further questions, then you are all dismissed. Good luck... and please pray for the sorceress to be all right."

The SeeDs fell at ease, grouping together according to their assignments. The Trabian girl immediately headed over to where Squall stood by the door, greeting Dev Feydor somberly as the rookie sauntered up to him hurriedly. However, before she was within earshot of them, she heard an awed voice behind her.

"That hat..."

Selphie whirled around, inattentively touching the brim as she did so. Her emerald green eyes met the startled purple of Alethea D'Artemus'.

(That's right...) Selphie remembered seeing her in Irvine's room, possibly canoodling—(Heh, what a funny word)—before she burst in. The little jealousy the Trabian had for the rookie was long gone, but it was still odd that she had misjudged Alethea so much, thinking she was no more than a fake, airheaded bimbo, but here she was, a hardworking SeeD under the supervision of Nida. "Um, hi," Selphie greeted awkwardly, the bounce in her voice still intact.

Alethea had a wistful smile on her face. Selphie couldn't help but think that she remained as irritatingly beautiful as she did on that night, those pouty lips and those big, hypnotizing violet eyes. She could give Rinoa a run for her money. "I think it's sweet that that you chose to keep him alive within you like that," the dark-haired girl said.

Selphie blinked. "Yeah..." It was weird for the two of them to bring up Irvine, given how the yellow-clad girl first met her.

She sighed. "Look, I'm sorry about the way we met back then. I never had a chance to apologize."

"Huh?" Selphie muttered. "Alethea-"

"Thea," Alethea corrected. "I could tell that you didn't like me, but I don't want any grudges—"

"Oh, nonsense!" Selphie exclaimed, seeing where the girl was getting at. "I'm way over that!" She beamed. "I don't hold grudges, Thea. I had different feelings back then than I do now. We can be friends."

Alethea looked extremely relieved. "Oh, wow, thanks a lot!" She dipped her head in a slight bow. "I'll be heading off now. Good luck."

"You too, Thea!" Selphie said cheerfully, waving as the dark-haired girl ran off to meet up with Seifer and Quistis.

Upon her arrival, Squall gave her an odd look. "What was that about?" he wondered in mild curiosity. He seemed to have watched her exchange with Alethea.

"Tying up loose ends," she replied merrily.

"Our group seems to be doing that a lot lately," Squall commented softly, a hint of a smile on his face.

"Yeah," she said with a smile. "Now we have a few bigger ones to go."

After some uneventful train rides, the trio of Selphie, Squall, and Dev arrived safely in the capital city of Galbadia. As usual, the city was hustling and bustling with active nightlife, both inside and outside of the Deling City Station. Pedestrians pushed past the SeeDs distractedly on the crowded sidewalks. Traffic filled up the roads, and side vendors (both the legal and illegal kind) took up their usual posts and hidden corners.

"I forgot how big this place was," Squall said with a frown, sidestepping as an unaware business man hurried past him, arguing on his cell phone. "Even at this time of night."

"They're a few hours behind us at our Garden, remember?" Selphie reminded him with a wink. She then did a few quick stretches of her limbs, as if she was getting ready to run a marathon. "Anyway, we should split up," she suggested. "Easier to cover ground that way."

Squall didn't seem to like the idea. "Remember the last time we did that? At Timber?"

"This place has a lot more people around," she insisted, motioning about her with her hands. She noticed the dubious frown on her boyfriend's face. "Squally, I'm as tough of a SeeD as you are..." She seemed peeved.

Squall was very aware that she wasn't just a girl, but a soldier, no matter how much of a twig she looked like. Even so, he felt protective just the same. Especially when they had just made up. But in any case, he knew she was going to wander off, anyway, if she felt like she should. "Whatever," he sighed, having no choice but to go along with her. The brunet shifted his eyes toward Dev. "And you? Are you familiar enough with Deling?"

The rookie smiled good-naturedly, running a hand through his healthy mop of blond hair. "I had a mission here recently, actually."

(What a pretty-boy,) he thought absently, raising an eyebrow. A part of him hoped Selphie wouldn't get too taken by his appearance. "Good," Squall said monotonously. He rubbed his chin, trying to mentally picture the layout of the city. "The station's south, correct?"

"Mm-hm!" Selphie replied cheerfully. She spotted a town map mounted on a signboard nearby and skipped to it. "See? That dot says, 'you are here.'"

"Wow, I never noticed this the last time I was here..." Dev murmured with interest, taking a close look at the map.

The commander cleared his throat to catch the two's attention. "Well," he said, "Dev, you go along the west side of town to search for Rinoa and Raijin." He gestured to Selphie. "Selph, you go through the middle. I'll head east. As soon as we're doing thoroughly searching, we'll meet at Caraway's mansion."

Dev blinked puzzledly. "Why there?"

He smirked. "Maybe Rinoa went home." He gestured toward the mansion in the distance, which can be seen from any other part of the city. "It's a last resort. She's still pretty against her dad and his new presidency, but if she wanted to hide, then she'd probably head to the last place she'd want to go to."

The Trabian giggled. "Totally sounds like her." But a second later, her laugh died, as she realized that the sweet young woman she once knew might no longer be herself. Not if she disappeared like that.

Before the atmosphere could become too grim, Squall piped up again. "No time to waste, guys. Let's go. Radios on."

Supposedly, within Winhill, there was a hidden door somewhere in the vicinity of the Flower Restaurant. It was a random place to connect to the headquarters of an anarchist organization, but there was nothing to lose, especially if an ex-member herself verifed the secret entrance.

The four of them: Seifer, Quistis, Alethea, and Bethe (of course, in handcuffs), arrived at Winhill via the Ragnarok, parking the large vehicle a good ways outside of the small town. Seifer and Quistis flanked her on either side, with the dark-haired SeeD bringing up the rear. They didn't want it to appear that they were bringing a criminal into a quiet little place (although they were) with the cuffs around her wrists, but SeeD didn't want to risk letting her completely loose until they were in the headquarters. Thus they surrounded her well enough to keep any passing civilians from seeing the metal bindings.

The Flower Restraurant was unusually crowded that night. Not a common sight because of Winhill's small population and lack of active life. This was a place many old people came to retire. It was also the very definition of a quaint village. It was hardly a tourist's attraction unless old fashioned cottage houses and flower fields were anyone's fancy.

But Quistis knew they should use the crowd to their advantage so they could easily slip away into the cellar, where Bethe said the trap door into the tunnels would be.

She scanned the situation with a sigh. She took a careful look toward the bartender, the nearby waiters, and any customers close to them. It would be no good if anyone became suspicious of them. The door was right in front of them, but she didn't want any civilians to happen to glance toward them as they snuck through. But again, hopefully they could use the high number of people to conceal them when it came to hiding.

"Great," Seifer spoke up sarcastically, amidst the noise. "More chances for us to get attention." He glanced at her. "What's the plan, Quisty?"

The blonde was about to answer, when a gray-haired, 60-something-old man, dressed in a floral-patterned button-up and khaki shorts, approached the group of them, pointing a finger at the instructor herself. "Say," he said loudly, as if he couldn't hear himself. "You look like that SeeD on TV!"

Quistis unconsciously took a step back. "Um, do I?" Outside of Garden, she generally didn't garner as much attention as Squall, Rinoa, Seifer, or even Selphie, so it surprised her that he even looked at her before looking at the gunbladist with her.

"That blonde girl!" he went on, nodding. "My grandson called'ja Instructor Trepe. Said you were his hero!"

"Oh," she said through a fake smile. She hoped to Hyne the man didn't let anyone else know of her or the other SeeDs' presence.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Seifer lifting the collar of his coat to disguise his face better, just in case he got recognized as well. It was a good thing the stranger's back was to him.

"My grandson's a student at yer Garden," he continued with a smile. "He seems to enjoy it. I got a story about his entrance, actually-"

"Oh, um—" Quistis began impatiently, but was suddenly interrupted by Alethea, of all people.

"Actually, she's not Instructor Trepe," the dark-haired rookie interjected as she stepped forward, a pouty smile on her face. "She so gets that a lot, though."

Quistis couldn't help but watch in disgust as the man's expression changed, his attention suddenly now solely on Alethea.

"Slut," she could hear Bethe murmur, watching the events unfold. Quistis shushed her harshly and tugged on chain of her handcuffs in warning.

"My," the old man breathed, looking at Alethea up and down. "Are you a friend of this lady?"

It was then Quistis realized what the girl was wearing. Alethea's outfit seemed more stylish and flimsy than functional, with a bronze, midriff-baring tank top layered over a darker-colored tube top. Over that was a dark, cotton button-up hoodie, which Quistis did remember seeing on her, only now half the buttons were clasped. On the lower half of her body was was a pair of fitted dark red cargo pants, with a wrap-around brown pouch sitting teasingly at her curvaceous hips. On her feet were a black pair of hiking boots.

Alethea turned on the slightly overacted, but effective, charm as if she was born with it. "Yeah, we've been besties since like, we were kids," she said perkily. She eyed the man meaningfully, as if hypnotizing him with her violet orbs. Her smile grew sexily. "The resemblance is totally uncanny," she continued in a sultry tone. "Don'tcha think?" She licked her lips, appearing nonchalant about the gesture.

(Besties?) Quistis repeated in her head with a cringe. (Just what kind of character is she going for here?)

The perverted old man's eyes fell to Alethea's mouth. "Indeed," he agreed slowly. Behind him, Seifer stifled a laugh behind his jacket collar, while Bethe, even in her metal bonds, couldn't help but look openly amused.

Quistis was plainly grossed out. Alethea was barely seventeen!

The brunette pretended to sift through her pockets. "Aw, poo," she pouted cutely. "I was gonna get myself and my bestie some drinks. We're so like, thirsty."

"Ah," the man spoke up, as if coming up with an idea, "let me take care of this round for you, for mistaking your friend for Trepe."

"Oh, you don't have to..."

He waved her off. "It'll just be a second. I'll getcha something good." With that, he sauntered off to the bar to the group's left. Fortunately, the bar counter was crowded and inattentive to the heroes, forcing the man to hit up the opposite end, closer to the check-in desk of the hotel area.

Alethea, her facial expression and attitude back to their normal states, shot Quistis (who suddenly remembered the point of them being there in the first place) a meaningful look.

The blonde cleared her throat. "Right." She turned to Bethe. "Tell us how to get in. Fast."

Bethe nodded. She took a few steps to her side and glanced down. With her toe, she tapped a spot below her feet. "See anything different about the tile pattern here? It's bigger than the others." She traced the toe of her shoe over a chipped edge of the tile block. "Lift it up. It's a short jump down."

Seifer smirked, cracking his knuckles. "I got this."

Bethe rolled her eyes. "Knock yourself out, Stud."

After taking a quick look around to see if there was anyone else other than their party watching, he squatted down. He carefully fingered around the chipped edge and heaved the loose tile out of its place, sliding it the side and away from the others.

He frowned. "That thing wasn't so heavy."

"Of course not, Genius," Bethe retorted. "I could'a lifted that thing up and thrown it at you like a boomerang." She turned to Quistis. "Just how did this guy get into SeeD, anyway?"

Seifer shot the blonde a warning look. "Don't answer that, Quisty."

She shook her head. "We don't have time for this. Let's just get down there before that old pervert comes back." Without a moment to spare, the instructor squatted down, preparing herself for the jump down. "Watch our surroundings," she said quickly. "Bethe comes down after me. Then you; then Thea... we need her last just in case that man comes back. Make sure we put the tile back afterward."

Then, dangling her feet over the edge, she slid down the rabbit hole. Quistis estimated the distance from the floor of the restaurant to the ground underneath to be around seven feet. It was dark except for the light coming from the entryway, and she could see that the ground below her feet was hard and rocky. On top of that, angled like it was a ramp leading downward.

She heard Bethe drop down next to her. "Got a light?" she asked. "It gets brighter from here, but getting there is a little more difficult."

"Well, yeah, I carry a flashlight, just in case," the instructor explained, turning to look at her. "We all should, as SeeDs on a mission..."

"Forgot mine," Seifer immediately spoke up as soon as he landed next to them.

"Of course," Quistis sighed. "It's fine, though. One should be enough. Although I doubt Thea would forget hers." She gave him a playful look. "Being a responsible SeeD, that is."

"Funny," he huffed.

The last of their group, Thea, hopped down from above. Immediately after, the gunbladist reached up to slide the tile back over them. As soon as the tile was in place. Quistis, followed by Alethea, switched on their flashlights.

"Spooky shit," Seifer commented. "How long do we have to walk like this? Hope to Hyne you don't always work in the dark."

"Of course not," Bethe said. "This is a ramp that leads down to the real headquarters. We gotta be as hidden as possible, you know?"

"Well, let's go," Quistis said, always the one to stop beating around the bush. "Thea, in front. Seifer, keep a hold on Bethe behind her. I'll be behind you."

Alethea obediently followed the blonde's instructions, stepping ahead of the others to guide the way.

"Keep a hold on me?" the ex-terrorist sputtered. "What, you think I'll run away to my former colleagues down here and turn on you?"

Quistis smiled and nodded.

"Y'all have trust issues..."

Seifer grabbed the redhead roughly by the arm. "Well, too bad," he told her as he dragged her after the brunette. "You're still our hostage."

"Whew, that's a firm grip," Bethe said, trying to move her arm to get more comfortable, but Seifer didn't allow even that much freedom. "Come on, you can let me go. Trust me when I say I'm not going anywhere."

"The hell are you babbling about?"

"I said," she repeated, her voice more firm, "I'm not going anywhere. You can let me the fuck go." She smirked. "Unless you don't want to, that is." There was something coy in her voice as the last part left her lips, and Quistis could tell that Seifer noticed.

He glowered at the redhead and dropped his arm. "Just don't trust you, that's all," Seifer snapped.

She chuckled. "Excuses, excuses..."

Quistis was very well aware that he was not, nor ever will be, attracted to Bethe, and that she was just messing with him; but nothing could stop her skin from crawling. She wasn't usually the jealous type. Even when she had that crush on Squall, she was never that possessive of other girls' attention on him.

However, she just couldn't help but wish it was herself the male rookie had his hand on.

(Oh, what am I saying?) she reprimanded herself quickly, as if her previous thought was a mistake. (I'm here on a very important mission and all I could think about is...) She frowned deeply at Seifer's back. (This... idiot!)

Other than what previously transpired among the party members, the walk was overall uneventful and quiet.

Quistis, helplessly observant as she was, watched with wary curiosity as Seifer's eyes fell on Alethea. Quistis bit the inside of her cheek, miffed. That familiar feeling of envy was working its way into her gut. (What? Did he finally fall for her charm?)

But to her relief, Seifer didn't try any smooth-talking with his fellow rookie. "You're a weird one, Thea," he spoke up.

Alethea craned her neck to look at him. "Excuse me?" she asked him dubiously.

He shrugged. "I mean, you're all flirty around guys, even old ones, but when it's just us and Bethe over here, you're quiet. It's almost like you're scared—" His words were cut short when he noticed her head snap to front again.

Quistis sighed, half relieved that he wasn't going to flirt with her, and half-irritated that he was so impulsive with his words. "Seifer," she warned.

"What? I'm just sayin'," he protested, glancing at the instructor. "You've seen Thea in the interrogation room with Nida. It was like a whole other side of her!"

"She can hear you talking about her," Quistis pointed out, rolling her eyes. "Please don't make fun of Thea."

Bethe couldn't help but snicker quietly as she gave the female rookie's back an amused look. "Aw, sweetie," the redhead spoke up, whistling at Alethea. "No need to be shy around me. I won't hurt you."

For a second, Alethea froze in her tracks, but then began to walk faster, lengthening the distance between her and the rest of the group.

Quistis sighed heavily, resisting the urge to hit her palm against her forehead. (Not Bethe, too...) She prayed to Hyne that this walk wouldn't last too much longer.

Zell found himself whistling a song familiar to him; a peaceful, but melancholy melody that reminded him of his and Firion's location: Fisherman's Horizon.

(Matches my mood,) he thought to himself, and sighed. He really needed to get back to his old self. But it wasn't his fault that things were just not going his way. On top of that, it seemed as though things were never going to. He hoped that his sessions with Waverly will pull through in the long run.

"You searched around already?"

The blond SeeD looked over to Firion, who had just approached from Hyne-knows-where. "Guess so," Zell replied, scratching the back of his neck unenthusiastically. "FH's not that big."

"I suppose," was the reply. "But I tend to be quite thorough... although I finished as well."

Zell snorted. This was his first time working with the snobbish SeeD, and even though he has already heard from others how much Firion liked to gloat, the martial artist still couldn't help but be ragingly annoyed by how much he made everything in the universe about him.

"You must be worried."

Zell raised an eyebrow at the odd statement. "What?"

Firion shrugged, smiling grimly. The blond couldn't tell if it was out of sincerity or if it was meant to mock him. "Your sorceress. Heard you two were close."

The shorter SeeD lowered his eyes to the ground as he shoved his hands into his pockets. His comrade bringing her up made his heart feel heavier than it already did.

(No,) he forced himself to think. (I gotta stay determined. There's always hope for Rinoa. I can save her. We all can.) "We're all close," the blond corrected. "And both Seifer and Squall dated her at some point."

Firion shrugged. "That's not what the rumors said."

"... Huh?"

Firion smirked. "How does some punk like you get a young woman like the Galbadian president's daughter?"

"..."

"Huh," Firion said with a funny smile, observing him. "You just made around ten different facial expressions."

"Uh, yeah?" Zell said uncertainly. He didn't really know what his partner was talking about...

"Look," Firion went on, waving him off, "this is no time to be talking idly. We have some important business to do." He gestured toward the mayor's home. "We have one last stop."

"You're the one bringing it up!" Zell seethed. Despite this, Firion already began walking away in a huff. (Is he fucking serious?) the blond simmered inwardly. He was tempted to beat the living crap out of Firion, but with the current mission, he had no choice but to follow instead. However, not without grumbling sourly all the way.

It didn't take them long to reach the mayor's humble abode. Mayor Dobe's wife greeted them warmly, but the SeeDs weren't feeling the love from Dobe himself. It was expected, however. Fisherman's Horizon was never too keen on SeeD.

"Hurry it up with your business, then leave," he ordered lazily, but with a sharp edge to his voice.

Firion, with his million-dollar smile already in place, held out his hand toward the mayor, who took his hand tentatively for a business-like handshake. "Sir, I am Firion St. Germaine, Rank 26, almost 27. Zell Dincht and I have come with some important business from Balamb Garden. In fact, it has to do with all of the Gardens. Everyone is involved somehow."

Dobe rolled his eyes. "Spare me that much, Mr. St. Germaine. What is it? And would it be possible for my town to not be involved?"

"Not if we have a sorceress on the loose," Zell finally spoke up, trying to sound professional despite his aggravation toward Firion. "Rinoa Heartilly is missing, and possibly dangerous. A fugitive, if you want to call it that."

Dobe's stern face didn't lessen any. "The sorceress, eh? When were the Gardens going to inform the world of that catastrophe? Nobody wants a repeat of last year."

"We're not sure about her capabilities just yet," Firion said truthfully. "We don't want to cause a premature panic among your town, Sir. However, I will absolutely make sure you know if there's something to worry about. But as for now, we would just like to know if you have seen her."

"That black-haired woman, right?" he asked, crossing his arms in thought. "The one in light blue? Caraway's kid?"

Zell nodded.

"No," he answered. "Haven't seen her. Why she'd even come by this little place would be beyond me. Those rich kids should be sightseeing in Deling or Esthar or something."

Firion then fished a photograph out of his inner pocket. "How about this guy, then?" he asked, laying a picture of Raijin down on the mayor's desk. "This is Raijin Ameno. We suspect that he may be accompanying Heartilly."

Dobe took a good look at the picture. "Not gonna lie," he said gruffly. "I've seen this kid before. Used to fish around here. Just not lately."

Zell's shoulders slumped slightly, out of hopelessness. "Well, thanks anyway," he told the mayor, shoving his hands into his pockets.

Firion merely nodded. "Let us know if you hear or see anything." He pulled something out of his pocket and tossed it onto Dobe's desk. A business card.

(Firion made business cards...?) Zell refrained from rolling his eyes. He opted for a mouth twitch instead as he turned on his heel to leave.

"Oh, Dincht," Dobe suddenly called. "It's Dincht, right?"

Zell twisted around to give the mayor an affirming nod.

"Even though I don't always think too highly of you SeeDs," Dobe said, scratching the back of his neck, "you sure did one hell of a job with saving the world."

If this was his way of thanking him, then Zell was grateful. The blond couldn't hide the smug smile spreading across his face, the first true one in a long time. "It's nothing I can't handle," he said lightly, for once, in a much brighter mood. At least someone appreciated something that he has done. "But thanks, Mayor." He actually turned fully and enthusiastically salute him before leaving. "Thanks a lot."

Dobe, nor Firion, for that matter, knew how much that compliment truly meant to Zell.

It was a narrow walk the rest of the way, but Team Quistis made it into most forefront room of the underground headquarters: the main control room.

Unfortunately, something didn't go as planned.

"They're not here," Seifer said dumbly, looking around the still-lit abandoned room. It was moderately sized, possibly the same amount of square feet as one of the single dormitory rooms at Garden. Computer monitors covered one entire wall, all turned off. Adjacent to it, attached to that wall, was a row of desk-like panels with various kinds of buttons and levers. Each unit had a computer screen in front of it, embedded into the wall. The desks also had locked drawers on the side facing inward. Some loose manila folders were left astray on top.

On the wall on the other side of the monitor wall was another, wider, doorway with stairs spiraling downward. In the middle of it all was a much longer desk; it looked like three normal sized ones wrapping around whoever sat in it like a C. There was a computer set up in the middle. Seifer didn't know what the 'outer desks' were for, but whoever occupied that middle table was probably the most important person in the room.

"Well, that doesn't mean there's nothing we can do," replied Quistis. "Look through the computers; anything in the room, pretty much," she ordered. "We can probably find their whereabouts from them. Hopefully it's enough to catch up and get ahead."

Alethea raised her hand cautiously. "I can hack into the computers..."

Seifer and Bethe both looked toward her, staring with mirroring gazes of surprise at the brown-haired girl. Quistis didn't seem surprised; she instead offered a knowing smile. "Well," she said, "I guess your file doesn't lie nor embellish, Thea."

"You... can hack computers?" the blond boy questioned slowly, pointing a hesitant finger at Alethea. "Really?"

With a more confident half-smile, she fished a small, oblong-shaped item out of her pocket. It seemed to be some kind of mini flash drive. Holding it up to her colleague, she let the object answer his question.

Seeing that she wasn't bullshitting him, Seifer laughed and set a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, a floozy with smarts! Who would've thought?"

She sat down at what Bethe pointed out to be the main control panel of computers, already setting herself to work, tucking the flash drive into one of the available ports.

"Looks can be deceiving, you know," she said, without looking away from the screen as she began to type quickly, with expertise. "My technological abilities are an asset to SeeD." She paused briefly, as if remembering something. "Archer Locke and I were unstoppable as a team in practice runs. He knew circuits and the insides of machines; I knew software and programming. It's really such a shame that..." she finished with a soft sigh instead of her sentence.

Quistis averted her eyes, contemplating. "Yes; I remember that much from your reports..." Indeed, it would have been nice to see Archer as a SeeD alongside Alethea, to see the "Techie Two"—as nameless comrades had called them—in action on real missions. She also heard, more unofficially, that Archer was one of the very few boys who did not chase after the physically desirable Alethea from first glance, and that the brunette found it much easier to work with him because of that.

Uncomfortable with the serious subject matter, Seifer tried to make himself look busy, his eyes darting around for any non-computer-related clues. Bethe was already occupied with some abandoned files in the corner of the room.

It took only a moment before Alethea's violet eyes widened as she stared at the monitor. "Crap..." she murmured. "Um, Quistis," she said in stifled panic. She immediately pressed a few keys, making the walls of computer monitors come to life in order to show the rest of her team. "Something happened."

Quistis was immediately at her shoulder, peering at the screen curiously with her forehead wrinkled with anxiety. "What is it?" she asked warily. She was no good at reading whatever computer language the rookie was using, but she just had a sinking feeling that something was going wrong.

"They're overriding the system," the brunette explained with a frown, her typing becoming more furious and the worried but concentrated look on her face deepening. "It's as if... they knew someone was going to hack in and breach the program's security, and knew how to counter it."

"So?" Seifer asked, not really understanding the point of even a straightforward explanation.

Alethea pointed to a line of several nonsensical combinations of words, numbers, and punctuation marks with a manicured finger. "This indicates that I gained access, but it's not to REVOLUTION. It's a cover up. It led me somewhere else, which would be..." She typed in something, and another slew of coded words, numbers, and punctuation marks appeared. Heaving a sigh, Alethea leaned back in the chair, looking defeated. "... the electrical system of Deling City."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Seifer retorted questioningly. "The hell?"

Bethe scowled, suddenly thinking of something. "Fuck me if I'm wrong... but if they thought this far ahead, then your hacking is only a pawn in what's to come. They chose the electrical offices for a reason."

Alethea smiled grimly. "Great... because it looks like I lost control of this." She gestured to the screen, where strings of symbols began to rapidly appear line-by-line. "Whoever is counter-hacking this end of the network is—" She froze, suddenly seeing something on the screen. "—blacking out Deling City?"

"What?" Quistis spoke up urgently.

Alethea leaned forward again, her marring expression more worrisome than ever. "They're sneaking into the electrical system in Deling to knock out the entire city's power, but using this end of the computer networks as a base." She shook her head. "They're framing us."

"Well, that'll certainly be great for SeeD reputation," Bethe remarked humorlessly.

"You better not have had anything to do with it," Seifer snapped.

"With us keeping an eye on her the entire time," Quistis argued, giving Bethe the benefit of a doubt, "I don't know how she would be able to pull that off without thinking any of us are traitors, which is impossible."

"Relax," the redhead sighed, rolling her eyes. "I had nothing to do with it. But this is a pretty standard plan of action for the underground faction, so I would know what they'd do."

"We better head there, then," Seifer said, not relaxing any despite the reassurance. He eyed Bethe suspiciously. "If what this bitch says is true, then we better stop REVOLUTION before they start."

The ex-anarchist let out a low whistle. "Well, of course," she said, as if it was the most obvious thing he could say. And then, her expression darkened. "But granted, if they haven't carried out anything yet."

"They have," Alethea piped up somberly from her seat. During the conversation among Seifer, Bethe, and Quistis, she had been attempting to regain control of the technological battle, but to no avail. She stood up from the chair slowly, head lowered with a bit of misplaced guilt.

"Deling City has no power."

Selphie was the first to make her way to the mansion. She felt rather silly heading up the front door unannounced. What was she supposed to say? "Heya, President Caraway, is Rinny home? I wanna play!"

They weren't little kids. Selphie also didn't know how Caraway was going to handle a possessed Rinoa if she did come here.

That is, if he was alive. She prayed briefly to Hyne that Rinoa didn't take any drastic measures in getting her father to leave her alone.

She rang the doorbell.

After a minute or so, the door was opened a crack by who she assumed was a housekeeper. A plump, middle-aged woman holding a feathered duster peered through the door, examining Selphie. "May I help you?" she asked warily. "If you are looking for President Caraway, he doesn't currently reside here. He lives in the presidential building."

"Oh, no, no!" Selphie interjected, waving her hands dismissively. "I'm looking for my friend Rinoa Heartilly! We're friends from Garden!" She bit her lip, realizing how much of a nervous ramble her words came out.

"You're SeeD," the woman assumed, her skeptical blue eyes watching her. "You look familiar. From the interviews on TV, yes?"

"Uh, I guess...?" Selphie said weakly. "But that's beside the point, ma'am. I wanna know if Rinoa's—"

"What is your business with her?" the housekeeper inquired.

"Well, she's SeeD," the Trabian replied fakely. "And we require her assistance on some missions, but we, um, well, lost her."

"If she's home, then I didn't notice," the housekeeper said airily, seemingly more accepting of the SeeD's abrupt appearance. "She does still have the key to this place, after all. If you are truly who you say you are, then I will allow you to check her bedroom."

"Really?" Selphie uttered, bewildered. She actually didn't expect to be trusted so soon, but whatever made things go by a little faster. At that, she beamed, truly appreciative. "Thanks!"

The door opened wider to let her through, and she bounded merrily into the mansion, saluting cheerfully.

"You know where it is, correct?" the woman's voice piped up again, saying it as if it was some kind of test of authenticity.

"I think I still remember," Selphie reassured her, skipping up the stairs. When the woman finally let her be, the Trabian uttered huge, but hopefully not too loud, sigh of relief. Landing at the second floor with jump of gusto, she ventured to where she recalled Rinoa's room was, just hoping the SeeD was there; it would make this mission go by a lot easier... not that it was going to get any easier with the PF thing and all...

She found the door shut, and a big, bracing breath, she knocked. "Rinny?" she called. "It's Selphie! Listen, some weirdo stuff is going on back at Garden, and we need to ensure that you're like, all right. And stuff!"

Selphie inwardly cringed at her own words. She wasn't very convincing, was she? Squall would've probably done a better job than her...

In any case, there was no answer, and Selphie was itching to see into the room for herself. "If you're naked, I'm sorry!" she hollered through the door. "I'll close my eyes!" Squeezing her pools of emerald shut, she fumbled for the doorknob and turned it.

Neither hearing nor feeling any form of protest, Selphie cautiously parted her shield of slim fingers, peeking through them.

The room was empty. The mansion was a dead end. There was no Rinoa. Hell, the bed looked like it hadn't been touched in months. The curtains were closed, and looked like they haven't opened in a long, long time.

Selphie set her hands frustratedly on her hips and let out an exasperated huff of breath. (Now what?)

She had no choice but to inform her group members and then move on to the next town. The brunette took out her radio from her back pocket, ready to contact Squall and Dev, but suddenly...

Everything around her went black.

Whatever other electronic devices were running in the household suddenly turned off, letting out dying sighs. The air conditioning abruptly shut down with an airy moan and a click.

(What the heck... a blackout?)

Before she could properly react, she felt a rush of wind as the door behind her slammed shut and locked. Immediately, Selphie whirled around, her hands shooting out to feel frantically against the door.

(Who..?)

"Hey..." she called out. "What's going on? Ms. Housekeeper Ma'am?"

(She locked me in? No way! She was totally cool with me..)

"Ms. Housekeeper?"

It was silent on the other side. Either the Caraway mansion was haunted or something hugely suspicious was going on.

A sudden creak from outside caught her attention. She immediately whipped her head around. No sooner did she realize that she was ill-equipped. She hadn't expected an actual outage in the grand capital of Deling. Resource-wise, it was a relatively stable place. And now, she was without flashlight, without matches or lighters, and without any good sense of where anything useful (like a window, for example) was in the room. She had no choice but to feel around.

But before Selphie took the chance to move, she heard something she wasn't supposed to hear.

"SeeD in the sorceress' bedroom, Rhiannon, sir," the housekeeper whispered, her voice dropping low and sinister from the pleasant alto she had earlier. "One of the top-ranked girls from the second Sorceress War. And she's all yours."

(What? Rhiannon?... Sir?) she thought urgently. (That means...)

Selphie gulped and kept very still. Never had she ever faced the head honcho of an enemy group by herself before, and while she grew strong in her travels and adventures, she was not entirely confident on being able to take Rade Rhiannon by herself. She had to contact Squall and Dev—quickly.

First, she had to gauge the range of the so-called housekeeper; and possibly Rade himself. Selphie put her ear to the door, listening for sounds of footsteps or distancing voices. Footfalls heavier than her own descended calmly down the stairs. The Trabian had to assume it was that woman. She imagined Rade to be much heavier and tougher in his gait. So, it couldn't be him.

After deciding that she was out of earshot, Selphie grabbed her radio from her belt and turned it on. Even in the event of a power failure, at least she had this to rely on.

"Squally?" she called in a whisper. "Can you hear me?"

The radio crackled softly. And after a bit of static, his voice came through the device. "Selphie? Are you all right? The city blacked out."

"Yeah, I know," she hissed. "But, uh... listen. I'm in the mansion."

"Already—"

"But I'm... locked in," she cut in quickly. "The housekeeper is a fake. She's part of REVOLUTION and she's calling—"

She suddenly halted her words. She heard something in the room settle. Or was it the sound of something opening? It couldn't be the door—she was facing it, and the sound came from somewhere behind her.

"Selphie?" the commander spoke up, his tone growing hard. "What happened?"

The brunette swiveled her head around, in the direction of the suspicious noise. She was more defensive than scared; it wasn't like she was expecting the boogeyman to come out and snatch her. She did know, however, that she was no longer alone.

And that fact was all too obvious when she felt something hard slam suddenly against her head. Before she could get a grasp of what had just happened, she fell forward, the impact against her much smaller frame incredibly painful as she roughly hit ground. Her radio was knocked out of her hand. It tumbled unceremoniously to some distance in the darkness.

She didn't know what socked her, but now her head was ringing from the increasing pain. Her vision was swimming, nauseatingly, and everything thereafter became a blur. Her hands flailed around, feebly finding carpet as she struggled to regain her footing. But Selphie could not, for the life of her, gravitate herself back to a steady mindset.

In the midst of the vertigo, something—or more accurately, someone—pulled at her hair, forcing her to a lying position. Selphie found herself face up, staring up at the darkened ceiling. Her nunchaku pressed painfully against her back. Despite the wooziness in her head, she haphazardly twisted her arm around behind her, in an attempt to maneuver the weapon out of its holster. She could hear someone breathing above her, hovering over her body. Her actions became futile as strong, powerful legs began to straddle her, trapping her underneath the much more massive human form.

"Silence," she heard the person whisper. A male voice, a rasp that was dangerous and arrogant.

Rade Rhiannon.

Calloused fingers of one hand swiftly gathered her wrists, violently pinning them above her head in a vice-like hold. She couldn't even struggle now, unable to move even her legs.

The bright white beam of a flashlight shined on her face, temporarily blinding her. She squeezed her eyes shut, ready to verbally get at her attacker, but nothing came out of her throat. Her lips parted, but there was no sound. Only air. Her voice was gone. It took her that second to realize that his single word was more than just an angry command; he had actually used the spell, disabling the Trabian from using magic or her GFs. And unfortunately for her, she was ill-equipped; she could not cure it. She only brought a few potions with her, not expecting to come across an encounter like this.

To put it bluntly, she was defenseless.

(OhHyneohHyneohHyne...) she repeated in her head with crippling dread. Her emerald eyes were wide with fear of the man with her, but she could barely make out his figure looming over her. Muted, she couldn't cry out for help, nor could she answer Squall's curious, but concerned calls on the radio.

"Selphie! Are you there?" his voice was growing more worried the more he yelled through the receiver. "Selph?"

(Squall! Save me! Please!)

She heard popping from the radio, in response to her silent cries, and then a click. He had hung up. She didn't know if he got the hint that she was in trouble, or assumed that it was simple interference. But either way, she needed him more than ever.

Her heart twisted sorely, aching worse than the searing pain in her head.

"So where are your comrades, Sweetheart?" her foe, Rade Rhiannon, asked mockingly, fully aware that she couldn't audibly respond. He grinned wickedly, the flashlight in his hand daring to trail down her body. In the darkness, he looked extra sinister, the shadows caused by the small light making him seem more evil in an inhuman way.

Selphie's stomach curled in repugnance. She suddenly felt exposed. Her normal outfit, the attire she has grown so accustomed to, seemed more scandalous.

"Seems we were both lookin' for that sorceress," he went on more nonchalantly. "But we both came 'pon a dead end. Too bad."

She glared abhorrently at him and squirmed, wanting more than anything to beat the living daylights out of the anarchist leader.

"But I think I can still take a little something for the road." His weight still on her legs and midsection, he suddenly released his hold on her wrists, resulting in an instant backlash from the girl. She instinctively flailed her arms, using them to beat at his chest, even if it wasn't enough to help her escape.

Nonplussed, he reached out with one hand, aiming straight for her throat. Selphie immediately batted it away, disgusted, but the man wasn't done. He shot his hand out again, but this time, with much faster reflexes as he wrapped his fingers around her neck. Her breathed hitched at the cold, uncaring contacted, the pressure against her neck not enough to kill her, but enough to create great discomfort. The flashlight he was holding in his other hand suddenly dropped, the item in his hand rolling away. It illuminated some other, random part of the room. That same hand managed to again pin her wrists against the ground, holding them out of the way.

Selphie's fear only increased exponentially. She couldn't see what Rade was going to do. The darkness only made the room feel smaller, and she felt more suffocated by it than by the grip against her throat.

Thin, scarred lips grazed along the outer curve of her ear. She shivered in blind fear, and then stiffened, wishing that she was anywhere but there in that mansion. His touch felt like poison; every fiber of her body wanted to repel this terrible man.

"Wanna scream?" he asked in a playful growl. "Who's gonna hear you?"

(Squall!) she wanted to screech to the radio somewhere beyond her reach. (Squall! HELP ME!)

How she wished this moment was as surreal as her visions of Irvine; her imagination. Hell, she even wished it was a nightmare. It could be horrific, but she would know she could wake up from it. She had woken up from mourning her childhood friend, as rough as that time had been, she had, at least, gotten back to reality.

But now, it wasn't her imagination anymore. And there was no other reality she could wake up to.

It was real. Frighteningly real.

Hello, hiatus. Ugh. Well, sorry for such a long wait on this chapter, but I really had difficulty with direction for the end of the story and what scenes I wanted in this chapter. Moreover, my fanaticism for this couple faded a bit (to make room for other ones in different series, lol), but I still plan on finishing. Just have faith and stay along for the ride. :3 I'll get it done. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your patience and support!

I think there's... 3-4 more chapters of this. I hope. I have better idea of where I want to go, and how to close things, so... hopefully the waits aren't as painfully long.

I only ran through my personal editing process a few times, so if there are any mistakes, sorry. Once I (or you) spot something, I'll make sure it gets fixed as soon as possible.

I sort of modeled Alethea after someone; an actress. One of those guys-love-her-but-girls-don't kind. More likeable, though. I wonder if you can tell who it is. Heh.

Also. Apologies to Selphie. orz