Final Fantasy: Crossroads of Destiny
by Sephiroth-Eternal

...He told me to expect something like this from you..."

"Huh, who?"

"Uh...nobody."

"Who...Avatar?"

"NO! ... I mean...no..."

"Can you come nearer please? You look so beautiful."

"Yes?" she said eagerly and came forward.

"Please get me another glass," he said stretching his glass, "They give more servings to beautiful people."

She got upset much to Sifan's content and stormed out of the passageway, cursing Sifan Leonhart under her breath.

Sifan smiled and turned back to the moon, "Now where were we, pal? ..."

************


Chapter 6

The early morning sunlight seeped through the holes in the adamantine roof and fell on the closed eyes of Phillona Strife. Feeling the illumination, She opened her light blue eyes. It was the same mako blue that shone in her father, Cloud Strife's eyes. She sat up on her bed and let her long shiny brown hair fall behind her. Both the hands of the small clock on the wall stood at seven.

[Sigh...late again...]

She got herself ready and opened the door and walked outside to be greeted by the early birds of Mideel who were already getting ready to toil the day out.

"The people of Mideel had all kinds of work. Hunting, woodcutting and cultivating were some of the things that were necessary to meet the everyday necessities of people. Mideel, or the village of the life stream as some people referred to it, is located in the southern part of the world in a small, fish-shaped continent. Since Mako reactors had sucked up almost all the lifestream in the eastern and the western continents, Mideel was one of the rare places where lifestream accumulations were found. The northern continent of course is the center of the life stream. After the METEOR incident, the ice had melted, revealing the earth and making it suitable for farming activities. Hence, the northern continent, showed new flora and fauna, and greenery started to flourish, making it a great tourist attraction despite the monster-populated northern crater near it.... MAN I HATE THIS CRAP!" growled young Ricardo, seated against the wall of Phillona's cottage near her door.

"Have a geography test today, eh, Ric?" Phillona said as Ricardo scratched his blonde hair. Ricardo was the son of Cid Highwind. He was smart and active, but only at things he liked. Geography was his least favorite. Mideel blossomed with youth life, and Ricardo was just one of the many teenagers that resided at the village of Mideel.

"Hi Phillona..." Ricardo said with a smile, "I have that damn crud of a test today, and well.... this stuff here...is driving me frickin' nuts..."

"Its okay, kiddo..." Phillona replied, "Just go and write what you know..."

"Say Phillona..." Ricardo said, "Where are you going, now...?"

"Heroes' garden..."

"Oh good. In that case, can you give this to dad?" he said pulling out a small but attractive rose, "I need to go to school today or else I coulda come...Oh and Marlene wanted to give you this for her dad...too"

"Sure thing darling..." she said, taking another rose from Ricardo, "By the way, where's Marlene?"

"She went to Costa de sol with that rich guy...what's his name...uh yeah...Mike..."

"Oh...ok...See you around, Ric..." Phillona said waving goodbye. She walked to the lifestream well, the sun tickling her eyes. She looked inside the well and made sure the lifestream was still at the same level.

"Hello. Beautiful..." came a voice from behind her, "Don't worry...none of those Shin-Ra morons came last night to pilfer lifestream..."

"Oh, good morning Trex...." Phillona said, smiling at the fairly-handsome 17-year old boy, "I am off to heroes' garden...how are the chocobos?"

Trex was the professional when it came to chocobos. But more than chocobos, Trex was more in to guns. He collected them and knew every detail pertaining to them. However, most of the guns he collected seldom worked. He shrugged and gave Phillona a Gysahl green, "Choco's in the stable. Give her this and she'll latch on to ya in no time."

"Thanks..." She said, "Oh...and if any of those Shin-Ra troops come and cause trouble, the materia's in the storeroom. I am not taking any with me."

"You got it..." Trex said and went away munching on an apple.

Phillona crouched near the garden and plucked a few flowers and made a small bunch with them.

[Mom used to love daffodils...]

Having got what she wanted, Phillona hurried away to the stable to take the chocobo.

************

Phillona Strife dismounted from the chocobo and gave it a Gysahl green, "You stay here, ok? I'll be back in a few minutes..."

She walked down the slope to the depressed land where the temple of the ancients had once stood. Now, a tomb was erected there. The place was filled with green grass with a fence along its rectangular margin. In the middle was a golden plate on which was engraved,

'DESPITE THE SINKING SAND,

THEY STOOD AGAINST ALL EVIL.

THEY WENT WERE NONE DARED TO STAND,

THEY MAY BE GONE, BUT THEIR MEMORIES NEVER WILL'

She knelt down on the grass before the tomb. A row of granite stones stood with the names, Cloud Strife, Tifa Strife, Cid Highwind, Red XIII, Yuffie Kisaragi and Barret Wallace.

She placed the flowers near her father's and her mother's stone and placed the roses that Marlene and Ricardo had given her near Barret and Cid's.

[And I never got to see them.... Mom, they all tell me I look beautiful, just like you and Dad, I am supposed to have your eyes...I know you and mom only from other people's memories...not from mine as a daughter...you went away.... even before I took my first step...]

****************

"Two years after the METEOR incident, as a result of the lifestream imbalance, violent earthquakes had started to rock all the continents of the world. Tectonic devices had picked up the source of the earthquakes to be the northern crater. But no one wanted to even turn his or her head towards the northern crater. Dad and the rest of his friends were the only ones who decided to take a look. After losing the highwind in the METEOR incident, they frequently used the small airship Cid had for emergencies. Using it, Dad and everyone else went to the northern crater. Marlene...Barret's daughter was 3 years old, I was a year old and Cid's wife was pregnant with Ricardo." Phillona wrote in her diary, brushing away a small tear, as the owls hooted, signifying it was mid night.

"They neared the crater when a sudden earthquake had begun. Since they were in air, they continued to move. But when the ground deep inside the crater gave way to a fissure, the lava pressurized for 2 years shot out 100 feet in the air, melting the propellers of Dad's airship. Cid tried to land the airship near the coast of the northern continent, but it took a plummet...and crashed...into the city of the ancients...the same place where Sephiroth had killed Aeris. No one survived. Not even Dad. They found the bodies a few days later...since that fateful day, there hasn't been a single earthquake...it was as if the earthquakes were just something to call dad so nature could kill him. When this happened, Marlene and I were taken to Cosmo Canyon. Buganhagen became my father. He raised me...I didn't know anything till I was ten. He wanted me to enjoy my childhood. But the truth always lands...the day when Buganhagen breathed his last, he told me everything. He smiled, seconds before he closed his eyes and told me, 'you will do great things...my girl...' and then, he gave me a phoenix pendant and died. He had taken care of Marlene and me for a decade. Ricardo was raised in rocket town and later sent to Mideel because of the City's polluted atmosphere. Marlene and I came to Mideel through friends of Buganhagen. We grew up into what we are now. We didn't have much to do. Until one day...we decided we needed to protect Mideel from the reincarnated Shin-Ra..."

Phillona's hand was aching. She had lost her old diary. So she made a new one and wrote most of the things the first one had again. The diary was the only thing on which Phillona let her feelings materialize. The true feelings of loneliness and sorrow of having no one to lean on were only on her diary. Besides that, outside she was her cheerful, bubbly self the world knew her to be. She drank a glass of water and returned to her bed and continued to write on her diary.

"After the METEOR incident, Shin-Ra had fallen and was as good as ashes. But even ashes had the reputation to give life. To start with, people were happy there was no more an evil corporation in the form of Shin-Ra. Satisfied with independent towns and cities scattered through out the world, people went on with life. But not for long, they began to feel the world was too big a place, and they felt things would surely go haywire if everyone did as they pleased. The crime rate had already reached its height. So...they decided there would be Shin-Ra the second...but this time...it would be 'for the people, of the people, by the people'...those fools didn't realize the first Shin-Ra started on the same foundation too. This time, they adopted the age-old Magitek technique to 'protect' and 'promote'. Thus, Shin-Ra was reincarnated, as a goody two-shoes organization. Shin-Ra, over the years, earned everyone's trust and confidence. They used Magitek, harnessing magic to do 'good', and received respect and admiration all over the world. They built new cities, new towns, channelised rivers, everything a citizen of the world could possibly want, they even bought the gold saucer and cut down the prices. But fruits of corruption are the fastest to blossom. Deep Under the desert region, an empire was growing. Magitek armory, weapons, and all forms of destruction personified. Shin-Ra headquarters was re-built; all information was recovered from the database of the first Shin-Ra including mako energy, harnessing the lifestream's powers. They combined mako and Magitek and soon, Makotech was born. Total madness. All this was going on underground. Shin-Ra's control over the world strengthened but resistance organizations found out the truth. They managed to free the northern continent and the southern continent from Shin-Ra, both being supreme sources for mako energy. The northern continent gave birth to it's own government, which refused to align with Shin-Ra because top officials in that government knew what was going on under Shin-Ra's rainbow skin. The mako center in the northern continent was the northern crater. As for the southern continent, there were too little people to start a government. Shin-Ra had already managed to occupy the borders of the southern continent but the mako center was Mideel. So every week, Shin-Ra troops constantly ran around Mideel, trying to infiltrate it and take control. They even tried to steal some lifestream from the well for their research purpose. So we have been protecting Mideel for the past two years. Me, Trex, Marlene and a few other people as well. We have some materia and it has been helping us so far...But Shin-Ra's getting sick of not using powerful force...they are about to reach the limit of doing anything to grab Mideel. We can't hold out much longer...we are going to need help.... from anywhere...from any world...."

Phillona closed her diary when there was a knock on her door.

"Come in, its open..."

Marlene Wallace walked in to the room, an irritated look on her face, "WOULD you BELIEVE IT? T-That TWERP!"

[Sigh...so what else is new...?]

"Lemme guess..." Phillona said smiling, "Your sweet Mike's flirting with a new girl in his town..."

"How'd you...?"

"Lets just say things have a way of repeating themselves..."

"Uh whatever..." Marlene said plopping on the chair, "Geez...that darn ship from Costa de Sol takes a whole blasted two hours..."

"That's funny, last time you said it took ONE hour..."

"Uh...Well...last time...Mike was there..."

"Time flies when you're with someone you love, huh?"

Marlene smiled, "Guess you could say that..."

[Just wish...there was someone for me too... Sometimes, when it feels like it's all over...]

Her thoughts were rudely interrupted when Trex came crashing through the door. The cool, calm and collected look that was usually there was absent. He caught his breath a little and then blurted out, "They're coming! They're coming!"

"Damn...." Marlene said, "... At midnight...?"

Phillona reached under the bed and pulled out her leather gloves, "Trex, hurry to the store room and get the materia, weapon and the armor ready. And Marlene...alert the others and meet me at the village entrance."

A couple of years ago, Phillona had gone to Nibelheim and had trained in Master Duncan's martial arts dojo. Master Duncan's father had taught Tifa and hence Phillona came to know him. She had been there for a very short time due to continued intervention by the Shin-Ra troops in Mideel, but she managed to learn quite a lot. Her fighting style was unique although she knew how to do all her mother's signature moves. She recalled all her usual fighting strategy, hurriedly putting on her gloves.

She was about to leave the door when she stopped returned to her bed. She reached under the bed and pulled out a small box and opened it. Inside it was a shiny red stone, glittering with its entire glimmer. After making sure the cure materia was well fixed to her glove, Phillona equipped the Shiva summon materia and rushed out to face the approaching threat.

****************


Chapter 7

"I set one of the most beautiful girls up for you and you blow her away like dirt!" Avatar Fenis screamed angrily at Sifan Leonhart, "I don't have to do this, you know. I could just stay in there. Dance with Tania. Dance with Celina -Ahem- I mean...WELL, I am just trying to bring you to the brighter side of life, for God's sake!"

The wine's effect was still doing it's thing to Sifan, "If the brighter side of life means dancing with Lorena, Serena, Anna, Tania, Celina, Felicia, and every other feminine version of Tom, Dick and Harry, I think the dark side will suit me just fine..."

"Look at you. Squall Leonhart's son, sitting her semi-drunk, with your glass of champagne all by yourself, Ugh, God you're pathetic..." Avatar said, frustrated at how Sifan enjoyed being alone.

"Ah, what can I do?" Sifan said, "I am just another lone wolf..."

"Make that a lone drunk wolf..." Avatar snapped and marched away behind him.

[Sigh...they're all on to me...]

Sifan yawned. The party was almost over. In a matter of few minutes, they would all come marching out and make their way to the balamb garden's newly constructed balcony for their buffet dinner.

[Wait a second.... Avatar went BEHIND ME. The party and the girls are in the hall FRONT of me...why-]

Before he could think of anything else, icy cold water came down on his head, drenching him fully. Sifan got up and wheeled around and saw Avatar smiling maliciously, a bucket of water in his hand.

After chasing Avatar all the way to the dormitory corridor, Sifan stopped. Avatar had disappeared... and he had disappeared fast. After all, Sifan thought, he WAS a ninjitsu student.

"Hey...Avatar...I am in a mood for a little one on one..." Sifan said, unsheathing his gunblade, "How about it, kid?"

There was no reply.

"Hey, you don't have to worry..." Sifan said searching for his friend, "I am still a bit wobbly from the wine and I wont be that-"

Before he knew it, a figure from behind swept him off his feet with a sweep kick. Sifan fell down on the ground with a thud on his back. He quickly jumped back to face his assailant.

"Uh well, I was just thinking, I don't have my sword..." Avatar grinned, "But I think I'll accept..."

Sifan stood up, groping his neck, "If you had kicked me any harder..."

"...Yeah I know, your medulla oblongata would have gone splat but hey...I made sure it didn't...so...WHAT say ye, pretty boy, ye or nay?" Avatar said getting into his Zell-like fighting stance.

"You're on!" Sifan said, reloading his gunblade, "Just don't complain its gunblade versus fists..."

Suddenly, a shruiken cut through the air and raced to Sifan's fist but Sifan swung his sword and sent the shruiken into the ceiling.

Avatar smiled, "I may not have a sword but hey...we ninjas-"

"Shut up and fight..." Sifan said jumping in the air, gunblade raised above his head. Avatar moved to the side, and nanoseconds after Sifan's blade came down, swishing the air near his shoulder. Avatar immediately locked Sifan's weapon-equipped hand in a death hold. The next thing the young Leonhart knew, Avatar's knee sunk into his stomach with force. Sifan crumpled to the ground, his gunblade lying next to him.

"Aw..." Avatar said grinning again, "Don't tell me that's all the time we have today..."

"Er...unfortunately...it is..." Sifan said sitting up, his hand on his stomach.

"Ah, that's my boy..." came a voice from behind Avatar. Both of them turned to the direction of the voice. A man stood against the blue neon light, clad in a brown jacket with a furry-white collar. A glimmering lionheart hung by his side.

Squall Leonhart smiled as Avatar helped Sifan to his feet, "Hmm...you two haven't changed...still sneaking away from the crowd, just so you could fight..."

"Uh, Hi dad..." Sifan said, "Um...Nida told me you weren't coming..."

"Hmm...why would I want to miss my son's graduation...? Well, the sad thing is, I did They had to get that turbo-warp thing fixed in the Ragnarok. Well, anyway, just last minute changes. That's all. Your mother and everyone else are taking care of the farewell party back in Esthar. Irvine and Zell send their regards."

"Uh...yeah..." Sifan said, the pain still lingering, "Damn you Avatar! That one hurt..."

"Aw c'mon pretty boy, I didn't hit you that hard..." Avatar said and turned to Squall, "Hey... You saw that didn't you, Squall?"

Squall smiled, "I would've kicked him harder, Avatar."

"Very funny, dad." Sifan said.

"So...how about you two coming over to Esthar tonight?"

"I-"

"We'd love to..." Avatar said immediately before catching sight of someone across the passageway "Um, will you excuse me? I need to meet someone. The party's almost over. I'll see you after dinner..."

[Tania...or was it Celina? Heck, who the hell cares...]

Squall nodded to Avatar with a smile, and soon the ninja disappeared in a jiffy. Squall was across mid-age but he was still in good shape and often helped SeeD with a lot of missions. But some signs of aging were inevitable, he couldn't strain too long, and the skin under his steel blue eyes had tightened, but he was still as handsome nevertheless.

"Hmm...don't you have to meet anyone, son?" Squall said continued to stroll beside his son.

"Uh...no..."

Squall laughed, "That probably means 'No and I don't want to, either'...right?"

Sifan grinned, "What can I say? I'll have at least some things similar to you, if not all."

"Seriously Sifan...not a single girl?"

[Not you too...]

"I don't need em' dad..."

That amused Squall a lot. He laughed again.

"What's so funny...?"

"I was so much like you..."

"Until you met mom on a night like this..."

Squall smiled, "Ellone told me you forced her to show you all the 'interesting' parts of my life."

"Er...yeah. I remember. When mom got you to dance that night... oh boy, those blue eyes of yours just couldn't get off her, could they?"

"I danced that night, didn't I, Sifan?" Squall said, absentmindedly looking at the sky.

"Yeah...."

[She had you hook, line and sinker]

"She had me hook, line and sinker..."

Sifan looked at his father.

"What? Something I said?"

"Uh...no..." Sifan said withdrawing his look as they approached the dinner table on the balcony. Squall looked at his watch and sighed, "I'll have to meet a few people now, Sifan. I'll be with you in a few minutes, ok?"

Sifan nodded. Squall gave his son a pat on his back and went away. Sifan walked over to the balcony railing and stared at the stars that seemed to be doing their best at shining.

[Dad...he used to be such a lone wolf. Alone and lost. Then mom came along like in the fairy tales. Then his life became her. Everything in Squall Leonhart lived for Rinoa Heartilly. Don't know if it's wonderful or just plain sad. Then he slowly changed. She showed him how to live. She helped him to become everything he is. Dad, obviously, feels the same thing should happen to me. But I don't see any wonder or magic in love at all. Maybe it was because; things aren't as bad for me as they were for Dad at 17. Or maybe I don't know how it feels to be an Orphan. Or maybe I didn't grow up away from the world, as Dad had. Whatever it is, each of us had a different bringing up, but at this stage of life, we were more or less the same. Only thing, I am not as lonely as Dad was inside...and I guess that's why I don't find love so intriguing and astonishing like its some savior...]

There was sound of clapping behind Sifan, interrupting his train of thought. He turned around to see what all the commotion was about. He found out soon enough. A SeeD had proposed to another female SeeD with a diamond ring in front of all her friends and his. She had accepted.

[And of course, the crowd erupts into cheers, like its some grand finale to a game....]

They calmed down after a while and sat around a huge table, all with curvy smiles on their faces. The girl who had been proposed to, just kept looking at the diamond glittering on her finger and broke into tears and kissed her man-to-be.

[Geez...they just keep lookin' at each other's eyes as if there's no tomorrow...]

Sifan turned around and walked to a small table facing away from the rest of the crowd, overlooking the silver ocean.

"Champagne, sir?" the white-suited waiter asked with a raised eyebrow as soon as Sifan sat on the chair.

"Um.... no thanks...I'll just have a glass of water..." Sifan said.

"Will there be anyone else joining you, sir? We have this special for couples-"

"No...it will be only me, thank you." Sifan said, finishing rather abruptly.

After the waiter went away, Sifan buried his face into his hands.

[I still have another party to live through. Geez, talk about back to back parties. There'll probably be another bunch of waiters asking me all sorts of questions...Oh yeah...and then there'll be Avatar's mentor Mr. Irvine Kinneas...the co-author of my nickname 'pretty boy' asking me where's my girlfriend...Zell will probably punch me where Avatar kicked me and he'd go, 'wassup, man'... and mom of course, gets kissy kissy...and Quistis would elucidate on my garden performances and exaggerate probably everything, and then of course selphie'd be, 'woooooooohoooo, Sifoo's a SeeD' and she'll ruffle up my hair...Oh God, what a night this is gonna be...]



************


Chapter 8

Zell Dincht punched Sifan Leonhart accurately where Avatar had kicked him earlier, "Wassup man?"

Before Sifan could say anything Selphie Kinneas disheveled Sifan's hair and screamed excitedly, "woooooooohoooo, Sifoo's a Seed!!!"

Irvine had earlier asked whether Sifan had brought his girlfriend but when he replied in a negative, he had just smiled his modest smile and went away with his 'student-in-flirt-arms", Avatar Fenis.

Rinoa came over and placed a kiss on Sifan's cheek, "welcome home, darling..."

[Everybody's jus too predictable these days, really...]

"Honey, I am sorry but I have to take care of a few things. Just a bit busy..." Rinoa said, "I ll be with you in a few minutes."

"Sure thing." Sifan nodded as Rinoa smiled again and went away to attend to the early guests.

Sifan still stood at the door of the huge presidential residence in Esthar. He took a good look at it and sighed. It was Laguna's last day at the magnificent place. But he had served his time.

"Hey, are you gonna just stand there all night, pretty boy?" Irvine's voice rang out from a corner, "Bring me those streamers will you...?"

Sifan picked a pack of colorful streamers on a table near him and walked over to the cowboy, "Say, Irvine...Where's Ron?"

"He went to pick up his girlfriend in Dollet. She couldn't come alone on the train. Not many people take the train at this time of the night, you know. Or maybe they just wanted to make it romantic..."

"I'll take the latter one. After all, He IS your son..."

Irvine climbed up on a chair and stuck a streamer to the wall, "Hey, where's your old man?"

"The Ragnarok's gone to pick him up. He'll be here in another hour or so. He had to talk to some people. Quistis will come with him too..."

"That aint gonna take an hour, Sifan..."

"What?"

"We're talkin turbo-warping Ragnarok now, kiddo..."

"Oh yeah... Zell was telling me about that..."

"Yup, I feel it's that old goose Odine's best invention yet. You just type in the co-ordinates of the place you want to go to, and there's this small lil' gunny kind of thing under the cockpit that fires this beam in the air and opens up a floating portal. You just fly through the portal and voila! You're there...cool stuff, huh?"

"Yeah... Esthar's really somewhere when it comes to technology, huh?"

"HEY, IRVINE, you moron!" Zell screamed from the other corner, "stop yakkin' and stick the frickin' streamers, will ya?"

"I'll leave you alone..." Sifan said to Irvine, "Where's Mr. Smooth?"

"Oh... Avatar took that Tania girl to that skyscraper a few blocks away. He wanted to show her the view or something... that kid's after my own heart..."

[Tell me about it...]

"See ya around" Sifan said and took a look at the arrangements going on for the party. Rinoa was running up and down arranging the food on the table. Zell was putting up all sorts of posters. Selphie stuck a president sticker on a teddy bear and made it sit on one of the stools. Irvine of course, was busy with the streamers. A few other friends of Laguna were also present. Kiros and Ward were the president's right and left hand and so they had gone to balamb. The preparations were almost complete.

[Where the hell was Laguna back in balamb...? I didn't see him...or Kiros or Ward...probably my fault... I didn't even sit around still for ten minutes... Dad didn't join me for Dinner either. Maybe something important came up...Hmm.... talk of the devil, here they are...Guess the turbo-warp stuff's working...]

The sound of the Ragnarok landing outside fell on everyone's ears. Zell fell down from the stool he was standing on and hissed, " Somebody switch of the lights, godammit..." Rinoa ran away to the back to do so. And soon the lights went out. Total blackness.

They all stayed quiet making the place silent as a graveyard. Laguna's voice came from the entrance, "Hmm...What happened here? Something wrong with the main board...I think..."

"I'll go check..." Kiros' voice followed.

"I think I'll give Kiros a hand..." Squall said next.

Nobody uttered anything when Laguna spoke, "Great party at balamb, eh Ward?"

He was greeted with silence.

"I didn't see lil' Sifan though..." He continued under the belief someone was listening to him.

[I am little?]

"What a time for a blackout, eh Ward?"

[Laguna's not changed one bit...]

"Ward...? Squall...? Hey... anyone there?......Kiros?"

Suddenly there was a loud explosion and the lights came on and everyone screamed in unison. A few of them started honking air horns and someone put on the music at full volume while others still, busted a few balloons. A flabbergasted Esthar President stood there, still. Someone outside even unleashed fireworks in the sky which wrote in a magical green light, 'Cheers to the greatest president of ESTHAR...' When he finally came to, he smiled, still a bit surprised

[Not bad for last minute preparations...]

Laguna received a hug from Squall and felicitations from everyone. Sifan waited for the crowd to clear a little. While he was waiting, a voice came from behind him, "Ain't ya gonna hug yer grandpa, Leonhart?"

[That voice!]

Sifan spun around to see Relafen Almasy smirking at him, "Don't ask me why I am here. I DON'T KNOW."

"Hmm...let me guess. Ward, Kiros, Squall and Quistis walked up to you and invited you. How can Seifer. Jr. say no?"

Relafen mumbled something in his mouth, "Yeah. Yeah. Tyranny..."

"Like I said..." Sifan smiled turning around and looking back, "Enjoy the Party, Relafen..."

Squall whispered something in Laguna's ears. Laguna nodded negatively at first but then he agreed. He walked up to a microphone that was hurriedly set up by Selphie. Everybody turned to Laguna as he cleared his voice.

"Uh, Well..." he started, "I am touched...uh really...you guys remembered the last day of this old man's presidency over Esthar. Um, I really like to thank you all for this. I...I never expected anything like this...it's been great being the president of this great country and well, I hope, It will flourish in every way in the decades to come...thank you..."

They all broke into claps and cheers again. Laguna stepped away from the microphone and made his way to a table near Sifan. At first, he didn't notice Sifan and sat down on a chair.

"Uh...waiter..." he said turning to Sifan, "do you mind bringing me a glass of-"

He stopped. "Sifan!?"

"You haven't completed your order sir..."

"Aw, cut the crap my boy!" Laguna said getting up and hugging him tightly, "You've grown. The last time I saw you, you were complaining about that punch of Avatar's which broke your tooth...you were ten if I remember correctly..."

"Believe me, gramps, things haven't changed all that much..." Sifan said, touching his stomach, which was still jittering a bit.

"I am sorry I didn't meet you in balamb...I was taking care of those SeeD funding matters... for the last time that is."

"Nah, its ok..." Sifan replied, "Wasn't much to see..."

"Hey, C'mon...I did want to see how you danced..."

[Sigh...yet another one...]

"You did dance, didn't you?"

"No.... I wasn't feeling too well..." Sifan lied.

"That's too bad... Oh look, it's your headmaster... I better go say hello... Help your self to the food my boy" Laguna said and went away to meet the old goat.

He looked around. Everyone was engaged in a conversation with someone or another, enjoying, laughing, and involved in some kind of emotional pleasure that can exist between people.

[I always seem to be alone...don't I?]

*************

It was him she wanted. Squall Leonhart's son. Not his best friend. Somehow, it had all cross-fired and there she was, in that forsaken balcony in Esthar's tallest skyscraper, looking into Avatar Fenis' eyes, but still finding nothing.

"Hey...your friends tell me, you read palms...and stuff like that..." Avatar said after hitting on Tania for some time.

"Hmm... Even if I did read palms Avatar, there's no way I am gonna read yours..." Tania said, smiling at him, "Say...Where's your friend...?"

"Who? Sifan?"

"Yeah..."

"Pretty boy is in the presidential palace... he's probably standing in some corner, alone..."

"Hmm..."

"So...that's your game, huh?"

"What?"

"You want Sifan Leonhart...I should've known...they ALL want him..."

"No no no...Avatar...I came with you for you...ok? Not for some walking mummy like Sifan Leonhart..."

"Hee hee...walking mummy...that's a good one..."

Confident she had him around her little finger, Tania continued, "Well, yeah...I do read palms...my mom taught me...sometimes I am right.... sometimes I am wrong"

"Hmm...you just wanna hold my hand, right...?" Avatar said as Tania lifted Avatar's palm, "Why don't you just say so...?"

"Well if you put it that way..." She said, running a finger down the lines of his palm, "Hmm..."

"Well, what do you see...? When do we get married?"

"Smart-ass..." She said, "Lets see...you are going to go out of this world-"

Avatar started to snicker, "Hmm... how will the aliens look like? Fine-looking and attractive like you?"

"Oh shut up...you hit on me like there's no tomorrow..." Tania said, observing his palm, "Hmm...this is beautiful...your fate line gives way to someone else's-"

Avatar wrapped his fingers around her wrist, pulled her close, and looked in to her eyes. "Not as beautiful as you...". He said, with the silky tone Irvine had taught him.

Tania wrapped her arms around his neck; "You're just as smooth as they get...."

He leant forward and kissed her. Tania didn't resist and allowed him to, but in her mind, she pretended the boy in front of her was Sifan Leonhart.

*************


Chapter 9

Rinoa and Squall waved goodbye as the Ragnarok slowly lifted into the sky. They had promised to come see Sifan the next day as they were too busy too spend time with him. Initially, they had wanted Sifan to take a leave from his first day of SeeD but after what Quistis had told him about the Garden committee, he decided not to risk anything. Soon the Airship cruised out of the presidential residence's view.

The weather that had been agreeable all along began to turn its color. There were rumors of a thunderstorm near the Galbadian plains, but from the clouds that were starting to loom in the sky, it seemed like they were going to have one too. A huge thunder deafened the Ragnarok's occupants as it slowly veered around in the direction of the island of balamb.

Avatar sat dreamily behind the Pilot's seat in the cockpit, thinking of Tania. Since Tania was not a SeeD and was still a normal classman, she had to be in garden premises early. So she had left on the first trip the Ragnarok made to balamb after the party in Esthar. She had promised him lunch together the next day, hoping she could link up with Sifan in the process. Avatar, however, unaware of the intentions of the girl he had fallen for, was whistling romantic tunes he knew from the album of the 'wild chocobos' rock band.

Relafen sat the last seat, with his legs on the headrest of the seat before him, polishing his gunblade in his usual smug manner. Sifan stood behind Nida and watched him pilot the Ragnarok.

"Say..." Sifan broke the silence, "Can't we...uh...turbo warp?"

Nida shrugged, "Well, we could if we want to, but I've never really tried anything like that...without technical assistance..."

"Aw C'mon Nida..." Avatar said, "You know how to do it, right? Besides, you've been flying this thing for almost two decades."

Lighting struck a tree on the ground ahead of them and split it into two, as rain started to pour down heavily, almost thrashing the Ragnarok's exterior like metal bullets.

"The weather's not too friendly today, is it?" Sifan said looking at his watch, which showed 2 A.M.

"This is not good...." Nida said, "We haven't had a storm like this in years..."

Relafen got up, satisfied with the burnish on his gunblade, "So why don't we just turbo warp our goddamn asses to some nearby landing space..."

Nida opened a small control panel, which read, 'Turbo warp'. He punched in a few co-ordinates and sighed, "Yeah...I really can't see a thing. Its raining giant buckets."

Another thunder boomed across the hazy horizon. Sifan nodded in agreement, "Turbo warping somewhere safe is better than crashing into some mountain at 400 mph..."

"Alright..." Nida said, "here we-"

Before Nida's finger touched the 'confirm' button, a lightning bolt hammered the tail of the Ragnarok causing it to whirl frantically. Sifan shot out his right hand and grabbed a nearby seat and managed to secure himself as Avatar and Nida, with their seat belts on, received a hard jolt. Relafen, however, was unlucky enough to have forgotten his seat belt. The force, with which the Airship spun around, sent him flying backwards, flat against the cockpit door. His right elbow hit the steel hard, the shock causing him to trigger the gunblade in his hand. The bullet barely missed Sifan's face and crunched in to the turbo warp control panel.

The Ragnarok's engines were still on and the exhaust was pouting out flames. Sifan's eyes fell on the small screen on the turbo warp control panel. The co-ordinates display was going crazy, flashing all sorts of digits and symbols endlessly. Amidst the hassle of the Ragnarok still swirling wildly, Nida reached over to the control panel to close it but he received an electric shock as Relafen's bullet had revealed the circuitry. Before he knew it, the confirm button turned green and Ragnarok's turbo warp device started to zap rays wildly. To make matters worse, the Ragnarok 's left tail smashed into a mountain and was in flames, too strong to be wiped out by the raindrops.

"Shit..." Nida screamed, "The left tail is just above the fuel carrier...WE better get the hell outta here. Sifan, Relafen and Avatar...take a jet pack on the wall of the corridor, outside the door and head to the emergency exit, FAST! I'll follow you as soon as I put the emergency chutes on..."

The three of them didn't waste any time. They rushed outside and grabbed a jetpack each. They helped each other with the buckling of the straps as the Ragnarok continuously shook, almost knocking them off their feet.

"The emergency exit is just ahead...." Avatar said, "Follow me...."

Sifan looked back at Nida, frantically trying to get things in order. He had managed to activate the emergency chutes and the Ragnarok stayed wobbly but un-accelerated. Sifan wished him luck and hurried to the emergency exit. Avatar smashed open the emergency exit as an avalanche of wind and water lashed against their faces. Relafen jumped outside, activating the jetpack flare as soon as he was in the air. Avatar followed and turned around hovering in the air, "Sifan...jump out dammit!"

[I hope Nida 'll make it...]

Sifan sighed and jumped out.

The three of them stayed in the air, waiting for Nida. Suddenly, the turbo warp gun went berserk again and began to shoot rays, opening up bright blue rectangular portals everywhere it shot. As if to target the three SeeDs, the wind harshly changed direction. It blew the chutes to the right, turning the Ragnarok's head straight towards Sifan, Relafen and Avatar.

"Damn!" Relafen screamed. Before they could steer themselves out of danger, rays from the turbo-warp gun shot through the rain and engulfed all three of them, blinding them with it's dazzling blue light.

Sifan felt his body freeze without sensation, his head becoming unsteady. He felt his jetpack die out with a flicker. The next thing he knew, a strange sense of falling came over him, like he fell into a pit of perpetuity. All around him, there was only darkness, but he kept falling. He didn't see Relafen or Avatar. He tried to move, but his nerves didn't seem to respond to his brain, the numbness spreading to his neck. As he continued to fall, his consciousness began to fade away and everything went pitch black.

**************

Sifan Leonhart opened his eyes; his head feeling like someone had put a knife through it.

"Ow...." He said clutching his head, "w-what h-happened...?"

Avatar Fenis' feet crunched the pieces of twig lying near Sifan.

"We got turbo warped to some forest...that's all..." he said pulling Sifan to his feet.

"Ugh...God, my head..." Sifan said looking at the trees packed so densely that they hardly seemed to allow even air to enter. Avatar Fenis stood near him, dusting himself and pulling a leaf out of his hair. Sifan looked at his coat, it was torn at a few places, seemingly from scraping against trees.

"Hey...I think we fell from quite a height..." Sifan said looking at the broken jetpack lying on the ground, "How come we didn't even break a cartilage?"

"Beats me..." Avatar replied looking at the scratches on his elbow, "Maybe the trees broke our fall...I don't know..."

"Where the hell is Relafen...?" Sifan said looking around, "Not that I care...but heck, he did fall with us..."

"Take a look at that..." Avatar said pointing to small piece of Relafen's trench coat stuck on a thorn, "The guy scrammed outta here faster than light I guess. He wasn't there when I came to."

"Let's get outta here..." Sifan said, wiping away beads of sweat.



"Looks like this is a forest near the cetra region... what a fine place to get warped to..." Avatar said as they made their way across the forest, pushing and cutting the branches and the green outgrowths with their swords.

After a few minutes of unenthusiastically hacking away the forest plant life, they finally came to a path leading out of the forest. They heaved a sigh relief and sheathed their weapons and walked out of the forest into the clear air. There were no clouds at all. There were only stars and millions of them, glittering along with the radiance of the full white moon.

"Well, will you look at THAT?" Avatar said, "The weather's playing nice now, huh?"

"Hey..." Sifan said, "What about Nida..."

Avatar frowned, "Let's just hope he's alright buddy."

Sifan nodded, "yeah..."

A cold gust of wind blew across the wide land, making them shiver. There were many forests, like the one they had come out of, scattered as far as they could see. A little far away was a sandy beach, the smell of seawater reaching their senses. Just then, Avatar froze.

"What-"

"Shhh...." Avatar said, "listen..."

Sifan tried to listen but all he heard was the wind ranting and raving. He tried again, but only the same results reoccurred.

"Move!" Avatar screamed and tackled Sifan to the ground as he felt something rush past his face with a menacing growl. The beast turned around and crouched on the ground to attack as Sifan and Avatar drew out their blades.

It was too dark to see the beast clearly but Sifan saw its hide. It was dark brown; it's teeth revealed by the moonlight. It leapt in the air and slapped Sifan right across the face; it's claws drawing blood from his skin. Sifan knelt down, the pain callously throbbing in his cheek.

"Hey, you ok?" Avatar said, taking a potion from his pocket.

"Yeah. But that animal isn't going to be..." Sifan replied. He was tired, frustrated and to make it worse, the beast had given him a bloody scratch. His temple tightened and so did his jaw. Avatar Fenis knew what this meant. The poor beast was going to get Renzokukened to nothingness.

Sifan stood up raising his gunblade, removing the safety lock with his thumb. Squall had spent an entire night staying up, and teaching Sifan the Renzokuken. He had said that limit breaks could only be triggered with a sense of exhaustion, fury and pain. All the three ingredients were more than present with Sifan at that moment. He leapt into the air and landed on the beast with a whirlwind of wild and fierce slashes, triggering his gunblade, every time he felt his sword making contact. The beast let out a yelp as Sifan's blade disemboweled him, literally. Sifan flipped backwards in to the air and got ready to start his limit break special, when Avatar placed his hand on his shoulder, "Hey...he's dead...you Renzokukened the living hell out of him..."

Sifan looked at the beast lying dead on the ground. He lowered his gunblade, panting, as Avatar healed Sifan with the potion.

"Poor thing..." Avatar said, walking up to the beast, "His Early morning snack proved fatal..."

Sifan looked at his watch. 3 A.M. Avatar put his sword in its holder behind his back. His eyes lit up and he pointed to something behind Sifan, "Look..."

Sifan turned around and saw a light at a distance, "Finally...civilization."

After walking a fair bit, they came to a village. They walked through its entrance and noticed there were small cottages made of adamantine roofs scattered around the area. There was a huge glowing well in the middle and a water tower at one corner. There didn't seem to be anyone around.

"Hey, check that out..." Sifan said pointing to the gleaming well.

"Wow..." Avatar said scratching his head, "I don't think it's water in there..."

Sifan's curiosity got the better of him, "Hey... let's go and check it out..."

Avatar didn't move.

"C'mon..." Sifan repeated.



Sifan looked at Avatar, surprised. He was standing still. Too still. With a pale look on his face, his eyes were on Sifan's chest. He slowly stuttered, "S-Sifan...l-look..."

Sifan looked down at his chest. A chill went down his spine, almost freezing it. He swallowed hard. A small red laser dot stood in the middle of his chest. Sifan had heard Irvine talk about it all too often. They were his favorite. Sniper rifles.......

"A-Avatar..." Sifan said raising his hands in the air, "Where the hell are we?"

"Well...I haven't heard of this p-place..." Avatar said nervously, "but a board back there said 'Mideel'..."

****************


Chapter 10

The laser dot stood frozen on Sifan's chest,

[Whoever this sniper is, he isn't moving a ligament...]

Avatar decided to clear the predicament as fast as he could.

"HEY" he screamed, "WE ARE LOST...we aren't thieves or whatever you think we are..."

The dot moved from Sifan's chest to Avatar's. Avatar took a step back, "WE AREN'T LYING FOR GOD'S SAKE. GET THIS THING OFF ME!"

It was Sifan's turn, "Yeah. Our Airship crashed. And we saw this light...and we came here."

Only muteness prevailed. The laser dot was still on Avatar. Sifan turned and saw the source of the sniper sight. The air was a little misty, showing a thin perforated red line from the point on Avatar's chest leading to a tree at the far corner of town.

[He's sniping from that tree.]

"Yes, he IS on that tree..." said a female voice from behind a cottage a few feet to the left from Sifan.

A girl with dark brown hair stepped out of the shadows. Her knees were padded up and thick leather gloves stretched to her elbows, a few gleaming stones fixed in slots on the gloves. The wind blew her long hair behind as she walked up to the place where Avatar was standing stock-still.

"Uh..." Avatar said looking at the girl, "What's a girl like you doing in a place like this, honey?"

[Oh brother...Avatar's the kind that'll flirt with Ultimecia...]

As if the sniper had heard Avatar, the red dot moved up right between his eyes.

"WHOA" Avatar said, "Tell sniper boy to go easy, will ya...?"

The girl looked at Sifan and Avatar for sometime and raised her hand. The sniper sight disappeared from Avatar as both of them relaxed.

"Geez..." Avatar said wiping his brow, "Is this the way you treat your guests..."

"Cut the sweet talk. What's your game this time?" She said tilting her head.

"Game? Our Airship crashed and we came here. Does that sound like a game, beautiful?" Avatar said, annoyed.

"Shin-Ra's pilots usually don't crash their airships...neither do they fly at this time of the night..." the girl said folding her hands.

"Shi-what? I don't know what you're talking about, sister...we're from balamb garden. We're SeeDs. We were coming back from Esthar when we had the little misfortune..."

"Balam garden? SeeDs? Esther?" the girl said puzzled, "you must have taken quite a crash. You're talking Greek..."

Suddenly, another shorthaired girl came running from the far opposite end of the village. She almost stumbled and fell, as she coughed out, "Phillona! Shi-Shin-Ra. they're coming...around fifteen of them, southwest of here..."

"Assist Trex with those soldiers, Marlene. Have Trex snipe as many soldiers as he can. You support him with magic..." Phillona said and turned to Sifan and Avatar, "I'll take care of these two Shin-Ra twerps..."

"So...that's very clever you know..." Phillona said tightening her fists, as Marlene ran away in a hurry, "Providing a distraction, so your pals can storm in from the other end..."

"NO! Wait..." Avatar said as he bent backwards, Phillona's feet missing his chin by inches. He staggered backwards in a half-ready fighting stance.

Sifan's heart skipped a beat when the sniper sight re-appeared in his arm.

[Damn!]

Sifan tried to run but the minute he took the first step, a bullet zinged through the air, and dejected in to his left arm.

[Aargh! I am hit...]

He clenched his left arm with his right hand, looking around for a place to conceal himself. Before the sniper sight could fall on him again, he ran to a narrow gap between two cottages and flattened himself against the wall, his arm starting to bleed. He removed the coat, with some difficulty, and sat down. He tore away the sleeve of his black shirt. The bullet's impact had been condensed to a fair bit by the SeeD coat but it had still managed to inter itself in the flesh. Sifan grit his teeth. The pain was excruciating.

Avatar's hesitation to a fight a girl proved costly. An uppercut from Phillona almost cracked his jaw as he flew backwards and fell on a clay pot, pretending to be out cold.

Phillona hurriedly went away thinking Avatar was knocked out. Avatar got up, clenching his jawbone, which Phillona had almost taken apart. His eyes fell on Sifan and he ran over to him past another sniper bullet that barely missed him.

"Hey, you ok buddy?" He said crouching near Sifan, "Shit. That son of a bitch got you..."

"Uh...look..." Sifan said, "Help them..."

"Forget it..." Avatar said, pulling out his katana blade "We got to get this bullet out first...it's iridium-tipped."

"No...neither of our swords is clean. You'll end up contaminating me if you use the sword. And we are going to need something sharp. So don't bother..." Sifan said, the pain heightening, "Help these Mideel guys fight those Shin-something guys, that's the only way they're gonna trust us..."

Avatar tentatively got up, but he nodded.

"Take care of yourself...I'll be back soon..." he said and rushed out. To his luck, the sniper was busy focusing on the Shin-Ra troops that were heading towards the village. He ran directly to the tree and jumped on a branch, and flipped to the thickest branch. A boy was crouched there, looking into the eyepiece of a sniper rifle. The boy was too engaged with the sniping to notice Avatar. Avatar slipped out his sword silently, and placed it on the neck of the boy.

"Look...Mr. Trex..." he whispered, "You hit my friend back there. And believe me, he's bleeding to hell. Now, I can slit your neck open in a minute but I am not going to."

The boy stayed motionless as Avatar continued, "I am not your Shin-whatever soldier. We were speaking the damn truth. Now, I am going to take out those troops who you're fighting. You try sniping me, believe me, I can sense your laser sight faster than you think. If I see a single red dot on me, the beautiful martial-arts girl gets a shruiken in the head, got it?"

The boy nodded as Avatar jumped down and rushed towards the place where he heard gunshots. A little away from the village, in rocky out plains with trees all round, Phillona and the other girl, Marlene stood against an avalanche of Shin-Ra soldiers. Phillona's ice spell knocked a soldier out of his senses and a couple of bullets from Trex pinned another two down. The soldiers, however, were closing in and the barrier Marlene had cast was getting weak from the bullets it was receiving. Moreover, the soldiers had spotted the sniper and a few of them ran towards the tree where Trex was sniping.

Avatar looked around. To his luck, there was a row of trees leading to the Shin-Ra airship from where the troops were approaching. He took to a tree without delay and being a ninja, he moved silent as a snake and swift as a bat. He somersaulted and jumped from tree to tree with utmost effortlessness. Soon he came to the place where the Shin-Ra airship had landed. His grappling hook often came useful for making long distances like the one between Avatar's tree and the ship. He aimed at the propeller and shot his grappling hook, which latched on with no problems. After swinging to the airship wing, he hung from the edge of the wing with one hand. Directly below him stood an unsuspecting Shin-Ra soldier. Avatar removed his sword from its holder and let go of the wing he was hanging from. He landed on the soldier, his sword sinking straight into the soldier's lungs, killing him instantaneously.

One down, fourteen to go. Avatar told himself as he turned around examining the airship. His eyes fell on a tank, which read, 'Fuel Reservoir-caution'

Avatar smiled. He raised his katana and buried it into the tank, which cut through the steel like it was butter. He pulled his sword down and wrenched open the tank as the fuel poured out. He walked to the other side and opened the door to the soldier's cabin. All the soldiers had rushed out towards the village and hence, no one was around. Sifan tiptoed into the cabin. There were all sorts of pictures on the wall. "Perverts..." Avatar muttered under his breath as he inched his way along the wall towards the cockpit.

The cockpit door slid open and the Shin-Ra captain walked out only to find himself staring at the tip of Avatar's sword on his heart.

"Do as I say...or..." Avatar slid the sword down to the captain's groin.

"NO!" the captain screamed, "Anything but that.... PLEASE! I ll do whatever you tell me..."

*****************************

The Shin-Ra soldier smiled. Their barrier was broken, and both his opponents were too weary to fight. He aimed his gun at the brown-haired girl's forehead, "Its such a shame...a beauty like you...."

His fellow soldiers snorted and laughed as the soldier aiming at Phillona Strife and Marlene Wallace placed his finger on the trigger.

The air, all of a sudden, crackled alive with a voice from the megaphone on the ship behind them, "This is the captain speaking. All Shin-Ra units. Report to the airship please. We have orders to withdraw now..."

The soldier with the gun fumed. He pulled out his pocket communicator as the other soldiers remained immobile with their guns pointed at the two girls, "Negative. We have everything under control. Even the Sniper has been captured."

"We have orders from GENERAL RUPERT THORNE! GODDAMMIT! GET YOUR FRICKIN' ASSES BACK HERE. DON'T TAKE HOSTAGES AND DON'T HURT ANYONE!!!" the captain screamed, feeling Avatar's sword go through his pant's zipper.

"Affirmative." The soldier's voice came over the speaker in the cockpit, "Are you ok, captain? Your voice-"

"I AM FINE. JUST GET THE HELL BACK HERE!" the captain cried and hung up the communicator. Sweating, he punched in a few buttons and called Shin-Ra headquarters like Avatar had told him.

"This is headquarters. We hear you Unit Alpha 5. State your purpose."

The captain stuttered, "W-we've been defeated again. All soldiers in Alpha 5 are dead. Mission failed."

The voice at the headquarters was silent and then spoke, "Unit Alpha 6 will be at your co-ordinates in a few minutes. Bring the bodies back to HQ. Do not re-attempt mission. You're on stand by till then."

With that the line went dead. Avatar smiled, "good boy..." He raised his hand, and struck the captain across his neck. He fell unconscious in a second. Avatar looked up. He smashed the glass on the top of the cockpit and squeezed himself out through the top, managing to get on top of the airship. He aimed at a nearby tree and grappled there in a flash.

Reluctantly, the soldiers pulled back after cursing something or someone under their breath. Avatar waited impatiently on the top of the tree, as the soldiers made their way back to the airship. Phillona and Marlene stood there puzzled. The soldiers climbed in to the ship in a hurry, much to Avatar's satisfaction.

Avatar grinned as though he was evil. He concentrated and cast a fire on the broken fuel tank. The explosion was drastic as the Airship went up in giant flames, which soon reached the engine causing it to blast again. Soon, there was nothing but a huge wall of fire where the Shin-Ra airship had stood.

The ninja landed in front of the two on-lookers, both of them, their jaws wide open. Phillona had seen Avatar jump across the trees. She had thought the Shin-Ra coward was running for the safety of his ship. She didn't know she would be this wrong.

"Now, do you believe we are not Shin-la...or whatever...?" Avatar said grinning.

"You did that-?" Marlene asked, "I mean. All that...."

"The captain helped out a bit..." he said winking at Marlene.

She threw herself around Avatar Fenis' neck, "Thanks..."

Phillona sighed as Marlene stepped back, embarrassed of how she had lost control, out of gratitude.

"Yeah...Thanks" Phillona said, "Couldn't have done it without you."

Avatar walked away towards the village, the fire behind him dying out slowly when the thought of Sifan's condition came to his mind.

"Oh by the way." He turned around, the smile on his face vanishing, " Your sniper sent an iridium-tipped bullet into my friend's arm...if you don't know...Iridium can kill in three hours or less..."

*******************

Avatar crouched down near Sifan who was still in the same place, "Hey..."

Sifan looked up at Avatar, "I took that bullet out with my gunblade. To hell with getting contaminated. The pain was killing me."

The villagers had come out after the incident, hearing the explosion. Marlene and Phillona were busy sending them back to their beds, assuring them everything was all right.

Trex Denver walked over to Sifan, who was on his feet but still clenching his left arm.

"Meet your friendly neighborhood sniper" Avatar said putting Sifan's right arm around his neck to support him, "Thanks a bunch, kiddo..."

"I am sorry..." Trex said, "The medical room is just over there. P-Phillona will have h-him fixed in no time. Sorry...I..."

"It's ok...." Sifan said, "don't sweat it..."

Trex ran over to the medical room and opened the locked door with a key as Avatar helped Sifan.

"What did you do back there?" Sifan asked, "I heard an explosion..."

"I blew up their airship...." Avatar said smiling, "along with them..."

Sifan sighed, "You killed a dozen soldiers...?"

"Don't make it sound so apocalyptical..." Avatar said as Sifan sat down on the bed inside the medical room. It was a small room, with the walls painted in a creamish white color. There was a picture of a man with Spiky-blonde hair and another woman with brown hair standing together. Sifan noticed that the woman in the picture bore a lot of resemblance to Phillona. A diminutive table stood at the right, with a flower vase on top of it. A small cupboard was near the wall where Sifan guessed they kept their medical supplies. A clock on the wall showed 12 A.M, which was three and a half hours before Sifan's watch.

Avatar stood looking at the picture of a lion with its tail on fire, "Hey Sifan..."

"Yeah?" he said, slowly lying down on the soft bed, after adjusting his watch with his uninjured arm.

"Where do you think we are...?"

"I don't want to think about it...."

Avatar smiled, "Guess you thought it over too, huh...?"

"That girl didn't seem to know SeeD or balamb. Ok...that's agreeable. But I don't think anyone wouldn't know Esthar." Sifan said, recalling how confused Phillona had looked when he had mentioned Esthar.

"Irvine told me at the party...." Avatar said, "That turbo-warp was another one of Odine's IDTD disappointment models..."

Sifan closed his eyes, the pain starting to rise again, "ID-what?"

Avatar continued, "Inter Dimensional Transport Device...Odine had been trying to do inter-dimensional warps for the whole of last decade..."

"Yeah.... I heard about it..."

"But every gadget he dreamed up or produced was a flop...one of them, however, warped people within their world. He altered it..........made a few tweaks here and there........."

".... And got it to warp people where they wanted it to..."

"Yeah..." Avatar replied, "he thought it might be useful with the Ragnarok, since it was used so much."

"So...Relafen's bullet screwed it up. It did what it was actually created to do and we've become victims of an inter-dimensional warp? Tell me this is all one big dream...."

The pain in his arm shot up, brutally reminding Sifan that he was nowhere near dreamland.

********************

Maintained by:

d Galloway (Insert Image Here)