Please note that this is not the original version of my fanfic.However, aside from a few minor 
corrections to spelling and stuff, the only things I've changed is the addition of a disclaimer and 
changing the 'scenes' to chapters. That's it. If you've already read it, then there aren't any real 
changes that are worth you re-reading it.
	
	Hey, my first fanfic! I intend for it to be BIG BIG BIG! There's not going to be much 
fighting in the first few parts, but then it's going to pick up later, so stick with me. Also, FF7 
doesn't play as big a role as FF8 in these first couple of parts, but I'm going to equally represent 
both games, so don't get mad at me, okay? And when you see ateriks(*), it means I'm switching 
from Squall's world to Cloud's. I'm not too good with dialogue, so give me a break if you think it 
sucks, okay? And I didn't quite intend for my first one to be this long. Finally, I've taken a lot of 
my inspiration and ideas from other fanfics, so I want to apologoze in advance if you think I've 
stolen something. Okay, enough of this. You want to read the fanfic, so I'll shut up. 

	The characters of this fanfic belong to Squaresoft, with the exception of those I've created. 
Feel free to shamelessly rip off my ideas and characters, I don't mind.

Part 1:
	Prologue: 
	Its been one year since Squall and his friends slew Sorceress Ultimecia. Since then, 
Balamb Garden has been returned to its original location, and both Galbadia and Trabia Gardens 
have been rebuilt. The brand new Centra Garden, constructed by Esthar, (which now has a very 
nice relationship with the Gardens and SeeD) has been commisioned, and serves the same purpose 
that Balamb Garden once did as a mobile training center. Esthar itself is no longer besieged by 
monsters, due to the aid of SeeD and Galbadia. Galbadia is now led by President Caraway and 
Generals Biggs and Wedge. After the new management came in, Galbadia granted Timber its 
independence, and active trade between Esthar and the western nations resumed. 
	Ever since the climactic final battle, Squall and Rinoa were inseperable. Rinoa was 
allowed to move into Garden, and to have a dorm next to Squall's. Quistis, for her part in the 
battle aqainst Ultimecia, was given a new instructor's license. Zell and Selphie were promoted, and 
Irvine became a "special commisioned agent," or in other words, an unofficial SeeD.(There were 
still some problems concerning the relationship between the Gardens and Galbadia.) Even after 
Esthar was cleared of monsters, SeeD still had plenty of work to do. Rouge nations, small bands 
of rebels, and monster infestations abounded, and for a fair price, SeeD dealt with these problems. 
It was still a dangerous world, and SeeD was still needed. But no one knew how badly SeeD 
would be needed when all these petty conflicts would be swept away by a fiendish new threat....

	Chapter 1: The Arrival
	"S'up, Chief?" said the sensor tech as Piet walked onto the bridge of the newly built Lunar 
Base Beta. The portly commander of the Lunar Base nodded in reply."Anything interesting?" he 
asked.
	"Nothing new. Couple of small meteors, but that's it."
	"Hmm." Piet replied with a shrug. "I'm bored. Might as well scan em'."
	The tech hit a few buttons, and focused a scope on the meteors. "That's odd..."
	"What?" Piet asked.
	"They seem to be...slowing down?" the tech murmured in a suprised tone.
	"What?"
	"Yeah. They're slowing down." The tech leaned closer to the screen. "That's a controlled 
descent! Someone's directing those meteors!" he shouted a moment later. Piet immediately 
contacted Esthar to deliver this suprising bit of news.

	The meteors descended into the atmosphere a few minutes later. One fell in the 
southernmost tip of the Great Plains of Esthar. The other fell in the hills of the Grandidi Forest 
north of Esthar. Within a few hours, Doc Odine and his team arrived on the site of the southern  
impact site.
	"Zes iz very interesting," the oddly attired scientist said as he hopped out of the hovercar. 
The meteor, roughy around the size of a house, had mostly burned up in its descent. The 
remainder had left a suprisingly small crater, at the center of which was a reddish-brown sphere. It 
was roughly about six feet in diameter, and seemed to be covered with some strange shell-like 
carapace. 	
	"What do you want to do with this, Doc?" asked one of the scientists. 
	"Vat elze?! Load it in ze back of ze car. We vill take zes back to ze lab, vhere Odine vill 
figure out vat it iz!" 
	The sphere was very heavy, and was almost too much for the team to lift, but they finally 
managed to load it up. Odine left three scientists to study the crater while he and the others 
returned to Esthar.
	Meanwhile, the other team had also arrived at the northern impact site. Here, too, was 
another relativly small crater, and at the center of this impact was a small black orb, about twice 
the size of a baseball. They collected the orb, and after leaving another team to observe the crater, 
hustled back to Esthar with their discovery. 

	Chapter 2: Balamb Garden
	The Balamb Garden cafeteria was packed. And Squall Leonhart, Commander of SeeD, 
knew only one thing would draw so many students to the cafeteria at once: new hot dogs. It was a 
common joke that the only way to defeat SeeD was to deny them their hot dogs. For one high-
ranking SeeD, that was pretty much the truth: Zell Dincht. And when there were new hot dogs, 
Zell would be there, scarfing them down. Squall thought back to the video Irvine and Selphie shot 
of the victory party a year back, where Zell had too many dogs and not enough milk. That 
memory made the stoic teenager grin.
	"Quick! Sombody get a camera! Squall's smiling!" called a familiar voice to his left. 
Squall turned to see Irvine emerging from the mob surrounding the counter, carrying a tray laden 
with hot dogs and outfitted in his typical cowboy hat and brown trenchcoat. 
	"Whatever," Squall replied to Irvine. "You know where Zell is?"
	"Oh, he's at my table with Selphie and Quistis. Why?"
	"I need to ask him for a favor." 
	"Fair 'nuff. C'mon."
	Irvine and Squall threaded their way through the tables, past the region where the Trepies 
group had occupied, and brushed past the spot where the students who enjoyed complaining sat 
and griped about how badly they sucked. Eventually they arrived at Irvine's table, where Quistis 
was looking at some papers, Zell was slouching with one hand propping up his head, and Selphie 
was leaning back in her chair. They all seemed to be very bored, but perked up at their arrival.
	"Hey, Selphie," Irvine said, feigning shock as he sat down next to her. "Just because the 
most desireable man in Garden goes to get food doesn't mean you have to get all depressed!" 
	"Most desireable?" Selphie answered. "But Zell's still here." She gave Irvine a playful grin 
while Squall pulled up a chair and sat down.
	Irvine's hand clutched his chest. "Ah!" he said in a jokingly pained tone. "The woman I 
love has skewered me with her clever reply. I will now take a week to consider throwing myself 
off the balcony."
	"But I bet your ego would cushion the fall," Selphie shot back, and they both giggled. 
Squall shook his head. Zell, Irvine, Quistis, and Selphie knew what was coming next.
	"Whatever," everyone said at the same time, and the whole table burst out laughing, 
including Squall. 
	"Okay, here's what everyone ordered." Irvine began as he handed out the food on his tray. 
Not suprisingly, Zell had most of the hot dogs.
	"Careful," Quistis warned as Zell assaulted the food.
	"Yeah," Irvine followed up. "That's Galbadian Flame Sauce on those, and I know how hot 
that stuff is!"
	Zell didn't even seem to notice. Squall leaned back as he watched the muscular martial 
arts master inhale meat, bun, and various types of condiments with the same gusto as when he was 
beating up monsters. Squall lost interest after a moment, and glanced over at Quistis.
	"What's that?" he asked her.
	"Data on those SeeD candidates that will be taking the field exam two days from now." 
she said. "Some look pretty good." While she had been speaking, Zell had arrived at the last dog. 
Squall leaned over towards him.
	"Zell, I need to ask you for a favor." he said.
	"Ov cowse." he replied through a full mouth. "Jows a minute." He washed it all down 
with some milk and burped. "Ahhhh. Much better. What do you need?"
	"I wanted to ask you in private."
	"Okay, sure." They got up and walked over to an unoccupied corner. 
	The others at the table watched them go. "So, what does Squall want with Zell?" asked 
Selphie.	
	"I dunno." Irvine answered. "He just said it was for a favor." Squall and Zell talked for a 
few minutes, and then they came back.
	"So you'll do it?" Squall asked Zell.
	"Mmm-hmm. No problem." Zell said, sitting down and snatching up the last hot dog.
	"Thanks." Squall then walked off towards the Quad.
	"What was that all about?" Irvine asked Zell after Squall had left.
	"Can't tell ya." Zell responded. "Squall doesn't want anyone else but me to know."
	"Wow." Quistis said. "Zell the conspiritor. Can you give us a clue?"
	"Nope." Zell said. "Rinoa might find out." His eyes bulged as he instantly realized what 
he'd just said. "Erk! Oh man! Squall's gonna kill me!"
	"Don't worry," Irvine said."We won't tell her."
	"Oh, hi Rinoa!" Selphie said cheerfully as she looked over Irvine's shoulder. Zell gasped 
and both Irvine and Quistis spun around in shock, only to find no one there. Selphie burst out 
laughing.
	"Gotcha!" she said.
	"Selphie," Irvine growled jokingly, "I'm gonna kill you..." He turned around and tackled 
her, knocking her out of her chair. "And I'll start with the cuchi-cuchi treatment!"

	The Quad had been expanded to nearly twice its original size since Garden had been 
returned to its original location. Most of the students gathered there between classes. Squall had 
agreed to meet Rinoa there after he'd spoken to Zell. It didn't take long for him to find her. She 
was playing fetch with Angelo near the main entrance, and had her back momentarily turned 
towards Squall. He snuck up behind her, and quickly grabbed her around the waist and yanked her 
off her feet. Squall didn't have any trouble lifting Rinoa up, but she did make him a little top-
heavy, and Angelo, returning with his ball, ran through Squall's legs and tripped him. They all 
piled together into a laughing heap.
	"Didn't expect that," Squall muttered as he got up and began turning to help Rinoa.  
      	"Then I guess you didn't expect this either." Rinoa answered as she rose and kissed him. 
Squall pulled her up close and wrapped his arms around her. They held the kiss for a few seconds, 
oblivious to the students who glanced their way. When they finally broke the kiss, Squall smiled 
and gazed down at Rinoa's beautiful face. 
	"A kiss, yes.But the way it was delivered, no." Squall said. Rinoa giggled. Squall didn't 
joke very often, except around her. They released from the embrace reluctantly and began to walk 
through the Quad, hand in hand, with Angelo following along. They continued to stroll around 
and talk idly about the stuff that teens normally talked about for nearly two hours, and Squall 
could not be happier. When he was with Rinoa, he could just forget about his duties as a warrior 
and commander of the most lethal military force in the world, and live like the teenager he was 
supposed to be. 
	For a moment they stopped at a bench shaded by a small grove of trees to rest, and then 
they heard Zell shout Rinoa's name.
	"Over here!" she called back, waving. He spotted them and ran up.
	"Hey, Rinoa," he said as he arrived,"I need to talk to you alone for a sec." 
	"Sure. Back in a moment, okay?" she said to Squall, who just smiled and nodded. Zell and 
Rinoa walked over to the privacy beneath the trees.
	"I, uh, eh. . ." Zell began.
	"What?" Rinoa said with a smile. Zell had gained at least ten pounds of muscle since 
they'd fought Ultimecia, and the image of this big, powerful warrior stuttering was amusing.
	"Eh, it's about that ring Squall gave you. Uhhh, you know, the one with Griever engraved 
on it?"
	"Mmm-hmm. . . ."
	"I, uh, wanted to borrow it for a while." At Rinoa's suprised expression, he continued, "I 
just need it for a day or two, that's all! It's cool and all, and I just wanted to make a pair like it. 
That's all." Rinoa considered it for a moment.
	"Squall gave it to me, but I guess it'll be okay." She took off her necklace, where she kept 
the ring alongside her mother's, and gave the ring to Zell. "Lose it, and I'll really hurt you, got it?"
	"Oh, yeah. I'll get it back as soon as I can." he said as he wiped his hand off and pocketed 
the ring. "Thanks." 
 	"Don't get get caught with it, okay?" Rinoa said as they walked back to Squall. "Toldja we 
wouldn't take too long," she said to Squall as she sat down next to him and he put his arm around 
her.
	"Well, I got to get going," Zell said, scratching the back of his head. "See ya later, okay?" 
He waved and walked off. After a moment, Rinoa laid her head on Squall's shoulder and he put 
his arm around her. They sat there for a few minutes, and just watched the students walking and 
playing around the Quad. They were both had all that they wanted for the moment, and were at 
peace. 

				*	*	*	*	*
	 Chapter 3: Bittersweet Memories
	 Cloud Strife was not at peace. Despite the clear sky that shone with thousands of tiny 
dots of light, the tranquility of a small, sleeping village, and the gentle sound of the ocean washing 
up on the beach of Costa Del Sol, Cloud's mind raged with the pandemonium suggested by his 
surname. It wasn't because of any threat to the world or to him or any of his friends. The only 
thing that Cloud had to fight nowadays were monsters and boredom. No, it because exactly two 
years ago to this day that Aeris died. The image still vividly stood out in his mind. While Cloud 
had stood helpless nearby, Aeris had been kneeling on the altar, praying for Holy to appear, and 
then a black shadow descended upon her. Sephiroth thrust his Masamune through Aeris's heart, 
and the Holy materia fell from her ribbon. Then, the first woman he had ever loved died in his 
arms, and then Sephiroth had loosed Jenova upon them....
	Cloud stood at the window of the former Shinra Villa in Costa Del Sol, now the house he 
shared with Tifa. He looked out upon the ocean as the waves lazily washed up upon the beach, 
and tried to hold back the tears that the memory still brought up. Cloud released a deep sigh, and 
turned his eyes northward. Far away, beyond the horizon, he knew that in that direction Aeris's 
body lay at rest inside the ruins of her people's last city. His hand brushed away a lone tear, which 
had fallen from his eye in spite of his best efforts to hold it back. That tear was like everything 
else in his life, bad things occuring despite all of his attempts to stop them. He couldn't stop 
Sephiroth from destroying his hometown and family, he hadn't been able to save Aeris, and even 
unleashing Holy wasn't enough to stop Meteor without the aid of the Lifestream. He was 
completely powerless. He couldn't save anyone, not even those he loved most dearly....
	Wait. That was wrong. His actions had made a difference. He'd destroyed Sephiroth, 
eliminating the last barrier against Holy. And the Lifestream alone wouldn't have been enough to 
stop Meteor without Holy. Aeris was gone, but he'd saved his other friends. Barret, Red XIII, Cid, 
Reeve(the guy who was controlling Cait Sith, and thus pretty much was Cait Sith), Vincent, 
Yuffie(Cloud wasn't too sure if it was good or bad that she'd survived), and...Tifa. He glanced 
behind him, down the hallway to the room where she slept. Tifa, a childhood friend, and now, 
something more. . .
	Cloud thought back to before the final battle, where he and Tifa had been sitting together 
on the beach. He'd still been filled by an emptiness that Aeris's death had left in his soul, and Tifa 
had been there, to help him through the pain. And after all the battles were finished, after Meteor 
was destroyed, the tension bled away and the sadness had returned. Tifa stayed with him, and with 
her aid, Cloud had finally begun to let it all go. And as his grief had lessened, they had gotten 
closer. Cloud knew she loved him, and he'd begun to warm up to her as well. And now...now he 
loved her as strongly as he had loved Aeris. Cloud wondered if Aeris would be mad at him for 
loving Tifa. She probably wouldn't, and might even get pissed at him for thinking she would. 
	Cloud's gaze turned to the clock. 1:30 A.M. "Now's not the time to be thinking about the 
past," he muttered to himself. "It's time to hit the sack." He headed back to his bedroom, across 
the hall from Tifa's. He stopped at her door, and cracked it open. She lied on her bed, sleeping 
peacefully. Aeris was gone, but Tifa was here, now, in the present. Cloud quietly slipped into her 
room and lightly kissed her on the cheek. She shifted slightly, but didn't wake up. "Good night," 
he whispered, and then went to his own room and laid down. With the image of Tifa's face still 
fresh in his mind, Cloud drifted off to sleep.

				*	*	*	*	*
	Chapter 4:New Developments
	It was 7:00 on a Saturday morning, and very few people got up this early. But Squall had 
some work to do. The SeeD field exam was today, and Headmaster Cid wanted Squall to meet 
two of the new candidates. Squall had also scheduled a less official meeting with Zell in the Quad. 
Only a few students were out now, so no one saw them meet in the same small grove where he'd 
borrowed the ring from Rinoa. Zell was standing around nervously, since he wasn't accustomed to 
secret meetings like this.
	"S'up?" he said as Squall approached."I got it." he pulled out a small pouch.
	"Thanks, Zell," Squall replied as he pocketed the pouch. "Your T-board's waiting for 
you."
	"Oh yeah!" Zell whooped. His T-board had been confiscated yet again, so Squall had 
gotten it back in return for Zell's...errand. "I owe you for that!"
	"No, that's already been paid for," Squall said, holding up the pouch.
	"Oh, okay then. See ya later, Squall!" Zell started bounding off, then he stopped suddenly. 
"Hey, uh, do you know where, eh, Quistis is?" he asked nervously, scratching the back of his head.
	"No, why?"
	"Ehh, nothing. Nevermind. See ya after the exam!" Zell ran off, and Squall checked his 
watch. Time to see the Headmaster.  

	Squall walked into the Headmaster's newly remodeled office. Cid was sitting behind his 
desk, talking to Quistis. Squall saluted them, and then noticed the other two people in the room.
	One was a small, delicate girl, about Selphie's size. She had long brown hair, except for 
her forelocks, which were blonde. The hair behind her ears was in a long braid that extended down 
to her lower back.The hair in front of her ears came down on either side of her strikingly beautiful 
face, and ended just below her chin. Her eyes were a deep blue, and had silver highlights.  She 
wore a green jacket of a similar style as Squall's, but the sleeves were rolled up to above the 
elbows. Underneath this she wore a simple white shirt and a pair of brown khakis. She had a 
friendly, nonthreatening demeanor, like Selphie, and was probably just as dangerous as her, too. 
	Her companion, however, looked like a glowering tower of pure strength. He was over 
seven feet tall, and his crossed arms were very heavily built. He wore a loose blue tunic and pants, 
and over this he wore a kind of bluish-purple plate armor that protected his upper torso and 
shoulders. Around his shoulders and cascading down either side of his body was a long blue-gray 
cape. He wore heavy blue boots and large, high-tech gauntlets that covered both of his 
forearms.The most unusual feature, however, was the helmet he wore. It was fashioned in the 
shape of Bahamut's head, and his entire head was encased in it. The only exposed part of his body 
were his black, intense eyes. The two people were exact opposites of one another.
	"Ah, Squall," the Headmaster said. "These are two new students who will be participating 
in the exam." He rose and gestured to the small girl."This is Kura Orician, and that-" he gestured 
to the huge mass of muscle and plate armor, "-is Syric Foren. Both are highly capable fighters, and 
we're expecting a lot from them."
	"Uh," Squall said, suprised,"they're taking the field exam already?" Quistis nodded in 
response.
	"They took the written exam before arriving, and had already proven that they had the 
necassary skills to qualify to be SeeDs beforehand."
	"So we decided to let them go on this exam today." Cid said. Squall shrugged.
	"Okay," he said, holding his hand out to the newcomers."I'm Squall Leonhart, 
Commander of SeeD." Kura flashed him a friendly, disarming smile and shook his hand, but Syric 
just nodded and kept his arms crossed. 'Not the friendly, outgoing type.' Squall thought. "What's 
your specialities?" he asked them. Kura smiled.
	"I'm not really good at hand to hand combat," she said, "but I'm very capable with magic." 
Quistis nodded in agreement.
	"She's already mastered the use of some very powerful spells." she said. Squall nodded, 
and glanced up at Syric, whose arms lowered to his sides. Suddenly, two long whips made of 
some type of mettalic cords sprouted from the gauntlets. Squall took an involuntary step back 
from the suddeness of their appearance.
	"Wow," he muttered as they slid back. "Impressive."
	"And I can use them pretty well." Syric's deep voice resounded from within the helmet. "I 
also have one of these." he reached under his cape and pulled out a short, thick rod. A tap on a  
button caused it to tranform into an 8-foot long lance. He pressed the button again and it collapsed 
back into the rod form. Squall smiled. These two were definitly opposites. 
	"I'm glad you're on our side." Squall said, and turned to Cid. "What's the mission?" he 
asked. Quistis laughed.
	"Still the dedicated SeeD," she murmered.
	"Whatever," Squall answered. Cid smiled.
	"Wait for the others." he said. Outside, Squall heard the sound of the elevator door 
opening, and turned to see Selphie, Nida, and several more SeeDs approaching, with a half-dozen 
students trailing them. 
	"Whoo-hoo!" Selphie shouted as they entered. "About time we were in on one of these 
field exams!" After they had entered, Cid tapped a button on the desk. A hidden projecter in the 
wall flashed a map of the Timber area on the wall above Cid's desk.
	"As you all know, Timber has been dealing with an extremist terrorist faction that wants it 
to rejoin with Galbadia," he began the briefing....

	Two hours later, Squall, Selphie, Nida, and the others had left. Rinoa saw them off, and 
she and Squall shared a long kiss, just as they always did when Squall left on a mission.
	Quistis had had to sit out of this one, since it would be a few weeks before it was her turn 
to watch over a squad. As she walked through the Quad, Quistis stumbled across Zell, literally.He 
came flying through the air and crashed down across her path, his T-board skittering by. 	
	"Zell, what happened!?" she gasped after getting back up.
	"Oh!" Zell muttered as he stood. "Heh, Instuctor! Uh, swerved to miss a cat, and hit a 
bench instead." He laughed.
	"Are you okay?" Quistis asked concernedly, looking at him for any signs of an injury.
	"Oh, I'm fine. Takes more than a flying crash at 30 mph to hurt me!" Zell laughed some 
more as he picked up his T-board.
	"You'd better go see Dr. Kadowaki." Quistis said, unconvinced. 
	"Uh, no, I don't need to..." Zell protested.
	"Come on." Quistis said. 
	"Really, I don't need to." Zell continued. Quistis put on her "This-is-an-order" look.
	"But, I. . .ah, crap. Okay... "he reluctantly agreed under her demanding glare and followed 
Quistis to the infirmary.
	Dr. Kadowaki looked Zell over, and said he was okay, except for a few scratches.
	"Toldja," he muttered as they left.
	"Well, I'm sorry for being concerned." Quistis shot back. Zell looked abashed.
	"Oops." he said, and then saw his opportunity. "Would you forgive me if I took you out 
for some pizza? I know a great place down in Balamb!" Quistis's eyes widened in surprise.
	"Well, I guess so. I'm not teaching any classes today. Sure."
	"Really? Okay, let's go!" Zell said, excited. They started to head to the front gate when 
Quistis suddenly remembered something.
	"Hey, wait a minute," she said."What about your girlfriend?"
	"Huh?" Zell answered, peplexed. "What girlfriend?"
	"You know, the library girl with a pigtail." Quistis couldn't believe Zell didn't know who 
she was talking about, since the two were seen together all the time.
	"Oh!" Zell burst out laughing. "You mean Tani! She's my little sister."
	"Your sister?" Quistis gaped. "But-"
	"Tani's my mom's real kid." Zell continued. "I've been living with my adopted mom so 
long I kind of think of Tani as my real sister."
	"But I though you two were, well. . ."
	"Oh, that's cause I've been too busy to introduce anyone to her. Maybe you two could 
meet later."
	"Sure," Quistis said, relieved. "I'd be happy to."
	"Okay,"said Zell happily. "Let's go!"
	As they hopped into Quistis's car and headed for Balamb, Zell grinned. His plan had 
worked out perfectly. It had gotten him a date with Quistis, after all. 

 	Chapter 5: A Bad Feeling 
 "Eh, what is it?" asked President Laguna Loire of Esthar as he bent over the monitor and squinted 
at the strange shelled orb.
	"Zat iz vat we are trying to figure out!" shouted Odine as he fiddled with some sort of 
instrument panel. "But we can't get through zat outer shell, and my equipment iz all crap!"
	They were in the upper control room of O Lab, and the large shelled orb was inside the 
lab's containment room, inside a protective force shield. Numerous techs were working in both 
areas, setting up a new particle laser that might be able to penetrate the shell.   
	"So, what do we know about it?" Laguna asked. Odine didn't answer, but instead muttered 
something else about how uncooperative his equipment was being. One of the techs spoke up.
	"As far as we can tell, it's surrounded by an organic shell that's impossible to penetrate. At 
the moment we are theorizing that it is some kind of container for protecting the contents during 
deep-space travel."
	"Zen why would zey put it in a meteor?" Odine growled. He angrily pressed a button. "Ze 
containment zeory iz fine, but we ztill don't know what ze meteor was for, or how it waz able to 
zlow itzelf down, or where in ze wienershnizel it came from! Stupid machine!" He hit the panel in 
frustration.(Author's note: Wienershnizel just sounded like a word Odine would use.)
	"In other words," Laguna said, "we don't know squat, right?"
	"Not necessarily," the tech replied."We can detect some sort of faint magical aura."
	"Not just a regular para-magic aura," said Odine, growling in aggravation as he punched 
more keys. "It iz sorcery magic."
	"You mean, like Adel?!" Laguna sputtered.
	"Yep." the tech answered.
	"And zat iz not all." Odine added."When we bring ze little black orb over to ze shell, ze 
aura grows stronger."
	"Why?" Laguna asked.
	"Again, we don't know!" Odine said, pounding on the panel. "Zis piece of junk!"
	"Hmmm," Laguna murmured thoughtfully. "Okay, new subject. What the heck is that 
black glass orb?"
	"It's not glass," another tech said. "It's a gem of some kind."
	"And we have no clue what zat iz either." Odine muttered. The doctor snatched up a 
wrench, and made ready to smash the panel, but it beeped and began humming mechanically. 
"About time. Now we can use ze new particle lazer to cut zat zing open."
	From the top of the containment room a long, tapered cylinder studded with silver and 
blue wires descended and pointed at the sphere.
	"Well," Laguna said, turning to leave, "I gotta go examine that urban renewal project at 
the south quadrant. Keep me informed, okay?" Odine nodded and waved his hand.
	"Zes lazer iz probably an exerzize in futility, but we vill try," he said, not looking up. 
Odine began barking orders to the techs in scientific jargon Laguna didn't understand. Laguna 
shrugged and walked out. He dropped by his office for a minute to check his messages, then an 
idea hit him. He called up the Esthar Military's Special Operations Command.
	"Hey, Laguna!" said General Drith, the head of Spec Ops, as he answered the call."What's 
up?"
	"I need to talk to Seifer. Now."
	"Seifer? He just left on vacation. Why?" Drith said, as if Laguna should have already 
known. Laguna frowned.
	"He didn't tell me he was leaving. Where'd he go?"
	"Uhhh, I think he headed for Balamb Garden with his buddies, Fujin and Raijin. You 
want me to send a message to that kid to get his ass back here?"
	"Yeah, I want him back here now."
	"Yes sir!" the general saluted and his image vanished. Laguna cursed. It took a lot to put 
him in a bad mood, but those orbs gave him a bad feeling, just like Adel. And they had something 
to do with sorcery magic, and Laguna knew bad things happened when sorcery was around, with 
the exception of Rinoa. And now Seifer was running around right when he needed him. Laguna 
shook his head and muttered more curses as he left the office. Being President wasn't all fun and 
games. 

	The particle laser had failed miserably. 
	"Zes zing iz crap!" Odine yelled, pounding on the console. "What iz ze status of ze lazer?"
	"The focusing crystals are fried," one of the techs said subduedly. "We won't be able to 
try to cut again until we get new ones and recalibrate the laser. That'll take a few days."
	Odine growled in frustration.
	"Hey, Doc," another tech said, "why don't we go get a drink? We've been working for 14 
hours straight."
	"......I zink zat would be a good idea." the doctor said after a moment. "After I get a few 
drinks we can come back and smash zat orb open!" The techs cheered, and after securing the 
equipment, they whole group headed for the nearest pub.

	And the entity within the shell became aware that the annoying human scientists were 
gone, and it could continue growing in peace. They were a pain, but also one it would have to put 
up with for now. It didn't know why it was here, but it did know that as it grew stronger, its 
memories and mission would become clearer. And when it became strong enough, it would have 
some fun with those fools...
	The hours passed, and the entity could feel its creator's sacrificed strength grow within it. 
And as the strength continued to increase, it began to remember what it was once called.
	Jenova.
 
End of Part 1.
Hehehehehe...what's going to happen next? I'll get Part 2 in as soon as I can. Then we can figure 
out where all these new twists will go. Hehehehe... (I sound like a psycho, don't I?)
Tell me what you think. E-mail: Peptuck3@aol.com