Yep, this is part 2. Enjoy.

Part 2:

	Scene 6: Reunion
	Cloud woke up to the smell of cooking pancakes."Mmm..." he mumbled as he got up. He 
got dressed and stepped into the bathroom to perform his secret technique that made his hair stay 
spiky. As he walked towards the kitchen Cloud heard a loud, familiar voice.
	"Yo, Tifa, you ain't got to take so damn long with those pancakes! We're hungry!" Barret 
Wallace shouted. Cloud smiled to himself. Tifa had come up with an idea to get the whole group 
back together for a long-awaited reunion.
	"Well, if you could just wait a few more minutes for Cloud and the others to get here, 
then we can eat." Tifa replied angrily. "And anyway, the last batch is almost finished. I've got to 
cook for nine people, you know!"
	Cloud walked into the kitchen to see Barret sitting in a chair that looked way too small for 
his huge frame. Sitting on his shoulder was his adopted daughter Marlene, and in the next seat was 
Cid Highwind, leaning back with his foot up on the table. Barret saw him and jumped up to his 
feet, carefully balancing Marlene but knocking the chair over in the process.
	"Yo, Cloud! Bout time you got your skinny ass up!" he shouted angrily. "We've been 
waitin' for you!"
	"Ah, nice to see you too, Barret." Cloud replied. Barret put on his big, goofy grin and held 
out his left hand. Cloud shook it, despite the fact that it was bigger than his head. "And you too, 
Cid." he said to the grizzled old pilot, shaking his hand as well.
	"Good to see ya." Cid answered, reaching up to his headband for a cigarrete. Cloud glared 
at him, though, and Cid thought it best not to smoke. Tifa stepped away from the cooking 
pancakes for a moment and gave Cloud a kiss. Not intending to let her get away, Cloud enfolded 
her in his arms and drew the kiss on for a few seconds. Then they broke away, and gazed into each 
other's face for while.
	"Papa!" Marlene said, pointing to the stove. "The pancakes are burning!" Tifa's eyes 
widened and she broke away, turning off the stove. Then she glared at Cloud, who was taken 
aback.
	"What?" he asked. Tifa smiled in response.
	"You kiss too well." She said in mock anger. Cloud laughed and gave her another hug, 
then let Tifa finish up with breakfast while he sat down and talked with Barret and Cid, who had 
started up a new air transportation enterprise. As they kept talking, they heard a knock at the front 
door. Cloud got up and answered it.
	"Reeve!" he said when he saw the new President of Shinra Inc.,with Cait Sith behind him.
	"Hi, Cloud," both Reeve and Cait Sith said at the same time. Reeve wore a headset that 
allowed him to mentally control the robotic toy and speak for it and see through its eyes. A few 
minutes later Yuffie, Red XII, and Vincent had arrived. Yuffie was much the same as she'd always 
been(even including her eying of Cloud's stash of materia), and Red XIII had gained a few pounds 
of muscle, but Vincent had changed substantially. His long hair had been cut back to shoulder 
length, and he had ditched the red cape, black suit, and mettalic gauntlet in favor of a blue suit 
much like that of the Turks. His eyes still held their not-so-human quality, however, and Cloud 
knew he still wore a gun somewhere on him.
	They all sat around the table and ate Tifa's pancakes(except Red XIII, who had some eggs 
and sausage instead), and reminisced about both old times and new. Barret and Cid conyinued 
talking about their new transportation business, Yuffie was hunting for more Materia, Red XIII 
was still guarding Cosmo Canyon, and had found a nice female who he liked, Reeve was busy 
turning Shinra into a solar and nuclear power company, and Vincent, well, was being Vincent. He 
didn't say much, but just listened to the others talk. Cloud noticed his silence and got the 
impression something was bothering him.
	They continued talking after the food was gone, and the conversation turned to the past, 
and then to Aeris. When Aeris came up, the whole group turned somber. They each recalled 
memories of Aeris, some happy, some sad. Everyone still remembered in painful detail how she'd 
died. Then Barret spoke up.
	"Maybe, we should go an' pay our respects, seen as we're all together here." he said in his 
rare serious tone.
	"Yeah," Cloud followed up, "why not?" Everyone else agreed.

	A few hours later, Cloud and his friends had gathered within the Forgotten City, at the 
pool where Cloud had laid Aeris to rest. There, Cloud waded into the water to where he'd laid 
Aeris to rest. Here he placed a single pink rose in the water, and it sank to the bottom of the pool, 
out of sight far below. For a moment, everyone saw a brief vision of Aeris's face, but then it 
faded. Cloud found his eyes burning, and he had to close them to keep the tears back. As he left 
the pool, he put his arm around Tifa, and with one last long look at the pool, they walked away.
	Except for Vincent.
	He stood there for a long time, gazeing down into the pool. He finally turned around and 
headed back to the others.
	"What's wrong, Vincent?" Tifa asked as he came back.
	"She gave her life for the Planet. For us. I don't want it to have been in vain." Vincent 
said, turning to look north to the crater under which they'd fought Sephiroth.
	"But it wasn't in vain." said Tifa. "She summoned Holy and stopped Meteor. We won 
because of Aeris's sacrifice."
	"Did we? The Black Materia's still up there, and I feel like its not safe anymore."
	"Are you going after it?" Tifa asked.  Vincent nodded. 
	Red XIII strode up to them. 
	"Are you ready?" he asked Vincent. The two had already discussed the plan beforehand.
	"Yeah. But we'll need a third person to help us, preferably Yuffie."
	"Yuffie?! Why her?" Tifa said in suprise, a bit too loudly. Yuffie glanced their way.
	"What?"she demanded. "Are you talking about me?"
	"Uhh, yeah." Red XIII replied, seeing an oppurtunity. "We were just wondering if you'd 
want to join Vincent and me on a small trip to the north."
	"North?" Yuffie said, making a disgusted face. "No way! I've seen enough snow up there 
for my lifetime. I'm not going!"
	"Too bad," Vincent said, still looking north. "We wanted someone to help us look for the 
Black Materia..."
	"Materia?" Yuffie's eyes perked up. "Ehh, sure. I'll go!" Vincent caught a greedy gleem in 
her eyes, and he gave one of his rare smiles.
	A half-hour later the Highwind had departed south. Vincent watched it depart, and, 
wearing his familiar red cape and gauntlet, headed north with Yuffie and Red XIII, seeking to 
secure the Materia that had threatened their world with annihilation. At least, Vincent And Red 
XIII were. Yuffie had a different objective, which involved lots of Gil...

			*	*	*	*	*
	Scene 7: Graduation
	Rinoa was there to greet Squall when he returned from the mission. As soon as the car 
parked, he practically leaped out the door into her arms. After their loving embrace, the pair 
walked down the hallway back into the Garden, talking about the mission. 
	"So, how did they do?" Rinoa asked, meaning the candidates.
	"Well, the new ones, Kura and Syric, they were the best." Squall replied."Kura was pretty 
good at summoning. She called up her Ifrit, which was even more destructive than Zell's." He 
smiled at that image, one of terrorists fleeing in complete, abject fear as the demonic fire GF 
rampaged about, igniting anything even slightly flammable. "And Syric, well, he was amazing." 
Squall described the beautifully destructive dance that the huge warrior created with his metal 
whips. Despite his girth and muscle, the kid was as precise with a whip as Quistis was with hers. 
And he was positvely lethal with his lance. His powerful legs allowed him to leap high up in the 
air and come down on his foe with the lance leading the way. The combination of these jump 
attacks with the whirling assault of deadly whips made for an opponent Squall would not want to 
face up close. 
	"They both sound like they'd be great SeeDs," Rinoa said after Squall finished. 
	"Yeah,"answered Squall.
	Indeed, they were correct. Syric and Kura were made SeeDs that day, and that evening 
they attended the graduation party.
	Kura wore a beautiful night-blue evening gown with spaghetti straps. Depending on how 
the light struck it and the angle of the viewer, the colors would shift to lighter blues and even to 
silver. She wore her hair behind the ears loose, so it cascaded down her back like a waterfall. Syric 
still wore his typical plate armor, helmet, tunic,and cape, though. Squall and his friends were 
there, of course. Squall, being SeeD Commander, had to make a speech, which he hated. 
Fortunately, the rest of Garden knew this as well, so they expected it to be very short. However, 
Squall had developed a new four-step technique for generating speeches. He walked up to the 
podium, looking uncomfortable in the SeeD uniform. He cleared his throat, and looked over the 
audience.
	Step 1: Remind them who everyone is. 
	"I, Squall Leonhart, would like to greet our new SeeDs, Kura Orician and Syric Foren." 
Everyone applauded, and Selphie, Irvine, Rinoa and Zell cheered. Squall blushed, remembering 
the last speech he'd made, which had failed miserably.
	Step 2: Remind them what you're here for.
	"I'm happy to allow these two outstanding people join our ranks." More applause.
	Step 3: Say something personal.
	"I would like to say that these two are highly capable warriors, and I personally am 
honored to have them with us." Kura smiled, but Squall couldn't tell if Syric was even awake 
through his helmet.
	Step 4: Wrap it up before you look like an idiot.
	"Kura and Syric, I would like to welcome you into Balamb Garden's elite mercenary 
force, SeeD." The assembled audience applauded and cheered, and Headmaster Cid stepped up to 
the podium as Squall vacated it. As he stepped down, a hand fell on his shoulder and Squall heard 
a familiar voice.
	"Well done, Squall. Didn't think you were into speeches." Squall shook the hand off and 
turned to face the speaker.
	"What are you doing here, Seifer?" Squall asked him. Seifer Almasy, wearing his familiar 
white trenchcoat with the blood-red sword-crosses on the sleeves and accompanied by Fujin and 
Rajin, grinned.
	"I just decided to visit my old home while I'm on vacation." he said.
	"'Vacation?'" Squall said suspiciously. "Did Esthar Special Ops kick you out?"
	"Oh, nonono."said Seifer, "This is a real vacation. Wanted to see how you guys were 
doing, that's all." Squall knew Seifer was lying, though. That smile told him all. A vacation, yes, 
but probably an unofficial one. Squall heard applause, and realized that Cid had finished with his 
speech. "Anyway," Seifer continued, "I'll have to get back to Esthar tommorrow, so I'm going to 
have some fun tonight." Yeah, Squall thought, unofficial vacation. Fujin tapped Seifer on the 
shoulder.
	"PARTY." she said, pointing at the dance floor.
	"Oh yeah, the party's on, ya know." Rajin said. "I want something to drink, ya know!" 
Fujin kicked him in the leg. "Ow! Lighten up, ya know!" Seifer smirked.
	"Well. see you later Squall. Need to find a partner, but that won't be too hard."
	"You may be Esthar's best special agent," Squall said as Seifer walked towards the dance 
floor,"but you're no James Bond."
	"Of course I'm not. I'm a lot smoother than him." Seifer shot back. Fujin and Rajin headed 
for the bar.(It didn't serve any kind of alcohol, however. That was prohibited in Garden.) 
	Squall sighed, and started looking for Rinoa.

	Kura stood over to the side, watching the couples dance. Syric stood beside her, eyeing 
them with a stance she knew to be both thoughtful and vigilant. She could guage her friend's mood 
without needing to see his face. 
	"Aww," she said him. "I don't need to have you watching over my shoulder all the time. I 
can take care of myself."
	"Yes, but-" Syric began.
	"I said I'll be okay." Kura interrupted in her demanding tone, which Syric had a hard time 
resisting. "And I know you're hungry, so you can go hunting while I find someone to dance with." 
She gave him a hard stare, the kind that she always gave him when she wanted to be alone.
	"Okay," he relented. "But if something were to happen to you-"
	"I don't need you to protect me all the time." Kura said, her eyes softening. "But I do 
appreciate it. And like I said, I can take care of myself." Syric sighed, the sound barely audible 
from within the helmet. 
	"Very well." He bowed to Kura. "I'll see you later, then." He turned and left the room. 
Kura shook her head. Syric was just doing his duty, but his huge presense tended to scare off most 
of her boyfriends. Not to mention that intimidating helmet. But that was necessary, considering his 
appearance beneath it...
	She walked out onto the dance floor, only to find that most of the guys had already found 
partners. She looked around for a few minutes, but couldn't find a partner herself. 
	"May I have this dance?" a voice suddenly asked from behind her. Kura turned to see a 
handsome boy with short blonde hair wearing a long white trenchcoat. He had a diagnol scar 
across his forehead, which only made him more intriguing. He had his hand held out to her. Kura 
smiled at his courtly behavior.
	"Sure." she replied, and took his hand. They began to dance gracefully across the floor. As 
they joined the other couples, he asked Kura a question. 
	"What's your name?"
	"Kura Orician." she answered.
 	"Oh, you're one of the new SeeDs." he said. "My name is Seifer Almasy."
	"Seifer?" Kura replied. "So you're the rouge SeeD who joined Esthar's military." Seifer 
smiled.
	"Actually, I never made it into SeeD."
	"Really? You look like one."
	"Nah. I'm more of a sorceress's knight!" he answered boldly, giving her a rakish smile.
	"Well, I'm sorry, Sir Knight. Will you continue dancing with me?" Kura liked Seifer.
	"Of course," he replied, leading her into the next part of the dance.	

	Zell strolled over to the bar, watching the dancers as he walked. Squall and Rinoa, Irvine 
and Selphie, even the Headmaster and Matron were out on the floor. As Zell arrived at the bar, he 
found that he wasn't the only one looking for a drink. Nida, Fujin, and Rajin were also standing 
there, watching the dancers as well.
	"Crap," said Nida,"I have no luck with women at all."
	"I know what you're sayin', ya know." Rajin replied. "The only girl who'll talk to me is 
Fujin here, ya know!" Fujin glared at him.
	"SCRUBS." she said, and walked off.
	"Well that wasn't very nice." Nida said. "And I was just about to ask her for a dance too."
	"Hah hah!" Rajin laughed. "Trust me, Nida, she'll just kick you and walk away, ya know!" 
Then he noticed Zell getting a drink. "Hey, ya know! You can't get a girl to dance with either, 
huh?"  Zell took a sip of his drink and smiled.
	"Just waitin' for Quistis." he replied.
	"Huh?" Rajin looked confused. "Instructor Trepe? What happened to that girl with a 
pigtail?"
	"That's my sister, Tani." Zell said with annoyance. Did no one know about that?
	"Oh, I get it." Nida said, nodding. Rajin got a disgusted look on his face.
	"Ewww! You've been dating your sister!?" he yelped.
	"No, you retard." Zell said, shaking his head at Rajin's stupidity. "Seifer may call me a 
Chicken-wuss, but even he knows I'm no inbred redneck."
	"Hey," Nida said,"speaking of Seifer, look who he's dancing with." Zell looked up to the 
dance floor, only to see Seifer dancing with the new SeeD, Kura.
	"How'd that arrogant bastard get to dance with her?" Zell muttered to himself. Apparently, 
Rajin heard him.
	"Girls go for Seifer, ya know. He's got something that they dig, ya know." he answered. 
Zell frowned and crossed his arms as he watched Seifer dance with Kura. Actually, Zell and Seifer 
weren't as serious enemies now as they had been before, but they were still far from friends. Then, 
Zell noticed Quistis out on the dance floor, looking for a partner.
	"S'cuse me." he said to the two luckless guys as he strode out towards Quistis.

	As much as Squall hated speaking at graduation ceremonies, he loved dancing with Rinoa. 
When they were gliding about upon the floor, it brought back fond memories of their first dance 
back at Squall's own graduation party, and of their first kiss...
	Even though Squall's eyes were locked on Rinoa, he still saw a brief glimpse of a white 
trenchcoat behind her. He glanced up to see Seifer dancing with Kura. 
	"Seifer?" he murmured.
	"What?" Rinoa asked. Squall led her into a sweeping turn, and as she swung around, 
Rinoa saw what he meant. "Oh, I see." As he and Rinoa continued to dance, Squall saw an 
expression that he'd never seen before on Seifer's face, but knew it was reflected on his own. It 
was a kind of peaceful joy, the kind he always felt while with Rinoa. No way. Seifer was in love 
with Kura? That was impossible. This was Seifer. Love just didn't fit with his image. 
	Squall paid the price for taking his attention away from dancing, as he and Rinoa 
slammed into another couple. He looked up with a slightly bashful expression, remembering the 
events of their first dance, only to see Zell standing there with Quistis as his partner.
	"Ehh, oops..."Zell said, scratching the back of his head. Rinoa looked at them in suprise, 
her finger moving back and forth between the two of them.
	"You two are...?" she asked. Zell's face reddened, and Quistis giggled.
	"Nah." Quistis said."We're just dancing."
	"Uhh, Yeah!" Zell said quickly. "We, uh, didn't have partners, so, we just, you know, 
uhh..." It was Rinoa's turn to laugh, and then the two couples resumed dancing. Squall couldn't 
help but smile at how awkwardly Zell was dancing. Well, that wasn't his strong suit. Beating the 
crap out of monsters was. Even so, Squall thought that Zell was more awkward than normal. Like 
he was nervous or something... 
	Yeah, Squall thought, smiling. Nervous, like a shy kid around the girl he liked. So, both 
Seifer and Zell had crushes on girls... Rinoa noticed Squall's smile.
	"What is it?" she asked. Squall's gaze turned back down to her.
	"Memories, and you." he said, and they continued to dance on into the night.

	Scene 8: An "Extended Vacation"
	Two days had passed since the graduation party when Seifer walked into Laguna's office.
	"Hey, Lagoon. What did you want me for?" Seifer was as arrogant as always. Laguna 
didn't know why he had made this kid his top agent, but now he knew that he would need Seifer 
for this crisis.
	"We don't have time for games." Laguna said, and Seifer knew it had to be bad for 
Laguna to lose his naturally jovial mood.
	"What needs to be done?" Seifer said in a more serious tone.
	"Remember the meteorites?" Laguna asked, pulling something from his desk drawer. "The 
ones that hit as you were going AWOL?"
	"Uh-huh..."
	"One contained this." Laguna lifted the black orb. "The other contained a strange spherical 
red shell. Whatever they are, they give me a bad feeling. Something tells me that this little orb 
should be as far from the red one as possible." He tossed the small sphere to Seifer. "Picked that 
up from Odine's lab while he was out getting drunk."
	"You mean he became even more incoherent than normal?" Seifer said. Laguna smiled.
	"Yep. Your job, Seifer, is to keep that thing away from here, until I give you further 
notice. Understood?"
	"Yeah."Seifer answered, examining the perfect black ball that he held. He glanced back 
up at Laguna. "Want to bring SeeD in on this?"
	"No. We already owe them nearly 45 billion Gil for clearing out the monsters, and I'm not 
going to call for more help unless we absolutely need it." 
	"Too bad..." Seifer said, thinking of Kura. Laguna knew that expression on his face. Seifer 
liked someone in SeeD, didn't he?
	"Think of it as an...'extended vacation.'" Laguna told Seifer. "Just keep it away from 
Esthar. Dollet, Galbadia, Centra, Trabia, Garden, wherever. Just out of Esthar. Got it?" Seifer 
perked up at the mention of Garden. 
	"Sure." he said, smiling. Seifer pocketed the glassy sphere. "I love this job. See ya later, 
Lagoon!" Seifer turned and strolled out of the office. Fujin and Rajin were waiting in the hall.
	"UNEMPLOYED?" Fujin asked Seifer.
	"Nah. In fact, I've got an extension on my vacation!" Seifer said, grinning wickedly.
	"Damn, ya know!"Rajin said. "Seifer gets all the luck, ya know!"
	"Whaddya say we head back to Balamb for a while?" Seifer said. His friends agreed, and 
they headed for Seifer's place to pick up his car. But as they walked, Seifer became worried. When 
Laguna had thrown him the orb, he felt something...bad. Evil. Destructive. Apocalyptic. He knew 
what Laguna meant by getting that thing out of Esthar. He'd never believed in the idea that humans 
had a natural ability to detect evil in their presence, but he knew that in his coat pocket there was a 
crucial piece for some evil sentience's dark plan. Something wanted that little black ball, and he 
didn't think it was to promote world peace. 
	And then Seifer felt a rare emotion for him. Fear. Seifer was afraid. 

End of part 2
I got that in earlier than I expected. Oh, well. The plot picks up over the next few parts, and I'll get 
them in as soon as I can.