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Disturbance in the Peaceful Era

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Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VIII. Original characters and names belong to me. All names and characters relating to Final fantasy belong to Square-Enix.

Chapter XI - Fight for Peace


Squall stirred quietly from a light rest feeling unsure whether he had really been asleep at all. He wondered how long he had been there. He turned his head to the left and saw someone… there was another one on his right.

Then he remembered how tired he had been the day before. How long had he been there, what time was it? Squall looked at his… He undid the buckle on the leather strap of his watch as a sigh escaped him. I really need to get this fixed.

Squall placed the watch in the left side pocket of his pants and looked around the room for any kind of clock, surely there would be something in here to tell him the time – just so he knew.

He had to find out if it was morning yet. Had he really allowed himself to fall asleep in such a disgraceful way? He never allowed people to get that close.

Squall continued to crane his neck this way and that, trying to find any kind of time-reading device – a clock, a microwave, an oven timer, a VCR – nothing. There was nothing.

What kind of staff lounge has no clocks, certainly, rooms like this in schools and supermarkets and office buildings must have some way to relay the time to employees, otherwise how would they know when to go back to work?

Oh no, not Balamb Garden, Garden expected every one of its pupils or staff to have the time on them every single second of the day.

Squall had to remind himself that this was the case; at least it was for many, if not all. Squall just happened to have run into some bad luck lately.

Actually, he always seemed to have bad luck, it followed him around like the smell of someone else's blood that hangs around the warm, dripping, crimson-stained blade of a soldiers bayonet. He always had unfortunate events following him around like bad karma but it was more than that, it seemed like it had gotten worse ever since he applied to take the SeeD exam.

Squall continued to look around despite knowing that there was no clock to be found. He turned around in his seat, trying to look behind him to see if anything was on any of the walls behind him.

There must be something in the kitchen area; the stove most likely has something.

Squall was about to walk into the kitchen so he could look around when he heard something that made him freeze.

He heard a soft unpronounced groan coming from his right. He instantly froze. Was he waking up… was she waking up as well? What would they say when they saw him, what would they think, what would they do?

"Mmm, yeah… like that" Zell said softly, most likely talking in his sleep. Squall narrowed his eyes, an outward gesture that gave away the inner-workings of his mind and showed what he was thinking as he attempted to decipher the nonsensical comment and figure out what the young candidate could be dreaming about, although he needn't have bothered… he should have guessed. "Lot's of mustard." Zell was dreaming about hotdogs.

Figures, I suppose people like him can't be expected to have meaningful dreams.

Squall leaned his head on the back of the couch and closed his eyes. What on earth had possessed him to fall asleep here? Why with these two? He was surprised at himself. He shouldn't even have been able to relax.

Perhaps what the instructors had said earlier was true… perhaps the training was so exhausting that it simply tired Squall out, he did recall feeling faint. In reality, he really did feel like collapsing more than once during the course of that day.

Squall went with the excuse as justification for what had happened; he had no other way to explain it. He would somehow have to ensure that it wouldn't happen again.

He looked over to Zell and noticed his arm. On the spiky-haired blonde's wrist was a digital twenty four hour watch and by leaning forward a little, he was only-just able to make out the LED numbers.

It was just as he thought. It was morning; he had been there all through the night. It was not too late though, he would not be late for his class. He decided that the best thing to do would be to get up now, before the other two woke up.

They would likely assume that he had left them there the night before and think nothing of it.

Squall carefully stood up, making sure to disturb the sleeping teenagers on either side of him as little as possible – to ensure that they did not wake.

Silently, carefully and respectfully, Squall walked slowly toward the exit at the other end of the scarlet room. As he slowly crept through the lounge, he was reminded of the comfort he felt the night before when he first saw the cosy interior – the warmth that radiated from the walls and floor still held him in a warm embrace.

Squall had never even seriously thought about coming into this room but being in here was not so bad. Selphie was right; it was comfortable in the common room. Squall never would have guessed, he could never figure out why people came into these kinds of comfort rooms but when they were empty, quiet and peaceful it was actually…

"Heey!"

The peace is over.

"Where are you going?" asked Selphie.

"Huh… Hey, where are you sneaking off to?" Zell added. Now they were both awake.

Zell looked at his watch "We have over an hour before class starts. That leaves us with plenty of time to…" Zell paused for a long while. After some time had passed, a grin made its way onto his face. "I gotta go" he said, rising to his feet and rushing past Squall, leaving him with Selphie to question why he hadn't thought to do the same.

"Where do you think he's running off to?" Selphie asked.

Squall knew exactly where Zell was going in such a rush.

"Do you know?"

Squall nodded. "The Cafeteria, probably"

"Why, is he that hungry?"

"Its… because of the hotdogs" Squall replied.

"Hotdogs?" asked Selphie.

Squall nodded again. "Ever since this Garden's cafeteria started selling hotdogs he's been determined to try one but so far, he's never gotten there fast enough."

'What do you mean 'fast enough?"

"They sell out fast, you'd be lucky just to see somebody eat one."

"Hotdogs, really… things really are different here, my old Garden never sold that kind of food."

"They're new" Squall told her.

"Oh, really, what are they like?"

"I've never tried one" Squall shrugged.

"Why not?" asked Selphie, she seemed quite interested for some reason that Squall could not figure out, he shrugged again.

"I don't know, like I said before; they sell out fast. Zell is always running towards the cafeteria at full speed in hopes of one day trying one but even he's been unsuccessful so far."

"I see, do you wanna go?" the girl asked.

"Go where?" Squall asked, responding to Selphie's question with another question.

"I dunno, anywhere! How about the cafeteria, lets see if Zell got one."

Squall knew what Selphie was referring to. She probably wanted to know if Zell had managed to get his hands on one of those elusive Galbadian snack-foods drowning in sauces.

"C'mon, let's go see… unless there's somewhere else you wanna go."

"Fine… whatever" Squall said. He didn't care. He still had a lot of time before he had to be in Quistis' class anyway.

He allowed Selphie to lead him to the den of socialization where Seed and SeeD Candidates would waste time, whittling the morning away playing cards, the minutes falling away like wood shavings as an intricate carving was made by steady hands and a sharp blade.

Just as Squall had suspected, Zell had failed yet again to buy a hotdog. He wondered just how early one had to get up just to smell or taste one of those sought after luxury items. It was strange; Squall didn't think that the Cafeteria even opened for business exceptionally early.

The three of them sat in the cafeteria and watched some of the students play several games of Triple Triad – the collectible card game that had spread to the entire world like a pandemic, infecting child and adult alike. It was believed that Headmaster Cid himself was an avid card player.

It wasn't as though time particularly flew by when he did nothing but eventually, Squall found that it was time to go. He walked out silently, not saying a word, heading for his classroom.

He thought he would have some peace while he walked but Selphie and Zell seemed to have noticed his disappearance and followed behind him like a couple of stray dogs.

Even with those two walking behind him, it wasn't so bad He still managed to walk in silence and peace. He would have preferred the solitude of being alone but at least they weren't forcing him to talk to them like a middle-aged mother would force her young to recite pointless words and phrases to her worthless tea-guzzling upper-class country club membership card-holding group of friends as they chatted about how things were either 'nice' or 'disgusting.'

Soon enough, they had arrived and found that the door was already unlocked.

They walked into Instructor Trepe's classroom and saw that several students had already taken their seats. Seifer, Raijin and Fujin were there, along with a few others.

Squall took his usual seat while Selphie and Zell sat in the same place they had been sitting the day before.

"So where's the Instructor?" Zell asked Raijin.

"She was here before, ya know" he replied "but she went somewhere."

"Any idea where?" asked Zell.

"No, she just said that she'd be back soon enough, ya know."

Over the course of the next fifteen minutes, the last remaining students filed in one at a time until they were all there. The instructor eventually arrived as well and after apologising for her lateness, the class began.

Squall wondered what they would have to do, so far it had all been recaps and revision of topics covered in their regular exams.

"…Alright, so I have no lesson plan for today…"

Figures

"But that doesn't mean we are to do nothing all morning. No, we are going to have a history discussion." Quistis followed standard teaching procedure and waited for the inevitable grumbles and murmurs to die down before she continued speaking. "Who among you is well informed about the war that ended seventeen years ago?"

Squall turned his head slightly and noticed the growing grin on Selphie's face.

"We covered this in Trabia" she whispered "we did a big unit on it."

"Well, does anyone know what country began the war?" No one spoke up. "Feel free to just call out the answer if you know it… I'm sure someone must know."

"It was Esthar" Selphie answered.

"Good, do you know where that is?"

"Supposedly, it's supposed to be in the Far East, Esthar is a city but it is so big that it is also a nation on its own."

"I heard that it was a city that occupied an entire nation and a country that took up an entire continent" another student replied.

"Yes" Quistis replied "you are both correct but do you know who was in charge of Esthar back then?"

"It was a sorceress named Adel" Selphie replied.

"And who is in charge now?"

"Now, uh… I don't know."

Quistis smiled. "No one does, shortly after the war ended; the continent of Esthar grew very quiet as if the entire nation had disappeared, perhaps in shame… although it is better to disappear than continue to exist while attempting to deny the truth." She sat down at her desk. "By the way Selphie, why are you so knowledgeable on this subject?"

"At my old Garden, we had to write a big essay on Esthar and the Sorceress war."

"I see…" Quistis mused "maybe we should do that." She could only laugh at the response. These students were training to become SeeD but they were only students after all. They were all between the ages of fifteen and nineteen. The majority of them were in their last teen years.

"You're giving us homework? We're not junior classmen!"

"You will do what you are told" Quistis replied "I am your instructor… and besides, SeeD are expected to work in groups, this will be a good teambuilding exercise for you all. You are to work in pairs and write an essay about anything to do with the Sorceress War."

"How many words" Seifer asked.

"I won't make it too hard, five hundred minimum, due by the end of the month."

"Great… a month of working with Leonheart" Squall heard his rival, Seifer say sarcastically.

"You may choose your own partners, otherwise work with those that have been preassigned for you. If there is anyone left without a partner" Squall looked up and noticed that the instructor was staring strait at him "Stay at the end of the class and I will pair you up."

Squall looked over to the far right and saw Seifer and Fujin sitting together. He assumed that those two would be working together.

"So, do you wanna be partners?"

Squall shrugged. "Fine" he agreed.


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As Squall walked the ever-familiar path toward the training centre, he noticed that he was not the first person to arrive. Unlike the first day, Instructor P had arrived early and was awaiting his students.

Squall also noticed that the disciplinary committee had arrived before he did.

"Leonheart" greeted the instructor "I see you are on time."

Squall did nothing by way of reply and when he looked away he saw that Seifer was walking towards him.

"Leonheart, I noticed that you're not with the new girl. What happened, did Zell get jealous or something?"

Squall ignored him.

"What's with the two of you anyway? I feel sorry for them… I mean everyone knows your using both of 'em just so you can experiment with your own sexuality."

Squall's eyes widened.

"What? Don't you like the sound of the truth? Look, let me give you some advice, you need to choose which life you're gonna lead, just think about it. Would you rather spend your life with someone like the scrawny new girl or the scrawny chicken shit?"

Squall narrowed his eyes into a glare. "Whatever" he said.

Seifer retorted with no words, only callous, crude, contemptuous laughter.

"What's up?" asked Selphie, who was just arriving. Several other Candidates walked in behind her.

"Looks like we're all present, good" P said. "Yesterday we were practicing hand-to-hand combat. I want you to try it again."

"What, why, what's the good in that?" Zell asked.

"Excuse me, Instructor" Xu said as she briskly strolled in, coming to a halt in front of P and saluting him "I'd like to make a change in the pairings."

"Really, what did you have in mind?"

Xu handed P a piece of paper. "This would only be temporary, of course."

P looked over the sheet of paper. "I see… very well, I'll allow it for now." He addressed the entire class. "Everybody gather around me and take a look at this, I want you to pair up in these groups.

The class wasted no time in reorganising itself into the new partnerships that had been assigned. Squall saw that he was now partnered with Selphie. He didn't know if this was a good thing or not. On one hand, He preferred this arrangement as opposed to before when he had been forced to spend all of his training time with Seifer but on the other hand, considering Selphie's skill level, Squall felt sure that the level of difficulty for his training and ultimately – his results – would drop.

Before, Squall and Seifer had trained exclusively with each other and because they both used the same class of weapon, each presented a worthy challenge to the other. How could Squall fight with blade-on-nunchaku, would that even work or would it be like pitting a shortsword against a pistol?

Seifer and Raijin had been put together and were both fairly happy about the arrangement although not everyone could say they were satisfied. Fujin – for example, had allowed a look of disappointment to show on her face as she scrolled down the list with her eyes until they came to rest on her own name.

"Hey, I'm with Fujin again!" Zell exclaimed when he first found out.

Fujin remembered the outcome from the last time she had fought that hyperactive brawler. She simply hadn't the muscle density to compete with him in close combat; she was more of a tactician than a hands-on fighter, anyway.

In her defence, she had a pretty good throwing and had decent enough agility but lacked the skills for melee. This may wave been the one area in which she didn't excel.

"Are we all ready?" P asked his class. He waited for any hint of an objection. "Begin!" he ordered the class.

On his word, the class began fighting and not being one to hold anything back, Zell charged strait at Fujin at full speed in the form of a shoulder tackle. The force of the tackle was enough to send her flying backward through the air until she hit someone.

It was Seifer. He grabbed her arm and helped her up without a word and quickly turned around to face his opponent, making sure that he wouldn't be caught off guard by his larger Acauldian opponent.

Raijin had more strength, that much was obvious, that's why he was the 'muscle' of Seifer's posse. The Acauldian charged at Seifer, swinging his right fist towards the blonde's torso.

Seifer simply stood still, not making any unnecessary movements and not wasting any energy, not moving a single muscle until he had to.

Just as Raijin's fist was coming close to making contact, Seifer jumped backward and in the time it took for Raijin to react, Seifer had his counter attack ready. He quickly circled around the Acauldian until he was standing behind him and with a well placed kick, managed to knock him down.

Raijin may have been stronger, but Seifer was faster and had better reflexes. From Seifer's point of view, Raijin's strength was in levels of excess. For Seifer's fighting style, he had strength enough. He didn't need to be a bodybuilder, excess weight hampered movement in high-speed combat anyway.

To the left of Seifer, Fujin was fairing about as well as she had expected to against Zell. She could match neither his strength nor his agility. She fought the best whilst keeping at a distance from her opponent but without the use of weapons, tools or magic, that just was not possible.

Her right arm hung limply at her side. It wasn't broken but had blocked a lot of punches and her right leg had gone numb from blocking the blonde fighter's low-to-mid level attacks.

Fujin saw the brawler running toward her ready to attack her again. She let out a sigh and ran towards him, closing the gap in an attempt to prevent him from building up too much speed.

They were so close, if Fujin's next little trick didn't work then she knew for sure that she would be knocked unconscious. While still running, she leaned backward and allowed her leg to slip forward in front of her. She slid toward her foe and managed to trip him slightly before he was able to react.

While his guard was momentarily dropped, Fujin sprung back up to her feet and launched a series of rapid open-palm punches into Zell's punching bag of a body. She didn't stop her assault until the blonde's body had hit the floor.

"I think we can stop there" P instructed.

Zell quickly stood up and awaited the class' next instruction.

Fujin merely looked back on the fight, looking over her movements, trying to see how she could improve. The next time she fought hand-to-hand, she wanted to do a little better, not that she hadn't improved already, on the contrary, she had done far better than she could have hoped against an opponent who outclassed her in this particular field. The only thing bothering her was the thought of a similar occurrence in a real battle with no 'time outs.' Had that been a real battle, who knows what might have happened.

To be locked in combat with a superior opponent with no allies, no weapon and no magic, this was a difficult scenario for Candidates to comprehend. Who knows what would happen to them on a difficult mission? SeeD were expendable. The contract and the client were the only things that mattered. The mission was all that mattered, as long as it was completed, Garden received payment.


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On the darkened streets of the city that never sleeps, a certain Galbadian general rode in a limousine to a certain destination. He looked out the black-tinted window to the streets outside. He had told his driver to simply drive around Deling City until it was time for his meeting with the president.

At that moment, they were driving past the shopping arcade which was – as usual – packed with people. If these people were units of water in a porcelain bowl, they would be overflowing onto the floor.

"Should we head for the President's residence now, sir?" asked his personal bodyguard and chauffeur.

"Yes" the general replied.

"Alright then, we should be coming up to it now, General Caraway."

Caraway turned his attention back to the people lining the streets in blissful ignorance. These poor fools have no idea what's going on, they don't have a clue, none whatsoever. They actually thought they were safe and secure, strapped inside the juggernaut that was the republic of Galbadia.

They never could have conceived that they could all be in danger. The last decade had been peaceful, but the occupation in timber had been going rough lately and with the President's talk of starting a new operation…

Galbadia was spreading its forces too thin, trying to do too many things at once. Why, the logical thing to do was to focus on one priority at a time, finish one operation and then move on to the next, even if he were to wait until the new recruits were fully trained, at least then they could feel secure. At least they could have insurance from any hostile attack.

"Sir, we're here" Caraway's guard announced.

They had all but arrived and the car slowed down as it came closer to its destination, eventually coming to a halt outside a massive complex surrounded by a large impenetrable wall that went all the way around accepting a gap at the front the size of two road lanes.

The gap was filled by a tall iron gate that began opening automatically as the limousine came into a close proximity.

The gate slowly opened with both sides turning on their hinges, coming forward, creating a gap in the middle for the car to drive through.

The limousine drove into the complex and the gate slowly closed behind it. Caraway's guard drove the car slowly and carefully on the paved ground surrounding the President's home.

He drove around the building, all the time staying close to the wall until he arrived at the back of the mansion where a roller door half submerged under the ground opened, revealing a hidden underground drive-way.

The car drove in through the passage and the roller door closed behind it, blocking out any outside light sources. Fluorescent lights on the tunnel's ceiling turned on as the car approached and off as it departed, ensuring that the car – as well as the space of two metres in front and behind – were constantly illuminated in a hard blue-white hue.

After minutes of driving through this downhill tunnel, they eventually arrived in a vast area of emptiness. There was nothing in sight, save for a few parked cars and evenly distributed support columns.

Caraway's guard found a place to park the car, turned off the engine and stepped out into the cold basement. He walked around the car and opened the door for his employer. Caraway stepped out and backed away from the car as his bodyguard closed the door.

Caraway looked at his watch. Despite taking a lap around the city, they sere still exceedingly early. "Do you think the President will be ready for us?" he asked his guard.

"One would assume so" the guard replied.

"Then we had better get going, we don't want to make him wait."

"Yes sir."

Caraway walked first, while his bodyguard followed, making sure to stay exactly two paces behind the General at all times. They walked to the end of the large concrete void when they saw two more guards wearing uniforms of the Galbadian military walking toward them.

"General Caraway, President Deling is expecting you. Please, come this way" one of them said, turning around to lead the way. Caraway walked behind him while his guard walked behind him, side by side with the second soldier.

The group of soldiers walked back toward the elevator that was waiting to take them up to the mansion. The elevator car had a simple design. It was not too extravagant. The exterior was silver while the interior was white. The floor and dado were lined with red carpet.

The ride itself was smooth, as apposed to commercial elevators that jerked and shoved about the contents of passenger's stomachs about as though they were riding an escalator.

Once they had arrived on the first floor of the house, the guards escorted them to the conference room, where all of the President's meetings were held.

"You two can wait in here" the guards said "The president will be with you momentarily." They left Caraway alone with his bodyguard in the conference room. They closed and locked the door as they departed.

In other words, we are here until it suits Vinzor Caraway thought. He didn't like being early or late, he liked punctuality. He liked arriving at precisely the right time. Being late was a sign of sloppy timekeeping, as was being early.

It was such a big waste of time, but the President seemed to be running late in everything he did recently. He seemed to be getting exceedingly preoccupied with his duties lately. It was quite worrying to be uncertain of one's leader.

"So what do you think this meeting is about?" Caraway's guard asked him.

Caraway gave a sigh. He was wearing an expensive suit and white gloves, as he always did when attending these meetings. "Most likely" he said "the President wants to discus this new operation he's so excited about."

"How do you feel about that?"

"I think it's a bad idea."

"Oh?"

Caraway walked toward his guard – who was sitting in a chair – so he didn't have to talk across the room. He sat down in the chair next to his guard. "We simply don't have the military strength that we used to."

"What about our new recruits?"

"It's not like it was twenty years ago. Our soldiers simply don't have the moral and urgency that they used to, I guess it can't be helped considering the state of the world, I mean it is peacetime and everything… just look at the current state of Timber, that particular operation went horribly wrong."

His guard nodded.

"The war ended and here we were still grabbing territory. Thirteen years ago, we were at war with resistance groups, especially the Forest Chocobos. That went horribly wrong as well."

"How do you think we could inspire the army then?"

"There is only one thing that can unite and galvanise an army."

"And what is that?"

"Hatred…" Caraway replied "warfare."

"So then war is a good thing?"

Caraway shot a slightly angry look towards his bodyguard.

"I mean good for the military, of course."

"No, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that at all, unnecessary conflict does little more than breed anger and cause more anti-Galbadian attitudes amongst the civilians."

"I know what you mean. Patriotism has been going downhill since the end of the war, especially in teenagers and young adults."

Caraway nodded. One unpatriotic rebellious teenager in particular came to mind. Behind them, a sound could be heard unlocking. The two men turned around in time to see the door opening and behind it, President Deling.

"So sorry to keep you waiting" the President said. He walked in to the room, leaving the door wide open behind him. "I've decided to call in the other council members for our meeting. You don't mind, do you?"

"No" Caraway replied. Something deadly serious was going on. The president wasn't saying anything but there was something going on. There was something in the air, something rancid. "Mister President, if I may ask, why have you decided to assemble the secret council for a simple military report meeting?"

President Deling sneered. "Oh my, you've caught on. This is not an ordinary meeting. It is a very extraordinary meeting. I must introduce you to someone. This is a very important someone. This someone is the key to my master scheme."

"Oh, and what scheme might that be?"

"My scheme to achieve world peace, of course" Deling replied.

"And who might this person be?"

"Our ambassador, this person will do all the legwork and represent us as our ambassador of peace as she confronts the world's leaders. With her help, we can finish what should have been finished so long ago. We can end what should have ended thirteen years ago. We can finally end the occupation in Timber. We will soon acquire the power to control those pesky resistance factions… It is a pity though. I only wish that you could control that girl."

"That girl, you mean Rinoa?"

"Yes, that's right. It is such an awful shame that you couldn't contain her. It is funny though, isn't it? You can give orders to a grand army, although you can't control one spoiled little girl?"

"I'm sorry but I fail to see what she has to do with any of this."

"Intelligence tells us that she is in Timber with a small resistance faction."

Caraway froze in shock. "That… that can't be, that foolish girl left in a vain fit of rebellion but she's not political, she never has been."

"Is that so, tell me, does the name Kane mean anything to you?"

"Wha…? Yes, it does."

The president walked over to his desk in the back of the room and withdrew a large photograph and handed it to Caraway, whose eyes widened in anger as he instantly recognised the people in the photograph.

What the hell? Rinoa, Kane, the wild one…

"This was taken a year ago. Needless to say, the wild one and his entire gang were killed… although Rinoa seemed to survive with no injury."

Kane… what does he want with… hasn't he screwed us around enough, what the hell is he doing with her?"

"Kane has been a thorn in our side for far too long, even our Marines lost their lives to him."

"What about Rinoa?"

"She's still with the resistance."

"And Kane?"

"We don't know. He seems to have completely disappeared off the face of the Earth."

Caraway's eyes were then drawn to the door where a mysterious looking woman entered the room. She wore a long purple dress that draped down to the floor and most mysterious of all, a dark metal mask that concealed her entire face.

"General Caraway" the president said "Let me introduce you to our ambassador… meet Sorceress Edea."

Caraway's eyes instantly widened in shock "so-sorceress, a-are you serious?"

The Sorceress slowly walked closer toward the general. "You should be careful, you don't want to risk angering me, do you?" she threatened, her voice deeper than the average female.

"But… Mister President, what is the meaning of this? Do you intend to replay past battles? What is the point of re-enacting the Sorceress war with Galbadia playing the part of the conquering army under the Sorceress' command?"

The president let out a deeply conceited laugh. "You seem to be a little confused, my old friend. Sorceress Edea is not here to spread conflict; she is here to end it. With her help, we will finally have the power we need to put an end to the fighting."

"But with all due respect sir, the Sorceress creates unrest among the people. Knowing this, how are we to create peace?"

"The same way we always have" the Sorceress interjected "the ultimate goal of war is to attain peace, is it not? Resistance must be stepped on. There are always those who oppose the righteous, preferring to live in their own little world of fantasy where they can pretend to be in control of their little lives. These people are not willing to make the appropriate sacrifices and must in turn, be destroyed."

"Wait a minute…"

"We are here to end the battles and put a stop to anti-Galbadian resistance groups once and for all, anyone who gets in the way of that must be crushed! Surely as a great military leader, you of all people can understand and appreciate what we are doing."

Before Caraway could even begin to reply he was distracted by the sound of people approaching the room. "I hope the meeting hasn't started already" said one of the approaching men. "Are we late?"

"No, of course not" the President answered "Come in and join us, you are just in time."

The other members of the secret council filed into the room. This was a council unknown to the world, like the Marines. Only those on the council were aware if its existence. The people assembled in this room were the real rulers of Galbadia.

They operated in secret, attending meetings to discus matters that the general public need not know about. These matters were best kept secret. Their discovery would do little more than cause worry, panic and hysteria amongst the ignorant masses.

Caraway was on good terms with most of the other council members and could almost predict their general reaction upon hearing the President's plans.

There was a council member for each necessity of the nation. Military, economy, maintenance, education and population, these aspects, among others were all covered by a member of this council.

"Alright, this meeting may now officially begin. I am sure that you have all noticed that I have made an addition to our council." The President said, turning to face the Sorceress. "Introduce yourself."

"I am the new ambassador of peace. I will create peace between Galbadia and other nations."

"How?" demanded Martine, the master of Galbadia Garden, one of the council members. "Our popularity in the public eye seems as though it decreases with each passing month. After all these years, Timber still continues to oppose us. There will surely be others who join them. How then do you intend to get them to agree with our point of view?"

"I will force them to agree."

"And that is how you plan to invoke peace? Through violence, do you intend to dominate and control those other nations? That is not peace. That is Dominion. That is forced control. That is oppression. That is occupation. You would be doing little more than spreading the situation in Timber to the rest of the world!"

"Trust me… my methods of persuasion are very effective."

"Oh… and why is that?"

The president began laughing again. "Because" he said, still laughing "because she's… she's a Sorceress!" At that instant, the council members' bodies seized up, their faces frozen with the memories of the past, the nightmare of a war that engulfed the entire world and steered it towards chaos with the terrifying Sorceress Adel at the helm.

Caraway looked around to his fellow council members and took in the looks on their faces. They were just what he had expected them to be. He saw the looks of distrust and bewilderment in their eyes but most of all he saw shock and surprise as if to ask what their President was thinking.

Their thoughts were fair enough, Caraway was thinking along the same lines, after all. The president knew what it was like to face against a nation controlled by a Sorceress, what was he thinking, was he really that foolish, or was he being controlled? Could the Sorceress do that, perhaps she had the power to manipulate people. If so, then surely controlling the mind of one man would be simple.

No, it can't be, President Deling is acting in perfect character. If he had been brainwashed, there should be some kind of sign, like a slur or anything characteristically different.

There was nothing.

"This is… madness" Martine said.

"Do you think so?" Deling asked arrogantly.

"Tell me, sir?" Caraway asked.

"Hmm?" the president asked.

"What exactly does this have to do with our next military operation?"

"What operation?" Martine asked. The tell-tale expressions on the faces of the other council members proved that they too, had been conveniently left out of the loop.

"Our assault on the Dollet Dukedom" the President answered smugly.

"Dollet?" asked Martine "but why, why them? Why now?"

"Because" Caraway said "they have what we want… or rather, what President Deling requires, isn't that right Mister President?"

"What is it, what do they have?" asked Martine.

"It's their plot, not mine. I only know what I've been told. If you have questions, you'd best direct them to the President."

Deling narrowed his eyes, sending a somewhat threatening glance toward his associate.

Remembering his place, Caraway saluted the President. "I'm sorry sir, please forgive the nature of my words on this, it is not my place to judge your actions and decisions."

"You are right" the Sorceress said, walking towards him and as she did so, Caraway felt a shiver run down his spine, the like of which would occur in an unfortunate black pawn standing in the destructive path of the white queen in a game of chess. "You have no right to speak to the President that way! Your job is to rally the soldiers based the orders given to you. You may be a commander but that does not necessarily mean that you are in control of everything around you. There are people above you who see things that your fragile little mind could not begin to handle."

"Sorceress, that is enough" Deling said "While General Caraway's conduct was out of line, I'm sure that he has an explanation." His eyes narrowed "don't let it happen again" he threatened sternly.

As soon as Deling looked away, Caraway shot a glance toward Martine, who returned it, each telling the other that they both happened to be thinking along the same lines. Something had to be done before the world was once again ravaged and pillaged by the destructive forces of magic.

This sort of thing had already happened to the world two times already, first with Hyne and then second with Adel. Could they really afford to do nothing, could they really just stand idly by while this happened yet again?

"General Caraway, are you listening?" the President asked.

Caraway's eyes snapped out of their glaze.

"This is your great general?" the Sorceress scorned "I'm disappointed, I thought you could produce better, Vinzor."

Deling smiled. "I think we can conclude this meeting, there is nothing more to gain and nothing more to learn. We shall meet again soon… General Caraway, could you stay, I need to speak with you privately. Your bodyguard will have to wait outside as well, I'm afraid.

The men walked out of the room, leaving only three people remaining.

"So what do you want to talk to me about?" Caraway asked.

"The Sorceress and I both wish to speak with you privately about the upcoming operation."

"You mean the Dollet Assault."

The president grinned once more. Caraway felt sure that the Sorceress' face – hidden under her metal veil shared the ominous grin. Deling carried the smile a while longer as he approached the General. "Precisely" he hissed.