“What’s the status of the magical army?”
     “Well Professor Squall, there is little movement from them at the moment. However, they do have us surrounded on all fronts.”
     “And the status of the shields?”
     “Still holding sir. The guardian drive is still at maximum power and all is set in case of an attack.”
     “Very good. Thank you Tenal.”
     Squall turned from the intercom and sighed, stretching the now reforming kink in his back. He looked into the ICU through the Plexiglas window and sighed deeper, wondering if Zell would be O.K. and if the Resurrection spell would come through for them.
     ‘The spell was marked with magical high lighter,’ he thought as he slipped his leather jacket off before stepping into the ICU, where Rinoa was reading Alex’s spell book and Selphie was telling an unconscious Zell all about the latest gossip. He took a seat next to Rinoa and asked, “Any luck with the spell?”
     “It’s rather complex, and the calculations are a mumbo jumbo of external sources of energy,” Rinoa said, brushing a couple strands of her hair out of her face before rubbing her eyes with her fingertips. She had been reading the spell book for the last five hours and was no closer to coming up with a solution than she had been when Seifer and Irvine showed her the spell. “To answer your second question, I can try to cast it, but if I blow it...”
     Squall put his hands on her shoulders and touched his forehead to hers. “You won’t blow it,” he said in a comforting tone, “you’re a top notch caster. There is no way you can blow it.”
     Rinoa looked into his eyes, then down at the page. “If I blow it, since it’s a new type of magic that I’m unfamiliar with, then Zell could die from the pain and not from other causes.”
     Selphie fell silent before taking Zell’s hand in her own. “Miss Rinoa, if you need external energy for the spell, by all means use mine.”
     “Why Selphie,” Rinoa said, standing to look at her and Zell, “are you sure?”
     “Use mine too,” Squall said, “and I’m sure everyone in Balamb will be glad to give a little of their life force so that Zell will be O.K..”
     “Well, if that’s how you want it,” Rinoa said as she set the spell book on the bedside table. She placed her hands palm down above Zell’s body and began the incantation.
     “Humble, blessed hand of God. Life and breath of mother earth. I pray thee, come before me, show your great compassion unto Zell Dincht, and deliver him back to us.”
     A warm white glow formed under her palms, spreading over Zell’s body. Waves of energy floated through the air as it was drawn from all living things within Garden. Rinoa then called, “Resurrection!”, completing the spell.
     A blinding light filled the area, and Zell cried out, arching his back off of the bed. Selphie cried out in pain as Zell squeezed her hand to the breaking point.
     “Miss Rinoa, I think something’s gone wrong,” Selphie cried, tears streaming down her cheeks as Zell continued to squeeze her hands.
     “It’ll be over... in a moment,” Rinoa panted before she collapsed backwards into Squall’s waiting arms. The glow died away and Zell fell back onto the bed.
     “Did it work?” Squall asked as he helped Rinoa into a chair. He buzzed for a nurse to bring a glass of juice before taking a seat next to her.
     “Yes, it worked,” Rinoa said, brushing her hair back from her face, “the casting just took more out of me than I had anticipated.”
     Silence followed for a moment before a weak voice asked, “What the hell hit me? And where is that little pain in the ass wizard?!”
     Zell found his airway being cut off a moment later as Selphie hugged the crap out of him. Squall and Rinoa gave him the thumbs - up sign.
     “It was that wizard who saved your butt,” Squall said, “if it wasn’t for his spell book and Rinoa you’d still be in the land of limbo.”
     Zell sighed before saying, “So where is he?”
     “We don’t know,” Rinoa said, “Irvine and Seifer saw him about five and a half hours or so ago, and that was when he leapt from his window to go find a new summons.”
     “Well, what are we waiting for?!” Zell asked as he sat up. Waves of pain and nausea washed over him and Selphie helped him to lay back down. “We need to go and find him.”
     “Seifer and Irvine, as well as Laguna, are preparing a search party,” Squall said, “Rinoa and I will be going with them, provided that we can get through the army.”
     “As soon as I’m back on my feet I’ll go and kick their butts,” Zell said, giving a weak smile.
     “I’ll stay with him and make sure he gets some rest,” Selphie said, gently squeezing Zell’s hand, “you go and find Alex.”

     Elsewhere in Garden, Seifer and Irvine were taking turns pacing near the less guarded exit on one of the lower levels. Laguna sat on an upturned oil drum, watching as the two switched off every five turns across the hallway.
     “What is taking those guys so long?” Seifer said, breaking the deafening silence, “I know those spells were full of complex calculations, but it’s been hours!”
     “Calm down,” Irvine said as he began to give Seifer a shoulder rub, “they’ll be here shortly. I know that Rinoa is the best spell caster in Balamb at the moment, and she’ll know exactly how to fix things up so that they’re good as new.”
     Footsteps echoed through the hallway, and out of the darkness stepped Rinoa, Squall, and Quistis. Seifer began to ask how Zell was doing, but when he noticed how tired Rinoa looked he said, “So it was a success?”
     “Very successful,” Squall said, “Zell is awake and should be back to kicking butt and running his mouth in a couple of days.”
     “There were some spells in this book that were off limits, even to me,” Rinoa said, handing the spell book to Irvine, “when I tried to read them the letters danced around the page and taunted me before I got a splitting headache.”
     “You mean the section marked Original Spells?” Irvine said. Shock registered on Rinoa’s face when he said that. “Let me guess... you couldn’t even read that much of it.”
     Rinoa nodded. “that part was just a blinding white light.”
     “I guess we’re the only ones who get to read these spells,” Seifer said, taking the book and flipping it to a page of Alex’s original spells. He looked at the description for one of the spells and whistled. “Here’s a good one... high level, tri elemental. Maelstrom.”

     “The army is advancing too fast for the shields to hold much longer!”
     “Guardian Drive power down by 49%. Any more drakes crash into it and it’ll go down completely.”
     “Where are your field ops?”
     “They’ve departed from exit 12B Mister Cid.”
     “Thank you Tenal.”
     Balamb Garden shook violently as the army of darkness attacked in full force. Lights flickered as already strained resources were pulled even thinner. Headmaster Cid stared out the window of the battle bridge, wondering how a force such as this army could have surrounded them so suddenly and so easily.
     After a few moments he said, “Xu, prepare to unleash the Garden’s guardians.”
     “You can’t be serious sir,” Xu said, perking her head up from her console, “if we use that then we’ll be defenseless.”
     Cid turned from the window, a grave look on his face. “I’m well aware of that,” he said, “but if we don’t then we’re all going to perish.”
     Xu looked at him for a moment before saluting. “Yes sir.” She then sat at her console and activated the intercom. “Attention all people of Balamb Garden, prepare for activation of Garden’s guardians. I repeat, prepare for the activation of the Garden’s guardians...”

     “Prepare for the activation of the Garden’s guardians.”
     Squall stopped for a moment, raising an eyebrow as Xu’s message sank in. Seifer stepped back to back with him and said, “What the heck is going on?”
     “They plan to unleash the forces in the guardian drive,” Quistis said as she punished some of the demi humans with her whip.
     “Damn it all,” Squall said as more demi - humans decided to attack. He quickly took them out with his Fated Circle attack. He landed next to Seifer before saying, “If they do that then they’ll be defenseless.”
     “I’m sure Headmaster Cid is doing this because he’s run out of other options,” Irvine said, backing up to join the group, ammo casing flying as he picked off some of the attacking force.
     “But we’re out of options,” Rinoa said as she sprouted angel wings before unleashing a long and complex string of spells that laid waste to much of the enemy ranks surrounding them.
     From behind the ranks came a flurry of holy missiles. These missiles struck in the midst of the army, erasing many of them instantly. A moment later a larger barrage of missiles struck the army, blowing many of the drakes out of the sky and clearing out much of the ground troops surrounding Garden’s last hope.
     “What in the world?” Quistis asked, blinking in disbelief.
     “Holy Judgment,” Rinoa said, “I think somebody found Alexander again.”
     From across the fields boomed, “Prepare to meet your fate from the angelic wings of Alexander, my namesake.”
     “Oh brother,” Irvine and Seifer sighed in unison, “he’s embarrassing himself.”
     “At least he’s helping us out,” Squall said as he unlocked his Blasting Zone limit skill.
     The army redoubled their attack on the shield surrounding Garden, and after each strike the glow of the dome diminished. After many such attacks there was a loud and quite audible POP as the dome disintegrated.
     “Crud,” Laguna grumbled as he lobbed a large quantity of explosives into the midst of the army, “they’ll tear Balamb apart in no time flat.”
     “We may have one last chance,” Seifer said, reaching into his coat to draw out Alex’s spell book, “Irvine and myself are the only ones who can read from the original spells, so if we used some of those...”
     “Absolutely not,” Quistis said, “if one of those were to backfire...”
     “You have any other suggestions?” Irvine said, putting his hands on Seifer’s shoulders, “We’re out of options here, and this is our last one.”
     “Do what you must,” Squall said, “we’re behind you 100 percent.”
     Irvine looked at Seifer, and both nodded before assuming the spell casting stances which they had seen Alex assume in the past. Magical auras formed around them as they began to chant the chaos words written in the pages of the spell book.
     “Golden lord who floats endlessly upon a sea of chaos, come forth and unite your power with the shining silver goddess of the stars...”
     “An ancient pact between light and dark, chaos and being, that must be broken in times of need...”
     “I call upon thee and swear my allegiance to thee..”
     “Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed by the powers you and I possess...”
     The mystic auras surrounding the two combined, forming a blinding light of silver and gold, white and black, which could be seen for miles around as a column of energy formed around them. Drakes screeched in pain as their eyeballs were seared by the blinding light. Demi - humans ran in terror, trampling much of their number in their desperate attempt to escape. The two spell casters moved in perfect unison, finishing the motions for the spell before shouting the final chaos words.
     “Goddess...”
     “... Giga...”
     “STRIKE!!”
     The two energies united through magical fusion, creating an expanding wave of light beyond the brightest dawn and a darkness beyond twilight that tore through the enemy ranks in a more effective manner than the Holy Judgment attack. Drakes ceased motion moments before they were erased by the spell attack. Demi - humans stared in shock and horror as those around them were obliterated by the spell.
     “Is that the most powerful spell in that book?!” Laguna exclaimed as Rinoa struggled to maintain a protective barrier around them.
     “I fear it might be, and then again it might not be,” Quistis said, “I don’t know what our young mage has written for spells, but that one far exceeds the power requirements for anything we have.”
     The spell wave ended a moment later, and Seifer and Irvine collapsed to the ground, their bodies smoking from the energy required to activate the spell. Squall quickly cast a water spell to prevent spontaneous combustion and provide a coolant for their bodies. Rinoa and Quistis were at their sides in a matter of seconds, checking their vital signs.
     “They’re still breathing,” Quistis said after a moment, Seifer’s head cradled in her lap.
     “Heart rate seems slower than normal,” Rinoa said, her ear to Irvine’s chest.
     A blinding light filled the air above them, and from that floated Alex. Angel feathers surrounded him as he landed, a pair of angel wings folding behind him as he touched down. For all appearances he was in a trance, and when the wings finally vanished he snapped out of it.
     “What in the world happened?” he asked, crouching next to the two fallen SeeDs. “Are they going to be O.K.?”
     “I think so,” Rinoa said, “they used one of your spells and pretty much blew away a large chunk of the army and sent the rest of them running.”
     “Which spell did they use?” Alex asked, frantically flipping through his recovered spell book. He found a certain dog eared page that he hadn’t marked, and looked down it in horror. “Please tell me it wasn’t one that joined two energies.”
     “I’m afraid it was,” Laguna said, crouching next to him, “Why? Does that make a difference?”
     “It makes all the difference in the world,” Alex said, slipping his jacket off before rolling his sleeves up. “They exhausted much of their energy in the spell casting, and unless they get a MAJOR healing spell or a Resurrection spell they could lapse into a coma for who knows how long.”
     Squall looked to Rinoa, who shook her head and waved her arms. “No way. I’m still exhausted from the Resurrection spell I cast on Zell earlier. I can’t cast anything of that magnitude for a while to come. If you hadn’t noticed I actually had difficulty maintaining that protection dome.”
     “I can cast the spell times two, but it’ll be a drain on my already tapped resources.”
     “So cast it already,” Squall snapped. Quistis and Laguna glared at him as a way of telling him to watch himself. He sighed and said, “I’m sorry. I just don’t want to lose two more of my friends.”
     “They’re my friends too, so don’t worry about it. Now this will take all my concentration, so if something decides to attack while I’m casting please nuke it. Otherwise this thing could horribly backlash and all three of us will be lost.”
     “Gotcha,” Laguna said, “form a protective circle or whatever around them. Don’t let anything get past us.”
     “We have incoming,” Quistis said as she fired off a Mantra Missile attack at some drakes that had decided there was nothing more to fear from the area.
     Alex cracked his knuckles and shoulders before beginning the spell incantation under his breath, his palms glowing as he spoke the words of healing. He touched his palms to Seifer’s and Irvine’s chests as he spoke the spell, drawing energy from all living things in the area: from the plants, the people, the monsters, the air and water, and even from the sun that fought to break through the dark clouds above.
     ‘This had better work,’ ran through his mind as he channeled the energy into the two unconscious people, ‘otherwise I’m going to be VERY upset.’
     ‘Use my power if you need to,’ was spoken directly into his mind, ‘I can give you the power that you need to unleash the full potential of the spell.’
     Seifer and Irvine began to breath quicker, which was to be expected since they were regaining their strength. However the breathing was at an abnormally fast pace, which meant something was going horribly wrong.
     ‘I can’t let this backlash,’ ran through his mind as he struggled to maintain a consistent energy output for the spell. He gritted his teeth as waves of pain began to tear through his body due to the incredible strain put upon it. ‘If I was in my super powered form then I could easily use my Living Dead Rebirth power. Unfortunately my wand was lost in sub space, and my Star Crystal is cracked, so I can’t become Warrior Saturn. I have no chaos power right now, so I guess I have to use Alexander’s power.’
     A brilliant glow came from his pants pocket, and a wave of energy washed through his body, angel wings sprouting from his back once more as he used his esper’s power. He arched his back and cried, “RESURRECTION!!!”
     A column of blinding light engulfed the three as the angel wings surrounded them, recharging Irvine and Seifer with life giving power while giving Alex a chance to recover some of his own strength. When the column died away and the wings spread again, the three were standing back to back with weapons drawn.
     “You miss us?” Seifer asked as his gunblade was engulfed in flames.
     “We’re back in action,” Irvine said as he loaded his shotgun with pulse ammo.
     “And this time we’re taking no prisoners,” Alex said, the blades of light extending from his pole arm, “Let’s teach these drakes not to mess with the SeeDs and Garden!!”

     “How do you feel?”
     Alex leaned his head back to look Seifer in the eyes, the top of his head resting against Seifer’s stomach. Irvine was also looking up, but his head was leaning against Alex’s stomach.
     “I feel about as good as I can after a battle like that,” Alex replied, closing his eyes as Seifer leaned down to kiss him lightly on the forehead. He sighed and said, “I’m glad all of us made it out in one piece.”
     “Same here,” Irvine said as Alex playfully twisted knots in his hair, “I was surprised that we didn’t suffer heavy casualties or heavier damage to Garden.”
     “Well, considering what we did AFTER we received a recharge,” Seifer said, massaging Alex’s shoulders. He made a face before saying, “Boy, you have to learn to relax. Your muscles are so tense.”
     “When you don’t know what’s going to happen next you learn to keep on your toes,” Alex said, wincing as Seifer hit an especially tight knot in his left shoulder.
     ‘There’s a difference between being alert and being on edge,’ sounded in his mind. He took the stone from his pocket and glared at it.
     “You keep out of this,” he muttered at the stone, which glowed brilliantly for a moment. He then shoved the stone into his inside coat pocket.
     “Whatever it said, it has a point,” Irvine said as he lounged against Alex’s shins. Before them was spread the wonderful landscape of Balamb, the sun setting over the water, and from their hilltop seat they could see for miles.
     Alex sighed and began to massage Irvine’s shoulders, slipping his hands down into his jacket in order to give a better massage. Irvine gladly slid his jacket down to his elbows to provide better access to his tired muscles.
     “It’s hard to believe we’re going to Trabia tomorrow,” Alex said after a few moments of peaceful musing, “I mean, it’s incredibly cold up there, and we’re totally going to need cold winter gear, but what awaits...”
     “What awaits us could be some of the answers we’re looking for,” Seifer said, taking a moment to yawn before continuing, “Hopefully we’ll all be well rested and fully recovered so that we can go and kick that sorceress’ butt into the afterlife.”
     “Are you talking about Sylphiel or Ultimecia?” Alex asked, craning his head to give Seifer a dirty look.
     Seifer stammered for a moment before saying, “I meant Ultimecia. Of course I meant Ultimecia. Sylphiel’s not ugly, and every part of her is pretty...”
     “Oh give it up,” Irvine sighed, “you stuck your foot in your mouth and you’ll never get it out at that rate.”
     Alex sighed again, rotating his shoulders so that they popped in succession. He yawned and leaned back against Seifer’s legs, taking a moment to close his eyes and rest, his mind wandering miles and dimensions away. ‘I wonder if anybody’s found a way for me to go home yet? I mean, my Star Crystal is fixed now, thanks to a spell that Rinoa found, and some of Laguna’s ingenuity. I can summon my star sword and Chaos power, but I don’t think I’ll need those unless it’s an EXTREME emergency, and I hope none of those pop up again.’
     He felt a pair of lips touch his own, and he opened his eyes to be looking at Seifer’s chin. He blinked a few times before Seifer moved away and Irvine took over the kiss. He sighed, not in despair or in boredom, but in passion, since it was rare for him to feel something like this, something this warm, this wonderful, this mind-blowing.
     ‘What the heck is going on? I can sense your blood pressure rising and your heart is racing, and your breathing has quickened by...’ sounded in his mind like a cannon. Quickly he sent back, ‘Just shut up! I’m enjoying this. This is wonderful. This is called love and passion and stuff that you probably wouldn’t know about.’
     ‘But your life may be in danger.’
     ‘Just shut up and let this go. I’m enjoying it, and that’s all that matters. We may not get another chance for a tender and affection moment like this for quite some time to come, and I’m going to milk this for all it’s worth.’
     The voice in his head hrumphed before falling silent. He then wrapped an arm around Seifer’s neck, the other around Irvine’s, and pulled them to him so that they could have a group hug. The three exchanged warm, wet, and sloppy kisses before falling back to watch the sun finish setting over the water, reds and oranges reflecting against the blues and purples of the water.
     Seifer broke the silence by saying, “Since I may not get a chance to say this again, I want to say it now; I love you guys a lot, more than life itself, and I’d do anything for you.”
     “Don’t talk like there’s no tomorrow,” Alex said, getting defensive, “there will always be a tomorrow. We’ll always have each other, and that’s all that matters. I’m living for today, and for all the tomorrow's after that.”
     “Don’t freak out. I’m just saying that, well, if something goes wrong in Trabia I don’t want to be kicking myself for eternity for never telling you how I feel.”
     “Even if you didn’t say it now I would know how you felt.”
     “Really?”
     “Really. And Irvine knows it, right?”
     Irvine nodded, a little confused about what the two were arguing about. “Yeah,” he said after a moment, “I know how you feel. I’ve always known how you’ve felt, and how you will feel in the future. I don’t want to lose you guys, but if something goes wrong then you know how I feel about you.”
     “Yeah,” Alex and Seifer replied.
     In the distance stood Squall and Laguna, who simply watched the three with growing awe.
     “They make a wonderful team, don’t they?” Laguna said, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen over them.
     “Yes, they certainly do,” Squall replied, the breeze blowing through his hair, “they make a wonderful team. They know what each of them wants and how they feel, and that’s what’s really important. Understanding.”
     They continued to watch as the three below remained in a collective hug, shadows washing over them as stars began to glitter overhead, the falling night not affecting how they felt or how they showed their affection.