Disclaimer: Hmmm. Standard disclaimers apply.

Intro (for all of the books):

It was a quiet, warm, and sunny morning in Balamb Garden. In fact, it was always this calm since the defeat of Ultimecia. All of the people sent to deal with her miraculously all came back in one piece. Rinoa and Squall were still together, Irvine was seeing Selphie, Quistis reapplied for a teaching job and was accepted, and Zell was still scrambling for hot dogs. All was good. Or was it?

The Rousing of the Undead

Book 1: The Setting of the Stage

***

"Squall, time to get up!" Rinoa shook him gently. All she received was a grunt as he rolled away from her. "Come on! You don't want to waste the whole day in bed, do you?"

"Just five more minutes, okay Rin-Rin?" Squall mumbled into the pillow, using the nickname he made up for her.

"Sorry. That wasn't an option." She went to the sink in his bathroom, filled a glass full of water, and returned to his bedside where she proceeded to dump it out over his head, getting the desired effect.

Squall sat up quickly, sputtering. "What did you do that for? I was going to get up!"

"When? Tomorrow night?" Rinoa moved to sit on the edge of his bed. "Look, we were going to meet up with the gang and plan a vacation, remember? You know you need it Mr. Commander."

"Don't call me that." Squall pulled back the covers and swung his legs over the side of the bed, yawning. He was about to say something else when they both heard a knock at the door. Rinoa moved to answer it.

"Hey Quistis," Rinoa greeted him.

"Hey Rinoa. I just came to see if Squall would be joining us any time soon."

"Yeah, just a second." Quistis peeked around Rinoa and saw Squall in his teddy bear pajamas.

"Nice look Squall! Do you sleep with one too?" Quistis teased.

"Rinoa bought me these for my birthday and I didn't have any others clean, okay?" Squall was more than a little irritated.

Rinoa giggled. "We'll both be right there Quisty." Quistis nodded while Rinoa shut the door.

"Squall..." During that brief time she had turned away, her boyfriend was leaning against the headboard, fast asleep. "SQUALL!"

"Huh, wha?"

"Get up and take a cold shower to wake up. Now please!"

"Okay, okay. Don't act like you're my mother Rin-Rin."

***

25 minutes later he was dressed in his traditional outfit of leather jacket, leather pants, white tee-shirt, and black boots.

"Squall, can't you change your outfit just this once? For me?"

"But you have on the same thing you always wear!" Squall protested.

"Fine. If you want me to go change, I will. Only if you change."

"I guess so..."

***

15 minutes later...

"There now, isn't that better?" Rinoa had on light blue jeans and a white tee-shirt that she had made that read, "I fought Ultimecia... and survived!". Squall, on the other hand, had just taken off his jacket.

"What were you doing all of this time?!"

"I got a little more sleep."

"Ugh! Here..." Rinoa walked over to his dresser and started to rummage through it. "Do you have anything that's not leather?" She threw more clothes behind her in the search.

"I just cleaned you know!"

Rinoa finally found something. It was a really gaudy orange and green Hawaiian print shirt and some khaki shorts. "This is all you have? Where did this come from?"

"Laguna got me that shirt. He has horrible taste in clothes."

"Put it on."

"What?"

"Just do it! We don't have time for arguments!" Squall sighed and proceeded to the bathroom. A few minutes later he appeared looking like a walking advertisement for the Bahamas.

"Here's some sunglasses to complete your outfit." Squall rolled his eyes and put them on, still keeping on his gloves. "Good enough. Let's go."

***

They finally arrived in the cafeteria, just in time for lunch. Zell and Quistis were currently into a game of Triple Triad and the others were nowhere in sight.

"Finally! What took you..." Quistis trailed off, looking at Squall in astonishment.

Zell took one look and started to laugh, hard. "Squall man! You look like a beach bum!"

"That outfit sure is.... interesting."

"Rin, where did you get that shirt you have on?!" Zell asked.

"The Discount Tee-shirt Emporium."

Squall took off the glasses and put them in his shirt pocket. "Where are the others?"

"Irvine went to Balamb and Selphie is working on the Garden Festival. They got tired of waiting."

"Well, we would have been here sooner if Mr. Commander would have gotten up and dressed quicker! Honestly Squall I--"

"We're back!" Selphie and Irvine both came into the cafeteria at the same time.

"Well lookie here. We got a fashion crisis on our hands. Squall, you are under arrest for breaking fashion law 1.24a: Never wear colors that hurt the eyes to look at them!" Irvine started to laugh and every else joined him.

"If I'm going to be the subject of your jokes for the rest of the day, I'll just leave. I've got work anyway." Squall turned and started to walk away.

"Oh come on Squall. They were just kidding. Right?" Rinoa shot them all looks.

"Yeah, uh right. Sorry Squall." Irvine said.

"Yeah sorry." Zell echoed.

Squall sighed and turned to look at them. "Alright, but make sure it never happens again. I don't know about you, but I'm hungry." He walked towards the line. Zell ran in front of him and reached the counter in record time.

"3 hotdogs and a large coke!"

"Zell, you're awfully early today. Here..." the woman behind the counter handed him a tray.

"Thanks!"

"I'll have a cheeseburger, large french fries, and a strawberry milk shake."

"Here you go Commander."

Rinoa ordered a Greek salad, Quistis got tacos, Selphie also got a salad, and Irvine got a bacon double cheeseburger combo meal. They made it to a table just as the lunch crowd started to arrive. Squall noticed there was some people staring at him.

"What?" he called to one of them, a girl, "You never seen someone in bright colors before?!"

"Yeah," the girl called back, "but not Commander Squall Leonhart! Your clothes are bright enough to stand at Esthar's Lunar Base and land spaceships!"

"Okay, that's it..."Squall said to Rinoa. "I'm changing clothes."

Squall stood up and stalked out. Rinoa stood as well.

"What did you do that for?! I finally had him out of that leather and you had to go and talk about him!" she looked to the doorway of the cafeteria. "Squall wait!" Rinoa ran after him.

Quistis walked over to the girl. "I should give you detention for saying that about the Commander, but I think I have a better punishment for you..."

***

When Rinoa caught up with her disgruntled boyfriend, he had calmed down significantly.

"You know what Rinoa?"

He must still be a little mad, she thought, he's using my full name.

"Yes?"

"I can't believe that I'm seem so boring to everyone that if I changed something about me, people are shocked."

"Oh come on Squall! It's not that bad!"

"Is it? You see how Zell, Irvine, and that girl reacted."

"It's just that they didn't think that they would ever see you dressed like this, that's all." Rinoa realized how that must sound to him and covered her mouth.

"You see?" Squall continued walking down the hall, Rinoa following him.

"Squall, if you just changed your habits more often, people wouldn't take notice. How about we go shopping later? It's good to change sometimes."

Squall stopped to turn toward her. He saw that she was truly only trying to help. "Okay. I guess so. But I'm going back to my room to change into my normal clothes. I like my leather!"

Rinoa made a face. "Oh Squall." He put an arm around her shoulder and they both walked away.

***

"And you're going to do this until I can't see another speck of dirt. Is that clear?"

"Yes Instructor Trepe." Quistis had found a punishment all right. She had the girl cleaning the floor of her classroom with only a bucket of soapy water and a toothbrush.

"I hope this teaches you not to insult your superiors." Squall chose that moment to come to the doorway.

"Quisty I.... what is going on here?"

"This is Lauren's punishment for insulting you Commander."

"Isn't this a little much?"

"That's exactly what I was saying!" Lauren said from the floor.

Quistis shot her a look and she quickly shut up. "It will teach her discipline. In the long run, it will help her."

"I think she has learned her lesson. You can go now Lauren."

The girl jumped up and grinned.

"Thanks Commander Leonhart! I'm sorry for what I did." she quickly left the room.

"Now Quistis, I've decided that you, Rin-Rin, Zell, Irvine, and Sefie are to take a leave of absence to go on vacation with me."

"Are you sure you have time to do that?"

"Quisty there's nothing important going on now. I'll just leave Xu in charge of everything. She's can do it. I need some time off." When Squall said that, their weird look flashed across his face.

Quistis peered at him intently. "Are you sure that's you reason?"

"Actually Rinoa won't leave me alone until I do." he mumbled, looking at his feet.

"It's okay Squall. Well then, if I can get permission from Headmaster Cid then count me in!"

"Just leave that to me..."

***

5 minutes later in Cid's office...

"Headmaster Cid, Instructor Trepe is about to have a nervous breakdown. She needs a little bit of R&R to recuperate. In my opinion, she should have about a week of vacation time to recover." Squall said as solemnly as he could, making sure he kept his gaze on the headmaster’s eyes.

"Are you sure Squall? She's one of our best teachers! It wouldn't be that hard to find a substitute, but I don't know if he or she would be as skilled as Quistis." Cid appeared to think it over. "Then again it just wouldn't do to have her crack in the classroom. Okay, I'll listen to your suggestion and give her some time off."

"Thank you Headmaster Cid. I'm sure Quistis will appreciate it." Squall saluted and made his way to the door.

"Uh Commander?"

Squall turned around. "Yes?"

"You and the others have fun on the trip."

"We will." Squall started to walk away again and he froze. He mentally slapped himself and left Cid's office.

"All he had to do was ask."

Squall and the others gathered in the Quad to discuss their plans. They were all a little surprised about all this, especially Rinoa.

"Squall, you never take my advice! Why did you choose to do it now?"

Squall shrugged. "I thought I needed it." He turned to the others. "Where are we going any way?"

"Let's go to ChocoWorld!" Zell shouted excitedly.

"That amusement park on the Centra continent? Are you serious?" Quistis asked. "Let's go to the site of the last battle of the Sorceress War. It would be an enriching experience."

"Learn something? On vacation?!" Irvine asked shocked. "Not even you could do such a thing Quisty."

"How about we go to the Paradaisu Bi-chi (pair-a-die-soo bee-chee or Paradise Beach) resort? They have pools, and arcade, a bar, it's next to the beach, and it has a water park for Zell."

"You sound like you know a lot about this Rin." Selphie said. "Have you been there?"

"No, but the information in this pamphlet sure is helpful!"

"How long have you been planning this?" Squall asked her.

"Only since I met you. I have some coupons for some free stays and I was saving two of them for our honeymoon and I was giving the rest away."

"Our honeymoon?" Squall asked mildly amused. "What about our wedding?"

"I have that all planned out too!"

"So, when are we going to go?" Selphie interrupted.

"As soon as you can pack. Meet me at the front gates when you finish." Before the words were barely out of his mouth, all of the girls were gone. "I guess we're going to leave within the hour. I'm going to get ready."

Irvine and Zell looked at him like he was stupid. "Squall we hate to break this to you, but we aren't leaving anytime tonight."

"Why not? Everything is all set."

Irvine raised an eyebrow. "Squall, you just told three women to "go and pack". Just wait, you'll see." He and Zell walked back towards the dorms.

***

10 minutes later Squall was standing at the front gates, constantly glancing at his watch, and tapping his foot impatiently.

30 minutes later Squall was still standing there. Even Irvine and Zell hadn't shown up yet.

Squall walked towards the dorms with a extremely irritated look on his face. All of the students who saw that look knew it was best to leave the commander alone. Squall soon reached Rinoa's room and he knocked on the door.

"Rinoa! Open the door!"

He saw that it was open a crack and Squall pushed it open fully. There was Rinoa, standing in the middle of the room, with several *large* suitcases with clothes strewn all over. Over her bed, over the floor, over her t.v., even over the floor lamp. There were also several intimate articles, that Squall quickly looked away from, over the bookcase.

"Rin-Rin, what in the world are you doing?" Squall asked.

Rinoa turned around, holding up two sun dresses. "Which one should I bring? The blue one or the red one?"

"They both are fine."

"Okay!" Rinoa happily threw them both in a already overflowing suitcase on the bed and tried to close it.

"Ugh!" Rinoa climbed onto the thing and sat on it, trying to get the two sides to meet. Squall watched her amusedly as she struggled with it.

Finally after several minutes he decided to help. "Here, let me." Squall walked over and pressed down the top, trying to get to close. It wouldn't. Rinoa joined him in the challenge and they both sat on it. Rinoa reached down and tried to zip it. Her movement caused Squall to lose his balance, bump into her, and ended them both on the floor with a mountain of clothes, CDs, books, and shoes covering them. They both started to laugh as the door opened.

"What happened here? Did a tornado strike? Rinoa, did your magic backfire again?" Quistis asked as she, Selphie, Zell, and Rinoa gawked at them.

"No," Rinoa said between spouts of laughter, "I was trying to close my suitcase and I couldn't so Squall decided to help me..."

"And I couldn't do it and then we both tried sitting on it and..."

"Squall bumped into me and we both fell onto the floor..."

"Rinoa fell on top of me with all of her clothes and things."

"It had to be hilarious if you're laughing Squall." Zell said.

"Ha ha." Squall said sarcastically. Squall got to his feet and helped Rinoa up. "Rin-Rin, you don't need all this stuff."

"I don't? Really?"

"Yes really. We're going for a week, not forever!"

"All right then." Rinoa stuck out her tongue at Squall and started pack more conservatively, all the while pouting.

"Guys?" Squall looked to the others, "We'll be there in a few minutes."

"Okay Commander." Quistis almost saluted, then thought better of it.

"That's another thing, my name is Squall remember? Please call me Squall for the duration of this trip. Okay?"

"Sure."

"Oh! Wait a minute! I told Caraway that I would get Angelo from him this week. He's dog-sitting. Can we go by Deling on the way there?"

"I guess so. Quisty, Sefie, Irvine and Zell, are you all ready to go?"

"Yeah. Selphie brought everything that she owned though." Irvine said.

"I only brought one suitcase!" Selphie protested.

"I didn't say that you owned much."

Selphie smacked him in the back of the head and then she and Quistis left laughing.

***

The ride to Deling City was uneventful or in other words, boring. Quistis and Zell were playing Triple Triad. Irvine listened to his new CD player, and Selphie flew of course. Rinoa refused to play cards with Squall though because he always beat everyone he ever played. So she decided to call ahead to the resort and reserve some rooms. She covered the mouthpiece of her cell phone to talk to Squall.

"Squall, I got four rooms. A suite for you and I, a double for Irvine and Selphie. Quistis and Zell, do you want a queen or king size bed in your room?"

"I'll take a queen." The ever conservative Quistis said.

"You know I want a king Rin. Damn it Quistis! Why do you always win?!"

"I'm just good."

"I bet you 15 gil that you can't beat Squall."

Quistis confident in her abilities accepted. "Your on! How about it Squall."

"Sure."

Rinoa got off the phone and went over to where Squall had sat down on the floor across from Quistis. "I want in! I bet on Squall."

"You would."

Irvine also wanted in, but he bet on Quistis. "Are you in Selphie?"

"I bet on Squall."

Now it was two for Squall and two for Quistis.

"Name the rules," Quistis said.

"Random, same, plus, and trade rule: one. Is that okay?" Zell spoke up.

"It's fine," Squall and Quistis said in unison.

"So let the game begin!" They all gave Irvine a look. "Sorry, but I've always wanted to say that."

{Author's note: **Warning: I basically suck at Triple Triad so if I get something wrong or I use a rule a different way by accident. I'm sorry. Oh and I'll refer to each space by coordinate. Rows (top to bottom)= numbers and Columns (left to right)= letters. This has also been carefully planned out so randomness (besides the cards themselves) is not apparent.**}

Squall and Quistis shuffled there cards and put them face down in front of them where they proceeded to pick 5 from the top. Squall got Alexander, Irvine, an Armadodo, a Bomb, and a Tonberry. Quistis got a Gayla, the Tonberry King, a TriFace, a T-Rexuar, and a Hexadragon.

Zell produced a coin from his pocket. "Call it in the air."

"Heads." Squall said and Quistis said tails.

"Tails. Go ahead Quisty."

Quistis studied her hand and thought for a moment. After a couple of seconds she put the Gayla card down in space 2,C.

"I have you there." Squall put his Armadodo in space 1,C.

"That's okay. I'm just getting started." Quistis put her Hexadragon in space 3,A. Hiding the two bad numbers on the outside.

Squall countered that by putting Alexander in space 2,B flipping over Quistis' Gayla. "Are you going to get one of my cards during this game?"

"I still have a chance!"

"A very slim chance."

Quistis put down her T-Rexuar in row 2, column B and recovered her Gayla. She gritted her teeth in anticipation as Squall chose his. It was a Bomb that he put down in spot 2,A.

Quistis let out an inaudible sigh and suppressed a grin as she put down her TriFace in spot 1,B and hoped that he wouldn't flip any of her cards over.

Squall put down Tonberry in 1,A flipping over her TriFace.

Quistis put down her Tonberry King in the last available space which was 3,B and flipped Squalls Alexander over. Since she had five cards to his four she let her grin show.

"Yeah! I beat the Triple Triad master!" She chose his Alexander as her prize.

"Why did today have to be the day you screwed up?" Rinoa asked as she handed Quistis her money.

{Another author's note: I had Squall make two stupid mistakes on purpose because I wanted Quistis to win. See if you can find out what they are...}

"It was the pressure!" Squall said as he also paid up.

"Thanks Squall. Now I'm broke." Zell said sarcastically as he reluctantly paid her.

"Now wait a minute! You were the one who started this. I didn't want to do it, but no~o you wanted me too."

"Squall stop whining. You know you could have said no and besides your salary is bigger than all of us put together!" Rinoa said.

Quistis divided the money and gave 15 to each of her fellow cohorts. "Pleasure winning money from you."

"Hey guys!" Selphie said suddenly. "We're here." She landed gracefully or would have landed gracefully if Irvine hadn't decided to tickle her just then. While she was giggling they kind of plummeted, then bounced, skidded a few feet before coming to a complete stop outside town.

After Zell and Irvine got up from the floor they disembarked.

"Thank you Irvine for making that flight all the more enjoyable." Zell rolled his eyes and walked away.

"Rule number one while I'm flying Irvy, never distract me while I'm doing it!" Selphie gave him another smack to the head.

***

They arrived in at Caraway's Mansion within the hour.

"This will be a quick job. In and out."

"Rinoa, are you going in there for your dog or to steal the family jewels?" Zell asked her with a smile on his face.

"You know what? That's not a bad idea!"

Rinoa laughed at the looks on her friends' faces. "I'm kidding! Relax. He doesn't have family jewels anyway."

Zell started to laugh and Rinoa grew red. "I meant the... You know what I meant!"

"He knows, he knows. Now let's get this over with." Squall said taking charge. He and Caraway never got along.

"Okay let's go!" Rinoa led the way to the large doors marking the entrance to the home.

"What? We aren't going to climb up the trellis and sneak through a window?" asked Zell.

"Shut up Zell!" Quistis, Rinoa, Irvine, Squall, and Selphie all shouted in unison.

"Alright! Alright! You didn't have to yell!"

Rinoa rolled her eyes and then walked to the door, taking out a key and sticking it in the keyhole. She turned it and the doorknob, fully expecting the door to come open but nothing happened.

Rinoa stared at it in disbelief. "Why didn't it work?!"

Suddenly a voice came over the intercom mounted beside the door. "It was supposed to."

"Caraway."

"I changed the locks."

"WHAT?! How come?"

"If you can't consider me as a father, then I don't consider you a daughter. Therefore you have none of your previous privileges in this house. If you want, you can request entry."

"Request entry? In my own house?" Rinoa asked in disbelief. "No way!"

Squall leaned forward to whisper in her ear. "You came here for Angelo. If you get him, we can leave, and have fun on the beach..." he let the last word linger a few minutes.

Rinoa sighed. "Fine."

"I'm waiting..." Caraways voice said.

"I would like to request entry so that I can get Angelo."

There was a brief stunned silence. Caraway must not have thought she would say that.

"Fine." The door swung open almost instantly and Angelo was running towards her. Rinoa bent down to pet him and looked around the entry hall and saw all of the stuff that she left sitting there on the floor in a bag.

"How convient..." Rinoa walked forward and looked into the parlor, living room, and dining room, but she didn't see anyone. I wonder where he is and how he knew I was coming.

Rinoa thought for a moment then finally shrugged as she turned around and walked from the house with Angelo trailing behind her.

***

Back on the Ragnorak everyone was bored. No, beyond bored. There was still at least three to four hours left until they reached their destination and even that time was an estimate because in the part of the world where they were currently flying over the rain was coming down by the swimming pool full.

"I'm going to have to land." Selphie yelled above to clamor of the falling raindrops.

"Fine! Be careful!" Squall told her. They all strapped themselves in their seats.

Selphie frowned in concentration as she began to descend. The great gusts of wind threatened to throw her off course as she lowered the spaceship. The ground below drew nearer and nearer as the time wore on. They finally landed with a hard bump.

"Is everyone okay?" Selphie asked.

"We're fine." Rinoa answered. "How about you?"

Selphie smiled with her usual cheer. "Just peachy!" She unfastened her seatbelt and stood.

Squall was the first to disembark. He looked around as the rain stopped, the dense cloudcover broke, and the sun peaked through. In the distance they could see the resort.

"Squall, everyone, look!" Zell had walked down to the water side and was currently holding something up that he had found.

They all joined him. "What is it?" Rinoa asked curiously.

"It looks like a medal." Quistis said as she saw Zell hold it up by it's chain.

"It has writing on it. What is that, Latin?" Irvine asked peering at it.

"How can you tell? Can you read it?" Selphie asked him.

"No I can't. I just had to study the shape of the writing in ancient languages. I didn't learn it."

Zell shrugged. "I think it's cool." He used his shirt to wipe off the wet sand and he put it around his neck.

From the first time Squall had laid his eyes on it, he got a strange feeling. He didn't know what he was exactly, he just knew that he shouldn't be feeling it.

He turned abruptly. "Let's go."

Rinoa noticed his strange behavior, well strange for Squall anyway, but she didn't say anything. She nodded silently and followed him back to the Ragnorak.

Selphie started to sing, very loudly (and with the wrong words) as she flew to the resort.

"Vacation, all I ever wanted! Vacation, had to get away! Vacation, all I ever wanted. Yeah!"

"Sefie!"

"Heh heh heh. Sorry."

***

They arrived at the resort ten minutes later and took their suitcases inside. Squall and Rinoa walked up to the front desk to check in.

"Can I help you?" The woman behind the counter asked.

"Yes. We ordered four rooms under Rinoa Heartilly." he gestured to Rinoa who handed the woman four coupons.

"Yes. I see. I need to see some I.D. please." Rinoa handed her drivers license. "It's all set. Here's you keys, you can go up to your rooms right away. I hope you enjoy your stay at Paradaisu Bi-chi."

Rinoa took the keys and gave them to their respective owners. She picked up her now one suitcase while Squall picked up his one duffel bag and headed to the elevator with Angelo behind.

{Authors note: Paradise View is a town that *loves* dogs so you can take them practically anywhere.}

***

In Squall and Rinoa's room, they had a *very* large bed and a water one at that. They also had a balcony that overlooked the beach, and a separate room for any guests they might have. Rinoa had went all out.

"Wow Rin-Rin! This is great!"

'I knew you would like it." She went over to the bed and laid down on her back. She had almost fallen asleep and Squall was bending over her intending to kiss her when she suddenly sat up and they bumped foreheads.

"Ow!"

"Sorry Squall." She kissed his forehead. "Does that make it better?"

"Very."

"I almost forgot! We have to go shopping for you!" She stood up and started digging in her pocket. "How much money do you have?"

Squall pulled out his wallet. "Hmmm, I think I have 500 gil."

"I have 300 so it should be enough. Let's go!" She went to the door and out of the room, thinking. "Do you think we should ask the others to go?"

"Sure why not?"

They went a couple of floors down to where the others were staying. They knocked on Zell's door and all they could hear was loud music.

"Zell!" No answer. "ZELL!" Squall pounded on the door. It opened soon after.

"What?"

"Do you want to go to the mall?" Rinoa turned to Squall. "Does Paradise View even have a mall?"

"It should."

Zell shrugged. "Sure, why not?" He turned off the stereo and picked up his wallet. "Let's go get Quisty and the others."

They went down the hall and around the corner and Rinoa bumped into someone, knocking her down.

"Ow..." Irvine looked down and offered her a hand.

"Sorry Rin."

"Do you guys want to go to the mall?" she asked after rubbing her sore behind.

"We were just going to ask you if you wanted to go somewhere!" Selphie said. "Let's go."

***

At the mall, Rinoa had a very hard time finding something that Squall actually liked. She had an even tougher time getting him to stay away from black.

"You wear too much black already! Why do you want more?"

"I like black."

"How about blue instead?" She grabbed a blue polo shirt off a hanger, checked the size, and handed it to him. She also grabbed a pair of designer jeans. "Here, try this on."

"Do I have to? It looks like it'll fit!"

"Looks are deceiving. Go!" She gave him a push toward a dressing room.

He came back out 5 minutes later looking almost normal. Even Angelo was looking at him strangely.

"That's a good outfit! Though you have to get rid of the gloves."

"Why?"

"Do you see anyone else wearing black leather gloves in spring?"

"Good point." He actually took them off, nobody had ever seen his hands before, not even Rinoa. He even sleeps in them.

"Go back and get changed. Will buy these and some other stuff."

He came out a little later with the clothes in his arms. He handed them to Rinoa and started to put on his gloves.

"Leave them off."

"Why?"

"Squall, I think you have beautiful hands. You should show them more."

Squall turned a little red at the comment. "Thanks, I think..."

***

After they had made their purchases and met up with Zell, they headed back toward the hotel. As they were walking down the street, a man came out of no where and started yelling at them in a strange foreign accent.

"What are you talking about?"

"Take that thing off! Take it off!"

"What thing? Take what off?" Zell asked him a little bewildered.

"The Blood Medallion! Take it off now before it's too late!"

"Calm down." Squall said a soothingly. "Please tell us what you're talking about."

"It's not safe here. Come." He led them all off to the side, into an alley. "You friend wears the Cruentus Clipeus or the Blood Medallion around his neck. It is a cursed relic dating back almost to the time of the Great Hyne."

"The writing is in Latin. It says, "Quisquis tactus is ea id vomica clipeus nutus expedio the rabies of Zalanth, reyregis of the lamia, the dominus of the nonmortuus ut puteus ut omnis of suus sua summ socius."

"What is that in English?" Irvine asked.

"Whosoever touches this cursed medallion will set free the fury of Zalanth, King of the Vampires, lord of the undead as well as all of his minions."

Rinoa gasped. "Are you serious?!"

"Dead serious. No pun intended."

"This is terrible!" They all took one look at Zell and took one large involuntary step back.

"I don't believe a word this guy says." Zell scoffed. "Why should we believe you?"

"I can prove it to you and besides, you have no other choice."

Authors note: The Latin is real. Though I can not speak Latin, I looked up all of the words I wanted translated in a English-Latin dictionary. I know the sentences are worded wrong, but I could find out how they word them on the internet. I also could not find translations for the words the and for. I'll try to have the next book, SeeD: Vampire Division out soon. Oh! And come visit my site at http://gokugirl.com.