After hearing about Seifer’s fate, there is a new mission awaiting Balamb’s SeeDs. This time their client is Martine, headmaster of Galbadia’s Garden, who hired the group to assassinate Edea. The Sorceress, recently promoted as Galbadia’s ambassador, is considered dangerous and poses a threat not only to the city of Deling, but to the entire world. Details of the mission are given at Galbadia Garden where Zell and the others meet the person who will physically commit the homicide, a sniper called Irvine Kinneas.
Once arrived in Deling City the group heads to Caraway’s mansion, where Rinoa is reunited (not very enthusiastically) with her father. The General is concerned about the political line given by Galbadia’s president Vinzer Deling. According to Caraway, Deling’s growing aggressiveness was caused by Edea, so her death may put an end to it. The plan is to assassinate the Sorceress during the parade which will take place that night: while one team will block her vehicle under a gateway, the other will open fire. The group then splits in two: Squall and Irvine are the “sniper team”; Zell, Quistis and Selphie are the “gateway team”. Rinoa instead, is ordered by her father to stay at home.
The mission seems to be compromised when both groups have to face unforeseen difficulties. Squall and Irvine must save Rinoa after she decided to meet Edea alone, while Zell’s group must find a way to get out of Caraway’s Mansion after they were locked in a room by General Caraway, who mistook them for Rinoa. Finally, they all manage to reach their positions in time, but their strives are not enough to carry out the plan. Irvine’s shoot is blocked by Edea’s magic and Squall’s group is forced to fight against her and her Knight, who turns out to be none other than Seifer. SeeDs seem to have overcome Edea, till she hits Squall with three blocks of ice and the screen goes black.
The waking up is quite hard: Zell finds himself in a cell, together with Quistis, Selphie and Rinoa. He recognises the place as D-District Prison, located in Galbadia’s desert as he already went there. Or rather, it did Ward Zabac, a Galbadian man who began to work in the prison after retiring from the army. Zell has experienced dreams where he lived through moments of Ward’s life.
Upon realising the situation they got into, the group plans their escape. Being the only one who doesn’t need weapons, Zell volunteers to fetch the girl’s weapons from the guards. When everybody is ready, Zell uses his knowledge of the Prison, to easily guide the group through the various floors. After saving Squall, who was being tortured in exchange of information on SeeD, they eventually make their way out of the Prison, safe and sound.
Unfortunately, they don’t have time to relax, because Edea ordered two missile attacks. The first one, already hit Trabia Garden while the second, against Balamb Garden, is about to be launched. The group must split again: Squall will lead his group to Balamb Garden so as to warn them about the upcoming threat, Selphie instead will make for the nearby missile base in order to block the launch.