Whoops, I forgot to update this for ages! Thank you so much to rebirth-flame for commenting and reminding me!
With These Signs Upon Our Souls
Chapter Nine
Where am I? I can't see. No, wait! I remember. I'm crystal. Aren't I?
I thought I heard something. Was someone singing?
"Ellone?" Quistis asks.
Yes, it's me. Who are you? What's happening?
Zell looks over at Squall. "Uh, so where do we start?" he asks, in a whisper so loud Squall isn't sure why he bothered whispering at all.
Squall gets to his feet. None of this feels real. Ellone is conscious? He's going to speak to her again, after however long it's been?
They have a goal. He tries to focus on that.
"My name is Squall," he says. "I don't know if you'll remember this, but you used to live in an orphanage with us."
As he says it, he realises that she probably hasn't forgotten, even if the rest of them did. She was still at the orphanage when she turned into crystal, after all. Their time together was the last thing she knew before her life ended.
Squall? There's another flare from Ellone; somehow, Squall feels her surprise and joy. Because he's here? It's... strange to think that he could bring that sort of happiness to anyone. But it's been a long time, and he isn't the boy she remembers. And... you said 'us', didn't you? Is it really you? Who else is with you?
"It's really us," Quistis says, smiling. "I'm Quistis."
Quisty? Wow, you sound so grown-up. I guess it must have been a long time.
Selphie grins. "She ended up being a teacher and everything!"
I knew you'd be a teacher! Ellone exclaims. Is that... Selphie? Is everyone else here as well? Zell? Seifer? Irvy?
Zell waves enthusiastically at her, although there's no point. "Yo!"
There's a moment's silence, and then Selphie looks over at Seifer, tilting her head. "Are you not gonna say anything? 'Cause I can introduce you, if you want."
"Shut the hell up," Seifer says. He pauses for a moment longer, not looking at any of them. "Sis. It's good to hear your voice again."
Rinoa nudges him. "Why can't you say something that nice to everyone else once in a while?"
Seifer glares.
Zell, Ellone thinks. And Seifer. Being nice?
"Okay, everyone needs to stop talking," Seifer says.
And... who are you? I'm – I'm sorry, I don't remember... I mean, I know everyone else, but you don't really sound like Matron, and I don't think you're Irvy either.
"It's okay," Rinoa says, laughing. "I wasn't at this orphanage place. My name's Rinoa. It's nice to meet you!"
Rinoa, Ellone thinks. So, um, how long has it been?
"It must have been over a decade," Quistis says. "I'm sorry. We'd have spoken to you earlier if we'd known you were conscious. I'm afraid we're here now to ask for your help."
Selphie nods. "We need your time powers. You've got time powers, right? 'Cause this whole thing kind of falls apart if you don't."
I... I do, Ellone thinks. But how did you find out about those? They... caused a lot of problems for me once, so they weren't really something I told people about.
Selphie beams. "Well, I had this great dream! I was—"
"It's a long story," Seifer cuts in.
Oh, Ellone thinks, and then, Oh! I wasn't just dreaming, was I? I sent you back! I'm so sorry!
"Don't worry about it," Zell says. "Anyway, uh, we were hopin' you could help us with our Focus."
Focus? Ellone thinks, and then, Wait, are you l'Cie?
"Oh," Zell says, with an awkward laugh, "right. Guess that part was kinda important."
I can't believe this! All of you? How did that happen?
"It's not important," Quistis says. Squall is silently relieved; he doesn't want Ellone to know. "It was your fal'Cie, though. I suppose we didn't really learn from your example."
All five of you? Ellone is thinking. No, wait, there are six of you, right? Sorry, Rinoa. Or seven? Irvy isn't there, is he?
"He was lucky enough not to get involved with us," Quistis says, smiling.
Six of you, Ellone thinks, slowly. Wait, what does Rinoa look like? She's got long black hair, right? She's really pretty?
"How'd you know?" Zell asks, and then he turns a strange colour and takes a few steps away to spar with the air. Rinoa bursts out laughing.
I think this is my Focus, Ellone murmurs in her mind. Helping you guys. I think this is what the fal'Cie wanted me to do.
"You completed your Focus," Squall says. "You're a crystal."
Ellone hesitates. I don't think I did. I think the fal'Cie turned me this way so I'd be able to help you. Being like this... I think it makes me stronger. I could only send people a couple of months back before.
Being a crystal is part of her Focus? Maybe it's true; they don't remember her being a l'Cie, after all. She became a crystal right there with the fal'Cie.
It explains why she can think and communicate, even in crystal form. It probably won't be the same for them.
So what do you want me to do? she asks.
"We think we need to stop a sorceress," Quistis says. "She's trying to compress time."
She's trying to... what?
"Yeah, I don't really get it either," Zell says. "Something about, uh, making all of time exist at once or something? But I'm pretty sure we need to stop it."
"This sorceress is a very long way in the future," Quistis says. "The end of humanity, apparently; thousands of years, at least. Do you think you can send us to her?"
That long? Ellone asks, sounding startled. In the future? Are you sure?
"We've only seen the past," Squall says. "We weren't sure whether you could access the future as well."
I – I've sent people forward before, but... thousands of years?
"What, it's harder to send us a long way?" Zell asks. "I guess that makes sense."
It's not just that, she thinks, anxiously. She sounds very young. It's strange; Ellone was always the oldest, the responsible one, and it's easy to forget that now she's younger than any of them. I – I can't do it. I can only send people I know into other people I know. I can't send you that far into the future. I won't know anyone.
"You're sure?" Quistis asks, after a moment.
I'm really sorry, Ellone thinks. I'm really sorry. I can kind of... look forward and see who I know, but it's not – it's not even a hundred years before it's all just strangers. I want to be able to help you. Especially after you woke me up, and... She hesitates. Am I going to be a Cie'th? Are we... are we all...
For a moment, nobody speaks.
"There's gotta be something," Rinoa says eventually, into the silence. "This can't just be the end."
Squall tries to think. This isn't just about completing their Focus any more; if they don't stop Ultimecia, all of existence will end. They have to do something.
But it seems like a dead end. Who will Ellone know in Ultimecia's future? Herself? Her consciousness might still exist within the crystal, he supposes. But even if she can send them into herself, what good will they be able to do there, trapped in immobile crystal?
Thousands of years? Ellone is thinking to herself. But they wouldn't give me a Focus I couldn't do, right?
Time Compression is already beginning, it seems, time drawing itself slowly inward to a single point. In a world where time has no meaning it should be possible to reach her, but they can't afford to wait that long. The l'Cie time limit is ticking down, and if they let Time Compression take place there's no guarantee that destroying Ultimecia will reverse it. They have to strike first.
Think.
Time Compression is already beginning. They have to reach Ultimecia before it advances too far. Ultimecia is in the future. Ellone can send their consciousnesses to another time, but only if she can anchor them to people she knows in that time. Those are the facts.
Think.
Time Compression is already beginning. Shadows of other times are flickering through. In Time Compression, all things exist at all places and all times. Does that mean some aspect of the six of them might already exist in Ultimecia's time? If that's the case, if they could make use of that somehow...
It probably won't work.
It's the only thing he can think of.
"Ellone," he says. "If Time Compression has already begun, does that mean we and the future exist at the same time?"
I don't know, she thinks, confused. What do you mean? I don't really know anything about Time Compression.
He hesitates, then reaches out to lay his hand on the smooth crystal of hers. "I need you to look into the future," he says. "As far forward as you can. Look for us."
"Wait," Quistis says. "Do you mean...?"
You want me to send you forward into yourselves?
"Would that work?" Quistis asks.
"Probably not," Squall says. "Ellone?"
Ellone is silent for a long moment. I'm sorry, she thinks, eventually. I think I've found the right time, but I can't see you guys there.
Zell's shoulders slump and he hangs his head, dejected. Squall sighs. He wasn't really expecting it to work, but it's not easy to suppress hope completely. Now he only has his backup plan, and his backup plan is terrible. "Can you see yourself in that future?" he asks. "I don't really know how we'd—"
Wait! Ellone mentally exclaims. You were there. I saw it. Just for a moment, but I saw it.
Squall cuts himself off, staring at her.
"You kidding?" Zell asks. "Us? Way in the future?"
There! Ellone thinks. Not all of you that time. Just Quisty and... Rinoa, I think? I don't know her as well as the rest of you; it's harder to see her. But there are flashes when it's like... for a moment, I can see you in every time. Does that make sense?
"Does that mean you can send us forward?" Rinoa asks.
Maybe. I don't know. There! This time Squall feels something, a sort of pulse in his head, a ripple in his vision, gone so quickly he might have been imagining it. That was just Squall. If I'm quick enough, I might be able to send you forward during the flashes. But I don't know whether you'll be able to stay in the future or you'll just be dragged back here when the flash ends.
"Worth a try, isn't it?" Rinoa asks, looking over at Squall. "If it doesn't work, we can just try something else."
Easy to say, Squall thinks, but what else can they try? "We may not have another chance." He looks around at the others to check that everyone's in agreement, then turns back to Ellone. "Ellone, see if you can manage it."
Okay, Ellone thinks. I might not be able to send you all at once, but I'll try to send you all. And then she falls silent.
The silence lasts for several long minutes. Eventually Seifer rolls his eyes and, for no apparent reason, unsheathes his gunblade. "Okay, we all know this isn't gonna work, and I'm not just gonna stand around and wait to become a—"
And then he's gone. There's no puff of smoke or noise; he's just gone, as if he'd never been there in the first place. Squall whips around to find that Quistis is gone as well.
"Ellone!" he shouts.
What? Ellone asks, sounding alarmed. What happened?
Of course: she can't see. "Quistis and Seifer. Did you try to send them into the future?"
Just now. What's wrong?
"What the hell?" Zell demands. "We always just passed out before, right?" He looks to Rinoa for confirmation; she nods once, looking pale. "So where the hell'd they go?"
They've gone? Ellone asks, an edge of horror in her thoughts now.
"So you weren't expecting this?" Squall asks.
No! I've never— and then Squall feels her relief so strongly that for a moment he almost forgets about Time Compression and impending Cie'thhood. No, they're okay. I can see them. They're in the future.
"So we're actually getting to travel in time?" Selphie asks, clapping her hands together. "Whoo-hoo!"
It must be because they weren't really there, Ellone thinks. The flashes let me send them forward, but there wasn't anything there for me to attach them to, so...
"In any case," Squall says, "it seems we can reach Ultimecia." He looks around at the others. "Is everyone ready?"
Rinoa is biting her lip.
"I know we have to go," she says, "but... how are we going to come back?"
"We may not be able to," Squall says. "That's why we need to be prepared for the fight."
"No," Rinoa says, "I mean... after we win. How are we going to come back?"
After they win?
"Does it matter?" Squall asks.
Rinoa stares at him. "What are you talking about? Of course it matters!"
Squall frowns. "This is our Focus, or at least we think it is," he says. "If we win, we'll turn to crystal. What time we're in won't change that."
Rinoa takes a step back, her expression and voice softening in a way Squall can't interpret. "And you think that means it doesn't make a difference?"
"She's right," Zell says. "When I'm a crystal, I want to be somewhere my Ma can visit."
"We were able to get through to Ellone," Rinoa says. "What if our friends here will be able to speak to us?"
It took effort to break through Ellone's dreams, Squall thinks. Who's going to make that effort for him, either here or in the future? The only people who might have will be trapped in crystal as well.
Besides, Squall suspects Ellone, with her strange powers and her incomplete Focus, might be the only crystallised l'Cie with true awareness; wouldn't it have been discovered earlier that it was possible to communicate with those 'blessed by the fal'Cie' otherwise? There are people who keep the crystals that were once their family members in their homes and speak to them every day; Squall has never heard of any of them speaking back. It might give Zone and Watts and Zell's mother some kind of comfort to have their crystals nearby – Squall finds it hard to imagine thinking of them as anything other than a symbol of loss – but they won't be able to do anything for Zell or Rinoa. The six of them will never be conscious again.
So no, Squall doesn't see much difference between being imprisoned here and being imprisoned thousands of years from now. But it matters to the others, and so...
"Ellone?" he asks. "Is there anything you can do?"
I can try, she thinks, uncertainly. The flashes should let me bring you back here, but if Time Compression's making them happen and you're trying to stop it, maybe they'll stop as well? And maybe if this is meant to be my Focus, I won't be able to... I mean, normal l'Cie crystals... She hesitates. I should be able to watch what happens. I'll try to pull you out before Time Compression ends, if you manage it. But it might not work. If it doesn't, I'm sorry.
Nobody speaks for a moment. Even Selphie is looking a little down, Squall realises. None of them want to end up trapped in an empty future. But it doesn't matter to him.
"You don't have to come with me," he says. "If I—"
"Hey, don't start talking like that," Zell interrupts him. "No going-to-face-her-alone stuff. We're all gonna be there with you."
"Yeah, you're not getting her all to yourself, mister." Selphie actually throws her arms around him, which Squall really doesn't know how to react to. He touches his hand to her back after a moment and looks helplessly at Rinoa, who has to put a hand over her mouth to muffle her laughter.
"I think we all knew you'd have gone on your own if we'd asked you to," Rinoa says, when she's composed herself. "There's a reason we never asked."
Squall hesitates, then nods. Selphie has, thankfully, let go of him. "If you're all sure."
The castle towers in a darkened sky, casting its vast shadow over everything in sight. The six of them stand side by side on its twisting stone front steps, looking up at it. It's enormous, Squall thinks. Comparatively, they are specks. But they're specks who have made it this far.
"Hey, sorry we took so long, by the way," Selphie calls over to Seifer and Quistis.
Quistis frowns. "Took so long? To get here? I thought we all arrived together."
"Really?" Selphie asks. "We were talking to Ellone for ages after you guys went."
Time travel seems like a hard thing to get used to, Squall thinks. Of course, it's not like they're going to have to get used to it.
"So what were you keeping us waiting for?" Seifer asks.
"Thought Quistis just said we weren't keeping you waiting," Zell says.
"Well, you thought you were keeping us waiting," Seifer points out. "So you must've thought something was worth it. What was it? I'm pretty sure you weren't just talking to her about hair gel."
Squall gives them a brief run-down of the situation: that their bodies have actually been transferred here, that they can probably go back now but there's no guarantee that they'll be able to later.
"I suppose that explains why I feel in complete control," Quistis says, thoughtfully. "I never felt I could control what Kiros did or said beyond a sort of subliminal influence. I thought I'd have to wrestle with some sort of duplicate consciousness when I was transferred into myself."
"Are you still prepared to do this?" Squall asks them.
Seifer snorts. "You think I'm going to sit back and let you complete my Focus for me? I'm here; I'm seeing this through."
It's the answer he was expecting; he's never known Seifer to back down. Selphie and Zell and Rinoa all said, when he offered them a way out, that he wouldn't have to face Ultimecia alone, but the possibility of facing her alone hadn't occurred to him; of course Seifer was going to be with him. "Quistis?"
"Oh, you shouldn't even have to ask," she says, impatiently. "Of course I'll fight with you."
All five of them want to be there with him? It seems unlikely.
"I want to know you understand what's at stake here," Squall says, raising his voice slightly to address all of them. "This is a real offer. If Ellone can't—"
"Stop it," Quistis interrupts him. "If you can't believe we want to be there by your side, believe that we want to give ourselves the best possible chance of succeeding. There's a lot more at stake than just us."
Squall falls silent.
"All right," he says, after a moment. "We'll fight her together."
