Chapter Ten

Destined

Sephiroth never cared much for the lives of civilians, but seeing an innocent in danger brought back a distant sense of déjà vu from his days in SOLDIER. The almost-foreign feeling of satisfaction he felt in his early days spent doing petty missions to work his way up the ranks with Angeal and Genesis loomed momentarily, and the distant memory had touched him in some way, although Sephiroth himself didn't know that this was the cause of the feeling. The names Angeal and Genesis were long forgotten in his mind – the only name that mattered anymore was Jenova.

The woman in the pale blue clothes and the long brown hair that Sephiroth had just saved from a despicable drunkard had been staring at him in a strange manner for what seemed like a long time. Sephiroth was no stranger to having women, or anyone for that matter, stare at him – however something about this woman made Sephiroth want to shift uncomfortably. He kept up his cool exterior but it was almost like the woman was staring into the parts of his soul that even he did not know existed.

Sephiroth tried to figure out what it was about her that made him uneasy. He wasn't even sure if it was uneasiness, but it was curiosity at least. There was not a woman in his lifetime he had met that made him feel such a way – a mixed feeling of curiosity and confusion and dread all at once. Not even Ultimecia, the mother he worshipped, made him feel like this.

He looked back at her through his Mako eyes and examined her face – and he couldn't help but notice her lips, forming an expression that was half-smiling, half-frowning and all the more unreadable. He couldn't stop looking at those lips, not in a lustful way (for Sephiroth had no capacity to feel such pathetic emotions), but in a nagging way that nipped at him, reminding him that those lips seemed familiar somehow.

He couldn't put his finger on it, but little did he know that those were the lips that he was born with.

"I must be going now," said Sephiroth, breaking the silence. "Farewell."

As Sephiroth turned to leave, the woman abruptly said, "Wait."

Her hands came out to reach for his arm, and even though his sleeves were long and covered his arm completely, a kind of warmth emanated from her delicate hands and forged a strange feeling inside of him. Sephiroth had never known the warm touch of a mother on a child, so this feeling alarmed him somewhat at first.

"What is it?" murmured Sephiroth, turning back to her.

"Could you possibly ... accompany me to the hotel?" she said. "I'm not familiar with this city and..."

She trailed off, but Sephiroth knew that she was going to say that she didn't feel comfortable walking alone due to what had just happened. Normally he would have brushed such a request off, as he wasn't a bodyguard and he certainly wasn't compassionate, but that strange feeling of curiosity overtook his logical side and he ended up agreeing.

"Follow me then," said Sephiroth. He himself was not very familiar with this foreign place, but after a day of his time in Esthar City, he was able to memorise the basic formation and layout of the city and knew the general direction of the hotel. As they walked towards the business district of the town full of bars and shops and clubs, the streets slowly began to fill with light and life.

Sephiroth led the way in silence. The silence was not exactly awkward, but soothing. It was as if the mystery woman wasn't there physically, but her presence was still noticeable. Sephiroth couldn't shake the feeling off – he wanted to look at her ut decided not to) so he could figure out who or what she was, as her presence didn't seem to be like one of this world...

"I know this might seem strange to you," said the soft voice behind him, "but ... have we met before?"

"No," said Sephiroth. "It's not possible that we have ever met before."

"I thought so too," she murmured quietly, "but something..."

"We're here," interrupted Sephiroth, pointing at the front door of the hotel.

"Oh, thank you," said the woman. "Thank you very much for everything."

"Lucrecia, there you are!" said a second female voice.

Sephiroth looked up, as it sounded as if this third party was addressing him. A young woman in a long pink dress and a matching pink ribbon in her brunette hair came walking out from the revolving glass doors of the hotel to greet them.

The atmosphere in the alien airship was warm in temperature but cold in company. Squall, Quistis, and Rinoa sat in the board room at a large square table across Cloud and Tifa, and two others whom were introduced to him as Cid and Yuffie. Meanwhile, Seifer seemingly couldn't stand the formality and was pacing around the room instead. Vincent stood, isolated from the rest with his back to the wall, listening intently. There was a large screen on the wall where video was streaming from a live feed for a video conference with three other strangers – two men called Reeve and Barret, and a male dog-like creature named Nanaki. The introductions were short and sweet but the reactions from these people to Squall's story were mixed. Vincent was still very untrusting, along with Nanaki, whilst Yuffie was sceptical, Cid and Barret were confused, and Cloud, Tifa and Reeve were patient.

Squall, with the help of Quistis and Seifer, tried to explain in detail about what he was told by Odine and Lucrecia – that the Jenova of their world was one in the same as Ultimecia from Squall's world, and that she was seeking to control the Lifestream through time compression to make the perfect world on Squall's planet. The names Zack, Aerith and Lucrecia particularly piqued curiosity from the group, but Squall resisted talking about them until he was done with everything else.

"...And so we were told to come to your planet so that we could stop the leakage of the Lifestream," continued Squall. "We were transported via the time machine – although it's not really a time machine anymore."

"We weren't sure where we were going to end up, but we were told we would likely come through to a 'Mako hotspot' because the flow of the Lifestream seems to be the link between our world and yours," explained Quistis.

"And that's why you came through the Mako Reactor," said Reeve, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "Interesting."

"Yes," responded Squall. "It's merely a very lucky coincidence that you also happened to be there."

"So what is the connection between this girl and Jenova?" asked Vincent contemptuously, nodding in the direction of Rinoa.

Squall could see Rinoa sinking into the back of her seat and addressed Vincent politely. "The only thing I can think of is that Ultimecia is a sorceress. Rinoa is also a sorceress. And if you recall, these 'Jenova cells' are in fact 'Ultimecia cells', but Rinoa isn't Ultimecia so the more correct term for them is 'Sorceress cells'."

"She is the same being as Jenova?" said Nanaki incredulously. "If that is true, then she must be dangerous! The fact that she can cast magic without Materia alone is dangerous!"

Squall looked at the screen, trying not to show how amazed and intrigued he was by the talking creature. "That's not a fair thing to say. Just because Rinoa is the same kind of being as something bad doesn't mean she's bad too. I'm sure there are many humans in your world – some do good things, some do bad. It doesn't mean they're all the same."

Rinoa smiled, but didn't say anything.

There was a bitter silence in the room for a short moment.

"I believe you," said Reeve finally. "It cannot be a mere coincidence that the levels of Mako are depleting and Jenova's remains have gone missing, whilst you mysterious strangers from another planet show up. It must all be connected. And I believe we should help you fight, for Jenova is our problem as much as yours."

"Are you kiddin' me?" exclaimed Yuffie. "This is crazy! You people are all crazy. We can't help a bunch of aliens! That's just way too weird for me!"

"No," said Cloud. "There's only one way we can believe them and believe that we're on the same side."

"And what is that?" asked Squall.

"You mentioned the names Aerith and Zack," said Cloud.

"And Lucrecia," said Vincent sharply.

"It's impossible that you met them," said Cloud. "Absolutely impossible. They're dead. Prove it to us that you know them."

Seifer groaned. "Untrusting bastards. Even after all this, seeing a girl who can cast magic without that whatever-it-is and four of us humans who don't know anything about this world, you don't think that the impossible might be possible? Don't you have any faith?"

"We walk by sight, not by faith," snapped Cloud.

"Like I told you," said Squall, sighing, "your Lifestream is leaking into our world. But it's not leaking in as a flow of energy, it's leaking physically. I don't know if Ultimecia knows this or not, and I don't know if it's her intention, but it's evidently happening."

"When people die in your world, they return to the Lifestream, right?" offered Quistis. "The dead have appeared in our world. Isn't it obvious that we can meet them?"

"I don't know what it'll take for you to believe me, but Aerith saved my life and I'm grateful to her for that," murmured Squall. "It would be an insult to her if you, her own friends, denied her existence."

"There's nothing in repeating a bunch of names," murmured Cloud. "A name on its own is just a memory."

Quistis stood up in her chair abruptly. "You people are horrible. Aerith and Zack are wonderful people, and they had hoped that they would see you again. It didn't matter if they knew for sure or not, but they still believed. If it's proof that will make you believe, then here."

Quistis unfastened the necklace around her neck, and Squall remembered that it was given to her by Lucrecia before the mission and held it out by the chain, the pendant dangling.

"Professor Lucrecia Crescent gave this to me," said Quistis. "If you recognise it, you'll believe."

Vincent moved from his spot and approached Quistis with caution as if she were a tiger waiting to attack him. He took the necklace in his hands, and the cold expression he bore nearly instantly turned into one of neutral-surprise, probably the most emotion that Squall has ever seen his face bear since they met.

"This..." said Vincent, sounding like he was out of breath. "Impossible... it can't..."

"What is it, Vince?" asked Yuffie, leaping to her feet. "You look like you've seen a ghost!"

"I gave this necklace to Lucrecia many, many years ago when I was still a Turk," said Vincent, swallowing hard. "There is none other like this. They are not lying."

"I dunno much 'bout this," said Barret, "but if Vincent's convinced, I'm convinced."

"Agreed," said Tifa. "They can't be lying about Zack and Aerith either."

Quistis's stern gaze softened a little, and she looked somewhat triumphant. "Then take it, Vincent. If you come with us, then you can meet Lucrecia again and return it to her."

Vincent's mysterious eyes stared at Quistis. He clenched his fist with the necklace still inside it, and everyone could tell a million thoughts and feelings were running through his mind at once at that very moment. "Thank you. You all have my trust."

"Vincent is the wisest human I know," said Nanaki. "And so I trust you too."

Tifa stood up and smiled. "I always trusted you, Rinoa. Any friends of yours are friends of mine."

"Guess it's time to save The Planet for the fourth time," said Cid, sighing.

"This is crazy!" cried Yuffie. "It's so crazy that I like it!"

"Maybe you guys have an energy source we could steal," said Barret with a hearty laugh.

"Very well, I suppose it's settled," said Reeve. "A small party of you should investigate the Mako Reactor again tomorrow to see if you can get into this other world. Squall, is there definitely a way to get back to our Planet?"

"Yes," said Squall. "Odine's machine allows us to freely travel between the worlds, but the journey is tiresome and shouldn't be made too often. And we don't know what kind of effects it has on the time-space continuum yet, so it's best that we limit the number of trips. Therefore I'm advising you now that whoever comes with us must be physically and mentally capable of living in another world for an indefinite amount of time."

"Then it would be best if only a few of you go to this other world," said Reeve.

"Sorry, Reeve, before we get to that," said Squall, "we were asked to investigate how we could actually stop the leakage of Lifestream before any more damage can be done."

Reeve looked thoughtful for a moment. "Any thoughts, anyone?" he offered.

"You could do some research at Cosmo Canyon," said Nanaki. "However, it would probably be a better idea to let us handle the research as we would be able to understand it more."

"Yeah, maybe we should do all the investigations here on how to reverse the Lifestream leak," said Barrett. "No one knows our Planet better than us!"

"If that's the case, then we'll escort Cloud and his team back to our world to talk with Odine and Lucrecia while the rest of you guys find a solution," said Squall. "Then, say in a week or two, we'll all meet again back here to discuss our next course of action."

"That's a good plan," said Reeve. "But for now, I'm sure everyone is tired. Please rest and we will worry about the plan tomorrow. Cloud, I will leave your part of the mission in your capable hands."

Cloud looked like he was about to protest, but the screen flickered to black and Reeve, Nanaki and Barret were gone. Squall knew the feeling – Cloud was being placed as leader with no say, just as Squall was countless times.

"Ahhh, what a long day," said Yuffie, stretching. "Time to catch up on some Z's."

"You didn't even do anything," said Tifa, raising an eyebrow.

"I've done plenty, Teef!" said Yuffie, walking out of the board room. "G'NIGHT ALL!"

Then one by one, everyone began to leave the boardroom. Cid went to fix the airship so that they'd be able to fly straight to the top of the mountain tomorrow, Tifa and Vincent retired to the cabins with Quistis and Seifer following, until it was only Cloud, Rinoa and Squall left. Cloud had been absentmindedly looking out the window, before he murmured a good night and left the room.

"Wait, Cloud," said Rinoa, running after Cloud into the hallway.

"What is it?" asked Cloud, turning around.

"I just want to thank you," said Rinoa. "Thank you for everything."

"It's all right," murmured Cloud. "You know, I was wondering why I was so drawn to you when I first met you ... it's because you're like Jenova and all of us who have Jenova cells naturally follow her. But I think it's more than that. It was as if some unexplainable force led me to the church that particular day – it led me there so that I can find you, and so that I can help you find your friends, and in turn you'll help me find those friends that I've lost so long ago."

"We're all children of fate," whispered Rinoa. "Perhaps it was fate that we met. Perhaps it wasn't coincidence, but fate that you took me to the mountain today. And perhaps it was fate that Squall was going to be there as well, and that he'd be the one to take you to your friends."

Cloud remained silent for a moment.

"But it can't have been fate that made you do what you did," said Rinoa softly. "It was your kindness. Thank you for letting me come with you when you found me in the church. Thank you for looking after me. And thank you for leading me to my friends – if you hadn't let me go with you up the mountain, I'd never have found them. You don't know how happy I am..."

Rinoa's lips formed a sweet smile, her eyes lighting up the dim hallway. Cloud couldn't help but smile a small smile back at the girl.

Squall had heard all of this from inside the boardroom and a strange feeling overcome his senses. He had never heard Rinoa speak like that to anyone before – her voice softened in such an odd way that it hardly sounded like Rinoa anymore. Squall came outside to where the two of them were and cleared his throat. "I think we should get some rest, Rinoa."

Rinoa turned around to look at Squall, a look of confusion in her face, but she smiled the same sweet smile at him and nodded. "Yeah," she said. "I'm really tired."

Cloud nodded. "Good night to both of you, then."

The blonde swordsman looked from Rinoa to Squall, and it was like an electric flash of recognition of each other's existence had been established between the two mercenaries. Squall did not bid him good night but merely nodded, and with that, Cloud disappeared down the hallway.

Rinoa grabbed both of Squall's hands in hers and smiled at him, as if she were a schoolgirl with many secrets bottled inside that she wanted to pour out to him.

"I missed you so much, Squall," said Rinoa. "I thought I would die in this world without you. A world without Squall – I wonder how anyone could survive, huh?" She giggled at her own comment.

Squall wondered how he could say that he felt exactly the same, but he didn't have the time to think of a coherent way of expressing it. "We'll be able to go home tomorrow. We'll go there ... together."

Rinoa nodded. "Together."

Aerith's heart almost jumped out of her throat when the cold eyes of the great Sephiroth had fallen on her. So many thoughts ran through her mind when she saw him standing there – did he recognise her? Did he retain his memories from their world just as she and Zack did? Would he finish off the job by killing her then and there? And why was he was with Lucrecia? Did she recognise Sephiroth as her son?

"Oh, Aerith," said Lucrecia, "I'm sorry. I was separated from the others and got lost. I see you and Zack made it here..."

Aerith broke her gaze from Sephiroth and swallowed hard. "Y-Yes, Zack and I were about to go look for you..." She wondered whether it was a good idea to say the name 'Zack' in front of Sephiroth. After all, Zack had once respected the SOLDIER but loathed Sephiroth after his betrayal.

"It's fine," said Lucrecia. "This gentleman helped me."

Aerith couldn't read Sephiroth's expression at all. She didn't know him well enough to even guess what was going on in his mind. But it was clear that Lucrecia didn't recognise Sephiroth as her son, and Aerith intended to keep it that way. What could be more heartbreaking than for a kind, innocent mother to meet the son who was driven to madness and tried to destroy the planet? And what would stop Sephiroth from killing his own mother, when he was prepared to kill everyone?

"I'm grateful," said Aerith softly. "Come inside now. It's late and you need some rest."

"Of course," said Lucrecia. She turned to Sephiroth. "Thank you for your help ... erm..."

Aerith watched in horror as Sephiroth looked at his own mother, the same unreadable expression on his face. Aerith hoped that he would not divulge his name to Lucrecia. "Take care," was all he said as he turned around, much to Aerith's relief.

Lucrecia nodded with a smile and walked into the hotel, leaving just Aerith and Sephiroth at the front door. Aerith wished she had gone inside with Lucrecia, but now it felt like her shoes were stuck to the ground.

"So you're alive," said Sephiroth.

Aerith gulped. So he did recognise her – what was he going to do now? All she had to do was scream and Zack would come running out to protect her, but it didn't seem like Sephiroth had any hostile intentions...

"A world of the dead," murmured Sephiroth. "A second chance ... use it wisely."

Aerith didn't know how to respond so she remained silent. Before she knew it, Sephiroth walked away and disappeared into the night. The young woman was confused – did he spare her because of remorse? Or perhaps he was a changed man? Or maybe he pitied her – because if she died here, she wouldn't be able to return to The Planet. Whatever it was, Aerith's heart remained heavy. If Cloud was on his way to this world and Sephiroth was here, then the fight ahead of them was not only going to be against Ultimecia.

After a few hours of rest, night was gone and dawn was fast approaching. The sky was full of dark clouds that forewarned of rain, but this did not stop Cid from flying to the top of Mount Nibel to drop off Squall, Rinoa, Quistis, Seifer, Cloud, Tifa, Vincent and Yuffie to investigate the Mako Reactor.

As the party ventured into the reactor, Rinoa felt an eerie presence linger in the air as they delved deeper and deeper. They eventually reached a dimly lit red room filled with mysterious pods, and at the end of the room was a door to what seemed like a giant pod. It was labelled 'JENOVA' over the top and Rinoa once again felt haunted by the mere sight of the name. She clung closely to Squall, and a childish fear of Ultimecia bursting through that door to kill them all throbbed deep in her chest.

"We came out of that," murmured Squall, pointing to the door with the blue light over it and labelled with JENOVA.

Cloud and Vincent exchanged looks of silent concerned understanding, whereas Tifa and Yuffie appeared to be quite nervous.

"Are you sure it's safe to be in that thing?" cried Yuffie worriedly. "Wasn't Jenova's head in there once? I don't wanna come out all mutated!"

"We came out of it fine," said Quistis. "It shouldn't be a big surprise. Ultimecia – or Jenova – is the link between our worlds, after all."

"And this place is full of Mako, which enabled us to come here in the first place," said Squall.

"We'll have to take your word for it," said Cloud. He looked at Tifa. "Are you ready?"

Tifa nodded slowly. "Y-yes. Let's go ... to the new world."

"So who's going first, huh!" said Yuffie nervously.

"It's not very difficult," said Squall. "I'll go first."

As Squall moved towards the pod, Rinoa grabbed him by the arm to stop him.

"We'll go first," she corrected with a small smile.

Squall looked puzzled at first, but then nodded his head in understanding. "Right ... together."

The two of them stood close to each other and approached the sinister-looking pod. Rinoa was filled with excitement – she could almost imagine the air she would breathe when she went home and she could see her smiling friends in her mind's eye...

Squall pulled the door open and the couple entered with caution, as if they were expecting something to go horribly wrong.

"So we just stand here?" asked Rinoa.

"I guess so," mumbled Squall. "The concentrated flow of Mako should transport us through the Lifestream and back to Odine's machine. I think."

"You acted like you knew what you were talking about," said Rinoa, furrowing her brow at him.

"It's not every day I get to travel across the universe," said Squall.

Rinoa smiled and didn't argue. The air in the pod did seem a lot thicker, but perhaps it was because the area was tight and the reactor was hot. They waited for nearly a minute, the time painfully passing by with tedium, but nothing was happening.

"Uh, Squall ... I don't think it's working," said Seifer.

"You made me hold my breath for nothing," pouted Yuffie.

"I don't understand," said Squall, looking around confusedly before stepping out of the chamber. "It should work."

"Are you sure there aren't some buttons you're supposed to press or something?" asked Rinoa.

"There aren't any buttons to press," said Cloud.

"Maybe it's only a one way trip through this place," said Seifer, shrugging.

"Perhaps he's right," said Vincent in a low voice. "The Lifestream only flows in one direction."

"What?" exclaimed Yuffie. "So what are we going to do now?"

"I was looking forward to going home," said Rinoa with a frown. "Does that mean we're stuck here...?"

"No," said Quistis, looking thoughtful. "If Lifestream only flows in one direction then we just have to find the Mako hotspot that will take us back to our planet."

"Maybe Lucrecia's hotspot then," suggested Seifer.

"But where is that?" asked Rinoa.

"I know the place," said Vincent. "Lucrecia's waterfall in the Crystal Cave is actually a Mako hotspot. She must have slipped through when Jenova compressed time..."

"I really think you guys should stop calling her Jenova," said Seifer, rolling his eyes. "Her real name is Ultimecia."

"Yeah, well she can tell it to our faces!" said Yuffie, narrowing her eyes at Seifer. "She's always been Jenova to us and you can't make us change!"

"I thought we already established that you were wrong," said Seifer snidely. "She's from our world so our name is right."

"Yeah, thanks a lot for unleashing a calamity onto our planet," snorted Yuffie. "I guess you guys are to blame for Meteorfall then!"

"Why you—"

"Enough!" Squall barked at Seifer, and at the exact same time, Cloud had said, "Yuffie!" to his companion.

Rinoa and Tifa looked at each other and giggled at what just happened.

"Her name doesn't matter," said Quistis. "We can just call her 'The Sorceress' from now on."

"But there are many sorceresses," argued Seifer.

"Yeah, but what she means is that Jenova is THE sorceress!" barked Yuffie.

"We shouldn't delay the task any longer," cut in Quistis, before Seifer could argue with Yuffie.

"I agree," said Vincent. "By airship, the trip to Crystal Cave will take less than half a day. We must hurry."

With Yuffie and Seifer still glaring at each other so dangerously that it seemed like power beams were protruding from their eyes, the disgruntled party proceeded to leave the Mako Reactor to head for their new destination.

"Damn that Odine!"

Ultimecia roared out in fury, pushing Lynette out of the way and casting a fire spell on the Moomba servant in the room to vent her frustration. She and Lynette had been holed up in the Sorceress Knight office for hours, trying to figure out how to remove the cursed bracelet that sealed away Lynette's powers. Ultimecia had recognised it from the time she was in control of Edea's body and Rinoa had tried to use it, but Ultimecia was smart enough at the time to abstain from touching it. Lynette was not so lucky.

Lynette flinched when the Moomba began whimpering in pain from the spell and licking its wounds, but she held her tongue. She had never met the Sorceress Queen before and always had an image of a calm, collected and powerful woman who could do anything – but what she was experiencing now was quite the contrary. Even the almighty Ultimecia, who seemed to have power over everything, could not remove the seal.

"I'll get that Odine for this," said Ultimecia behind gritted teeth. "How dare he defy me? How dare he..."

"Y-Your Highness?" said Lynette weakly.

"Stay here, child," said Ultimecia, her eyes burning with rage. "I'll put a stop to this right now."

And before Lynette could open her mouth to speak, Ultimecia had disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke.

Ellone stood at the kitchen bench, stirring Laguna's and her cups of freshly brewed coffee for the morning.

"Do you think Squall and the others are okay?" asked Ellone behind a yawn.

"If they survived Ultimecia, they can survive anything," said Laguna.

"You're right," said Ellone, walking over to Laguna and serving him his coffee. "I really do hope they're okay..."

As Ellone was about to sit down, a cloud of purple smoke filled the centre of the room and she dropped her cup in surprise. The sound of it shattering on the tiled floor didn't register in her mind as Ellone only had a split second to anticipate the greater threat coming and could feel her heart thudding violently in her chest, as a furious Ultimecia appeared before them.

"Where is Odine?" shouted Ultimecia in a booming voice that could have shaken the walls.

"Doctor Odine has gone out to do some field research," said Ellone, trying to maintain her calmness.

Ultimecia shot a dangerous look at Ellone, and she could feel Ultimecia's powers trying to penetrate her mind to find a trace of a lie in Ellone's words, although Ellone knew that this power did not work on her.

"You have all been deceiving me," snarled Ultimecia. "You will be punished."

"Now, now," said Laguna, hopping up on his feet. "I don't know what's given you that idea."

Yes, stay calm, thought Ellone. She can't harm us. She needs us.

"Don't you dare lie to me!" roared Ultimecia, a fiery anger enveloping her face and form. She whipped her slender arm out to the side, and a magical force from her body blew the chairs against the walls, breaking them apart loudly. "Is the machine complete? Do you know the Sorceress Rinoa? Do you know where she is?"

Laguna remained silent, because if he answered, Ultimecia would certainly know if he was lying.

"Answer me, you fools!" Ultimecia flung her arm out again in a blind rage, and Odine's desk full of files and papers fell to the floor with a loud crash.

"We don't," said Ellone defensively.

It was like Ultimecia was deaf to any answer she didn't want to hear. She thrust her bare hand out in front of her and Laguna was lifted up into the air by an invisible force. He grunted in pain, his legs kicking through the air helplessly, but he couldn't escape or even yell – Ultimecia's invisible magical hand was strangling Laguna mercilessly.

"You will take me to Rinoa's consciousness," said Ultimecia, her face whipping with madness.

"I don't know ... Rinoa...!" Ellone tried to muster her sentence strongly, but the sight of Laguna being slowly killed was distracting her from her lies.

"Take me to Rinoa's consciousness or I will kill him," spluttered Ultimecia furiously, closing her fingers slowly.

The response from Laguna was far too much for Ellone to handle – he was dying, and Ellone knew that Ultimecia wouldn't hesitate to kill him. If Ellone removed Ultimecia's consciousness, she would lose control of her body and wouldn't be able to kill Laguna; therefore she couldn't renege on her promise. It was the only way to save her uncle...

"I ... a-all right...!" cried Ellone, holding back tears. "Don't kill him!"

Ellone closed her burning eyes and sent Ultimecia into Rinoa's past, causing the sorceress to drop to the floor like a limp rag doll. Due to the time compressed state of the universe, Ellone wasn't sure whether Rinoa's past would actually be the past, or perhaps it would be the present or the future ... she wasn't certain. But all that mattered to her now was that Laguna was freed from Ultimecia's clutches, as he had fallen to the floor from the air and was now gasping for air like a drowning man who had just been pulled out of the ocean.

Ellone rushed over to Laguna and helped him up, tears burning her eyes.

"I'm ... I'm so sorry, Uncle Laguna!" cried Ellone through sobs. "I messed up ... I messed up! ... I should've sent her to someone else's past, but I couldn't think straight ... I didn't want you to die..."

Laguna sat up and threw his arms around Ellone, patting the girl on the back reassuringly with a cough. "Don't worry, don't worry, Elle. You've never been faced with such a confronting situation before so I can't blame you for caving in. Thanks for saving me. This will give us a chance to escape at least, before she wakes up." He stood up in his feet, helping Ellone up as well.

Ellone blinked back tears and tried to put on a strong face. She broke free from Laguna's embrace and abruptly ran to the kitchen bench to grab a large chef's knife, returning to Ultimecia's body with a look of anger and hatred plastered all over her face.

"No, stop!" said Laguna, rushing up to Ellone. He tried to mask how surprised he was at her actions – he never would have imagined her doing something like this. But he couldn't blame her – she was in an emotionally distressed state, and this was probably her only moment of weakness that he would experience. "You can't kill her like that. A sorceress can only die properly if she passes her powers on. If you kill her like that, her consciousness will be stuck in Rinoa's life forever."

Ellone held the knife tightly, her knuckles turning white, before dropping it on the floor. She let out another sob, tears streaming down her face. "I just want it all to end ... I just want it all to be over..."

"We all do," said Laguna softly. "But we have to do it properly. Right now, we have to call the others for help. We have to disconnect the time machine and escape with it before Ultimecia wakes up. Let's just pray that we'll get to safety before Squall and the others try to return ... and more importantly, let's pray that Rinoa can fight off Ultimecia's will, wherever she is."