Chapter 9
Snowbound

"Voiceprint not on file. Access denied."

"Oh, darn it all…"

Ellone sighed. She ought to have known it wouldn't have been as simple as just walking up to the doors and saying she wanted in. As Squall had told her before, access to the training center was restricted to qualified Garden personnel only. But still, Ellone had wanted to try, even if she hadn't exactly told Squall what she was doing.

The things Rinoa had told her and the others this morning after her arrival yesterday evening disturbed Ellone more than she cared to admit. Visions of the future, or a possible future. One that Ellone hoped would never come to pass. She could still hear Rinoa's words in her mind as she had described it.

"It was so dark… everywhere… I could hear laughter, a woman's laughter. It was soft and so cruel, and it was all around me. There were… there were bodies on the ground, people I knew, people… people I loved. All of you, and… and others. There were bites on them, and... there were snakes, black snakes, all over them…"

It was horrible, and Ellone hadn't needed to guess at the meaning behind the symbolism of the vision. She had seen one of the snakes herself just a few days before in a vision of her own. They were of the woman somehow, the robed figure whose terrible eyes had haunted Ellone both in sleep and waking for the past few weeks. But Rinoa's experience hadn't ended there.

"Then I… I saw my own body, bitten and dead like the others. A voice was inside my head. Her voice, the woman's voice. She said… she said that soon, she would feed again… something about the planet… knowing its true nature …"

There was one last thing after that, something that had sent shivers of dread racing down Ellone's spine. Uncle Laguna, who'd arrived with Kiros and Ward on the Ragnarok that same morning and had attended the meeting with her and the others, had put a hand on her shoulder as Rinoa had concluded her tale, but not even his reassuring presence had been able to dispel the chill in her blood.

"She said… the Coven's power can no longer save us… that she'll feed on all who stand in her way. Especially you, Ellone. She… she didn't say your name, but… I could tell it was you she meant. She wants you dead. I don't know why. But… she fears you, something about you. Your power, maybe? I wish I knew more. One of the snakes bit my leg and I felt fire burning inside me, poison filling my blood. I… I shrieked, jerked away, and then… everything was gone. It was over…"

But it wasn't. Not yet. Not for Ellone, anyway. This nightmare wouldn't be over until she found this woman and dealt with her. But so far her unseen stalker had kept to the shadows, biding her time. The dreams hadn't troubled Ellone for the past few days, but whether that was from Dr. Kadowaki's sedatives or because the robed woman was planning something else for her, she couldn't say.

Ellone had come here to the training center as soon as she had returned from the wedding rehearsal in Trabia Garden's modest chapel. She had stopped first at her quarters to change and get her bladestaff, which hung on her back in the leather harness Zell had made for her yesterday. But it looked like she would have to settle for the dojo again after all. Ellone sighed and was walking away when another possibility froze her in midstep.

It was obvious, of course. So much so that she ought to have seen it earlier. But even so, it made Ellone nervous just thinking about it. If she couldn't do any live training inside the Garden, she could always go outside. The snowfields in this part of Trabia stretched for miles in all directions before running into a rough semicircle of frigid mountain peaks. On a chocobo, Ellone could cover quite a fair distance and be back before nightfall. No one would even know she was gone.

Squall and Uncle Laguna would have a fit if they knew she was even considering the idea, but Ellone wasn't planning on telling them. Trabia Garden kept a small stable of tamed chobobos for outdoor training exercises. They were also more useful in this region than cars for traveling overland given the rougher terrain and the lack of roads.

Making another brief stop at her quarters, Ellone changed into some warmer clothes and threw on the white winter coat and gloves Squall had given her during the holidays last year. Winhill's winters might not have been quite as frigid as Trabia's, but they were cold enough, to be sure. Ellone slipped the bladestaff in its harness onto her shoulders, tugged on a pair of thick black boots, and pulled her short hair into a ponytail.

The late afternoon sun was already beginning its descent low over the western rim of the mountains by the time Ellone stepped outside Balamb Garden's main entrance and walked the half mile or so to the smaller Trabia compound. Her boots crunched in the snow, and the wind bit at her cheeks until they were the color of roses. To the east, a line of dark clouds blotted out the horizon.

Ellone wasn't entirely surprised to find a familiar face in the chocobo pens. Giggles, coppery hair, and bright emerald eyes greeted Ellone as she entered the paddock. Selphie was cooing to one of the chocobos, stroking its yellow feathers and feeding it some greens as she brushed it down. She turned at the sound of Ellone's approach and grinned, her small body nearly lost in the thick yellow coat and pants she wore.

"Heey, Sis! What's up?"

Ellone patted the chocobo. She'd ridden the birds before, but not often. "I was going to go ride for a bit and get some fresh air."

"Sounds like fun!" Selphie chirped. "But, um… maybe you shouldn't go…"

"Because of what Rinoa told us," Ellone finished for her. She understood her friend's concern, of course, but her mind was made up.

Selphie nodded. "Yeah, that. A real super duper mega-bummer…"

"You're still having the wedding, aren't you?"

"Of course!" Selphie's hands flew to her hips as her grin widened. "We got this far, and everybody's here now. So let's pah-tay while we can!"

Ellone smiled in spite of herself. She ought to have known that nothing short of a Lunar Cry was going to delay Selphie's wedding. The girl loved a good party, both having them and throwing them, and this was a chance to do both at the same time. Ellone had enjoyed the rehearsal despite the grim mood of the morning meeting, and she looked forward to the actual ceremony tomorrow.

But in the meantime, she had work to do. "Where do I sign out a chocobo?"

"Just a sec, I'll take care of it," Selphie retrieved a clipboard from just inside the stable. "I used to hang out here a lot before I transferred to Balamb."

She jotted something down on the pad and with Ellone's help saddled the chocobo she'd been grooming. Ellone patted the bird fondly, slid her foot in the stirrups, and sat atop its back. She took the reins and walked the chocobo out of the paddock and through the Garden compound until she reached a gate in the south wall.

Beyond it, the frigid snowfields stretched as far as Ellone could see, broken here and there by small clusters of trees and patches of stiff brown grass. The ground was uneven in places, rising and falling in a series of low hills, and the mountains were just a tiny jagged line on the horizon.

Selphie turned to her, having accompanied her to this point. "This chocobo's called Starlight. She's nice and gentle and she knows her way home. But I certainly hope you don't get lost! It's easier than you think."

"Thanks for your help, Selphie," Ellone replied.

"No problem! Just make sure you get back soon. You don't wanna miss my bachelorette party tonight, do ya?"

Ellone had almost forgotten about that. "Ah, no, but… I'm not sure I feel up to it. I might have to pass it up, I'm afraid."

"But everybody's gonna be there, Sis! Me, Quisty, Rinoa, and Xu for sure."

"Well, I'm sure you'll all have enough fun without an old maid like me spoiling everything," Ellone smiled. "I wouldn't want to get in the way."

A tongue shot out at her. Selphie was notorious for that. "Old maid? You? Tee-hee, you're really funny, Ellone!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You can't fool me, Sis! You might be a bit older than the rest of us, but you're still young and beautiful! Remember what I said the other day?"

Ellone chuckled. "How could I forget?"

"The guy for you is out there somewhere," Selphie giggled. "He'll show up when you're not lookin' for it. That's how it always happens when it's really for real! Oh, it's gonna be so great! It'll be love at first sight!"

"I don't know. It would be nice, but I don't think it works that way in real life, Selphie. Love is a bit more complicated than that."

Selphie shook her head and winked. "Nah-uh! It just hits you like lightning! BANG! And then you're in love! Like with me an' Irvy!"

"What makes you think it's going to happen to me?" Ellone asked.

"Just a hunch. And my hunches are never wrong! Tee-hee!"

There was no point in trying to persuade Selphie otherwise, so Ellone let the matter drop. Her life was much too hectic to allow her any sort of romantic relationship, not that she hadn't tried before. But both the fast pace of her life and her very identity had stymied any attempt at finding love. Few men cared to have a relationship with a woman over which a short yet brutal world war had been fought.

As the adopted daughter of the Estharian president, Ellone was also constantly under scrutiny, hence her frequent stays in Winhill. At least there, she was able to have some measure of privacy. But in Esthar she was often beset by would-be suitors who were usually powerful politicians or their sons or nephews, all looking to use her close proximity to Uncle Laguna to further their own ambitions.

Ellone had never yet met a man who genuinely loved her. Not the president's daughter, the commander's sister, or the girl with the strange powers. But her. Just her. Ellone would have given anything to find a man like that. How many times had she wished she could just run away to someplace where nobody knew who she was, where she could meet a man who knew nothing about her and who would love her just as she was?

But that was impossible. Her fame, or infamy, was practically worldwide thanks to the war and her relationship to Uncle Laguna. Romantic love was something that Ellone had always known she would never have, even if she did still hope otherwise from time to time. If only such hope could make a thing come true.

"I wish it could…" Ellone murmured.

"What was that?" Selphie asked.

Ellone blinked, coming back to the present. "Nothing, sorry. But I still don't think I'll make it to the party tonight."

"Oh, okay," Selphie gave in at last. "Have fun riding! Squall's probably gonna be worried sick about you, though."

Ellone sighed. "He doesn't know. No one does, except you. Keep it that way, alright?"

"Alright," Selphie replied, her voice more subdued. "Be careful, okay?"

"I will, Selphie. I promise."

Ellone nudged Starlight into a trot, and before long Ellone was riding across the snowfields, her breath steaming in the air. Dark gray storm clouds hovered to the east, not quite so far away as she had earlier thought. She rode across the miles of whiteness until both Gardens had disappeared from sight.

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The tracks were all but gone now, but Vincent was quite certain where his quarry was going. What prints he had been able to see in the gloom headed continually north and slightly to the east, in line with the faint impressions of tire treads left by Cloud's motorcycle. Vincent rode his own bike deftly through the woods, towering pines rolling past on either side. He didn't race along but kept a more steady, if slower, pace. Smashing headlong into a tree trunk would do his friends no good.

And there was something else as well. Instinct, maybe. Vincent didn't know. But something in the forest called to him, or perhaps waited for him. There was something soothing about the stillness of the wood. Maybe that was why he spent so much time in the ancient, glowing forest that guarded Ajit, the forgotten capital of the Cetra.

Vincent had learned long ago to heed his intuition, to hear the whisper of the wind in the branches, and he often felt more at home in places like this than in the civilized settlements of human society. Perhaps he was just used to being alone. He had spent the last few years wandering, but he was never quite sure where he was going. Even now, Vincent felt himself carried along, his life traveling a path he could not see.

And right now, his instincts told him that something was coming on that path. Something important. Vincent didn't know what it might be, but he knew that if he left the forest too soon, he would miss it, possibly forever. This was his only chance. So as he hunted the snow leopards, Vincent kept the Blackbird at a steady pace and watched for whatever it was his heart told him he would find here.

----------

Ellone guided Starlight into a stand of spindly evergreens, her instincts telling her that this was the place. She dismounted and tethered the chocobo to a nearby tree. Her boots crunching in the snow and her breath steaming in the air, Ellone took a few cautious steps and pulled her weapon from its harness. The bladestaff felt light and easy in her hands as she spun it into a ready position.

"Come on, where are you…?" Ellone muttered.

There was no answer save the blowing of the wind, louder now that the storm was closer. It would be on her before long, no doubt. She would have to cut her training session short and head back soon. And without a single encounter to show for it. Night was coming, and Ellone didn't want to be out here after dark. The temperature dropped rapidly after sunset, the cold becoming so brut—

Ellone's thoughts fell away in an instant as a snarling blur of blue and white fur flew at her from out of the undergrowth. Claws swiped at her, but she was already moving, her heart pounding in her chest. She dove to the side, leaping to her feet just as the snow lion charged her. It roared, its beady eyes glittering with a primal hunger, and snapped at Ellone with a gaping maw full of viciously sharp teeth.

First blood was hers. She dodged what would have been a fatal bite and spun the bladestaff in a backward arc that drew a line of red along the beast's side. Exhilaration filled her as the snow lion bellowed in pain. She was doing it! But the monster reacted faster than Ellone had thought it would. It whipped its head around and charged her again, slamming into her before she could defend herself.

Pain exploded inside Ellone's body as she fell to the snow. But she couldn't afford to hesitate. Not wasting a moment, she rolled aside just as the beast landed atop the place where she had been lying. But a swipe of the snow lion's claws tore bloody ribbons across her lower leg just as she got to her feet. Ellone stumbled and cried out, almost dizzy with the pain, and her weapon slid from her fingers.

Was this it? Was her first battle to be her last? How could she have been so stupid? Squall was right in not letting her into the training center. Fighting like this was very different from sparring, much more so than she had imagined. Ellone fell to her knees and wondered what it would be like to die. But a part of her wasn't willing to give up just yet. There was still so much she had left to do, a part of her life's path she had yet to travel.

Gritting her teeth against the pain as she braced herself on her wounded leg, Ellone grabbed the bladestaff in both hands, spun around, and drove the weapon deep into the snow lion's chest just as it sprang at her. The beast landed atop her, but by that time it was already dead, its limbs twitching in a few final spasms before finally going slack. Blood spilled over Ellone's hands and spattered across the front and sleeves of her coat, and for a moment she couldn't move, could hardly even breathe.

An odd silence hung in the air in the wake of the battle. Even the wind seemed to have gone quiet. Was it always like this? Or was it because she had never killed anything before? A new and unpleasant odor assaulted Ellone's nose, and while she had never smelled it herself, she knew well enough what it was. The stench of death.

At last, she summoned the strength to shove the body aside and rose shakily to her feet, hardly able to believe what she had just done. But as she gazed upon the snow lion's corpse, Ellone felt none of the euphoria she had thought she would. It wasn't fun, it wasn't exciting, and it wasn't something she wanted to do ever again. Her hands flying to her mouth, Ellone ran behind the nearest tree and threw up.

----------

There was no sign of his quarry, but Vincent was certain the snow leopards were close. He brought his motorcycle to a halt at the edge of a snowy clearing ringed with pines and firs. The sudden quiet as he cut off the engine was almost palpable, broken only by the soft whisper of the wind. A fallen tree half buried in the snow lay nearby.

Vincent dismounted, all his senses alert. He was here. Whether by intuition or luck or fate, he had found the place where it would happen, though he wasn't sure just what it was. But at any rate, he would have had to find a place to stop for a few hours' rest, anyway. And the leopards didn't know he was here.

It would be a cold night, for Vincent couldn't risk a fire with his prey so close. He didn't want them to discern his presence just yet. It seemed they had paused to rest as well. Another half a day and they would break free of the forest and catch Cloud and Tifa unawares in the middle of the glacier.

Reloading his weapons, Vincent wrapped his cloak about him and leaned against a nearby tree. He would rest, but not sleep. The leopards would leave early, but they would not get far. There was likely another grayback leading them, and if their numbers were as great as those of the other pack, it would prove a difficult battle. But he had no choice. Cloud and Tifa had to make the rendezvous to save Marlene, and if the snow leopards caught them, they would miss it. Vincent would see to it that they did not.

But what had drawn him to this particular place, this one clearing out of the countless many in the vast forest? And why here, of all places? There were other places not so far away that he could have stopped for the night, all close to the trail, but his instincts had guided him to this one. Vincent saw nothing out of the ordinary, though his reddish-brown eyes saw as clearly in the dark as in daylight.

Whatever it was, he would find it. He had to.

----------

After she had managed to compose herself, Ellone limped back to the snow lion's body and stared at it, not quite sure what to think. What now? How could she go on and turn against everything in her gentle nature? She wasn't a fighter. She didn't belong here. Nevertheless, she had shed blood, had taken a life. True, she had only been defending herself, but even that had shaken Ellone more than she had ever thought possible. How did Squall and the others live with it?

Ellone turned away and headed to where Starlight was tethered. It would be so easy to just go home and forget about all this and leave that blasted bladestaff here. The snow would bury it and the body before long. Ellone started to untie Starlight's harness and lead her away, but Rinoa's words suddenly came back to her.

"She wants you dead. I don't know why. But… she fears you, something about you. Your power, maybe? I wish I knew more."

It was the whole reason she had come out here in the first place. Ellone turned back to the body of the snow lion, her lips tightening in resolve. The woman was going to come after her, sooner or later, and if Ellone didn't face her herself, others would be hurt trying to protect her. That was something Ellone couldn't allow, not anymore. Too many had already suffered for her sake.

Ellone drank one of the potions she'd brought, and the pain in her leg lessened, though it did not die entirely. The slashes slowly began knitting themselves together as the bleeding stopped. She couldn't put all her weight on it yet, but it would heal in time. Ellone limped back to the snow lion's body, planted her good leg against its broad torso, and pulled the bladestaff from its chest.

The weapon came free with a sickening wrench, but Ellone kept herself steady. She had to be strong now. As she gazed upon the bloodstained steel, her grip on the bladestaff grew firm, certain. This was her fate. She would never like it, never enjoy it, but she would do what she had to do, what she was meant to do. She had no choice if she was to protect those who had for so long protected her.

After wiping the weapon clean on the monster's hide, Ellone slid the bladestaff back into its harness, swung onto Starlight's feathered back, and rode out of the clearing at a brisk trot. She only had a little time left to find some more monsters, but she couldn't take too long. That storm was getting awfully close. The wind was picking up, tossing flurries of snow everywhere, and thunder was rumbling ominously across the rapidly darkening sky.

About an hour or so later, Ellone was heading as closely north as she could manage without the sun to guide her. It was hidden behind the mass of clouds blotting out the sky. She didn't think she had gone too far from the Garden, but with the way the snowfields sprawled out in all directions, Ellone couldn't be sure.

Her teeth chattering in the deepening cold, Ellone pressed on. She hadn't encountered any other monsters since her battle with the snow lion, but it didn't surprise her. They had probably taken shelter from the storm. She nudged Starlight a little faster, hoping the increased pace would keep the bird warm and get them both back to the Garden before too long. The snow was falling faster now, much too quickly for Ellone's liking.

Suddenly she froze, pulling Starlight to a halt and glancing around her. The snow was everywhere, falling on all sides, and the wind howled in her ears. Where was she? Which way should she go? What little she was able to glimpse seemed all the same to her, the same low, white hills in every direction. Starlight's tracks had disappeared beneath drifts of fresh snow. As she struggled to orient herself, Ellone felt a chill in her spine that had nothing to do with the cold.

"Oh, no…"