.
(Hidden Feelings)
Cid sat at his desk absently tapping his pen on a clipboard. Everything seemed to be falling apart. Why were his best SeeDs fighting against each other? Why were they being attacked for no apparent reason? And who was the White Army? He had called all the military and nation leaders, including Laguna Loire, president of Esthar. He had asked each one for any information they could have on the White Army, but he was always given the same answer: they didn't know anything about them. All they knew was they had last surfaced about three years back. This wasn't much help, that was basically what he knew.
He examined his pen for a few moments, there had to be a reason for their sudden disappearance and return. He suddenly sat up in his chair; Elise had disappeared and reappeared at the same time as the White Army. There had to be a connection. Was Elise part of the army? Or were they after her? He reached for the phone, he decided he would question Elise, but first, he needed to call Xu; he needed to have someone witness and record the interrogation.
He dialed Xu's number. "Xu, this is Cid. I need you to come to my office right away." He paused. "Thank you." He put down the receiver just as the door in his office opened. Elise stepped inside.
"Miss Avalon," Cid stood up, "next time would you be so kind as to knock before entering my office,"
"I came to tell you something," Elise said ignoring him.
"I too need to speak with you, but we need to wait until Xu arrives."
"We will talk now," Elise said firmly as she looked into Cid's eyes.
He found himself unable to reply, he wanted to tell the student that she was over-stepping her boundaries, but for some reason he could not. He wanted to look away from her powerful gaze but was unable to move.
He noticed the strange look in her eyes, in a way it reminded him of Edea when she... "You're a sorceress." Cid managed to say.
Elise smiled. "Forget you just said that," she said, never moving her gaze away.
Cid's head started to ache, forget, he heard a voice in his head. Forget? He couldn't even remember what he needed to forget.
"You need to go visit your wife," Elise said.
"...But-" Cid started to say.
"Don't worry about Garden, I will personally see to it that everything runs smoothly." She gave him a reassuring smile. "I want you to go straight to your room, pack a suitcase and leave. Understand?"
"Yes."
"Good. Oh, if I'm going to successfully run this Garden I'm going to need the master key card. Give it to me."
Cid unlocked a drawer in his desk and took out a key card, then handed it to Elise. She took it, turned and walked out.
What a sweet and responsible young woman, Cid thought as he watched her leave.
On her way to the second-floor elevator, Elise spotted Xu. "Xu," Elise called to her. "Cid asked me to tell you that he doesn't need you after all."
"Are you serious? I was busy, I don't have time for this!"
"Sorry, I'm just the messenger," Elise said.
"No. I'm sorry, this isn't even your fault." Xu went in the direction of Quistis' classroom.
"My, everyone seems so tense." Elise stepped into the elevator.
That was so easy, Elise thought, her power was indeed growing. She wished she had been this powerful when she was starting to gather her army, it would all have been so much easier.
At that time she had only been fourteen years old. She first attempted to persuade gang members into joining her, but all they did was ignore her. The few that seemed interested weren't eager to battle SeeD, so they too decided to ignore her. She needed people who weren't afraid to fight, people who were willing to die for their cause. She found this task to be extremely difficult. No one took her seriously.
Back then it had not been easy to bend people's minds to her will, but she discovered that the more she used her power, the stronger it became.
She gathered a few members, mainly runaway teenagers and people who had nothing better to do. She still could not organize an attack on Garden, not with her sorry group.
One day she overheard a conversation between her group members. A teenage boy was saying that he knew someone who belonged to an anti-government group. Elise knew this was what she had been waiting for, she had the boy take her to that person, who turned out to be a girl in her mid-teens. Elise had to use her powers to convince the girl to take her to the group's next meeting.
On the day of the meeting, Elise felt very confident; she had a plan. She waited until the meeting was started, she arrived at the abandoned warehouse where it was being held and knocked on the door.
"What?" A male voice answered.
"Death to Deling," Elise replied, this was the password the girl had given her.
The door opened. "You're late." Said a tall, blond young man.
Elise ignored him and walked toward the meeting area. All heads turned in her direction, she stepped in front of the speaker. There was absolute silence.
"I have come to ask you to join my group," Elise spoke.
"Who are you, little girl?" Came a voice from the back.
"My name is Elise. And I am a very powerful sorceress."
"Shouldn't you be at home with your mommy?" Asked the speaker who was still standing behind her, she was a tall dark haired woman who appeared to be about twenty. "Someone get her out of here!" The woman ordered.
Elise scanned the people in the room, they ranged in age from their mid-teens to their early twenties. There seemed to be an equal amount of males and females, this would be a good group to start with, Elise thought. There were only about fifty people in the group, she was still far from her goal, but still this was closer. Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt someone pulling at her arm.
"Come on, Little Sorceress." It was the man who had let her in.
Elise shook her arm away. "Will you listen to what I have to say?"
"Get out!" A few people shouted.
"I didn't want to resort to this. But you leave me no choice." Elise closed her eyes and touched her forehead with her right hand, she remained in that position for a few seconds, then she opened her eyes. "Now feel the wrath of Hyne! Moon Beam!" She had summoned Luna, a GF that she had acquired a few weeks before, during a SeeD training mission.
The room was suddenly filled with an intense white light, then the light disappeared. Everyone was surprised to see a woman floating in mid air. She had silver colored eyes and long white hair that reached below her knees, her skin seemed to be made of light.
Luna raised her right hand, a beam of light seemed to come out of nowhere, with her hand she directed the beam toward the group. There was an explosion of light, some people fell to their knees screaming in pain, Luna disappeared in a flash of white light.
Elise stood in front of the group once more, a satisfied smile rested on her lips. "Are you ready to listen now?"
She explained to them that Guardian Forces were the Knights of the Great Hyne. She said that Hyne had chosen her as their leader to fulfill their destiny. She convinced the group to praise the GFs, or Guardians as she had her newly found soldiers call them, as their Gods. No one in the group had ever seen a GF, so they found her story believable.
It took Elise days to convince every single person to fight with her and for her. But all her hard work paid off, she had gotten inside their heads and made them believe everything she said. They would do anything to help the young sorceress who had suffered at the mercy of SeeD, as she had told them. The one who nearly died for her faithfulness to Hyne, they would stop at nothing to help her get her revenge. They would do anything to fulfill their destiny and get closer to Hyne.
With the help of her first recruits, she learned about other rebel and anti-government groups. Her army was growing everyday, by the time she was fifteen it was large and powerful enough to challenge SeeD.
Yes, it had been difficult, but now it was different. She was older, more experienced and much more powerful. She was ready. At this precise moment, however, she felt extremely tired, she needed to rest for the next day's important event. She went to her room to try to sleep, she stopped in front of the door when she saw the broken handle. "Great." She remembered leaving Seifer locked in, he probably broke it trying to get out. She didn't want to sleep in a room that she couldn't lock, but she was so tired. She then remembered that five rooms would be empty that night.
She made her way down the hall to Squall's dorm, it was the closest to hers, Zell's was right next to it, but she had already seen it. She took out the master key card and slid it through the slot on the small panel by the door. There was a chime and the blinking red light on the panel turned to green, Elise turned the handle and stepped into Squall's room.
She turned on the lights and looked around, the room was neat, there were no decorations, the only things that hung on the wall were Squall's SeeD uniform and a calendar. On his bedside table, there was a framed picture of Rinoa, Elise took the picture in her hand. She looked at it for a few seconds, then slammed it face down on the table, for some reason it angered her to see Rinoa's picture there.
She turned her attention to the black case against the wall at the foot of the bed. She walked up to it and opened it carefully, Squall's gunblade was inside. She took it out and studied it for a few moments, what a magnificent weapon, she thought, but it was too heavy for her taste. She preferred her sword, it was much easier to handle. She put the gunblade back and closed the case. She turned off the lights and laid on the bed, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
It seemed as if she had only slept for a few minutes when she was awakened by a noise. She sat up and quickly leaped off the bed when she heard a quiet chime. She needed a place to hide, the closet was her only option, she stepped in and closed the door just as the other opened. Through a small crack she saw the lights come on, she opened the door a little to see who had just come in.
She was extremely surprised to see Squall. How had he gotten out of the disciplinary room? How was she going to leave without him seeing her?
He sat on the bed, his back to the closet, he took Rinoa's picture in his hand. "Come out Elise. I know you're here." Squall said without turning.
His voice made Elise jump, she had no choice but to come out of her hiding place.
"What are you doing here?" He asked while looking at Riona's picture.
"I just needed some sleep."
Squall stood up, he let go of Rinoa's picture and it fell, the glass broke into tiny pieces which scattered throughout the floor. "Did you come to tell me something?" He turned to face Elise.
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"You are lying. I know there is something you want to tell me."
Did he know her secret? And if so how had he found out?
"I know you want to tell me something."
Well, there was this other thing...Something other than the fact that she had come to destroy them all.
"Tell me."
"I..." She looked into his eyes, she had to look away. She couldn't hurt him, she couldn't tell him. "I..."
"Just say it."
"I...I love you." The words came out of Elise's mouth before she could stop them. Why did I say it? She hadn't even admitted it to herself, she thought she had forced those ridiculous thoughts out of her mind.
Squall walked toward her, he stopped very close to her, then kissed her. Elise pulled away surprised, this was the last thing she had expected him to do. She looked at him, his face was expressionless, she didn't know what to do or say. Suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen, she looked down and saw the gunblade piercing her body.
"How could you do this to me?" She asked Squall, a single tear running down her cheek.
Squall pulled out the gunblade, Elise fell to her knees, she felt the tiny pieces of glass cutting into her skin. Her hands went automatically to her wound.
"Isn't this what you were planning to do to me and the people I love?" Squall asked, his voice full of hatred.
"Not you," Elise said, blood was starting to leak through her fingers. "I could never hurt you."
"But you did. You betrayed me."
Elise could no longer hold herself up, she fell to the floor, she felt the glass cutting into her cheek.
"You deserve to die like this. Alone." Squall walked toward the door.
Elise closed her eyes, she could hear the glass being crushed under Squall's boots, then she heard the door open and close. He was gone. She opened her eyes, all she saw was blood and broken glass covering the floor. So much glass, was that possible? Could a picture that small be responsible for all that glass? What a strange thing to be thinking about when I am so close to death, she thought.
"Foolish child." Someone said. "He could never love you. No one can."
"Let me die in peace."
"You deserve to die alone."
Elise's face was wet from blood and tears. "Go away." She said weakly.
"Worthless girl."
"Shut up, Ultimicia!" Elise yelled, she sat up. She found herself in Squall's dark room, on the bed. She got up and turned on the lights, no blood, no broken glass. Rinoa's picture was still face down on the table. Elise's face was wet with tears she furiously wiped them away. "Stupid dream." She said. "I do not love him." She stepped out of the room and slammed the door.