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(Visiting the Past)
Ellone lay on Rinoa's bed, her eyes closed. Layla was pacing back and forth while Rinoa sat on a chair filing her nails.
"Is something supposed to be happening?" Layla asked.
"Hopefully it is happening," Rinoa responded. "She's going into Squall's past to see if she can find information on what's been happening."
"I know what happened," Ellone suddenly sat up startling both girls. "It's Elise."
"I knew it!" Rinoa slammed her nail file on the table. "What did she do?"
"Well..." Ellone bit her lip and thought for a few seconds, trying to explain what she saw. "She put an idea in his head, she told him that he was being too nice and that everyone was always taking advantage of him. Then she told him that Seifer had been acting on his own and was never under Ultimicia's influence."
"So he just believes everything she says?" Rinoa asked.
"He can't help it, she uses some sort of power that she has to get inside his head. She makes him believe, he tries to resist it, but she's too powerful, in the end, she wins."
"She must have done the same thing to Zell and everyone else," Layla concluded.
"Why would she do something like that? And most importantly, how can we make them see the truth?" Rinoa wondered.
"You're a sorceress," Ellone said, "can't you reverse the process or something?"
"No. I don't dare mess with people's minds." Rinoa said.
"Can you show everyone what happened?" Layla turned to Ellone. "Zell told me that you show people what happened in the past. If they see what happened that might break whatever link she has with them."
"Great idea," Rinoa said. "Let's go try it."
Squall sat on the hard floor of the cell, they had asked the guard to turn off the lights after they realized that Cid was not coming back. After eating a dinner of cold cafeteria leftovers, they tried to sleep.
Quistis refused to share part of her cot with anyone. She said that sharing the cell with Squall was bad enough, she was not about to share her cot too.
Quistis' attitude forced Zell and Squall to take turns sitting on the wooden stool. Sadly, they soon discovered that sitting on the floor was more comfortable.
"Damn it!" Zell suddenly yelled. "I can't get comfortable."
"Shut the hell up, Chicken Wuss!" Came Seifer's voice from the other cell. "I was actually starting to fall asleep!"
"Why don't you come here and make me, Almasy!"
"You're only sayin' that 'cause you know I can't!"
"Will both of you shut up?" Squall spoke up.
"I'm trying to sleep, Squall!" Said an irritated Selphie. "I don't want to hear your stupid voice!"
"Children," the lights suddenly came on, Rinoa, Ellone and Layla stepped in. "I can hear you all the way outside," Rinoa said.
"What are you doing up at this hour? It's almost two a.m." Squall said getting up. "Ellone?" Squall noticed her standing by Rinoa. "What are you doing here? Is there something wrong?"
"You're locked in a cell," Ellone responded.
"Ell came to help us," Rinoa answered Squall's question.
"With the White Army?" Zell asked.
"No. I can't tell you guys yet because you won't believe me." Rinoa said. "Ellone is going to show you guys your past."
"Why?" Squall wanted to know.
"You'll see, just trust me. Quistis, can you please move so that Squall can lie down?"
Quistis glared at Squall. "Fine. But only because Rinoa asked me nicely." She got up and stepped away from the cot.
"This better be worth it." Squall said looking at Ellone and Rinoa as he reluctantly moved toward the cot. A few seconds later he was in the Dream World.
Over an hour later Squall, Quistis, Selphie and Zell had viewed their past. Rinoa let everyone out of the cells, they stepped out, there was a long moment of awkward silence. Everyone careful not to look anyone in the eye.
Selphie finally spoke. "Squall, I am so embarrassed, I promise I'll go first thing tomorrow and post a public apology on my site."
"Don't worry about it." Squall assured her.
"You think you're embarrassed?" Zell said. "I did and said so many dumb things." He shook his head.
"I know you didn't mean it;" Layla said taking his hand.
"But I still did it." Zell turned to Irvine. "Hey man, I hope you know that...well...you know...I don't really think that you and Layla...you know..."
"I know." Irvine said, he really didn't hold Zell accountable for what he had done.
"Why would Elise do this?" Quistis looked at Squall.
"Ellone, I know you're tired," Squall said, "but can you please do me a favor?"
"I can try."
"Please show me Elise's past. I want to understand what could possibly drive her to so something like this."
"Sure."
"I can't do it!" The child cried.
"Yes, you kan." Said a voice that was everywhere and nowhere, a voice that was harsh and cold. "I will help you. Get up from your bed and do what I say."
"I'm scared."
The voice ignored the child's comment. "Today is the day of the eklipse. When you go outside a woman dressed in black will kome to you. Follow her, and do what she says."
"But I'm scared, Ulimicia."
"Elise, my dear, power is nothing to be afraid of. I am offering you power in exchange for your help. I know you are only twelve years old, but I assure you as you bekome older you will better understand. Now go, get up it is morning. The eklipse will start soon."
Elise opened her eyes, it was indeed morning, she wished there was a different way to communicate with Ultimicia other than through dreams. In the morning she always felt tired. But sleep didn't matter today, it was a special day, Ultimicia was right she didn't have to be scared of power.
She got dressed and went outside where some of the other orphans had gathered to watch the eclipse. Elise stood looking around, she was trying to find the woman Ultimicia had described.
Elise nearly jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, she spun around and saw a middle-aged, blonde woman dressed in black robes.
"Come with me, Elise." The woman started walking toward the nearby woods.
They walked for a short while, then stopped when they reached a small clearing. There was a large circle traced on the ground with strange markings inside it that Elise didn't recognize.
"What are we doing here?"
"Sorceress Myrrima is about to die, she will need someone to receive her powers. You, my dear, are that person."
"Why is she going to die?" Elise asked.
The woman smiled wickedly. "...Do not concern yourself with such an insignificant detail, my child."
"Who is Myrrima?"
"She is a sorceress of Ultimicia's time. More powerful than Ultimicia herself, but she is weak of mind, she does not wish to be a sorceress. So she ignores her great power. Step inside the circle." Elise did as she was told. "The only way to send Myrrima's powers over to you is through this ritual. This is how we are able to bring her powers from the future back to the past. You will not receive all her power at once, because you did not acquire them the natural way, from one sorceress directly to the other. Give me your hand." Elise obeyed, but she quickly withdrew her hand when the woman touched it. Blood started to drip on the ground, she saw a small bloodied blade in the woman's hand.
"Elise, don't let the blood drip outside the circle!" Elise was careful to do as she was told.
"That hurt!" She complained.
"A small price to pay." The woman looked at the sky. "In a few moments, under the darkness of the same eclipse many years into the future, Myrrima's blood will also be spilled in the circle." The clear day suddenly turned dark, Elise automatically looked up and saw the sun being covered by the huge moon.
"May this blood accept this power!" The woman yelled extending her arms to the sky. "Carris! Lord of the Underworld! I call forth thy power!" There was a sudden gust of wind that seemed to come from under Elise's feet, it disappeared as quickly as it came. The woman continued. "Draw Myrrima's power and cast it onto this child!"
With these words Elise's skin began to glow, she felt a slight burning sensation inside her veins. She closed her eyes for a brief moment, when she opened them again the sky was clear once more.
"We are done." The woman said as she drew a sword from her robes. "A gift from Ultimicia." She handed it to Elise.
Elise took the sword; the hilt was encrusted in gold, while the blade was shimmering silver. Elise's name was engraved on the blade about one inch below the hilt. "This is for me?" She asked in amazement.
"You will need it while you wait to receive your powers."
"But I thought I already got my powers."
"No. Like I said, this ritual merely marked the first stage. You have inherited Myrrima's mental power, it is weak now, but it will become stronger every day. As you may or may not know, this eclipse occurs every six years, the next time it happens you will receive all of Myrrima's power." Elise seemed disappointed by the news. "Ultimicia will contact you soon and give you more instructions. Now go pack."
"Why?"
"Because my dear tomorrow will be your first day at Balam Garden."
"I get to become a SeeD?" Elise asked excitedly, a smile forming on her young face.
"You will be something much better than a foolish SeeD, you will be their downfall."
Two years went by, Elise was very popular at Balam Garden, not because she was actually liked by the students and faculty, but because she had made them all think that they did. She loved the power, knowing that she could make anyone do anything she wanted. But there was an empty space inside her; she had no real friends, no one who truly cared about her.
Ultimicia repeatedly told her that friendship was not important. She told her this over and over until it was engraved in the young girl's mind. Power mattered, power over everyone, if one wanted power one did not have time for foolish things; things such as love and friendship. Still, Elise longed for someone to talk to, she didn't care anymore if they were really her friends.
During a training mission Elise met Quistis. They quickly became friends, Quistis was intelligent and much more mature than the rest of the students her age. Elise enjoyed talking with her, she could have deep conversations with her or just talk about cute boys. She started to wish that Quistis could be her real friend, not only a puppet under her control. Or was she under her control, she had used her powers so often and on so many people that it had become difficult to keep track.
Elise's interest quickly drifted away from Quistis, the reason was a certain boy that Quistis always talked about. A boy who was always alone and never spoke to anyone, it would be a nice challenge to get the boy to talk to her.
His name was Squall, Elise found him extremely interesting. She tried to get close to him but found that this was more of a challenge than she expected. She would have left it at that; she had no need for him. But she had become very attached to him and realized that her only chance to get close to him would be to control him. She didn't always play with his mind, only when she needed to, but the downside to that was that most of the time she didn't know when he was acting on his own or when he was under her control.
Elise loved spending time with Squall, he was her only escape from her daily life, a life that revolved around SeeD and her army. She loved knowing that she was the only person that Squall talked to and trusted, even if it was all an illusion.
The time for the SeeD field exam had finally arrived. Elise was now fifteen years old; she and Quistis were the only fifteen-year-olds to take the exam. Everyone told them what a wonderful achievement that was; Elise was extremely excited about the exam, but her excitement was soon turned to sorrow.
Ultimicia contacted her and gave her directions for her new mission...to kill Squall and Quistis. Elise resisted at first, it broke her heart to know that she had to kill the only people she had ever cared about. She cried her first real tears that day, but Ultimicia soon convinced her that they didn't matter. She told Elise that if either Squall or Quistis discovered that she had been manipulating them they would not hesitate to kill her. She knew Ultimicia was right, she had to kill them before they killed her. She wiped away her tears and started devising a plan.
Elise searched for a place that her army could attack, and Minersville seemed to be the perfect place. It was a large town with a weak defense team, but what it lacked in defense Minersville made up in wealth. Elise's army would easily defeat Minersville's defense, this would force them to hire SeeD. She would be able to test her army and kill Quistis that day, she would have to worry about Squall later.
The day before her army was to attack Elise met with her two best soldiers and showed them a picture of Quistis. "I will be teamed up with this girl," Elise said the day before she had hacked into the Garden's main computer and sabotaged the pairings so that she could end up with Quistis. "I want you two to make sure she dies. She is one of Hyne's strongest opposers."
On the day of the exam, everything was going the way Elise had planned. Her army had begun their attack on Minersville the day before and had easily defeated their defense; just as she had expected they were forced to hire SeeD. The SeeD candidates would finally get to prove if they were SeeD material. The headmaster announced the pairings and soon they were off to their first real battle.
After reaching Minersville SeeDs and candidates were assigned their duties. Quistis and Elise were to secure a small area outside of the town, when they arrived they were attacked by four members of the White Army. Elise would be busy in a simulated battle with two of the soldiers to give the impression that she was being attacked at the time of Quistis' death.
The two select soldiers attacked Quistis, meanwhile, Elise summoned her GF Tyrant. "As soon as they kill that girl I want you to take her and drop her off the cliff." She motioned to the cliff that was about twenty feet away from where Quistis was fighting.
"Yes." Tyrant said.
"On my signal then." Elise began her simulated fight. To her dismay Quistis was faring very well against her attackers. Elise became frustrated, she looked around to make sure no one from Garden was watching, she saw no one. She signaled her 'attackers' to stop, if she wanted the job done she would have to do it herself.
She rushed over to Quistis, her sword ready to strike; but she made a terrible mistake. Without warning, she grabbed one of her soldiers by the arm to get him out of the way. Instinctively thinking he was being attacked her turned his sword on Elise, realizing too late who she was.
Elise felt intense pain, she fell to her knees while Quistis watched on in horror. She communicated telepathically with her GF. Tyrant, take me away from here. The small T-rexor-like GF flew over to where Elise was and carried her away. Seeing what had happened Elise's army retreated.
Tyrant carried Elise for a while, he left her at a hospital in a town near the Esthar area. That night while asleep in her hospital bed Ultimicia spoke to Elise.
"You foolish, worthless child. You have ruined everything." Ultimicia's voice was cold and unforgiving.
"I'm sorry, I tried."
"Well, obviously trying was not enough."
"I know I can make it work if you—"
"I do not need the assistance of a failure. I have already chosen someone else to help me."
"But I—I...Who?"
"You may know him. Seifer Almasy."
"I can help him!"
"Stay hidden, recuperate. I will call on you if ever I need you. Although I doubt I will ever need someone as worthless as you. You disappoint me, child, I spent so much time on you. I had very high hopes for you."
"But—"
"If I should fail, it will be your duty to seek revenge, keep training your army."
With that Elise woke up and began to cry. A failure. All her hard work had lead her to failure. She prayed that she could prove herself again, three years later her prayer was answered. Ultimicia had been defeated; it was time for her revenge.