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(The Final Battle)

"They have vehicles this time." Came Nida's voice over Squall's earpiece. "They just reached the Front Gate."

"Be ready." Squall said, "Remember, leave Elise to us."

Elise stepped out of the car. "Tristan, Melanie! Begin leading the attack!" She ordered.

A tall blond girl and a brown-haired young man started yelling out orders. A few minutes later the White Army was ready for battle.

Once Elise saw that everyone was ready she started toward the gate closely followed by Tristan and Melanie. Elise stopped at the wall on the left side of the gate, in her right hand she had the key card that Cid had given her. She slid it through the slot by the gate then let it fall to the ground. The gate opened immediately.

Her soldiers started pouring inside Garden taking the SeeDs by surprise, they had expected them to force their way in as they had before. Elise cast Reflect on herself then made her way into Garden.

One of the SeeDs charged at her, with a wave of her hand she made the young man stop. He tried to move, but his body would not respond, Elise walked up to him. "Where is your commander?" She demanded.

The SeeD kept quiet.

"I have ways of making you talk, SeeD." She threatened.

"He's waiting for you." Said the man, he had been ordered by Nida to give out Squall's location. "He's near the directory."

"Good boy." Elise waved her hand again allowing him to move.

She kept walking forward, casting an Ultima or a Flare on anyone bold enough to stand in her way. She spotted Squall at the directory; she felt a slight fear when she saw that he was not alone. Something is wrong, they were supposed to be trying to kill each other, so why aren't they? Rinoa must have done something to break the spell, Elise thought. Rinoa. How she despised her, she saw her standing by Squall, she was by his side; a place where she knew she would never be. If Rinoa hadn't come into Squall's life, then maybe...No! I mustn't think about those things. She decided to set her feelings aside; this was a day for triumph and revenge.

She stopped about ten feet away from them, no one moved: Elise looked at each of them. She smiled sweetly, "how lovely, here we are, together. This is perfect," Her expression changed, to one of hatred. "now Ultimicia will finally be avenged."

She extended her right hand; Squall flew back ten feet then landed on the ground with a thud. Rinoa rushed to his side and was relieved to see that he quickly stood up.

"Elise, you don't have to do this," Quistis said. "We don't want to fight you."

"You don't want to fight me." Elise scoffed. "What do you want to do? Discuss this over tea?"

"Elise she's telling you the truth." Squall joined in. "We don't have to fight."

Elise looked down, she realized that she still had her sword in her left hand. She was so accustomed to carrying it with her that she hadn't noticed it. "Whatever." She said. "The only thing that matters is that I want to fight." She switched the blade to her right hand and started studying it, looking at it as if it was the first time. It was time to part with it.

Without warning, she flung the sword to her right. All anyone could do was watch as the blade quickly made its way toward Seifer. Suddenly, it stopped, it rested suspended in midair about an inch away from Seifer's face. He was holding his breath, everyone stared at him and the sword wide-eyed.

Elise looked mildly surprised. "Good work, Little Sorceress."

Everyone turned to Rinoa, her right hand was extended; she lowered it and the sword fell to the ground with a clank. Seifer exhaled.

"You have good reflexes, Little Sorceress, but let's see you stop this!" Elise raised her right hand and said, "Ultra Violet!"

They all fell to their knees, their skin felt as if it was on fire, then they felt paralyzing pain.

"Oh," Elise said putting a hand over her mouth, a concerned expression on her face. "Did that hurt?" Then threw back her head and laughed.

Zell was the first to get up, being badly hurt by the Ultra Violet attack he was able to cast his 'My Final Heaven' limit break on Elise. It hurt and drained her energy, she fell to her knees then quickly stood up.

"You are so dead." Her eyes burned into Zell's. "Holy!" Zell fell backward.

While Elise was distracted with Zell, Selphie, unaware that Elise had cast Reflect on herself, attempted to cast a flare on her. This only resulted in the Flare reflecting back to Selphie.

Seeing this Quistis quickly cast Dispel on Elise, as soon as that was done Seifer cast a Firaga. Rinoa and Irvine were busy curing Selphie and Zell, Elise attacked Seifer with a Blizzaga.

Squall knew he had on choice, he cast an Ultima on Elise, bringing her to her knees.

"You IDIOTS! QUAKE!" Elise stood up.

Rinoa had tried to refrain from attacking, she was truly not fond of using her sorceress powers, but she knew that she too had no choice. "Moon Tears!"

A shining light surrounded Elise, she felt intense pain, she couldn't remember ever feeling such a powerful attack. Despite the pain, she went on. "Bio!" She attacked Rinoa, Squall quickly cast an Esuna on her.

Seifer was ready to do his 'Blood Fest' limit break, he rushed at Elise but she disappeared.

She reappeared in front of Squall. "You can't win that easily." She cast Ultra Violet on everyone except Squall, who was behind her.

"Elise stop!" He begged.

With a wave of her hand, she made him fly backward, before he was able to get up, she did it again. She did this over and over until they reached the elevator doors.

Squall's entire body ached, he was barely able to get up. Elise pushed him inside the elevator, stepped inside with him and pushed the Second Floor button, then disappeared.

Squall cast Recover on himself, he instantly felt his pain disperse and was able to stand up. There had to be a way to stop Elise, he summoned Shiva just as the elevator doors opened, Elise stood right in front of him.

Shiva executed her 'Diamond Dust' attack, something Elise didn't expect. After the attack, Elise disappeared again. Squall proceeded slowly down the hall, he peeked around the corner, no sign of Elise. He had a plan he was hoping would work.

Squall turned the corner, walked a few paces and turned when he heard something behind him. Just as he thought, it was Elise. He drew and cast Ultra Violet onto her, she fell to her knees once more, she put her hands on the floor for support.

He knew that he had time for a GF attack or a powerful spell, but seeing her down he decided he would try to reason with her again.

"Elise...we don't have to go on. If you wanted to, it could all stop right now. None of us want to..." It was hard to say the words. "...To kill you. Especially Quistis and I."

"Stop," Elise said softly, she was looking down at the floor so Squall wouldn't see her face. "I don't want to hear you lie anymore."

"I'm not lying."

Elise didn't seem to hear him. "It's all an illusion. None of it is true."

"Elise—"

"I am so tired...of all the lies." Her face was still hidden, but it was obvious that she was crying.

"I would never lie to you."

She laughed softly, everything was falling apart, her plans, her revenge...Everything would be so much easier if he just hated her, if he tried to kill her. That was what prevented her from attacking again; the fact that he didn't want to hurt her.

"It's not your fault," she decided that the truth was the only thing that would make him angry enough to try to kill her, "you don't know you're lying...because I don't want you to know." She looked up at him, he noticed tear streaks on her cheeks. When you say you care about me, you're only saying what I want to hear." She stood up. "All the 'I love you Elise' and 'we're with you Sorceress', it's all an illusion. I just want it all to stop. I'd rather be killed by you, than lied to by you. So...you're free. Let's finish what we stared."

Having this great power wasn't everything Elise had hoped. She thought that she would come into Garden, kill Squall and all his friends defeat SeeD and start her new empire in the name of Ultimicia. It had all seemed so very simple, but now that she saw Squall standing before her, begging her not to force him to hurt her, it was suddenly so difficult. Yes...having him hate her would be much easier. That way, she could at least pretend that she was defending herself when she killed him...pretend...more illusions.

She looked at Squall, why wasn't he doing anything? He just stood there looking at her. He was free from her spell, he was supposed to tell her that he hated her, he was supposed to threaten her and try to kill her; yet, he did nothing.

"What do you mean 'free'?"

"Why isn't it working?" Elise was confused, if she was now a full-fledged sorceress, why couldn't she do something as simple as breaking her own spell? "You're supposed to be free from my power!"

"I am."

How can it be? Is it a trick?

"I have been free from your power since before this morning."

"What?"

"We tried to stop you before the eclipse so that it wouldn't come to this because we didn't want to hurt you. Please don't make us do it, don't make me do it."

Is he lying? She looked into his ice-blue eyes, he truly was concerned. "Do you really mean that?"

"Yes."

Elise couldn't believe it. One person actually cared about her. He was free from her spell and he still cared about her. Someone cared, Squall of all people. The fact that he cared for her made everything else seem worthless. Her revenge, even her newfound powers, worthless.

"Call off your army, we can still stop."

Stop? What would happen if she stopped? She would surely go to prison. She could hide, but what kind of life would that be? Hiding from the authorities and from her army, they'd come after her once they discovered the truth.

She was so confused. "...It's not that simple...you don't know—" Tears started streaming down her face. "I can't just throw it all away. I've sacrificed so much; worked so hard—I can't just leave it all behind and start over."

"You don't have to start over, just change your path."

"If you knew half the things that I've done to get this far...I don't know if I can change. It would be too difficult."

"But it will be easier if you have friends to help you."