The Return of Ultimecia

Author: SoulOfFlame

Chapter 9: Ellone's story

~*~Soul~*~: Oh my gosh I am so sorry for the lack of update! I have been extremely busy with school! I am so ashamed! I know that's no excuse and I will try not to let it happen again. Many apologies!

Tempest: *ahem* Disclaimer Soul....

~*~Soul~*~: Right! Nearly forgot! *Clears throat* Disclaimer: I own nothing, if you feel like suing me please only take four of my five dollars. I have to eat after all. I do own Tempest, the other original characters that will appear later, and the idea. Oh yeah, I also own a cardboard box ... it used to hold my sneakers. :P

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In the distant past:

Ellone sat in the room, fearful and forlorn, crying softly to herself. She had tried to be brave, tried her very best, but she couldn't pretend to be brave any longer. Uncle Laguna had promised to rescue her and she wanted to believe him, but he had also promised to protect her and then she had been taken from him. She didn't know what to believe anymore. Her red and tear stained eyes looked around the awkward room in an eerie silence broken only by her own tears and the soft hum of the many machines set up outside the room. Up in the room above her, there had been strange men watching her for most of the time she had been here in this dreadful place. They had gone now but she didn't care. All she wanted was to go home and be with her Mother and Uncle Laguna. She heard the doors slide open and someone enter the room. She refused to look at them, hated them no matter who they were. Then, she felt two strong arms lift her up and pull her into a hug.

"Ellone! I told you I'd rescue you and I'm here now. I know I took a little while, I'm sorry." It was Uncle Laguna! He had come after all! She looked up at him and smiled, hugging him back. Laguna had her climb up on his back and took her out of that dreadful place. She was finally going home, or so she thought.

In the past:

Ellone sat on her bed lost in thought. She thought of all the things that had happened in the past and the trials they were facing now. Everything was so complicated and it all seemed to be spiraling out of control. She had tried so hard and for so long to try and change the past, and now she realized she couldn't change anything. She had to accept everything she had been through and anything thrown at her in the future. It was all so hard to bear. She didn't hear the door to her room slide open, or even notice that two people had walked in and were now standing in front of her.

"Ellone?" The brunette looked up to see her younger brother standing in front of her, with Quistis standing just behind him. A smile spread across her face as she saw them. Even if she could have changed the past, she might have regretted it if these two were never born, Squall especially.

"Squall ... how are you?" She smiled and rose to greet them, and noticed that although Quistis returned the smile, Squall did not. He was preoccupied with something, and his mind was wandering elsewhere.

"I need to ask you a favor." Squall said with a hint of hope barely audible in his serious tone. Ellone looked at him in mild confusion and waited for him to continue. "I need you to send me into the past to help Rinoa." He said.

"Squall, I can't. I can only send you back to the past of people I know." She protested. Besides, why should she send him back to help Rinoa? Why was Rinoa so important? No one ever wanted to try and help her by going into the past! Ellone quickly checked herself and immediately a wave of guilt swept over her for thinking such things. She wasn't herself; she hadn't been feeling well of late. Something inside of her was nagging at some distant part of her.

"Ellone please, I need you to do this for me." Squall pleaded. Ellone felt the guilt vanish at this statement. So what if he needed her to do this for him. There were plenty of things that people never did even if she needed them to do it more than anything else did. So why should this be any different?

"Ellone, are you all right?" Asked Quistis with a look of concern spreading over her fair features. Poor naive Quistis, she had no idea what was bothering her. There was no way she could, because no one knew. Still, Quistis always asked such things.

"I'm fine." Ellone replied with a shake of her head. She cleared these awful thoughts from her head and turned her attention to Squall. "I'll do what I can." She relented.

A Few Years Before:

Ellone walked along the beach humming an old tune to herself. She let the sun fall on her face and enjoyed the good weather that day. Alongside her was a man much taller than she, with dark reddish-brown hair his skin was tanned from many journeys. As he held her hand he looked upon her with his loving amber eyes, and so the two walked with the waves breaking on the shore next to them. It was still early in the afternoon as the two stopped and sat on the white sand to talk. The man turned and smiled at Ellone, his wonderful Ellone, as she sat beside him.

A dark shadow descended on the shore and the young couple looked up to see where the sun had gone. A chill suddenly hung on the air, and if one didn't know better, they may have thought that it was early March or even April as opposed to late July. Ellone felt a shiver run down her spine as she looked up and saw an area of darkness even more obsidian then the rest. A dark purple wind blew out of this hole and the two shielded their eyes from the sand aroused by it. When the wind died down, a woman stood before them in a violet and black gown. Ellone knew the figure well and although she opened her mouth to cry out, no sound could be emitted.

The woman smiled heartlessly as she held up her hand and pointed at the young man sitting beside the girl. A dark blast flew forth with amazing speed and struck him in the heart. With a shattering scream he fell back on earth, dead. Ellone screamed in lamentation for her now lost love, and turned her tear-stained gaze of rage on the figure before her. The murderer of the man she loved.

Yet there was no one before her when she looked. She looked around in confusion and pain, trying to find the one who had done this. A sharp pain stabbed into her head from behind her as she fell into a pool of everlasting darkness. The last conscious thought she had before falling victim to the evil plots of her attacker, was that she had never been able to tell him that she had loved him.

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"This is hopeless; we don't even know where to look!" Said Irvine unenthusiastically. He removed his hat and wiped his brow as he leaned against a tree tiredly. Squall turned and glared at his companion.

"We have to find Quistis, something's not right." He said flatly. He had a bad feeling, the same one he had had all morning. First Seifer had been even ruder to him than usual, and now Quistis had gone missing. Something was most definitely not right here.

"Well I know that but what can I do? Shoot, she might have just gone shopping in Balamb for all we know!" Irvine replied. Squall looked at him as if to say, yeah right this is Quistis we're talking about. Irvine shrugged and resumed his pace behind Squall, rolling his eyes to Squall's back.

Squall pushed through the bushes and branches obstructing his path as he made his way through the forest. The terrain sure changed once you were away from the plains just outside of Garden, he thought. He kept his gunblade close to him as he walked along stealthily, searching for any sign of his friend. Irvine placing a hand on his shoulder stopped him and her turned an irritated glare upon the cowboy.

"Look over there, I think I found her." He whispered. Squall looked to his left where Irvine had indicated, and gasped. Sure enough, a female figure in the familiar peach battle attire was lying on the ground unconscious with a whip lying carelessly nearby. Squall rushed over with Irvine following closely behind him, and quickly checked the identity of the woman. Sure enough, it was Quistis.

"Quistis wake up." Ordered Squall instinctively. Irvine shook his head and placed a hand on his forehead.

"Squall, she can't hear you." He reminded his friend. Squall told Irvine to shut up and carefully checked for any fatal injuries. He was quite surprised to learn that she was not injured at all, although completely puzzled as to how she had fallen unconscious. He moved and picked up her whip, handing it to Irvine, and then lifted the slender blonde into his arms. He nodded to Irvine and they headed back in the direction of Garden. As they went, Squall felt a chill run up his spine. Faintly, her thought he heard a low and malicious cackle sound in the distance. He shook off the portentous feeling and walked away in the direction of Garden. Irvine followed hesitantly, the awkward feeling of something not quite right lingering in his mind.

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"Rinoa! Come one snap out of it it's just a bad feeling!" Said Selphie becoming unnerved by her friend's stony silence. Rinoa however wasn't listening as Selphie continued to urge her to go forth. She suddenly felt weak and fell over unconscious. Selphie cried out and tried to wake her friend.

When Rinoa opened her eyes she was surrounded in a hazy black shadow....

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~*~Soul~*~: Well there you have it, the next chapter. I am so sorry it took so long, and I promise it will not happen again. Anyway, what did you all think? I know the little flashbacks of Ellone's past are different slightly from the game and that the dialogue is different (Well duh, like I am gonna know that much by heart ... I'm only on disc 2 with memorizing the script...) but it all helps my story so I changed it a little. Oh and this scene may not seem important now, but it is, it really, REALLY is. I have so many ideas and I am working on transitioning into the main point of the story, so just hold tight, the updates will be faster soon because school is out in less than a week! Thanks and please try to R&R!

~*~Soul~*~

~~~ Great rp site for FF8 fans.