FINAL FANTASY: POINT OF INTERSECTION
Book 1: The Approaching Storm

22

"So, what exactly happened back there, Ellone?" Cloud asked.

She didn't reply right away, but instead her gaze lingered somewhere on the twinkling stars far above her head. Cloud waited patiently, understanding well enough what it felt like to feel like a stranger in one's own body. Before the experience he and Tifa had shared in the Lifestream, when she had helped him remember who he really was, Cloud had felt much the same way as he thought Ellone must be feeling now. He thought he knew what questions must be floating in her mind about now.

Who am I? What am I?

They were the same ones Cloud had asked himself on more than one occasion during his pursuit of Sephiroth all those years ago. He had never quite been able to put the pieces together until Tifa had finally shown him the truth, deep in the Lifestream, but ultimately the truth had set him free. No longer bound by illusions of the past, Cloud had finally been able to move on with his life.

He stood on the deck of the Highwind with Ellone, who grasped the railing with both hands as though she might fall without its support. Looking at her there, however, Cloud thought he could guess the real reason she clung to it. The railing, he supposed, was something solid for her to hold on to, something undeniably real amidst the confusing maelstrom of events that had brought her here.

When she finally replied, Ellone spoke almost in a whisper, her eyes never leaving the stars twinkling far above. "I don't know. It was like… fire in my veins, Cloud. Light, burning inside me… I don't know where it came from. It isn't the power I knew…"

"What do you mean?" Cloud wondered.

"Maybe I should have told you all before, but… all my life, I've been somewhat… unusual. I can send people into the past. In a way, that is…"

Cloud blinked. "You mean time travel?"

"No, not like that," Ellone shook her head. "I… I can put people into a sort of dream, where they see a part of the past through the eyes of someone there. You can't change what happens, you can only watch. But for me, that turned out to be enough."

"What did you do?" Cloud prodded gently.

"A few years ago, I used my power to send my brother and his friends about twenty years into the past. I was trying to stop my adoptive father from coming to save me because, when he did, he had to leave someone he loved behind. She… she died giving birth to my brother. I wanted Uncle Laguna to be with her, even though it would have meant me staying a prisoner in that lab…"

"But you couldn't change what happened," Cloud finished. He thought he understood now. "You've been alone a long time, haven't you?"

Now Ellone did look at him. "Yes, I have. I try not to think about it, but it's there even so. I've been chased after almost my whole life because of my power, and now it's happening all over again. I thought it was over when Squall and the others beat the sorceress, but…"

Cloud laid a hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to explain, Elle. I think I understand what you're going through. There was a time, back when my friends and I were going after Sephiroth, that I wasn't sure who I was, or even what was real and what wasn't. But Tifa, she and the others, they helped me find myself, and so I was able to come to terms with what I was and do what I had to do."

"Well, I'm glad you found your peace," Ellone sighed. "I just hope I can find mine someday.."

"You will. I'll help you any way I can, and the others will, too. You don't have to worry about that, Elle. Just leave it to us."

Ellone managed a small smile. "Thanks. How's Tifa doing, by the way?"

"She's resting, down in the conference room," Cloud answered. "Actually, she wants to talk to you. That's why I'm up here. You don't need to keep avoiding her, you know."

"I know, it's just… I can't help feeling what happened back at the house was my fault, Cloud. All my life, people have been hurt because of me. I didn't want it to happen again, least of all to her and the baby. You've been so good to me, and I hate that I repaid you like that."

Cloud took her by both shoulders and turned her so that she was looking right in his eyes. "It wasn't your fault, Elle. We understood the risks in helping you. Banging your head against the wall 'cause you think you messed up doesn't solve anything, believe me."

"You still feel responsible for losing Aeris, don't you?" Ellone pointed out.

At that, Cloud let go of her and nodded. "Yeah. That's the one thing I've never been able to let go of. She was standing right in front of me, Elle. I couldn't do a thing."

"I know. But I don't think she'd want you to keep blaming yourself, any more than you'd want me to blame myself for Tifa nearly dying."

"True," Cloud admitted, a rueful grin spreading across his face. "Tell you what. You try and let go of your guilt and I'll try to do the same for mine. Deal?"

Ellone chuckled and shook his hand. "Deal. Hey, um, Cloud…?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. For trying to cheer me up and everything. And for not biting my head off when you found Tifa. I like you guys, and I'm glad you still consider me a friend."

Cloud nodded. "You're welcome. Oh and don't forget to go see Tifa. We won't reach Cosmo Canyon for another few hours, so you two should have plenty of time to talk."

"I won't forget," Ellone assured him. "I've wanted to talk to her, actually. It's just, I was afraid because of… well, you know…"

"I know. But you don't have to be, anymore. She likes you a lot, you know. I don't think Tifa's had very many friends that are girls, at least since Aeris died. Well, there's Yuffie, but they've never really been very close. And I'm guessing you haven't had very many, either. Am I right?"

Elle nodded. "I haven't had many friends at all, guys or girls. At least until I came here. "

"No special someone, either, I take it?" Cloud surmised.

"No, I can't say that I have. Well, not yet, but…"

"But what?" Cloud asked.

Ellone suddenly looked away, running a hand through her hair. "Nothing! It… it's nothing, really. Forget I mentioned it. I've got to go now, Tifa's waiting for me…"

Without another word, Ellone brushed past him and hurried down the stairs to the airship's midsection. Cloud frowned, wondering what had gotten into her all of a sudden. All he had asked was a simple question, hadn't he? Of course, with a woman one never could tell. They were always so emotional, so flighty, so… so… just so downright odd…

Shrugging it off as yet another strange female quirk, Cloud sighed and leaned against the railing. Far beneath the airship's hull, the rolling expanse of the Northern Sea undulated with the unceasing rhythms of the tides. Even this far up, Cloud could smell the salty tang of the ocean air. In a way it was soothing, which he supposed was somewhat ironic considering his past bouts of motion sickness, a malady that nevertheless hadn't troubled him in years.

Cloud let his thoughts wander for a while, until a familiar face surfaced in his mind. And with it, a familiar pain. He had agreed to try and let go of that pain, but it had become so much a part of him now that he wasn't sure he could. Aeris had needed him, had been counting on him, and he had let her down. What salve could ever possibly heal that old wound?

He had seen the moment of her death in his dreams so many times it was as though someone had carved it into the very depths of his brain like a macabre piece of film looping endlessly over and over again. As much as Cloud had tried to move on, that moment haunted him endlessly. He had never said anything to Tifa, but he hadn't needed to. She knew him too well not to see it.

Telling her not to worry would have been pointless, though. As well as she knew him, Cloud knew her too. And he had no doubt in his mind that she did worry, and more often than she let on. What would happen, he wondered, when their child came into this world? How could he raise his son or daughter while plagued by guilt and shame he refused to relinquish?

He had to try and let it go, to forgive himself. If not for his sake, then for that of his wife and child

It was still a few hours before dawn when the Highwind touched down amid the arid sands of the Cosmo desert. Ellone tugged Vincent's cloak tighter around her shoulders as she stepped out of the airship, as the nighttime chill hadn't yet given way to sweltering heat that would replace it later on. It was a different kind of cold than in Icicle, she thought. Dryer, but no less biting for it.

Elle stifled a yawn as the others disembarked. She'd gotten little rest during the flight, but she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep until she had learned what Red had to tell her. At that thought, Elle glanced up to the settlement dug into the very rock of the canyon wall. She could just make out a few watch fires burning, although they paled in comparison to the flaming radiance of the Cosmo Candle. Even as far beneath the settlement as she was, Ellone could still easily see the bright orange glow of the great bonfire that Tifa had mentioned to her on the way here.

It really was wonderful, Ellone thought, and she could see why people had come to live here. Even though it was in the middle of the desert, the place had a sort of tranquility and exotic beauty to it, as though Cosmo Canyon was its own little world apart from the rest of the Planet. Far above the dusty cliffs, a sprinkling of tiny stars dotted the heavens like magnificent gemstones, and the moon was a thin sliver just starting to dip beneath the western horizon as the night began to wane.

Ellone followed the others up a long series of natural rock stairs that wound upward to the cliffs where the settlement rested. The observatory at the top of the little town fascinated Ellone, who as a little girl had always loved trying to count the stars at night and finding the different constellations they made. She smiled at the pleasant memories as she continued to climb.

At the top of the stairs, Red was waiting for them, his vivid red fur almost the same shade as the sandstone cliffs which made up his homeland. He looked to Ellone a little like the moombas Uncle Laguna had once befriended, now that she thought about it. Only moombas generally went about on two legs instead of four, and their fur wasn't crisscrossed with old battle scars the way Red's was.

"There you are!" he greeted them. "It is good to see you all again, although it is unfortunate it must be under such circumstances."

Barret, who was standing off to one side, straightened as Elle and the others approached. "Yo! You alright, Tif? Red told me an' the others 'bout what happened."

"I'm fine, Barret," she assured him. "So's the baby."

"Good. Damned near scared the hell out of me, girl, you know that? That fucker ever shows up again, I'll blast it back to whatever hell it came from!"

Tifa smiled at her old friend. "It's good to see you, too."

"Hey, big guy," another voice piped in, "just save a hit or two for me, will ya?"

That ninja girl, Yuffie, flashed a wicked grin and held up her razor-tipped shuriken, its five deadly points sparkling in the mixed white-orange glow of moonlight and firelight. She grinned wickedly as she twirled her weapon. Ellone had no doubt the girl knew how to use it.

Barret grunted. "And let you have all the fun? Not goddamn likely."

"Spoilsport!" Yuffie shot back, sticking her tongue out at him. "I'd get him first, anyway!"

"Alright you two, settle down," Cloud stepped in. "Red, you said you found something, right? That might help us figure out what's going on?"

"Yes, that's right," Red nodded. "A most fascinating discovery, even apart from our present circumstances. If you will come with me to the observatory, I can show you."

Ellone fell into step beside her lupine friend as the small group made its way up through the twisting stairs and caves of the canyon settlement. "Tell me, Red, what exactly did you find? And… do you think it might help me get home?"

"I cannot be certain," he replied. "What I found was a book. A very, very old journal or history of sorts, I believe. I don't know for sure because it was written in the characters and language of the Cetra, who are long extinct. Translating their language was a favorite pastime of my grandfather's and has become one of my own hobbies as well. I only hope what I have learned is useful to you."

"Well, thank you for all your help," Ellone patted his broad shoulder. "Even if it turns out to be nothing, I still appreciate you trying."

"That is very kind of you to say, Ellone. If all goes well, however, then what I have found here will be far from nothing."

A few minutes later, Ellone and the others halted inside one of the upper tunnels next to a ladder that led up through the ceiling and presumably to the observatory on the bluff. She wondered how Red would get up there, what with his paws, but he simply crouched for a moment and then leapt right up the height of the ladder in a single bound. Ellone was still staring in wonderment as the flaming tip of his tail disappeared through the hole in the ceiling.

Ellone followed him up the ladder, the others coming behind, until everyone stood on the cliff where the observatory stood not twenty yards away. A simple wood fence ran along the edge to prevent anyone from accidentally falling, and beyond that was a view of the canyon that stole Ellone's breath with its picturesque beauty and grand scale. The desert stretched for miles as far as she could see, and even in the predawn gloom, it was a marvelous sight.

"It's nice, isn't it?" Tifa smiled softly.

Elle nodded. "I can see why Red loves this place so much. It's beautiful here, and so peaceful…"

"Soothing to the soul," Vincent whispered, joining her. "At least, for most who come here."

"Not for you?" Ellone asked.

"A little, perhaps," he admitted, "but… not entirely…"

Ellone, whose own disquiet had lessened but not gone entirely, thought she understood. She turned away from that panoramic view with a sigh and followed the others into the observatory, which as Ellone saw also served as Red's home. A simple table sat in the main room, with four chairs around it, and a door off to the side led to what she guessed was the actual machinery of the structure. A small bedroom was tucked in one corner, and a sofa lay against one wall.

Upon the table lay an open book, its pages yellowed with extreme age. The leather binding might once have been blue, but it had faded so much with so many years that now Ellone couldn't quite tell what shade it was. On the pages were written lines of strange characters, letters and symbols she had never seen before, yet somehow they were oddly familiar. It was as though she had seen them, or writings like them, long ago or in someplace far away.

"I did not find this tome until very recently," Red explained, "as it was not with the other records and histories that the elders and I keep here. I went through the records and documents that I knew of, not really certain what I was looking for but knowing I would recognize it when I discovered it."

Cloud folded his arms in thought. "But nothing showed itself. So where did you find this book? It looks a lot older than the ones I've seen in the canyon libraries."

"Indeed it is, Cloud. The elders and I have done some testing and come to the conclusion that it cannot be less than four or five thousand years old. Yet the characters and the language they were written in are clearly Cetra in origin. I have studied their writings long enough to recognize them when I see them."

"That's even older than Jenova!" Tifa exclaimed. "Are you saying the Ancients were around for that long?"

Red nodded. "Yes, it would appear so. Humans have been dwelling on the Planet for thousands of years, but they never became dominant until after the Cetra died out. So it is not unlikely that the Cetra could have existed for so long a time, either."

"I do not see what this has to do with Ellone," Vincent murmured.

"Let me continue, please, and I think you will. As I was saying, I had come to a dead end in my search through the canyon libraries. That is, until I remembered Bugenhagen once mentioning to me an old safe room of his in which he had kept the very oldest records and writings he had discovered. It was kept secret, known only to him and to me, as the location of the safe room was at the time in a very dangerous place. We did not want anyone to be hurt were they to go looking for it."

"Where was it?" Cloud asked.

Red paused before answering, and when he did speak, Ellone felt as though the air had grown suddenly heavier. "The safe room is a secret chamber hidden within the cave of the Gi."

"You went into that spooky ol' place all by yourself?" Yuffie exclaimed. "I could never stand all those ghosts n' stuff, Red!"

"It is abandoned now," he assured her. "When we defeated the spirit of the Gi chieftain, he and his tribe were at last able to return to the Lifestream, and they haunt the cave no longer. I still keep it locked, however, just to be safe."

"Good idea," Cid grunted.

"As Vincent was saying, though," Tifa prodded, "what does all this have to do with Ellone?"

Red padded to one side of the table, and beckoned Elle closer. "If you would, Ellone, please turn the page, but be careful, they are very brittle."

She did so, moving the faded parchment with as much care as she could, and wondered what she was supposed to be seeing in here. When she saw what was on the next page, however, she froze, her eyes widening. Before her was an illustration depicting a figure of shadow and malice she knew all too well. Although it was only a drawing, Ellone shivered nevertheless.

What she saw on that page was the hunter, the cloaked fiend of her nightmares.

"How…?" was all she could manage.

"I can't be certain, but I believe that the Cetra knew of this creature," Red explained. "They referred to it as a ghorük, or "nightstalker" in our language. According to the book, it is an amalgamation of enslaved souls brought to unholy life as a demonic assassin."

"But an assassin for who?" Cloud wondered.

Red went on. "Very early in their history, at least several thousand years before Jenova wiped them out, the Cetra fought a long and terrible war against a being they believed was the embodiment of darkness itself. It is all written in this journal, and I'm still in the process of translating it. But I've been able to figure out at least that much, and a bit more."

"But… what does that have to do with me?" Ellone asked. It still didn't make any sense to her.

"The Cetra were able to defeat this entity, who in the journal here is known as Maloth, but at a price. If I have read this correctly, our Planet was not always as it is now. We have always believed that it has ever been this way, and understandably so. But the records here suggest differently."

Tifa frowned. "What do you mean?"

"According to the journal, when the Cetra cast out Maloth and his demonkin, the power expended was so great that it tore the Planet asunder. Not physically, but it was split into multiple realities. Or worlds, if you will. In other words, Ellone, I believe that your world and ours have a common origin. They have evolved differently, and even the seas and lands are different, but at one time very far in the past, they were one. And it seems that, somehow, you were able to cross the boundary between them."

"Wait a sec, Red," Barret growled. "How could them damned Ancients or whatever do somethin' like that? Aeris never had no power like that, not that we ever saw."

Red nodded. "I understand your confusion, as I felt it myself upon first discovering what they had done. But the writings go on to say that the act of sealing their enemies away and the rending of the Planet drained almost all of the Cetra's former power. Perhaps that is why they were unable to withstand Jenova's plague millennia later."

"They made a sacrifice," Ellone murmured. "The only way to save the Planet was to destroy it as it was, and their own power along with it. Where do I come into this, though?"

"I'm not sure, but it would seem that whatever binding the Cetra placed upon Maloth is weakening, and the boundaries between worlds along with them. It is my belief that they are linked, somehow, although I can't be certain. But the journal tells of a child, born of both flesh and magic, sent to the future by the Cetra before their power had waned entirely. It says here that, 'when the Seal fails and the Shadow comes again, she will banish it with the Light of her people, and Darkness will be no more.'"

Ellone sank into a chair, disbelief etched on her face. "That's impossible! I… I was born in Winhill, in southern Galbadia! My parents, they were shot when I was two, right in front of me! I can't be what… what you're saying I am, Red! I just can't!"

"Yes, I believe that is where you were born," Red told her gently. "When the Cetra sent the child into the future, she was still in her mother's womb. Her parents went with her, knowing that the process of doing so would strip them of their power as Cetra."

"But if that's true, how… how come I still have mine?" she asked.

"I think that, somehow, because you had not yet been born, being inside your mother's womb shielded you from the effects of the time displacement your parents experienced. But it seems that, since your power has only begun to awaken recently, it is safe to assume that it lay dormant until it was needed."

Reaching out a trembling hand, Ellone gently slid the aged book over to her, still trying to understand what she had just learned. She didn't want this. Why me? Haven't I done enough? Once again she was at the center of some dark struggle, at the heart of a mystery she wanted no part of. As much as she wanted to deny it, though, she knew that what this history claimed was true. She knew it in her blood, in that strange part of her that recognized the letters and words of a dead language she had never once seen before coming to this place. As much as she hated it, she knew it was the truth.

Ellone turned a page, and then another, until she came to a new drawing. This one depicted two orbs, one light and one dark. The light orb was tiny, the dark a bloated sphere. She knew them as she knew the words and the language, though she could not fathom their meaning. Yet even as she gazed at the ancient depiction of the two spheres, names came to her.

"A'marieth… and Etiru," she whispered.

"We know them here as the White Materia and the Black Materia," Red added. "It's written in the journal that the Cetra created the White Materia long before modern historians had previously thought, and that the Cetra used it when they sealed their Enemy away."

"And the Black Materia?" Cloud asked.

It was Ellone who answered. "There was… a traitor, a Cetra who embraced the Shadow rather than the Light. He… he knew how A'marieth had been formed, and he corrupted the process to create Etiru."

"How do you know that, Elle?" Tifa blinked. "I'm not sure I understand…"

"Grandpa had a theory," Red interjected, "which I believe has some merit. He believed that the Cetra had something like a group mind, a racial consciousness. The memories of one were the memories of all, and the reverse was also true. One of their powers, as we know, is not only to communicate with the Planet, but also with each other, even over time and great distances."

Ellone had to admit, Red's explanation made some sense to her. And in a way, it made her feel a little better, understanding at least a bit where this strange knowledge was coming from. But… what about that voice? The kind, feminine whisper that had spoken to her in the lake? Ellone hadn't heard from it since that night. Who was it? It must have been a Cetra, for her to have recognized it, but who?

Suddenly the observatory was gone, and Ellone saw before her once again the crystal city, empty save for the figures on the central altar. This time, however, the vision was not from Aeris' point of view. Ellone saw it as a silent, invisible observer off to the side. She saw the blade slide through the girl's chest, saw her body sink into Cloud's unbelieving arms. But just before that, Ellone caught the bright, shimmering sparkle of light that flew from Aeris's hair and tumbled into the waters beneath the altar.

That was what she had been meant to see. At last, Ellone was beginning to understand.

The vision vanished, to be replaced by her friends and the observatory interior once more. Tifa was gazing worriedly at her. "What's wrong, Elle? It looked like you blanked out there for a moment."

"I know what I have to do," she replied, rising from the chair. "I know why I was brought here, Tifa. It's the White Materia. That's why I was shown Aeris' death. It wasn't her that I needed to see, it was A'marieth. I was sent here to find it."

"But it's lying under about a hundred feet of water at least," Cloud argued, "and there's no telling exactly where it might be down there."

Ellone shook her head, unwilling to be deterred now that she had a purpose here. "I know, Cloud, I saw it happen. But I can get it back."

"You're sure?" he asked.

"It's what I was brought here to do," she nodded. "and it's the only way I can get home."

"Then we're heading to the Forgotten Capital first thing tomorrow morning. I'm not sure how we'll be able to get to the actual city, though, since there's some sort of barrier that blocks the entrance."

Ellone wasn't at all surprised to learn that she knew how to bypass it. "Leave that to me. Only… only a Cetra can remove it, after all, and I guess that's what I am."

"We must assume that the nightstalker knows of this as well," Vincent added. "It will attempt to stop you from reaching the city."

"Well, I'll have you there to protect me, won't I?" Ellone smiled.

Vincent nodded. "Of course."

"That creep's got a date with my shuriken," Yuffie snarled, "so he'd better show up!"

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that," Cloud sighed. "Looks like we're all going then. Except for you, Tifa. I don't want you anywhere near that place."

Tifa stared daggers at him. "Excuse me? I'm not going to stay here while the rest of you go on! I'm going to at least ride on the airship with the rest of you! I'll stay aboard while you guys go into the city, but I am not going to be cooped up here by myself!"

"Tif, I nearly lost you and the baby back home! I'm not going to let it happen again!"

"I'm coming with you, Cloud," she replied, hands on her hips. "Get used to it."

He threw up his arms in defeat. "Fine. But you're staying on the Highwind, got it? It's too dangerous for you to come into the city with us, in your condition."

"I can live with that," Tifa smiled sweetly.

"Not sure I'll be able to land the ship as close to the city as usual," Cid muttered. "Goddamn weather's been really freaky in that area lately. Might even have to leave it outside Bone Village and go through that weird ass forest again…"

Cloud frowned. "Looks like we're going to have ourselves a little journey, then. We should be alright, though. We did enough traveling on foot back when we were chasing after Sephiroth."

"Hey, it'll be just like old times!" Yuffie grinned.

"Our materia won't be of much use, though," Tifa said. "I'm sure everyone's noticed it by now, but they haven't been responding at all, not for the past few weeks at least."

Barret shrugged. "We'll jes' have to do without it, then, Tif. Not like we haven't roughed it before. Still, I was hopin' we wouldn't hafta do stuff like this again, you know? We already saved the world once, you'd think that'd be the end of it. Uh, no offense or nothin', Ellone."

"It's alright," Elle reassured him. "I feel the same way."

As much as she hated what she was and what had come of it, Ellone found it a little easier to deal with than her past struggles. Perhaps it was because, for the first time, she wasn't helpless, that there was something she could actually do to fight the forces pursuing her. But mostly, she realized, it was that she wasn't alone anymore. She didn't have to do this by herself. Even so, a sliver of dread worked its way down her spine like an icy finger as she realized that, in the face of her enemy, it might not be enough.