Disclaimer:While Final Fantasy VIII and its characters aren't mine, the story you're about to read is!
"Will you help us?" Laguna Loire asked
Squall Leonheart spoke for the entire group. He accepted the task. The President was overjoyed and they proceeded to head for the Ragnarok. Before they could get to the door, a portal opened up over the heads of Laguna, his advisors and the SeeD members he had hired. "WHOA!" was the only word they heard before a young woman fell out and landed right onto her back. She got up and rubbed her backside. "Ow! That was not the way I intended to land, but I guess it'll have to do." She turned around to see six teens close to her age armed and all tensed to attack her. The one with the gunblade had the edge of his sword pointed right at her. "Who are you and what just happened?" he demanded, looking her directly into her astonished green eyes.
"Hey get that thing out of my face," she retorted. Ayleia Charmeling was never one to respond to hostile guys pointing weapons at her, no matter how attractive she thought they were. He looked at her and she guessed that he was deciding that she wasn't a real threat (just yet) and he pointed the blade elsewhere. "Okay, now," he said looking at her with those threatening eyes again, he restated his question, "who are you and what just happened?"
She sighed and while dusting off her clothes, she began to explain. "My name is Ayleia Charmeling. And what just happened was I fell out of a time portal to help you guys defeat those sorceresses that you're after. I'm from the future." Ayleia finished dusting off her leather jacket and began smoothing out the midriff top and jeans that she was wearing.
"The future," Zell Dincht questioned, still poised for attack. "How the hell did you manage to get into the past? Are you some kind of sorceress!"
"Um, yeah," she shot back. "I'm a sorceress. I don't really like to use my powers, but I'd been reading about the events going on in this time, but in my future, you failed to stop Ultimecia because you couldn't get past Adel. So I wrote a spell to take me to the past."
Everyone lowered their weapons in shock. "We failed!" Selphie Tilmitt wailed. Quistis Trepe and Irvine Kinneas both stared in silence, shocked that this strange girl was informing them of their impending doom. Rinoa Heartilly began crying softly as she processed the information while Squall, Laguna, Kiros Seagill, and Ward Zaback all eyed Ayleia intently, waiting for her to continue.
"How did we fail?" Laguna asked, fearful of what the young woman was about to divulge. The rest of the gang stood there, anxious for her to answer.
Ayleia took a deep breath and went into her explanation. "Adel awakened a bit earlier than you anticipated and Ultimecia possessed her right away. None of you stood a chance. Even with a sorceress on your side," she paused, staring at Rinoa, "Adel and Ultimecia together were too much for you to handle, and you were decimated. Time compressed and all hell broke loose. In my time, Ultimecia then destroyed SeeD and killed any sorceress that she thought would challenge her, even my mother. That event has gone down in history as the Massacre of Sorceresses"
Everyone stared at here in disbelief. Finally, it was Quistis that spoke up. "Is that what this is about? You want to save your mother?"
"Actually, what I want to know is how did Ultimecia miss you?" Irvine chimed in. "It's too strange of a coincidence that you managed to survive this 'Massacre' that you're talking about."
Ayleia stared from one face to another and then looked down burying the toe of her boots into the Presidential Office's plush carpet while she brushed one of her dark curls out of her face. She bit her lip and then replied, "I was just a baby when the Massacre took place. I inherited my powers from my mother, but when I was born, she cast a spell to hide my abilities from anyone who could sense them. She must have known what was going to happen to her because she sent me and my father away. That was when Ultimecia struck."
Even Squall had some sympathy for her. Not knowing who his mother was, he knew that it was pretty much the same way she must have felt to know that her mother was torn away from her. Rinoa felt the same sympathy for Ayleia since her mother was killed in a car accident when she was five. But they had to keep their attention on the task at hand.
"….." Kiros looked over at Ward. They had both been locked in their own thoughts. He then looked at their unexpected guest. "Ward wants to know how exactly you can help us"
Ayleia began surveying the room around her. She'd been so busy with their interrogation that she hadn't been able to take in her surroundings. Everyone in the room watched her curiously as she walked toward the window. The whimsical Presidential Office had the most extravagant view of Esthar that she'd ever seen. With tears in her eyes, she said "In the future, Esthar is a desolate wasteland. In this spot, there's a huge crater from where Ultimecia blew up this palace, so I've only seen pictures of the city when it was this way. Now that I'm here, it's absolutely breathtaking."
Laguna felt his heart in his throat. He was devastated that all his gadgets and gizmos were destroyed because of their failure. She has to help us, he thought, she just has to!
Rinoa walked over to her and put her hand on Ayleia's shoulder. "If you help us, we can change the view that you have of Esthar in the future. But we need to know what needs to be done. Please tell us," she pleaded.
Ayleia turned to the group. "Our window of opportunity is very small. If you want to defeat Adel and get to Ultimecia, we have to hurry to Lunatic Pandora. Adel isn't fully awake yet and the path to her is blocked by Seifer Almasy."
"We'll handle Seifer," Squall finally said. "But you still have to tell us how do destroy Adel," Selphie pointed out.
Everyone looked at her again. She began tying back her long curls into a ponytail and finally said, "Me. You need stronger magic than what any of you or Rinoa has. No offense, but she's new to her power. We don't have time for me to teach her how to use it, so adding my power to yours is the only choice we have."
Squall and Laguna looked at each other. Each knew that the other was considering what Ayleia was saying to them. The group needed to discuss this privately. Laguna looked at Ayleia and asked her to leave the room so they could talk privately. "You can go to the kitchen and grab something to eat. I'm pretty sure that you're hungry after falling through time and all. We won't be long."
Ayleia graciously accepted his offer, but reminded him that time isn't on their side right now and left.