"If it's possible to change the past then it's worth a try isn't it?"

-Ellone

FRAGMENTS OF MEMORIES

Temoren sits quietly in the same hotel room, the one with the nice view of the harbor. He sits tapping his foot on the ground, with a clock ticking in the background. There is only one answer to this problem, and it is to find his sister and talk reasonably with her. To do anything besides that would just be absurd and unnecessary. But still, he can't seem to shake off this sick feeling in his stomach. Has anything really changed? He isn't sure. One thing he is sure of though, is the possible location of where his Sister has run off too. There is a small forest near Balamb Garden that she always went to when she got into moods like this. Ironic now, the location of it, so close to where the Garden was.

The more he thinks about it, the more sure he is that the forest is where she went too. Maybe she is waiting for him there even now, waiting to talk, needing someone to be there. The idea of her being there alone worries him a lot anyways. He has to try and find her, and soon. He slowly stands up from his long sit and walks to the door, opens it, and leaves. He walks past the owner, who looks at him oddly, but doesn't say anything. Probably wondering about the glass breaking incident earlier.

"You shouldn't be out here." Temoren said, almost reprimandingly.

"Why not!" His sister yelled back at him. She was sitting up in a branch looking down at him. Trees surrounded them on all sides. He remembered that day well.

"Because, it isn't safe, and you could get lost."

"Stop acting like Dad! He's gone. And now mom is too..."

"Sis..." His tone went from slightly upset, to serene and comforting. "She loved us. And now the cycle of life has taken her, and she will continue to love us. The only difference now is that she isn't right here, in our vision, in our senses. But maybe one day she will be again, and dad too."

"Like...a vacation?" She asked quietly, sniffing a little.

"Yes...A vacation, exactly!" He nodded enthusiastically at her, finding this a good analogy to comfort her. God, they were so young back then. She was a teenager, and he was in his early twenties. Seemed like forever ago.

"A vacation..." She seemed to ponder on this for a while, before accepting it more.

"Sis, come down. We can't leave eachother alone now."

"You're right..."

Temoren makes his way to the edge of the forest. He can see Balamb Garden in the corner of his eye, and the small forest right in front of him. He begins to move closer and closer, with each step. She has to be here, she wouldn't go anywhere else. As he gets closer, he thinks he spots a figure sitting up in one of the trees right at the edge of the forest. Though, when he gets closer yet, the figure disappears. Perhaps an illusion, but he takes it as a sign that he is correct.

Reaching the exact edge of the forest, where the long stretch of grass becomes trees, he steps next to one of them and moves his hand along the bark. He is no longer sure of where he is going, since the last time he was here was years ago. But he knows deep down his feelings and emotions would lead him to her, it always did. He takes a shaky step onto the forest ground, his feet crunch against fallen branches, leaves, small rocks, and more. Before leaving, he had made sure to bring his gun and sword. This is his sister though, he thinks to himself. Nothing has changed. Perhaps he brought them because he isn't sure of her mental state (or his own?)

What has happened? They have gone from loving siblings to...this. Temoren makes his way deeper and deeper into the forest. So far in, that the sun becomes blocked even more, leaving him to a very eerie feeling. The sick feeling in his stomach was still there as well. That feeling began to come back to him. He was expecting it this time, and it came right on schedule. But as the feeling comes, the feeling of his sister, he hears a noise in the distance. It is light at first, not even audible each time it happens. A bush nearby him shakes a little as the noises come.

bmmp!

bmmp!

He tilts his head to the side, giving a curious look, and listening. He tries to identify this sound, but can't seem to grasp it. Now it is closer, and his feet vibrate at each coming of this sound.

bmmp!

Where is his sister? So many thoughts go through his mind. These thoughts almost distract him completely from the sounds and shakes until a new sound reaches his ear. A very low, agitated growl, like a growl deep from somethings throat. He does not even have to turn, he already knows what it is. But he turns his head around more anyways, to see a T-Rexaur standing in between the trees, looking back at him.

ggrrrrmmmhh...

Stand still, he thinks to himself. They use to give him survival tips for situations like this, but he never needed to use any of them for the forest. He rarely went to any. He keeps his body stiff, wondering what to do as the large creature looks back at him with beady eyes, also not moving. I can't stand here forever, he says inaudibly to himself. He slowly moves his hand down his side to his gun. Without thinking about it anymore he pulls it out of its holster and shoots it at the T-Rexaur. He shoots as fast as the gun allows him to.

The bullets make it to their target, but it just seems to aggravate the monster even more. It begins to take long and fast steps forward. Temoren starts to run, shooting through the trees when he sees an open shot at it. He runs towards a group of thicker trees, hoping that it would have a tougher time following and finding him. His legs feel so heavy and tense as he tries to run. The sweat begins to accumulate on the back of his neck, and his forehead. He can hear it gaining on him, he just can't outrun anything with such long legs.

He turns around and begins firing more shots from his pistol. The T-Rexaur moves even closer yet. Suddenly, Temoren shields his eyes as a bright flash illuminates the forest all around him. He holds up his sleeve to try and see what is going on. The T-Rexaur stops at this sudden change as well, looking around angrily. A few moments after the flash, a huge line of ice comes from between two trees and completely surrounds the T-Rexaur. It covers it for a few seconds before shattering. The creature stumbles around after the ice breaks, and eventually falls hard against the forest floor.

A guardian force?

"Sis!" He shouts out, looking for the origin of the attack.

He does a full circle, looking through the trees, even up high into the branches. He continues spinning about, hopelessly.

"Sis. I don't want to do this anymore, I'm done." He quickly takes the sword from his side and tosses in onto the ground, not caring about what happens to it.

"I didn't know. I don't want things to change. Come back home." He continues saying, comfortingly and calmly.

Temoren stops spinning around and just stares in one direction, not even sure if his sister had heard him. A figure moves out from behind the trees, she walks quietly up behind Temoren, placing her hand gently on his shoulder. The only thing Temoren can think of is the vision of the T-Rexaur, and whatever other beasts and dangers lay waiting in this forest. He turns quickly, startled by the touch, and fires his gun again. His sister doesn't flinch, doesn't cry in pain, she merely looks down at the hole, which starts bleeding, her mouth wide open. Then she slowly looks back up at Temoren. Shortly after she does so, he can see the life fly right out of her eyes and she falls back onto the ground.

His eyes open wide at the realization of what had just happened. He sees quite clearly that he shot her in a vital area, and she stopped moving. He begins to cough loudly, falling to his knees right next to his sister. He looks at her body in horror and shock. He turns his head to the side and vomits right onto the ground next to him. After letting out a few loud breaths, he picks up his sword and runs full speed out of the forest.