I have noticedsome things about this fanfic... well more about myself. I have been gotten in the habit of putting up 2 chapter RIGHT after each other and having a long period of nothing. and for those of you who do wait on my new chapter, i am sorry that i wait so long in between. however, i really do appreciate the reveiwsand comments on the story. (and fred i wasnt trying to be mean, i appreciate the criticizm.) this is actually one of the chapters where i had to STOP myself from writing too much. so be prepared for an up-coming chapter. While im not too sure how long i'll make this story, i just hope everyone likes it as much as i did writing it.

On with the story!


It took a few moments for Max to come around again. As he lifted his head he could tell Squall and Quistis were a bit worried.

"Are you okay?" asked Quistis. "You just fainted for no reason."

Max chuckled a little.

"Sorry, I guess I shouldn't have run all the way back here… Esthar is farther away than I though."

"But." Began Squall. "Did you run across the water too?"

He chuckled again and scratched the back of his head.

"Pretty much, but hey, what's going on?"

Quistis made sure to fill him in on the Garden malfunctions and Training Area Monsters now roaming various sections of the facility. Squall interrupted her long-winded explanation.

"Basically, the entire Garden is in chaos and disarray for different reasons. The bad thing we can't find the problems."

Max had pretty much gotten that listening to Quistis.

"What we need to know," Continued Squall. "Is what you found out in Esthar and what's this stuff about 'The Forgotten Son' and what it has to do with Ultemicia?"

Max sighed, he did not really want to reveal all the information to them. There were things even he didn't understand. Why, if even after Squall killed her, had Ultemicia come back to contact him? Either way it did not matter what he thought, the truth had to come out at some point… and now would be the best time for that.

"I… am or was Ultemicia's 'knight'," Began Max.

The atmosphere of the room immediately grew heavy and silent as he continued.

"I served with her until she began her crazy crusade on the SeeD's. But…" Max paused thinking of how to say what came next. "Not only was I her 'knight', I am also her child."

Time had stopped in the room… or it seemed to have to the three of them. Max saw Squall's face contort into a look of utter disbelief as soon as the last words poured from his mouth. He sat there, cringing at their reactions; he had hoped it would go over better than this deafening silence.

"H-her child?" Asked Quistis. She seemed about to collapse. "But…"

"I don't understand it myself." Began Max. "But I am the Forgotten Son of Sorceress Ultemicia through some odd magical birth. I have inherited her powers, even though I know that Edea, as she was then known. Matron received them."

Squall continued to try to get a grasp on the situation. If he was the son of Ultemicia, then isn't he the enemy of SeeD? If that were true, then why hadn't they killed him already? It is the SeeD's job to fight against the Sorceress… but what about her child?

"Wait." Said Squall breaking from his thoughts. "If that's true then why are you fighting with us?"

"Because I can't stand my mother, almost in the same sense as you SeeD's. I feel that had I have done something earlier, the entire fight between you and her would have never happened. I despise all she stood for, and being the child of that tyrannical monster is a horrible life."

"What about all the crap that's been happening lately? With Seifer and… Rinoa." Squall tried his best to keep his stone cold expression.

"She has returned. Ultemicia is back and hell-bent on destroying all the SeeDs. This time she used Seifer as a puppet and had him gain information on us, I tried to stop her at the orphanage, but you saw my condition when you found me there."

But we killed her! Squalls mind raced over all the possible ways Ultemicia could return. Ellone could bring someone back to the past and Ultemicia had tried to use her, but… Had they not been safe enough protecting her this time around? But she was staying with Laguna, so there would be no way to get to her. Too much to handle.

"Do you know where she might be?" Asked Quistis after a long silence.

"I'm not too sure, when I went to the orphanage she said 'I will await you where the tears of the monster fall and the cry is heard throughout the world.' I don't know where that is."

"Tears Point." Said Squall as cold as ever. "It's the only place that she could be talking about. Why would she tell you that anyway?"

"She wants me to join her again…"

"We won't let that happen, and we wont let her come back to try to destroy again." Quistis grabbed the PA microphone. "All Senior-Squad SeeD Members please come to the bridge. I repeat all Senior-Squad SeeD Members please come to the bridge."

She needed to tell everyone this information, Zell, Selphie, and Irvine. They all had fought Ultemicia once before and defeated her, but apparently their strategy had not be completely successful. A second try would be the only way to truly beat her, but what about Rinoa? Without her there, could they beat her again?

"We need to get everyone up to speed on this, Squall." Began Quistis. "And after that we need to decide what to do, if we can figure it out."

They waited in silence once more until the first of the group arrived, hotdogs and all.

"Zell, what are you doing?" Giggled Quistis.

"Well," Zell said swallowing the last hotdog. "I sorta got hungry."

They couldn't help but chuckle. Soon Irvine and Selphie walked through the door.

"What's up Quisty?" Smiled Selphie. "Is something wrong?"

She simply nodded and beckoned them to sit. Once again, she retold all of the information to the rest of their group. The same reaction followed soon thereafter. Everyone sat there stunned at the news of Max's past. Him, Ultemicia's son? The news of her return was the most terrifying… it even took away Selphie's ever-present smile.

"How in the hell is she still alive?" Cried Irvine as he slammed his fist on the desk. "We killed her years ago."

"Yes but was still born before then." Stated Quistis. "Even if we killed her in our time she would still be around in the past."

"But if that's true, then wouldn't there be another Max Caron too?"

"Not if I already killed him." Said Max even colder than Squall. "He died trying to protect her from me the last time we fought. Moreover, I have to warn you all, you will be fighting her at the peak of her powers. The time compression had weakened her, but now she doesn't have to rely on that."

Squall could not stay quiet any longer.

"Then how in the hell did she get back here? Ellone is too protected to be used by her."

"But Rinoa is not." His eyes seemed to change, a cold glow blue formed in them as he spoke. "She is now the perfect vessel by which Ultemicia gained entrance to this world. However, since Ultemicia is here already, she's no longer needed."

"What about when she fought you?" Said Quistis. It didn't really make much sense if she fought him a while before Rinoa died.

"There are other sorceresses who have died. This unfortunate soul just happened to be looking around the orphanage and was killed by a passing monster. The only reason I had gone there was to find some other clues to Ultemicia's death."

Seemed like a good enough explanation, but still, there were things they still needed to know.

"You never told us about your trip to Esthar."

Max sighed once and sat up in the chair.

"I went to Esthar to see if my idea about Rinoa being a vessel were true, come to find out that they were. I thought if I could somehow seal her body enough I could stop Ultemicia from coming to this time, but I couldn't. My second plan was, well is to resurrect Rinoa and have her use her powers to deal a final lethal blow to Ultemicia. In order to do that, I need to go back to Esthar while there's still time. And I need all of you to help me defeat Ultemicia one more time."


Vincent Sekod