Chapter 50

Answer Me

(Squall)

Ellone hesitated after Squall had finished speaking.

"… You want to go to the future?" she asked. She shook her head. "I'm sorry. My power doesn't work like that."

"I think it can," Squall said. "Like you said, the past and the future are muddled together."

Ellone closed her eyes. "No, really, I've tried that. It doesn't work. When I was younger I thought that maybe I could see the future as well as the past. I have tried, and it never worked. Recently, Dr. Odine wanted to make an attempt as well, but he couldn't get any results either. My power only works in the past."

"Whose past?" Squall asked. He crossed his arms.

"Excuse me?" Ellone asked, looking at Squall with a raised eyebrow.

"Whose past?" Squall repeated. "When you say your power only works in the past, what past are you talking about?"

"I… I don't follow," Ellone said.

Irvine coughed, then scratched his head. "Yeah, me neither."

(I hope I can explain this quickly.)

(We don't have time for lengthy discussions.)

Squall turned and faced the whole group. "For us, the past was yesterday. Two days ago. A year. But for Ultimecia, today is the past. All of this…" he gestured around him. "Everything we say and do today has already happened for her. It's ancient history from her perspective. The past is a relative concept. It depends on the person asking the question." He turned back to face Ellone. "You've tried to look into the future, but that's the wrong approach. What you need to do is look into the past of someone from the future."

"I think I follow," Ellone said.

Irvine threw his hands up. "Well, I don't follow. I give up on this whole conversation. If y'all need me, I'll be down on the floor with Selphie."

He stepped beside Selphie's gurney and sat down cross-legged beside her. Rinoa sighed.

"Irvine, you could at least try to follow along," Rinoa said.

"I've been tryin' this whole time," Irvine said. "And I just keep gettin' more and more lost. Y'all keep talkin'. Don't let me hold you back."

(… Whatever.)

It wasn't as if Irvine's input was terribly valuable anyway. Squall only needed to figure out the truth of the situation for himself and his own purposes, so that he could use that knowledge to combat Ultimecia and protect his friends. Whether or not Irvine understood the mechanics behind it all was irrelevant to him, so long as Irvine didn't get in the way.

"So you want me to send you to Ultimecia's past?" Ellone asked. "That's what you're saying, correct?"

Squall nodded. "Don't worry about sending me to a specific time just yet. For the first attempt, I just wanna see if it's possible."

"Understood," Ellone said. "Should we begin right away?"

"Whenever you're ready, Sis," Squall said.

Ellone closed her eyes, and Squall waited.

He looked around, making sure he wasn't going to pass out on any sharp objects left on the floor once the connection formed. He moved his gunblade out of the way of his legs and knelt down near Irvine and Selphie. Ellone's brows wrinkled with concentration, her mouth opened silently. Several seconds went by with Squall and the others watching intently. But the high pitching whining noise didn't enter Squall's head. He didn't feel tired, or have a headache. None of the signs of an impending connection were there.

(It's not working…)

But Squall waited patiently, breathing in and out in slow, measured breaths. Finally, Ellone shook her head and opened her eyes.

"I can't," Ellone said. "I'm sorry. I don't know Ultimecia well enough to form the connection."

(I thought so.)

Squall shrugged. "Not a problem. I can introduce you to her."

Ellone looked confused. "How?"

"Through my memories," Squall said. "You may not have met Ultimecia, but I have. Use me to meet Ultimecia for yourself. Get to know her. And then we can come back here and try again."

Ellone chewed her lip. "I don't… I don't know if that will work. It would be an indirect connection formed from someone else's memory of a person. It… seems like a long shot."

"We can try," Squall said.

Ellone looked unconvinced. After a moment, she took a deep breath and nodded. "I guess we have nothing to lose, right?"

And once more, Ellone closed her eyes.

"You know where to go, right?" Squall asked.

"Right after time compression started," Ellone said without opening her eyes. "Or maybe a little after that, to give you time to get through her castle and actually meet her."

"Correct," Squall said.

For a moment he wondered if he was asking for the impossible. After all, the trip to the future and back had taken—from the perspective of the rest of the world—almost no time at all. Squall and the others had left the present moment and then returned to the world only an instant later. Was it even possible for Ellone to send Squall to a point in history that was so small it could hardly even be said to exist at all?

(It's all about perspective.)

(From the world's perspective, the trip was instantaneous.)

(But from mine…)

And soon, the whining noise that signaled the advent of Ellone's connection struck Squall's mind. He closed his eyes, wincing at the growing pain in his skull, and laid down on the hard floor beneath him. The darkness enveloped him and the present moment vanished, replaced by a moment in Squall's past that was actually many generations in the future.

Ellone's timing is perfect.

Not only has she hit the mark—sending herself and Squall into the future, via Squall's memories of the past—but she has arrived at the exact moment when Squall and his friends stormed the throne room of the castle and invaded Ultimecia's final defenses.

(Good job, Sis.)

The throne room is a frightening tribute to Ultimecia's power and her arrogance. The room is as large as a ballroom, with ornate pillars encircling the central area and supporting the roof. Above them, a domed glass ceiling is lined with hexagonal gold supports. The floor is gold, the walls are gold, and the pillars are trimmed with ornate golden patterns.

And in the center is her throne at the top of a staircase. In order to even see Ultimecia, Squall and the others must look up at her, like tiny insects staring up at a god.

Ultimecia sits in her throne, both hands resting on the golden armrests. She wears a thin red dress that darkens to black as it approaches her bare feet. Her hair is tied up in twin peaks, like silver horns emerging from her head. Her face is tattooed with purple designs and frozen in a scowl. The air hums with her power, and the gold décor around her shimmers so brightly it almost seems to melt.

"SeeD..." she says, the word escaping her lips like a hiss. "SeeD... SeeD... SeeD, SeeD, SeeD! Kurse all SeeDs" She gestures with one hand at the group gathered below her. "Swarming like lokust akross generations. You disgust me. The world was on the brink of that ever-elusive 'time compression'. Insolent fools! Your vain krusade ends here, SeeDs. The price for your meddling is death beyond death. I shall send you to a dimension beyond your imagining. There, I will reign, and you will be my slaves for eternity."

Ultimecia stands up from her throne, and the world begins to vibrate. A pressure builds up slowly, become so strong that Squall can feel it, even through the veil of Ellone's connection. A high pitching whine fills Squall's mind, sounding the same as Ellone's connection.

(This is something new.)

(I don't remember this.)

The pressure builds in Squall's mind, crushing him against an invisible, intangible wall. He feels himself becoming smaller, going further and further away from the scene. Ultimecia raises her hand and—

Squall's eyes snapped open. He was lying on his back on the office floor, staring up at the yellow lights in the ceiling. He sat up and cradled both heads in his hands, rubbing his eyes with his gloved fingers. He felt Rinoa grasp his shoulders and kneel down beside him.

"Are you okay?" Rinoa asked.

Squall sighed. "Fine. How's Ellone?"

He removed his hands from his face and peered up at Ellone. She was standing there, next to Laguna's desk.

"I'm alright," Ellone said. She shook her head and rubbed at her temples with her fingertips.

"At the end …" Ellone said. "That weird pressure that was building up. I felt it. And not just through you, but I felt it here, in our present. Like somehow Ultimecia was reaching out and… attacking us directly. Did you notice?"

"Yeah," Squall said.

"I've never felt anything like that before," Ellone said. "Do you know what that was?"

Squall shook his head.

(I don't have a clue.)

"So it worked?" Irvine asked. "Y'all saw her? Ultimecia?"

Squall nodded. "We went to her throne room at the castle. The last big speech she gave before we fought her."

"And… she attacked you?" Irvine asked.

"I don't think so," Squall said. "I think… I think that Ultimecia was just so powerful that we were able to feel her strength even in the past. I don't think she knew about us, or else she would have done something different."

"Are you sure?" Ellone asked.

(Not really.)

(But if I don't act sure of myself, she might want to quit.)

(And I still want more answers.)

"Pretty sure," Squall said. He had never been much of a liar. He looked away from Ellone as he spoke, so that she couldn't see into his eyes. He covered his mouth with his hand and made himself narrow his eyes, like he was lost in thought. Rinoa watched him carefully, but no one said anything or accused him of holding back information.

After a moment, Squall turned back to Ellone. "Do you think you saw her long enough to make a connection?"

"Maybe?" Ellone said. "I managed to connect with Rinoa once with even less information. I suppose we can try."

"That's all I want," Squall said.

"Then let's go," Ellone said.

Ellone took a deep breath and focused. Squall stretched himself flat on the floor, and Rinoa knelt down beside him, watchfully. He tossed one arm across his eyes to block out the light. It wouldn't do anything to help form the connection, but it would help him when he woke up, so he wouldn't be staring directly at the lights immediately after waking. He felt Rinoa's fingers entwine themselves through his. He squeezed her hand gently.

In a few seconds, the whining noise pierced Squall's head again, and he found himself falling into the future.

Ultimecia stands at the foot of an enormous mountain. The mountain is bare of trees, of animals, of any life at all. It is only a giant peak of jagged stone, reaching up to the sky. The morning sun has already risen, but the mountain is so high it blocks out most of the light, leaving Ultimecia cast in deep, frigid shadows.

(It worked!)

But Squall's elation is short lived. Every muscle in Ultimecia's body tenses up. Her lips turn into a deep, hateful scowl. Her hands ball into fists.

"GET OUT!" she shrieks at no one that Squall can see. He wonders who she is speaking to. It takes him a moment to realize that she is not speaking to anyone in her time, but rather directly at Ellone and Squall.

(That's impossible!)

(Or… wait…)

"GET OUT!" she screams again, and a stab of pain lances through Squall's entire being, as if he has been impaled. He opens his mouth to cry out, but nothing happens. He tries to flee, but the connection holds him in place, freezes him inside Ultimecia's mind, while burning, flaying, tearing pain engulfs his flesh.

Ultimecia is currently aware of other things going on, other sights, other sounds, other smells, but Squall is numb to them all. He cannot figure out where Ultimecia is or what she is doing because the pain is so blindly intense that it consumes every fragment of thought he has.

(Sis…)

Somehow, despite already being at the limits of his endurance, the pain continues to intensify. He thinks one last thought before the pain completely engulfs him.

(Get us out.)

He wants to die. The pain is unbearable. He—

"Squall!" Rinoa shouted. "Squall! Squall!"

Her hands shook his shoulders. His skin was alight with the memory of the agony he had just endured. Even though the pain had finally, mercifully, ceased, just the thought of it was enough to keep Squall's eyes closed, keep him silent. His muscles twitched, and his skin was clammy with a layer of cold sweat. He wanted to curl into a ball and sleep until he could forget what had happened.

(No…)

(… I have to…)

He fought through his discomfort and his fear and opened his mouth just a crack.

"I'm… here," he said. Pushing the words out of his chest was difficult. Everything was difficult.

"Are you okay?" Rinoa asked. "Here, let me heal you."

"No… there's no need," Squall said. His wounds, he knew, were not physical. Somehow, Ultimecia had managed to reach inside him and wound his psyche, to tear scars into his mind itself. He didn't think there was much Rinoa could do about his mental damage, even with her new abilities.

(Just leave me alone.)

But Rinoa ignored Squall and flooded his body with her healing magic. It didn't accomplish much. It didn't remove the memories or heal his brain, but the soothing comfort washed through him anyway, scrubbing away the filthy edges of Ultimecia's incredible power. He held still and allowed Rinoa to work, feeling her power within him—so very different from Ultimecia's energy, yet somehow still the same.

After a minute, Rinoa withdrew her power. Squall sighed, sorry to see her power go, but glad that she helped him.

"Y'all gonna live?" Irvine asked. Squall still hadn't opened his eyes, and a part of him was content to lay on the floor forever. But he ignored that weak part of himself and pulled himself into a sitting position, holding on hand against his head.

(My head…)

(Hurts worse than when Seifer gave me my scar.)

"I'm okay," Squall said. He removed his hand, opened his eyes, and checked on Ellone.

He saw that Laguna had rushed around his desk to Ellone. He was cradling her in his arms. She was limp against his shoulder, her eyes closed and her face slackened.

"Elle!" Laguna said. "Elle!"

For a moment, panic entered Squall's mind. If he—a mere bystander, a passenger to Ellone's power—had endured so much pain, then what had Ellone gone through? She was the one who had made the connection, after all. Her mind was the one in greater peril.

"Sis!" Squall said. He tried to stand up, but his muscles failed him and he remained seated. He felt like he had just awoken from a three-day-long fever dream, his body aching and weak.

Ellone gasped suddenly, her body shaking as her eyes popped open in fright. "I'm okay. I'm…"

She swallowed thickly, and couldn't finish the sentence.

Laguna eased her down to the floor and stretched her out beside Squall. He knelt at her side, his eyes wide and terrified. Without being prompted, Rinoa slid over beside her and began to cure her. Just like with Squall, there were no physical wounds to heal, but Squall could see some of the pain in Ellone's face ease, the fear in her eyes abate.

After several seconds, Rinoa pulled her hand away, and Ellone took a deep, unsteady breath.

"Elle?" Laguna asked. He gripped her hand in both of his.

Ellone managed the faintest smile. "It's alright."

"No, it's not," Laguna said. "I don't know what you saw or what you did, but that's enough. You two ain't goin' to be pokin' around Ultimecia's head anymore, you hear? I won't allow it."

"I still haven't found out how—" Squall said, but Laguna cut him off with a shockingly frantic glare.

"And you never will," Laguna said. "Some things ain't worth the price, Squall. I… I won't let you two get hurt just because you're curious about the future. This was crazy. I never shoulda allowed this to begin with."

(He thinks I went through all that because I'm curious?)

(Like this is all a game?)

Squall wasn't usually prone to anger, but something about Laguna's tone and his choice of words sparked a flash of indignant anger within him. As if Squall had gone to Esthar, gone through all this torment, just to satisfy some childish curiosity. It offended him, and he felt the need to defend himself and his choices.

"It's more than curiosity," Squall said. "It's about protecting the world, and Esthar. Ellone, too. We all need to know."

"What do you need to know?" Laguna asked. "What's so important?"

Before Squall could answer, Ellone raised one hand and rested it on Laguna's shoulder.

"Uncle, it's alright," Ellone said.

"And I told you it's not alright!" Laguna said, turning back to her. "You shoulda…" He paused. "You shoulda seen what you two looked like. You both looked like you were dyin'."

Squall's gaze swept around the room. Rinoa and Irvine looked at Squall, silently agreeing with Laguna's statement. Even Kiros and Ward, still standing at the far side of the table, seemed to concur.

(Was it really that bad?)

It had certainly felt like he was dying. Even when Squall had been tortured in D-District prison, the pain had been more manageable than what he had just experienced. He knew that he could never explain to the others what it had felt like. There simply weren't any words to describe it.

"So that's a dead end then?" Irvine asked. "You can't check out Ultimecia's future… or past… or whatever?"

"Technically, we can," Squall said. "But whenever we do, she knows we're there. She can sense us when we make the connection."

(And then she can force us out.)

(… Painfully.)

Irvine waved a hand. "Same difference. Point is, you can't just pop in and out of her head like you can with other people."

"I guess not," Ellone said. She sighed. "Well, Squall. It was a good try. I'm surprised we got as far as we did."

Now that he thought about it, Squall realized that he should have predicted this outcome from the start. When he had asked Ellone to connect him to Rinoa—back after the incident on the Lunar Base—he had stumbled into a time when Rinoa had been possessed by Ultimecia. Even then, Ultimecia had been able to immediately and violently expel him and Ellone, severing the connection almost immediately. He should have remembered that and predicted it would happen again.

Furthermore, hadn't Laguna himself once admitted to Squall and the others that he was able to sense—albeit distantly—that Ellone was making a connection? If even a regular person like Laguna could tell when a connection was formed then obviously Ultimecia—with all her power and knowledge—would pick up on it instantly.

(So… this is it?)

(I can't learn about Ultimecia using Ellone?)

"No…" Squall said, gritting his teeth. "We have to try again."

"Like hell!" Laguna said, turning to Squall with genuine anger in his eyes. Squall was taken aback. He'd never seen anything but a goofy grin on Laguna's face. Seeing anger—real, unrestrained anger—was something of a surprise. "You peeked into Ultimecia's head once, and you both came back lookin' like you got hit by a truck. You can't do it again."

"The closer we get, the more power she has," Ellone said. "Connecting directly to her is like putting a fork in an outlet. I know you want answers, Squall, but I don't think I can bear that pain a second time."

But Squall was only half listening to her. He had once again fallen into his own thoughts.

(… The closer we get.)

An idea popped into Squall's mind.

"So then let's get further away," Squall said. Ellone narrowed her eyes and looked at him. "Ultimecia wasn't always as powerful as she is… or was. At one time or another, everyone was a child, even her. Maybe we can make a connection—and keep it—if we go to a time when she was less powerful."

"You want to go back into her childhood?" Ellone asked.

"What would that prove?" Irvine asked.

"I'm not sure," Squall said. "But we may learn something useful."

(We probably won't.)

(But I have to keep trying.)

(If I stop now… if I let us quit, we may never have another chance.)

"No," Laguna said. He shook his head. "Enough experiments for one day. C'mon, Elle. Let's find you a bed and let you rest."

He stood up and reached out a hand, smiling gently down at Ellone. She looked up at him, then down at his hand, and then finally at Squall. She shook her head and faced the president.

"No," Ellone said. "I want to help Squall."

"Elle, this is dangerous," Laguna said. He pulled his hand away and crossed his arms. "Don't do it. We'll find another way. We always do."

"We have to stop her, Uncle Laguna," Ellone said. "We need to learn more about Ultimecia. Everything we possibly can."

"We already know enough as it is," Laguna said.

"But Ultimecia still knows more than us," Squall said. Now that Ellone seemed to be on his side, he knew he had to press his advantage, to get Laguna to change his mind. "Right now, she has the advantage, because she knows more about the past than we know about the future. She can outsmart us, outmaneuver us. If we fight her as we are now, she will beat us."

"You already beat her once," Laguna said. "Can't you do it again?"

Squall shook his head. "This is different. We can't fight her directly, because we've already done that once. We went to our future and fought her and defeated her. Obviously it wasn't enough, because Ultimecia is still able to send herself back and possess other sorceresses. Simply repeating our old methods won't stop her. We need a new strategy."

Laguna looked away. His face was hard, focused, and for the first time, Squall was able to see both Laguna's age—the fine wrinkles that were forming along his eyes and his mouth—as well as the hidden strength within him that had allowed him to successfully overthrow Adel and lead Esthar for nearly two decades.

(There's more to him than I gave him credit for.)

After several long seconds, Laguna sighed.

"… Fine," he said. "But if anything happens—"

"I'll be okay, don't worry," Ellone said with a reassuring smile.

"If anything happens," Laguna repeated, gazing directly into Ellone's eyes. "I love you. And I'm proud of you. No matter what. Understand?"

Ellone's smile broadened. "Thank you, Uncle Laguna. I love you too."

Laguna turned to Squall. "And you… umm… you…" He coughed and rubbed the back of his neck, like he was embarrassed about something. "You be careful too, alright? Look after Ellone and yourself. If anything goes wrong, you bail out, okay? To hell with learnin' about the future. Just get out of there as fast as you can."

(Why is he looking at me like that?)

"… Yeah," Squall said. "Will do."

"Okay," Ellone said. She turned to Squall. "Are you ready?"

Squall nodded.

Ellone took a deep breath. "Alright. Let's go to Ultimecia's childhood."

"It's almost time," a middle-aged woman says. Her voice is soft and gentle, but her accent is harsh and unpleasant to Squall's ears. All hard consonants and sharp vowels.

Squall finds that he is looking up at this woman. Either she is very tall or Ultimecia—in this memory—is very young. He catches a glimpse of Ultimecia's bare arm: a thin, little forearm gripping a black travel bag stuffed with clothes and supplies and he realizes that this is a scene from Ultimecia's childhood.

(Perfect.)

(Good work, Sis.)

He waits a few seconds for Ultimecia to become aware of this intrusion into her mind, into her past. But either she is unable to sense Squall's presence or she is indifferent, because Squall does not feel the rising pressure of her power, nor the sharp agony of her rejection. The scene plays out uninterrupted, and Ultimecia makes no move to sever Ellone's connection.

"I don't wanna go," Ultimecia says. Judging by her size and her voice, Squall estimates that she's no more than ten years old at best. Still a child, but old enough to start becoming aware of the world around her. A good age, Squall thinks, to observe her behavior. To see the formative years of the girl who would eventually become a tyrant.

The woman crouches down and stares Ultimecia in the eyes. Young Ultimecia cannot meet her gaze and looks down at the floor. Cracked concrete and flecks of garbage are at her feet. She's wearing oversized boots that look like they were pulled out of a trashcan. Old stains are set into the leather so deeply that Squall cannot discern what color the shoes once were. Her pants are baggy and bunch up at the bottom, around her ankles.

"You can't stay here," the woman says. "It's not safe anymore."

"You can go with me!" Ultimecia says. She stomps on the floor and looks up at the woman. "We've done it before! Why can't you come with me?"

The woman sighs. She shakes her head.

"I don't like to repeat myself," she says. "You'll do as you're told."

"But…" Ultimecia says and the woman silences her.

"That's enough," she says, her voice getting deeper, angrier. "Keep your voice down. They don't know about you, so as long as you do everything I taught you, they will never find you. You DO remember everything I taught you, right?"

"… Yes," Ultimecia says reluctantly.

"If you get into trouble, use your magic first," the woman asks. She looks around, checking for potential eavesdroppers, then lowers her voice and leans in close to Ultimecia. "I know you're still new to it, but it's safer to use that than to try to use your heiress powers. They will find you if someone reports an heiress in the area, but if you use magic then everyone will assume you're a SeeD in training. No one expects to find a sorceress anymore."

(Heiress powers?)

Suddenly Squall is interested in this conversation. He begins paying closer attention to the details of the scene. It's obvious that the two are at a train station. There's a wide open space behind the woman where Squall assumes the tracks are located. On the far wall, a giant SeeD logo is emblazoned on a flag hanging from the ceiling. Seeing the flag, Squall begins to wonder.

(Maybe it's true what Seifer said.)

(Maybe SeeD does become corrupt in the future.)

But no, he shakes that thought out of his head. A flag on the wall does not prove anything either way. Squall stops thinking and returns his attention to the conversation.

"Tell me again, what are you going to do when you get on the train?" the woman asks. Ultimecia doesn't answer and the woman shakes her shoulder. Her fingernails dig in painfully and Ultimecia winces. "I asked you what are you going to do?"

"… Ride to the last stop," Ultimecia says softly.

"And then?"

Once again, Ultimecia is silent. The woman sighs. "And then what?"

"Go to the nearest town," Ultimecia says.

"And?"

"Find a place to hide for the night. Don't talk to anyone."

"After that?"

"Move on to the next town," Ultimecia says. It's clear that she's reciting this list from memory. "Keep moving every day. Never tell anyone where I'm going."

"Right," the woman says. "Always move away from Centra City. The further you are from here, the better. You see, you already know what you need to do. It's just like it was before, only now you'll be doing it alone."

Ultimecia says something under her breath, but it's so quiet that even Squall cannot hear it.

"What did you say?" the woman asks. Her eyes darken.

"I said I don't want to do it alone," Ultimecia says.

The woman's kind face hardens in anger. She grips Ultimecia tightly on both shoulders, squeezing so hard that Ultimecia whimpers.

"You don't have a choice," the woman says. "If you don't, you'll die. And crying won't change anything so stop it!"

"Is there a problem here, ma'am?" a person behind Ultimecia asks. Immediately, the woman releases Ultimecia's shoulders and stands up. The mask of anger is gone, replaced once again with the woman's kind, motherly visage. She smiles warmly at the man.

"No, no," the woman says. "We're fine, thank you."

Ultimecia wipes tears from her eyes and turns around. Standing above her is a handsome teenaged SeeD, dressed in the uniform of White SeeD. He carries some sort of futuristic rifle in his hands, and a smaller side arm clipped to his belt.

(Lot of weaponry to guard a train station…)

"You sure?" the SeeD asks. "Why's this little girl crying?"

"Oh, that," the woman says. She smiles knowingly and waves a hand. "She's off to see her father and she's nervous about the trip. First time traveling alone. You understand."

"I gotcha," the SeeD says. He kneels down and levels his face with Ultimecia's. Ultimecia recoils a step, but the woman's hand reaches out and holds her steady. The SeeD's dark, compassionate eyes meet hers.

"You got nothing to worry about, little lady," the SeeD says. "These trains are tightly guarded, especially the ones like these, so close to Centra City. There'll be a SeeD like me in every car, plus the best tech surveillance available. So nothing's gonna happen, you hear? No monsters, no big bad sorceresses, nothing. Just smooth traveling all the way. Now, if you don't mind me asking, where are you headin' off to?"

Ultimecia hesitates, and flicks a glance up at the woman. The woman stares down at her with a scowl.

"Eastgate," Ultimecia says. Squall can feel her muscles tense up a little, reacting to the lie. But the SeeD doesn't notice anything amiss. He whistles softly.

"Eastgate is a long trip for sure," the SeeD says. "But you'll be fine. Just stay in your assigned seat and do everything the nice SeeDs tell you and everything will be alright. Now, let's see a smile."

Ultimecia scowls. Even Squall—watching this scene from the past—rolls his eyes. After a moment, Ultimecia twists up her lips in a vague approximation of a grin.

"There you go!" the SeeD says.

On the tracks nearby, the train finally arrives at the station with a rush of wind and noise. Its brakes screech loudly in the small station and nearby people begin to crowd around the platform as the train slows to a stop.

"Well, I gotta go," the SeeD says. "Best of luck to you both."

"Thank you," the woman says with another pleasant smile. But as soon as the SeeD is gone, the woman bends over to Ultimecia and all the warmth is gone.

"Your train is here," the woman says. "I was going to give you something before you left, but since you can't control your emotions, I think I'll keep it for myself."

Ultimecia wipes away the last of her tears. "What is it?"

"None of your business now," the woman says coldly. She no longer looks at Ultimecia, but instead stares at the train and watches people climb on board. "I'm not going to reward your weakness. If you want something in life, you have to earn it. You have to be strong. Little girls who cry all the time get nothing. Now get on your train."

Ultimecia picks up her bag and shuffles onto the train. Inside, the architecture reminds Squall of a sort of modified Esthar design. It has the glowing lights and shiny surfaces common in Esthar, but with more subdued reds and greens instead of the bright blues.

Most of the seats are taken by the time Ultimecia steps inside. Her eyes quickly alight on the one last remaining window seat, the one assigned to her on her ticket. She sneaks to it quickly before anyone can notice her or remember her. Once she's sitting, she feels safer. The high back of the chair keeps her out of view of most other passengers and she can duck down and hide her face without drawing attention to herself.

She shoves her bag onto the floor beneath her chair. Next, she opens the window by pressing a button. The transparent pane vanishes, and the woman approaches from outside. There is enough background noise from the train and the other passengers so that the woman and Ultimecia can speak through the open window without fear of being overheard.

"If it were up to me, you never would have been born into this hateful world to begin with," the woman says. "Nonexistence is better than this. But your mother disagreed. She thought she could change things. She thought there was still a chance to reconcile with our enemies. And look what her stupidity has bought her."

Ultimecia is silent. The woman continues on.

"Everything I did," she says, "I did you make you strong. To help you survive. You can hate me if you want. I don't care. But just remember what I taught you. If you remember what I said, you'll be fine. You understand?"

"Yes," Ultimecia says.

"Do you remember the name you're using for this trip?" the woman asks. "The one written on your identification?"

Ultimecia bends down to reach for her bag, but the woman sticks an arm through the open window—quick as a snake—and grabs Ultimecia's hand.

"Are you an idiot?" the woman asks. "You have to check your ID to remember your own name?"

Ultimecia hardens her face and looks at the woman. She thinks for a moment. "It's… Leonie."

"Leonie what?" the woman asks. "You're old enough to know your last name too."

"Leonie Sorbald," Ultimecia says.
The woman nods. "Good. Don't forget that name. When you get older you can change it if you like, or if that name gets compromised and can't be used anymore. Don't forget what I've told you. Don't trust anyone, ever. The world is afraid of you, Leonie. What you are, what you can do. If you want to survive, you'll have to hate the world as much as it hates you. Remember that."

And with that, the woman releases Ultimecia's arm. She turns and vanishes into a crowd of people. Ultimecia watches her go, tears forming in her eyes.

But then she blinks, scowls, and looks away. She presses the button to seal the window, closing off the sounds of the outside world. Her hands bunch into fists, and Squall finds himself recognizing her actions. The grinding of her teeth. The determined set of her eyes, focused on the chair in front of her. Squall is familiar with the technique of hiding one's fears and doubts behind a veil of anger.

(Perhaps we're not so very different after all.)

A man enters the train and takes the seat beside her. He stuffs his carry-on bag beneath his chair and leans over to look at Ultimecia.

"Well, hello there," the man says. "Awfully young to be traveling by yourself, aren't you? Where's your parents?"

Ultimecia says nothing. She crosses her arms and stares out the window. The man mutters something and then turns away, leaving Ultimecia alone.

When Squall awoke, he looked right up at Ellone. Unlike last time, she appeared to have suffered no ill effects of the connection.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I don't think we learned anything from that."

"No, I thought it was rather informative," Squall said. "We got a glimpse into the future."

"And?" Irvine asked. "What did y'all see?"

(A train station owned by SeeD.)

(A SeeD armed like he was going to war.)

"Her childhood," Ellone said. "It… well… it seems her upbringing left a few things to be desired."

Irvine snorted. "I'm surprised Ultimecia even has a childhood. I kinda figured she just crawled out of a pit somewhere."

"But, Sis," Squall said, looking up at her. "Did you notice? That woman—whoever she was—she said that Ultimecia was an heiress."

Ellone nodded. "I noticed. And she also said that Ultimecia was 'new' to her magic."

"Which suggests that she's already a sorceress as well in that time period," Squall said.

Rinoa frowned. "A sorceress and an heiress? So… she has Ellone's powers and mine at the same time?"

"It explains why she's so powerful," Squall said, turning to her. "And why she's so good at time manipulation. And why she knows the inner workings of Ellone's abilities. It explains a lot, actually."

Irvine blew out his cheeks. "So… she's really powerful. Don't really see how this new information helps us out."

(Your comments aren't helping any, Irvine.)

"Do you want to try somewhere else in her childhood?" Ellone asked. "She didn't seem to notice us then, so maybe she didn't learn how to eject people from her mind until she got older. It's probably safe to try again."

"Perhaps," Squall said. "But we've already learned something major. If Ultimecia is already an heiress with the same powers as Ellone, then she has no reason to use the Junction Machine Ellone. Dr. Odine's theory is completely wrong."

"Odine's not gonna be happy to hear that," Laguna said. He hadn't yet returned to his paperwork, and stood hovering near Ellone in case something happened to her again.

Squall shrugged. "If he really cares as much about science as he claims he does, then he'll be eager to hear about a new theory that has evidence to support it."

Laguna shrugged and scratched his head. "Aahhh, I dunno about that. The Doc doesn't really like it when people disagree with him."

(He'll just have to deal with it.)

"So do you want to try again, Squall?" Ellone asked.

Squall shook his head. "I'm sure there's much we can still learn by poking around in Ultimecia's past, but I've already gotten what I've come for."

Laguna crossed his arms. "… And that's it? You two nearly died just so that you could prove Odine wrong? I mean, I like teasin' the crazy old doctor as much as the next guy, but it doesn't seem like it was worth it."

"It wasn't just to spite Odine," Squall said. "We've learned quite a lot, actually."

"I don't see it," Ellone said. "We caught a glimmer of Ultimecia's past and we learned that—later in life—she can eject people from her mind."

"Also we learned she's an heiress," Rinoa said.

"We learned one more important thing," Squall said. He paused, but no one leapt forward with the answer, so he continued. "We learned that Ellone can connect to people she's never met, by connecting to someone she does know and then meeting that other person in the past."

"Ah," Irvine said. "I guess that's a good thing to know."

"It explains everything," Squall said. "Or, at least, it provides a strong theory about everything."

"Go on," Ellone said.

Squall leaned forward, growing more excited. "We learned that Ultimecia is an heiress, which means she doesn't need the Junction Machine Ellone in order to go back into the past. We can assume that she is restricted by the same limitations that Ellone is subject to, which means that Ultimecia can only send herself back to someone she already knows."

"But she doesn't know Matron, or Ciel, or Selphie," Ellone said. "How…" Understanding began to fill her face.

"Now you're starting to see," Squall said. "Ultimecia is going back in time the same way we went forward. Ellone connected to me and then met Ultimecia in the future. Once she did that, she was able to directly connect to Ultimecia, despite having never met her before. Ultimecia is doing the same thing, but she's going back in time instead of forwards. She must have connected herself to a sorceress she personally knew—either her mother or that woman from the train station—and then possessed that woman and used her to meet another sorceress or another heiress.

"Once she did that," Squall said. "She could use those memories to leap even further back in time. She's been repeating this process over and over until she got back to our time. No, she doesn't know Ciel, or Rinoa, or Selphie. But she knows people who know us, and through them, she can form the connection. Ultimecia is making an extremely long chain, linking together each generation from her time to ours, traveling along our memories and going backwards in time. That's how she's doing everything. And that's why she's here now. That's my theory, anyway. And now I have proof that I'm right."

Irvine frowned. "That's it? You went through all that just to prove your theory?"

"Yes," Squall said. "Because that tells us what's going on right now."

"… Which is?" Irvine asked.

"The Ultimecia we're fighting now," Squall said, "The one who possessed Ciel and Selphie, is the past version of Ultimecia. It's a memory of her. Or, more accurately, an echo of her, still rippling through time."

Irvine put his hands up. "Okay, I'm gonna need a lot more explanation than that."

"We defeated Ultimecia," Squall said. "We went to the future and fought her in her castle and she died."

"Uh huh," Irvine said.

"But then she came back in our time," Squall said. "She possessed Ciel, and while we were aboard the Ragnarok, Seifer insisted that Ultimecia was still alive. For a while, I was afraid that we had done something wrong. That, for whatever reason, we didn't really kill her. That thought terrified me, because it would mean that we would have to go back into the future and fight her again. We got lucky once. I don't think we'd survive a second fight against her."

"Wait," Irvine said. "So is she dead or is she alive?"

"Both," Squall said. "Neither. It's complicated."

"Wonderful," Irvine mumbled. He waved a hand. "Go on. Try to explain this to me."

"We did definitely kill her," Squall said. "I know that for sure now. Not only that, but I've already witnessed her handing over her powers to Matron in the past. So she is completely, absolutely dead."

"Great!" Irvine said. "So we're done here? We can pack up and go home?"

Squall shook his head. "No. She's dead, but only in the future. She is alive, in a sense, in all the moments between now and that point generations from now when we finally kill her."

"… What?" Irvine said.

Squall bit his lip and concentrated.

(I hope I explain this right…)

"Before we killed her," Squall said, "Ultimecia used her powers—both her heiress powers and her sorceress powers—to go jumping through time, in her quest to cause time compression. She would possess a sorceress—either because she can only possess sorceresses or because she refuses to possess normal people—and then use that sorceress to find an heiress and go further back in time. She repeated this step over and over until she got to our time. Once she was there, she used Matron to go find Ellone, with the intent of continuing her plan for time compression. But then she met us, and everything went wrong."

"I'm with you so far," Irvine said.

"Once we got involved," Squall said, "We used the Lunatic Pandora and our GFs—I'm still not sure how—to go into the future, to Ultimecia's time. But you have to remember, this was after we allowed her to finish time compression. By the time we got to the future, it was already too late to stop her from going back in time. I guess it would have to be that way, because if we had arrived before she went back in time, that would create a paradox, wouldn't it?"

"I'm… not with you anymore," Irvine said.

(Damn it.)

"Time is relative," Ellone said, stepping forward. "It's a matter of perspective. As Squall said before, Ultimecia's past is our future and vice versa. Every time that Ultimecia jumped backwards in time, she changed history. But her history is our future and… oh, I had a point, but I think I lost it."

"It's kind of hard to explain if you don't already grasp it," Squall said. "I guess the easiest way is to go through events in chronological order. Or, what passes for chronological order, now that we're living in the world after time compression."

"Go for it," Irvine said. "If you can explain it to me, you can explain it to anybody."

(That's what I'm hoping.)

"Generations from now, Ultimecia is going to be born," Squall said. "She is going to be both an heiress and a sorceress. She's going to go to war with SeeD in her own time and begin a reign of terror that will envelop the world. This is the future that we all saw."

Irvine and Rinoa nodded.

"But conquering her own time won't be enough for her," Squall said. "She wants absolute dominion over all time, and for that she needs to cast time compression. So she uses her heiress powers to possess a previous sorceress and then find other heiresses to take her further and further back in time."

"Why?" Irvine asked. "Why bother goin' back in time?"

Squall shrugged. "We may never know. Apparently, the key to completing time compression is somewhere in the past. Either she needs to find something there or she needs to go far enough back for the spell to work. Hard to say. But in any case, later on we encounter her in the body of Matron, we have several fights with her, and then we allow her to possess Rinoa in the Lunatic Pandora."

"I remember that," Rinoa said with a shudder.

"Right," Squall said. "We use Ellone to force her into the body of young Adel, and then she continues to jump backward in time until she completes time compression. Once it's done, she returns to her own time, expecting to be triumphant. But to her dismay, she discovers that we have hitched a ride and have followed her back to her time. Once there, we fight and defeat her, then return to our own time."

"I already knew all that," Irvine said. "Or… most of it anyway. I just don't understand all this talk about her bein' dead and alive at the same time."

"Because, from Ultimecia's perspective, all of this has already happened," Squall said. He gestured around himself. "But from our perspective, it has yet to happen. The concepts of 'past' and 'future' don't mean much anymore, at least not when it concerns Ultimecia. What we are fighting now—and what possessed Ciel and Selphie—was a past version of Ultimecia. One that has already gone back in time. One that will—in her future—go back and fight us in our past."

"So…" Irvine said. "We gotta stop her, right? Keep her from jumping back into the past?"

Squall shook his head. "No. We can't."

"But if she doesn't make the jumps, then she can't complete time compression," Irvine said. He scratched his head. "Or am I missin' something?"

"We can't stop time compression," Ellone said. "It's already happened. Trying to stop Ultimecia from completing her goal is pointless now."

"Right," Squall said. "We can't change the past."

"So what then?" Irvine asked. "We do nothing? Let Ultimecia stomp all over us?"

"It's…" Squall said. He shook his head. "It's very complicated. Time compression has made this all very difficult to explain."

"It's a loop," Ellone said. "Ultimecia goes back in time and inadvertently causes the events that will bring about her future. She thinks she's changing the past, but all she's doing is creating the very events she tried to stop in the first place."

Squall nodded. "Ultimecia accidentally created SeeD when she used time compression. She and I went to the orphanage and I told Matron about SeeD. Matron then went on to create SeeD. And then SeeD will go on to fight sorceresses, and eventually play a hand in creating Ultimecia. Ultimecia creates SeeD and SeeD creates Ultimecia. There is no beginning or end. The cycle can't be broken."

"Why not?" Irvine asked. "Maybe that's a dumb question, but why can't we break the cycle? Seems like it would solve all our problems if we did."

Squall shrugged. "Maybe we can. I don't know. But we don't know what would happen to the world if we tried that. What if we change the future so that Ultimecia is never born? Then she will never go back in time, SeeD will never be created, and none of this will happen. None of us will meet each other. This conversation won't happen. An entirely new universe would be created. Or maybe the universe would simply be destroyed. It's impossible to say. And I, for one, don't wanna risk finding out."

"Okay, this has been fun and all," Irvine said. "But I got one last question. Why does it matter? Ultimecia jumping back through time using the Junction Machine Ellone or her going back using heiresses. What difference does it make?"

"Because it changes what we need to do next," Squall said. "If Odine's theory had been correct—if Ultimecia had been using the Junction Machine Ellone to move backward in time—then it would be very hard, if not impossible, to explain what she's doing here in the present. But now that we know she's using other heiresses, we can predict what she's going to do next."

"So that we can stop her?" Irvine asked.

"No, so that we can help her," Squall said. "We need to talk to Odine, and Piet too, if we can find him. We need to send Ultimecia to the past where she will finish time compression."

"Which she has already done," Ellone said. "And will do. And is doing."

Irvine threw his hands up. "Gah! Stop tryin' to explain this to me. Let's just go and get this over with!"