The structure was indeed massive, and from the looks of the stonework, very well built. Standing on the beach, Ultimecia clapped her hands with joy, an honor guard of soldiers surrounded her as well as three battalions of the Esthar army. The scientists of the Academy, all rested up from their ordeal, looked proudly on as their leader examined the structure that they had prepared for her, resting over the water on a massive floater. Artists and contractors who also worked on it were on hand to view the ceremony, as were a host of locals from the New Balamb settlement who looked on in amazement at the facility that now dominated their coastline.

Dressed in her finest robes, Ultimecia looked to the great chain that had been embedded deep within the earth. Professor Eldrin had told her that the main block had been drilled to sit a mile into the surface of the solid stone before them, passing even the seabed and drilling down into the ocean floor. Following the chain with her eyes, Ultimecia looked to her new castle with adoration. Gargoyles, demons and other intricately carved figures decorated the exterior, and if her designs were followed, they would also decorate the interior. Great towers extended upward, holding a massive clock that would not begin to work until she was within.

"The Machine has also been transported within?" she asked, looking back to the scientists. Professor Eldrin nodded happily.

"Yes, your Grace, it has been positioned under your throne, just as you had requested. Of course, this means that the throne had to be elevated to allow for the Machine to fit within the design parameters that already existed, but a stairway has also been added that can be withdrawn or set up at will."

After meeting with Dr. Cyas four days previous, she had given those instructions to her design team. Now, all rested, she was ready to add the final touch. Stretching out her arms grandly, she paused for effect, a small, child-like sense of pride bubbling up from deep within her. Quickly subduing it, she chided herself silently for allowing that emotion to surface. Then, with a great flash of white light that forced the onlookers to shield their eyes, the castle began to shudder, lifting slowly off of the floater. As it began to rise, it pulled at the chain until it was unable to float any higher than it had. It was done.

People clapped wildly, whistling and "Oohing" at her handiwork. Smiling, she nodded to her honor guards, who brought a small floater over to her. Stepping onto it, she was joined by Dr. Cyas, Professor Eldrin and twelve of her guards. As the floater levitated toward the castle, Ultimecia felt the breeze tickle the bare skin that was exposed by her revealing robes. She wanted to stretch out her arms and shout to the sky, but even as she did, her own sense of darkness kept her from any such notion. Still, she allowed herself the slight pleasure of the breeze, letting it throw her long hair behind her like a train of gray silk.

"I often wonder why I was kreated," she said off-hand to her scientists. "I wonder why I was meant to end what kould have just as easily never have even started in the first place." She looked up to the castle and saw that they were almost there. "I know why now. Seeing wonderful things like this... knowing that they kannot last forever... non-existence will be such a great blessing to us all. No more disappointments."

The two men exchanged looks and merely nodded, even though Ultimecia was speaking more to herself than anyone else. As the floater stopped moving before the main entrance of the castle, Ultimecia stepped off and slowly took the stairs. Being before the castle, seeing it just as she had envisioned it in her thoughts, it left no doubt in her mind that they were almost there.

(Mommy, Callie... look! My sand castle! Isn't it beautiful?)

Despite the pain that their absence left her, she could feel a knot of pride well up within her that she simply could not quell. Looking over her shoulder, she clutched her hands together as if trying to hold in her own happiness. For one of the rare, brief moments, the Sorceress powers abated, and she let out a melodious laugh far different from the malevolent cackles she had uttered before. Then, just as soon as it had come, she could feel the sickening, cold sensation of her soul being once again blanketed in her multi-faceted hatred. At the very least, she thought, fighting back tears, she could count on the darkness to keep her in check even when she did not want to be. It would ensure her that the goal would never escape her because of her inability to focus. Still, the back-and-forth of her emotions were getting worse, and even more maddening. Each time she lost her joy, it felt all the more terrible. It would all be dead soon... and by then the pain would be too much to bear. She had to act again.

"Show me to my throne room," she snapped, and the scientists and guards hastened to obey, jolted in surprise by the sudden change in their master's demeanor. Silently, they led her down the darkened halls, the low-lit torches and candles set to her exact specifications. As they walked, she noticed the finest in antiques and other finery that made up the decor, "donated" by the many families of the Estharian aristocracy.

"My guardians have already arrived?" she asked, continuing her stride.

"They have, my Sorceress," one of the honor guards replied.

"Then we may begin the final preparations. Dr. Cyas, Professor Eldrin, tonight you will position Lunatik Pandora over the specified point."

"It will be done, Sorceress Ultimecia," Eldrin said quietly, his elderly voice pained with the weariness of age. As they approached the final stairwell, she turned on her followers and said, "You are all no longer needed but to fulfill the duties I have set aside for you. Get back to Esthar and finish them. I will be here from now on."

Bowing, they all turned from her and walked back out of the room, ready to set Ultimecia's final plans into motion. After all of her planning, it would finally work. She needed to get back to the Machine. Taking the stairs two at a time, she found her throne room easily. It was at the end of a long, lonely outdoor walkway that was accessible only from a thin iron ladder. She, however, floated down to the walkway and continued her pace without pause. When she reached the throne room, she ordered the doors open with a slight wave of her hand. She would not move from this room for quite some time.

Stepping inside, she noticed that the throne was indeed elevated above the floor. A floater was in place that she could access, and stepping onto it, it brought her up. Looking over the open, circular room, she sighed and sat down, smoothing out her dress as she did so absently, aware that for the first time, she was not only alone in spirit, but now physically so.

"I have no time for this," she then muttered, disgusted at her own irresponsible and unnecessary thoughts. Placing her hands on the arm rests of her throne, she could feel her Sorceress powers merging with the unique machinery of Junction Machine Ellone. They had done a superb job in translating its abilities to her throne, she noted, before she was transported back into Rinoa's body.

The first thing that she noticed was that Rinoa was still unconscious. Even though Ultimecia had made sure that a part of her mind always dwelled in Rinoa's, she was surprised at how effective it had been. Rinoa, it appeared, was not as strong as the Sorceress had initially thought. Now, all she had to do was decide what to do next.

(Are you going to kill me?)

(No, Rinoa... not yet. We have work to do, my dear.)

(What are you going to do?)

(The fools... they brought her to Esthar! She is so close to me now, Ultimecia, so very, very close!)

(How close?)

(I can see her... she is lying on a small table that overlooks my prison... bring her to me... have her release me and we shall set the final plans into place!)

(Ready to go for a walk, Rinoa?)

(No, you can't let her out!)

(I can, Rinoa, and I will.)

Chapter 54

Ultimecia opened "her" eyes and looked about her. She was in a sort of chamber that was definitely of Esthar origin, but her surroundings were very unfamiliar indeed. Standing tall, she took a step toward the door, following Adel's silent promptings in her own mind. Just out this door and down the corridor...

"Aaargghh!" Ultimecia suddenly cried out, feeling her mind shake violently. Stunned, she looked around to look at her attacker, realizing at once that she would not have felt anything had someone struck Rinoa's body. The attack had come from Rinoa herself!

"You little bitch!" Ultimecia shrieked back, forcing Rinoa to cower much the way Edea had done, only Rinoa somehow had regained some of her muscular control. Fighting against the resistance of her mortal peer, Ultimecia stepped forward slowly, swaying back and forth as she did so, Rinoa dogging her every step, her path seemingly slowed by an unseen quagmire. Pushing forward, she could feel Rinoa's body pulsing with the energy of their conflicting spirits, a force that seemed to push at the very atoms in the air, distorting the light about them.

(I won't let you do this!)

(You have no choice!)

She could feel Adel guide her, but just barely. Her fight with Rinoa was taking up most of her strength. Ahead of her was a small room with some barely distinguishable human shapes. They must be prison guards of some sort, she reasoned, unable to make the determination and see what Rinoa could clearly see was really there. Regardless, she walked up to a sort of console unmolested and pressed a small series of buttons as guided again by Adel.

(You now must come to me...)

Smiling, Ultimecia could look out the window to the black void of space about her. Although the stars blurred together, she could make out the shape of Adel's containment field. Walking back out, she managed to gain a bit more control over Rinoa's body, walking up a set of stairs to a locker room that contained a set of spacesuits.

(You have positioned Lunatic Pandora in place in your own time? Your Seifer has done the job admirably in this era. The Lunar Cry begins!)

(It has all been taken care of. But why the Lunar Cry? You never told me.)

(It is what Hyne had been trying to accomplish for so long... the placement of the Crystal Pillar that is contained within Lunatic Pandora over Tear's Point creates a great deal of temporal energy, but not enough to open up a hole in the fabric of time. But, if you were to place TWO of them in the same point in different eras...)

(...the energy would link! It could not help but allow anyone the ability to slip in and out of any era they chose!)

(Correct... and that person would then exist in ALL eras, allowing them to come together and bring all of those elements into one manageable package... time compression...)

(But what about the Lunar Cry?)

(Merely a side effect of the process, my dear child. All we need do now is combine our strengths. You give your powers to Me, and when I travel back, you shall inherit both of ours at once, giving you control over the time itself... we will not even need Ellone Loire!)

(And then... we can escape this cycle forever!)

She looked over to the release hatch and smiled inwardly. Gravity gave way, but she could not even feel it. Using the small jets on the suit, Ultimecia piloted Rinoa over to the containment field, closing in on Adel. Looking up at the elder Sorceress, Ultimecia stopped for a brief moment and wrinkled her nose.

(Time has not been very kind to you, Adel...)

(...Just release me now.)

Slowing her momentum, Ultimecia stopped short and pressed the buttons next to Adel's prison and looked up as the Sorceress glowed a menacing red. She had done it!

(How will you get back to Earth?)

(THEY will carry me.)

(They? That's right, the Lunar Cry...)

(Correct. Now... I need your powers.)

(I already handed them to you. Through Rinoa, the process is simple. It is her body that feels all of the pain, isn't that right, Rinoa?)

(...)

(Poor dear, I guess it is time I let you go... you have been very helpful to me!)

(...you would... let me... die out... here?!)

(Oh, I wouldn't worry, Rinoa... after all, Squall will come to save you, right? Hahahahahahahaha!!!)

(I...)

(Don't worry, Rinoa. Once Adel and I are finished, the pains of death will cease for all... even a worthless little whore such as you. I am going. Do NOT fail to find Edea, Adel.)

(Finally, my sister, the dreams of Hyne... of ourselves and the end to our hellish prisons... all of them shall be concluded in the manner prescribed by fate.)

(Not fate, Adel... by me!)

(What?!)

(Farewell!)

Chapter 55

She left Rinoa there to die in space, ready to begin her final action: preparing to receive the powers of Adel and Edea through the hole they had made in time. Drained of her own abilities, all she could do was sit in her throne and wait for the time when it would all end. This was what she had been waiting for, and now, after all of her efforts, it would finally come to pass! Throwing back her head, she smiled at the orangish evening sky. The clouds, passing just above her throne, obscured her vision for but a moment. She could finally relax and enjoy her victory, allowing even her thoughts to run free, all of them overjoyed with the idea of a final cleansing. It would not be long, she knew.

Calling for a small demon, she bade it to bring her her ceremonial red robe that she had fashioned after Hyne's own from archaic sketches. Retiring for a moment to the chambers behind her throne, she sat there, watching as the open-aired dressing room filled with a cool breeze. After it had died down, Ultimecia began to set her hair just as Hyne had done, in two huge, horn-like spikes that jutted from her head. That being done, she applied the ceremonial paints and looked herself over. She was the perfect conclusion to Hyne's beginning, a mirror image of the beautiful Arch Sorceress herself.

"I am going back to my throne," she told the demon. "Bring me a bottle of champagne to celebrate this momentous event!"

The demon bowed, and with delight in herself, she once more ascended to her throne and sat, watching birds soar majestically overhead. Soon, not even they would exist. Nothing would... the trees, the rocks, the boulders, the plateaus; all things that she had dreamt of as a child would cease to be, and she the agent of their undoing! Satisfied with herself beyond the point of rapture, she almost did not notice a tiny thought enter her mind. After a short while, she recognized it as a voice... Seifer's voice.

(My Sorceress...)

(This power that I gave to you was ONLY to be used in times of emergency, Seifer.)

(And this is an emergency, m'lady. Our spies in Esthar have informed us that Edea Kramer no longer has the powers of Hyne. She is no Sorceress.)

(What?! Then who is...?)

(I looked into that. It is Rinoa Heartily. What should I do?)

(Nothing... she is dead...)

(Not so! She was rescued from space and is currently here inside of Lunatic Pandora. Squall and the other SeeDs are with her.)

(...)

(What should I do?)

(Bring Rinoa to Adel. The Sorceresses must be as one, is that understood?)

(Perfectly, Ultimecia... I take my leave...)

(Seifer...)

(Yes, m'lady?)

(It will be nice to finally see you... however briefly that may be...)

(I am honored, my lady.)

(Go now... see to it that the SeeDs do not survive and that Adel is granted her junction with the new Sorceress.)

(Your wish is my command.)

With that, Seifer was gone, and Ultimecia left to ponder these new developments. Squall from that era was a SeeD? How did Seifer know him by name? The very thought of Squall fighting against her, alongside the witch that had gained Edea's skills... Ultimecia could think of little worse.

"If that was who he chose, then that is whom he shall die for... Sorceress Rinoa's Knight. Humph!" Sitting back, she could feel the drain on her body become more apparent. Until she regained hers and Adel's powers, she could not afford to link to another mind. The process was by far too draining. Closing her eyes, she fell back in her throne, happily letting sleep overtake her.

Chapter 56

No dreams. No thoughts. Nothing had disturbed Ultimecia during her slumber. At first, it was so peaceful that she almost sank into it, letting her mind wander, so complete was the experience, so relaxing. Then, she thought that she might have missed her chance with time compression, and she struggled against sleep, angry with herself that she had let a few moments of physical relief ruin years of patient effort and plotting.

When she was successful in awakening, however, she was relieved to find that nothing had yet transpired. It was dark outside, but still no word from Adel. The process, Ultimecia knew by her own experiences with time manipulation, could take anywhere from a fraction of an instant to several hours. Perhaps it was that thought that had caused Ultimecia to leap in surprise when she heard Adel's voice.

(It is done, our powers are now yours, but be ready... others will be with you. Ellone Loire has disrupted the process somehow!)

(I will be ready... is it the SeeDs?)

(Yes. But now... watch as the world is remade about you!)

Breaking the connection, Ultimecia stood and threw out her arms, a pair of wings forming at her back. Using these, she softly floated upward within the protective sphere she had cast about her castle. The time compression would not yet affect her until she was ready for it to. All about her, the air seemed to groan with a strange force, the physical elements bending under the pressure of time being pushed into her hands.

Light began to seep from the clouds, the ground burning with impossible friction as it was ripped apart and run together with unimaginable force. From the light of the sun bled other lights, these drawing in the light from about them and scattering it about the landscape, illuminating an awesome sight. Wide eyed, Ultimecia looked below her as civilizations were born, destroyed and rebuilt, people evolving from puddles of nothing to the state of which she had always known them... all within a few seconds. Water filled the ocean about her and drained into the void of time, only to be filled yet again by a dramatic downpour from the heavens. In the distance, she could see the sun on the horizon bending to the will of time, further proof of the extent of her newfound powers.

Then, as soon as all of it had happened, it ended, and Ultimecia was left with an incredible sensation burning within her mind. She had done it! She had achieved time compression! Throwing back her head with a wild cackle, she let her cry pierce the very orb of time that although was all about her, now centered entirely within her grasp.

"What awesome power! I am a GOD!" she cried, her voice carried across the empty landscape around her. "What shall I do first? Hahaha... how about import a few old friends?"

With a mere thought, a group of SeeDs appeared on the beach where her castle was anchored. Looking down at them, as would a man looking down at an ant, she laughed as they looked about themselves, confused as to their surroundings.

"Now, DIE!" she commanded, and the SeeDs fell to the ground as though they had been dead the whole time. "Live!" Again, they stood up slowly, regaining their strength. Just as they stood again, she cried out once more, "Now DIE!"

Falling to the ground, the SeeDs remained motionless, and she looked them over with an amused smirk. What she could do with her powers! Everything that ever had, did or would happen was hers to manipulate! With a gesture of her hand, she placed a whole school of blue whales into the waters below, a flock of birds into the air.

"Let the SeeDs kome," Ultimecia called out to the air, and descended to her throne. They could be her one last victory before she ended it all. All of the knowledge contained within her mind encompassed everything... she could access any thought, and spell, and emotion, any feeling... it was beyond description. Forgetting about both Seifer and Squall, she reveled in her powers. Nothing could stop her now!

"Time has kome to an end! No longer will you hold me here! I will be free!" Motioning with her hand, Catoblepas appeared before her. Confused by its sudden appearance in its master's presence but none the less ready to serve, the beast bowed slightly and growled its obeisance.

"My Sorceress?"

"Katoblepas," she mused, barely able to sit within her throne as the powers that she wielded seemed to course through her body as though an electric current. "Be ready. The SeeDs somehow survived the kompression. I kannot end time until they are disposed of. I know that you and the others will not disappoint me in slowing their progress. All I need is a few hours to prepare for the final rites."

"It shall be done," it growled in reply. Nodding, Ultimecia sent it back to its post. Then, she felt something quite familiar to her...

"Rinoa..." she breathed. The young Sorceress was at the front doors... and Squall was with her... she could feel the repulsive feeling of another's love for the one she had devoted her heart and long suffering to.

"You may die in one another's arms, then... and feel the torment of an eternity of death! Yes, I will create a special reality just for the two of you to writhe in for all time!"

These were the last moments. So soon in coming, she had never really thought of what to do with her time. Now, as the end drew near, she found herself almost regretting the moment, as though she had the infinite powers of eternity in her grasp, and now she was about to give them up for the sake of ending what was truthfully a relative amount of torment from actions in the past.

"The past..." she mewed to herself, "I AM the past! I am the present and the future! What I wish to be is, and what I will never to have happened never will have happened! What do I have to be sad about?"

This realization hit her like a bolt of lightning, and tilting back her head, she let out another sky-rending cackle that shook the very stars in their place, reverberating across time and dulling the pain even more. Let the SeeDs come! They would serve her in her new kingdom, one where she would forever be the queen, one where she would never feel the pain of loss again, for she would be the one who decided who would feel and who would not; she would be the one who determined when and where the planets were made... all things were hers to control, and even the powers that be would have to bow before her, Ultimecia, child of the alleys, master of their fate.

Sitting alone in her throne, she could barely sense the death of Krysta, so powerful were the omnipotent surges of power that coursed through her veins. When the Iron Giant fell, she did not even notice. One by one her guardians perished, and all Ultimecia could do was wait for their killers to arrive and face her. Let them, she thought, look upon the face of their goddess for the first and last time before she began their eternal servitude.

(I... have disgraced you...)

It was Tiamat's voice, his dying thoughts so strong, so powerful that she could not help but hear them.

(Then they are on their way here?)

(Yes, my Sorceress... the others are gone now... I am sorry...)

Humph, let him be sorry. It would be a fitting end to a useless creature to die in shame, though she did not expect any of them to be able to defeat the SeeDs, not with Rinoa the Sorceress among their number; not when it was her destiny to destroy them herself.

"Oh, Kallie, Mother, if only you could feel this power... if only I kould somehow kreate human lives rather than transport them... but when I kan't even see your faces..."

Childhood... that was what she had always wanted to recapture. Now, if she could just focus long enough on it, reach back and focus inward... but her new powers shook her mind savagely whenever she tried, as though her Sorceress abilities had intermingled with the time compression, not allowing her the ability to look back into her own life. All she could do was be content for the moment and wait.

She did not have to wait long. The doors to her throne room were then pushed open, allowing entry to her inner sanctum to the SeeDs. Without any ceremony of bravado, they stepped within, looking up to her with grim faces. Such familiar faces they were, too! One of them, however, she focused on at one moment, the dark forces within her reaching back into her mind and lighting up a lovely, male child's face, her Squall... the one who led the SeeDs now, standing before her with gunblade drawn, ready to unleash her blood without the slightest qualm or thought. A part of her, freed from her own mind, wanted to cry out to Squall, wanted to feel him hug her.

The darkness would not allow that. As soon as those feelings had come, they were pushed aside, forcing her eyes upon the girl who stood at Squall's side. Rinoa. Narrowing her eyes, she tried to speak, trying to find the words that would express her anger, her love, her fear... she felt as though she was ten years old again, without the ability to express herself for lack of the proper vocabulary. Recomposing herself, she threw out her hand in a grand gesture that masked her confusing emotions and shouted the only words that leapt to mind, the words that were uttered more by the darkness within than herself, the word that to her had been the focus of all her anger and hatred...her one driving force.

"...SeeD... SeeD... SeeD... SeeD, SeeD, SeeD! Kurse all SeeDs. Swarming like lokusts akross generations. You disgust me."

From the look of hatred in their eyes, she could see that the feeling was more than mutual. Emboldened by her harsh words, she continued, sitting tall and proud before those who would fall to her awesome powers.

"The world was on the brink of that ever-elusive 'time kompression'. 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! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

She looked over the SeeDs again and smiled, standing slowly from her throne. "Whom shall I exterminate first!? I'll start with you three!" Selecting the girl in the yellow and the two other males (one of who she recognized as Irvine from her thoughts,) she descended from her throne and blasted the three with lightning. Before they could react, she did so again, and again, and again, until she was sure that they had been at least knocked unconscious. This done, she formed the atoms about them into little cherubim that were in all reality portals into the new reality she had constructed for them in her mind. With a malevolent laugh, she had annihilated three without even trying.

From the side came a glimmer of steel, and a violent push back to the left. Stumbling slightly, Ultimecia looked to see the one she now knew as Squall beside her, gunblade dripping red. Looking down at her side, she could see a clean gash in her side that had been cauterized by the heat of the gunblade's discharge. Looking to him with rage in her eyes, Ultimecia threw her hands back and blasted him with a concentrated fire burst. As he careened into the wall, she advanced on him, until a stinging strike hit her head. Turning now to a blonde haired girl, she tried to focus, her body jarred by the assault, her mind reeling with anger.

With a simple motion, she pulled in the gravity above the girl's head and watched as it caught her in the field. This done, the blonde could do little else than fall to the ground. With another smile, Ultimecia sent another cherubim down to her, sending her to join her friends.

This delay had cost her, however, as the one she should have been most worried about advanced on her quickly, casting an ice spell that froze Ultimecia in place. With her own powers, Ultimecia melted the ice and sent a cloud of poison overhead, which Rinoa countered with a tornado spell, blowing it away and throwing Ultimecia into the air, only to land violently on the marble floor below.

Ultimecia stood and wiped a thin trail of blood from her mouth, glaring at Rinoa, who was helping Squall to his feet. Clutching her ring in her hand, she rose into the air, and raised her hand above her head.

"The most powerful GF," she breathed dangerously. "You will suffer! Hahaha!"

Shooting the ring to the ground, she could feel its powers merge with her own, the power that she had built up within it beginning to awaken. Freeing itself finally, the beast she had known as Griever emerged gloriously, a large, lion-like monstrosity with huge leathery wings and a long barbed tail. Using her powers, Ultimecia sent them all to a large, rocky ledge that floated in the air. The only thing she could not touch with her time compression abilities were the two of her opponents, maddeningly free from her superior might.

From a fold in time, she watched as Griever engaged her foes. The beast moved swiftly, Squall able to strike quickly, Rinoa defending the both of them with her own special incantations. The girl had managed to control her powers quite well... far better than Ultimecia had when she first gained them. Regardless of this, she could see that even with all of Griever's might, it was losing.

"The Guardian Force's true power..." she muttered, almost to herself as to the SeeDs. Sending out a thought to the beast, she commanded him to unleash of all his gained strength. "Allow me to show you! Griever! Make them bleed!"

A great flash of light pulled Squall and Rinoa up into the heavens, and after another flash of light, they were thrown back down, Rinoa cushioning their fall with her powers. With a great cry, Squall leapt forward and assaulted Griever viciously, as though the full force of the GF's might had done nothing to faze him. The SeeD rained down blow upon blow, the thick, blackish blood of her beloved Guardian beginning to gush from every strike. Landing back upon the ledge, Squall sank to his knees for a moment, out of breath.

(My Sorceress! It... hurts?! What is this that I am feeling?!)

(I am here, my treasure... do not worry...)

Stepping from her fold in time, Ultimecia focused her strength and compressed her own spirit into a ball of energy.

"I shall junction myself unto Griever!"

Merging with Griever's spirit, she could feel the beast within cling to her, like a frightened child hiding behind his mother. Reassuringly, she coaxed the beast into allowing them to form once more, until when she next opened her eyes, she was staring down at Rinoa and Squall from within the very chest of her Guardian. Without a word, she blasted them with a greenish orb of power, a conglomeration of her other skills. Again, Rinoa shielded them from her powers, and again Ultimecia tried to cast once more. Again, she met with failure.

Squall leapt in and began to slash at Ultimecia, ignoring the beast about her. She tried to ward away the blows, but had her hands lopped off for the attempt. Shrieking in pain, she could feel her control over Griever's dying spirit begin to wane. What was going wrong? How could her powers be so useless to her!? Unable to withstand the force that Squall brought down upon her, she gave up hold on Griever, feeling his terror as the final gunblade stroke pierced the GF's heart.

(Good bye, Griever... I am so sorry...)

Disbelief and pain prevented Griever from responding. Now, without body, Ultimecia could but watch as hers and Griever's shell dissipated in a great pillar of light. Then, there was darkness...

Chapter 57

(You failure... you allowed them to get at you... now what do I do? What was it? Why did I lose?)

She knew, in her heart, what it was. Hyne was punishing her. She had found the ultimate gift, and she had almost squandered it on pathetic vanity and pride. She could not use her time compression for her past ridding herself from the bonds of time itself. Hyne, in all of her wisdom, had shown her that. Chastening herself for her foolishness, Ultimecia could feel her spirit begin to grow, the darkness within manifesting itself outwardly, a new shell forming to replace the one lost to Griever.

"I am Ultimecia.," she said to herself, as though trying on the name for the first time, freed from the binds of her own petty ambitions. "Time shall compress... all existence denied."

Looking down at the void, she could see that Squall and Rinoa had indeed followed her within her own dark soul, unable to go where ever they chose, they seemed bound to her, as though time was using them as its own weapon to defend itself. Glowing with the fury of her purpose, Ultimecia prepared to end them... and in doing so, end time.

With a nod, she sapped away their strength, feeling her strength growing stronger as she did so. As she did, Rinoa healed the two of them. Slashing out with her claws, Ultimecia struck at Squall, who managed to slice off one of her fingers as she raked his chest. Not even noticing any pain, she cast another spell, this one forcing Rinoa's magics away from her.

"Reflect on your childhood..." Ultimecia said out loud, her mind trailing back to Callie's death. She could feel herself slipping away, even as she struggled against it. She had to hurry and destroy them!

Squall struck with his gunblade, slicing a fetid wound into the mass of flesh that made up her chest. It didn't matter how many times he hit her, she knew... time in the end was going to claim her. She had held onto the time compression for far too long... how stupid of her to imagine that she could hold onto it indefinitely! Had her new form eyes, she would have shed tears of desperation as she cast spell after spell at her foes, feeling time unravel her very being.

"Your sensation, your words, your emotions..." Would Squall remember? No, this Squall was but a messenger of time, the shape she knew from her own mind, sent to herald her eternal torment. The Squall she knew was dead... killed by the silly choices of a sad little girl. The power began to flow from her as she half-heartedly attacked Rinoa and Squall. Time... it was winning.

"Time... it will not wait... no matter how hard you hold on... it escapes you... and..."

Looking once more at Squall, into those brown eyes that had first melted her heart above all of her abilities, all of her sensations, all of her hopes and dreams, she could feel those emotions plummet her into an anguish so deep that had she a physical heart, it would have burst. The final gunblade strike was merely symbolic. Unable to finish her words, she slipped away, time grabbing hold of itself and reclaiming its rightful place as governor of order. The explosion of her soul mirrored that of her heart, watching as Squall faded from sight... her Knight and her chosen executioner. It was over... and now she could await a lifetime of pain... a lifetime of nothing. Letting out a silent cry, there was a sudden pain, as though all of her muscles had been shredded simultaneously, before the true darkness swept over her.

Chapter 58

There was nothing... only a white, empty space before her. All hue and chrome had been lost, all sense of feeling, of hearing... an emotional vacuum of endless scope. All about her extended a horrible plane of nothingness. Had they succeeded? Had time been restored? A sudden, agonizing thought overcame her, plunging her dark soul into the maddening realization that they had: there was no void, and she was dead. She had failed.

She felt as though she would cry, but her lifeless eyes only burned, her Sorceress powers animating a corpse that was doomed to contain her tortured soul for all eternity. All of the efforts, all of her pain, thwarted by the one who promised that he would always protect her. Overcome by feelings of uselessness, she sank to her knees slowly, closing her eyes to shut out the light of the eternal prison that she would inhabit for all time. This was what she had feared all of her life, what she had fought to avoid. Throwing back her head, she wanted to shout out to the forces that held her, she wanted to plead with them to let her go... to explain that she was just a little girl. She wanted to die again, but from here, she knew, she could not. Her mind raced as she uttered her wordless cry, her small voice being absorbed by the hellish prison.

Ultimecia collapsed, exhausted at the idea of being trapped there forever, her powers faded, useless within the unseen walls of death. The only thing that had followed her in was her own torment and desperation, the two feelings that she had for years fought to crush beneath the veil of the void. Now, time, her mortal enemy, had her in its grasp, and indeed, it would never let her go... not when it had her now! She could envision her cruel jailor, a physical force that bound her to her own inner-hatred. Falling onto her back, she looked up at the whiteness above her, at once flat and distant at the same time.

She stayed in that position for what felt like hours, although it could have been seconds or even years. Shapes began to dance across her eyes, her corneas burning from her refusal to blink. Her thoughts, now inept and without her powers to guide them, led her through her life, torturing her consciousness with images of the past that she had long forgotten... times from the alley, time from the beach and Callie's murder... Squall's eyes as she refused to leave her Sorceress training behind her. These and more ripped a hole into her mind, like a physical drill, tearing a painful wedge between her sanity and her conscious mind. How could she survive for eternity in this horrible place? Desperation brought the tears forward, forcing them from emotions which swelled to the surface, emotions she thought she had killed long ago. Now, hidden from time behind a veil of emptiness, she cried openly, the long lost little girl that she had locked away free once more, only aware with great horror that it was far too late. At once faced with the numerous evils she had committed and freed from her shell, Ultimecia recoiled as if physically struck. Death had opened her eyes, but now...

A wrenching, bitter gall choked her throat, strangling her as she tried to speak, the soundless world around her pushing against her voice with tremendous force. She wanted to be able to hear herself cry, to know that she could still feel. Now, however, all she could do was struggle vainly against the eternal powers that bound her. It was agony upon agony, her body quaking with the realization that her life had become a twisted, sick joke ever since she had become a Sorceress... all of her false pride and worthless accomplishments - they all led her to damnation. The little girl now cried with all her might, her breaths coming in ragged, almost painful gasps. It was if she could not decide which was more important, to breath or to cry. It didn't matter, as she knew that she was trapped forever.

"No!" she thought, the child fully awake now, "please no!" With all her strength, she tried to force her thoughts forward, trying to reach someone, anyone who could hear her. She had to say that she was sorry... she had to explain to someone that she was not evil... that the Sorceress was gone now and that she was a good little girl who always did what her mother told her to do. As she tried to think, she was pushed back by the mocking hands that held her, her thoughts inept in the cold emptiness around her.

"I am so sorry!" she cried out wordlessly to whomever she could reach, "please, someone, help me! Help me! I am a good little girl! Please!!"

As she cried, she could feel the evil leaving her, the darkness at once repulsed by what it viewed as her weakness as it was by the void that it wished to no longer reside within. Having lived with it for so long, she felt even emptier... bare and vulnerable to the forces of time without even an emotional shield to hide behind. But then, at the same time, with it gone, she could also see more clearly...

It was not time that held her back... nor was it any force of eternity. The good within her that she had forgotten she had could not shout out to the good she sought, for the darkness that held her would not allow it. Now, free from its hands, she could cry out mightily, her voice ringing through the air.

"Please forgive me! I am so sorry! I just want to be with my Mommy and Grammy again!"

With that, she watched on in silent amazement as a pink, almost invisible cloud appeared before her. Dancing slowly before her in mid air, it beckoned her to draw nearer, until she was finally standing inside of it. As the mist covered her, she could feel a sudden warmth, a feeling so intense that it coated her skin and sent shivers down her spine despite the heat. It was unlike anything she had ever felt before... a force that soothed and invigorated her at the same time. It was a feeling of pure love, but a love she had never known. Within her mind she could hear a voice calling out to her, gently consoling her and helping her to remove her past from her mind.

"It is time," it said, "to cast aside the darkness..."

She knew what the voice meant.