"You never told me what she looked like."

"Even across the breaches of time you plague me..."

"Well? Are you going to tell me what she looked like?"

"My mother?"

"Yes..."

"I suppose I might as well tell you. I am going to win, anyway."

"Poor child... so innocent within, even after all of this..."

"Do you want me to tell you or not?"

"Go ahead."

"My mother was tall, slim and young... too young to be a mother, in fact. She had blonde hair like mine, but it was always so covered in filth that it could never be appreciated. She had these eyes that were probably once very beautiful..."

"For all of your talk, you sound as though you are still very detached from her."

"Maybe I am. What does it matter, anyway? I am going to win."

"Win what? What are you trying to prove?"

"That life does not need to be, for one..."

"You want her approval..."

"What?!"

"You think that she hated the world, so you are going to end it for her..."

"Nonsense!"

"You have been a part of my mind for awhile now, Ultimecia. I can see what it is that you are after... in a sense."

"Mother must have wanted to destroy this world..."

"Do you think so? Then why did she fight so hard to keep the two of you alive?"

"..."

"Don't you think that meant something?"

"Maybe at one time it did. I will prove to her that I was worth her sacrifices..."

"You know, you talk pretty freely to me for one who is consumed by darkness."

"My feelings don't matter... or at least they won't when they are ended like everything else."

"I feel sorry for you."

"Don't bother. Your sorrow will be gone soon enough. So will mine."

"You once loved the world..."

"That was before it took the only family that I ever had away from me. That was before I saw its evil."

"So you would become evil to fight evil?"

"Yes. Evil begets evil, and it shall be turned upon the world in such a way never thought imaginable..."

"But you love Seifer..."

"But he can never be Squall!"

"I worry about you, Ultimecia."

"Well, don't. Nothing matters now but finding Ellone."

"Ellone..."

"Yes, I know you know something about her, don't you, Benign One?"

"I haven't seen the child in years. She must be about nineteen by now..."

"You still keep track of age, even after seeing the powers of time at work through my eyes?"

"I keep track of people and who they are. Their age is a part of them."

"Humph. I deny age as anything but aesthetic..."

"And that is why you are not whole..."

"Fine. Regardless, I will find Ellone Loire, and then I will end this horrid mass of confusion that we call life."

"Do what you will, Ultimecia. There will always be those who are whole that will fight to protect life. I place higher faith in them."

"Because they are whole?"

"Partially, but also because they love."

Catoblepas and Ultimecia's other principal guardians assembled themselves at her behest in the throne room. All nervously awaited her command, for her unprecedented summons had brought to their minds the most horrible of fates. It had been, after all, about a year since she had spoken to any of them except Catoblepas. Now, they all watched her in agitated anticipation.

However, she merely sat upon her throne, looking out the massive windows to the city around the palace. Chest heaving as though she had run for miles, she winced in seeming agony. The guardians could see massive gashes inflicted in her flesh, the blood having clotted hours before. They seemed self-inflicted, and ran the length of the opening in the front of her dress. Finally, Tiamat, a former Guardian Force that Ultimecia had obtained from one of the ruined Gardens, gained the courage to speak.

"My Sorceress... why do you harm yourself so?"

Ultimecia opened her eyes, calming her breathing and focusing her gaze upon the dragon-like beast that stood proudly before her.

"I have made a momentous decision..." she said, "and as such, I now must fokus my strength for what is to follow..."

"But why must you harm yourself?" asked Krysta, a crystalline entity that had at one time been Senator Halzih of the Estharian Senate. "Why not rest comfortably in your bed?"

"Do not question my rituals..." she warned through clenched teeth. In truth, it was not a ritual, but rather a hope for her that through pain she could rid herself of the joy she had felt earlier. She could not afford a lapse in her concentration, and positive emotion did nothing but blanket her powers.

"The end of which I have spoken to you all has finally begun to kome into view. There will be those who will try to stop me. You will see to it that they fail."

They bowed, and with a mere thought, Ultimecia dismissed them, allowing another audience with her. As the beasts left her presence, a solitary figure passed them by, drawing the jealous loathing of all of the guardians. He strode up to the throne and knelt. Amused, Ultimecia giggled despite herself.

"Arise, Ian," she cooed, and he did. "Kome here."

He did. Walking up the steps of her dais, he stood before her. Ultimecia rose and bade him to sit in her throne. When he did, she slowly curled up in his lap.

"My beautiful Knight..." she purred, "how I wish things kould have gone differently in life." Taking his hand, she placed it on her chest and pushed until fresh blood slowly oozed from her wounds. All the while he sat motionless, his breathing a monotone reminder of his servitude.

"But, I guess that it never was meant to be so. You have served me well in so many fashions. I will be sad to lose you. Yet, pain brings power..."

She snuggled closer, rubbing his thigh absently as she spoke. "I did some research. It appears that Ellone Loire, that little brat that I have been unable to find, is a direkt ancestor of yours. Funny how small this world is, even akross the generations. It won't matter, soon, though. I will have all that I require. I will even have a new Knight. He will take some work, but I'm sure he will do quite nicely."

She rose and looked Ian in the eyes, caressing his face with her left hand.

"You understand that you must leave me now, right?"

He stared back at her, his eyes distant and empty.

"Oh, Ian, if only you kould have loved me without my powers to interfere... that was the only thing that kept you from me, even as I had you with me on all of those nights. I have found one, though, that will. Imagine! Someone who will be able to speak with me, and enjoy these last few moments of life before I bring it to an end... someone devoted without my hand to guide them... someone to touch me back. You see why I have to let you go, don't you?"

He said nothing, of course, and merely waited until Ultimecia was finished with him. His inaction, as expected as it was, began to infuriate her, and without thinking, she raked his face with her nails, drawing deep gouges in his flesh and scratching his left eye. Still he did nothing.

"Don't you see? You are nothing! How kould I keep you with me? You don't even kry out in pain! Not even you kan alleviate my pain!"

A stream of blood crossed Ian's lips, and Ultimecia caught it gently with her tongue. Pulling it back in her mouth, she moaned softly as it fell back into her throat. Well, he might not alleviate it... but he could soften its blow...

"But, I am lonely now," she said, stirring, "and Seifer is not yet ready for me. He still follows 'Edea.' Hah! What a notion! Yet, when time kompression is brought about..."

She rose to her feet and led Ian with her. As she walked to her chambers, she said, "Your were never a Squall. But, enough talk. All of this aktivity just irritates me. I'm sure that I kould put this energy to better use."

Throwing open the doors to her chambers that adjoined the throne room, she pushed Ian in and slammed them shut. She had to give her second Knight a proper farewell.

Chapter 38

It was midnight when a knock came at the Sorceress's bedroom door. Stirring restlessly, Ultimecia stretched in her release and smiled to herself, glancing to the open window high above Esthar that Ian Loire had used as his exit from life. Pulling her silken sheets to her chest, she called out sleepily, "Enter."

The massive doors opened, and two soldiers stepped into the room. One of them was a general, and it was he who spoke after they had saluted.

"Most Serene Sorceress of Great Life," he began, "you had given orders to your generals to inform you at once if you had found the SeeD resistance headquarters..."

"Yes," Ultimecia recalled, "and?"

The general beamed somewhat, his face twisting into a wry grin.

"Well, my Lady, we have found that headquarters."

Ultimecia bolted from bed, wrapping her sheets about her as she paced in front of the large windows of her chambers. This was something she hadn't counted on for at least a few more months of fighting...

"Where?" she asked, still pacing.

"The Centra continent, Sorceress. It is at an old site once used as an orphanage and lighthouse. Now, an underground bunker has been found there by the fifty-second division. They ask for permission to make the first strike."

Ultimecia folded her arms and looked out the window. This was one of the moments of her glory, a tribute to both her Mother and her Grandmother. Her crowning achievement would be time compression, there could be no doubt, but she could ill face the void if she had not exacted revenge upon her enemy herself...

"They shall have their permission, but it will be I who leads them during the strike."

The general frowned in both confusion and concern. "Are you certain, my Lady? The SeeDs are very dangerous, and have vowed your destruction."

"And I have vowed theirs," she reminded him. "I will lead them. These are your orders. Prepare a ship for me. I want to be in Centra by no later than nine this morning."

They both saluted and marched proudly from the room. The military minds had been easier to gain control of than the politicians and the citizens. They had a sense of violence that complimented Ultimecia's tumultuous soul. Many served her gladly without the yoke of mind control. Now, as she sat back and contemplated this new development, she realized that in the end, she was glad for at least that small bit of true loyalty.

"Oh, Squall," she sighed, looking toward the window, "we never even had a chance to say goodbye. I miss you... you would be so proud of me!" She rang for her handmaidens, who had for the past few months been dismissed from their duties. Now, however, in meeting her enemy, she needed to appear as her role: their superior and their destructor. The past would have to wait a few more days.

Chapter 39

As Ultimecia stepped onto the Centran shore, she was flanked by her soldiers, thousands of whom had formed a cordon around the lighthouse not half a mile from where they stood. In the interests of safety, Ultimecia's war advisors had asked her to dock a distance away, free of the continual fighting. Indeed, one could still hear the shouts and gunfire of battle as her men laid siege to the bunker, now exposed to the elements by continual bombing. All about her, soldiers ran to and fro, setting up mortar shells and laser charges to assault the SeeDs with. If she was correct, this would be the last group that had for so long eluded her purges.

"General," she asked a tall, highly decorated soldier that escorted her from the boat, "what is our kurrent situation?"

"We have the enemy surrounded on all sides but the waterfront, where they have stationed strategic mines and have escape vessels awaiting them. Only our continual bombing holds them from escape."

Frowning, Ultimecia wrapped herself in her long black robes to ward off the sudden chill in the air. Her hair, now more gray than blonde from her continual travels into Junction Machine Ellone, flew freely in the breeze. This was to be her moment of triumph... a time to celebrate with vengeance the honor of her mother and grandmother. For some reason, she felt nothing but a cold, detached indifference. It was as if all of the fighting had been useless in wake of her recent revelations.

"Cease the bombing..." she ordered, and even under the hold of her sinister power, the general gave a shocked look toward his Sorceress.

"But Great one! If we cease bombing, it will give the SeeDs an opportunity to escape!"

"An opportunity that they will not take," she assured him. "Kall off the bombing."

Resignedly, the general made a slashing motion across his throat, and the gunners sitting nearby powered down their launchers. As the last few bombs fell, there was a moment of continued clamor until the final explosion shook the land.

"Rekall your soldiers." she then commanded, and with just as much uncertainty, the general spoke into his communicator, issuing the order to withdraw.

"Are we letting the enemy go?" he asked his Sorceress carefully. With all the grace and charm she could possibly exude, Ultimecia turned to him and smiled.

"Of kourse not! The SeeDs have been training for their entire, pathetik, mortal lives trying to kill me!" She looked over to the exposed bunker and let out a small laugh, her anticipation growing. "Frankly, I am flattered!"

"I am afraid that I do not understand..." the general admitted, looking about him and his returning soldiers with dismay. "What are we going to do, then?"

"We will do nothing," she purred, "but I will exterminate them myself. They will not run when they are faced with the chance to kill the one they have vowed to destroy." That was what she had been missing. She could not leave her great work up to mere men. She had to finish the job herself.

"But my Sorceress! It is too dangerous to go in alone! There are over fifty SeeDs still in hiding, and anyone of them would..."

"I am not koncerned, so neither should you be." Ultimecia glared at the general, her eyes dark gossamers that threatened his immediate death should he continue to object. "Just get me some sort of transportation to the bunker."

The general bowed and motioned for a car. One of the military floaters moved over to Ultimecia and hovered in place, waiting for her to board. Placing herself gingerly in the back seat, she ordered the driver to head directly for the bunker. Wordlessly, he obeyed, and she watched as the old lighthouse ruins grew closer and closer. Within, she would find a new release for her anger...

The driver stopped the vehicle about thirty feet in front of the complex. All was silent within, which made the driver of the floater gulp nervously.

"Shall I call for reinforcements, Great One?" he asked timorously. Ultimecia merely raised her hand toward him to quiet him. Taking her first few steps toward the bunker, her eyes glowed with malevolence. The opening to the exposed compound spanned the length of the ruins, and from within there was nothing but darkness. All was still, and Ultimecia knew that many pairs of repulsive SeeD eyes could have been watching her at that moment. Still, as she stood there, her eyes carried her gaze past the bunker and up to the top of the decadent lighthouse tower. Taking in the scent of the fresh ocean air that whipped her graying hair behind her, she smiled for a moment, forgetting her place. There was something familiar and refreshing about the place in which she found herself. Closing her eyes, she smiled and spread out her arms, as if expecting a rush of the eternities to greet her and carry her away in a sheer wave of bliss. For as long as the wind caressed her, she could believe that indeed her sins might yet be washed away by some forgiving entity, as if she could put her past behind her and find peace in that one moment as she was carried into a place she had not known in years...

"My Sorceress?" the driver asked again. Ignoring him completely this time, Ultimecia tensed as the wind quieted, and she was left again with her own dark consciousness. She had to take this place from the SeeDs... she had to make it her own!

"Tell the general to meet me here in fifteen minutes." With that command stated, she walked into the dark cavern that the SeeD rebels called home.

Chapter 40

Although the whole of the complex was pitch black, Ultimecia could see perfectly. In the darkness, she would naturally be at home, even without her Sorceress sight to guide her. The walls were carved out of the cliff side in a crude yet efficient manner that denoted military skill. Strewn about were various articles of SeeD paraphernalia, while some magazines lay strewn by what were obviously abandoned guard posts. Stepping amidst the ruin, she moved down the hallways, her ears tuned to the heartbeats of fifty-three SeeDs.

This, she knew, was how it had to be. She had to find them on her own... she had to destroy them herself, punishing them for their allegiance in her mother's and grandmother's stead. Imagining the battle to come, she felt a slight rush as her dormant adrenaline kicked in, a remnant of the human desires she had tried in vain to slay. The musty caverns grew cooler as she moved further into the cliff, the air growing humid. Above her, she knew, was the lighthouse, standing as it had for unknown generations, waiting for her to seek out the secrets it held for her.

Then, from out of nowhere, a flash of steel forced Ultimecia back, her thoughts dulling her other senses to the attack. Before her now stood a young female SeeD, dressed in the tattered rags of an old, faded uniform three sizes too big for her. Hair strewn about wildly and eyes blazing with hate, the girl rushed forward with a hoarse cry, the continuous exposure to the air from the caverns having apparently affected her throat. Catching the blade in her hand without harm, Ultimecia simply smiled and snapped it off at the hilt. Then, just as quickly, she used it to slash the girl's throat, driving the steel deep within her. The SeeD collapsed before her, grasping at the blade and watching in disbelief as the Sorceress moved past her in the darkness.

"Idiot..." Ultimecia breathed, and with a thought, she caused the girl's blood that spattered her dress to disappear. Only fifty-two more to go.

As she walked the halls, she met similar resistance, all of the SeeDs attacking with their useless magics that she was able to absorb without difficulty or great harm. Each one met a fate as horrible as or worse than the first one that had dared to attack her. Her mind was swimming in giddy euphoria as she caught the scent of their blood, its coppery odor a delicious taint to the air that her darkened soul absorbed agreeably. Even as she had turned the weapons of some thirty SeeDs into their own proper entrails, she had not lost her lust for the kill. Each SeeD slain brought her so much closer to the completion of her task... a will ready to quench her need for vengeance while preparing to harness the powers to control time. Breathing deeply, she knew that she was the most powerful Sorceress that had ever lived: all others had cowered before the soulless SeeDs, their powers contained and crushed by those humans who had dared to hide their murderous joys behind the symbols of duty and honor. As the uniformed brats fell, she laughed, tears falling from her eyes. Before time was ended, all Sorceresses who had ever lived would be vindicated.

A light began to slowly appear at the opposite end of the corridor. She walked toward it quickly, knowing that the rest of her prey was on the other side of that entrance. Striding with assured confidence, she broke into the light, her eyes taking in the breathtaking scenery before her... until she finally stood in amazement at the scene before her.

The beach that now held four small SeeD watercraft was strewn with rubble, a tribute to the years of neglect the old lighthouse had suffered. The same wonderful breeze now roared past her, but it now played herald to an even greater surprise. Eyes darting about the beach, she knew with total certainty where she was. She could never forget the rocks jutting out into the ocean, each a small platform from which they would dive into the cool ocean as the salty air sent shivers of contentment up their backs. She could see him, sitting on the sandy shore, looking at her with adoring eyes. There were no more mistakes to be made. This was Squall's beach!

Looking back at her were thirty SeeDs, each one ready to board the escape boats and attempt to free themselves from the Estharian raid. However, after seeing their hated enemy emerge from the bunker, placed neatly within their grasp, all quickly ran away from the craft and ran at her, their wordless cries a sweet symphony to the Sorceress above them. Each one tattered and wounded from the intensive bombing, they bore the same ruined weapons that their counterparts inside had wielded with such audacity. Her face, known to them all of their young lives, had been imprinted upon their minds with but one goal: kill.

As they ran at her, Ultimecia threw her hands in the air and let out a piercing cackle. Although they did not stop running, the SeeDs slowed their approach, cautious of the one who had been reputed to hold the power of thousands of her predecessors. Indeed, red dress flowing behind her in the wind, arms outstretched in anticipatory glory, she was most imposing, although she could not have been more than two years older than the youngest SeeD on the beach.

"Fithos lusek wekos vinosek!" Ultimecia shrieked with delusional contentment, her arms making intricate gestures in the air that crackled with energy. "To think... you have all spent your lives trying to destroy me... ME! Now you stand before her, your foe of nightmares... make your puny attempts! Kall down the forces of the eternities upon yourselves! Stand before judgment and receive your final rewards!"

The whole of her body glowed with the anger she had held within for so long. Here, she could finally rid herself of one of the burdens that kept her mind from solely concentrating on time compression... now the SeeDs would die!

"Look at all of you... white angels of death! Where is your power now?"

Indeed, their efforts were futile, as each of the spells they cast in her direction fizzled into nothingness as they met with her aura. Glowing a bright white now, Ultimecia smiled widely and thrust her hand forward, making a grabbing gesture. Immediately, the three SeeDs that led the other thirty up the rocky cliffs grabbed at their throats as their throats collapsed. Without pausing to review her word, she muttered another incantation to herself and raised several of the SeeDs into the air, throwing them into the rocks below with the force of a tornado. Perched upon the rocks, she seemed a beacon of evil, a fountain from whence untold agony awaited those who approached.

Still, the SeeDs were driven by the fanatical passions that had bound them to their callings for their whole lives. Many still climbed up toward her, their spells uselessly battling against her shield, but stubbornly refusing to quit. As the setting sun began to climb further down the horizon, Ultimecia watched as the children climbed toward her, the fading light hiding their faces in the shadows of the cliff and rendering them white-clothed demons who chased their quarry as though a fox, their lives forfeit unless they pursued their one fleeting purpose.

"I am taking this beach back for us, Squall," Ultimecia told the setting sun, as if her old Knight, her love, could still hear her. "I am taking our home back..."

Ultimecia looked down at the SeeDs who still came after her. It was time that she end the game... raising her hands, she pulled in toward her stomach with both hands, gathering the winds about her for her final attack. As she did so, the waves of the ocean gathered together, the power that held them clutching them as easily as one hand holds another. Not even aware of the growing spectacle behind them, the SeeDs were caught off guard as the giant tidal wave crashed to the rocks, the force of the water crushing them into the cliffs and dragging many of them back out into their aquatic tombs. It had all happened so fast, that Ultimecia could savor only the aftermath, knowing that her enemies were dead.