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Thunder boomed in the dark night as lightning lit up the landscape for a brief moment, showing the sight of a castle. It loomed over the water, floating silently in the air; an opulent building, with complex spires and overwrought architecture that hinted an exquisite mind with a taste for ornate decoration and styles. Once, this same building could have been a center of culture, the heart of a budding state.
And yet, it had seen better days. There was a vague sense of disrepair to the whole structure, as though its caretakers merely went through the motions. An air of doom and gloominess coated the castle, like an old, worn out cape that fit perfectly, too familiar to cast it aside. It had lost its luster, like a golden coin left to rot and rust in the ground, forgotten by all. The rain that poured out of the blackest clouds fell upon the dark, cold marble that gave form to the castle, giving it a foreboding appearance.
The castle. Her castle... The place she called home.
She’d lived here for more than... How long had it been? Decades? Centuries, perhaps? She couldn’t say anymore; at some point she’d lost count and she just... stopped bothering. Time flew rapidly and yet for her, it didn't seem to pass at all.
Civilizations fell and rose, organizations were disbanded and formed, continents and islands were destroyed and created and yet... she remained. Like a painful memory from old legends, a reminder of long forgotten eras. Oh, many had tried to stand up to her, face her to be her downfall. None succeed and many more died from her retaliations, her punishments for their daring boldness, for their foolishness. For believing they could stand up to her.
What folly!
She didn't even remember when she had started her quest for power, though it did not matter either. What really mattered was why . For as long as she could remember, she had always been in the castle. Her home... her prison. A manifestation of the state of her soul: rundown, old, worn out. It disgusted her, and yet... she couldn't get away from it. It was the painful reminder of what she had lost. Or rather, that she’d lost something .
She couldn't remember what, but she knew –she knew – she hadn't always been as she was now. That didn't matter anymore either. It had been a small fickle of irritation for several years until it died.
Now she just... was. She was Ultimecia, the Terror, the Sorceress at the end of Time. She’d been all that for so long, she could scarcely remember a time when she hadn’t been only that.
A sigh escaped from her lips as she gazed at the dark sky, staring blankly past the heavy rain at the full moon that loomed over her head.
The time had finally come, the legendary SeeDs had finally arrived to strike her down before Time Compression was completed. She’d known they would come, sooner or later. She could feel them getting closer to her, could sense their presences crawling like ants, burrowing through her castle like eager worms.
She’d ordered her guardians, the monsters she kept under her command, to stop them from violating the castle with their presence, the castle she once wanted for them both to live in. A childish dream from her past turned into a living nightmare.
Ultimecia twitched, trying to catch the fleeting thought. ‘Who?’ she wondered, but the answer had already washed away, hidden in the depths of her labyrinthine mind.
Blinking, she turned away from the unpleasant silence and focused on the boundaries of her domain. Her guardians tried to stop the legendary SeeDs, but were slain one after one. Her accursed enemies were regaining the powers she took from them in an attempt to slow down their advance. ‘A foolish hope,’ she though bitterly.
She knew very well how their struggle for dominance would end. Somehow, she knew. The memories were blurred, like an old movie or trying to look at a picture from far away. Like being told a story and recounting the details later. Those details were gone or distorted, but the bigger picture remained. She'd be killed by the legendary SeeDs and Time Compression would be stopped before it could be completed. Her imminent demise was closer at each second, and she'd known it for as long as she could remember.
She'd tried to prepare herself for this mere fight, fixed in the unstoppable stream of time like a rock, but a small, insidious voice in her head told her that it was pointless. Fate couldn't be stopped. And yet, she stubbornly cast those thoughts aside and kept going with her plans, with Time Compression.
Her lips curled into an enraged snarl, gripping tightly the railing of the balcony. Thunder boomed in the distance, as if answering the hatred burning within. Lightning lit up the night.
The hate and anger that engulfed her were like old companions, accompanying her in her last journey, her last fight. It had been so long since she had felt something different to those emotions, something else aside from obsession... It had been too long since she had seen him for the last time, so long since she had seen his smile. Her Knight... Protecting her from harm, no matter what. Her... Her...
‘I can’t remember the name,’ she thought numbly. She could not even recall his face, only the thought that he had a beautiful smile. Kind eyes.
A strange fond smile appeared in her face as she recalled what little she could about him. It felt awkward, as if her own lips didn't remember how to do it anymore. She remembered... yes, she remembered that. The way he fought to put barriers between himself and others, believing to be safe behind them. He hadn't liked to be brought into other's problems, but somehow she broke his defenses and got to know the person underneath.
“Of kourse I did. Who kould resist me?” she mused softly with a smirk, but it was tinged with melancholy.
The events of his death were faint, hard to recall. The pain, that excruciating pain that tore her apart, had been too painful, too unbearable to keep. She felt both relief and anger at the fact she could not remember. The only thing she knew for certain was that it had been her own doing. Her fault.
Oh, how she missed him... She had spent so many times gazing at the full moon, just like that day, trying and falling to let the pain go away. And now, she could feel something stirring in the depths of her being. Somehow, he was here, in the castle. Ultimecia knew it was utterly impossible, yet it was true nonetheless.
The only ones apart in the castle apart from her and her guardians were the SeeDs, making their way to her location and set in killing her. A bitter bark of laughter echoed in the throne room, escaping from her lips. She didn’t know how this happened, but she could make an educated guess.
The person she’d loved, whose faded memory she still carried with her, had entered Time Compression with the fated mission to kill her. Oh, the irony.
Not long after, she felt the life force of Catoblepas fade away and realized that now only two of her most powerful and loyal minions remained, Tiamat and Omega. Tiamat, once a Guardian Force more powerful than Bahamut and almost equal to the most powerful of all Guardians. Sadly, she had been unable to locate the location Eden slept in its slumber and that had irritated her many times as somewhere deep in her mind, she was sure she knew where it was.
And Omega... perhaps the most powerful being in existence. Its mere presence provoked a disturbance in the threads of existence, like ripples in a puddle of water. At this point, Ultimecia still didn't understand the reason why the being had sworn loyalty to her. Yet, that would cease to be a concern when she finished Time Compression and all reality became part of her.
Tiamat would fail her, of that she knew. It was fated, after all. The Legendary SeeDs facing the Sorceress. What a beautiful story, part fable and part prophecy. It had been a whispered legend, one passed from mouth to ear, fearful from her spies. But she till clung to the useless, pointless hope that Omega would stop them somehow.
A foolish hope, Ultimecia thought while smiling bitterly several minutes later. Omega had failed her, killed by the ones it was supposed to stop by any means.
Soon, too soon, they stood behind the doors of her throne room, preparing mentally for the final battle. She could feel them there. Could feel him . Anytime now, they’d burst through the doors.
Ultimecia glanced one final time at the moon, a melancholic and sad look crossing briefly her face before her face shifted into a scowl, twisting her usually regal features. She leaned against her throne, caressing the small necklace made of silver and the symbol hung by its rope a final time. It was a memento of him, one that she always carried with her. The only physical reminder of him.
The doors opened.
It was time. Let the die of Fate do their magic.
They stood defiantly in front of her, fearless and brave. She studied them carefully, analyzing them extensively. Ultimecia had to admit the fact that they were bold, they had triumphed where all others had failed. Or perhaps they were just too foolish. Of that, she wasn't sure, but it was of no importance. Her gaze wandered over their faces, nothing the defiance in them, but then they fell upon him. The sight of him after so long jostled her memories, and like a flash, she saw a collection of lifetimes. A locket full of mementos, full of memories.
Ultimecia almost lost her scowl, feeling a smile threatening to appear in her face. Instead of giving them flight, she crushed those emotions and regained control of herself before she lost it completely. Deep within her blackened heart, something had stirred, an unknown emotion thought lost long ago.
Not wanting to loosen emotions that made her feel uncomfortable, she looked at the girl standing next to him. Too close to him, she noted as her eyes narrowed. Her scowl easily returned, and it did so with full force this time. All her body screamed at her to kill the whore clad in blue for stealing him from her. He was hers and hers alone, not a passing entertainment for some random common whore!
For a moment, she only saw red. She would show that bitch why she was called the Terror in her time!
Ultimecia waved furiously a hand and started speaking. "SeeD... SeeD... SeeD, SeeD, SeeD! Kurse all SeeD! Swarming akross generations like lokusts! You disgust me. The world was on the brink of that ever-elusive 'time kompression.' Insolent fools! Your vain krusade ends here, SeeDs. The price of 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 laughed, pouring all the poisonous malice within her as she rose from her throne. She glared venomously at the Seeds fated to killed her, specially at that whore in blue.
“Whom shall I exterminate first?”
The fight started, and it did not take long for things to escalate in violence during their bout. Spells were fired from each sides with the intention to kill. Attacks were dodged, flesh was torn and blood was shed in a dance of death and pain, of sorrow and hate. Ultmecia attacked the SeeDs viciously, trying to prove that Fate had no hold on her whatsoever, trying to prove that she had the last word in her ever-eternal struggle against the very fluctuant and omnipresent forces of nature.
But even in her frenzied state she couldn't bring herself to seriously hurt her Knight and yet… she kept fighting, confident that he was powerful enough to survive every one of her attacks. Oh, and quite powerful he was! She almost purred from satisfaction. There it was in front of her, the strength she remembered faintly, the intoxicating confidence he fought with. No wonder why he’d been, would be, her true Knight.
She was really surprised when she found herself out of breath minutes later and a flicker of dread installed itself in her heart, but she cast aside those thoughts. She looked at her Knight almost pleading for forgiveness.
'I'm sorry for doing this, my love, my Knight...'
And yet, for all her regret, she still muttered the words. "I will invoke your greatest fear to battle... Behold Griever, the strongest G.F.!"
The battle went on and on and for a short time, Ultimecia thought that she had won when only her Knight remained on his feet, although staggering visibly. She allowed her hopes to rise too much, thinking that she could knock him unconscious and finish the others off. ‘Once we are together, I can make him see, make him understand! We can finally break this never ending cycle and be together again, forever!’
Unfortunately, those hopes were soon crushed as he resuscitated his companions, and they cured him. Feeling the crushing weight of bitter disappointment, Ultimecia junctioned herself unto Griever when she saw that even the mighty beast had trouble facing the Legendary SeeDs, but the sentiment of dread grew larger and larger as each minute passed.
She fought without stopping her attacks for a moment, but the SeeDs were relentless in their purpose, each covering the other's back. They were strong, and her Knight was the strongest. She could feel a sense of pride for him, for how powerful he was. Her whole body ached for his, oh, how badly she wanted to claim those lips for herself again.
Her junction to Griever had given her incredible power and yet, they managed to weaken her immensely. Now, the question she had to make to herself was if she was willing to break the boundaries that engulfed her human condition and become something... else.
Was she willing?
'I wish you hadn't to see this, my love... I don't want you to see whatever I'll become...' But she’d come this far. She couldn’t stop now.
Ultimecia made her choice.
She broke free of her human form, a weak vessel she’d long since surpassed, and broke through every barrier to achieve another stage of existence. A stage that deep down scared and disgusted her, but she didn't care anymore, the only thing that mattered to her at that point was the objective she was aiming for.
But even then, her struggle against fate had been a pointless one.
She fought. She struggled. She bled. All for her purpose, her objective.
And she lost. As simple as that.
Being defeated left a bitter taste in her mouth. All the effort she put to make Time Compression a reality to waste. Every carefully planned step she considered crumbled uselessly by the interference of half a dozen people. It would be infuriating if it wasn’t so tragic. To think her own Knight was the one that lead them against her only made it even worse.
'Soon... Soon I'll be able to close my eyes and let it go... I'll be able to sleep... to forget...' she thought as her final form crumbled.
But before that, she had something to do. Something every sorceress had to do when in the brink of death. Pass on her sorceress' powers. She let herself fall into Time Compression, when the different threads of time were starting to weave and fix themselves. She’d created a fixed point in the timeline by talking about the SeeDs’ childhoods – the catalyst she needed to reach the past and put an end to this at long last.
As she felt the remnants of her own self being pulled, she couldn’t help but think that that old fool of Hyne had really made a great job when creating the world.
She knew she’d appeared in the right place when she got out of Time Compression. Her whole existence would bring her to the right person. It was something like a failsafe engrained deep down in every sorceress' DNA.
She heard voices, one slightly angry and wary; the other clearly belonged to a woman, with a calm and soothing voice.
Had she raised her head, she would have laughed madly at the sheer irony of her situation. The woman whom she would control was the same one that was going to receive her powers. If only she’d raised her head, she would have been hard-pressed whether to cackle insanely or weep at the implications of it. A cycle. A cycle without end, always spinning and never stopping.
But she didn't. She kept her head low, bowed in pain, exhaustion and defeat. She could only trudge forward, nearly spent and only holding on because of the intrinsic need to pass on her powers. She thought that was it, her final moment. That after passing on her powers, she'd be finally able to sleep.
Surprisingly, Fate had something else planned for her.
Ultimecia appeared in another place inside Time Compression, a small portion of terrain suspended in the ether. There was nothing to be seen on the horizon. She immediately fell to her knees, with almost all her force gone. In the void, trapped in the unraveling of time as it wove back itself, there was only her…
Her and her Knight, she realized when she lifted I head. Just doing so felt like her whole body was being crushed.
'What? Why... I'm still alive? Oh, of course... I'm still dying. I only have minutes at best.'
"You're still alive," he just said.
"Does that bother you, little SeeD?" She breathed deeply, closing her eyes in frustration. That is not what she’d wanted to say. The words had spilled from her mouth before she even thought about it.
"It does, considering you tried to kill us," he calmly replied. Ultimecia could feel his calmness once again when she thought she never would.
She chuckled hoarsely. "You do have a point, little SeeD," she said.
She saw him scowl slightly at her snide remark. Ultimecia had to wonder why she was still pushing his buttons at this point. It was over; any moment now, she’d disappear from existence. Why torture herself like this?
‘It might be I really didn't know how to interact with him anymore,’ she mused with deep wistfulness. ‘What could be said to someone that will love you in the future, but killed you in the past?’
She tried to get to her feet and walk towards him, but even standing felt like thousands of sharp spears passing through her. She couldn’t even take four steps before she staggered and fell to the ground, cursing her weakness. She could sense his hesitance, but he eventually approached her, crouching down to one knee.
"You're dying, right?" he asked.
Ultimecia gave him an irate look, but there was no heat in her yellow eyes. "Very perceptive of you, little SeeD. What of it?”
"Nothing. I'll stay here until you go."
"And why, pray tell me, would you do such a thing, huh?" she said with a sneer. Inwardly, however, she was trying furiously to think of a way to tell him everything she wanted to say. Needless to say, she wasn't having a big success and her remaining life-force was diminishing as each second passed.
"No one should die alone." There was a degree of kindness in his words, and Ultimecia couldn’t help but stare at him, thinking how he used to speak curtly as well before.
Finally, after what seemed hours, she snorted weakly, letting her head fall. "Hn, do as you wish. Don't expect a thank you from me, though," she said, looking away from him, but he didn't say anything. He just stayed there, with her.
Minutes flew and at some point she started to cough lightly, wracked by terrible pain coursing through her body. It didn't surprise her. She could feel her body breaking down for good. Once a sorceress had passed on her powers, there was no reason for her to stay alive. Her own time was coming; the fact she was still alive was a surprise in and of itself.
The silence proved too unbearable, however, and eventually, Ultimecia broke it.
"You must feel proud, knowing that you've defeated the powerful and evil Ultimecia." It was a dig, an attempt to get a rise out of him, but he just stared at her with those emotionless eyes, and he simply shrugged.
"You were going to destroy everything. We had to stop you."
She couldn't suppress the weak, bitter chuckle that escaped from her throat, blood spilling from her mouth. He made it sound so simple. A confrontation that spanned centuries, summarized in two meager lines. It was so like him. The pain seemed to be increasing without a clear stop. He just kept staring at her, like the silent Knight she remembered. He was like a guardian statue that only sprung into action when a threat appeared.
Ultimecia gazed at the grey sky. There weren't stars above them, only dull grey. Everywhere she looked, there was only that dull, drab color. "I tried so hard… I only wanted to fix things. Time Compression was the only way I could do it..." she murmured weakly, but she noticed he’d glanced at her. Was that interest what she saw in his eyes.
Perhaps...
"I've lived for so long… I lost the will to live so many years ago. I lost all my loved ones. Time doesn't wait for anyone. I had to see as they all lived, loved, experienced... aged . I had to see how they all died. I buried them all, with my own hands. But he was with me all the time, protekting me, loving me... my Knight..." she smiled, remembering the good old times while her audience listened silently.
"But time... ‘tis a kruel thing. I saw how his hair turned grayish, then white, while I stayed young... I saw how his body started to betray the mind, growing weak every senseless year that passed." It definitely felt odd opening up to him – the person that knew her most… that would know her the most.
Ultimecia could only guess he would leave that whore in blue before knowing her. ‘Good riddance,’ she thought with disdain, but another coughing fit wracked her body, reminding her of her impending demise. She could feel her final moment nearing closer and closer.
"But then it happened. We had been travelling around the world, visiting and exploring all kinds of landskapes and ancient ruins. We didn't bother anyone... they didn't bother us – but then they found us. I had bekome too powerful to be allowed to live, they said. He tried to protekt me, but they moked him… kalled him an old legend… whose time had long passed. Still, he did with experience what he kouldn't do with strength... but they were too many. One got a luky hit from behind. My Knight fell... protekting me... Killed by the ones... he'd kalled comrades in arms long ago..." she spoke.
She could feel a strange warmth running down her cheeks and when she looked down at the ground beneath them, she saw the wet patches. Tears. They were tears, falling down from her eyes. She was crying. Ultimecia raised a shaking arm to her eyes, touching them. She could not remember the last time she’d cried.
But then she gritted her teeth, clenching her jaw as she felt the all-too-familiar rage encompass her as the remembered the events from so long ago. "I then realized... that if I kouldn't bring him back from the death... I would bekome stronger. Stronger than anyone. So powerful that I'd be able to fuse all times in one and then... I'd be able to see him again. Just one more moment... konsekuences be damned... I had to see him again."
Ultimecia saw him furrow his eyebrows slightly in confusion, trying to figure out her words.
"And now I've seen him again. I feel… like I had accomplished my purpose... yet my own Knight had to fight me..." she muttered, but the words started tumbling out of her mouth like a summer flood. She fell into a frenzied state. "It shouldn't have been like this! It wasn't supposed to be like this! I only wanted to see him again! Why do you mock me so much, Hyne? Why? Damn you! Damn you to hell! IT'S NOT FAIR!" she roared to the heavens with a raspy voice.
From the corner of her eye, she saw him narrowing his eyes as he looked at her – as if he were trying to see something, trying to figure something out. All of a sudden, they widened in realization. Ultimecia didn't understand what he’d seen until she shifted on her spot and noticed that the gift he’d given her was openly displayed, hanging in the air from her neck.
"That's-! But then, you're-!" he tried to say, but I didn't understand what he was trying to say.
"You were the only one who was there for me! You were the only one who protected me! I... only wanted to see you again... Squall, my Knight. My love..." she replied, weakly reaching out to him with a hand.
Paralyzed by the shock, he didn’t move and allowed Ultimecia to caress his face. She sighed longingly, peering into his eyes. Those beautiful eyes... how she’d longed to see them again.
A sudden fit of violent, bloody coughs erupted from her, a much longer one. She crumbled to the ground, lying on her back; she could tell she only had a couple of minutes left at best.
"S- Squall..." she called out to him with a weak, hoarse voice, which pulled him out of his stunned trance.
"What- what is it?"
"Please. I'm... dying... kould you... for the me-memories... the mome-moments we shared... we'll share... k-kould you kiss me... a final time?" Ultimecia asked with the last of her strength. She only wanted to feel his lips one last time before the end. She could see him struggling with himself. The sight of Gryphus around her neck must have caught him off guard, but his reaction… she didn’t understand it. He’d gifted it to her in her past. He’d gift it to her in his future. Why had the sight of it shaken him so?
"Alright... I'll do it," he finally muttered.
Ultimecia smiled at him, a warmth sensation spreading in her chest. Most of her body had already gone numb, but such warmth filled her with a sensation of accomplishment, a final sensation of happiness at the end. He approached ever so cautiously towards her. Tense, as if expecting her to attack him. Did he really think she’d attack him? He was –would be– her Knight. She’d never attack him!
He leaned down, lowering his head. This... this was the moment she’d waited for so long. Ultimecia felt giddy, gazing up at him. At last, his lips pressed against her bloodied ones and kissed her. At that moment, all felt right. It was short, but for her it felt like it was meant to be.
He stared at her with an unreadable look. Ultimecia opened her mouth to speak when a flow of memories entered her brain, and she groaned slightly at the nausea. What was-? Examining at the memories, she tried to suppress a smirk. Time Compression still had given her the last word. At the end, she’d been victorious…
She looked at Squall and offered him a thin smile. The complicated do she’d worn for so long was undone, and each breath she took hurt. Looking down at her feet, she could see them crumbling away, shattering into a million particles in a process that quickly overtook her body.
There was no more time left. It was time to say goodbye. "It's... time. Squall... I- I love you, My Knight."
And then she knew no more.
They had done it. They had stopped that evil witch and her plan of Time Compression. To celebrate their success, they threw a party at Balamb Garden after reuniting with all the others, overjoyed with the end of the confrontation. There were SeeDs everywhere, and many other people involved in stopping Ultimecia were there as well: Laguna, Kiros, Ward, Edea, Ellone, Cid...
For his part, Squall and Rinoa were at the balcony, looking at the full moon after stepping away from the part to spend some time alone. Rinoa approached him with lidded eyes and a faint smile.
"There's something that would be perfect to match this night, you know," Rinoa said softly.
"Hm?"
"Don't 'hm' me, Squall, just kiss me," said the brunette, wrapping her arms around his neck while locking her lips against his. The SeeD commander slowly lifted his arms and placed them on her hips, giving into the kiss. However, Squall tensed all of a sudden, and he removed his arms from Rinoa's hips.
"Squall? What's wrong?" Rinoa asked worriedly, but he refused to meet her gaze, looking away.
"I-I'm sorry, I need to talk with Nida for a moment about our course of navigation," Squall replied and left the balcony without looking at her before she could manage to think properly.
"Squall..." she said dumbfounded, not knowing what just happened, but then a terrible thought came to her. It was something that had happened in the void, when time was rewinding itself from Time Compression.
Flashback
Rinoa didn't know for how long she had been within Time Compression, walking without stopping in a seemingly endless whiteness.
"Squall! Squall! Where are you, Squall!"
"You won't find him... for now," answered a new voice from behind, a voice she recognized. Rinoa whirled around, only to see Ultimecia standing there. She was much diminished from the proud Sorceress that had put the entirety of reality at risk, but there was still a hint of her former haughtiness in the smirk she wore.
"You! What did you do to him!" Rinoa yelled, but the only response she got from her enemy was an arrogant smile.
"Me? I did nothing. We're only talking. It's truly amazing Time Compression, who would have thought that there kould exist more than one of yourself in it… It really is an enlightening experience," the silver haired sorceress mused out loud.
"I don't care about that! Where's Squall? If you've done something to him…" she threatened in a surprising show of anger, glaring at Ultimecia.
The most powerful witch only growled at her and glared as well. "You're lucky that I don't have my powers anymore, little girl," Ultimecia said, with a mocking tone at the end. "If not, I'd have reduced you to a mere spek of dust."
Rinoa only snorted. "Yeah, and why don't you have any more powers? Because you lost against us!" she gloated with a smirk.
Ultimecia looked at her with pure, unadulterated hatred in her eyes, but it was soon replaced by a cocky smirk. "I may have lost to you, whore... but who laughs last, laughs best. I'll take your most precious thing from you. After all, he belongs to me!" she laughed.
Though it took her a few seconds to work out what she was referring to, Rinoa gasped once she connected the dots. "What did you do to Squall, bitch?! What did you do!"
"As I said – nothing, little girl. I only reminded him of where his true love lays. Because why would I harm the man I love?" she explained with a cocky smirk.
"You lie! You don't know him!" Rinoa said.
"Oh, poor, poor child. He may love you now… but time passes. Time changes everything, no matter what. He may love you now… but a part of him will always belong to me and only me... whenever you kiss him, he will always think about me, he'll think about what kould have been. He'll think about everything I said to him in Time Compression. This is my last gift for you, little girl. Kan you be with a man who won't be able to stop thinking about his real love? It's a shame that I won't be there to see it.”
Ultimecia let out a mad cackle, sending it high to the grayish sky. Rinoa, in a fit of rage, raised Shooting Star and struck her down with a roar. However, even as Ultimecia’s body crumbled to nothingness, her cackle remained for a time, echoing in the air before fading away...
End Flashback
Rinoa stared the spot where Squall had disappeared through the door into the party. A part of her thought of going back inside and looking for him, but something held her back. Surely, Ultimecia was just playing tricks with her! Surely, she was just lying to get a rise out of her! Making one last show of her viciousness and vindictiviness to poison whatever she could before dying for good. And yet, doubt gripped her. The joy she'd felt until moments ago soured somewhat and she turned to stare at the rolling plains as Balamb Garden traversed to its former spot.
"It can't be... She was lying, I'm sure of it. Squall loves me! He wouldn't let himself be brainwashed by that... that bitch," Rinoa muttered and lifted her gaze to stare at the moon. Behind her, the party was still going strong, with merry laughter laughter and singing reaching her ears. "Right?"