Part 74: Part Seventy-Four: Connection

Part Seventy-Four: Connection


After the flashback to Laguna, we're left on the line with Ellone.


Squall doesn't get it right away.


Ellone can hear Squall's thoughts at the moment. Makes you wonder if she can always read the minds of people she's borrowing.

: (Yeah...)
Ellone: "Connect" is just what I call it. It's when I use my special power. Oh, I know... I must be asleep. That's why I can't control it.

This explains why Ellone suddenly has telepathy. I wonder if she knows it makes the person on the other end pass out.


She has the decency to ask once, I guess.

: (Let me go back.)

Squall isn't feeling it.


But Ellone just ignores him, and we cut to Laguna at Edea's orphanage.


Hey, someone might actually be about to get a straight answer.


Wow, there it is. This is somewhat obvious, what with the major event of the past being a war with Esthar, but it at least fills something in.

: I've been travelling, tryin' all I can to get inside Esthar, but...

We know this because we keep up with Timber Maniacs, but this is the first time it's addressed in a mandatory scene.



: Yeah, yeah! Exactly it!

So, Ellone wasn't taken because of her power, but just because Adel doesn't want to die without an heir.

Edea: Is she your daughter?
: No...but she's just so cute! Oh, I wish I could hear her voice!

Laguna is, by all indications, Ellone's guardian, but he neglects to actually mention that, which makes this look weirder than it is.


Hearing voices mentioned, Squall can't help but "interject".



It doesn't seem like Laguna actually hears Squall's thoughts, he just gets a weird feeling.



: (That way, there might be a chance to save her.)

Ellone is the first person to hear Squall admit this, as well as the person who triggered all of Squall's abandonment issues in the first place. Ellone is the opposite of the SeeDs in a few ways: the SeeDs are losing their memories, Ellone has access to even other people's; Squall won't talk to the other SeeDs, but he can't help "talking" to Ellone; the soceress du jour wants SeeDs dead but Ellone as her heir. Ellone isn't on the screen very often, but she's one of the most important people in this story.


Unfortunately, she can't actually help him here.

As far as changing the past goes, changing the scene in Julia's hotel room or in the Trabia canyon by reading Timber Maniacs isn't actually changing the past, it's just observing something that happened. The main difference between that and changing the past is that the two versions of any given scene can't coexist in a single save (i.e., you can't have Ward fight the dragon with Laguna, read the magazine, and go back and have him not be there).

Ellone: When I was kidnapped, Uncle Laguna went on a journey to find me... But because he did, Uncle Laguna wasn't able to be by Raine's side when she died.


This is the first time that's been mentioned.





Aside from, like, NORG, this is the first time that anyone in a position of power is explaining what they're doing to Squall.


Ellone is powerful, but not omnipotent.


And now she's going to leave again.

Ellone: I'll try again to speak to you this way.


She's gone, but at least she said goodbye.


And Squall is left to face his loneliness all over again.


Now we're back to the present. Things haven't changed much.


For example, Squall is back to yelling at Rinoa.



: Ellone! Can you hear me!?

If she can, she's not saying anything.

: Send me back to the moment Rinoa went into a coma!


Ellone does not have telepathy, so there's no answer.


So we'll have to find her in the flesh.

: (White SeeD... Edea's SeeD... Edea's SeeD?

What the fuck does "Edea's SeeD" mean, anyway?



And here's our next goal: to grasp at some straws. Ellone straight-up said she couldn't change the past, but we're not long on options here.


Taking one last look at Rinoa, Squall sets out on his mission to find the White SeeD ship and Ellone.