Disclaimer: The author has no knowledge of what Square decided to do with the young Adel as she was before the Sorceress War. "The Young Adel" was created out of the forgetful author's imagination, and does not intend to represent what Square meant young Adel was supposed to be like. Furthermore, the game does not tell what the young Adel was like either, and Rinoa did not dwell on this as well. This is only mere speculation on what she might have been like, taken from a point in the storyline of Final Fantasy VIII. Please take with a grain of salt and enjoy.

THE YOUNG ADEL

She was utterly destroyed. The great muscles twitched once more and lay still, the evil eyes shut and glowed no more. Rinoa pulled herself away from the enormous bloodied mess that used to be the sorceress, just as Laguna and Ellone arrived.

"Ellone, now's your chance!"
"Ok, Ellone. Just get Rinoa back."
"I...was inside Adel...The young Adel..."

* * *

They ran. The Esthar soldiers were chasing them again. Chasing them for their powers. She stopped to catch her breath.

"Run. Take her somewhere safe."
"But I must protect you."
"They're not after you, they're after me. Please. Take Adel and run, my dear knight." "My dear sorceress..." "I don't have much time ahead of me. If you and Adel are safe, then I will be happy. That is all I want." "Yes..." "And dear...please keep this."

The sorceress plucked the ruby from her necklace and gave it to him.

"Now...go!"

The man took the child and ran off with tears streaming down his face. He dared not turn around to see his sorceress being hacked to pieces. The child shook and trembled in his arms and began to cry.

* * *

Her eyes were swollen, and she could not see very well behind the salty veil of tears. But she knew what was happening. She convulsed as the soldiers' weapons struck her mother. She felt her hatred. And her anger, as she burned the attacking soldiers. She felt the intensity of the flames as they torched the soldiers. The bright, red flames, the same color of her hair, her eyes, and the ruby...

* * *

The Great Salt Lake was many times more beautiful than the night city of Esthar. There was no one there either. But they were destroying it. It was slowly turning to waste. I hated them for that too. I hated them so much that my fists glow with power. I didn't understand it myself either, but I've accepted the power in myself. I am very much attracted to it. I looked at the surface of the lake. It was very still, but it was losing color. And so was my reflection. It was a thick figure, not big, but not small, and lined with slender muscles that made the shape of the reflection not smooth, but somewhat jagged. It wore my mother's ruby on the mask. Its red eyes stared back at me. They were sharp in comparison to my skin, and deeper than they were last time I looked, with more hatred. Mother had called them rubies. Now they were the color of blood. I did not like them. They scared me. I was afraid of myself. I needed to stop the hatred. But I could not stop hating them, they, who killed mother, and casted me away. If they were gone, then I would not have to hate. They had to be destroyed. Mother's ruby beckoned. I turned away from the reflection and headed over the rocks. I'll start with that one who killed mother.

The city lights sparkled. And so did the road. But it sparkled a translucent blue that reflected the lights above. They danced together in the night sky. I crouched over the top of the Presidental Palace. It was cold tonight, as it was last night, and the night before it, but I didn't mind. I have already grown used to the cold. It was a beautiful spot over here, better than standing on the road, watching that big, ugly building blot out the sun during the day. It was nice here because there was nobody here. I wished for the night to last, so I wouldn't have to move off of the building, but it could not stay. Not when they lived and dominated the city. The cool breeze swathed my bare torso, and I closed my eyes.

Father was not feeling very well. The blood on the floor was a dark, unhealthy color. He had become a sorceror, and told people their fortunes. He lay propped up in bed, but he did not look very well. His skin was very pale, and he felt cold with sweat. The blood dribbled from his mouth, chin and hands. And his eyes had turned red. Red like blood. I did not like that color.

"Father?"
"My dear child...I am about to leave the world eternally..." "No, don't go." "I must tell you this before I go...You will be...a sorceress...Your mother's ruby...I received her powers...she died..."

He told them what would happen. That they were bound to be ruled by a sorceress. That sorceress was me.

"No."
"She wanted me to have them...I saw...saw...please remember...hatred...is your power...but...it will...destroy you...in the end...be...careful..."

They did not want to be ruled by a sorceress. The same sorceress that killed off their troops and left their city defenseless. They said I had to leave. But father did not listen. He still kept me.

"Father..."
"Yes...You look just like your mother...the same red hair...the same red eyes...Please keep this..."

He reached over and grabbed the mask he wore on the day we left mother. He took mother's ruby and placed it in the groove on the mask. Then he placed it on my face.

"Hah, it's a bit too big...But I'm sure you'll grow to fit it...My child...Adel...You are not the fated child...Good-bye..."

He said he could see the future. But he believed that it could change. He did not believe in destiny.

"Father, please don't go..."

I held his cold, dead hand, thinking only of that day that she left. I hated them for what they did to mother. And now I had lost him. The ruby...I thought of mother. I thought of those flames, the same ones that burned the soldiers. That bright red, like the ruby. It felt hot all of a sudden, and I looked down at my hand to see that I had burned my father's dead body. The whole building went up in flames, and I had to get away. I could feel her in the heat. The ruby was glowing. Mother? I felt her hatred, her scarlet anger. The power. My hatred. My anger.

I let a sigh escape that went with the wind, and stepped over to the window. There was no one there. Just my reflection. Father was right. I looked almost like she did just before the soldiers killed her. I could feel her in the ruby--feel her powers, the hatred, the red anger. The same as mine.

I burned down their buildings. I've killed them. Killed the ones I hated most. But now they'll be after me. My heart pounded as I raced away. I ran them around in circles, then shot spells at them. They chased me with their measly weapons and magic, but they were nothing compared to my hatred. Mother's hatred. Hatred...The more I think about it, the more I am drawn to it. But I can never stop thinking about those blood red eyes. They've grown worse. Like Father's. I looked back at the soldiers chasing me, but there were no buildings to hide behind. The tram tunnels were too easy to target. I killed many of them in the process, but they kept on coming. I reached a dead end, and had to face them. I fired off more spells at them. They dropped dead like bite bugs. I was just about to leave when I spotted some soldiers on the tram. They jumped from above, but I moved out of the way quickly enough. Unfortunately, I moved in the wrong direction and fell off the edge of the road, hurtling towards my destruction. I was going to end up like mother. I hated them all the more, and there was no better time to hate them even more, just when I was about to die.

* * *

I took several sips from the glass. The wine was good. But not as good as it would be after time compression. I needed the perfect sorceress from the past in order to achieve it. But they were too weak. Too...uninfluencial. I searched, but could find none. But today, I sensed a strange disturbance in the atmosphere of that past. It was a strange, powerful hatred. The hatred of a...sorceress. She had gone by unnoticed, until now, but I did not know that she was a sorceress all along. She was hurtling towards her own destruction, and I had to act fast. She was Adel. Sorceress Adel. I did not know she was a sorceress. She became a sorceress from her own hatred. But I loved it. It was beautiful. Beautiful and powerful. I wanted it. I could manipulate that hatred and turn it into...something...Something more...beautiful...and powerful...So I decided to save her. I turned on the machine and closed my eyes.

* * *

Darkness. I did not open my eyes. I did not want to. But something stirred in my mind.

"Sorceress Adel."
A voice? In my mind?
"Sorceress?"
"Sorceress Adel. Yes, you are a sorceress. I will help you." "Who are you?" "I'm many, many years from the future. I am Sorceress Ultimecia. Your hatred is beautiful and powerful. The beautiful...and the powerful...that is a rare combination, but it must exist. It must survive. It cannot be ignored. But it can be alone...like you. You are beautiful and powerful...so you must survive. I can make you better, and stronger. Wouldn't you want that?" "Yes, but...no. No, I wanted the hatred to go away. I wanted them to go away. They are all my problems." "They are not your problems. If you give me your powers, I can make them go away. Once they are gone, I will give you my powers. Then we will be unstoppable. Your hatred cannot be changed. It is too beautiful. Too powerful. Let's use it instead. I can help you to understand it. Do not fear it--embrace it." "My hatred...I should be dead...So hatred is not fearful. Where are you?" "Here."

I opened my eyes. But I did not do it. Was it Ultimecia? I saw a window. A window with a mad scientist behind it. He was very short, and grinning from ear to ear.

"Ah, she's avakened."
"Dr. Odine, are you sure it's safe?"
"Of course! I made ze glass to resist magic! Zat is an anti-magic restraint!"

I could barely hear what they were saying. I was strapped to the wall, and felt something biting at my body in several different places. My bones and joints creaked. The power...I felt it. Mother's hatred, her anger. For the first time, I felt her smiling. I smiled. But it was different. A different power that surged in my body. I let out a horrible roar. They would suffer. I would make sure they did. I could let my hatred grow stronger if I let them live. I plucked away the wires. The assistants screamed. I smashed the window. The little man ran away screaming. Then they came. They stared at me in horror. I swatted them away like flies, left, right and center, and stepped right into the Presidential Palace. I watched myself fling spells at the soldiers and force open the door to the president's room. I killed him. I killed him like I killed the others. The dead body lay dead in my claws for a moment, and I watched again as he was flung out the window. Wait...claws? I turned around and saw my reflection. It was the same jagged reflection, pale with the red eyes, only worse. I looked up for the first time, and saw that the ceiling was so much closer than it was before. And the ground was very much farther away than when I last saw it. I didn't just have claws but a pair of horns, and for some reason, I lost my shirt. My skin was a pale, sickly lavender color, disrupted only by the muscles. The slim, smooth muscles were now replaced with larger, rippling, masculine ones, covered with wicked tattoos. My eyes were completely red, no longer dark, but bright and glowing with that same hatred. The same as the ruby, the same as the flames, the same as my hair. Is this Ultimecia's power? After nearly dying from hatred, I had transformed into some magnificent monster. It grinned back at me, its many small teeth, shining in the window, sharp and glistening, wearing my father's mask and my mother's ruby. I could feel the hatred, the anger, my mother's powers, stronger than before. Yes, my hatred was powerful, but beautiful? I did not know. As if posessed, I turned away to the secretary huddled in the corner, shivering and wetting herself out of fear. I let out a gruff, horrid voice and spoke.

"Tell them I wish to speak."
"Y-yes."
"Tell them I will be the new ruler of Esthar."
"Y-yes."
"And...summon Odine. I need to see him."
"Y-y...yes."

I did not know why, but I wanted to see that little man again. And instead of killing them all, as my hatred had desired, I would turn them around and manipulate them. But Ultimecia had done it. She had appeased my hatred, and I was no longer fearful. No longer fearful of those bloody eyes, or of being lonely. Hatred, loneliness, anger. It no longer mattered. Nothing in the world could stop me.

Comments:
Sorry about the awkward points of view, but you should remember that Rinoa's consciousness was inside the young Adel, so she could perceive everything in first person. I know I did that with Ultimecia too, but it does provide an omniscient perspective, and it seems their consciences have mingled. Final Fantasy VIII isn't exactly my favorite Final Fantasy, but it's not really that bad. I wrote this because the young Adel is very mysterious. Since I don't think Square really dwelled on it, I thought it would be good speculation.