IV.
"Zis is ze Hustera," Doctor Odine said to Rinoa, gesturing to the statue behind him. "It vill contain your sorceress powers."
It looked like a woman walked through a wall of stone to be immortalized there. Squall's hand tightened around Rinoa's to look at it.
"At least, it has the capabilities to do so. Zere is no way of calculating the success rate of such a procedure. It vorks similar to the Odine Bangle you are both familiar vith, but instead of suppressing, it absorbs."
"Like our draw system." Squall stated it as a fact rather than a query.
"Very similar, yes."
Squall watched Rinoa study the statue mournfully. Seifer had been sealed away in a prison much like this one, though his was not made of stone. He remained frozen in time within Sorceress Memorial on Estharian countryside, confined to decades of solitude in punishment for aiding and abiding the sorceress in domination and destruction. It could have been any of us, he thought. Seifer had volunteered for it all the same. Begged for it, even. Squall knew Rinoa desired her penance for the crimes she committed under the influence of Ultimecia
my crimes
but where Esthar gave Seifer his due, Dr. Odine offered her salvation instead.
"What will we do if it doesn't work?" she asked.
"I vill go back to my notes, find a different solution. Ultimecia cannot threaten you anymore. Ze past is in ze past. Or, rather, her past no longer exists until she is born in ze future. In a sense, er...never mind."
Squall knelt before her, holding her hand between both of his. He tried to smile reassuringly at her but it did not reach his eyes. Wan, thin, and faltering. "I'll be here by you. I'll never leave your side."
The girl lifted his hand to her mouth and kissed the back of it. Reluctantly she let go of him and stood. "I'll go."
She had to wear a skin-tight body suit to enter Hustera. It enveloped her too tightly, making her feel like a prisoner in her own body. Three steps led to the slender door that would close her inside until the work was done. Unlike drawing magic, which took all of a handful of seconds, she would be inside this machine for an hour or more while it devoured her magic for itself.
It has to. It has to work. Squall clenched his fists tight. Sweat soaked his palms in his gloves. We have to change the past somehow.
"...can't change the past," Ellone's voice echoed from far away.
No, Rinoa wanted to scream. No no no no!
The girl took each step slowly. A low thrum came from within the machine. She hesitated. Squall did too. Suddenly he was afraid
maybe shouldn't
she would never come out.
She stepped inside.
The statue was almost of a form with her, with an inch of room to spare. The door shut behind her. He thought of Seifer. How did he feel moments before his sentence? After? When they shut him inside the cryo chamber and filled it with his sleep? He had been a boy seduced by a demon and paid dearly for it. All that brought Rinoa comfort was that he might live again, long after they were dead. For Squall, all he could get caught on was what would happen to the world when he and she were not there to prevent the inevitable.
The thrumming stopped. Sound receded. Time slowed down significantly. He paced. He sat. Dr. Odine chattered at him and he paced again.
What will I do if it doesn't work? he thought. I was her knight. She won't need a knight anymore. She won't need a knight anymore. He sat again, with his head in his hands. Go away, oh, please go away, don't do this to me!
...and then she returned.
When she stepped out of Odine's Hustera, she looked ethereal. At first his heart leapt out of his chest, and his fingers itched for his gunblade
Squall's sword will pierce my heart
but when she blinked the fog cleared from her eyes, and his. Instead he met her on the steps and helped her down. She gazed up at him as if to see him for the first time. He held her arms at the elbow as if she were a fragile statue herself, bound to break at any moment.
"I can't feel it," she had said, and he held her tightly.
They were able to go to the press about the success of the operation. At least three weeks of interviews were conducted under closely monitored house arrest. She spoke with other doctors who studied sorceresses. A series of psychologists and therapists came to her and Squall daily. After Hustera had been launched out of orbit, far off on an empty trajectory of several light years, the sorceress era was declared at a close.
In the coming years he found her in the company of diplomats, dignitaries, ambassadors and advisers. All of them seemed interested in her past, but more than that, they were interested in her remarkable ability in public relations, her sharp ear and keen eye for politics.
Time flew forward; now they were twenty-three, pregnant, holding each other before bed. In the darkness, Rinoa caressed his shoulder and whispered, "I want to run for office, someday."
His grip on her loosened. He looked down at her
sorceress
and forced a smile.