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CHAPTER 3 – EMERGENT POWERS

With their destination decided upon, Squall saw no further need to idle about the Presidential Palace. Rinoa had already gone ahead of him following their meeting with Laguna. For Squall, there had been another matter to attend to first: his gunblade and GF still lay in Dr. Odine's possession. With some strings pulled courtesy of his father, the weapons were promptly returned to him.

All felt right as he strode back up the Ragnarok's boarding ramp with his sword's familiar weight hanging off his belt. For the first time since his arrival in Esthar, he felt some modicum of personal agency. He again had the means to defend himself, and where that failed, the people he trusted most to make all the difference. It was just what he needed in the face of so much uncertainty ahead, and indeed, the rampaging hordes encroaching further across the capital city with each hour passed.

There were many such things beyond his control. Perhaps so too was time compression by Rinoa's account; things had already played out in accordance with Ultimecia's expectations thus far. Still, further insight from Edea could potentially prove him wrong. And beyond that, a return to the orphanage would give him the opportunity to make good on his promise to Reiner; he could already picture the look on his face when he showed up with Ellone in tow after just over a week. Cid and Edea's reactions were harder to anticipate. They surely wouldn't be so welcoming of a sudden imposition from Esthar, leaving him to play diplomat.

And that's provided we don't get get shot down by Galbadia along the way.

"Aw, come on! Just for a little once we're in the air!"

Selphie's outburst drew his attention the moment he stepped onto the command deck. She stood beside the pilot's seat, both hands clasped together in a pleading motion to the officer in the chair. Others less preoccupied at their stations simply smirked and turned their heads away.

"For the last time, no!" he refused her. "You being a SeeD doesn't mean jack on this ship, and I'm sure as hell not letting an amateur take the wheel!"

Looks like we've already dodged our first artillery round.

"I'm a fast learner, though! People tell me all the time!"

"Leave it alone, Selphie," Squall said as he strolled up. "Sorry to have bothered you, sir. My comrade has shown a natural aptitude for many things. Restraint however, isn't one of them."

"Hey!" she huffed at him. "You wanna talk about restraint after you ditched us halfway across the world?"

"Point taken," he conceded. He motioned her over to the starboard windshield for a more private chat. "For what it's worth, I'm glad you're here now. Oh, and nice work with Rinoa. She looks great."

"Hehe, no problem," she giggled as she bounced on over. "Gotta look your best when you meet the folks!"

"So… you do already know?"

"Yeah, your dad filled us in. Small world, huh? Pretty much makes you royalty around these parts, doesn't it?"

As if Commandant wasn't already enough to live up to…

"Even harder to believe about Rinoa now, though," she hummed, glancing out the window pensively. "Somehow, she must've inherited Matron's powers. And here I thought she told us a sorceress had to die in order to pass them on."

"It is strange," Squall agreed; even based on what little folklore he was familiar with, it had been long stipulated that only in death could the magic of Hyne could be transferred to another.

"And now to find out Ultimecia's been controlling her all this time," Selphie shuddered. "Your dad's been keeping us all in the loop about everything that went on up there. Never would have believed it, but…"

"Are the others around?" he pivoted.

"Rinoa wanted to do some proper freshening up. We were kinda in a rush to get her in to meet your dad, so we basically just sprayed her down with perfume. I told her she ought to go check out the palace spa while we've got the time. As for Quistis… I'm not sure. I do know Zell really wanted to check out the engine room, though. Talk about a kid in a candy store, huh?"

"You mean like how you were just begging to take us all for a joyride?"

"Well… yeah, but… I mean, this ship… it's designed to look like a dragon and all. It just kind of reminded me of…"

She trailed off, her eyes likewise turning out the window again. Squall followed her gaze, and perhaps even her line of reasoning. She'd clearly taken a liking to the twin dragons at the research center. That one had even allowed her a spot on its back spoke volumes to how much the feelings were reciprocated. Both had supposedly dissipated along with the skeletal sorceress he and the others had raised from the depths. For days after, she'd spoken to no one.

"Anyway, you getting along alright with your dad?" she abruptly changed the subject. "I know it's gotta be a real shock to the system."

"You could say that," he muttered. "It's still a lot to process. I don't even know what to think just yet. We've talked it over, and… I can at least tell his heart has always been in the right place."

"And that's what matters!" she insisted. "He seems like a swell enough guy to me."

"Oh, there's no doubt about that. If anything… Ellone's the one I'm not too sure about right now."

He clenched his fist, leaning against the reinforced pane to steady himself.

"She knew all this time. She could have told me so easily. But instead, she decided to string me along like this, giving me dream after dream of him without any explanation, constantly keeping me in the dark the whole time. I feel… used."

The more he ruminated, the more stark the insult grew. He had half a mind to storm off to Ellone's stateroom that instant to lay into her over it.

"I get where you're coming from," Selphie sympathized. "But I'm sure she didn't mean it like that. The way I see it, she was probably trying to protect you."

"Protect me?"

"Well, yeah. Ignorance is bliss, and all that. Look at it this way: what if after all this time your dad wasn't even alive anymore? What was she supposed to do? Give you false hope he might still be out there just to dash it down the road? And if she did, we all know what would have happened. You'd have gone running off on your own, desperate to get that closure. Just like you did for Rinoa."

"You say it like closure is something I shouldn't want," he fired back.

"I'm not saying that. I'm not even saying she was right handling it the way she did. And at least for you, everything turned out all right. But speaking from experience… sometimes what you find will make you wish you'd never wanted it in the first place."

She hung her head, casting her eyes down to the metal flooring. In a heartbeat, it struck Squall what a touchy subject this was for the both of them; coming to terms with her own father's all but certain demise after so many years spent hoping couldn't have been easy. Indeed, had Ellone led him on all this time with the knowledge that Raine had been his mother, only to now learn she was long gone, the emotions certainly would have been far more visceral for him.

Maybe I should count my blessings…

"Sorry," he apologized.

"It's… fine," she accepted with a sniffle, and raised her head up again. "Just… try not to be so hard on her, okay? I'm sure it was all from a place of love."

"I guess."

Their crew was the only family Squall had ever truly known, and even then, not nearly well enough until recently. The love shared between parent and child, much less siblings, was as foreign a concept to him as any other he'd been exposed to in Esthar. At the end of the day, his feelings for Rinoa were the only kind for which he had any precedent. By extension, he could easily put himself in Selphie's own place now.

"So, you haven't heard anything about Irvine since he went aboard?"

"Nope, nothing," she sighed. "I hope he's alright. You'd think if they'd captured him, they'd have sent out another transmission about it, right?"

"Maybe. But then again, they've already got all the leverage they need."

He turned his attention out the other end of the cockpit. There the monolith still loomed over the horizon, imposing as ever.

"Laguna told me they're after the sphere I gave you."

"Yeah," Selphie confirmed. "Guess that also explains where my old one went. Ultimecia and Seifer must have thought they were the same. I just don't get why it's so important to them."

Squall had nothing. The revelation that the spheres had been a byproduct of two different sorceresses' energies notwithstanding, he failed to see how either could be of any use to Ultimecia's plan. Still, having even the slightest leg up on Seifer gave them something to work with. Rinoa's insider knowledge paired with Odine's genius were greater assets still. Altogether, there was room enough for hope. Hope that time would still go on. And for Squall, hope that no more time would be lost.

Laguna, Ellone… I'm sorry for doubting you. We'll get through this, somehow.

The Lunatic Pandora had been constructed as a weapon of war first and foremost. Seifer would have expected nothing else of a relic from Adel's reign, tyrannical and power hungry as she'd been. Its primary function would have sufficed for most; the means to evoke destruction on a continental scale at whim was already beyond the capability of any other nation. Plentiful were its secondary features, however. Among them, a series of flight hangars designed to house Esthar's aerial fleet spanned several of the upper floors. Wherever the massive monolith should settle, so too would its advance guard be on scene to clear the way. Or so it had been conceptualized.

With the Pandora only having been tested once at the Vienne Mountains, and never put to use in the field, its hangar bays had been left empty by the time the current administration had sunk it to the depths. The ensuing radio interference would have made such measures impractical all the same. Now, with a fresh regiment of hover mechs brought over from Galbadia with the reinforcement battalions, they would serve their purpose at last. First and foremost: retrieving the prize Matron had worked so hard to bring to earth for him.

A squad of four mechs zoomed in through the open doors. Thick tether cables trailed from the base of each, all attached to a circular metal containment unit held aloft below. He couldn't imagine how hard they'd had it scavenging the tomb from the plains' surface; though the swarming monsters had long started fanning out towards Esthar, there were still plenty left in the area to contend with. Angel wing-like appendages sprouted from either side of its frame, appropriate enough for its descent from on high. The figure it carried within was anything but suited for such imagery. Closer she drew into Seifer's line of sight as the mechs slowed, her petrified, snarling expression as nightmarish as he'd seen it courtesy of Matron's imposition on his mind. He shook it off; soon she would inherit this vile woman's body, and through her, accomplish more than she could have ever hoped to in life.

"Damn," Biggs swore from beside him. "She hasn't aged a day."

She was for a fact just as the world remembered her. Up in space she'd idled for 17 years. Swathed in translucent binding, vacuum sealed for all time, Odine industries had spared no expense to keep Adel preserved for their own perverse ends. To think the power they'd all been trained for years to harness had been directly siphoned from her. It spoke well enough to what they might have done to Edea if given the opportunity. Given all he knew now, Cid very well might have sold out his own wife to them if it meant lining his pockets with even more gil. With a heavy thud, the unit dropped down onto the hangar floor, the mechs commencing their landing procedure.

"You're not really gonna wake her up now, are you?" the sergeant anxiously inquired.

"Don't get so worked up," Seifer assured him. "I couldn't even if I wanted to. Not until the energy in that sphere is returned to her, anyway. She'll still be kept in stasis, with or without the containment field. For now, we're just going to move her out of here."

Confidently, he strode up to the side of the docked mechanism. There the control panel rested, still pulsating. That everything still seemed functional after the long plummet to earth testified to the Adamantine material's durability. At best, it might have been cushioned somewhat by the first layer of monsters to land, all tightly clustered together by the gravitational surge; such had been the only way for any of the following waves to survive, even with Tears' Point's resonance to diffuse the cry.

He quickly found the switch to disengage the freeze. A few button presses later, there came a hiss from the machinery. Even without firsthand experience, he knew what he was doing; Matron surely had. He stepped back to admire his handiwork. The first fruits of his dedication became apparent as Adel's plaited red hair gradually began to droop. Her body followed suit, the translucent material fighting to keep her held upright. Seifer smiled; all was going according to plan. Despite all the sacrifices he'd made – up to and including his own friends – Matron's grand design would be upon them soon.

[You will never control me!]

The snarling voice pierced through his mental faculties, clear as if it had reached his ears. He looked either way. But for Biggs and the knights unfastening themselves from their mechs, there was no one else around. The exclamation certainly hadn't come from any of them; it had sounded too immediate, too all encompassing. Further, he clearly hadn't been the only one to hear it. All five of them darted their heads every which way, seemingly intent on deducing its source for themselves.

[You have no choice in the matter. Just submit, and it will be all the easier on you.]

This time, the voice was somehow different. Its origin still eluded Seifer. His head throbbed as he fought to make sense of it. And then, with a look to Adel, his confusion was all the more compounded. Radiant energy shone from her body, enveloping her figure from head to toe. It was as though a veritable wellspring of power had erupted with her unsealing, the luminescence dancing about her like a flickering flame. Suddenly, a stream of light shot out. Seifer gasped as he reflexively dodged; it had missed him by mere feet. Another came moments later, with two harmonized screams of agony following in their wake.

He turned back to see two of the knights caught in the blast. Each of the pulsing tendrils of energy had latched on to one of them, reducing them both to a pair of writhing wretches on the floor. And then, their bodies began changing. Their skin growing disfigured, their anatomy swelling, it wasn't long before their charcoal uniforms ripped apart at the seams. So disgusted was Seifer, he barely even noticed a third stream loose itself from Adel, striking yet another knight further off. The fourth was already running for his life to the door.

"What the fuck's going on?!" Biggs roared.

The soldier had fallen to his knees, clutching his head in his hands. Whether to make sense of the disgusting display in front of him, or fight off the intensifying headache he too felt, Seifer knew he'd made a terrible mistake. He instinctively reached for the power Edea had bestowed upon him. Desperately he fought to channel it for the first time since the battle at Galbadia Garden, that it might spare him from any more suffering. No matter how hard he struggled however, it would not come. More alarmingly still, his vision was fading; darkness seeped in from either side of his eyes, threatening to ensnare his sight completely.

[Foolish boy! Re-affix the seal to her this instant, and don't let her loose again until you have that sphere!]

The scolding was enough to jolt him into action. Summoning whatever willpower he could still muster, he lurched forward to the control panel once more.

[No! This is my hour! You will not stop me now! I will be free again, and I will never let any of you forget what you've done to me! I swear it!]

Seifer ignored the frenzied ravings in his mind as he frantically re-engaged the sealing. He toppled over out of sheer exhaustion as soon as he pressed the last button. Down the side of the containment unit he limply slid, collapsing to the hangar floor. He could barely breathe anymore, never mind see.

Matron, please… help me…

Within moments, the air's suffocating density subsided; he sucked in a deep breath as soon as he was able. Next was the blackness which obscured his vision; it parted to either side, disappearing beyond the periphery. However groggy and fatigued, he found the strength to raise himself back to his feet. He leaned against the cold metal plating for support, and slowly turned himself back around. What awaited him forced every last wisp of air he'd inhaled right back out.

He couldn't help but scream at something so hideous. It stood where the first knight had, atop the shredded remains of his uniform no less. Each of its 3 legs, bony and sinewed like a chocobo's, extended from a bulky torso as wide as it was tall. Though a sharp beaked head extended from its apex, what accounted for a mouth protruded directly out from the center of its body. But then, the rows of curved, gnashing teeth lining its maw resembled a wriggling rib-cage more than anything else. Its stretched out arms were longer still, both hanging limply to either side and dragging along the floor. With a screech, it threw one towards him.

Seifer reflexively whipped the Hyperion out of his jacket and went to work. Even without the trigger function operational, his blade sliced through the arm with ease. A spray of purple blood spewed forth as the hand fell and flopped on the ground. Another scream followed. He paid it no mind as he circled around, keeping his distance lest the other arm come flying at him. No counterattack came; despite having only lost an arm, the creature wobbled unsteadily, as if it were struggling just to keep balanced on its feet. Seifer had fully circled around to its rear in no time. He seized the opportunity and struck for the back of its neck. It parted with no more effort than he'd spared for the arm. This time however, the monster crumpled altogether.

He panted heavily as the corpse settled, still on edge from its sudden appearance. Only then did Biggs' own panicked shouting register to him. He whipped his head in the soldier's direction to see yet another, even more imposing four-legged monstrosity bearing down on him. Its physiology resembled a hulking behemoth, from the massive curved horns to the thick spiked tail. Its skin tone however was unlike any picture of the species he'd ever seen; red streaks ran across its dark hide, punctuated by shocking white tufts of fur upon its head and breast. Its stared right at Biggs; though it had yet to pounce, its salivating maw gave him no comfort.

"Get away!" Seifer yelled to him.

Working at speed, he again fought to conjure forth the power. And yet still, it eluded him. Try as he might to call upon the energy, there was nothing. It was as if every ounce had drained away from his body. He could only watch impotently as Biggs heeded his words, bolting for cover. The beast snarled, but did not give chase. It lingered, watching him flee as if perplexed. No sooner had it set one mighty paw forward, an explosion suddenly detonated in its face. Seifer shielded his eyes from the blast as the behemoth roared. When he again brought his arm down, he bore witness to the devastation wrought upon the hangar.

The creature lay slumped over on its belly, smoke wafting from its charred face. One of its horns had been blown clean off by the blast. It howled in anguish, fighting to rise. It was battered back down by a hailstorm of bullets the next moment. Seifer pivoted to the two attackers as they charged into the fray. One was the knight who'd managed to escape the radius of Adel's wildly whipping energy, identifiable by the flight suit he still wore. The other carried an assault rifle with a grenade launcher fixed to the bottom; Seifer did not recognize him at a glance, and neither did he care for the moment.

The gunman continued relentlessly peppering the behemoth. Blood matted its fur as the bullets shredded through, the red streaks all along its upper body rendered nearly indistinguishable. It was overkill to be sure, but he wouldn't have had it any other way. With one last whimper, it finally collapsed and made no further effort to rise. The gunfire sputtered out along with the threat.

"What the hell were those things?!" Seifer raged.

He looked between the two knights for any kind of suggestion. The man with the assault rifle abruptly turned his head away and hurried back towards the entrance, not even waiting for a dismissal. The other simply fell to his knees; despite everything, he couldn't take his eyes from the brutally slaughtered creature.

"This… this was Cale's GF," he stuttered.

"GF?" Seifer repeated, unsure what to think.

If that were indeed the case, why had the creature's corpse yet to dissipate? Moreover, where was its summoner? A lump caught in his throat as he noticed yet more shredded scraps of the knight's uniform scattered around the immediate area.

Did they actually…?

A hand clamped down on his shoulder before he could mull it over any further.

"Look over there," Biggs directed his attention elsewhere.

Following his finger, Seifer's stare landed on another collapsed shape lying on the floor just a ways off. He strode forward to inspect it. Upon drawing closer, he almost wished he hadn't; for however much the three-legged monstrosity he'd decapitated had startled him, this one was easily every bit as disturbing for reasons entirely different. Half-human, half-beast, it was a disfigured abomination to rival any from his wildest nightmares. But more than that, it was all the proof he needed. This was the third knight to be struck by Adel's energy. Unlike the other two, the transmutation apparently hadn't completed by the time Seifer had re-sealed the tomb, leaving his body a horrid half-formed mishmash with his GF's. That he hadn't survived the process had practically been a mercy killing.

"So much for getting worked up over nothing," Biggs muttered.

"Shut up!" Seifer angrily snapped. He whipped the Hyperion through the air to let off what excess blood still dripped from it. "Change of plans. She stays here, and I want around the clock surveillance on this hangar. No one gets in or out without permission, and no one releases the seal until I give the order."

"Like you have to tell me that."

He trailed back to the door the gunman had retreated to, passing by the distraught knight still crouched by the behemoth's side. As Seifer turned back to the disfigured wretch before him, he noticed the silver sphere lying just beside. He reached down and picked it up. Even without pressing the switches to open it, he knew what he would find.

Just as when he'd awoken to find the bronze sphere he'd pilfered from Selphie empty, so was this one. Its power was completely gone, sucked clean and presumably passed on along with the creature's physiology. To make matters worse, he felt no different himself; Matron's power had left him just the same, in turn leaving him more vulnerable than ever. All he could do was reassure himself. The wheels were in motion, and soon she would be by his side again. That was enough for him.

Just a few more days…

Selphie's recommendation had hit the spot. A proper shower alone would have been enough for Rinoa after so long; no such luxury had been afforded aboard the Ragnarok, never mind all the time she'd spent in a coma. A private dip in the palace hot spring was icing on the cake. With the staff still in the midst of prepping for evacuation, she was the only one around to take advantage of the spa. Kiros had assured her it would still be at least a few hours before liftoff; there were still the president and Dr. Odine's personal effects to gather, as well as downloading whatever sensitive database information they couldn't afford to leave behind. There was no need to rush just yet.

Up the piping hot steam trailed to the open-air rooftop. She leaned back against the nearby boulder she'd settled by, contentedly staring up into the afternoon sky. There was barely a cloud in sight, much less any sign of a flying monster swooping in. Though the horde's front lines were still many miles off, their descent on the palace was inevitable; the battalions charged with slowing their advance could not and would not hold forever. For the time though, the spring was her own private oasis to savor.

Removing the new outfit had proven nearly as tough as putting it on, particularly the intertwining ribbons. Getting it all back on without Selphie on hand to help would be no easy feat. Even so, she was determined; the look on Squall's face had been priceless. She reached down to his ring still hanging between her breasts. It was the only piece of clothing or jewelry she'd elected not to remove for the bath. With everything they'd been through together now, it was more a matter of whether she could even bring herself to take it off. She sunk down deeper into the water as she mulled over all that had happened. And indeed, all that was to come.

For the last two months Ultimecia had constantly been there in her mind. She'd had not a moment's peace through it all, as the sorceress had repeatedly perused her memories day and night. Old wounds she callously re-opened each time, forcing Rinoa to recall innumerable instances in her life best left forgotten. Even the good times she'd relived in the process were sullied by Ultimecia's voyeurism. In exchange for the information she'd gleaned by proxy however, all the aggravation was worth it.

Rinoa now knew virtually all she had, seen all she'd seen. There was so much, far too much to possibly disseminate to Odine despite how long he'd spent interrogating her already. Images of the sorceress' youth, her rise to power, and most importantly, of her plot to enact time compression upon the world swam about in her mind. And besides that, things she wouldn't dare disclose to him, nor anyone else. Not yet, at least. Through it all however, the one question even Ultimecia had no answer for nagged at her.

Me and Squall… what's going to happen to us?

History held no account for either of them. Squall's name wasn't even listed in the record of past SeeD commandants; it had caused significant confusion for Ultimecia, just as Rinoa when she'd learned the name to follow Xu's. For what assurance it gave her that life would indeed go on, their own fates were still up in the air. She couldn't bear to imagine a future without him by her side. Worse still were the dreams she'd had the last two nights. Just the thought filled her with sorrow bleaker and more all consuming than the furthest reaches of space. To that end, her emotions in general had been firing on overdrive since Ultimecia had left her up there to suffocate. Her joy to be reunited with Squall was every bit as visceral, bringing her to tears.

Guess there's nothing like staring death in the face to make you appreciate what you have…

"Mind if I join you?"

She jolted her head up to the shower entrance across the way. Out Quistis strode, buck naked, drying her hair with a towel.

"Uh… sure," Rinoa eked out, caught off guard.

Given the sort of attire she'd usually seen Quistis dressed in, it had somehow never occurred to her how buxom she was underneath it all. Likewise, never before had she seen her let her hair down fully; the golden blonde locks streamed down her back unimpeded, meeting the usual fringes at the fore on even footing. She showed no embarrassment or concern for covering herself as she stepped forward and toed the water. Evidently, such things were ironed out of prospective SeeDs at a young age. Slowly, she worked her way into the spring, exhaling in satisfaction as her lower body was fully submerged.

"Remind me to have a talk with Cid when this is all over," she remarked. "We need one of these in the Garden."

Rinoa chuckled, but said nothing to the contrary.

"So, all went well with the president I take it?"

"Yeah, he's a really nice guy," Rinoa said with a smile. "Pretty laid back, too."

"Ironic, isn't it?" Quistis laughed. "You'd never guess him and Squall were related."

"You can say that again. Makes you wonder how he'd have turned out with somebody like that in his life."

"Pretty different, I'll bet. But you know… something tells me he's no worse for wear just having you in his life now."

Rinoa blushed; suddenly, the already toasty waters had come to a boil.

"Th-thank you," she bashfully accepted the praise. Again, she fondled the ring in her fingers, admiring the lion engraving. "It's almost unbelievable just how far he was willing to go for me. He's really changed. So much has, since I've been away."

"Absolutely," Quistis said, moving closer to her. "And that's actually why I'm here. I wanted to ask you about the sorceress power."

The casual, friendly mood built up between them subsided on the spot. Rinoa turned her eyes away in shame. She was for a fact no longer the same girl Quistis or the others had known. And though she knew none of them would hold it against her, to be incessantly reminded of it by everyone she met only furthered the divide between them.

"It's still hard to accept," she admitted. "Especially what it means going forward. Laguna's a nice man. I'm sure he wouldn't dream of doing to me what they did to Adel. But… well, I was already the odd one out around you guys, not being a student and all. Now, it's like I've been branded. Even with you, and Squall, and the others in my corner, I… I've never felt this alone."

"But you're not."

Quistis reached out and took hold of her shoulders. Rinoa looked up into her eyes. They stared back at her with unmistakable intensity, resolve, and most of all, admiration.

"You made a choice. You put in the work to train with a Guardian Force so you could fight alongside us. And as far as I'm concerned, you've more than earned your place."

She hardly knew what to say. To hear those same words from the woman who'd called her a liability to her face months ago was unbelievable. Whatever animosity they'd held for each other back then had long dissolved, but only now did the ramifications of it all register. Quistis not only trusted her, but respected her as an equal.

Maybe I've changed even more than I thought.

"Even without knowing it, you were training to use the kind of power you now carry. I know its not the same, though. There's so much more of it running through you now. More than any one of those spheres, or even all of them, could hold. You're capable of so much more than just a few bursts of water now. And considering your link with Ultimecia, I was wondering if you know how to control it."

"Somewhat," Rinoa answered; plenty of incantations were etched into her mind by now, though she wasn't yet sure how easily any particular one might come to her. "Edea would probably know better. It'll be something to ask her when we get there. Though, something tells me Dr. Odine will be keeping her occupied for most of the time."

"You're probably right," Quistis said, releasing her shoulders and taking a step back. "Still, whatever knowledge you do have… well, I was hoping that maybe you could teach me something about it."

"What? Why?"

She did not answer. Instead, she merely brought up her right arm, palm facing to the sky. A blazing fireball materialized in its grasp the next second. Rinoa's mouth fell open. Setting aside that she'd never seen Quistis utilize fire spellcraft before, there was no way she presently could; she'd been completely nude upon entering the hot spring, with no trace of her sphere. She just smiled back knowingly.

"It's like you said: a lot has changed while you've been away. And like I said: you're not alone."