Hi everybody! This is my second FFIX fic. I hope you enjoy it! I've had this idea for the LONGEST time!! Please R+R too!
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The wind blew fiercely through her hair as she held on tight. She couldn't help but let out a giggle and, even though he told her not to, looked down. Every now and then he would lower and Dagger could run her hands through the cool ocean surface, skimming the water with her fingertips.
And all the while she was wondering "How did I get myself into this?"
At first she had been worried when Zidane asked her if she wanted to go for a ride on Choco.
"What? No thank you." She had told him, but he persisted.
"Aww, how come??"
"Because." Dagger continued doing her paperwork.
"Because why?"
"Because."
"Come on, it'll be fun!"
"No…"
"Are you scared?"
"… I've never ridden a Chocobo before."
"So? You'll be fine! We can go anywhere you want!"
"Anywhere?"
"Yep!"
"Okay then. Take me to the twin moons and back."
Zidane put on a get-real face. Dagger giggled and continued with her work. "Zidane, maybe another day. I've got things to do…"
"Why don't you take a break? It's nearly dusk, anyway. You deserve it."
Dagger looked up from her work at Zidane. How could anyone resist that smile of his?
No sooner than 10 minutes later she was outside, past the courtyard, out in the landscape. Zidane had said there's a certain spot you had to go to to bring Choco to him. He was planning on the perfect date.
They came across some Chocobo tracks. "Here it is." Zidane said.
Dagger looked down at the tracks. "Are you sure these are Choco's?"
"Trust me." Zidane said, and pulled out a gysahl green from his pocket. Then he whistled loudly and, almost straight away, a
"K-KWEH!!" could be heard.
All of a sudden Dagger heard loud padding sounds and in the blink of an eye Choco had come into view, running at full speed and leaving a cloud of dust trailing behind him. Dagger was afraid he wouldn't stop! She hid behind Zidane's shoulder, but amazingly Choco skidded to a stop just in front of Zidane, gobbling down his favourite treat.
"See? Nothing to worry about." Zidane said coolly. Dagger came out from hiding and looked up at the giant bird. In all her years in the castle she'd only ever heard of these birds. She'd never actually seen one in the flesh and feathers.
Choco finished eating and turned his gaze to Dagger. His head started nudging hers in a playful way. Dagger retreated, stepping back a bit.
"He won't bite, will he?" dagger stuttered.
"Course not. He's really friendly." Zidane assured. Dagger held out a hand and started stroking his neck and feeling his soft yellow feathers. Choco made a purr-like noise, which meant he liked it.
"Alrighty then, let's go." Zidane said promptly, about to jump up. Dagger wasn't inclined to be jumping up though.
"Uh, Zidane…" Dagger started.
"Hm?" Zidane asked, almost mounted up. "Oh, you want me to help you up? With pleasure."
Zidane hopped back down and picked Dagger up gently, but firmly, and mounted her on top on Choco. When he let go she wobbled a bit. Zidane then hopped up and Dagger immediately wrapped her arms tight around his waist.
"You okay?" Zidane asked. He wrapped his tail around her stomach to give her more support.
"Y-yes…" Dagger stuttered, squeezing her eyes shut.
"So, where was it you wanted to go? The twin moons and back?" Zidane teased. "Oh, wait! I have the perfect place to take you! But I have to warn you…"
"What?" Dagger asked, opening one eye and lifting her head slightly.
"We'll have to fly there." Zidane put.
"Fly!?"
Choco started moving and Dagger held on even tighter to Zidane.
"Oof! Dagger, not so tight!" Zidane chuckled a bit.
Dagger clutched her eyes shut again as Choco lifted his feet off the ground and started soaring higher and higher.
"If you're worried, just don't look down." Zidane added.
But Dagger wasn't looking at all. She buried her face behind Zidane's neck and his hair was tickling her cheeks, but she was too scared to let out anything! Zidane turned his head slightly and noticed her eyes were clamped shut.
"Come on, Dagger! You're missing the view!"
Dagger decided to open one eye, just one, to see what it looked like from up so high. But when she opened one, she had to open two.
Dagger gasped with delight. Even though they were miles from the ground, she wasn't as scared anymore. The view was phenomenal! She could see Alexandria, and her own castle, where she stood inside just moments ago. She could see Evil Forest, unpetrified and green, and she could see all the mountaintops. Then she noticed something else. They were over the ocean.
Wait a minute. Over the ocean? Where was Zidane taking her?
Dagger poked her head over Zidane's shoulder and let the wind ripple through her hair. Then Choco gave a shout; "K-KWEH!" and lowered himself down to the oceans level. At first Dagger thought he was going to submerge himself, but then she saw Choco skimming his claws over the surface, leaving a white trail of foam behind them.
Dagger lowered her fingers and let out a giggle as the cool rush of the ocean swept over her hand. Zidane was smiling too, but then stopped Choco from going any further. They were directly over a dark spot on the ocean.
"Is this our stop?" Dagger joked, looking around and not seeing anything but ocean, ocean and more ocean.
"No…" Zidane started, with a mysterious tone. He lowered his hand into his pocket and pulled out a pepper. But what on earth did he need a pepper for?
"Dagger, hold on tight." Zidane warned, and pulled his hand towards Choco's beak.
Dagger braced herself, unknowing that Choco was about to lunge himself towards the clear cut sky. Then all of a sudden-
"SKWEEEEEEEEE!!"
Choco let out a cry as he blasted straight upward, and Dagger let out a small scream before squeezing her eyes shut again, as well as squeezing Zidane to death. She opened one of her eyes long enough to see the clouds passing by before shutting it again.
Then, about 3 seconds later, Choco slowed and landed.
Wait a minute… he… landed? Where on Gaia did he land?
Thing was he didn't land on Gaia at all. He landed on an island floating on a cloud. Dagger opened her eyes and let out a gasp, gazing at her surroundings.
"Zidane… what is this place?" She managed to let out.
Zidane laughed lightly. "This is Chocobo's Air Garden."
"Chocobo's Air Garden?" Dagger thought out loud. She remembered reading a myth about this place in a book once. "I thought this was just a legend?"
Zidane led Choco to the second part of the island. "Do you want the grand tour?"
Choco lowered himself and Zidane hopped off, then grabbed Dagger's hand to help her off too. She couldn't fix her eyes off the landscape around her – Zidane even doubted if she had blinked yet.
"Zidane, this is beautiful…" She finally said, looking across the clouds and mountains and plants. She started walking towards the cave.
"Oh, don't go in there!" Zidane warned.
Dagger snapped out of her gawk. "Huh? Why?"
"Mene the moogle warned me about that. He said it doesn't feel safe in there. There must be a monster of something inside."
"Oh…" Dagger said sadly. She would've liked to explore the cave, but it wasn't everyday you came across a floating island.
"Come over here." Zidane said, and grabbed her hand. Intertwining fingers, he led her over to the edge of the island, where the sun was setting. Zidane had picked his time well.
The sky was an array of different colours, blue, pink, yellow, orange and red. It was magnificent.
"Oh, Zidane…" Dagger sighed in a dreamy sort of way. "What a perfect view…"
Zidane sat on the edge with Dagger and they both watched at the sun set over the cotton-like clouds. Dagger leant her head on Zidane's shoulder and sighed.
Just as Dagger was losing herself in the moment, a loud crackle was heard over head.
"Oh!" Zidane said, sounding annoyed. He was planning on the perfect getaway from the castle and now it was gonna rain. "We better run before we get soaked.
Dagger felt a drip of rain on her nose and giggled slightly. Choco ran straight up to Zidane. To make matters worse, Choco was afraid of lightning, but Zidane didn't know this.
Zidane lifted Dagger up onto Choco again as the rain started spitting more. He jumped up and Dagger held on again. She grabbed his tail and put it over her head in a meek attempt to cover her head.
"Hey! I'm not an umbrella!" Zidane laughed.
Choco flew back down the hole in Chocobo's Air Garden and started to fly lower to the ground. The rain started getting heavier and there was another crack of lightning.
"KWEH!?" Choco chirped, rocking a bit from side to side.
"Whoa! Choco, calm down!" Zidane yelped as Dagger squeezed his stomach again.
"Zidane, will he be okay?" Dagger asked, trying to stay aloft the giant bird.
"He should be okay once we make it to ground…" Zidane said, but he wasn't so sure.
Another crackle and a flash of light appeared nearby and Choco was just about going psycho. He flew sideways and squawked loudly, trying to find a spot to land. Problem was, they were still above the ocean.
Suddenly Zidane felt the arms around his waist slipping and he turned to find Dagger nearly falling off Choco.
"Zidane!!" She screamed, holding on for dear life. Zidane grasped one hand tight to chocos neck and reached out the other one for Dagger.
"Hold on!" He shouted, wrapping his arms around her upper body, and pulling her to safety. Dagger held on even tighter this time.
"Are you okay?" He asked her, turning to see if she was alright.
"I'm fine…" she panted, but no sooner than she said that there was another crackle, and Choco went wild again. All the while the rain was growing heavier and they were getting soaked.
Finally Alexandria was in view and Choco had landed on the edge of the mist continent. Both Zidane and Dagger sighed with relief as Choco started running towards the castle.
Finally they made it to the back end of the castle walls and Choco lowered again so the drenched couple could hop off. By now the rain was pouring harder than a waterfall and Dagger's hair was dripping more than it did after a bath.
Dagger grabbed Zidane's hand and they both ran under cover. When they did they saw Steiner in the distance, jumping up and down in a comical fashion, with his armour clonking loudly.
"Uh, oh…" Zidane said. "He'll be looking for us."
The couple kept going while Steiner's back was turned, and left for the bathroom to grab some towels and a spare change of clothes, but Steiner turned around and spotted them.
"Y-your majesty!!" Steiner screamed and started running towards them. Zidane groaned in annoyance and told Dagger to dry herself so she wouldn't catch a cold.
"Zidane! You imbecile! What did you think you were doing with her highness out in his weather!? I swear, you could've had her killed out there!"
"Calm down, rusty…" Zidane sighed. "I was just taking Dagger out for a little while."
"Out!? Why are the two of you drenched from head to toe? Where did you go!?" Steiner rumbled, beginning to jump again.
"We went… for a trip…" Zidane stared. He wasn't too keen on telling Steiner where they were, or really… how they were heading there.
"You'll tell me where you went or she'll never be allowed out of the premises again!!"
"Now, now…"
"WHERE did you go!?"
Zidane sighed. "We went for a chocobo ride…" Zidane braced himself.
"WHAAAAT!?" Steiner shrieked. His face turned bright red. Zidane could've sworn he saw steam coming out of his ears.
"What were you thinking, you fool!? A chocobo is a dangerous beast that could've hurt the queen!!"
"Steiner, Choco wouldn't hurt a fly." Zidane defended.
"You are to never take Queen Garnet out again unless you address me first and state all the details of where you are going! And how you are getting there!!" Steiner stormed off, clonking his armour along the way.
Zidane sighed and pulled back the wet hair from his face. Great, the perfect date ruined by the weather and sir rustalot…
Zidane went to the bathroom to dry himself off. He pulled the door open and out fell Dagger, who was obviously listening by the door. She fell straight into Zidane and gave out a small yelp. Zidane caught her and pulled her back to her feet.
"Heard everything?" Zidane asked.
Dagger nodded and handed him a towel. She could see he was disappointed.
When they were both dried up they went up to their room. On the way Steiner saw them, and gave Zidane an "I'm watching you" look.
In their room, Zidane sighed loudly and flopped onto the bed. Dagger looked at him sympathetically and, leaning over the bed, said "Are you okay?"
"Yeah… I'm just tired." Zidane said plainly. But he was bummed out. Everything was going so perfectly.
Dagger pulled back the damp hair from his forehead and smiled. "I don't believe you."
Zidane smiled back slightly but it soon went. He sat up and looked into her eyes. Her perfect eyes. How could he get it so wrong? The stupid weather reporter in town today said it would be sunny!
"I'm sorry, Dagger…" Zidane finally said. "Everything went horrible tonight… I wanted it to be perfect…"
Dagger grabbed his hand. "It wasn't that bad… I had a lot of fun."
"You had fun getting drenched? Then let's do it all the time!" Zidane chuckled slightly
"No… the ride was wonderful." She said, reminiscing the wind in her hair and that furry tail coiled around her waist. "And the sunset was just beautiful. But you know the best part of all?"
"What?" Zidane asked.
"Being with you was the best part. It doesn't matter where you take me, Zidane. I just want to be with you."
Zidane smiled warmly. Just how did he end up with this goddess? He didn't care. He merely closed the gap between them and thought "I'm just gonna have to make the perfect ending to an imperfect date…"
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The end! I hope yous all liked it! )