Greetings! Welcome to Let Me Rest in Peace.
This story is set at the end of the game, right when the screen says "Some Time Later" and the FMV fades in to show the newly re-built Alexandria. Please read chapter 2 to see the full twist of this story revealed, the first chapter is mostly just the end of the game as explained by me ;)
Description: Sometimes when all the world needs is time to heal, the heart gets stuck on the loss and the need to remove that loss. Your every thought is full of questions and regret. Why did it have to be this way? Why isn't everything how it should be? Why aren't they here…? It takes a long while for a city to rebuild itself. People pull themselves off the ground and dust off the ash; wipe away the blood. It takes time to rebuild the bridges of trust and pick up the pieces of so many broken lives left scattered on the ground.
When tragedy strikes the heroes run to help and protect, the innocent run to get to safety or to get their loved ones to safety, the guilty run to escape or to hide from their consciences. Yet there is another group— a group that sees opportunity in every tragedy. A person who was never evil but also never fully good. Neutral existence that is taken to be on the good side since they never have caused harm… these opportunists use the time the rest take to grieve and revive to form a plan and to start it. Often waiting until the hope is about to turn to despair before executing their plan and using others emotions to control them.
Zidane's return should have been a happy occasion. It should have been the final chapter of an amazing tale and the start of a happy conclusion. It should have been the start of a whole new world; a world of hope and blessing; a world where the knight in shinning armor walks back home after slaying the dragon… It would have been… had it been Zidane who actually returned.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, SquareEnix owns it all. The characters, the design, the world this story is set in, the Airships and inventions. There are a few characters in this story I won't even call Original Characters because they still would belong to SquareEnix given how closely entwined they are to the game and the character designs. This story is actually my 4th (well… 3 and a half. Once More With Feeling and I'll Never Tell are the most fanfiction like. The Real Lunar Finding is the half in that it is mainly OC based and the third part of the OMWF Trilogy is still a WIP(Work In Progress)) fanfiction and is my most in character and true to the game. What do I own? Two laptops, a bunch of websites, a few forums, a publishing contract and a couple of cats.
Anywho. On with the Fic!
Chapter 1: Life is a Stage. Bravo, Bravo, Bravissimo.
"Some Time Later…"
There were all coming… Freya, Vivi's sons, Eiko, Amarant… It wouldn't be the first time they were all together, but Garnet often feared it would be the last. How many times had they met up to look for him? How many times had they been left with disappointment?
… After a while, they started to separate. Vivi became very involved in his projects and who could blame him? He was trying to save his species… He'd been so worried. All his thoughts revolved around either finding Zidane, or finding a way to prevent himself and the other Black Mages from stopping. It hadn't been all that long since he'd died… but the group as a whole decided to honor his memory through his children.
Freya and Fratley spent all their time together, trying to reconnect and finding that the old memories weren't needed… they loved each other regardless and they had Burmecia to rebuild as well.
Amarant was cleared of the robbery at the Auction House that Zidane had committed. He was enlisted as a guard there and spent much of his time in Treno.
Quina had traveled the globe and become a world renowned Chef.
Eiko spent all her time in Lindblum with Garnet's aunt and uncle. The little girl wanted to be part of Garnet's family just as much as she wanted a family at all. Being with them satisfied both those desires.
Steiner and Beatrix had their duties here, though Garnet knew they both had their struggling moments where they fought to decide if they should remain in servitude here or seek a life as something else.
Garnet herself had a kingdom to look after. It was strange to her… she had always known that one day she could be Queen… She was the only heir. Yet… in all her fantasies she had someone ruling with her. The faces changed most every time… some handsome prince who would complete her happily ever after; all the while taking care of things for her and doing what was right for Alexandria.
Before her father had died, the fantasies altered as she was forced to realize exactly what a princess was… Should her mother and father have another child, her destiny could alter quite radically. It was a state of fact that a princess's life was rarely what the fairy tales laid it out to be. Princesses were bargaining chips. In exchange for peace, territory or even people, a princess could be married off. How much they were worth would depend on how beautiful or skilled they were, or simply how much the person with the offer liked her.
However… shortly before her mother died, these dreams changed and she started to see herself as being able to rule, rather than rely on someone to take care of her. The fact of the prince in her fantasies had changed as well… she couldn't remember the first time it had been changed to Zidane's face… but now it was all she could see.
"Oh, this is silly." Garnet shook her head, looking down at the crowd that was assembling below. It's my eighteenth birthday and all of us are finally going to get to see one another after so many months apart… I should be happy.
Behind her, she heard Steiner come in. It wasn't easy to miss the loud clanging of his armor. Many might find the sound to be annoying by now, but she found it comforting in its familiarity. She waited for a moment and then heard the slow, steady footsteps of Beatrix as she approached.
"The theater ship will arrive any minute." Garnet said, speaking mostly to herself but knowing they would be able to hear her. "It's been so long… I can't wait to see everyone." It was as if she were trying to force that fact upon herself, "But…"
How long? How long would it take her thoughts to move on? How many months would it take her to be able to see someone with blond hair and not have to look twice? How many times would she be sure she saw his tail out of the corner of her eyes? Or see his face in a mirror and look to see where the reflection was cast only to realize it was a hallucination? How many days before she could stop hearing her voice as if he were right behind her? How many hours until she could no longer feel his presence? Shouldn't the feel of his arms be gone by now? How long would it take before she could look at any other man without feeling as though she might be betraying her true love? How long before she could see any other man as a disappointment simply because they weren't Zidane?
"It'll never be the same…" She hated that fact. No matter how perfect the suitor or how wonderful any event was, there would always be a shadow lingering there that would forever darken her heart. His smile would no longer brighten a room. His eyes would never shine true and take away all her misery again. His voice would never know just what to say for her to feel better. "I have to let go of the past…" Garnet stated, trying to force the words into her mind. "I have to move on, just like he taught me."
She could say it easily… but believing it was harder to do. How could anyone move on after all that? How could they forget the hero that had gone to heaven and hell… through the memories of others and to a world above all else? Who had fought for them and died for them and whose love, soul and influence were the very reason they hadn't all perished… He couldn't just be forgotten.
Garnet forced her attention to focus on the stage rather than on her thoughts as Baku stepped onto the stage. It put a slight smile on her face… seeing him always did. Yes, he was vulgar and often rude, but there was a sort of charm to him… Sometimes. He'd raised Zidane, and she never got to see him or Zidane's friends from Tantalus… every time she did, it brought her happy memories of better times.
As the play began, Garnet wondered why they had picked this part… why they had set the stage to be so dim, though they had requested a daylight performance... she'd wished they would have chosen to do the part after this… to start with Marcus's swordfight. She loved the story of I Want To Be Your Canary… but this part just filled her heart with tears she couldn't shed while surrounded by so many people.
"Princess... Wilt thou be happy, married to a lowly peasant such as I?" Marcus spoke the lines that ate away at Garnet's mind.
Ruby shook her head, "Prithee, call me 'princess' no more! Marcus, wilt thou truly cherish me, the king's only daughter? Or is such a desire too dear to wish for!? After our nuptials, shall I become no more than a puppet? A mindless puppet, never to laugh, never to cry? I wish to live my life under the sky. At times I shall laugh, at other times cry. For no life is more insincere than that lived as a masquerade."
Next were Marcus's lines. "So much consideration thou hast given it! But worry not! Cast away thy trappings of royalty, and I shall swaddle thee in a gown of pure love! Never again will I part from thee! Pray, my love, make me thy canary to keep forever in the cage of they bosom! Let us embark on the first ship tomorrow, before dawn can tell of our elopement!"
Never again will I part from thee…Those words nearly made the tears Garnet was holding back fall… it was as if they were acting out her dreams of Zidane returning. As if they were letting the world see the dreams and decisions she had made ever since she had boarded the ship and watched, trying not to cry, as he stood there, smiling as her as they left without him. She would have done anything at that moment to change the situation.
Ruby put a hand to her heart. "All my fortunes at thy foot, I lay, and I shall follow thee throughout the world!"
"No cloud, no squall shall hinder us!" Marcus turned, walking off stage with his robe billowing behind him.
Ruby turned toward the audience. "O, love is the sweetest joy and the wildest woe. All I wish is to be by my sweet Marcus's side."
… I would have done it for him…. Garnet thought. Had someone only given me the choice and the chance, I would have died all over again if it meant being with him.
The next part brought up anger. Blank was playing the same character he had before. A man set on preventing a war at all costs. In her mind, he was a demon set out only to cause the two lovers pain… he was the terrible void separating them from happiness…
… Blank then goes to the King and states he has betrayed poor Marcus. The king, stating that Blank has had the gall to betray his dearest friend, and asking if he would dare betray his king as well. Blank of course states he would never, but is struck down by the king who leaves him for dead.
"I merely sought a lasting peace between the two kingdoms!"
Benero and Zenero enter and declare the traitor to be dead. The king orders them to find the princess. "Wretched daughter! How dare she disobey her father's wishes!"
That was how it was in real life… true love, to a Princess, is a fleeting dream… if you find that one true love, everyone else will fight to take it from you and state it is for the best regardless of your wishes… just another puppet. Which was an ironic thought, to Garnet… Vivi had been created to be a puppet… as was Zidane and, it seemed, as was she… yet all three of them had risen above it.
Then Marcus was back on stage… he couldn't figure out why Ruby, who was playing Princess Cornelia, had not arrived to meet him… Garnet wondered about that, too… What if she had given up the search too soon? What if Zidane was still in that tree somewhere? Waiting for her to find him?
It was almost too much a burden on her mind as she watched the stage. Too much so, that she didn't even notice that the voice she had been hearing since this play began… wasn't Marcus's voice.
"Could she have betrayed me?" Marcus asked, walking toward center stage. "Nay, ne'er would my love speak false. I must have faith! She shall appear if I only believe! As the sun lends me no ear, I pray instead to the twin moons!" He turned toward Terra and the moon, raising his arms as if in prayer. "I beseech thee, wondrous moonlight, grant me my only wish!"
Garnet was so intent on the stage, having even forgotten what happened in the play though she had read it countless times… Marcus's movements had altered and that was all she noticed as she wondered about it. He reached for the brooch of his cloak and spun around, undeniably looking toward the royal seating for the first time the entire show as he threw off the cloak and it took her a full second for her to realize what she was seeing.
Standing there was Zidane. "Bring my beloved Dagger to me!"
She couldn't believe it, even as she rose from her seat and stared down. Surely she was hallucinating again… surely she was seeing things!? This was so much different from every time before. She heard whispering and gasps in the crowd and it forced her to turn, running for the doorway. When Beatrix and Steiner moved their hands down to block her path, she was frightened that she had been mistaken… that her hallucinating mind had gotten the best of her and the play was continuing as normal… but they smiled and opened the door, ushering her through and she knew… she knew her dreams had finally come true!
She didn't care how long they had known or why they had kept it from her, her only focus was going down there, to him, and every step was agony! It was as if she just couldn't move fast enough, as if this were all taking too long and by the time she got there, he would have vanished. She had to push people out of the way, trying to be as polite as she possibly could though urgency was spurring her on. A man stepped into her path and she ran into him. He spun to move and his hand hit her pendant with enough force that it tore from her neck.
Garnet looked back at it… at the symbol for her royal status… and it was then that she realized the time was now to prove if she had meant it. If she really would be willing to give it all up for him and she closed her eyes as determination set in and she realized the truth!
All she needed was him.
She was running again in an instant and all she could focus on was that she was almost there. She could see him walking toward her and then threw off her crown as if she were mad at it! As if it had always been responsible for her not being with him! She finally released the tears that she had been holding back and she leapt into his arms with all the force she had in her, too eager to hold back! Too eager to feel his arms around her for real this time.
He looked so serious and it confused her because it was so unlike him but then he smirked, shrugging and… she was so mad at him and she didn't know why. Mad at him for taking too long to get there; mad at all the worry and pain he'd caused her for not coming back. She was even mad at him for setting this whole thing up rather than coming straight back to her… but it was all so wonderful that her anger disappeared as he smiled and stroked her hair, holding her to him like an anchor to this world, letting her cry into his shoulder.
She heard the roar of applause from the crowd fade away to nothingness and soon all she heard was his heartbeat and his breathing. All she felt was his touch and all the rest didn't matter and, at the time, she doubted they ever would matter again.
Vivi's sons erupted in applause, jumping up and down in excitement. Eiko closed her eyes, clapping, smiling, and full of happiness with Baku nodding in approval behind her. Freya, Amarant and Quina applauded. Trying to act mature but being unable to stop the smiles, be they large or small, from appearing on their faces. Up above, Steiner and Beatrix applauded, watching the scene. They had all known this would happen, of course… they'd known it when they had woken up that day, but no words would ever express how perfect it was.
It was a marvelous act, Mikoto thought as she watched from her seat by the palace doors. It was the greatest performance any Genome had ever given, she was sure of it. The timing had been glorious; the lines for this section of the play had matched up perfectly for the event! It could not be rivaled. No one would have ever thought it would have been possible… and had it not been for a chance look, a turn in another direction, it probably never would have occurred.
Yet here it was now… the perfect beginning for a completely new story. The perfect gift for the wonderful princess who had just proven herself beyond any of Mikoto's doubts, and she had been doubtful. Yet there it was, right in front of her, solid evidence that this was the perfect event for the perfect princess who would never know that the Genome she clung to now…
Was not Zidane.
I've had this idea for so long…It's been in my profile for about 2 years. I'm so excited to finally get to begin it! Reviewers, please review!
I know there are about 3 other stories on ff that start somewhat like this, and I encourage you to read them as well if you like the theme! But please be sure to read the next chapters so you can see the differences! Also, please note! It's been brought up that a few readers think someone has stolen this story from me and I've had my editors review that story and can assure you that no theft has been done! The idea there is that Garnet is mistaken and sees another actor as Zidane. She quickly realizes her mistake and the story continues. This is completely different from LMRIP! So don't fret! It's an interesting story idea of that writer has, though, so if you're interested in that idea go check it out!
Anywho! I hope to update this story every Monday!
Thank you for reading my story, I will see you in the next chapter! Thank you for reading and enjoying!