Chapter 1: Dreams
The sandy blonde-haired boy felt himself standing on something solid and nothing, at the same time. He felt as if he was floating on water, but instead of being on his back, it felt like it was all around him and he could breathe normally. He felt extremely tired.
'Where…?' the boy mouthed. No sound came out, however.
"Who are you?" an elderly, but stern, voice rang out. The young man couldn't tell anything about the voice, whether it was speaking to him, who it came from, where it came from. He was so tired, he just wanted some sleep.
The voice rang out again. "Who are you?"
'Shut up…I'm trying to sleep…' the boy thought.
A third time, "Who are you?"
The boy finally had enough, starting to open his eyes. Just as he did so, however, a piercing blue light exploded in front of his eyes, almost blinding the blonde. He had just enough time to shield his eyes from the glow, peering through his fingers in the direction of the light.
He saw a silhouette before him, standing in front of the illumination. It was impossible to see who exactly was standing before him. The teenage boy watched as the silhouette lifted an arm towards him. Again, the boy heard the same voice ring out the same question. "Who are you?"
The blonde frowned. He wanted to ask the voice that very question, himself. However, up to that point, nothing had come from his voice. Just as he was about to try to shout his name again, another shadow overtook the first and began to encircle the teenager.
A chill came with the new presence, and as it enveloped the teenager, a younger, venomous voice stated, "I won't let his plans come to fruition. Farewell, Boy."
The boy felt the ground drop from underneath him. His body fell further and the boy realized if his voice hadn't been missing, he probably would have been shouting at the top of his lungs.
A third voice suddenly spoke to the blonde's falling body. It started inaudibly, so the teenager couldn't discern exactly what the voice was saying, but after about 30 seconds, he finally heard what it was saying. "Wake up."
'Wake up?' the boy exclaimed in his head. 'What are you talking about!'
"Wake up! Are you gonna sleep all day?"
'What the…is this really…?'
"DAMMIT, ZIDANE, GET YER ASS OUTTA BED!"
A stiff pain reverberated through his body, as the boy suddenly was forced to sit up.
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"What the hell was that for!" Zidane Tribal shouted angrily, rubbing the back of his skull.
A deep bellow echoed in the storage room causing the sandy-haired boy to crane his head upward to see the round belly his group's boss, Baku.
Baku was a larger, middle-aged man with gray skin wearing leather boots that sported the dirt from several nations and, according to him, continents. He also bore brownish-red trousers, a stained-white undershirt covered by a scarlet-colored vest that might have fit him several years earlier. Dark-purplish hair would barely touch back of his shoulders if not for the fact it was tied with a pair of ribbons into a ponytail. He had a scruffy beard that covered most of his face, as well as a paired of massive goggles sitting atop of a reddish snout. His ears stood a few inches above his head and were pointed at the tip.
The man's stomach rolled and jiggled in time with the boss's mirth. "It's about time you came to, Boy!" Baku hollered during a break in his laughter. "We're almost in Alexandria, lad. We're having the final meeting in about 20 minutes. Wash up and get ready! Remember, you got the biggest part! Gwahahaha!" He turned to walk off to inform the rest of the crew.
Zidane's face dropped into a pout. "You could've shook me awake, you know," he grumbled audibly. He rose to his feet and stretched his arms, yawned, and scratched his back. He walked over to the nearby makeshift sink and mirror, which was a small piece of broken reflecting glass about 5 or 6 inches across and a bucket of rain water.
The blonde stuffed his hands into the water, grabbing a handful of water and began to rub his face awake. He took a nearby ladle, dipped it into the bucket, and poured the cold water onto his head.
He involuntarily shivered from the sudden burst of chilling temperature. He performed this action a couple more times, before shaking his head back and forth to shake the water off. The blonde ran his fingers through his hair a couple of times to rid the rest of the excess moisture, before tying some of the hanging strands of hair in the back in a small ponytail with a small blue string in homage to the man who raised him. He glanced at the looking glass, glancing at his face.
He had come along way since he had officially joined the theater troupe/gang of thieves, Tantalus. Because he had been with Baku for as long as he could remember, he had helped on missions and thefts by causing distractions as the "innocent" child, but it wasn't until four years ago, on his 12th birthday, that he was officially allowed to be a member of the group. His face was slightly tanned and his jaw firm, but he flashed a bright grin into the mirror.
"Damn, am I hot!" he shouted to no one in particular.
A loud chortling could be heard behind him in response to his declaration, causing the blond to glance over his shoulder. The source of the laughter came from two of his best friends.
Zidane pouted at the trio behind him. "What's so funny?"
The red-haired youth spoke up first. "Listen to you," he laughed. "It's as if you're the gods' gift to women or somethin'!" The scarlet-haired Blank wore an unusually large belt that, even more unusual, was strapped across his forehead and covered much of his amber eyes. Dropping from the belt was a brown cloth that nearly covered one of the 19-year-old's left eye. The shirt, arm bands, and calf covers seem to be made from the same weathered cloth. He wore gloves on both hands, with pinkish-tinged feathers. Another brown belt was draped across abdomen from his right shoulder down to his left hip, and a third, silver belt covered his abdomen. Unlike Baku's older-looking boots, Blank had newer, feathered boots he had stolen, himself, from the nobles they had encountered on their last mission. Despite his youth, Blank was considered the unofficial second-in-command after Baku, because of the confidence he carried himself.
"He is a gift, Bro," Blank's best friend, Marcus, said beside him. "A gift so men know what not to do when trying to get laid." The two began to guffaw again.
Marcus, though a year older than Blank, looked up to the younger man. He, like Blank and Zidane, was raised by Baku as orphans. He was slightly paler and covered his bald head with a bandanna that stopped just before his dark eyes. He wore a collared dark blue shirt, pants with a lighter hue of the same color, and a white choker around his neck outside the collar of his shirt. He also had plain dark leather boots with white on the inside, and white socks up to his knees. His arms had tattoos of blue lines going up his arms, and a white band on his right upper arm. The man also had brown leather belts draped across his shoulder like Blank, as well as across his midsection and each of his wrists. His ears were pointed back, slightly.
Zidane stuck his tongue out at the two, causing them to raise their hands in mock fear of him. "Hey, I have a secret weapon that makes girls fall for me," the youngest boy informed him. They raised an eyebrow at him, silently asking him to continue. The boy slowly picked up the brown tail sprouting from the middle of his lower back. He swished it to and fro in between the trio, before cuddling with it and petting it. "I have a cute, li'l tail."
All three of them began to howl loudly at the statement, Marcus having to hold himself up with help from the wall to keep from crashing down onto the floor.
Their entertainment was interrupted by a loud slam as the door next to Blank flew open, only inches from clocking the redhead in the face. The massive form of the Tantalus leader, Baku, appeared in the doorway, his laughter giving away the false anger he was trying to convey. "C'mon, ya little bastards, it's time to start this meeting, already!"
The three followed the older man into a room next door, which also contained the fourth member of Tantalus. Cinna was the "official" second-in-command, being the oldest next to Baku, though he hardly was given any attention, including his best friend, Baku. Cinna was in his late twenties, though wear and tear, smoke, and the black goatee surrounding his larger-than-average mouth made him appear nearly as old, if not older, than Baku. His beer gut stuck out from a tan vest that covered just his chest. Grayish-brown wrist bands were supported by belts as we the tan shorts and boots he wore. He wore an engineer's hat and had a brown dog collar-like choker on his neck. His yellow eyes seemed to glow like small fires. He also had his trusty hammer hung at his waist.
"Yer all late!" he screeched at the four as they walked into the room.
"Gwahahaha! You make it sound like that's a problem, Cinna!" the Boss stated, failing to sound threatening with his laughter.
Cinna frowned, though everyone knew it was just nerves. The mission they were about to undertake was close to suicide, and, if anything went wrong, they would most likely be standing at the gallows by sunset the next day. However, what made engineer more uptight than the others was that he had created the plan to infiltrate their new location and abduct their new target. He'd blame himself if it somehow failed.
Zidane walked up and slapped the older man on the back. "Whacha so down for?" he inquired, echoing the sentiments of the rest of the crew. "We'll make sure you go first if this plan fails!" The other four began to chuckle at this statement. Cinna understood it was said to pick him up, and the engineer realized that if they were to fall, they would all fall together without regrets.
Baku strutted passed the two, knocking Zidane off balance in the process, and walked behind the makeshift castle sitting on the table. Baku bent over and picked up a toy model of the ship nearly as big as his massive fist. "Here's the plan! Tantalus, the infamous band of daring thieves…" he glanced over at Marcus, who was muttering something to Blank. The redhead's expression sprouted a smirk, "…that's us, Baldy…" Baku stated, causing an eye roll from the recipient of the insult and fits of laughter from the other three. "Are headin' to the castle of Alexandria. Our mission: Capture the heir to the throne, Princess Garnet!"
Cinna coughed and stood up. "I'll take it from here, Boss." He took the Theater Ship from him, and set it next to the castle. "Listen up! We're about to dock at the castle. We'll have until nightfall to set up shop for the play, which gives us roughly five or six hours. When night comes, we'll perform the famous play 'I Want to be Your Canary' by Lord Ipsen. Get ready, Marcus, cause you're playin' the lead!" Cinna nodded in the man's direction.
"Easy as cake, leave the actin' to me," he drawled. "Course, the real fun's gonna be with Zidane and Blank." He jealously frowned at the two.
Blank smirked. "I'll distract the audience from behind with these li'l buggers," he declared, withdrawing a small yellow-and-orange bug from the pouch hanging at his side. "Damn, I hate oglops…" He stuffed the creature back into the bag. "But I'll manage, so don't worry about me. That'll be your cure, Zidane."
Zidane grinned and stood up onto the chair he had taken residence in, and jabbed a thumb at himself, boldly declaring, "And that's when I kidnap Queen Brahne, right?"
"Yeah, that's when you capture fat-ass, but-ugly…wait…what am I sayin'!" The roomed rumbled with amusement as they all realized what the blonde-haired youth had just said. Zidane smiled broadly, as Blank came over, put the boy into a headlock, and began to rub his knuckles sharply into the boy's skull.
"That's when you capture the most babe-licious beauty in all of Alexandria, Princess Garnet!" Baku said, finally calming down. "If all goes well, we'll be back in Lindblum by breakfast tomorrow."
"It better be a big feast, too, the money we'll pull in with this one," Cinna hungrily added.
"You're always thinkin' about food, Cinna," Blank sniggered, peering at Cinna's slightly enlarged midsection.
"What can I say?" Cinna proudly stated. "Chicks dig big."
The entire room vibrated from the raucous noise coming from within. After a few long moments, the door burst open, breaking the joyous sound. Standing in the midst of the doorway was a busty, pale-skinned, young woman with long silvery-blue hair. She wore a somewhat-revealing sleek, sky blue dress befitting of a princess.
"Hey, all!" she shouted angrily. "We're almost dockin' in Alexandria! Get ta' steppin'!" She stalked off out of the room, brushing her long wavy hair. "Honestly, I wish ya' boys would focus on the more important things."
Baku chuckled lowly to himself, shaking his head. "You heard the lady," he noted. "Get to yer posts. I want the stage set before mid-afternoon, ya got it?" The four other men all stood up and rose their left fist up towards their shoulder. They then swiftly brought their right fist across, smacking their wrists together, in the form of the Tantalus salute. Shortly thereafter, the group filed out of the room and moved towards the cargo room to unload their products.
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Princess Garnet Til Alexandros XVII tore open her eyes in the middle of her dressing chamber, almost having to close them instantaneously to shield them from the red setting sun peeking into her window. She was in her long, white, princess gown, almost like that of a wedding dress, coupled with a small silver crown atop her silky, dark-brown hair.
The princess blinked her eyes a couple times to adjust her eyes to sudden flush of light upon her visage, causing the images she had just witnessed to reappear before her.
'That dream, again…' she thought to herself, heavily. It was the same dream…no, it was something more…like a vision. She had it every so often, though lately, it had come up much more frequently.
It was the same every time. Garnet would groggily find herself on a makeshift dinghy. It bore a sail that looked fragile enough to be torn at the slightest touch, but was somehow holding together in the middle of a monstrous storm. The boat had a barrel that was leaking what the princess could only assume was water, tied down against the stern of the boat.
The next thing she noticed was the feeling of freezing droplets of water upon her face. They were large and stung slight as the barrage hit her features, causing her to continually wipe them aside. She noticed most of the rest of her body was dry, done so because of a hood draped across her. The ship rocked amongst the waves, and the wind whipped against the paltry clothes Garnet was wearing.
An enormous amount of fear crept within her as she grabbed a hold of the mast to keep from being knocked to her feet or off the small vessel. The storm seemed to only worsen the longer the journey went. Just as Garnet would always feel herself losing her grip, something warm and loving would grab hold of her.
That was when she would look up into the obviously frightened, but smiling face of someone who looked very much like herself, only slightly older. There were tears streaming down her face, but the woman would only hold her close and whisper to her the same words that would always bring her comfort, despite how dreadful the situation seemed.
"It's going to be alright," the woman would say. A moment or two later, a final, devastating wave would collide with the boat and Garnet would awaken from it.
Whenever she had this dream, the heir to the throne of Alexandria would always have a heavy heart, coupled with a slight perspiration in her eyes. This time, though it took her longer to wipe the wetness away, as it kept pouring down her cheeks. The young girl knew why, but refused to admit it, because it reminded her of the increasing pit of dread that had been gathering in the pit of her stomach the last several months.
It was the first time she ever felt so lonely. Her mother had grown quite aloof since the King of Alexandria, Garnet's father and Brahne's loving husband, died, and she had been continuously ignoring the princess's concerns on the matter.
It was shortly after that when it seemed that Brahne had come to terms with the death that Garnet's 16th birthday had come and gone. Brahne celebrated with her. Garnet thought the emotions of her mother had finally returned to her. However, every time she looked into her mother's eyes, there was an odd glint in the queen's look; a predator stalking its prey.
However, whenever the princess revealed these sentiments to anyone who would listen. Captain Steiner. General Beatrix. Her ladies-in-waiting. She was immediately brushed off as being distraught from her father's death. It had gotten to the point where she had thought they might have been right; that it was all in her mind.
That was when she first saw the strange man with white hair. He looked from someone not of this earth. He looked quite feminine in his features and the graceful manner in which he walked, but he also carried himself with a supreme arrogance that exerted the power that must have flowed from within him.
The only time she ever saw him, her mother caught her and scolded her heavily. It was at that moment the princess knew that her mother was hiding something, and if she couldn't tell her own daughter, Garnet would find someone who she could talk to.
'Today is the day,' she told herself. 'There shall be no turning back. I must speak with him as soon as possible.'
The princess rose to her feet and snatched the sack she had slid underneath her bed, and peered into it. It contained all the necessities she had thought to take while her plan was set into motion. Traveling attire, a cloak to conceal herself, an old, emerald-hilted dagger from her father, and some of the flat cakes that were created for the soldiers on the late shift of patrolling the city and castle. The most important object of all, however, he kept tucked to herself. The Silver Pendant used to represent those of royal heritage in Alexandria and the neighboring province of Lindblum.
She tucked the package to herself and slipped out the door. She had planned on hiding her items earlier in the day, but it was almost as if her mother had planned on the princess trying something, as she seemingly was followed all throughout the castle.
With the arrival of Tantalus, however, most of the guards were needed to direct traffic flow outside. This gave Garnet the break in 'protection' she needed to finally stow her equipment into a secret slot she had used to stow away her most precious items from her parents. Normally it was only simple oddities, such as her father giving her a staff for her tenth birthday because of her white magical powers, or her Uncle Cid's letter consoling her after the death of her father. Even a book containing hand-made crowns made of roses she used to make with her mother. This time, though, it would allow her the means to escape.
Garnet took off her slippers, racing down the stairs in relative silence towards her hiding place. The teenage girl looked around to make sure there was no guards or anyone who may cause trouble at the sight of her, before ducking behind a stone statue of her father. He set the bag down and withdrew her father's memento, picking at the area surrounding the stone closest to the ground.
A few tense moments of grinding, continuous peeking around to make sure she wasn't being watched, the princess finally was able to loosen the stone to the point she could pull it out, herself. She peered into the stone which held many of her precious items, the memories bringing a rise to moisture in her eyes. She quickly brushed away the tears, realizing she must be strong. She stuffed the bag into the wall and slowly began to loosely replace the stone.
Garnet stood up, placed her slippers on and dusted herself off. 'Time to act my part,' she noted, rushing away from the slot, hoping that the time for her departure came sooner than later.
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The small boy traversed through the streets of Alexandria in dirty blue coat patched in multiple areas and a wilting pointed-hat. He wore brown leather boots that rose into his coat that drooped to about his knees and brown gardening gloves. Tied to his back was the only other object besides his clothes that he owned, a small walking stick.
The boy sighed heavily as he glanced at his fake ticket to the play that he had acquired. He should have known the four-warmed man he saw in Treno had most likely been noting more than a con artist. The young child couldn't believe he missed the mistake written on the ticket. I Want to be Your Crow? Anyone could tell it was false.
The ticketmaster had been very friendly, despite the fact the youngster had tried to trick his way into the show. He even gave the boy some cards that they were giving out to all the children that were going to the show. The boy graciously took them, but they did little to stem his sorrowful and shameful mood.
And so, his journey all the way to the capital of Alexandrian territory had been all for naught. Worst of all, he was probably the only visitor to the city - possibly the only person in the city - not going to see it.
He heard a loud cough echo in a nearby alleyway, which broke the boy from his reverie, along with something disappearing around the corner that looked like a…tail?
That caught the blue-coated boy's attention. It appeared to be something belonging to a rat, but it was too long and large to belong to any regular rodent. The boy dusted himself off and waddled over to the owner of the tail, peering around the corner. He saw a large bipedal mouse about the size of himself standing near the other corner looking around, as if he was looking for something. The rat had bowl cut red hair, wore a blue long-sleeved shirt, and reddish-orange overalls too big to be his own. One strap hung limp at the creature's elbow. On his hands were white gloves and his feet were supported by red sandals.
The shorter boy began to walk up behind the rat creature and tapped it on the shoulder, muttering, "Excuse me."
The rat leapt nearly two feet into the air and angrily whirled around. "DON'T DO THAT!" he squealed in a somewhat muffled yelp. His labored breathing slowed and his visage calmed into a firm look on his face. A second later it seemed as if the rat boy recognized the blue-coated boy. "Oh, it's you," he dryly claimed. "You're the one with the fake ticket, right?"
The boy lowered his head in an embarrassed response. The rat creature chuckled lightly, friendly patting the boy on the shoulder, causing the younger boy to pick his head up.
"Oi, it's ok!" he stated. "But you still wanna go see the show, right?" The younger boy nodded. "I'll let you if you become my servant!"
The younger boy tilted his head in a questioning look. "Umm…what should I do?" the boy nervously murmured.
The rat boy pointed down the alley. "Just go over there and see if anyone's coming." The younger boy turned around to glance over and was shoved in the direction of the town square. He stumbled slightly, but regained his balance and jogged towards the other opening. He peered through the opening to see if anyone was looking down the passage.
There was quite a commotion with all the hustling and bustling to and fro of nobles, guards, and Alexandrian commoners heading towards the castle to watch the spectacle. No one was really paying attention to the pathway he was standing in.
A moment or two later, the rat boy called over to him. "Anybody coming!"
The younger boy shook his head. "No…"
"Excellent!" The rat boy raced over to what the blue-coated youngster realized was a ladder against a house. He easily snatched the object and hoisted it above his head. "Come on, or we'll be noticed!"
The two boys raced deeper into the alley and around another house, before the rat boy placed the ladder up against a house. The pointy-hatted child noted that the ladder actually reached the roof in this case.
The rat boy swiftly climbed up to the roof of the building and took a few seconds for a look around before disappearing from view. Another minute or so later, the rat boy's head appeared. "Come on up!" he motioned.
The younger boy anxiously stared at the ladder. He involuntarily gulped before grabbing a hold of the wooden product and starting to scale it. About three rungs up, the boy slipped, causing the rat creature to smack himself in the face in annoyance. "Hurry up!"
The blue-coated boy regained his balance and slowly-but-surely made his way to the roof. The rat boy helped the child claw his way up to the roof. "Ok," the older boy said. "Now grab the other end of the ladder!" The younger boy watched as the rat creature grabbed the top rung and the side of the object, performing a similar action. The combined strength of the two raised the ladder up onto the roof, which was grabbed by the rat boy again.
The two both dropped from the weight of the ladder and huffed. The older boy glanced over at the younger boy in the blue coat. "Ya did good…ummm…you know, I don't even know your name! What's your name?"
The younger boy was finally able to catch his breath enough to mutter the name given to him by his grandfather. "Vivi."
"Vivi, huh?" The rat boy grinned. "My name's Puck. Nice at meetcha!"
Another few moments passed before the boy in the overalls named Puck rose to his feet. "Alright," the older boy smirked. "We're almost there." He dragged the ladder across the roof, seemingly uncaring of the noise he must have been creating inside the house. He raised it high into the air near a gap of another alley next to some scaffolding near the window of a tower connected to the castle. The boy lowered it as lightly as he could to create a bridge connecting the house to the castle and climbed onto it.
Unsure of himself and what they were doing, Vivi slowly took a step onto the ladder and, fairly sure it was safe, began to cross the ladder via the rungs onto the wooden scaffold.
"Great! Now let's go find some good seats for the show!"
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Garnet covered her mouth to stifle a yawn as she sat in her chair next to the throne her mother would be taking shortly to watch their favorite play. The princess loved plays, especially by Lord Avon, with their storytelling, romance, life lessons, and prose.
However, another aspect of the play, which might possibly be her favorite one, was the fact that, if she arrived early enough, she could see all the people coming, including the real actors, themselves. Even with the butterflies filling her stomach from nerves thinking about her escape upon the Prima Vista, the princess still found herself interested watching everyone set up the stage for the performance.
The teenage girl leaned against the marble railing to get a better view of those who were to be actors in the play. One of the actors wore a bandanna and was sitting off to the side of the others reading much of the script. Garnet surmised he must have a major part, possibly the lead.
Another pot-bellied man with pointed ears was standing up on the stage and pointing at a pile of boxes. He motioned at a door, laughing for no apparent reason in the process.
Two younger men, neither of which could have been much older than herself, appeared from the stairway, both of whom were talking and laughing at the jokes each were telling each other. One was a red-haired bandanna-wearing younger man, who, although smiling, was obviously getting teased by the shorter, blonde-haired boy.
The blonde-haired boy had now walked over to the middle-aged man and was speaking to him, while the red-haired male was carrying to equipment off-stage. The youth wore a dark blue vest overlaying a white collared short-sleeve shirt tied with a ribbon-like teal tie. His pants were made of an ocean blue, and was held up by what must have been an extremely long belt that was wrapped around his waist at least twice. His boots and gloves were colored a similar grayish-tan, and his wrists were cuffed with an identical fabric to his pants. Oddly enough, this particular boy had something Garnet had never seen on a human; a brown tail.
That wasn't what enraptured her about this particular boy, however. What had captured her focus on him was the fact that this boy hadn't stopped smiling since she saw him. It displayed a slight hint of arrogance and comedy, but it was also genuine and warm. She noticed that many of the other crew members running here and there were getting more focused and a few had been smiling weakly, but this one had been laughing and grinning broadly the few times she had seen him running around. He looked like he was having an enormous amount of fun.
As if he knew he was being watched, the boy suddenly turned in her direction, encasing the princess in the smile she had found so odd. The princess raised an eyebrow as the boy studied her, before giving a flirtatious wink and enormous grin, turning back to pick up a box sitting against the back canopy.
It had only lasted a second or two, but to the princess it appeared to go on for much longer. The smile from the boy was something she hadn't seen since the last time her father was alive; a warmth. It wasn't from nerves; nor was it from the rush of blood. It was like a comforting blanket on a cold winter day.
It wasn't that she had never received smiles, but most of them seem forced…false. They were given to her because she was a princess and of royalty. But this one…it was the first time in a long while she felt such warmth emanating from it. She hadn't realized how much she had missed such a warmth until just this moment, when it had enveloped her being.
The young girl realized shortly thereafter that he was already vanishing with a box of costumes below deck. As the last of his tail disappeared through the door with him, Princess Garnet returned the smile he gave her with the same warmth.