Final Fantasy IX – The Alternative Aftermath
This is my first ever fan fic so please go easy on me guys. I love Final Fantasy VII, VIII and IX and always daydream about storylines for possible sequels or wonder what happened next after the game endings. That's why I've decided to use my thoughts turn and turn them into fan fiction stories. I hope you enjoy
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or place names that appear in this fic: they are the property of Square-Enix and I am taking no financial gain from this work of fiction. I wrote this purely for fun.
If there's any spelling or grammar mistakes I apologise in advance, I'm not very good at proof reading and I type very fast so I obviously make mistakes and don't realise. But hey this isn't an English exam is it? This is just a bit of fun and I'm sure there are no bits that are so bad you can't work out what I actually mean. Well enjoy
This story takes place after the party has left the Iifa Tree and Zidane behind. Zidane awakens inside the tree's remains and now has to find a way out and then find a way home to Dagger and the rest of his friends. However, life isn't willing to wait around for him and soon after she returns to Alexandria, Dagger is forced to continue on with her life as Queen. Suitors soon come knocking and she starts losing hope Zidane will ever return. Will Zidane escape the Iifa Tree and return to Dagger? If he does then will he like what he finds? What will he do if he feels that there is no longer a place for him? How will the rest of the party move on from the adventure and how they react to his eventual return? Read my story if you wish to find out!
P.S. I will finish this story. Nothing irritates me more than reading stories I like then finding them left on a cliff-hanger because the author doesn't finish it. I certainly won't be doing that. It may take a while but I WILL finish this story.
Chapter 1 – The Beginning
Zidane awoke inside the Iifa Tree and slowly opened his eyes. Darkness was all he could see in front of him and every muscle in his body ached as he tried to stand up. He felt extremely weak and was only able to manage to get himself into a sitting position. He realised that there was no feeling in his legs and that he needed more rest. Instead he decided to try and gather his thoughts. "I must be inside the bottom of the Iifa Tree" he thought. He also concluded that he must have been lying there for quite a while because his body was so weak.
Zidane soon began trying to remember what had happened to leave him in this predicament. He remembered that the tree had collapsed in on itself and being knocked unconscious. He had ventured back inside the death trap alone forcing his friends to go home without him. Why had he gone back? Then it hit him like a kick in the nuts. He'd gone back to save his brother, the brother who'd been barely alive when he'd found him and the brother who's body he'd attempted to shield from harm. "KUJA" he roared looking around. "KUJA! KUJA ARE YOU THERE? KUJA!" but no reply came. Zidane dropped his head. "It would be foolish to expect him to have survived after that, he was barely alive as it was and there was nothing I could do for him." Tears slowly began to fall down Zidane's cheeks; he had never felt so helpless. "I'm sorry Kuja. I couldn't save you, but I hope you're at peace now." He had at least been there to comfort his brother in his final moments of life. He and Kuja had made peace in those brief minutes before the tree collapsed and Kuja had also told him he finally understood what it meant to live. Zidane made a promise to himself right then and there, that he'd live out both their lives. He'd make his big brother proud.
Zidane did have a life waiting for him, his friends Vivi, Freya, Quina, Steiner, Eiko and even Amarant. Also his other brothers from Tantalus Blank, Marcus, Cinna and the boss Baku. But the person he wanted to see the most was the person he loved more than anything else in this world. Queen Garnet, or Dagger as he liked to call her, were all waiting for him. He'd fallen in love with Dagger the moment he laid eyes upon her, when he'd came Alexandria Castle to kidnap her with his Tantalus brothers. He'd been blown away by her breath-taking beauty and could never get her out of his mind from that point on. He'd met and had had brief relationships with beautiful women before, but none them made him feel like how Dagger made him feel. As he'd travelled with her he'd came to realise she was just as beautiful inside as she outside. He loved nothing more than being with her and it had been agonising to have to send her back without him. He'd never forget the look of sadness and longing in her eyes as the airship pulled away leaving him behind. She'd begged him to come back with her, not to risk his life yet again after the adventure they'd been through and the close scrapes they'd survived. But he had to go back; he couldn't abandon Kuja if he thought there was a chance he could save him. Even if he had boarded the airship and went back to Alexandria and lived his life with Dagger, he never could have been fully happy because he'd have felt like he'd abandoned a friend. Even though Kuja had caused so much harm, Zidane knew that there was good in him, a part of him worth trying to save even if he didn't want to be. He couldn't live with the guilt of not even trying. So he had made her go back with the others despite her pleading and leave him to go back to the Iifa Tree alone in what sounded like a fruitless effort to find and help his "brother". He vowed to her he'd return to her someday and that they'd live a happy life together. "I will keep that promise" he whispered to himself. "I don't care how long it takes or what I have to go through, I will return to her!"
After much rest the feeling slowly came back into Zidane's legs. He eventually (after much effort) managed to pull himself to his feet with the help of a nearby branch. He then began to take in his surroundings. Despite the darkness he could make thick tree branches all round him. He came to the realisation that the only way he was getting out of here was by digging his way out. "But by looking at all these branches that could take a very long time" he thought. "Well I don't care how long it takes" he repeated now more defiantly. "It might take me a week, it might take me a year but I'm gonna get out of here and get back to Dagger! We'll be reunited and live a happy life together like I promised!"
Well that's the first of what will probably be many chapters done. Please review if you wish, I'd like to know what you think of my chapter for this story. The second will hopefully be up tomorrow at some point.