Disclaimer: We do not own Final Fantasy IX or the related characters or places….

A/N: Okay, this story was thought up on the way to Church while listening to a Queen CD.  One of the songs was called "Who Wants to Live Forever?" and automatically, the first thing that jumped into my mind was.  Yeah!  That would be awesome.  However…I got to thinking.  And living forever would really be a curse in disguise.  This is what happens when you are a Final Fantasy Freak and you think to much about one topic, it results in a fanfiction.  So read away!

Chapter One: The Iifa Tree

 Zidane's eyes fluttered open, and he looked around trying to remember where he was. When he realized that was trapped under heavy branches, the details slowly started coming back to him. He had covered Kuja when the Iifa Tree's braches started going wild. Kuja! He raised his back as he tried to get up, and to his amazement the branches slipped right off and fell to his side. But what surprised him even more was that he didn't seem to be hurt, the big branches must have missed him when they fell.

 Pushing this all aside in his head, he frantically started digging, trying to find Kuja under all the rubble. Finally, he uncovered a body, and sure enough it belonged to his brother. Eagerly, he pressed his head against Kuja's chest, but there was no heartbeat. Kuja had died, despite Zidane's desperate attempt to save him.

Zidane picked him up and carried him out of the hellish tree. After making it out, he laid him on the ground outside, and tried once more to find a heartbeat. There was still no pulse. He felt a pang of sadness at his heart. Zidane had thought he hated Kuja, all until the end. Nevertheless, they were brothers.

"Well, it's the least I can do for you…" Zidane said sadly, even though he knew Kuja couldn't hear him. He started digging using his dagger, it was long and hard work but finally he had made a hole big enough. Carefully, he lowered Kuja into the shallow depression and covered him up. "Someday, I will come back and give you a proper burial," He said as he wrote 'Kuja' in the soil next to the makeshift grave.

Never mind that…he thought, I need to get back to Alexandria. He headed in the direction of the Conde Petie Mountain Path. As he made his way through, he noticed that Conde Petie was blocked off by some of the Iifa Tree's massive roots.

Without giving it a second thought, Zidane grabbed his dagger out of it's sheath and ran to help the dwarves. For almost an hour, he hacked and hacked at the stubborn roots. Sweat ran down his concentration-creased forehead and stung his eyes, yet he continued to work. Eventually, the roots fell away, showing the dark insides of the once flourishing city.

After putting his dagger back in its sheath, he stepped through the hole he had made. The halls were pitch black, and the usual sound of the dwarves scurrying about couldn't be heard at all. He took a step forward and his foot came in contact with something laying on the floor. Upon closer examination he saw that it was indeed one of the earlier inhabitants of the village.

The dwarf looked like a woman; only instead she didn't look as plump as he remembered them to be. She looked skinny, starved to be more exact, and her once green face looked terribly pale. Their trading must've been cut off, he thought to himself. There must not be any way out of here then. Nevertheless, he decided to look around any way, hoping that maybe, there would be a survivor.

However, from the looks of it, no one had survived. He felt his way up to the front of the structure, and sure enough, the entrance was blocked off by more of the Iifa Tree's roots. Using what little light that shone through the ceiling, he could see that the dwarves had indeed tried to escape. There were marks all over the root, and they appeared to have been made by fingernails. Zidane shivered, I don't want to even try breaking another one of those roots, and I definitely don't want to be here at night.

Trying not to look at all the corpses that were laying everywhere, Zidane made his way back to where he had come in. He was pleased to see that the sun was still up. I can always go to Madin Sari. Eiko might be able to help me out, he reassured himself as he continued in his walk down the Mountain Path.

When he entered Madin Sari he was greeted by several moogles, but not by Eiko. "So happy to see you again! Kupo!" one of them said looking up at him.

"Uh, yeah, you too. Is Eiko here?" he asked looking around the ruins.

"No…" the same moogle said looking down. Zidane looked at it, expecting it to say more, but it didn't say anything.

"Well, where is she then?"

"She's been adopted. Kupopo." Another moogle spoke up.

"Wh-What?!" Zidane's heart seemed to have stopped. "By who?"

"Morrison, kupo, who was it that adopted Eiko?" another moogle asked.

"I can't remember his name, kupo, but he was the Regent of Lindblum." Cid?! Cid adopted Eiko? "They should be coming back to visit soon, kupo. Eiko promised us she would visit us. Kupopo!" he reassured Zidane, seeing his horror-struck face.

"But it's been about four months since they left! Kupo!" one moogle whispered to the one next to it.

"Shhh, Momatose!" was the moogle's harsh reply.

"Four months?" Zidane asked raising his eyebrows. "What happened after the Iifa Tree incident?" he asked curiously. The moogles looked at each other, then Morrison spoke up.

"Come over to the house, kupo, and we'll explain." Zidane obeyed. He followed the group of moogles back to Eiko's old house and sat down at one of the chairs around her small table. Morrison and the other moogles sat on top of the table.

"Lady Eiko told us the following, kupo." Morrison began solemnly. "After beating Necron, kupo, you were teleported back to Gaia. Kupo. Cid's ship found all of you near the Iifa Tree and came by to pick you up. Kupo?"

"Yeah, that's right…" Zidane said.

"But you didn't go because you wanted to save your brother, kupo?" Zidane nodded, "After the airship took off, Cid directed the ship back to Lindblum kupo, but the Red Rose stayed close to see what would happen. Kupo." Beatrix? "The general told Cid that she saw the Tree collapse shortly after you went in, kupopo. Everyone thinks that you died, kupo." Zidane continued to listen intently, his mouth gaping open. "After Cid heard that Lady Eiko didn't have a family, kupo, he refused to bring her back and let her live alone. Even though she still had us moogles. Kupopo." Morrison now sounded a little agitated, but went on with the story.

"She wrote to us, and Artemecian delivered the letter to us." A moogle that was standing close by picked a letter up off of the ground. Zidane read it:

Hay guys,
I will mis yu, Im livin with Sid now. He sed he will be my dady from now on. I promis to vist, and Sid sed I cud.
Luv,
Eiko Carol

Zidane found himself smiling despite himself. At least she won't be alone anymore, he thought optimistically. "When do you think she will be visiting?" he asked giving the letter back to the moogle.

"We don't know, kupo. But we've been waiting! Kupo!" the moogle said.

"If it isn't any trouble, do you think I could stay here for the time being?"

"We miss Lady Eiko, kupo, so it will be good to have company." Morrison answered. "Chimomo! Show him where he can sleep." The moogle who had the letter nodded and grabbed Zidane's hand with its paw.

"Here's your room." Chimomo said quietly as they came into a room. Zidane recognized it as the room that Eiko had kept her village's part of the crystal in. The only difference was that there was a bed.

"The last person who stayed here was a girl, her name was Lani, don't you remember her?" Chimomo asked. Lani? That sounds familiar.

"Isn't she the one that tried to steal your village jewel? And tried to kill Dagger?" Zidane asked.

"Well, I guess you can put it like that, kupopo." Chimomo answered slowly, "She was injured and we took care of her, kupo. It took her a long time to recover. She stayed here for a while with us, kupo. She protected us from monsters for some time afterwards." Monster hunter eh? I guess that it's only fair, I'll take over that duty tomorrow. He yawned and collapsed into the bed. It was extremely comfortable, and he fell asleep almost immediately.

The next morning, the smell of food was enough to wake Zidane up. Food, how long had it been since he ate? 'But it's been four months since they left! Kupo!' He remembered a moogle saying. Impossible, I wouldn't have survived if I hadn't eaten in four months! After rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he walked up to the kitchen.

All the moogles were sitting around the table. Zidane walked up and sat between two of them. "Good morning kupo! You sure slept in late. Kupo!" one of them said happily. He smiled at everyone and looked at the food piled on the table. The moogles were obviously getting ready to eat lunch, there was fish, lots and lots of it, and then there was some mashed rock fisted potatoes. Everything looked just as good as it tasted.

Zidane ate so much that he could hardly move. It felt so good to be stuffed! The moogles eventually dispersed and went to do their own chores. After letting his food settle, he got equipped and headed out of the city.

"Where are you going, kupo?" Morrison stopped him.

"I'm gonna take over Lani's job." He answered making sure his dagger was still in its sheath.

"Oh, you don't need to…" Morrison started, but Zidane held his hand up to silence him. The moogle watched with a small smile on its face as Zidane left the village.

Zidane stood in front of the structure waiting for any monster to approach. Normally it didn't take very long before one could be spotted, but it seemed like there weren't any monsters. Not one at all. But he continued to guard his spot, as if daring any monster to come get him.

Hours passed, and Zidane still hadn't seen one monster. "Are you hungry kupo?" a moogle asked stepping outside.

"Yes, I sure am." He answered.

"Why don't you come in and take a break? Kupopo." Zidane nodded and followed the moogle inside. He sat back down at the table that was once again crowded with even more food.

"Why aren't there any monsters? I haven't seen one all morning!" Zidane said after taking a big swig of water.

"There's no more mist." A moogle explained. "There hasn't been any mist since the Iifa Tree collapsed, kupo."

"Oh I get it! Monsters are born out of the mist, so since there's no more mist, there's no more monsters!" Zidane exclaimed. All the moogles around the table nodded except for one.

"Not exactly." Morrison spoke up. "The monsters that are born from the mist are more powerful then normal monsters, kupo. So the mist monsters killed off a lot of the regular ones. But they're still around, kupopo! Plus, kupo, mist still lingers in caves, but roots block off most caves. But if one got opened, kupo…" He shivered.

"So we don't really have to worry…" Zidane said folding his arms behind his head. "Those roots are really thick. I don't think that monsters could get through them." Morrison gave Zidane a skeptical look, but held his tongue. "Well, thanks for the food." Zidane said pushing his plate away and holding his stomach. "Unless you have something for me to do, I think I'll just look around."

"Alright, Kupo!" Momatose waved. Zidane stood up and started to wander aimlessly around the destructed village. Before long, he found himself at the dock with the rickety old boat. Memories started to swirl around in his head....

"You've got the skills to be a bandit. Whaddaya say we team up? We can call ourselves, 'the Betrothed'."

"My skills might be up to snuff, but that name sure isn't."

I have to get back to her! Somehow, but I don't think this boat will be able to carry me all the way to Alexandria. He examined the boat, which was very old and looked like it could fall apart at any minute. Yet, it had supported both him and Dagger at one point.

Cautiously, he stepped into the miniscule boat. To his surprise, it was able to hold him, but only do just that. He didn't think that it was the smartest thing to take such a beat up craft all the way across the seas. But the boat itself didn't look too hard to build. Maybe the moogles know something about this boat.

Zidane eagerly sprinted back up to the kitchen where Momatose was busy fishing. "Do you know anything about that little boat down there?" he asked as he gulped for air.

"The boat at the dock, kupo?" he asked without looking up.

"Yeah, that one."

"The villagers used a bunch of those boats, kupo, when the village was under attack many years ago, kupo!" Well, that's the history of the boats.

"Do you know how they built them?" Zidane asked getting slightly impatient.

"Well, a little…k-k-KUPO!!!" the tiny moogle started struggling against the fishing line. Zidane ran up and grabbed the fishing pole and reeled the fish in. "Thanks, kupo!"

"No problem. How did they build those boats?" he asked giving the pole back to Momatose.

Momatose explained exactly how the boats were built, and Zidane listened intently. A lot of the things that were needed could be found nearby, but all the things that he didn't have (pegs, rope etc.) could be taken off of the boat. After Momatose finished his long description he asked, "Why do you want to know?"

"I'm gonna be headin' back to Alexandria."

"The boat will never be able to make it all the way to Alexandria, kupo! But it might be able to make it to Lindblum." Zidane smiled catching on. They want to go to Lindblum to see Eiko.

"But Alexandria isn't as far as Lindblum."

"But the waters between the Forgotten Continent and Mist Continent are very dangerous! Kupo! You need to go north from here, the waters are calmer and you can make it to Lindblum in no time, kup-kupo!" He has a point… "Moco and Mocha can help you build the boat! They're really good when it comes to those things."

"Alright…" Zidane said as he looked into the sky, the sun would be setting any time soon. "Maybe we should start tomorrow. Let's concentrate on dinner right now."

~ ~

Please review, the first few chapters are going to be the ending of the game in our prospective, or the way we thought of it.  Things will start to get interesting soon.  Just give us some time!  Flames and Feedback are appreciated!