FINAL FANTASY 9.5
Just to let you all know, I do not own any part of final fantasy IX or any of the characters I've nicked from it. (Even though I did borrow some of my characters from a girl who really liked my story) and please also note I have not finished the game so if I have any unintentual spoilers then I am very sorry in advance.
The village was busy as usual. People came and went through different shops and talked to friends that they met along the way. A hooded figure stood to one side watching the crowd go by. From far away the figure looked like an old woman who was waiting for someone or she could have been a gypsy waiting to be allowed to walk in the city. But both of these ideas were wrong. The figure was waiting for someone but she was not old or a gypsy.
A small figure trotted down the path. She was wearing a long cloak and blue jacket that covered her up. But no one really paid her any attention. The girl slipped and fell onto her bottom. She sat there for a few seconds and then picked herself up. She wandered on a little way and slipped again.
The figure in the hood sighed and shook her head and walked over to her. "Lili you've gotta be more careful, you're going to get pointed out" said the figure helping Lili up. "Sorry, Shadow" said Lili. "C'mon we'll find the others together" said Shadow. They wandered off down the street, unknowingly into danger.
~
"Come off it, there is no way that he's going to go out with her" said Marcus.
"There's every chance that he will go out with her. You know fine well he's got the hot's for her" said Cinna slurping from a drink.
"Aye, he might have the hot's for her, but she doesn't have the hot's for him. She can't stand the way that he constantly hangs around her" said Marcus.
"Hey Blank, d'ye think that Zaela gotta chance with Shadow or not?" asked Cinna.
Blank looked at him and shook his head, "If Shadow's got more sense she'll keep away from the likes of him".
"Hey up guys, did any of yous know that a hanging was on today?" asked Marcus.
"WHAT??? How can there be, it would have been posted around the town, wouldn't it?" said Cinna.
"Well I can defiantly see the hang-mans noose up there. We've gotta check this out" said Marcus.
"Defiantly" said Cinna and Blank together. All three of them ran down the street as fast as they could.
When they reached the platform, Shadow and Lili were already there and in the middle of an argument with a Pluto knight. "Look I've told you two twice now, we've just been ordered to hang someone and we've gotta obey orders. So push off" he said and pushed Shadow. Shadow went to push the knight, but Blank pulled her back and said, "C'mon Grandma, no time to be annoying the knights now is there".
With a rather heavy shove, Blank got Shadow down to an alleyway. The others followed. "All right, all right ye can stop pushing me Blank!" said Shadow in an annoyed voice.
"What was that all about?" asked Marcus.
"That idiot of a knight wouldn't tell us who was due to be hanged" said Lili. The others looked at her in surprise. Shadow slightly raised an eyebrow but grinned. Lili blushed, "E..erm.well he was an idiot".
"Looks like your finally learning" said Shadow and then turning onto Blank, "And what's with the Grandma business, may I ask?".
"Well I had to say something to explain how I knew you, didn't I" said Blank.
"Look you lot, we've gotta stop this stupid arguing right now. We've got to work out who's gonna be hung and when they are as well" said Marcus.
"Right, Cinna and Marcus go and find Baku, he should be able to help us. Shadow, you and Lili go and keep an eye on that place from the roofs" said Blank. "Were will you be?" asked Cinna.
"I'll stay here until you two come back with Baku and any one else. Then we'll find out what we can from these two, Okay?" said Blank.
"Right" said everyone and they did the Tantalus salute and quickly went about their business.
~
The cell was dark and damp. Old straw littered the floor with ease. There was a disgusting smell of death and other substances. It would be enough to lock anyone into a deep depression. Unless of cause they happened to like living in a cold, dark, damp and smelly place. There was a strange dripping sound as well. It echoed around the room and sounded like a clock ticking away, every second lasting an eternity for the occupant of the cell.
He sat with his back against the cold wall. Around his wrists where large, rusted manacles which were connected to the wall by a long thick and very heavy chain. To anyone who past, he looked like he had been there for years. He was thin and looked under-fed. His clothes consisted of a pair of discoloured trousers and a very thin waistcoat. His hair, which at one time had been a dark blond was now hanging limp and looked like it was losing its colour. Anyone would have thought that he was an old man who had been put in jail for life. But they were wrong.
He was Zidane, Lord of Alexandria and only nineteen years old.
He looked up at the bared window. All that was visible was a clear blue sky and some white clouds. There was no hope for him, his strength was gone and soon he would feel the pull of the noose around his neck.
~
Shadow stare helplessly at the hang-mans noose. There had been absolutely nothing to say what or who was going to be hanged. She could clearly see two knights lounging around but couldn't quiet hear what they were saying. She checked the rooftop and saw nobody. She carefully removed her hood and wriggled her ears.
Unlike most people of the Mist continent, Shadow was part animal. Everyone was unsure of how she was part animal but it was generally accepted. It was believed, at first, that she was part dog. But when Blank and Marcus once found her howling at the moon, they guessed that she was in fact part wolf.
Shadow didn't appear to have fangs or red eyes, as such, but she did have features. The most obvious things were her ears and tail. Her ears were on top of her head and were dark grey in colour and looked like those of a wolf. She could move them freely and without any problems, they were also good for hearing things a long distance, which was why the group often made her wear earplugs so that she couldn't hear about something's.
Her tail was the same colour as her ears and she often used it to pickpocket from people cause they would just think that she was in a mood and had swung her tail to show it. She also had wolf paws instead of feet but you would have to be looking down to see them. As for fangs if she had any she could hide them very well.
She concentrated on the two knights and discovered that they were talking about someone finally going out with some girl by the name of Sandra. Still it was an interesting conversation, but of no use to her. She looked around and could see no other knights.
"Hi Shadow" said a voice, which made her jump out of her skin. She turned around and saw Vivi and Ekio. She breathed a sigh of relief, "Just give me a heart attack, why don't ye" she said.
"Sorry, but Blank said that you were up here with Lili and that we should find out if you knew anything, yet" said Ekio.
"Nope, don't know anything. There's a couple of knights but their talking about some girl called Sandra which on of their mates managed to get off with the other night" said Shadow.
"By the way, where's Lili?" asked Vivi.
"Hmm.oh she went to check the other side. See if she could learn anything from a different point of view. But she hasn't come back around yet, so she either knows something or she's still waiting" said Shadow, scanning the roofs on the other side of the street and not seeing or smelling anyone. "Okay, I'll go and tell Blank that. You don't mind if Ekio stays up here do you?" asked Vivi.
"Nah.she'll give me some company. Oh and tell Blank that Steiner is nowhere in sight, at all. I can't even smell him" said Shadow.
Vivi climbed down the ladder and sorted out his hat. He looked around and spotted the others where he had left them.
"Any news?" asked Zaela, Ruby's son.
"Nope she says that there's been nothing going on there at all. And she also says that Steiner is nowhere to be seen or smell whatever that means" said Vivi.
"That means Steiner's not in the Castle. Something's up then" said Blank.
"Yeah, but wouldn't Zidane have tried to let us know that something was going on?" asked Marcus.
"Maybe he can't let us know for some reason. We'll have to see, right now we must wait until one of them three notice something" said Blank looking at the rooftops.
Lili finally reached the rooftop of the house that directly faced the one where Shadow and Ekio were waiting. She waved across at them and they signalled back. She looked towards the noose and saw that the knights had gone, but two trumpeters were coming out to signal the start of the hanging. She watched with growing interest as they mounted the stall and blew out several loud notes. She noticed that Shadow had ducked down clutching her ears at this point.
The town crier, a large built man by the name of Shaune, yelled out in a voice of all similar criers, "People of Alexandria, In ten minuets a hanging is due to take place. All are welcome to watch this spectacle, hear ye, hear ye.." his voice drifted down the street as people ran to see the hanging.
Lili looked towards the prison and could just about see the poor retch that was to be hung. She almost fell off the roof as she hurried to go and tell the others.
Ekio and Shadow strained to see the entrance, but found it becoming harder by the second. Shadow did manage to catch a bit of the conversation that was going on between a knight and the prisoner and she wasn't completely sure if she had heard right. She heard, "Well, it looks like it's your time to die" said a knight.
"Why are you doing this?" said the prisoner in a weak and sore voice.
"Simple dimwit, the new Queen orders for you and that other impostor to be destroyed and that is how it is going to be." started the knight but then the street became too busy for her to focus on one conversation.
"Well, who is it?" asked Ekio. "I still don't know. But one thing at least is that something's going on in the Castle" said Shadow.
"What?" asked Ekio, curious as ever.
"I don't quite know, all I heard was that a new Queen was in power and that two people were.." said Shadow but then was interrupted by Lili, running pell-mell towards them.
"Guys, we've gotta stop this!" she said in a panicky voice.
"Why?" asked Ekio and Shadow both together.
"They're gonna hang Zidane!" said Lili. "WHAT???" they said in unison.
"Well, by the sounds of things the shows nearly on the road" said Cinna.
"Hey, Blank aren't you." started Marcus.
"BLANK! GET UP HERE QUICK" yelled Shadow from the rooftop.
Blank was up in a few seconds, "What is it?" he asked. "Look" said Shadow pointing towards the open door and the figure.
"Is that.?" asked Blank.
"Zidane! Yes, it's him" said Shadow.
"C'mon, get down, we've got to work this out quickly" said Blank.
They scrambled down the roof and dropped onto the pavement. "What's up?" asked Zaela.
"They're gonna hang Zidane" said Lili and Ekio together.
"Are they serious?" asked Marcus. "Yes, they are. I've seen it with my own eyes and smelt it with my own nose. They're gonna kill Zidane" said Shadow, who was slightly out of breath.
"What are we going to do?" asked Mott, a different member of the gang.
"I know," said Vivi, quiet unexpectedly, "..we split up into groups and go and do different things in order to save his life".
"Like what?" asked Zaela and Mott together.
"Okay, Lili, Vivi and Ekio go onto the rooftops and create a big enough distraction with your magic. Marcus, Cinna and Zaela go and destroy that platform when those three start the magic show. Mott and Shadow your with me" said Blank quickly.
"What are we gonna do?" asked Mott.
"Grab Zidane, by any chance?" asked Shadow slightly raising her eyebrows.
"Got it in one. Okay move out and lets get this going" said Blank.
Vivi, Lili and Ekio ran to the houses on the other side of the street and clambered onto the roofs, while Marcus, Cinna and Zaela ran towards the crowd and Shadow, Mott and Blank ran to the Fountain at the rear of the hang-mans noose.
The crowd was gathered anxiously together and getting through was quite a pain. Zaela who was the smallest managed to convince people that he could not see that well and that he wanted to get through to the front.
Marcus and Cinna pretended to be his brothers who were trying to keep an eye on him. They got to the front at long last and could see a knight with a long parchment in his hands.
"Looks like we might have to wait" said Marcus.
"Why don't we just destroy it now and save ourselves some time?" asked Zaela, obviously bored.
"Cause that would give the game away and make things a lot more tricky, young one. We stick to Blank's plan for the time being" said Cinna.
At the exact same time Vivi, Lili and Ekio reached the rooftops of the houses on the opposite side of the street. They looked over the various boxes that were scattered here and there.
Vivi had already grabbed what he could from them so it gave them a bit more room to see what was going on. "Okay, anyone got any ideas?" asked Vivi.
"No.sorry" said Ekio a little sheepishly.
"I've got a idea" said Lili.
"What?" asked Vivi.
She whispered her plan to them and they both agreed. "Okay we wait until he's in the noose before the plan goes into action, Okay?" said Vivi. The other two nodded.
Meanwhile near the fountain Mott, Blank and Shadow were trying their best not to be seen or heard but the Knights of Pluto.
"Are you sure they said new Queen, Shad?" asked Mott. Mott and Shadow were good friends and often referred to each other with shorter names.
"Defiantly, Mo I don't know quite what they meant by that but it was defiantly a new queen" said Shadow, raising her head a little way above the fountain.
"Coasts clear, Blank, no one's even bothering to check if anyone's back here" she said.
"How d'ye know?" asked Mott.
"Simple I just half over-heard a conversation and they say that no one will be stupid enough to attempt to help this little scruff when they see who's back on the throne" said Shadow, not bothering to whisper any more.
"Well that means they won't be expecting anyone. C'mon we'll get a little closer so that we can hear when things start" said Blank drawing his sword. Shadow and Mott did the same with their weapons and crept forward.
On the stand a noble walked out to the jeering crowd. He raised his hands in a jester of silence and took the parchment off the knight. His voice was deep and booming and sent a sense of fear into most of the audience.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, and lower peoples of Alexandria. Treachery and deceit have both been played upon our hometown. The man that is to be hung here this very day." there was a roar from the crowds, ".has not only acted alone, but has had a gang help him to make us turn against what we used to know as being right".
At this point Shadow said, "What a load of Bull..". "Watch your language young lady!" said Blank glancing at her. She nodded and went back to listening.
"Furthermore, this man killed two of our courts most finest nobles in cold blood. And he cause suffering in other places as well. Do you think that such a man should be allowed to walk amongst us with the freedom to do as he wants?" he asked the crowd. There was a loud scream from the crowd, which was a mixture of "No" and "Hang him".
The noble waited for a little while and then shouted, "People of Alexandria, your revenge shall happen now. Bring forth the prisoner". The crowd went wild.
Cinna, Marcus and Zaela were almost pushed over the wooden slats to stop people reaching the person who was due to die. The prison door banged open and for the first time, the Tantalus gang saw Zidane.
He looked absolutely horrifying. He was thin and had lost a lot of the colour from his skin. His eyes were bleak and looked older than what he was. His hair was limp and lifeless and there were large black marks under his eyes from lack of sleep. Unknown to the crowd, but clearly visible to Mott, Shadow and Blank, his back was littered with whip marks and scratches.
The crowd's cheers slowly died down to a shocked silence. Several whispers ran through faster than anything. "What's he doing up there?", "That's Zidane, isn't it?", "What's going on?", "Cripes, how on earth can he be considered a traitor?", "How dare they do that! It's not right" and loads of other things, which soon turned the square into a hubbub of noise.
The noble raised his hand for silence as a few people started to shout things out at him, "Please, people of Alexandria, calm down. This runt you see before you is a traitor to you. He has tricked you all for years and none of you have seen it".
"Push off you worthless thug. Queen Garnet will have your head for this!" someone shouted from the crowd.
"I think that you will find that Queen Garnet does not rule Alexandria any more, you worthless peasant!" he shouted back to whoever had shouted out. "What do you mean, scumbag? Queen Garnet rules.she has done for many years" came a female voice.
"Ahh.but did any of you know that she was not the Queen's daughter. And that this thief plotted with her to take Alexandria from Queen Brahne, who now is rightfully back in place" he shouted. There was an extraordinary long pause.
Then a voice of a knight of Pluto began to shout, "Long live Queen Brahne!".
Weather the people were please that she was back or they were just downright scared they started to chant the phrase over and over. The noble had won. He turned and signalled to the knights who held Zidane to put him into the noose. The crowd started calling out different things.
But it was easy to tell that they were trying to keep the new Queen happy and to re-enforce this idea the new Queen did appear in the royal box to watch the hanging.
Zidane was dragged onto the plat-form and placed into the noose. He had never felt so alone in all of his life. He didn't dare look back to see if Garnet was there, even though he would've liked to have seen her one last time. But what happened next was such a confusion that very few people actually understood what was going on.
As the noose was placed over his neck, Ekio had jumped onto the rooftop. She had borrowed Lili's cloak to hide her identity and managed to hover just above the slates of the roof.
"Pitiful fool's are you, to not acknowledge the arrival of my Master. We crashed through your defences in a blaze of fire and thunder and no one realised that some knights would not return" she yelled in a voice that did not sound like her.
A voice rang out from the crowd, "Look, the defences are in ruins!". Half the crowd turned and called vainly to others that it was true and panic spread through the people.
"Be still, and worry thy selves no more. I am prepared to let you all survive" said a deep voice.
Shadow looked up and nearly laughed out loud. Standing on the roof, next to Ekio, was a tall and mighty looking figure. He or She it was hard to tell, was wearing a long black cloak and had wings, which fluttered just behind it.
To Shadow it was easy to see that they were made out of a few sticks and a verity of mismatched feathers. It was obvious that Lili was standing on top of Vivi and they were desperately trying not to lose their balance.
"What are you laughing at?" asked Mott.
"It's Lili and Vivi and Ekio, causing a distraction" she managed to say without laughing.
"Well they better do some magic quickly then or we're in big trouble" said Blank.
Zidane had turned his head to look at the creature and found that he was not scared of it in the slightest way. He looked towards the crowd and spotted Marcus, Cinna and Zaela. He widened his eyes slightly with shock and a thin smile crossed his lips. Marcus looked over in his direction and simply nodded.
"W.who are you?" asked Zaela, pretending that he was scared of the fake.
"I am." as frown crossed Ekio's face but luckily Lili thought of a reasonable disguise, "Black Waltz number five" she called out.
Shadow placed her hand over her eyes and shook her head. "Nice, going Lili, now the buggers won't shift" she mumbled.
There was silence from the crowd. Lili was getting worried, Vivi quickly said, "Time to liven things up a bit".
Ekio got the point and shouted, "Do you dare disbelieve my Master".
Lili took the cue and said, "Those that do will feel the pain of magic" and with that released a verity of fireworks, which shot into the sky and surrounded people.
Panic spread throughout the crowd as they tried to avoid the 'magic'. Shadow looked at the roofs and muttered a spell, several large monsters appeared and growled. They wouldn't do anything of cause, Shadow only summoned them to add a bit of life to the party.
"C'mon lets get Zidane out of here" said Blank.
"Right!" said Mott and Shadow together. They ran onto the platform only to find themselves faced with several large knights.
Blank and Mott lashed out a two of them while Shadow used a dispel spell on the rest. This caused over half the knights to go flying off the plat-form and land unconscious on the pavement.
All three of them ran towards Zidane but the other half regained their senses and charged at the rescuers. Shadow easily jumped over one of them but Blank and Mott weren't so lucky.
She turned around to help them but Blank shouted, "Get Zidane, we'll keep this lot off your back". Shadow nodded and ran over to where Zidane was still tied to the noose.
She had no idea at all how to undo the noose without chocking him in the process, so she cut the rope that was just above his head. He fell onto the platform like a tone of bricks. Shadow grabbed him under his arms and pulled him out of the way. "C'mon Zidane, get up I can't move you by myself" she said in a breathless voice.
"I'm trying but I can't. Leave me here" said Zidane in a weak voice.
"Not a chance, mate, you might not work for us anymore but you're still considered a Tantalus Brother no matter what. Now get up and let's get out of here" said Shadow hoisting Zidane up.
"Stop her! She's taking the prisoner away" came the noble's voice. A heavy, armour covered hand smacked onto Shadows neck and she fell to the floor in a matter of seconds.
~
Just to let you all know, I do not own any part of final fantasy IX or any of the characters I've nicked from it. (Even though I did borrow some of my characters from a girl who really liked my story) and please also note I have not finished the game so if I have any unintentual spoilers then I am very sorry in advance.
The village was busy as usual. People came and went through different shops and talked to friends that they met along the way. A hooded figure stood to one side watching the crowd go by. From far away the figure looked like an old woman who was waiting for someone or she could have been a gypsy waiting to be allowed to walk in the city. But both of these ideas were wrong. The figure was waiting for someone but she was not old or a gypsy.
A small figure trotted down the path. She was wearing a long cloak and blue jacket that covered her up. But no one really paid her any attention. The girl slipped and fell onto her bottom. She sat there for a few seconds and then picked herself up. She wandered on a little way and slipped again.
The figure in the hood sighed and shook her head and walked over to her. "Lili you've gotta be more careful, you're going to get pointed out" said the figure helping Lili up. "Sorry, Shadow" said Lili. "C'mon we'll find the others together" said Shadow. They wandered off down the street, unknowingly into danger.
~
"Come off it, there is no way that he's going to go out with her" said Marcus.
"There's every chance that he will go out with her. You know fine well he's got the hot's for her" said Cinna slurping from a drink.
"Aye, he might have the hot's for her, but she doesn't have the hot's for him. She can't stand the way that he constantly hangs around her" said Marcus.
"Hey Blank, d'ye think that Zaela gotta chance with Shadow or not?" asked Cinna.
Blank looked at him and shook his head, "If Shadow's got more sense she'll keep away from the likes of him".
"Hey up guys, did any of yous know that a hanging was on today?" asked Marcus.
"WHAT??? How can there be, it would have been posted around the town, wouldn't it?" said Cinna.
"Well I can defiantly see the hang-mans noose up there. We've gotta check this out" said Marcus.
"Defiantly" said Cinna and Blank together. All three of them ran down the street as fast as they could.
When they reached the platform, Shadow and Lili were already there and in the middle of an argument with a Pluto knight. "Look I've told you two twice now, we've just been ordered to hang someone and we've gotta obey orders. So push off" he said and pushed Shadow. Shadow went to push the knight, but Blank pulled her back and said, "C'mon Grandma, no time to be annoying the knights now is there".
With a rather heavy shove, Blank got Shadow down to an alleyway. The others followed. "All right, all right ye can stop pushing me Blank!" said Shadow in an annoyed voice.
"What was that all about?" asked Marcus.
"That idiot of a knight wouldn't tell us who was due to be hanged" said Lili. The others looked at her in surprise. Shadow slightly raised an eyebrow but grinned. Lili blushed, "E..erm.well he was an idiot".
"Looks like your finally learning" said Shadow and then turning onto Blank, "And what's with the Grandma business, may I ask?".
"Well I had to say something to explain how I knew you, didn't I" said Blank.
"Look you lot, we've gotta stop this stupid arguing right now. We've got to work out who's gonna be hung and when they are as well" said Marcus.
"Right, Cinna and Marcus go and find Baku, he should be able to help us. Shadow, you and Lili go and keep an eye on that place from the roofs" said Blank. "Were will you be?" asked Cinna.
"I'll stay here until you two come back with Baku and any one else. Then we'll find out what we can from these two, Okay?" said Blank.
"Right" said everyone and they did the Tantalus salute and quickly went about their business.
~
The cell was dark and damp. Old straw littered the floor with ease. There was a disgusting smell of death and other substances. It would be enough to lock anyone into a deep depression. Unless of cause they happened to like living in a cold, dark, damp and smelly place. There was a strange dripping sound as well. It echoed around the room and sounded like a clock ticking away, every second lasting an eternity for the occupant of the cell.
He sat with his back against the cold wall. Around his wrists where large, rusted manacles which were connected to the wall by a long thick and very heavy chain. To anyone who past, he looked like he had been there for years. He was thin and looked under-fed. His clothes consisted of a pair of discoloured trousers and a very thin waistcoat. His hair, which at one time had been a dark blond was now hanging limp and looked like it was losing its colour. Anyone would have thought that he was an old man who had been put in jail for life. But they were wrong.
He was Zidane, Lord of Alexandria and only nineteen years old.
He looked up at the bared window. All that was visible was a clear blue sky and some white clouds. There was no hope for him, his strength was gone and soon he would feel the pull of the noose around his neck.
~
Shadow stare helplessly at the hang-mans noose. There had been absolutely nothing to say what or who was going to be hanged. She could clearly see two knights lounging around but couldn't quiet hear what they were saying. She checked the rooftop and saw nobody. She carefully removed her hood and wriggled her ears.
Unlike most people of the Mist continent, Shadow was part animal. Everyone was unsure of how she was part animal but it was generally accepted. It was believed, at first, that she was part dog. But when Blank and Marcus once found her howling at the moon, they guessed that she was in fact part wolf.
Shadow didn't appear to have fangs or red eyes, as such, but she did have features. The most obvious things were her ears and tail. Her ears were on top of her head and were dark grey in colour and looked like those of a wolf. She could move them freely and without any problems, they were also good for hearing things a long distance, which was why the group often made her wear earplugs so that she couldn't hear about something's.
Her tail was the same colour as her ears and she often used it to pickpocket from people cause they would just think that she was in a mood and had swung her tail to show it. She also had wolf paws instead of feet but you would have to be looking down to see them. As for fangs if she had any she could hide them very well.
She concentrated on the two knights and discovered that they were talking about someone finally going out with some girl by the name of Sandra. Still it was an interesting conversation, but of no use to her. She looked around and could see no other knights.
"Hi Shadow" said a voice, which made her jump out of her skin. She turned around and saw Vivi and Ekio. She breathed a sigh of relief, "Just give me a heart attack, why don't ye" she said.
"Sorry, but Blank said that you were up here with Lili and that we should find out if you knew anything, yet" said Ekio.
"Nope, don't know anything. There's a couple of knights but their talking about some girl called Sandra which on of their mates managed to get off with the other night" said Shadow.
"By the way, where's Lili?" asked Vivi.
"Hmm.oh she went to check the other side. See if she could learn anything from a different point of view. But she hasn't come back around yet, so she either knows something or she's still waiting" said Shadow, scanning the roofs on the other side of the street and not seeing or smelling anyone. "Okay, I'll go and tell Blank that. You don't mind if Ekio stays up here do you?" asked Vivi.
"Nah.she'll give me some company. Oh and tell Blank that Steiner is nowhere in sight, at all. I can't even smell him" said Shadow.
Vivi climbed down the ladder and sorted out his hat. He looked around and spotted the others where he had left them.
"Any news?" asked Zaela, Ruby's son.
"Nope she says that there's been nothing going on there at all. And she also says that Steiner is nowhere to be seen or smell whatever that means" said Vivi.
"That means Steiner's not in the Castle. Something's up then" said Blank.
"Yeah, but wouldn't Zidane have tried to let us know that something was going on?" asked Marcus.
"Maybe he can't let us know for some reason. We'll have to see, right now we must wait until one of them three notice something" said Blank looking at the rooftops.
Lili finally reached the rooftop of the house that directly faced the one where Shadow and Ekio were waiting. She waved across at them and they signalled back. She looked towards the noose and saw that the knights had gone, but two trumpeters were coming out to signal the start of the hanging. She watched with growing interest as they mounted the stall and blew out several loud notes. She noticed that Shadow had ducked down clutching her ears at this point.
The town crier, a large built man by the name of Shaune, yelled out in a voice of all similar criers, "People of Alexandria, In ten minuets a hanging is due to take place. All are welcome to watch this spectacle, hear ye, hear ye.." his voice drifted down the street as people ran to see the hanging.
Lili looked towards the prison and could just about see the poor retch that was to be hung. She almost fell off the roof as she hurried to go and tell the others.
Ekio and Shadow strained to see the entrance, but found it becoming harder by the second. Shadow did manage to catch a bit of the conversation that was going on between a knight and the prisoner and she wasn't completely sure if she had heard right. She heard, "Well, it looks like it's your time to die" said a knight.
"Why are you doing this?" said the prisoner in a weak and sore voice.
"Simple dimwit, the new Queen orders for you and that other impostor to be destroyed and that is how it is going to be." started the knight but then the street became too busy for her to focus on one conversation.
"Well, who is it?" asked Ekio. "I still don't know. But one thing at least is that something's going on in the Castle" said Shadow.
"What?" asked Ekio, curious as ever.
"I don't quite know, all I heard was that a new Queen was in power and that two people were.." said Shadow but then was interrupted by Lili, running pell-mell towards them.
"Guys, we've gotta stop this!" she said in a panicky voice.
"Why?" asked Ekio and Shadow both together.
"They're gonna hang Zidane!" said Lili. "WHAT???" they said in unison.
"Well, by the sounds of things the shows nearly on the road" said Cinna.
"Hey, Blank aren't you." started Marcus.
"BLANK! GET UP HERE QUICK" yelled Shadow from the rooftop.
Blank was up in a few seconds, "What is it?" he asked. "Look" said Shadow pointing towards the open door and the figure.
"Is that.?" asked Blank.
"Zidane! Yes, it's him" said Shadow.
"C'mon, get down, we've got to work this out quickly" said Blank.
They scrambled down the roof and dropped onto the pavement. "What's up?" asked Zaela.
"They're gonna hang Zidane" said Lili and Ekio together.
"Are they serious?" asked Marcus. "Yes, they are. I've seen it with my own eyes and smelt it with my own nose. They're gonna kill Zidane" said Shadow, who was slightly out of breath.
"What are we going to do?" asked Mott, a different member of the gang.
"I know," said Vivi, quiet unexpectedly, "..we split up into groups and go and do different things in order to save his life".
"Like what?" asked Zaela and Mott together.
"Okay, Lili, Vivi and Ekio go onto the rooftops and create a big enough distraction with your magic. Marcus, Cinna and Zaela go and destroy that platform when those three start the magic show. Mott and Shadow your with me" said Blank quickly.
"What are we gonna do?" asked Mott.
"Grab Zidane, by any chance?" asked Shadow slightly raising her eyebrows.
"Got it in one. Okay move out and lets get this going" said Blank.
Vivi, Lili and Ekio ran to the houses on the other side of the street and clambered onto the roofs, while Marcus, Cinna and Zaela ran towards the crowd and Shadow, Mott and Blank ran to the Fountain at the rear of the hang-mans noose.
The crowd was gathered anxiously together and getting through was quite a pain. Zaela who was the smallest managed to convince people that he could not see that well and that he wanted to get through to the front.
Marcus and Cinna pretended to be his brothers who were trying to keep an eye on him. They got to the front at long last and could see a knight with a long parchment in his hands.
"Looks like we might have to wait" said Marcus.
"Why don't we just destroy it now and save ourselves some time?" asked Zaela, obviously bored.
"Cause that would give the game away and make things a lot more tricky, young one. We stick to Blank's plan for the time being" said Cinna.
At the exact same time Vivi, Lili and Ekio reached the rooftops of the houses on the opposite side of the street. They looked over the various boxes that were scattered here and there.
Vivi had already grabbed what he could from them so it gave them a bit more room to see what was going on. "Okay, anyone got any ideas?" asked Vivi.
"No.sorry" said Ekio a little sheepishly.
"I've got a idea" said Lili.
"What?" asked Vivi.
She whispered her plan to them and they both agreed. "Okay we wait until he's in the noose before the plan goes into action, Okay?" said Vivi. The other two nodded.
Meanwhile near the fountain Mott, Blank and Shadow were trying their best not to be seen or heard but the Knights of Pluto.
"Are you sure they said new Queen, Shad?" asked Mott. Mott and Shadow were good friends and often referred to each other with shorter names.
"Defiantly, Mo I don't know quite what they meant by that but it was defiantly a new queen" said Shadow, raising her head a little way above the fountain.
"Coasts clear, Blank, no one's even bothering to check if anyone's back here" she said.
"How d'ye know?" asked Mott.
"Simple I just half over-heard a conversation and they say that no one will be stupid enough to attempt to help this little scruff when they see who's back on the throne" said Shadow, not bothering to whisper any more.
"Well that means they won't be expecting anyone. C'mon we'll get a little closer so that we can hear when things start" said Blank drawing his sword. Shadow and Mott did the same with their weapons and crept forward.
On the stand a noble walked out to the jeering crowd. He raised his hands in a jester of silence and took the parchment off the knight. His voice was deep and booming and sent a sense of fear into most of the audience.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, and lower peoples of Alexandria. Treachery and deceit have both been played upon our hometown. The man that is to be hung here this very day." there was a roar from the crowds, ".has not only acted alone, but has had a gang help him to make us turn against what we used to know as being right".
At this point Shadow said, "What a load of Bull..". "Watch your language young lady!" said Blank glancing at her. She nodded and went back to listening.
"Furthermore, this man killed two of our courts most finest nobles in cold blood. And he cause suffering in other places as well. Do you think that such a man should be allowed to walk amongst us with the freedom to do as he wants?" he asked the crowd. There was a loud scream from the crowd, which was a mixture of "No" and "Hang him".
The noble waited for a little while and then shouted, "People of Alexandria, your revenge shall happen now. Bring forth the prisoner". The crowd went wild.
Cinna, Marcus and Zaela were almost pushed over the wooden slats to stop people reaching the person who was due to die. The prison door banged open and for the first time, the Tantalus gang saw Zidane.
He looked absolutely horrifying. He was thin and had lost a lot of the colour from his skin. His eyes were bleak and looked older than what he was. His hair was limp and lifeless and there were large black marks under his eyes from lack of sleep. Unknown to the crowd, but clearly visible to Mott, Shadow and Blank, his back was littered with whip marks and scratches.
The crowd's cheers slowly died down to a shocked silence. Several whispers ran through faster than anything. "What's he doing up there?", "That's Zidane, isn't it?", "What's going on?", "Cripes, how on earth can he be considered a traitor?", "How dare they do that! It's not right" and loads of other things, which soon turned the square into a hubbub of noise.
The noble raised his hand for silence as a few people started to shout things out at him, "Please, people of Alexandria, calm down. This runt you see before you is a traitor to you. He has tricked you all for years and none of you have seen it".
"Push off you worthless thug. Queen Garnet will have your head for this!" someone shouted from the crowd.
"I think that you will find that Queen Garnet does not rule Alexandria any more, you worthless peasant!" he shouted back to whoever had shouted out. "What do you mean, scumbag? Queen Garnet rules.she has done for many years" came a female voice.
"Ahh.but did any of you know that she was not the Queen's daughter. And that this thief plotted with her to take Alexandria from Queen Brahne, who now is rightfully back in place" he shouted. There was an extraordinary long pause.
Then a voice of a knight of Pluto began to shout, "Long live Queen Brahne!".
Weather the people were please that she was back or they were just downright scared they started to chant the phrase over and over. The noble had won. He turned and signalled to the knights who held Zidane to put him into the noose. The crowd started calling out different things.
But it was easy to tell that they were trying to keep the new Queen happy and to re-enforce this idea the new Queen did appear in the royal box to watch the hanging.
Zidane was dragged onto the plat-form and placed into the noose. He had never felt so alone in all of his life. He didn't dare look back to see if Garnet was there, even though he would've liked to have seen her one last time. But what happened next was such a confusion that very few people actually understood what was going on.
As the noose was placed over his neck, Ekio had jumped onto the rooftop. She had borrowed Lili's cloak to hide her identity and managed to hover just above the slates of the roof.
"Pitiful fool's are you, to not acknowledge the arrival of my Master. We crashed through your defences in a blaze of fire and thunder and no one realised that some knights would not return" she yelled in a voice that did not sound like her.
A voice rang out from the crowd, "Look, the defences are in ruins!". Half the crowd turned and called vainly to others that it was true and panic spread through the people.
"Be still, and worry thy selves no more. I am prepared to let you all survive" said a deep voice.
Shadow looked up and nearly laughed out loud. Standing on the roof, next to Ekio, was a tall and mighty looking figure. He or She it was hard to tell, was wearing a long black cloak and had wings, which fluttered just behind it.
To Shadow it was easy to see that they were made out of a few sticks and a verity of mismatched feathers. It was obvious that Lili was standing on top of Vivi and they were desperately trying not to lose their balance.
"What are you laughing at?" asked Mott.
"It's Lili and Vivi and Ekio, causing a distraction" she managed to say without laughing.
"Well they better do some magic quickly then or we're in big trouble" said Blank.
Zidane had turned his head to look at the creature and found that he was not scared of it in the slightest way. He looked towards the crowd and spotted Marcus, Cinna and Zaela. He widened his eyes slightly with shock and a thin smile crossed his lips. Marcus looked over in his direction and simply nodded.
"W.who are you?" asked Zaela, pretending that he was scared of the fake.
"I am." as frown crossed Ekio's face but luckily Lili thought of a reasonable disguise, "Black Waltz number five" she called out.
Shadow placed her hand over her eyes and shook her head. "Nice, going Lili, now the buggers won't shift" she mumbled.
There was silence from the crowd. Lili was getting worried, Vivi quickly said, "Time to liven things up a bit".
Ekio got the point and shouted, "Do you dare disbelieve my Master".
Lili took the cue and said, "Those that do will feel the pain of magic" and with that released a verity of fireworks, which shot into the sky and surrounded people.
Panic spread throughout the crowd as they tried to avoid the 'magic'. Shadow looked at the roofs and muttered a spell, several large monsters appeared and growled. They wouldn't do anything of cause, Shadow only summoned them to add a bit of life to the party.
"C'mon lets get Zidane out of here" said Blank.
"Right!" said Mott and Shadow together. They ran onto the platform only to find themselves faced with several large knights.
Blank and Mott lashed out a two of them while Shadow used a dispel spell on the rest. This caused over half the knights to go flying off the plat-form and land unconscious on the pavement.
All three of them ran towards Zidane but the other half regained their senses and charged at the rescuers. Shadow easily jumped over one of them but Blank and Mott weren't so lucky.
She turned around to help them but Blank shouted, "Get Zidane, we'll keep this lot off your back". Shadow nodded and ran over to where Zidane was still tied to the noose.
She had no idea at all how to undo the noose without chocking him in the process, so she cut the rope that was just above his head. He fell onto the platform like a tone of bricks. Shadow grabbed him under his arms and pulled him out of the way. "C'mon Zidane, get up I can't move you by myself" she said in a breathless voice.
"I'm trying but I can't. Leave me here" said Zidane in a weak voice.
"Not a chance, mate, you might not work for us anymore but you're still considered a Tantalus Brother no matter what. Now get up and let's get out of here" said Shadow hoisting Zidane up.
"Stop her! She's taking the prisoner away" came the noble's voice. A heavy, armour covered hand smacked onto Shadows neck and she fell to the floor in a matter of seconds.
~