Hey there people!! This is my first ff9 fic so please be nice about reviews
cause I love them! Well this starts before the game and continues through
it. The plot has been twisted and characters and towns added as well as
species. Anything that is not from the game I own and you may not use
without my consent which if you ask for you well most definitely receive.
Icewater_angel: Okay so when does this fic start?
Zidane: Whenever you start to type it!
Icewater_angel: But I don't wanna type!
Garnet: Oh please do!
Zidane: Why do you want her to type up that monstrosity?
Garnet: So that I may have one of the most front most seats to enjoy the total and most utmost embarrassment of Icewater_angel.
Zidane: Ummm. . . Dagger English next time please. Icewater could you please translate?
Icewater: Well to put things short she wants me to type up the story so that people can make fun of it. *ponders * at least that's what I think she meant.
Zidane: On with the fic!
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All was quiet on the deck of one of the most beautiful airships ever created crowned the Lady Sari. Or at least it was quiet until. . .
"It's going to blow!" Blaze shouted as he ran out of the second and smaller of the two engine rooms of the Lady Sari. As he ran onto the deck a large explosion followed him. As he caught his balance and started running around the corner which is when he noticed the crumpled form of Nadine. He ran towards her and dropped onto his knees next to her.
Her eyes were closed, her dirty blond hair had blown over her face. The twenty-year old girl wore a bright purple top with a belt tied around her waist and black pants that ended at her knees.
"Nadine! Nadine wake up!" Blaze shouted as he shook her shoulders slightly and she opened her eyes after a few seconds.
"Blaze what happened?" She asked as she put a hand to her forehead that was bleeding just below her horn. She stood up and took in her surroundings and the expression on her face turned from puzzled to utter horror. "Dad's airship man he's going to kill me!"
Blaze was around six foot one, and fairly muscular for an eighteen year old boy. He had jet-black hair, a light tan and to top it all off red eyes. Blaze wore an orange muscle shirt and blue jeans, over top of that was a black cloak that went down to the ground and dragged a little. The most odd thing about him was the silvery horn that grew out of the middle of his forehead.
"Where's Flare?" Blaze asked as soon as Nadine had finished. Silence followed.
"Last time that I saw her she was . . ." Nadine trailed off, she couldn't find the words to tell Blaze what had happened.
Blaze grew impatient as Nadine struggled for words; he lightly gripped her shoulders and gave her a shake. "Where is she? Where is Flare?" He forced her eyes to meet his own panic stricken ones.
"She's in the engine room... I'm sorry..." Her voice trailed off as she picked up a parachute from the floor and started to untangle it but it didn't matter Blaze was already on his feet and off.
"Holy shit!" Blaze cursed as he stared at the engine room, which was now completely engulfed in flames. However when he was half way there, he was met with a large explosion and had to hit the deck to avoid being killed by the debris.
"FLARE!" Blaze shouted as he got to his feet and weighed his chances of survival if were to burst into the room, when he heard a faint cough. That made up his mind for him, if she was alive he wasn't leaving until he at least tried to help her. He was about to burst through the flaming door, and then he heard a faint whisper in a very familiar voice.
"Diamond Dust!" The angelic voice whispered, but it still echoed through the burning halls. Blaze hit the deck again, and turned his head toward the door to watch. Blue crystals of ice formed around the edges of the door and putting out the fire as the froze the wooden frame, then the crystals and the door shattered into hundreds of little pieces and fragments.
Out of the shadows of the hallway emerged Shiva carrying out a fifteen-year-old girl. Once the two of them were safely on the deck Shiva put the girl down as she bowed to her and disappeared. She wore an aqua green tank top and blue jeans with read gloves and matching shoes. Her dark brown hair had wonderful red streaks in it and it fell neatly to her waist. She had bright sapphire eyes and a silver horn protruding from her forehead. As Blaze gazed into her eyes he saw how unemotional she was but reminded himself that she went through so much the day that Maiden Sari had been attacked almost ten years ago.
The girl then flipped her hair. "I still hate airships." She then ran over to meet Blaze and when she got there dusted herself off and kissed him on the cheek. "That's incase we don't out of here alive!" She then stepped away and waited for him to say something.
Blaze was at a loss of words, how do you describe it when you've lost hope only to have it return brighter than it had been. So he said all that he could think of. "Flare... you've always been different." He told her before nodding and running off to get their backpacks, and Flare to get their weapons.
As Flare arrived at the wall where the weapons hung, she grabbed two belts and clipped them around her waist. She then grabbed the two daggers mad out of silver with sapphire handles with opals set in them and sheathed them in the belts. Flare picked up her white mage's cloak and threw it on then pulled down the hood. The sword from the wall glowed a little as she held it so she whispered to it.
"Relax Atrean, he fights for you still." She sighed as the sword stopped glowing. So she picked up Nadine's bow and quiver of arrows then turned and ran to Blaze and handed Atrean to him. He gave her two bags, an old brown backpack, and her own bight red one. She then turned and ran over to Nadine, handed her the bag and set the bow and quivers near her feet as she finished folding the parachute.
"Since the majority of my eidolons can't fly, and I don't have enough mp to call on the one that can I will use the chute. You two will summon and I'll see you later." With that she snatched up her bow and arrows and jumped up. "Well lets get going." She shouted, just as she and Flare stood up there was another explosion that made her fall over board and hit her head on the side of the ship on her way and it sent her falling down to Gaia unconsciously.
So she didn't see when Nadine jumped off and floated slowly to Brumicia. However more importantly she didn't see Blaze jump out after her (with out thinking of course) before summoning and she didn't see the streets of Liblium far beneath her either.
: Tantalus Theater, Theater District, and Liblium:
"Everyone to the blasted meeting room!" Baku shouted as he returned from the Grand Castle and his talk with Regent Cid. The gang stopped their gossip and card games to watch him storm into the conference room. They had just started their gossip and card games again when Baku let out a roar. "NOW!" and hearing the panic in his voice they started to walk into the room and take their assigned seats. They were soon all waiting intently for him to start the speech that they all knew was coming.
"Now today the Regent assigned us a mission, and Dammit this time we're doing it right. As you all know next month we are supposed to perform 'I want to be your canary', for her Royal Highness Princess Garnet's sixteenth birthday." He finished with a quick glance towards a model of Alexandria Palace.
"So who plays who?" A 15 year-old Kate asked.
"My guess is Kate is Cornelia, and I'm Marcus" Marshall asked Baku who let out a long hearty laugh then looked to Marshall and shook his head happily.
"Only if I want to loose my job after this performance." Baku looked around the table in dismay, and then to keep Baku in an almost goon mood, Blank, Marcus, Chinna, and Zidane all burst out laughing.
Marcus suddenly stopped laughing and turned to face Baku. "I'm not stuck with lead again, am I?"
"Damn straight you are boy, you're the best I've got." Baku started to laugh a little as Marcus hung his head. "And Kate, you're Cornelia, Blank the traitor, Zidane his best friend, and Cinna you're Marcus's cousin. Understood, good, did I leave anyone out?" Baku finished as he looked around at the determined teenagers. 'This is why I work with kids all that determination.' He thought to himself. 'That and they make the best thieves.'
"You forgot me, am I King Leo?" Marshall asked.
"Sorry forgot about you, you're costumes with Ruby, bless her soul, always there to lend me a hand! I'm Leo, Tantalus tradition." Baku told Marshall and Kate, since they had only been with him for a year, and hadn't had to perform 'I want to be your canary'.
"COSTUMES!!! You put your best actor on costumes?" Marshall shouted at Baku who started to laugh again.
"Marshall, you stuck up egomaniac, you can't ACT!" Baku roared at him. "The only reason that you are at this table is because you are dating the head actress." He finished with a quick glance at Kate who at the moment was a lovely shade of magenta.
"So is there a change of plans?" Cinna asked
"Yeah, and a big one at that? Cid wants us to bring the Princess back to Liblium with us, so we ALL have to behave ourselves!" he finished and everyone knew that the comment had been directed towards Blank and Zidane, so all eyes were now fixed on Blank. Only because Zidane seemed to have disappeared, until he let out a whoop of joy.
"Zidane Tribal, get down from that fan this instant!" Kate shouted up when she spotted him. His tail was wrapped around the base of the ceiling fan his arms and legs waving around in the air, and then all eyes were on him.
"What the hell are you all starring at?" Zidane shouted down at them. His blonde hair falling over his eyes and down his face.
"Well." Blank started to explain to his best friend, but had to stop at a loss for words. "You just jumped ten feet into the air!" With the last comment Zidane leapt down from his not-so-comfortable position.
Zidane took a look at all of the Tantalus newbies, and was amazed at how little they seemed to about the princess Garnet. "What the hell is the matter with you people! Don't you live a real life? Haven't you ever seen the princess?" Zidane was practically shouting by now, he took a glance at Baku to see if he was in trouble. Baku seemed to be enjoying watch Zidane almost make a fool of himself.
"I heard that she was cute." Marshall trailed off slowly, muttering something about not knowing if the source was reliable or not. "Wait a second, my brother told me that she was . umm how did he put it, really hot?" He then let out a squeal as Kate elbowed him in the ribs.
"I have heard that she is quite beautiful." Kate admitted as she turned her glance onto Zidane, before speaking again. "Well enlighten us Zidane. How would you describe her?" Kate asked him sweetly.
"She is to put it easily the hottest babe on this continent!" Zidane shrugged as he explained it, to him it was just common sense.
"I'm not so sure, not many come as hot as my Kate." Marshal replied as he put an arm over Kate's shoulders. He then continued to annoy Zidane by casting a dignified gaze in his direction.
*~* Zidane's POV *~* 'Just because I was found on the streets with no memory when I was seven, is no reason for him to think he's better than I am. Or is it... I mean, I'm just a little street rat, I do deserve to get pushed around to remind me of my place as the scum of society. What the hell am I thinking! I hate it when I do this!'
*~* *~*
"Well it's true, weather you believe it or not." Zidane spoke up once he made that stupid voice in his head shut-up. He then returned his attention to Baku, who by now was a little annoyed at being ignored for so long.
It was Kate who finally broke the silence a few minutes later. "So, how do we get her out, I heard that her mother wouldn't let her leave the castle anymore, so why would she let her come to Liblium?" Kate asked in a curious tone.
"We're drugging her, with sleeping weed." Baku, and the rest of the gang could see an inner battle going on in Kate, it was so intense that it showed on her face.
"Sorry Boss..." Kate said as she bit her lip. She then stood up, as did Marshall and the two of them turned to walk out. "I'm not participating in any plan that could possibly harm royalty, but since it was commanded from the Regent I won't report it. I quit!" With that she turned and stormed out, Marshall on her heels.
"I guess that they both quit..." Cinna trailed off as he tried to ease the tension in the room. Blank then nodded to confirm it and then waited for reality to set in for the others.
"Dammit!" Baku shouted at the door that Kate and her boyfriend had walked out of only two or so minutes before. "Now we need a new lead! Where the hell do you find an actress that damn good on short notice?! His voice was at a controlled tone until he brought his fists over his head and then crashing down onto the table. "Eiowwchieee!!!" Baku shouted up at the ceiling.
"Relax, Boss, calm down!" Cinna shouted sounding concerned for their Brumician leader.
"Blank go and put out the sign. Zidane, we need the beginner 'I want to be your canary' scripts." He then motioned towards the door and the two boys nodded and ran out.
"Boss, maybe we should ask Ruby to do it. Play Cornelia I mean, who else can learn all the lines in two freaking weeks?" Marcus shouted over he was trying to sound upset, but if he convinced boss to use Ruby. Then maybe, just maybe he could get Baku into switching his roll with Blank, he knew Blank had a thing for Ruby.
"We can find someone, hey Boss. . . We'll find someone right?" Cinna asked as Zidane came in with an armful of books that were all labeled the same 'I want to be your canary, for beginners'.
"Here you go... " Zidane said as he dropped the books onto the table with a soft thud. Just then Blank came back, and leaned on the wall panting for breath.
"They're here." Blank stated with worried expression on his face, "They're trying to break the door down of something, I was afraid that they were going to kill me!" He trailed off as the others offered only looks of pity or amusement.
"Well let's get this over with..." Baku said as he stood up and started towards the door. His 'boys' or so he called them set up their game faces and marched out with him, the marched right past the door, and into the stage room. Where they all took the assigned seats, Baku in the middle, Zidane on his left, Marcus on his right, Cinna next to him, and Blank was next to Zidane, and then there were the two empty chairs that formerly belonged to Marshal and Kate.
"Ummm... who is going to let them in?" Marcus asked seeing as no one volunteered.
"They one who lets them in stands a fair chance of being trampled to death my boys!" Baku spoke up as a grin spread across his features. "So it shall be the fastest, he stands the best chance of getting back here alive!" As he finished the fingers flew and pointed at whom the owner thought was the fastest. Four fingers were pointed at Zidane, his own he had jabbed out randomly and was pointing a Cinna. Who was incredibly chubby for a nineteen- year old and couldn't beat a three-legged dog in a race.
"Zidane it is!" Marcus announced in that tone that drove Zidane up the wall. Zidane hung his head in defeat and walked up to the large set of wooden doors and pulled it open just a bit and turned tail and ran. Just missing getting hit by the door as it almost sung off its hinges as around twenty girls came running into the stage room .
"They're here!" Zidane announced as he slumped into his chair panting for breath while Baku roared with laughter. The five judges ( Blank, Baku, Zidane, Cinna, and Marcus) took their assigned seats before explaining the way that the scoring was given.
The first girl walked up onto the stage and the auditions commenced. "My name is Clare, and my skills consist of cooking and singing." She said and then blushed as Baku asked her to sing a verse of any song. . . and upon doing so she was asked to leave the building. Things went on much in the same fashion for the next few minutes until Jen took the stage.
Flare was falling fast down to the cobble stone streets of Liblium. When she did wake up she was only fifty meters off the ground, and still falling fast. " But I don't want to be a pancake!" Flare shouted as the wind whipped the hair into her face and messing up her cloak.
She didn't know what to do she was panicking and for the first time in almost ten years she was truefuly afraid. A warm wind picked up and blew across her face it almost seemed to comfort her. It was then that Flare remembered what her mother had told her so long ago. "When you fear the what is to come pray to the gods not the eidolons. For as powerful as an eidolon is it is only as strong as its master." Flare repeated the words that her mother had told her and started to pray to the god of wind, she prayed to Suveil. Flare chose her words wisely if she angered him it would be the end of her . . . death by pancake she shuddered at the thought.
The winds picked up and Flare relaxed Suveil favored her today. Her eyelids grew heavy for she had gone past her mothers advice, she did not pray so that hopefully Suveil would hear her she channeled all of her energy directly to him so he would hear her loudly and fast, and talking to a god is tiring. Flare was struggling to stay conscious when the saw the pain of glass she was about to crash into she covered her head with her arms and hoped that her friends were fairing better than she was.
A new girl named walked onto the stage and courtsyed politely. " My name is Jen Fern. I enjoy singing and acting." She told them as she handed Baku a resume.
"That is a very impressive resume Jen . . ." Baku said in his best know-it-all tone. " Would you mind singing us a verse?"
"No not at all!" Jen replied and then continued to sing a verse of her favourite song 'somewhere out there'. Zidane jumped out from his chair and started to circle her making her feel uneasy.
"Eight!" Zidane told them very enthusiastically. "I rate Jen an eight on the Garnet scale!"
"Well then welcome to Tantalus Jen!" Baku said happily as he shook her hand. "And as for the rest of you . . ." There was a menacing gleam in Baku's eyes now. "Get out of my theater NOW!!" Baku roared with laughter, as did Cinna. When the girls ran for the exit screaming.
"What did you do that for?" Blank asked as he waved his arms around in the air. "We needed two!"
"We'll get Ruby to play Cornelia, and don't you ever raise your voice at me again!" Baku shouted. Jen who by now was more than a little confused decided to make her curiosity known.
"Excuse me but are you two related?" Jen asked politely. All eyes were now fixed on Blank to see his reaction to the question . . . he simply turned to face Baku who shook his head. Meaning that they couldn't trust Jen quite yet.
"I guess that you could say that . . ." Blank trailed off still holding his hands out in front of him.
Just then there was the sound of shattering glass as winds hurled into the room. All eyes flicked from window to window looking for the broken one and what had broken it. Just then glass started to fall on them it was the skylight that had broken!
"Shit!" Baku shouted as he pulled down his goggles, Zidane shielded his eyes with his tail, Marcus pulled his bandana over his face, Cinna hid under the table, Jen curled into a ball and Blank just stood there starring up at the broken skylight. All of a sudden a large bundle of cloth landed in his out stretched arms causing he's knees to buckle from the sudden gain of weight.
"Oh God . . . Bland is that a person?" Zidane asked his mouth gaping open.
"Oh it's a person alright!" Blank said as he pushed off the hood of the cloak. When the hood fell it revealed a girl with brown hair and red streaks. The feature that caught his eye however was the silvery horn that spiraled out of her forehead.
Zidane was about to poke her horn out of curiosity when Jen grabbed his hand. She pushed his hand into his chest and shook her head. "Leave the poor dear alone." Jen whispered as she saw the figure wasn't awake.
"Blank bring her here!" Baku was also trying to whisper but worry and anger would not allow him to. Blank shifted the weight of the girl onto one arm as he noted that she was fairly light for a girl between the ages of fourteen and fifteen.
"Wait!" Marcus whispered franticly and as he was their first aid specialist Blank did as he was ordered. "Take her pulse first." Blank took to fingers and gave Marcus the 'like-this' look. After seeing Marcus nod Blank took the two fingers and was about to check for a pulse on her neck but never did as just then her eyes snapped open.
Blank found himself caught up in the gaze of two beautiful sapphire orbs, unable to stop the gaze he simply said. "I think she's alive."
"How do you know did you take her pulse yet?" Marcus asked out of concern.
Blank looked down at the gorgeous girl in his arms. "Can you walk?" He asked her softly and she nodded her head. Blank slowly stood her up and let go of her once he was sure that she could stand. She turned to face Baku at the head of the table.
"Hello my name is Flare. I'm sorry for bothering you, I'll be leaving now." Flare turned to leave when she turned around she bumped right into Blank. "I'm sorry!" She said and she looked into his eyes, no wait she didn't cause he's wearing a belt so she can't!
"It's alright . . . are you alright?" Blank asked back. Flare didn't answer as her exhaustion had caught up with her and she fell into Blank unconsciously but she use able to say one word . . .
"Thanks . . ." That was the one word that Flare managed to get out. Blank scooped her up in his arms and walked over to Marcus.
"She's got a fever . . . a bad one . . . give her a day to recover." Marcus announced grimly as usual.
"Go put her in Kate's old room. Baku told them as they watched Flare's prone form. Marcus and Zidane left with Jen just behind them.
" So now you have four sons and a daughter . . . however will you manage?" Marcus said in a teasing tone.
" I guess I'll have to lower your pay!" Baku replied cheerfully.
"No not that our pay is low enough!!!!!" Cinna shouted in reply.
"Shut up Cinna that girl needs her sleep!" Baku whispered a little on his edgy side.
"How bad is she?" Cinna asked. Silence. "Well?"
"Bad. . ." Marcus replied.
"How bad?" Baku asked.
"She. . ." Marcus hesitated "She might not survive this fever." Just then Jen joined them.
"Hey ummm. . . Blank I think. . .well ummm. . . he wants to know when she'll get better." Jen was very uncomfortable talking to Marcus like this.
"Flare sure is cute!" Zidane stated as he walked towards his friends. "But man I think Blank has a crush or something! He's so worried about her!"
"She'll be fine tomorrow. . . don't worry Jen!" Marcus told her and she nodded gratefully before walking away.
"She's not doing good is she?" Blank asked as he approached them. All he received for an answer was the sad shake of Baku's head.
Well that's it for chapter one! Please review if you read it! I'm not afraid of flames if that's what you want to send me. If you send me flames make sure you read it.
Icewater_angel: Okay so when does this fic start?
Zidane: Whenever you start to type it!
Icewater_angel: But I don't wanna type!
Garnet: Oh please do!
Zidane: Why do you want her to type up that monstrosity?
Garnet: So that I may have one of the most front most seats to enjoy the total and most utmost embarrassment of Icewater_angel.
Zidane: Ummm. . . Dagger English next time please. Icewater could you please translate?
Icewater: Well to put things short she wants me to type up the story so that people can make fun of it. *ponders * at least that's what I think she meant.
Zidane: On with the fic!
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All was quiet on the deck of one of the most beautiful airships ever created crowned the Lady Sari. Or at least it was quiet until. . .
"It's going to blow!" Blaze shouted as he ran out of the second and smaller of the two engine rooms of the Lady Sari. As he ran onto the deck a large explosion followed him. As he caught his balance and started running around the corner which is when he noticed the crumpled form of Nadine. He ran towards her and dropped onto his knees next to her.
Her eyes were closed, her dirty blond hair had blown over her face. The twenty-year old girl wore a bright purple top with a belt tied around her waist and black pants that ended at her knees.
"Nadine! Nadine wake up!" Blaze shouted as he shook her shoulders slightly and she opened her eyes after a few seconds.
"Blaze what happened?" She asked as she put a hand to her forehead that was bleeding just below her horn. She stood up and took in her surroundings and the expression on her face turned from puzzled to utter horror. "Dad's airship man he's going to kill me!"
Blaze was around six foot one, and fairly muscular for an eighteen year old boy. He had jet-black hair, a light tan and to top it all off red eyes. Blaze wore an orange muscle shirt and blue jeans, over top of that was a black cloak that went down to the ground and dragged a little. The most odd thing about him was the silvery horn that grew out of the middle of his forehead.
"Where's Flare?" Blaze asked as soon as Nadine had finished. Silence followed.
"Last time that I saw her she was . . ." Nadine trailed off, she couldn't find the words to tell Blaze what had happened.
Blaze grew impatient as Nadine struggled for words; he lightly gripped her shoulders and gave her a shake. "Where is she? Where is Flare?" He forced her eyes to meet his own panic stricken ones.
"She's in the engine room... I'm sorry..." Her voice trailed off as she picked up a parachute from the floor and started to untangle it but it didn't matter Blaze was already on his feet and off.
"Holy shit!" Blaze cursed as he stared at the engine room, which was now completely engulfed in flames. However when he was half way there, he was met with a large explosion and had to hit the deck to avoid being killed by the debris.
"FLARE!" Blaze shouted as he got to his feet and weighed his chances of survival if were to burst into the room, when he heard a faint cough. That made up his mind for him, if she was alive he wasn't leaving until he at least tried to help her. He was about to burst through the flaming door, and then he heard a faint whisper in a very familiar voice.
"Diamond Dust!" The angelic voice whispered, but it still echoed through the burning halls. Blaze hit the deck again, and turned his head toward the door to watch. Blue crystals of ice formed around the edges of the door and putting out the fire as the froze the wooden frame, then the crystals and the door shattered into hundreds of little pieces and fragments.
Out of the shadows of the hallway emerged Shiva carrying out a fifteen-year-old girl. Once the two of them were safely on the deck Shiva put the girl down as she bowed to her and disappeared. She wore an aqua green tank top and blue jeans with read gloves and matching shoes. Her dark brown hair had wonderful red streaks in it and it fell neatly to her waist. She had bright sapphire eyes and a silver horn protruding from her forehead. As Blaze gazed into her eyes he saw how unemotional she was but reminded himself that she went through so much the day that Maiden Sari had been attacked almost ten years ago.
The girl then flipped her hair. "I still hate airships." She then ran over to meet Blaze and when she got there dusted herself off and kissed him on the cheek. "That's incase we don't out of here alive!" She then stepped away and waited for him to say something.
Blaze was at a loss of words, how do you describe it when you've lost hope only to have it return brighter than it had been. So he said all that he could think of. "Flare... you've always been different." He told her before nodding and running off to get their backpacks, and Flare to get their weapons.
As Flare arrived at the wall where the weapons hung, she grabbed two belts and clipped them around her waist. She then grabbed the two daggers mad out of silver with sapphire handles with opals set in them and sheathed them in the belts. Flare picked up her white mage's cloak and threw it on then pulled down the hood. The sword from the wall glowed a little as she held it so she whispered to it.
"Relax Atrean, he fights for you still." She sighed as the sword stopped glowing. So she picked up Nadine's bow and quiver of arrows then turned and ran to Blaze and handed Atrean to him. He gave her two bags, an old brown backpack, and her own bight red one. She then turned and ran over to Nadine, handed her the bag and set the bow and quivers near her feet as she finished folding the parachute.
"Since the majority of my eidolons can't fly, and I don't have enough mp to call on the one that can I will use the chute. You two will summon and I'll see you later." With that she snatched up her bow and arrows and jumped up. "Well lets get going." She shouted, just as she and Flare stood up there was another explosion that made her fall over board and hit her head on the side of the ship on her way and it sent her falling down to Gaia unconsciously.
So she didn't see when Nadine jumped off and floated slowly to Brumicia. However more importantly she didn't see Blaze jump out after her (with out thinking of course) before summoning and she didn't see the streets of Liblium far beneath her either.
: Tantalus Theater, Theater District, and Liblium:
"Everyone to the blasted meeting room!" Baku shouted as he returned from the Grand Castle and his talk with Regent Cid. The gang stopped their gossip and card games to watch him storm into the conference room. They had just started their gossip and card games again when Baku let out a roar. "NOW!" and hearing the panic in his voice they started to walk into the room and take their assigned seats. They were soon all waiting intently for him to start the speech that they all knew was coming.
"Now today the Regent assigned us a mission, and Dammit this time we're doing it right. As you all know next month we are supposed to perform 'I want to be your canary', for her Royal Highness Princess Garnet's sixteenth birthday." He finished with a quick glance towards a model of Alexandria Palace.
"So who plays who?" A 15 year-old Kate asked.
"My guess is Kate is Cornelia, and I'm Marcus" Marshall asked Baku who let out a long hearty laugh then looked to Marshall and shook his head happily.
"Only if I want to loose my job after this performance." Baku looked around the table in dismay, and then to keep Baku in an almost goon mood, Blank, Marcus, Chinna, and Zidane all burst out laughing.
Marcus suddenly stopped laughing and turned to face Baku. "I'm not stuck with lead again, am I?"
"Damn straight you are boy, you're the best I've got." Baku started to laugh a little as Marcus hung his head. "And Kate, you're Cornelia, Blank the traitor, Zidane his best friend, and Cinna you're Marcus's cousin. Understood, good, did I leave anyone out?" Baku finished as he looked around at the determined teenagers. 'This is why I work with kids all that determination.' He thought to himself. 'That and they make the best thieves.'
"You forgot me, am I King Leo?" Marshall asked.
"Sorry forgot about you, you're costumes with Ruby, bless her soul, always there to lend me a hand! I'm Leo, Tantalus tradition." Baku told Marshall and Kate, since they had only been with him for a year, and hadn't had to perform 'I want to be your canary'.
"COSTUMES!!! You put your best actor on costumes?" Marshall shouted at Baku who started to laugh again.
"Marshall, you stuck up egomaniac, you can't ACT!" Baku roared at him. "The only reason that you are at this table is because you are dating the head actress." He finished with a quick glance at Kate who at the moment was a lovely shade of magenta.
"So is there a change of plans?" Cinna asked
"Yeah, and a big one at that? Cid wants us to bring the Princess back to Liblium with us, so we ALL have to behave ourselves!" he finished and everyone knew that the comment had been directed towards Blank and Zidane, so all eyes were now fixed on Blank. Only because Zidane seemed to have disappeared, until he let out a whoop of joy.
"Zidane Tribal, get down from that fan this instant!" Kate shouted up when she spotted him. His tail was wrapped around the base of the ceiling fan his arms and legs waving around in the air, and then all eyes were on him.
"What the hell are you all starring at?" Zidane shouted down at them. His blonde hair falling over his eyes and down his face.
"Well." Blank started to explain to his best friend, but had to stop at a loss for words. "You just jumped ten feet into the air!" With the last comment Zidane leapt down from his not-so-comfortable position.
Zidane took a look at all of the Tantalus newbies, and was amazed at how little they seemed to about the princess Garnet. "What the hell is the matter with you people! Don't you live a real life? Haven't you ever seen the princess?" Zidane was practically shouting by now, he took a glance at Baku to see if he was in trouble. Baku seemed to be enjoying watch Zidane almost make a fool of himself.
"I heard that she was cute." Marshall trailed off slowly, muttering something about not knowing if the source was reliable or not. "Wait a second, my brother told me that she was . umm how did he put it, really hot?" He then let out a squeal as Kate elbowed him in the ribs.
"I have heard that she is quite beautiful." Kate admitted as she turned her glance onto Zidane, before speaking again. "Well enlighten us Zidane. How would you describe her?" Kate asked him sweetly.
"She is to put it easily the hottest babe on this continent!" Zidane shrugged as he explained it, to him it was just common sense.
"I'm not so sure, not many come as hot as my Kate." Marshal replied as he put an arm over Kate's shoulders. He then continued to annoy Zidane by casting a dignified gaze in his direction.
*~* Zidane's POV *~* 'Just because I was found on the streets with no memory when I was seven, is no reason for him to think he's better than I am. Or is it... I mean, I'm just a little street rat, I do deserve to get pushed around to remind me of my place as the scum of society. What the hell am I thinking! I hate it when I do this!'
*~* *~*
"Well it's true, weather you believe it or not." Zidane spoke up once he made that stupid voice in his head shut-up. He then returned his attention to Baku, who by now was a little annoyed at being ignored for so long.
It was Kate who finally broke the silence a few minutes later. "So, how do we get her out, I heard that her mother wouldn't let her leave the castle anymore, so why would she let her come to Liblium?" Kate asked in a curious tone.
"We're drugging her, with sleeping weed." Baku, and the rest of the gang could see an inner battle going on in Kate, it was so intense that it showed on her face.
"Sorry Boss..." Kate said as she bit her lip. She then stood up, as did Marshall and the two of them turned to walk out. "I'm not participating in any plan that could possibly harm royalty, but since it was commanded from the Regent I won't report it. I quit!" With that she turned and stormed out, Marshall on her heels.
"I guess that they both quit..." Cinna trailed off as he tried to ease the tension in the room. Blank then nodded to confirm it and then waited for reality to set in for the others.
"Dammit!" Baku shouted at the door that Kate and her boyfriend had walked out of only two or so minutes before. "Now we need a new lead! Where the hell do you find an actress that damn good on short notice?! His voice was at a controlled tone until he brought his fists over his head and then crashing down onto the table. "Eiowwchieee!!!" Baku shouted up at the ceiling.
"Relax, Boss, calm down!" Cinna shouted sounding concerned for their Brumician leader.
"Blank go and put out the sign. Zidane, we need the beginner 'I want to be your canary' scripts." He then motioned towards the door and the two boys nodded and ran out.
"Boss, maybe we should ask Ruby to do it. Play Cornelia I mean, who else can learn all the lines in two freaking weeks?" Marcus shouted over he was trying to sound upset, but if he convinced boss to use Ruby. Then maybe, just maybe he could get Baku into switching his roll with Blank, he knew Blank had a thing for Ruby.
"We can find someone, hey Boss. . . We'll find someone right?" Cinna asked as Zidane came in with an armful of books that were all labeled the same 'I want to be your canary, for beginners'.
"Here you go... " Zidane said as he dropped the books onto the table with a soft thud. Just then Blank came back, and leaned on the wall panting for breath.
"They're here." Blank stated with worried expression on his face, "They're trying to break the door down of something, I was afraid that they were going to kill me!" He trailed off as the others offered only looks of pity or amusement.
"Well let's get this over with..." Baku said as he stood up and started towards the door. His 'boys' or so he called them set up their game faces and marched out with him, the marched right past the door, and into the stage room. Where they all took the assigned seats, Baku in the middle, Zidane on his left, Marcus on his right, Cinna next to him, and Blank was next to Zidane, and then there were the two empty chairs that formerly belonged to Marshal and Kate.
"Ummm... who is going to let them in?" Marcus asked seeing as no one volunteered.
"They one who lets them in stands a fair chance of being trampled to death my boys!" Baku spoke up as a grin spread across his features. "So it shall be the fastest, he stands the best chance of getting back here alive!" As he finished the fingers flew and pointed at whom the owner thought was the fastest. Four fingers were pointed at Zidane, his own he had jabbed out randomly and was pointing a Cinna. Who was incredibly chubby for a nineteen- year old and couldn't beat a three-legged dog in a race.
"Zidane it is!" Marcus announced in that tone that drove Zidane up the wall. Zidane hung his head in defeat and walked up to the large set of wooden doors and pulled it open just a bit and turned tail and ran. Just missing getting hit by the door as it almost sung off its hinges as around twenty girls came running into the stage room .
"They're here!" Zidane announced as he slumped into his chair panting for breath while Baku roared with laughter. The five judges ( Blank, Baku, Zidane, Cinna, and Marcus) took their assigned seats before explaining the way that the scoring was given.
The first girl walked up onto the stage and the auditions commenced. "My name is Clare, and my skills consist of cooking and singing." She said and then blushed as Baku asked her to sing a verse of any song. . . and upon doing so she was asked to leave the building. Things went on much in the same fashion for the next few minutes until Jen took the stage.
Flare was falling fast down to the cobble stone streets of Liblium. When she did wake up she was only fifty meters off the ground, and still falling fast. " But I don't want to be a pancake!" Flare shouted as the wind whipped the hair into her face and messing up her cloak.
She didn't know what to do she was panicking and for the first time in almost ten years she was truefuly afraid. A warm wind picked up and blew across her face it almost seemed to comfort her. It was then that Flare remembered what her mother had told her so long ago. "When you fear the what is to come pray to the gods not the eidolons. For as powerful as an eidolon is it is only as strong as its master." Flare repeated the words that her mother had told her and started to pray to the god of wind, she prayed to Suveil. Flare chose her words wisely if she angered him it would be the end of her . . . death by pancake she shuddered at the thought.
The winds picked up and Flare relaxed Suveil favored her today. Her eyelids grew heavy for she had gone past her mothers advice, she did not pray so that hopefully Suveil would hear her she channeled all of her energy directly to him so he would hear her loudly and fast, and talking to a god is tiring. Flare was struggling to stay conscious when the saw the pain of glass she was about to crash into she covered her head with her arms and hoped that her friends were fairing better than she was.
A new girl named walked onto the stage and courtsyed politely. " My name is Jen Fern. I enjoy singing and acting." She told them as she handed Baku a resume.
"That is a very impressive resume Jen . . ." Baku said in his best know-it-all tone. " Would you mind singing us a verse?"
"No not at all!" Jen replied and then continued to sing a verse of her favourite song 'somewhere out there'. Zidane jumped out from his chair and started to circle her making her feel uneasy.
"Eight!" Zidane told them very enthusiastically. "I rate Jen an eight on the Garnet scale!"
"Well then welcome to Tantalus Jen!" Baku said happily as he shook her hand. "And as for the rest of you . . ." There was a menacing gleam in Baku's eyes now. "Get out of my theater NOW!!" Baku roared with laughter, as did Cinna. When the girls ran for the exit screaming.
"What did you do that for?" Blank asked as he waved his arms around in the air. "We needed two!"
"We'll get Ruby to play Cornelia, and don't you ever raise your voice at me again!" Baku shouted. Jen who by now was more than a little confused decided to make her curiosity known.
"Excuse me but are you two related?" Jen asked politely. All eyes were now fixed on Blank to see his reaction to the question . . . he simply turned to face Baku who shook his head. Meaning that they couldn't trust Jen quite yet.
"I guess that you could say that . . ." Blank trailed off still holding his hands out in front of him.
Just then there was the sound of shattering glass as winds hurled into the room. All eyes flicked from window to window looking for the broken one and what had broken it. Just then glass started to fall on them it was the skylight that had broken!
"Shit!" Baku shouted as he pulled down his goggles, Zidane shielded his eyes with his tail, Marcus pulled his bandana over his face, Cinna hid under the table, Jen curled into a ball and Blank just stood there starring up at the broken skylight. All of a sudden a large bundle of cloth landed in his out stretched arms causing he's knees to buckle from the sudden gain of weight.
"Oh God . . . Bland is that a person?" Zidane asked his mouth gaping open.
"Oh it's a person alright!" Blank said as he pushed off the hood of the cloak. When the hood fell it revealed a girl with brown hair and red streaks. The feature that caught his eye however was the silvery horn that spiraled out of her forehead.
Zidane was about to poke her horn out of curiosity when Jen grabbed his hand. She pushed his hand into his chest and shook her head. "Leave the poor dear alone." Jen whispered as she saw the figure wasn't awake.
"Blank bring her here!" Baku was also trying to whisper but worry and anger would not allow him to. Blank shifted the weight of the girl onto one arm as he noted that she was fairly light for a girl between the ages of fourteen and fifteen.
"Wait!" Marcus whispered franticly and as he was their first aid specialist Blank did as he was ordered. "Take her pulse first." Blank took to fingers and gave Marcus the 'like-this' look. After seeing Marcus nod Blank took the two fingers and was about to check for a pulse on her neck but never did as just then her eyes snapped open.
Blank found himself caught up in the gaze of two beautiful sapphire orbs, unable to stop the gaze he simply said. "I think she's alive."
"How do you know did you take her pulse yet?" Marcus asked out of concern.
Blank looked down at the gorgeous girl in his arms. "Can you walk?" He asked her softly and she nodded her head. Blank slowly stood her up and let go of her once he was sure that she could stand. She turned to face Baku at the head of the table.
"Hello my name is Flare. I'm sorry for bothering you, I'll be leaving now." Flare turned to leave when she turned around she bumped right into Blank. "I'm sorry!" She said and she looked into his eyes, no wait she didn't cause he's wearing a belt so she can't!
"It's alright . . . are you alright?" Blank asked back. Flare didn't answer as her exhaustion had caught up with her and she fell into Blank unconsciously but she use able to say one word . . .
"Thanks . . ." That was the one word that Flare managed to get out. Blank scooped her up in his arms and walked over to Marcus.
"She's got a fever . . . a bad one . . . give her a day to recover." Marcus announced grimly as usual.
"Go put her in Kate's old room. Baku told them as they watched Flare's prone form. Marcus and Zidane left with Jen just behind them.
" So now you have four sons and a daughter . . . however will you manage?" Marcus said in a teasing tone.
" I guess I'll have to lower your pay!" Baku replied cheerfully.
"No not that our pay is low enough!!!!!" Cinna shouted in reply.
"Shut up Cinna that girl needs her sleep!" Baku whispered a little on his edgy side.
"How bad is she?" Cinna asked. Silence. "Well?"
"Bad. . ." Marcus replied.
"How bad?" Baku asked.
"She. . ." Marcus hesitated "She might not survive this fever." Just then Jen joined them.
"Hey ummm. . . Blank I think. . .well ummm. . . he wants to know when she'll get better." Jen was very uncomfortable talking to Marcus like this.
"Flare sure is cute!" Zidane stated as he walked towards his friends. "But man I think Blank has a crush or something! He's so worried about her!"
"She'll be fine tomorrow. . . don't worry Jen!" Marcus told her and she nodded gratefully before walking away.
"She's not doing good is she?" Blank asked as he approached them. All he received for an answer was the sad shake of Baku's head.
Well that's it for chapter one! Please review if you read it! I'm not afraid of flames if that's what you want to send me. If you send me flames make sure you read it.