Title: Tenure

Summary: After the game, before ending FMV. Garnet employs two unusual people to go search for Zidane in Outer Continent. The desert environment makes for lusty situations, though… (Amarant/Lani)(Zidane/Dagger). Rating can change!

Rating: PG-13. May become NC-17.

Date: May 30, 2002 – May 31, 2002

Tenure

A bleak morning gave light to a new figure, staggering through the heavy sand dunes outside of the Iifa tree. Sheathed only in a bedraggled robe he had stripped from his dying brother and torn jeans, Zidane tried to picture what the future held for him. Escape from the Iifa tree was more exasperating then he thought, and though he tried, he could not crawl and hop throughout the winding, bending Iifa Tree brambles with his brother in his arms. Hence, he had to leave Kuja's body behind, nestled in a small patch of wildflowers that survived the horrible impact of the crushing Iifa Tree roots. Kuja in his state no longer needed much clothing, but not daring to leave him bare, Zidane stripped his shirt to cover his face – the most humane thing to do to keep the flies away from his face. He took his purple, slightly frayed cloak instead to humbly wrap around his shoulders as if a shroud. It was enough to keep away the stinging desert sun in day and the bitter desert wind at night.

And to what do I struggle to, He questioned in his mind. What does the nearest future behold for me? It ain't good, from what I see.

The desert stretched frightfully in front of him, massive waves of golden sand rolling winding around towards the far-off desert canyons. Beyond that would be Madain Sari – he would stop there, to get help from the Moogles. If I make it their at all, Zidane thought, clutching at the gaping wound in his arm. A rampant falling bramble had pinned his arm down to the ground beneath him as he had knelt over Kuja; it took a good few hours to make the bramble budge without having the sharpened thorns on it dig into his flesh and separate tendon and muscle from bone. The wound was not very bad but the conditions he faced on his journey could, in the end, lead to an infection or gangrene.

He fell to his knees in the desert and looked up at the sun. A blinding white light filled his eyes and golden circles danced as he closed them again. Garnet, will I ever see you again?

…::.*.::…

Coughing sand, Zidane leaned against the wooden post of Eiko's kitchen. He had made it this far; the journey was a difficult one, and filled with cowardly fleeing. He was too weak to keep himself in battle long, only managing to slay some minor beast just to see if he could use the fur for a decent warm shroud instead of the flimsy cloth his brother's cloak provided him. The kitchen was still filled with Moogles, all of which sat around playing cards and singing merrily.

" Guys…" Zidane breathed out, collapsing to the ground.

" Kupo!" The nearest Moogle cried out. It darted towards him and propped a small thin-necked laboratory beaker to his mouth, whispering: " We have a Potion."

Zidane gulped it down, feeling a slight relief in his arms and legs. He sighed and then whispered hoarsely: " I need food and water… and a bed for a few days… then I'll go to the Mage Village to see if I can get some transport."

The Moogle shook its head. " The Mage Village isn't available for trade and barter. The mages aren't allowed to be used to make supplies of military nature anymore, kupo."

" Shit!" Zidane cursed, clenching his fists. " Why not?"

" The Queen of Alexandria's orders. She's going to make a colony around here – she wants to have exclusive trading rights with the mages, kupo!" The Moogle's shiny eyes looked down at its small clever paws.

" That would make sense." Zidane curled his legs up to his chest. " They have the best Synth shop available." Zidane didn't think he'd ever be angry at anything Garnet had done, but now he felt a bit upset. If Alexandria held a sphere of influence over the Mage Village, the mages most certainly wouldn't trade or sell goods to anyone else. But they know me! Silly to even doubt that, right? They'll recognize me and help me out, get me a raft, anything!

" Is something wrong, Kupo?" The Moogle asked curiously.

" No, no…" Zidane replied. " Just let me get some rest, please."

…::*::…

Garnet shook her long hair out of its usual braid and then set a heavy brush down onto the wooden desktop of her mirror and makeup table. She could barely recognize the woman in the mirror that gazed back at her with dulled blue eyes and scraggly black hair that had grown ever so long already, nearly past her shoulder blades. Her hair grew fast, but she knew it was a marker for how long Zidane was away from her. For days, she had dreamt fitfully of a day where she and Zidane could return together again. Other days, she stumbled drunkenly throughout Alexandria castle, searching and foraging incoming casualty lists from all the nearby kingdoms. Never did she find a track of an unidentified blond-haired, blue-eyed genome. It was simply her very luck, she liked to think, that Zidane didn't appear on casualty lists. Yet, she would feel safer knowing he was resting in an unmarked grave in a specific place then anywhere in the wide world.

" Beatrix?" She asked, aloud.

" Yes, Your Highness?" Beatrix appeared in the doorway of the room, her arms crossed across her chest.

" Any updates from Treno on the body they found in the fountain?" Garnet's voice was strained.

" Nothing but that it was a red-haired gentleman with multiple arms. Supposedly jumped in to avoid getting caught for stealing." Beatrix sat down opposite of the Princess on her wide canopy bed. The white lace cloth slowly lowered beneath her weight. She looked down uncomfortably at her fingers, slowly twiddling her thumbs. Unnaturally high-voiced, she asked: " So! How about that play coming to town soon? I Want to Be Your Canary, is it?"

Garnet nodded dumbly. " A month from now, if all goes well." She was distracted, her mind thinking of other things. Has she come to bother me with naïve remarks on a play?, Her mind buzzed.

Beatrix pushed back a long curl of reddish-brown hair and then shifted her weight so that she could cross her legs. " Your Highness, being a general for many years, and one of your most trusted advisors…"

" Please, no lectures today. I will find my love, no matter where he may be."

Beatrix's lips tightened and turned white as she pressed them tightly together. " Very well."

" He will return."

Beatrix said nothing. She simply stood, placed a comforting hand on Garnet's shoulder, then slowly walked away.

…::*::…

Zidane turned. The makeshift bed the Moogles made him wasn't enough to truly rest his body. He had stripped down to only his undergarments for the hot sun bore down intensely on the window-less hut in which he slept. A bowl of steaming hot soup chilled at the bedside and he had no intentions to eat it in its overheated state. If he took the liquid in now, it would scald the roof of his mouth. If he let it sit until later, a thin layer of fat would chill over the top of it, making it revolting to swallow down. Either way, he'd be on the subservient choice.

" May we serve you anything, Mister Zidane?" A Moogle peeked in through the parting between the two curtains that remained the only barrier between the outside world and the cottage interior.

" No thank you." It was only the second day here at Madain Sari, but the austerity that hung over him in a dark cloud was enough to make the Moogles feel a closeness and respect to the genome. He had dreamt amative thoughts all night of Garnet and woke up in the morning with an abstruse ache in his heart, as if he had a hole drilled through it repeatedly as he dreamt.

" If you need anything, just ask, kupo." The Moogle inquired. " We can sell you some items for your way."

Zidane pulled his pockets inside out. A single Gil rolled out and then reeled and tottered on all sides before it stilled, flat and facedown on the floor. The Moogle clicked its tongue. " This won't do, Kupo. I'll tell you what. You're friends with Mistress Eiko, and she was our caretaker for a long time." He dug into the sack of items behind him and pulled out a Hi-Potion and then set it down before him. " Special discount – 1 Gil only."

Tears sprang warmly in Zidane's eyes and he blinked them down. " Thanks." He could only say. He drank it down and then felt a lot stronger. The soup beside him had an emanation now that was more appealing then before. He licked his lips delectably and then propped himself up by the elbows and began to eat. He recognized the taste of a Potion mixed with Antidote, laced with a few chunks of ham and potato in order to mask the medicines. Zidane knew well that they were trying to keep him from experiencing embarrassment due to not being able to afford medicines for himself, but Zidane knew he would pay them back for their troubles, so he felt simply an anxiety to return home.

Home, that was a troublesome word, where is my home? Garnet's castle isn't a home to me, really – Terra is destroyed, and I am no longer part of Tantalanus. What could I possibly call home?

…::*::…

Two weeks passed uneventful. A chart was sketched roughly in charcoal on Garnet's wall in her bedchamber. She had worked a long time on it, nearly an entire day from sunrise to dusk, trying to perfect the contours of Gaia and the continents she knew. Slowly, she began to tack off and mark down places she had sent search parties to. Due to international boundary laws, she wasn't allowed to search the Iifa Tree with any armed forces. Partly re-inforced by Brahne's invasion of the tree, now the law was very hard to get around. So, Garnet made a decision to send a single man out to pinpoint Zidane's exact location – Amarant Coral, the mysterious monk who's Chakra spells could protect and heal Zidane, wherever he may be.

She rose now from her seat in the throne room and said:

" Amarant?"

He stood at least forty paces away, leaning against a marble post. His flame-red hair tumbled down his forehead as he quickly twisted his head to look her dead in the eye. His burning green irises dilated as the pupils narrowed and grew significantly smaller, for behind Garnet were windows that let in plentiful sunlight. He narrowed his eyes and then asked: " Your Highness…?" He asked this roughly, still unadjusted to speaking to anyone with such a title.

" I had the castle guards escort you here for a purpose."

" Castle guards? You mean that mook Steiner?" Amarant scoffed.

Garnet bit her tongue to keep back a sharp and witty remark. She had learned a bit too much from Zidane, it seemed. After regaining her composure, she continued: " Moving around that, I think it's best not to yank your chain any longer about staying at the castle. It seems a reunion of our once-close party is still in the very distant future."

" I can go?" Amarant smirked. " Well, thank you." Personally, he felt disgust with the onslaught of rules and regulations that were harnessed to him as he became a resident in the castle. He had done so after a brief stint in dating Lani. Now Lani had changed professions entirely, suddenly growing more and more interested in serving guard at Alexandria castle, and eventually even becoming someone of Beatrix's importance. Amarant hoped for a chance to hook up with Lani again at the castle.

Lani and Amarant's romance was undisclosed to Garnet, however, for she continued: " I want you to accompany Lani in a search for Zidane at the Iifa tree. It has to be top-secret, if you don't mind."

" Yes, I do mind." Amarant uncrossed his arms momentarily to push himself off the marble column and stand in front of Garnet, not breaking his eye contact. He hoped to intimidate Garnet enough to have her give up on persuading him into anything. Garnet was not an easily bendable person.

Garnet replied: " There is no way that I could get Steiner or Beatrix to go without someone noticing their absence. You and Lani were guests only briefly. We could make a cover that you hooked up and went on vacation to the Outer Continent, to see the sights. Meanwhile, I'd like you to be searching avidly for Zidane. I know he's there somewhere. I just know it!" She stamped her foot at that, speaking more to Beatrix then Amarant. Beatrix had begun to shake her head in doubt long ago, about a month after Zidane's disappearance. Now in the middle of the second month without Zidane, Garnet felt she would find him soon.

This could be interesting, Amarant analyzed. A nice way to get with Lani again, perhaps, and the desert makes for a lusty climate… He felt excited at the thought. He crossed his arms again, playing the cool cucumber. " Well…" He seemed to debate it heavily, though inside he was all for it. " … I suppose, for you, your Majesty, I'll do it."

Garnet burst into tears and ran forwards, embracing him. " Oh, thank you, thank you, Mister Coral!"

Her hug sent Amarant stumbling backwards. " Watch the hair…" He whispered, roughly, before breaking into a smile.

…::*::…

Author's Note: Hence, Lani and Amarant will be off to search for Zidane. Zidane, meanwhile, makes his own path after nearly a month and a half of death defying battle for his life on the way out of the Iifa Tree. Back home, Garnet awaits her precious genome with a heavy heart… by the way, as Amarant said, the desert makes for lusty climate, and lusty dreams as well…