Story: Final Fantasy IX: Zidane's Christmas Party Remastered
Authors: Master Jin Sonata, Time Master, & Granis Koaishine
Written: December 2007
Remastered: June 26th, 2016
Genre: Humor/Romance
Rating: T (Mild Language)
Authors Note: We've decided to do a holiday themed fic this year around! Hope you like it!
Disclaimer: We do not own Square-Enix, but we do own the excessive holiday cheer that's to come from this party!
One-Shot: Zidane's Christmas Party
Preparation Panic?
"Damn...they'll be here any moment!"
The evening was cold as snow completely blanketed the city. Zidane was putting the final touches on the decorations around Alexandria Castle. Queen Garnet had asked Zidane to organize and host this year's annual Christmas party in the ballroom. Of course, Zidane couldn't turn down a request from Dagger herself. It was to be a formal get-together, so he was wearing white slacks and a red vest. To top it off, he wore a Santa hat for extra charm.
Zidane was a bit on edge though, for Quina was supposed to have been there three hours ago to prepare a grand holiday feast for everyone, but he/she still hadn't arrived. Zidane was starting to wonder if he/she had forgot.
Hoping for the better, he breathed a sigh of hope.
At the same time, the two designated door-greeters, Zorn and Thorn, came hopping up to Zidane.
"The guests are here!" Zorn proclaims.
"Here are the guests!" Thorn adds.
"That's good in all...so why aren't you greeting them at the door?" Zidane asks, tapping his foot.
Both jesters looked at each other.
"Oh no! He's right! We shall greet the guests at the door!" Zorn says, sounding a little distressed.
"At the door the guests we greet!" Thorn says as well.
Both jesters quickly made off to their posts immediately afterwards.
Zidane rolled his eyes and waited for the first set of people to arrive.
"It's party time!"
Invited...And Uninvited Guests
After Zorn and Thorn had opened the door, Eiko came zooming in past the two jesters, knocking them over like bowling pins as she dashed straight for Zidane. When she got close enough, she jumps up into Zidane's arms and smiles at him.
"Hiya, Zidane! Merry Christmas!" she says, pulling out a tiny gift from her pocket. Eiko's outfit resembled that of Santa's elves, only all in blue.
Zidane set Eiko down and crossed his arms.
"Eiko! What are you doing here? This party is not for little kids!" Zidane says to her.
"I know! That's why I had to sneak inside past castle security to get to you, my cute boyfriend!" Eiko says with a cheesy smile.
"First of all, I'm not your boyfriend. And secondly, you must leave before castle personnel sees you!" Zidane warns her.
As if on cue, Steiner, who stood above them on second level, leaned over to speak to Zidane. Steiner was wearing his traditional armor he always wore, but it was painted green and red, which made him look like a large Christmas bulb.
"Hey, Zidane! Are the guests here yet? The Queen wishes to make her appearance when everyone's...hey! What's that little brat doing in here? How'd she get in?!" Steiner yells to Zidane, before noticing Eiko standing next to him.
"See, I told you!" Zidane whispers to her.
Queen Garnet suddenly summoned Steiner, who was about to come down and take care of Eiko personally. Steiner jumped up and down in frustration at Eiko before tending to 'Her Highness'.
"Aw, forget the mean fat-guy! Let's spend some quality time together somewhere else!" Eiko suggests.
Before Zidane could respond, the next guest came in.
It was Vivi.
After Zorn and Thorn had let him in, Vivi approached Zidane and Eiko with a large desert dish in his hands.
"Is that an oversized fruitcake?" Eiko asks the black mage.
"Why...yes it is," Vivi responds, setting the cake down on the desert and punch table next to them.
"Good you could come!" Zidane says to him.
"It was tough getting inside though...the guards says I was too young to attend the party, but Mister Steiner yells at the guards to let me in…so here I am!" Vivi explains.
Eiko shot a glare at Zidane.
"See! If you would back me up once in a while, I wouldn't had to sneak in!" Eiko says to Zidane in a huff. "I'm getting some punch!" she says, before making her leave. Vivi followed her as well.
The next guests to arrive were Amarant and Freya. Freya wore a gold dress with a semi-long blue garland swung around her shoulders. The only thing festive on Amarant was an old beat-up Santa hat on his head.
"Hey Freya!" Zidane says, waving to her. "And Amarant! I never expected to see you here as well!"
"Bah humbug," Amarant says, handing some gifts to Zidane before making his way toward the dessert table.
"It wasn't easy getting Amarant to come. I promised that he could battle you in a test of strength once the party was over," Freya explains to Zidane.
"Is that so?" Zidane says with slightly nervous chuckle.
Suddenly he and Freya heard a crash near the front door.
Both turn to see Zorn and Thorn on the floor dazed after they failed to stop the next guest from barging in.
"Quina! You were supposed to be here a long time ago!" Zidane says to he/she in a semi-accusing tone.
Quina, who wore a red apron and a red chef's hat, scratched its head with curiosity.
"Don't worry, I fix succulent food for everyone in no time!" Quina says, before running off to the kitchen.
"I really hope so..." Zidane says to himself with some doubt.
Next to arrive was a group of familiar guys whom Zidane had known for a very long time.
"Gwahahahaha! Time to party!" Baku says with a hearty laugh.
Zidane turned around to see Baku, Blank, Cinna and Marcus make their entrance. They all wore matching Christmas-themed attire. All of them began to ogle the sweets that were on the table.
"Now this is a surprise!" Zidane to them as he went to mingle with his buds.
Within the next hour, many more guests came piling into the ballroom. The place was nearly packed with people from all over, many of them whom Zidane had met throughout his travels. As with that, it was almost nigh time for Queen Garnet to make her entrance. As much as Zidane awaited to see Garnet in her new sexy holiday outfit, (in which Zidane bought for her personally), he was still worried about Quina, who still had not returned with the succulent dinner he/she had promised.
His thoughts were interrupted as everyone suddenly got silent when one final, (and unexpected), guest arrived.
It was Kuja. He wore a somewhat revealing outfit that mirrored his normal attire, and likewise, it was all white.
"Seasons greetings...everyone," Kuja says in his usual suave-sounding tone. "You too, brother," Kuja adds, giving Zidane a large holiday sweater that read 'I Love My Brother'.
"Uh...thanks?" Zidane says, a bit weirded out at the moment.
Kuja then approached Eiko who hadn't left the punch table all evening.
"Feliz Navidad, little girl," Kuja says to her with a smile.
Eiko spat out her drink and called for Zidane.
"Zidaaaaane! Kuja's talking all gay-like over here!" she yells out.
"Tell me something I don't know..." Zidane says under his breath.
Save The Queen
Moments later, Steiner appeared before the people on the second-floor balcony. He rang a small bell to get everyone's attention.
"Ahem, may I have everyone's attention! Now introducing the Queen of Alexandria, the beautiful Queen Garnet Til Alexandros!" Steiner announces.
Everyone in the entire ballroom cheered as Garnet appeared before them, wearing the outfit Zidane had given her as a gift. It was a golden two-piece dress, embroided with holiday decorations. Zidane's eyes almost popped out of his head when he saw this, as he was unknowingly drooling at the sight.
Eiko, who saw Zidane hypnotized by Garnet's attire, walked up to him and stomped on his foot to snap him out of it.
"Yeow! Hey! What was that for?" Zidane says to Eiko, knowing darn well why she did it.
With Steiner as her escort, Garnet began descending the winding stairs that led to their main ballroom floor below, when suddenly...
CLUNK! CLANK! BOING! CLANG! CRASH!
...Steiner trips over his own feet and tumbles down the stairs, along with Garnet.
Everyone gasped as they tumbled down the spiraling stairs. Steiner eventually bumped Garnet along the way down, causing her to fly off the side of the staircase. Zidane, acting quickly, rushed over and caught Garnet in his arms in the nick of time. The entire ballroom was filled with cheers at Zidane's heroic efforts. Garnet, miraculously, was unhurt after the ordeal. Steiner, however, was in a daze as he had fallen out onto the floor like a fallen ornament from the tree.
"Thank you Zidane," she says, giving him a well deserved kiss on the cheek.
Eiko was beet-red with anger when she saw this.
"I'll teach her to flirt with my Zidane!" she says to herself.
Just then, another announcement was made.
"Dinner tiiiiime!" Quina calls out to everyone, as the Qu's personal chefs began rolling out scores of food out to the tables surrounding the ballroom.
"I don't believe it..." Zidane says with much relief. "Come on, let's chow down," Zidane says to Garnet as he carried her over to the tables.
Jealousy Brings Togetherness
A head-table was setup for the Queen and her closest guests to eat. Garnet, Zidane, Steiner, Freya, Amarant, Vivi, and Quina all sat together as they dined and watched the guests as they either conversed or danced to the music (provided by Tantalus) on the ballroom floor.
Eiko, meanwhile, was cooking up a scheme to get Garnet out of the picture, and of course, get closer to Zidane.
"I'll show Garnet I'm better for Zidane," Eiko says as she snuck up behind their table and began thinking of a way to make Garnet embarrass herself in front of Zidane.
That's when she noticed a bottle of liquor sticking out of Amarant's back pocket.
"Heheheh...I'll spike Garnet's drink, and once Zidane sees she's had too much holiday cheer, he'll come to me instead! Eiko, you're a genius!" she says to herself.
Eiko stealthily grabs Amarant's liquor bottle and while Garnet was distracted, pours a generous amount in her punch before making her leave. Eiko then watched them at a safe distance and awaited Garnet to take her drink.
She got her wish as Garnet took a long drink of her punch. Eiko's grin couldn't get any wider as she awaited for the booze to kick in.
Minutes later...
"Dagger...are you feeling all right?" Zidane asked her, as he noticed that she was looking a bit...woozy, yet extra happy at the moment.
"I'm fine, silly!" Garnet responds sorta loudly, giggling afterwards.
Garnet then suddenly lost her balance and fell onto Zidane's lap. She looked up at him and smiled.
"Merry Christmas Zidane," Garnet says, pulling him toward her and embracing him.
"Merry Christmas, Dagger," Zidane responds, as they both kissed each as if the situation seemed natural.
All the while Eiko was jumping up and down with frustration at the sight.
Zidane looked up and noticed her making a scene.
"Eiko! Come over here a moment!" Zidane calls out to her.
"Huh?!" Eiko says, stopping suddenly at Zidane's request. She hurried over to Zidane, in which he grabbed her and gave her a big hug. This surprised Eiko entirely.
"I know what you've been trying to do all evening," Zidane whispered to her. "It wouldn't be right to leave you out of this, huh?"
"No… I guess not," Eiko says with a smile.
Everyone at the table then looks in front of them as Kuja had unknowingly setup a large camera in front of their table...
SNAP!
...And had taken their picture.
It was night to remember for years to come.
The End!
Please review, and have a Merry Christmas!