Zidane climbed over the railing and onto the balcony outside his room.
"This place is pretty amazing…otherworldly almost," the thief said as he walked into the room. He just finished exploring outside the building and there was a long stretch of beach and ocean that seemed to go on forever. Out of the way of the beach was a jungle with waterfalls and a lagoon hidden inside it. "If only I was here of my own will power I think I'd enjoy it more."
The room he was staying in had deep red carpet on the floor and intricately designed white walls. Only three doors were in this room. One that Zidane assumed was the entrance of the room, another was to the bathroom. The last one was for the balcony. For furniture there was a circular wooden table in the center of the room and not far from it a large white feather bed.
Speaking of the bed…
Zidane looked over at the bed and saw the slumbering form of a beautiful young woman under the fluffy white quilt.
Queen Garnet Til Alexandros XVII, ruler of the Kingdom of Alexandria, was sleeping like a worn out child after a long day of play. Her ebony hair, long and glistening in the light of the sun was spread out over the mattress. She had been sleeping ever since Zidane woke up, and rather than wake her he had decided to check out the place they had mysteriously woken up in. Zidane had no idea how he and Garnet had gotten to this place, nor did he remember anything through last night either. The last memory he had was he went to see Garnet in her room to talk to her and then there was a white light. When he woke up he was in this very room, with Garnet sleeping right next to him.
Zidane paced around the room before coming to a stop on the wall next to the balcony doors and leaned against it. He began wondering where they could be. 'No place on Gaia is like this...no jungles were on any of the continents I've explored. The tropical islands near Chocobo Lagoon would make sense but there's nothing to suggest people live there, unless you count Daguerro but that's nothing compared to this.'
Zidane heard a small sound, like a coo, and looked toward the bed to see Garnet beginning to stir.
She sat up, her hair draping over her shoulders, and she yawned. As she rubbed her eyes of sleep, Zidane was already at her side of the bed.
"Hey beautiful, have a nice nap?"
Garnet lowered her hands and looked around the room, her eyes drinking in her new and unexpected surroundings before she settled on Zidane. "Zidane, where are we?"
The thief shrugged his shoulders, "No clue. Some tropical island run by moogles is all I could make out. To be honest, I don't think we have anything to worry about, at least for the moment."
Removing the covers Garnet let her legs off the edge of the bed. She wore a simple white nightdress that had a short hemline going to about her knees, the shoulder straps were loose and her legs were bare. When Zidane had gone to meet her the night before he had by chance come upon her when she was starting to get ready for bed, thus her state of dress. She didn't let this bother her, however.
She looked up at him, "You went out alone?"
"I was uneasy about leaving you here, but I felt sure enough you were safe, and then I went and checked out the surrounding area. So far I've only found moogles here and a single chocobo, with no sign of any other monsters," he explained.
Garnet stood up and put a hand to her forehead, feeling if she had a fever or not but it turned out she was normal. "I was sincerely hoping this was a dream."
"Sorry my beloved Dagger, but this place is real, and we're stuck here," Zidane said with a smile, trying to be as optimistic as one could given the situation.
She put her arms around herself and walked forward. Zidane went over to the balcony doors, the sun was still rising even though it was only past the seven on the clock.
Garnet loudly sighed, "And to think I was going to have a quiet, romantic evening last night, then the next thing that happens is we get kidnapped to a mysterious-" Zidane grabbed her by the shoulders and led her to the open balcony doors, "...but very beautiful island."
His hands still on her shoulders, Zidane saw Garnet's mouth widen in surprise. From where they stood they could see the white sand beach stretch for a long time and the ocean that went forever beyond it. The thick green of the jungles near the beach had a small rock mountain in the center that had a long waterfall coming from it. It truly looked like an oasis in the ocean.
"This is...wow," that was all she could say about the island.
Zidane had a small smile on his face. He had an idea.
"Actually, as romantic as last night was bound to be, I can't help but think that this can work out even more."
Garnet turned her head towards him, resting her hands on his own, "How?"
He lowered his voice and rested his chin on her shoulder, "Just think. We're on a tropical island with nobody else here but us..." he whispered into her ear, "No Steiner, no Beatrix, no random bad guys or royal obligations. Just the two of us, spending time with each other like we've always wanted."
Garnet turned his embrace and put her arms around his neck and smiled up at him. She totally agreed with him, except for one thing, "You have a point...though the whole kidnapping part offsets the whole deal, don't you think?"
Zidane chuckled, "Nah, it just saves me the hassle of kidnapping you myself."
She blushed madly, "Zidane!"
The thief laughed, "I've done it before, remember?"
"Because I originally wanted you to," she replied.
Being shot down didn't stop him, "I still would have done it and not because it was part of the job, but because I wouldn't let someone as cute as you go without asking for a date." He paused, his thoughts going to the previous night, "Still, if I could, I would take you with me to some far off place to enjoy ourselves."
"Kidnapping a queen is a very serious crime."
He smirked, "Still would be worth it."
Her fingers played with the hair on the back of his neck, "Most certainly."
Zidane held her as close as he could, like she was the most precious person in his world.
Garnet then asked, "So, can we stay for a while and enjoy ourselves?" She gave him what one would call puppy eyes, but she knew that by the smile on Zidane's face that he was not going to disagree.