Final Fantasy IX

The Rebirth of Necron

Chapter 1: Your Invited

A/N: First I want to say that this fic got messed up somehow, chapter 2, and 3, went up, oddly, on the same page, as did some personal notes in a separate document. So here it is again, after I've deleted the original… god this sucks... Nothings changed, its all the same. Chapter two is up.

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy IX, sadly, heh.

"Alone for a while I've been searching through the dark…For traces of the love you left inside my lonely heart…To weave by picking up the pieces that remain…Melodies of Life-love's lost refrain." A males hoarse, but melodic, voice reverberated off of the roots that made up the wall to their prison, Kuja and Zidanes prison.

Zidane was lying on his back, repeating the lines to their song. It seemed that it inspired him, inspired him to stay alive, it kept his aching heart beating. He lost count of how many days he was here. It seemed forever, and it might as well have been. Zidane turned his head to look at the mutilated silver-tailed Genome. Covered in bruises, dried blood, cuts, and gashes, he was the definition of mutilation.

"Kuja. We have to get out of here." Zidane crawled toward Kuja, clawing at the ground to drag himself closer to his brother.

Kuja would have laughed at the blatancy of what Zidane had said if he could. "I agree." Kuja took a deep breath, and began again. "But how are we going to get out?" He took another deep breath; he was so battered, so drained of energy, that just talking made him short of breath.

Zidane was now lying at Kuja's side, his own tail wrapping around his ankle to provide a sort of comfort. "There has to be a way."

"Not necessarily." Kuja said hardly above a whisper.

Zidane sighed. "Be a bit more positive, will ya?"

"In this sort of circumstance, there is no positive side." He inhaled deeply again and coughed quietly, quietly but it still brought pain to the muscles in his abdomen.

Zidane frowned. "Look at it this way, if there was no way out, then how is there light getting in here? I just have to look."

"Zidane your weak…you can't-"

"I have too!" Zidane broke in, and he sat up, slowly, the lack of food left him weak, and tired. After sitting up, he slowly crawled to his feet, stumbling a few times before gaining his balance. Zidane glanced at Kuja, his tail swinging back and forth with sudden excitement. "I'll find a way Kuja." Zidane grinned and Kuja just shook his head slowly.

Zidane took his eyes from Kuja, gazed at the 'ceiling', made of roots also, and whispered, "I'm coming Dagger…I promise."

The crowd cheered, they were all standing, clapping, whistling, cheering for they're Queen, and the blonde-haired Genome that stood on the stage, embracing one another. Blank, Marcus, and Baku clapped from their place on the stage.

Garnet cried into his chest, tears of pure happiness. Zidane held her close, never wanting the moment to end. Their eyes met, Zidane grinned, she smiled, and they kissed.

The crowd cheered louder, knowing that they were seeing the future King of Alexandria.

The kiss ended, and the embrace continued. It must have been a full ten minutes that they stood there, holding each other tightly.

Three days later it was still all over the papers, that Zidane Tribal had returned too Alexandria, the hero of the Great War years before, that he and Queen Garnet Til Alexandros the XVII were possible companions later in life.

"Zidane Tribal, the hero of The Great War, returns to Alexandria and surprises Queen Garnet Til Alexandros The XVII on her nineteenth birthday celebration. Zidane Tribal, former member of the group known as Tantalus who performed the play 'I Want To Be Your Canary' yesterday and two years before, played the part of Marcus in the play, and surprised everyone by uncloaking himself…The Queen says that there will be a celebration of Zidane Tribal's return to Alexandria."

Zidane laid the newspaper down on the top of an antique table, grinning, he turned to the window, approached it, and opened the window. Cool air blew into the room, the silk curtains blew in the cool breeze, and his long golden hair followed the motion too. After inhaling a lungful of the cool air he took a seat on the windowsill, swung his feet around so that they were dangling out the window on the side of the castle, and gazed at his soon-to-be kingdom. He grinned wider, his tail waved behind him joyfully, his blue eyes were lit up, and he thought about owning all of what he saw before him…

Zidane strolled down the streets of Alexandria, red cloak lined with gold following behind him, a golden rod in his right hand, sheathed on his left hip a golden sword decorated with rare stones, atop his golden-haired head a crown, also golden and lined with stones of high value. As he strolled down the cobblestone roads, the people of Alexandria bowed to him; he gave them a nod and continued down the street. A woman approached him, beautiful, he stopped, mid step, and gazed at her. Her skin was of fair color, her eyes were green, her hair was brunette, and fell to her mid-back.

She greeted him with a curtsey and he only nodded and grinned. She approached him, one hand on her hip, the other fell onto his shoulder, and she moved in for the kiss, he followed her lead.

"Zidane!" A female voice, one he knew all too well, exploded from behind him, angry to say the least. "What are you doing?" It was his wife...Queen Garnet. "Zidane!"

Garnet's voice snapped Zidane back into reality, the image shattered like glass after a stone had been cast at it, and he turned around. Garnet stood there, as beautiful as ever, coffee brown eyes narrowed at him, her brown locks as eloquent as ever, her hands were on her hips.

"Zidane, what did I tell you?"

Zidane jumped up, how he got the footing to do this she had no idea, landed on his feet on the windowsill back flipped, able to do this because the windows were very tall, and made a one hundred and eighty degree turn in mid air, landing on both feet, slightly crouched, facing her. He grinned after showing off his athleticism and his natural acrobatic skills, and straightened.

Garnet shook her head.

Zidane frowned. "You said to never, and I mean never ever, sit on the windowsill with your legs out the window! Never!" Zidane said, quoting her exact words from the day before. "Because I love you too much to lose you again." Zidane finished, a small grin upon his face. She grinned too, and laughed. They walked toward each other, embracing each other, they found themselves standing there in the cool breeze, a peaceful moment for both of them.

"I love you, Dagger." Zidane whispered, but noted that he still called her 'Dagger'

"I love you too, Zidane." Garnet hugged him tighter, resting her cheek on his chest, and closed her eyes.

Awkwardly, and quite Zidane-like of him, he broke the moment with a dumb question, "Do we have any food down there? I'm starving." Zidane frowned.

Garnet giggled, and hugged him tighter, making Zidane wonder how tight she could actually hug, and if it was good for his health.


They trudged along; a few times the two Genomes fell to the dusty ground, but they would get up again, and keep going. The only thing driving the ivory-haired Genome was his blonde-haired brother that helped him along; Kuja was hardly walking.

Upon escaping the Iifa Tree Zidane used the last of his energy to call on the powers of Trance, and destroyed the tree with the most devastating move he could conjure up with his leftover energy. Now he was just as weak as Kuja. Or close to it anyways.

"Zidane…I can't go on." Kuja whispered, in return a raspy cough escaped his throat. He winced in pain and held his abdomen.

"I'll get you some help, Kuja. You will live." Zidane continued to drag Kuja along. "Just have faith, Kuja."

"At this point all 'faith' has diminished." Kuja replied, barely above a whisper.

Zidane didn't reply, but continued walking through the dusty land. The sun was relentless, not a cloud in sight, rain was close to impossible. But there was one good thing going for them, the Mist Monsters disappeared when the Iifa Tree was destroyed, so they didn't have to worry about being attacked by a monster.

"Kuja, when we get somewhere, we'll rest, then go to Alexandria. You can live there, even though you did destroy the whole friggin' place…and Dagger doesn't like you too much…" Zidane frowned. "But I'll keep you hidden or something. What do you think?"

No reply came. Zidane felt like he was carrying Kuja, Kuja was no longer supporting some of his own weight.

"Kuja, you listening? Kuja?"

Zidane laid Kuja down on the dusty ground, and shook his shoulders desperately. "Kuja! Kuja! Wake up! Gods tell me your sleeping!" Zidane embraced his brother, tears streaming down his face. "We made it this far don't give up on me you-" Zidane couldn't finish. The blonde-haired Genome put his ear to Kuja's chest, no heartbeat.

Zidane recoiled slightly as he remembered the event two years ago. He looked up from his plate, empty, and changed his focus to his wife sitting at the other end of the long table. She sensed something.

"Zidane, are you okay?"

Zidane nodded. "I'm just thinking."

"About?"

"Umm…Stuff."

"Stuff?"

"Stuff."

"What kind of, 'stuff'?" Dagger leaned forward to listen.

Zidane stared at her and blinked a few times. "A dream." He lied.

"A dream?"

"Yes. A dream."

"What was it about?"

Zidane watched her, dumbfounded to say the least, as to why his wife was so…nosey! "Stubborn as a mule." Zidane mumbled to himself, a faint smile spreading across the Second Angel of Death's face. Zidane picked up a piece of silverware and began tapping the fork against his plate lightly. "It was nothing just really odd…"

"How so?"

Before Zidane could come up with another lie, a cart was rolled into the marble-floored room. On it was a silken cloth with multiple plates of food sitting upon it. A small chef was pushing the cart. Zidane felt relieved and sunk down into his chair.

After the chef put the food on their plates, and gave them drinks, Garnet dismissed the short man and he left them alone. She didn't touch her food, but continued staring at the blonde-haired Genome.

Zidane looked up at her. Tilting his head to the side. "Uh? Something on my face?" He asked after just stuffing his mouth full with food.

Garnet shook her head. "No, surprisingly. The way you eat you should have to bathe after every meal."

Zidane swallowed with a gulp and stuck his tongue out. "Very funny. Is today 'Pick on Zidane Day'?"

Garnet shrugged. "Could be."

"Ah…I'm so lucky." Zidane went back to eating.

"You know Zidane, I've been thinking about tomorrow since this morning."

Zidane looked up, swallowing a morsel of food, and pointed at the contents on his plate. "And I've been thinking about this food for two hours."

"Zidane seriously." Garnet stood up and walked toward the blonde male, passing about ten chairs before reaching his end of the table. She took a seat in the closest one too him and began. "After the celebration, how about me and you go somewhere and have some fun? Maybe go to Lindblum and see what's changed, or go to Treno, and enjoy the peacefulness."

Zidane shrugged. After downing the rest of the contents in the glass goblet in front of him, turned to her and replied. "Sounds good. Better then staying in this castle all my life. Not that I don't like the place."

Garnet laughed. "Oh, I saw Ruby today. She told me to tell you to stop by the theater today."

"Oh my gods! Father, come quick! Someone's injured!"

"Sherri, get away from him!"

"He may already be dead."

"Do something, Harold!"

"What can I do?"

"Go back to the village and get some potions and phoenix down's! Hurry!"

"He's still breathing! He still has a chance!"

"Shiva he looks terrible!"

"Sherri, go help your father!"

"Sir, can you hear me? Are you okay?"

"It's closin' time hun, your gonna' have ta leave now." Ruby sat down a shot glass she had been cleaning with a rag and walked to a table where a young man was sitting, head in his arms, sleeping. It took Ruby a tap, and a few shakes on the man's shoulder to wake him…getting him out was an even bigger job.

Ruby sighed and walked back down into the tavern/theater, grabbed her rag and began wiping the bar down. She heard someone enter, but didn't turn to them as she spoke. "Bar's closed. Acts are done fer today too. You'll have ta come back tomorrow, stranga'."

"I thought you wanted me to come down today? And I'm no stranger Ruby!"

Ruby turned around, eyes sparkling with glee and ran into Zidane's arms. "Zidane! Welcome back! It's so good ta see ya!"

Zidane grinned. "You too Ruby. I didn't see you at Dagger's birthday party, where were you?"

"Ah…Yeah, some drunks were down here so I had ta stay here and watch 'em."

Ruby unwrapped her arms from around his torso and lead him too the bar where she gave him a drink.

"Have you heard from the guys?" The golden tailed Genome took a sip of his drink.

Ruby nodded. "Yep, they were here a few hours ago. Said they was goin' ta stay at a Inn 'n leave tomorrow after the celebration."

"Oh, good. I was looking forward to seeing them again."

"Speaking of celebration, you sure are gettin' the popularity nowadays ain't cha'?

Zidane laughed, "Yeah I guess I am huh?" The blonde-haired Genome sipped his drink again.

"You sure are. I'm proud of you. I bet Baku is too. Especially sense you have a good lookin' girl now."

"I've always had good looking girls around me. They love me." Zidane shrugged and sipped his drink.

Ruby laughed. "Dream on pretty boy."

"Say what you want Ruby, but the chicks in Lindblum love me. Especially my tail, it gives me a cute puppy-dog look or something. They can't resist me."

Ruby rolled her eyes and refilled his half-full glass.

Zidane looked down at the contents in the tall glass. "I should get going. It's getting late, and Dagger said there was something she wanted to talk about." Zidane downed the alcohol and got up.

"Bye, Zidane. I'll see you tomorrow."

Zidane grinned and waved bye too Ruby.

An icy blue eye opened slowly, the other was swollen shut, bruised badly. The person looked around the dark room. Outside it was night, stars filled the sky, and a cool, refreshing, breeze was blowing in through a open window.

"Zidane…Where are you?" The male coughed roughly and attempted to sit up, but to no avail, he fell back onto the fluffy bed and took a long painful breath. "Where am I?"

"Who's Zidane?" A young voice asked from the other side of the room, there was a young boy sitting on a bed too. Maybe this was a bedroom?

The silver-haired male pushed aside the question 'Where did you come from?' and answered the small child. "My...friend. Do you know where he is?"

"Nope. Sorry sir. Why do you have a tail?"

The bad-eyed male sighed, his tail seemed to react too the question and began brushing across the sheets of the bed. "Why do you have hair?"

"Uh…I don't know. Why do I?"

The Genome grinned through dried, cracked, bloody lips. "I was being sarcastic, child."

"Oh…" The young child began rocking back and forth from his place on the edge of the bed he was on, which was apparently his. "What's that mean?"

The blue-eyed man looked up to the ceiling, about to answer the question, but someone came into the room, light flooding into the once dark room.

"Tod, what did I tell you? You sleep in your sister's room today! Not your own! The poor man needs to rest." It was a female, wearing an apron and a light blue dress; she was probably in her late forties. In her left hand was a rag.

The child left the room and the aging woman moved too the bed the silver-tailed man was lying upon. She folded the wet cloth, and laid it across his forehead.

"I'm curious sir as to what your name is."

He couldn't tell her the truth. It would endanger him.

"My name is…" Kuja stopped. "I-I do not remember."

A/N: Again, a problem occurred with the story, and I had to start it over. sigh Next chapter is up.