Hey there.

Wow, if you have been reading this from the beginning and you're reading this chapter now, I want to thank you. I hope you enjoy it, and please read the author's note at the end. Thanks.

And one small note: I've been wanting to think of a better name for this story, but so far I've had no luck. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

I don't know how much more of this I can take.

It's been about a half hour since we escaped Evil Forest. I managed to put up a tent while Vivi gathered some wood and started a fire with his magic. I waited till those things were done before I rinsed my injured forearm with water to remove any excess monster goo, and put a potion on it. Now, I'm wrapping it tightly with a white bandage.

And the whole time, I've had to listen to Steiner yell at me.

"If you hadn't kidnapped her, none of this would have happened!" he screamed. He stood close to the Princess, who was lying on a blanket next to the fire. The poison had been in her body longer than it had the others, so it had taken more of a toll on her. She was sleeping, and she looked like she'd be fine.

"Everything you did was reckless, stupid, pigheaded…" he kept shouting at me. Apparently, he thought it was my fault that we were here, that the Princess had been attacked, and that he didn't see any reason why he shouldn't kill me right now.

I wince inwardly after I finish the bandaging. Whatever that monster spit at me sure did a number on my arm. It still had a throbbing burn, and there was a raw spot about five inches long and three inches wide. I didn't know how long it would take to heal, but I hoped it wouldn't be too long. I wouldn't be able to fight very well with one arm.

"… no concern for the welfare of the Princess, and-"

"Steiner!!!" I finally yelled, lifting my fists frustratingly. He abruptly stopped. I took a breath and put my hands in front of me as if blocking anymore of his insults. "Just shut up, ok? Shut up."

His eyes flashed angrily. He waved a fist through the air, saying, "How dare you! What makes you think-"

"What makes you think you can blame all of this on me!?" I demand, lowering one of my hands and pointing at him with a finger from the other. I find it hard to keep the anger form resonating from my voice. Between what happened to Blank, wondering what we're going to do now, and the pain that still resonates in my arm, I really don't need to hear his crap right now. "You're saying all of this is my fault, but who was it that was willing to go after her, huh!? You have a duty to her, but I don't! My Boss told me we weren't going to help her, so I left! I made the decision on my own to help her! So tell me, how does that make all of this my fault!?"

As I lower my hand, he goes silent. At first, I think he's going to retaliate, but he doesn't. I'm not sure why, but I hope it's because he finally decided to stop blaming me. Vivi, who had been sitting by the fire the whole time, shifts a bit uncomfortably.

Just then, we all turn our heads in unison as we hear a soft groan come from Garnet. She shifts a bit, then opens her eyes, blinking groggily at the fire in front of her.

"Princess!?" Steiner says desperately, immediately kneeling down next to her. Vivi gets to his feet and watches, seemingly very relieved to see that she's ok. I smile to myself. I'm glad she's ok too.

Garnet seems to be aware of Steiner, and she gently pushes herself into a sitting position with her legs lying next to her. She puts a hand on her head and closes her eyes.

"Princess, are you alright!?" Steiner asks, using a quieter tone this time. She removes her hand from her head and looks at him. She looks like she's going to say something, but she turns her head to look at her surroundings. Her gaze rests on Vivi for a moment, then she looks over at me. Her eyes look so tired, so confused.

"Hey," I say, approaching her. I ignore the glare Steiner gives me, and I stand a few feet away from her (to make sure there's a comfortable distance, and to make sure I stay out of Steiner's reach).

"How do you feel?" I ask. She takes her gaze off of me and looks at the fire.

"I'm alright," she says softly, seeming to be to tired to speak any louder. She silent for a minute, then says, "What happened?"

Unfortunately, Steiner jumps in before I can so much as open my mouth to explain.

"Thanks to this thief and his band," he says angrily, drilling daggers into my eyes with his own furious ones, "We were stranded in the middle of the forest, and were attacked by a giant monster! If I hadn't been here, you would have fallen prey to it!"

I roll my eyes in spite of myself. "How many times do I have to tell you?" I ask with frustration. "This isn't my fault."

But Steiner keeps his stubborn streak. "You kidnapped her, so everything that's happened is your fault!"

"Steiner," Garnet says quietly. He shuts his mouth right away and looks at her.

She pauses, then says, "It's not his fault. It's mine."

"But-"

"Steiner," she repeats, forestalling any of his comments. "I asked him to kidnap me. If any of this is anyone's fault, it's mine."

Steiner stays silent. He looks surprised, but not as surprised as I thought he'd be. It's as if it was something that he expected. I had no idea why he would have expected something like that, but I guess it's not important right now. Although I'm glad that Steiner looks like he's gonna stop blaming me, I can't let her take all the heat (not that she's taken any heat, but you know what I mean).

"Well…" I start, making them all look at me. "I did agree to kidnap you Princess, but I was there to kidnap you anyway."

Steiner's eyes go wide and he points an accusing finger at me. "See!? He admits it!"

"Steiner, please…" Garnet says, looking way too tired to deal with any of this right now. Steiner once again puts his foot in his mouth, and lets her finish. "Although I don't know why the crew was going to kidnap me, I planned to have them take me anyway."

Steiner looks at me. "Then let's hear why you were there to abduct her!"

"I don't know," I say honestly. "The Boss said that it was an important favor for an important friend, and that we didn't need to know any more than that."

Steiner didn't look very satisfied with that. "HA! You expect me to believe that!?"

I shrug my shoulders. "Believe what you want. It's the truth."

"Even if it is, why would you follow such an illegal crime!?"

"Trust me," I say, using a serious, and somewhat pained voice, "If you knew this guy, you'd know why." And he would. With Baku, it was 'Do what I say' or, 'Get the daylights beat out of you until you do.' We always just did what he said to save the beating. We'd have to do it anyway.

Steiner glares at me, then says, "Well, no matter, we will soon be rid of you. I am taking the Princess back to Alexandria as soon as possible."

"Oh really?" I say, finding that somewhat humorous. "And how do you plan to get there?"

"Through South Gate!" he says defensively. "And you'd better not follow us!"

"Uh huh," I say, acting as if I'm calculating that move. "North and South Gate are closed off. And even if they weren't, do you know how to get there?"

Steiner is silent for a moment, still glaring at me. I know he doesn't. I'm sure he's read some maps, but I bet he spent most of his time protecting the Alexandrian Royal family, and never got to travel or study maps.

But instead of admitting that he doesn't, he says, "Well, what difference does it make!? It's not as if you do!"

"Actually, I do," I say, ignoring the shocked glare he gives me. "I've done a lot of traveling, and I've studied a lot of maps, so I know this area pretty well. Plus, I have a map of the continent."

"Well," he says, starting to turn red from the anger. I think he's starting to realize that I have to go with them, and he's not happy about it, "Then… give me the map and we'll be off!"

"No, I don't think so," I say, finding a bit of enjoyment out of the frustration it's causing him. "Even if I did give it to you, I bet you wouldn't know where to go."

And finally, it looks as if I won. He opens his mouth to say something, but closes it right away. I can see how frustrated he is with his conclusion, but I guess he's decided to just do it.

"Fine, then it's settled," I say, not giving him a chance to say it (I don't think he would have anyway). "We'll leave tomorrow."

"And where to you plan to take us!?" he demands. Geez. Even though he looks like he's gonna accept that I have to go with them, he's not gonna make it easy, is he?

"I don't know yet," I say.

"Well, then let me make it easy for you," he says. "We are going back to Alexandria!"

"Steiner," Garnet says. "I do not intend to return to Alexandria."

Before Steiner can comment, Garnet sways a bit and looks like she's going to pass out. He turns his attention to her and says, "Princess, you need to rest." She doesn't say anything, but she seems too tired to protest. He helps her onto her feet and guides her to the tent. Just before they enter, Garnet's eyes and mine make contact. She almost looks like she wants to say something, but she doesn't. They both disappear inside for a moment, then Steiner emerges. He looks directly at me and says, "Don't go anywhere near her."

"Fine," I say. I expected that anyway.

"U-um," Vivi says, speaking for the first time since I got Steiner to stop yelling at me, "Where do I sleep?"

"In the tent," Steiner says, opening the flap for him. He glares at me and directs his words at Vivi. "I trust you, not him."

Well, no one really does anyway, I think, but keep the comment to myself. Vivi goes inside the tent, and Steiner closes it, positioning himself next to it and watching me like a hawk. Great… so I'm gonna have this guy stare at me all night? Talk about invading personal bubbles. But I try not to let myself be bothered by it. I go over to the fire and sit down, acting like I don't know he's looking at me.

I lay on my side and support my head with my left arm, keeping my injured right arm close to my body. It still burns a bit, but I don't really notice because my mind is racing.

Things just happened so fast. After I messed up in the kidnapping, everything just got weird and felt like it went wrong. No… I can't keep blaming myself for that. It's not Garnet's fault either, even though she was the one who ran. I guess it doesn't matter. I can't dwell on what I could have done. I just have to focus on what I have to do now.

Starting to feel a little drowsy, I lay my head on the ground, watching the fire's flames lick the wood. Just exactly what are we gonna do tomorrow? If everything went as planned, I'd be back in Lindblum tonight. But is that where we were gonna go? Now that I think about it, is that where Garnet wanted to go? Is that why she wanted to be kidnapped? But why would she want to leave Alexandria? Maybe if I ask her, she'll tell me. I'm gonna have to anyway so I know where she wants to go. If she wanted to go to Lindblum, then that would simplify things a bit. The Boss did say that we were gonna take her there for a friend, and-

My stomach jolts.

I forgot about the Boss and the rest of Tantalus.

Did they get out of the forest before it got petrified?

That wasn't news that I needed to think about. Now it might not just be Blank who's in trouble. Now I have no idea if the others made it.

No… I can't worry about that. The Boss is sneaky. I'm sure they got out… I guess I'd just have to go to Lindblum and find out. Not that it would matter. I did leave the band…

He'd just tell me that it's not my concern. They're fine… they always manage to get out of this kind of thing. And there's no use in worrying about it until I know for sure. I'm just gonna have to check in Lindblum. If they got out, they'll go back there. Right now, I'll just help Garnet, and I can't figure out how to do that until I find out where she was gonna go and why. I just hope Steiner doesn't get mad. He's already set on taking her back to Alexandria, and he'll kill me if I try to do otherwise. But maybe Garnet's orders will have more power over his own decisions.

That would be a bummer. Always having to follow orders and never have any freedom. Well… I know what it's like to have to follow orders, but I definitely have more freedom than he does.

Whoa… I just let my mind wander into too many subjects. I hate it when I do that. I just have to rest right now and worry about all this tomorrow.

Finally feeling the exhaustion of the day's events take me, I close my eyes and get ready for sleep.

- - - - -

I was the first one to wake up the next morning. The fire was out, and it was a bit chilly. I got up and stretched, then restarted the fire with one of my matches (I still had the box in my pocket). Because of the odd grayness of the sky, I couldn't tell what time it was, but I knew it was pretty early morning. I decided to let everyone sleep, guessing that they were tired from the previous day, and they'd need to be ready for today. Even Steiner was asleep in the same place he was last night. I laughed silently. How could he sleep standing up? I took the moment to make a face at him, then walked over to the sealed off trail that we used to leave the forest.

I stared at the wall for a minute. I wondered how something like this could happen. I guess that the plant thing we killed was the forest keeper, and if he wasn't there, then the forest became unstable. But hey, that meant no more Evil Forest. Works for me.

But… what about Blank? If we did find a way to cure him, would the forest be restored? Would he want to come back if that was what it took? Well, I guess I'd just have to wait until we found out if something like that still existed. Until then, I decided it would be better not to worry about it.

Opening my pouch, I pulled out the piece of paper Blank gave me. I unrolled it, already knowing that it was a map of the Mist Continent. I'm not sure why he gave it to me, but I guess the Boss had something to do with it. He probably figured my stupidity would get me killed and sent Blank along to help me. I guess the big goon does care about me.

I looked at the map and checked our location. Evil Forest was in the middle of a valley, surrounded by tall cliffs. On the east cliff was Alexandria, and off to the west was South Gate. Since that was closed, I'd have to find a different way to get us out of here. Valleys were the areas the Mist was the thickest. And if you didn't know, Mist is the nasty stuff that permeates from who-knows-where, and spawns nasty monsters. Its only use is that it's used for powering airships. Not always safe, but effective.

I scanned the other areas of the map, and I caught sight of a cavern north of us. It was labeled 'Ice Cavern.' It showed it's entrance, and it's exit on top of the other cliff. Just past an open piece of land was a small village called 'Dali.' The name sounded familiar, but I couldn't remember if it was because I've seen it on another map, or if I've been there. I figured our best bet was to go there for starters. We'd be out of the wilderness, and maybe we would be able to find some kind of transportation there.

Just then, I look up and turn my head as I hear something. It's not very loud, but my ears don't miss much. As I look, I see Garnet approaching me. I roll up the map and put it away, then turn to face her.

"Hey," I say. She stops a few short feet away.

"Hello."

She looks a lot better than she did yesterday, but I ask, "How do you feel?"

"Good," she says. "I think the medicine has finally cured me."

"Good."

She shifts a bit, then says, "Did you sleep alright?"

"Yeah, just fine," I say. I haven't had to sleep on bare ground very often, but I guess it wasn't that bad.

She hesitates, then says, "I'm sorry that Steiner forbade you to sleep in the tent. I shouldn't have let him tell you what to do."

"Don't worry about it," I say honestly. "It was probably more comfortable for everyone."

There's a short silence, where we look at each other. Maybe this would be a good time to ask her about where she planned to go after we kidnapped her. But I don't think I should just ask her straight out. I don't think I've even introduced myself to her this entire time. Although, she probably already knows my name, thanks to the Boss. Heck, he screamed it so loud during the play that all of Alexandria probably knows it. But I don't want to assume, so I'll just be polite.

"Uh, by the way, I'm Zidane," I say. Hoping that she doesn't think it rude for me to address her like that, I offer a hand for her to shake.

But she doesn't seem to mind one bit. She takes my hand and gently shakes it.

"Nice to meet you. You may call me Garnet."

"Are you sure?" I ask, trying to use a comical tone. "I think Steiner would have my head if I didn't call you Princess."

She chuckles a bit. Wow, that's a beautiful sound…

"I believe it is up to me, not Steiner," she says with a small smile. I smile in return.

Wow. I didn't expect it to be so easy to talk to her. I mean, she's a Princess, and I'm just a common thief. Usually, royalty or knights treat me like dirt, but she's treating me like an equal. I never would have expected that.

As our hands are still touching, her eyes wander to my outstretched arm, and her face turns to a frown. I look down. She's eyeing my bloodied bandage.

"Oh, are you injured?" she asks. I'm surprised to hear how much concern is in her voice. I release her hand and say, "No, it's nothing to worry about. I've had worse."

But she surprises me by hesitantly approaching me and looking at my arm. She looks at me and says, "Do you mind if I have a look?"

This surprises me. Why would she want to see it?

"Uh… no," I say honestly. "But I don't think you want to." I put a sarcastic tone in my voice. "It's pretty gruesome."

She chuckles silently. "It's alright. I've seen a few injuries."

I blink in puzzlement. Oh well, I guess it can't hurt. I use my left hand to carefully unwrap the bandage, and reveal the injury. It doesn't look much better than it did yesterday. It's still raw, although it stopped bleeding.

She reaches out and gently takes my hand, lifting my arm so she can see it. Her eyes show a sympathetic wince.

"How did this happen?" she asks.

I shrug. "Just a souvenir from the big plant guy we fought to help you. He had some kind of acid goo, and I got in his way." Well, I got in his way on purpose so he wouldn't hurt her, but I decide to leave that detail out.

She nods, then releases my hand. She removes one of her gloves, then places her bare palm over my arm, and holds my arm still with the other. Her face takes on a concentrating look, and her hand glows.

I watch with surprise. She can use White Magic.

She holds her position, and my injury starts to heal. The skin starts to repair, and the burn fades.

After a few seconds, she releases the magic, and releases my arm. It looks like it would after a week of healing. The burn is gone, and it's no longer raw. It's still slightly open, but most of it is repaired.

I flex my hand experimentally, then look up at her. She's got her hand on her head, and she's panting slightly.

"Hey," I ask with concern. "Are you ok?"

She nods slightly. "Yes." She removes her hand from her head and looks at me. She looks tired again. "I can use White Magic, but whatever power I use to heal an injury is taken from my own energy."

That's right… I've heard of that. White Magic is used to heal, but you have to be careful. Not many people can use White Magic, but the ones who can have to know their limits well. If they're healing a large injury, they have to make sure they have enough energy for it, or they end up tired for days. I guess she's not very experienced with White Magic since she looks pretty drained after partially healing my arm. I hope she didn't over do it.

"You didn't have to do that," I say, but not sounding as if I didn't appreciate it. "It would have healed on its own."

"I know," she says, seeming to have caught her breath, "But I wanted to. Just… consider it my thanks for what you've done for me."

I blink. Wow… she's cool.

I smile. "Thanks."

She nods. "Of course."

I didn't expect her to be like this. I figured she'd be one of those snotty princesses that knows they're beautiful and royal and likes to rub it in people's faces. But she was different. Just by looking at her, you wouldn't guess she was a Princess. Actually, the only thing giving her away is how beautiful she is…

"Zidane?"

I blink. "What?"

"Is something wrong?"

"Uh…" Oh geez, I got lost in thought again, and I was probably staring at her. Idiot.

"No," I answer. "Actually," I start, deciding to use my originally planned question as a save, "I was hoping that you would tell me why you ran away."

She looks a little cornered as I ask this. I hope I didn't get into something personal.

"I mean," I say, hoping that an explanation will make her understand that I'm not trying to be nosy, "It's not like I'm gonna try to stop you. I just need to know where you planned on going so I can plan our next move."

She looks a little less nervous, then says, "You mean, you will help me get where I need to go?"

"Yeah," I answer without hesitation. "I mean, I was supposed to abduct you for my Boss, and he didn't tell us why we were doing it. And since he's not here right now, I'm gonna make it my own responsibility." My stomach clenches slightly as I remind myself that I don't know if anyone made it out of the forest, but I push the thought aside and wait for Garnet's answer.

"So…" she starts, seeming to be surprised at my words, "Although you do not know me, and you do not know why I have run away from Alexandria, you will help me?"

I nod. "Yeah."

She remains quiet for a moment, as if she is trying to decide why I would do something like that. But she seems to have accepted it, and says, "I cannot tell you why I am leaving… but I will tell you that I planned to have the ship's crew kidnap me so I would be taken to Lindblum."

"Ok," I say, as if it's no problem, "That's obviously where we were heading anyway." I glance past her, and see Vivi exiting the tent. "When all of us are ready, we'll head to Lindblum."

"Thank you," she says with a small smile.

"No problem," I say sincerely.

After we head back to camp, Vivi was there waiting for us (and I can't resist the chance to slap the back of Steiner's head to wake him up. He woke with a start and looked around, but I had already gone off, and looked as if I wasn't anywhere near him. I thought it might make Garnet mad, but she didn't seem to mind. Maybe she considered it my 'revenge' for the way he was treating me). When we sat down to eat and I explained that there was a Cavern that would lead us to a small village that might have transportation to take us to Lindblum, Steiner demanded to know why I thought that he would let me do that. But Garnet told him to be quiet, and told him it was because it was where she needed to go. She even said that although she appreciated his loyalty, he didn't have to come with us if he didn't want to accept it. But he insisted that he would accompany us because 'It was his duty to protect her at all costs, and that he didn't trust the treacherous monkey.' I ignored the comment, and we left it at that.

After we packed everything (Garnet and Vivi thought my pouch was pretty cool and helpful) we headed out into the valley.

It took us half the day to cross it. We stopped once to eat, and kept going until we reached the cavern. We were lucky enough not to run into any monsters. The only thing that I had to watch out for was Steiner's eyes constantly watching my every move. I haven't done anything but help, so why can't this guy just get off my back?

Finally, the Ice Cavern came into view. The entrance wasn't very wide, but it looked like it was as tall as the cliff. A chilly air wafted toward us, and I knew it would just get colder when we went inside. Hopefully, it would only take a couple of hours at the most to get to the exit.

"Well, here we are," I say as we stop to admire the ice grotto before us. I turn to look at them all, and say, "It's gonna be really cold in there, and it'll probably take us a couple of hours to get through the whole thing, so be prepared for a chilly time." They all agree (Steiner does with a rude smirk, which I ignore), and we head inside.

As expected, the temperature feels like it dropped ten degrees as soon as we clear the entrance. But I have to admit, the inside is so beautiful that it makes up for it.

As the name implies, the entire thing is made of ice. The walls, the ceiling, the floor, everything. It looks like a polished, indigo sculpture. The area we're in now had a hundred foot tall ceiling, and lead into a smaller corridor. It's the only one in sight, so that's where we're gonna go.

We walk for about an hour, and everybody's cold. Even Steiner is under that tin suit. But the constant walking is what's keeping us from freezing, so we don't complain. So far, the path has been pretty straight. We followed a few corridors, and when there was more than one path, we either chose the right one, or found that one was a dead end, letting us know that the other was the right way. It didn't happen often, so we were making pretty good time. Talk has been somewhat sparse, but a small conversation about the cavern was started a few minutes ago.

"I've only read about this place," Garnet said as we walked down another hallway. She looks at one of the walls. It seems like she didn't tire of it, no matter how long we were in there. "But actually seeing it is better than any book could describe."

"I haven't seen it either," Vivi said. "My grandpa used to tell me about it, but I never knew where it was."

"Oh, you have family?" Steiner chimed in. "He must be worried about you."

Vivi looked down. "Well… no. He died a little while ago."

Steiner's metal footsteps stop, and he clears his throat nervously. We stop and look at him. He gives Vivi an apologetic look. "I am sorry Master Vivi, I shouldn't have-"

"It's ok," Vivi insisted. He looked up at him and said, "Don't worry about it. I've gotten over it."

Steiner was about to say something, but my ears pick up a small shuffle through the silence.

"Sshhh!" I hiss, turning my head and looking at the corridor around the corner. I hear the shuffle again, and a small growl.

"Zidane, what-"

"Be quiet, and get over here," I say quietly, forestalling Garnet's question. I rush over to the wall that connects the passway we're standing in, and the one around the corner where the sound is coming from. I stand right next to the edge, and press my back against it. They all follow.

Ok, there's something over there, and I don't know what it is. We haven't run into any monsters yet, and I don't know anything about the kinds that might live here. I take a small breath, then peek my head around the corner.

About three yards down the hall is a dark green, four-legged monster. It's facing the wall opposite us, so I can't really see its face. All I can see is that it's about as tall as me, and has two really long tusks sticking from somewhere on it's face.

Slowly, I draw my daggers, and hold them at the ready. I hear Steiner's hand go for his sword, and he says, "What is going-"

"Steiner, shut up," I say quietly. If he doesn't keep his mouth shut, that thing is gonna know we're here.

But I think it already does.

It must have heard the echo of his voice, because it turns, and I see a flat face with drawn eyes look toward us. It starts to sniff the air, sounding as if it's snoring, and the sound is carried loudly down the corridor. I feel Garnet slightly jump next to me, but luckily she stays quiet.

"What was that!?" Steiner demands, drawing his sword. The monster jerks its head toward us, and starts walking to the hall opening.

I pull my head back and rest it against the icy wall. "Steiner, just shut up!" I say again. "There's a monster down there, and it's gonna know we're here if you don't be quiet!" I hear him grumble something, but he keeps quiet.

I take a calming breath, trying to ignore the ice that's numbing the back of my arms. I peek my head for another look, and my eyes widen as I see that the thing is just five feet away, sniffing the air more vigorously.

I bring my head back, and look at the others. They all look at me, Garnet and Vivi looking very frightened, and I say, "Ok, I think I can take care of it. Just stay right here, and don't move ok?" Garnet and Vivi nod and, after a bit of reluctance, so does Steiner.

I nod, and turn my attention back to the monster. If I time this right, then I can knock this thing off without so much as a fight. I just hope it works.

I peer around the corner again, and now the monster is practically right there, still inhaling the new scent. It must be pretty stupid if it doesn't know we're right here. But that helps the plan a bit.

I stick my head out farther, and make eye contact with it.

And the next span of events happens within seconds.

The thing now knows that something is there, and it gives an odd, gurgling roar, then leaps toward me, and the opening. I jump into the opening at the ready, daggers raised for the leaping monster. In the same second that it comes just in front of me, I slice my weapons across it's face in an X motion, and leave deep, bloodied gashes between its eyes and mouth. It roars momentarily, then falls to the ground, and gasps its last breath.

I stand in the same position, panting slightly from the short adrenaline rush. That was easy.

"Wow," I hear Vivi say with a winded and impressed tone. I get out of my stance and look at them.

"Well, that was easy," I say, wiping my daggers on the monster's hide.

"Are you alright?" Garnet asks. She looks kind of winded, and her hand is over her chest as if something suddenly scared her.

"Yeah," I say, sheathing my clean weapons. "He didn't get anywhere near me." I eye the monster, watching some of its crimson blood start to stain the clear ice, then say, "Well, let's just be glad that this monster was kind of stupid, and that it's the only one we've seen so far." Vivi nods, and Garnets put her hand to her side, seeming to have partially gotten over the scare. Steiner looks at me impassively, then sheathes his sword. Hopefully, this will make him trust me a little more.

"Ok, we need to keep going," I say. Vivi and Garnet agree, and follow me when I walk around the monster and start down the corridor. Steiner stays still for a moment, then follows us.

After a minute, Garnet fell into step next to me. She looks at me, most of her fear seeming to be gone, and asks, "How did you know it was there?"

"I heard it," I answer. "I've had some training in that area. You know, like tracking and paying attention to my surroundings. It's not like I hear everything, but I don't miss a lot when it's important." She ponders it for a second, then looks ahead. She seemed a little bit impressed with it.

The next hour isn't as exciting as the first. For a little while, we talked about the fight. Vivi asked me how I learned to track, and I just told him that I trained for years to pick up the skills. Other than that, everybody kept to their own thoughts.

And now, it seems like it's even colder than it was before.

And a lot windier.

As the second hour is almost up, a blistering wind suddenly starts blowing against our pace. As if it wasn't already cold enough, this is making us all feel like no amount of walking is going to keep us warm at all. It's freezing. Where the heck did this wind come from? Are we close to the exit, and there's a storm outside? I don't know if I've been to the area that we're heading to, but there's no way its winter there.

By now, we're all hugging ourselves, trying desperately to keep warm. It got so bad that I pulled out blankets and handed them out to everyone. But they don't seem to be helping much. I can't see any sufficient shelter anywhere, so we can't stop. Even if we did, I don't think it's a good idea to stay in here any longer than we have to. We have to get out of here.

My whole body is shivering, and I can't stop my teeth from chattering. I glance at the others, and they don't look any better. Steiner looks as if his suit has frozen and is forcing him to walk with stiff movements. Vivi's starting to fall behind, and he's visibly shaking. Garnet looks so cold that I think she might pass out. We have to get out of here.

Before I can turn my head back to the path ahead, I see Vivi start to waver. He stops walking, then falls onto his face.

"Vivi!" I call over the gusting wind. As I call him, Steiner and Garnet turn to look. The first one to react is Steiner.

"Master Vivi!" he says, waddling over to him. He somehow manages to make his legs bend, and kneels down. "Master Vivi, are you alright!?" Vivi doesn't answer.

Steiner looks like he wants to call him again, but he tries to adjust his leg at the same time, and loses his balance. He manages to fall onto his side with a metallic 'thunk' next to Vivi.

Crap, I think, starting to worry. This isn't good. They might be freezing to death. I turn and walk over to them, stopping by Steiner.

"Hey, Steiner!" I call. He looks unconscious, as does Vivi. I want to try to wake him, but I'd rather be cautious. I poke his side with a toe. Nothing.

This really isn't good. If they don't get out of this cold, they're gonna freeze to death. But how am I supposed to get them out of here? I can carry Vivi, but what about Steiner? Even though he's been a big jerk to me and doesn't have the slightest care about me, I can't leave him here. I just can't.

I turn around to see if Garnet has any ideas, but that's not gonna work.

Now she's on the ground unconscious too.

Oh come on! I think desperately, rushing over to her. I kneel down and put a hand on her shoulder. Even through my glove, she feels like ice.

What am I supposed to do now? They're all out cold (literally) and they're going to freeze to death if I don't get them out of here. But how am I supposed to do that!?

Just then, I hear a strange sound carry over the wind. At first, I think it's playing tricks on my frozen ears, but then I hear it again. It almost sounds like a bell.

I turn my head in the direction of the wind, where the sound is coming from. The path goes a little farther, then it turns to the right. Whatever it is, it must be coming from there.

Well, I don't know what else to do. Maybe, this sound has something to do with the wind. I don't know why I think that might be possible, but I don't have any other option.

Taking one more look at Garnet and the others, I get up and head for the sound, hoping that it will be something helpful.

After I turn the corner, a large ice room comes into view. I can't tell much about it because the wind is so strong. I scan it, trying to see if I can find the source of the noise.

And what I see is just completely unexpected.

Through the wind, I see what looks like a Black Mage with wings. It's a lot bigger than Vivi, maybe about as tall as me, and it's got something in its hand. It moves it, and I hear the bell again.

So, we've got something that looks like a Black Mage, ringing a bell, and is in the middle of a storm that is almost killing everybody. Well, if that doesn't say 'guilty' to me, I don't know what does.

Just then, my eyes widen as its stops ringing its bell, and its yellow eyes turn towards me. I freeze (no pun intended) and stare at it. It turns to face me.

"Why aren't you asleep?" it says. Its voice is scratchy and deep, enough to make your hair stand on end.

I release the blanket that hangs over my shoulders, and reach for my daggers as it falls to the ground. "What are you talking about? You're the one causing this storm, aren't you?" The thing chuckles grittily, making me wince as the sound scrapes against my ears.

"It is no concern of yours," it says. It takes a step forward. "Because you have not fallen asleep like the rest of them, I shall take care of you myself." It lifts its hands, and a cerulean glow forms in front of them.

I rip out my weapons, and duck for cover.

The monster shoots a large ice shard toward me, and I manage to roll out of the way just before it impales my side. I right myself quickly, and dive behind a frozen boulder just as another one whistles past my ear.

I crouch and press my back against the cold rock. I hear another ice shard shatter behind me, and the pieces fly over the rock and land in front of me. What the heck is this thing!? It's nuts! And why did it send this blizzard on us? What does it want? And how the heck am I supposed to fight it with deadly icicles trying to turn me into a pincushion?

Well, I doubt the thing is gonna wait much longer before it comes over here. I gotta think of something. I look around for an option. All I see is a crevice in the wall that I can hide in, but how much longer can I hide?

Wait… that's it!

I peer over the boulder to check the monster's location. It sees me, and shoots another ice shard. I duck quickly, letting it fly over my head. I managed to see that the monster was closer to me than it was before.

Getting on to my stomach, I crawl along the boulder, then get to the wall. I edge around the small corner, then pull myself into the crevice, that is just barely big enough for me to fit in. I must have stayed well hidden, because I can see the monster from here, and he's still staring at the boulder, edging closer to it. I stay still, not wanting to give away my position.

After a minute, it reached the boulder. It paused, then leapt over it, landing behind it and spinning to face where I was hiding before, its back now facing me. It lowered its prepared hands, and stared in puzzlement.

I took the moment for a surprise attack.

It took about one more second than I intended to free myself of the tiny hiding place, and by the time I got out, the thing heard me and started turning around. I leapt forward with my daggers at the ready, hoping that I could get in the attack before he did.

In the same second that we made eye contact, he lifted his hands and started brewing a new ice shard, and I twisted my daggers in my hands so that they both faced him. Just as he prepared to shoot, I shoved my weapons into his stomach.

Its eyes bugged out and it gasped, the blue ice fading into nothingness. It looks down at its stomach, then looks back at me. It takes in a gasping breath, then falls backwards, my weapons sliding back out as it hits the ground.

Before I do anything else, the blizzard around me abruptly stops. The air is completely still, and the temperature goes back up instantaneously. It's not hot of course, but compared to before, it's a welcome change.

Just after the Cavern regained it's normal climate, a strange smoke covered the monster. It wafted around it a bit, then it disappeared. No sign of it, not even blood remained.

That… was weird. That wasn't just a monster. It knew we were here, and it tried to kill us. But why? How did it know who we were, and how did it know where we were?

Well, I'm not sure what it was all about, but I better not tell the others. They'll probably freak out, and I can't tell them why this thing was even-

Shoot! The others!

Just before I head back, I rip a bandage put of my pouch and clean my daggers. If I show up with bloody daggers, they're gonna know that something happened. I put the bandage back, put my weapons away, grab the blanket I was wearing and rush back to them.

When I get there, they're still lying on the ground. I reach Garnet first, so I kneel down and shake her.

"Hey, Garnet!" I say. I'm glad to see that it doesn't take any more coaxing than that before she opens her eyes. She blinks a few times, then looks at me.

"What…?" she starts. She glances around, and I release her shoulder as she sits up. She instinctively wraps her blanket tightly around her shoulders and looks at me. "What happened?"

"Uh…" Well, that's not a good way to start. If I don't wanna tell them about the monster, I can't be this stupid.

"You guys all passed out, then the storm stopped. I don't know why it did, but I've been trying to wake you." I've lied before, but I hate doing it. But I guess it was necessary.

"Oh…" is all she manages to say. She turns to look at the others. "They haven't woken yet?"

"No. I'll go do that now." As I get up and approach Vivi, Garnet follows and goes to Steiner. We both manage to get them to wake.

After Vivi gets onto his feet, he asks, "What happened?" Steiner looks groggy as he stands, but he doesn't say anything. I repeat to them what I told Garnet.

"But, that doesn't make any sense," Vivi said.

"I know," I agree. I hope they'll believe me. Then again, I bet Steiner won't.

"Preposterous!"

Shock.

I guess it doesn't matter though. If I said there was a monster, he wouldn't believe me anyway. There was no body, and that just makes it worse. So, it's probably better to just not tell them so I can save a more complicated reason for Steiner not to believe me, and save some worry since I don't have any idea why that thing was here.

"Look, I really don't want to do this right now." I say. "Can you just not get in my face for once so we can get out of here?" I know he still doesn't believe me, but he shuts up. He obviously wants to get out of here more than he wants to yell at me. So, we all agree and head for the next room.

As we enter it, it makes me feel weird. I just fought a monster that looks like a Black Mage here, and I told them nothing happened. If Steiner ever finds out about it, he'll use that one lie to say that I've lied about everything. And, I start to worry about why the monster was even there. It made it sound as if it was specifically there for us, although I never got a straight answer. Hopefully, it was something that was taken care of and we didn't need to worry about it since it was dead.

As we climb a slope, it seems like everyone's noticed that the temperature had gone back up, and I put the blankets away. The exit is in view just ahead, and we know it will be warm once we get out.

And finally, we do.

The sun beats down on us as we leave the Ice Cavern. We all welcome the warmth gratefully. We're now standing on a really tall hill, and the plains that connect the cavern and the village stretches vastly before us. Dali is visible far ahead. Actually, the plains look a little familiar. I remember the name of the village sounding familiar when I was looking at the map, and now I think I remember. I was there once with the guys once doing a little exploring when we were on one of the Boss's 'missions.' It was just a little farm town, pretty isolated by the mountains.

"There's the village," I say, pointing in its direction. They all look.

"How long do you think it will take to get there?" Vivi asks.

"If we don't stop, we can get there before dark," I say. "I've been there once, but I don't remember a lot about it. We'll have to see if they have some kind of transportation method that we can use."

"But first," I say, turning to Garnet, "We gotta take care of something else first." She looks at me quizzically.

"Now that we're going to be around witnesses, you're gonna have to start finding ways to disguise yourself."

"Why?" she asks, not seeming to understand exactly what I mean.

"Well, you ran away from Alexandria, so people are gonna be looking for you, right? If anyone knows you're the Princess, they'll alert the castle and they'll catch you. Even a small town like Dali will be able to get word to Alexandria."

Garnet seems to be taking this better than I thought. She doesn't protest, and instead asks, "Do I need to change the way I look?"

"No, I don't think so," I say. "You're clothes are fine, and no one knows what you look like. But they'll know your name, so you'll need a new one."

Just before she can respond, I hear a huge metal thud next to me, and I instinctively go for action. My right hand whips to my dagger, and I pull it out and turn to face Steiner. In the same second, he smacks it out of my hand, sending it to the left, and wraps his metal hand around my throat.

"You insolent commoner!" he says angrily, shutting off the air from my windpipe. "How dare you tell the princess to sneak around like a common criminal!" Geez! This guy is really taking this too far!

"Hey!" Vivi shouts, clearly sounding panicked.

"Steiner, let him go!" Garnet demands. He glares at me, then releases me. I take a deep breath, but that's all I need. He didn't have me long enough to choke me.

But Steiner shows no remorse for what he did, and turns to her, saying desperately, "Princess, you need not sneak around like he says! There is no need to do any of it because you will be back to the castle soon enough!"

"I have already told you," she says, "I am not going back to the castle. Not until I get to Lindblum." He stays quiet, seeming to be reminding himself that he can't undermine her authority. I guess he really is loyal.

She looks away from him, and looks to the ground as if something caught her eye. She bends down to pick it up and I look to see what it is. She stands back up with my dagger in her hand.

I let her turn it over and look at it. She looks at me and says, "What is this?"

"A dagger," I say simply. "Why?" She looks back down at it, and looks like she's considering something. She looks back at me and says, "Would that be a suitable name?"

I'm a little confused. "Would what be a suitable name?"

"Dagger."

I blink. Now that's a good idea. She's really smart if she's able to think of one so quickly, and a good one too. If she wants to be named after my weapon of choice, that's all good with me.

I nod. "Yeah, that sounds like a great name," I say honestly. She smiles a bit, and says, "Then Dagger it is."

Dagger approaches me and hands me my weapon. I take it and put it away.

"So, Dagger," I say, experimenting with the new name. It sounds cool. "There's one more thing we need to work on.

"What?"

"You look like a commoner and have a different name, but your speech is still too noble. You gotta try to change it."

She blinks. "How?"

I glance at Steiner out of the corner of my eye, then say, "Well…" I actually don't really know. It's not like we have time to give her lessons or something. "Just try to learn by osmosis. You've heard me and Vivi talk, so try to use that."

"Alri-" She stops. She thinks for a second, as if trying to think about when we talk, and says, "Ok."

I smile. "Perfect. You'll learn in no time." She smiles back.

"Well, we better go," I say. They all agree, and we head down the slope.

Again, we don't do a lot of talking during the walk, and I'm glad. I really don't want Steiner to try and ask me more about the Ice Cavern and make me have to lie again. And I'm really trying to be more cautious around him since I know he would have killed me back there if Dagger didn't stop him. This guy really is getting dangerous. But one good thing is that everybody seems to be ok. I was afraid that everyone would end up getting sick from being in such a cold climate for so long, but they were all fine. One less thing to worry about.

Just before the sun gets ready to set, we finally make it to Dali.

As we enter, I start to recognize it. Just as I remembered, it's small, not many houses, and a small Inn close to the entrance. There's a couple of kids running around, but other than that there's no one in sight. Even though sunset has barely started, I lead everyone to the Inn. The day was really long, and we were all exhausted.

When we get inside, I talk to the innkeeper, and pay him what he asked (I then transfer my money from my pocket to my pouch. It'll be safer in there). But what I noticed is that he kept glancing past me, then quickly turning his attention back to me as if he wanted to hide the fact that he had been glancing at all. I stole a quick glance over my shoulder to the direction he was staring. I guess he was looking at Dagger. I hope he didn't recognize her… Yeah right. No one except the Alexandrians know what she looks like. He probably just thought she was really pretty. I don't blame the guy. It's rude to stare at her like that, but she is beautiful.

After leading them into the Inn's only room, I shut the door. I turn to check it out, and it looks nice enough. It's a pretty spacious square room, and there's four beds each placed in one of the four corners of the room. Pretty convenient. At least I didn't have to worry about sleeping on the floor for lack of beds.

"Ok, let's get some rest," I say. Vivi's already plopped onto the bed closest the door as I say, "We'll try to figure out what to do tomorrow."

Dagger chooses the bed in the top right corner of the room. She sits down and says, "Do you think there is transportation available here?"

I stand in the middle of the room and face her, folding my arms thoughtfully. "Well, since it's such a small town, I doubt they have anything big, but I guess we'll find out tomorrow. If there's nothing, I'll just try to map out a way to get there on foot." Although I said it, I doubted that it would be easy. North and South Gate were the main connections between certain towns that cab drivers and travelers used. But North Gate was closed due to a massive increase in monster sightings, and they thought it better to keep people from traveling on foot in such dangerous areas. They wouldn't reopen it until more of the monsters were killed off. But I didn't know exactly why South Gate was closed. But I guess it didn't matter. The point was, they were closed, and it would make traveling a lot harder, and probably longer. So, I just hoped that there would be some form of aerial traveling available to us here.

But Steiner seemed like he just had to look at all the negatives, especially if it meant pointing fingers at me.

"And if there is no transportation available, what will you have us do!?" he demanded. I sighed silently, and turned to face him, unfolding my arms. "You said yourself that North and South Gate were closed off, and traveling is nearly impossible without them!"

"You know, Steiner," I say, trying to sound casual, "You really need to lighten up." He gives me a shocked and clueless look, but I continue, "You just gotta believe that we'll find a way to get where we need to go, no matter what the circumstances are."

Steiner frowns, and says, "Hmph! The only circumstances that I do not approve of are that I am allowing the Princess to be taken to Lindblum when she should be going back to Alexandria, and that I must travel with a common thief!"

Before I knew what I was doing, I said, "Did you ever think that maybe I don't like being a thief!?" His glare faded, and he looked at me aghast.

My mouth clamps shut right away. I glance at Dagger, and she's looking at me with a slightly unreadable look. She looks a bit surprised, and possibly a little confused.

Why did I even do that? It just felt like something that I couldn't hold back. It was really something that I kept to myself, and I had for as long as I could remember. I had been raised as a thief, but I never liked it. I would just do it because of the Boss's whole 'Do it or get a beating' rule. And I had been with him for as long as I could remember, so I couldn't just leave. I didn't have anyone else. Sure, as I got older, I would 'leave' the band because I was mad about something, but I would always come back. But I only did because the guys at Tantalus were the only family I ever remember having. I couldn't live alone. I just couldn't.

But it was weird that I had just blurted it like that. I guess that having someone constantly remind me that I was a thief and that it was wrong pushed a few buttons.

I put on my usual composure, and acted as if I hadn't said anything. I waved a hand and said, "Never mind. Just get some rest, Rusty." I turn and head for the bed opposite Dagger's.

"R…RUSTY!?!?" I hear Steiner explode behind me. I ignore him and plop onto the bed, facing the wall so my back is to everyone. Maybe he'll just be angry about the new nickname (that I've been wanting to use, but decided it was too dangerous until now) and forget what I said. I doubt that knowing I didn't like being a thief would phase his opinion about me at all, so I didn't care. I'd just let him throw a tantrum about his new name (which I figured would be fun to use from now on), and try to get some rest. I heard Steiner approach me, saying something else, but I heard Dagger tell him to leave me alone, so he did. Thanks Dagger, I think, closing my eyes.

For a Princess, you sure are human.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I just wanted to give a REALLY big thanks to anyone who has been reading this story. I think I've noticed that re-writes of games aren't very popular, and I guess I can't blame anyone who thinks that they're a waste of time. But I'm not just writing the game; it is a real re-write that is going to have a few plot changes, and obviously (although they have been kept pretty much the same) the characters personalities might be altered a bit.

And I hope no one was disappointed about the Black Waltz fight. I originally planned to put the Sealion in there, but it would have made what I did afterward a little more complicated, so I left it out. Hope it wasn't a big deal.

Anyway, if anyone is reading this, they are enjoying it, they plan to read the whole thing, and they leave a review, I can't thank you enough.