Disclaimer- I don't own any of the Final Fantasy characters in this story, but you already knew that.

Author's note- Another person to add to the list of really awesome reviewers is a guy named Solark. Yay! More reviewers!

Chapter 4: Politics among Thespians.

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Cinna and Marcus were bringing supplies out of the smoking shell of the Prima Vista. The fires had stopped, but smoke was still rising from the ship. It really set the mood well when Zidane and I walked up, bruised and bloodied, dragging Steiner and Vivi.

"Holy-! What happened to you two?" Cinna asked. He and Marcus ran to take Steiner and Vivi from Zidane and me, which we gladly let them do. I don't think my back had ever been that twisted up.

"Fight." I said simply. Then I fell flat on my stomach.

"Trevor!" Zidane said. "Are you alright?"

"Tired."

Actually, my shoulder was killing me, my muscles were all sore, and I fought off five angry Fangs not even a minute ago. All in all, I felt like crap.

"Here, drink this." I opened my eyes and saw Marcus handing me a test tube filled with a blue liquid.

"What is this?" I asked, sitting up at the same time.

Marcus was obviously taken back by the question. "It's a potion."

"…Oh." If I wasn't careful, people were going to start asking questions.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Marcus asked. Just as I thought, people started asking questions. I love being psychic.

"If I was, would I need a potion?"

"…Good point."

I saw Zidane drink a vial just like the one I had. I guess potions had to be drunk. In the game, it always looked like they had to be thrown at someone's head. Oh well. This was safer I guess. With nothing to lose, I drank the strange blue stuff.

It wasn't that bad. It had the same sensation as drinking a Coke, but without the flavor. I don't really know how to describe its taste. I guess the best description I could come up with would be: blue.

The potion started working the second I finished the vial. My shoulder stopped hurting and my muscles healed. I even had a little more energy.

"Better?" Marcus asked. He offered a hand to help me up.

"Much." I took his hand and was lifted up to my feet in one fluid motion.

"By the way," Marcus started. "Zidane called you Trevor, right?"

"Yeah." I had to think to myself. Was there an instance where I learned Marcus' name? I couldn't think of one. Better play it safe. "Sorry, but I don't know your name."

"It's Marcus." He presented his hand again. I shook it with my own.

"Nice to meet you Marcus."

"And that is Cinna." Marcus said, pointing to the bearded thief. Cinna and Zidane were having their own conversation. Probably about the current situation.

"Hey, Trevor." Marcus said. "If you're up to it, can you give me a hand with these two?" He pointed his thumb at Steiner and Vivi. They had been put off to the side so that Zidane and I could be taken care of first. In a way, I felt touched.

"Sure. No problem."

"Cinna. Zidane." Marcus called. "Give us a hand here."

They stopped their talking and both responded with "Sure."

Zidane, Marcus and Cinna all helped each other with dragging Steiner inside the ship. I took Vivi by myself. Lucky for me since Vivi was so light.

We took them into the ship. I recognized the spiral staircase leading up to the bridge of the ship as we walked past it. Vivi went into one of the rooms beyond the stairway. Steiner got dragged into the roomto the left of Vivi's. I carefully set Vivi down on his bed. There was no telling what kind of damage the spores could cause.

"What's going on here?" came a voice from behind.

I turned and saw the red haired thief known as Blank. He was holding some cloths, probably because Baku ordered all supplies be carried out of the ship.

"Blank, I presume?" I said.

"Yeah. Who the hell are you?" Well, he was polite.

"Name's Trevor. How ya doin'?"

Blank just sneered at me through the headband covering his eyes. Seriously, how does he see? He walked passed me and checked on Vivi. "What happened to him?" he asked bluntly.

"We got attacked in the woods. Some monster sprayed him and the knight in the next room with spores."

"Spores huh?" He stepped back and stood in thought. After a moment, he walked out of the room. I didn't question what he was doing because it seemed like he was getting the antidote for the spore infection. I exited the room and stood out in the hallway, where Zidane and the others were waiting.

"You still have that stuff?" Zidane asked Blank. The members of Tantalus all stood in a circle.

"Yeah. Just let me get it." Blank walked off down the hall, leaving Zidane, Marcus and Cinna in a broken circle.

"What's he have?" I asked. The others turned to me.

"He's got an antidote for the spores that Vivi and Rusty have been infected with." Zidane answered.

"Why does he have something like that?"

"Actually," Cinna interrupted. "It's made by mixing a few things. The main element is some sort of medicine we stole from a noble in Treno once. If you mix it with the right things, you get a handy antidote for just about anything."

"It's good thing we brought it." Marcus said. "We really had no idea we were going to land in this place."

"No kidding." I added. "What do we do now?"

"I'll try to find a way out of here." Marcus said. He walked up the spiral stairway behind us, probably to find a map.

"I'll keep loading supplies out of the ship." Cinna said. He walked down the hall to exit the ship.

"I guess that leaves us with saving the princess." Zidane said.

"Hero stuff." I said. "Awesome!" I cracked my knuckles at the thought of saving someone like in a fairy tale. Also, I couldn't wait to get out of this forest. The sooner we left here, the sooner I could started freezing myself to death in the Ice Cavern. Whee.

"I need to talk to the boss about leaving the ship to save her, though. He's stubborn, so it might take awhile."

"All right. In the meantime, I need a new sword."

"Talk to Cinna." Zidane suggested. "He might know where to find one." He left for the spiral stairway.

"Right. Thanks." With that, I turned and went after Cinna. As I rounded the corner past the music room, I saw Blank walking with the Nero brothers. They were carrying various bottles and jars in their arms. No doubt it was for the antidote. That was good. Soon Vivi and Steiner would be okay. I walked down the stairway and out of the ship.

I saw Cinna sifting through the giant pile of supplies when I exited the ship. He had a very concerned look on his face.

"Dude, what's wrong?" I asked, genuinely concerned.

Cinna looked at me with shock and embarrassment. As I thought, he must have been looking for his little Garnet doll. That didn't really explain why he was embarrassed though. Maybe the other members of Tantalus made fun of him for having it.

"Is everything alright?"

"I lost something. That's all." he explained.

"Well, you seem pretty nervous about it. What did you lose?"

"Don't worry, I'll find it eventually."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. It's fine." He went back to looking, as if the discussion never even happened. I guess that was the way Cinna is.

"Oh, Zidane told me to talk to you about getting a new sword."

"Did he now?" Cinna asked without looking up from the pile of stuff.

"You think you can help me out?" I asked.

"Alright, but it'll cost you."

"What? You're charging me?"

"You're not a member of Tantalus. I have to."

That sucked. I didn't have any money, and I wasn't about to go ask anyone for money. Without money, I wasn't able to get a sword. Without a sword, I was in even more trouble, what with all those monsters out there. Great. Unless a handful of gil landed on me right now, I was going to have to stay out of the battles. I didn't want to do that. I wanted to help the others in battle. I was about to go back into the ship and wait for Zidane to organize the search party, when a thought occurred to me.

If I found Cinna's doll for him, maybe he would let me have a sword for free. It was a stretch, but I had to try for it.

"Cinna, if I found whatever it is you're looking for, would you give me a sword for free?"

"No."

So much for that idea. Oh, well. Time for psychological warfare!

"Too bad." I put my hands behind my head and turned the other way. "I just thought that if two people were looking for it, it might be found faster. But, then again, it might not. I mean, how long do we have until a swarm of monsters find this place and destroy it? They might find it and take turns burning it or tearing it to shreds. Of course, that's assuming it hasn't already been destroyed from the fires earlier. Who knows, right?"

I turned back and saw what may have been the most horrified expression I have ever seen. Cinna's eyes were the size of small plates and they had no pupils. His teeth were shivering from the images I must have put in his head. He looked like he was about to cave in on himself. Wow, I'm better than I thought.

"Alright!" Cinna said in a defeated tone.

"Cool. What are we looking for?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"…My doll."

"What's it look like?"

Cinna gave me a curious look. He raised an eyebrow and turned his head a little. "You're not going to make fun of me?"

"Why would I? It isn't cool to make fun of someone for something like that." My assumption that he got made fun of by the other members of Tantalus seemed accurate.

"Never mind." he said with a wave of his hand. "It has a blue dress and black hair. It's about this big." He spread his hands about six inches apart from each other.

"Alright, got it." I looked around the pile of stuff for a moment. I knew it wasn't here. Steiner would find it later in the music room. I planned on grabbing it after Zidane asked him to join the rescue party. "Hey Cinna!"

He looked up from his search, pulling out a sink. I have no idea why that was there.

"I'm going to look inside the ship a little. It might be in there."

"Yeah, okay." He went back to his search, placing the sink off to the side.

As I entered the ship, I heard someone yell "I ain't holdin' back." I ran into the cargo room just in time to see Baku rushing at Zidane with a big scimitar. Wow, is it this far into the game already? How long was I outside? I leaned against the doorframe and relaxed for a good fight.

Baku's sword came straight down on top of Zidane's shoulder. Zidane countered by crossing his daggers above himself, blocking the sword. Unfortunately, while Zidane's hands were both occupied, Baku took one hand off of his sword and punched Zidane right in the jaw, knocking him back. Zidane got to his feet instantly as Baku ran forward with is sword at his side. He swung at Zidane from the side, which Zidane deflected quite easily. Baku swung his sword again, but from the other side this time. Zidane deflected that one too. Baku continued to probe Zidane's defenses and Zidane continued to block each attack.

It went on like that for a little bit, until Baku smirked. He raised his sword far behind his head and swung it straight down with everything he had, aiming for Zidane's head. It looked like Zidane was going to get his head smashed in. I admit, I winced when Baku's sword finally made contact. Fortunately, it only made contact with the floor. Zidane, on the other hand, was standing to Baku's left, with one of his daggers poking Baku in the neck.

The fight hadn't even lasted a minute. Baku backed off as he acknowledged his defeat. "I'll be damned…Bravo!" He swung a quick low punch into Zidane's stomach. "Go find your princess! Gwahahahaha..." With that, Baku walked up the stairs behind him and left the room.

I walked up to Zidane to see if he was alright. "Damn, that hurt!" Zidane said before I asked anything. His voice was slightly strained. "He pulled his punches 'til that last one."

"I guess he wanted you to find Princess Garnet." I said.

"Maybe. Where have you been anyway?"

"Just hanging out with Cinna."

"Did you get a sword?"

"Not yet, but I'll have one soon enough."

"What does that mean?"

"More importantly," I said, changing the subject. "I'm going with you to save the princess, but if it's just the two of us, it'll be suicide." I didn't think Cinna would appreciate me telling the others what w were looking for.

"I wasn't planning on that. I was going to ask that knight and Vivi to join us."

"Sounds like a good team." I offered my hand to help Zidane up from the ground. He grabbed it and I pulled him to his feet. It was then that I noticed that we were about the same height. I was only an inch or two taller than him. Go me!

"Rusty was put in the music room. It's just up these stairs."

We walked up the stairs and walked through the door. Steiner was sitting on a stool, looking at a doll. Cinna's no doubt. If Steiner realized that we entered the room, he didn't show it.

"Come on." Zidane said. "You're too old to be playing with a doll." He walked up to the rust covered knight while I stayed back and leaned on the doorway. I seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Maybe I should start a club.

"Silence!" Steiner demanded. "A scoundrel like you could never understand! I'm just overwhelmed with concern for the princess! If only you rogues hadn't kidnapped her… This is all your fault! If anything should happen to the princess, I will have your head!"

"Take it easy. Geez…" Zidane said. "I'm gonna go look for her now. I'll let you come with me if you promise to be good. What do you say, Rusty?"

Yeah Steiner, join the Leaning Against a Doorframe Club. We're fun!

"RR...RUSTY!!!?" yelled the rust covered knight. "I am Adelbert Steiner, Captain of the Knights of Pluto, and I will never work with you conniving thieves!"

"Captain? I figured you were a private, what with that cheap, rusty armor… Look, this has nothing to do with Tantalus. It's something I decided to do on my own. I just wanna save Garnet."

Yeah! If we save Garnet, then we would have a girl in our club. Neat!

"Hmph...! You had better not be lying! Because if you are, I won't hesitate to kill you!"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm counting on you, Rusty."

Oh boy! Another member! Maybe we can take a field trip to a doorframe factory.

"Make no mistake." Steiner said as he stood up. "I'm only going with you to rescue the princess! I'll deal with you personally when this is over!"

"...Whatever."

"It may be difficult with just the three of us, assuming that you are coming with us." he said, indicating me.

"Of course I am." That's right, I was listening.

"We should seek Master Vivi's help as well." Steiner added.

"Why are you calling him 'Master'?" Zidane asked.

"You fool. That black mage has unimaginable powers… I don't want to get him involved, but alas, it can't be helped. We need Master Vivi's help to rescue the princess."

"I agree." I said, mostly because I wanted to say something rather than stand around pointlessly.

"Alright, let's go talk to Vivi." Zidane decided. He and Steiner left the room. I followed, but not before I grabbed Cinna's doll and carefully pocketed it.

We walked in silence until we got to Vivi's room. He was still laying down on the bed, like he was trying to take a nap. Zidane and Steiner walked into the room. I just leaned against the doorframe. Hey, I had a thing going.

"Well, Vivi, we're ready to go look for the princess." Zidane said as he approached Vivi's bedside.

"Really!?" Vivi asked excitedly. "That's great! Be careful, okay?"

"Actually, we want you to come with us, too." Zidane explained.

"Huh!? B-But I can't do anything."

"Hardly, Master Vivi." Steiner began. "Your magic was highly effective against that monster. In all honesty, I hold your power in greater esteem than I do this scoundrel's."

No surprise there. I thought to myself.

"B-But...I'm scared." Vivi said. "I couldn't even move last time."

"Please, Master Vivi. For the sake of Princess Garnet and all of Alexandria, I humbly request your assistance!"

"Vivi." I started. "Against the things out here, you're the strongest of all four of us. You took down that one minion thing all by yourself after the rest of us got the crap kicked out of us."

"Come on!" Zidane said. "You're a black mage, for crying out loud! Show us what you've got! Alright, let's get going."

"...Okay." Vivi agreed nervously. "I'll...try my best."

"Alright! Now it's a party!" I said, referring to a battle party. Not the thing where you get drunk and hit on a coat rack.

"Thank you, Master Vivi." Steiner said.

Zidane and I left the room. Steiner and Vivi exited a moment later, talking about using Vivi's magic on Steiner's sword no doubt. I made a mental note to try that out myself later. We walked out of the cargo room where Zidane and Baku fought. Blank was waiting for us in the next room.

"Sheez...you really dig her, huh?" he asked Zidane.

"I can't sit around knowing a girl's in trouble." Zidane said. "Goes against my nature."

"Whatever. You're full of crap."

"I'll be waiting outside." I said to the others. I still didn't have a sword and this was the best chance I had to give Cinna back his doll. I left Zidane and Blank to their odd conversation.

Outside, Cinna was still looking through the pile of stuff. The pile which started with just the sink had grown to include a cactus, a moose's head on a plaque, and, for some reason, a mannequin's leg.

"Any luck?" I asked with a smirk.

"No." he said without looking up. "What about you?"

"I think so." I pulled the Garnet doll out of my pocket. "Is this it?"

Cinna took one look at the doll and nearly ripped my arm out of its socket when he pulled it out of my grasp. He gave the doll a deep and constricting hug. The kind you might give a loved one after they came back from war.

"So, do I get a sword now?"

Cinna turned from his doll for only a moment to answer "Yeah. There's one for you over there." He pointed to the end of the pile where a small armory was built up. There was armor, shields, spears, and whatnot. I sifted through the pile until I found the hilt of a sword. I pulled the sword out of the pile and inspected it.

It was a simple broadsword. The edges were good and sharp and it was well balanced. The edges were dented in a few places, but it would still last a while. I dug around a little longer until I found a sheath. It came with a loop that could be fitted onto a belt. And lucky me, I was wearing a belt.

"Cinna, do you have any more swords?"

"Sorry." he said, looking up from his doll. He really loved that thing. "We can't spare any more."

"Oh well." I strapped the sword onto my belt just as Zidane and the others were walking out of the ship.

"Ready to go?" Zidane asked. I just showed everyone my new sword hanging from my belt with a smile. Zidane nodded.

"Alright. Let's go." With that, we all set off into the forest.