Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Final Fantasy characters in this story.

Author's notes: So, apparently my plan to write shorter chapters and update more often didn't work. Probably because of a certain someone I met and have been going out with recently (not to blame her of course). But, I don't spend as much time as I'd like to writing, I'm afraid. Oh well. At least I'm doing something, I suppose. Hopefully I'll find a way to get around this so that everyone can be happy.

And I'm sure you'll enjoy this chapter. I certainly did. :D

Chapter 9: The Princess, Recovered

XXXXXXXX

"Well, this is a fine mess you've gotten us into," came Steiner's gruff voice.

"Me?" Marcus called back. "I was just following you guys. I had no idea this would happen!"

"Silence! Because of you, I've been listed as a criminal and the Princess has been captured. I knew we shouldn't have helped you!"

"Whatever man," Marcus sighed.

It had been a rough few days for the rusty knight. After the Princess and he had escaped Lindblum and traveled through South Gate, they had run into Marcus, one of Zidane's buddies from Tantalus, the thieving/acting troupe. Marcus was on a mission to steal an item called Supersoft in order to save Blank. It was the only item that was strong enough to cure the petrifaction of Evil Forest and save his brother.

Because Blank had sacrificed himself to save everyone else, Dagger felt responsible and offered to help Marcus, much to Steiner's apprehension. However, after arriving in Alexandria so Marcus could travel to the Evil Forest, the three of them were captured and thrown in prison. Marcus was arrested for theft, Steiner was declared guilty by association, and Dagger had been taken to a room deep below Alexandria Castle, where she had Eidolons extracted from her body. This was what supplied Brahne with the weapons to attack Cleyra, like Odin.

Now, the two men were trapped in a hanging cage in the middle of the massive prison, and all Steiner could think about was how everything had lead to this point.

This is horrible, Steiner thought. If this is what I'm going through, then how is the Princess faring? She must be rescued!

"The time has come to escape!" Steiner said suddenly. "We must find and rescue the princess!"

"How?" Marcus asked, bringing Steiner back to reality.

"I… don't know." Steiner said.

"Wait… I have an idea!" Marcus said suddenly. Steiner eyed him suspiciously and turned to face him.

"What?"

Marcus moved to the bars and grabbed hold. "Grab the bars and start shifting your weight."

Steiner didn't know what the thief was scheming, but he didn't have any better ideas, so he complied, grabbed the bars opposite Marcus.

"And push!" Marcus called out as he pulled. Steiner pushed all the weight in his hefty and armored frame. Amazingly, the cage moved.

"What the-" Steiner let out. Maybe this idea could work.

"Don't stop," Marcus told him as he shifted his weight forward. The cage moved again, swinging the other direction.

The two prisoners continued their effort, pushing their cage more and more. It took time, but it soon began swinging violently back and forth, nearing the edge of the room. They knew that if they could just smash the cage into the platform on the far side of the room, they would be free.

As the cage fell for its one last swing, Marcus tensed himself up.

"Brace for impact!"

Steiner held onto the bars as tightly as he could as the cage swung back. At the last second, the cage slammed into the platform, stopping in an instant and sending Steiner falling backwards. He hit his head against the gate of the prison and broke the lock open.

"Nicely done, Marcus complimented as he swung the door open, disregarding Steiner's condition.

The rusty knight simply dragged himself out of the cage and rose to his feet, rubbing his helmet where he had hit his head.

"I can't believe that worked," Steiner thought aloud. "I must talk to the Queen about Alexandria's prison architecture."

"Whatever. Now we can get out of here," Marcus reminded him.

There was, however, one problem. The escape had been effective, but noisy. And that noise alerted the guards.

"Prison break!" came a sudden cry from one of the patrols. "Two escapees on the third floor!"

"Time to go!" Marcus said, bolting towards the exit. He didn't bother to wait for Steiner.

"Hey, get back here!" Steiner said, chasing after his cellmate.

As luck would have it, the third floor was a good distance away from the guards. Steiner and Marcus had a clear shot to the exit and ran down the dark stone hallway until it spiraled upwards in a wide stairway. It opened into a large room at the top of the prison. Steiner had only been here a few times before on patrol.

"We're out!" the knight cried out. "This room leads out underneath Alexandria castle!"

"Then we're right next to Evil Forest," Marcus added. "I'm gonna go rescue my bro. Later."

"What? Where are you going?"

But Marcus didn't stop to explain. He just ran down the hall and left to rescue Blank from his petrified state.

"Why that ungrateful- huh?"

As Steiner paused, four Black Mage orbs swirled in through a window at the top of the room. They all landed near him and dissipated, releasing the four heroes from Cleyra.

"What are you doing here?"

XXXXXXXX

The ride from Cleyra had been long and tiring. It seemed the orbs worked by drawing energy from the passenger. The distance traveled, as well as the haste we made, drained a lot from us. I was just glad to collapse onto the ground when we finally landed in a small room at the bottom of a tower in Alexandria.

"What are you doing here?" came a familiar voice. I craned my head up from the floor and saw Steiner, staring wide-eyed at us.

"Steiner?" Zidane said as he jumped up. "Is this Alexandria?"

I had no idea how he could jump up like that. I just wanted to stay down and sleep.

"I have no time for your silly questions!" Steiner bellowed. Oh, how I missed that. "I must escape this wretched dungeon of Alexandria and rescue the princess!"

"Enough said! Let's go!"

Zidane ran by and gave me a hand up. I got to my feet as Freya and Vivi began running down the nearest corridor, exiting the prison.

'Why is everyone leaving me behind?" Steiner complained as he raced after us.

"Hurry up Rusty! Dagger's life is in danger!" Zidane called back.

"What are you talking about?" Steiner said, catching up with us.

"Its true!" Vivi defended. "Trevor heard her say it on the Red Rose."

"She's being charged with treason for stealing the Royal Alexandrian Pendant," I explained.

"…Is this really true?" Steiner said, apprehensive to believe us.

"Yes!" Zidane said, getting tired of the knight's questions. "We don't have long before Brahne arrives."

As we neared the end of the tunnel, the guards from the prison rounded the corner behind us and we catching up. They ran fast for girls in chainmail. We rushed out the doorway only to see-

"Marcus?" Zidane called out.

"Stand back, I'm closing the gate," the bandana-wearing thief instructed.

Vivi was the last one out. As soon as he was clear, Marcus pulled on a lever next to the doorway. A portcullis crashed down instantly, trapping the pursuing guards behind it.

"What are you doing here?" Zidane asked.

"It's a long story. I'm just here to get to Evil Forest so I can save Blank."

Images of the last time I saw Blank flashed through my mind. Blank had saved us from the petrifying forest after we rescued Dagger from it. He was a weird guy, but I respected him. It'd be good to see him again.

"Good luck," Zidane said. "We're going to find Dagger."

"Travel well," Freya said.

"God speed," I told him.

Marcus didn't waste any time and ran off down another hall. I could only hope he was successful and came back soon. Alexandria was teetering on a large-scale battle inside the castle and we'd need their help later.

"So there must really be a way to save Blank," Zidane wondered out loud.

"Wasn't he one of your brothers in Tantalus? Freya asked.

"Yeah. He saved us in Evil Forest…" Zidane trailed off.

"Hey, we don't have time for this," I said, impatiently inching towards the door to the courtyard. Let's get going.

"Right," Zidane agreed. "Search everywhere and find Dagger!"

I thought for a moment. We could search everywhere and look for Dagger without prior knowledge of where she was. Nothing wrong with that, except we might take too long searching in earnest and could allow Brahne enough time to beat us to Dagger.

Or, I could play the amazing-college-student card.

"Guys, I think I might know where Dagger is," I said.

"What?" Steiner said. "In this entire castle? Not even I know all the rooms and halls built and I work here!"

"I found something once in an architecture class," I explained, creatively stretching the truth.

Vivi just cocked his head to the side, confused.

"It's a class where I study buildings."

"Oh."

"Anyway… there's a bit of space being wasted in one of the northern support spans," I said, completely making up the terminology, but what did these guys know? I was the amazing college student. "I think there's something there. Its way too big to be used as just a support beam."

"What are you saying?" Steiner asked. "That the castle has secret passages?"

"Basically, yes."

"Impossible! I'm the head of castle security! If there were any hidden paths inside Alexandria, I would know!"

"How big is the wasted space Trevor?" Zidane asked. He didn't mind cutting Steiner off.

"Large enough to hold an airship, were it standing vertically." I had no idea how accurate that was, of course.

"And where is it?"

"Behind the queen's bed chambers."

"What? You intend to break into her highness's bedroom?"

"Rusty, what do you care about more: respecting a queen that had you imprisoned, or saving the Princess' life?"

That shut him up for a moment. Steiner bit his lip as he contemplated the consequences of his actions.

"Very well," he settled. "I will lead the way, but don't touch anything! I don't want your thieving hands wondering in this building!"

"Fine, whatever. Just get on with it."

I wanted to say, "Yes, get on with it!", then finish up with a few more Monty Python jokes, but it really didn't seem the time.

Steiner was true to his word. He led us through the grand halls of the castle, up the walkways and up to the sleeping quarters. Why a building needed ceilings that high though, I had no idea.

"There is the queen's room," Steiner said, pointing at the most ornate door in the hall.

"Well it's certainly tall enough, but is it wide enough?" I joked. Steiner shot me a death glare and I waved an apology.

Inside was the largest bed I had ever seen. My bed back on campus was easily only a fifth that size. There were also expensive paintings and candelabras hanging from the walls, keeping the room tastefully decorated and well lit. Every inch of the room was sure to be fit for a queen.

"Anyone have a torch?"

"Trevor, knock it off!" Freya chastised.

"There has to be something here we can try," Zidane said. "Trevor, where's this support beam thing you were talking about?"

I looked around for a moment and saw the fireplace at the other end of the room.

"Over there," I said. "There must be a door that we can open, or something."

Steiner thought differently. "There is no door and there is no passage! We must stop wasting our time here and find the princess!"

"Its not like we have any better options Rusty," Zidane cut in. "If Trevor says there's something here, then I say we trust him."

"What makes you think this troublemaker is correct about this?"

"He was right about everything in Cleyra, so I say we trust him now."

"Thanks Zidane," I said.

"No problem."

"This fool?" Steiner yelled. "We nearly lost the princess in Dali because of him!"

"Hey, I didn't do anything wrong!"

"You and your excuses, you-"

"Um, guys?"

Our "conversation" was stopped short as Vivi called out to us. We all looked over and saw him standing below a candelabra glowing purple.

"This isn't normal, is it?" he asked.

Curious, Zidane approached the purple flame and grabbed the stem of the candelabra, pulling on it. A loud grinding sound echoed for a moment before the entire wall collapsed and fell back, revealing a secret passage.

"Told ya," I said, oh-so-smugly to the confounded knight.

"Enough arguing," Freya ordered. "Lets go."

We walked into the dark passage one at a time. Torches lines the moldy gray stones that made up the walls, keeping the place looking more like a decrepit torture chamber than anything else. The hallway made a quick turn downward into a large spiral staircase, leading down so far I could barely see the bottom.

"Wow. It's so big!" Vivi said, listening to his voice echo off the stones.

"This must be older than the castle itself," Freya noted.

"I can't believe this is here," Steiner said.

"It looks like you were right," Zidane said to me. "Think Dagger's down there?"

"I hope so," I said honestly.

As we descended, the smell of the mold on the walls got worse. I had to hold my nose at many parts as the stench began to overwhelm my senses. You'd think that the castle janitor could clean this place up everyone once in a while.

As we descended, a large platform appeared below, resting at the very bottom of the staircase. It looked like it was just large enough to park a jet fighter on. One path led out even deeper under the foundations of the castle. Another path, opposite the first, led to a separate room.

"What's in there?" Vivi asked, pointing at the large doors

"It must be Dagger!" Zidane said excitedly. He broke away from the group and ran ahead. He burst through the door, smashing the old, weakened frames open. Inside was a sight none of us wanted to behold.

Dagger was lying unconscious on a pedestal on the far end of the room. The walls were bare and cold, but the dais around the princess was extravagantly designed. Runes and symbols that looked like they were straight out of Norse myth decorated the area for the dark rituals performed down here. If I didn't know there weren't any traps set up, I would have insisted on staying away from the intimidating spot, lest some type of Black Magic activate and blow me up.

Oh, and Zorn and Thorn were standing watch.

"What are you doing here?" asked Zorn, the annoying, little red jester.

"So meddlesome, you are! Mercy no more!" Thorn, his blue counterpart, added.

"What have you done with Dagger?" Zidane shouted at the jester twins. The two of them just looked confused.

"Dagger? Who is that?" Zorn asked Thorn.

"Know him, I do not," Thorn replied.

"What have you done to the princess?" Steiner bellowed, just as loud as Zidane.

"Enough prattling," Freya said, drawing her spear. "Stay on guard. They must be powerful if Brahne left them in charge down here."

I, however, had a different interpretation.

"Actually, they're not-"

"Vivi, charge up some fire spells," Freya ordered, taking the command again. "You two, get back here!" she yelled at Zidane and Steiner.

"You know, if we just-"

"You're right to be afraid of us," Zorn said with an annoying laugh.

"The queen's most powerful servants, we are!" Thorn accompanied.

"We hold control over the powers of Flare and Meteor!" Zorn finished.

The others gripped their weapons as the jester twins cackled. I just stood in place, unimpressed with the current drama. True, Flare and Meteor were some of the strongest magic in the game and there was reason to be concerned with it, but in all my playing Final Fantasy IX, I've never seen the jesters finished channeling the spells to actually cast them.

As they settled down, Zorn handed Thorn turned to each other. Zorn passed a magic seal over Thorn and the latter began casting a spell. My guess was that he had to release it for Thorn to do any magic inside the castle. What they didn't seem to know was how much it hindered them.

As Freya told everyone to spread out to give them more targets, I made my way forward, calmly approaching Thorn. As he cast his spell, he looked up just in time to see my land a kick to his stomach. The blow landed hard enough to pick his small, frail body off the ground and stop him from concentrating. He landed in a heap.

"No more Yoda-talk!" I shouted.

"Thorn!" Zorn cried out, half in concern, half in horror. Thorn was left holding his stomach and gasping like a fish out of water.

"Quickly Thorn! Release Flare for me!" Zorn said. Again, all Thorn could do was barely get enough air. His face was turning blue, which started to match his blue outfit.

"Um… Thorn?"

"Good job Trevor," Freya said as everyone else circled the jesters with me. "Finish the other one off quickly."

I made a threatening step to Zorn, but he grabbed his blue-in-the-face brother and dragged him out of the room.

"Damn you!" he called back. "We'll get you for this!"

I didn't bother to stop the jesters as they ran away—well, one ran, one was dragged by the feet—and opted to run with the others to Dagger's side. Zidane had already beaten us there and cradled Dagger in his arms at the altar.

"Dagger, it's me!" he said to her. Judging by his tone, it seemed he was barely keeping it together. "Dagger!"

"Oh, no..."

"P-PRINCESS! NOOOOO!" Steiner bellowed. He practically started bawling. "Princess, please forgive me! I don't deserve to be a knight! I don't deserve to live!"

Fortunately, Freya was the smart one of our group and calmed the group by taking Dagger's pulse.

"Her heart's still beating."

"Yeah. Alright…" Zidane decided. "Let's get her out of here."

The blonde thief kneeled down and lifted Dagger, hugging her close to his chest. He struggled as he stood again, walking slowly and straining himself with the tremendous burden, though I suspect it was mostly emotional strain than anything else.

"Zidane, do you need help?" I offered. "You look like you're going through a lot."

"I'm fine," he said, his voice dull and quiet.

"Are you sure? I can easily help if you need it."

Zidane turned to me. His eyes were sad and silent.

"Trevor, please, just let me do this much."

I didn't push it any further. "Alright," I nodded. "But we should hurry. Who knows when Brahne is going to get here?"

"We should head to the Queen's room," Steiner suggested. "The exit isn't far from there. We can be out of the castle in minutes."

"Sounds good," Zidane said. He picked up the pace and quickly walked out the door. We all followed behind him and made our way up the spiral staircase once again.

We walked in silence. Our footsteps echoed in the empty stairwell. Although we only had to walk about a hundred feet up, it seemed to take us a very long while. Dagger's state weighted heavily on all of us.

Once again, my mind turned to wondering about how the storyline would progress. Cleyra wasn't destroyed, so what else could change? Dagger might never wake up, or she might even die. I shouldn't have had to worry about these things. I should have been able to convince myself that everything was going to make it through alright and that we were all going to be just fine.

Now, I wasn't so sure.

We reached the top of the stairwell and crept back through the opened fireplace into the queen's chamber. Everything was as it should be. No Alexandrians in sight.

"I don't think anyone followed us." Freya said. She checked behind us as we all ran into the room. Zidane just stood in the middle of us all, still holding Dagger's limp frame. I tried to lighten the mood by making a friend out of a nemesis.

"Steiner, I have an idea," I told him with somewhat of a friendly tone. "There are still guards in the castle, so when we charge out of here, the two of us should be in front. You're strong and I'm agile, so we should be able to take out anyone who comes our way. Sound good to you?"

But Steiner didn't seem to hear any of it. He just walked with a slacked jaw in a stupor and came to the middle of the room.

"My queen…" he said. He started out quietly but his voice soon found its regular volume. "Why have you done this! I have devoted my whole life to serving you and the princess! Why did you harm her! Why!"

By the end of it, he was hopping up and down with rage.

"Steiner…" Zidane said, surprised as the rest of us at the knight's outburst.

"Zidane," Vivi called, tugging on the thief's pant leg. "Do you think she'll ever wake up?"

Zidane stared at Vivi for a moment, then wiped away his frown. "Of course," he said assuredly. "She's asleep because she's tired. That's all." He turned to the rest of us and asked. "I wanna let Dagger rest a little. Do you guys mind?"

He didn't get any complaints.

"Thanks."

Zidane carried Dagger over to a parlor couch on the wall close to the fireplace and kneeled beside her. He brushed back a strand of hair that fell in front of her face.

"If only I had gotten here sooner… I'm sorry."

"Zidane, its not your fault," I tried to assure him.

"But… she's like this—"

"Yes, and that's her mother's fault. You won't get anything done by beating yourself up."

Zidane didn't say anything. He just turned his head away and laid a hand next to Dagger's head.

"What happened to you?" Steiner asked. "You are not your usual self. Go on… Blame my incompetence! Tell me it is my fault!"

"No! I can't," Zidane said adamantly. "I… don't know what I feel right now. I can't even shed a tear."

Steiner was silent, as were the rest of us until I tried to speak again.

"Zidane, you—"

"There they are!"

We had only a moment of peace until Zorn and Thorn ran back into the room, followed by General Beatrix.

"There is no escape!" the jester twins mocked.

Beatrix walked in, confident as always and flaunting her dominance. She flicked her hair out of her face and glared at us, looking at us almost mockingly.

"Welcome back, Steiner. Where have you been all this time?" she taunted. "Don't tell me you have been enjoying the company of these scoundrels."

"What the hell!" Zidane shouted, suddenly enraged. "The only scoundrels around here are you and your fat queen!"

He jumped down from the couch's side and pulled out the Ogre. Everyone followed suit and drew our weapons, standing in front of Dagger, trying to defend the unconscious princess.

Beatrix didn't show any sign of danger. Why would she, considering how easily she beat us before?

"Fools like you will never learn." She said, slowly pulling her saber out of its sheath. She stood with a low guard and with the blade to the side, as if daring us to attack her. She stood her ground, just waiting for us to attack.

Alright, I told myself. Last Beatrix fight. If I can survive this, I'm done with them.

However, my excitement was short-lived.

"Host."

No, I thought. Everything else dulled for me. I remembered the last time Kaiten did anything and my chest started to hurt where Beatrix had struck me. Kaiten, whatever it is, no.

"That's not it. I—"

Save it! If you try anything, I'll just kick your ass again! Let me handle this!

"This is more important than some petty fight with the bitch," he said. "We need to talk, now!"

Before I could protest, I could feel Kaiten pulling me back into my mind. Everything faded into a white light and I soon found myself surrounded in the vast, blank room that was my mind. Kaiten was nowhere to be seen.

"Dammit!" I shouted. "This is not the time Kaiten!"

"There is no better time than now," he said. I spun and saw him standing behind me.

"How did—"

"I've been looking around lately," he began. "Something's wrong with you."

"You're one to talk."

"I'm being serious!" he yelled, quite irritated. "Ever since we fought, you've been releasing an unstable amount of energy from your mind. Do you remember the book you touched in the lower room in the field of blood?"

My mind reeled back. There was a book, down there, underneath all the blood. When I touched it, it filled me with a power that let me equal myself to Kaiten. It felt good, but there was something ominous about it.

"I remember it. Why?"

"Because I think that you've repressed something. Something bad. Didn't you say you used to have anger problems?"

"Yeah, back when I was younger," I paused to ponder it for a moment, then looked back at Kaiten curiously. "Why?"

"I think it's releasing itself. If that's the case, then you're going to become as destructive as you used to be."

Images of the things I used to do back then flashed before me. The fights I'd get into, the teachers I'd piss off, the disappointed look in my father's eyes… I didn't want to relive any of it. I wasn't that person anymore.

The old men did say they wanted to use my rage, I suddenly realized. Well, if it meant screwing up their plans, then I was all for it.

"So… do you have an idea?" I asked. "How do we stop it?"

"We need to combine powers," Kaiten explained. "A halfway point between total conversion, like when I take over your body."

"So we'll be controlling different parts of my body?" I asked, unsure how this could possibly work.

"You work defense and I'll work offence," came the suggestion. "When we were fighting, you had good reflexes, but you were hesitant in confronting me seriously. You might be able to hold back the bitch and give me an opening to attack."

Although the compliment was nice, it passed me by almost unnoticed. "Are you sure this could work?" I asked. "It doesn't sound very plausible."

"Just don't fight it when you feel part of your control go. I need you to trust me on this host."

I sighed, out of any other options. At any second, we were going to have to fight Beatrix one way or another. This way, we at least stood a chance of staying out of each other's way separately.

"Alright," I said fatally. "Let's do it."

XXXXXXXX

The room melded back into the faded browns and reds of the walls and carpets. Everyone was still here, prepared for battle as I had left them. I still felt in control, unlike the times Kaiten normally took over. But somehow, I felt stronger, like I could tear a car in half. The power was wonderful! Maybe it was simply excess adrenaline in my system, but Kaiten's idea showed some validity now.

"Now, prepare yourselves!" Beatrix said, shifting her stance forward, preparing to attack.

The others spread out, giving each other enough room to fight easily. Vivi stayed back next to Dagger, but the other three were out, waiting to fight her in the middle of the room.

I didn't have enough room to fight.

"Guys, stand back," I told them. "I've got this."

"Are you insane?" Zidane shot back. "She'll kill you!"

I walked forward, taking my place at the front of the line. "I said, I've got this."

"Trevor, are you—" Zidane started, but halted when he looked me in the eye.

"What?" I asked.

"Trevor… What's wrong with your eyes?"

I didn't know what Zidane was talking about, but I glanced at a mirror on the wall. My eyes were now striped with blood red and sky blue. Apparently, my appearance changed with Kaiten helping me.

"Don't worry," I said after a short moment. "I'll be fine."

Zidane nodded and he and the others backed off, giving the floor to me alone. I drew my short swords and stood in a ready stance.

"Alright bitch," I grinned at Beatrix. "It's our turn."