I am finishing this chapter at 12.05 in the morning because a very RUDE reviewer said I wasn't writing it quick enough. Even though I posted chapter eight with the announcement they still complain that I was trying to do something nice for someone who wasn't them. So I have now rushed this chapter and if there is mistakes or it doesn't make sense blame that reviewer because I am really tired with puppy sitting and lack of sleep so it will probably be crappy and it's thier fault. Oh and one more thing to that RUDE reviewer, couldn't you within your criticism wished Alex happy birthday? That was the whole point of the EIGHT PAGED plot, but you couldn't even consider her 16th birthday through all your idiotic demands. It takes time to write things and just because I'm half decent and want to give the only present I can to my e-mail friend you're like hey why aren't you slaving away every second writing more of the story for me? Why didn't you say that when I told you I was writing my other story? Why do you only say it now when I'm doing something for someone else and not for myself? I would like to see how you feel if you ever write your own story and you want to do something different for one day and you get a review like THAT!

Sorry to all the non RUDE reviewers but I found that highly insulting. I know your nice and will wish Alex happy birthday ^_^ Anyway on with the story which if has loads of mistakes and doesn't make sense you know why…

"Zidane, come on wake up, we're here."

"Gc u wcg'm dngm mc, u lavm dngm mc vmnz tbjb dvmt zca." Zidane clung tighter to Dagger without opening his eyes. Funny Zidane thought She seems sort of furrier than I remember.

"Get off me!" Freya yelled pushing Zidane off her. He opened his eyes to see that everyone was laughing with a fuming Freya but no Dagger was in the room.

"Where's Dagger?" He asked jumping up a little too quickly causing the room to spin.

"Whoa, careful!" Eiko told him a little too loudly. "Dagger will kill us if you pass out now when she's gone to get some of that spring water from the black mage village. It's suppose to refresh you or something."

"WHAT! You let her go on her own?"

"She insisted! I kept bugging her to let me go and she finally agreed but when I went to get my staff she snuck out without me!" Zidane couldn't say anything to that. He remembered how Dagger used to want to be alone sometimes on their journey when she was upset. I need to assure her somehow that I love her and will always be with her no matter what, but how?

"Steiner's going to kill us." Vivi moaned his face hiding in his gloved hands.

"Why's that?" Dagger asked brightly coming into the room suddenly. Her happiness seemed real to everyone but Zidane knew her well enough to spot the slight traces of tears on her face.

"Dagger are you alright?" Eiko exploded hugging the older girl almost causing her to spill the potion bottle she was carrying in her hand.

"Eiko I can handle a few monsters on my own you know."

"I know you can but Zidane still wants to kill me. Geez, men."

"Zidane I'm fine, a lot better than you." Dagger told him looking at the exhaustion on his face. "I know you have had your true potion already but I thought some spring water could refresh you a little." She extended the bottle out to him as he gazed knowingly at her with a 'we'll talk later' look.

Zidane took the bottle, clumsily opened it and drank deeply. With each swallow he felt a little more revived, a little stronger. He drank greedily wanting to feel as strong as he once did, wanting to at least match the others and not come as a burden to them. He could fight off Garland on his own and not have the others endangering their lifes. Dagger wouldn't have to find Kuja. She wouldn't have to…

"Zidane it's empty now, you can stop drinking." Freya said softly, Zidane ignored her and continued his desperate struggle to drink more of the water that wasn't even there. no, I need it to be strong, I need to protect Dagger. I need to prevent being taken, need to prevent me ending up killing her.

"Oh Zidane." Came Garland's voice ozzing with fake sympathy. "You really should have know better than to hope. You killed her the moment you fell in love with her, the moment you dropped your thief ways and began to truly care."

His words rang so clearly through Zidane that it felt like a parade had preformed the fact in front of all Gaia. The bottle dropped to the floor shattering into a million pieces as Zidane stumbled backwards towards the door.

"I...I have to go." He said stumbling out of the room in a half room making his way to the portal which led off of the ship.

"Zidane wait!" Dagger called running after him. Zidane ignored her as he stepped into the portal reforming near the edge of the black mage forest. He ran into it not caring whether he encountered any monsters, apart of him wanted it, wanted this to end so he would know Dagger would be safe from him. They would be able to defeat Garland and the Terrans, he knew they were strong enough for that after the battle against Necron. But he knew that if they came up against him with the destructive soul inside him then they wouldn't have a chance.

"Don't even think about it Zidane, you won't encounter any monsters while I'm watching over you." A snigger echoed in Zidane's head as he cursed foully tears falling freely down his face. "You can't save her Zidane and it's your fault for defying me that has made it come to this."

Zidane sank to the floor and leaned helplessly against a tree no longer feeling any emotional strength urging him to continue. What's the point? It's all going to end whether I do or not. All he could do was rest his head in his hands and cry out of his frustration and pain.

"Zidane?" Dagger gently knelt down beside him not saying another word as he helplessly hugged her as his tears continued. Zidane didn't want her to see him so weak and without hope like this but he needed to let it out, he couldn't stop his tears once they had begun. Only moments ago when she had first come onto the invincible with the spring water he had been determined to comfort her, yet here he was crying on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry." He finally said once most of the tears had subsided. "I'm the one who should be the shoulder to cry on just like I promised."

"Don't be silly Zidane, you're the one who is about to have his soul taken away."

"But it will be easy for me once that happens, I'll feel like a different person and not see you as I do now. If I fight you I won't care if I hurt you but you will care if you hurt my body even if it's not me anymore. You will have to cope with loosing me again when it was so unfair that we couldn't stay together in the first place. You waited a whole year for me and I don't want you to do that again. Once this is all over and I'm gone I don't want you to going around looking for my soul or something as equally stupid. I want you to accept I will be dead and I won't be coming back this time. I want you to marry some nice rich prince and have lots of heirs and never think of me again. I want you…"

"Zidane shut up!"

"… To be happy."

"I can't be happy without you Zidane."

"That attitude is not helping. You were happy before you met me and you can do it again, you'll have all our friends here and you have your kingdom, and best of all you'll have no evil Terrans or angel of deaths threatening war on you."

"Zidane, I was never really happy before I met you, not even when my father was still alive. I kept having dreams of Mdain Sari not knowing what they were but somehow knowing I didn't really belong because of them. When I'm with you it is the only time I have ever felt like I belong, because I belong in your arms."

Zidane couldn't say anything to that, he knew she was right because it was exactly how he felt when he was with her.

"And even if that didn't matter we still don't have a way to stop you and the Terrans, we are going to die anyway so it doesn't matter that I could die of a broken heart and never be able to let you go."

"I'm not giving up yet and neither should you. I'll find a way to stop me you just concentrate on the Terrans and your heart not breaking. After who knows me better than myself?"

Dagger was about to open her mouth and say something more but she was topped as the others approached them. Zidane only had enough time to wipe the remaining tears off his face before they came into view.

"Zidane are you alright?" Vivi asked him his eyes full of worry.

"Yeah I'm fine. That water was so bad when mixed with the true potion it made me almost puke." It wasn't the best cover story but it was all he could think of from the top of his head. "Shall we go? I'm feeling pretty motivated at the moment." With that they set off for the black mage village confusing all but Zidane how they didn't encounter even a single monster on the way.

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"So, where's this big plan thing being done?" Zidane asked as they entered the village.

"Behind the graveyard." Vivi explained. "There's more room back there to keep them."

"Keep what?" As if answering him Zidane heard a roar which didn't seem to bother any of the black mages around. Zidane quickly made his way to the back of the graveyard where he was greeted by one of most unusual sights he had ever seen.

Every known monster that was on the mist continent were locked up in cages with their own type. Some had smaller versions of them in with too but others…

"Y-you're breeding mist monsters?" Zidane choked out as Dagger laughed at the look on his face.

"Yeah." Vivi said excited. "Isn't it a great idea?"

"I've lost you Vivi." Zidane admitted.

"They're mist monsters." The look on Zidane's face told he would have to explain it in more detail. "We all know that the monsters on the mist continent are attracted to where the mist is thickest. Well Dr. Tot had this theory that after the lifa tree had that violent reaction and stopped making mist it was all gone except in one place.

"You see the black mages are made up of mist and souls. We've realised that if there was more mist put in us then we are stronger, that's how I'm different from the others. I had more mist in so I can cast more spells than just fire ones. Dr. Tot realised that this most be the same with the mist monsters too, except with them being monsters they always want to be stronger, have more power to kill more. So because monsters seek power and they are always hanging around the areas with the most mist…"

"Oh." It was all Zidane could think to say.

"Exactly." Vivi said excitedly. "The mist monsters are also made of mist and souls, created from the tree like the black mages. Which means they have the mist we need to prolong our lives. If we just figured away for the mist to not make us stronger but make us live longer instead. What we soon realised that once we have put it into our system it automatically works on what is most needed."

"So you use the mist monsters to get it into your system?"

"Yep. It does kill them but then again we kill them everyday to prevent getting killed ourselves. What we do is extract the mist from them using these small tubes made out of rubber. From one comes its blood, the other are the souls trapped within which we then let free and another is the mist. We have one in progress if you want to see." Before Zidane could protest he was being dragged along by Dagger to a small warehouse in the edges of the forest in which lay a slaughter house.

"T-they're still alive?" He stuttered as the monster in progress of being drained roared out in pain.

"They have to be." Vivi argued. "If we kill them first them they disappear before we can even begin the progress. It's not like they haven't caused pain to us, why does it bother you Zidane?"

"I-it's just." Zidane involuntarily caressed his arm where the faint scar of where the tube had pieced his skin remained. "It's just such an awful way to die." Vivi gave him a confused look but didn't press him further seeing the look on his face, none of others did either. "So you used some of the souls and a bit of mist to make your kids?"

"Yeah." Vivi said brightly. "It was just like Kuja said all we had to do was out the two together in a glass tube and add a fire spell. We left it for a few weeks and then the kids were there. I guess the monsters must have been done differently. They must have been made long ago and then left to breed on their own. If that hadn't been the case then they would be even more overwhelming numbers than there already is."

"At least without the mist they aren't as strong as before." Freya commented.

"Shall we go and catch up with the others?" Dagger asked wanting to talk to Zidane alone. "We can meet back at the entrance in a few hours to leave." Everyone agreed and left quickly wanting to escape the monster's screams. Zidane couldn't bring himself to move, he watched helplessly as the jars became full and the monster's screams died as it did.

"Zidane? Are you okay?" Dagger asked, Zidane realised she was the only one other than him left there. He wondered whether to tell her what was on his mind but realised it didn't matter anymore if he did.

"When I've been taking the true potion I've been remembering thing about my life on Terra, as you know. The first one I had was of my…birth. It was similar to this in a way, similar to the black mages. I just woke up all of a sudden with Garland staring at me beyond the blue light and all these little tubes sticking into my body. One in each arm and leg and one in my stomach." He extended his arm and showed the slight scar from the tube which he had been rubbing continuously since they came in. Dagger merely smiled at it and gently took hold of his hand kissing the scar softly. She's proving she doesn't care about that. Zidane realised. If only everything were different we could have been so happy.

"It's so strange to think of it. Everyone I know was born from their mother as a tiny baby and I was created and just woke up one day in a four year old body."

"Not all of us." Dagger reminded him. "And maybe it's Vivi you need to discuss this stuff with." With those words she kissed him briefly and left, Zidane couldn't help a little smile as he watched her leave. Maybe she knows me more than I know myself sometimes, parts of me anyway…

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Zidane found Vivi at the graveyard standing silently with his yellow eyes closed. Zidane wondered whether he was just tired or whether he was trying to feel the presence of those beneath. To feel their silence and see whether it's one of peace or one of suffering.

"It's so peaceful here." Zidane said stating his opinion. "I bet the black mages here feel nothing but peace and happiness. Their souls which they mixed with to be created will be real from now on and they will join all the others and the peaceful place they have gone now the lifa tree is gone. Either that or their memories will remain in memoria." Vivi did that weird smile of his using only his eyes.

"Since your return from the lifa tree you've changed so much, you've been thinking like I used to on our journey."

"Yeah, I guess what I found out was something I needed to think through."

"But you had memories of Terra's light before, why didn't you ever think about that then?"

"I thought about it all the time when I first came to Gaia, for the first two years when I was alone in Treno I could see it so clearly in my dreams that when I woke in the morning I'd think I had only fallen asleep then. Then Baku found me and I joined Tantalus it kind of got pushed to the back of my mind and existed only in my dreams. I was just so overwhelmed in finding a family that loved me enough to make me one of their own and keep me with them. When I was fifthteen I couldn't ignore the possibility that my real family was out there somewhere, just waiting for me beyond that bright blue light. I know it was selfish, I mean I had more than a lot of other people did. I had my brothers and my boss with a group who I could always stay with. But I just had to try and find that light, I used to think I must find it someday or why would I remember it? So for over a year I searched the mist continent but I never did find it, you know the weird part though Vivi?" Vivi shook his head not daring to speak in case the noise would make Zidane decide to stop.

"Every night when I would stop I would gaze up at the stars and this one specific star would always attract my attention. It was bigger or brighter then any of the others but I would always look at the same star no matter where it was in the sky. There I was looking for my home and every single night I saw it and didn't even realise it."

"…Are you scared?" Vivi asked suddenly.

"Of being turned into an evil puppet who's going to kill my friends? Yeah, how can I not be. As soon as he takes my soul from my body and outs in the destructive one I will be dead."

"But he won't take it out." Vivi stated. A chille ran through Zidane's spine.

"What?"

"Garland won't take your soul out first because it's the one with the power, if he took it out he'd just get an obedient genome like the others only with the ability to bring out the evil of the souls it mixes with. You know it and so do I. Why are you hiding it from the others?"

"You know why. If the destructive soul takes over I need you to kill me. If Dagger knew that I was still there and I would die for good she wouldn't do it and she will just get killed."

"Die for good?"

"I don't know for certain whether I have a time on my life span for my soul but I know that if I do it will be when I either complete my mission or fail. I don't think Garland would wait for my soul to flow back to him, which thanks to Kuja it can't, not after he destroyed Terra."

"So your soul will just disappear like Kuja's?"

"Not exactly. There is a way you can prevent it if you all live through this. It involves Kuja and what happened at the lifa tree…"

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It was when they were on the invincible that Zidane went over his conversations with both Dagger and Vivi and began to form a plan. Maybe I can save them after all, maybe it will work out okay…

"Zidane!" Came Eiko's panicked voice. "Come and see!" Remembering the last time Eiko had done this Zidane knew it was serious. He stumbled to the bridge all effect of the spring water long run out and gazed out at the scene with disbelief.

"Mist." Dagger whispered squeezing his hand tightly. It has begun then. He thought sadly, only one day left…

Gc u wcg'm dngm mc, u lavm dngm mc vmnz tbjb dvmt zca- no I don't want to, I just want to stay here with you.

There's two things I haven't explained yet in this story a) how is Kuja's soul there when it was suppose to completely vanish b) how did Zidane escape the lifa tree. Just like to say I am not ignoring these just answering them in later chapters (when Kuja comes in). Any POLITE complaints about this chapter are welcome seem as I wasn't in the best of mind or mood when I wrote some of it.