Chapter 11: Madain Sari And... A fear of Moogles!

"Wait! What did you say lives in this city!" Zane demanded stopping at the entrance.

"Just Moogles, why?" Nami asked turning to Zane. She noticed his cringing face and figured he was scared of something.

"I'm not going in there then! No way, no how, am I going in there!" Zane yelled backing up.

"Why?" Vivi asked noticing Zanes behavior.

"Just don't make me go in there. Just don't! I hate moogles and they hate me!" Zane yelled tears welling in his eyes.

"Kupo! Whats going on out here?" Chimomo asked running up. Zane's eyes widened for a second at the sight of the moogle and he quickly backed away.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY! IT'S A MOOGLE! COME SAVE ME! WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Zane screamed while crying a river.

"Zane, what's wrong? Don't tell me you're afraid of moogles?" Nami questioned with a shocked look.

"Zane... Zane they won't hurt you! These are nice moogles!" Vivi tried to reason while Momo sweat dropped at the panicking boy.

"Hey Chimomo! Let's clear the place for the boy. He's a summoner. We'll explain why he is scared of us later!" Mogue yelled from the top of an old building.

Chimomo nodded and ran out of Zane's sight, but this did not calm the boy. Now suffering an anxiety attack, Zane was shivering on the ground talking to himself. Nami and Vivi looked at each other with confused looks. Nami walked over to Zane and kicked him so hard he fainted. She then picked him up and carried him into the city.

"Uhhh was that really necessary?" Vivi asked watching the girl.

"Have you ever seen a person suffer an anxiety attack? ... Well, it can last for days and I found the best way to calm them is to knock them unconscious." Nami said walking.

Vivi ran to catch up to her and told her why the city was in rubbles. Nami heard her fathers name and attack in one of the sentences. Now she couldn't help her curiosity and asked Vivi about her father. Catching him off guard, he started explaining and Nami listened with a stern face. Zane moaned in pain, but it was unheard by his comrades.

"You were bitten by a moogle? Okay that's strange." Nami said when Zane told her why he was scared of Moogles.

"Well I was only three, get off my case." Zane said angrily. He picked up a green snail with a red and yellow shell from pile of the identical snails. Putting it to his mouth, he sucked it into his mouth and swallowed it. Wiping the green slime from his mouth, he threw the shell aside after looking into it. "Man these things are delicious."

"Your right, but they barely hit the spot, thank god their all around this city or we will starve." Nami said slurping down a snail herself.

"Okay dinner... is... served?" Vivi said coming from an old kitchen with a giant fish on it. He spotted the snails and saw how Zane ate it with a loud slurp. "Couldn't you just wait til' dinner was done?" Vivi asked as the kids eyed the food.

"The fish looks better than these any day!" Nami said shoving the snails off the table. Zane helped her and set the table for Vivi, who happily put the food down in-between the two kids.

"Zane you have to see the Eidolon Wall. You might learn a new way to summon with out killing yourself." Vivi said watching the kids.

"And/or suffocating." Nami giggled while Zane glared evilly at her. She matched it back and puffed up her chest to look bigger.

"That is dying." Zane finally stated as he swallowed a huge piece of fish.

"Hey save some for me!" Nami growled noticing how fast the fish was going.

"Just go Zane and check it out. You might like it." Vivi said as the kids started fighting over the same piece of fish. They yelled and fought each other with their forks until Nami punched Zane in the gut and stole the piece. While crying in pain, Zane took another piece of fish and shoved it into his mouth. "You two will make a great couple." Vivi said lowly.

Silently Moogles started lining the roof to look at Zane and Nami. The fifteen talked to eachother about Zanes strange fear.

"Kupo said Zane was just learning to walk and strayed away from his caretaker when a delinquent Moogle came from a room and suddenly turned on Zane, biting him on the arm." Mocha said quietly.

"He also said that Zidane was the first to hear his son's screams and literally pummeled the Moogle to death even after it let go of the little prince. Since then Zane freaks out every time he sees a moogle." Chimomo finished watching the three inside.

"So when can we go in there?" A young Moogle asked running up.

"Didn't you hear us? We said the kid can't trust us if his life depended on it because of a stray moogle." Chimomo explained turning to the small moogle.

"So I can't say hi?"

"No, now go away."

"Ahh, he's coming outside! Everybody hide!" Mocha yelled as everybody tripped over each other to hide from Zane so he could stay calm. Zane heard them and saw their pompoms. He jumped a little, but knew they were trying not to frighten him, so he simply walked towards the Eidolon Wall. The moogles noticed this and followed quickly to tell the guard moogle to let Zane pass.

"This boy is going to be the death of us all!" One moogle complained out loud.

"Wait! Zane, I wanna talk to you!" Nami yelled catching up to Zane.

Zane stopped only to be jumped on by Nami. He pushed her off of him and tackled her to the ground. They giggled until Zane suddenly kissed Nami on her cheek. Nami looked at him with confused eyes, but returned the gesture. Smiling greatly, Zane got off her and helped her up.

"How did you know that's what I wanted to talk about?" Nami asked blushing.

"Oh I didn't know that, I just wanted to do that. Come on I want to see the Eidolon Wall." Zane said running towards the wall. Nami smiled sweetly and followed Zane.

All too soon the kids were looking at the images of summons that were fading fast in the desert sun. Zane pointed out the ones he could summon, if they wouldn't kill him first: Ifirit, Shiva, Ramuh, Bahamut, Carbuncle, Pheonix, Leviathan, Atmos, and Odin.

"That's not very impressive, but you still could learn... Can't you?" Nami stated questionably.

"Summoners have limits and that's all I can do." Zane said looking at the picture of Alexander. Nami watched him and then walked over to the incense burner and added a little incense powder and set it on fire until it smoked. She then walked over to Zane and grabbed his shoulder. They smiled at each other then turned to the picture.

Zidane and the rest of the gang were heading to the Forgotten Continent. Zidane looked pissed and Amarant was pacing behind him, mumbling.

"Come on guys Vivi is with them." Freya tried to sooth while watching Zidanes eyelids twitch.

"Now she can teleport! First she learned to read minds, next came the ability to see others from a certain distance or place, then she learned the black mage abilities, and now she can teleport! Kuja made sure she was packed with abilities that would make our lives miserable." Amarant complained loudly.

"At least Carbuncle sensed that they are at Madain Sari." Eiko said looking worried.

"That's not the point! This is the second time we lost them!" Zidane scolded while Diane rubbed his shoulders.

"Don't worry dad, they'll be fine. Oh, by the way, my hair is getting too long. Can we cut it when we land?" Diane asked sweetly trying to change the subject.

"I can cut it now. Go brush your hair and put it in a ponytail." Zidane ordered grabbing his dagger from its protective sheath.

"Oh thank you daddy! I'll be back in a minute." Diane said running to her room at the back of the ship.

Everyone turned to Zidane to see if his daughter's preppy behavior had affected him. To their surprise, Zidane said nothing and cut off any unneeded hair off his shaggy head. Diane came skipping back in the room with her waist length hair in a loose ponytail. She turned with a jump and waited for her father. Zidane giggled and cut his daughters hair at her shoulders.

Once that was done, Sally spoke. "Hey Diane, lets go look at the land through the eye." Sally said from the door.

"Okay!" Diane agreed running past her. They looked at Amarant flirtingly and walked past him giggling.

"Oh my! I miss being that young and flirting with every guy I saw." Freya giggled twirling a strand of hair with her index finger. She drifted off into her memories and Eiko followed her.

"Women… We'll never understand them." Blank said.

"Ohhhhhhh! I need food! Anybody got food!" Quina complained jumping.

"All we have is catnip. Just wait until we get to Madain Sari and we'll make you some food." Zidane said.

"Speaking of Catnip... Can I have a hit off of it?" Amarant asked silently.

Zidane rolled his eyes and turned to the giant. "Be considerate and leave some for the kids. That stuff will be the last adventure on their trip." Zidane granted smiling.

"I said I was going to hit it, not smoke all of it." Amarant growled walking away.

"By the way, we need to find a patch of that stuff or we will end up with none for the kids." Blank said starting to follow Amarant to the storage room.

"Got it. I'll keep an eye out for them... Man, it's already night fall they must be asleep." Zidane said looking at the two moons.

(Madain Sari) At the wall the kids were huddled together sleeping. Zane was on Nami's lap and Nami was leaning against the incense burner.

"Daddy..." Nami moaned in her sleep.

"So they're at the wall, are they?" Eiko asked Vivi, who just nodded.

"They haven't come back from there, I'm worried." He finally said as the moogles ran in.

"They fell asleep, Lord Zidane. They're sound asleep! They didn't even hear us drop something that broke right by them." Mocha said like he was in a panic. Amarant came in after Mocha.

"How are you feeling, Amarant?" Freya asked carrying five plates of fish.

"I'm not panicky any more. How I got that way I don't know." Amarant said to her, his eyes focused on the fish.

"Amarant, Diane come with me to get the lovely kids that are asleep under the stars." Zidane said. The three of them went to get the kids.

"Silver..." Nami mumbled as the adults approached.

"Who's Silver?" Diane asked her father in a whisper.

"She might be reliving a part of her past when she was young." Amarant answered walking up to the two.

Zidane picked Zane up gently and laid him against his chest. Zane let out a small groan, but didn't wake. Instead he grabbed his father's scarf with his right hand and lifted himself until he got his head to rest on his fathers shoulder.

Amarant did the same with Nami, but she woke up. "Daddy..." Nami groaned sleepily.

"Hey, go back to sleep. It's not time to wake up yet." Amarant soothed getting her situated in his arms.

"... I smell Catnip..." Nami said weakly. She saw Amarant's glazed over eyes and fell back to sleep.

"Dad are we leaving tonight?" Diane asked looking at her younger brother.

"No, we are staying the night. We'll leave at noontime tomorrow." Zidane said walking back to Eiko's hut.