The Outlaw of Madain Sari

So, I finally got inspiration for this story and wrote a few chapters! They should be up soon. I'm almost done writing this story. Probably less than five chapters left. W00t! I can finally be done with this! About time, right?

Anyway, hope you like this chapter. This is when the action starts to happen. w00t!

XII
Bahamut

"Wake up," she heard. Eiko stirred, wincing in her content sleep. "Eiko, wake up!"

Someone was shaking her. Barely opening her eyes, she saw Marcus above her and Eiko raised her head, rubbing her eyes. She almost forgot. Looking out the window, she saw that it was still slightly dark out but you could tell by the sky that it was soon to be morning. They were soon to be out of here.

"We have to leave," Blank said, looking out the window. He threw a bag at her. "Hurry up. Get changed," he ordered.

It didn't take an idiot to see that Blank was aggravated about something. Eiko knew that the Tantalus brothers had that argument last night. It didn't seem too terribly bad but…it was about Eiko. Was he mad at her?

A little hesitant, Eiko grabbed the clothes and went into the bathroom to change. Marcus and Blank were already dressed in their commoner clothes. She put on the old, brown ragged pants with a white shirt and a dark brown workers vest. If no one knew any better, she looked like a male synthesizer's apprentice. Looking into the mirror, she stared at her hair, fingering the bangs a little bit. She missed her purple hair. Last night, Dagger had cut her hair even shorter than it was before so, now, she looked more like a boy than ever. The hair was still long enough to cover her horned wound but other that…it was a perfect disguise. Her old self was slowly disappearing in the mirror with everything she did.

Coming out of the bathroom, she put on her brown gloves and boots. She grabbed her brown backpack, making sure that two items were there: her flute, and her horn. Just in case something happened, she had her last resort. Her secret weapon: Bahamut.

"There's a suspicious person in the theatre," Zidane said to the guards in the throne room. The female Alexandria guards stared at him. "Well, look into it!" he ordered. Immediately, the guards were off, checking the theater for any thieves or stolen items. It seemed retarded enough to get them away for at least a little bit. Zidane gave three knocks on the door of the Queen's bedroom and Dagger came out. Then, Blank, Marcus and Eiko appeared in the main entrance. They had been waiting for the guards to leave.

"You didn't have to get up," Eiko said, walking over to Dagger.

"Of course I did," Dagger whispered. "I had to see you off." Dagger knelt slightly in front of Eiko and examined her. She smiled. "You look nothing like Princess Eiko. No one will recognize you. Hmm…" she hummed with a satisfied smile. "Give Uncle Cid a kiss for me," she said as she kissed the top of Eiko's forehead, who quickly wiped it off.

Then, Dagger pressed the lever to open the secret entrance to the basement through the fireplace. Marcus, Blank and Zidane did a 'T' hand gesture to one another. The Tantalus promise symbol. It caused Eiko to smile a bit. At least they hadn't changed much.

As they walked through the tunnel, they heard a slam; and the door was shut. Dagger and Zidane would be going back to bed. There was no turning back now. Blank gave a look towards Eiko as he waited for her to compose herself. Drawing a few deep breaths, she turned around and Blank nodded at her, taking up the rear behind her while Marcus took the lead.

They walked in silence; the steps down the tunnel echoing through the chamber. She glanced back at Blank, whose attention was on the ground. He still seemed agitated. Marcus just had a look of determination. Eiko bit her lip.

"Did I do something?" she asked. Both of them were startled from the sudden speech and looked at her.

"Like what?" Marcus asked.

"You guys have been acting really weird around me." Blank and Marcus exchanged an awkward and confusing glance that caused Eiko to get annoyed. It was the 'I know something you don't know' look. Eiko rolled her eyes. "Like that. What is that?!"

They were walking down the final stairs onto a platform that was right in front of the Gargant Roo. Marcus heaved a sigh and turned around. "I'm going to go call the Gargant. Don't take too long."

Eiko folded her arms and tapped her foot slightly on the ground. "I heard you guys talking last night-"

"What did you hear?" he asked, with a look of embarrassment and panic. Eiko narrowed her eyes in confusion.

"Are you mad at me?" she asked.

"What? No-"

"I heard you guys fighting about coming after me. Look, I knew Zidane would never sit still for a minute. He's just like me. We think alike. Why do you think I lied about where Gilgamesh would take me?" Blank's eyes widened as he processed this information. He was about to raise his voice when Eiko silenced him. "Did you think I was stupid?" she asked, angrily.

"You lied about the location?" Blank was furious. "Eiko, how do you expect anyone to help you without your cooperation?"

"Exactly."

Blank ran his fingers through his hair, angrily. Man, this girl was impossible sometimes. "You're that stubborn ?" Eiko shrugged. Blank couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Okay, so, where do you think he's going to take you?"

"I don't know. Somewhere relatively close," she admitted. "But I know where he's not taking me."

"And where would that be?" he asked.

"Madain Sari," she said like it was obvious. "It's too predictable. Gilgamesh likes his privacy. I'm not retarded. I knew Zidane would follow me. So, I gave the plan a few realistic locations that Zidane could waste his time with. That way he would be safe."

"Well, maybe he'll go there because it's predictable." Eiko didn't understand. "How did you figure he was going to get you to summon Alexander without threatening your friends? He clearly knows your weakness or he wouldn't have taken Dagger or Leon in the-"

"I don't have a weakness!" Eiko screamed, cutting in. When Eiko was a child, she prided herself in her independence and that she could steal from anybody, no problem. Fitting into Tantalus for the small amount of time she'd been there was no big deal. When she was a child, she had no weakness. She was small. Stealthy. Cunning. And, not to mention, to anyone older than a child and not a dwarf, she was adorable. Her cute little pudgy face could fool anyone.

She hated admitting to having a weakness; even though, she had many. Her close combat skills were not all that great and her heart was way too big. Most people would think that would be a good thing. Or that being away from her family and friends for three years would have dissolved that love; but, it only made it stronger. It goes along with the saying: You don't really know what you got until it's gone.

She missed her father…

At this outrage, Blank only smiled. So prideful. So much like Zidane, he noted. If one didn't know them well enough and then met the two, you'd think they were related. Aside from the fact that they look nothing alike, they still have that spunky, scrappy, cocky personality and a pride that not even a heavy weight could shatter.

"I'm only saying you seem awfully sure of yourself. You don't know what he's planning."

"I can guess."

"Okay, how do you guess he was going to get you to summon Alexander, then?" Eiko didn't have anything to say to that. "Exactly." Echoing across the chamber, they heard a Gargant coming into the station and Blank nodded forward. "Come on. That's the gargant. Marcus is waiting."

Without another word, Eiko angrily sulked ahead. She was thinking about retaliating to Blank about how he was wrong and that she knew better than anyone about what Gilgamesh would do. There were plenty of things Gilgamesh would try to get the information out. He can't be that smart to actually have a full-proof plan. As she planned out what she was about to say, she took just two steps and, suddenly, in place of her outrage was a loud and obnoxious bang. Eiko jumped and turned around to see a large metal gate four times her height separating her and Blank.

Eiko and Blank ran to the gate, clasping their hands around the bars like separated lovers and each of them had a panicked look on their face.

"I can't believe I forgot about this," Blank mumbling, glancing behind him, waiting for someone to show up. Eiko gave him a confused stare. "This happened to Zidane, only Marcus and I were the ones bustin' him out! Damnit!" he yelled.

"My, my, my, I must say, little Eiko, you are quite predictable," someone said. A figure suddenly appeared on Blank's side. Gilgamesh. Who else would it be? He had a dagger in his hand and was stroking it like he would a pet.

"Marcus!" Blank yelled through the chamber. The echoed alarm was sounded.

"I was wondering when you'd come out of your little castle, Princess."

Eiko was breathing pretty hard. She was grasping Blank's wrist through the bars, worried about him. He was on Gilgamesh's side. She knew that Blank could take care of himself…still. She was terrified. Behind her, she heard someone's footsteps and a yell.

"Eiko?!" Marcus.

"Take her, Marcus!" Blank ordered.

Eiko looked panicked. "But-"

"I said go, Eiko," he ordered.

Not really wanting to, Eiko released her hold on Blank's wrist. But, as she turned around and Marcus was about to come to her, another gate popped up, trapping her inside the box. Eiko was breathing even harder now. She was surrounded.

Both of them cursed.

"Eiko," Blank whispered through gritted teeth. "Give it to Marcus."

Appearing in his fist behind his back was the Alexander summon gem. She lightly grabbed it and backed up away from Blank, staring at Gilgamesh with fear. As she ran into the other gate and turned around, she saw Lani on the other side, blocking Marcus from access. Her fists clenched around the jewel. Now, she was really trapped. They could take both her and the summon gem if they wanted to.

Gilgamesh began to laugh.

"And here I thought I was dealing with three master thieves," he said, sounding mockingly disappointed. "Shame. I thought it would have been a bit more fun."

"If you touch one hair on her head, I swear to God-" Blank started.

Gilgamesh wasted no time. He threw the dagger with such force and it impaled himself on Blank's knee, causing him to fall to the ground. Eiko squealed. Gilgamesh removed his bow and arrow from his back and pointed an arrow at Blank's chest, getting ready to fire.

"She belongs to me. I'll touch as many hairs as I need," he said, almost spitting on Blank. Eiko let out a gulp. From the look on Gilgamesh's face, he was about to fire.

"Let him go!" Eiko yelled. "It's not them you want. It's me-"

"Shut up, Eiko," Blank said.

"Just don't hurt th-"

"This is exactly what he wants."

"I don't care!"

Suddenly, Blank removed the dagger that Gilgamesh had thrown at him and chucked it back at high speed towards him. It successfully impaled his left shoulder. Gilgamesh was losing his patience. He fired the arrow right in Blank's chest. Blank fell to the ground, grunting.

Marcus was, thankfully, not getting himself in trouble. Eiko was pretty sure he had some sort of pride issue when it came to harming girls. A lot of guys had that problem, she supposed. Every guy except Gilgamesh, probably. But, Lani remained in front of Marcus, with a look that dared him to proceed. Marcus was simply watching what happened with Blank in misery. The way Marcus saw it was that if they left, they would have to go through him one way or another. He was better off not injured; that way, he could at least do something.

She would waste no time, though. Eiko was not going to sit here and watch as Gilgamesh slowly killed one of her best friends. No, that wouldn't happen. Blank was one of the only people that she could really talk to at the castle. Someone that let her speak when she needed to, but also didn't ask too many questions. Unless, they were important.

In one swift movement, she grabbed her flute out of her backpack and before any arrow or action could be used, she played the most powerful spell she could think of. Bahamut.

Summoning it was ten times more painful than Fenrir had been and, along with Blank, she, too, fell to the floor. Blank gave a momentary look of horror as he looked at Eiko on the ground. This wasn't good. Bahamut? In such close quarters?

Eiko's fists hardened around the edge of the flute as she kneeled on the ground, groaning and yelling through the pain. She just wished her horn would heal. Magic, for some reason, didn't work on it. So, cure was pointless. It made sense, as the horn was also magic. It could probably deflect any sort of magic. The lights in the room suddenly all turned out and for a while, the only noise that could he heard was Eiko's screaming as she dealt with the burning sensation on her forehead. Blank's grunts through his stomach wounds could be heard, as well, which told her she needed to hurry. She felt like she was burning to death, and her forehead was taking the brunt of the damage. But she had to do this. She had to do something!

All of a sudden, there was a bright light and you could suddenly see the Bahamut figure around them, creating a fireball in his mouth. It was clearly aimed towards Gilgamesh as the dragon was situated in front of Eiko, right behind Blank. Blank would not be hurt. Maybe wounded a little bit, but he would not be touched.

"I told you…not…to hurt him," she said, angrily, through huffs. With that, Bahamut released his dragon beam of fire and Eiko felt herself pass out on the ground, her eyes barely open, still clutching the jewel with her fist.

Thank you Hikari No Aijou for your review! I'm glad you think the pairing is working. I was a little worried about it but, now, honestly, I seriously love Eiko and Blank together. I'm glad my grown-up Eiko works and I hope you keep reading!

Also thanks to anyone who reads but doesn't review, favorites, follows, alerts, etc. I appreciate every little thing you guys do! (But I do love reviews) I didn't say that. lol