Title: You're Not Alone
Author: Atariel Tsukai
Date: February 26, 2015
Summary: War is breaking out in Gaia once more. It is up to Garnet, as the queen of Alexandria, and her acquaintances to figure out just who is waging the war and what they can do to put an end to it!
Rating: T
Authoress's Note: I really need to keep up with typing this onto my laptop from my phone! I was trying to type it up with each segment I finish on my phone, but this week I was really busy with work, friends, and editing/posting photos that I took with them! I would have had this chapter up earlier in the week if I typed it up segment-by-segment, but I guess there's nothing I can do about that! Anyways, this chapter is a little short compared to my other chapters, but it's mainly because the next part I have planned is going to be pretty long and will probably end up being an entire chapter's worth, like the last chapter! One last thing, thank you, Guest and zestychicken2 for the reviews on the last chapter! I feel like I poured my heart and soul into it, so I'm glad that you guys seemed to enjoy it as much as it did!
Disclaimer: Still wishing that I owned it!
.ix.
Chapter XIV: Concern For Loved Ones
"Come on, Blank! We have to get going!" Eiko called out as she performed one last check of her traveling pack to make sure she had enough potions and other healing items she might need in case they came across any enemies – monsters or otherwise.
"You're going to draw the other guys' attention with that loudmouth of yours," the redhead mumbled with a shake of his head as he pulled his newly repaired leather band up over his eyes so it would keep his hair out of his face. He looked down to the small girl, who had found sewing supplies in the house and fixed the band up for him in a way that was pretty impressive and reminded him of Ruby. "Baku is going to kill me for sure when he realizes we've gone off before them." Of course, he kept to himself the fact that he would also be in trouble with both Zidane and Garnet if anything happened to Eiko while she was with him.
The purple-haired teen pouted softly and opened her mouth to protest when a third voice joined the conversation. "She was hoping that we'd be sleeping soundly." The princess jumped and looked up to her bedroom doorway to see Marcus standing there, the sunset casting his shadow over her. "You shouldn't try to trick a bunch of thieves with sleeping weed, Princess. Cinna's the only one who would have fallen for it, though I'm still wondering how just you managed to slip it in the food without him noticing it, considering he was the one cooking dinner tonight," the man wearing the bandana said, crossing his arms over his chest and shaking his head some. He then turned to face his brother. "The boss is pissed. You're becoming more like Zidane everyday and it's annoying him," he said with a slight smirk.
Blank shrugged his shoulders gently. "Maybe that's not such a bad thing," he said simply, pushing himself off the wall he had been leaning against. "I'll talk to him, but I don't plan on waiting any more. We're going to find Zidane and Dagger. We've given them enough time."
Eiko looked from Marcus to Blank and quickly scrambled to her feet. "I'm coming with you! I'm not gonna let you get in trouble for something you didn't do," she told him.
Terra-cotta eyes watched the teen curiously for a moment before rolling. "Yeah. Okay," the redhead said simply with another shake of his head before he turned and walked out of the small room, gently pushing past his brother.
The princess ran after the ex-thief, smacking into his back when he stopped without warning in order to keep himself from running into the boss of Tantalus. "And just what do you two fools think you're up to?" the man demanded. "You can't be serious about running off on your own."
Blank opened his mouth, but Eiko beat him to speaking. "I have a really bad feeling about Zidane and Dagger being off on their own. We just wanna go make sure they're okay!" she explained quickly.
Baku looked down at the two for a few quiet moments. "I gave 'em a deadline for a reason. We're supposed to wait one more day before heading out to find 'em, but. . . I guess we'll run into 'em if they're already heading back. So, let's get the hell outta here."
The indigo-haired teen's face lit up at the Tantalus leader's words. "You're not so bad after all!" she exclaimed, happy and a little relieved. The three boys had to cover their mouths to hold back laughs as they caught the implication that Eiko meant that she had thought that Baku was a pretty bad guy up until then.
The purple-haired man rolled his eyes beneath his mask. "Of course I'm not! Now, let's get going before I change my mind!" he shouted.
Eiko was quick to grab Blank's hand and began to pull him along. The redhead man could feel the silent, judging looks of his brothers and boss and pulled his hand free, stuffing both of them into his pant pockets. Having always been the smallest member of Tantalus, he was not about to give the rest of the guys something else to tease him about. He noticed a moment of disappointment cross the princess's face, but just shrugged gently. It wasn't his fault she was suddenly attaching herself to him, so why should he feel bad? "Let's go," he said simply.
A soft pout played on her lips, but she was quick to shrug it off as well, taking the lead. She put her flute inside her bag and hoisted it over her shoulder. Even though she was positive that they would not want her to, she was prepared to use the instrument if she absolutely had to. She hated not being able to help out much. Blank and the others all needed their own weapons in case they ran into any trouble on the way to find Zidane and Dagger, so that left her with just her flute to attack and her White magic if it came down to a dire need. It made her feel useless.
They spent most of the time walking and talking. "I bet you two are worried about nothing. We all know Zidane can't keep his hands off Dagger to save his life. He's probably taking what Steiner suggested seriously and is relaxing at Conde Petie as their honeymoon," Cinna joked with a grin. "Hopefully we don't walk in on them fu-"
"Shut up, Cinna. You're just jealous because you've never gotten any girl to give you a second look," Blank said bluntly.
"Yeah? Well, you're just in a pissy mood because you miss Ruby. Maybe the next time Stiltzkin comes around you should send her a love letter like the one you and Marcus found that one time in Alexandria," the golden-eyed ex-thief teased.
Marcus laughed softly. "We never found out the whole story behind that letter, did we, Bro?" he asked Blank, who just shrugged.
Teal orbs blinked a few times at Marcus's words. Eiko turned around so she could look at the guys while walking backwards along the mountain path that she had traveled so many times that she could have probably done so blindfolded as well. "Back in Alexandria when we all saw Beatrix and Steiner meet up late that one night, right? I wrote that," she said without hesitation. All of the guys eyed her curiously and a soft pink colored her cheeks. "It was for Zidane when I thought that I really liked him. Doctor Tot helped me write it," she tried to explain. The energetic teen then suddenly pointed a finger at Baku. "You were supposed to deliver it to him!"
Blank could not help but to smile and shake his head a bit. "I wonder how things would have been different if that letter hadn't traveled around like it did and went straight to Zidane instead," he mused quietly.
The indigo-haired teen shook her head a bit, shoulder-length indigo hair flying. "I don't think it would have changed much if it had made it to Zidane. He was so obviously in love with Dagger, moping all around Alexandria like he did. And then, when Vivi finally convinced him to go to the castle to see her, he couldn't even say anything to her because he didn't want to lie about his feelings," she pointed out.
Blank laughed softly. "That's Zidane for you. If things don't go his way, he just whines to all of us," he said with a smirk.
"Sounds like you're talking about yourself, Blank," Cinna joked with a loud laugh, which earned him a hard punch to the back of his head.
"Shut the hell up, Cinna," the redhead growled, a vein twitching in his forehead.
Eiko giggled softly, noticing that Blank had a really short fuse when it came to being teased. "I think all of you guys aren't anywhere near as tough as you like to. . . " she began, though she trailed off as a strange feeling washed over her.
'Please. . help Zidane. . . ' a familiar voice called out to her.
Teal orbs blinked softly, looking around in a dazed manner. The princess swayed a bit on the spot, looking like she might be sick. She would have probably hit the dirt ground of the mountain path right then if it were not for Blank suddenly being at her side, holding her up. "D-Dagger?" she stammered weakly. She made the mistake of closing her eyes and was suddenly overwhelmed by seeing something happening not too far away.
Her heart and head pounded like crazy as she looked around an eerily familiar place. Her gaze stopped on the sight of Zidane being held down on the ground by four armored men, Gilgamesh advancing towards him. She could barely make out what either of the men were saying, but was quick to realize that she did not see Garnet anywhere and figured that it must have had something to do with her. The redhead roughly grabbed the blond by his hair and forced him to look straight at her. She felt a bit lightheaded, but knew that she had to help somehow. "Zidane!" she cried out, though she could swear that the voice that left her lips was not her own.
His best friend's name was enough to grab Blank's attention. He gave Eiko's petite frame a gentle shake. "What's going on?" he asked her once she had blinked herself back to the mountain path and looked up at him with wide teal orbs.
"Z-Zidane and Dagger are in big trouble!" the indigo-haired teen barely managed to squeak out. She tried to pull free from the redhead's hold, but still felt dizzy.
"How do you kn-?" Marcus began to ask.
Blank shook his head and looked more closely at Eiko. "Where are they?" he demanded.
"The Iifa Tr-Tree. . out that way. . . " she said quietly, waving her hand towards the path she knew the Tantalus men had not been down yet.
The ex-thief nodded softly and moved so that his back was facing the princess before he crouched down. "Then, that's where we're going. Get on," he instructed her.
Eiko gently wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled herself close to his back, still trying to get over the nauseous feeling in the pit of her stomach. She attempted to breath in deeply to calm herself down, but was too worried about what that vision had been leading up to. Zidane had been clearly outnumbered and something had to have happened to Dagger as well.
.ix.
"Beatrix, there has to be a way for us to start taking the kingdom back," Steiner said just as the female knight in question sat down from a long night out on guard duty. "Queen Garnet left us weapons in this house and now you have your position as General back. We could start a mutiny!" he exclaimed as he brought a plate of eggs and sausage over, gently placing it in her lap.
Hazel eyes blinked a few times, looking down at the plate, then back up to the dark-haired man's face. "You. . . made food for me," the brunette said simply, ignoring her ally's words for two reasons. One, she did not want to bring up Gilgamesh's threat to have his men hurt the last two people she could protect while he was out searching for the one she had sworn to protect years ago. Two, she was just too tired to talk any kind of plan. She had, in a way, been avoiding Steiner. She was expected to work a lot now that she had her position back, but she stayed out even longer than she had to most days so she did not have to face him. Of course, he always surprised her by somehow being awake to check on her both when she left for the day and came back at night, unintentionally making her feel even worse about trying to tiptoe around him.
Steiner frowned softly at the statement that had nothing to do with his question. "Yes, I did, Beatrix," he answered. He watched as she pushed the food around on the plate. "You've been working so hard."
"Thank you, Adelbert. You are too kind. I really must go to bed once I've eaten, though. Perhaps we can talk when I get off duty tomorrow?" the woman asked dully, pushing back some of her chestnut hair with one hand.
"It's just. . . " he began, opening his mouth to say something more, but the drained tone of her voice kept him from wanting to bother her too much. "Beatrix, why did you accept your former position if not to overthrow Gilgamesh? It would be best for us to start now while he is not he is not here to fight back. We can have the throne ready for Garnet before she returns," he tried one last time. All week, he had tried asking, but Beatrix had just pushed him away every time.
That late night seemed liked it would be the one where she would finally give in. "Adelbert, one of the only people I have ever cared for is in grave danger. I swore to protect her if it meant giving my life and now I have only a very vague idea of where she is and when, or actually if, she will be able to return. Then, as if that was not enough, the man who is threatening her left our kingdom to find her with the intention of killing her, leaving me in a ghost of my former position with one more threat – that his men, who outnumber us greatly, will hurt, probably kill, the last two people I can still protect. Gilgamesh has no plan to hurt the people of Alexandria, but his men have the permission to stop any attempts of resistance by any means necessary," she finally concluded quietly.
Steiner clenched his fists at his sides. "Beatrix, we can't afford to be afraid. We have to do what we can to make the kingdom safe for Queen Garnet's return. If we can take out Gilgamesh's men, then we can catch him off guard when he returns with her," the man said confidently.
Beatrix did something completely uncharacteristic of herself – she ran both hands through her long hair and let out a frustrated groan. "Why must you always be so difficult? Just last week you were trying to calm me down from worrying so much," she reminded him with a shake of her head. "Say we are able to take out all of his men on our own – then what? He'll take it out on Garnet before we can get anywhere near her," the female knight pointed out.
Steiner opened, then closed his mouth like a fish and Beatrix knew that she had made him understand part of what she was worried about. "I've been trying to figure out how to make sure no one will get hurt," she told him. "I need you and Miss Ruby to stay safe. I know that when I need help, I can come straight to you. Can I count on you to not make any rash decisions until that time comes?" she asked quietly.
The dark-haired man was reluctant, but nodded quite a bit. "Of course you can count on me. I will think of ways to help our queen while you continue with your guard duty," he promised. "Now, you should probably finish eating and go to bed. You have another early morning tomorrow," he said softly.
Beatrix nodded a little and quietly began to eat the food Steiner had prepared for her. 'I think you should tell Steiner about your feelings for him,' Garnet's voice entered her thoughts. She sighed softly and stood from the couch. "Thank you for the food, Adelbert," she murmured.
The man smiled kindly and shook his head some. "It's the least I can do while you are out on a very important reconnaissance mission," he told her. Black eyes then blinked softly as the brunette took a few steps closer to him, her face inches away from his. "Are you feeling alright, Beatrix?" he asked worriedly.
The female knight hesitated for one moment, her uncovered hazel eye looking into one of his coal ones, before she leaned forwards a bit and pressed her lips to his. She watched quietly as both of his eyes widened before she pulled back, her own cheeks flushed a soft rose. "I. . am sorry. . . " she breathed out in apology.
A moment of silence passed between the two. Steiner opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He then looked down thoughtfully as if he were searching for the right words somewhere under his feet. "Beatrix. . . " he finally managed to start with. He looked back up to her face to see that she was now looking away. Very slowly, he took one hand and gently placed it on her cheek, turning her head to face him once again. His other hand moved up to her face as well so that he had a hand on each of her cheeks before he leaned in and returned the kiss she had quickly pressed to his lips. "I am the one who is truly sorry. I should have done that a long time ago," he told her.
Beatrix smiled a little. Maybe she did not have to keep worrying about everything all on her own anymore.
.ix.
Authoress's Note: SURPRISE! Steiner and Beatrix finally had another moment! That was another reason I cut this chapter short. I thought that it was a nice way to end it, after the intense ending of the last chapter! Speaking of, like I said earlier, I am pretty far into the next part, so please, PLEASE don't be mad that we didn't seen how Zidane and Dagger are holding up! I'm hoping to have the next chapter up soon, so for now let me know what you think about these two little parts!