Hello to anybody reading this fanfic. Here's another new chapter where we'll check back with what's going on in Alexandria. I should have warned you in a previous chapter that this story starts getting very dark from this point on. Well better late than never so here it is; this story starts getting very dark from here (if you read chapter 27 you'll know what I mean. Anyway, the wedding of Garnet to Lord Randle is officially on and the anticipation and tension reach fever pitch as the event draws ever closer. Can Steiner return with Zidane on time and stop it? Read on to find out.

Please forgive any spelling or grammar mistakes and please enjoy. Please leave a review too if you'd be so kind, it would really be appreiciated.

Inside Alexandria castle.

The news that Queen Garnet and Lord Randle's wedding was now officially back on had stunned and surprised the people of Alexandria just as much as the news that the whole event had been called off in the first place. Gossip was rife again amongst the people who were now all wondering what Gaia was happening up the castle which had caused the Royal Wedding to be cancelled and put back on again all inside a fortnight.

"The Queen's come to her senses," said one person. "She was utter fool to call off the wedding in the first place. She's seen sense and rightly agreed to go through with it after all."

"Nah, I think there's more to it than that," said another. "I think maybe the Queen and Lord Randle had a big falling out over something so that was why it was called off and now maybe they've made up again so that's why it's back on."

"Well whatever's going on, it's gotta be complicated."

And how complicated it indeed was.

Wedding fever quickly gripped a hold of the whole continent again and the anticipation to the big event grew and grew. The souvenirs were being made again and the people had cancelled their reservations after hearing about the original cancellation were now desperate to rebook rooms in the city's inns so they could come and celebrate the occasion and be there for themselves on big day. As for the date itself, it had been decided. The wedding would take place on April 29th which was only 3 days away now. Lord Randle himself had announced this last night after leaving the castle. He claimed that he'd spoken to Queen Garnet and that she agreed to this date because she wanted the event to take place as soon as possible. Of course she hadn't agreed to this at all, but for very serious reasons Garnet had confined herself to her bedroom and hadn't left since the previous evening.

It was midday and Garnet sat her at the small desk next to window in her private quarters staring out at sea with look of pure sadness on her face. It was a look that she often wore nowadays. The evening before had been the worst of Garnet's life by some distance and was enough to make anybody feel as terrible as she was feeling. She had spent the whole day so far all on her own, the door to her room was locked and she'd ordered nobody to disturb her, not even Beatrix.

Brief flashback

"I want to be left alone Beatrix," shouted Garnet towards the door. She had locked it and Beatrix was stood on the other side trying to convince Garnet to let her in because she knew something was wrong.

"Are you sure you're okay Your Majesty?" asked Beatrix, her voice full of concern. Following Garnet's meeting with Lord Randle (which had lasted quite a long time) things had become very strange. Lord Randle had left the throne absolutely beaming and looking very pleased with himself (as expected considering Garnet had informed him she would be marrying him). He'd also given her, Beatrix, a very evil and mischievous grin as he and his men left the castle. Garnet on the other had burst out of the throne room and had ran up to her bed chamber as fast as her legs could carry her, all before Beatrix had had a chance to speak to her.

"I fine Beatrix, I just… I just want to be left alone," said Garnet whose voice was cracking up. Beatrix realised this and began to plead.

"Please Garnet, please let me in. I know something must have happened just now with Lord Randle. What happened, did he hurt you? Did he say threaten you again? Please Garnet, open the door!"

"LOOK JUST GO AWAY… PLEASE!" shouted Garnet, the tears coming down hard now. "I WANT TO BE ALONE, TELL NOBODY TO COME UP HERE UNLESS I ASK THEM TO."

Beatrix gave a very loud sigh from the other side of the door. She desperately wanted to get inside and comfort the girl she looked at like a younger sister from whatever had upset her, but she knew that was truly not what Garnet wanted.

"Very well Your Majesty, I'll make sure nobody bothers and you're left in peace. But remember, I just downstairs if you need me. Please call me if you need ANYTHING." And with that Beatrix begrudgingly turned around and walked away from the door. Inside the room Garnet wasn't at her desk or lying on her bed, but instead she sitting in the far corner of the room on the floor. She was in nothing but her undergarments and the fragments of the beautiful dress she'd been wearing lay on the floor by the door. The poor young queen was had her legs up in front of her and her arms wrapped around them. She sat there for quite a long time, so long that the sun went down completely and her room was bathed completely in the moonlight. All the while, she was sobbing very hard.

Back to the present.

It was now midday time and the sun was shining brightly over the room. Garnet had had no sleep all night. She had eventually managed to pull herself up from the floor in what must have been the wee hours of the morning and had gone and taken a bath. This managed to calm her down her bit, but it didn't help ease her pain, physically or mentally. After this she slipped into a pair of old comfy pyjamas and then sat down at her table, staring sadly out of the window wondering where her kidnapper, her hero, her one true love was right now. Was he near her? Was he thinking about her? Did he know how much she missed him and wanted him to be here with her right now? She sat there and couldn't help but feel she was back to square one because this situation was identical to the one after their final battle and they'd left Zidane behind at the Iifa Tree. She'd spent every moment hoping with all her heart that he was okay and that any day now he'd come back to her and they'd live happily ever after. But Zidane never did end up coming back, but he would have done if she'd only have waited a few weeks longer. He'd actually survived when most people had already began to accept the fact he dead. However, he had been so distraught upon discovering that she, Garnet, had agreed to marry somebody else and the thought she'd moved on and fallen in love with somebody else that he'd felt it would be better to stay away and never return to their lives.

"Why couldn't I have just waited a little longer?" thought Garnet sadly to herself, silent tears falling down her face. "If only I'd not agreed to find a husband and give the kingdom a King none of this would happened. Zidane would have EVENTUALLY come back and we could have been together with no problems. Garland probably wouldn't have been able to mess with his head either because Zidane would have been happy. Oh why! Why is life so cruel! All I want is to be with Zidane and for us to be allowed to live together in peace. Is that so much to ask for? Instead though I have to marry a truly evil and despicable man who… who… raped me."

There was a knock at the door and Garnet was brought back from her terrible thoughts. She wiped her eyes and asked softly;

"Who is it?" she said in soft voice.

"It's me Your Majesty," came Beatrix voice. "Look Garnet I know you said last night that you wanted to be left alone until you asked for somebody but I've had sleepless night worrying about you. I beg you again, please open the door and let me in to see you."

Garnet considered what to do for a few moments. She made up her mind and stood up from her seat and walked towards. She stopped right in front of it and then gently placed her hand over the lock. Slowly, she unlocked and opened the door. It opened it and Beatrix's face slowly came into her view. The knight had large bags under her eyes just like she did which confirmed her previous claim that she too hadn't got any sleep that night. Beatrix slowly stepped inside the room and closed the door behind her. Garnet after opening the door had turned away and walked into the centre of the room. She couldn't look her friend in the eye and was already wishing that she hadn't opened the door.

"Garnet, are you okay?" asked Beatrix softly walking forwards. She placed her hands on Garnet shoulders to try and reassure her friend like she'd done so many times before. "Garnet what happened yesterday? What did Lord Randle do or say to you to make you hide yourself away like this?"

"I… I… don't want… to talk about it," Garnet just about managed to stutter out. She couldn't bring herself to turn around and look at her friend in the face.

"Garnet, did he hurt you? Please tell me if he did." Beatrix now sounded deadly serious. Garnet couldn't hold it together anymore, she burst in tears and Beatrix quickly embraced her.

"Shhhhhh, there there," whispered Beatrix softly into the young queen's ear. "It's okay, let it all out." She also gave her a gentle pat on the back. After a few minutes Garnet began to calm down and compose herself. She finally willed herself to look up and meet Beatrix's eyes.

"Beatrix," she choked. "If I tell you something do you swear to me you won't tell ANYBODY else or do anything about it?"

Beatrix thought about this. She now wanted to know what was wrong more than ever, but whatever it was obviously wasn't anything good.

"Do anything like what Garnet?" asked Beatrix coolly.

"Just promise me Beatrix. Swear on my life and my mother's grave that you will not act upon what I tell you or tell anybody else. That you'll just go on with things as normal."

"I promise," answered Beatrix nodding.

"Okay," said Garnet wiping her eyes. "Here's what happened after you left the room yesterday evening."

She proceeded to tell her friend about how Lord Randle had gotten too close to her for comfort again, how he'd forced himself upon her and how he'd struck her when she'd tried to resist and call out for help and how he'd…. raped her. She had to stop and catch her breath several times because it was so difficult to talk about. Beatrix remained silent throughout Garnet's explanation, her face and thoughts completely unreadable. When Garnet eventually finished Beatrix only managed to shake her head in disbelief. She couldn't believe what she'd just heard. That man had actually raped her. This poor, vulnerable young woman who had been virtually powerless to stop him. She had never wanted to so badly find and kill somebody more than she wanted to right now. She wanted to kill Lord Randle. Punish him so he'd die slowly and would suffer. Suffer like he'd made Garnet suffer. But she also knew that she'd just sworn she would do nothing. She turned back to face Garnet but couldn't hide the anger that was showing on her face. Upon seeing the anguish on Garnet's face Beatrix quickly softened her stance. She walked forwards and embraced Garnet again.

"Don't worry Garnet, I won't let that evil man hurt you anymore. I won't stand by and watch as he forces you to marry him. I'll find a way to not only to rescue Regent Cid and Lady Hilda but you as well. You do not deserve to have to suffer the misery of living in fear of that evil bastard!"

Garnet didn't say anything in response, she just continued to rest her head against Beatrix's shoulder. She closed her eyes and rested for a brief moment. Her eyes had started begin feeling heavy and she her body felt very tired indeed. Hell it would be hard not to feel sleepy after having no sleep because you'd sat up the whole night crying. She also felt quite hungry after not having eaten anything since the previous evening. As if she'd read her mind Beatrix asked her question;

"Are you hungry Your Majesty?"

"Yes, a little bit," Garnet admitted quietly.

"Okay then here's what we'll do," Beatrix began to explain. "I want you to come downstairs and have something to eat. Lunch or a late breakfast, whatever you want to call it. You need to food down you in order to get your strength back. Then I want you to come back up here and try to get some sleep okay?"

Garnet thought about this for a moment and agreed that it sounded like the right thing to do. She only objected to one thing.

"Okay it's just I.. I don't want to.. I don't want to go downstairs. I don't feel up to seeing anybody else right now."

"Very well, that's fine Garnet," replied Beatrix offering quick reassurance. "Instead I will bring some food up and you can eat in here. Does that sound okay?"

"Yes, that would be nice," answered Garnet with a little nod. She couldn't bring herself to offer a smile though and Beatrix didn't push her.

"Right then," said the royal knight finally pulling away from the young queen. "I'll go get you something to eat, you stay here and just try to relax. You've had a very difficult last 24 hours and you need to get your strength back."

With that Beatrix turned and headed towards the door. She opened it but just before she walked out Garnet spoke again.

"Beatrix…. thank you. Thank you so much for everything." Garnet truly loved her like a big sister and would forever be grateful to her for support during what were the most difficult times. Beatrix merely bowed and saluted her queen in response to her thanks and then walked out of the room. As the knight walked down the corridor towards the stairs she stopped for a moment to think. The only thought she had in her head right now was this.

"Steiner, please hurry. Garnet doesn't have much time left. WE don't have much time left. Please, find Zidane and bring him back here soon!"