Chapter 36
Minute of Desperation
Freya charged at Zidane with all she had, tears poured from her face as she screeched at him with her spear in hand. Zidane jumped a couple of steps down behind him to avoid Freya's assault. The crowd chanted for Freya to kill Zidane, everyone from the humans to the Burmecians wanted the genome dead for falsely accused atrocities. "Freya, stop! You've got it wrong!" Zidane pleaded. "Shut up!" she snapped back as the dragoon took another swipe of her spear for him. Zidane barely managed to avoid the attack, but Freya countered by striking him with the blunt end of her Javelin. Zidane lost his footing due to the blow and fell all the way down the steps, straight to the bottom.
The genome soon came to, just in time to spot Freya coming towards him from above, ready to impale him, but he managed to get out of the way. "Finish him, Lady Freya!" called a voice from the crowd along with several other heckles of the same meaning. "Fight back!" the famed Burmecian female ordered. Zidane slowly stood up. "No, Freya. I will not fight you." He calmly answered, sheathing his blades as he spoke. Freya, still suffering the news of her dead husband, cried out loud as she dived toward Zidane, who ducked her attack. She quickly turned around when she landed and faced the young genome. "For years, I saw you as one of my closest friends. I TRUSTED you, Zidane! But now I see the truth. I know now what you really are!" she said. "Freya! You know me! You know I could never do such a thing! You of all people should believe me! Remember all the times we've shared!" Zidane responded. As he was speaking, a civilian form the angry crowd crept up behind Zidane and smashed a bottle on his head. The framed hero yelped in pain and lowered his head as it started to bleed. Freya took her chance and stabbed Zidane with her spear.
Zidane shouted in agony as the dragon knight buried her steel into his chest. "How does it feel, Zidane? To know the pain that you have caused so many?" she said with a sinisterly soft voice. At the top of the platform, everyone except Garnet, Eiko, Vivi, Mikoto, Hilda, Cid, Beatrix and Tantalus mimicked the crowd in chanting for Zidane's demise. "Now Freya! Kill him now!" Harold yelled. Hearing the Alexandrian king's command, Freya slowly reached back and grabbed the blunt end of her spear, preparing to shove the weapon straight through Zidane's body. Anticipating this, Zidane grabbed his end of the javelin and kicked Freya and the stomach, forcing her down onto one knee. Then, with a scream of pain, Zidane pulled the spear from his chest and leaped back away from the dragoon. He kept pressure on the bloody wound with his left hand; his tail helped him to keep his balance. He was losing blood, and fast. He soon realised this when his vision kept blurring.
The crowd got even louder as Freya climbed to her feet and prepared yet another attack. Zidane, realising he was completely out matched turned tail and fled, shoving his way through the crowd of people and heading for the back streets. "You coward!" Freya shouted before giving chase. Alexandrian soldiers managed to keep the crowd from following as well. "I'm going to follow them. I need proof of Zidane's death with my own eyes!" said Steiner as he headed down the stairs into the crowd. "My liege, allow me to accompany him." Beatrix asked Harold. "Yes, go! Make sure that filthy ape is given a painful demise!" he responded before Beatrix followed Steiner. The rest of them stayed put. "Finally, he will get what he deserves." Harold stated. The others were still in awe. "... I... can't believe it..." said Eiko. Hilda put her arm round her adopted daughter as she burst into tears. "Hilda, my love, and Eiko. I'm so sorry, I should have known that... that-" Cid stuttered. Both Eiko and Hilda hugged the Regent lovingly. "Don't blame yourself darling, it wasn't your fault." Hilda said, comforting her husband. Mikoto held Vivi close to him as the black mage tried not to cry, but to little avail. "Vivi... Please don't cry. You're making me cry." She said tearfully. "I'm sorry, Mikoto... But... I loved him... like a father." He replied heart fully injured. The black mages identical children gathered round them, not saying a word, trying to comfort their parents. Garnet stood with her husband, barley managing to hold her tears back. "You see, Garnet? Now you know the truth about Zidane. But don't worry, I'll be with you all the way through this." Said Harold, softly to his wife. "Oh Harold." Said Garnet as she started to cry while she walked into Harold's arms and held onto him.
Meanwhile, Zidane ran as fast as he could through the streets of Alexandria. He had no clue what he was going to do or where he was going, but he knew that Freya was in hot pursuit and, unable to convince her that he is innocent, she means to kill him. "Ironic. To... meet my end at the hands of an old friend..." he said to himself as he started to slow down, seeing how hopeless his campaign is. When he finally stopped he dropped to his knees, having ran at least a mile away from the raging crowds. His vision was now a complete blur due to his sheer blood loss. His face had turned as pale as snow and he could feel his body struggling to stay alive. Not even his tail could keep his balance now and, thus, he fell, powerlessly, to the floor. His injury had worsened since he fled from the main streets. His shirt was stained red with his blood as was his left glove that hopelessly held the deep stab wound from Freya's spear. He was breathing slowly and his body ceased to move. He just lay there, in the middle of the street, unable to do anything else. His heart ached his whole body as he started to cry. Damaged by the fact his friends had wrongly accused him of murder. His whole world had turned against him. Zidane's short reign as a hero came crashing down due to a lie. Despite these facts, he could not help but still love Dagger. Tears ran down his face as he continued to wallow in his sorrow.
After a while of emotional suffering, Freya approached his near-lifeless body. She looked down at him and easily spotted that he was crying. She knelt down beside him, grabbed his chin and turned his head to face her. Zidane's vision was worse than before, the blur was now darker and his lips were cracked from the loss of moisture in his body. "So here you are. All your power has been stripped and you are now nothing more than a helpless infant, no one to grieve you, no one to care about you." She said, in that same sinisterly soft tone of voice as before. Zidane tried to speak, but was unable to simply due to lack of energy to even talk. Freya brought his face closer to hers. "I want you to look at me while you die... Maybe then you'll understand the pain you've caused me. Because of you, I must now raise a bastard child. Never have I hated someone this much before. And to think you used to be my friend. What a joke! You disgust me." She said again, quietly. She raised her spear and aimed it for between Zidane's legs. "First, I'll take away what you cherish most, Mr. Ladies man." She said. As she readied herself to castrate him, Zidane grunted and squealed in panic, pleading her to stop. His heart pounded within his chest and a rate so loud and fast, even Freya could hear it.
Then, suddenly, a magic bolt was fired, aimed at Freya. She immediately saw it and jumped out of the way. The bolt blew apart a stack of crates behind where Freya was kneeling. The dragon knight stood up and looking in the direction of the shot. She saw a figure appear from the shadows that stood over Zidane, who still lay on the ground, defencelessly. "No one kills Zidane while I'm around. Destiny has reserved that pleasure for me!" Ares stated, grinning at Freya. Zidane looked up to see his worst nightmare. His eyes widened with terror as he was unable to do anything at the foot of the real killer. "Who are you! How dare you interrupt!" scowled Freya, unaware of the man's identity. "Ah, Freya Crescent. What a pleasure." Said Ares. "I know so much about you, but have never had the honour of meeting you. Sorry about that, I had the wrong idea. I thought you were someone else." He continued. "You're excused. Just go away." Freya answered. "Oh now. I know you're in the middle of something, but please. Allow me to shake your hand. Then I'll leave you in peace. All I want is to mix pleasantries with you." Ares reacted. Zidane tried to warn her but was still too weak to talk. Desperate to get him out of the way, Freya put her hand out for Ares to shake. When he grabbed her, he started to send an electrical discharge from his core into Freya's body, thus electrocuting her. Ares started to chuckle as he looked at Zidane. "Hee hehe hehe. Oh I got a live one here, AHAHAHAHAHA!" the monster laughed as he zapped Freya.
Zidane managed to utter the word "Freya..." before he collapsed again. Eventually, Ares let go of Freya, but as a result of the electricity, she was flung back by its power onto the floor which winded her. She climbed to her feet and stared at him with shock while she got her breath back. "Real charge, wasn't it! Hahaha!" he laughed, mocking her. "Grrr! Who do you think you are!" she yelled. "Oh yes, where are my manners! I am Ares. And it was me who absorbed your husband!" Ares answered. Freya froze on the spot, her mind was boggled. "What! B-But Ares isn't real! Zidane made him up to cover for his crimes! Didn't he?" she pondered. Ares turned to Zidane. "Is that what they all saw me as? What a bunch of idiots! This is laughable! You all thought I was a story he made up! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You stupid rat! Even I know that Zidane is too pathetic to bring himself to kill anyone in cold blood. An action like that takes a sick minded freak... Like me!" Ares laughed mocking Freya. The dragon knight felt her stomach drop, finally realising that Zidane was telling the truth and was trying to save them the whole time. She dropped her javelin from a shaky hand as a gigantic wave of guilt struck her. She looked down at Zidane's lifeless body and she started to shed tears. "Zidane... All this time you were telling the truth... And no one believed you... Not even us...I'm a fool! A stupid fool! It should be me dying on the ground. I'm so sorry... Not that it means anything now..." she thought.
Before Freya knew it, Ares was already chanting a spell. She didn't even try to move as she was far too guilt stricken. "So your just gonna sit there and let me kill you? Lame!" Ares said just before he casted Water on Freya. She got back up but still didn't put up a defence as Ares started to pummel her with his fists. After knocking her to the ground, Freya was laying very close to Zidane. "Freya..." the genome whispered. Freya opened her eyes to see Zidane looking at her. "Fight... him..." he painfully spoke. "Zidane... I... I..." The dragoon stuttered. "Forget about it..." he interrupted. "He'll kill us... both unless... unless you...resist..." he uttered. After a moment of thinking, Freya built up her confidence, stood up and readied her spear for battle. "Ah. That's more like it!" Ares remarked as he and Freya prepared to face off.