Chapter Twenty-Eight

When Zidane awoke, he didn't have much knowledge of anything. An array of night time creatures began chirping in his ears. He became aware of the sticky sweat that plagued his skin. His thoughts were all discombobulated. For a fleeting moment, he didn't even know where he was, staring towards the domed ceiling that was bland in comparison to the gold leaf painted ceiling of his royal chambers. He hadn't slept in his own bed in weeks, that much sank in on him. Sarah and Bella's faces slowly filled the frame of his vision and only a moment passed before their arms tangled around his neck. Zidane felt as if he was emerging through a surface of water. His breath was shallow as he felt the cool skin of his daughter's against him. Meekly, after a moment, he wrapped his arms around their thin bodies, holding them close. He blinked rapidly, looking around the room. Fauna remained tied to the leg of the table, her face blank and grim. Eiko was pacing. Dante sat in a chair, only staring at the red headed girl slumped on the ground. Beatrix and Steiner spoke quietly to each other. Freya was knelt close to the floor, using a mortar to crush a variety of dried leaves. Slowly, Bella and Sarah lowered their father back to the pallet laid beneath him. Tenderly, his eldest daughter brushed his hair away from his sticky face.

"Daddy, we were so worried," Sarah told him, her eyebrows furrowing together. "You've been out for over an hour. It's never been this long before. What happened?"

"I..." Zidane's voice cracked for a moment as his eyes fell over Fauna. There was nothing in her eyes. She only stared at him, her chin tilted down and her stringy, knotty, and bloody hair fell around the frame of her face. Bella pressed a damp rag to Zidane's forehead and he found himself looking at the dull ceiling again. "I guess I fainted..." Zidane said.

"It must have been Kuja," Bella insisted. "What did he want?"

Zidane looked between his daughter's who seemed worried. How bizarre it was to be on the receiving end of this look from them. Both of their faces were so grimy with dirt, compounded with dried blood, scrapes, and bruises. They looked as sore and pitiful as their own mother did during their journey two decades ago. It was hard to believe that these girls used to be small babies he held in his arms. All that hovered over him now were two young women, growing up far too rapidly. Zidane only shook his head as he came to sit up. Bella and Sarah both reached for him, squeezing his arms.

"I didn't see Kuja," Zidane told them. Everyone in the room now looked at him. The crew had dwindled so much in the past few days since being separated at the docks. It all felt so foreign having those eyes on him. They gazed at him like he was in charge. Like he was magically supposed to know what to do. But he didn't. And he had never felt more lost than he had in his entire life. How could he even think to march towards the Iifa Tree with his daughter's on his heels? He wasn't some teenager with nothing on the line anymore. Everything was on the line now. The stakes were much higher. The games much more pettier. And the vengeance was all much more exact. "I think I had a real dream for the first time in a long time." Zidane slumped his shoulders on his pallet. "It was like a lifetime of memories drifting past me... I saw Lindblum again, like I was seeing it as a kid all over." Everyone in the room had paused now, breaking away from their own worried and disjointed thoughts. They watched the uneasy king, who had his eyes cast down. "Some of my travels came back to me, too. The dwarves in Conde Petie, the Chocobos on that island..." Zidane smiled weakly. "I saw Vivi... and Dagger. I saw all of my daughter's being born again..."

"It was Kuja, dammit," Eiko sneered from where she stood by her old bookcase. "He's trying to break you down, Zidane! The weaker you become, the stronger he is. This is all part of Kuja's elaborate game of tricks!"

In the next moment, Sarah cringed for the slightest second. Her head jerked and she recoiled back, hunching her shoulders. Zidane reached for her wrist, steadying her on her knees. "Sarah? What is it?" The young girl blinked rapidly as a rush of blood came over her, blanching beneath her skin.

"N... nothing," Sarah was rather winded. "I think a headache is coming on, that's all." She shook it all away in the next beat, looking around the room. "We have to do something. Time is passing and we are dawdling. We need to go to the Iifa Tree and confront Kuja once and for all." Sarah was still for a moment. "Daddy, I think you should stay here. Kuja knows too much about you. All your weak spots. And Kuja told me in a dream... he was only able to get to me there by learning about me... through your experiences."

Zidane shook his head without hesitation. "Absolutely not. I am not sitting this out. Who do you think I am? That'd I send my own daughter's off to finish what I couldn't do."

Sarah pursed her lips, her eyes becoming hard. "You're not well, Daddy," She said with a very even tone. Then she got up, dusting her pants off rather futilely. Sarah grabbed her backpack that was slumped against the wall and promptly slammed it on the table, making Fauna lurch from where she was restrained. "If something like this happens to you, we'll not have near enough medicine to care for you. Or even a shelter. We shall elect someone to stay behind with you and the rest of us must move on."

Zidane staggered to his feet, coming towards the table. Shiftlessly, Dante removed himself from the chair between them, going towards Bella who watched with his a still and solemn look. "Sarah, now is not the time to try and take charge. We're in up to our necks right now. This party can't afford to lose two people. We have no idea what's waiting for us on the other side of that seal. There could be an army. And for all we know, you might be unwell, too." Sarah felt the bandaged wound on her neck pulsate. And then her skull vibrated. A wave of feelings overcame her that she had never felt before. Something she couldn't quite discern.

"Well, then, let's go," Sarah raised her gaze to him and the stony look in her eyes hurt her father. "It's nearly daybreak. There's a whole day of walking to be done."

Zidane had never seen Sarah so tense. He could sense she was furiously angry. She stuffed things into her backpack with a rigidness that was much different from her usual tender grace. But he had to take into account all the factors. She was probably exhausted and in pain, hungry, and feeling generally unwell. He remembered all too well the aches and pains of their own journey all those years ago. Looking between both his daughter's, again, he was drowned in the guilt of subjecting them to this.

Sarah snapped her backpack closed, tying it off. "Let's go."

Beatrix came forward now. "What do we do about her?" She gestured to the broken woman crumpled on the floor. Upon feeling the king's gaze, Fauna lifted her head to look back at Zidane. Occasionally, a twitch came over her and she ground her teeth together.

"Kuja knows of my deviation," Fauna told him.

"You've been shocked by the same thing as me and Sarah, haven't you?"

"We've all been chipped, yes," Fauna nodded.

"Kuja told me it was in my bloodstream," Zidane shook his head.

"A chip," Freya echoed, looking to Zidane. "Then that means we can surgically remove it. Fauna, are you certain it's not a blood disease?"

"Kuja is synthesizing a way to make it biological. For his... new world. But for now... it's only a chip in your neck, waiting to be dissolved into your bloodstream."

Eiko came across the room now, kneeling in front of Fauna. "How much do you know about the insertion? How far does the chip have to go? Where is it on the neck?"

Fauna's green eyes looked between everyone's face. "What, are you all doctor's? Do you seriously think you could pull it out of yourself?"

"Not me, but Eiko, Beatrix, and Freya," Zidane told her. "They are trained medics."

"Please, tell me where it goes in the neck," Eiko touched her leg.

"I don't know any of that, I'm sorry," Fauna shook her head. "The chip goes where my hand strikes first."

"You wrapped your hands all the way around Zidane's neck," Beatrix said. The prisoner glanced to the flesh thin scar running around Zidane.

"... That one is in his jugular, I know for a fact..."

"No..." Eiko dipped her head. "That's too high risk, Zidane. You'll probably bleed to death..."

"If you defeat him, the chip will be rendered useless," Fauna whispered.

In the next moment, Zidane drew his dagger and cut Fauna loose. He helped her to her feet where she leaned against the table for support. She raked her grimy hair back from her face, looking to Zidane. "Come with us. Fight with us," Zidane said. "Help us take down the man who has stolen years of your life and held you against your own freewill. You can be you again, Fauna."

"She's the enemy," Sarah came forward now, her hands curled into fists. "She'll betray us somehow! How could you even think to trust her?! Why do you have to be so nice to everyone?"

A wave of deja vu came over Zidane. Dagger had said those same exact words to him once before... and it even was in Madain Sari, as well. "We can trust her, Sarah. She's a victim, like us. We need all the help we can get. And she has information that we don't."

Sarah bit down on her lip and looked hard at Fauna. "My father may trust you, but that doesn't mean I do. One mistake and I will not hesitate to draw my sword." And with that, Sarah promptly turned on the balls of her feet, brushing past Dante and out into the breaking dawn. Zidane watched her go, walking with determined purpose, carving a path of anger in her wake as she steamed away. He blinked rapidly, looking around the room rather dazed.

"Try to understand, Zidane..." Freya began packing her medicines and herbs away. "She is young and this is hard... I know that behavior. It's a young woman grieving the loss of the life she once knew."

An uneasy feeling was blossoming in the pit of Zidane's stomach, however. He nodded to Freya. "I hope so."

...

It was warm as morning passed. The party traveled across the wide plains of the Outer Continent. Birds squawked overhead and the ocean waves crashed nearby. Zidane could distantly see the tree tops of the Black Mage Village and in the foggy mist of the morning, he could vaguely make out the shape of Conde Petie lurched between the mountain ridges. It felt like he was almost experiencing it for the first time all over again. It felt like an entirely different lifetime ago. And in that moment, he craved desperately to be with the people he once was. The innocent eyes of Vivi, the searching gaze of Dagger... it all felt so surreal to him in that present time. Part of him wondered if he had even been so lucky to have actually experienced that. When his eyes fell over his daughter's, he only could feel his insides constrict. How could he let this happen? Dagger would be so disappointed in him, he was certain. When he looked between the side of their faces, he fleetingly relived the memories of them being born. Sarah was a much more laborious birth, like Alex, but Bella had been relatively simple. Zidane would forever admire Dagger for her perseverance through all those pains and aches. After all, she gave him the greatest gifts of all: Their three daughters. And he wouldn't have it any other way.

Fauna appeared beside Zidane. She was obviously in pain as she worked harder to keep up with the group. He glanced at her, remembering all those months ago when they had seen each other at the theater. It had all been on purpose, Zidane recounted. She was supposed to be there that night to confirm Kuja's suspicions, even his powers. She raked her heavy knotted hair from her face and looked at the king. "Can I ask you something?"

Zidane stepped around a large rock in the path, gripping his backpack strap. "Shoot."

"Do you think destiny is set in stone... or do you think it's only an option?"

Zidane was quiet a few moments. Some of the others glanced towards them, also patiently awaiting Zidane's answer. Eiko was tense as she walked alongside Bella. "I don't know... I try not to think about it very much."

"Do you think you were meant to be a king?" Fauna asked. "Or do you think you're only delaying the inevitable of who you were meant to be...?"

The crunch of boots to the sandy, gravelly path echoed out around them. Zidane looked around, noticing Sarah seemed irritated just by the noise of Fauna's voice. He pursed his lip, watching his daughter kick pebbles along the faded road. "Are you talking about me being... the Angel of Death?" Zidane asked, glancing to Fauna.

"With my earliest memories of Kuja... I remember so desperately wanting to be the apple of his eye," Fauna nodded. "He was like a dear older brother to me, looking after me in what I believed to be my vulnerable hours. And yet, he always spoke of you, Zidane." The king could feel himself flushing at the thought. Even his daughter's seemed unnerved by the idea. "He always talked about how he would have his time with you again, telling himself it could never be the last time he saw you all those years ago..."

"I had a feeling that maybe I'd see him again one day," Zidane replied, his eyes trained forward. "Maybe there really is no escaping fate, no matter how desperately you try. We may do everything we can to deviate, to try to change things... but maybe this is how it's supposed to be." Zidane shrugged. "Maybe I will always be that Angel of Death, bringing misery and destruction with me in all my wakes... and no, I don't think I was supposed to be King."

"Daddy, but how could you say that?" Bella looked over her shoulder now with her smoldering brown eyes. "You've always been wonderful as a father and as a king."

Zidane smiled crookedly, casting his eyes down. "Yes, but honestly, Arabella, it wasn't meant to happen. Your mother and I were never meant to be together. How it happened, I still don't know. How I could make someone like that fall in love with me? I'll never have the answer. I'll forever cherished it happened, though." Zidane strode forward, wrapping his arm around Bella's wiry shoulder. "And you three are the most important thing to me now."

"Fauna, it would be best you were quiet now," Came Sarah's sharp voice. She barely even cast a glance at the achy woman, her blond locks beating against the frame of her face. "We don't need distractions, we need focus. There's a large hand at task, it'd be good we all keep our wits."

"We have a long day of travel," Fauna tilted her head back to the sun. "Passing time would be nice..."

"I said be quiet," Sarah turned sharply on her heels, facing Fauna with a reddened face. "You're not even supposed to be traveling with us. I don't trust you, so quit speaking. For all we know, you're feeding it all back to Kuja!"

"We all are," Fauna shrugged, looking down on the sixteen year old girl. "You, me, your father... he's inside us-"

"I said to be silent!" Sarah brandished her sword now, stepping back and swinging it towards Fauna's neck. With quick precision, the sword rest just against the skin of her jugular. "I don't need your useless font of information in my head. I want to know nothing more about you or your story. You're no victim, you're a villain."

"Sarah," Zidane came forward, but she turned her sword on him, aiming lower, towards his chest. Zidane held his hands up, back pedaling from the fuming young woman.

"I'm sick and tired of you butting into all of my affairs!" Sarah roared, holding her sword out at arms length towards her father. "Will you ever let me be Queen one day or will I be babysat for the rest of my days?! We're in the middle of a crisis and all you want to do is bide your time, Daddy. The clock has run out. There is no more time."

Zidane glanced to Fauna, who was studying the back of Sarah profusely. He pursed his lips. "These are the effects of what you put in her, isn't it?" Zidane asked as the sun glint off his daughter's sword. "She's aggressive now."

Sarah stepped towards her father, lowering the sword down to get closer to his face. "You're always talking over my head! As if I'm not as old as Mother was when she took the throne. You treat me like a child. I am this kingdom's future. I am my mother's legacy. I will not stand idly by and let these terrible things in the world happen. Not when I'm supposed to don the crown and own up to my responsibilities. I want this over with! Don't you get that?!"

"Sarah..." He began to reach for her but Sarah drew away, raising her sword again with misty angry tears in her eyes, her jaw clenched to stop the tremors. The sharp end with it's garnet encrusted steel came to rest at the base of Zidane's sternum. He felt the tip against his skin and he shivered at the very idea of what was happening before him. In the past, Kuja had hurt those close to him and it wounded him deeply. But to see it happen to his own children... Zidane could only tremble. Kuja was taking it too far.

"Do you really want this to be over with?!" Sarah asked, her voice scratchy and uneven. "You've hidden away from it for so long, hoping it'd all blow over, shuffling your feet, thinking you have to go through all the motions... what happened to the father I was told of in tales who would take it all head on without a moment of hesitation? My father wouldn't waste his time holding a conference to bitch and moan when he knew what was happening. But you denied it all and look where you've brought us. We're at the end of the line, Daddy. It's the last call."

"Sarah, don't let yourself believe for a moment that this is how I wanted it," Zidane struggled to keep his voice even as he stood at the other end of her sword. "Don't let him win, Sarah. We're both going through the same thing. Don't you see he's trying to tear us apart? You said back in Madain Sari that Kuja would be weak against a close encounter. That's what he's trying to prevent. We can overcome it together. Let's just try, Sarah."

Sarah faltered for just a moment, lowering her sword. Zidane looked to her eyes watching as they became dewy. But in the next beat, the flashed into hot anger. Sarah ground her teeth together and let out a shout as she reared her elbow back. It was all slow motion for Zidane as he watched the sword draw back before suddenly lurching forward. But Dante was spry and quick, grabbing hold of Sarah's elbows and jerking her backwards. The sword clattered to the ground and Sarah fought against the restraint of Dante. Zidane's heart pounded in his chest. After just a few more seconds, Sarah suddenly calmed, dipping her head and blinking rapidly, as if in a daze. Dante's grip weakened and she slumped in his arms. Tenderly, he held Sarah against him and for a moment, Zidane only could picture Dagger in his.

"Pick her sword up quickly," Fauna ordered. "Can you carry her?"

"Yes, of course," Dante said, bending to sweep her up bridal style. Zidane could almost hear the grinding of stone on stone at the Alexandrian Castle, Dagger's head bobbing against his shoulder. Numbly, he reached for Sarah's sword and worked quickly to attach it to his backpack, pressed against his shoulder blades. He could feel the cool garnets seeping into his skin.

"We have to move and quick," Fauna told them. "Kuja is catching on. The Iifa Tree is not far, we can be there by sunset."

And together, the party picked up the pace, crossing the dry and forgotten lands of the Outer Continent.