Notes: It's been a rough week and next week isn't any better so if I'm a bit when it comes to review replies, you'll know why. I know school started for some of you guys as well, so good luck. As always, thanks for all your support and wonderful feedback.
The countdown has almost reached 0, so expect something big soon ;)
….
(T-1)
Chapter 31: Angels Don't Rest on Christmas
Once he found a bathroom, Zidane slipped inside and this time vanished himself. Since he no longer had the advantage of a cloak due to his mishap with the spilt potion earlier, he would have to use this strategy instead. It definitely wouldn't be a good thing if he ran into the others again. He needed to find someone from the Order, or even better, Bill. The redhead was supposed to be here, though he had yet to see a sign of him.
Zidane walked towards the fifth floor, taking the stairs once more. He was just about to make it up the next floor when the Golden Trio, along with Ginny, and this time also the twins, came rushing hurriedly down the stairs. Since they were taking almost the whole width of the staircase, he had to choice but to retreat. If he tried being silent, he wouldn't make it in time to get out of the way, if he jumped away, they might hear him.
In the end, Zidane plastered himself against the wall in an attempt to take up as less space as possible, and prayed to the Eidolons that this would work. It was hard to do it though since he couldn't see himself either, so he had no idea where he was.
The teen held his breath in anticipation as the group passed by him, Ginny standing mere inches away from him. Letting out a mental sigh of relief, Zidane moved, and then froze when he felt his tail brush against the girl's arm. The redheaded teen stopped dead in her tracks.
"Ginny, what's wrong, we gotta go." Ron said as he noticed that the girl had stayed behind. Ginny just looked around with a frown on her face.
"I just felt something brush against me." Ginny said.
"Are you sure?" Hermione asked and then started looking around for anything suspicious.
'Oh shit.' Zidane thought as he too began to look for anything that might give him away.
Looking down and seeing that the crystals above him were making him cast a shadow, he silently moved out of the way and into a dark corner, before Hermione's sharp gaze landed on him. Luckily she didn't seem to notice.
"I'm sure. It brushed against my arm, but there should be anything there except the wall." Ginny said as she self-consciously rubbed her right arm.
"Can we just go?" Ron asked.
'Yes, just leave, come on… dammit.' Zidane thought in frustration as he saw Hermione extend her arm in front of her.
"What are you doing?" Harry asked. "Do you think there is someone there?"
"One way to find out." The girl said and then pulled out her wand. "Homenum Revelio."
Zidane grit his teeth, tensing his legs in preparation to run as he felt a swopping presence over him. But much to his surprise, the presence just seemed to overlook him.
'The hell?'
"It looks like there is no one besides the patients further away." Hermione said and put away her wand.
"Wait, aren't we forbidden from doing that? I nearly got expelled for using magic!" Harry said.
"Bloody hell 'Mione, you did magic outside of school!" Ron said in shock.
The bushy haired girl just rolled her eyes. "It's alright in here. Technically we aren't supposed to use magic outside of school, but it's impossible for the Ministry to tell who exactly cast the spell in such a big place like this."
"So we are only in trouble if we use it in front of Muggles." Harry deduced.
"Well, yes. The Ministry can only tell if a person has done magic near an underaged wizard, but they can't tell just who cast the spell, so in large magical areas like this it's alright." Hermione said.
"That's why I got blamed for what Dobby did all those years ago then." Harry said.
"Guys, that's neat and all, but can we go?" Ron asked.
With a few choice words about lack of curiosity, Hermione and the others continued on their way down the stairs, leaving Zidane to freely go up to the next floor. It was there that he finally reached the tearoom. He let out a sigh of relief when he caught sight of the unique Weasley-red hair on the head of the exact Weasley he was looking for. Bill was sitting in a small table in the corner talking to Tonks whose hair had changed to a purple color.
"Bill." Zidane whispered once he got close enough to the redhead. Predictably, the man nearly jumped up six feet into the air.
"Zidane?! Where the bloody hell have you been? We've been looking everywhere for you!" Bill whispered harshly.
"What happened?" Tonks asked.
"I had …a bit of an accident. Harry and the rest saw me." Zidane said, but then quickly calmed the two down. "It's alright though, they still have no idea."
"That's a relief." Bill said, sinking into the chair. "Wait, why are you invisible then? Shouldn't you be cloaked?"
"Like I said, I had a bit of an accident." Zidane whispered, but when the two adults gave him 'the look', Zidane sighed. "I'll tell you about it later, can we go?"
"Fine." The two adults said, and got up from where they sat.
They quickly exited the Hospital, since they were running late and Lupin was supposed to be waiting for them outside with all of their luggage and the Portkey he received from Dumbledore. Thankfully, Kingsley managed to get Tonks the permission to go with them on account of visiting a sick distant relative.
"There he is." Tonks said as she pointed to the werewolf.
Lupin was currently beckoning them from inside the parked car that the others arrived in. Bill opened the back door, and made Zidane and Tonks step inside the rather large interior, before looking both ways and entering himself.
"Ouch, you stepped on my tail!" The genome cried out.
"Sorry." Tonks said rather sheepishly.
"What took you so long?" Lupin asked as he cast a spell to obscure the windows of the car. "Molly and the others are going to arrive soon and we'll need to leave before that happens."
"Yeah, what was that about an accident?" Bill asked.
"Alright, I'll show you, just keep your pants on." Zidane grumbled before dispelling the invisibility over him. The three occupants of the room just stared.
"What happened to your eye?" Bill asked.
"Why does everyone- okay, look. A friggin cauldron spilled over me, are you happy?" Zidane said, his tail swishing like a pendulum in irritation. When he saw that Tonks was now trying that electric crimson color for her hair, Zidane's tail swished faster in annoyance.
"Are you going to be okay? That's not something you should take lightly." Lupin said, concern written over his scarred face.
"Healer said it would wear off, and besides, this isn't all that uncommon for me. I'm wondering how I'm going to wash the rest of the stuff off of my cloak, though." The genome said, relaxing slightly.
"Oh, I can help with that. As an Auror, you kind of learn to remove miscellaneous stuff from your clothes all the time." Tonks said, this time trying the color for her eyes. Zidane just leaned his head back on the seat in a sign of defeat.
"Can we just go?" The genome asked.
"Alright, alright." Remus said as he took out a box from the seat of the car. Inside of it was a rusty bicycle handlebar complete with a bell. Zidane raised a brow at this but didn't comment. "Now here is what we are going to do. On the count of three, all of us will grab onto the Portkey at the same time. We will be travelling further than one normally would, so be careful, and whatever you do, do not let go while we are still moving. We will be taken to Beauxbatons, where we'll we will be given all the information about this mission. Afterwards we will be picked up and taken to the place where we will be staying. I have everyone's belongings with me, except for Zidane's, so do not worry about that. I assume you have everything you need right?"
"You got it." Zidane grinned, his tail thumping against the car seat in anticipation.
"Err, Zidane, your tail." Bill said. Noticing this, Zidane quickly vanished the appendage from sight.
"Alright, is everyone ready?" Lupin said, and after getting three nods, he began the countdown. "One….Two…Three!"
When he reached three, four hands reached out to grab the handlebar simultaneously. The moment Zidane grasped the metal, he felt a sharp pull from behind his navel, but didn't let go. Even though the speed he felt they were travelling at was quickly making him dizzy and he was finding it harder to breath as the seconds painfully trickled by. The teen reached the point where he thought they had somehow gotten stuck, when the feeling suddenly stopped and he found himself crouched on the ground on all fours. Lupin had stumbled to his feet, trying to regain his balance, and the same went for Bill. Tonks on the other hand, hadn't been so lucky and was now picking herself off the floor.
"Ah, welcome friendz of Dumble-door to Beaxbatons Academee of Magique." A heavily accented voice called. When Zidane turned around to face the person, he saw what was probably the largest woman he had ever laid eyes on. "My name eez Madam Maxime and I weel be your 'ost."
'THIS is Hagrid's girlfriend?' Zidane thought in shock.
The woman was almost as tall as the room they were in, making him feel like an ant in comparison. Even so, she had a very elegant and graceful look about her. She had beautiful olive-skinned features with huge black eyes and sleek hair. She wore fashionable black satin robes that hugged her frame quite nicely and was laden in opal jewelry.
After introductions were done and over, they were lead out of the room they had arrived in and lead through a brilliantly lit hall that made him believe that they were more likely in a palace and not a castle. Zidane couldn't help but admire the elegant décor of the place.
As they continued walking Zidane perked up when he heard a choir of melodious voices echoing through the hall.
"Those are ze choir of Wood Nymphs that play during Christmas festiviteez. Follow me and I weel show you ze dining hall." The large woman said as she led the wide-eyed group around.
The Dining Hall was, he supposed, the equivalent of the Great Hall in Hogwarts. This one, however, was decorated with large ice statues showing angelic figures that would occasionally switch poses. Enchanted snow fell from the ceiling giving the whole place an elegant wintery look,, which, coupled with the powder-blue silky uniforms of the students dining there, only seemed to intensify the feeling. The wood nymphs were also there, singing and dancing while the students ate. They were quite small but had an exotic and almost wild beauty to them. They seemed quite happy to interact with the students, too.
The students were another thing altogether. After seeing a few older female students, Zidane wasn't sure if he wanted to return to Britain at all. They didn't make them the same way over there. The three adults had to practically pry him out of the room, Tonks pulling him discreetly, but still rather harshly, by the tail. A group of girls saw him and began giggling while talking in rapid French to each other. Zidane at least managed to send them a wink, making several of them giggle, before being dragged out.
Madam Maxime, having seemingly ignored what just happened (It eez quite common), lead them to her office, where she would talk to them about their mission. From there, they would take another Portkey that would take them to one of the Delacour estates in Paris.
The Headmistress's office was quite different than what Zidane had imagined. For one thing, everything was much larger. The place had a sort of magnificent antechamber lined with rows of suits of armor and with overly ornament crests on the walls bearing two crossing wands, each shooting three stars. Once they made it past that, they were lead to a large rectangular room with a huge desk and all sorts of silvery decorations and artifacts about on some rather exquisite looking furniture. Unlike Dumbledore's office, this place had a more organized and artsy feel, rather than the warm yet cluttered look Zidane was used to seeing.
Madam Maxime took the high-backed leather chair in front of the large desk and then asked them to take a seat on the four normal-sized leather chairs in front. Once they were all comfortably settled and offered something to drink, the large woman began.
"I ave been asked by Albus to give yoo ze mission details. Ze information you are looking for can be found in a collection zat belongs to a… acquaintance of mine. Ze man you are looking for goes by ze name of monsieur Jacques L'Rouge, e is also nown as 'Le Roy' to most wizards."
"And what can you tell us about that man?" Zidane asked in curiosity.
"He iz a brilliant man, and he, how would you say it, took ze French wizards by surprise. I ave only met him a couple of times. He now owns an estate in the Avenue des Champs-Élysées where he displays hiz collection."
"That's amazing." Bill said, and then frowned. "But what I don't understand is how you only met him a couple of times? I was under the impression that most, if not all wizards here, were taught here in Beauxbatons Academy."
"Zat is a good observation, and it is mostly true. Except for zis man. He is a foreigner, but claims to have French blood. He haz already convinced a great majority of politicians. I believe they have also let im get away wiz a few zings, too." Madam Maxime said.
"Well we know where to find him now at least." Lupin said. "Do you know of some way we could get in contact with him?"
"Well zat would be the ard part." The large woman said as she interweaved her fingers over the desk. "Monsieur L'Rouge does not appear publicly unless it iz some event. He haz not taken in any visitors for monthz either, unless it iz ztrictly for business. I believe Dumblydoor tried to contact him, but failed."
"Then how are we supposed to get a hold of the bloke?" Tonks asked, crossing her arms. "He might not even be here as far as we can tell."
"Zat is not entirely true. Tonight he iz having a masquerade ball, so we know he will be staying ere for now, but it will be impossible to enter without invitations." Madam Maxime said. "Dumblydoor said zat he trusted Monsieur Treebal with what to do."
The occupants of the room turned to look at the blonde, who just sighed. "Way to go old man."
"Zer is one more zing you should all know." The woman said, her attitude becoming more serious. "I believe zere is also a great possibility zat there will be Death Eaters trying to contact monsieur L'Rouge, for what I do not know."
Once the serious chat was over, Madam Maxime handed them their next Portkey. This one was a small statuette of a winged woman dressed for battle. They thanked the Headmistress for her hospitality and then followed the same procedure as before. Once Zidane touched the small statue with the others, he felt the same pull at his navel, and the same sensation from before, though this one was not nearly as bad. When the sensation finally stopped, he found himself in the middle of a highly manicured courtyard. Two maids seemed to be expecting them, and led them to the hall where they were greeted by a rather attractive blonde woman that Zidane recognized as Fleur, Bill's girlfriend.
"Bill! Eet iz so good to see you!" Fluer said as she embraced the redhead. Bill embraced her back, though he seemed to flush at the looks that Zidane and Tonks were giving him. Lupin ended up telling the two to cut it out and act like adults. "And who are theez?"
The other three introduced themselves, and were then greeted warmly and given a tour of the place. Since it was getting rather late, they were taked to the dining hall, where they would be having a Christmas dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Delacour and their other daughter, Gabrielle. Zidane admitted that it was quite interesting.
Mr. Delacour was a rather rather short and plump with a black beard, and though he was nowhere near as attractive as his wife, he was still a very pleasant and helpful man. Mrs. Delacour…well he could see where Fleur got her looks. She was a tall, beautiful witch with silvery blonde hair, who claimed that her beauty all came from her Veela mother. Veelas, as she explained, were creatures that appeared as beautiful women, capable of using their own special magic, and often made males inexplicably attracted to them. They were also unfortunately quite temperamental, and when angry, they turned into harpy-like creatures capable of launching fire from their arms.
"You can imagine how 'ard it was to tell my mozer-in-law zat I wanted to 'ave her daughter's 'and in marriage." Mr. Delacour said, laughing while his while gave him a playful push. Zidane recalled how his own mother-in-law did try to kill him a few dozen times, but of course, that was before he was even dating Dagger.
Gabrielle was also quite pretty, though she didn't speak much at first. He did catch her giving him a few shy glances, which he returned with a small playful wink, making the girl blush. It was at that point that Mrs. Delacour asked him if he was by any chance, part Veela.
She seemed mostly surprised that he was immune to their effect. Bill wasn't affected as much because he was already used to Fleur. Tonks was a girl, so she was already immune. Lupin, on the other hand, was having a bit of a hard time. Zidane just blinked. Sure he found them good-looking, there was nothing wrong with that, but he was far from infatuated.
"I'm actually surprised by how much I seem to get that, but I'm not related to Veelas in the slightest." Zidane replied truthfully.
Dinner went without a hitch afterwards, mostly containing light conversation. The food was incredible, unlike Brittish cuisine; French food was much lighter on the stomach and filled with new unique flavors. Zidane also had the chance to try some French wine as well, though the others seemed keen to stop him from drinking too much. He though that they were mostly surprised at his excellent display of table manners. Dagger would be proud…mostly because she was the one intent on beating them into him.
After dinner, they were taken to their rooms. Because of a few small pest problems, they would be sharing rooms. Not that it was a problem since most rooms were already like large flats on their own. They even seemed to have their own bathrooms inside. Zidane ended up bunking with Bill and Lupin in a large room, while Tonks got a smaller (and yet still very large) room to herself for being a girl.
Just like Grimmauld place, the Delacour estate was unplottable and also ridiculously larger on the inside than it appeared on the outside. They were told that most magical estates were like this in Paris, since the city just didn't have enough space, otherwise. Surely enough, the place seemed to buzz pleasantly with magic.
Zidane was mostly happy about the awesome view they got from the window. They were very close to the riverside, and from here he could see an oddly shaped tower in the distance that was lit up. According to Fleur, it was the Eiffel Tower. She also said that they were actually not that far from the Champs-Élysées avenue, and therefore, the same place where this 'Le Roy' guy was.
Speaking of the guy, he was supposed to have a masquerade ball tonight. He couldn't deny that this would be a golden opportunity to sneak in and check it out. Dumbledore probably knew it as well. When he said that he trusted him to know what to do, the answer couldn't have been more obvious. He probably didn't say 'I want you to break into that place' because it wouldn't sound as nice, and granted, most decent folk wouldn't take it very well. That was probably the decisive factor that made Dumbledore agree to let him into the mission in the first place. He realized that he wasn't going to get anything if he used conventional means, and if that also cheered the genome up, then that was a bonus. It was a pretty manipulative strategy, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't expecting it from Dumbledore.
'Well as long as it's working in my favor, I can't say I have a problem.' Zidane thought with a shrug.
Walking into the bathroom, Zidane locked the door behind him and looked around, giving a long whistle as he admired the large and generously decorated space. Facing the mirror, the genome saw his own reflection looking back at him, relief washing over him as he noticed that his eye was finally back to normal. A quick look at his hand determined that the pink fur was also gone.
'Awesome, now let's get to work.'Zidane thought as he proceeded to take out his old clothes and gear from within his pouch, along with his weapon maintenance kit.
After so long, it looked like he'd finally be putting his items to good use since he'd been unable to suit up back at Hogwarts on the account that he'd been pretending to be a student. Of course, this and that were completely different things. He'd be crossing into unknown territory tonight, and Baku had always beaten into him to take special caution in case he'd have to fight on someone else's turf. That was the problem with break-ins; you never really had the home advantage.
Since he'd be practically sneaking in under the owner's nose, it was particularly more difficult. In fact, if they weren't currently on a tight schedule, he'd have spent a few more days on the mission just to sniff around for some information, or scout the premises.
Admittedly, it felt strange to wear so many protective layers after being in civilian clothes for so long, though the added weight and thickness of his gear gave him a very welcome sense of security hat he'd certainly missed. Once he looked at himself in the mirror, he couldn't help but grin. Though in his world his outfit may have looked common, in this world it was practically a costume.
'Alright, we're almost done.' Zidane thought as he polished his daggers and began to inspect them for any damages.
"Zidane, are you alright? You've been in there for quite a while now." Remus's voice cut as he knocked on the door lightly.
"Nah, I'm fine, just getting ready." The teen said as he sheathed both weapons and packed everything in pouch again. Opening the door, he was met with a confused and slightly surprised look from Lupin. Bill wasn't in the room, so Zidane supposed that he was having some romantic alone time with Fleur.
"Ready?" The man inquired in confusion.
'It's still missing something' The teen thought, ignoring the werewolf as he began to look around the room, his eyes finally landing on a marble bust near a bookcase of a woman with a lightly-adorned, gold-rimmed, black domino mask that covered her eyes. 'Aha! Guess I'll just be borrowing this…'
"And what, pray tell, are you getting ready for?" The man said, eyeing the teen warily as he pried the mask off the marble statue. Zidane didn't answer him until he had walked up to the window and opened it, letting in the cold breeze from the dark and yet lively city streets outside.
"I have a party I need to get to, that's what." Zidane said with a smirk, but before Lupin could react, Zidane had already jumped out of the window and into the streets below.
…..
"Your Majesty, the guests have arrived." A servant called. "Also, Master Quina says that the preparations for dinner are almost ready."
A smile broke out on Garnet's face before the young queen rushed towards the entrance, much to the servant's surprise. When she got there she found a lively crowd of the people she held dear to her, all of them here in celebration.
Well, not all of them.
Vivi had long since departed this world, even though he was always close to them in their hearts. Zidane, too, was not present. The magical accident from a few months ago had sent him off on his latest misadventure. Still, she was happy to hear from Ramuh that he was doing okay. The news from the Eidolon's had been a huge relief, not only because it truly proved that Zidane was indeed in some other world (thus her dreams had spoken the truth), but it also renewed her hopes of him getting back. The gap between them was closing
"Dagger, come on!" Eiko urged and dragged her towards the waiting group.
In hopes to keep in touch with each other, they had made the agreement to meet every year for certain events, like the day they defeated Necron, and other occasions, like Christmas and New Years. Though Garnet did see them many of them occasionally (Steiner, Beatrix and Quina were almost always in the castle), it was hard to get them all together like in the old days, so she was quite thankful for these occasions. Hey were a merciful break from the constant formality and strict etiquette she had to endure as Alexandria's queen.
"Ah, Your Majesty. It's quite lovely to see you." Freya said as she approached with a teasing smile tugging at her elongated face, and Sir Frately walking next to her while holding her hand. The Dragon Knight often called her by her title as a small joke, even though Garnet had told her several times not to. "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas to you too." Garnet answered. "It's really great to see you two. How has Burmecia been?"
"Well it's been difficult, but we feel that the worst is over. Things are actually looking up now. Prince Puck too has been making an effort as prince. He still runs off occasionally, though." Frately answered. Dagger was mostly happy that he had been steadily regaining his memories too.
"Freya, you wouldn't happen to know if Amarant was coming, right?" Dagger asked. The redheaded warrior hadn't changed much. Though he no longer picked fights right and left and he actually developed a sense of comradeship, he still pretty much showed up whenever he felt like it.
"I saw him in Alexandria on our way in, I suppose he will join us later. You know how he is." Freya replied.
"Hey, princess!" A voice called, and when Dagger turned to look, she was greeted by none other than Blank, Cinna, and Marcus. A few feet away, she could also see Baku arguing with Steiner, a bemused Dr. Tot and Beatrix looking at the spectacle.
"Hey, you all made it! Wait, where's Ruby?" Dagger asked.
"Oh, she's closing up the theater right now. She'll be here soon enough." Blank said, waving his hand off in dismissal. "Hey, wasn't Zidane's weird sister coming too? What's-her-face, Mikoto?"
"She said she would be coming later along with Vivi's children." Dagger said as she remembered what the delivery moogle said. Mikoto wasn't originally planning on coming, but she apparently got coaxed by some of the Black Mages in the village to take Vivi's children to come and visit. Otherwise, she just couldn't imagine her coming on her own free will. She didn't exactly hate the genome, but she oftentimes found it hard to interact with her. Her overly apathetic and sometimes callous attitude towards things made it so. In fact, out of all of them, she was the one that seemed the least worried about Zidane's disappearance.
'Though I can't exactly blame her. And besides, I know she is a good person at heart.' Garnet thought, remembering the lifestyles (or lack thereof) that the genomes had previously led.
"Hey Dagger, Dagger, can we go already? I wanted to show you guys something!" Eiko said cheerily.
"Alright, but let me greet everyone first, okay?" The young queen said, and younger summoner reluctantly nodded.
After greeting everyone Garnet led the group to a reading room. On the way they were met by Amarant and Ruby, the latter who was dragging the large man around, much to everyone's amusement. Quina also joined them since he/she was already done preparing the meal. Once inside the room, they all took a seat. Thankfully, there were enough chairs for the entire group to sit on, as well as a small private library, a desk to the side, and a large warm fireplace.
"Alright, now what did you want to show us?" Garnet asked Eiko in curiosity. The others seemed curious as well.
"Yeah shrimp, get on with it." Amarant said, making the summoner huff in annoyance.
"I shouldn't give you your present for that!" Eiko snapped back, Garnet just tilted her head in confusion.
"Present?" Dagger asked. As far as she knew, all of the presents had been delivered already thanks to Mognet.
"Yeah, presents." Eiko said, beaming at her. "Mog arrived earlier and she dropped off these presents from Zidane!"
"The monkey sent us some presents?" Amarant asked with a disbelieving chuckle. "Should've known."
"All right, gather up y'all." Ruby said enthusiastically as Eiko took out a small sac and began pulling out several packages that shouldn't have fit inside under normal circumstances.
Garnet looked on with a smile on her face as she saw her friends opening the brightly colored packages around the fire with large smiles on their faces. Even Amarant seemed happy, or rather, less gloomy than usual since it was very hard to tell from the grumpy look that was permanently stuck to his face.
"Look dear, I can see you through the mirror." Sir Frately said as he held what appeared to be some enchanted two-way mirror.
"According to the note, we should also be able to hear each other." Freya said in surprise, and then smiled. "This is actually very nice. Apparently, even Zidane is capable of thinking of thoughtful presents."
"Zidane give me yummy candies. It like frog and it jump like tasties, but it made of chocolate." Quina said as he/she opened a small box and a brown frog jumped out, momentarily startling everyone. Afterwards he/she also took a package labeled 'Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans' with a look of awe. After popping several into his/her mouth, the Qu continued. "Strawberry, grass, cream, Malboro. It really has every taste! Yummy!"
"Mmmm, these are really good, you gotta try some!" Eiko said as she put a cauldron-shaped cake in her mouth.
"Hey bro, check it out, he got us a bunch of prank items." Blank said with a mischievous grin, Marcus grinned as well. "Hey Ruby, why don'tcha try out one of these sweets?"
Garnet looked at the custard creams that Blank had in one hand, but before she could even take one, a loud annoying sound began ringing as the small device that Ruby had gotten began whistling and spinning.
"Oh no darlin', not falling for that one." Ruby said, apparently the 'Sneakoscope' Zidane had gotten both Ruby and Amarant could detect bad intentions. The large redheaded man thought of them as 'annoying', though he clearly showed some interest in them.
"Hey, Rusty! Tell us what you got." Marcus said, much to Steiner's displeasure.
"We all got these maintenance kits for what appears to be weapons and armors." Steiner said as he opened his own package and saw that he got the same as Beatrix. Baku had gotten a strange viewing device that looked a lot like a bizarre spyglass.
"Ah, I admit I will likely use this gift to the fullest." Beatrix told Baku as she looked at the kit and then at Save the Queen, that was in its scabbard as always.
"Ah, what's this?" Steiner said as he picked up the note that had fallen on the ground. Opening it, the captain began to read it, his face slowly becoming redder and expression more angry before he exploded. "WHY THAT LEWD MONKEY!"
"What did it say?" Cinna asked, stifling a laugh. The angered captain didn't say anything, but before he could tear the paper to pieces, it had already been swiped by Blank who then made a break for it.
"Oh this is going to be good." The redheaded thief said with a chuckle, before clearing his throat dramatically. "Ahem! Dear Rusty, Merry Christmas and I hope you like your present. It comes with extra lubricant for you armor. I can't make any promises about down there, though, if you catch my drift. Better get it on with the general before you rust. Love, but totally not in that way, Zidane. PS: Better take that armor off while you do it or you will wake up the whole castle."
The thief was practically rolling on the floor laughing along with the others in the room, before he had to make a quick escape as the angered captain came at him with sword in hand.
"Dr. Tot, Dagger, there's some books here for you too, and for dad, and Mikoto as well." Eiko said, handing them the packages. "Oh and there's also this. It says it takes 'pictures'."
Garnet took the package and opened it, revealing a strange device with a lens on one side, several things attached that she couldn't make heads or tails of, including a long cord of some sort, what appeared to be instructions, and an unusually thick slip if rectangular paper that Zidane had stuck onto the package. Upon closer inspection she realized with some amazement that it was like a small painting, but extremely smooth and so life-like that it was more like a tiny window to a different world than a mere replica on canvas. On the picture she could see a scale sized Zidane and Mog posing in front of what appeared to be the snowy courtyard of some stone castle. Inspecting the picture, she noticed Zidane's writing on the back.
Because our memories are ours forever, Merry Christmas Dagger.
Forever yours,
-Zidane
Dagger felt her heart melt, her cheek flushing slightly as Eiko teasted her. Placing Zidane's picture in one of the pages of her new book, she then checked the instructions of the device and after reading them, learned that it was a Wizarding Polaroid camera and that it could take lively pictures just like the one Zidane sent. Apparently you normally had to dip it in some kind of potion for the pictures to move, but this camera already came equipped with that ability
"Hey, we should all take a 'picture'!" Eiko suggested.
They all formed a group in front of the camera as per instructions. None of them knew what to expect, so they all just waved and smiled at the strange device while pressed the switch at the end of the long cord that connected to the camera on the table. There was a flash, a bang, and some smoke startling the group, and making Dagger actually jump in surprise. Of course since Zidane's picture had no sound, they had no way of knowing this would be so loud When they saw a square slip of thick paper come out of the device, they all gathered close, surprise evident as they saw a moving picture slowly begin to form, showing the exact moments before and after the flash. Garnet felt her cheeks turn red as she saw her own embarrassing reactiong, though looking at everyone's expressions during the flash made her realize that at least her's was far from the funniest. In fact, everyone looked more than a bit silly.
"Maybe we should take another one."
Everyone wholeheartedly agreed.
...
To be continued…
…..
A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I mostly wanted to add the Christmas bit with the Gaia group since that front has been a bit idle. Needless to say, things are still happening back in Gaia in response to Zidane's disappearance, though the biggest issue currently is still the reconstruction of Gaia's major cities which still takes priority.
Also, this is the first time in a while that Zidane has fully geared up. The main reason he didn't do it was simply because it was not very inconspicuous. Even if he made it invisible it would still look awkward if he wore his uniform on at the same time (they are incompatible). This is a big deal for him since this trip is all about him dropping his charade as a student. His clothes feel strange to him at first since he's been under the guise of a student for so long, but he realizes that he missed how his old clothes felt because they mean he is no longer an actor playing a role. He is finally 'himself'. Zidane is a decent actor, but there are few things worse than having to live through every day, pretending to be someone you're not.