A/N: I own nothing in here. This story is an alternative to what happened at Fort Ziekden. There will be sex scenes, beginning in Chapter Two. But I think the plot is a good read, too, even if you prefer to skip the sex parts. Background info/AU: Algus Sadalfas (Argath Thadalfas) and Teta Hyral (Tietra Hyral) are the only survivors of the explosion at Ziekden, after the Beoulves flee the scene. When Teta awakens, she finds Algus unconscious and badly hurt. She digs through the wreckage and finds potions to heal him. Since Algus now owes her his life, he agrees to let her journey home with him, since she cannot return to the Beoulves. He gives her work as a governess to his 3-year-old sister. Two-and-a-half years have passed… This story is technically the sequel to the story I wrote 11 years ago, called Algus Returns, by TimeCapsulesLost, which is also available to read on this site. But I think you can understand and enjoy this story on its own, even if you do not read that prequel. DISCLAIMER: I do not condone or recommend any of the actions of words of any of the characters in this fic, it is written purely for entertainment.

Chapter One

Her mind had begun to drift toward sleep when his hand stroked over a raised scar on her shoulder. "When did you get that?" he asked lazily. She was absurdly soft and perfect everywhere, save for this one spot. Teta felt a bit of her cozy pleasure fade away at the question. He had played no small part in the misery of that day. She did not want to think of it now, and she tried to push the memories out of her brain, but to no avail.

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She was filthy. She had been wearing the same dress and underclothes for days, if not weeks. It was hard to keep track of time while tied with ropes in the dirty corner of a windowless, abandoned storage room. The fabulous purple gown she had been wearing, courtesy of her foster family, the noble Beoulves, was already stained beyond repair. Teta could not believe how quickly things had gone from bad to worse for her: starting with the punch to her gut that knocked her breathless as she was thrown over Golagros' shoulder and stolen away from Igros castle. She was next hauled across a chocobo's back, Golagros' knees and fingers digging into her tender flesh everywhere, and raced away at top speed. She screamed for Delita until the castle was out of sight, and then she screamed at her assailant, begging to know why she had been taken. No matter what she shouted, he did not reply.

Time passed, and she was bruised from the jostling of the ride, and also aching from lack of access to a chamber pot for so long. When the men stopped for a rest somewhere deep in the woods, she wasn't even allowed to pee privately; one of them stood right next to her while she squatted by a tree to relieve herself. She doubted she could outrun these grown men, but even so, it seemed they would not take any chances of letting her escape. She took advantage of the break to ask yet again why she had been kidnapped from her home, tears once again streaming down her face. A group of only four men had split off to ride with her and her kidnapper into the woods. None of them would meet her eye, and none of them replied to her. Everyone had a chance to piss and take a drink of ale from a flask hastily passed around. Now her kidnapper, whom she later learned was called Golagros, boosted her up onto a chocobo, more gently this time, and then climbed up behind her. As an extra precaution, he took a moment to tie her left wrist to a strip of cloth that he then tied onto his belt. There would be no jumping off and running away. They rode for a very long time.

She spent days held at another location before she was finally taken to Ziekden Fortress, and she did her best to listen to the men's hushed conversations. It was clear they did not want her to hear, so she thought perhaps she might learn some information that would help her if she could just listen hard enough. The men still refused to answer her questions. On one occasion, Golagros murmured to her that she would be returned safely home eventually, as long as she kept quiet and stayed put. Sometimes one of the men barked at her to be silent when she asked her questions. Mostly, they acted as if she wasn't even there, except when it came time to provide her meager rations of food and untie her ankles to allow her to use a chamber pot.

Teta slept on the floor, with nothing for comfort. Golagros and the other men had not harmed her or touched her inappropriately. But she sometimes saw them glance at her, at her body, and she thought perhaps they were considering it. She now kept her eyes on the floor at all times, deciding that she ought to stay as invisible as possible. She felt constantly on the edge of a panic attack, like her mind might shatter completely if she gave in, and she often whispered to herself over and over again, Delita and Ramza and Zalbag will save me, Delita and Ramza and Zalbag will save me… But why had they not come? How many days had it been? She would have cried herself to sleep most nights, if she was not already so dehydrated.

Teta laughed bitterly to herself sometimes when she realized she had been ungrateful for her life before the kidnapping. She had thought things were hard, being a common-born girl at a school for the elite. The other girls, except Alma, of course, made fun of her frequently. They did not like sharing their halls with a girl they considered trash, a common farmer's daughter, and they made it clear to her with a thousand little snubs. They told her she was too ugly to suit the lovely gowns she wore, whispered that she wouldn't need finery in the brothel she was destined to end up working in. The nastiest of the girls had once implied that Teta was a whore to both Dycedarg and Zalbag, and that was why they paid for her nice things. Alma had often tried to defend her, and had yelled at the girls that Teta was as fine a lady as they were. That had simply led to Alma being outcast by most of the others as well. Teta had hated feeling like she didn't fit in at school, and she had hated knowing that she made life harder for Alma.

But now all of that seemed like a paradise, in comparison to limbs bound with rope and wondering whether she would be executed at any moment. To even exercise her legs each day, she had to hop around in circles. She swore to Ajora that if she escaped this horrible place then she would be more grateful for her lot in life, whether small or grand.

Teta learned nothing from her captors until a man named Wiegraf arrived, and had a heated argument with Golagros, the man who had kidnapped her. It seemed that Wiegraf wanted Golagros to let her go. For a moment, her heart raced with hope, but it was nearly as quickly crushed as they continued to speak and she came to understand why she was here. They thought she was a Beoulve daughter, someone important, someone valuable. Oh, Ajora. She almost called out at that point. She was one breath away from yelling to them that she wasn't a Beoulve, that they had made a mistake and now they could just let her go home! She stopped her tongue just in time. She had no proof that they would let her go safely. If they found out she wasn't actually valuable, wasn't anyone worth ransoming… why then, those men who had given her sidelong glances might realize there were no consequences to hurting her after all. And simply letting her go with a polite farewell might not be their preferred way to handle the situation. She lowered her head again without speaking a word to the man named Wiegraf. Delita and Ramza and Zalbag will save me, Delita and Ramza and Zalbag will save me…

And one day her supposed saviors did, in fact, arrive. Teta was grabbed from her corner of the basement of Ziekden fortress, and Golagros raced to remove the bindings from her ankles and wrists, which were chafed horribly. He gave her a terrifying grin. "Your family is here, noble brat! Just stay quiet and do as I tell you, and I'll be handing you over soon. You're my fuckin' ticket out of this place alive, so I won't hurt you as long as you keep still. Got it?" Teta tried to croak out a 'yes', found that her voice was too rusty from disuse, and simply nodded. He helped her to stand, and then led her up the stairs of the fortress.

Some minutes later, Golagros' companions gave a warning shout from downstairs, and Golagros steered her out onto the second-story walkway, holding her in front of him, her elbows pinned in his hands. It was shockingly cold, fully winter, with light snow coming down. But even so… Yes! She had hardly dared to believe Golagros' words, but there in the distance ahead she saw what was unmistakably the Beoulve house banner, with Zalbag's personal banner flying below it! They were here, and she was saved! She wanted to run back down the stairs and into her brother's arms, but Golagros still held her tightly. She waited, bouncing on her toes to try to stay warm in the biting wind.

As the troop approached, she was able to recognize Zalbag's face from afar. She was bursting with happiness to see him, but she did not call out, for fear of upsetting Golagros. Zalbag and the majority of his troops stopped their march at that distance, they spoke amongst themselves for a moment, and then three men strode forward a bit closer than the rest, within firing range: two mages and one soldier with a crossbow. At this, Golagros shouted, "Get back with the others! Quickly now, or this one's blood stains the snow!"

What? Teta blanched. He had said he would not harm her!

She also realized that she recognized the soldier with the crossbow. It was Algus, the young man who had recently befriended her brother and Ramza. Alma had commented that she thought Algus was handsome, though she and Teta had only spoken to him for a moment. Now Teta was happy for any familiar face and she stared down at Algus, trying to plead with her eyes: please help me! Don't you recognize me from Igros castle? He did not meet her gaze, however, and he seemed to be looking everywhere except for right at her.

Golagros continued, "Do not test my patience! This fortress packs a store of powder you could scarcely imagine! More than enough to blow us all to the Father's keeping!"

Zalbag retorted loudly across the field, "The Order of the Northern Sky yields not to rogues!"

Through her terror, Teta noticed a group of figures gathered to the left of Zalbag's troupe, as close to the fortress as her captors would allow without a fight. A bright blond head with a short pony tail, and a dark-haired man beside him.

"Teta!" Delita bellowed to her.

All thoughts of Golagros gone for a moment, she strained forward, shrieking, "Delita!" He was here, thank the gods. She would survive this; her brother would not let anyone harm her.

Golagros shook her to make her be still. "Leave now!" he shouted again, "I will not warn you again!"

Zalbag called out, "This changes nothing. Algus, loose!"

"Yes, my lord!" Algus replied. He lifted his bow and pointed. Teta felt a moment of utter unreality. There was a lethal weapon pointed at her, by a boy she thought an ally. There wasn't even time for her to cry out before he shot the bolt. She squeezed her eyes shut in terror, but no pain followed the shot. She felt the whoosh of the bolt passing very close to her left arm, probably within only an inch or two of missing her body. Realizing she was unharmed yet, she let out a terrified sob.

"What- what is this?" exclaimed a stunned Golagros from behind her. Clearly, he was as shocked as she was that Zalbag's men would fire at her.

Suddenly quite a lot was happening at once, and Teta could barely see it all through the falling snow. Both Ramza and Delita shouted in rage, and began running in different directions: Ramza toward Zalbag, and Delita toward her. Oh god, no! she thought, desperately. Delita was making what would be a suicide run into the mass of the Death Corps. men at the base of the fortress, trying to save her. Ramza looked like he might cut down his own brother, his sword in hand as he sprinted toward Zalbag, a frozen scream on his face, and Zalbag's men beginning to cluster around to defend their lord as Ramza drew nearer. Algus was reloading his cross bow, which she knew would take him a minute or so.

In that moment of utter chaos, Zalbag shouted his next order, to the mage standing beside Algus. "Richard, DO SOMETHING!" Zalbag shrieked, sounding like a toddler in the throes of a tantrum.

Immediately, as if he had been deaf to Golagros' threats of the explosive powder in the fortress, the mage called Richard summoned a Fire attack and hurled it in Golagros' direction. In his haste, the attack missed by several feet. Perhaps fear of lord Zalbag's rage had driven Richard to act so quickly and thoughtlessly, but his motives truly did not matter to anyone as the fireball crashed through the wall of Ziekden fortress behind Teta and Golagros. There was no time to register what was happening, whether Algus had had time to reload, whether Ramza or Delita had reached their targets yet, because suddenly the world exploded in orange flames and Teta's body was thrown, blasted, far from the walkway, and into the soft snow below.

When she woke from her concussion a short while later, it was to find a silent wasteland, with a soft coating of snow already forming on top of her. She ached everywhere, but somehow, miraculously, she had survived the blast and survived her landing thanks to the deep snow around the fortress. After gingerly patting herself down, Teta believed her only serious injury was from a sharp hank of wood that had become lodged in her shoulder during either the explosion or her fall. Mere feet away, she spotted the corpse of Golagros, her abductor. His face was undamaged, blank in death, but the back side of him was charred, and full of bits of stone and wood. She had never seen a dead body before. She waited for some sort of horror or fear to come to her, but strangely she felt nothing at all, except cold from the snow, of course. She realized groggily that his body being directly behind hers on the walkway had saved her from taking the worst of the blast. She stood. She needed to find a potion to stop her bleeding, and a place to keep warm before she died from exposure…

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Shaking out of her reverie, and lightly touching the scar on her shoulder, where his fingers already rested, Teta replied simply to Algus: "It happened at Ziekden, when I fell from the bridge, I suppose."

The sudden tension in his muscles told her that this possibility had not crossed his mind. In the nearly three years since that nightmarish winter day, they had never once discussed the crossbow shot he took in her direction. Some days she told herself he had meant the shot to miss. Other times, the crueler voice in her head claimed he wouldn't have minded if the bolt struck into her instead of missing, or hitting Golagros. The entitled boy she had rescued from death in the snow at Ziekden had thought her less than nothing, a worthless common maid whom he now inconveniently owed a debt of gratitude for saving his life.

How odd that now she should end up here. The long-ago memory mingled with the images of what they had just done in his bed, and she momentarily did not know how to reconcile those two scenes. She buried her face in his side, wrapped her arm tightly around his torso, and willed the old memories away for now. His heart was beating faster, after her mention of Ziekden. He was no more ready to discuss it than she was, unwilling right now to recall the vicious snap of Zalbag Beoulve's voice behind him, the crossbow in his half-frozen hands, and her terrified face high above him. He squeezed her tightly with both arms, and for a moment that was just what they both needed, to hold each other to keep the horror of their pasts at bay. They would hash it out one day, probably, but please not tonight.

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