She stood alone on the balcony as the breeze whispered quietly to her. She closed her eyes, and wanted to be anywhere else, just anywhere. Here, she was alone ... no one would listen ... no one cared... She glanced down at the ground...-and jumped.....
She quickly grasped the rope she had tied to the balcony and made her way down. The guards were everywhere in sight. She crawled down behind a bush near the walls of her grand castle....
She was princess Garnet Til Alexandros. Queen of all Alexandria. She thought she had gotten over the hate of castle life. When Zidane came back, she was so happy, but, shortly after he had died... The advisors had said the journey was too much for him... She wouldn't believe... Zidane didn't die like that ... no...! But Zidane had died, and she finally brought herself to realize that. So, now, nearly five months later she realized she had had enough.
Eventually the young queen made her way past the guards and puller the hood of her Red Mage Cloak over her head. And she traveled the town of Alexandria, she realized that she must get as far away from this kingdom as possible, and Linblum wouldn't do at all. As she glanced at the world map she had stolen from Beatrix she heard a voice.
"Ey, mate. Where are ya off to?" It was a young man, he was okay-looking, but Garnet had promised herself to no more attractions.
"I am not 'mate.' " came her brisk reply.
"Damn, ya'd swear you were the queen herself with that awful tone..."
"Excuse me!! Who-Um, I apologize-er...."
"Oi! Mate! Its the-"
"Please, sir! I beg of you...!" She turned and ran as fast as her feet would carry her down the dark alleys of the Alexandria... She she slumped her boady against a wall and sat... She looked up into the night skies... Her eyes closed... where? who? How? She fell into a deep sleep.
Garnet woke up in a bed, and looked around her, she didn't recognize anything... It was approaching dawn, as she could see out the window. She carefully slipped out of bed and realized her shoes and gloves were gone....
"Damn it" She whispered in the darkness. She walked out of the room to see the young man with the odd accent she had met around midnight that night... -sleeping in a chair.
She took a seat next to him on the floor, and watched him sleep...why she did this she didn't even know... She began to hear him talk in his sleep...
"Ahh, Garnet, don't have to kiss me *there*.... Ah...."
Garnet looked at him, in his dream ecstasy, and kicked him below the border-if you know what I am saying. He woke up immediately.
"Oi! What was that fer?"
"You and your sick dreams!" She replied in a royal tone.
"Wha...oh.. heh."
"What is your name, sir?!"
"Joey...Joey Phillips" he said nervously
"I see.... well, all I can do is thank you for your hospitality, and farewell." With that she headed for a door.
"Oh, Loerd" he said.
"Aargh!! Omigod! What IS this?!"
"That's the bathroom, mate."
"Ugh!" This time, she walks out the proper door. He looks up.
"Ah, bloody, I just missed her, what the hell was I thinkin'. Oiii, Joey, problems, ya got!" With that he grabbed his jacket and ran out the door.
When Garnet walked out of his house, she realized she had made a HUGE mistake... She had no clue where in world she was.... She didn't recognize anything, so, it was not Linblum or Alexandria... She was far away from those two kingdoms too, she knew this because the weather was unusually cold. She muttered to herself;
"Ah! He kidnapped me... no... he was just worried, no wait! He solved me problem.... Here is the faraway place I was looking for...." She smiled and walked along the road.
"Queen, mate!" came a voice from behind her. Garnet kept up her high guard.
"What do you want, you filthy wretch?!" Garnet had become awfully cruel after Zidane's death. So, closed in...
"uh, I brought yer shoes!" He was nervous, as any fool could tell.
"What about my gloves? And don't tell any one of my being here. Understand?"
"Yes'm, do you need a place to stay? Yer welcome to my place-"
"hah" She threw her head up and gave out a laugh. She looked at the white sky.... why was she so mean?
"Ya see somethin' up there mate?"
"No, farewell." She walked away and looked for a hotel ... she saw one, they were sure to make her feel welcome, since she was the queen of-or not. They couldnt know that-nope.
"Damn, damn, damn!"
"Can I help you, fair lady?" Garnet turned to see a properly dressed blonde young man.
{Author's note: Now, if you've played "The Bouncer" this guy looks and sounds like Dauragon C. Mikado, Mmkay?}
"Oh...I... just, I mean, I am new here, I need to buy a place..."
"Well," came the reply, "that can take weeks, stay at my place, its the castle on that mountain in the distance"
The queen's first inclination was to say no, after all, she had no idea who this man was... but his deep blue eyes seductively stared into hers, and before she knew it, she had muttered a "yes."
"Then follow me, my dear."
She followed him, and they were soon at the base of the mountain.
"Well," said she, "how do you suppose we get to your castle...?"
"Ah, my fair lady, this way"
They were aboard now a tiny air ship, the only way up or down the mountain.
Garnet felt a bit uneasy as carefully step into the castle, it was cold, and dark.
"What kind of place is this? Its rather-"
A light was turned on and she realized the utter huge size of the castle.
"Oh..."
"Your room is in the West wing." And he walked away.
She was in awe as she stared around the castle, it was, about the same size as Alexandria castle, except it was darker, and more ... mysterious. Garnet knew she wouldn't head directly to the West wing, she would explore a bit first, but all of the doors were locked, except her bedroom and this one door, she entered the other door, which was in the East wing. That, she regretted.
"Wow, this room is huge" She whispered. She looked around, it looked like a normal bedroom, except it had a fireplace, a bookshelf and a washroom. She glanced around the room, then spotted an old door, it looked worn out, she went over, only to see that it was locked... she seen a dresser and opened a draw only to see thousands of letters-not sent- she opened one:
"Dear Princess,
My love for you grows stronger by the day... My wonder is if you will ever read this letter. I want to get to know you, I have studied your every move, gone to all of your royal parties, everything I could do that could one day connect my fate to yours I have done... I love you so.... Please remember that, Garnet...."
Love Always,
Ryu
Garnet dropped the letter ... who wrote these?! Back when she was princess.... Could it have been him ... that man ... she didn't even know his name ... she looked at the draw, there had to be nearly one hundred letters, all addressed to her... She was afraid to read them... So, she opened the next draw. She seen hundreds of pictures of herself...
"What...?" She asked herself in a shaky voice.
Digging further into the draw, she seen a bracelet, she held it close to her ... this necklace was stolen. When she was little, maybe 11 or 12 years old, she loved it... She could never remember where she got it though, but one day, it disappeared... Garnet was scared now, this man was obsessed with her...
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?!?!"
Garnet, turned around, her heart racing so fast.
"I was, um, looking for the ... bathroom!"
"There was a bathroom in your own room, and you will not find a bath room in my dresser."
"But what is all this?"
"Come with me..." He then opened the door that had been locked... When Garnet saw the contents, she started to cry. There were candles, pictures, and Zidane's mangled body. With sight in her mind, she pulled the dagger Zidane gave her out of the cloak and stabbed "Ryu" several times, without thinking.
"You bastard..." She muttered. Then she glanced up at Zidane's body. She knelt down and tears flooded her pale cheeks. A hand grabbed her ankle, she obviously had not finished Ryu.
"Argh" The dagger was left in the closet, as she was picked up and brought to the dungeon part of the castle.
"Hush, my princess" He whispered as he injected something into her arm, and she drifted into sleep.
When she woke up she was alone in the basement.
"Help me..! Someone..." She could hardly speak. Zidane didn't die, he had been killed.
"Ah, my princess, you've awoken" She heard Ryu's voice and then she seen a glimpse of light which quickly disappeared as the door was closed behind him.
"You...!"
"You hurt me pretty bad, young queen, but not enough"
"Just let me go!!!!"
"I'm not done with you yet... I've yet to live out my dream" With that said he took off his jacket.
"No ... you ... wouldn't..." She ran for the door-only to find that it was locked from the out side.
"DAMN!!!!" she screamed. He started to approach her ... she bolted down the stairs, and searched for a possible weapon. He began to unbutton his shirt ... but he never finished.
Garnet turned when she heard the sound of a bullet. And she seen Ryu's cold dead body on the floor, and the face she seen was that of Joey.
"Hey, mate, did that ugle' bastard do anythin to ya?"
"N, no..." She ran toward him. "Thank you" She started crying on Joey's shoulder...
"Ey, its fine..."
"No ... he killed Zidane, Damn it!" With that said her tears of fright and sadness turned those of anger and hate. She ran to Ryu's bedroom, into the closet. The stepped in the blood puddle and reached down and grabbed the bloody knife and took a last glance at Zidane's body...
"Oh... Zidane... I cant... I love you..." She put her hand on his cold cheek and walked away...
As she walked into the basement, she seen Joey sitting there, and Ryu's dead body. She stabbed Ryu's body whilst in tears, she must have stabbed him around twenty times, when Joey's hand rested on her shoulders.
"Lets go home mate..."
Garnet was covered in blood, her own and Ryu's. She nodded.
"But, can I go do something...?"
"Sure, let me come..." She walked back up to Ryu's room and just stared at Zidane's body as Joey looked through the draw...
"Oi, this mate was bloody obsessed with ya! Lookit alla this... wot's in that closet anyway?"
There was no reply from Garnet as she knelt in the puddle of Ryu's blood... Joey peered into the closet...
"Who the bloody `ell is that!?"
"Z, Zidane"
"Ya know this mate?"
"I don't just know his I love...loved him"
Joey didn't say anything. He looked further into the closet.
"Tain't no closet. This is a shrine..to you ... your pictures, clothes, jewelry, your...hair?!"
"My hair?! How'd he ... oh ... he must have watched the whole...episode..."
"Looks like he wanted everything, even your love so...he took Zidane"
This was too much for Garnet to handle, so she started to cry and ran down the stairs and made and wander off down the mountain.
Joey stood there for a moment before calling out Garnet's name and running after her. He had, basically no clue where she had gone. Down the mountain, but that was all he knew.
After running a bit, Garnet realized who had saved her life, and who had been there for her... Joey. Zidane was dead, she had to face that and move on. Move on the Joey... So, she would. Besides, Zidane would want her to be sad... She turned back, to go find Joey.
Joey ran down the mountain aimlessly until he bumped into somthing-Garnet.
"You arrant ass! Watch where you are going!...oh Joey... sorry....I wanted to tell you... thank you, from the bottom of my heart... My heart, which now is yours..."
Later that night....
"Ahh, Garnet, dont have to kiss me *there*.... Ah...."
THE END
