Friend or Foe?
Chapter 3
By Liz .P



Clearing my head a bit more, I looked at the map more close. Each blood droplet was on the exact dot of a town.
I realized something even more pecular. There was a blood droplet on Lindblum, Alexandria, Black Mage Village, Burmecia, Madian Sari, and Qus Marsh.
Mikoto saw me staring at the map. "I picked that up on the way out of Garnet's bedroom," She said, "isn't it strange how the blood droplets fell?"
Suddenly, I realized what this ment. Eiko had moved to Lindblum with Regent Cid and Lady Hilda last year, Vivi now lived with his own kind in Black Mage Village, Freya was currently helping reconstruct Burmecia, Amarant now lived by himself in Madian Sari, and Quina was probably happily catching frogs in Ou's Marsh.
I gasped. "Zidane's trying to enslave us, one by one. He has already gotten Her Magesty, by the looks of things, and probably our knights also, Steiner," I said.
Steiner bit his lip. "Where would he go next then?" He asked.
"Probably....Lindblum. It's closest to Alexandria," Mikoto piped up.
"Good point, but how are we going to get there?" I asked, "Lindblum is on the other side of the Alexandria Mountain Range and the nearest entrance is an Airship gate. Zidane, no doubt, is using an Airship, but all we have is our feet and a few Chocobo tracks."
"Choco wouldn't get us far," Steiner said, "Is there any other way?"
"Being the youngest Genome with a soul, Garland gave me a gift..." Mikoto said "That gift was a transporter."
"Great! We can g-"
"Beatrix, you still need rest. We shall leave in the morning," Steiner cut in.
That was true, my head still felt woozy. I leaned back onto a few Yan skins, watched the sun set, and finally went to sleep.
I woke up later that evening to find I was thirsty. I grabbed the empty water barrel and walked down to the stream to fill it.
As the barrel filled, I heard footsteps behind me. Whirling around, I saw Steiner walk over.
"There you are! I was worried when I saw that you were gone." Steiner said.
"I'm fine, don't worry," I told him.
Steiner looked up and I followed his gaze. The moon was shining and the stars were glittering brightly. It was a beautiful night.
"Beatrix...." Steiner said, "There's something that I need to tell you"
"Yes?" I said.
"I-I want us to be together...forever, no.... more than forever, Beatrix ...I love you" He said.
At this, I was shocked and happily surprised. No matter how much I tried to hide it, I felt the same way.
"Steiner... I...love you too" I admitted.
He smiled at me. I smiled back as he put his strong arms around me.
He planted a soft kiss on my cheek, then on my lips. I smiled and kissed him back.
Suddenly, I heard a scream. Breaking the kiss, I stepped back and looked around. I heard the scream again. It sounded familiar.
"Mikoto!" We both exclamed.
Forgetting the water barrel, we ran back to camp to find four Mistodons surrounding our temporary lean-to.
Though Mikoto had great power for a Genome, she could not defeat four Mistodons by herself.
Steiner jumped in to help and, grabbing my sword, I followed.
After we defeated the Mistodons, we decided that someone should keep watch while the others slept.
The next morning, Steiner woke Mikoto and me up and we were off.
Mikoto whispered a few words and suddenly I felt a tingling sensation all over. Everything went blank for a few seconds and then, we were at the doors of Dragons Gate.
Being a General of Alexandria's army and a friend of Regent Cid's, I was let in without a question. The same with Steiner, but Mikoto had a little trouble.
"I assure you, she will be no trouble," I said.
"She is unauthorized!" The guard exclaimed, "How can we trust you?"
"I am a high ranking General from a friendly country. I assure you, she will be of no harm to anyone!" I exclaimed.
Finally, after showing every guard my ID so they were certain that I was General Beatrix, they let us through.
Then, we dashed to the cable car that is used to get to the Airship docks ,and up the stairs.
From there, we told a guard that we needed to see Regent Cid, Lady Hilda, and lady Eiko right away.
After another round of showing our IDs, we met up with the Royal Family.
Something strange was going on. When was entered the meeting room, everyone, including Lady Eiko, was sipping red wine!
"Would you like something to drink?" Hilda asked, being the perfect hostess.
Feeling strange, I almost accepted, then I decided against. I shook my head at Steiner and Mikoto, telling them not to drink any either.
"No, thank you," Steiner and Mikoto said.
"Are you sure?' Cid asked.
"Yes," I'm fine" Steiner siad.
"GUARDS! SEASE THEM!" Cid yelled.
After that, we were taken to the dungeon.
~*To Be Continued*~