Never Forget You

Together In My Dreams

(Part 1- Happily Ever After?)

By Alria

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the FF 9 characters or settings.

Author's Note: I'm BAAAAAAAACK! Well, at first I wasn't sure whether to do a sequel or not (I'm scared this one's gonna' be a total flop compared to the first one) but a good friend of mine convinced me to do itso here I amat my computerat eleven o'clock at night^.^ I must truly be a writing geek! Oh well, what can I say? I love it!!! Anyway, it's really nice to be back writing Dagger/Zidane againthey really are an ideal couple. I hope this story lives up to the grandeur of the first oneI can only hope, right? J

SoI hope you like the new adventures I have in store for our two heroes (snickers fiendishly) Uhheh hehenjoy the story!!!

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Zidane gazed out of the glass window onto the beautiful rolling hills of Alexandria. The sun was just sinking below the Western hills sending a beautiful rainbow of colors across the sky. Zidane sighed. Sunset. That meant that in a few minutes some palace servant would come knocking at his door squeaking at him to come down for dinner.

Zidane nonchalantly knocked his golden crown back into place as it slipped, once again, down into his eyes. Even though he had been the world-renowned "King of Alexandria" for nearly four months now, but it was still taking getting used to. When he had first been introduced to the idea, it had seemed a perfect life, what with being the waitee rather then the waiter. But all that had changed rather quickly after he had received his post. There seemed to be an endless amount of treaties to be signed, along with numerous other papers, most of which he hadn't the slightest idea what they were. And then there were those annoying pompous ambassadors who simply had to meet the "heroic noble." A thin smirk formed on Zidane's lips. Oh, they weren't that hard to deal with. He simply had to "regale" them with tales of his beer chugging, princess-stealing days of thieving, and they usually left. Unless they were a duchess, of course; no, they usually simply squealed and fainted cold on the spot. It had certainly earned him anreputation.

All at once a loud pounding sounded from behind the wooden door to his room. Zidane jumped, startled at the sudden burst of noise.

"Your majesty? May I come in?" a meek voice called form behind the closed door. Zidane sighed.

"Yes, of course. And don't call me 'your majesty.' I'm Zidane, all right?" he called as the artfully carved door slowly opened. All at once the face of a young woman poked out. She had deep, brown eyes and wavy auburn hair that came down to about her shoulder. To any normal person, the girl would have looked to be in her early twenties, but the Zidane knew better. This woman, Heather, was almost two hundred years old.

Heather, along with the other former sorkins, had chosen to remain at the palace to serve Zidane. After Karten's death, his dark spell of immortality had been shattered, returning the group to normal. Their souls returned, the unbelievable powers they had possessed withered and died. They no longer had the ability to morph into other shapes, and were basically nothing more then normal humans. Not that that was a bad thing. For many, that simple thing was what they had dreamt of. And it was Zidane, along with the noble Liana, who had allowed them this. For that, they had sworn their loyalty to the palace of Alexandira, and protected him to the best of their abilities.

Heather, red hair bobbing at her shoulders, walked into the room and folded her hands in front of her.

"Your majdinner is ready for you," she said quietly. Zidane groaned inwardly. Things were so predictable. Zidane sighed and nodded.

"Thank you, Heather. I'll be down shortly," he said. Heather smiled "Hurry. Her majesty the queen will be most happy to see you," she said with a mysterious grinned, and then disappeared behind the door. Zidane stared after her, a blank expression on his face. Why would Dagger be happy to see him today? It wasn't someanniversary? No, that wasn't it. A new foreign noblea new airship from CidBIRTHDAY!? Zidane's eyes widened in horror. Dagger's birthday! Dear God, how had he forgotten!? This was horribleshe was probably expecting some great presentWHAT WAS HE GOING TO DO!? Zidane quickly slammed the door to his room shut as he began to think of how to worm his way out of this mess.

~

"Hold still, Garren. Shhcalm down." The woman's calm, smooth voice cooed to the young man lying in the bed as she gently took hold of a long string of bandage. The man was obviously eager to be getting the bandage off, and his sister was having a hard time getting him to be still. The woman sighed. It wasn't as if she blamed him for being excited. Her poor brother had been bandaged for the last ten months while his broken bones had healed. And now, finally, he was going to be free. Taking the best of care, the woman gently unwrapped the man's bandage to reveal a perfectly healed black wing. His feathers weren't nearly as silky and glossy as hers, but at least the large wing had finally mended, and could fly.

Garren, a warm smile on his face, slowly began to move the muscles in his wings. They were surprisingly strong for not being used recently, and she reckoned he would be able to fly. A smile touched her ruby lips. That was good. Garren would need to fly soon, if he was going to fulfill the mission.

"Flara, we did it! We did it!" the ecstatic Garren cried as he flung his arms around his twin. Flara let out a sob of joy as she hugged her brother back. This was truly a wondrous day! After a few more moments of joy, the two broke away from each other. Garren gave his wings another, more powerful flap, sending Flara's jet-black hair into her face with a gust of wind. He grinned.

"After what that Karten did to my wing, I never thought I'd heal," he cried. Flara looked at him with a sad little smile.

"Garren, we are fortunate that monster didn't do to you what he did to meotherwise we'd never be able to complete the mission," he said quietly. Garren's grin faded as he stared sadly at his twin. Karten had snapped nearly every bone in Garren's powerful wingbut Flara would never fly again. Garren ran his pale fingers tenderly over the stub that had once been a beautiful black wing. Karten had sliced her left wing off just above the shoulder. Now, only a black stump remained. Garren winced. The pain Flara must have gone throughand to never again be able to soar through the skiesGarren let out a loud grunt.

"If he wasn't already rotting in the underworld, I'd send him there with my bare hands! But don't worry. I'll complete my part of the mission and bring the Dreamwalker here, and then we can teach him the ways. All right?" he asked. Flara nodded.

"Yes. We'll complete it together," she said with a grin. Garren sighed and tenderly stroked his sister's pale cheek.

"Flara, we'll set things right. We'll show the Dreamwalker how to use his powerswe'll fulfill the mission. Who knows? Maybe, with the proper training, he can fix your wing," he said. Flara's eyes widened as a hopeful smile curled on her lips.

"Don you thinkis it possible? Should I dare wish it?" she murmured. Garren grinned.

"Of course. The Dreamwalker can do anything he wants. He can fix your wing, I'm sure of it," he said confidently. Flara clapped her hands in joy.

"Oh, Garren! This must be the happiest day of my life! You must go retrieve him as soon as possible! The faster you fly, the faster we'll have him with us! Go, hurry!" she cried with glee. Garren gave his new wings a final test and nodded.

"I'll bring the chosen one here, and we can complete the mission together. I won't be long, Flara!" he shouted. With a mighty burst of power from his wing Garren lifted himself off of the ground. He hovered in mid-air for a few more seconds, and then with a final, gigantic flap he burst through the open glass window and out into the evening sky, his jet-black hair blowing in the wind. As Flara watched him go from her home, she grinned.

"Soon. Soon the Dreamwalker will be with us."

~

"Your majesty, the Queen has been waiting nearly two hours! Please hurry!" for nearly the millionth time one of the palace sorkins called to Zidane from behind his locked door. The perplexed king, still having absolutely no idea what to give his precious Dagger, slammed his fist on the wooden table.

"I'm getting dressed! I'll be down soon!" he snarled venomously, and went back to thinking. Almost at once he heard a reply.

"Do you need help?" came the quiet voice again. Zidane's face went beat red at the thought.

"No! I can dress myself! Now, please, leave me alone while I get ready!" he yelled back.

"We'll be waiting," came the uneasy reply, and Zidane could hear the soft footsteps as the girl walked away and down the stairs. Zidane sighed. Dagger was obviously on to himit wouldn't be more then five minutes before the next young woman came up and implored him to come down. Sooner or later he could have to relent, and tell Dagger the truth. The thought made Zidane's skin pale. Dare he risk the danger of that? Did he have a choice? If only something would happensomething to give him more time

All at once, the stained glass window in Zidane's room smashed inward, sending an array of rainbow glass flying through the air. Zidane gasped and covered his head the bits of the lovely shards rained down on him. WHAT WAS GOING ON!? After the last splinter of glass had clattered to the floor, Zidane, shaking with fright, feebly opened his eyes and peered out through open fingers. There, standing directly in front of his face, was a large boot. Zidane, still shaking vigorously, leapt to his feet in surprise to face the stranger. And what he saw made his eyes widen to the size of soup bowls.

The man standing in front of him didn't look to be old at all, he couldn't have been any older than Zidane himself, even though he was about four inches taller. Of course, that wasn't what frightened Zidane so much. Jutting out of the man's back were two, glistening black wings. Sorkin wings.

"Butyou're a" Zidane couldn't finish the sentence. And then the stranger did something that startled Zidane even more. The winged man proceeded to kneel down in front of Zidane, bowing his head to the ground.

"At last. It is you, Dreamwalker," he said in a hushed voice. Zidane started blankly at the man.

"I'm a what? And what are you doing here? I didn't think they were any sorkins left" he said, utterly confused. The man's head lifted, and he looked up at Zidane with a humble expression of fear and awe. When Zidane saw the man's eyes, he gasped. These were ordinary eyes. One of them, the left one, was a sky blue, not unlike his own. But the other was the blood red of a demon. All the sorkins he had ever seen had two red eyes, all the humans to normal ones. What WAS this winged creature; man or demon?

"Whatare you?" Zidane asked shakily. The young man shook his head.

"Dreamwalker, I am sorry, but there is no time now. I'll will explain it all once we return to my home," he explained. Zidane's eyes widened in rising fear. His home? Did thismean to kidnap him? And why was he calling him "Dreamwalker"!? Well, that he wasn't sure of, but he did know nothing was going to keep him from Dagger again. He had come too close to losing her in the previous battlehe couldn't risk it again. He had promised he's stay with her foreverZidane's eyes narrowed.

"I'm not going to your home," he snarled. The man looked at him with a hurt expression in his multi-colored eyes.

"But Dreamwalker, I only wanted to he-"

"Get out. Now." At this, much to Zidane's surprise, the young man stood up. A glistening tear rolled down his cheek as he looked at Zidane.

"Please, forgive me, Dreamwalker," With that, the stranger swiftly lifted his hand and placed it on the side of Zidane's head. Zidane, shocked, glared up at him.

"What are you-" a tiny shock of magic flowed from the man's fingers and into Zidane's body. Almost immediately, a cold darkness enveloped Zidane's mind, making him drowsy and exhaughsted. The last thing the young king remember was the look of anguish in the stranger's eyes as Zidane lost consciousness, falling blindly against the cold, stone floor

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Uh oh. Poor Zidane is in trouble again. What's going on with those two sorkin twins? How is their existence possible after all the other sorkins lost their power? And why do they keep calling Zidane "Dreamwalker?" Find out more in chapter 2!!!