Together In My Dreams
(Part 3- Family Tree)
By Alria
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the FF9 characters or settings.
A/N: I started an egroup at yahoo afew days ago. We haveabout 3 members now, and we REALLY need more. The group is designed to read and discuss FF9 fanfic. It's connected to my homepage link on my bio, but you need a yahoo account to see it (I think.) Please stop by, and maybe even join?
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All at once, Zidane's ice blue eyes shot open. Every muscle in his body tensed as he looked around the unfamiliar small room. He was lying on a big, elegant bed, a thin silken sheet draped over his body. Where was he? What was going on? As he lay in the bed, he let his mind slowly drift, trying to remember any tid-bits of a memory to cling to. He remembered forgetting Dagger's birthdaytrying to think of a presentbut everything after that was so vague. Why couldn't he remember anything!? Even after Liana had crashed his ship to the ground, after he woke up he could remember what had happened. What was going on?
Suddenly, Zidane heard a door open from behind him. Terrified and confused, Zidane shut his eyes quickly. Maybe, if these people thought he was still asleep, they wouldn't bother him. He heard two pairs of footsteps approach the bed. Even with his eyes closed, Zidane could sense the presence of the two, one on either side of him. It took all the courage he could muster to keep from screaming in terror. He was in enemy hands, for all he knew, and he wasn't going to be treated kindly.
"Garren, what did you do to him? He's been asleep for nearly two days now!" the voice of a young woman asked nervously.
"WellI thought since he was the dreamwalker, I should use a more powerful sleep spell," came the shaky reply of a man.
"Garren! He hasn't even awakened his powers, yet! You could have killed him!" she snarled.
"I didn't kill him! He'll wake up anytime now, I'm su-hey, what in the world? Flara, he'ssweating," said the astonished voice. Zidane nearly gasped in fright. They knew he was awake. A soft, gentle hand reached down and stroked his cheek. Zidane used all his might to suppress a shudder.
"You're right! He's drenched! But he doesn't have a fever or anythingwhich means"
"He's awake."
There was a dew second pause before the two strangers began shaking him fervently. No matter how hard Zidane tried, his eyes flew open in surprise. All at once the shaking stopped, and Zidane was left face to face with the two strangers. His eyes widened in sheer horror as his eyes drifted from the long, silky black wings to the queer, multi-colored eyes. Sorkinsor at least part sorkins. Zidane, shaking with fright, scouted backwards on the bed, holding out his hands as a warning.
"Stay back! Don't come any closer!" he cried. The two sorkin creatures passed each other confused glances, and then turned their eyes back to Zidane.
"Dreamwalkerwe don't want to hurt you," the male one said softly. Zidane scowled at the tall man. The only other male sorkin he had seen had been an evil, cold-hearted monster. Karten had tried to take everything form Zidane, and, had it not been for the valiant sacrifice of Liana, Zidane would be a rotting corpse. He didn't trust winged sorkins to begin with, but he hated male sorkins with extra malice.
"You can't fool me. I know what you are. Just get on with the torture, there's no need for these sort of pleasantries," he growled. The two sorkins looked genially hurt by Zidane's harsh words, which, in all truth, bewildered him. Sorkins were beings without feelingswhy did these two seem sohumanlike?
"II never meant to worry you. We're merely here to help you gain control of your powers," the woman said. Zidane eyes the two suspiciously, but didn't retort with a venomous comeback. There was something peculiar about these twosomething that made them seem human. Maybe it was the one, sky blue eye? Whatever it was, something was differentand Zidane was going to find out what it was.
"So, you say you want to help me. You are you guys, first?" he asked. The tall man smiled.
"I am Garren, and this is my sister, Flara," he explained. The two bowed towards Zidane as he watched them suspiciously. Flarais only had one wing. What could have happened? Well, it wasn't that important right now; he would find out soon enough.
"You're both sorkins, I can tell by your wings. How is that possible? All the sorkins I know were released from their spell when Karten died. Why weren't you?" he asked. Garren and Flara passed each other nervous glances, until finally Garren looked back at Zidane with a meek smile on his face.
"Wearen't like regular sorkins. In fact, we're not even full sorkins. We're half sorkins; our mother was a human," he explained. Zidane eyed them suspiciously.
"Who was your father?" he asked bluntly. There was a long, uneasy silence until anyone had the courage to speak, until finally, in little more then a whisper, Flara spoke.
"Karten."
Zidane's heart skipped a beat as he stared, wide-eyed, into the ashen face of the two beings.
"Karten? You're the offspring of that bastard!?" he snarled. Garren and Flara nodded, their eyes fixed on the floor with shame.
"We are his children, but we're not like him at all. HeHe hated our mothershe was turned into a sorkin shortly after our birth. Since he couldn't do that to us because we were already part sorkin, hehe," the woman sorkin's eyes filled with tears, and she could say no more. Garren rested a comforting hand on her shoulder, and looked Zidane in the face.
"Karten tortured us. He viewed us as weak and incompetent, because of our human blood. He would do horrible thingsthings I don't want to even think aboutbut he never killed us. He wanted our suffering to be eternal. We hated Karten, maybe even more then you did," he said quietly. Zidane, feeling horrible guilty about being so hard on the two, began to wring his hands. It was awful to judge them this waybut they WERE still his children, and could be lying. But as Zidane started into the watery eyes of Flara, and then at the black stump on her shoulder, there was no doubt in his mind about their sincerity. Zidane bowed his head.
"I'm sorry you had such an awful father," he said quietly. All at once, Garren's eyes widened in shock.
"Dear spiritsyou don't know, do you?" he murmured. Zidane glanced at him nervously.
"Know? Know what?" he asked shakily. Garren shook his head in disbelief.
"About your parents," he said softly. Zidane stared at Garren, bewildered. Parents? He was a Genome; he didn't have any parents! What was this strange man talking about?
"Garren, you're wrong. I don't have any parents. I was created by a man named Garland as a Genome," he explained. Garren looked at Zidane with sad eyes.
"I have to tell you the truth. This may seem strange to youbut believe me; it's true. You have to trust me," he said. Zidane nodded.
"I trust you," he said. Garren nodded.
"Alright, then. It all started aboutthree hundred years ago. Karten still hadn't risen to his full power, and hadn't started making sorkins yet. At the time, he was living on Gaia with the rest of the humans, and he fell in love with a beautiful enchantress. They married a few years later, and before long she became pregnant. However, at this time Karten began to turn to the ways of power and treacherythat is, he started planning how to make sorkins. When his wife secretly got a hold of the plans, she was terrified for herself and the soon-to-be child. And so, using all of her magic, the young woman teleported herself to the one place she felt safe, Terra. There, the child was born, and they two lived happily for a few yearsuntil Karten found out about. By then, the crazed man was incredibly powerful, he immediately telelported himself to Terra. The enchantress knew she was doomed, but the baby still had a chance, for Karten didn't know about him. So, she entrusted the baby to her close friend, Garland. Garland, being the weird sicko he is, encased the child in a watery tank and injected him with genome powers, much like the tubes you saw in Terra. However, instead of coming out an emotionless blob, the child, now a young man, had feelings. He came out of the tube after nearly two hundred and eighty years in there. But a jealous genome, Kuja, sent the boy to Gaia, and there he remains to this day," he explained. Zidane's face had gone ashen, and his eyes were as wide as soup bowls.
"Garrenis that true? Is that they way I was born and raised?" he asked shakily. Garren nodded sadly.
"I'm so sorry. But you had to know," he whispered. Zidane sat on the silken bed, stunned. Kartenhis father? It went against everything he had thoughtand that meant! Zidane let out a quick gasp. He was half sorkin. But what about the other half? What about his mother? Zidane looked up at Garren.
"What happened to my mother?" he asked. Garren frowned.
"Shewas captured by Kartenand turned into a sorkin, like the rest of them," he said softly. Zidane perked up a bit at this. If she was a sorkin, that meant she was probably at the palace. If he could find herthat would mean he could have a family. A real, flesh and blood family. It had been something he had searched long and hard for, and was convinced he would never find. But there was a chance
"What was her name?" he asked. Garren bit his lower lip in thought.
"HmmI'm not quite surebut I think it wasLiana."
Zidane felt as if he had been punched in the stomach. LIANA!? Liana was his mother!? It was almost as hard to grasp as Karten being his father! How could that possibly be? And yetZidane's mind slowly formed the image of the small, blue ribbon Liana had give him. A small smile cracked on his lips. Maybe that wasn't so hard to believe
Zidane looked from Garren to Flara and began to think. These two had kidnapped him and cast a spell over himand yet they were his own kin. And, if Garren was right, his ONLY kin. Funny, that in a matter of minutes, he had gone from alone to a big brother to two. They were his siblingshis bloodand that was something special. They were each connected in a similar bond. If he couldn't trust these two, didn't know who he could. Finallya family
And so, Zidane stood up, smiling, to face his new found kin.
"Flara, Garren, you were saying about teaching me?" he asked. They both nodded.
"Yes, Dreamwalker," they said simultanesouly. Zidane grinned.
"Great! Let's start as soon as possible!"
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Once again, don't forget to stop by my eGroup. Is Zidane right to trust these two? And how is Dagger doing back home with Tolin? Find out on chap. 4!!!
