Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy IX or any of the characters.
Love's Lost Refrain
PART 3
Night had befallen Alexandria. Queen Garnet had fallen asleep in her bedroom, guarded by Lord Steiner. The Tantalus group, all but Zidane, had resided in a small pub in Alexandria. Everyone else was fast asleep. Almost everyone...
"Lemme through, Rusty!"
Steiner looked down, it was Zidane, who was desperate to get to Garnet. He laughed and said "it's LORD Adelbert Steiner to you, and besides, I would never let you pass while the Queen sleeps in her chamber."
"Just let me through! It's more important than you think!"
"Have you no respect for the citizens of the town, let alone the Queen? It's past midnight, people are trying to sleep! The least you could do is have a little resp-..."
"It's a matter of LIFE AND DEATH!" Zidane was hysterical.
Just then, the door to the Queen's chamber slowly began to open. Garnet's head peeked through the door. As she rubbed her eyes, she looked at Zidane and asked "what's the matter?"
Zidane looked to Steiner, and then back at Garnet. He quickly passed Steiner, and jumped into Garnet's room, closing the door behind him.
"Garnet! I need to talk to you!"
"Zidane..." she chuckled. "It's past midnight. What could possibly be so important that you have to wake me so late? And not to mention the rest of Alexandria... you would think there was a war going on between you two, you're so loud!" She laughed again. She noticed the terribly serious face on Zidane, and her smile quickly turned to a solemn frown. "Zidane... w-what's wrong?"
"Garnet... it's... I was in my room, and I saw..." Zidane noticed Garnet's now very serious expression on her face, as she anxiously awaited for the rest of his statement.
"Yes?" she asked.
"...I saw Kuj-..." Just then Zidane had a sudden seizure, and he was at a loss of words.
"What did you see?" Garnet pleaded.
"I... I had a nightmare..."
"A... nightmare?"
"Yes..." he continued, "I dreamt that I lost you... I don't know how, but I know I lost you, forever." His voice was monotonous.
"Oh, Zidane... I'm here now! You have nothing to worry about. To tell you the truth, when you were gone over two years ago, and I thought that you were..." she choked on her words. "...Well, I had nightmares... nightmares of what may have happened to you. But the important thing is that we are together now. I suppose it's normal for these feelings, especially since we were separated for such a long time." Zidane was staring off into space. "...Zidane?" He whipped his head over to Garnet's.
"Yeah, you're right. It's normal... Listen, I'm sorry that I woke you so late. I'll just be going back to sleep now." Garnet looked at Zidane with curious eyes. "Good night, Queen."
"Good night,... Zidane."
He nodded his head, and then left the room.
" 'Night, Rusty!"
Steiner was quite upset now, "Why you little..." That's all Garnet heard before the door slammed shut.
Garnet noticed something very strange about Zidane that night.
____________________________
Zidane was walking along the river of Alexandria again. He could not comprehend why he could not say what he wanted to tell Garnet.
Then, he heard the voice again.
"That was pretty sneaky, Zidane."
"Kuja! What do you want from me!?" Zidane seemed to be talking to the skies.
"Well, first of all, I don't want you to pull another stunt like that again. Don't forget, Zidane, you're my puppet! I can have complete control over you if I wish to do so. So don't get me angry!"
"Kuja... I thought we had a deal."
"Oh, we had a deal, all right. I believe your exact words were: 'Kuja, I can try and save you, but you must promise never to hurt my friends ever again...' Zidane, you of all people should know that I'm a man that stays true to my words."
"You bastard..." Zidane was overwhelmed with anger. "What could you possibly want with any of us!? I saved your LIFE! WE saved your life!"
"Oh, and don't think that I'm not grateful!"
"Get to the point... take what you want and get OUT OF MY LIFE!"
"My my... very feisty. Actually, what I want is... Queen Garnet's pendant."
"Her... her pendant?" Zidane questioned. He had no idea what he would want with Garnet's pendant. "You can't take that... she cherishes it! She's had it for such a long time, and it means so much to her..."
"Shut up." Zidane was quick to cease talking. "Now now, calm down. It's not the sentimental value that means so much to me."
"Then what do you want with it?"
"That's none of your business. You are now my slave, and if you don't do this for me, I will simply make you."
Hoping he would have time to discover the value of the pendant to Kuja, Zidane responded "Ok. I'll do it."
Although Zidane could not see Kuja anywhere, he knew that he was smiling. He knew that Kuja had an evil plot that would bring about ruin. And Zidane would do whatever he could to stop it.
"Good," Kuja responded. "Now Zidane, the sooner you obtain the pendant, the better. And don't forget... I own you. Whatever you do, or fail to do, may result in your destruction. Or maybe even... the destruction of a loved one."
Shivers shot up Zidane's spine. He knew that Kuja's spirit had left now, and what he really needed was to get some rest. However, as he lay in bed, he knew that there was no conceivable way that he would be able to sleep tonight.
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"Wake up you bastard!" Zidane was knocked off of his bed by Blank.
"What the hell!?" Zidane yelled, clambering onto his feet again. "I was already awake!"
"You're a real jerk, you know that? What was wrong with you last night!? You could've killed me! Why are you getting so aggressive lately? Was it not enough to see Ruby suffer?"
"I'm sorry! It's just that..."
"And don't forget... I own you..."
Zidane stood motionless as the words of Kuja from the night before flooded back to his memory.
He continued. "I've been under a lot of stress lately."
"Stress? STRESS!? That's no excuse!" Blank stopped to listen to what he was saying, than began talking in a calmer tone. "Listen, Zidane. You are my friend. You are a friend to all of us. But we were all talking at the pub last night, and we've come to a decision." Zidane stared at Blank, in anticipation for what he would say next. "If you make another outburst like the one with Ruby, or the one last night, then... you're getting kicked out of Tantalus."
"What!? You can't do that! I'm as much a part of Tantalus as you are!"
"Listen, I realize that. But you put Ruby in mortal danger a few weeks ago. And last night wasn't too pleasant either. It's a side to you that we've never seen, and no one is particularly fond of it. So if you do something stupid again, you're out of the group."
Zidane wished that he could tell Blank of the real reasons of these outbursts, but he realized that if he did he would be putting Blank's life, or possibly his own, in lethal danger.
"I... I'm sorry, Blank. Trust me. It will never happen again."
Blank looked for reassurance in Zidane's eyes before responding, "Ok. Good. Let's hope it never happens again." And with that, he left.
"I gotta get a hold of myself... I can't become a puppet."
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"Marry me..."
These were the words of Garnet the day before. Zidane was so confused. He knew that Garnet had wanted to stay with Zidane forever, but he didn't know at what cost. He decided to talk to her again.
Queen Garnet was sitting in her throne room, daydreaming, once again. She envied those birds... and Zidane. She too was confused. She didn't know if her mother's legacy was more important than the love of Zidane. And with the recent events, she became even more perplexed.
Zidane entered the room.
"Garnet, I need to talk to you."
"Zidane..." she interrupted. "I... I want to give up the throne. I'm serious. My life with you is more important than any other life I could dream of. I want to be free... like those birds outside." She ran to her window. "See those birds? I want to fly with them. Zidane, let me fly with them... let me fly... with you." He stared at her eyes, as she stared back. "Don't you have anything to say?" Zidane noticed the pendant that she was wearing. Garnet saw his eyes quickly become fixated on her chest, as he reached his hand out towards it. "What the!?" She slapped his hand and backed away. "You men are only after one thing! What a way to break the mood!" He shook his head in realization of what he was doing. "Did you hear a word that I said!?"
"Oh... I'm sorry Garnet. It's just that... um..." Her hands were clutching her chest. "...Could I possibly borrow your pendant?"
"Wh... what?" She was startled, and she looked down at the pendant she was wearing. Her face turned bright red. "Oh, I'm sorry. You see... I thought that you... you wanted..." He looked at her with a perplexed face. "Well, what I thought is not important. But why would you want my pendant?"
"Um, I just need to borrow it for a second. I..." He needed a lie quickly. "I need to show it to Ruby. She has a fetish with... pendants."
"She does? That's odd." She said as she took it off from around her neck. She held out her hand with the pendant and said, "Now I am going to get it back, right?"
"Of course. It won't take long." He snatched the pendant from her hand and stuffed it in his pocket.
"Zidane... please be careful with that. You know how much that pendant means to me, and you know that you are the only person that I would trust with it."
"Don't worry, I'll bring it back in one piece."
He began to leave when Garnet yelled back to him "Hey! Um... you never responded to my decision."
Zidane looked back to her. "Garnet, just don't make any rash decisions. You never know what lies around the corner." He left her chamber.
These words troubled Garnet, as she felt an uneasiness in her stomach.
"Zidane, what's come over you?"
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Zidane was reluctant to give the pendant to Kuja. He needed to find out what the pendant would be used for. So he brought the pendant to the Eidolon wall at Madain Sari. Zidane knew that Kuja had a strange obsession with Eidolons, so he needed to find answers here.
He walked into the enclosed area where murals of Shiva, Ifrit, Bahumut and many more Eidolons were immortalized. Zidane held up Garnet's pendant, and began to walk around the inside of the wall. He walked in circles, counterclockwise. He walked for hours, still holding the pendant up in front of him. As he walked, he closed his eyes as tight as possible, hoping that a message would be sent to him. Not receiving any information, he decided to stop. He put the pendant down, and opened his eyes. Zidane was now facing the wall, and to his surprise, a large mural was before him, something that wasn't there before. He backed away to see what it was, and when he realized what it was, he gasped and dropped to his knees. For what he saw, was the most power Eidolon to ever exist, and it resided in Garnet's pendant.
Knights of the Round.
With Garnet's pendant, Kuja planned on destroying Gaia.
To Be Continued...