Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy IX or any of the characters. Keep in mind that this is a story in progress.

Love's Lost Refrain

PART 5

Blank stood in front of Garnet's lifeless body holding a bloodied Dagger. He stared at her body, as did Zidane. Zidane looked up at Blank, shocked at what he did.

"Blank... how could you?" Blank raised his head to reveal an evil grin on his face. "Kuja... you did this."

"That's right," Blank said. Kuja was speaking through his body. "And now that I know where the pendant is, I won't be needing this pitiful body anymore." Blank raised the dagger and held it facing his abdomen, about to commit suicide.

"NO! You can't do this to Blank!" he dived for the dagger and knocked Blank over.

"Get off of me!"

"You said," Zidane started, wrestling for the dagger. "You said that... you were... a man of you're word! Why did you do this... to Garnet and Beatrix!?" He grabbed the dagger from Blank and pushed him away. Blank stood up, and Kuja began talking through him again.

"Well, I suppose I don't need another sacrifice now, you're all going to die soon anyway!" And with that, Kuja's spirit left Blank's body as he fell to the ground. Zidane rushed to the aid of Garnet as Blank tried to get a sense of what he was doing.

"Wh-where am I?" he asked. He noticed Beatrix laying on the bed, then Garnet, on the ground. Blank looked at his hands, noticing the blood that covered them. "Zidane... Beatrix and Garnet... did I do this?"

"No," Zidane answered firmly. "Kuja did this." Zidane stared at Garnet's inanimate body. He did not want to believe what happened.

"Is she... dead?" Blank asked curiously.

Zidane felt her neck for a pulse.

"Nothing," he said. He looked at the dagger that Blank had used on Garnet. What she had admired so much was what had done this to her. His vision became blurry as he slowly picked up Garnet's head. He brushed his hand through her hair. "Garnet... I don't want to say goodbye... I don't want to let you go... not now... not this way..." He held her body and removed his hand from underneath her head. It dropped back like a rag doll. A lifeless... puppet. "No.... NO!" He embraced her body and cried on her shoulder. He cried like he never cried before. "No! I don't want you to die!" Blank was sitting on the ground, staring downward. Zidane continued to sob when Steiner barged in.

"What is the meaning of- Princess!?" he ran over to her. "What did you do!?" He saw Beatrix out of the corner of his eye. "General!" He ran over to her. "Is... is this some kind of joke!?" He felt for a pulse, but there was also nothing. "She... she's dead? No!" He turned to Zidane. "Is... is she dead too?"

Zidane did not pause to answer his question, but the look in Blank's eyes confirmed his worst fears. Blank stood up and exited through the door. Zidane was still holding Garnet tightly in his arms, as Steiner kneeled next to the bed in which Beatrix laid. He was not emotional, but the thought of Beatrix leaving his life terrified him.

Zidane then slowly lifted his head from Garnet's shoulder.

"Th-th-that bastard..." he whispered. Steiner turned his head around.

"Who?" he asked quietly.

"Kuja... he did this."

"You mean to tell me... that Kuja... is... alive?"

Zidane nodded his head.

He then placed one hand under Garnet's legs and the other hand beneath her head. He slowly stood up with her in his hands and walked over to the bed. He walked slowly... it was a walk that seemed to take forever. As he walked, he realized that he had never felt this close to Garnet in his life, even if her soul had left her body. As he walked, he began to reminisce on the first time he met her.

"Do you... do you work on this theater ship?"

("Aww... So she figured it out, huh?")

"As you have no doubt suspected... the truth is that... I am actually..." she hesitated as she removed the hood from her head, "Princess Garnet Til Alexandros, heir to the throne of Alexandria. I have a favor I wish to ask of you... I wish to be kidnapped... right away."

As he walked, he was preparing himself to say goodbye. He placed her body next to Beatrix and kissed her on the forehead.

"...I can't let him get away. I won't let him destroy Gaia! He won't get away. Kuja, you've broken many promises, but this is BEYOND the limit!" He stormed out of the room. Steiner continued to stare at Beatrix.

"I thought... we had a future together..."

______________________________

Zidane ran back to the airship where the rest of Tantalus resided. Ruby approached him and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Blank told me everything... I'm really sorry, Zidane."

"Don't be sorry. Kuja did this, and I'm not gonna let him get away with it, either! I'm not gonna say goodbye to Garnet until the world is safe! And I have complete confidence in myself! I'm gonna get him..."

"Where is he?" asked Baku.

Zidane paused for a moment.

"I don't know."

Everyone let out a sigh of distress.

"Wait!" Zidane said. "Let me think.

"You are my puppet!"

"What!?" He looked around frantically, no one was at the door, or in the room. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

"I believe that is impossible. For as you should know, I am controlling your moves from another place... another world..."

"Another world! There's only one place that he could be." They all looked at him with eyes of bewilderment. "The crystal world!"

Baku interuppted. "Yeah, but Zidane, the Iifa tree doesn't exist anymore. How are we going to get to the crystal world?"

"Just because the Iifa tree is gone doesn't mean that the wormhole is no longer there!" They still continued to stare at him. "It's worth a shot, isn't it?"

Baku decided to break the silence. "To the Iifa tree! Or, maybe... where it used to be... yeah!" Everyone's heads turned to Baku, as they stared at him in silence.

"Let's go." Zidane said.

_____________________________

They put the Prima Vista into full gear (which wasn't that fast but that's beside the point), and headed towards where the Iifa tree used to be.

On the way there, Zidane remembered that Kuja had taken the pendant that Garnet had hidden by her mother's grave. Soon after he remembered this, he saw a knight riding a horse approach them. It was the first of the 13 Knight's of the Round. Kuja did not waste any time trying to destroy the planet. The knight continued to approach the ship when Zidane yelled to Blank.

"Turn the ship! We're gonna get hit!"

Without question, Blank turned the wheel as far to the right as possible. Slowly, the ship moved out of the way of the knight. It continued to get closer and closer, and as it passed the ship, it banged it hard on it's side. The ship tilted to one side as Zidane lost control of his balance and fell over. Zidane realized that the knight was not after him, but it was headed toward the equator, where the earth would be destroyed. He saw in the distance more knights riding horses through the sky. He had very limited time.

They had finally reached the place where the Iifa tree once existed. To Zidane's surprise, there was nothing. No loop hole... nothing. He sat on the floor and sighed, very depressed.

"Listen," Blank said. "I'm sorry."

Zidane looked up at him and said, "there must be another way! I'm sure of it!" He ran to the deck and looked out to the wide open area. Roots spread on the continent, and traveled miles underground. But besides that, there was nothing. But he continued to stare out to the sky. He focused his vision in that area, determined to find another wormhole.

He saw a sudden burst of electricity. It only lasted a millisecond, but that was where they had to be.

"Over there, Blank!" he pointed to the direction, and Blank steered the wheel to the left. The ship slowly turned. They approached the area and Blank slowed the ship down as much as possible. There was another bolt of electricity. This time, it hit the ship. Zidane felt a jolt in his body, as his surroundings grew brighter and brighter. He felt his weight lighten, and noticed his feet were rising from the ground. Zidane was now floating in the pink sky, and flew up and up, all the way to the crystal world.

_______________________________

The crystal world was just as he remembered it. It was a place where all of his and Garnet's memories stayed. He approached a bridge and looked below. He expected to see a little girl and a woman floating on a tiny boat. He did see this, only this time, they were black and white. He walked around, hoping to reach Kuja soon and noticed that all of Garnet's memories were in black and white.

"Garnet's memories are fading..." he thought to himself. "Does this mean there's time?"

He continued to walk. But now, there were new memories of Garnet. He saw the Alexandria castle to his right. He saw himself, throwing off a black robe, and Garnet leaning over her balcony.

"This was the day we reunited after my encounter with Kuja at the Iifa tree..."

Garnet ran down the stairs of the castle, ran towards him and jumped into his arms. Something struck Zidane oddly that he didn't really notice before. Before she embraced him, she threw off her crown.

"Garnet... you always hated the formalities..."

He continued to walk when he saw another memory. This one disturbed him deeply. Garnet stood in front of Zidane, in this memory, with blood on her neck. She was scared and frightened. Then her eyes grew wide, and her mouth dropped. This was her memory of her death.

"Z..." she started to say his name. Then the vision went black. This indicated her death.

"NO!" Zidane exclaimed, and continued to run forward. "I won't let her memories cease to exist! I will find Kuja!" Zidane noticed that he was now running in space... seemingly endless. He saw a white light, and approached it. The next thing he knew, he was in a more colorful place. That's when he ran into his worst enemy.

Kuja floated in front of Zidane, holding Garnet's pendant in his hand.

To Be Continued...