EXT. ALEXANDRIA CASTLE - EVENING
Zidane and Dagger are still out on the balcony.
ZIDANE
"And then they all went back to Lindblum as hero's. The end."
DAGGER
"Well, there you have it. Further proof that this whole Halloween special nonsense is going down the drain."
ZIDANE
"Hey, don't be so mean and moody, Dagger! Maybe that first story wasn't so good, but I bet you'll be scared as hell after this next one!"
DAGGER
(Yawn)
"Okay, go ahead."
VIVI walks out onto the balcony.
VIVI
"Hey guys. What the heck are you doing up here?! You're missing out on the Halloween party downstairs. We're having a great time!"
DAGGER
"Zidane! Hurry up and tell the next story!"
ZIDANE
"Alright, don't rush me! Ahem, anyway, my next tale is called 'Dagger Time.'
Dagger sighs.
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
FFIX: Dagger Time
EXT. ALEXANDRIA PLATEAU - DAY
ZIDANE, VIVI, DAGGER AND STEINER are all walking through the countryside.
DAGGER
"Phew! Now that was some battle!"
ZIDANE
"Yeah, I never thought we'd get away from that Malboro in one piece!"
STEINER
"Ha! I didn't have any doubt in my mind at all! I knew we could destroy it!"
ZIDANE
"Yeah, right! You were cryin' like a little baby through the entire event!"
STEINER
"Silence! Do not belittle me in front of Her Highness!"
DAGGER
"Uh-oh... I think we've got some more trouble up ahead."
They can see a pair of MISTODON'S heading their way.
ZIDANE
"Damn! Uh, listen... Alexandria is not too far away. Let's make a run for it and hide in the castle."
STEINER
"Hmph! I have never ran away from a battle in my whole life! I do not intend to start now!"
ZIDANE
"Gee, you a cold man, Rusty."
STEINER
"Do not fear, Princess. I shall stand and fight for your honour."
ZIDANE
"Hey, I wanna stand and fight for your honour too! C'mon Rusty, let's teach those monsters a lesson!"
They both run off towards the Mistodons.
DAGGER
(To Vivi)
"Why do they always have to play hero all the time? Don't they think that we couldn't handle a couple of monsters like that for ourselves?"
VIVI
"T-They just want to look after you, Princess. Y-You should be grateful."
DAGGER
"Hmm, I'm gonna help them!"
VIVI
"W-What?!"
DAGGER
"I'm gonna show them how well I can defend myself!"
VIVI
"Princess, no!"
She runs over to Zidane and Steiner, who are both fighting the Mistodons.
ZIDANE
"Go for the head, Steiner! Make sure they don't use their sleep spells!"
STEINER
"I know how to handle them, Zidane!"
DAGGER
"Don't worry, guys! I'm here to help!"
STEINER
"Princess, no! It is too dangerous for you here! Go back and wait with Master Vivi!"
DAGGER
"No way! I'll show you what a princess can do when she puts her mind to it!"
She fires herself up and casts the Stop spell. However, rather than just stopping the enemy, she puts a stop to everything. The whole world, sans Dagger, is frozen in time.
DAGGER
"What the?!"
She looks around. Zidane and Steiner are frozen. Vivi has been frozen. The birds in the sky have frozen. Even the clouds have frozen.
DAGGER
"W-What happened? What've I done?"
She tries to shake some sense into Zidane.
DAGGER
"Zidane! Zidane, are you okay?!"
She moves onto Steiner.
DAGGER
"Steiner! Steiner, say something!"
She walks back over to Vivi.
DAGGER
"Vivi, something weird just happened. I-"
She notices that Vivi is frozen too.
DAGGER
"Oh no! Not you aswell, Vivi!"
She sits down on the grass.
DAGGER
(To herself)
"Everything seems to have been frozen in time... But how? I cast the Stop spell same as usual... Why did it freeze everything?"
She gets up off the grass.
DAGGER
"Well, I guess the only way to reverse the process would be to cast the spell again... I'll give it a try and hope for the best..."
She fires herself up and casts the Stop spell again. Everything resumes back to normal.
DAGGER
"Oh, wow! Alright!"
STEINER
(Turns around)
"That's a good princess. You do as you're told now, you hear?"
Zidane and Steiner both kill the Mistodons.
ZIDANE
"Woo hoo! We won, Rusty! We're the best!"
DAGGER
"..."
ZIDANE
"Hey, are you alright, Dagger? You look kinda freaked out."
DAGGER
"...You guys are not gonna believe what just happened."
INT. ALEXANDRIA CASTLE - DAY
Zidane, Dagger, Vivi and Steiner are all sitting at the dinning room table.
ZIDANE
"No way!"
STEINER
"Impossible!"
VIVI
"Amazing!"
DAGGER
"No, its true. The whole world went to a stand still. It was like something out of some kind of cheap horror story."
ZIDANE
"Do you honestly expect us to believe that WE and everything else on this planet became frozen in time?!"
DAGGER
"I wouldn't lie about something like this, Zidane. You were all frozen, I swear!"
STEINER
"I believe you, Princess."
DAGGER
"You do?"
STEINER
"Actually, I'm required to say that. I don't believe a word of it... Please don't punish me."
DAGGER
"I'm not going to punish you just for speaking your mind, Steiner."
She pauses.
DAGGER
"Go to your room."
STEINER
"Yes, Your Highness."
He leaves.
ZIDANE
(To Dagger)
"If we all froze, then how come you didn't?"
DAGGER
"I think it may have been because I was the person who actually cast the spell."
VIVI
"If my grandpa was still alive, then I bet he'd know something about this. Pity he's dead."
ZIDANE
"This is all complete BS. I'm going to bed."
DAGGER
"No Zidane! Everything DID freeze!"
ZIDANE
"Alright, prove it. Cast the Stop spell again and see what happens."
DAGGER
"I can't do that! What if you all stop again?!"
ZIDANE
"Then I'll believe you about the frozen in time stuff."
DAGGER
"But if you're frozen then you won't remember anything about it!"
ZIDANE
"How'd you know?!"
DAGGER
"You didn't remember the last time, remember?!"
ZIDANE
"I don't remember! That's why I want you to cast it again!"
DAGGER
"But how will that help?!"
ZIDANE
"Look, are you gonna cast the damn spell or not?!"
DAGGER
"Alright, alright! I'll cast it! Stay alert!"
She casts the spell but nothing happens.
ZIDANE
"Ha! See?! Nothin'!"
DAGGER
"But..."
ZIDANE
"There. Now stop going on about us being frozen in time. It's startin' to get boring."
INT. GARNET'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Zidane and Dagger are both in bed. Zidane is asleep.
DAGGER
(To herself)
"I just don't get it. How come time didn't stop the second time? Hmm, maybe Zidane was right. Maybe I imagined the whole thing... Oh well, I suppose I should just try to forget it about it for now."
She tries to get comfortable in bed.
DAGGER
"Uh, I can't get to sleep!"
She casts the Sleep spell on herself.
DAGGER
(Sleepy)
"Ahh... G'night Gaia..."
She falls asleep.
INT. DINNING ROOM - NEXT MORNING
Zidane and Vivi are sitting at the table. QUINA is giving them their breakfast.
ZIDANE
"Mmm, thank you, Quina! I'm starvin' today!"
QUINA
"Where Princess? She not up yet?"
ZIDANE
"Oh, God! I sure hope she isn't still sulkin' about yesterday!"
QUINA
"Yesterday?"
ZIDANE
"Yeah, get this: she thinks that she can stop time! Can you believe that?!"
Quina drops his breakfast tray.
QUINA
"W-What?!"
ZIDANE
"Hey! That's my breakfast you just dropped all over the floor! Get me another tray!"
Dagger enters the room.
DAGGER
"Good morning, everyone."
ZIDANE
"Are you listening to me, Quina?! Get me another tray, goddammit!"
QUINA
"Princess, Zidane say you stop time yesterday. Is true?"
DAGGER
"Um... I was trying to forget all about that, but if you're interested then I don't mind talking about it again."
ZIDANE
(To Quina)
"No! You get my breakfast first!"
QUINA
"Princess, you come with me to kitchen. We talk there."
INT. KITCHEN - MORNING
Quina and Dagger are in the kitchen talking. Quina is preparing another tray of breakfast for Zidane.
DAGGER
"And then everything just stopped. Well, what do you think?"
QUINA
"I hear about such thing happen to old friend."
DAGGER
"Really?"
QUINA
"Yes, yes!"
DAGGER
"What happened to this friend?"
QUINA
"He die."
DAGGER
"Oh. So we couldn't go visit him and ask him about the time problem then?"
QUINA
"Not unless you want talk to his corpse."
DAGGER
"That probably wouldn't help."
QUINA
"But while friend was alive he tell me about time freeze. He say he use Stop spell once and whole planet come to stand still. Birds in sky froze, clouds froze, water froze, wind froze, everything froze."
DAGGER
"What did he do?"
QUINA
"He unfreeze time again. He never use Stop spell ever again either. He too afraid just in case something bad happen."
DAGGER
"The Stop spell is only supposed to freeze the enemy that you target. It isn't supposed to freeze the entire planet. I should try to talk to a magic expert. Maybe Eiko would be able to help me."
QUINA
"You no get any luck there. Eiko dead. Remember?"
DAGGER
"Oh yeah... Then it looks like I'll have to figure out this mystery myself."
QUINA
"You should no try anything at all. You may get into trouble."
DAGGER
"I can't just do nothing! What if we're fighting an important battle and the Stop spell goes mental again? It could ruin our chance for survival somehow."
QUINA
"I do not think that very likely. Enemy would stop, after all. You in no danger if enemy unable to move."
DAGGER
"Still. I would like to get to the bottom of this..."
ZIDANE (O.S)
"Dagger! Dagger, where the hell are you?!"
DAGGER
"Huh?"
INT. DINNING ROOM - MORNING
Dagger and Quina both walk into the dinning room. Zidane is panicking around the table.
DAGGER
"Zidane, whatever is the matter?"
ZIDANE
"Outside... look... now...!"
DAGGER
"Outside? Why?"
ZIDANE
"Just look, dammit!"
Vivi runs in.
VIVI
"It-Its here!"
EXT. ALEXANDRIA CASTLE - MORNING
Zidane, Dagger, Vivi and Quina walk outside. Steiner and BEATRIX are both there.
STEINER
"Princess, you should get back inside."
DAGGER
"What? Why?"
She looks up into the sky and sees a meteor fast approaching the planet.
DAGGER
"Oh my goodness! A meteorite!"
VIVI
"It-It just appeared from out of nowhere! Its gonna collide with the planet for sure! We're all going to die!"
ZIDANE
"This is the last chance I'm ever gonna have to say this... But Dagger, I love you."
DAGGER
"Don't be stupid! We're not going to die! We can stop the meteor!"
STEINER
"We are not technically advanced enough to stop it! This isn't Final Fantasy VII, you know?!"
DAGGER
"No! I can stop the meteor! I'll just use my Stop spell!"
ZIDANE
"Oh, not this again! Dagger, will you quit it?! I don't want to spend our last few minutes on earth in another heated in-depth argument!"
DAGGER
"Trust me! I can do this!"
She fires herself up and casts a Stop spell at the meteor. The whole world freezes once more.
DAGGER
"Yay! I told you I could stop it!"
She looks around. No one can hear her.
DAGGER
"Well, they're all frozen, but hey, at least they're all safe too."
She pauses.
DAGGER
"I think I'll go get an ice-cream."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE END
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~