Chapter Three: City Limits and Captain Jack

Notes: Okay, my days off have been severely lacking lately, so I've had some trouble updating. But I'm trying, cuz I'm really enjoying this ficceh. There's one more chappeh after this one, and two more on 'C' Series. But I've already got some other ideas lined up.

I really can't resist these DDR songs. And a Conte Petie accent is annoyingly hard to attempt.

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When Zidane awoke that morning, he knew already that he'd slept in. The light outside was too bright. He shifted slightly, and felt something warm beside him.

Amarant. Oh shit.

The bounty hunter was laying on his side, facing away from him, aloof even in sleep. Zidane didn't move. His shirt had bunched up during his sleep, exposing a better part of his waist. When he had turned, he had accidentally pressed himself against the sleeping redhead, and warm skin connected.

Zidane sighed a bit despite himself, relaxing. Okay, so that felt good. There was no harm in sleeping in a little. Everyone needed it anyway. And there were only a few things right now that were going to coax the monkey out of this warm bed he was sharing.

Someone knocked on the door. Dammit. Zidane growled, easing himself up and padding to the door.

"Yeah?" he asked, mildly annoyed as he swung the door open.

"Oh…" Vivi stood on the other side, looking a bit uncomfortable and more than a bit confused. "I-I was going to ask Amarant if he knew where you were, but…I guess he does…"

Zidane's face flushed. "Vivi! Um…I lost my room key last night, so I roomed with Amarant so I wouldn't have to wake you all up."

Vivi looked at the monkey for awhile, as if considering whether or not to believe this. To the boy's credit, at least he knew Zidane enough to know that his past had given him the ability to lie very convincingly. Finally he shook his head slightly. "Gar—er, Dagger says we should split up for equipment shopping."

Zidane grinned. "I hope I didn't keep her waiting."

The small Mage blinked. "What?"

The grin faded. "She's…not going with me is she?"

"Nope. Her and Eiko left earlier this morning."

The blond hung his head a little. "Okay, I'll be down in a minute."

Vivi's eyes dimmed slightly, almost unperceptively. "I'll see about some breakfast…"

The boy left and Zidane sighed.

"Lost your key?" Amarant's voice spoke up. There was a noticeable trace of amusement in his tone.

"Well, what was I supposed to do, tell a ten year-old I'm here cuz you decided you wanted to molest me last night?" Zidane snapped, turning around with his arms crossed.

Amarant snorted, pulling his shirt over his head. "I thought getting some action usually put people in a GOOD mood."

"Very funny…" Zidane rolled his eyes. "What was up with that anyway?"

"What?"

The monkey glared at him. "You know what."

Amarant shrugged, lifting his arms over his head in a drawn out stretch. "Thought it would be interesting. Besides," he smirked, "I didn't hear you complaining."

Zidane opened his mouth to speak, but closed it without a word.

"And before you ask," the bounty hunter continued, walking past the blond to the door, "don't count on it happening again. It's not gonna be some happy regular occurrence relationship thing."

He left Zidane staring at the wall, clenching his fists.

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Vivi was waiting downstairs when Zidane finally calmed down enough to get dressed. The young Mage was at the counter, with Amarant sitting on his left side. He sat down on the boy's other side, where a hot breakfast was waiting. Amarant had already started his, eating silently.

"Thanks Viv. You ready to head out after this?"

The boy nodded absently, poking his food with a fork. Zidane thought this was odd. It was then he noticed the dimness of his eyes.

"You okay?"

"…I'm fine." He replied automatically.

Zidane frowned. "You don't look fine. You know you can tell me if something's wrong, no matter what." Sometimes Zidane forgot that Vivi was only ten.

Vivi took a deep breath. "I…I'm sorry Dagger left you with me."

The blond's face softened. "Oh Vivi, I'm sorry! I didn't mean that I didn't want you with me!"

"Really?"

"Of course," he started on his meal, "Look, I was just in a bad mood this morning." He chanced a glare at Amarant, who met his gaze and shrugged concomitantly. It wasn't his problem. "I like being paired up with you. It'll be more fun than hanging out with those girls all day."

The boy's eyes regained their brightness. "Okay!"

Amarant watched them. He raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

They set out after breakfast. Amarant trailed along, having bought his things yesterday. Besides, there was something he was trying to figure out. Something about why it was so interesting watching Zidane interact with the kid.

And why it made him want to smile.

He shook his head to clear it. He'd already told Zidane there was nothing between them but revenge. Besides, he hated the monkey. He hated how he was always so cheerful. How he always laughed. How he had looked under him last night, flushed with his eyes squeezed shut…

Time to derail THAT train of thought and kill any survivors.

"Are you always this quiet, or am I just not doing enough to annoy you?" Zidane asked, glancing back at him.

"Is there any reply I can give that won't result in more of your stupid antics?"

He pretended to think about this. "Hmm. Nope, don't think so."

Amarant groaned. Vivi giggled a bit and Zidane beamed. At least the kid was getting a kick out of this. Upon retrospect, the blond had been right in not telling him about last night. No use in scarring him for life, not when he was actually starting to like having him around. And besides, it looked like the boy was developing a little crush on the monkey. Amarant wondered if either of them knew.

"—don't need anything?" Amarant caught the tail end of Zidane's question. He was zoning off an awful lot today.

"I got everything," he replied, pretending he'd heard him.

Zidane nodded. "Okay then Viv, it's just for you and me then."

Amarant looked around. There wasn't much of anything in Conte Petie, but it was well off enough to supply them. It was pretty late in the afternoon. When they slept in, they SLEPT. The stores were filled with dwarves, doing their shopping. Amarant towered over them all, Vivi and Zidane included. Like being waist-deep in a sea of people.

He laughed to himself. Maybe he WAS in a good mood today.

Vivi struggled through the crowd, only the tip of his hat raising above the dwarves. Zidane reached for him before he got lost, grabbing his hand. He pulled the boy through the crowd, with Amarant bringing up the rear.

Apparently the dwarves were doing some fighting outside for monster control, because even the Weapon Shop was packed. While he had first found this sea of people interesting, Amarant was becoming increasingly annoyed. He wondered why everyone in town seemed to be stocking up. Was the Apocalypse coming, and no one thought to tell the out-of-towners?

"What is going ON here?" Amarant growled, sidestepping a squat dwarf who pressed against his legs.

Zidane looked back at him and shrugged, looking exasperated himself. Keeping a tight hold on Vivi's hand, he wove his way to the counter. "Why's it so busy?" he practically had to yell to be heard over the din of the place.

"Ya dinna know?" the cashier asked, ringing up sales as he answered. "Thir's a fest'val commin. Thill all beh oot en th' forest t'night."

Zidane and Vivi swam back to Amarant, who'd refused to go any deeper into the crowd than he already was. "Something about a festival. I'm guessing it's like the Festival of the Hunt back on our continent. They'll all be gone in a little while. Let's just come back then."

Amarant nodded, backing out the door. He felt better, being in the open air. Apparently Vivi felt the same, because the redhead heard a small sigh of relief escape him.

"So what do we do until the Festival starts?" Zidane took a seat on the fence in front of the shop.

"Cards?" Vivi suggested.

"Nah, 'm not that good," Zidane suddenly looked up, grinning.

"Don't you DARE…" Amarant started.

He jumped up from his seat, balancing easily on the fence. Walking across it, he grabbed hold of the street light, which had just flicker on to signal evening.

"What?" Vivi pulled himself onto the fence, only managing to get on the lowest beam. If Amarant didn't dislike kids, he might have found that cute.

"Attention!" Zidane pointed a finger into the air dramatically. "Hey-oh! Captain Jack!"

The Mage blinked, something clicking into place. "Hey-oh! Captain Jack!"

Zidane grinned, nodding. Amarant had to wonder where someone like Vivi knew these horrible songs. The monkey continued. "Bring me back to the railroad track!" Vivi repeated. "Gimme a gun in my hand!"

Repeat. "I wanna be your shooting man!" Repeat.

Amarant groaned. "Not again."

But they were already in full swing. "Left, right, left! The military step!"

They were having entirely too much fun with this. The dwarves had begun to filter out of the stores, preparing for their Festival. A few stopped to watch the performance. Amarant felt his face flush slightly.

They were making a damn scene.

Zidane kept it going, despite all this. "Bring me back to the railroad track! Gimme a bottle in my hand, I wanna be your drunken man!"

"Left, right, right, left!" Vivi seemed to be enjoying himself. Either he didn't notice the gathering crowd, or he was starting to pick up some of Zidane's stage charisma.

Amarant knew he had only one way to stop this. He had to beat them at their own game. It had to be done. He stepped up, leaning against the streetlight. "Bring me back to the railroad track. Gimme a woman in my hand…"

They both looked surprised, but repeated the phrase.

"I wanna be your fucking man."

Zidane repeated without question. Vivi started to, but cut himself off as the words sunk it, eyes widening. One down, one to go.

"Go left, go right, go pick up the step, go left, go right, go left!"

Zidane took a breath. "Go left, go right, go pick up the step, go—" he frowned. "You're going too fast!"

He pushed himself off the light, walking inside the shop. "I know."

The monkey hopped off the fence, following. Vivi struggled a bit disentangling himself from the beam, but caught up with the two inside.

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Er…shorter than usual. Maybeh I can cook up an extra chappeh from the rest of this…Well, what's everyone think?

Gargant Surprise: Okay, now I can't wait for your writing! -grins- Where exactly should I beh looking m'dear?

Devilish Kururi: -laughs- Calling it a 'seed' isn't such a good idea. It puts too much to the imagination. And we'll damage poor Vivi's fragile psyhe. I adore the name Ama too, tho I'm pretty sure he'd hurt us if we called him that. Thankehs for reading!