Zidane grumbled as he
fiddled with his new clothing. "I hate these clothes," he thought. "Too
high-class for my taste."
Dagger came up in front of him and straightened his silk shirt. "You look good," she said with a smile. "Who knows, you might be a great king yet."
Zidane grinned. "Yeah,
sure," he said. "If you can be such a convincing commoner, I can easily be a
king."
Dagger looked at him and
straightened her white dress. "Is that supposed to be a compliment?" she asked.
Zidane laughed.
"Of course!" he said. "Hey,
can you help me with this buckle? It seems to be stuck."
Dagger unhooked the buckle
and readjusted it so that it would not be so uncomfortable. "There," she said. "Honestly,
he's like a child when it comes to getting ready for royal gatherings."
There came a knock on their door and Beatrix walked in. "Your Highnesses, we are ready for you now."
Dagger nodded. "We're
coming," she said. "Tell Steiner to stop pacing, I can hear him from here."
Beatrix suppressed a
chuckle. "Yes, Your Highness," she said. She walked out of the room, and the
sound of pacing stopped.
"We should get going,"
Dagger said. "I still can't believe you made it back here."
Zidane smiled and hugged
her. "Hey, I had to," he said. "I had to come home to you."
Dagger smiled back. "I
know."
They linked arms and began
to walk toward the throne room.
----------------------------------------
Celythia stood uneasily
between her two escorts. She was wearing a violet-coloured silk dress covered
by silver armour, but she didn't carry a weapon.
"I have my magic," she thought. "I
don't think I'll needing a weapon any time soon."
Besides, even if she were in
need of a weapon, she could easily summon her Enchanted Daggers into her hands.
The doors to the throne room opened, and General Beatrix came out and greeted
Celythia personally.
"Celythia Angelheart?" she
asked. Celythia nodded slowly. Why did Beatrix come out personally? Did she
attract that much attention from the royal family?
"The King and Queen will see
you now," Beatrix said. "If you will follow me, I'll escort you to them."
Celythia nodded and followed
Beatrix into the chamber.
--------------------------------------
Zidane sat uneasily in his
throne. He wasn't used to this! All his life he had been a thief, treasure
hunter and actor. He had never dreamed that he would be the King of Alexandria,
or be married to the Queen! A flourish sounded and Beatrix walked into the room
followed by a girl in violet-coloured dress and silver battle armour.
"Huh? She's wearing armour,
but doesn't carry a weapon. Is she a mage of some kind?" Zidane thought.
He looked over at Dagger. She had also noticed Celythia's lack of armament, and
looked a little surprised herself. Beatrix bowed in front of them, and Zidane
felt just a little embarrassed. Still, it was nice to be getting some kind of
respect from the woman who had defeated them three times.
"Queen Garnet, King Zidane,"
Beatrix began, "this is Celythia Angelheart. As you know, she is here to become
the first female Pluto Knight. And maybe show Steiner and his men how to
fight…"
Dagger nodded and studied
Celythia. She guessed that she was about 17 years old, and she looked like a
capable person. The real question was: could she fight? Dagger decided to see.
"General Beatrix."
Beatrix stood to attention. "Yes,
Highness?"
"I want you to battle
Celythia. First blood wins."
Zidane, Beatrix and Celythia
stared at her. Zidane leaned over and whispered: "Are you sure that's a good
idea, Dagger? Beatrix is a strong fighter; I know that from personal
experience. This girl hasn't got a chance against her!"
Dagger looked at her
husband. "If this girl is anything like the reports I've been receiving, she
stands a good chance of winning."
Zidane blinked at her. "What
reports?"
"Oh, that's right! I
received them while you were missing. This girl has strong magic at her
disposal, as well as being a good hand-to-hand fighter and Master of the Blade.
That's why I asked her to join our military ranks."
Zidane sighed softly. "If
you say so. I still say this is a terrible idea. This girl has no weapons, or
haven't you noticed that?"
"I can see that," Dagger
said. "Still, this should be interesting to see how she fights."
She turned back to Beatrix
and Celythia. "Well?" she asked. Beatrix bowed.
"Of course, Highness," she said.
Celythia's face remained straight, but inside she was smirking.
"They want to see me in
battle? I'll show them what they want to see then!" she thought. She took
off the armour and tossed it aside. "I fight better without it," she explained.
Beatrix shrugged and took out her sword.
"You have no weapon,
Celythia," she said. "Are you sure you want this?"
Celythia smirked. "Look
again."
Beatrix looked at Celythia's
hands and was shocked to see that she now held two daggers in each hand. The
dagger's blades were made of silver and had images of dragons carved delicately
into them. The handles were made from gold and were slightly curved and had a
sun and a moon carved into them.
"Nice trick," she said
calmly. Celythia smiled.
"That's not my only 'trick',"
she replied. She suddenly ran at Beatrix and attempted to cut her arm. Beatrix blocked
Celythia's daggers and pushed her back before trying to strike her with the
flat end of her sword. Celythia stepped aside and brought her knee into Beatrix's
kidney area. Beatrix grunted, and brought her forearm down into Celythia's
chest. The teenage knight-to-be stepped back a foot and swung her dagger in a
low arc. Beatrix blocked that attack and tried to use Thunder Slash on
Celythia. But instead of getting hurt, Celythia took in the energy! Celythia
took advantage of Beatrix's surprise. She knocked the Save the Queen from
Beatrix's hands with one of her daggers and somersaulted, kicking the general in
the face and opening up her lip.
"Stop!" came Dagger's voice.
"Celythia has drawn first blood, and is the winner of the fight."
Celythia caused her daggers
to disappear to wherever she had summoned them from and held out a hand toward
Beatrix.
"No hard feelings, I hope,"
she said. Beatrix took her hand and stood up.
"None at all," she said. "You're
a very good fighter, Celythia. Where did you learn to do that somersault?"
"I…don't know," said
Celythia. "I've been able to fight like this since I was very young. I don't
know where or how I learnt to."
Beatrix frowned and turned
to Dagger. She made a motion with her hand that said: "She's an odd one. I
think we had better watch her closely."
Dagger nodded and replied
with her hand. "You're right."
Beatrix nodded again, and
Dagger stood up.
"Celythia, you have proven
yourself worthy of being in our royal guard. General Beatrix, will you do the honours?"
she said.
"Of course, Highness,"
Beatrix said. "Celythia, would you please kneel?"
Celythia knelt down quietly,
and Beatrix put her sword on each of Celythia's shoulders in turn.
"I now pronounce you Lady
Celythia of the Pluto Knights. Please rise."
Celythia got to her feet
slowly. "I thank you for this honour," she said. "I promise that I won't
disappoint you."
"I'm sure you won't," Dagger
said. "General Beatrix, will you show Lady Celythia to her quarters?"
"At once, my Queen," said
Beatrix. "Celythia, if you'll just follow me, I will show you to your quarters."
Celythia nodded and followed
Beatrix. When they were out of the room, Dagger looked at Zidane.
"You probably didn't know
what Beatrix and I were saying with our hand signals," she said. "But I'll tell
you: we both feel that we should watch Celythia."
"Why?" Zidane asked. "She
seems like a decent person."
"Yes, but you saw her
daggers."
Zidane nodded. "They look
like normal daggers to me," he said.
"They were magic daggers,"
Dagger said. "They can only be used by people with strong magical potential. The
fact that Celythia can use them means that she could very well be a dangerous
person, possibly more dangerous than Kuja or Garland."
Zidane looked thoughtful. "I
see your point. So, who are you going to assign to watch her?"
"I'm not sure."
They spent the rest of the
day tending to other visitors.