Dememan, or whatever your name was, I liked your idea, so in it goes. Enjoy!

P.S.

I own none of the characters.

Just this story.

Regent Cid, Freya, and a few Lindblum Soldiers were all riding in the steam powered cart. Freya looked a little nervous however.

"Regent Cid, are you sure this thing is safe?" she asked, concern in her voice.

"Absolutely, Freya. We've tested it over and over again, not to mention I'm only the most genius engineer in all of Lindblum; no, wait, all of Gaia!" He chucked heartily. Freya sighed, still somewhat nervous. They were making excellent progress, for one thing. On the other end of the tunnel, things weren't going so well.

"Will you shut up and focus? This path is slippery, and if you don't pay attention--" One of the soldiers had been chastising the one in front of him for rambling about his love life. However, before he could finish, the soldiers behind him all tripped and fell in one domino like effect, causing the entire squad to fall flat on their faces. This loud sound of clanking armor was enough to wake Vivi and Eiko, though they weren't entirely sure what was going on. Vivi rubbed his forehead.

"Ouch... Eiko... your horn cut me."

Eiko woke up slowly, and upon hearing Vivi's comment, she put a startled finger to her horn. Surely enough, there was the smallest bit of blood there. She blushed immensely, looking down and away.

"I'm sorry."

Vivi moaned softly. "It's okay... I heal fast. Hey, guess what? We're at the end of the Roo."

Eiko smiled once again, looking back into his lovely eyes. "Really? Okay. I'll be more careful from now on."

Vivi chuckled softly, but before he could do anything else, he heard voices. His face grew long as he could tell the soldiers were closing in.

"Look, I can see a platform! Let's go!"

"Eiko, get down!" Vivi commanded. Without another word spoken, Eiko was down. Vivi ducked his head, and peered over the lip of the cart. Soldiers were piling down. One of them noticed the cart, and they made their way towards it, slowly and cautiously. Vivi cursed under his breath.

"All right Eiko, I don't want to make a fight scene here. Can you cast Mini on both of us?"

She nodded, face long but with the slightest hint of a smile forming. Whispering the spell as softly as she could, the two mages shrunk down in size rapidly, and hid underneath the overhang formed by the bench-like seats in the cart. The guards peered in, but through the gloom they never even guessed that there was anyone in cart.

"Well boss, what do we do now? Doesn't seem like there are any fugitives or kidnapped princesses here."

"We keep looking, stupid. We know that they went into this Roo, and we're not leaving until someone finds them! Three of you stay here to guard the exit; the rest of you, follow me. We have some hunting to do."

"Yes sir!"

And with that, all but three soldiers moved off. Both Vivi and Eiko sighed in relief, though neither was sure what to do about the other three. As such, they both stopped to think for some time. Then, Eiko came up with an idea.

"Vivi... do you think they know you're the one I ran off with?"

He shook his head. "Not likely. Why?"

She smirked widely. "Well... until the search moved away from us, I could stay small and ride on your head some more. They would never know!"

Vivi blinked. "Um... I don't know. I'm still a little uncomfortable with the idea."

Eiko looked at him ignorantly. "Do you have a better idea? Maybe you'd like to switch the places of the Mini spell?"

After an extremely quick look to her upper chest, he shook his head, eyes wide. "N-no, I wouldn't! No offense, of anything. Um... yeah, you can ride on my head, I guess. But don't you think it will look suspicious if I just pop out of the cart that they already looked in?"

Eiko sighed softly, shaking her head. "Yeah, but what's keeping you from zapping them with a thunder spell?"

He glared at her. "Don't you think they'd notice the work of a black mage when they see it?"

Eiko thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Nope, Lindblum soldiers are dunces."

Vivi shrugged. "All right. Let's just get this over with, okay?"

Eiko nodded, and proceeded to cast Esuna on Vivi. The guards did indeed notice a black mage rising out of cart, and were rather frightened by it at first. Before they could start their second reaction, which was to run for help, they had been knocked out with a well-placed thunder spell. Vivi snickered a little to himself; he still had the touch. Remembering the tiny princess at his feet, he lowered a hand and lifted her to his head once again. Putting on the hat that he had lost during their last moment of togetherness, he started out from the cart. Not wanting to look suspicious to any other guards who might be stationed further back, he decided to walk. This, in reality, turned out to be a mistake. As he clambered up the dank slope, he did indeed discover another group of soldiers. But instead of letting him pass, they decided to give him a query. Had he been running, he probably could have passed them right by, as they had been on patrol.

"All right, what's your name?"

"Uh... Vivi. I helped save the world?"

The guard scoffed. "Right. What are you doing here?"

Vivi sighed inwardly. Shame how ignorant people could be these days. "I was just... uh... returning home from the funeral."

"Really? What time did you leave?"

Looking a little embarrassed for show, he responded. "About ten minutes before it was over."

"Really? And why was that now?"

If it wouldn't have looked suspicious, Vivi would have growled. Instead he just replied. "I had to hurry home... for a barbecue..."

Oh jeez, that sounded lame to Vivi even as he said that. The soldier just wore a look of disgust on his face.

"That's sick, you know that? I should put you in jail for disrespect to a hero; Master Quale helped train Quina to save the world!"

Vivi could barely refrain himself from smacking the guy. He had certainly helped a lot more then that glutton... and it seemed Eiko agreed with him. Because she started shouting, and the smallest sound could be heard from out of Vivi's hat.

"What was that? Did you say something?"

"No, sir... may I please just get to the barbecue? I'm supposed to cook."

The guard wasn't satisfied. "I think it can wait. They'll get someone else to cook; you're going to stay here for a while. I'm going to teach you a thing or two about respect, you hear?"

Vivi moaned inwardly. Not wanting to cause a ruckus though, he just nodded and stood there. The guard started droning on about how he had to earn the respect of his superiors to move up, and would always attend special occasions for them, blah, blah, blah. And by the time he was done, Freya and company had reached that end of the tunnel. Freya was amazed.

"Regent Cid, this thing is amazingly fast! How did you do it?"

Cid chuckled. "Can't tell you -- it's a Lindblum secret. But, as they say, it's a small world after all. The space between the entrances to the Roo isn't as far as you might think. Plus--"

He never got to finish, because Freya interrupted him. "Look! Those soldiers have been stricken down by something!"

Without waiting for another word, Freya was up and over to inspect them.

"Out cold... and by the looks of it, I'd say this was a black mage's doing!"

The other soldiers just stood there, while Regent Cid took a look. "Indeed. But... why would a black mage do something like this? It's not like them, now that they've all gained consciousness."

"I don't know... why don't you lead your soldiers that way, and I'll take a look topside."

"Okay. Good luck, Freya."

"You too, Regent."

With that, Freya headed towards Vivi. The guard recognized her, and gave her a greeting.

"Ah, Miss Freya! Good to see you! I was just telling this hooligan a thing or two about respect, and--"

He never got to finish either. When he said this, he shoved Vivi in the back, and made him loose his balance. On the slippery floor, he fell over, and his hat came off, exposing the shrunken Eiko. Freya shrieked in a high pitched voice for a moment, while the guard just stood dumbfounded. Vivi stood, and taking stock of the situation mumbled: "Uh oh."

Eiko noticed the jig was up too, so she cast Esuna on herself and returned to normal size. Not waiting for any further beckoning, the guard grabbed Eiko while Freya pointed an accusing finger at Vivi.

"You! Of all the people on this planet, I never would have guessed that you would be the one to kidnap Princess Eiko!"

All Vivi could do was stutter as he looked about the area wildly. Eiko screamed. "Let me go, he didn't kidnap me, we decided to leave together! Don't you dare do anything to him, or I'll sick Fenrir on you!"

Freya shook her head. "Stockholm syndrome. You sick bastard! You've confused her beyond the point of rationality. You'll pay for this."

Eiko continued to scream. Vivi just told her to hush, and turned back to Freya. The scene grew very quiet.

"Come on Freya, you know me, I would never do something like that."

Freya glared at him. "But who are you, anyway? How do I know you aren't some imposter?"

Vivi was shocked, but still managed to pull his hat back on. "Freya! Be reasonable!"

"Fight me. We'll see if you have the skill I know belongs to Vivi alone."

Vivi laughed awkwardly. "Thanks for the compliment, but I don't want to hurt you Freya!"

The guard had some words to say as well. "Miss Freya! I urge you to let us take this man into custody, so that Regent Cid may determine what to do with him."

Freya shook her head. "No. At the very least, I'll have to subdue him first."

Vivi could scarcely believe what he was hearing; neither could Eiko, for that matter.

"Freya! What are you saying? Grr... Listen! As the Princess of Lindblum, I command you to let Vivi and me go!"

Freya looked at Eiko apologetically. "Lady Eiko. I would normally be able to obey this request, but your father has higher authority then you, and has ordered me to take your assailant into a state of submission."

Eiko was furious. "Assailant?! Vivi's no assailant! For goodness sake, I ASKED him to take me away!"

Freya shook her head. "I'm sorry, Eiko. You are not in proper health right now. We will worry about whether you ran away or were kidnapped or some combination of the two later."

Vivi nodded to her reassuringly. She stifled herself and smiled at Vivi. Vivi stared at Freya nonchalantly.

"All right Freya. If you want to fight me, then so be it. But can we take it outside? We wouldn't want hurt someone else with a stray attack in these cramped caverns, would we?"

Freya nodded. "Very well. But I warn you, if you try to run, the airships will come after you with cannon fire. You have been caught."

Vivi sighed. This was not working out very well. "Okay. Let's go."

The group marched out into the blazing sunlight. After the two combatants had readjusted their eyes to the brightness, they did not wait long to start. Only long enough to allow the others to get out of the way, and to set the terms.

"Everything goes. But we try not to kill each other. Agreed?"

Vivi nodded. "Will a handshake be necessary?"

"No," Freya stated, matter-of-factly. "Now prepare to defend yourself, brigand!" Freya jumped backwards and into an attacking position, and the fight began. Because Vivi really didn't want to hurt her that badly, he started off with a weaker spell. Comet/Meteor, (I forgot which one was weaker... heheh), was the spell he had in mind, so with a twirl of his Mace of Zeus, the large ball of rock came down on Freya. She was too quick, however, and just jumped away and high into the air. As she caught her airtime up there, Vivi cast a thundara spell on her, and she was not able to dodge. Before the attack hit her, though, she was able to throw her Kain's Lance at him, and it hit with a powerful effect. Vivi was struck in the shoulder, and was about to disintegrate the Lance that had caused him the pain, but it mysteriously returned to Freya's hand before he could. She had landed as gracefully as ever, despite the powerful spell that had hit her. Both fighters smirked at each other.

"You haven't lost your touch, Freya."

"Why thank you. But I haven't seen enough of your skill yet."

Vivi wasn't so sure. As far as he could tell, she probably had been spending too much time with Amarant. She might just be testing him for his skill level, to see if she was better. Or maybe she had become a new person herself, and sought to do him in whether he was Vivi or not. Either way, he didn't want to keep this up for much longer. He almost hated to do this, but he felt it necessary. Tapping into some of his deepest powers, he aimed his Mace at her, and chanted the word "Flare" over and over. He was going to attempt something he had never done before: a Mega Flare. He knew that Dagger was the only person who could effectively do it, as it was Bahamut's personal attack, but he thought he could produce something of a similar quality. Vivi knew a single Flare might not be enough, so he felt that this was his best chance to end the fight right now.

Freya, noticing the massive build up of energy, rushed at Vivi in an attempt to lance him out of magic. But as she rushed at him, a powerful wind blew out from Vivi and pushed her back. Vivi held his staff with both hands now, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "MEGA FLARE!"

What happened next was a testament to the power of the black mage. A searing sphere of heat encircled Freya, lifting her off the ground. From there, a number of shining orbs; somewhere around 20; shone brightly around the sphere. And one by one, each of them shot into the sphere, and in doing so caused a Flare effect. The Flare grew brighter and brighter with each orb, until eventually they were all gone, and the attack finished with a bang. The sphere of heat exploded in a blinding flash of light, and Freya fell to the ground, blackened. Vivi breathed heavily, while the others looked on in shock. It seemed as though Freya was dead; there was no way anyone could have survived that. However, there was one thing none of them had counted on.

When Freya had been lifted into the air, she had dropped a Phoenix Down on the ground. And when the spell dropped her, she landed right on it. Within moments, she was back on her feet, though in a pitifully weakened state, as Phoenix Downs tended to do. That made two of them, Vivi having exhausted all of his magic with that last attack. Freya, however, still seemed to want to fight, to the amazement of the onlookers.

"I see you've learned a few new spells, Vivi," she said, chuckling. Well, at least she knows I'm Vivi now, he thought.

"I've learned a few new techniques as well. Watch this!"

Freya held her Lance out as far as she could. The tips of it began glowing, and energy beams shot out from it, arcing through the air to strike Vivi. It seemed to be a neutral field however, for energy rushed back and forth between the two of them. When the beam disappeared and the lance returned to Freya's side, she spoke.

"I call it the Equalizer. Now we both should be at the same physical health, and with the same magical energy. Now, let's keep going!"

Vivi looked shocked, but he just bit his lower lip and snorted. "Fine. I never knew you were that stubborn, Freya. But I'm tired of this! This is going to end. NOW! DOOMSDAY!"

His final word echoed on the air with a chill. It seemed like all of the dark energy in the world gathered in the air above the two, and rained down on them both with devastating effect. Neither of them moved much. So Eiko did the only thing within the boundaries of reasonable thought: she summoned Phoenix. With all of the beauty in the world, the golden bird of fire came and restored the two fighters. Consequently, it also burned the guard, but not severely. With another flash of light, it was gone, and Eiko rushed to Vivi's side. Freya just groaned.

"Vivi, are you okay?"

"Ugh... I think so. I forgot how painful that attack is."

Freya stood. "Well fought, Vivi. It's good to see that you haven't lost any of your skill."

"Erm... you too, Freya."

"I'll have you guys fixed up in a jiffy! Curaga!"

White energy covered the guard, Vivi and Freya, restoring their health. Vivi and Eiko both stood, while the guard sat there and rubbed his head. And it was at this moment that Regent Cid, his soldiers, as well as all of the others who were at that end of the Roo, emerged into the sunlight.

"Freya, what is going on?!" demanded Regent Cid.

"Um... seems there was no kidnapping at all, Regent. Your daughter ran away... with assistance from Vivi here."

Eiko let her head hang while Vivi waved weakly. Cid was furious.

"Ran away? Eiko, what for!"

Eiko became angry herself. She started shouting at her adopted father. "Because the castle is stuffy and boring and I hate it! I wanted to have some action, live more on the wild side!" A few tears started welling up in her eyes. Calming down a bit, she wiped them away. "Besides all that, I just wanted to be with Vivi in the Black Mage Village..."

Cid wore a curious look. "Why?"

Eiko sniffled, and resumed shouting. "Because I love him! Now just leave me alone!"

And with that, she ran away at top speed. Vivi stuttered some nothings for a short while, then ran after her.

"Freya! Ah... um... don't let them get away! We still need to talk!"

Freya sighed, and shook her head. "I'm sorry Regent. This isn't my problem any more; besides, I don't think I'd be much help in family issues."

And without another word, she leapt back into the Roo, and searched for a Gargant to carry her back. Cid just stood there, confused, looking at the dazed guard. Before he could even shout an order at him, the guard was heading back to the airship. With a heavy heart and a low head, Cid followed him in with the other soldiers at his heels. He would land it outside of the forest and have a long talk with his daughter.

Well, that's all for now. Sadly, I can't think of a better way to end this chapter. With good reviews that I know you're going to send, Hint, hint, wink, wink, nudge, nudge, I'll make another chapter or so. By for now!