beauty & the beast

by Ornery-chan

Disclaimer: This is fanfiction. Meaning, I'm only a fan of Final Fantasy IX, who thinks that she's good enough to manipulate its characters. They all belong to Square. Another thing – the story "Beauty and the Beast" is from Disney.

Author's Note: By the time I am typing this, school officially starts tomorrow. Bleh. I don't want to go. So before that happens, I'm giving the third chapter. One thing's for sure: I won't leave this story behind. This will be the first ever "multi-chaptered" fic I will finish (I always had bad luck with my other ones ;_;).

Author's Note 2: The first two chapters were in Mikoto's point of view. This chapter will be in Blank's. Something that we haven't witnessed from Sparrow, so bear with me for a while…the story will be much more interesting that way.

Chapter 3

Where could she be?

I tapped my foot impatiently, yet anxiously at the same time. A quick glance at the Theatre District's much-loved (and only) clock told me I'd been waiting for ten minutes.

Ten minutes? It felt like one hour to me already! One long, drawn-out hour of watching hordes of people enter the Lindblum theatre. Some of them stared at me, some greeted, for I knew most of the folk – from above ground and even the ones that stayed "below".

It wasn't always like this. We had better luck getting people to watch whenever we used the Prima Vista. Hell, we couldn't even come close to that sissy Lowell's "Moogle Something-something 2"! But now, our small-time plays got the crowds buzzing. Thank Zidane Tribal for that.

Zidane. I thought about him, while resuming my usual stance: head down, belt covering the eyes, arms and legs crossed. My bud Zidane, that happy-go-lucky, troublemaking orphan, was now engaged to a Queen. How's that for a twist of fate? And I had to save his butt once in Evil Forest.

The devil's repaid me though, with his sister. Okay, that was a bit selfish, but take note, I never knew he had a sister. A very pretty one at that, who was now making me wait, something that I didn't do everyday. Funny how certain people can make you do this or that, although you'd rather do something else. The thing is, I didn't want to do anything else. I wanted to wait. For her.

Blank, what's wrong with you? You're not making sense. Time for a man-to-man talk…with myself.

Okay. How do I feel right now? - I feel fine, thank you, why are you asking yourself anyway – Shut up… – All right! I feel really anxious on seeing a certain girl – Whose name is Mikoto! – Why of course! How stupid of me not to know her name! – Continue… - I'm worried because she's not here yet – Is that all? – I…I don't know! – Yes you DO know! – Could she…could she have forgotten about this? About me? – And…why would she? – Because… because I'm…I'm not…

"BLANK!"

The ear-piercing shriek almost made me jump two feet in the air. Heart-pounding, and wide-eyed, I stared at the owner of voice.

"Ruby! God, don't scare me like that! You're gonna give me a heart-"

"Whut in tarnation ar ye still doin' here!" Blue-haired Ruby was always known for a temper, and she went off, scolding me a mile a minute. "Off to the dressin' room with ye!"

"No, wait, just a sec-"

"NO BUTS! I said yer goin' to the dressin' room! We're comin' on in twenny minutes!" She dragged me onto the backstage then.

Twenty minutes? I thought. Whoa, I didn't notice the time! And I still wasn't dressed…What was I thinking of anyway?

Sigh. I must be going crazy.

***

Fortunately my role didn't require a huge pile of cloth draped around me (Marcus), nor petticoats that made any wearer look ridiculous (Cinna). I just needed to look cool. Act cool. Breathe cool. And because I was Blank, it certainly wasn't a problem.

Two things bothered me though: Where the hell was Miki, and would she… would she like what I had devoted to her?

By that time I knew something was really up with me. I just couldn't bring myself to admit it. Could I…Was I…No, we're just…

"So, how do I look?!"

Cinna jumped out of the dressing room to face us. Moments later, the whole room was all but guffawing. He got the part of the old hag.

"GWAHAHAHA-HA!" The boss was dressed as Ruby's father, and (as usual) his laughter was the most prominent one. Marcus's princely dignity (if he ever had one) wasn't present. And Ruby certainly didn't look like an innocent and compassionate lass yet. Seeing my buds like this made me feel a bit better.

When the laughter died down, the boss started things going. "Listen up, everyone. This is Tantalus's first original play. Meaning – we don't have any damn standards to compare ourselves to. We're Tantalus, and we're going to give Lindblum something to really speak of!"

Everyone clapped and cheered, until he shut us up.

"I want each, and everyone of you, to go out there and knock some feelings into our boy Blank's lines, and say them like they've never been said before!"

As for me, when I heard him say that, I did something I never imagined I was capable of – I blushed. Too much praise is bad for the face.

But it's true. I wrote the play. That should explain how anxious I was.

Always timestamp your works!

1/2/2002 – 10:45 PM