Zack leaned himself against the wall. 'So far so good', as they said. The walls around him were a constant reminder not to fail. Every moment now, a guard might pass by, and when that happened, Zack wouldn't be able to take him down. This was the last floor of Alexandria castle, and for some reason the most heavily guarded. This meant, as any kid could figure out, that getting caught wasn't the best of ideas if you planned living the rest of your life outside prison, or if you wished living the rest of your life at all.
When he thought about it, it was clear why other people wouldn't understand his motives. It wasn't that he was here to steal money or gain fame. No, his motives were way clearer; he wanted revenge.
Not that he was here to kill the queen. No matter how many people she'd killed, Zack didn't have it in him to kill people. He cursed himself for that, but it didn't do any difference. He was a coward, and he always would be.
Nearing a corner, he stopped and listened for guards. All of them wore boots made of iron, so hearing them was pretty easy. Not being able to hear any, he rounded the corner and opened up the first door he saw – the queen's bedroom.
He instantly started searching the room for what he was looking for. If he could only find the box, and manage to get it out, he would be successful. The queen loved that box more than anything. Nobody knew what secrets were hidden inside, but since the queen loved it, destroying it would be the greatest of satisfaction.
There it was. He easily picked the lock, and opened it. Within seconds he began getting disappointed. This box was nothing. The script for 'I want to be your canary', a rod, some clothing and some papers containing a poem was all it contained. No gold, no jewellery and no papers concerning anything of interest. He sighed and started looking at the poem.
'Melodies of Life' – By Zidane Tribal
Yes, he'd heard of this Zidane. Everybody had. He'd been the king of Alexandria, but after his early death, the queen had gotten furious. She'd started blaming everybody for his murder, and before long almost a quarter of Alexandria's population had been hanged. The rest of the surviving men had been forced into the army. Zack had avoided this, since he'd been way too young back then. As he'd grown up, he'd moved to Lindblum to avoid the army. Yet, only three days after his arrival, Lindblum had been turned into a wasteland by a mighty dragon. Nobody knew where the dragon where from, and the only lead had been a confused chef who'd claimed that it had belonged to a person named Dagger.
His attention was suddenly drawn to the person lying in the bed. The queen. She was so beautiful, and it was clear to Zack why nobody had hired an assassin to kill her yet. Beauty was most certainly one of the best defences in this world. Heck, Zack was almost about to kiss her, as he stood there. If she'd been pretty when she became a queen, then she was a god now.
Not as pretty as Iris…Zack shook his head. No, she wasn't nearly as pretty as Iris. If she even existed anywhere outside his dreams that was.
Zack sighed and pulled himself together. There was really no point in dreaming of imaginary girls. "I miss you," he found himself mumbling. "I'll be back, Isis."
He picked up the box, and sneaked out of the castle. It was actually quite easy, and the missing number of guards surprised Zack. For some reason it made him feel both worried and relieved. Most relieved, though. At the moment he was just glad to be able to steal the box.
"Halt!" The voice behind him took him by complete surprise, and he dropped the box. "Who goes there?"
Zack realized that whoever had yelled that had yet to spot him. He'd heard him, yes, but he had yet to actually see him. Before even thinking about it, Zack started running. At that moment he was too scarred to think about anything but getting out. Maybe it was wise. Maybe it was stupid. At that point he really didn't care. Later he would stop to consider if he should have done otherwise, but right now, he just ran as fast as he could.
He was seconds to reaching the exit when the arrow hit him.
That was when he saw it.
While he coughed for what he suspected to be his last breath, a green liquid filled the room. Had he turned around, he would have seen the guard explode, and his wounds being cured. But at that moment he was too surprised, maybe stunned, to even move. Barely noticing his actions, he closed his eyes.
We'll be together again, Zack.
"Isis..?" He opened his eyes and saw her. She was as beautiful as she'd always been, but now she seemed more real. It was as if he was able to touch her if he just reached out. Somehow he wasn't in the castle anymore. Instead he was in the middle of the green ocean that had appeared before his eyes.
Zack, remember what binds us.
He didn't know what to say. Did anything bind them? He'd never thought of her like a real person. She'd just been there to haunt his dreams from time to time. However he found himself talking for some reason. "The crystals."
That's right, Zack. The crystals. Zack, it's trying to destroy the crystals. Soon – within hours - the returned one will appear, bearing the hero's sword, and it'll be up to you to fight him.
"The returned one? Who?"
You'll know when the time comes. Listen, Zack, Garnet has an important role. She's the reason he's here.
Suddenly the green liquid disappeared, and Zack found himself surrounded by darkness. He soon found that it went away when he opened his eyes. However, the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was the woman who'd hired him to find the box. "Oh, you're awake? I guess you couldn't find the box, huh? I knew I should have hired someone professional"
"Within hours, Zack," A ghostly voice spoke while his employer babbled on about how disappointed she was. "Within hours, the returned one will appear."