A.N. Greetings

I apologise for the huge delay in the posting of this chapter however factors beyond my control mean that I have only now managed to finish it. However it is one of the longest I have written to date and should prove an engaging read, I certainly hope so anyway. As always, reviews, e-mails and any constructive opinion is welcome, please read, enjoy and tell me what you think.

Goodbye and Good fortune

Fallen Saga Creator

Prison Break

Zidane's head swam as he gradually regained consciousness. Stars danced across his vision as he groaned. Everywhere seemed to hurt at once but the side of his head throbbed unmercifully. He could dimly make out forms moving above him but what little light there was hurt his eyes. He groaned and heard a voice and a flurry of activity as though from a great distance. Something was pushed between his lips and water trickled into his mouth, cold and refreshing. He opened his lips and took a gulp, letting some run down his cheeks, the sensation waking him slightly.

A voice called his name, deep and gruff it seemed familiar, 'Zidane… Zidane boy wake up. Wake up you damn fool.' Whoever held the cup upended it and Zidane was startled awake, his eyes flying wide open to take in his surroundings. He was in a small room, obviously a cell from the chains on the walls and solid the locks that adorned the door. It was dimly lit but his genome eyes pierced the gloom easily.

He grinned weakly at the huge human leaning over him, his face hidden beneath a pair of goggles and a huge beard. 'Hey Baku, what's up?'

'Ha, so you are awake, good to see, we was worried that you wouldn't make it for a second there.'

Zidane sat and found himself sitting on a rough mattress of straw, the stone beneath the same as the walls, damp, rough and solid. 'Where are we?'

Baku spat and slapped a huge hand against the wall and grunted, 'In the deepest darkest dungeons of Alexandria castle. The guests of his majesty Kuja the First.'

Zidane's eyes shot open, grasping Baku's collar as fear filled him, 'Kuja? Did you say Kuja?'

Baku gave him a strange look as Zidane's shoulders began to tremble. 'Aye lad Kuja, a weedy little bastard that's got more power than any one man has a right to. He took me and the troupe into the throne-room to give him a private performance. Then once we were inside he sent out all of the guards and bam, that's when he let loose. He lifted a finger and we were all on our knees, like damned marionettes. I managed to get up again and I ran at him, ready to break his scrawny little neck with my bare hands. When I got close to him he just pointed and I was thrown back feeling like the Prima Vista had just crashed into me. Then he began to laugh and started to ask us what we knew…'

He hesitated and looked up at Zidane, 'He wanted to know what we knew about genomes Zidane. He said he knew that we were in league with you and that if we didn't tell him he'd kill us all.' He smiled fiercely, 'We told him to go screw himself and he laughed again. He clicked his fingers and two dozen of these weird men stumbled in, they looked undead but then these demon things, like lizards walking on two legs burst out from em. That's when Kuja let us go. He said that if we could fight our way through them then he'd give us back the Prima Vista and let us go free. All the boys rushed em, even Cinna. But it was useless, they busted us up like a bunch of amateurs and slung us in here, didn't even bother to kill us. It was like we weren't even important, I only managed to get two of em myself.'

Baku's teeth ground in anger but Zidane had only half heard, he sank to the bed and started to shiver, his skin suddenly seeming impossibly cold, his teeth chattered as he stared at the floor. Kuja… a powerful man named Kuja. It could only be the great destroyer back from the void to which he was banished all those years ago. He was not supposed to be back yet. The evil could no have arisen. The summoner was supposed to be there, be there already, be there to face the evil when it came. The Great Destroyer could not have returned before she reappeared, she was the world's only hope against the evil.' He looked up as something walked past and caught sight of one of the demon things walking past as though on guard duty, its weapon a wickedly serrated sword, spiked armour making its visage even more terrible as it leered at him.

'Well, well, you are finally awake betrayer. You will pay now for what you did, the true servants of the dark have come to serve the master and all who do not obey us shall be destroyed.' He laughed and spat viciously as Zidane did not respond, staring blankly at him as his mind turned the thought over and over in his mind, "She's supposed to be here to save us."

The thing moved on and Baku turned to Zidane clicking his fingers in Zidane's face to try and get a response, 'Hey, Zidane? Zidane you there?'

Zidane blinked as though wakened from sleep and nodded slowly, pushing his terror aside for a moment he stood and took a calming breath. He had to get back to the queen. Yes, the queen would know what to do. He stared at the door where the demon creature had appeared and turned to Baku, 'He seemed smaller than the ones I fought.'

He nodded cracking the knuckles on his paw-like hands, 'Aye, those demon things, whatever they are have some kind of burst of power when they first appear from inside the undead. Then, after about a minute or so they get smaller, loose some of their muscle. That's when I got a third one, two of the big ones could hold me but when they shrank I managed to shake em off and kill one more, took five of em on me to control me after that.' He sounded proud, then grunted. 'They use their swords like bloody bladesmasters though. One of em cut me wrist after I killed his mate and I dropped my sword, then another smashed the flat of his blade over my head, got me dizzy enough to put the chains back on.'

Zidane nodded, now that he had a purpose he had regained his energy, the utter terror of what lay in the same castle as them fuelling his every thought with added urgency. He examined the door and patted his belt, surprised to find that they had not searched him thoroughly enough to find the thieves' tools and slim bladed dagger secreted inside the broad leather garment. He pulled them out and grinned at Baku as the giant of a man chuckled.

'We're getting of here Baku but we need a plan. Where are the rest of the crew?'

'Down the hall a few cells, not sure how many they're split up into but there's all five of us in here.'

Zidane nodded and silently set about working on the door. Using the dagger he felt through the crack, the blade catching on the heavy lock about halfway up, with a sharp jerk he cut a groove through the wood to the locking mechanism and then punched a hole into the casing with the point. His tongue perched on his top lip as he poked a pin into the lock, listening intently as he wiggled it a few times before grinning as it locked into place. Two more pins followed the first and it was the work of a moment for Zidane to give them the twist they needed to unlock the door. It came unlocked with a sharp clang followed by a clunk as the mechanism settled. Zidane winced and leapt away from the door at the sound of footsteps hurrying down the hallway. They skidded to a halt outside and the demon guard glared in at him.

'What was that noise?'

Zidane grinned innocently, 'I don't know I didn't hear anything.' His tone became mocking, 'You must be crazy as well as ugly you big fat oaf.' The guard snarled and smashed his fist against the door, expecting it to resist the blow. Instead it swung open and he gave a cry as he found himself pitched into the cell. A massive hand seized his throat and threw him to the floor before he could regain his balance and the dagger that slit his gizzard made sure he would never find his feet again.

Zidane grinned as Baku picked up the oddly serrated broadsword that the demon had held and swung it experimentally. He glanced down at the demon's belt and spotted a short-sword that fitted his oversized hand perfectly when he drew it from its sheath. He paused at the door, ears straining for any sign of another guard but there was none, only the sounds of the prisoners roused in their cells by the sounds of the guard's death. Baku stepped out of the cell and motioned further down the hall flattening himself next to a door, it did not make much difference to his visibility though, Baku was as wide one way as he was the other.

His gruff voice was a husky whisper as he called into the cell, 'Hey, Cinna, you in there?'

There was a scramble and two faces appeared at the door, one with a neatly trimmed black beard and singed eyebrows and the other with an odd mask. 'Baku, is that you?'

'Aye, how many of you are there in there?'

'Just us two. Angelo, Ruby and Gog are in the next one.'

'Okay, we'll get you out of there and then sneak to the Prima Vista and make our escape.' Zidane set to work on the lock quickly, releasing the mechanism simple from the outside. He heard the excited whispers from the next cell as Baku talked to those inside and hurried toward the door as the one behind him swung open. Angelo grinned and brandished a length of chain in his hands,

'Let's go Zidane. This time Kuja won't be able to get the drop on us with his magic and I'll break his damn neck with this chain.'

Zidane hissed at the name and clapped a hand over Angelo's mouth, 'Don't even think of challenging Kuja. He is a creature of the underworld, a spawn of the Dark One. He could kill us all with a thought. Our only chance of getting out of here alive is to be gone before he knows we're free. If he catches us then we are dead.' The edge of panic in his voice convinced the rest of them that he spoke the truth, his large eyes wide and his breathing ragged as he thought of the power that waited in the tower above. He lifted his nose but the hint that reached his nostrils taught him not to try to sense troops through the air. A tang of evil as hard and pure as a bared blade assaulted his nostrils before he had even let his heightened senses take over and he almost gagged at the scent. His shoulder shaking as he struggled against the urge to vomit.

He felt Ruby's hand on his back and glanced at her, her huge, anxious eyes watching him intently. He managed to summon a confident smirk and saw relief in her eyes, even though he was terrified they did not have to be on his account. The strange party crept along the corridor, two more of the demon guards finding their unnatural lives ended in a silent flurry. Baku explained all to Zidane as they moved through the dungeons, telling him of how Kuja had come into power.

He had shown up in Alexandria three weeks ago, only a few days after Princess Garnet had left. He and his men had trooped into town, buying from merchants and pouring out money as though they would never run out. They endeared themselves to the local populace and Kuja swept into the castle where he endeared himself to the queen. Within a week he and his men were guests of Queen Brahne, his men becoming honorary members of her royal guard, decked out in Alexandrian Livery.

After two weeks Kuja was rarely away from the queen and only his own men guarded her, more of them slipping into the city every day in small groups of twos and threes, going into the castle to emerge in Alexandrian livery. No one asked any questions, the gold that flowed so readily from their pockets quieting any suspicions of Kuja and his men. The three generals were the only ones among us to see it coming and by the time they were ready to do something about it, it was already to late. In a single night everything changed, the Royal Barracks where the old Alexandrian troops were stationed was torched, those bastards in Kuja's ranks surrounding them and killing every last man. The three generals led the queen's guard against the royal chambers in an attempt to rescue the queen but they stood no chance. The first of the demons was born on that night and every man among the royal guard was killed, Steiner and his wife Beatrix disappearing without a trace, probably numbering among the dead.

The military coup was over before anyone had a chance to fight back, in the morning Alexandria's banner still flew but over a new throne and a new monarch. Kuja announced that he had taken power and no one even thought of fighting back, his men marching along the streets by the dozen as they proclaimed his rule. Anyone who spoke out against them was killed on the spot without hesitation. A couple of days later the first of his men began to show signs of the demon rot, slowly changing into undead. Then the demons started appearing and we all learned to fear Kuja even more, a little display of his power flattening a row of houses and convincing everyone to clam up and not lift a finger. Tantalus had been about to leave the city for good when they had been called into the palace.

Zidane's teeth ground as he listened, his fury building over his fear. He was just glad that Dagger was safe in Terra. He could not bear the thought of her in Kuja's hands. That was when they rounded the bend and walked into the main jail courtyard, and the middle of two dozen sleeping demons. The draft had carried their scent away from Zidane, the distraction of Baku's tale meaning that he had not sensed them until it was too late. One, half-awake spotted him as he came around the bend and let out a cry. Then all hell broke loose. Zidane launched himself forward without hesitation, Baku a moment behind him as Tantalus struggled to even out the numbers before the demons could rally.

It was to no avail and in a moment the tide had turned, Tantalus pressed back into the corridor as the demons converged on Zidane. They hissed their hatred as he danced among them, leaping from site to site as he desperately dodged their blows. A half-dozen undead stumbled into the courtyard from another direction and Zidane leapt among them, trying to kill them before they could transform. He had killed three before the fourth burst open and a massive hand knocked him to the floor, thick fingers closing on the hilt of a sword and drawing it from a stockpile.

Zidane swallowed as the demon towered over him, raising its scythe-like sword above its head ready to kill. But before it could make good on its intent a massive hand of blue skin shot from the gloom of a cell and closed around the creature's neck, the massive grasp encapsulating most of its face. The creature struggled as it found itself hauled off its feet by the massive hand, the strange attacker shaking it like a dog with a piece of meat until a gruesome snap told all that the creature's neck had been snapped. Zidane leapt up and stared into the gloom at a pair of eyes that glowed eerily in the dark, a massive plume of red hair framing a narrow, sharp-featured face that sat upon a giant's frame, arms as thick as tree-trunks supporting the hands that had ended the demon thing.

Without the need for speech the two understood each other and Zidane smashed the lock on the door with a single swing of his sword. The heavy wooden thing burst open as though the full fury of a storm propelled it and what emerged could be described as no less. The blue skinned giant was among the demons like a tiger among lambs, two fists the size of a man's torso seizing one of the alien broadswords each and diving into combat like a maelstrom of destruction.

The first demon roared as it charged him, swinging its sword at his head, before the swing was half completed one of the giant's borrowed swords burst through its back, surprise written on its face as to collapsed to the ground. The two undead among the group burst open, their demonic occupants grinning evilly as they snatched up swords and charged the giant. The first met a fist the size of a boulder, the giant's blow knocking the thing to the ground with an almost comical expression of astonishment that the giant was stronger than he. The giant span and knocked the sword from the grasp of the second, his second broadsword slicing through the demon thing's head.

Three of the smaller ones rushed him and the first died in an instant, the furious energy of the giant splitting him almost completely in two. The second lunged forward but again a huge hand, wrapped into a fist around a sword hilt swept him aside, blood erupting from his jaw as he tumbled to the floor. The third swung its sword and the sword sliced across the giant's arm, dark blue blood spattering across the floor. It was repaid with a falling broadsword, the blow carving through its torso to separate the head and an arm from the rest of the body.

The score of demons in the large room was reduced to a dozen by the combined assault of the genome's intensity and the blazing fury of the blue giant. Then a half dozen and then one, the demon screaming as both warriors span in from opposite sides and two blades pierced it at once. Its limp body falling to the floor as the two stood panting over it, chests heaving from exertion. Zidane grinned as the giant snatched a weapon from a wall bracket, the claws fitting perfectly to his oversized hands.

He extended his own, 'Zidane, one of Her Majesty of Terra's genomes.'

The giant grinned and his huge mitt closed over Zidane's, 'Amarant, Former Head Jailer and General in Her Royal Majesty of Alexandria's army.' Lashing the claw securely on his right hand he tightened his grip on the broadsword in his left, getting a feel for the odd combination of weapons. 'What are you doing here in the dungeons, guests of Kuja?'

Zidane blanched at that name but swallowed his fear, he had to get to the queen. 'Not for much longer. I'm getting out of here. You want to come with us? I guess we owe you a ride for the help.'

Amarant nodded. 'Okay, but first stay here for five minutes. I have to free the few royal troops that remain. They'll join with us. Then we can get out here.'

Zidane hesitated a moment, considering if they had five minutes with what lurked in the castle above them. Finally he nodded, 'Okay. But be quick, remember the nature of what we face.' Amarant nodded once more before striding from the room, his long legs carrying him quickly into one of the side corridors. Zidane chewed his lip and pawed his dagger hilt as he paced the room nervously, they had to get out of here. They had to get back to the queen. To his mind there was another person calling him back to Terra. He had to get back to protect Dagger. Little did he know that travelling to Terra for this purpose would be futile.

~

Dagger breathed a sigh of relief as she crested the hill and caught sight of the impressive castle of Alexandria, every tower lit bright against the night sky, Alexandria's banner flying proudly atop its every spire. At last she was home, at last she would be able to find out what was going on and why demons had entered Terra in Alexandrian livery. As she clicked her teeth and started her horse down the hill she never saw the shifting shadows in the trees either side of her, evil red eyes glinting with malicious glee. There was a soft sound as steel scraped against leather and a sword was pulled from its sheath. The wickedly serrated blade glinted once in the moonlight and the shadows shifted to tail the princess as she rode on.

A.N. Greetings

What means it for the genomes that the great evil has re-appeared before the summoner has come to protect them? And what means it for Zidane and the princess herself that she approaches the very stronghold of evil with no knowledge of what awaits her? More characters will be introduced in the chapters to follow, the cast of the story expanding to include most members of the FFIX cast. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and that you decide to tell me of your opinions through reviews or e-mails, all of the latter will be answered if a reply is requested. I've decided against setting a target for this chapter because well quiet frankly doing so is conceited however I hope that you will find this chapter of this saga worthy of a review.

Goodbye and Good Fortune

Fallen Saga Creator