Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Final Fantasy IX characters but my characters are my own creations and I do own the rights to them.

Chapter Seventeen: Escape

Phina and Zidane tiptoed into the hallway that connected the rest of the rooms in the house. Phina gripped her sword with white knuckles while Zidane held his daggers with the loose hands. Only the glow from the fire in the room down the hall gave off any light with which the two could see by. The cave walls were as smooth as they were in the living room. They came to a door on the right and stopped with Phina on one side and Zidane on the other. Phina kicked it open and peeked in to find a study. The wooden desk was scattered with papers. Zidane motioned for them to move on but Phina was intrigued. She stepped in the room and started to study some of the sketches on the walls. Some were pictures of monsters while there were some that looked like angels. There was even a picture of what looked like a female Zidane. Phina guessed that this was a Genome.

Zidane followed her in and gritted his teeth. He wanted to find Xavier and get this over with.

"Phina! Let's go!" he whispered harshly.

Phina merely ignored Zidane and walked over to the desk. Picking up some of the papers, she started to shuffle through them quickly. Zidane finally gave up in trying to convince her to leave and walked over to her, looking over her shoulder. On the papers were intricate drawings of the spell that Xavier would be casting. Phina studied each paper for a moment before throwing it to the ground. Finally she stopped at one and read it through carefully.

Zidane wasn't sure what she was looking for in any of the papers. They were all a huge mystery him. Just like how Phina was acting. Something had changed in the time that she had spent with the mysterious man that had kidnapped her. Zidane couldn't quite put his finger on it but he knew that it was there.

On the paper that Phina was reading there were explanations on the spells that Xavier would be performing to help shield himself from anyone that would try to stop him. With each explanation of the spell worked there was also a detailed description of how each shield could be broken. Several of them required brute from something with unimaginable strength. Phina knew now that this was why Xavier was so afraid of her. Her strength was the only one that could possibly break through all the spells or at least she hoped it was.

Phina carefully folded the paper and placed it in her pocket so that she would have it for later. Looking at Zidane, she nodded her head and they re- entered the corridor. The two friends continued to pad softly down the dark hallway stopping at the next door. Upon entering it they found that it was only the kitchen. Zidane turned to Phina and gave her a lopsided smile.

"Hungry?" he asked in a teasing voice.

"Actually, yes."

Zidane just stared at Phina in shock while she opened the door to one of the pantries and pulled out a stale muffin. Munching happily away Phina devoured the tasty treat. She brushed the crumbs off her clothes and motioned for Zidane to lead the way. He shook his head and then stepped out into the hallway once again. They continued their walk down the hall and came upon a third door. Phina could fell it in her bones this was the door that they were looking for.

They each took their position on either side of the door. When they were sure that nobody had heard them Zidane turned and kicked in the door. The loud crash echoed through the room. Phina had been right about it being the bedroom but there was no sign of Xavier. The ornate bed was carved out of wood and had a thick white quilt thrown on top. But it had not been disturbed. No one had slept in the bed at all since the night before. Phina walked over to the bed and inspected it just in case there was a clue as to where the summoner had gone.

Once Phina was done with the inspection that had proved fruitless, she turned to look at Zidane. He cursed under his breath and kicked the wall beside him. A rumbling echo greeted the young thief's foot. The roof above the pair began to shake and quiver. Dust began to fall from the ceiling and caused a smoky haze to rise.

"Let's get out of here!" Zidane roared, grabbing Phina's hand. He pushed her in front of him and shoved her out of the room. She landed painfully on her knee and dropped to the floor. Zidane was close behind her. The rumbling continued and turned into a roar as the ceiling of the bedroom gave way. Behind them boulders tumbled down and crushed the floor that they had standing on moments before. Phina heaved a sigh of relief. Suddenly, more rumbling could be heard.

"Dammit! It's a chain reaction!"

Phina jumped to her feet despite the throbbing pain in her knee. Pulling Zidane up beside her she started to race down the hall in the opposite direction. By now the whole cavern was shaking violently and getting a firm grip on the ground soon became a challenge for the unlucky duo. A small tunnel of light that shook with the vibrations of the cavern was all that could be seen down the hall. Crashes behind them were heard as boulders fell from the ceiling.

Finally the two made it out onto firm ground as the cave that they had just been in collapsed behind them. Smoke rose from the entrance that was no longer open.

"Zidane! What happened?" a voice behind them called. Phina and Zidane spun around to see Garnet, Vivi, and Eiko standing behind them.

"Yeah, are you guys alright?" Vivi asked.

"We're fine. But that stupid wizard or whatever he was got away before we could kill him," Zidane replied bitterly.

"He's not a wizard. He's a summoner." Phina's voice pierced through the clear night but it was what she said that sent shivers down everyone's spine.

"What did you say?" Everyone's faces held a look of surprise.

"I said he's a summoner."

"But how do you know?" Eiko asked. There was no way that anyone besides her and Garnet could have survived the storm at Madain Sari. Phina simply ignored the question and walked up to Garnet.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. I should have been but I couldn't just leave father." Garnet stared openly at Phina. She didn't seem to be able to talk.

"Alright! That's it! You've been acting weird ever since I found you in that stupid guy's cave. Now I would appreciate it if you would tell us what exactly is going on. How do you know that he's a summoner? What are you talking about when you say 'father'? You didn't tell me anything before," Zidane yelled. He had had enough of Phina's attitude.

"Garnet is my sister. Xavier used to be in love with our mother and tried to kill our father. He was kicked out of Madain Sari and that's why he's here," Phina said tiredly.

"Wait a minute. If you're Garnet's sister than that means you're a summoner, too. But how did you escape the storm. You weren't in the village afterwards," Eiko said.

"I went back to find my father before mom and Garnet left. I found him but he just called down the golden phoenix and it took me to Alexandria. I don't have my horn because it broke off when I was little. I got hit on the head and it made me forget about everything until now." Phina was on the verge of tears now. The memories still hurt and this was the third time that she had to go through them.

"Phina. That's where you got your name, isn't it? The golden phoenix's name is Phina," Garnet seemed to have finally found her voice. Phina nodded her head.

"Ok, hold on a minute. So let me get this straight, you got your name from an eidolen that your father summoned to get you out of Madian Sari when that storm hit. You got separated from your sister Garnet and ended up in Alexandria where your horn broke off. You lost your memory when you hit your head and you have enough 'power' to beat some summoner that wants you dead because he hated your father." Zidane stopped to take a breath. "So is that right and if it is what's your real name?"

"That's about it and my name is Emily but I would prefer it if you would still call me Phina. I don't think I would answer to Emily," Phina replied. She was just as confused as everybody else but she supposed that it made more sense to her.

"Well we can sort that out later. Don't you think we should be finding this summoner that wants to. . . to. . .wait a minute what does he want to do?" Vivi said. Everybody just looked at him for a moment. The only person that seemed to be spouting sense was a ten year-old boy.

"Viv's right. We'll talk about this once we get back to the castle. In the meantime everyone get ready for some hard battles ahead," Zidane said with a smirk. He pulled out his favorite daggers while everyone else readied themselves. It was going to be a long trip home.

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Well that took a while. Thank goodness it's finally done. I'm kind of slowing down with this story if you couldn't tell. Plus I'm busy but then again everyone makes that excuse. My goal is to finish this story no matter what. It may take awhile but I promise you it will be finished.

By the way, thanks for the review Julia. It helped sooo much, NOT! But we're still cool.

Next chapter Xavier will continue with the spell and our group of heroes will find him. I'm not sure how long the final showdown will be so expect anything. Until next time!