Separation Anxiety By FlowerPower1o1

Summary; 6 years after the incident at the Iifa Tree, Zidane and Dagger break up. Zidane runs as far away as he can and gets in trouble, and Dagger won't help. So now it's up to Eiko, Beatrix, Blank, Quina, Vivi, and Amarant to bail him out - and reconcile the lovers.

A/N: I've written fics before, but I haven't written a Final Fantasy one, and now that I think about it, my track record for completing stories isn't that great, so I'll work at it. Feedback is appreciated!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Chapter 1: Flight from Alexandria

Steiner sighed from his post just outside the royal apartments. Her Royal Highness, Queen Garnet Til Alexandros the 17th, and her husband, Prince Consort Zidane Tribal, were fighting again. The Captain of the Knights of Pluto tried to remember how many nights in a row they had fought, and gave up. The shouting grew louder, and Steiner shifted uncomfortably, leaning on his sword, the Ragnarok.

Steiner's wife, General Beatrix, approached him, wincing at the shrieks of the queen and the bellowing of the Prince Consort. "Again?" she asked. Steiner simply nodded, and started toward the door at the sound of glass smashing against the wood.

Beatrix grabbed his arm. "Let them go, love," she told him. "Married people always have these arguments, and sometimes it's better to let them get it out of their system. You and I had many arguments worse than these, as I recall."

Steiner chuckled, remembering their last big fight. "It took them weeks to rebuild the barracks. If we hadn't drained ourselves using Shock against each other, they'd still be rebuilding the city. Again."

"No they wouldn't," Beatrix smiled. "I would have beaten you."

Steiner was about to rise to her retort, when they both heard the queen's voice from within the room: "Ifrit! Lord of Flames and Eternal Pain! Come forth and wreak your Flames of Hell upon my affliction!" There was a roar of fire, and a rush of steam came from under the door.

This was followed by the sound of crackling energy, followed by Zidane's voice; "You frosty bitch! Now you've done it! Tidal Flame!" This was followed by another rush of heat, and the door exploded, revealing a Tranced Zidane and an enraged Queen Garnet, casting Cura on herself. "Get out!" Garnet screamed. "Get out of this castle, get out of this kingdom! And if my guards find you in Alexandria by dawn, then I'll have them cut off your head and put it on the city gates!"

"Gladly," Zidane snarled. "My head is yours - if you can find it." He ran to the window, shattered it with another Tidal Flame, and leapt. Steiner ran to the window to see what had become of the former thief, but did not see him.

"Your Highness?" Beatrix said, trying to comfort her young queen. "Is there anything I can do..."

"Leave!" Garnet said. "Leave me alone! Just get out!"

The general and the knight quickly retired for the evening.

The next day, at Beatrix's request, an airship flew in direct from Lindblum. The airship, the Hilda Garde 4, carried one special passenger who now strode through the halls of Alexandria Castle, making her way for the royal chambers.

At the door, a Knight of Pluto stepped in her way. "I cannot allow you into the throne room unless you are here on business," the knight said haughtily. "State your name and purpose."

The woman threw back the hood of her cloak, revealing a summoner's horn grown to its full majesty. "Tell Queen Garnet that Eiko Carol Fabool, Princess of Lindblum, is here to see her. And if you don't do it right quick, then by Madeen I will pump you full of Holy and feed you to Cleyra's antlions."

The knight, looking as if he was going to pass out, stuttered a quick, unrecognizable reply and went into the throne room, coming out in less than ten seconds. "She said that she is in an important meeting right now, and if you don't mind, she said to let you into the library, where she will meet you when she is finished. If you will follow me?"

Eiko decided, twenty minutes later, that the library did not impress her. It was dusty, quiet, and filled with wrinkled old scholars that browsed through books seemingly at random, and glared at her if she made the slightest bit of audible noise. By the time Garnet got there, she was ready to summon Fenrir into the room just for a bit of fun.

"Eiko!" Garnet said as she descended the staircase. The other scholars in the room stopped and immediately bowed.

"Dagger!" Eiko said, falling back on the queen's old nickname. "Long time no see!" She stopped Garnet just as she was about to start speaking again. "Do you think there's someplace a little less public where we can talk? I'm sure these gentlemen have had enough of my noisy presence." She smiled flirtatiously at the various scholars.

"Of course, Eiko," Garnet said, looking confused. "Let's go upstairs."

The two women walked in silent companionship upstairs to the doors of the royal apartments, where carpenters were busy repairing the doors. The entire main room looked as if it had been blasted with a triple dose of Flare.

"You and the husband have another argument?" Eiko said, raising an eyebrow.

Garnet stopped and looked at her. "Beatrix or Steiner?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Which one of them asked you to come here? Beatrix or Steiner?"

Why Dagger, I'm appalled! To think that a woman can't come to visit the person who is the closest thing to a sister she's ever had of her own free will!"

Garnet glared at her, and Eiko winced. "Beatrix. Please don't be mad, she's just worried about you! We all are."

Garnet was silent.

"So what went wrong?" Eiko asked, sitting down on the charred bed.

Garnet sighed. "I don't know," she said. "It's been happening for the past couple years - little things at first, and then everything just got blown out of proportion. We couldn't even sleep in the same bed anymore, and it was too much effort to try and be civil to each other."

"But you still love him?" Eiko asked.

"That's the thing I don't understand," Garnet said. "I do love him. But how can it be so easy to love him, when it's so hard to like him? He's impetuous, arrogant, immature, and he flirts with every woman he sees."

"Oh," Eiko said. "And since you don't have Mother's ability to turn Zidane into an oglop, like she did to Father way back when Kuja was still around, you had to scream at him and use your summons, and he had to use his fighting skills and thief abilities, didn't he?"

"Alright Eiko, I get the point," Garnet said. "What we did was wrong. We were both wrong."

"Excellent!" Eiko said, standing up and clapping her hands. "So, when can we leave?"

"Leave? Leave to where?"

"Well, to find your husband, of course. What did you think I was talking about?"

"No! I refuse to be the first one to try to make amends! If he still loves me, he'll come back to me. Why should I go crawling after him?"

Eiko sighed in frustration. "You two really are perfect for each other. You're both stubborn as Buzzers and more explosive than Bombs!"

Garnet looked at her. "Look, if you can find him and convince him to come back here to talk, you're welcome to it. But I'm telling you, you're wasting your time. Whatever Zidane and I had, we're done."

Eiko shook her head and walked toward the door. "Give me a week!" she said. "Zidane will be back here and the two of you will be happy as Qu's! You'll see!"

Eiko went back downstairs and stopped a guard walking through the hall. "I want you to summon General Beatrix, Captain Steiner, Chef Quina and Court Mage Vivi, and have them meet me down by the docks in ten minutes. Snap to it! I haven't got all day!"