Disclaimer: We do not own Final Fantasy IX, or the related places or characters…blah, blah, blah
Tobu Ishi- We know what you mean about made up characters aren't nearly as good as the originals. But you have to think that it would be VERY weird if Zidane lived forever and didn't have any kids…I mean c'mon! Besides, Amy plays a very important role in this fanfiction, so please bear with us. ^_^
aya-yahiko- Thanks for the praise! ^_^ we really appreciate it!
klepto-maniac0- We hope you like how this 'develops' ^_~
Merry Christmas!
"Mommy! Daddy! Wake up! Santa Cwause is here! I sawed him!" a now two-year-old Amethyst yelled jumping up and down on her parents' bed. Her tail was swishing excitedly as she waited for her parents to awaken.
"How'd you get out of your crib?" Zidane asked rubbing the sleep from his eyes. In response, all he got was a sneaky smile as she worked her way down from their bed. Dagger had gotten up and was tying her robe around her, but Zidane didn't really care what he looked like. He started walking after Amy in his boxers and a T-shirt.
It was about six o'clock in the morning, and the halls were dimly lit with torches. "Did you plan this?" Dagger whispered so that only Zidane could hear. Smiling, he put a finger to his mouth indicating for her to be quiet. She nodded and continued to follow Amy down the dark hallway.
They ran down the spiral staircase after her, and ended up in the Great Hall. There was a giant Christmas tree adorned with gold ornaments, around it several presents lay, waiting to be opened. Then something caught Dagger's attention that she hadn't been expecting.
A man, dressed in red from head to toe was standing next to Amy and was in the process of pulling a doll out of a big sack. It was Santa! But, there was something about him, he seemed more tall and muscular, rather than short and plump. "Is that Amarant?" she whispered to Zidane. He smiled even wider and put a finger to his mouth. "But how did y…" Zidane quickly covered her mouth.
"Mommy! Mommy! Look at what Santa bwought me!" Amy pulled at Dagger's robe. Dagger looked down to see Amy holding up a new doll.
"Yes Amy, it's a very pretty doll," she answered looking up just in time to see Amarant running in a sprint out of the room. Trying hard not to giggle, she bent down to look Amy in the face, "Let's start passing out gifts!"
It took awhile, but finally everyone had a sizable pile of presents sitting in front of them. "Amy gets to go first since she's the youngest!" Zidane said winking.
Eyes alight with joy, Amy started on the biggest present in her pile. When she had successfully unwrapped it, she was amazed at what she saw. It was a perfect replica of Alexandria castle, only much smaller.
"It's a doll house Amy! Grandpa Baku made it himself."
"Wow!" she exclaimed clapping her hands together in excitement. Several minutes later, Amy had unwrapped all of her gifts. She had received several formal dresses (specially made with a small hole for her tail), coloring books, crayons and lots of toys.
"Alright, it's Mommy's turn now since she's second youngest." Zidane announced.
Dagger smiled and pulled the first box she saw to her. Thoughts began to form in her head as she started undoing the paper. I am a few months younger than him, but how come he looks younger than me? It's been eight years, and he hasn't seemed to change one bit! "Dagger," somewhere from the back of her mind someone was calling her, "Dagger," it repeated, only much louder this time. Finally, she snapped out of it. She looked up to see Zidane right in front of her; his eyes were wide with concern.
"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly. She shook her head then looked down at the box in her hands, she had long since unwrapped it and was starting to claw absentmindedly at it. Blushing, she opened the box to see a pair of diamond earrings. "Merry Christmas." Zidane winked.
Smiling, she put them in and continued to unwrap the remainder of her gifts.
Finally, it was Zidane's turn. "Guess who's coming over today," he asked Amy as he began unwrapping the first of his gifts.
"Who?"
"Zak!" this made her drop her doll and squeal with delight. Zak was Steiner and Beatrix's son, and he was only about six months younger than her.
"And Grandpa Baku, Uncle Blank, Uncle Marcus…"
"Pretty much everyone." Dagger laughed.
The day seemed to go by so slowly, but finally it was time for the Christmas Party. Zidane and Dagger were helping decorate, and Amy sat in a chair by the door waiting for the first to arrive. She wore one of the dresses she had gotten for Christmas, it was light blue, and she thought it very uncomfortable. But, fortunately, she didn't have to wait long, the door swung open and in stepped the entire Tantalus gang.
"Gwandpa!" she exclaimed running into Baku's arms.
"Hey Amy girl! How've ya been?" he asked putting her up on his shoulder.
"I've been good." She smiled sweetly.
"How's my favorite niece in the world?" Blank asked stepping in.
"Uncle Bwank!" she squealed. "Can you tell me anudder one of yoor stowies tonight?" she asked happily.
"Sure thing munchkin!" he laughed.
"Geez Blank, are you spoiling my child?" came Zidane's voice from one of the corners.
"What? I promised her a story!" Blank said defensively.
Zidane laughed, "It's my job to greet the guests. Guess I'm too late. How've you guys been?" Everyone answered at once causing Zidane to laugh again. "Well, the party's that way," he pointed into the ballroom. "Now get out of here ya scumbags, your blocking the entrance," he winked.
"Fine, but I'm taking the kid with me." Baku chuckled.
"Alrighty then, have fun everyone!" he called after them.
Next to arrive was Steiner and Beatrix. "Good evening Your Majesty," Beatrix said bowing.
"How's Zak doing?" he asked. Sure enough the blonde boy wasn't far off, he had busied himself with running circles around Steiner. "Amethyst is in the ballroom." He said. Zak automatically stopped running around Steiner and took off for the ballroom.
"Don't break anything!" Beatrix called after him. Seconds later a crash sounded not too far off. "Oh, I'm so sorry Zidane, I'll pay for that." She said running after the noise. Steiner followed behind.
Shaking with silent laughter, Zidane continued to await the guests' arrival. The last to show up was Freya and her family.
The adults assembled in the ballroom and the children went up to Amy's room to play. Zak and Amy busied themselves with coloring as Freya's children (being exceptionally older) were playing a board game.
Downstairs however, was where all the interesting stuff was happening. Zidane walked hand in hand with Dagger socializing and chatting with old friends. But, when the band slowed down and started to play 'Melodies of Life', Dagger started tugging on Zidane's cuff.
"Sorry Regent," Zidane said to Cid, "but I promised my wife we'd dance." Cid nodded.
"I told Hilda I'd dance too." He said. Both of the men offered their wives and arm and led them to the dance floor. Zidane wrapped his arms around Dagger's waist and started swaying slowly to the music, and Dagger rested her chin on his shoulder.
Looking around, Zidane noticed all the other couples. Eiko was dancing with Vivi despite the age difference. As it turned out, the two had been dating for quite a while, even against Cid's wishes. He thought it very disrespectful that his adopted daughter would date someone who's brethren had destroyed his city, but he couldn't do anything about it.
Off in another part of the room, Freya and Fratley danced, as did Steiner and Beatrix. It was clear that they hardly got any time to themselves. Everyone seemed so happy, so at peace.
"I love you." Zidane said kissing the top of Dagger's head.
"I know," she smiled up at him. He chuckled to himself and the song started to fade away. However, neither of them wanted to move, so they stayed there in a close embrace for a while after the song ended. Finally pulling away, Zidane looked around the room.
"I have an announcement." He yelled over the noise. Everyone turned to look at him. "I will be leaving tomorrow." Dagger stared at him, mouth agape. "I will be delivering a peace proclamation to the Black Mage Village." Hearing this, Vivi now started listening intently, "They have been discriminated against for a long time and that needs to stop. Cid could I borrow one of your ships?"
If Cid was appalled at any of this, then he didn't show it. He smiled and shook Zidane's hand, "Sure thing, anytime."
"Thanks for everything, Cid." Zidane smiled.
"No problem, it is I who should thank you for helping me out so much in previous years."
"How come you never told me about this?" Dagger asked him once Cid walked back off.
"Would you have stopped me if I did?" Zidane asked smiling.
"No, but…I would have liked to know."
"Sorry." He smiled at her. She thought that she could melt whenever he looked at her like that!
Hours passed and everyone had a good time. But eventually, people started leaving randomly. The last to leave were Blank and Marcus.
"We promised Amy we would tell her a story." Blank said shrugging. "Sorry, can't get rid of us 'til we fulfill out promise."
"Fine." Zidane said looking at the clock. "But I doubt she'll be awake."
"Well, we have to try."
Sighing, Zidane led them up the stairs to Amy's room. Sure enough, she had fallen asleep on the floor next to her coloring book. "Sorry guys, I told ya." He whispered, bending down to pick her up. Gently he placed her in her bed and pulled the blankets over her.
Just as they were about to leave the room, they heard a murmur. "You pwomised." Blank laughed out loud and turned to face her.
"So I did. Which one you wanna hear?" Amy sat up in her bed and Marcus, Blank and Zidane all cleared a space out on her toy-cluttered floor.
After thinking awhile, Amy replied, "I wanna hear the one about yoo wescuing my mom!" she exclaimed happily. No matter how many stories she heard, Amy liked this one the best. The one where her parents first met.
"Okay then," Blank thought for a minute. "It all started when your Grandpa Cid found out that someone wanted to hurt your mom!" Amy gasped, "So he told your Grandpa Baku. He sent us to rescue her." He motioned to everyone around him.
"Your Grandpa and I acted in a play as a distraction," Marcus explained, "while you dad and Blank went to find your mom!"
"It happened in this very castle." Zidane pointed out. Now Amy seemed really interested. Zidane continued, "Only, I didn't really know my way around back then. But I knew that your mom was supposed to be out on the balcony. I ran up a staircase and I saw this girl come out through some doors." Amy giggled, she knew who it was.
"I noticed you dad talking to a woman, but I didn't know what was happening, so I watched from the staircase." Blank interrupted.
"All I noticed was how beautiful your mother was, and I thought how I really didn't want her to get hurt. So as I tried to come up with a plan to get her safely out, she ran off. Knocking me down in the process!" Zidane said laughing lightly.
"As we followed her, a group of knights started chasing us!" Blank started, "There were tens of thousands! So when you mom ran up a staircase, Zidane followed her and I stayed behind to deal with them myself," Blank added cockily.
"Tens of thousands eh?" Zidane laughed. Blank shrugged and motioned Zidane to continue with the story. "Anyway, so I followed her to the…" he stopped. "Guys, she's asleep." He pointed out.
"Aw man. Oh well, I don't have a very big part in this story anyway." Marcus said.
"Sorry guys I can't see you to the door. You know where it is. I trust you wont steal anything on your way out?"
"Gee Zidane, take all the fun out of it why don't ya!" Blank whispered and elbowed Zidane in the side, hard. The two left and Zidane went back to the bed.
"You wont see me before I leave tomorrow, but I want you to know that I love you very much and I'll be back."
Amy stirred and opened her eyes just a little. "Pwomise?" she asked sleepily.
"I promise." Zidane nodded. Then he bent down to kiss her forehead. As quietly as he could, he turned to leave.
Just as he was shutting the door, she spoke up, "Keep the door open." Smiling to himself, he did as he was told. He left, keeping the door open just enough that a faint stream of light glowed in a straight line across her room.
Tiredly, he started down the hall. He had to get to bed, for he would be leaving very early the next morning.
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