I'm Coming Back to You
Chapter 13- Complications
Disclaimer: Man, I've run out of ideas to make this thing interesting. Final Fantasy IX is not mine, it belongs to Square, now Square Enix. So bugger off and read my 'fic.
AN: Well, I'm finally up with the 13th chapter! WoOHOo! No, really, this is a feat. I usually get to the second chapter, maybe the third, and then I ditch the whole damn thing. Ya know? I gotta celebrate here. Oh, by the way, couldn't have done it without all your awesome reviews.
Where are we right now? Uhh, Dagger just fell into the woods of the Outer Continent because the Prima Vista turned sharply and kinda tossed her overboard. Zidane's part in the story is much less interesting, so let's spice it up, shall we?
Key: _…_ emphasize (italicize)
/…/ thoughts
"…" words
*…* action
I still didn't get all that was happening to me. It was so new, so weird, and so confusing. My brain throbbed every time I thought of it. I didn't have anymore past-related dreams, which was odd and pretty disappointing. I wanted to know more, but no one would tell me. Most of the Black Mages look upon me with pitying looks, but I'm not mad, really. They know something about me—something about how I used to be. I just wish I knew it, too.
We'd gotten a letter from Regent Cid. He had spoken with Doctor Tot, who had agreed to the whole thing. Everyone had been happy for me, at that moment. Also, included in the letter, was a little P.S. asking Mikoto, Vivi, and all the Black Mages and genomes to keep quiet about the whole ordeal on me. Especially not to tell this girl they called "Dagger", or the Queen and all of her soldiers and court, or this girl they called "Lady Eiko". I don't know why they don't want to tell "Lady Eiko"—her name just came up, all of a sudden, and I'm just stuck here wondering why everyone is after me. Considering the twenty-thousand people on my tail, it's surprising I actually had to _work_ to have myself found.
Mikoto sent another letter to Lindblum; only it wasn't addressed to Regent Cid this time. We apparently needed an airship to get me to Treno—thank God I remember what airships are—and the Regent Cid didn't have an airship to spare. Mikoto was pretty surprised, upon Vivi telling her this, and said, "Why does that oglop/frog/creature not have an airship to spare, when he has about ten million of them?!" I didn't really understand it, but it was the first time I'd seen her angry. They said something about "Red Rose" and "General Beatrix", but then dropped the idea. This general was obviously on the Not-to-Tell list. Vivi finally offered, "How about the Theatre Ship?" Everyone seemed happy about that. Mogkits agreed to have the letter to "Tantalus" as quickly as possible, even with all the Mognet problems. So I guess all I could do was sit around and wait.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Both airships settled down near the woods of the Outer Continent, and the crew of each scrambled out into the sand. The pilot and a couple of soldiers stood side by side as Beatrix, Steiner, and Eiko trudged towards Tantalus, who looked wary and a bit nervous.
"What are you doing here?!" Eiko demanded.
Baku's voice was cool and collected. "Searching for Zidane, of course! What did you expect? Treasure-hunting?"
"Unless Kuja's body is a treasure, then, no," Beatrix put in. "You're probably wondering why _we're_ here."
"Nope," Marcus said. "We all know about the Queen's escape. Lindblum's been crawling with soldiers ever since, you know."
Steiner said, "We were under the impression that Her Majesty may be here. Have you seen any sign of her?"
"No," all of them said quickly.
No one seemed to notice. "Well, I guess we should be going then." Eiko looked disappointed. "You positive?" All of Tantalus nodded. "Do you have any idea where she could be, then?"
"Dali," Blank replied hastily. To Beatrix and Eiko's curious looks, he added, "I've heard of some weird stuff going on there and all. And you don't have any troops there, either, so she probably slipped by everyone without being recognized."
Beatrix looked to Eiko and Steiner. "Sounds good." They all climbed back into the Red Rose. Tantalus watched as the airship ascended into the sky, and finally released their breaths.
"Fast thinkin' there, Blank," Cinna said, scratching his head. "But now what? The Queen is gone—"
"Baku! Blank! Marcus! Cinna!" they all turned to see Mikoto running up to them, an enormous smile on her face. She stopped in front of all four and looked overjoyed. "I am so glad that you got my letter! Are you willing to transport to Treno? Well, of course you are, why else would you be here—"
"What are you talking about?" Baku interrupted.
She looked at him oddly. "The letter. You are here to take Zidane to Treno, right? Or…"
At the word "Zidane" all four of them nearly jumped on her.
"Zidane? What are you talking about—"
"Have you seen him—"
"Is he all right—"
"What about Treno again—"
"Where is he—"
"Can we see him—"
"We thought he was dead—"
"Wait until Dagger hears—"
And then they all stopped and chorused, "Dagger!" They told Mikoto the whole story.
"Oh no," she said. "Well, first of all, we need you to take Zidane to Treno via airship. I will explain along the way. We will get the Black Mages to search the forest for Dagger. Hurry!"
-0-0-0-0-0-
I sat on the grassy turf, wondering what was taking Mikoto so long. One of the Black Mages had come in to tell her about an airship that had landed nearby. Overjoyed, she had rushed out of the village to meet them. Now I was stuck here, mulling over my thoughts and half-excited that I was on my way to getting my memory back.
"Zidane! Someone's here to meet you."
Mikoto was back. I stood up to smile at her and saw four very familiar faces.
Not familiar because I remembered them. They were familiar from my dream.
We stood in silence, staring at each other. All four's eyes were wide. One of them, the one with the fiery red hair, took a step towards me, and looked like he wanted to hug me. I stepped back instinctively, and everyone's faces fell. "Mikoto's right," the biggest one said. "He doesn't remember us."
I glanced at Mikoto, and suddenly I saw that she felt all my fear, confusion, and my cry for help. She turned away from me and gestured to each one in turn. "Here, Zidane. These are some old comrades of yours. This is Baku, Cinna, Marcus, and Blank. I know you probably do not remember them, but they will be your ride to Treno."
I shook each of their hands and saw the pain in all their eyes. "I'm sorry," I told them all. "I wish I could remember you. I really do."
"We know, Zidane," Marcus said. "Don't worry. We'll help ya get your memory back."
All I could do was smile nervously, and Mikoto picked up from there. "When will you be available to take Zidane?"
"We can work it in for tomorrow," Baku told her. "We really didn't have plans. Well, we got none now, since the Queen is MIA right now. Do a good job of finding her, ya hear?"
Cinna spoke up, "Boss, if—I mean, when—they do find her, what are they gonna say about Zidane?"
Baku bowed his head. We were all quiet, waiting for his reply. Then he looked up and gravely said, "Tell her that he's…he's dead. And that she should return to Alexandria immediately."
Everyone gasped. I looked around at the circle of sad faces and said, "Hey…but when I get my memory back and everything, won't she just keel over when she figures out I'm alive? I don't want to kill the girl or anything—"
Blank laughed, almost mirthlessly. "Don't worry about it. She'll keel over either way."
"Yeah," said Baku. "If we tell her you're dead, then she won't bother escaping again and looking for you. Most importantly, she won't head over to Doctor Tot, and then see you, kooky and with no idea about her. Don't wanna break her heart one million times." Everyone was silent. He continued: "Okay, gang. We'll crash here for the night. Then, tomorrow—Treno!"
I was very nervous that night. Tomorrow was a big day. I was also suffering from a small case of insomnia. I tossed and turned in bed, then stared at the ceiling. I remembered the song, the sweet song, and decided to try and sing it.
In my dearest memories, I see you reaching out to me
Though you're gone, I still believe that you can call out my name
A voice from the past joining yours and mine
Adding up the layers of harmony
And so it goes, on and on
Melodies of life-to the sky beyond the flying birds
Forever and beyond.
-0-0-0-0-0-
It was dark. Not pitch-black dark, like one of my previous dreams, but it definitely wasn't the middle of the day. There was that boy again, the one that looked like me. He was sitting on a bed, and was talking to somebody—the girl. It was the same girl, except her hair was much longer, reaching for her waist. She seemed to be paying a lot of attention to the boy. Suddenly, as if someone had flipped on a switch, I could hear what they were saying.
"—upon a time, there was a man," the boy was saying. Oh, great. A little kiddie story. Well, I was apparently stuck in this dream, so I might as well listen up. "There was a man who didn't know where he came from…" The voice clicked off, just as quickly. I was starting to get annoyed.
Suddenly, there was a young version of me, running around in a place I didn't recognize. A few sentences flickered to my hearing. "He wanted to know more about himself, maybe." Yes! That's what I wanted. To know more…
"His only clue was the blue light he saw in his dreams…" Blue light? What was that supposed to mean? Then, there was a scene with a big man…yes, the one I saw today. Cinna, wasn't it? Wait, no, that was Baku. "This is my home. This is the place I call home."
I awoke with a start.
-0-0-0-0-0-
"Oh! That Blank! I hate him!"
"I cannot believe you believed him!" Steiner shouted. "We should have never listened to him, never have come here—"
"Oh, shutup!" Eiko said. "It's all your fault!!! You shouldn't have asked them about Dagger in the first place! They've probably got her on board, in tow—"
"Will you two please stop acting like—" Beatrix stopped. "Wait…what was that, Eiko? They…They probably have her on board! Why was I so stupid, as to not…oh! Quick, on the Red Rose! Back to the Iifa Tree!"
The pilot shook his head. "Not a splendid idea, General. The Red Rose is spent. We need more water for steam, and it may take the proper liquids overnight to arrive in Dali."
"There are several other airships here, are there not?" Beatrix looked around frantically.
Eiko frowned. "Beatrix, maybe you should calm down. Anyway, Tantalus probably high-tailed it out of there by now. And it's not good for you, anyway—all this stress." She looked to Steiner, who nodded. "See? Even Rusty here agrees. Let's spend the night here, or something."
Beatrix had no choice but to agree.
-0-0-0-0-0-
/I really miss Zid. I mean, Zidane… I hope he finds the girl he's looking for./ Zeithi was wandering around, picking berries for another lonely meal, when she heard a whirring sound. "Familiar…" she muttered to herself. "It's an airship…" Absently, she began to walk in the general direction of the sound. Suddenly, she heard faint screaming, and it was getting louder—and louder—and louder—
_Crackle, Crackle, Crackle…Thud._
/Huh?!/ She rushed toward the noise, only to find something buried beneath brambles and bushes and…was that…a hand?
AN: Dun Dun Dunnnn…yeah. Pretty cool stuff with a pretty long chapter, to boot. Benero and Zenero are completely lacking… I'm sorry about it, but I guess we could classify them with the band. Hmmm… oh, yeah, you notice I'm putting the song back in. Actually, I jammed it in a few chapters back, too. If you read the story anytime before I posted this chapter, then you were probably very annoyed that I repeated the song so much. Well—guess what! I fixed it. Just those parts—everything else about the chapters have not been edited. I'm trying to divide the song up evenly throughout my 'fic. I repeated parts of it sometimes, and it might still get annoying, but hopefully it's going to be less annoying. Yay!