By Robertdogwood
Final Fantasy IX characters and locations from said game are owned by SquareSoft.
Original Plot and Characters Copyright Robertdogwood 2002
PG-13 for language and slight nudity
Chapter Eight
As they quickly strode down a Lindblum boulevard in the direction of Ruby's new dinner theatre, Zidane and Blank caught each other up on the latest occurrences in their lives. Zidane realized he had sorely missed spending time with Blank, as it had been quite awhile since he had been able to visit with his closest friend. Amarant, of course, trudged behind.
"If you two chattering magpies could keep still for a moment, I would like to ask a question," stated Amarant, sardonic as ever.
Zidane turned his head slightly while he continued to stride down the street. "What is it?" he asked.
"What is our grand scheme now? I don't know if you've noticed while you are having your family reunion here, but Garnet is still missing and probably in grave danger.
Zidane flushed and felt immediately guilty. Amarant is right, the blond haired man thought, "What am I doing? Holding his thoughts close, Zidane answered, "We're going to go talk to Ruby and then we'll probably go talk to Cid and see if he can do anything to help us."
"Good plan," praised Amarant. "Then let's go do it." The tall redheaded man always knew instinctively how to play Zidane like a fine violin to get the most out of him. Use a fret here, and a stop there.
Nothing more was said by anyone until the three of them approached the immediate vicinity of Ruby's place. "It's down that side street," Blank directed.
They stepped in the direction indicated and the theatre marquee soon came into sight. Zidane observed they were the showing the fantasy 'The Sorceress' Knight.' Turning to Blank, Zidane asked, "Isn't that awfully ambitious for a dinner theatre?"
Blank grinned from ear to ear. "Oh, no. Ruby is a great sorceress and Lowell is a wonderful knight, but just between us - Cinna and Marcus as the Red Dragon leave a lot to be desired."
As they stepped down the stairs leading to the theatre-restaurant, Zidane tried to imagine Ruby playing the role of the sorceress and couldn't quite hold the image in his mind. His musings were cut short when he heard, "Why Zidane, honeychile, whatever are ya all doing hair? And who's this right tall galoof? And Blank?! Didn't ya just get enuff to hold ya for awhile?"
Blank blushed fully while Zidane noticed Ruby appeared as pretty and sexy as ever; wearing one of her beautifully colored full dresses. He felt himself suddenly enveloped in a huge embrace from Ruby.
"Well, say somethang, Zidane!" the woman demanded.
"They've got troubles, Ruby," Blank explained.
She immediately stepped back suddenly all business. Through years of working with Baku's group, Ruby knew all about troubles. "What is it?" she asked seriously.
"Garnet's disappeared," her fiancé further explained.
"And I take it," Ruby asked, "that she hasn't run away from home again?" Zidane shook his head smiling slightly.
"What'd need me to do?" she asked, practical as ever when she needed to be.
"Have you noticed anything about Baku and the rest of them that struck you as being odder that usual?" Zidane asked.
"Lack I was tellin' Blank before, Marcus has been actin' strangely for the last week. He comes in and don't say nothing. And one day they were all in here tawking in the corner and I swar I heard them mention Garnet's name and I wondered why at the time," Ruby answered.
"Thanks, Ruby, that really helps a lot," Zidane responded. "We need to go."
Again Ruby enveloped Zidane in a full embrace. "Now don't go and be such a stranger again, you hair?" she stated.
"I won't, Ruby, but you got to understand. We can't keep meeting like this. I'm a married man now," Zidane quipped while managing to extricate himself from her grasp.
"Haha! Aw, go on with ya," the pretty woman riposted.
As they exited the theatre, Amarant commented, "You surely have a way with the women. What do you attribute that to?"
"Prayer," the blond haired man replied dryly.
After finally walking down the ramp from the airship, Steiner wondered if he should kneel down and kiss the ground in gratitude that they had finally arrived safely. He decided instead that he should travel to the Inn as quickly as possible. Adelbert didn't travel on an airship anything near as luxurious as the one Zidane flew in, consequently the port the ship landed in was actually outside of Lindblum proper.
Steiner had to wait more than thirty minutes for ground transportation, but at least he found an empty spot on a bench in the waiting area. As he patiently waited, even though inside he felt himself in an incredible hurry, he wondered how his wife was doing back in Alexandria.
Beatrix strided back into the Throne Room happily surprised to see Lani waiting for her. Vivi and Quina were sitting in the corner quietly squabbling concerning why Quina wasn't Queen.
"Lani," she cried out. "Just who I needed," the female warrior declared.
"What's up, Bea?" Lani asked and then snapped her gum she was busily chewing.
"Come with me, I'll fill you in on the way."
Vivi jumped up from his chair with alarm clearly visible in his eyes. "Where are you going?"
"Oh, Vivi," Beatrix explained turning to him. "I need you and Quina to stay here for a little while longer if possible. It would really help me out."
"But, but-."
Quina interrupted, "Oh boy! You can be King now, Vivi!"
"Thank you so much, Vivi," the beautiful warrior expressed while leading Lani from the room.
They could hear Quina saying, "Come on up to the Queen's Throne, Vivi."
"Aw geez, why me?" Vivi wondered aloud.
One of the Royal Guardsmen stepped just inside the open door of Minister Artania's chamber. "There are two very disreputable looking villains out here who say they want to see the Regent," he explained.
Artania was seated at his desk and perusing several Royal Proclamations written on the finest parchment. Glancing up from his work, the minister asked, "What are their names?"
"Sir, one of them said his name was Zidane and-."
"You dunce! That's the Royal Prince of Alexandria. Show them into my chamber immediately," Artania interrupted.
"Yes Sir! Right away Sir!" the Royal Guardsman shouted out, while he snapped to attention and then quickly scurried away from the angry minister.
Good Lord, now what? Artania thought.
Steiner finally reached the main business section of Lindblum. He vacated the transportation landing area and quickly strided towards the Inn. Old people and small children were jumping from his path even though they were certainly in no danger. They just weren't used to seeing a large man wearing rusty armor taking giant steps toward them.
The loyal knight quickly crossed the street and bolted up the front stairs. Literally bursting into the lobby, Steiner crossed to the front desk.
Standing behind the front desk, the clerk thought, Good grief! What a day! Now what do we have here? "Yes, may I help you?" the clerk asked, the wariness evident in his voice.
"I hope so," Adelbert spoke in his rich baritone voice. "Has there been a blond young man here with a tail?"
Why am I not surprised? the clerk thought cynically. "Yes, there was. He was here with a very large long armed redheaded man." And thank God they left.
"Are they still here?" Steiner anxiously asked.
I said was, cretin. That usually denotes past tense, he thought. But due to the fact that the large man in the rusty suit of armor seemed to have some sort of large sword with him, the clerk decided courtesy would be the best policy. "No," he answered. "They left over an hour ago."
"Drat!" exclaimed Adelbert.
Drat? Who in the world still says drat?
"How long ago did they leave?" Steiner asked breathlessly. He couldn't believe he was actually this close to Zidane after following him for what seemed so long.
"About an hour ago, sir," the clerk repeated wearily. What do I have to do to get this clown out of here?
"Did they say where they were going?" the loyal knight further questioned.
"No, sir, they didn't. And they also didn't tell me that they knew where the Queen's jewels were either." the clerk answered sarcastically.
The Queen's jewels? Steiner thought greatly surprised. Oh, I imagine that was Zidane's cover story as to what they were looking for. "Thank you, you've been very helpful," Adelbert intoned. "And we'll find those jewels I warrant."
Turning to leave, Steiner missed the completely nonplussed expression that lay on the supercilious clerk's face.
Eight year old Eiko, with her Mog still fluttering nervously around her bedroom, asked, "What are we going to do, mother?"
"Why dear," Lady Hildagarde answered, "that's why I came to you. I'm not sure what we can do. I know all the way inside my bones that Cid knows something about this, but he's not talking. I might have to change him to an oglop again."
"No, don't do that! Please," Eiko protested. It wasn't for Cid that she was concerned. It was for herself. After all, what child would want to have an oglop for a parent? "I think I can make some sort of psychic contact with Garnet, but I need to get someplace quiet by myself."
"You can?" Eiko's foster mother questioned.
"Yes!" Eiko exclaimed emphatically with a nod of her head. "I'm going up on top."
And ordering her Mog to remain behind, who felt rather hurt about that, Eiko left her bedroom. Contrary to what she informed Hildagarde, Eiko was going to pay a visit on Artania. That was why she insisted Mog remain behind for Moggles did not approve of mendaciousness unless it was in the cause of self defense.
The same Royal Guardsman showed Eiko into Minister Artania's chamber and shut the door on his way out.
Artania greeted, "Hello, Eiko. Is there something I can help you with? By the way," he continued, "Zidane was just here. He went to see Cid"
"Hmm," the little girl commented. "Yes there is, Minister Artania, I want to know what's going on with Garnet and I'm not leaving here until you tell me." And she bestowed a large smile upon him.
"Uh...uh," Artania stammered.
"Good day, Zidane. How wonderful to see you again," Cid greeted with a note of false jocularity in his voice. "And I'm sorry, who is your friend again?"
Zidane and Amarant had just been shown into Cid's Throne Room. "This is Amarant, who is helping me out," the Royal Prince answered.
"Oh yes, I remember now. How are you?" the ruler of Lindblum answered and received a nod in return from Amarant.
Cid stroked both ends of his long handlebar mustache and decided to not wait, but just take the bull by the horns, so to speak. "I suppose you're here about any information I might have concerning Garnet's disappearance."
"Yes, of course," Zidane expressed, his anguish evident in his tone. "Have you heard anything at all. I was picking up some bad feelings from Baku's behavior about this. Has he been to see you?"
"Well, ahem, you know," Cid answered while continuing to stroke his long mustache. "Of course Baku has been to see me numerous times in the past."
"Yes, I realized that, Cid," the long haired man answered impatiently. "Has he been to see you recently?"
"Well, you know, Zidane, even though I'm Garnet's uncle, we do represent different countries. Now if I see Baku on something to do with state security, that is really no concern of yours. I understand you might find this harsh, but I'm certain that Garnet will show up soon safe and sound."
A short while later as Zidane and Amarant had left Cid's presence and were being shown from the Palace, Zidane asked in a low tone so as to not be overheard. "Did Cid appear to be acting suspicious to you?"
"Yep," was his partner's laconic reply.
Bursting into her bedroom, Eiko excitedly exclaimed, "It worked, it worked! I know where she is!"
"Oh, that's grand news, dear, but calm down," Lady Hildagarde entreated.
Paying the admonition no mind at all, Eiko tugged on her foster mother's arm. "Come on, we need to hurry."
"But where is she?" Hildagarde naturally desired to know.
"I'll tell you on the way, now hurry!" the little girl insisted.
Freya and Sir Fratley landed their Golden Chocobos just outside of Lindblum City proper. "Buying these Golden Chocobos was just a wonderful idea, Fratley," Freya praised.
"Why yes it was," Sir Fratley agreed. "One could say they were worth their weight in gold, couldn't they?"
"Hehe, you made another pun, Fratley. What's gotten into you?" asked his female partner.
They boarded their Chocobos at a local stable and immediately took some ground transportation into the City of Lindblum. Approaching the Royal Palace on foot, Freya expressed, "Let's hope that Cid can throw light on this very dark subject."
"Indeed," Sir Fratley agreed.
Steiner hurried down the steps from the Inn on his way to the Royal Palace to seek an audience with Cid when he was more than a little surprised to observe Jesse Helot coming down the steps from the ground transportation waiting area. Why would a politician from Alexandria be here when Parliament in still in session? Adelbert wondered.
Quickly deciding to follow him because he had a gut feeling this could lead to something important, the loyal knight stepped back into the alleyway in order not to be seen by Helot. As the politician stepped lively toward the business district, Steiner mingled with the crowd in order to be able to stay close enough to discover where he was heading and yet not be observed by Helot.
Zidane and his redheaded companion had just exited the main gates of the Royal Palace of Lindblum when they were greeted in surprise by the approaching Freya and Sir Fratley.
"Zidane!" Freya called out excitedly.
"Well met," Sir Fratley intoned.
Amarant espying Freya automatically stiffened with tension at the sight of her. Zidane noticed this immediately and cautioned him in no uncertain terms he would brook no nonsense at this point in time.
"Don't waste your time talking with Cid," Zidane stated flatly. "He won't tell you anything."
Freya asked, "Zidane, have you seen Steiner?"
"Steiner? No, I haven't seen him," answered the young man. "Should I have?"
Before Freya could answer, Lady Hildagarde and Eiko appeared through the opened Palace doors. "Zidane!" Eiko happily cried out. The little girl rushed toward him and embraced him around his waist.
"What's going on?" he wondered.
"Come on, come on!" Eiko insisted while tugging at Zidane's right arm. Her Moggle floated all around her in excitement. "We going to go get Garnet. We have a Royal Coach waiting."
Quicker than a wink of an eye, all of them were crammed inside a Royal Coach. The coachman flicked his whip one time above the heads of his four steeds and they careened off down the boulevard toward the business district.
Beatrix and Lani were standing outside of the wide double doors of the Alexandrian Parliament. "Just follow my lead," the beautiful warrior directed, "and stand against the right wall and be ready for anything."
Lani nodded silently, her pretty face suddenly grim in anticipation of trouble and followed Beatrix into the large chamber. Beatrix strode to the front of the large room while Lani situated herself against the right wall.
Beatrix nodded to the Sergeant at Arms, who snapped to attention and intoned, "May it be known that the two hundredth session of Parliament in the year of our Lord-."
The double doors suddenly burst open and two hundred armed brown shirted mercenaries headed by Tyson Mathews entered. "I claim control of this government in the extreme emergency of the good Queen Garnet being currently unable to rule. Submit peaceably and no one will be hurt."
Suddenly in the very back of the room, Carlin Phelps stood up and cried out an order. "Now!" she shouted.
Alexandrian troops entered through all doors in the back and front of the great hall. They quickly took complete charge of the situation lead by General Beatrix with her famous sword unsheathed and Lani splintering an empty chair with her giant ax just to keep their attention. As the troops began to lead the now weaponless rebels away to be placed under arrest, Beatrix smiled at Carlin in the back of the room. The beautiful politician smiled back and nodded. Once again courageous women had saved the fall of Alexandria.
The young man stood as if he were planted in the room holding the long yellow dress in his hands and openly admiring the attractive teacher dressed only in her short silken camisole.
"Get an oil painting. It'll last longer," his partner, the blonde woman commented snidely.
"You perverted cretin!" screeched the young teacher. "Give me that!" she ordered while snatching her dress from his hands. "And go fetch the Queen!"
The young man whirled and raced into the hall, but the Queen was once again nowhere to be seen. Garnet had raced down to the end of the hall that led to the stairwell that headed down. She was completely panicked now and had no idea what was happening to her or who she should turn to in her time of need.
The dark-haired young woman opened the door to the stairwell and began running down the stairs with a reckless abandon risking a serious accident with one misstep. Garnet couldn't believe her own ears as she suddenly heard the young man moving down the staircase behind her and people speaking on the steps two flights below her.
Luckily before any of them noticed her, the Queen was able to enter the hallway on the first floor she came to. Experiencing a momentary breath of relief when she observed no one in the corridor and not hearing anything, Garnet decided to risk peering carefully into rooms. She realized she needed to get out of the hallway as quickly as possible before anyone happened along.
The black-haired woman gripped the first door she came to and opened it so very carefully to peer into the room. Seeing no one inside, Garnet quickly entered the room and shut the door quietly behind her. She was careful to latch the door shut. The Queen realized it wouldn't hold if someone of bulk wanted to enter, but that it would keep the ordinary individual at bay for awhile.
Quickly glancing around the room, Garnet espied a student's typical bedroom. There was a single bed against the far wall. There were several pictures of pastoral beauty hanging on the walls, the obligatory poster of Lowell, a large bureau, a walk in closet, and a large desk situated by the open windows to facilitate better viewing in the day time.
The Queen crossed to the walk in closet and began to rummage through it. Darn, she thought. "There's only school uniforms in here. Oh well, when in - what was that expression again?
Pulling one of the school uniforms out of the closet where five or six were hanging neatly, she held it up lengthwise to her body. It's going to be a tight fit and it's too short, she realized. But beggars can't be choosers - there, I did remember that one.
Quickly donning the student's apparel, Garnet crossed to the desk and began riffling through papers until she found what she was looking for. So that's where I am, but what am I doing here?
The young woman scrutinized the room rapidly for any sort of possible weapons, but to no avail; unless she wanted to attempt to use a throw pillow as protection, she realized sardonically. Garnet realized she had accomplished all she could in the room except to ascertain what floor she might be on. She hurried to the window and looked down and was disappointed that it was too still high for her to risk jumping without fear of serious injury.
Suddenly a key was inserted into the door and a blonde teenager entered the bedroom. Garnet raced toward the opened door and in the process knocked the girl to the floor.
"Ow!" she cried out.
Feeling instantly ashamed, the Queen whirled and leaned down helping the teenager to her feet. "Are you okay?" she asked solicitously.
"Who are the hell are you and why are you wearing my damn uniform?" the student demanded haughtily.
Garnet raised to her fullest height which wasn't a lot taller than the blonde student and stated, "I am Queen Garnet Til Alexandros 17th of Alexandria and you watch your language, young lady before I wash your mouth out with soap. I will return your uniform at a later time. Now, good day!"
Garnet fled the room leaving the teenager standing behind with her mouth agape. The young Queen feeling much more self confident now for obvious reasons ran back down the corridor to the staircase that would lead her down to the ground floor. She ran down three more flights without incident before bursting on to the first floor.
Steiner continued to follow Jesse Helot at a discreet distance as he strode with purpose through the Lindblum business district, although it really wasn't necessary because the Alexandrian politician looked neither to his left or right but straight ahead. It had become apparent to Adelbert that Helot was on a mission; what that mission was remained to be seen.
Jesse walked briskly several more blocks before taking a right down a side street. It was becoming increasing more difficult for Steiner to keep up with the politico's fast pace because of his heavy armor and need to avoid people in the crowd. They traveled along several more blocks until they were actually out of the business district completely and into a more rural area.
Jesse then did something passing strange to Adelbert's understanding. He stopped and commissioned a carriage much to the loyal knights dismay, who realized he couldn't begin to keep pace with four horses. Helot entered the coach and then directed the driver to take an immediate right up a long driveway to a large ornate appearing building with columns and a fine looking wide grass front yard. The politician jumped down from the carriage and entered the building.
That's strange, Steiner thought as he hurried up the long driveway. I didn't think he had any children. Maybe he's going to visit a niece or nephew. As though to add insult to injury, a carriage thundered by Adelbert throwing small pebbles and dirt on him. The good natured Steiner finally broke down under all the stresses of the last thirty-six hours and he shook his fist at the coach as it went by.
Garnet ran into the fulsome first floor lobby area. A brunette middle-aged woman stood up from behind a long counter that held an information sign on it. "May I help you?" she asked rather forcefully.
The young Queen had already learned her lesson the hard way that no one could be currently trusted and she continued to run to the front doors. She narrowed the gap almost completely and then the doors opened. Jesse Helot strode in and Garnet ran straight into him! He rocked back on his feet and almost fell to the floor but by fully embracing the young woman Jesse was able to maintain his balance.
"Oh Representative Helot! Thank you so much for catching me. How fortunate that you are here to help me," gushed the young woman. A sudden thought crossed Garnet's mind and her eyes narrowed. "Why are you here?" she asked suddenly quite stern sounding.
"Why, to help you escape," Jesse explained. "Come, I have a carriage waiting for us outside." And he grabbed her by the upper arm and began to forcibly walk her out the doors.
Inside the carriage commissioned by Lady Hildagarde, Amarant growled loudly to be heard over the din caused by their conveyance. "Wasn't that Steiner who just shook his fist at us?"
"Why yes, I think you're right," Freya replied with a smile realizing the humor inherent in the situation.
Amarant nodded to her silently and Zidane recognized the almost total uniqueness of those two having a successful interaction. He quickly stuck his head out of the coach's window and looked behind. The young man waved his arm in a wide arc until he saw that Steiner waved back.
The carriage lumbered to a stop in front of the building and everyone piled out of the carriage just as Adelbert came running up. I can't believe I finally caught up with him, he thought.
"Zidane, what's going on here?" Steiner asked.
Morrison and Montose the Moggles were wandering lost in the outer reaches of the business district in Lindblum and squabbling incessantly.
"You said you knew the way to the Palace," Morrison accused.
"I do, I did," Montose insisted. "They must have moved it."
"Come on," Morrison retorted. "You don't expect me to believe that they moved the entire Palace and we never heard about it."
"Look!" Montose cried out. "There's Eiko up there." He pointed up the long driveway.
"It sure is," Montose agreed after squinting up the hill. He was a bit nearsighted and too vain to wear glasses. "Let's go," he directed. And the Moggles began bumping their way up the incline.
Zidane turned to Adelbert to answer his question when he suddenly was astounded to observe Jesse Helot dragging Garnet through the front doors. Although the Royal Prince wasn't half as surprised as the politician was when he stepped out and espied the large group of the Queen's supporters.
Helot quickly hauled out a small dagger and held it tightly to the Queen's throat. The pain of the cold steel pressing against her skin barely registered in her mind. Nor did the warm blood trickling down her neck and staining her blouse have any impact on her feverish thoughts.
It's Zidane! was all Garnet could think. He came back! He came back to me!
"Don't anybody move," he commanded in a voice stern enough to brook no interference. "I don't want to hurt the Queen but I will if you make me. She and I are going to get into that carriage and we are leaving. As we speak my supporters in Alexandria are picking up the dropped reins of our government and will continue to if I can prove the Queen is no longer a viable alternative to our government. Dead or alive, it doesn't matter to me."
Helot began to inch forward, pushing the struggling Garnet before him. Although her thrashing forced the dagger deeper into her tender flesh she continued to fight with all her strength. The warmth of the Queen's life fluids flowed over her captor's hand and he looked down, startled.
Only Steiner saw the fleeting expression of fear and nausea that flashed briefly over the Alexandrian politician's face. He had no time to weigh the consequences in his mind. Steiner knew in that instant that Helot was bluffing. Seizing his opportunity, Steiner lurched forward and swiped the dagger from Helot's hand. The blade skittered across the front walk with a metallic clatter.
Taking that brief moment of confusion as his cue, Zidane leaped at Helot. With all his strength behind it, Zidane planted his fist on Jesse's face with a hollow thwack. Jesse emitted a grunt as he hit the ground, conscious but dazed.
"Zidane!" Garnet screamed as she closed the distance between them and fell into Zidane's open embrace. "You came back, you came back," she said between sobs of relief.