Disclaimer: I no own, you no sue.
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Chapter 2: An Unexpected Storm
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"Alright Vivi, are you ready?" Mr. 288 asked.
The small mage nodded.
"Okay, close your eyes and concentrate."
"On what?" Vivi retorted.
"An emotion. A very powerful one," Mr. 288 said. "Hold out your hands as though you were casting a spell."
Vivi complied. "Any emotion?" he asked, opening an eye.
"Yes." Mr. 288 nodded. "Your magic and feelings are linked. So it has to be something you're very passionate about, whether it be love, sadness....even hate."
Hate.
Vivi's eyes clenched at this word, a thousand definitions and examples flooded his mind. He detested Kuja, everything about that wretched man was contemptuous. Vivi loathed how the people of Lindblum reacted to HIM after the attack from Alexandria. He abhorred Black Waltz No. 3, haughty and arrogant, yet so stupid, ignorant and more naive than he was at the time. He despised the deceased queen, and hated himself for wishing such a fate on her, causing so much pain to Garnet... A blurred mass of confused emotion jumbled his mind, causing a sense of nausea in his stomach, like a black writhing worm settling in his bowels, feeding off his blind rage. The worm seemed to grow, still writhing, waiting for the right moment. Vivi's breathing was becoming quite shallow, coming out as choked gasps. Then, all in an instant, the nausea violently subsided from his stomach and exploded in his arms, escaping through his palms.
"Vivi, Vivi! Snap out of it, you can stop now!" Mr. 288 pleaded, giving Vivi a shake. The small mage's eyes snapped open, a deep gasp escaped from his mouth. A blood red flame with a black essence blazed between his palms, materializing his abhorrences. He looked up to Mr. 288, waiting for further intructions. Mr. 734 toddled up, clutching the egg carefully and offered it to Vivi. Mr. 288 nodded to him. "Go on, take it. The spell won't dissipate."
Vivi obeyed. As he reached out, the flame remained stationary, blazing on without care. But when Vivi's fingers touched the shell of the egg, and the flame gave an excited jump and flung itself at it, disappearing into the shell. Vivi jumped in surprise and dropped it, Mr. 734, luckily, grabbed it before it hit the ground. Mr. 288 gave Vivi a concerned look, as Mr. 734 handed it back to Vivi. "Are you sure you're alright?"
He nodded. In fact, he felt better than he had in awhile. "Okay, take care my friend." Mr. 288 said in a friendly voice. "Are you and your friends staying the night?"
"No, we're going to Madain Sari and staying at Eiko's." Vivi replied. "Oh no, what time is it?"
"Quarter to three," Mr. 288 said, pulling out a pocket watch. "Why?"
"I'm supposed to meet everyone at the inn."
"Here, I'll come with you. Mr. 734, would you take care of the shop?" he asked.
"Alrighty!" Mr. 734 replied chirpily, continuing to sweep the floor.
Mr. 288 walked up alongside Vivi as they left the shop. The small mage sighed. He was clutching the egg contently, which already felt very warm as he held it.
"I apologize for the sudden burden." Mr. 288 said quietly.
"It's no burden at all, really." Vivi insisted. " It'll be nice to have someone else in the house besides me."
Mr. 288 chuckled. "You've certainly changed my friend." he commented.
"Really? Zidane said that too."
"Perhaps not physically," Mr.288 started, "But you seem so much more secure and content than last time we met."
"You're saying I was insecure?" Vivi said with a fake tone of offense.
"Yes, we all were." Mr. 288 shrugged, "It was an uncertain time."
Vivi nodded. "I guess you notice changes in others, but not yourself."
"Who knows," Mr. 288 said as they approached the inn. "I sure don't."
The small mage chuckled. "Thank you Mr. 288."
Mr. 288 layed a hand on the egg. "Take care of it Vivi." he said gravely. "Perhaps this is the solution to our dwindling numbers, but we don't know yet. That's the thing, you never know how things will turn out. When you think you've found a solution to a problem, fate has a way of twisting it from your grasp and place it with another question. Then you're back where you started." Mr. 288 mused. Vivi bit his lip and nodded.
"I-I will. Trust me, I will."
"Come back and visit as soon as you can." Mr. 288 said, beginning to walk away. Vivi waved.
"Okay, I will." he said and went into the inn.
*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*//*/
"Are you sure you can make it Madain Sari?" Zidane asked, putting his hand on top of Garnet's. "We can stay the night here if you'd like."
"No, I'm fine, really." she insisted.
Zidane stroked her hand. "Alright, as soon as Vivi gets here, we'll head...." His sentence was interupted by the squeak of the door's rusty hinges. Vivi toddled in. "Okay, let's go." Zidane corrected himself.
Garnet and Zidane walked briskly out, Garnet looking very ill. They all went out of the village and were about half-way through the woods when Eiko piped up. "What's up with that egg Vivi? Is it a chocobo?"
"N-no...." he replied. He tried to find a phrase, a sentence, something to tell Eiko what the germ was without freaking her out. Without thinking, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind, in a very quiet and somewhat embarassed voice. "...I'm g-going to be a father..."
As if he wasn't embarassed enough when Eiko's eyes got wide with surprise, Garnet, Zidane and Steiner stopped and turned around. "What do you mean?" Eiko was the first to break the silence.
"I'm going to be a dad." Vivi repeated, still very quietly.
Eiko looked at the egg and then to Vivi. "You're weirding me out kid." she said and began walking ahead.
Zidane slowed down to match Vivi's pace. "What happened? Where'd you get this thing from?"
"It's a long story." Vivi said.
"Okay, well come on." Zidane said. "We wanna try to get to Madain Sari before this storm gets kicking."
They exited the forest as Zidane finished this sentence and lightning lit up the sky. He groaned. "Maybe you should just stop talking," Garnet said sarcastically, putting a hand on her hip.
"That'll be the day," Steiner retorted with a chuckle.
"Hey, I'm sure we can get it to Madain Sari before it gets any worse." he said, lightning once again tearing through the sky.
"Zidane, maybe we should take the Condie Petite Mountain Path." Garnet suggested as the thunder crackled overhead.
"Maybe you're right," Zidane said. "We'll take the airship to Condie Petite and walk from there. I'll carry you if you want my dear." he added sarcastically.
"That's quite alright." she laughed. "I'm sure I can get there myself."
"Okay then," Zidane said. "Be that way."
They walked onto the airship, the planks of the deck squeaking more loudly than usual due to the moisture. "I will be that way." Garnet continued to argue playfully.
Zidane grinned. "Okay! Then you go right ahead!" he laughed.
"Then I WILL go right ahead." Garnet replied, very amused by this game. Zidane walked into the control room and grabbed the wheel, still arguing playfully with Garnet. Steiner took a seat on the deck, resting on an available barrel and watching the cloud blotted sky.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"Vivi, come up on deck," Eiko demanded the mage as the sat down and made himself comfortable in the cargo hold.
"N-no, I'm fine." Vivi said. "I don't want the egg t-to get too cold."
Eiko glared at him for a moment, sighed and sat down next to him. "You can go up there if you want," Vivi told her. "I'll be fine down here by myself."
She ignored him and the two sat in silence, the engine's constant churning was the only sound breaking the void. After a few minutes, the airship creaked and groaned, and lurched foward, throwing them from their seats. Garnet, Zidane and Steiner walked down the stairs, letting in a cold gust of air from the deck above. Zidane saw the two youths tumbled on top of one another and laughed.
"Can't leave you two alone for five seconds, can we?" he commented and grinned. Eiko got up and groaned, obviously having no mind of making another comment. "Come on, let's get outta here."
The dwarves at Condie Petite let them pass into the Sanctuary, knowing Zidane, Garnet and Vivi had undergone the Ceremony. But it took them some time to convince the dwarf brothers gaurding the entrance to let Eiko and Steiner pass through without the sacred rite. They did, however, eventually pull it off.
The dry, stony trail before them seemed to go on for miles and miles, lightning flashed overhead, startling the group and calling on a downpour of heavy, cold rain. Their walk became a trudge and the dirt became mud as they beared against the whipping rain. Zidane quickened his pace to match Dagger's and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, hoping to offer some warmth and security. "I think it would have just been easier to take the airship." he grumbled, but his words were only heard by Garnet, his mouth beside the girl's ear. Vivi was already struggling to keep up with the pace of everyone else, his steps uncertain on the slippery path and the veil of heavy drops, but he stopped when he felt something inside the germ stir and twitch. He thought for a moment it was either his imagination or his own arm shivering, but whatever it was gave another content twitch. He smiled and called excitedly out to the others, but was unable to see them anywhere.
"You guys?" he called out again.
he looked about again, the torrent rain stifling his senses. Vivi shivered and looked about urgently, hoping to at least see a shimmer of Garnet's orange dress (she's wearing a dress in this, er...more like a mu mu....she's pregnant, remmeber?) or Eiko's pink and yellow outfit. He heard Zidane call back from the path, his exact words lost in the collective pound and crash of the storm. "I'm coming!" Vivi shouted back as loud as humanly possible. He began to run ahead on the path, nearly completely blind from the rain and, in his rush, caught an unearthed root sticking out from the path. Vivi got up again and held his head, feeling woozy and dazed. Zidane grabbed his shoulder.
"You alright?" he asked.
"Yeah....oh no! Where's..." Vivi started out, but was interupted by a nudge from Eiko, who held out the egg, its shell muddy and wet. He took it back carefully, but his hand found a gaping part of the shell missing on the bottom. Tears welled up in his eyes. *aw!!!* "Oh no..."
Zidane pulled Vivi up, not noticing anything wrong. "We gotta hurry up and get to Madain Sari, Garnet's not doing too well." Vivi pushed back his emotions and nodded, his face was freezing from the rain. Not saying a word, they continued up the path, the rain coming down in sheets. Zidane broke the silence, "Steiner and Garnet went ahead without us so...."
His statement was interupted by a soft shuffling sound, followed by a loud, brittle crack and a small splash. Vivi gasped from the sudden lightening of the egg when he saw the child sprawled out on the ground. He shook his head sadly as he scooped up its small body. Eiko tugged on Zidane's arm before he went too far ahead. The monkey tailed boy turned back and saw Vivi kneeling in the mud and the motionless child in his arms. Zidane put an arm on the mage's shoulder. "I'm sorry..."
Vivi looked at the infant as they stumbled through the rain and mud with the silence of a funeral procession. The child, wet and muddy, looked exactly like him, from the floppy leather hat to his white and turquoise pinstripe pants, all of it, an exact miniature of its father. As he held the infant, Vivi's arm was irritated by an uncomfortable fold of fabric or something on its back. Vivi gave another depressed sigh and sorrowfully placed a gloved finger in the child's hand. To his surprise, the infant's fingers curled around his, holding it tightly and defensively. Vivi's face lit up and he called out to Zidane and Eiko, who had once again gone ahead. "He's alive!!!"
"What?" Eiko asked.
"He's alive!" Vivi repeated, stopping in the path, overcome with joy.
"I hate to be so stubborn, but we gotta get out of this rain." Zidane grumbled.
"Oh, alright." Vivi replied. The child released the mage's finger and reattached itself to his shirt, trying to stay warm in the freezing rain.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Author's Note: I wasn't planning on stopping here, but hey, life's full of compromises, no?
~NeoNaoNeo
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Chapter 2: An Unexpected Storm
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
"Alright Vivi, are you ready?" Mr. 288 asked.
The small mage nodded.
"Okay, close your eyes and concentrate."
"On what?" Vivi retorted.
"An emotion. A very powerful one," Mr. 288 said. "Hold out your hands as though you were casting a spell."
Vivi complied. "Any emotion?" he asked, opening an eye.
"Yes." Mr. 288 nodded. "Your magic and feelings are linked. So it has to be something you're very passionate about, whether it be love, sadness....even hate."
Hate.
Vivi's eyes clenched at this word, a thousand definitions and examples flooded his mind. He detested Kuja, everything about that wretched man was contemptuous. Vivi loathed how the people of Lindblum reacted to HIM after the attack from Alexandria. He abhorred Black Waltz No. 3, haughty and arrogant, yet so stupid, ignorant and more naive than he was at the time. He despised the deceased queen, and hated himself for wishing such a fate on her, causing so much pain to Garnet... A blurred mass of confused emotion jumbled his mind, causing a sense of nausea in his stomach, like a black writhing worm settling in his bowels, feeding off his blind rage. The worm seemed to grow, still writhing, waiting for the right moment. Vivi's breathing was becoming quite shallow, coming out as choked gasps. Then, all in an instant, the nausea violently subsided from his stomach and exploded in his arms, escaping through his palms.
"Vivi, Vivi! Snap out of it, you can stop now!" Mr. 288 pleaded, giving Vivi a shake. The small mage's eyes snapped open, a deep gasp escaped from his mouth. A blood red flame with a black essence blazed between his palms, materializing his abhorrences. He looked up to Mr. 288, waiting for further intructions. Mr. 734 toddled up, clutching the egg carefully and offered it to Vivi. Mr. 288 nodded to him. "Go on, take it. The spell won't dissipate."
Vivi obeyed. As he reached out, the flame remained stationary, blazing on without care. But when Vivi's fingers touched the shell of the egg, and the flame gave an excited jump and flung itself at it, disappearing into the shell. Vivi jumped in surprise and dropped it, Mr. 734, luckily, grabbed it before it hit the ground. Mr. 288 gave Vivi a concerned look, as Mr. 734 handed it back to Vivi. "Are you sure you're alright?"
He nodded. In fact, he felt better than he had in awhile. "Okay, take care my friend." Mr. 288 said in a friendly voice. "Are you and your friends staying the night?"
"No, we're going to Madain Sari and staying at Eiko's." Vivi replied. "Oh no, what time is it?"
"Quarter to three," Mr. 288 said, pulling out a pocket watch. "Why?"
"I'm supposed to meet everyone at the inn."
"Here, I'll come with you. Mr. 734, would you take care of the shop?" he asked.
"Alrighty!" Mr. 734 replied chirpily, continuing to sweep the floor.
Mr. 288 walked up alongside Vivi as they left the shop. The small mage sighed. He was clutching the egg contently, which already felt very warm as he held it.
"I apologize for the sudden burden." Mr. 288 said quietly.
"It's no burden at all, really." Vivi insisted. " It'll be nice to have someone else in the house besides me."
Mr. 288 chuckled. "You've certainly changed my friend." he commented.
"Really? Zidane said that too."
"Perhaps not physically," Mr.288 started, "But you seem so much more secure and content than last time we met."
"You're saying I was insecure?" Vivi said with a fake tone of offense.
"Yes, we all were." Mr. 288 shrugged, "It was an uncertain time."
Vivi nodded. "I guess you notice changes in others, but not yourself."
"Who knows," Mr. 288 said as they approached the inn. "I sure don't."
The small mage chuckled. "Thank you Mr. 288."
Mr. 288 layed a hand on the egg. "Take care of it Vivi." he said gravely. "Perhaps this is the solution to our dwindling numbers, but we don't know yet. That's the thing, you never know how things will turn out. When you think you've found a solution to a problem, fate has a way of twisting it from your grasp and place it with another question. Then you're back where you started." Mr. 288 mused. Vivi bit his lip and nodded.
"I-I will. Trust me, I will."
"Come back and visit as soon as you can." Mr. 288 said, beginning to walk away. Vivi waved.
"Okay, I will." he said and went into the inn.
*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*//*/
"Are you sure you can make it Madain Sari?" Zidane asked, putting his hand on top of Garnet's. "We can stay the night here if you'd like."
"No, I'm fine, really." she insisted.
Zidane stroked her hand. "Alright, as soon as Vivi gets here, we'll head...." His sentence was interupted by the squeak of the door's rusty hinges. Vivi toddled in. "Okay, let's go." Zidane corrected himself.
Garnet and Zidane walked briskly out, Garnet looking very ill. They all went out of the village and were about half-way through the woods when Eiko piped up. "What's up with that egg Vivi? Is it a chocobo?"
"N-no...." he replied. He tried to find a phrase, a sentence, something to tell Eiko what the germ was without freaking her out. Without thinking, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind, in a very quiet and somewhat embarassed voice. "...I'm g-going to be a father..."
As if he wasn't embarassed enough when Eiko's eyes got wide with surprise, Garnet, Zidane and Steiner stopped and turned around. "What do you mean?" Eiko was the first to break the silence.
"I'm going to be a dad." Vivi repeated, still very quietly.
Eiko looked at the egg and then to Vivi. "You're weirding me out kid." she said and began walking ahead.
Zidane slowed down to match Vivi's pace. "What happened? Where'd you get this thing from?"
"It's a long story." Vivi said.
"Okay, well come on." Zidane said. "We wanna try to get to Madain Sari before this storm gets kicking."
They exited the forest as Zidane finished this sentence and lightning lit up the sky. He groaned. "Maybe you should just stop talking," Garnet said sarcastically, putting a hand on her hip.
"That'll be the day," Steiner retorted with a chuckle.
"Hey, I'm sure we can get it to Madain Sari before it gets any worse." he said, lightning once again tearing through the sky.
"Zidane, maybe we should take the Condie Petite Mountain Path." Garnet suggested as the thunder crackled overhead.
"Maybe you're right," Zidane said. "We'll take the airship to Condie Petite and walk from there. I'll carry you if you want my dear." he added sarcastically.
"That's quite alright." she laughed. "I'm sure I can get there myself."
"Okay then," Zidane said. "Be that way."
They walked onto the airship, the planks of the deck squeaking more loudly than usual due to the moisture. "I will be that way." Garnet continued to argue playfully.
Zidane grinned. "Okay! Then you go right ahead!" he laughed.
"Then I WILL go right ahead." Garnet replied, very amused by this game. Zidane walked into the control room and grabbed the wheel, still arguing playfully with Garnet. Steiner took a seat on the deck, resting on an available barrel and watching the cloud blotted sky.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"Vivi, come up on deck," Eiko demanded the mage as the sat down and made himself comfortable in the cargo hold.
"N-no, I'm fine." Vivi said. "I don't want the egg t-to get too cold."
Eiko glared at him for a moment, sighed and sat down next to him. "You can go up there if you want," Vivi told her. "I'll be fine down here by myself."
She ignored him and the two sat in silence, the engine's constant churning was the only sound breaking the void. After a few minutes, the airship creaked and groaned, and lurched foward, throwing them from their seats. Garnet, Zidane and Steiner walked down the stairs, letting in a cold gust of air from the deck above. Zidane saw the two youths tumbled on top of one another and laughed.
"Can't leave you two alone for five seconds, can we?" he commented and grinned. Eiko got up and groaned, obviously having no mind of making another comment. "Come on, let's get outta here."
The dwarves at Condie Petite let them pass into the Sanctuary, knowing Zidane, Garnet and Vivi had undergone the Ceremony. But it took them some time to convince the dwarf brothers gaurding the entrance to let Eiko and Steiner pass through without the sacred rite. They did, however, eventually pull it off.
The dry, stony trail before them seemed to go on for miles and miles, lightning flashed overhead, startling the group and calling on a downpour of heavy, cold rain. Their walk became a trudge and the dirt became mud as they beared against the whipping rain. Zidane quickened his pace to match Dagger's and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, hoping to offer some warmth and security. "I think it would have just been easier to take the airship." he grumbled, but his words were only heard by Garnet, his mouth beside the girl's ear. Vivi was already struggling to keep up with the pace of everyone else, his steps uncertain on the slippery path and the veil of heavy drops, but he stopped when he felt something inside the germ stir and twitch. He thought for a moment it was either his imagination or his own arm shivering, but whatever it was gave another content twitch. He smiled and called excitedly out to the others, but was unable to see them anywhere.
"You guys?" he called out again.
he looked about again, the torrent rain stifling his senses. Vivi shivered and looked about urgently, hoping to at least see a shimmer of Garnet's orange dress (she's wearing a dress in this, er...more like a mu mu....she's pregnant, remmeber?) or Eiko's pink and yellow outfit. He heard Zidane call back from the path, his exact words lost in the collective pound and crash of the storm. "I'm coming!" Vivi shouted back as loud as humanly possible. He began to run ahead on the path, nearly completely blind from the rain and, in his rush, caught an unearthed root sticking out from the path. Vivi got up again and held his head, feeling woozy and dazed. Zidane grabbed his shoulder.
"You alright?" he asked.
"Yeah....oh no! Where's..." Vivi started out, but was interupted by a nudge from Eiko, who held out the egg, its shell muddy and wet. He took it back carefully, but his hand found a gaping part of the shell missing on the bottom. Tears welled up in his eyes. *aw!!!* "Oh no..."
Zidane pulled Vivi up, not noticing anything wrong. "We gotta hurry up and get to Madain Sari, Garnet's not doing too well." Vivi pushed back his emotions and nodded, his face was freezing from the rain. Not saying a word, they continued up the path, the rain coming down in sheets. Zidane broke the silence, "Steiner and Garnet went ahead without us so...."
His statement was interupted by a soft shuffling sound, followed by a loud, brittle crack and a small splash. Vivi gasped from the sudden lightening of the egg when he saw the child sprawled out on the ground. He shook his head sadly as he scooped up its small body. Eiko tugged on Zidane's arm before he went too far ahead. The monkey tailed boy turned back and saw Vivi kneeling in the mud and the motionless child in his arms. Zidane put an arm on the mage's shoulder. "I'm sorry..."
Vivi looked at the infant as they stumbled through the rain and mud with the silence of a funeral procession. The child, wet and muddy, looked exactly like him, from the floppy leather hat to his white and turquoise pinstripe pants, all of it, an exact miniature of its father. As he held the infant, Vivi's arm was irritated by an uncomfortable fold of fabric or something on its back. Vivi gave another depressed sigh and sorrowfully placed a gloved finger in the child's hand. To his surprise, the infant's fingers curled around his, holding it tightly and defensively. Vivi's face lit up and he called out to Zidane and Eiko, who had once again gone ahead. "He's alive!!!"
"What?" Eiko asked.
"He's alive!" Vivi repeated, stopping in the path, overcome with joy.
"I hate to be so stubborn, but we gotta get out of this rain." Zidane grumbled.
"Oh, alright." Vivi replied. The child released the mage's finger and reattached itself to his shirt, trying to stay warm in the freezing rain.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Author's Note: I wasn't planning on stopping here, but hey, life's full of compromises, no?
~NeoNaoNeo