Disclaimer: Final Fantasy 9 belongs to Squaresoft.
****
Clue
****
"Found her yet?" asked Mikoto.
Zidane shook his head.
"Let's wait for her here, she might suddenly come back," Vivi suggested.
Zidane nodded. He leaned against the wall, crossed his arms and wore a worried expression on his face. Dagger never did this before…all right, so she has. But it was still strange for her to run off like that.
"She'll show up," Freya said in a very reassuring tone.
Zidane looked at her and nodded. Even though he knew that she only said that to cheer him up, he was still worried. He sighed and waited…nothing. That's when he noticed that Kuja was also not around.
"Has anyone seen Kuja?" asked Zidane.
Vivi, Mikoto and Freya shook their heads.
"…muttered something about going for a walk," grunted Amarant apparently disgusted with Quina's behavior as Quina moved from one spot to the other searching for food again! ( He/she just had three helpings of food before they went off the airship!!! ^_^ )
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …
Kuja trudged quietly. He felt a twinge of pain and stopped walking. He looked around to make sure that he was not followed. He sighed and rubbed his temple. The pain was much more enormous than he had expected. He frowned, he needed to find out what was causing his sufferings and stop it or he'll go crazy. Another pang caused him to almost shout and after a second, he was on his knees. He was sweating hard and he cursed under his breath.
How he wished that his life would end already. Then the pain would finally be over. A pair of boots appeared before him so he raised his head and saw Dagger staring at him.
"Are you alright?" Dagger asked worriedly.
"How long have you been standing there?" asked Kuja, ignoring her question.
"Just now," Dagger answered. "Are you alright?"
"Do I seem like I'm fine?" Kuja said.
Dagger shook her head. She reached out her hand to help him up.
"Thanks," Kuja mumbled as he took her hand, stood up and faced her. "Where were you? You had everyone searching for you."
"Nowhere, I just…got lost," Dagger said blankly. She was silent for a while before talking. "Come on, let's go back. I wouldn't want them to keep on searching for me." She started walking quietly.
Kuja nodded and took a quick glance at her. Dagger was acting very odd. Something was troubling her but he decided to keep quiet about it.
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …
Zidane continued to walk around in circles before finally stopping. "That's it," he said, "I can't take it anymore. I'm gonna look for her."
"That isn't necessary," said Freya. Zidane raised an eyebrow and looked at her questioningly.
Amarant pointed to two figures that were approaching them. Zidane looked at them for awhile before finally recognizing them and ran forward to hug his beloved Dagger.
"Zidane, I can't breathe," Dagger said as she tried to gasp for air when Zidane trapped her in his tight embrace.
"Sorry," Zidane muttered as he let her go. He took a glimpse at her to see if she was hurt.
"Where have you been Dagger? We've been worried sick!!!" exclaimed Mikoto.
Zidane nodded, "I demand an answer." His voice turning serious.
Dagger looked at them. She tried to say something but no words came out of her mouth. "Um…" she began as she stared at her fingers.
"She got lost and was lucky enough to bump into me," Kuja interrupted.
Dagger gaped at him. Zidane merely shrugged, totally unsuspicious and said, "Okay. What's important is that everybody's safe. Especially you," he nodded at Dagger.
Dagger smiled weakly. She really appreciated Zidane's love for her but deep down inside, she felt guilty for having to lie to Zidane and her friends. She looked around, as she was unable to gather the strength to look straight into everybody's eyes and noticed that Vivi was missing.
"Has anybody seen Vivi?" asked Dagger anxiously.
"There he is!" exclaimed Mikoto as Vivi slowly approached them. Vivi was holding something in his hand.
"What have you got there Vivi?" Freya asked.
"Nothing important," Vivi replied sadly. "The only reason why I took these along with me is because I thought that they might help us with our search for Eiko…but nothing's written here."
"Let me see them," Zidane said. Vivi handed the parchments to Zidane and Zidane took a look at each of them.
"See anything?" Mikoto asked eagerly.
Zidane shook his head. "Nope! Nothing! Zilch!"
Dagger who was just standing beside him raised an eyebrow and looked at her friends questioningly. She could not understand why Zidane and the others could not see a thing when her eyes can clearly see the handsomely written words.
"What about that black thing? Is food?" Quina asked.
Vivi shrugged, "I dunno, it attracted my attention so I took it too."
"So much for clues. We wasted our time here doing nothing," said Kuja.
Dagger felt worse than before. Not only were they clueless, but they spent precious time in searching for her.
"Why don't we call it a day?" Zidane asked as he stretched his arms.
The others nodded in agreement and started to head back. Vivi stared at the things that he was holding and decided to leave them there. Dagger stayed behind, somehow, those things that Vivi were holding seem to draw her near them. Finally, she picked them up, hid them and ran after her friends.
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …
Back in her room, Dagger sat at her bed and simply stared into nothingness. She had insisted on having her own room for personal reasons even though it piss Zidane for awhile. She didn't know what to do. She hated herself for being like this…for being so helpless. How can she, Garnet til Alexandros, hold such tremendous power within her and more than that, stop that power from demolishing, destroying, ending all life on Gaia!
No! She will no longer burden Zidane and her friends by being the usual damsel in distress. She must do this on her own. Without the knowledge of her friends though. She'll do everything and anything to keep this planet alive. Even if it means… Dagger shook her head. She should not think of such things. Surely, there must be another answer to this dilemma of hers. She sat for awhile, thinking. Another part of her brain though was in doubt. After all, isn't she the one who constantly needs to be saved?
She recalled the time when she tried to stop her mother, Queen Brahne, from attacking the other nations but only placed her life at risk. Then there was the time when she tried to protect Alexandria from Bahamut by summoning the great Alexander with Eiko. Both of them almost perished if it was not again for, she sighed, Zidane. ( ^_^ Yay for Zidane! )
She clutched her staff while absentmindedly humming a soft tune. She maintained in that position for some time until she heard voices outside her room. She stood up and leaned against the door.
"Kupo! I don't think that's a very good idea!"
"Shut up! Nobody asked for your opinion!"
"It's Kuja and Mogrio," Dagger whispered. She leaned closer.
"Get out of my way! I don't want to resort to violence!" Kuja said loudly.
"I don't care! Kupo!" Mogrio answered back.
"I'm warning you," Kuja said.
Dagger started to rack her brain. She has to do something before Kuja turns Mogrio into a roasted pig! She stood up, placed a bossy kind of expression on her face and opened the door.
"A-hem," Dagger started as she crossed her arms and tapped her foot. Kuja and Mogrio looked at her.
"Do you mind? Some people are trying to get some peace here," Dagger said and she was absolutely shocked by the words she had said.
"Why? Did I disturb her Highness's beauty sleep?" sneered Kuja. He turned his back on her and went back to his room, which was only at the end of the hall.
"I'm sorry, I really am! Kupo! He's been in a bad mood these days," sighed Mogrio.
Dagger smiled warmly at the moogle. "It's alright."
Dagger watched Mogrio follow Kuja back to his room before closing the door of her room. She sat down and looked around at her room. It wasn't what one would call elegant, but it's not that simple to look at too. It has a queen-sized bed at the far end of the room with a painting of a beautiful lady warrior slaying an evil dragon hanging on the wall. Hand-carved furniture decorated the rest of the room and sheer, silk-like clothes draped the walls of the room. The floor was covered with a lovely color of maroon and a window was at the end of her room.
She rested her head on her arms and blew the strand of hair that has covered part of her face away. She then remembered the parchments she took away. She brought them out from their hiding place and looked at it. She frowned; she still could not understand why Zidane and the others couldn't see the writings there. She looked harder. Every single word made sense too.
Then the thought occurred to her. This was not any ordinary language. This was the language of the summoners. They had two kinds: the ordinary one that can be read by any person and the special one that only summoners themselves can see. The special one is only used whenever something important that needs to be concealed from the knowledge of others is written down. She had only seen her mother use it ones, but she never believed in it.
What if it was from her mother? She felt her heart beat faster and her hands tremble as she slowly read the contents inside it.
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …
Kuja banged his fist on the table. He needed to get away, to be alone, but Mogrio won't leave his room. Mogrio keeps on believing that he's going to kill himself. Ha! As if that's gonna happen. Even if it did come to his head, he won't give up that easily. He started pondering, trying to think of a plan to get rid of that stubborn and irritating moogle!
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …
Dagger stopped reading. Even if she was disappointed that it was no from her mother, the contents were full of evil. She took a deep breath and rolled the parchments. She placed it back to where she first hid it and decided not to take it out until it could help with their journey. As she was placing it back, she saw a blinding white light coming from one of the cabinets in her room. She went near it and noticed that a black light was also coming out from her pocket.
She took out the stone that Vivi found and the jewel given to her by…that man. The two stones flew away from Dagger's grip and floated around in circles in midair. The lights flashed stronger and instead of going forward, she backed away. The black one was way smaller than the colorless jewel. Even if the light almost blinded her, she could clearly see what was happening. The black one entered the colorless jewel and positioned itself in the center where there was a small hole.
The light disappeared and the jewel fell to the floor. Dagger stood up and went near it. She was quite reluctant to touch it though. After some time debating with herself, she decided to pick it up. When her hand touched the jewel, the ground started shaking, the sky darkened, heavy winds blew, lightning flashed across the sky and roars of thunder could be heard.
The moment Dagger held the jewel properly in her hands, it began raining heavily and her room was getting wet. She struggled against the strong winds that seem like punching her and was finally able to close the window. She sighed in relief and placed the jewel on the table observing it. How come she didn't see the small hole in the jewel? She had always took it out and admired it. And she wondered more about the weather. When she felt the jewel, everything went dark. But before she could think more about it, she heard someone banging her door.
"Dagger! Come out! It's urgent!" Mikoto's voice passed through the door and reached her ears.
Dagger ran towards the door and opened it. She saw Mikoto panting.
"It's-it's Zidane! He's-"
Author's Note: I apologize for the long absence and sincerely hope that you guys will forgive me! High school is really tough and we were being bombarded with more than 5 assignments a day and loads of projects! And I also had a tough time thinking about the continuation for this story!!! I felt guilty not updating last Christmas and since it was my birthday last week, I felt more guilty!!!
Please answer this question, it's very important even if it is confusing because the later part of this story will base on your answers!!!
Who do you prefer to pair Cloud with? Tifa or Aeris?