RE-UPDATED: 27/02/05

Disclaimer: Squaresoft owns everything but my plot and characters.

Dagger screamed in pain as she was thrown violently into the dirt, one side of her body slamming into a huge boulder. She stood up shakily, using her Rod for support and eyeing the figure approaching her.

He walked so calmly and slowly, as if he were merely taking a stroll on a warm summer's day, while she stood there, barely on her feet, bleeding, bruised and weary. Oh, how she hated him for that. Suddenly, he dropped his cool pace and dashed straight for her, Dagger blinked her eyes and found him right in front of her, punching her straight in the stomach. She gasped; her eyes contracting and mouth open, struggling to breathe. She flew upwards from the force of the blow. Miraculously, though she was still having trouble drawing her breath, she stuck out her Rod and used the curved end to catch hold of a tree branch, praying inwardly that it wouldn't slice right through it, and swinging two full circles before releasing her hold and going straight at him.

Even as she flew towards him with her leg stretched out, she knew that he could avoid her blow easily by his relaxed stance. She frowned in anger, ever since he had Tranced and come out of the wreckage, he had been completely impossible to hit. When he moved, she couldn't even see him until he was right next to her. As she fought with him, she felt like she was being caught in a tornado with a hundred jaws snapping at her. That was how futile she felt her fight was, trying to lay her pathetic blows against the mighty wind. The force that was so powerful, yet untouchable.

Sure enough, just as she was about an inch away from him, he moved and disappeared. To prevent herself from landing flat on her face, she used her Rod to take the impact and as a pivot so she could swing her body around and plant her feet firmly on the ground. Without waiting, she charged straight at him, for every slash or swipe she delivered, the fear and despair that had been worming itself in her heart grew deeper. Her world had been turned into nothing more than attack, counter-attack, scream with pain, struggle to prevent herself from fainting and attack all over again.

He was like liquid metal, playing with her, just to see how long it would take before she cracked or gave up, letting her try to hit him while he countered effortlessly, reminding her so much of a cat playing with a mouse. He made her feel like a big clunky klutzy thing made of wood and held together by rusted nails. She couldn't possibly beat him unless she Tranced. Even then, the outcome was still uncertain.

Her arms quivered as she blocked his knives, although most of the impact was absorbed by her Rod, the remaining force ran up her arms, making her stumble and fall. She landed hard and crashed into a tree. She leaned back against the rough, slightly splintered bark, feeling the sharp bits of wood poke the tender skin of her neck as she rested her weary body, watching, defeated and weak. He walked up to her, taking his time with grace in every step. She closed her eyes and waited for the final blow to come.

It would have been so much easier if he had just dashed over to her and sliced her head off. She even found herself feeling slightly annoyed that he didn't kill her faster. Instead, she was being forced to wait for her death, sitting on the dirty ground, beaten and bruised. It was so ironic that it was almost laughable. The Queen of Alexandria, who had helped save Gaia and defeat Necron, was being killed by a faceless stranger while an old man who had tried to destroy the world she had saved watched. The last descendant of the royal family who wasn't really part of that family killed, with her closest friends not even knowing where she was. Hahaha. She thought wryly.

But she didn't even feel like lifting a finger to defend herself, she was so tired and desperate, that she almost welcomed death. Maybe this is for the best, she mused sadly, her eyes still closed, I came here to be strong, but now I am to die. I could ask Garland to stop him, but I won't. There's nothing left for me here. No purpose for me to stay.

She could feel him approaching her, and then stopping and just standing in front of her, obviously confused by her lack of movement. She allowed a small smile to creep up onto her exhausted face, just to make him wonder. Just then, a small figure popped into her mind, large glowing eyes blinking up at her and hands carefully arranging his hat. At the sight of him in her mind's eye, a memory resurfaced.

"D-don't go, Dagger," he said softly, both of them were standing at the observatory in Lindblum. She had run up there right after her meeting with her uncle had ended, telling him that she needed to be alone. Little did she know that the mage had followed her.

"Vivi. Don't you understand!" she sobbed, her voice making him cringe. She could sense it without even having to turn around, and personally, she didn't blame him. It was bordering hysterical and mad, yet seeming eerily monotonous and unfeeling at the same time. But she couldn't have cared less how horrible and crazy she sounded. Who would care what other people think if they had just received the news that the man that they had loved with all their heart couldn't possibly have survived the Iifa tree's clutches, and that if he had, he was probably badly mangled and limbless? "I don't want to live without him! HE'S DEAD! God! He's DEAD!"

"Dagger, don… don't d-do it…" he replied, nervous, but in the same consoling tone, inching closer to her, who had one knee on the balcony wall next to the telescope, and the other prepared to join her so that she could leap off any second. "H-he wouldn't have w-wanted you t-to die… Not like this… not a-at all…"

"Well I wouldn't know, now would I!" she snapped, taking out her anger and pain on the innocent Black Mage who was just so conveniently there. "He's GONE! He's left me on this worthless world! I'm going to join him! There's no purpose left for me to live!"

"T-that's not r-right!" he said, angry for the first time, his voice desperate and hardening. "There's always a reason to live! Don't you care about us? About me? We've lost one of our closest companions…Please… don't make us lose two."

"Vivi…" she mumbled, stunned, the thought of how her death would pain her closest friends had never once occurred to her since she had been trapped in her own limbo world of hurt and sorrow.

"We'll miss you, D-dagger…" continued Vivi, walking slowly but steadily closer to her, as though he was afraid that any sudden movement would send her hurtling down to her doom. He held her hands gently to make sure that she didn't jump off, "W-we love you… Don't end your life because of this… For all y-you know... he's still a-alive."

"Vivi…" she whispered again, tears rolling down her cheeks, her heart filling with hope. It even helped to cry so freely… as a Queen, she wasn't allowed to cry lest her subjects see her. She held onto his gloved hands tightly, like they were her lifeline and stepped down from the ledge. "Thank you…"

"D-don't ever do that again," said Vivi in an urgent, reprimanding tone. "Don't ever give up your life without a fight."

"A-alright…" at this, she could take it no more, she keeled over, kneeling on the ground and flinging her arms around Vivi's neck and buried her face in his warm leathery cloak. "Vivi! Promise me! Just promise me! You'll never leave me like Zidane did!"

Vivi said nothing, but continued stroking her hair softly. For the first did it occur to her that Vivi was already over twelve years old, he couldn't possibly have much of a life left even if he was a prototype. She looked into his eyes and blinked, realizing then, that even now, at that very moment, he was fighting to survive. There were telltale signs of his struggle all over him, his golden yes had dimmed slightly, flickering in an out of sight every now and then, the movement of his limbs were shaky, his steps slower and his coat more worn.

"Just don't leave me…" she said softly, hugging him even tighter, knowing that she would never be able to understand the torture he was going through, the fact that there he was, all alone, trying to fight against the force of death or Stopping, was unbearable to her. Every second of his life, was spent trying to exist. But, two months later, he Stopped, leaving her with only his hat and a handwritten message of goodbye as remembrance, bringing her to her current predicament.

Don't ever give up your life without a fight; his voice echoed through her head, there's always a reason to live!

Flashes of his funeral ran through her head, herself holding his hat and placing it gently into his coffin, framing the message that he'd left behind. (A/N okay, the message that he left behind is the one in the game. You know, in the end, there was a load of messages and everything? Well, there was one saying goodbye and blah blah blah about how he'll miss them, that's his.) The image of him toddling up to her, We love you, his voice whispered in her ear.

Dagger's eyes snapped open and quick as a flash, she rolled forward, right between her attacker's legs. He was still stunned by her abrupt recovery, and too shocked to move. I'm not going down, she thought fiercely, glaring at him, Not to you. Not like this.

She ran towards him with new vigor, whirling her Rod and lashing with her arms and legs. His shock was evident at the determination and fury of her attack, as he stumbled slightly while trying to defend himself.

She aimed a head breaking kick at his face. At the last second, he grabbed her leg and clutched it, holding it tightly over his shoulder. She suppressed a grin and used her other leg to kick him before she lost her balance. He immediately grabbed it with his other arm so both her legs were clasped tightly on to his shoulders. In a blink of an eye, she threw her weight backwards, surprising him and landing firmly on her hands so that her whole body was leaning backwards with her legs still grasping his neck. She grunted, and with a burst of strength, she brought him into the air, throwing him away. She flipped over and landed on her feet, hearing a loud thump signified that he had just landed in a clump of bushes.

She glanced down at her feet and frowned, picking up the tattered black cloak that lay near her on the ground. She threw it aside and looked anxiously at the bushes that he had landed in. what would he look like? A disfigured mutant? Was that the reason he wore that cloak?

The bushes rustled and she stepped closer, eager to get a good look of her finally unmasked opponent. Out of the undergrowth he rose, a sight that caused her breath to catch in her throat. She stared at the man that had haunted her dreams and nightmares for nearly two years. The man that she had sacrificed almost everything for. Just standing there, little bits of leaves and grass caught in his hair that rustled slightly in the faint breeze, looking as he always did when he approached her in her sleep, which was the only time she got to see him.

"Oh God…" she uttered, her throat tight, "Zidane…"