RE-UPDATED: 27/02/05
Disclaimer: I do not own FF9, never have, never will… (sigh, not feeling as upbeat as usual… due to lack of response from reviewers, except for certain few…)
"Zidane…" she repeated in a ragged voice, her tone between immeasurable joy and complete disbelief. Her arm dropped limply to her side and she stepped forward, blinking back tears that had begun to well and prickle in the corners of her eyes.
She continued to walk forward as though she were in a dream, unable to feel the soft ground beneath her feet, nor the steamy air that rose from the jungle floor, all she wanted was to touch him… to assure herself that he really was there. Her attacker seemed surprised at her willing approach of him, his eyes widening, but this did not stop him from raising his knives into battle position.
"Zidane?" she asked softly, sanding about a foot away from him, staring at the familiar face that betrayed no emotion. Every sensible nerve in her body was screaming at her to get ready for another attack, to avoid the obvious trap. If that were really Zidane, he wouldn't have harmed you! Her mind shouted, this is merely another test of Garland's! Giving you a look alike to fight! Simply to see how you would react! Remember in Branbal? Remember how most of the Genomes resembled Zidane in some way? But this is different! She argued back, he looks exactly like Zidane!
Her brain understood that that was most likely the truth, but her heart refused to accept it. Her brain commanded her body to stop, yet, the longing that she had felt, the loneliness, the emotion kept her there, immobile and staring, wanting nothing more than for him to hold her tightly in his arms, whispering words of comfort and sweet nothings to her.
He stared at her for a moment, his tail swishing and the golden hair rustling in the slight breeze, seeming confused by her actions. Finally he said harshly, "I know not of this Zidane! I know nothing of who you speak!"
Dagger flinched inwardly at the statement, but she didn't move, too shocked and hurt by the roughness in his voice to respond. Where Zidane's tone was warm and kind, joyful and full of hope, the man who stood before her had the exact same voice, same deepness, inflections and smoothness. But his tone… his tone! The friendliness that was always there was nonexistent! No… he spoke to her with hatred that had the intensity of a thousand suns, anger in every syllable, but her trained ears picked up hints of loneliness and pain, signifying a heart that had never loved nor been loved.
Before those thoughts were even fully formed, he attacked again, the blows rained down on her relentlessly, but Dagger only blocked them half-heartedly. She could feel the distant pain of the beating her body was taking, the way her flesh was beaten, but they were all… fuzzy, as if they were happening to someone else. She stared at him even as she was pummeled, watching the way his face screwed up in concentration, so like it had more than a year ago when he was thinking hard.
As abruptly as the blows had started, they stopped. He let her fall to the ground, staring at her, then, he asked in the same harsh tone, but with some curiosity this time, "Why will you not fight back? Attack me!"
She just continued to stare at him blankly, why was he like this? Didn't he love her? But it seemed that the fact about the man that she couldn't accept, which was that he wasn't Zidane, seemed to value honor and a fair fight. After all, he could just finish her off easily, it's not like it was hard or anything. On one hand, there was a Tranced man who had unbelievable fighting skills and power. On the other hand, there was a weakened, not fully trained girl who refused to attack and just sat there dumbly.
"Zidane…" she said again, looking up at him from her position on the ground. "Why are you hurting me? Why didn't you come back to me?"
He looked astonished, then his gaze hardened, he took her by the shoulders and shook her roughly, "I am not Zidane!" he snarled. "Now attack me! I refuse to attack those who don't fight back!"
With his face only a bare inch away from hers, she could examine his features clearly. She stared into his eyes, as she had on many occasions before. Then, she frowned slightly. Weren't Zidane's eyes turquoise? She asked herself, remembering the greenish blue shade. The teenager that was shaking her had eyes that were a deep emerald green, darkening with confusion. Slowly, she noticed slight differences in his features with the one in her memory… and his skin seemed a little paler than she remembered… and his hair a deeper shade of gold.
Finally, with the impact of these realizations hitting her, everything clicked, forcing her to see what she had obstinately closed her eyes to. "You aren't Zidane…" she whispered so softly that no one could hear her. "You tricked me…"
Suddenly, all her emotions flared up at once, pain turned to anger, loneliness to fury, longing to viciousness and lust for revenge. She stood up roughly, causing him to stop shaking her and take a few steps back. Everything is all a lie… she thought hazily, clenching her fists. They knew that I would fall for it… they thought me a fool!
She screamed.
She screamed uncontrollably, with all the feelings conflicting in her rising up. Her opponent backed further away, being forced by the power emanating from her being through her rage, young trees and saplings were uprooted, branches flew, rocks swirled and the fierce wind howled.
"You played with my emotions! Toyed with me!" she screamed furiously, "You lied to me! You aren't Zidane! YOU – WILL – PAY!"
She screamed again, before bursting into a glowing golden light.
……
Finally, thought Garland, smiling to himself, she finally let her hatred loose. He watched the two below, both of them Tranced and glowing, attacking each other ferociously. He knew that having her other student there would trigger her anger.
Everything was working perfectly, he mused with satisfaction. So… maybe I'll lose one of my best pupils when she kills him… but it's necessary, she has to do it to be able to harden her heart efficiently. Even with that loss, Dagger would rise above them! She would be of so much use!
Entwining his fingers together, he leaned back into his chair and proceeded on watching the battle that raged below him.
……
Dagger knew nothing. Felt nothing but the amazement at the rage and power that coursed through her veins. She thought that she had felt the limit of her strength when she had first wielded her Rod. It was natural for her strength to increase when she Tranced, but this... this was something else! Her performance had been raised to new heights! Even though she had Tranced numerous times in the past, she had never felt like this before! Right then and there, she fully understood what people meant when they said that they felt invincible.
Oh, how she understood.
She smiled as dashed forward in a blink of an eye, kicking the false copy of her love high into the air, waiting patiently for him to fall and whacking him with her Rod just before he hit the ground, sending him tunneling through the dirt painfully. This is child's play, she thought easily, happy to be able to take out her anger on anyone at all, and how convenient it was that the person there would happen to be the very one that would hurt her so much, both physically and mentally.
Suddenly, from the warm jungle place, the scene changed to a huge lake with frothing waters that stretched farther than the eye could see. Both of them stood on separate slippery stepping-stones, barely larger than her hand. Beneath her, the water gurgled; she frowned in puzzlement, cautiously dipping the hard metal into it. Immediately, there was a frenzied rush for the weapon, gleaming scales could be seen and teeth flashed as they made their way to her.
She lifted her Rod back up; flinging several of the piranhas that had stubbornly fastened their razor sharp teeth on the blade. Child's play, she repeated to herself silently, for Garland to use such tactics against me at this height of power. She launched herself off the tiny rock, both of them met in mid-air, but it was pointless.
He was no match for her now, thanks to the turn of events. Time and time again, they would fight over the water before landing securely on a stepping-stone, and time and time again, she would slash him and fling him far away. Yet, he would still get up and fight.
She whipped her body around, swiftly landing a blow at the side of his head with her outstretched leg before landing gracefully on another tiny rock. He flew towards the piranhas, twisting and turning his body frantically, trying desperately not to hit the water. Fortunately, he managed to land a hand on another rock before flipping away to get a firmer footing.
The moment he stood assuredly on one leg, both of them leapt again to attack. Dagger fought furiously, every blow that she delivered was flawless, any move, no matter how complicated was executed perfectly. And yet, through out the fighting, she kept feeling as though she was dreaming, but she knew that she wasn't. The matter of time, or how much energy she used, was a distant problem, she wasn't conscious of much of it, the entire world had only become her, the imposter and the battlefield.
She wasn't aware of how much time had passed; it could've been half an hour, five hours, a full day, maybe even two. She didn't even care. Slowly, everything melted away, and even more slowly, so did her anger. Once her anger had faded, the ferociousness of her attack diminished, but this didn't prevent her from sending her opponent near the jaws of death many times. Toying with him the same way she felt that he had played with her. See how you like it, she thought spitefully, being helpless and pushed around by people. Abruptly, the scene around her changed again, no longer were they on a lake, but in some place that seemed to be the fabric of time and space.
Everything was moving, and so did Dagger, not even pausing to take in her surroundings before launching herself at him ruthlessly. Still, while she was ducking and dodging, swiping and whirling, she examined the place out of the corner of her eye, and she could only say one thing. It was beautiful. Some places were completely dark, with tiny lights that resembled stars winking and blinking all around them, multicolored hazes swirled and shifted, at the same time, everything was constantly moving, changing and shifting. Occasionally, huge streaks of colored lights would shoot past her, reminding her of when they plunged into the Shimmering Island. Once second she was blinded by haze, and the next, she was wobbling in the darkness with only stars for light.
But none of this stopped her from pummeling the object of her pain relentlessly. Punch for punch, kick for kick was traded. Until at last, she decided that she had had enough. Ducking his blades, she slid on the smooth invisible floor through his legs. Standing quickly, she delivered a series of blows with her arms and legs in a blur, what looked like one punch was actually a hundred, until she sent him flying, hopefully long enough to stun him or leave him winded, so she could slice off his head painlessly. She didn't know why she wanted it to be painless… for someone who certainly wouldn't have minded killing her in agony, she sure was showing a lot of consideration.
As if Garland were sensing her dark intentions, then scene melted into a foggy, cold and dark place with some wan light struggling to get through the thick, heavy clouds and mist. She couldn't help but shiver slightly from the cold, giving her smooth skin goosebumps. The whole place consisted of varying shades of gray, the sky was a light shade of it, the ground so dark it was almost black, the soil stiff, hard and obviously poor. Plants and trees were withered and wilting, most surrounding statues... or large… rocks? Gravestones. Oh my lord, thought Dagger, recoiling in horror, a graveyard… the place practically reeked of death!
Dagger searched quickly for him, not wanting him to spring out and surprise her from nowhere. And then she saw him; saw the blue light that still emanated from him faintly. When she approached, he was slumped against a skeletal, hollow tree, its braches were thin and brittle, reaching up to the threatening sky the had begun to drizzle slightly, splattering her face with raindrops. He lay there, but he wasn't momentarily unconscious as she had hoped, he was awake.
His forest green eyes were open and staring, showing flickers of fighting spirit in them. Dagger realized that he was hurt too badly to continue, and most likely, too exhausted. Just as that thought occurred, his Trance dimmed and faded, leaving the place to be even more dreary than before. His face was covered with bruises; wounds from the attacks that she had dealt mercilessly showed through the rips of his clothes and exposed skin. He looked horrible, not that she looked much better her self. She was fairly sure that he had broken a bone or two and several ribs, but the unquenched fire in his eyes reminded her painfully of Zidane... refusing to give up… Zidane…
She averted her eyes determinedly, not wanting to feel herself weaken, and then she saw a cracked gravestone right next to them saying
"Zidane Tribal
Beloved friend, Leader, and Companion
17 years of age
Died bravely before being murdered by Queen Garnet Til Alexandros 18th"
In shock, she took a step back, opening and closing her mouth soundlessly, there was a rectangular hole in the ground, as though awaiting her to cold-heartedly kill him and toss him in. Breathing heavily, she turned back to her still opponent.
Even as she raised her Rod and shut her eyes, images of Zidane kept flitting into her mind. The more she tried to resist, the more that came. Come on, come on! She pleaded to herself desperately, you could kill those Epitaphs! Just kill him! He's no different! But in her heart, she knew that what she was doing was nothing short of murder… slaughter… murder… you'll become a murderer, she whispered to herself silently, a murderer… killing a sentient being!
After many long and painful minutes in that position, with shut eyes and a Rod raised above her head, she bent down and kissed him on his bruised cheek lightly, before whispering, "I'm sorry…"
After that, she fled, guessing where the dome ended and breaking through the wall with a few swipes of her Rod before running out of sight.
……
Above her, unseen by any of them, Garland was literally quivering with rage at the failure of his pupil. After all that effort and time! A simple thing like this would be her undoing! It was a disgrace! A travesty! For the first time that she had been here, she had failed!
He slammed his fists on the controls, making it spark and causing himself to swear loudly, using his magic to blow up half the room in order to release his anger. Finally, after an uncounted amount of time, he calmed down.
Very well, he thought coldly, I'll just have to make sure that this never happens again.
A/N Well.. I finally finished their battle. I probably will continue this story, firstly, because it's my baby, secondly, because I already have one heck of an ending planned out for it (this does not necessarily mean that I've written it.) and thirdly, 'cause I don't want to disappoint you guys. Anyway, submit reviews! Oh! Almost forgot! IMPORTANT MESSAGE! KINDLY READ! Ok , I have this hand drawn pic of Dagger in her fighting outfit because I thought it would be easier for you guys to imagine properly. And may I say, that this took one hell lot of effort from me and Phrozen heart, to finish drawing. So, I realized that I don't know how to show you guys. It would help if you could tell me how to put it up on my bio!