REDG: 'nuther chapter! Yay! Thanks for all the reviews once again! Yesh...Kuja finally makes another appearance! No review responses for this chapter cos I'm too lazy! Sorry! :p anywho...on with the fic!

Chapter 19
Our Paths, They Did Cross...

A lone figure was walking through the mist towards the Grand Citadel South gate. One of the two guards on duty tried to squint to see who it was, but couldn't see through the mist. He nudged the other guard awake.

"Whot? I was havin' a nice dream I was!" the second guard snapped when he woke.

"Shhhh! There's someone coming you ninny!"

The stood and tried to look intimidating as the figure got closer. They saw that it was a short man with rusting armor, carrying a large sack. He made his way to the gate and was stopped by the guards. "he looks like a hobo" one of the guards whispered to the other and got an elbow in the ribs.

"Hold it! Whot is the purpose of your visit here?" the guard asked.

"I heard workers were needed to fix South Gate. I brought my belongings so that I might live and work here." Steiner (a/n: the hobo! XD) said, shrugging.

The other guard nodded, "We've been getting a lot of em. Just set down yer bag and lemme check it. Standard rules, y'know?"

He opened the bag and nearly choked on the smell that came from it, and immediately backed away, "I shoulda known! Gysahl pickles!"

Steiner shrugged again, "I can't go a day without them"

"Alright, you can go in" the guard said, "Just hurry up! That smell is horrible!"

He walked in, carrying the bag and looked around quickly before running into an alley and set down the bag. Dagger slowly stepped out of the bag.

"Mmm! Fresh air! That smell was awful!" she said and brushed the last bits of the pickles off her clothes.

"Umm...princess..." Steiner started, but got cut off by Dagger.

"Call me Dagger. At least until we reach Treno." She said sternly, "Now, can we get going?"

"Yes ma'am!"

Dagger rolled her eyes and followed Steiner to the cable cars. Beyond the cars, she could see mountains and a valley far below, "We're really going to get to Alexandria! Its just beyond those mountains!" Dagger said excitedly, "And we did it without Zidane's help!"

Steiner was about to point out that she really didn't need his help in the first place, but she was already running into the cable car to find a seat. He sighed and followed her.

(Back to Zidane)

They were all walking through a muddy field with Burmecia only a few feet ahead. The once great city was nothing more than ruins now. Freya hadn't said a word since she saw it, and that was making the rest of the group feeling very depressed.

"C'mon! Smile people!" Zidane said.

Freya glared at him, "Why? My home is ruined."

He pouted and shut up. Quina was the only one who was affected by the disaster, and was skipping ahead of everyone singing.

"Frooooog!" it sang happily, "Frog, frog, frog, frog, frog!"

Tori covered her ears and yelled, "Shut the HELL up! You can't sing worth beans!"

It ignored her and kept on singing anyways.

Within minutes they reached the gates of Burmecia, now un-guarded and about to collapse. Beyond the gate were more ruins; houses with no roofs, shattered windows, upturned carts...

They heard people farther in the city talking and cackling that sounded a lot like the clowns they had come across in Gizamaluk's Grotto.

"See?" Aiko whispered to Zidane, "I told you they would catch up!"

"Shh!" he hissed, "Keep quiet and they might not find us"

They walked into the city, and saw Zorn and Thorn, the two clowns from the grotto with several black mages again.

Tori's eyes bugged out and she screamed, "STALKERS!!!!"

"... ... ...stalkers...?" Zorn and Thorn asked at the same time.

X smacked her on the back of the head and hissed, "This is no time to be messing around!"

"Then General will take care of you this time." Zorn cackled.

Thorn nodded, "No need for Black mages! Very scary, it is, when the general gets mad!"

They ran off leaving the group to stare with confused looks on their faces. They walked on to find that even the Royal Palace was wrecked. A few Burmecians that survived were pushing past the group to run from the city. One however, stopped them.

"Who are you?" he snapped, "Are you working with the Black Mages?"

"No" Zidane said, "We're here to help!"

"Lies! There's a Black Mage standing right behind you!" the Burmecian said, pointing at Vivi, who instantly went to hide behind Freya. The Burmecian looked at her, startled.

"Its good to see you, Dan" she said to him, "You'd better get out of here"

"But what about you?"

"I will defend my home at any cost," she said. He nodded and ran to leave the city.

"Yeah, that's right! We're gonna protect this pile of rubble!" Tori agreed, and got a glare from Freya. She walked on into what had been a courtyard at one point, and inspected it, while the rest of the group trailed behind. Suddenly, she jumped up to a higher level of the yard and called down to the group, "There's someone inside! Get up here now!" and ran inside of the Palace.

"You make it look sooooo easy..." Zidane muttered, starting to climb up one of the statues. X was helping Aiko climb another statue. Zidane and Freya were the first to reach the top and crept along the walls behind a series of smaller statues, trying to get a look at who had attacked Burmecia. Sure enough, Queen Braune was standing there, talking to a woman with curled brown hair.

"I knew it!" Freya hissed, "Its Braune and that General of Alexandria, Beatrix!"

Flashback

Freya and another Burmecian were standing in a building in Burmecia before its destruction. They were looking out at the pouring rain and talking.

"Sir Fratley, do you still insist on going on your journey?" She asked him.

"Yes... Please understand, Freya. Right now, Burmecia is at peace, while other nations are slowly but surely gaining power. I don't even know if my spear alone is enough to protect Burmecia... ...which is precisely why I must go out into the world."

"Sir Fratley...I don't think I can live on my own-not without you."

"Freya, you're going to be fine. Trust your strength... and have faith in your destiny. Once I complete my journey around the world, I will return to Burmecia."

"Then promise me, one more time, that you will return."

"I promise"

End Flashback

Zidane stared at Freya; she had that spaced-out look. "You okay?" he asked.

She nodded, and then squinted down at the figures who were talking and pointed, "Who's that?"

Zidane peered over the ledge and saw someone, either a flat-chested woman, or a really pretty guy with long silvery hair, walk up to the Queen and started talking to her. Zidane and Freya watched the group closely, and nearly yelped when someone tapped them on the back. Freya spun around and saw that it was just Tori, X, Aiko, and Vivi.

"Did we miss anything?" Tori asked.

"Oh, nothing much..." Freya snapped, "Except for the fact that I'm going to kick your ass! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"My heart bleeds" Tori said sarcastically and looked over the edge at the three people. Her eyes bugged out when she saw Kuja.

Freya saw her shocked look and asked, "You know him?"

Tori ignore her and started climbing down one of the statues looking well pissed.

"What are you DOING?!" Aiko asked, "They'll see you!"

Tori rolled her eyes, "That's the point. I gotta go kick Kuja's ass" and with that she finished climbing down the rest of the statue. When she got to the ground, she immediately went straight to Kuja, pushing past Beatrix, and latched onto his arm.

"Wha-?" he started, caught off-guard, "Oh...its you..."

"Don't start" Tori snarled, "What the HELL are you doing here?"

"Hmm...nothing important...just wrecking a few cities here and there..." Kuja said, and tried to pry her off his arm.

Someone coughed, and Kuja looked up to see Braune and Beatrix waiting for an explanation on who the blonde girl was.

"Oh...this is the summoner I was talking about. I believe that she will be useful for your future plans" he said to Braune.

Tori frowned, "I told you, I can't summon. Baka."

They all ignored her.

"Burmecia will never fall!" a Burmecian yelled as he ran into the Palace, "Prepare to die!"

Beatrix smiled at him and asked, "You wish to fight me, Beatrix of Alexandria?" and laughed, "I commend your courage, but I will show you no mercy."

The Burmecian stood; shocked that he was face-to-face with the General. He let out a startled yelp when Zidane and the group jumped down from the ledges over head, and got ready to fight.

Freya smiled at him grimly, "We can take it from here. Run"

Beatrix inspected the newcomers can laughed, which was echoed around them, " I've never been so humiliated in my life. I once killed a hundred knights single-handedly... To me, you two are nothing more than insects!" And she charged at them, sword drawn, with a smug look on her face.

While on the other side, Tori was about to go ape-shit, for lack of a better word. Kuja had wrapped an arm around her waist to keep her from running off, pissing her off even more.

"Lemme go! I'm gonna kill that bee-yatch!" She snarled, and clawed at the arm around her, "I wanna help fight dammit!"

"No, your not" Kuja said bluntly, starting to lose his patience, "your going to Alexandria"

"Like hell I am!" Torus snorted, and was about to turn around and punch him. He easily caught her wrist, and before she knew it, was running away from the fight between her friends and the General.

Kuja glanced back at her while he ran, "You are going. End of discussion."

"Discussion?! What discussion?!" Tori snapped, "And besides, how d'ya plan to get to Alexandria, monkey-boy?"

He laughed, "We're flying, of course"

REDG: (twitches) this came out really bad. Oh well, win some lose some I guess! (sweatdrop) please R&R!

Love!

Red-chan