--REMINDER—okay, you might now find the story getting weirder and weirder, but to me, it gets interesting more! So, I have to warn you now that this fic contains some… uhh… magic, some transformation, some devils whatsoever, killing (though I don't write well when it comes to that stuff, so, oh well.) Some action, adventure in later chapters! So, don't say I didn't warn you! But continue reading anyways! Have a pleasant day and a good new year!
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy IX or any of its contents. Its characters are not fine! So please do not sue me!
A Life With or Without You
Chapter 5: A Past to Revisit
By: KawaiiLeena
Chapter 5: A Past to Revisit
After the horrifying scene that occurred, it was already nightfall, about 6:00 PM. The sky turns dark as the sun slowly swifts down between the mountains that stood place. The baseball and cheerleading team left as practice was over. And the reaper finally left the school campus, leaving Zidane and Dagger alone.
Dagger, noticing the time, looks up to the sky with tearful eyes after she and Zidane let go. She is so scared, so scared to know that someone is watching her that she doesn't even want to go home alone. The 'devil' might meet her there, remembering he has magic to transport himself anywhere.
Zidane notices her nervousness as he sighs. 'Poor girl, I feel so sorry for her… She don't deserve a life like this.'
"Do you want me to walk you home?" Zidane offers with a gentle tone, with a smile as his hair joins the wind. Dagger turns to him with hopeful eyes as she nods willingly. She walks up beside him, and Zidane is sure he feels the girl trembling. "Are you all right?"
"I… I'm fine, a little scared, that's all," the brunette replies as they start walking to the school exit. They pass through some oak and Sakura trees as they walk by silently.
"Why do you think that man is after you?" Zidane asks, looking up to the dark blue sky, breaking the silence. Dagger sighs and shakes her head, motioning she doesn't know why. "Funny why I think you're not that grumpy with me anymore!"
Dagger rolls her eyes as she shoves Zidane softly on the shoulder, making him chuckle. "Is that so? Then, you want me to be mean to you?" she asks quite crossly, crossing her arms in front of her bosom.
Zidane snickers as he shakes his head. "That's not what I meant," she says back. After a few minutes of silent walking and awkwardness, they finally reaches Dagger's yellowish house. "This is your house?"
Dagger nods as she takes out the keys. "Er… yeah, um… wants to go inside? If you don't mind, that is." She asks, secretly blushing pink.
The boy arches an eyebrow as he crosses his arms in front of him and asks, "What about your family?" Dagger pauses for a while, not replying back, making Zidane quite curious. "What's wrong?"
Dagger looks down, as tears flooded her eyes, not able to control her tears and secrets anymore; she turns around and hugs Zidane again, making him more surprise than ever.
"My family is dead! DEAD!" Dagger cries loudly, but seeing she is the only one who has a house in that part, she doesn't mind that much. Zidane was taken back a little at this, seeing the girl living without her family. "They… they have been killed by that man… the man we met earlier at school… two years ago…"
'TWO years ago?' Zidane asks loudly in his mind as his eyes widen in surprise. 'Is she meaning she's been living all alone for the past two years ever since her family was killed? Talk about rough life!'
Dagger continues to cry on Zidane's shirt. She knows that she can never lock the secret forever, and trusting Zidane made her spill it out. For some reason, she feels a little better as she told him, ignoring the fact it made him surprise.
Zidane caresses Dagger's hair as she looks up to meet his ocean green-blue eyes with her chocolate brown ones. Zidane gently smiles at her as he asks, "Would you like me to listen your story about it? I am a good listener when it comes to problems. Besides, talking about your problems make you feel better once you say it to a friend you trust."
Dagger stares at him as she whimpers, "But can we talk about it inside? I have a creepy feeling someone is watching us from who knows where…" she looks around to the dark trees and the scattered rocks to the empty sidewalk.
Zidane nods as they let go. Dagger opens the yellowish gate and then closes it as Zidane enters. He looks around until he notices a small but beautiful garden in one corner where Lotus, Peony, Nadeshiko flowers are planted to the rich emerald green grass.
"Nice garden," he comments as Dagger unlocks the house door. "Very beautiful and colorful. Couldn't do it myself."
Dagger turns to him with a sad smile. She walks beside him to watch the garden together. "Thank you," she replies softly, but loud enough to hear. "My mother and father planted this garden many years ago. They took much hard work to make it perfect. Too bad they didn't last long to enjoy their own creation…"
Zidane glances to Dagger's eyes, seeing a tint of sadness in it. He feels so sorry for her, seeing her suffering like this. It must have been hard for her to live for the past two years, handling things all by herself.
"Why don't we go inside now? I'll prepare something for you," Dagger says softly as she turns around and opens the door, revealing the fancy the living room.
The blonde boy enters, mesmerize by the beauty of the place. He sits down in the sofa as he gawks around and while Dagger goes to the kitchen to prepare something.
A few moments later, she comes back with a tray of two glasses of orange juice and two big slices of chiffon cake she made all by herself. She puts it in the table and sits down beside Zidane.
"It all started two years ago, in the year of middle 2002. I was fourteen years old back then, cheerful, kind, good traits," she starts as Zidane turns to her with all ears. "I love my family very much. They are very special to me. My caring mother would check up on my all the time. My sweet father who would always ask me what happened in school and would offer advices, and my irritating, but protective big brother, Steiner would always fight and argue with me for smallest things. They were all I have." She continues as tears once again moisten her eyes.
"I would never forget the day when I came home from school one afternoon," she adds as she turns to Zidane who is still listening to her. She smiles at him as she continues; "I came home at exactly 5:30 PM because I had a club meeting that day, since I was the president. When I entered, I was so surprised to see the lights on."
"I did the usual routine; I shouted I was home, and I was expecting a reply, but silence met me," she says sadly, shaking her head. "I was so surprised all of a sudden. When I get home, somebody would always peep in one corner and then some, 'welcome back, Dagger', 'What happened in school today?', and a 'What's up, squirt?' would greet me, but not that day. No."
"I searched around the house for a while, thinking they might be plotting to surprise me or something. But I only saw the half-filled hot coffee of my dad and a scattered newspaper on one side. I walked to the kitchen seeing it was in total chaos, and… blood."
"Blood?" Zidane asks, as he picks up one glass of juice and starts to sip some of it. "Are you serious?"
Dagger nods and gets back to her story, "Hai, I was surprised, too that I run to one corner and hugged myself. Then, I remembered my brother and I dash to his bedroom, but disappointment met me. I didn't saw him there, only a mess of his things and the TV with the words: GAME OVER."
"I was so scared at that time, seeing my family members nowhere to be seen. What freaked me out more was seeing the house totally silent, except for the faint sounds of blood dripping and my footsteps."
"I remembered my parents room and then I immediately run there. As I got closer to the doorknob, I felt something tingly all over my body to my nerves. It's as if something was telling me not to open it. Like, an invincible voice telling my mind that I will regret it. But I have to see my family, I have to…"
"I opened it, and then… I saw my family, dead, killed. Heads, arms, legs cut by a sword or something and had been separated from the body, eyes rolled or popped out, blood everywhere. It was the most horrible thing I ever saw and something that I thought would be impossible. I was wrong, deeply wrong. Bad things DO come true… when you least expect it." Tears soon falls to her cheek, as she adds with a crack in her voice, "But it was just too much… just too much…"
Zidane stares at her with deep concern in his eyes. He wipes Dagger's tears with his hands and nods at her, motioning her to continue. This girl has been in such a tough situation two years ago. Living alone with a past so horrifying and unexplainable, plus, with a reaper after her.
"I looked up as I saw my own reflection on the full-length mirror, with blood traced on it: YOU'RE NEXT, GIRL or something like that… as I screamed loudly, I saw a black figure behind me and then… I can't say what happened next, it's so terrible and painful to tell…"
Zidane gently smiles as he puts his arm around the crying girl. "That's okay, you shouldn't force yourself if you don't want to do something." He says as Dagger looks at him and sadly smiles. "But did you told any one about it?"
Dagger shakes her head as she looks down again. "No, I didn't told anybody about it, you are the first one to know…" she replies back, leaning her back on the pink sofa.
Zidane's eyes shot up in surprise as he asks again, "Even the police?" Dagger shakes her head again. "But why didn't you told them? They could've helped you!"
"They can't help me, alright?" Dagger yells at him angrily. "They can't! The murderer made it all a perfect mystery! Even to me! There is no evidence, no witness! It seemed like it was planned all along!"
"But…!" Zidane tried to reason but Dagger stopped him.
"No buts! Can't you see?" she asks him, but Zidane refrain from replying back. "The one who killed them is the reaper, or he calls himself the 'Devil of Death 5' or something. The one who you saw earlier! Can the police stop a man who has magic? Can the police kill the reaper when the reaper itself is much more powerful than them? NO!"
"But what did you do to the bodies?" Zidane silently ask.
Dagger's eyes soften as she looks away to the window, which revealed the dark outside. "I buried them alone in the backyard and I would always visit them once a week…" she replies back. "I didn't bother telling anybody and I end up using lies when they ask me where they are, because somebody would take me to some stupid orphanage and everybody I once love would ignore me."
Zidane shake his head as he tries to protest. "That's not true."
"Yes, it is true!" Dagger turns to him. "My cousin in Korea experienced it. His parents died on a car accident and some stupid lady took him to some dirty orphanage and everybody he knew and love ignored him. A year later, he committed suicide, not able to take all of the sufferings anymore."
Zidane sighs as he sips the last drip if his orange juice and then puts it backs to the tray. He notices Dagger's glass is still full. He picks it up and hands it to Dagger.
"Want some?" he asks, handing it to her. Dagger looks at him and then nods as she take one long sip of it and then put it back on the tray, picks it up and walks to the kitchen. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to put this on the sink and wash them," she replies as she walks away. "I'll be right back."
Zidane nods as he runs his hand through his messy blonde hair. He looks around the fancy things where his eyes could go. But questions filled his mind: Who is that black reaper? Why did he feel a strong black and evil aura within the devil he met earlier? And who is this Angel of Death?
'Am I this Angel of Death?' he asks himself. 'Do he and I have some connection? Sure, I have some powers, like feeling others aura and some simple magic, but Angel of Death? I have to ask Baku about this! Maybe he –'
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" a high-pitched voice screams in the kitchen, followed by the breaking of glasses and plates, which made Zidane jump in surprise.
"Dagger!" he cries, as he immediately stands up and runs to the kitchen is full speed. As he gets there, he is surprised to see Dagger crying, kneeling down and covering her face with her delicate and soft hands.
He runs up to her and tries to hug her as he ask with gentle eyes, "What's wrong, Dagger? Why are you crying?"
Dagger turns to him with tearful eyes as she points her left index mirror to the wall. "L-look t-t-there… Zidane…"
Zidane arches an eyebrow as he looks up to the wall. A matter of few seconds, his eyes widen in fear, as he reads the blood traced:
"Prepare to meet your death by the end of the Lunar month, girl…"
To be continued…
Hi!! Sorry for not making the story not too dramatic! But hey, I did write this with my heart's content! Sorry for anyone who's confused right there! If you have any questions, leave it on your review! But please, if you are confuse, try to understand the story more so that you won't get 'what?' 'What does she mean?' or something like that!! Oh yeah, you'll know more about Dag's past in the next Chappie!
Thank you for reading! Happy holidays everyone!!!