Disclaimer: No ownership of Legend of Dragoon recognized by Sony to be belonging to me. Poncy bastards...
Wanted to do a piece that kind of illustrated how Rose and Zieg were, and to show her in a moment of peace with someone she REALLY doesn't get along with. Plus, I can understand Miranda a little.
This just popped into my head when I was in the Ulara portion of the game. Sweet sweet character exposition.
Dart and Rose stepped out of the dizzying green rush of the teleporter and found themselves in what seemed to be a bar, dimly lit with warm lanterns and soft, twinkling multi-colored lights on the walls. Silver-haired Winglies looked up briefly, then returned to quietly talking and listening to the low, thrumming music in the background.
Rose nudged Dart, then walked around and upstairs. She knew the place well, mostly through Charle's prompting. ("Go on, Rosie Dear, try the place beneath the fifth teleporter. Do have a nice drink before you go.")
Her thoughts kept mulling around in her head like buzzing flies. She still hadn't recovered from seeing Zieg. How he pulled his helmet off and sneered at them, his lips twisting up cruelly. It had been like a kick to the chest, and she couldn't keep from running over the entire situation, and older things, things she'd thought she'd forgotten for thousands of years.
What happened, she thought. What happened to make you this way? Who are you now Zieg?
Upstairs they found Miranda and Haschel talking quietly to each other, seated on stools in the corner bar. Miranda just looked tired, but Haschel was bent over the bar looking more like sixty years old than he ever had before. He looked up blearily, and smiled foolishly as Dart and Rose appeared, "Cheers."
"Haschel's been drinking too much since he heard we were going to Rouge." Said Miranda.
"No I haven't." he responded, "I can hold my liquor… besides, who'd wanna miss out on this Wingly…" he squinted at the barkeep, "What's this stuff again?"
The bartender, the stockiest Wingly Dart had ever seen (which wasn't very, the man just wasn't as girlishly slender as the rest) blinked, then refilled Haschel's glass without a word.
"Thank you m'good man." Said Haschel, and he took a swallow.
Rose looked at Miranda, her face carefully blank. "I need to talk with you."
"I was just about to say the same." Said Miranda.
Together they sat at a table a few feet away, Miranda slumping into one of the curious Wingly-made chairs, Rose settling into one on the opposite side. Her sword poked into her hip, but she ignored it.
She could see Dart patting Haschel on the back and ordering a drink himself. Such a boy, she thought, as he sipped his brandy, and nearly coughed himself to death. Zieg could have taught him something about drinking.
(White teeth flashed at her through the murky lighting, "Come on, Rose, scared you'll like it?"
Coldly, she took the proffered drink and slammed it back like a pro. She promptly erupted into a coughing fit, cursing herself for acting like such an amateur. He pounded her on the back, laughing his head off. She wanted to hit him.)
"I'm sorry about the Desert." Said Miranda quickly, with all of her usual grace and subtlety. It jerked Rose out of her reverie. "I shouldn't have slapped you."
"It's all right." Said Rose quietly. "I shouldn't have said those things."
"No, it's not all right." Snapped Miranda. Rose could see her cheeks were slightly flushed as she drank from a glass full of some cherry red wine. Oh. This could be interesting.
Miranda sighed, "I'm just…. I don't know what we're going to do. There's that guy Zieg, or Diaz, or whoever he is. And whatever happened to Lloyd? And Shana? And now that you're the…." She stopped then. She didn't want to say it.
"Black Monster." Supplied Rose flatly. She didn't care.
"Yeah…" said Miranda miserably. Rose studied her. She was drunk.
Miranda lolled her head back, "I mean it's all so fucking typical. We finally solve what we're after and now this." She waved an arm. "The end of the fucking world."
Rose said quietly, "Not if I have anything to say about it."
Miranda's eyes glittered at her, "And then there's that. It isn't just you, Rose."
Rose said nothing. What was there to say?
"I mean you're always acting like you're such a loner. Like you don't need us." She sneered. "Look, you do need us, and you can't go trotting off on your own to save the world. We're coming with you."
"Oh?"
"Yeah."
They glared at each other over the table.
Miranda broke the tension by snorting and drinking her wine, "Glad we got that settled then." She quirked a grin, a rarity.
Rose looked over at Dart and Haschel again. Dart was sufficiently full of brandy to think that singing was a very good idea and was currently arm in arm with Haschel, belting out something about the Milkmaid from Basil.
"So…." Said Miranda. Rose looked back, her black eyes unreadable. "This guy we're after, Zieg. You two were in love?"
(Hand on hips, she screamed at him, "You are the stupidest man who ever walked on two legs! How do you expect to go on this mission if you're constantly screwing around?"
He had the good graces to look hurt, and she almost relented, but then he ducked down into the snow and hurled a snowball at her, laughing his head off. Her eyes narrowed and she leapt at him, as Belzac and Shirley looked on with bemusement.)
"…yes." She answered eventually. "We were to be married after the war."
"Oh." Said Miranda. She ran a finger around her glass, "How long were you engaged?"
"Two days."
(He shuddered as she ran her hands down his back, milk white hands against the tan of his skin He bent down to kiss her more. "Marry me." He breathed into her ear. "Marry me after Kadessa.")
"What happened to him?" asked Miranda.
"…. He…. Didn't make it out of Kadessa. I thought he was dead."
(Screaming, she was screaming as his flesh withered into solid rock. Breath wheezing out of his mouth, he ordered her to go, get out of there for the love of God, leave him. Her fingers scrabbled uselessly against his, but then they too were stone and the world was falling and her heart was cracking into brittle shards…)
"Oh." Said Miranda. She looked down and away, and Rose felt very tired all of a sudden. She didn't want to talk about this.
She didn't want to remember this either. How she had miscarried a few weeks after the battle, staring at the blood on her fingers as it gushed between her legs, mute and dumb with shock and horror. Screaming that night after Charle had done what she could for her, when she realized that she had nothing of Zieg's at all, not even his child.
Zieg, she thought, Why now? Why are you back now when I'd thought you dust for 11,000 years.
"Miranda…" she said quietly, then allowed herself a very small smile, "Could I get you another drink?"
"Yeah." Said Miranda, and stood up, a bit wobbly, "Yeah, that'd be great."
They went to the bar, and Rose rattled off some names at the bartender, who blinked, and got the drinks. Dart smiled at her, then began singing again, and she nearly smiled back. It was good here, in the calm before the storm. She would… they would have to face Zieg soon, and probably have to kill him, but for now, everything was all right.
"We're never going to get along, are we?" asked Miranda wryly as she sat at the bar.
"No, most likely not." Said Rose.
They looked at each other. Miranda snorted, and clinked her glass against hers. Dart and Haschel's singing reached a new pitch, and the Winglies looked on with horror and amusement on their faces.
She relaxed against the wall, just a little. Tonight was good.