Promise Me Forever

Chapter 3: never Let Go

LLL

Disclaimer: I do not own any FFIX related things.

Special thanks to CrimsonCobwebs! A Tantalus adventure would be really cute, but it wouldn't fit in, with where the story goes. I'll put one up, as a one shot, though! Thanks for the idea! I think this chapter is sad...it only gets worse in the chapter after it...

LLL

"Do you want any help?" The mage's voice had become all too familiar to me. I was pulled from my memories, and turned to see Vivi standing in the doorway. I smiled, willingly, tossing the script onto my bed.

"Hi Vivi!" I said, waving to him from my spot. I was wearing the outfit I always had on-green shirt and red pants-only with golden thread tied around my neck. I don't know why, but the feeling of it there was pleasing.

"I heard you and Baku yelling. Is everything alright?" He asked, walking up to me. There was a slight worry in his eye. He knew how violent Baku could be, for no real good reason.

"Yes. We were just fighting over a line in the play! I can't say it right, and Baku is forcing me to learn it!"

"I could help…if you want!" Vivi offered.

"Thanks! It would really help!" I grabbed the script, flipping through the pages. I handed it to him at last, pointing to a word in the middle of the page.

It was some stupid word that I just couldn't get over. It was simple enough, but whenever I tried to say it, my tongue refused to cooperate, and completely ruined it. After much struggling, I got it right. Of course, I thanked Vivi for it, but he only said the word to me once, and really didn't help so much as laugh at my pathetic attempts to straighten it out.

"I have to get back home soon," Vivi informed me, after watching me gloat for about five seconds. It wasn't that he cut me off; I just realized that I had no reason to celebrate four seconds into it.

"Do you have to?" I asked, whining mostly. He nodded, with a sigh.

"I'll come back soon, I promise!" He replied after a moment. "I just got word that one of my friends at the Black Mage Village…isn't doing so well…" He stared at the ground, not wanting me to see his eyes. He didn't want me to see into the pain he was feeling.

"Oh…I'm . . . I don't know what to say…" I admitted, starring at the floor myself. His friends at the Village seemed to be stopping more and more commonly. It was really…sad.

"You never did," Vivi sighed. It wasn't an accusing tone, like he blamed me. It was more in a 'Don't worry about it!' tone. "Well, I'll be back as soon as I can, alright?"

"Okay," I replied.

"Vivi, are you ready?" A voice asked gently from the door. A violet haired girl stood there. She had some sort of wing ornament on her back and a horn on her head. By now, word had gotten out that Eiko Carol, the summoner, had been adopted by Cid Fabool.

"Yeah, Eiko, I'm ready," Vivi replied, taking a step away from me. "Bye," He whispered to me, before running out the door. I caught a glance of his eyes. He was broken hearted. He always was when one of the black mages was dieing, but this was so much worse. This is the one he knew the best.

Baku called a meeting that night. Hesaid it was extremely important, and anyone who was even one second late was going to be hit so hard their grandmother could feel it. Needless to say, everyone decided to be there at least ten minutes early.

Well, I didn't show up nearly as early. I showed up a minute before the meeting, and the others thought I was going to be as good as dead. Of course, I was on time, so Baku didn't do anything to me. Not that he would have noticed. He himself was fifteen minutes late.

"Gwuhahahaha! Sorry to keep ya waiting!" He bellowed when he finally showed up. There was some guy hiding behind him, a grey cloak covering his body completely. "Now look, this play is really important, 'cause we're going to have a special guest show up! This is going to be the best play ever!" He seemed to be just rambling.

"Boss, what the hell are you taking about?" I blurted out, half way through his speech on how famous we'd be.

He laughed again. It was getting on my nerves. "You don't know? Oh, that's right!" The rest of the crew seemed extremely happy about something. The guy in the cloak hadn't said a word. Baku was just plain bugging the crap out of me with all these secrets. "I'd like you to meet Zidane!" He said, signaling the guy in the cloak.

The guy pulled his hood down, revealing blonde hair and blue green eyes. I had heard Vivi talk about Zidane once, but I didn't know him.

"Oh. You see, I really don't give a rat's furry ass about some blonde haired guy. How the hell is he going to make us famous?" No respect on my part.

"Nice little girl, isn't she?" Zidane growled.

"Well, she's nice to Vivi. Not sure why, considerin' she's one of those black mage haters, but she's nice to Vivi," Baku said to him, in a somewhat exasperated way. He scratched the back of his head.

"Feh! What does it matter, if I'm nice or not? Now, what's so important about 'Zidane' that we'll be famous for a play?" Normally I wasn't so bratty around the Tantalus guys, but since Vivi was upset, not here, and I would have preferred to be with him than here, I decided to let everyone know I was in a bad mood.

Baku sighed heavily. "Zidane is the thief that traveled with Queen Garnet across the world! He's thought to be dead, and the Queen has become depressed because of it! Now we're gonna return this thief to the Queen in an overly dramatic way!"

"Okay, Queen loves thief, thief loves Queen, reunite the two for the biggest party on Gaia, got it!" I rolled my eyes, and leaned back in my chair.

"You can't tell anyone I'm here though! Especially Vivi, since you seem to get along with him from what Baku had told me!" Zidane said. He was glaring at me. I think I annoyed him. Good! He deserved it!

"Why would I tell Vivi about you?" I sneered.

"I'm one of Vivi's best friends!" Zidane replied, obviously ticked off at me.

"What?" I asked, pushing myself further back in the chair, which toppled over. "Oops!" I said, putting my feet up on the table, and digging my nails into the wall behind me. I hung there, not really wishing to fall onto my chair. "Well, Loki, another fine mess you've gotten yourself into! I swear, sometimes you're as clumsy as Vivi!" Yes. I was talking to myself. I did that whenever Vivi wasn't around to talk to.

"Boss, that girl is really creepy," Zidane whispered. I could still hear him. Just because I was hanging onto a wall for the sake of my back, which would land on the chair below me if I let go, didn't mean I couldn't hear him! I cast him a look that could scare the dead, and he shut up.

"Blank, Marcus, Cinna, could someone please help me?" I growled.

"I'll help you!" I heard someone chuckle. I recognized the voice instantly. How couldn't I? He hadn't even looked into the clubhouse yet, but he could hear me, since I was yelling

"Vivi!" I half shouted. Zidane lifted the hood back over his head. He looked at me, putting a finger to his lips before hiding his eyes with the cloth. "I thought you were at the Black Mage Village…"

"I was! Everything's okay now! Eiko managed to heal him!" Vivi walked through the entrance, letting me see his eyes. Everything really was okay. Well, there was still a distant distress, but I couldn't see to it. "And um…there's something else too!" He chuckled slightly, signaling to someone outside the clubhouse.

A horde of little black mages, all perfect clones of Vivi, only shorter, trotted in.

"Eh? Little Vivis! …So…dizzy!" I let go, falling onto the chair. "Ouch!" I shouted, grabbing onto the table and pulling myself up. Everyone laughed at me except Vivi, his children, and Zidane. I'm sure Zidane got a kick out of it, but he didn't want Vivi to recognize him, for some odd reason.

Another odd thing about me, to add to a list of things I'm sure is at least a mile long by now, is that I laugh whenever I'm in physical pain. I was laughing hysterically now, not sure that was the best thing for me to be doing.

"Are you okay?" Vivi asked, running up to me.

"Yeah, I'm okay!" I managed to spit out in between giggles. "That was pretty stupid, wasn't it?" I asked him.

He stared at me for a second, and then nodded. He was smiling, his eyes said so. "Yeah! It was!" He chuckled softly. I really was a fool.

Baku punched Zidane in the arm, nodding his head towards the entrance. "Well, I'm leaving now!" Baku said. "It's getting' late, and there stuff be stolen!" He laughed, walking out the door, Zidane following closely behind.

"Doesn't Baku live here?" Vivi asked me. I shrugged, still giggling silently to myself.

"Yeah, we're going with Boss. See you around, Vivi!" Blank said, dashing towards the door.

"Bye, Loki, Vivi," Cinna said, following after Blank. Marcus led the rear, waving slightly as he walked past.

"Bye!" I said, waving them off. I stared at Vivi's little clones for a second, smiling warmly to them. "Don't just stand there! It's cold outside! Come in!" I told them.

One nodded, and led the others in. "T-thanks…" He whispered. I nodded back.

"Hey, could you all stay here for a few minutes? I'll be right back!" Vivi told them.

"No, dad, don't leave!" One cried out.

"I'll be right back, I promise! Just a few minutes?" He asked them. Dad…they called him dad. They were black mages, so they couldn't have been created the 'normal' way. I still wondered though…

"Come on, Loki, let's go!" Vivi whispered to me. I had been lost in thought, and hadn't noticed that Vivi's 'children' had agreed. He tugged at my sleeve, and strolled out of the room, me following after him like a puppy that didn't want to be left alone.

"When did you become a dad?" I was joking around with him, he knew that.

He shook his head. "It's…really complicated," he told me.

"Good enough! It would probably confuse the hell out of me anyway!" I laughed, and climbed up onto the railing, which was wide enough to just barely keep me balanced if I lied down on it. So, I lied on it, watching Vivi pace slightly. "So what did you want to talk to be about?" I asked him.

"Huh? Oh…Loki…I think I'm going to…stop soon…" There was a heavy sadness in his eyes. "I guess I don't really…have a reason to go on anymore…"

"What…no! No, that can't happen! Not to you!" I was panicking. I sat up on the railing, tears coming to my eyes. "You do have a reason to go on! Your children need you, don't they?" I was desperate to convince him to stay alive. I needed him.

"They won't need me much longer. They can already talk, and walk. Magic comes naturally to black mages…no one really needs me," He was sad, but not nearly as upset as I was.

"Don't say that!" I yelled, jumping off the rail entirely. "I need you! I haven't finished repaying you for all the things I said! I need you here to help me!" tears streamed down my cheeks. I wasn't going to be able to take it all.

"Loki, it's okay! I forgave you for it, and that was that! It was enough for you to say sorry…"

"It wasn't! It's not enough! You little idiot, I don't want you to stop!"

"Loki…"

"I'm a selfish little brat; I've been nothing but a burden! I will never change! I know it's selfish of me, but I need you! I don't care about anyone else! Everything I had…has been torn away from me! You're all I have left, and I'm not going to let you go!"

"Loki…you aren't a burden to me! You aren't a brat! You have Tantalus to look after you…" His voice was choked with tears. He deserved so much better than me…"You deserve better than me…"

My eyes had been shut tight. I didn't want to see anything. They popped open, unbelieving. "Vivi...in my head…and in my heart…there's only you now! Tantalus…they hate me! I've been mean and nasty to them and not a very good thief either! I've been so mean to everyone…and you're the only one who's been nice to me for it in return. I don't deserve that…"

"Yes you do…" I felt him wrap his arm around mine. "You deserve better! You deserve someone who won't…stop…" I felt his body quiver. I wasn't going to let him go.

I grabbed him in a hug, sinking to my knees. I held onto his coat as tight as I could. I rested my cheek on his shoulder, and whimpered pathetically. I would never let him go. "Vivi…I'm horrible! You deserve someone nicer than me!"

"People can change," He whispered to me, wrapping his arms around me to return the hug. "You can change, if you want to! You deserve someone that you're willing to change for! I can't stay long enough for you…" I didn't stop crying. I didn't stop whimpering. I didn't stop holding onto his coat, desperate for him to stay.

I didn't want to run anymore. I refused to let him go. If I did…I would run until I died…

LLL

Well...it's sad, that's for sure. I don't know though...I think I went over board on the sadness in this chapter. Please read and review!