Alc: Hello again FF IX fans! Yes…all (counts) three of you it seems! LOL…just kidding, anyways I started playing FF IX (yes again :p ) Anyways, I got inspired to write more of my FF IX story…even though I have like three others I need to finish I just don't have the inspiration to write them, I'm sort of at a writers block; but, since summer vacation is here I'll try to update those some more. This chapter will probably be shorter or maybe even longer that the first…I'm not entirely sure… I'm sort of writing this as I go heh heh…oh boy. And now…TO ANSWER MY THREE REVIEWS!

Gyt: (bursts into snickers…and no not the candy, unfortunately…)

Alc: SHUT IT GYT…DON'T MAKE ME START ON YOUR STORIES! Now then…

Simply Crisis: Yes this is pretty good if I do say so myself. (Gasps) YOU'RE READING MY FICS! (Dies, then suddenly Toric gives her a Phoenix Down)

Kleines Karfunkel: It's nice that someone likes my story…other than my friend Yo…whom I told about the story…HI YO! Ehem, yes anyway, it's cool that you want to know what happens next. And can I guess from your favorites section that you're a fan of Steiner? I LOVE STEINER!

Steiner: I-I have a fan? (Bursts into tears of happiness)

Alc: Awwwwwwwww…. SOMEBODY NEEDS A HUG! (Glomps Steiner)

Toric: (Scoots a little bit away) Yes, well…while my creator and uh author, uh yes well while Alc is busy hugging her second favorite character from FF IX, her first favorite is Vivi by the way, I will say the disclaimer.

DISCLAIMER: Alc Fluteo by no means owns anything remotely related to FF IX…other than a copy of the game and strategy guide, which she uses to help write her this story. She does; however, own Toric and Areia Steiner as well as the idea and plot of this story now if you would…READ AND ENJOY! Oh, and review while you're at it…please!


Areia had awoken a little after the crack of dawn and had been watching the sun peak over the mountains through their window when she heard Toric yawn and watched him slowly rise out of bed while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"G'morning." Toric yawned and turned to her. "What time is it? Can we have breakfast, I'm hungry."

Areia smiled. She had found out last night that Toric loved food and loved milk even more. Though he had been a little messy by the end of their dinner he was using silverware properly and not inhaling food, well, not entirely in any case.

She had also found out that the people in this town didn't seem to like her very much, but they disliked Toric even more than they did her. Of course pretty much no matter what town she traveled to people didn't seem to like her. However, she had never been able to find out why.

She watched as Toric made the bed and gathered up his things, making sure that everything was present and accounted for. He adjusted his hat, which she noticed still had some tears in it.

"I'll have to fix his hat later." She thought to herself.

Toric walked over to one of the two chests in the room and looked at it. "What's in here?" He asked as he looked at her.

"That's a treasure chest. It holds items…and it seems whom ever was here last either didn't want the items, didn't take them, or didn't have any room for them." Said Areia as Toric examined the two closed chests.

"W-Well can we take what's inside of them since the person before didn't want them?" Toric asked as he looked at Areia, yellowish/amber eyes shining. Areia smiled again and nodded yes. Toric laughed and opened the two chests which both contained glass bottles filled with potion.

Toric looked at the lightly glowing blue liquid. "Ooh, it's so pretty. Uh, what is it?" He asked as he held one of the bottles and put the other one in his bag with some of his other supplies.

Areia grabbed her bag and came over to him. "That is a Potion Toric. And this " she reached into her bag and brought out a bottle with a glowing red liquid. "…is an Ether. Potions heal your health and some wounds while Ethers heal your magic." Toric nodded and Areia put the Ether back in her bag.

"It's always good to have potions and ethers with you. Because when the bad monsters attack they can hurt you and potions can help heal those wounds." Toric nodded and put the potion in his bag.

He and Areia walked out of their room and into the lobby of the Inn. Areia noticed that the man at the sign-in desk was sleeping again. Toric squealed in delight and ran over to some of the tables near a small fountain. The tables had food all arranged on them for breakfast. There were pancakes, eggs, sausages, bacon, and some things Areia didn't quite recognize but they smelled pretty good. She and Toric ate breakfast together and they had cleaned their plates they left the Inn and Dali village.


Areia and Toric had been walking across Norlich Heights for a while when Toric asked.

"So…where are we going now?" Areia stopped and pointed to a gate.

"We're heading to South Gate. I have a Gate Pass, so we can pass through. After we pass through South Gate we'll be going to Lindblum." She started walking again as Toric trotted to keep up.

Areia noticed that they had been lucky so far in that they had only encountered a few monsters, which were easily defeated by her sword skills and Toric's magic.

The guard at the station halted them.

"You can't pass through without a Gate Pass." Areia reached into her bag and showed him the Gate Pass. He nodded his head and the gate was raised to let them pass.

"It's been a while since anyone's passed through here. Have a safe journey!" The gate closed behind them with a shuddering boom and both Toric and Areia jumped.

"Well, Lindblum here we come!" Said Areia as she and Toric started their walk through the South Gate Station.


Toric looked around him in awe at all of the buildings around him and at the airships flying in the sky. Areia put a hand on his shoulder.

"See Toric, this is Lindblum. This is the first time I've ever been here, but I've heard a lot about it." Toric continued to look around him. Areia patted his shoulder.

"Come on it's late…we should stop in at the local Inn." Toric nodded and followed behind her.


"Now Toric come on! You have to take a bath!" Areia stood over Toric like a mother would a child as he huddled in the corner holding his hat to his head.

"B-But what if someone sees me!" He said as he closed his eyes and shook his head. Areia almost laughed as she remembered that she had been like that when she was younger.

"No one will see you I'll make sure, but you have to take a bath otherwise you'll be all smelly and everything and no one will want to be near you!" She turned her back to him and stood there waiting for his answer. She knew that it was bad to tease him but she had to get him to take a bath.

She heard him stand up and walk up to her.

"O-Okay…b-but you have to make sure that no body sees." Areia turned around and looked at him. She noticed that there was a tinge of red in that inky blackness that Toric called a face. He was blushing!

She knelt down to his level and put her hand on his shoulder. "The bathroom is connected to our room and no one else's so no one can see, but I'll make sure just the same okay?" Toric nodded his head.

Areia then realized something. She didn't know what black mages looked like. Were they human? Did they have faces? Were their identities just hidden by black magic? She was still there thinking when she heard Toric say something.

"What? Sorry Toric did you say something?" She stood up and turned around to the bathroom door where Toric was standing.

"Y-Yeah, can you fix my hat for me? It's got some tears in it." Areia smiled.

"Sure, just leave it out here with your clothes. And I'll see if I can't fix it okay?" Toric nodded and closed the door to the bathroom. Areia turned her back to the door, out of courtesy, and heard rustling as she suspected Toric was taking off his clothes. She heard the door squeak as it opened and something was placed on the dresser next to the door as it was closed.

Areia turned around when she heard water running and found all of Toric's clothes piled on the dresser with his hat sitting on top of them. She grabbed Toric's hat and grabbed a few things from her bag and attempted to fix her black mage friend's hat.


Areia was growing a little annoyed. The strips of brown cloth that she had sewn on looked like stitches more than patches. Oh well, his hat was now fixed though and all she'd had to use was a few scraps of material that she had in her bag. She looked up and saw that Toric's pants were missing from his pile of clothes.

"What the…? Now where'd his pants go?" She said as she went over to his clothes. She heard some rustling in the bathroom and figured that Toric was putting them on.

"I guess he got them when I was fixing his hat. I'll just put it here on his jacket for him." Areia laid his hat down and went over to one of the beds in their room.

"I'll just…wait for him to get done so that I can take my own bath." She yawned and slowly her eyes closed as she fell asleep.


"Areia…Areia wake up! It's morning you need to wake up!" Areia's hand twitched and she grumbled.

"Hmph…stupid Mu that's my cake!" Toric looked at her with a quirked eyebrow for a little bit.

Then he poked her in the shoulder with his ungloved finger again. "Areia it's time to wake up! We're gonna miss breakfast!" Areia woke up with a start.

"What breakfast where?" She said as she looked around. When she saw Toric she jumped.

"Ah, who are you? Where's Toric?" The boy blinked at her and twisted the hat that was in his hands. Areia noticed the hat had some patches in it that looked oddly familiar.

"Wait a second…I fixed Toric's hat last night and…oh my God this kid's Toric!" The boy looked up at her.

"B-But I'm Toric!" Said the boy. Areia shook her head.

"Yeah I just realized that it's just that….well uh, you um, you look a whole lot different you know." Toric shook his head yes. "Uh…wow…this is definitely something that'll wake you up in the morning." Areia stretched and sat up as Toric chuckled.

Areia took a good look at Toric. "So this is what you look like under that black shroud!" She scuffed up his hair as she smiled.

She noticed that he wasn't exactly the tallest kid in the world. He came up to about her chest and she stood at 5'4". She noticed that he looked about the age of a twelve year old. He had the most beautiful eyes that she had ever seen though. They were that seem yellowish/amber color that they normally were. He had black hair that reached to his shoulders. She noticed that he had attempted to tie it back with some string but hadn't been successful since it was kind of half hazardly hanging there in something resembling a knot.

Areia sighed. "Come here and let me fix your hair." Toric did and sat next to her on the bed. She sighed again and smiled as she lifted him up and set him in her lap.

Toric squeaked when he was lifted into the air. Areia eventually untied the string from his hair. She grabbed a spare piece of ribbon from her pocket and tied his hair into a loose ponytail.

"There! How do you like that? Go look in the mirror and tell me what you think Toric?" Toric hopped off of her lap and walked over to the mirror and looked at his hair. He smiled and turned to Areia.

"Thanks! I couldn't get it to go right…" He said as he laughed. He put his hat back on and almost immediately he looked like he had before, a faceless black mage.

Areia's looked at him. "Is that thing like automatic or something?" Toric looked at her with an eyebrow, "or eye" Areia thought, quirked again.

"What do you mean?" He asked. Areia sighed as she stood up and stretched again.

"What I mean is when you put on your hat does it automatically shroud your face?" Toric looked like he was in thought.

"Uh not really, I can sort of will it there. It's a lot like my magic." Areia crossed her arms over her chest.

"Okay...now I'm going to go take abath and you make sure no body sees okay? It's only fair since I did it for you!" Areia walked into the bathroom as Toric took watch.


A little while later Areia exited the bathroom after taking a bath.

"I feel a whole lot better!" She said as she combed her waist length brown hair. Toric laughed.

"You smell a lot better too!" He said jokingly. Areia looked at him and smiled.

"And just what is that supossed to mean?" Toric nodded and said nothing as Areia picked up her bag.

"Now come on, lets see if we can find some more armor and stuff." Toric grabbed his bag and chased her out of their room.

"But we already bought stuff in Dali!" He said as he caught up to her. Areia thanked the Innkeeper and walked out into the busy street.

"Yeah but this place has really good armor and I need some gauntlets to cover the magic symbols on my hands." She said as she showed him the dark circles and symbols.


"No, I want the Iron Sword, Glass Armlet, Silver Gloves, Headgear, Iron Helm, and a Linen Cuirass." The shopkeeper of Dragoos' Armory looked at her strangely.

"That's an awful lot of equipment miss, especially for someone such as yourself. Women shouldn't have anything to do with weapons, they should be at home cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children." Areia crossed her arms over her chest then shook her fist at the man.

"Look just please give me the items…you're supposed to please your customers right? Well you can please me by giving me the stuff that I asked for!" The man continued to stare at her strangely and then he went and retrieved her weapons and armor for her.

"Here you go miss that'll be…3210 Gil." Areia paid the man and walked out of the store to meet Toric. He noticed her new items.

"Wow all of that must have cost a lot!" He said as Areia put on her Silver Gloves. She readjusted her new sword and she and Toric started walking towards the air cab terminal.

"Don't worry, I've got plenty of money." She and Toric boarded the air cab and proceeded to travel to the castle.


"I'm sorry but you cannot see the Regent he is…busy with more pressing matters than family reunions." Areia glared at the guard.

"Can you at least give him a message for me?" She asked. The guard in front of her thought and then nodded yes.

"Can you tell him that Adelbert Steiner's niece is looking for her uncle and that any help would be appreciated greatly?" The guard saluted and went into the hallway that led to the throne room.

Areia sighed as she sat next to Toric on a bench near by. Toric looked at her and put his gloved hand on her shoulder.

"He didn't seem to like you very much…but it's okay because I like you!" Areia smiled and hugged Toric.

"Thanks, Toric. A lot of people don't exactly seem to like me for some reason. I've never really found out why though." Toric looked at his feet, which were just barely touching the ground from the high bench.

"It's okay…people don't seem to really like me either. Even here…" Areia was about to consol him when the guard from earlier approached them.

"Regent Cid says that he will see you in the throne room ma'am." Areia stood up as Toric hopped off of the bench.

Areia gave him the Alexandrian salute, which she had learned from the Knights of Pluto while she had been there for a short while, and the guard saluted her back though with the Lindblum salute.

Areia walked down the hall and stopped in front of the door that led to the throne room. She took a deep breath as Toric stopped behind her.

"Okay…here I go!" She thought as she opened one of the doors.

Toric cowered behind her a little as they entered the massive throne room. He peeked around her waist and pointed at the throne.

"Look the King of Lindblum's a big bug!" Areia looked at him.

"What? Wow, that's a really big oglop!" The oglop seemed to glare at the two.

"I'M NOT AN OGLOP! Well I am, but I'm not!" Areia raised her eyebrow at him.

"Uh…wow you can talk. So do you know where Regent Cid is by any chance?" The oglop jumped in its seat.

"I AM REGENT CID!" Areia and Toric just stared.

"Well…that helps…" Said Areia. Regent Cid calmed down.

"Now my young lady, my guard has told me that you are Captain Steiner's niece. Well this is a surprise if only you had come a bit sooner." Areia looked at him as Toric scooted out from behind her.

"What do you mean sir?" Regent Cid looked at her.

"I'm afraid he and my niece Princess Garnet and your Uncle have been missing since yesterday my dear." Areia's eyes widened.

"M-Missing…WHAT DO YOU MEAN MISSING!" She started jumping up and down in anger. "I FINALLY CATCH UP TO HIM AND HE GOES MISSING! GAIA WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO! I-uh…" She looked to find Toric covering his ears and Regent Cid hanging on to his chair for dear life.

"Um…I'm sorry about that it's just that I've been searching for him for a long time and uh well…" The Regent waved his hand.

"Don't worry about it my dear. You know, you're more like him than you think." Areia looked at Cid.

"Really? What do you mean?" The Regent hopped out of his chair and walked towards her.

"Well, you have similar mannerisms to him from what little I've seen of you." Said Regent Cid as he looked at Toric.

"Have you heard about the attack on Burmecia?" Areia looked at him oddly.

"There was an attack on Burmecia? When?" Cid looked up at her.

"Yesterday…they said that they were being attacked by a mysterious force. And before he died the soldier described them…they look almost exactly like your friend here." Toric looked at him.

"Y-Y-You mean that they were attacked by black mages?" Toric asked warily. Cid nodded his head.

"Yes it appears so. A young boy of about nine or so was traveling with Garnet, he was also a black mage and he was surprised at the news too." Areia looked at Cid.

"Since they attacked Burmecia that can only mean that Lindblum is next Regent sir." Cid sighed.

"I'm afraid it seems to be that way. I'd like you to do something for me miss…what is your name by the way?" Areia gave the Alexandrian salute hurriedly and bowed slightly.

"My name is Areia Steiner, sir." Cid laughed a little.

"There's no need to be uptight…you'll always be welcome here in Lindblum as far as I'm concerned. Yes but as I was saying before I'd like you to do something for me. I'd like you to find Garnet…and if you cannot bring her back here would you please watch over her for me? I would appreciate it greatly." Areia nodded.

"Do you have any idea of where they went?" She asked.

"Sources say that a man in armor was seen going towards Grand Citadel South Gate. The only places that I can think that he would be going would be Dali or Treno…however, I would suspect it would be Treno rather than Dali since they have already been there so I would suggest going in the direction of Treno." Cid walked back over to his throne and sat down. I will tell the guards at the South Gate to be expecting you…so please do not hesitate to go. May you have a safe journey."

Areia and Toric bowed and then exited the throne room. Areia looked at Toric.

"Well Toric…it looks like we're heading for Dark City Treno!" She and Toric got into the air cab and went towards the South Gate.

Toric thought. "Dark City Treno…why do I not like the sound of that?"


Alc: Well…chapter 2 is finally done!

Toric: Everybody got to see what I looked like! (Tugs his hat down as far as he can)

Alc: AWWWWWWWW……..but you're so CUTE! (Glomps)

Toric: Y-Yeah I guess…(blushes)

Alc: Anyway…please read and review!