Chapter 3: Getting Out
Vivi, Puck, and I ducked behind the Nobles seats as we moved into position to watch the performance. I looked up at the two moons in the sky. There was a red one and a blue one. 'I wish Earths moon was blue' I thought as I continued looking around.
I also had a much better view of the giant sword from this position. The moonlight from the twin moons was reflecting nicely off the sword. I looked around my surroundings and noticed a multitude of many Nobles in front of me, sitting down in their seats.
I looked over at the surrounding buildings and noticed that each and every roof was packed with people. 'Those must be the people that couldn't afford tickets and decided to watch from the roof, poor guys' I thought. I was grateful that we were able to get such a good view from sitting behind the Nobles seats.
I was growing eager with anticipation as the hour was approaching for the play to start. I looked down at Vivi and Puck and noticed that Vivi was shaking with anticipation. Puck, on the other hand, was growing impatient at waiting.
That's when I remembered just who was sitting about ten feet above us. I turned around, hoping to get a glimpse of Princess Garnet. Unfortunately, I couldn't see her from this angle, but, what was most unfortunate for me was that…I WAS able to see Queen Brahne, the ugliest woman I had ever laid eyes on.
She was very obese and her face was a sickly pale green. The area around her eyes was heavily shadowed and she smiled like a frog. She wore a red dress and was fanning herself with a rather large fan. Her hair was blond and put up in rigid pig tails.
Overly disgusted, I turned away from the horrid sight. Immediately, I worked up an image of Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter's fifth book. 'The resemblance between the two of them is striking, except, Umbridge wasn't green and was way shorter than Brahne' I thought.
My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of applauding hands. I looked up and noticed the Nobles, including Vivi and Puck, were applauding. I decided to join in as well.
The lights went off and the fireworks display began. The band started to play a really catchy tune. I was rather impressed by the spectacle, and apparently so were Vivi and Puck.
Vivi was wide eyed with wonder and excitement, and Puck, though a little more contained then Vivi, looked rather impressed. I really didn't want to look behind me and see the Queen dance. Seeing her once was bad enough for me.
Then the firework display ended and the band stopped playing. Everyone was silent when a big, pink bearded man walked out onto the stage in a large tan robe. I knew it was Baku, leader of the Tantalus. I was now more excited then ever 'finally, it will all be starting shortly' I thought, still a bit enthusiastic.
Baku then began to speak. "Ladies and Gentlemen! Tonight's performance is a story that takes place long, long ago. Our heroine, Princess Cornelia, is torn from her lover, Marcus. She attempts to flee the castle, only to be captured by her father, King Leo. When our story begins, Marcus, having heard of this, crosses swords with the king. And now, Your Royal Majesty, Queen Brahne, Your Highness, Princess Garnet" he motioned to the royal seats. "...Noble ladies and lords" he motioned to the Nobles seats, where we stood. "And our rooftop viewers" he then motioned to the surrounding roofs. "Tantalus proudly presents 'I want to Be Your Canary'!" he took a bow and exited stage left.
I always thought 'I want to Be Your Canary' was similar to Romeo and Juliet. It certainly had a few key elements from the play I knew of from home. My thoughts were interrupted by a voice from on stage.
"Bereft of father! Bereft of mother! Marcus! Thou hast lost even thy love!" said an unknown voice off stage.
"Fortune hath escap'd thee! For what end shalt thou live?" Another voice had said.
"For the sake of our friends... Let us bury our steal in the heart of the wretched King Leo!" I heard another new voice say.
Then there was two resounding "Aye's" before the actors appeared on stage.
One of the actors had red, spiky hair and a belt covering his eyes. I knew he was Blank. Another one, having a weird hat on and carrying a hammer, I knew him as Cinna. It was the last one though that caught my attention. Having blonde hair and blue eyes, as well as wearing a blue and white vest and noticing the tail coming from his back, I knew it was the infamous Zidane Tribal, thief extraordinaire. The three of them joined Marcus, the final thief of the gang, and prepared to face off against King Leo (Baku) and his two guardsmen Zenero and Benero.
Blank went to Marcus's side. "We shall back thee, kinsman!"
Marcus looked at him. "Pray, sheathe thy swords! This villain is mine alone!"
Cinna approached Marcus from his other side. "Nay, kinsman! For I, too, have lost a brother to this fiend!"
King Leo was furious at this display of rebellion. "What ho? Out, vermin! Away! Thou darest bare thy sword before the king? All who stand in my way will be crush'd!"
Zidane joined the others, unsheathing his sword, saying, "Treacherous Leo, my kinsman's suffering shall not be in vain! For I shall instruct thee in incomparable pain!" Then the battle started.
Zidane started things off by summoning Medeo on King Leo. The fake meteor made its appearance and hit King Leo. It caused quite a spectacle, but no damage to King Leo. Marcus went next, striking Benero and forcing him to retreat. Cinna then cast Pyro at Zenero. It caused a cool fire effect, but no damage to Zenero. Blank attacked last and struck Zenero forcing him to withdraw as well. King Leo was left alone and was even more furious now then ever. He moved to strike Marcus but tripped on his own feet. Marcus took advantage of this and struck Leo in the gut ending the battle.
Leo moved to a stair case on stage and began to make his exit, grunting with exertion due to his pretend wound. He turned back to face Marcus and the others. "Arrg... Grr... Thou hast not seen the last of me, Marcus!" Leo then exited stage right.
Zidane moved to follow him, shouting "come back!" but was stopped when Blank moved in front of him. Zidane tried to strike Blank with his sword.
"Out of the way, Blank."
Blank jumped away from his blow and landed on the stairs. "Consider this, Zidane! If Prince Schneider were to marry Princess Cornelia, peace would reign over both their kingdoms!"
Zidane was not in the mode to discuss petty politics. "Tis foolishness! If all were so easy, why, none would suffer in this world!"
Zidane ran up the stairs after Blank. That's when the two of them began to battle atop the castle wall on stage. Eventually, Blank leapt off the wall and ran off the stage. Zidane leapt after him, intending to finish this fight.He chased him up to an aisle that was right in front of the Noble's seats. Blank turned to face Zidane, sword at the ready.
"En garde."
Zidane assumed a fighting stance as well. "expect no quarter from me."
They then proceeded to do a variety of upward and downward slashes as well as a few sword clashes and impressive acrobatic dodges. After a minute, it was over. Blank moved to retreat.
"We shall finish this later."
Zidane began to chase him "come back here!"
The two of them exited the aisle, but not before picking up, at least, 10,000 gil, which was thrown at them by the audience.
I stood their looking rather impressed. 'That was better then any of the attempts I ever made at that part of the game.' I thought. I really wanted to give them some gil but I didn't have any on me, oh well.
I looked down at Vivi and Puck. Vivi had a surprised expression in his eyes. I could tell that he had never seen anything like what he had just witnessed. Puck seemed rather impressed at the display as well. I turned back to look at the stage. 'Zidane and Blank should be finished beating up the guards and stealing their armor. Everything is going along just fine, so far.' I thought.
Fifteen minutes passed by and Vivi, Puck, and I were still standing behind the Nobles seats. Nothing interesting was happening on stage since it had reached an intermission before the climax. I stretched my arms, looked up to the sky, and yawned.
Then, I stopped, mid-yawn, as I noticed movement on the tower above me. I quickly regained my senses and tried to see who it was. I got a better look, and discovered it was who I had suspected it to be. It was Princess Garnet and she was being chased by Zidane. I quickly looked over to the tower that was across from me, and, sure enough, there was Steiner, in all is rusty glory.
I looked back at the tower that Zidane and Garnet where on. I saw that Garnet was now in position to jump off the tower. 'This is going to be good' I thought, smiling to myself. I nudged Vivi, who looked up at me questioningly, I motioned for him to look up, and it was at that point Garnet leaned off the tower.
Vivi's eyes opened in surprise while I had a huge smile on my face. I looked behind myself to see Steiner's reaction. Even from this distance it was still hilarious to watch. I fought my urge to laugh out loud and turned back to see Garnet, who had just begun to swing across the audience.
Now, Zidane had just swung off the tower after Garnet and the two of them landed safely on the awning of the orchestra house on the theater ship. I looked to see Steiner swinging off his tower in pursuit of the Princess only to miss his mark badly and crash right into one of the theater ships propeller houses. It took all my strength not to laugh at this. I looked back down at Vivi and noticed that he was still wide-eyed with surprise.
He turned too look at me. "w-was that part of the play?" he asked.
I still had that smile on my face as I looked down at him. "I'm not sure Vivi, but that was interesting, wasn't it?"
Vivi looked a little confused, but nodded. "Y-yeah, I guess."
We were interrupted by another voice.
"What are you two talking about?"
I turned to look at Puck.
'He didn't notice any of it? Oh well, his loss.' I thought. "Nothing, right Vivi?"
Vivi looked at me then back at Puck and responded. "Y-yeah, nothing." Puck just shrugged and left it at that.
"fine, whatever, come on lets move up to the front so we can get a better view."
Vivi and I followed Puck through the crowd of Nobles. I noticed Puck had an easy time getting through the crowed due to his small size and maneuverability, whereas Vivi, who had little mobility, and I, who was bigger than both of them, had a harder time getting through the crowed. Normally, I'm not a rude person, but we had to keep up with Puck so I started shoving through the Nobles to help clear a path for Vivi to follow. We eventually found Puck in the aisle where Zidane and Blank had fought each other twenty minutes ago.
"What took you guys so long?" Puck asked.
I looked at him. "Sorry, Vivi and I had to shove through about thirty fat Nobles to get here."
Vivi looked up at me with slight worry in his eyes. "I-I think their m-mad at us."
I looked behind myself to see at least thirty Nobles glaring daggers at me. I just smirked at them, then turned back and addressed Vivi. "don't worry Vivi, they'll get over it."
Vivi looked up at the roofs. "Why are those people not down here watching the play?"
I looked back at him with a sad smile on my face. "Because they couldn't afford a ticket, or had been given a fake one, like you."
Vivi stared sadly at this. "Why do these people get to sit here, though?" he asked, indicating the Nobles behind him.
I decided to respond "because they have gil, and a lot of it." I wanted to end the conversation their, but I decided to keep going. I continued to speak "to them, gil gives them the kind of power the common people wish they had. They just think they're better than everyone else because they have money. If you stripped them of their precious money you'll see that they're no different from the common people. Even the Queen and Princess aren't that different from the common people. Strip away their money, noble birth, and upbringing and they, too, are no different."
Vivi looked at me with a surprised look in his eyes, but Puck beat him to the response.
"Heh, I never expected to hear something like that from you."
I looked back at him. "I'm only saying what I know is true." Before I could say more the intermission was over and Baku stepped back out as King Leo.
Vivi, Puck, and I resumed our watching as the play began to unfold to its climax. 'I already know what's happening in the ship. It shouldn't be long now before Zidane, Garnet, and Steiner make their entrance. This is going to be good' I thought with a pleased expression on my face.
King Leo began his lines "Tonight, I shall finally see my daughter Cornelia betroth'd to Prince Schneider! And then Prince Schneider and his kingdom will be mine! Gwahahahaha!"
Zenero and Benero then enter from top-center stage carrying Marcus between them "your majesty, we have caught an intruder." King Leo then came over to get a look at the intruder and was surprised and pleased that it was Marcus.
"Why, my poor Marcus! Hark, lad. No matter how much thou dost treasure Cornelia..." he turned away from Marcus. "...No matter how deeply she might believe she doth love thee..." he now turned back to face Marcus. "...Never shall I see her marry a peasant such as thee!" he yelled. "When yon bell strikes three... under the axe thou shall be!"
'This is it. It will all be happening any minute now. The adventure is about to begin.' I thought, overly excited now. I gripped the railing in front of me in anticipation of what was to come. King Leo then began to continue playing his part.
"Furthermore-" he was interrupted by one of the stage trap doors opening up as an elevator was rising up carrying Zidane and Garnet. Leo looked surprised at this development. They seemed to be whispering to each other. I already knew what was being said, though.
Then another platform rises onto the stage carrying Steiner "Ho? What's all this?" it was obvious he had no idea where he was or what was going on.
Marcus then broke free of Zenero and Benero's grip walking over to Garnet. "Cornelia" he exclaimed.
Garnet was a bit confused. Zidane whispered something to her. That's when the princess spoke. "Oh, Marcus" she said with compassion in her voice.
Zidane whispered something to her, and then she whispered something to him. Finally, Baku whispered something to everyone. After that, all, but Cornelia and Steiner, gave the Tantalus salute.
Marcus turned to Cornelia who then embraced him. "Oh, Marcus! I missed you so! I wish never to leave thy side. Prithee, lead me from this place!"
Zidane turned to King Leo "see, King Leo? Thou shouldst give them thy blessing." King Leo walked away from Zidane turning his back on his daughter
"Never!" he practically bellowed. He turned to face Cornelia and Marcus, anger very evident on his face "Never leave his side, thou sayest? Foolish banter! I'll not allow it! Cornelia shall marry none other than this man-Prince Schneider!" Leo then walked over and addressed Steiner. "Is that not so, Prince Schneider?"
Steiner turned to face Leo with a bewildered look on his face. "M-marry the Princess? Me!" he was in total shock. He still had no idea as to what was going on.
Leo nodded to confirm this "Aye! And this traitorous crew, I will put to death!" At this Zidane and Marcus proceed to beat up on Zenero and Benero forcing them to flee.
Leo walked over to Cornelia. "Pray, sweet daughter, come home to the castle with me."
Cornelia shook her head in refusal. "Nay, father! I shan't return!"
Leo was growing annoyed by this. "Cornelia…trouble me no more. This wedding is for thine own welfare. Be mindful of that."
Marcus moved up behind King Leo. "Not if I can help it! Now is my moment of vengeance! For my parents, and for my love, Cornelia... (Draws his sword) I shall cut thee down!" He moved to stab King Leo, but Cornelia threw herself in front of her father and was thus stabbed instead "ngh!"
Marcus backed away in disbelief "no…Cornelia!"
Cornelia fell to the ground as she struggled to speak "Mar...cus, forgive me. I still love my father..."
King Leo and Steiner, thinking the Princess had actually been stabbed, knelt down at her side "Cornelia!" "Princess!"
Cornelia looked to her father "Prithee, forgive my selfishness, Father, and spare my sweet Marcus..." her hand collapsed at her side as she began to play dead.
Marcus was still stunned by what he had just done "What have I done? Am I never to hear her loving voice again? Am I cursed never again to feel her soft touch? O, cruel fate! Thou hast robbed me of all I treasure!" he took his sword and plunged it into his side, killing himself, and falling to the ground.
Zidane is shocked at his friends' last desperate action "Marcus!"
I was impressed 'Damn, I never knew Garnet was that good at playing the part. She was so believable. This is way better than Romeo and Juliet, that's for sure.' I looked down at the others; Puck was dancing with excitement.
"Wow, what a show!"
Vivi, on the other hand, seemed like he had cried a little. "Yeah, so sad..." I had to agree with Vivi. It was sad that the two lovers had to die, oh well; it wouldn't be a tragedy any other way.
"I'm glad we climbed all the way over here. How 'bout you guys, huh?" Puck turned to look at us and saw to guards coming. His eyes grew wide, "Uh-oh! Look out!"
Vivi and I both turned to see the two Pluto knights, Haagen and Weimer, running down the aisle after us. Panicked, we both ran in the same direction Puck ran, the two knights running after us and yelling, "Stop!" "Come back hear!"
After running a little further Vivi tripped and fell, and Puck just kept running. Inwardly cursing the dirty little rat, I ran to Vivi's side and helped him up to his feet. After that we both ran for the stage, the knights still after us.
As soon as we reached the stage Vivi turned to the guards. "Leave us alone" he begged. They weren't listening and continued to chase us onto the stage. We both jumped over Cornelia's, still playing dead, body.
Vivi turned to the guards "don't come any closer!" he warned before gathering fire into his cupped hands and firing it at the two guards, At least that's what should have happened. Instead his aim was off and he ended up hitting Garnet's cloak and setting it on fire.
Garnet immediately got back to her feet and started dancing around proclaiming, "OW! That's HOT!" She then threw off her cloak and revealed to the audience who she really was. I heard a large intake of breath from the audience as they saw their Princess up their on stage. 'Well, her cover's blown now.' I thought, slightly panicked. Then, a loud voice spoke out
"Zidane, it's time" I turned around when I heard that and saw all the Tantalus members running off to their assigned positions for take off.
I noticed that Steiner was trying to regain his composure after he realized the Princess wasn't dead after all. 'Took him long enough to realize that' I thought. I turned around and saw Vivi, facedown, on the ground. He had evidently tripped while I wasn't looking. I walked over to him, but before I could say anything Zidane beat me to it.
"Hey kid… you okay?"
Vivi started to get back onto his feet and looked up at Zidane. "Y-yeah, I just tripped that's all."
This moment was soon interrupted by Steiner "Princess, I cannot allow you to go!" he then turned to his two knights. "Seize them at once!" It was battle time.
I looked up immediately and saw Weimer charging right at us. I immediately grabbed the hilt of one of my swords with my left hand and positioned my sword sheath a certain way "Hi Ryu Sen!" I shouted as I sent my sword flying out of its sheath and hitting Weimer in the gut with the hilt, temporarily stunning him. My sword hit him with such force it bounced back at me. I immediately grabbed my sword with my right hand as it flew towards me, stood up, readied myself in my fighting stance, and prepared for battle.
I saw Zidane attack Haagen with his daggers striking him twice in the side, effectively forcing him to retreat. I could now sense that Vivi, Garnet, and Marcus had joined with us, weapons drawn, and ready to fight. Weimer was able to regain his composure and moved to strike me again. I made my move, though, before he could. Sticking my sword into the ground I shouted "Do Ryu Sen" I then slashed my sword upward from the ground with such force it caused dust and loose floor boards to fly directly into Weimer, and the force of the wind generated by my attack was strong enough to knock him back several feet. Vivi quickly took advantage of Weimer's inactivity by casting a fire spell on him. Weimer had no choice but to retreat.
I noticed while Vivi and I were busy with Weimer, Zidane and Marcus teamed up on Steiner, while Garnet hung back and healed whoever needed it. Despite the rusty appearance of Steiner's armor it was pretty resistant to Zidane and Marcus's attacks. Vivi decided to help out by casting fire on Steiner. This had a pretty good effect on Steiner. Not only did it burn him but it also heated his armor to a pretty high temperature, needless to say it was getting pretty hot in there.
After this attack Steiner, in his rage, moved to attack Vivi. He was about to strike him when I threw myself in front of his attack and blocked his blow with my sword. I then angled my sword down a bit forcing Steiner's sword to glide down my blade and, before Steiner could react, caused his sword to become stuck in the stages wooden floor. I quickly elbowed Steiner in the face, hard, forcing him to let go of his sword, and take a few steps back.
Blood was pouring from Steiner's nose as he stepped back from me. I tried to hit him with a round house kick under his helmet, but, unfortunately, he moved and I ended up hitting his armored shoulder instead. I knocked him to the ground but my foot was so num from the impact that I couldn't stand on it. I dropped my sword and grabbed my foot with both hands 'damn, that huuuurt' I thought, painfully.
I ended up hopping around the stage on one foot. My foot still hadn't recovered from my poorly executed attack when Steiner had recovered from my kick and retrieved his sword from the ground. He was moving to strike me. My eyes went wide 'Uh oh! Gotta do something or I'm finished!' I thought as I struggled to get away from the rusty tin man.
Unfortunately, I stumbled and fell. Steiner was above me now, Sword raised, and ready to strike. But I was saved by a dagger, a sword, and a magic ball of fire; all of which were directed at Steiner's back.
I looked up and saw Vivi, Zidane, and Marcus looking down at me. Words couldn't describe my gratitude. I just gave them a thumbs up to let them know I was alright. Garnet walked over to me and cast Cure spell on my foot; it was a terrific feeling, and in less than a second, I could finally feel my foot again.
I had just stood up when I heard a whirring noise in the distance not to far from us. That's when I felt the ship taking off. I was forced down on my hands and knees by the sudden movement. I knew better than to get up at the moment and just decided to remain on my hands and knees until the ship stopped moving.
That's when I saw the iron harpoons heading straight for the ship. The harpoons hit several places on the ship, knocking it a bit off course. I avoided one of the harpoons as it landed right next to me 'Of course, Queen Brahne isn't going to let us get away that easily' I thought, slightly annoyed at this predicament.
I looked around and saw that the others were in similar situations. Zidane was next to Garnet who was on all fours like me, Vivi kept trying to get back up only to fall over, Marcus, too, was on all fours, and Steiner…reminded me of a turtle on its back with the way he was trying to get up.
Then I noticed a single harpoon and followed its trajectory to where it would be heading. My eyes widened in shock as I saw where it was going. It was heading towards Vivi. "VIVI! LOOK OUT!" Vivi looked up and saw what I meant, he was frozen in place; his eyes wide with terror, as a sharp, irony death approached him.
I knew he wasn't going to move in time so it was up to me. I immediately got to my feet and ran to him as fast as I could, which was very fast, I was practically a blur, but I knew I wasn't going to make it to him in time to move him out of the way. So I threw myself in front of him and drew my second sword, I had already retrieved and sheathed the other one, and did the only thing I could "Zantetsu!" I then brought my sword down, vertically, just as the tip of the harpoon was a few feet from my face.
The force of my attack cut the Harpoon completely in half, vertically. The two halves fell harmlessly to both sides of me. I was breathing hard, my adrenaline pumping overtime, and my arms were now num from the exertion; I was exhausted.
"M-Michael…"
I turned to look down at Vivi. He had tears at the edges of his eyes and his body was shaking with fear. "Y-you saved me…t-thank you."
I knelt down next to him and placed my left hand on his shoulder. "You're welcome." I could tell that this helped lighten his mood a bit since he stopped shaking. I helped Vivi back to his feet and sheathed my sword.
I looked out at the castle and noticed the Queen was calling in the big gun. 'Oh crap' I thought as the cannon fired and revealed… a BOMB! Zidane, Garnet, Marcus, and, unfortunately, Steiner had also recovered and Steiner was moving to attack us again. The Bomb had floated right behind him and he showed no intention of turning around and looking at it.
"Hey, look out behind you!" Zidane warned.
Steiner charged at Zidane saying, "I will not fall for such an old trick!" he yelled bringing his sword down on Zidane. But before he could bring his sword down on him, I pushed Zidane down and executed a 'Shiraha Dori' to catch his sword in between my hands.
"If you don't look behind you we'll all DIE!" I let go of Steiner's sword and punched him in the face, hard, stunning him for a bit.
Marcus came up and struck Steiner, but it didn't do much and the Bomb was getting bigger. Finally, after several strikes and magic attacks, Steiner looked behind him and saw the Bomb in all its unholy glory. Unfortunately the Bomb was too big now.
I heard Zidane shout, "everyone! Get down!"
I saw him grab Garnet and force her down and I saw Marcus force Steiner down. I grabbed Vivi and pulled him down as well, I held him close to me, he was shaking again "Vivi…it will be okay, don't be afraid." I said, though in all honesty, I was pretty scared myself. Then the Bomb exploded.
I could feel the intense heat wash over me, and I felt many miscellaneous items get caught in my hair and battle robe. When the temperature dropped back to normal I looked out at the devastation. The stage was ruined, but intact and the others all seemed fine as well. I looked down at Vivi who still looked terrified. I smiled down at him "see Vivi, I told you things would be fine." Unfortunately, I spoke too soon.
As soon as we left the town there was an explosion within the theater ship and we began to lose altitude as the ship began descending into the mist. The wind whipped around all of us. Vivi went flying, but I held onto his hand to keep him on the ship, but, to both are dismay, his glove slipped off of his hand and he fell of the ship.
I was wide eyed with fright as I saw Vivi fall of the ship, his glove still clutched in my hand. "VIVI!" was all I could say before I heard a loud crash and went flying into the air myself. The last thing I remembered was the ground coming at me really fast. I finally hit the ground, hard. Pain flared up in my entire body and I could feel that I was slowly losing consciousness. Before I lost consciousness I could only think of one thing 'V…Vi…Vivi…' then my world went dark.
If you don't understand what the moves I used where I will explain them here.
Hi Ryu Sen
The user draws his sword with his left hand, sending the hilt of it flying toward its target like an arrow.
Do Ryu Sen
The user swings his sword upwards or downwards near the ground, causing an up rise of dirt and rocks to be sent at his target. Although Do Ryu Sen is not a very powerful technique, it is used as a set up for a devastating move, since it does catch its opponents off guard.
Zantetsu
An iron cutting technique. Using his weapon, the user can cut through any size of iron as long as he's not underwater.
Shiraha Dori
A defensive technique in which the user grabs his opponent's weapon, preventing it from hitting him, with his own two hands. It is a technique meant to only stop weapons such as swords and katanas and is unknown if it will work against any other types.
