Chapter 9: Approaching Dali

We emerged from the Ice Cavern, and onto a ledge. Garnet was the first to comment. "We made it through the mist." she exclaimed, relived to be out of that infernal cave. She looked up to the sky "oh, the sun feels great!" she said, with happiness. As I emerged I couldn't help but agree with her. After trekking through that freezing cave for hours, it felt good to be out in the sun again.

The others emerged from the cave behind me. Zidane walked past me and stood next to Garnet. Steiner walked up to me, eyeing Zidane closely for any sudden moves. Zidane looked down and to his left, and pointed. "Look there's a village" he said, as we looked to where he was pointing. He put his hand to his chin as if he were thinking. "I think I've been there before…" he trailed off, not finishing his speech.

Garnet looked at him with a curious smile on her face. "It sounds like you have been everywhere, Zidane. The only other worlds I have visited are in books" she said, with a hint of sadness in her voice.

I thought about what she said. 'The only worlds I have visited are this one and my world.' I thought, a smile crossing my face.

Vivi looked up at me, and saw me smiling "Michael, what is it?" I looked down at Vivi startled at having my concentration broken.

I quickly regained my composure, smiled, and answered. "Nothing Vivi, just thinking" I said, cheerfully.

He gave me a curious look. "Oh…okay" he said, satisfied. We were interrupted by a loud voice

"Insolent fool!" it was Steiner, big surprise.

Vivi and I turned to look at Steiner shaking his fist at Zidane as Zidane was teetering off the edge of the cliff, waving his arms around, trying to regain his balance. Steiner continued yelling. "The princess need not sneak around! Besides, we're heading back to the castle. You leave her alone. And you will address her as 'Princess' from now on, you silly peasant!" He said, furious with Zidane. Zidane was able to regain his balance, and from the look in his eyes he had had it with Steiner's stuck-up attitude.

Zidane countered Steiner with his own rage "damnit Rusty! Why don't you shut the hell up? Who do you think you are? I don't take orders from stuck-up jerks like you!" he yelled, he was pretty ticked.

Vivi tried to intervene "you guys-" but Garnet interrupted him.

"Stop it you two!" she yelled, with authority in her voice. Steiner and Zidane looked at her; both were surprised at her outburst.

She turned to Steiner and addressed him. "Steiner, I do not intend to return to the castle" she said, closing the matter. Steiner looked to the ground, saddened at being reprimanded by the Princess. Garnet continued, "and I do see Zidane's point. I will need a new name" she said.

She held up the dagger she had picked up, and looked at it with wonder. "Zidane" she said turning to address him. "What is this called?' she asked, holding up the dagger with curiosity.

Zidane smiled at the Princesses question. "That…that's called a dagger. All knives of that length are called daggers." He continued, seeing as he was on a roll. "Short swords are a bit longer. The big sword you hold with both hands is called a broad sword, and-" Garnet interrupted his explanation.

"Oh, okay…I understand now" she said, her curiosity satisfied.

Zidane looked to the ground, downcast that she had interrupted him, but he quickly got over it and looked back at her. "So, this is called a dagger" she said, slight wonder in her voice as she held it up.

Steiner looked at the dagger with concern. "Princess! It's a weapon! Please be careful!" he pleaded.

Garnet turned around and faced our group "I have decided. I shall be named…Dagger" she said. Zidane seemed pleased at this, while Steiner looked like he didn't like the idea of the Princess choosing the name of a weapon as her new name. I started to chuckle at Garnet's new name. She looked over at me "Is something wrong, Michael?" she asked.

I looked at her and smiled, for once without blushing. "I was just thinking how much the name suits you" I said.

She seemed confused, so I decided to elaborate. "The dagger is a subtly weapon, but it has its edge. It's much like you in that manner" I concluded, a smile on my face.

Zidane laughed at my analogy. "Michael is right, Dagger. The name does suit you."

Dagger looked at us both with a smile. "So, is the name okay?" she asked.

Zidane nodded his head. "Yeah, Dagger is a good name. Now we better work on your speech. Try to sound more casual like me."

Dagger nodded her head. "I shall try" she said, still using that royal tone.

Zidane looked dismayed at this "no, no, no…" he trailed off.

I decided to help him out "Dagger" she looked over at me. Now that I had her attention, I continued, "try saying alrighty or I'll try" I said, suggestively.

She looked confused at this. "A-alrighty" she said, a bit awkwardly. Zidane was pleased, while Steiner looked to the ground, embarrassed that the Princess would say such an informal word.

Zidane spoke up. "Good, you're getting the hang of it."

I looked up to the sky; the sun was setting. I looked to Zidane. "Zidane, it'll be getting dark soon, maybe we should camp out at the foot of the cliff and head to the village in the morning?" I said.

Zidane looked to the sky too, and frowned. He turned to me. "I think your right Michael, we'll campout tonight and make for the village in the morning" he said. No one objected; everyone was tired. Zidane addressed us all. "Okay…let's go." We walked down the path and made it to the bottom of the cliff.


Zidane and Steiner were setting up the tent while Dagger was clearing away a spot for a fireplace, and Vivi and I were in the nearby woods gathering fire wood. After a few minutes we each had a bundle of wood in both our hands and were heading back to the camp. Then my ears picked up something in the forest.

I turned around, but saw nothing. Vivi had stopped as well and looked at me. "W-what is it?" he asked.

"Quiet" I whispered as I dropped my bundle of wood, and slowly unsheathed my normal sword. I couldn't see well in the twilight, but I could sense that something was near us, something big.


Suddenly my sword and hand were encased in webbing and I was pulled off my feet to my right side. I fell to the ground and was dragged to an unknown location. I looked up and saw a Giant Spider, and it was pulling me towards it. Reflexively, I tugged at my sword to try and free it and my hand, but the webbing was too strong and it wouldn't break. I continued to tug as I tried desperately to grab the ground around me to keep from being pulled towards the creature, but it was no use, the creature was too strong.

Suddenly the web line was set ablaze and snapped due to the heat. My sword was free and I turned my head to see Vivi, staff at the ready, with a determined look in his eyes. The Spider, enraged by the little mages' interference, turned towards Vivi and jumped at him. Vivi couldn't move away in time, and was swatted away by one of the Spiders forelegs. Vivi went flying and hit a nearby tree. He fell to the ground and went unconscious. I saw this and was furious with the Spider.

The Spider began moving towards Vivi, intent on eating at least something tonight. I immediately got up and ran at the Spider. His back was turned to me 'his mistake' I thought, as I jumped into the air. I executed a "Ryu Tsui Sen Zan" and plunged my sword into the Spider's thorax.

The Spider screeched in pain as I began driving my sword deeper into the wound, and began to twist my sword to aggravate it even further. Blood was pouring from the wound as I continued to hold on as the Spider thrashed around, trying, unsuccessfully, to unseat me. I noticed Vivi had regained consciousness, and was slowly getting back on his feet. He looked my way and immediately cast a fire spell at the Spider's head. The attack was a success and the Spider screeched with renewed vigor.

Eventually the Spider's thrashings became less and less as the wound from my attack and the burns from Vivi's magic took its toll. Vivi then cast a blizzard spell and the Spider collapsed to the ground, dead. The battle was over.


I withdrew my sword from the Spider, picked the webbing off of my hand, and wiped the blood and webbing on my sword off on the Spiders abdomen. I sheathed my sword and walked over to Vivi. Vivi looked a little out of breath and was still clutching his staff tightly. "Are you alright, Vivi? You took a pretty nasty fall there" I said, with concern.

Vivi looked up at me, and seemed to calm down a bit. "I-I'm okay, I'm sorry I didn't act sooner." he said, apologetically, he looked down at the ground.

I knelt down to his level and put my hand on his shoulder. "Vivi, you did enough. If you weren't here I probably wouldn't be alive right now. You saved me…thanks." I said.

Vivi looked up into my eyes and I could see he was happy. "You're welcome" he said, a bit sheepish.

I smiled at him, reached into my pocket and pulled out a potion. "Here, drink this, Vivi. It will make you feel better." I said, handing him the potion. Vivi took the potion, uncorked it, and slowly drank it.

After he was finished he wiped his mouth and handed the bottle back to me. "Thanks, Michael" he said, with gratitude.

I smiled at him. "No problem."

I placed the bottle back in my pocket, stood up, and walked over to retrieve my bundle of wood. I picked up my wood and turned to Vivi. "You better grab your wood, Vivi. The others will worry if were not back soon." I said. Vivi nodded and retrieved his bundle of wood. We moved out of the forest and back to the camp.


As soon as we entered the camp we were confronted by Zidane. "What took you guys so long? We were starting to get worried."

I decided to tell him the truth "Vivi and I ran into trouble, but we took care of it." I decided to add, "Vivi saved my life." Vivi looked down at the ground, and if I could see his face I swear he would be blushing.

Zidane looked down at Vivi, surprise in his eyes, and smiled "good work Vivi, you did a great job." he said. Vivi only declined his head further, and I knew his blush would have deepened.

I handed my bundle of wood to Zidane. "Zidane if you could take this wood for me, please? Vivi and I have had a rough night, I'm heading to bed."

Zidane looked at me, and nodded in agreement. "Okay" he looked at Vivi "come on Vivi. Let's, go start the fire." He walked off and Vivi followed him.


I watched them leave and walked over to my tent. We found a few tents in the Ice Cavern, but we could only find three. Two of us had to share a tent. Zidane and Steiner were out for obvious reasons. We were all guys so none of us could bunk with Dagger, as much as Zidane would've liked to. So it was down to me, Vivi, and Zidane. We decided to draw straws. Zidane got the long one and Vivi and I both got the short one, so Vivi and I had to share a tent.

That was fine with me. I didn't mind sharing at all, besides I don't think Vivi wanted to be alone. I entered the tent and went straight to my sleeping bag. I placed my head on my pillow, and soon fell asleep.


I was in a clearing in a forest. 'I know this place. This is the clearing in the woods my Master would take me into to train.' I had no sooner thought this when I heard the clash of swords. I turned and saw a younger version of myself sparring against a middle-aged man, with long, brown hair in a pony-tail, and he wore a big white cape around his shoulders. He had a muscular body, and, despite his age, looked as if he was no older than thirty-four. The two clashed and the boy fell.

The man turned to my younger self. "Michael you're too careless! You have to put more thought into your moves if you even hope to stand a chance against a skilled opponent! Try harder!"

My younger self stood up "I am trying master. It's just so hard-" he was interrupted.

"Of course it's hard! I never said it would be easy! Now, come at me again!" he said, raising his sword. My younger self got back up to his feet, and the two continued.

I was thinking as I was watching this 'Master…he was always so strict with me, but he was kind to me. It's thanks to him I'm as strong as I am now.' I thought, remembering the past.

The vision faded and I was alone again. 'Maybe I'll hear the voice again' I thought, hopefully. Sure enough "Miiiiiiiicccccchhhhaaaaeeeeeellllll" It was that same voice again. I turned to see it, but everything went black.


I woke up with a start. I then hit my leg with my fist 'dammit, every time I try to find that voice I keep waking up. What is wrong with me?' I thought. I eventually calmed down, and looked at my environment.

I was still in the tent, and it was still dark out from what I could tell. Then, I looked over at the sleeping bag that was on the other side of the tent. I smiled at the sight, Vivi was in his sleeping bag, sound asleep. I stood up and walked over to the exit. Before I left, however I turned back to look at Vivi one more time. I smiled "sleep well, my friend" I whispered before exiting the tent.


I left my tent and went over to the fireplace. I was surprised to see someone sitting there…It was Dagger. I decided to walk up to her quietly.

As soon as I was behind her, I spoke. "Hi Dagger" I said, quickly and cheerfully. She jumped at the sound of my voice and turned around to look at me. She had a shocked expression on her face, but it quickly turned to relief when she saw me.

She sighed. "Michael, it is you. You should not sneak up on people" she said in a reprimanding way.

I smiled, and said "I believe you mean 'Michael IT'S you. You SHOULDN'T sneak up on people. You need to conjugate your words. Instead of saying 'it is' you should say 'it's' and instead of 'should not' you should say 'shouldn't' it's a more improper form of speech and mostly used by common people, understand?"

Dagger looked a bit surprised, but nodded. "I under-" I gave her a look. She immediately caught herself. "Alrighty, I get it" she stated happily.

I smiled and sat next to her. "Good, that was very good Dagger, though next time, I hope you can say the words without me giving you a weird look."

Dagger nodded "alrighty, I'll do it" she said.

I was nodding my head at this. "Good work Dagger, you're a pretty fast learner, you know" I said. She smiled at me, and I didn't blush 'I must be getting used to her' I thought, rather pleased.

I had to ask "so, why are you out here?"

She looked at me still smiling. "I just wanted to be out here. I never get much of a chance to go outside, being a Princess and all?" she said, sadly.

I nodded at this "yeah, sometimes it probably sucks to be royalty." I said.

She gave me a strange look. "Sucks?" she repeated.

I smiled "its slang for 'bad,' let's try an example, I think I'll use Zidane and Steiner. Suppose Zidane were to say to Steiner that he 'sucks at singing.' What Zidane means is that, Steiner has a terrible singing voice. You get it now?" I asked, questioningly.

She nodded "I think so, so if I were to say 'you suck' it means that I'm saying you're bad" she said.

I looked at her a bit surprised, but managed to smile. "Yeah, but I hope you don't really think I'm bad."

Dagger looked at me slightly concerned "I ap- I mean I'm sorry, Michael. I didn't mean to offe- upset you." she said.

I smiled at her. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. Also you caught yourself pretty well in your speech. I think you'll do fine." I stood up continuing, "Anyway, we better get to bed. We have a busy day ahead of us."

She nodded, stood up, and started walking back to her tent, but before she got there she turned back to face me. "Michael, thanks for helping me out" she said, with gratitude.

I slightly blushed at this 'I guess I haven't gotten over that yet, oh well.' I thought before responding. "It was my pleasure. Goodnight, Dagger" I said as I turned to head back to my tent.

"Goodnight, Michael." she said before turning back to her tent. I turned back and saw her slip into her tent before I entered my own tent.


I entered the tent and noticed that Vivi was still asleep. I couldn't help but smile at this. 'He looks so peaceful in his sleep' I thought to myself. I approached and sat on my sleeping bag. I wasn't the least bit tired. In fact I felt unusually energetic. I looked up at the top of the tent. I couldn't help myself. I had to sing.


"Know what I loooove best, Mikeeeey said, is when I'm asleeeep in my bed, and the AAAngel of Muuusiccc sings songsss in my head. The AAAngel of Muuusiccc sings songsss in my heeeeead."


I concluded the song. I felt wonderful. Then, out of the corner of my eyes, I noticed Vivi stir in his sleep; he was waking up. Vivi slowly opened his eyes and looked at me "Michael…who was singing?" he asked.

I was stunned. 'Did Vivi really hear me sing. I better do something fast' I thought, quickly. I decided to lie. "I didn't hear anything Vivi. It was probably just a dream" I said, trying my best to hide my nervousness.

Vivi seemed to accept this "oh, okay. Maybe your right" he said.

I smiled at him "let's get some sleep Vivi we'll need it."

Vivi, though, got up out of his sleeping bag "I can't go back to sleep. I'm not tired at all. I think it was that song in my dream."

I sighed, admitting defeat "fine Vivi, let's go outside by the fire."


We left our tent and walked over to the fire. We sat down next to each other and looked up at the sky.

"Michael" Vivi said looking at me.

I looked down at him "yes Vivi, what is it?" I asked.

Vivi looked at me in an accusing way "you're a terrible liar, Michael."

I was shocked, before I could regain my voice, however, Vivi continued. "I knew you were the one singing. Why did you lie to me?" he said, slightly hurt. Now I just felt bad, so I did the only thing I could do…I apologized.

I looked right at him. "Look, Vivi, I'm sorry. You're right…I was the one singing. I didn't mean to lie to you, but I felt kind of embarrassed. The only other people who have ever heard me sing are my father and my Master. I don't even know if my voice is all that good now anyway. I'm out of practice." I explained, still felling bad about lying to him.

He now had a look of understanding in his eyes. "Its okay, Michael, just don't lie to me again, okay?" he said.

I looked at him and smiled. "Alright, Vivi I won't lie to you ever again, I promise." I said sincerely.

Vivi looked happy. "Thanks, Michael" he added "besides you have a nice voice" he said.

I looked at him, surprised by this "really?" I asked.

His eyes looked even happier "yes, can you sing again?" he asked.

I smiled "alright, Vivi, I will." I began to sing


"Think of meee. Think of me fouuuundly wheeeeen we've said goodbyyyyyyyye. Remember meee once in a while. Please prooooomise me youuuu'lllll tryyyyyyyy. When you find that once again you loooong to take your heeeeart back, and be freee. If you ever fiiiind a moooooment spaaaaare aaaaaa thoooought foooor meeeeeeee."

I closed my eyes and allowed the melody of the familiar song to flow through my mind before continuing.

"We never saaaaid our love was evergreen, or as unchaaanging as the sea, but if you can stillll remeeeember, stoooop and thiiiiink of meeee. Think ooooooof aaaaall the things we've shaaaaared and seeeeeen. Don't think of aaaall the thiiiiings which miiiight haaaaaave beeeen. Think of meeee, think of me waaaaaaiting siiiilent and reeeesiiigned. Think of meeee, trying too haaaaard to puuuut you from my miiiiind. Recall those days, look back on all those times, think of the thiiiiings willl neeeeever do. There willll never beeee a day, when IIIII woooooon't thiiiiiiink ooooooooof yoooooooooou.

I opened my eyes and looked at Vivi. I smiled at the expression in his eyes. I turned away and continued to sing.

We never said our love was evergreen, or as unchaaaaanging as the sea, but please promise meeeeee that sooooometimes yoooooou willlll thiiiiiiink o-o-o-ooo-ooo-oo-oo-oo-ooo-oooo-ooo-oooooooooo-ooooooooooooooof meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" The song ended.


I stopped singing and looked at Vivi; he was wide eyed with surprise. "Michael" he said, astonished "that was great" he said, extremely happy.

I beamed at this "thanks, Vivi" I said.

Vivi had an odd look in his eyes "how come you never sang before?" he asked.

I couldn't lie, I promised him "I haven't sang aloud in four years, Vivi, and no, I don't want to talk about it right now." I said, as I saw he was going to ask me something.

Vivi nodded and looked back up at the sky. "Hey it's getting light out" he said.

I looked up as well, sure enough, he was right. "The others should be getting up soon."

I looked at Vivi and smiled "want to help me make breakfast, Vivi." Vivi nodded and we went about making breakfast for everyone.


We had managed to catch some wild game when we camped out, so we decided to have that. Zidane, Dagger, and Steiner woke up at pretty much the same time. We were all silent as we sat there and ate. Then Zidane called us to attention "okay guys, let's head to the village" he said, determined to reach it by today. We had taken down our camp in less than fifteen minutes, and set out for Dali.


If your curious about the song in this story. It is from The Phantom of the Opera. If you want to hear the song, buy the soundtrack or the movie. Also I will only be putting songs in this fic. that I know the lyrics to, and have heard it before.