Disclaimer:

FFX, FFIX, FFVIII AND FFVII and all characters associated with the Final Fantasy name belong to those lovely people at Square. Story and additional characters © 2005 Ultima's Angel

Note: In my flashback of Garnet (or rather Sara- her true summoner's name) I have the King and Queen of Alexandria in it. The Queen would be Queen Brahne I presume however I can't see such a hideous woman having such a child who looked anything like Garnet! (perhaps she was deluding herself!) but at the same time there's no great detail about Brahne apart from she used to be caring and gentle.

As for her looks, maybe she became grotesque as a result of turning evil? There's no real answer. She was designed to be evil. Full stop. That gives me the problem of how to make Brahne in the past. In the end I went for that theory- she used to be beautiful and normal lol before obsessing about evil so imagine a normal looking woman (if you can!) Check out the IX section for a spin off fanfic on Brahne's story to try and explain how she ended up looking like that (as for the King I presume he died)



5. Through Garnet's eyes

"Your majesty?"
Yuna approached the room she had followed Garnet to with great caution. It was so dark that nothing at all was visible and it appeared to be empty with her voice echoing around it like a ghostly cry. It was also chillingly cold, Yuna's arms were covered in goose pimples and she was feeling as if every part of her was frozen still, even her voice seemed to be stuck.
"H-hello?"
She saw a white light flicker from somewhere.
"Garnet… are you there?"
The light flickered again.
"Garnet!"
A black silhouette lay crouched on the floor.

Yuna took a deep breath, feeling as if the sweat drops had frozen onto her hair. Taking a few small steps first, she approached it. Then bigger steps and bigger still until she had almost reached the figure…

"POOOOOOOOW!"

The light flickered faster and faster and suddenly Yuna realised what was happening. Upon the walls of the room, there were moving black and white images that, like a slideshow, crackled and hissed as it delivered every new picture. The silhouette had disappeared and Yuna was once again alone, surrounded by the silent images. There was an image of an eye, like that belonging to a dragon, and a burning city playing over and over again and it was the flames that were flickering. Yuna was captivated and for a minute she had forgotten about her reason for being in this strange place. In fact it was only when she saw some young girl in the slideshow who resembled Garnet that she remembered.

The girl was on a battered boat, its sails were torn and it was being tossed about by a furious sea. At first there was no sound, only an eerie silence, but with a change of the image also came a change in the atmosphere. Not only was sound coming from the moving images but it seemed to make the room warmer, happier somehow as if all that had been dead before had been magically brought to life. Flickering on the walls this time was an image of a room in a castle Yuna had visited before- Garnet's Alexandria- with a young Steiner kneeling to a King and a Queen, the little girl from the boat at his side.

"She was found sailing, Your Highness," he was saying, " I'd say she's been in a storm from the look of the boat we found her in. It's a miracle. A real miracle has happened. Princess Garnet is alive!"
He himself looked alive with excitement as if he couldn't wait to leave and spread the good news which he did soon after he had stopped speaking, the noise of his armour heard as he raced down the winding stairs. In the room, however, it was a completely different atmosphere altogether.
"Come child. Let me take a look at you," the King said, but with much less excitement than would be expected of a man who hadn't gazed upon his long- lost daughter's eyes for a long time. "Do not be afraid…"
"I'm not afraid, I'm just not who you think…" the girl said quietly before being interrupted by the King.
"Brahne…You know as well as I do that this is not Garnet…"
The Queen's bottom lip was trembling and her eyes looked as if they had been drained of all colour where once they had been bright.
"I know…" she whispered to herself. "I know that our Garnet's dead, our little princess is gone. But she looks so much like her… the eyes, the hair, everything… " She looked up. " Where do you come from? Where is your home, who are your parents?"
"My name is Sara… I'm from…. I'm from…. I don't have a home."
"Don't have a home? How is that possible?"
"It was destroyed."
"My poor child," the Queen said sorrowfully, "Where will you go?"
Sara obviously hadn't thought this far, she pursed her mouth deep in thought exactly like Queen Garnet did.
"I don't know, Your Majesty."
The Queen looked at her, her eyes filled with love as if the child before her really was her own daughter. She was beautiful and alert yet grief had obviously taken its toll. Her long dark brown hair had frayed at the ends and her eyes, once shining brown, were dull only showing signs of life when she looked at Sara. Suddenly she knew what she had to do.

"Steiner!"
The knight appeared from nowhere, out of breath from running about the kingdom spreading the news.
"I want you to take Princess Garnet to her room. You are to protect her at all costs- even if it means your life. Do you hear me? We will not lose her again."
Steiner nodded.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
He turned to look at Sara.
"Welcome home Princess Garnet."

Yuna watched as the castle room disappeared and was replaced by more flickering still images. She couldn't make it figure in her mind- Queen Garnet was not really the royal she had seen her as. She was a fake. Just an ordinary girl. Her thoughts were all over the place when she heard a voice behind her.
"I see memoria has used my memory.."
It was Queen Garnet.
"Garnet? I mean Sara?" Yuna cried, surprised to see her.
"Garnet, please. I haven't been called Sara for such a long time…" Garnet said and her eyes scanned over the flickering images. Yuna took this as an opportunity to confront her.
"Your Majesty… I wanted to ask… Is that memory why you have been upset?"
Yuna felt as though she had just mentioned her death to her guardians. It had a similar affect.
"How do you know about that?" Garnet enquired, her voice fringed with suspicion as if Yuna had taken her heart apart and looked about for private memories.
"I saw you in the Engine Room in the Hilda Garde," Yuna said quietly. "You were crying…I just wondered if I could help at all... "
Garnet looked up and took a deep breath.
"I don't think you can help but yes, I see no point in denying it. I was crying. I was crying because… because things are confusing, Yuna. This is a hard time for me."
She watched her memories flicker on the wall before closing her eyes. The image changed to a happy scene at Alexandria Castle where everyone was rejoicing. Garnet was in Zidane's arms and the whole kingdom was celebrating.
"When I completed my journey I thought I'd lost Zidane… " Garnet began, her voice soft. "He disappeared you see and every day I was put through hell wondering if he was dead or alive. That day he came back to me and I swore I'd never let him go again…"
"And now?" Yuna asked.
"Now the harsh reality is my heart has to. I'm the Queen now and I can't leave whenever I choose," Garnet replied, a stream of tears trickling down her cheek. "One night I saw Zidane packing. It took me by surprise and I asked where he was going. He said he had to go out with Tantalus. I wanted so bad to leave with him, just walk out and get back out into the world but there was no way I could leave. The people here rely on me to rule their country. On that journey with Zidane I loved the freedom. I liked going wherever I pleased, fighting whatever I wanted and being with whoever I wanted. Being a Queen, there's just no way I can leave the kingdom like that- I had to leave the next morning to fulfil a royal duty. I begged him to stay but he just didn't understand. So it came down to leaving with Tantalus or leaving for my duty and I left for my duty. I'm torn now. Inside I'm Sara and I want to go back into the world and the other side of me really is Garnet and I know I have a duty to fulfil."

Yuna listened and her heart understood completely. She had sometimes wanted to give up her duty but then Sin would strike again and it made her more determined than ever to help Spira.
"I'm going to die," she said suddenly.
Garnet looked at her, half in shock but mainly in sadness.
"I had no idea. I'm so sorry...c-can I ask why?"
It was amazing how calm Yuna was. It was as if it happened to every girl of her age.
"It's my duty to the people. A monster called Sin terrorises my home and I will go on pilgrimage to save it but I will die in the process. I live for the people of Spira. I want to make the world free. I know I will miss my guardians, my friends, but this is my duty. This is so important to the people and just to bring them peace, I would gladly die for."

Garnet suddenly became aware that her heart was filling up with hope but, most importantly, certainty.
"I envy your resolve... I know that deep down I'd love to be roaming the world again but, no, I will go on and serve my people. Although I'm not really royal, I am Alexandria's ruler and the people need me to be strong…"
Yuna smiled.
"Don't cry anymore," she said soothingly. "Be grateful for having such a kingdom."
And then she walked away and, as the darkness swallowed her up, Garnet looked up.
"Yuna… God rest your soul."

I thought it was interesting that Garnet and Yuna were so similar in terms of having a duty that required them to be strong people so that's why I had this chapter. Also it's a reflection of what is to come for her and Tidus of course. I won't break up Garnet and Zidane though- more in the next chapter about what Garnet will do now she's dedicating herself to her duty rather than trips out with Tantalus lol. R&R!