Chapter 23: To Save a Princess

Our orb had finally arrived at the 'Red Rose.' Vivi and I hopped out of the pod and I walked over to the railing. I looked down at the crater where Cleyra once stood. I could feel a pain in my chest.

'How could I let this happen' I thought, shaking my head in disbelief. 'I should have said something. I should have warned them. Why didn't I? Was it because I knew that they probably wouldn't believe me? Even if that was the case, I still should have said something. Maybe more of them would have survived' I thought.

I could feel my legs shaking beneath me as I continued to look at the crater. I could hear the others talking, but I wasn't paying attention. I gripped the railing hard, trying to steady myself. My eyes began to water, but I held back my tears. I sank down to my knees and placed my head on the railing.

I felt someone tugging on my sleeve. I looked over to my left, slightly, and noticed Vivi. "Michael, I-I think Zidane wants us."

I turned my head away from him. "Not now, Vivi." I continued to look down at the crater. 'I have to get a hold of myself. I can't be like this. They're gone…and there's nothing I can do about it' I thought.

I heard footsteps approaching and turned to see Zidane running towards us. He looked serious. "We have to get behind the stairs! Someone's coming!"

I got up and ran after him, following him to the stairs; Freya and Vivi soon joined us. All four of us crouched down under the stairs.

I walked out of my cabin and gazed at the remains of Cleyra. There wasn't much left to look at. I sighed, and turned to move down the walkway. That's when I noticed a brunette soldier walking towards me.

The soldier saluted "welcome back, general."

I flung my hair behind my shoulder. "How is her majesty?"

the soldier spoke again, "She has eagerly awaited you return. I am certain she will shower you with praise for our victory. Your supremacy is without question now. Steiner and his Knights of Pluto are nothing compared to you!"

I gave the soldier a hard look. "That is enough!"

The soldier saluted. "Forgive me, general."

That's when I noticed bruises all over the soldiers face. "What happened to you?" I asked.

The soldier touched her face and frowned. "Some guy in a blue robe got the better of me." she said.

I thought about this for a moment. 'a guy in a blue robe…' my thought trailed off. I shook my head and looked at the soldier. "Tell her majesty I will report to her shortly." The soldier saluted and left.

I looked back out at where Cleyra once stood. I sighed again, "That was ridiculous...My troops alone would've been more than enough to take Cleyra. Why does the queen insist on using Black Mages and Eidolons?"

I placed my hands on the railing. "I didn't train all these years so I could take a backseat to anyone..." I paused, still looking at the crater.

I heard footsteps to my right. I turned around and saw a soldier leading three Black Mages to the pod chamber.

"This way! Hurry up! You three, get on the telepod and go to Alexandria immediately." The mages followed her down the stairs.

I watched their descent and looked on. "...There's no difference between them and me. We're all just blindly following orders. My heart and my will mean nothing..." I paused.

I turned to my right and sighed. "Maybe Steiner was right…" I walked away from the area to meet the queen.

I was still hiding under the stairs with the rest of them. None of us spoke until the soldier that lead the Black Mages to the pods left the area. After she left Zidane spoke.

"Did you hear that? Looks like Brahne's onboard this ship." We got out from under the stairs. Zidane and the others went up the stairs, but I lingered for a while.

I looked back out at the crater and sighed. 'I may have failed to protect you, but your memory will never die' I thought. I prayed silently for all those that had died in Cleyra. After that I ran up the stairs to join the others.

As soon as I arrived I heard a voice from bellow.

"By the way, how is the princess doing?" it was Beatrix.

Another voice spoke; it was Brahne. "Garnet…we have drawn all the Eidolons from her. She is no longer of any use to me."

Beatrix spoke again. "What do you mean, your majesty?" she asked, not liking where this was going.

Brahne spoke again. "Garnet has committed a crime. I shall have her executed for stealing the jewel."

Beatrix spoke again. "What?" she said in disbelief.

Brahne spoke again. "Don't make me repeat myself! When we go back to Alexandria, I'll have Garnet beheaded! Now, go! Find the last jewel!" she said. Brahne started to laugh, evilly.

"Dagger!"

I looked over at Zidane. He looked like he was ready to jump down there and kill all of them. Thankfully, Freya stopped him.

"Calm down! Fighting them now would be senseless. They still have Garnet in custody."

Zidane looked at her angrily. "So what are you saying? We should just stand here? We've gotta get to Alexandria before Brahne! That's the only way! The only question is, how?"

That's when I saw Vivi's eyes light up in realization. I smiled, knowingly, he had a plan.

He looked at Zidane. "Zidane, follow me" he ran off.

Before the others could move I ran off after him. I followed him down the walkway, down the stairs, and to the pods. Freya and Zidane joined us shortly after.

Zidane looked at Vivi. "Vivi, what is it?"

Vivi looked at him; he hadn't lost that sparkle in his eyes. "Remember how that soldier was talking about using these pods to go to Alexandria?"

Zidane's eyes widened in understanding. "Oh yeah…alright, let's try it." We all nodded in agreement.

Zidane jumped into one pod and Freya jumped into the pod next to him. I wrapped my arms around Vivi and jumped into the pod that was next to Freya. I didn't want to take the chance that the other pods wouldn't lead to Alexandria. I could hear Zidanes voice.

"Well, here goes nothing! Dagger! We're coming!"

With that said Vivi and I were enveloped in an orb. The orb flew away from the ship. We were heading to Alexandria.

After a few minutes of traveling, the pods dropped us off at what we believed to be Alexandria Castle. As soon as we touched down I noticed Steiner immediately. He was staring at the four of us.

"You! Wh-what are you doing here?" he yelled, pointing at Zidane.

Zidane looked at him "Steiner! Is this Alexandria Castle?"

Steiner gave Zidane an odd look. "What? I have no time for your silly questions! I must escape this wretched dungeon of Alexandria and rescue the princess!" That was all Zidane needed to hear.

"Enough said! Let's go!" we ran off leaving Steiner behind.

I knew the others had turned around to get Steiner, but I decided to keep going. I turned down the hallway, and made my way to the castles front entrance. On my way there, two guards tried to stop me. I punched the first one in the face. She fell to the ground, unconscious. I grabbed the second one and threw her into the lake.

After disposing of those two I entered the castle. 'I hope the others don't kill these women. They're only doing their job, after all' I thought. My thoughts were silenced as I saw that two more guards were running at me, swords drawn.

I drew my sword and parried the first guards' weapon. I hit her in the face with my sword. She fell to the ground, unconscious. The second guard tried to slash my waist, but I hopped backwards. I immediately ran behind her, and hit her in the back of the head with the hilt of my sword. She was unconscious before she even hit the ground.

After disposing of them I ran up the stairs, turned left, turned left again, turned left one more time, and ran into the next room. There were guards her as well, but they hadn't noticed me. I quickly got behind the first one and struck her in the back of the neck with my sword. The other guard took notice, but I dashed up to her and used a "Ryu Sho Sen." She landed on the ground, unconscious.

After disposing of them I ran up the semi-spiral staircase and entered the double-doors on my left. Two guards were in here as well, and both of them charged at me. The first one tried to use a blizzara spell on me. I saw the attack coming and easily dodged it. The second guard struck at me with her sword, but I stepped backwards. I got behind her and used a "Ryu Kan Sen." She collapsed to the floor, unconscious. The first guard was charging at me, but I sidestepped her sword thrust and used a "Ryu Kan Sen Tsumuji." She fell down next to her companion, unconscious as well. I sheathed my sword and ran into the queen's room.

Once I was inside I decided to wait here for the others to show up. It took a few minutes, but the others finally arrived. All of them were slightly out of breath. I looked at them and smiled.

"What took you guys so long?"

Zidane looked at me "Why didn't you wait for us?"

I gave him an innocent look. "Sorry…I couldn't wait. Besides, I think I know where Dagger is."

Zidane's eyes widened. "You do? Where is she?"

I walked over to the candelabra and pulled it towards me. The fire place pulled back and revealed a hidden stair case.

"Off hand…I'd say she's down there."

Zidane smiled. "Alright, let's go." We all nodded and followed him down the stairs.

We found ourselves in a large round room. There's a stair case that spiraled all the way down, and in front of us was a rotating walkway. We timed the walkway just right, and were able to board the walkway. The walkway swung back around and deposited us on the opposite side. We all ran down the spiral staircase until we reached a central platform. Part of it had fallen of and the center of the platform looked like an eye. We turned to our right and entered a door.

Once inside we found ourselves in a cavernous room. At the end of the room we noticed the jesters Zorn and Thorn as well as the person laying between them…it was Dagger. Our entrance alerted Zorn and Thorn to our presence. The two jesters ran towards us.

Zorn spoke. "What are you doing?"

Now Thorn spoke. "So meddlesome, you are! Mercy no more!"

I unsheathed my sword. 'They have no idea how long I've waited for this moment' I thought, a smile crossing my face. The battle began.

We split our group up; Zidane, Freya, and Steiner would take on Zorn while Vivi and I would take on Thorn. I decided to end this quickly. I looked down at Vivi.

"Vivi, enchant my sword with a Thundara spell. I'm going to end this now."

Vivi nodded and cast Thundara on my sword. Electricity was jumping around my sword. I charged at Thorn and executed a "Ryu Sou Sen." I struck Thorn in multiple places then spun around on my left side and hit him in the head with my sword for the finish. Thorn fell to the ground, unconscious.

I sheathed my sword and looked over at the others. They were beating the crap out of Zorn. After a few minutes Zorn fell to the ground, unconscious as well. We had won, and rather easily too.

Zorn and Thorn both got up from the ground and looked at us. 'Guess they weren't as unconscious as I thought.'

Zorn spoke first. "Damn you! We will get you for this."

Thorn spoke. "Matters not to us. Finished with Garnet, we are."

Then they both said in unison. "You are too late" and ran out of the room.

I watched them as they ran. 'What a couple of weaklings' I thought. That's when I turned my attention back to the crisis at hand.

I saw that Zidane and the others were already running towards Dagger's body. I ran after them.

Zidane knelt down next to Dagger's body. "Dagger, it's me! Dagger!..." she didn't respond.

Vivi looked worried "oh no."

Steiner looked extremely distraught "P-PRINCESS! NOOOOOO!"

For the sake of my hearing I decided to stop him. "Steiner, it's okay. She's not dead; she's just asleep…and from the look of it, it seems to be an enchanted sleep." At this news, Steiner calmed down a bit.

Vivi looked at me "do you think she'll ever wake up?" he asked.

I nodded. "Of course, if it's an enchanted sleep the spell can be broken, and if it's normal sleep then she'll wake up on her own."

Zidane nodded in agreement. "Let's get her out of here." We all nodded and Zidane picked Dagger up.

Steiner looked like he was going to protest, but I shot him a look. 'Now is not the time, Steiner' I thought. He obviously got the message and shut his mouth.

We ran out of the room and ran back up the spiral staircase. However, halfway to the top I felt a presence. I stopped and turned around…there was nothing there.

The others stopped and looked at me. "Michael, what is it?" Freya asked.

I couldn't shake off this feeling. I turned around and looked at them. "You guys go on ahead. I think we're being followed. I'll take care of it."

Zidane nodded his head. "Alright…come on guys, let's go." he ran up the stairs, and the others followed soon afterwards.

Alone now I decided to backtrack a bit. I searched around for a few minutes, but couldn't find anything. 'What was that presence I felt? …It must have just been my imagination' I thought. Finding nothing, I decided to head back up stairs and join the others.

As I neared the hidden staircase I heard the sound of battle above me. My eyes opened wide 'the guys' I thought, as I picked up my pace. I jumped across the gap instead of waiting for the walkway to turn my way, and ran up the stairs into the queen's room.

I emerged and saw that the others were engaging General Beatrix in battle…and they were losing. Steiner was on the ground, slightly unconscious. Zidane was on his knees clutching his side in pain. Freya was fighting Beatrix one-on-one, but she was blasted away by Beatrix's 'Shock' technique. She hit the wall and fell to the ground, unable to get up. That's when Beatrix turned her attention to Vivi. Vivi was shaking with fear as Beatrix charged at him; sword raised, ready to strike.

'She's gonna kill him' I thought, shocked. Time seemed to slow down. That's when I felt something inside me stir. I could feel a power growing inside me. My muscles were tightening and my adrenaline was pumping. I knew I had to protect my friends. I let down Burmecia and Cleyra, but I wasn't going to let my friends down. That's when I felt the energy burst inside me, and I felt more powerful.

Time resumed its normal pace and I jumped into action. I jumped into the air and landed in front of Vivi. I quickly executed a "Shiraha Dori" and caught Beatrix's sword in my hands. She stared at me in surprise. I looked at her with anger and determination in my eyes. I let go of her sword and tried to kick her in the gut, but she jumped backwards and avoided it.

She gave me a hard look with her one eye. I continued to look at her. "you will not harm my friends anymore, General Beatrix. I shall be your opponent now. You and me, one-on-one, no interference, and no potions, agreed?"

Beatrix scanned me with her one eye. "Very well, I accept, but don't even think for a second that you can beat me. You may have been able to handle mages, monsters, and soldiers, but you have never faced me before. You will lose."

I smiled, confidently, still bursting with new strength. "Don't underestimate me, Beatrix. You harmed my friends and I'm going to make you pay. This is when we cross swords" I said, determined.

Beatrix readied herself for battle and I did likewise. This was it. The hardest battle of my life was about to begin.

The next chapter is my fight with Beatrix, and no, I haven't tranced. That'll be in a much later chapter. I will expect responses on the next chapter.

I have a new ability

Desperation

When my friends are in critical condition, I gain an increase in my strength and over-all physical performance.