Chapter 26: Lindblum: Aftermath

We approached the ruined gates of Lindblum. Zidane stopped before we entered the city. "It's so quiet…" he paused.

Dagger shook her head in disbelief. "Mother…I can't believe you attacked Lindblum!"

Zidane turned to us. "Careful, they might still be around." He turned to look at Vivi. "Vivi, you stay here and hide."

Vivi shook his head. "No way! It's dangerous here!"

Zidane wouldn't give up. "There are Alexandrian soldiers everywhere. You should stay out of their sight." Vivi didn't like the idea, but he nodded, reluctantly.

I felt sorry for Vivi. "Don't worry, Vivi. We'll be back."

Dagger looked at Vivi, apologetically. "I'm sorry, Vivi."

Vivi shook his head. "Its okay…just make it quick." All of us nodded our heads and entered what remained of Lindblum's Business District.

The place was a wreck. There was debris everywhere. A few bodies littered the streets; some were human and some were mages. Alexandrian soldiers patrolled the streets. There were quite a bit of them walking around. It was this sight that made my eyes widen.

I quickly spun around and faced Dagger. "Dagger, you can't be seen. These soldiers might recognize you." Dagger looked concerned about this, but I had an idea. "Dagger put this on and put the hood up." I said, removing my battle robe and placing it on her. She put my robe on and put the hood up.

I checked her over to make sure this would work. "Alright, they won't be able to tell it's you unless they get close to you, so keep your distance. By the way, you look good in blue." Dagger smiled underneath the hood, and nodded. The three of us continued on our way.

We eventually made it to the shopping area of the Business District, and it was there that we met with a familiar face. "Uncle Artania!" Dagger said, removing the hood to reveal herself.

Artania turned to look at us and was pleased to see us. "Princess Garnet! Master Zidane! Master Michael! Glade to see you're all safe."

"Where's Uncle Cid…? Is the regent safe?" she asked

"Yes princess, the castle was spared. Regent Cid is alive."

Dagger let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness…" she paused.

"I will take you to see him" Artania said and lead us to the castle.

It took ustwenty minutes, but we finally reached the balcony throne where Regent Cid was residing. Artania walked in and announced our arrival. "Princess Garnet has back!"

Dagger immediately ran past us. "Uncle Cid" she ran to his side.

"Garnet, I thought Brahne had imprisoned you!" he said.

Dagger spoke "Zidane and Michael rescued me."

Cid turned to look at us "Zidane, Michael, thank you. Gwok! " I bowed my head towards the regent.

Dagger spoke again. "But Freya, Steiner, and Beatrix were left behind. I-" Cid cut her off.

"Ah, the renowned General Beatrix. I don't think you have anything to worry about."

Zidane nodded. "I don't think so, either, Dagger. We wound up in Pinnacle Rocks instead of Treno, but…they'll be fine on their own."

Cid looked surprised " Gwok-gwok! Pinnacle…? Did you ride the Gargant?"

Zidane looked surprised. "How did you know?"

Cid gave him a look that said, 'Take a guess, stupid.' "It's my job to know the land surrounding my country. However...I sometimes lack foresight. Brahne was after the gwok Eidolons. That much, I knew. But I underestimated the power of the Eidolons. Maybe I deserve to be cursed with this body."

"Hey! We got a live one here!" We all turned to look down the hallway in the direction of the voice.

"Watch out! It might attack!" said a second soldier.

The first soldier spoke again. "Hey, this one's much smaller than the others."

That's when I heard a familiar voice. "Ouch! Let me go! I'm not one of them!" it was Vivi.

The first soldier spoke again. "Then why are you dressed like a Black Mage?"

The two soldiers walked into the room, and Vivi was walking between them. They marched him over to the throne, and the soldier on his right pushed him down. I was inches away from striking the soldier, but I contained myself and decided to just glare at the soldier.

"We took an Alexandrian soldier into custody!"

Vivi tried to speak "I just said-" but was cut off by the second soldier.

"Should we turn it over to Alexandria?"

I didn't like that guys use of the word 'it.'

Dagger turned to look at Cid "Uncle Cid." Cid nodded towards Artania.

Artania spoke. "Let him go. Master Vivi is not an Alexandrian soldier. It's only a disguise to deceive the enemy."

This shocked the first soldier "I-I see. My apologies."

My respect for Artania rose, but I wasn't gonna let the guards off that easy. "Some guards you are…can't even tell your allies from your enemies." They both glared daggers at me, but I just smiled a smug smile and motioned for Vivi to stand with me.

Now that this was settled, Cid spoke again "I've acquired more information about Queen Brahne gwok . A weapons dealer named Kuja is behind the recent string of attacks. Kuja has been supplying Brahne with highly advanced magic weapons."

Dagger didn't like the sound of that. "Supplying my mother...with weapons?"

Cid nodded his head. "Yes, those Black Mage soldiers are among these weapons."

Artania spoke next. "According to eyewitnesses in Treno, Kuja appeared from the northern sky on a Silver Dragon. That he came from the north suggests that he is from the Outer Continent."

Dagger looked curious. "The Outer…Continent?"

Zidane addressed her. "There are many unexplored continents in the world. The Outer Continent is an unexplored continent located to the north of our Mist Continent."

Cid nodded his head. "I believe Kuja is the only one supplying gwok Brahne with weapons."

I decided to speed this up. "So we go after the source of the evil and stop Kuja."

Cid nodded "Michael's right. Destroy Kuja and we stop Brahne's weapon supply."

I spoke. "Okay, so we head to the Outer Continent, beat up Kuja, and save the world…sounds easy enough."

Zidane liked my idea. "Okay let's go kick Kuja's butt!" He turned to Cid. "Will you lend us the fastest airship in Lindblum?"

Cid shook his head. "Airships can only fly where there is Mist, and the Mist only exists on this continent. Gwok that means you can't cross the ocean on an airship."

Zidane looked disheartened, but he wasn't going to give up. "What about the new airship that can fly without mist?"

Cid shook his head again. "It's not ready yet gwok . Besides, it's under Brahne's control. Brahne gave us two conditions for our surrender. One was the surrender of the new airship. The other was to hand over gwok the Falcon Claw."

This puzzled Zidane. "The airship, I can understand, but what does she want with a piece of stone?"

Cid shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea."

Zidane spoke again. "Alright, we'll take a boat."

Cid shook his head again "that's not an option, either. The harbor has also been seized."

Now, Zidane was fed up "AHHHHHH! What do you want us to do? Swim?"

I gave that some thought. "Actually, if we do swim to the Outer Continent and survive we'll be all the stronger for it." Zidane gave me an evil look. I put my hands up in mock surrender "kidding…only kidding."

Cid spoke. "There is a way. There's an old excavation site near a swamp located north from the castle. Monsters not native to our continent are rumored to appear in the excavation site. The cave, which was found during excavation, is rumored to lead to another continent."

I spoke. "Are you sure?"

Cid looked at me " gwok I'm not sure…" he paused.

Zidane spoke "I guess we'll find out soon enough. Not knowing is half the fun, huh?"

Cid turned to look at him "Please protect Princess Garnet. We'll prepare the counterattack in the meantime." He turned to look at Dagger and handed her some gil. "It's not much; use it to prepare for your journey."

Vivi spoke. "I-I'll wait here. Zidane, will you get my stuff, too?"

I spoke as well. "I'll stay here, too, Zidane. I probably won't need anything. I'm always ready to fight if I have to."

Zidane nodded his head. "Okay, you two stay here. Dagger and I will be back with our stuff." He and Dagger left the room to head into town.

I looked down at Vivi "Vivi, I never had the chance to properly thank you. You saved my life back in Pinnacle Rocks."

He looked up at me. "How did you know? You were unconscious."

I nodded. "Yes, I was, but you were the only one who was close enough to save me. So, I knew you were the one who saved me, thanks."

Vivi adjusted his hat and looked up at me. "You're welcome, but…why didn't you fight back? You could've killed those things easily."

I smiled at him. "I know that."

Vivi was surprised. "then why did you-" realization suddenly flashed in his eyes. "You had no intention of fighting them. You were going to let me fight them by myself. Why?"

I nodded my head. "You catch on quick, Vivi. Good for you, and to answer your question…I was testing you."

Vivi looked surprised. "Testing me…for what?"

I smiled at him. "To see if you were strong enough to beat them by yourself and to see if you remembered what I told you about your fears…did it work?" I asked, still smiling.

"I remembered your words. I was able to control my fear…it worked." He said.

I placed my hand on his shoulder. "Good work, Vivi. I knew you could do it, but when those three other giant bats showed up I was afraid it might have been too much for you to handle. I was going to jump into the battle and help you out, but I saw the confidence in your eyes and I thought that you could handle it on your own after all…of course, that's when that giant bat bit my neck and I fell unconscious."

Vivi looked down at the ground "I'm sorry I couldn't save you sooner."

I knelt down to his level. "You have nothing to be sorry about, Vivi. I let my guard down, again, but don't worry that was my failing not yours. You've proven that you are strong, Vivi. You didn't need my help to fight those giant bats. You should be proud."

Vivi looked up at me and I could see the happiness in his eyes. "Thanks, Michael."

I spoke. "I have decided to train you, Vivi. How does that sound."

Vivi looked surprised. "Y-you're going to train me?"

I nodded. "Yep, I'm going to teach you about battle and how to plan out your moves as well as a few other things."

Vivi looked excited. "That's great; I'd like to have you train me. When do we start?"

I smiled at his willingness to learn. "We'll start when we get to the Outer Continent and things calm down. Is that okay?"

Vivi nodded his head. "Sure, I can wait 'til then."

I smiled and rose back up to my feet. "You'll do fine, Vivi. I know you will."

After a few minutes, Cid took us down to the lower levels. He told us to wait here in the main area while he took care of some business. Vivi and I were waiting there for ten minutes when the elevator descended back down to our level. Zidane and Dagger were in the elevator. The two got off and walked towards us.

I smiled at them "Zidane, Dagger, you made it."

Dagger spoke. "Vivi, Michael…where's Uncle Cid?"

Vivi spoke. "He said 'gwok-gwok wait here' and went off somewhere."

Dagger looked worried. "Where could he be…?"

I spoke to Dagger. "Dagger if I could have my robe back, please."

She slipped my robe off and handed it to me. I placed my robe back on. It was at that moment that I heard a strange noise behind me. I turned around and saw Cid hopping down the tunnel towards us.

"Gwok! I did it!" he said, triumphantly, as he approached us. "I stopped a trolley between here and the Serpent's Gate! Gwok-gwok! that'll show them not to fool around in my castle! Now, go. Gwok-gwok. the excavation site is like a maze. Be careful not to get lost, and take this with you!" he said and gave Zidane a rag.

He looked at it oddly. "It's a rag."

Cid looked irritated. "You big dope! It's not just a rag! Gwok! that's the national treasure of Lindblum! That is an ancient map of the entire world!"

Now Zidane looked interested. "Wow. Thanks!"

"Now, go, before they find you! Zidane, Vivi, Michael. Please protect Princess Garnet." We all nodded, but Dagger looked at her uncle worriedly.

"Uncle Cid…" she paused.

Cid looked at her. " Gwok! don't worry about me. I'm stronger than I look! Now, go! They'll squeeze all the Oglop oil out of my body if we're caught!"

Zidane nodded and turned to us. "Alright guys, let's go" we all nodded and boarded the trolley. We reached the Dragon's Gate and left Lindblum. Our destination: Qu's Marsh.