Hm…you're probably wondering why Quina isn't in this story; well I'll tell you. He is an annoyingly pointless character within the game; he held no relevance to the plot whatsoever and was merely a person to even the party numbers up. I think the game could've done without him and my story can definitely do without him. That is why. There, I have vented my anger.

Chapter seven

'I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is that they need to change to get better.' GC Litchenberg

The journey wasn't as arduous as she had expected. The Monsters that had once burdened their path to cities and continents were sparse due to the dispersed Mist, which disappeared a few years after the war. Any hindrance that did occur was quickly cleared by Amarant's cunning, wit and strength, backed occasionally by Eiko's progressive White Mage skills. Not that there were many hindrances. A few reckless bandits, persistent merchants and the odd weak monster, but other than that the journey was uneventful and tiring because of the unexpected heat wave that was sweeping through most of the Mist Continent. Eiko couldn't believe they had chosen such a time to travel.

It had taken about two days to reach the outskirts of Donna Plains Forest on the Iifa Continent (previously known as the Unknown Continent but renamed shortly after the war by Queen Garnet). Eiko, Amarant and a few loyal crewmembers had flown over via the Hilda Garde. Amarant had spent most of the journey submerged in pensive thoughts beneath the hull while Eiko excitedly tottered from here to there anxiously anticipating reuniting with Zidane and the others. Amarant warned Eiko 'not to get her hopes high' and 'not to expect a warm welcome' when she chattered eagerly about the Genome; Amarant had been advised to be careful and considerate around the previous thief; upsetting or insulting him would not be surpassed with a cheeky grin or obscene gesture at present.

Of course, the lively sixteen year old paid the redhead no heed. She had started again and was babbling on about a seemingly special meal Eiko had once cooked Zidane ten years ago when they had first met. By the way she went on, someone would think Eiko was married to him.

The Hilda Garde could not reach the village that lay hidden in the deepest part of Donna Plains Forest, so landed just outside the wooded terrain and departed for Conde Petite after the princess and the bounty hunter had disappeared from sight amidst the trees.

Drowning out the incessant noise behind him, Amarant strode down the dirt tracks toward the mage's village. He kept a close eye on the number of wide-eyed owls that dotted the trees like decorations knowing that the closer one was to the village the less owls there would be. Why they didn't just sign post the wood correctly was beyond him.

Golden strips of sunlight sliced back the cool shadows and baked the earth beneath. Bedraggled looking weeds poked their ugly heads up through the pathway which cut through the thickly growing trees like a snake in long grass. The pathway was riddled with beetles and butterflies. Their ears were filled with birdsong and the nervous barks of deer, their boots making only the slightest of sounds amidst the forest's song. They spent this time hardly talking, Amarant wondering whether Eiko had finally run out of things to say and Eiko wondering what she could say next. She picked a bunch of white flowers and strung them together in a makeshift chain, which she wore around her neck. She would hum to herself and catch brightly colored beetles in midair, letting them scurry across her milky skin in their busy fashion. The couple stopped only once for Eiko to relieve herself and when she insisted in washing her face in an icy stream they had heard just off the track.

They weaved down these interlocking roads for a good three hours, back tracking when Amarant would take a wrong turn, but finally they reached the Mage Village, home to the great Master Vivi and temporarily (or so was the impression Amarant received) the strongest man in the world, Lord Zidane. It looked the same, there was no doubt, with its wooden houses and thatched roofs, the cheery atmosphere and the relaxed setting, backed by the occasional cry from a chocobo. Amarant liked it because it was quiet.

Eiko was about to speak but (much to Amarant's relief) a Genome was drifting past and they caught his eye. He turned to them with a curious stare and passive expression and asked in a straight-to-the-point tone, 'You are here to see Zidane?'

Amarant nodded.

'You cannot.'

Needless to say, this bold statement took the couple aback. 'What do you mean 'we cannot'?'

'What I say is precisely what I mean.'

'Don't talk in riddles!' Eiko cried furiously. 'Take us to see Zidane now! Do you know how far we've traveled to see him?'

'No.'

'Very far! Besides, there are a lot more people coming to see him so you can't hold them all back with your silly words!'

'I do not intend to. They are already here. If you wish to see your companions then come this way.'

The princess and the mercenary glanced at each other then proceeded to follow the Genome who led them over the small bridge in front of the inn, then around the squat building to the edge of the wood where there was small clearing carpeted with a thick layer of ferns and bark. Zidane's brother swept the thigh-high ferns aside soundlessly and Eiko noticed that a tiny pathway had already been made through the foliage; someone had been here earlier.

No leafy balcony covered this area and the sun was beating down hard on the travelers and Eiko hoped they would not have to sit in this heated area. But the Genome took them to a shady corner dipped in watery-gray shadow where the ferns that itched at her bare legs were cut away, revealing a thin layer of bark and soft grass. In that space, a small group had accumulated and was sitting in a rough circle, seemingly awaiting their arrival.

'Ah, Lady Eiko! Amarant! You made it unscathed. I'm glad.'

Eiko smiled at the Dragon Knight and let the cool shade from the branches above wash over her senses as she sat down amidst the circle. 'Yeah, I'm glad you're all safe too.'

'It was very considerate of you to give the warning I gave you to Lady Eiko, Amarant,' the armor-clad Captain Steiner said to Amarant, who grunted a vague reply and waved his massive hand in the air.

'I was so worried that the assassins would get to you all first,' he added sadly, 'when the Queen finds out I am here I have no doubt she will send one after me also.'

'She would send someone to kill off her own captain?' Freya asked, a little shocked.

'In the state she is in, it would not surprise me.'

There was an awkward silence for a moment until the little mage who had been sitting quietly contemplating their situation, asked, 'How is Garnet?'

Steiner shrugged. 'The same when I left her but possibly worse now. I was reluctant at leaving Beatrix alone with her. The queen would become quite dependant on her now I have left.'

'Beatrix can take care of herself, I'm quite sure,' Freya reassured him. 'Besides, we have larger things to worry about at present; what exactly is controlling Garnet's mind?'

'How do we stop the assassins?'

'How can we prevent other attacks on Alexandria's neighboring countries?'

'And where is Zidane?' Eiko commented crossly.

'That's a good point,' Steiner said, getting up and stretching. 'We cannot resolve the matter involving the Queen without her husband being there himself. I say we search for him.'

'But,' Vivi began quietly, 'if Taro said we can't see him…then I don't think we can.'

'You're referring to the Genome who lead us here I presume?' Amarant grunted. He looked round but the Genome had slipped silently back to the village some minutes ago.

'Yes. He's the only one that has spoken to Mikoto in three days.'

'Three days?'

'Yeah, Mikoto and Zidane went into the wood five days ago and haven't come out since,' the little mage explained while picking absently at some grass. 'All we've heard of them is a message from Mikoto saying not to enter the wood and to vacate you guys here until Zidane is ready.'

'Ready? What in the eidolons name does that mean?' Eiko questioned, tugging the ends of her long purple hair. 'Hmm… what now then? Should we go and see Zidane anyway?'

'We're sitting ducks if not,' Freya answered. 'Do we wait for the assassins to locate us and endanger the village? Or interrupt Zidane in… whatever he is doing? I choose the lesser of the two evils personally.'

'Quite right; we have no time to wait for him; we have a right to know in what antics he is indulging himself in,' the captain added.

'I hardly think that he considers himself to be 'indulging' in anything.'

The small group turned in surprise to a densely foliaged thicket where a figure stood, carelessly picking the red campion and yellow celandine. Her light blonde hair fell in front of her pastel blue eyes as she dipped to snap another stem. Only the gentle rustling of her woolen clothes could be heard as they brushed again the jade green plants surrounding her petite frame. She continued this for a moment or two then stood and looked over at the speechless crowd indifferently.

'He will come to you when he is ready,' she finished finally. 'Until then you may wait here.'

Eiko took a step forward (choosing to ignore her last statement). 'Mikoto, is he okay?'

Mikoto smelt the bundle of wild flowers delicately. 'Zidane? He is calmer than before… reckless and unpredictable still. He knew you would come and told me to explain the current predicament to my best.' She looked up again. 'You have questions, I presume?'

'We have no idea what is going on,' the Dragon Knight stated blatantly.

'Then I'll enlighten your situation. Ask me anything.'

A glance seemed to pass through the group and a strange mutual agreement formed. Steiner was the first to ask the question.

'What is wrong with the queen?'

'The eidolons are manipulating her to take revenge on the people that turned their backs on them: Garnet and Zidane. Only, as their contempt grew so did their ideals for vengeance. Now they are intent on enslaving all the races of the world, as they did to them.'

There was silence as the group tried to take this information in. Eiko sat down with a bump and drew her knees to her chest, distraught and confused at the Eidolon's ruthless intentions. Steiner seemed almost happy for a moment.

'You mean there is nothing actually wrong with the queen?' he asked.

'Not necessarily,' she replied. 'The Eidolon's are slowly eating away her sanity… they twisted her thoughts and feelings, showing her false images that bent and eventually broke her heart. Now she is cold and uncaring for the world and believes that Zidane is the root to her unhappiness. She is so tormented by the Eidolons' rotting words that she agreed to summon them when they are at full power in exchange for them to take away the feelings she is experiencing.'

'So…when they get to full power, Garnet will summon them all at once and they'll… destroy all the life on this planet?'

Mikoto nodded. 'Starting with Zidane.'

The group fell silent. A wall of despair and disbelief built itself around them and they struggled with their inner torments.

Vivi grasped the rim of his hat. 'Wh-what are we…to do?'

'There's nothing we can do!' Eiko wailed in misery. 'The Eidolons are too powerful for anyone to defeat!'

'That's not necessarily true.'

They turned to her.

'You're not suggesting that Zidane… is any match for an Eidolon…are you?'

'Not as he is; he may be the strongest man on Gaia but only Eidolons can destroy Eidolons.'

'So… if we get another Eidolon…'

'There aren't any!' Eiko cried. 'Garnet possessed them all! And it's too late now anyway! They have made their decision and they won't turn back on it now! What do we do?'

'She didn't have all of them,' Mikoto replied with a grin.

'What?'

'There was one more. It's near useless now. It's body is dead and decayed and all that is left is it's soul; the heart of it's power.'

'What are you talking about? Where on Gaia did you find an Eidolon?' Eiko cried in disbelief. 'I'm a summoner, I should be able to sense each Eidolon to a certain extent and the only ones I could sense were the ones that both Garnet and I carried.'

'Three years ago,' Mikoto began, 'Zidane went on a mission to obtain a priceless jewel, rumored to contain an Eidolon the archeologists had discovered years ago. They failed in retrieving it due to the masses of monsters that swarmed in the underground cavern where it lay buried. Many mercenaries had attempted in salvage the jewel, using a map the surviving archeologists had created, but none lived to possess its power. They needed the strongest of warriors to collect it and Zidane volunteered…as he put it: 'For the challenge'. His description of the task he had confronted was…horrific, to say the least. It's a gift that he even survived.'

'So that would explain his rapid escalation in strength and skill,' Freya observed thoughtfully.

'He was successful in his mission,' Zidane's sister continued in an electronic voice. 'He recovered the artifact and originally planned to take it back to Alexandria as a gift for Garnet… but he was too late. The Eidolons had woven their web inside her head and she left him as the shell of a person you saw in Burmecia. He's feeling a little better now, I have to say, but nowhere near the audacious Zidane we've known through the years.'

A pause ensued and the cheerful chirrup of birds and soothing shushing of leaves fell on deaf ears as the group was plunged into the density of the dark situation.

Steiner rubbed the growing stubble on his chin. 'What use is an Eidolon that has no body to convey its power with?'

'That is where Zidane comes into the equation,' Mikoto replied. 'The Eidolon's soul is still very alive, and – summoner or not – because Zidane retrieved it, he is now its master; it will do anything Zidane commands. We have planned to release the Eidolons soul, the key to its power, into Zidane's body. When it binds itself with my brother, Zidane will be part human and part Eidolon.'

'WHAT?'

'YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS?'

'PART EIDOLON?'

'IS THAT POSSIBLE?'

The angry cries rang shrilly through the forest and birds scattered in all directions, leaving a trail of feathers, leaves and calls of alarm in their wake.

'Yes, I too opposed the idea when he decided Zidane's fate...but you must understand, it is the only way to save Gaia from total annihilation.'

'Hey! Wait a minute!' Vivi exclaimed. 'You said 'when he decided Zidane's fate', who is 'he'?'

A ghost of a smile passed across Mikoto's face as she replied simply: 'Kuja.'

'Kuja!'

'No, it can't be! He is dead! W-we saw it! Z-Zidane saw it!'

'He passed away in the Iifa Tree ten years ago? How did this happen? When? Why?'

A wave of laughter escaped from Mikoto's lips. 'I knew you'd be shocked!'

'THIS IS NO LAUGHING MATTER!' Steiner cried, angrily shaking his fists in the air. 'Kuja is a dangerous criminal that did not hesitate in his attempt to take our lives and those of our world! He cannot be trusted and I do not believe that Zidane would trust him either!'

Zidane's sister smiled. 'I was as surprised as you when he appeared in the wood five years ago. He is…no longer human, really. The gods took pity on him and gave him one chance to repent for his sins. They sent him back to Gaia in form of an owl, where he waited patiently for a time to aid Zidane and travel to the Eternal Rest in peace.' She sighed. 'Zidane was…irate at first: irate at me and irate at Kuja. But it did him good to learn about the origins of his wife's broken heart and it gave him a stronger purpose in his broken life. Try to understand.'

Eiko sat down clumsily and held her pretty face in her hands. 'This is way too much to take in,' she complained. 'An Eidolon's soul merging with a mortals? I've never heard such an outrageous proposal!'

'Only an Eidolon can destroy an Eidolon. It must be done,' Mikoto repeated. A sad expression adorned her features. 'There are risks though.'

'Naturally,' Amarant retorted.

'You have all witnessed the power an Eidolon wields. It's an immense force that sweeps through its opponent stronger the most powerful of storms. If Zidane…if he cannot take this power…he will die.'

Eiko leaped up. 'We can't take a risk like that! Throwing Zidane into such a precarious situation! He doesn't have a chance, Eidolons are so powerful!'

'Kuja is training him,' Mikoto replied simply. 'He is not teaching him how to fight, but how to control his emotions when it enters him. Zidane has no problems dealing with his strength.'

Freya rested her head on the nearby trunk of a tree. 'I do not believe this is happening. I will gladly fight alongside him…but what use are we when we cannot harm such colossus giants?'

'Because they will be summoned all at once, they will come from the same place and at the same time. This place will be Alexandria, where Garnet is residing. They will emerge out of a portal, quite unlike a normal summoning, for so many will be entering Gaia at once. This is what Kuja believes; he said that Garnet is not strong enough to summon them one after the other individually and sustain them there long enough for them to destroy life, so the only other way is for her to create a portal using their energy. But alongside the Eidolons, monsters of all breeds and strength will swarm, savagely diminishing every living thing in their path – starting with Alexandria. It will be your job to keep them at bay as long as you can until Zidane has completed his mission.'

Steiner gawped. 'And Zidane will fight all the Eidolons single handedly?'

'No. That will definitely lead to his death. Zidane must destroy the source of their power.'

The group gasped.

'Garnet?' Vivi stammered out. 'He'd…d-destroy…G-Garnet?'

'NO! HE CANNOT DESTORY THE QUEEN!' Steiner screamed to the sky. 'How could he agree to such a thing?'

'Let life on Gaia live; let his only love live? A dilemma no one should face in their time,' Freya said sadly. 'I guess he determined the consequences, and who knows what surprises Zidane has in store for us? He always was the hero.'

Mikoto seemed to contemplate what she said with misty eyes and then said, 'Perhaps. But…I cannot see a way through his predicament apart the path that has already been chosen. He must kill Garnet…besides, by the time the Eidolons have gathered enough power to create the portal she will be complete submerged in the sea of madness. I'm afraid… there's nothing we can do to save her now. I'm sorry.'

Steiner said no more and hung his head. Eiko wept for her only living relative who she considered to be her sister. If Garnet died then she would be alone again, the last of her kind. She didn't want that to happen…she wanted their group to be together always! She would sacrifice anything to give that.

'Fate is a cruel creature.' Freya released a nervous laugh, which ended with a choked sob. 'P-perhaps in another world…at another time, we will meet again like this, together. Zidane, Garnet, Steiner, Vivi, Eiko, Amarant and I…and at that place there will be nothing to separate us…especially not Zidane and Garnet.'

'If such a place exists, I wouldn't mind going there now,' Amarant grumbled. 'But…duty calls, s'pose we better deal with these rabid Eidolons and see if we can rebuild what we got, eh? Try not looking on the negative side. We'll win. The good guys always win.'

A small pause and then, 'How much time do we have to prepare?' Vivi asked.

'Roughly two months.'

A gloom cloud settled over the group.

'Two months…? W-what can we do in two months?' Steiner whined in despair.

Mikoto's eyes shone and her tone became assertive. 'Train, battle and stock up on everything you need. The battle ahead of you will be the most arduous fight you will ever have to execute. Every ounce of skill and strength is needed to overcome the viscous beasts you will face. On the day of the Final Summoning you will fight for everything you have ever known and cared about, you will defend your honor and your kingdoms...even until death. Every one of you has a unique purpose for fighting…for staying alive. Hold that purpose and keep it with you as you fight; it will be your strength. Don't let the size of the Eidolons deter you; together you can accomplish anything!

'As for Zidane, the next time you see him he will be a different man. He will be stronger than we can imagine and all we can do now is pray for his safety and his courage to destroy the person he loves. But he will not be alone. You must alongside him or the world, as we know it will be no more. Leave here now and prepare for the task that awaits you, even if it may be your last.'

Well now you know what's happening finally, but will they pull through? Review please!