Chapter 53: Bran Bal

I looked down at the blue light that emanated from the bottom of Terra. The light appeared subtly and calm. I stared at it for a few more minutes before I started getting a headache. I pulled my head back, and leaned against the wall. I heard someone approach me.

I turned to see that Vivi was walking towards me. "Hey, Michael. You alright? You don't look so good."

I smiled at him. "I'm fine, Vivi. I just have a slight headache. I guess that'll teach me not to stare at a light for too long."

Vivi spoke "okay…come on. The others are waiting for us." I nodded, and we both went off to meet up with the others.

After a few seconds, we found the others. Zidane turned to us. "Oh, there you guys are. Well, now that you're here we better get going." We nodded, and walked down the path. I noticed that Zidane seemed to have something on his mind.

'I wonder if he met Garland. That's probably the reason' I thought. That's when we saw a mysterious woman. We followed her, and I knew she was leading us to Bran Bal.

After a while, we were ascending a few flights of stairs. Zidane and Dagger pushed on ahead of us, and the rest of us hurried to catch up. That's when I saw an airship ascend to our level. All of us stopped, and looked at it. It was dominantly blue, but had some gold, mainly at the top. When the ship flew over our heads, we saw a red eye-shaped object under the ship. It was the Invincible.

That was when we heard Zidane's voice. "Dagger! Wake up! Dagger! Dammit! What the heck is going on?" At his words, we ran off towards him. When we arrived, we saw that he had Dagger in his arms. Dagger was unconscious.

I spoke. "Zidane, what happened to Dagger?"

He looked worried. "I don't know. She took one look at that ship, and fainted."

Steiner spoke. "We must get the princess to a safe place." Zidane nodded, and we all moved on.

After a few seconds, we arrived at a four way intersection. Zidane spoke "we gotta find a place for her to rest!"

I turned to him. "Zidane, leave Dagger to us. You go find a place for her to rest."

He nodded ."Yeah, you're right. There's gotta be some place around here…watch over her, guys! I'll be right back!" We all nodded, and Zidane ran off to the left.

Vivi turned to me. "Why do you think she fainted?"

I shrugged "I'm not sure, maybe…maybe she remembered that ship from somewhere before."

Freya spoke "that doesn't really explain why she fainted."

I nodded "I know, but like I said, I'm not sure."

After a few minutes, Zidane returned. "Guys, I found a spot where Dagger can rest." Steiner picked Dagger up, and we followed Zidane.

That's when we entered the village of Bran Bal. The first thing I noticed was that there were people walking around. Strangely, all of them had a tail like Zidane's, and all of them had the same hairstyle as Zidane as well.

Everyone looked surprised. Vivi turned to Zidane. "Why does everyone here look almost like you, Zidane."

Zidane shrugged. "I don't know!" I could tell that he was irritated.

I spoke. "There's no need to be aggressive, Zidane."

He turned to me. "I…I know. I'm sorry, Vivi."

Vivi nodded. "It's okay." After a few seconds, we arrived at our destination.

Steiner put Dagger on the bed. Eiko turned to us. "I'm gonna go see if I can find any medicine for her."

Zidane nodded. "Yeah, that's a good idea." Eiko ran out of the room.

Vivi spoke "w-wait, Eiko. I'll go with you." Vivi ran out of the room as well. I smiled as I saw him run after Eiko.

Quina turned to us "I go explore town. Maybe find tasty munchies." She ran out of the room as well. Amarant walked out of the room as well, not wanting to stick around in one place for too long.

I turned my attention back to Dagger. Everyone was looking at her. Zidane spoke. "Dagger…"

Steiner spoke. "Princess…why must you suffer more?"

Zidane kicked the ground in frustration. "Dammit."

Freya turned to him. "What's the matter, Zidane? You haven't been yourself at all."

I raised an eyebrow. "She's got a point."

Zidane turned to us, and I could see anger in his eyes. "What the heck do you mean, I haven't been myself...?" he paused. Freya and I said nothing.

Zidane sighed "I'm sorry... I don't even know what's wrong with me. I just...I just can't concentrate with this blue light..." he paused.

Before I could say anything a noise stopped me. "Ah... Uhhh..." We all turned to Dagger; she was waking up.

Steiner looked relieved. "Princess! You have awoken!"

Freya spoke. "What made you lose consciousness so suddenly?"

Dagger spoke. "I remembered."

I snapped my fingers, and turned to Freya. "See, I told ya. So what did you remember, Dagger?"

She spoke. "It wasn't the storm that destroyed Madain Sari. It was...It was the eye on that airship that destroyed Madain Sari. You remember, don't you? The eye was also there when Alexandria was leveled."

Freya nodded "Yes, there was a large eye in the sky above from which light emanated."

Zidane spoke. "Now that you mention it... It was there when Bahamut went wild at the Iifa Tree."

Dagger nodded. "Yes... It was there in the sky. It must be the same airship."

Steiner looked shocked. "WHAT? Then that must be the ship that slew Her Majesty..." he paused.

Zidane looked at him "Rusty!" Steiner finally realized what he had just said.

"Oh... I-I'm sorry, Princess!"

She shook her head "Don't worry about it. I've already come to terms with that. That ship took everything from me... It took away my parents, my homeland, Alexandria...everything."

Freya spoke. "How terrible." I nodded in agreement.

That was when Eiko ran into the room. She immediately saw that Dagger was awake. She ran over to her. "Dagger! Are you alright?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yes, I'm fine..." she paused.

Eiko shook her head. "No, you're not! You're still pale! You gotta rest!"

That's when she turned to us. "Hmm? How come everyone looks so pale? What's wrong?"

Freya spoke. "No need to be concerned. A strange place such as this is cause enough for exhaustion."

I spoke. "This weird blue light isn't helping either. There's something…peculiar about it."

That's when Zidane tried to leave the room. Eiko saw him leaving. "Hey! Where are you going, Zidane?" that's when she remembered something. "Oh, that's right! That weird girl! The girl that led us here said something strange again! She said she was waiting for you in some underground laboratory! What a pervert!" Zidane said nothing, and left the inn. This surprised Eiko "Zidane?"

I turned to Eiko. "Hey, Eiko. Where's Vivi?"

She turned to me. "Oh, yeah. He's out exploring the town."

I spoke. "I think I'll go find him. You guys stay here. We can't have too many people wandering around." They nodded, and I left the inn.

It didn't take me long to find Vivi. He was talking to one of the Genomes. He turned to me. "Oh, hey, Michael."

I smiled at him. "Hey, Vivi. What were you two talking about?"

He spoke. "Well…we were talking about the blue light."

I smiled. "I see."

That's when we noticed that girl that we saw before we entered Bran Bal. Vivi spoke. "Hey, it's that girl." I nodded.

That's when we saw Zidane; he was following the girl. Vivi spoke. "Hey, Zidane... What are you up to?"

Zidane turned to us. "What do you mean? What are you guys doing?"

I spoke. "Well, I just got here a few seconds ago, and as for Vivi, he's been talking with one of the natives."

Zidane looked at Vivi. "You're wasting your time. They won't give you a decent answer."

Vivi spoke. "Oh... But I think I can get through to them."

That surprised Zidane. "I'm surprised you feel that way."

Vivi spoke. "I don't know why, but... I...I feel like we're similar."

Zidane was puzzled. "Similar? What do you mean? I know they're similar to me, but..." he paused.

Vivi shook his head. "No, no... Not like that. They're a lot like the Black Mages we saw on the cargo ship and in Cleyra... Of course, we don't look alike at all. But I can see one thing. Their minds aren't hollow. I think that their minds are just out to lunch for a little while..." he paused.

Zidane thought for a moment. "Hmm…not hollow, huh?" Zidane started to walk off.

Vivi spoke. "Hey... Where are you going, Zidane?" Zidane didn't respond. He just kept moving. Vivi spoke. "Zidane?"

Vivi turned to me. "What's wrong with him?"

I shrugged "I'm not sure. Maybe-" I was cut off by someone's voice.

"Hey, have you guys seen Zidane!"

Vivi and I turned to see Eiko. Quina was with her as well. Vivi nodded. "Yeah, you just missed him."

Eiko spoke. "You guys didn't stop him?"

Vivi looked surprised. "No, why? He was acting kind of strange."

I spoke. "He was also with that woman we saw when we arrived on Terra."

This shocked Eiko. "Which way did they go?"

I pointed to the exit to the village. "That way, hey let's all go together."

Eiko nodded. "Okay, let's go." We left the village to find Zidane.

On the way, we ran into Amarant. Eiko spoke. "Say, Amarant... Did Zidane go this way?"

He nodded. "Yeah, seems so. He had a real serious look on his face."

Eiko looked worried. "I knew something was wrong..." she paused.

Amarant spoke. "You guys are gonna go look for him, right?"

Eiko looked at him. "Huh?"

Amarant spoke. "I'm tryin' to say I'll go with you guys. Catch my drift?"

I spoke. "Great, the more the merrier." We all continued our search for Zidane.

Eventually, we ran into that girl. Eiko spoke. "Now, you listen to me! Where did you take Zidane?"

The girl spoke. "He went on his own to see Garland."

This shocked Eiko. "Garland? Oooo, THAT'S a sinister name! But Zidane wouldn't just leave us hanging!"

The girl spoke. "He went... Yes, he went to find out the reason for his existence."

Eiko looked angry. "Liar! That's a terrible lie!"

The girl spoke. "'I am an enemy of the people of Gaia,' he said as he walked through the gate to Pandemonium." Eiko looked shocked.

I spoke. "You guys go get the others, now!" They ran off to get the others.

I turned to the girl. "Where is Pandemonium?"

She looked at me. "Why do you want to go? Zidane is your enemy."

I narrowed my eyes. "He's my friend, and he'll always be my friend no matter what. Right now, my friend is in trouble…where is Pandemonium?"

she pointed to the end of the walkway. "The teleporter will take you there. If you and those other people are going there then you're all fools. You'll all die."

I turned to her. "I don't think so, not as long as we have the will to live."

She looked puzzled. "Will to live?"

I looked at her. "I'm afraid you can't comprehend something like that just yet. You and the other genomes are just naive children in my eyes."

She spoke. "We are merely vessels waiting for our time."

I shook my head. "My gosh, you people are foolish."

That's when the others arrived. I turned to them. "Guys, I know where we can find Zidane, follow me." I turned and ran down the walkway.

As soon as I reached the end of it I felt a familiar falling sensation. I was being teleported again. When the light cleared, I saw that I was in a large room. It was the Elevator Control room. I had arrived in Pandemonium.