Eiko looked round the black charcoal village and looked at Vivi, who was kneeling down in front of one house and just looking at the burnt wood shards in front of him. He turned round to Eiko and beckoned her over.

'This is where we had been breeding chocobos.' He stood up. 'They took the chocobos away. If they had killed them they would have looked like murderers.' Vivi walked on towards the synthesis shop. Eiko walked over to where the inn had once been. She scraped away some wood on the floor and saw the corner to the music box that had been in the inn. She brushed away the rest of the wood and pulled the box out. She put down the pin on the record and it started to play. Vivi turned round and looked at her.

'The song you always used to play.' Eiko commented and Vivi nodded. There had always been music going round in black mage village, this song being the one that was played the most. Suddenly the record got stuck and Eiko looked down. There was a huge scratch through the rest of the record. She stopped the music and walked on, towards the graveyard.

Eiko put her hands to her mouth and looked round at the carnage. Piles of black mages and genomes were everywhere. Eiko could hardly turn her head to look around. Everywhere she looked there was a genome or a black mage. Her eyes rested on one of the genomes and she gasped even more. Mikoto was lain there, her eyes open but with emptiness behind them. Eiko fell to her knees next to the body and touched her arm, as if expecting the body to jump up. Instead, the body moved a bit and fell off the pile. Eiko didn't jump back; she put her arms round the body and hugged it. Then lay it back on the top of the pile.

Vivi took all the things from the houses that hadn't been burnt down and put them in a rucksack. They would sell in a market. Looking around the village, he turned to the graveyard, where Eiko was. He ran up the steps, scared that Eiko would be shocked at the bodies. Eiko was lying down next to a Genome and looking into its eyes. She was smiling, as if she was in peace among the dead. She looked up at Vivi when he came near her and put out her hand to him, he put his hand in hers, expecting to pull he up, but instead, Eiko pulled him down.

'Look at this guy. He looks like Zidane.' Eiko said quietly and made space for Vivi to look into the face of the genome. He did, indeed have the same softness that Zidane had in his face. While the other genomes had hard angles and shallow eyes, Zidane and this genome had soft features.

Eiko sat up and looked round at the bodies.

'We should leave them in peace now.' She said and got up. Vivi knodded and got up too. Eiko started to walk away from the graveyard but, sensing Vivi was not following, turned back. Vivi was just standing there, looking over the bodies and the burnt down village.

'Why?' he whispered to Eiko as Eiko stood next to him. Eiko fitted her hand into his and squeezed it. Vivi looked at Eiko but she was looking over the village. He let her hand go and walked away, not sure of what he was feeling.

Garnet and Zidane were seated in a small café looking at each other while Mikoto sat there squashing her food into her carrier. The waitress put down their drinks on the table, a hot chocolate and a regular coffee. Garnet put her hands round her hot chocolate and looked at Zidane, who was sipping his coffee slowly, careful not to burn his mouth. She smiled at him, for it was so normal, the thing he was doing, but when he was doing it, it was as if it was a new thing never been done before. She watched him for a bit, not saying anything. Eventually, when it became clear he was not going to talk, she said the one question that had been playing on her mind all this time

'Why did you wait two years to come and find me?' she asked as Zidane asked

'When did you start going out with Kuja then?' Garnet smiled and looked down

'About two years ago.' Garnet replied and looked up at her husband. He just looked away and nodded. 'Are you seeing anyone new?' she asked, hoping that he was so that she wouldn't feel so guilty, then she reminded herself that she had no reason to be guilty. Zidane turned and faced her, looking straight into her eyes, and not a smile on his face throughout, he said:

'No, I'm not. I still love you.' And then he turned away again. Garnet sat there for a few moments, blinking at what he had just said.

Looking at his figure, suddenly, all she wanted to do was let him hold her again. To snuggle up with him on a bed, to tell him about all the things that was in her head. She put down her hot chocolate and put her hand on his. He looked round at their hands and then straight into her eyes, and she saw he was scared.

'Lets find an inn.' She said and smiled mischievously, expecting Zidane to smile mischievously back at her. But he removed his hand and shook his head.

'No. I love you Dagger, but I wont be used to get back at my brother, or as a toy.' He said and folded his arms across his chest. Dagger suddenly felt angry.

'What's happened to you? You've changed so much. If I would have said that two years ago, we would already be at the inn!' she exploded and Zidane shrugged, refusing to get angry back.

'A lot can happen in two years.' He said calmly. And then he looked up at her, knowing he shouldn't say it, but he did. 'And two years ago, you weren't fucking my brother.' He looked out the window again; Garnet went red in the face.

'No, two years ago, you were fucking every girl in Alexandria!' she screeched at him and ran out onto the street, leaving Zidane sitting there dumbstruck. He had never done anything like that. A gurgle next to him made him look round quickly. In Dagger's hurry to get out of there, she had left Mikoto behind.

Zidane paid the bill and picked up Mikoto. He reasoned that Dagger should calm down first before he took Mikoto round there again. So he went to the fountain in the middle of the district and splashed the water around with Mikoto.

If you would have seen them if you had been walking past, they looked like father and daughter.

Kuja looked round the whole house, expecting Garnet to be there, like she always was. She wasn't there. Neither was Mikoto, and Kuja had only come back to give her a toy. He put the toy, a small elephant in a baby blue, in Mikoto's cot and turned to go when the front door opened and in walked Garnet…Without Mikoto. Garnet's hair was windswept back although there was no breeze and her cheeks were red as if she had been running, But Kuja didn't notice the distress she was in, just that she had no baby in her arms.

'Where's Mikoto?' he asked. His voice was tinted with slurs and his breath was full of alcohol. It was already getting dark outside and he could feel the coldness in the air. Garnet looked at him with scared eyes.

'A friend has her.' She lied and looked straight in to his eyes, hoping hers wouldn't give her away. Not being able to look at him long, she flicked her eyes to the carpet.

'You lie!' Kuja shouted at her and grabbed her hair. Pulling her across the floor to him he spat at her face. 'Incompetent wretch!' he shouted at her and grabbed her arms, leaving bruises on them. 'Where is she?' he demanded and slapped the poor girl across the face. Swearing to himself, Kuja dropped the princess on the floor like a doll and walked powerfully out the door. Garnet lay on the floor crying her heart out. Her nose was bleeding from it being slammed on the floor by the drop from Kuja and her hair was matted behind her ears with sweat and tears. She pushed herself off the floor and leant on a wall with her hands that ached from trying to push Kuja's body away. Garnet closed her eyes and tried to calm her breathing down, telling herself that she deserved the slap, for leaving Mikoto to fend for herself from Zidane. Zidane, the name sent a shot of want for him through her body and she hugged her body, trying to get over it…

'You're grounded for going out and not telling us!' Cid bellowed at Eiko and Eiko blinked a few times.

'I was already grounded when I went out.' She pointed out and smiled to Vivi who was behind the regent. Vivi smiled back…

'Eiko! Why won't you follow what we tell you?' Cid said in frustration as he came into her room later that day.

'Because I'm not a caged animal.' Eiko replied and looked up at her 'Dad'. 'I can look after myself, I'm not a kid.' She explained and looked back down at the beads she was threading onto a piece of cotton.

'But we need to know where you are. What if you were kidnapped? If we never knew where you were, how long you would be away for, we would think you would be back soon when you might be killed or something worse!' Cid explained and Eiko sighed. 'A lot of people would like to get their hands on a little princess like yourself you know.' He added and Eiko looked up.

'But you're never around to tell and Mum would just send me back to my room and not let me out.' Eiko complained and looked down again. Cid sat there for a few minutes, thinking of a solution.

'What about a portable phone? So we could phone you to know where you are, and you could phone if you needed help? Its what we are making up in the factory now. But it doesn't work all over the world. Only in places where the mist is thin, almost non-existent.' Cid looked down at her 'which is everywhere except the Iifa tree, Bermucia, Fossil Roo and underground Dali.' Cid explained and Eiko nnodded. 'So you'd like that?' he asked and Eiko nodded again, not looking up at him.

'Can Vivi have one too? So I can talk to him!' she said exited and Cid nodded. Eiko jumped up and went to run out the room. 'Thank you Dad!' she said and then rushed out. Cid sat there for a few seconds smiling until he realised she was grounded to her room.

'Eiko, come back here!' he shouted and heard a small child's laugh getting fainter down the hallway…

Ruby was clearing up the tables from the last performance of the day when someone came into the bar. She turned round saying 'sorry, the theatres closed now.' to find no one there. She put down the glasses she had just picked up and walked cautiously towards the door. There was a gap between the door and the ticket booth, and she expected the person to be hiding there. She turned towards the space and found no one crouching there. Suddenly, from behind, she was flipped round and Zidane's rabid face was looking straight into her eyes.

'You lied to me.' He said and pushed her backwards. Then he grabbed her by her top and held her up, so she couldn't run away. 'You said she wasn't here for months, but that job was taken months ago. She had been here for all that time… and you didn't tell me. Why?' he asked and lowered Ruby a bit so he could look into her face. Her face was white and her eyes were wide.

'I…She said not to. She begged me not to tell you. Please Zidane! I wanted to, I wanted to so much! But she made me promise and she looked so desperate. Many times I've wanted to pick up the phone and call you, tell you, but I couldn't. Please…' Ruby said and to her great relief Zidane put her down. 'She was so scared that I would Zidane…'she said but Zidane wasn't listening. He had his head in his hands and he was crying.

'She's back at the inn at the moment, unconscious. Kuja has beaten her up, but she didn't want me to come and get her. Oh Ruby! What did I do to make her go away?' he managed to sob out. Ruby rubbed his back and soothed him. 'I love her so much Rube. ' He said when he had calmed down from his great sobs.

'Do you want to get her back?' Ruby asked Alexandria's King and felt his head nod under her hand. 'Then go back to the inn and look after her.' She whispered and Zidane looked at her. 'She loves you still Zidane, She just has to realise it.' Zidane smiled and nodded, then got up and went to the door 'Oh, Zidane. I understand it was because of Garnet this time, but if you come and attack me next time, I'm phoning the police.' She said jokily and let the guy go…