Eiko lowered her arms to the side of her body and looked up with awe at the creature standing in front of her. She could never believe this creature obeyed her, loved her. It was so big and she was so small. Smiling as she took in all its power, she climbed onto its shoulder and Vivi climbed up behind her. Mandeen reached up and stroked Eiko's head lightly with one of his fingers. Vivi watched, amazed as neither Girl nor Eilodon said anything, yet they looked so in comfort with each other's presence.
'How do you do that?' he asked quietly., as if talking would break the bond the two shared.
'What?' Eiko asked, her eyes looking down at Mandeen's feet as they scraped along the dust on the floor.
'Be so… comfortable with each other's presence. Be so bonded?' Eiko laughed and looked at Vivi.
'Mandeen's always next to me. When I call him its just like suddenly he takes off his invisibility and you can see him. I can feel him with me all the time. Same as all my other Eilodons' she said and stroked a hair from Mandeen's shoulder. Vivi nodded and looked away, over the land they were travelling fast over. 'Garnet must have felt like half of her had been ripped out when her mum took her Eilodons. It must have hurt so much.' Eiko commented then fell silent again.
They stopped next to Bermucia and Eiko closed her eyes and touched Mandeen's smallest finger with her hand. He turned to her and faded away, a smile engraved on his face. She turned round to Vivi and looked past him to Bermucia Castle. It was grander than she remembered, but they were forever adding parts to it that it was always grander than what she remembered it like. As they approached the city Vivi took his hat off, letting his cream-white skin shine aloud from all the black it was covered in. He looked at Eiko and smiled weakly. They both knew that Bermucia wouldn't allow anyone wearing a hat into the city, for fear of not seeing the person's face. Eiko had never noticed before, but Vivi's hair was a mixture of browns. Mostly there were dark browns but as she looked more closely, she saw some lighter tones, and even a little blond. She smiled to herself and took the hood of her jumper down so they could see her head too.
Freya and Amarant were both there, leaning on opposite walls, glaring at each other. Eiko looked at Vivi, who was looking at her and they both smiled together. As they got closer, their silent predictions were confirmed. As the words came to their ears, they cut deep, even though they were not about them. The anger held in the words were so venomous, it could kill a monster dead.
'Save your breath Rat face.' He was spitting at Freya, His arms not moving from the cross they made on his chest and his leg not twitching from the way it 'rested', foot pushing against the wall, leg at right angles from the wall. He tossed his dread locks and looked down the raining path to the entrance of the castle.
'Shut your mouth Tramp! We've both gotta work together, so don't start now' she hissed and looked down at the floor.
'…Whatever.' Amarant said, getting bored of using words to express his opinion. He looked down the other pathway and saw a girl with long blue hair and a boy with the palest skin he had ever seen coming towards them. Freya turned to look at the entrance to the city too and saw Eiko and a boy she had never seen before. She moved away from the wall and smiled at them, side-glancing to see if Amarant had seen them too. He had.
Eiko and Vivi stopped in front of the two adults and looked at both of them. Neither of them had changed.
'Hiya.' Eiko said and got a vague grunt from Amarant and a smile and 'hello' from Freya. No, they had not changed. She noticed Freya looking at Vivi strangely and looked at him herself. Then she realised that Freya had not seen Vivi without his hat on before 'Freya, It's Vivi.' Eiko said, laughing a little.
'Hi.' Vivi said shyly and smiled at Freya with completely white teeth, Freya was a bit taken aback. 'I had to take my hat to get in here, ya know…' he trailed off and looked at the floor. He felt rough hands on his shoulders.
'Good idea.' Amarant said to the boy and nodded to him, smiling not being an option. Vivi looked at him and he looked back at Vivi, both knowing that they were outcasts of the world and both full of pain. He let go of the boy's shoulders and walked to the entrance, not saying another word.
'Come on, let's go.' Eiko said wearily and followed the red-haired man. Freya and Vivi looked at each other and then followed. Freya lagging because she didn't want to leave Bermucia again and her love - Fratley, While Vivi, too caught up in thoughts to hurry.
Garnet, Zidane and Mikoto rode on her first air ship. Mikoto was so exited. She loved the wind as it sped in her face, trying to knock her backwards as she stood on the deck. Garnet watched as Mikoto fell about the deck, Garnet being safely behind the glass shield separating the deck from the rest of the ship. Suddenly, Mikoto was blown over by the wind and before Garnet could even put down her cup of tea, Zidane was there, stroking her forehead. Suddenly he stopped and wiped his hand on his leg, then he touched her forehead again and rubbed it gently.
Zidane picked up the little girl and cuddled her to him. She had immediately reached up for him when he had come to her, knowing that he was safety. He was sanctuary. She had hurt her forehead, and as she rubbed it, showing where it hurt, she had felt a flap of skin come loose. That had caused her little mind to panic and she took her hand away quickly and burst into tears. Zidane had rubbed her forehead too, and pulled his hand back too. 'What the hell…' he muttered to himself and wiped the cloudy- white, sticky, gooey mixture on his trousers. Then he touched her forehead again and felt a small… tooth? He held back her hair and looked at the small thing, and there was a small silver horn, sticking out of her perfect hair. 'Oh my god...' he said and his face broke into a smile. He picked up the small girl and took her to her mother.
'Garnet…' he said, coming towards the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Garnet looked up, a mixture of annoyance and worry on her face. She looked at the small girl in his arms and held out her arms for her. She climbed into them and settled down, sucking her right hand thumb and holding Garnet's thumb with the other hand. Gently, Zidane took Garnet's other hand and placed it on the little girl's forehead. Slowly, he moved Garnet's hand over the small indent and watched as Garnet mouthed the same thing Zidane had muttered. She looked down and there she saw it, the little silver horn, sticking out of the girl's skin like it was the most natural thing in the world.
'Now there are three summoners in the world.' Zidane said and kissed the princess, then looked down at the little kid in her arms. 'She's going to have all the boys after her one day…' he said and Garnet smiled.
'And will you be the over-bearing father?' she joked and Zidane looked up at her
'Of course!' he said and smiled back, his smile full of happiness and relief. 'I look forward to it.' He said softly and kissed the little girl's cheek. She scrunched up her nose and blew a raspberry at him.