Steiner and Beatrix stood there, watching as the ship came into dock. Zidane come off the ship and then a very pretty girl holding a small child came off behind him. Steiner and Beatrix looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. Who was this girl? Zidane had never said anyone would be coming with him. Zidane stopped in front of them and the girl came up to his side. She smiled weakly at both of them and put the girl down on the floor, where she ran to Zidane's side and slipped her hand in his, while sucking her thumb and looking up at the two people with big eyes.

'Surprise.' The woman said weakly before she was engulfed in he biggest bear hug ever from Steiner and when he released her, Beatrix was clinging onto her neck and scolding Zidane for not telling her Garnet was coming back. Zidane smiled and scratched his head.

'But this is Dara…' he said and smiled at her. Garnet burst out laughing as Steiner's and Beatrix's faces went blank.

'That was the name I was using so no one would know me.' Garnet explained and looked over at Zidane. 'Look, I know I haven't been a good queen. But, I am ready to start again, this time I will not fail.' She stated and nodded at the two knights. Silence fell around them and they both looked at each other.

'Garnet, we would be honoured if you became Queen again.' Beatrix said in a half-whisper and Steiner nodded along to it. Garnet turned to Zidane and he looked straight back at her.

'Well, would you be ok with it?' she asked and Zidane picked up Mikoto.

'I was never any good at it. You're the one who needs to run this joint, so you don't need to ask for my permission to do it.' He leaned over to her ear and whispered something into it that made her smile. Then she turned round to her knights again

'So, what did you call Zidane back for? I think I'll handle it.' She said and followed the two knights down the hall.

Zidane looked at the girl in his arms. In had been a long day for her and she was already half asleep, her head leant on his chest. He didn't follow them down he hallway, instead he went down one to the right and walked into the royal chamber. He lay the girl down on the master bed and tucked her in. she looked up at him with big, innocent, pure eyes.

'Nightie Sidan.' She said and accepted the kiss he put on her forehead, next to her small horn.

'Night.' Zidane whispered back and walked to the door. The little girl let out a squeak.

'Alone?' she pleaded and Zidane smiled and turned round 'Sidan!' she squealed and pulled her hands up from the covers. He leant his head down over her and she hooked her arms round his neck. Careful not to sit on her leg or foot, Zidane sat down next to her and leant on the bedpost.

'What if I stay here until you sleep?' he asked and Mikoto nodded. She lay down again and closed her eyes. Five minutes later, she was asleep.

Zidane went outside and found a knight to guard the little girl, then he went and found his wife.

Freya and Amarant came in first, their eyes flickering to the side every few steps to check the others position. Each of them in a defensive, ready-to-attack stance. They walked up the steps of Alexandria castle and followed the two guards who showed them the way to the royal hall. It wasn't as if they couldn't run round this whole castle with their eyes closed and still know where they were, but they wanted to keep up respect for the castle and the inhabitants within. After them came Eiko and Vivi, their hands brushing slightly as they walked and their eyes flicking to each other every few steps, but this time, they both kept looking at the same time, and smiling at each other when they did.

Freya and Amarant stopped in their tracks as soon as they came in the door to the hall. They had been expecting just Zidane, in tears and hardly able to talk. But instead a Queen in a glittering silver dress sitting on a King's leg greeted them, They could only see the back of the Queen's head, but they knew who it was. Eiko and Vivi came in behind them and they almost stopped breathing as well.

'Garnet!' Eiko screeched in such a child-like manner it almost made Zidane look up and expect to see Mikoto. Garnet looked up straight away and slid off his lap, then she looked at her old friends and curtsied to them. Immediately, Eiko and Freya were apon her, hugging her so hard she could hardly breathe. Amarant just looked at Zidane and nodded to him, a hint of what you could have described as a smile on his face. Vivi just stood there, taking in all the emotion in the room, desperate to just get out of there so he wasn't reminded so much of how happy he had been at Black Mage Village…

'I made such a mess…again. I'm so sorry.' Garnet added at the end of her story. Amarant just grunted, emotion not entering his voice. He would never admit he had actually enjoyed the story, felt her pain, her sadness, as if it was his own. Vivi and Eiko looked at each other and looked back at Garnet.

'Everyone makes mistakes.' Eiko said

'Mistakes, everyone does make.' Vivi said at the same time and they both looked at each other with confused expressions.

'That sounded like Zorn and Thorn.' Freya remarked and came up to the Queen 'It you didn't make mistakes, you wouldn't live. If you hadn't run away all those years ago, you would never have found Zidane. If you hadn't of run away now, you might never have realised how special he is. Everything is for the best.' She said and patted her shoulder. 'So, will you come with us?' Freya asked and looked deep into the other girl's eyes. Garnet was terrified of the guy she had spent two years with, but suddenly she felt someone's hand on her other shoulder, a harder, firmer gripped hand than Freya's. Zidane. She smiled and nodded

'Yeah, lets go kick his butt once more!' she surprised everyone by saying and then laughed as everyone looked at her with surprise she even knew those words. 'Hey, its what you get from living with Zidane…' she said and trailed off as everyone began laughing. 'Lets rest here for the night and set off in the morning?' she suggested and a murmured agreement followed. Everyone trailed off to the guestrooms, except Eiko. She smiled up at Garnet in a 'leave us alone?' gesture, which Garnet took and went to check on Mikoto.

Eiko hugged the king of Alexandria.

'I'm so glad you got her back.' She said and Zidane laughed

'You're the one who made sure I knew when she needed me. When Kuja had just gone and she was all alone.' Zidane replied 'You're the one I should be thanking.' They stopped hugging 'and yeah, I'm very glad I got her back.' He smiled and Eiko walked away. 'Oh, and Eiko?' Eiko turned round. 'Vivi is a good boy, you two are good together!' he joked and Eiko laughed but inside she felt very weird.

'Home again.' Garnet said into Zidane's bare chest. 'I never thought I'd be here again.' She explained and felt Zidane stroke her back.

'I never thought you would be either.' He whispered. Mikoto was mumbling to herself as she sat on the covers at the end of the bed. 'I never thought my little girl would be here either…' Zidane held out his arm to Mikoto, who crawled underneath it. 'My little summoner.' He whispered into her hair and kissed her head on her parting.

'Lets just get some sleep. We'll need it for the days ahead of us.' Garnet mumbled sleepily. Zidane pulled Mikoto into the bed with them and she snuggled down on his pillow in front of him. He kissed the top of her head again and leant over and kissed Garnet's lips softly.

'Night night my favourite girls.' He whispered to both of them and closed his eyes too.

Eiko went out into the castle's gigantic court and wandered down to the steps going to the river. She saw a boy there, he had his hat off, it was placed next to him, and his hair was scruffy from endless amounts of twisting and turning in his bed. He looked up as she approached and smiled sadly.

'Couldn't sleep.' They both said at exactly the same time and looked opposite directions. Eiko sat down a few feet away from him.

'Come closer.' He said and looked over at her. His eyes were taking her in as she slid the few feet over to him. He smiled and looked up at the stars. 'There are so many stars…' his golden eyes reflected the stars slightly and it gave Vivi a sad quality. 'In black mage village we would try to count the stars. We always fell asleep before we finished. No. 469 was very good at naming all the stars, he knew all the constellations and everything.' Eiko looked at him

'J…just because black mage village is…it doesn't mean you cant do the things you used to do with them with other people. Live on the legacy.' Vivi looked at her sideways and looked down, shaking his head slightly. She was right, why let black mages' traditions fall down just because there were few black mages left?

'It was No. 469's birthday today.' He mumbled as he looked up again. '1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10…' the next thing surprised him as much as it did with Eiko. He turned to her as he was still counting and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms fiercely around her, he felt safer in himself. He looked down at her, worried that she would be repulsed by what he had just done but she was smiling up at him. He leant down a bit, she tilted her head up and their mouths connected for a second. Vivi pulled away fast. That was too much for the moment. Eiko understood and looked up at the stars.

'Which ones had you counted?' she asked and wrapped her arms round Vivi's waist.