Yeah, I didn't know I still existed either. I'm replaying Final Fantasy IX and missed posting this story, so voila! Enjoy.
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That night, Garnet settled into yet another unpleasant sleep, her dreams haunted by his fading smile and relaxed speech. As the night faded to morning, the haunting visions also faded as wakefulness took the young queen.
The light flooded into the small cabin in the airship in which the brunette slept as she cautiously open her eyes. The moment she did, she instantly regretted it and clenched them set again, shielding her sensitive eyes from the early morning light. The engines still roared in the heart of the airship, quieter than they had been on the previous day but still booming, as engines tend to do. The crew must've been working through the night to make the airship run as smoothly as it was now.
The small girl pulled herself up from the protection of the covers lying around her and put her feet on the wood floor, her body still stiff with sleep. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the warm rays of the sun that entered through the small window, wiping the sleep from her eyes as she shuffled her feet along the floor. Why was it that she hardly felt like even getting up anymore? Eiko was still sleeping soundly in the corner bunk, murmuring something that Garnet didn't understand. Pulling on her clothes, she thought it might be best to take a walk on the deck and see who else had risen early.
The deck was fairly quiet besides the sound of the engines; it didn't look like many if anyone was awake yet. Many extinguished candles were sitting by the rail, Beatrix and Vivi had grown tired after the event last night and had run out of the ethers they needed to revitalize their magic.
The young queen was staring fondly at the unlit candles, remembering the events of last night. She raised her gaze to the horizon, smiling to herself at what she saw… She could see land! The Mist Continent jutted out into the water, obstructing the beautiful blue horizon that they had been so accustomed to seeing for the last few days. The mist was now gone, and only a few lingering monsters loomed in the deepest of valleys, awaiting unexpected travelers that happened to pass through.
"Have you been up long?" Vivi's small voice broke through the silence of the morning.
"No… I just woke up, actually. What about you?" Garnet smiled fondly at the mage.
"You can't really say I got up… You have to go to sleep to get up. I just couldn't. Something's been nagging at me…" Garnet looked at him sympathetically, urging him to continue. She sat down beside him to give him her full attention. He smiled at her gesture, swallowing nervously as he worked up the courage to continue. He really needed to get everything off of his chest, but the last thing he wanted was to burden the young queen.
Reading his thoughts, she put her arm around her friend's shoulders. "Go on, Vivi. I want to know."
"W-who do you think… I-I mean… Mognissa said that some people took him. I mean Zidane, of course. Who do you think they were? Where do you think they took him? I'm so confused, but somehow I think it was better that we didn't find him at Iifa Tree… I really think he made it, you know? I mean… I really want to… You know?" Garnet looked at him blankly for a few minutes; at a loss for words. As timid as he was when he first started to speak, she had never expected him to gain confidence as he did. She had never heard Vivi speak that quickly or eagerly about something in all the time that she knew him. His tone, it was so hard to describe. He sounded almost… Desperate. It scared her a little. She struggled to reply, an uncomfortable silence looming around the two.
"Hope is good, Vivi…" she finally choked out, "you just can't aim too high. I want to believe too. I want to believe that he's safe but… Who knows who could've taken him from the tree? Or where they took him for that matter…" Garnet's eyes again blurred as she felt the tears welling up. She couldn't help thinking to herself that no matter where they took him…. She would rather be there. She would go to him in a heartbeat.
"Sorry Dagger. I didn't mean to make you sad… You've been sad enough lately. I'm so sorry…" Vivi turned to look into the young girl's eyes. "I don't want you to be sad anymore… It's just not fair. You deserve better. I-I'm sorry, Dagger…"
Garnet sighed heavily and look sadly at the black mage. "Don't apologize Vivi; this is no in way your fault… It's mine." Vivi looked a little taken back by her comment. "It's my fault because I'm not strong enough. I never really thought that I needed anyone else, not like this, and I thought that I could do everything on my own. The truth is… I was so wrong. I'm so completely dependant on you all for everything… If I was stronger… I'm the one who should be apologizing. Losing him just reminds me of how dependant I really am. I'm nothing without him here, and I'm even less than nothing without my friends to lean on…" Garnet pulled her knees to her chest, hiding her face as the tears fell silently down her face.
"I know how you feel about him, Dagger… You don't need to make excuses for taking this so hard. You've lost someone you love… We all saw it, and I know he did too. You're strong, Dagger and no one thinks any less of that strength now that he's not here beside you. If anyone in the world could make it through this, it would be you. You're not dependant, and if you are… I guess we all are. We've all leaned on each other since that day at the Iifa Tree. You shouldn't be sorry… You have no reason to." Garnet looked up at her friend and smiled half-heartedly. This Vivi didn't sound at all like the small black mage that her and Zidane had met while improvising a scene from 'I Want To Be You Canary' in front of all of Alexandria. She didn't think it was possible for someone to grow up and change so much… As the young queen smiled, the ship had crossed the shoreline and it was now hovering silently over the Mist continent.
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This was typed up a while ago, actually… I'm not really sure why I never posted it oO