Home of the Heart
By: Cold Rain
Rated: PG-13 for mild violence
NOTE TO READERS: Hi, Readers! I wanted to warn you that a Zaghnol (the monster in this chapter) is the big pink boar-like monster on FFIX. The most memorable time you see one is in the Festival of the Hunt, it's worth a lot of points in that (I always win the Festival when I fight the zaghnol). Also, I added something about a Mu (the monster that looks like a blue squirrel). Extra spacing between paragraphs means scene/time transitions. Oh, and I don't own Final Fantasy IX, any of the characters, etc.
DISCLAIMER: If you didn't read the Note to Readers here it is again: I don't own the Final Fantasy IX, any of the characters, etc. I just own the fanfic.
CHAPTER 5: Diamond Dust and Hellfire
The party has been going well with no more incidents. Queen Garnet smiles and starts to say her goodbyes to the tired (but very happy) guests; Zidane sneaks up behind her and covers her eyes playfully. "Guess who I am?" Zidane smiles; his tail starts to happily swish back and forth.
"Hm, this is a tough one..." Garnet says, feigning ignorance about the fact that her blonde lover was the one obstructing her view, "Is it Marcus?" She smirks happily as he yanks his hands away with indignity and his tail bristles in annoyance.
"WHAAT!?" Zidane frowns, "How could you even pretend something like that!?"
"Oh, stop it Zidane," Garnet smiles, "I am just playing with you..."
"Yeah... But still! Marcus!? I'm way more suave than he is!" Zidane gives a triumphant smirk, "Don't' tell him but I'm better looking, too."
"Of course," Garnet smiles; she gives Zidane a hug and cuddles against him.
"Hm? Zidane looks at the polished marble floors and notices a large shadow looming over them.
"W-what is that!?" Eiko screams, cowering behind Cid and Hilda.
"I-it looks like some kind of monster..." Vivi stammers; he's wearing a white mage costume (and of course he's still wearing his usual hat). The monster in question looks like a Zaghnol except that it's glowing and has a rabid look on its face.
"Is that thing in Trance!?" Zidane questions, his eyes look as big as dinner plates right about now, (Monsters can't go into Trance can they!?)
"Something must have really provoked it," Marcus (dressed as an oglop) comments.
"Well, that sounds logical except for the fact that it's-" Kuja dodges the Trance Zaghnol's attack, "Attacking us instead of whoever provoked it." He casts a fire spell on its snout which made it think twice about attacking Kuja.
"Maybe whoever provoked it sent it here," Freya (in a red chocobo costume) comments; jumping to a balcony like spot so that she can use her Jump attack.
"How about we talk less and fight more?" Amarant (wearing his usual clothes) suggests, dodging the zaghnol; he swings his Claw weapon at the Zaghnol as a warning.
"We'll take care of this!" Kim says while her and Brianna take a step up and start to glow. They each raise a hand into the air; ice shards start to swirl around Kim while fire surrounds Brianna. Kim glares at the monster, "Diamond Dust!" Large ice shards cut the Zaghnol.
"Hellfire!" Brianna screams; a large fireball destroys the Zaghnol.
"You... Both of you..." Garnet stares with a stunned look on her face, "Those are attacks only Eidolons can use..."
"Well, um, you see... It's a long story, but I'll try to explain what I know," Kim says, "You see..."
"Hm?" Kuja notices that Blank runs out of the room so he follows him, (Why am I following him? The main reason for leaving the room at a time like this would be to get some privacy. Urgh, this is infuriating... I'm acting like a complete idiot!), he grimaces as he follows Blank , (It's not like I could fall in love or that I could care in any way for him or anything, so why do I follow him and get so protective over him!? Hmmm... Well, no matter what I feel, it's not an emotion that I should exhibit such stupidity over. Hm? He's stopping?) They end up outside of the large doors to the castle and now that Blank has stopped running, Kuja hesitantly touches his shoulder.
"What?" Blank turns around; his green eyes gaze at Kuja, "Oh, hi. What are you doing out here?"
"That's what I was going to ask you," Kuja replies; a sneaky smile appears on his face, it's obvious that he unwillingly plotted something for flirting with/getting attention from Blank.
"Well, um, I think I know what happened to those girls, you know, uh, how they got those attacks..."
"Really?" Kuja asks, trying to look interested, (Eidolons already got me into a lot of trouble; I could be very content if I never hear about them again.)
"Yeah, but I don't really feel like talking about it, though," Blank answers; he starts to lean back on the wall behind him and looks out at the moat, the last of the guests other than Tantalus, the three strange girls, and Zidane's friends are still there, so the gondola is being steered back to the small dock about thirteen feet from where he's standing. Blank looks at Kuja, "Hey, Zidane told me that inviting you to the party was an idea to prove to his friends that you're trustworthy enough to stay in Alexandria."
"Um," Kuja nervously tries to think of something that wouldn't be stupid to say.
"Anyway, I was really worried when you went into Trance. You could've been banished from Alexandria," Blank states.
"Oh," Kuja's face starts to turn red with embarrassment.
Blank nervously rubs the back of his head, trying to find the right words to say, "So... Zidane told me you're his long-lost bro... That means he found his parents, right?"
"Well, let's just say he found his father was on his deathbed... So, in a way, no," Kuja tries to explain, diverting his eyes; it would be so hard to explain that he killed their "father" by kicking him off a cliff...
"Oh! Sorry about that..." Blank apologizes, nervous and flustered. The last thing he wanted was to offend Kuja again, that would be just plain stupid.
"Don't worry, you didn't know," Kuja smiles at Blank, hoping that the redhead would think that that's a good sign, "How about we go back to the others now?"
"Alright," Blank says; walking next to Kuja. It seems his confidence is back.
"Oh, I think I understand now..." Garnet says; a knowing look on her face, "So, let me get this straight." She looks at Kim, "You have the attack of Shiva: Diamond Dust."
"That's right," Kim nods.
"You have the attack of Ifrit: Hellfire," Garnet states, looking at Brianna.
"Yup," Brianna nods, quickly adding, "Farp."
"And you have the attack of Leviathan: Tsunami," Garnet states, facing Alicia.
"Exactly," Alicia nods proudly, "That's each of our attacks."
"Hey, guys," Zidane smiles; Blank and Kuja are reentering the room.
"Hey," Blank smiles, walking up to Zidane; they give the customary Tantalus salute. Blank looks over at Baku (dressed as a Mu) and asks, "How are things going over here?"
"Good," Baku smiles, then looks over at Kuja, "Hey, girly-guy. Where were you guys? You been flirtin' with Blank?"
"What is wrong with you?" Kuja frowns and gives Baku an icy glare, (Did that idiot really sense something about me?)
"Sorry, but ya look so much like a girl that I thought ya might act like one, too," Baku smirks, uncaring of the fact that Kuja would be more than willing to kill him.
"That's really harsh," Kim frowns at Baku, "But I wouldn't blame him. Blank is kinda cute."
"R-really?" Blank blushes at the compliment.
"Yup," Kim smiles, "But you're not my type."
"Oh, yeah, you're not really my type either," Blank frowns and looks away; he's always met girls that weren't his type but he always got to tell them that before they had a chance to try any big flirting. This was the first time a girl told him before he could tell her; it was quite a stab to his ego.
"That was kind of harsh, too," Alicia comments.
"Can we just drop the subject?" Kuja irritably states while his face starts to turn a slight shade of pink from annoyance again.
"Oooh... You like him, don't ya?" Brianna looks at Kuja's face in amusement.
"Urgh," Kuja looks away after flashing Brianna a glare.
"Yay! Kuja loves Bla-ank! Kuja loves Bla-ank!" Brianna sings happily.
"Hey," Blank puts a hand on Brianna's shoulder, "Be nice. We should concentrate on who sent that monster after us. "
"OK..." Brianna sulks. She doesn't even notice Blank is starting to blush a slight bit.
WOOT! Alright! I made it to Chapter 5! Don't be fooled. Blank hasn't actually caught on to the fact that Kuja really does like him. Oopsies, I shouldn't have told you that... Oh, well! Read & Review! Tell me what you think would be good for the next chapter. I need some help to think of how Kuja will flirt with Blank (anything that could turn out really funny). I have to introduce Vivi's kids, too. Oh, and I have to mention Sir Fratley sometime...