Final Fantasy 9

Disc One, Alexandria

Festivities had been raging for many an hour before the play started. And most of the guests were glad to have a rest from the dancing and merriment that had occurred, and watch the famous play. It was Princess Samara and Princess Garnet's birthday, and in honor of their birthday, Her Majesty, Queen Brahne, held a giant festival, for they were turning 16.

The entire kingdom attended and enjoyed themselves…all except the Princesses. They both shared the same foreboding feeling, and assumed that it had something to do with their birthday. Garnet had noticed their mother's secretiveness and alarmingly happy attitude. Their father, The King had died no more than two years ago and she had shown near to no emotion over it.
Samara noticed the same and more. A strange man had been coming and visiting their mother most often, and every time he came, she and her sister were sent out of the room. Samara had brought up her worries to her personal guard and best friend, General Beatrix, but with no avail. Beatrix knew nothing about the man, and could not say why the Queen was not upset by the King's passing.

"Maybe the Queen is shedding her tears out of your view, and keeps a stoic face to show you and your sister that we all must persevere and move on like our loved ones want us to do." The General suggested.
"Yes…maybe that is so…But that man…he worries me immensely..." Samara replied earlier on her birthday as Beatrix helped her get dressed.

"Understandable Princess, but please try to put him out of your mind. Today is your birthday! Forget all the negative." Beatrix said happily then faltered at the serious look on Princess Samara's pale face. "At least for today."

Samara had nodded and allowed Beatrix to finish fastening her dress and then swept out into the party.
Now she and Garnet sat next to each other on the Royal Balcony, watching the play. Samara was vaguely aware of several pairs of eyes on her, and slowly she looked around. She saw that many of the townspeople, and Trenoian nobles were watching her, eagerly, and she assumed that she knew why.

Samara Annalise Alexandros looked very different from her "twin" sister Garnet Til Alexandros. Garnet had dark ebony hair, warm cinnamon eyes, and a rosy complexion, whereas Samara had silvery-lilac hair, icy indigo eyes, and a fair, but beautiful complexion. Because of Samara's queer looks, the Queen kept her hidden away from all of the calculating and hurtful whisperings about her out-landish looks. But never mind all that, Samara had bigger things to deal with.
As the play went on, Samara noticed a sad look on Garnet's face and gently she rested a hand on her sister forearm.
"Dear sister. What ever is the matter?" she asked of Garnet softly.
Garnet shook her head.

"Nothing Sami." Garnet whispered back, using the informal pet name for her sister. "I just realized that I misplaced my pocket fan. Sister, will you escort me to my room, so that I may fetch it?"
Samara gave Garnet a queer look, but nodded all the same.

"Yes sister. Come let us hurry. I shall be very upset if I miss any of our delightful play." Samara replied, standing, gathering up her long ivory skirts and sweeping into the Royal Balcony Hall.
As she and Garnet headed towards Garnet's room, Samara looked at her sister.

"And what was that all about?" Samara asked.

"What do you mean? You were the one who was acting." Garnet replied.

"True...but...what's really going on? You do not even own a hand fan." Samara said suspiciously.

"Pocket fan and I shall tell you as soon as we get to my room." Garnet corrected as they got closer to her room.

"..Yes, yes." Samara said an irritated note to her voice.
Garnet opened her bedroom door as soon as she and Samara got to it and slipped inside, pulling her sister in after her.
Samara stumbled into her sister's room and whirled around to look at her.

"Alright. What is wrong Garnet?" Samara said finality in her voice.

"..I…I am running away Samara." Garnet replied swiftly, as she walked over to her closet and opening it.

"WHAT? GARNET ARE YOU INSANE!" Samara gasped, staring wide-eyed at her sister.

"No. I'm just through with just sitting here and doing nothing to figure out what is wrong with Mother." Garnet replied, taking off her medium teal and sky blue Princess Gown and replacing it with a white long sleeved blouse, a sleeve-less tight orange jumpsuit, red gloves and red boots.

"…What is that getup?" Samara asked incredulously.

"…My escaping outfit." Garnet replied, a bit hurt.

Samara gave her sister a soft smile.

"It's wonderful Garnet." She said.

Garnet grinned. "Good, because I have one for you too."
Samara gave Garnet a worried look.

"It doesn't look like yours does it?" she asked.

"I look horrible in orange."

Laughing, Garnet shook her head.
"No. Here's what I have for you."

Samara looked down at herself and blushed. The outfit Garnet had put together for her consisted of a violet-red miniskirt, a violet-red halter top that had on strap going over her left shoulder and a pair of soft, dark brown boots. In addition to this, Garnet had her own White Mage's cloak, which was pink and white, while Samara had her Specialty Mage cloak which was purple and black.

"My god. Mother would shoot me if she saw me." Samara said softly, checking herself out.

"I know, I know. Now hurry. We need to board the Prima Vista before the play is over, unless we want to walk to Lindblum." Garnet replied, slipping the short cloak over her head and flipping the hood up so that her face was covered.
"Lindblum? Are we going to consult Uncle Cid then?" Samara asked, following suit.

"Yes. If anyone knows what to do, it is Uncle Cid." Garnet answered, poking her head out of the door, and looking both ways for any signs of life.

"Yes…the coast is clear…let us go." Garnet said, as she and her sister slipped out of the room and down the hall to the Secondary Staircase.

When the two Princesses got to the stairs, they started to go down, when a soldier came bounding up the steps, and came to a screeching halt when he near bowled the two over.

"WHOA! Geez! Sorry about tha-…wait a minute. Who are you?" the soldier asked suspiciously.

This soldier was surprisingly handsome, with dirty blonde hair blue-green eyes and an amazing smile. What surprised Samara the most was that this soldier had a tail.
"N-No one of your concern. Now let us pass." Garnet said nervously.

"Well now I don't know about that. You look really familiar to me…have we met before?" He replied circling the two.

"No. I o not know you." Garnet replied, a little taken aback by the sudden question.

"Now let us pass you hooligan." Samara spoke up, sounding irate.

"Hold on there...I think you're right Miss…I would never let two pretty girls get away." the soldier laughed

"WHY YOU-"Samara was interrupted, when another soldier came running up the stairs.

"Hey, Zidane! Did you find the Princesses yet?" the 2nd soldier asked.
Samara gasped, as she grabbed Garnet's hand and ran, jumping over the 2nd soldier's head and barreling downstairs.

"Blank! Get up quick those were the Princesses!" the soldier named Zidane called. "Likoto! They're coming your way!"

Likoto? Samara thought absently as she ran, by this time she hand released her sister's hand, but was still running.

Just as she thought this she was tackled by a small but powerful entity.

"AHHH!" Samara growled as she rolled down the Main Staircase, fighting her attacker all the way down.
"SISTER!" Garnet called.

"GO! I shall catch up later!" Samara called back.

"The hell you will!" exclaimed her attacker, which sounded female.

Finally, the two came to a halt on the threshold of the Staircase and Samara was alarmingly aware of all the nobles there who were uninterested in the play and were milling around, and chattering. She was also aware of the strange man, the very same strange man who visited her mother frequently, standing nearby, watching her tussle with this young girl. Silently she thanked Gaia that her hood was still up.
Now Samara looked at the girl who tackled her, and saw that she resembled the soldier who accosted her and her sister on the first staircase. She too had a tail.

"Likoto right?" Samara asked kindly.

"Yea." Likoto replied, a little warily.

"Sorry to cut this short but I really must fly. Halt!" she said, casting the Stop spell on the young girl, before running down the last few steps and disappearing into the stunned crowd.

"NO!" Likoto squeaked, as she tried to move, but with no avail.
"Here. Dispel." said a smooth, slightly feminine voice from beside her.

Slowly turning, Likoto saw a man with long ivory-lavender hair and piercing sapphire eyes. He was strangely dressed, and looked a bit sinister.

"Go quickly, your friend is escaping." he said, helping her to her feet.

"…Thanks…" Likoto said, turning and running out of the Main Entrance.

It's not for you dear Likoto…it's for me.


Samara ran as fast as she could through the Alexander Gardens, trying to find her sister, when just ahead of her, Likoto came scrambling around a corner.
"GAIA BLESS IT!" Samara cursed, coming to a complete stop and running back towards the castle, where she saw the man leaning against the doorway, an odd smirk on his face. Not willing to go any where near him, Samara stopped once more, looked at Likoto and held her hands out in front of her.

"Oh hell no!" Likoto said getting into a defense position and glaring at Samara.
"Oh my god! The Guard is coming!" Samara gasped pointing over Likoto's shoulder.

"AHH!" Likoto turned around quickly.
But there was no Guard.

"AW DAMNIT!"

Samara ran deftly up the Northern Tower steps chasing the soldier who was chasing her sister. Who were these people, and what did they want? Soon she reached the top of the tower, and ran around the opposite side to reach her sister. Garnet nearly collided with her sister.
"Samara! Quick, onto the ledge!" Garnet exclaimed, climb onto the edge of the tower wall.

Quickly, Samara did the same, just as Zidane rounded the corner, and came to a halt in front of the two.

"N-Now Princesses, please don't jump." Zidane said calmly, stepping forward a bit.

It was then that Garnet slipped something into Samara's hand. It was one of those little ropes that had festive flags on them.
"…Ready?" Garnet whispered.

Samara gave her a slight nod.

"NOW!" Garnet cried falling backwards off the wall.

Samara did the same, turning perfectly in the air, so that she could see where she was going.

It was then that Samara saw Garnet's personal guard, Adelbert Steiner flying after them, on one of the flag lines as well, following Zidane who hadn't missed a beat.

As quick as she could, she released the line and fell gracefully onto the over hang that covered the band. Garnet fell next to her and they both swung onto the band platform and ran through the door adjacent to them. Gracelessly, the two girl whizzed by an unfortunate aqua haired girl, and down another flight of stairs into the downstairs part of the Prima Vista.

Garnet looked around franticly for a way out, but there wasn't one.

"Oh no!" Garnet gasped.

"Ok you two! Hold up…stop bloody running for a minute…are you two really the Princesses Garnet and Samara?" Zidane asked, running in after them breathlessly.

"Well…yes…yes we are." Samara replied. "What do you want with us?"

"Um…well…We are here to kidnap you…"
"…What?" Samara asked flatly.

"We were going to kidnap you…and take you back to our base in Lindblum." Zidane replied.

Garnet flipped her hood off of her head and smiled faintly at Zidane.

"In that case, we shall go with you." She said.

Samara also took her hood down and looked at Garnet.
"Are you sure Sister?" Samara asked nervously.

"Yes, I am very sure-" Garnet was cut of by a vigorous pounding on the door.

"Princesses!...princesses? PRINCESSES?" Steiner yelled, pounding even more.

"They have come for us!" Samara and Garnet said in unison, pulling their hoods back on.

Suddenly, out of the adjacent room came a scary looking man, heading straight for the three.

Samara gasped and ran behind Zidane, Garnet following her.

"Oh! Hey Cinna." Zidane laughed.

"Oh…" said Samara faintly. "Is this a friend of yours?"

"Yeah. I know he doesn't look pretty, but he a good guy." Zidane replied.
"Hey man that hurts! I wash up everyday you know!" Cinna said sounding a bit hurt.

"Heh, I know Cinna I'm just giving you hell." Zidane replied kindly. "We need help. We have unwanted followers and we don't know how to lose them."
"Heh, I knew something like this would happen. So I built a handy little escape hatch." Cinna grinned, turning and darting into the next room.
Zidane turned and smiled at the two Princesses.

"You didn't happen to see my sister Likoto did you?" he asked Samara.

Samara nodded slowly.

"I did. Very persistent, no?" she replied.
"Thanks Princess. You're just as bad. A literal Royal Pain in the Ass." said a disgruntled voice from above.

Samara looked up, just as the girl, Likoto jumped down from the overhead rafters.

"Hmmm… you think so?" Samara said softly, an angry glint in her indigo eyes.

"H-Hey now you two. Save the fight for later. Right now, we need to alert Boss and tell him to speed up the play. If the Queen finds out that the Princesses are gone too soon, we'll be very muchly screwed." Zidane said stepping in between his hot headed sister and the stormy Princess.

Likoto nodded at her brother. "Let's go Princesses."
The group followed Cinna into the small room off of the Thieves Hall. In side the room, they were met by a large table in the center of the crowded room. Samara curiously looked around. Alarmingly, she saw no doors and no windows.
"Master Cinna…where is your "handy little escape hatch"?" She asked nervously.

"Ha ha! Right here.!" Cinna replied, as he began to stomp.

"Open!" STOMP "Sesame!" STOMP STOMP.

The table flipped over, revealing a large hole that, seemingly led down to the Boiler/Engine Room of the Prima Vista.

"After you Princesses." said Zidane.

"Right. Come Garnet." Samara said jumping down into the hole, Garnet and Likoto following her.
Soon after, Zidane and Cinna jumped down into the hole.

"Come on Princesses. Follow me." said Cinna, taking off.
Samara and Garnet exchanged worried glances and looked back at Zidane, who nodded encouragingly.
Zidane, Likoto and the Princesses followed Cinna through the winding confusion of the Engine Room.

"Where exactly are we going?" Garnet asked.

"We have to get to Boss. So we're going to go through the area under the stage, and come up next to play itself." Zidane explained.
"W-We are going to be on stage?" Garnet asked nervously, her face ghost white.

Zidane nodded. "Yup. But don't worry. If we do this right, no one will be able to see us."

"Oh good." Garnet said, looking relieved.

"Just a bit further-." Zidane was cut off as Steiner slid down a pole near them and blocked their exit.

"Princesses! Thank god I have found you. Don't worry, I shall protect you from these brigands." he said drawing his sword, and pointing it at Zidane.

"Yes Princesses!" said the soldier that had accompanied him. "We'll get you out of here don't worry, just let us tale care of this rust ol' knight."

Steiner whirled around to look at the soldier.

"WHAT! YOU ARE THEIR ACCOMPLIACE!"

Steiner gasped.

"Sure am." the soldier replied taking off his helmet to reveal that he was actually Zidane's friend Blank from before.

"Go on ahead with the girls Zidane. Blank and I will take care of this dude." said Cinna, taking out his giant hammer and getting into battle position.

"Alright. Be careful though." Zidane said as he grabbed Samara's hand and pulled her over to a little elevator, while Likoto did the same with Garnet.

"NOOOOO! HALT I TELL YOU!" Steiner called as he engaged in a fierce fight with the two bandits.

"Yeah right like that'll get us to come back." Zidane muttered as the elevator moved up, and they suddenly found themselves on the stage, in the middle of the play!

"Uh oh…" Zidane whispered.

"…What uh-oh?" Samara asked.

"We're not supposed to be in the middle of the play! We're supposed to be on one side of the stage!" Zidane replied.

The man who was playing King Leo in play, came over to the two, just as Likoto and Garnet appeared behind Zidane and Samara.

"What the hell is going on Zidane?" he asked, sounding angry.

"We've got the Princesses, Boss. Wrap this thing up quick!" the boy replied urgently.

"Ruby refuses to perform after being knocked over twice! We need some one who can play Cornelia and her sister Dahlia! Likoto was supposed to do it, but she doesn't look like she'd do well. Sorry Likoto." Boss replied.
Zidane turned to Samara and Zidane.

"Can either of you by chance…act?" he asked quickly.

Samara nodded. "Yes, we have studied Drama."

"Good! Quick act out the death scene, before the Queen gets suspicious." Zidane replied shoving the two gently out to where the other performers were.

Garnet turned to Marcus and clung to him, and recited her tearful lines. And the play went fine…until a tiny Black Mage came bounding across the stage, pursued by Alexandrian Soldiers, and Steiner came up out of the same elevator shaft, that the others had came out of previously.

"Ho, what's all this?" he asked looking around confusedly.

"Why it's Prince Schneider, come to wed the Princess!" said King Leo, walking over to Steiner and leading him over to Garnet.
"M-Marry the Princess! ME?" he stuttered.

"Of course! It is the only way." Leo replied.

Garnet in turn looked at Leo desperately.

"Oh Father! Please! I do not wish to marry the prince! Please let marry my dear Marcus!" she begged.

"Marry that brigand! Never! You shall marry the Prince, and your sister, the Count!" the King replied, pulling Zidane over to them.

"I shall not let you trouble my sweet Cornelia's heart any longer, evil King Leo! Have at Thee!" Marcus cried, drawing his sword and running to Leo.