Hi! This is my first ff9 fic on the site. I hope you all enjoy it. The idea for this came when i was playing in Dali. That part when Zidane was telling Dagger the story about the "Kings". Well this story sorta spawned from that.

Also another note is that after about half way into the third chapter i did alittle more research and found that most of treno's residence family names are like "Bishop" and "King" so I'm just gonna sorta work around it.

Well enough blab, heres the story!

One For The Money

Chapter 1

Treno was a place of mystery, there was no denying that. It was a place of hopes and dreams, a place where the wealthy tipped their hats at one another and sauntered away into their well tended water front fortress-mansions, into the hands of several personal servents payed to attend to your every need. Where the talk was of gold and riches and the jokes were of money. It was where the largest problems were of ones own selfish desires and their position on the social ladder. It was a place that sparkled in the night sky as the moon does over the blue waters; seemingly with out a single true worry.

But to say that this place was with out worry would be to say that it days were long and the nights short. Treno seemed to be a place dipped in eternal night, where not only the glamerous lived but the sodden penniless made their sad homes. They were people who worked themselves numb to the bone. There were no jokes of any kind, and people no longer had hope for anything other than their own uninspiring lives.

Yet, even under still; were the lowlifes of Treno. Where the merciless bandits and cold-blooded murderers and mercenaries ruled. Where the rich stepped away from the glitz and ran a sinister underbelly of the city, doing things that dared not to reach the top. Doing things to make sure it would never reach the top.

Treno was full of the wolves in sheep clothing...

"For the last time Zidane Tribal, stop playing with that fringe!" Garnet slapped Zidane on the shoulder in annoyance as her blonde companion dropped his hands to his side.

He looked at her and whined, "It's itchy! All this high and noble clothing is giving me a rash."

She gave him a quirked eyebrow and he dropped his complaint. "Alright alright, I get it, it won't kill me." He looked back over at her, she rolled her eyes. "Besides," He began again, "I make these look good. "

She couldn't help smiling this time. She gave his hand an affectionate squeeze as they strolled down a beautifully crafted cobblestone path. Why the sudden trip to Treno, Garnet had yet to devulge to Zidane.

So with the suspence utterly killing him, he asked, "So...what was the 'oh so important' business that we had to imediatly take a private airship to Treno with out telling anyone but the guards and castle servants?"

Garnet smirked.

Zidane rose his eyebrows, impressed but not surprized. "Knew it."

Garnet held her head up in a sophisticated smile as if to justify her actions. "I merely thought that a little time away from the castle would do us some good. I mean, as spacious as our palace is, it can still be quite confining compared to our adventure some fourteen months ago. Also I know how much you are bothered by the servants, and then theres those gossipers about Alexandria, and--"

"Time for a coffee break?" Zidane bottom-lined for her.

Garnet let out a heavy sigh and said, "Yes, precisly."

Zidane gazed at her. She wore a very fine velvet red gown that curved around her upper body and fluffed out from lower waist to her ankles. Vining and twisting its way up the dress were beautiful embroidered black roses. He did so love to see her in red, it was a color that perfectly complimented her. Around her neck she wore a choker that bore a large garnet. Wether or not that was the garnet that held the legendary King of Dragons he was unsure. But, unless Garnet was expecting to summon on the first pick pocket to come with in three feet of her, he highly doubted it.

But as his eyes left her magnifacent body he saw the look she carried. It was a look that, unlike the dress, didn't suit her one bit. The look that told him she alone carried the weight of the world on her back and there was nothing she nor he could do about it.

He gave her a reassuring smile and said, "Don't you worry about the gossipers, what do they know?"

"They know that the Queen is in romance with an actor from Lindblum," She said.

Zidane was silent, searching for what to say next.

And though it pained her, Garnet continued, "and they have a rather troubling point."

Zidane turned his head back to Garnet's eyes. "What point?"

Garnet locked her eyes with him and said, "One of royalty must wed royalty (or nobility) or else forfiet the crown."

This was not the first time the subject of getting married had come up. They both wanted it, though it has never been out rightly conversed. Zidane thought on her words and then with a clever smile, he answered her dilemma, "Oh, but my love, I am a prince."

Garnet sighing, guessing where this was going, said "I don't think a Prince of Thieves, qualifies, and I don't think it would hold well in the people of Alexandria."

Zidane let out a small laugh, "No. Even if it's true, that's not what I ment."

"Then what?"

"I'm the Prince of Terra," He stated bluntly.

Garnet opened her mouth to object to whatever he would have said but she quickly closed her mouth, contemplating, "You know, your right. That could actually work! Well, except for one little detail..."

"What?"

"You would have to devulge your story to the public...the whole story, what Terra is, where you came from, maybe even your relationship to Kuja, or else you'll never be accepted..."

Zidane gently wrapped his arms around her and whispered lovingly into her ear, "We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

Garnet let it drop, completly relaxing in Zidane's embrace. One of the few things in the world that she knew of that could send her away from the harsh world was his warm protective arms.

They stayed like that until they reached their destination, the Auction House, at which point Zidane let her go only to open the door for her. She obliged the courtesy, leading them in to their seat in the third row.

The auction had yet to begin, several of the behind the scene workers were still moving and adjusting some last minute touches. Making the showcase pretty in hopes of catching some good coin on the sales.

James Willmott was one of the owners of the Auction House. Him and three others had ran the house since about a year ago when the original owners suddenly and mysteriously passed on.

He was supervising the workers setting up the last table of trinkets when he recognized someone he knew in the crowd. Despite the shocking nobleman appearal and company of Queen Garnet herself, it was undesputably him.

One of the sniveling peasants that cost him nearly every gil he ever had.

Willmott almost dropped the papers he was holding in complete shock. He blinked serveral times and shook his head.

That could just look like him, He thought.

There was no way after all, that such a filthy peasant could ever be in the welcoming company of the Queen of Alexandra.

Unless the rumors were true... He had come acrossed the gossip that the Queen was being courted by some no-named actor from Lindblum. It was something he wrote off immediatly as prepostorus. The royal family? Certainly not.

Perhaps he was mistaken, it could be someone else. It was a great theory until he saw the tail. "It really is the little urchin..." He whispered to himself.

He quickly flipped out his pocket watch and checked the time. Ten minutes until the auction. Just enough time.

He gave one last meaningful glance at the tailed scoundrel's direction and hurried off stage.

He had to tell the others.