A/n: Thanks to all the usual suspects- Pilotsolver, Malevalla, Neo Nao Neo, Beastiewolf, Lori, La Llama and TookBaggins! I really love getting such wonderful reveiws from you all! I feel all fuzzy. On a personal note, this is my favorite chappie... I'm know I'm not supposed to pick favorites, and it seems a little big headed of me, but I just needed to voice the opinon. Doesn't have to be your fave! I'm just... babbling, really. -.- Oh, and the apoligy for One's character on the last chapter... I thought he sounded a little stupid, so that's why I apoligised... I guess I was wrong! So glad you liked it... well, read on!

Disclaimer: The Chara's of Final Fantasy IX are not mine, and never will be. sighs Depressing, wot?

Beautiful Equilibrium

Black Waltz Three's claw-like hands tightened on the steering wheel of Fenreal, feeling the tension running through him, the anger. It shot through him like a current of electricity, the voltage ripping at his flesh, his eyes flaring with it. The target was set square in his sights- The cargo ship's bridge. He pushed the speed to it's capacity, zooming past the hull, then turning sharply, throwing his hand out. He grinned evilly to himself as he saw the little mage standing isolated on the ship deck- why not change targets? The ship would go down anyway! He heard his voice in his head as he felt his lips chanting the familiar words he had grown to love.

'I exist only to kill.'

"Thundaga!"

A blast of lightning burst forth from his outstretched claws, heading straight for the unsuspecting, terrified mage. The Waltz prepared himself to see the fried, charred corpse on the rotting planks of the cargo ship- but something happened. Little as he may be, the mage threw up his hands- Three knew he didn't see the mage move his mouth when fire red pentagrams appeared beneath him, painting themselves out of their own accord- then shattered like glass. The Firaga that was never summoned tore through the seemingly pathetic attack of the Black Waltz, and straight onto Three himself.

This was the first time he had ever felt fear so overpowering where he could not move his limbs. His whole body went rigid as his slanted crimson eyes almost went to orbs, the empowering Firaga inches away, his mind numbing into a small voice heard in the back of his head that sounded almost like his as he watched the dread attack come closer-

"I don't want to die..."

Three sat up suddenly, his eyes wide in the darkness, his whole body shivering violently. He took a gasp of air, swallowed it, and wrapped his arms about him, willing the fear to subside... after a while, it did, as always. He closed his eyes, calming himself, then opened them, taking in his surroundings.

The cave had collapsed on itself in the front. He expected this, since he had seen it. But... when was it that he went unconscious?

There was a small fire a few feet from him, giving off a substantial amount of light and heat, but besides that, nothing but dirt and rubble.

Slowly, he went to stand- but gritted his teeth to stop from crying out in pain. He looked down at the offending appendage- his right arm. Instantly, he blinked. It was wrapped. White material bound his forearm, from his elbow to the tip of his middle finger. It was tight, and for good reason; it felt as though his whole arm was split in two. He growled in obvious pain, but checked out the rest of him... he was unhurt, besides the arm, the important parts of his tunic and pants still intact, hat still on- he glances around before he checked his mask- good, it was still engaged. But... He glared at the crude bandage on his arm. Who could've...?

"...A-awake already?"

Three was up with an outstretched hand towards the voice, just to realize that he, too, had a hand in his face. Beyond his claw, he could see the glowing amber eyes of his most hated enemy; Vivi Orunitia. The mage was looking at him from the corners of his eyes, glaring equal malice as the Waltz was dealing out.

There they stood for half an hour before either of them spoke.

"This is p-pointless." Vivi muttered, glaring.

"So you say, Mage." Three growled, lowering his face for added threat. "Keep trying to save your life, it will do you no good."

He shook his head, but didn't take his eyes off the taller figure. "And you can keep on with the threats, b-because you don't scare me."

Three grinned sadistically. "Mn hm, I see. That's why you haven't bothered to fire a single shot at me, Mage."

Vivi countered. "Neither have you, Waltz."

Ten minutes ticked by second by second in silence.

"I've said it once b-before." The teen said slowly, "This is pointless."

"What makes you think that?" The Waltz growled irritably. In the forty minutes of standing, his arm had suffered the blood rushing back to it, adding on more pain to the shattered limb.

"Because w-were stuck here with each other." He replied darkly, "There's no way out. I j-just came back from checking around. If either of us kills the other, they have to live here with the carcass for Ramah knows how long."

"I can live with that." Three lied.

Vivi smiled sarcastically. "Besides... we need each other."

The Waltz laughed mercilessly. "What idiotic notion gave you the slightest idea that I needed you?"

"Because." The mage explained patiently. "We don't know who's going to rescue us."

Crimson eyes narrowed dangerously. "Explain yourself."

"It all depends on who rescues us. If I kill you-" Three snorted. "-and the other Waltz's rescued me, they'd kill me. If you killed me and my friends rescued you, they'd kill you."

The realization hit him dead on. This presented a problem, to be sure. The chances of his brother's being able to rescue him themselves were slim, given A.) the size of the landslide and B.) the number of their party. From what Three saw, curtain after curtain of stone and boulder had crashed in before them, and as far as he knew, there were only three waltzes, one of which, him, was trapped. Then again, the chances of his kin going to get help from Vivi's friends were also minimal- if they didn't have the right leverage, they'd be slaughtered. The fact of the matter was, however, that the other Waltzes need help, and the dark winged figure knew they had no one else to go to besides Vivi's former teammates.

Three knew Vivi had a point, and he also knew that Vivi knew he had made that point. But he couldn't let him get away that easily.

"But what if I killed you, and my brother's rescued me." He grinned, raising a confident brow. "Then I'd get away with your death Scot free."

"No," the mage corrected, a bit less confident than Three, " My family and friends at the Black Mage Village know the route I took. If no one hears from me, they'll come looking. And I guarantee you they'd find you and kill you."

Another silence. Neither of them knew exactly what point this was making, standing at the ready, but both of them knew they didn't want to back down first. After an hour and twenty three minutes exactly, Vivi broke the silence again. "We both put our hands down on the count of three. Agreed?"

"...fine."

"One...two...three." Vivi's hand went down- Three's stayed up. He gave the startled mage a bone chilling grin. "Checkmate."

"That wasn't fair!" The mage yelled, narrowing his eyes. "You cheated! We agreed to-"

"Cheated!" The Waltz repeated, almost as if he didn't believe the teenager had said it. "Cheated? You think this is a game, Mage!"

"You were the one who said 'Checkmate'!" He cried, outraged.

Three narrowed his eyes. "What does that have to- it's an expression! Game over, end of the lin-"

"You said it again!" Vivi pointed out, slapping Three's hand away from his face. "Game over! Just now, you made a reference to this being a game!"

There was an expressive wing twitch. "It's a figure of speech. Game over, Checkmate, I sunk your Red Rose, whatever, it's all a figure of speech for 'I'm going to kill you now'. Happy?"

"Not p-particularly. You shouldn't yell at me for something you did too. It's contradictory."

Three crossed his good arm moodily, saying in an annoyed nasal tone, "I'll be careful in the future, damned- what am I, you're father?" He glared back at the mage, but Vivi didn't seem bothered anymore. In fact, he had a small smile lingering in his eyes. The waltz glared. "What?"

He pointed at his crossed arm wordlessly. Three blinked, but growled inwardly. "Shit."

Vivi's smile was a sly one as he sighed. "Look, I really do think that we should try a-and get along for however long we're here."

The Waltz shook his head. "How do you suppose we do that? I'm sure we can both agree that each of us would like to see nothing better than each other's guts smeared across the walls."

"I'll tell you h-how we'll do that." He frowned, crossing his arms. "We're going to set down some rules. Number one you already violated- no threats."

Three had a face of pure disbelief as he shook his head wonderingly. "...now you are making this into a game."

"I-is there any other way to do this!" Vivi yelled, his patience growing thin. "Because frankly, I c-couldn't figure out another way from stopping myself from m-murdering you in your sleep!"

"What!" Three snarled, his good fist clenching. "How long have you been awake!"

He shook his head. "I don't know exactly... I'd say about four hours."

Finally, the mage had found something that Three had absolutely no reply to. He looked away, evidently furious- but it seemed almost as if he were mad at himself. "...Fine. What are your Bahumut-forsaken rules already."

Vivi almost smiled to himself. He had won one! But... somehow, reading the look on the Waltz's face, his victory... wasn't as sweet as he thought it would be. "... Alright. One, no threats. Two, no attempts on each others life. Three, no insults. Four, if you leave the camp, you have to let the other know where your going."

This caught his attention. "Why? Seems a bit stupid."

"Because," Vivi muttered, sitting by the little makeshift fire close by, "that way, one person can't sneak up on the other one. If the occupier sees which direction the other goes, there's no way the leaver can sneak up on the occupier."

Three narrowed his eyes, sitting on the other side of the fire. "You think about these things way too much."

"Mn." He replied dumbly, as if dismissing the subject. "Fifth and foremost, A-absolutely no magic unless needed for survival. This includes fights against monsters, b-but magic against each other is prohibited."

The winged form shrugged carelessly. "Alright. But only until this over. Agreed?"

The mage shot him a dubious look.

He sighed frustrated. "I mean it this time."

"...alright. Only until this is over. After that..."

"Free game." Three grinned, the malevolence returning to his voice.

†

Black Waltz Two closed his eyes blissfully as he leaned over the railing of the famous airship the Hilda Gaurde 3, smiling a bit as the soft night air caressed his face. After what seemed like hours waiting alone at the docks, the Bermician Knight Freya had returned to them, relaying the message from Regent Cid and Lady Hilda.

A message that did not make One happy.

At the moment, the pacifist's companion was leaning with his back against the railing, gently ringing the little golden bell, back and forth, back and forth... soothing as it was, the people who knew One best- Two and Three- knew that it wasn't so much a soul calming practice as it was an angry proclamation.

"...you know," He started slowly, stifling the bell with a fast jerk of his hand, "I understand why Cid put us on the airship to Alexandria-"

"To watch us while his soldiers and Freya contact Zidane and Queen Garnet." The taller waltz interjected smoothly.

The other didn't seem to notice. "-and I get why he limited us to staying on the deck-"

"So we don't cause trouble on the other parts of the shi-"

"I wasn't asking you!" One growled, glaring at him suddenly. "I just said I knew why! Why would I need confirmation to something I already know!"

Two blinked, mild mannerly. "Just in case someone else was listening in."

There was an un easy silence.

"Continue, please." The robed waltz whispered cheerfully, glancing over the side again.

"A-anyway..." The hunched figure narrowed his eyes a bit before going on. "I don't understand, though, why they would send the brat child along with us."

Silence.

"You can answer now, Two."

"Oh. Well..." He bit his lip, turning comprehensibly. "I suppose it has something to do with her relationship to Vivi. I herd Freya talking with her a few minutes ago, she seemed intensely worried about him."

One blinked. "Where was I?"

Two shrugged.

"Disturbing..." The belled waltz muttered, but shook his head. "I can't think of why. Why would the Princess of Lindblum worry about something as insignificant as a Black Mage like Vivi?"

Two sighed. "Erm, Hito? You probably shouldn't say things like that here. For one thing, you shouldn't call Vivi insignificant, because he is kind of the unspoken hero of Gaia, and for another, calling Princess Eiko Carol-Fabool a brat child really won't help our situation if someone hears you."

"Well fuck the Eidolon's, Dyuetto!" He growled, the bell giving off a muted clang in his closed palm. "What the fuc-"

The waltz slapped a hand over his mouth as a few Lindblum soldiers passed them, Two smiling nervously and the human's passing uneasily. Once gone, the brother released One's mouth.

"-supposed to just roll over and call her the greatest Princess ever! I don't think so!"

He sighed. "No, don't go that far. Just be respectful for once in your life and we might get away from here with our lives."

"Good advice from a murdering fiend."

Both addressed waltzes glanced up, watching Freya approached them slowly, her spear still slung threateningly over her shoulder. She wore no expression, but her fists were clenched at her sides as she glanced at the shorter of the two. "You might do well to heed his counsel."

"Hn, It never did do me any good before, Dyuetto's advice." One muttered sourly, upset that they're conversation had been interrupted, more so that it was Freya that had interrupted it. "What do you want?"

"I came to relay a message." The Dragon Knight said civilly, "Princess Eiko would like you to know that she can hear every word you say from her cabin deck directly above this one, so you might want to watch what comes out of your mouth, Waltz."

He growled. "I say what I want, rat. It would do you an ounce of good to remember that instead of your dammed courtesies."

Freya let a low snarl escape her before Two cleared his throat. "U-um, Lady Freya? If I could, maybe have audience with Princess Eiko to apologize for my brother's behavior?"

The Bermician eyed him distastefully. "...fine." She turned wordlessly and walked down the deck.

The taller waltz glared at his companion. "Hitotsu, you do one stupid thing and I'll kill you myself, got it? Stay here and don't make a sound."

He bared his teeth back, although only the other Black Waltz, who knew how to read these expressions, knew he was doing it. "Yes mother." He hissed.

"Thank you." Two grinned, turning and jogging to catch up with Freya at the staircase. "I'll be back!"

"Yeah yeah..." One growled as he turned, resting his elbows on the speeding airship railing. By this pace, they should be in Alexandria by morning, defending their lives against the fury of General Beatrix's Regime and Captain Steiner's Knight's of Pluto, not to mention baring the icy stares from Queen Garnet and her suitor, Zidane Tribal. The waltz shivered, thinking of the words exchanged there.

("Hey, it's that bastard from the Ice Cavern!")

("Whoa, that monkey tailed freak from that one place!")

Slice. Off goes One's head.

Wonderful.

Not for the last time that night, One sighed, shaking his head as he glanced back in the direction of the forest his brother was trapped in.

"Three... you better be grateful when we get you out of there... or, at least... alive."

†