April 2nd, 1820, Gaia One.
8:55 A.M.
"Why won't they answer our calls..?" Mikoto mumbled. A single drop of sweat was running down her brow as Zidane and Freya barged into the Gaia One's bridge.
"Maybe our radio is busted?" Cinna ventured through the intercom.
"Gaia One, Gaia One, this is Madeen!" Eiko's voice blared through the loudspeakers, debunking the brigand's theory. "You seein' this shit?! Over!"
"... No offense, Miko, but I'm no stranger to smuggling runs, and we ain't packing enough heat to deal with two AT-MOS frigates at once," Marcus commented from his post at the main battery.
"Maybe Eiko could give us a hand? Summon a giant flea from outer space or something?" Cinna suggested.
"Whoa, slow down, guys! Chill!" Zidane cut in, horrified at the prospect of preemptively shooting down his own troops. "Can't we just shake 'em, Miko?! You said this was the fastest ship on the planet!"
"Maybe we could, but Eiko is both too close to them and outnumbered... she would get gunned down if we stepped out of line..." Mikoto stated as her thumb hesitatingly hovered over her microphone's talk button.
"Fuck..!" Zidane spat, raking his fingers through his hair in desperation, and then he squinted when he noticed something weird in the rear camera's video feed. "Wait a minute... Miko, look at the lead ship!"
The scientist's eyebrows arched up as she glanced at the floating holographic display; one of the pursuing frigates had caught up with Eiko's ship, but instead of attacking, it was gently flying in a zig-zag pattern next to the Madeen.
"Looks like they're trying to convey a message..." Freya commented. "A threat, maybe?"
"Not yet... they're ordering us to follow them," Zidane answered.
"Gaia One, Gaia One, this is Madeen!" Eiko called through the radio. "Can't believe I'm saying this, but we're being intercepted by none other than the Pluto Knights! Over!"
"The Pluto Knights?! Are you sure?!" the Genome squawked, deftly stealing the microphone from Mikoto's hands, much to her surprise.
"Unless I'm hallucinating Dojebon's ugly mug, then yeah, he's most definitely waving at us from his ship," the princess of Lindblum claimed. "Poor guy's aged like fine milk, yikes... over."
"Aw c'mon Eiko, it ain't his fault he's aesthetically challenged. What the hell is he doing so far from the castle, though..?" Zidane wondered, scratching the back of his head in utter confusion.
"My thoughts exactly..." Freya commented, her furrowed brow betraying her concern. "Why them? Why here?"
"... Well, there's only one person in Alexandria who could and would have sent Dojebon to fetch us... and that's Dagger," the king answered, increasingly unsettled by the idea. "Miko, get ready to change course, please; we're following them."
It wasn't hard for Zidane to figure out their destination after tailing the Pluto Knights for a while, but he couldn't think of any positive reason why Garnet would have led them there.
"Shit..." he muttered as the walls of a stone fortress carved into a cliff came into view.
"What is that?" Mikoto asked, marveling at the sight of the strange hanging stronghold.
"That's the Birdcage, a relic from the civil war," the king consort stated. "It used to be a bunker for the royalty, for when things got too spicy at the capital, but it hasn't seen any actual use in over a century. Just what is Dagger doing there..?"
A collective shudder ran down the backs of the crew.
"I don't know, brother, I don't like this at all..." Mikoto said, reluctantly keeping their flight course steady despite herself. "What if Bishop is luring us into yet another trap? Nobody will know what happened to us if we get ambushed in the middle of nowhere..."
Zidane smirked.
"If they're planning to catch us, then they better bring a big fucking net because two master thieves, the smartest woman alive, a demigoddess, half the Madain Sarian pantheon and Cinna are heading their way," he declared confidently.
April 2nd, 1820, the Birdcage, Alexandria.
9:25 A.M.
Like a flight of majestic iron dragons, the three airships docked in the Birdcage's ample port amidst the roar of engines and turbines. As the tempest subsided, Queen Garnet hurried to the suspended catwalk leading to the quays, escorted by the Regent of Lindblum, Cid Fabool, and the recently reformed Royal Guard.
As soon as he noticed his wife approaching the Gaia One, Zidane leaped off the airstair and closed the distance between them in a heartbeat, a year's worth of pent-up longing threatening to tear his chest asunder. Garnet didn't hesitate either and dove into his arms with such force that a lesser man would have been knocked cleanly off the platform. Then, they melted into a long, passionate kiss, court etiquette be damned.
"Geez... I can practically smell the prose going purple right now..." Eiko sighed as she politely declined her foster father's offer to carry her hefty travel bag, fearing the exertion would end up injuring him. "Thanks dad, I can do it myself."
"Sometimes I feel these two live in a literary genre of their own," Marcus added with a smirk.
"You have no idea how much I've missed you..." Zidane blurted out, lovingly caressing the queen's visage. "When the Pluto Knights intercepted us, I... I thought..."
"Too much has happened today, honey, but we're fine..." Garnet interrupted him, fearing the full truth would trigger yet another Trance outburst.
Having him so close made a realization dawn on her: Zidane had... changed.
"... Oh, wow... you've put on some muscle... was your hair that long this morning..?"
"T-This morning..?" the Genome stuttered, still grappling with the fact that all those months spent at Reis's realm had felt like mere hours to the rest of the world. "Hey, where's Tot? He sleepin' or somethin'?" Zidane deflected Garnet's questions with a more important one.
"The journey has left him exhausted, poor thing. He's taking a nap in our bedchamber," she carefully worded the prince's condition after his near-death experience with the anti-Burmecian insurgents. "Hey, guys! Glad to see you all in one piece!" She half-joked at the Gaia One and Madeen's crews, trying to brighten the mood, but her cheerfulness took a nosedive when she noticed the pitiful state Brahne's magical armor was in. "F-Freya..? W-What happened to you..?"
"Uhh... the biggest marital dispute of all time..?" the knight nervously jested, dreading the ramifications of thrashing one of Alexandria's national treasures.
"Oh, and we got ambushed by that Lani chick, but Freya literally knocked some sense into her. She's on our side now," Cinna chimed in, fresh out of the pocket dimension he seemed to disappear into whenever he was being ignored by everyone else, which happened quite often.
Garnet blinked dumbly at them for a moment as Zidane and Freya mentally cringed at the year-worth of adventures and overlapping godly gambits they would have to explain to her.
"We're going to need a lot of tea for this conversation, aren't we..?" the queen sighed.
After a lengthy catching-up session with her old Mist War comrades plus Mikoto, Garnet personally showed her guests around the fortress before stopping at the entrance of the guests wing.
"Here, you may catch your breath until the assembly is about to commence. Our allies are scheduled to arrive in a few hours, so you may wash yourselves and maybe even get some sleep," the queen explained as she distributed an assortment of keys among her friends. "Sorry if the bedchambers are a bit dusty and cramped... the staff's quite overworked preparing everything for the Summit, and we weren't expecting you so soon..."
"Eh, I've surely had worse, Your Majesty. 'Sides, I've already washed up this morning, thank you," Cinna commented, eliciting a knowing snort from Marcus and Zidane.
"Uh, don't worry 'bout us, sis" Eiko said. "Papa and I will stay at the Madeen with my crew until the call comes."
"We'll be supporting you at the meeting in the name of Lindblum, my dear," Cid promised with a nod of his snowy, balding head. His magnificent mustache still defied the pull of gravity, pointy and vigorous as ever, allowing him to retain some of the regal presence that his ailing body seemed to conspire against.
"Much appreciated, Uncle Cid, Eiko. I'll make sure fresh food and water are delivered to your ship as soon as possible," the older Summoner replied with a grateful smile.
"Thanks, sis, you rock. See ya, guys!"
"Uh, we don't mean to disrespect your hospitality, Garnet, but Mikoto and I will return to the Gaia One. Someone needs to keep a close eye on Lani," Freya excused herself.
"Even if she's in a sealed chamber, leaving her unsupervised isn't a good idea," Mikoto added.
"Will you two be okay by yourselves..?" the queen asked. "Wait, no, I'm not taking any risks. I'm sending my best soldiers with you..."
"That won't be necessary, my friend. If I'm forced to fight Lani again, I'd rather have room to subdue her without others getting caught in the crossfire," the knight answered.
None too convinced, Garnet relented, letting out a disheartened sigh. "I still can't believe what Bishop and Ulrich have done to her... to all those innocent people... to think that history will repeat itself if we don't garner enough support to stop them..."
"But we will," Freya interrupted her before leaving, as her hand landed reassuringly on the queen's shoulder. "We'll stand together against them, like in the old days, and people will listen. We'll make them listen."
Royal Bedchamber, the Birdcage, Alexandria.
12:30 PM
"So, an Emergency Summit, huh..." Zidane sighed once he was finally alone with his wife and son, who slept soundly on the large master bed. "Dunno why, considering all the stunts the Royal Council has pulled so far, but I still find it kinda hard to believe that they would openly support a bunch of genocidal racists just to screw us over..."
"Bishop and her associates must have been setting up this coup for decades... layers upon layers of bribes and shady alliances, everything to make Alexandria implode and crumble..." Garnet mused, folding her arms. "Mikoto's involvement and Eiko potentially finding dirt on the Alexandrian collaborateurs at the smuggler hideout must have thrown a serious wrench into their plans."
"Have our scholars already deciphered those weird papers Eiko brought back from the forest?" *1
"Not yet. Still, they must be really close to cracking their encryption if the Council reacts so unsubtly..." the queen deducted. "They knew we'd be coming for them as soon as we had proof of their involvement in the invasion, so they're going all out in a last-ditch attempt to seize control of the kingdom..."
An awkward silence grew between the couple as Zidane cradled Garnet's hands and stared inquisitively into her eyes for a moment.
"... What? Is there something on my face?"
"C'mon, Dag. You already know what I'm about to ask."
Garnet frowned, rather confused, and then her eyes widened as her face went through several shades of red.
"Seriously..? Right now..?" she hissed, quite annoyed at his poor timing... even if a part of her actually wouldn't have minded blowing off some steam.
"Wait, what? No! I didn't mean... I mean..! Shit, that didn't come out right, hahaha..." Zidane fumbled over his words with unusual sheepishness.
Garnet chortled at the misunderstanding, and her husband joined her, albeit awkwardly. "What is it then, darling?" she asked, wiping a tear from her left eye.
The king sighed, still reluctant to confront his wife, but it had to be done.
"... We both know Mildred the Butcher too well, Dag. There's no way in hell she'd let Tot off the hook completely unharmed. Besides, that's no mere nap; he's barely breathing," he stated, gesturing at the slumbering prince. "Please... what's going on?"
Garnet folded her arms defensively, her brow dangerously furrowed.
"You'd better not be accusing me of lying about our son's health, Zidane Tribal, because I'm in no mood to deal with that kind of crap right now!" she exclaimed. She hated herself with a passion for withholding the truth from him and Zidane's broken voice wasn't helping matters either, but she felt she needed to remain strong for everyone's sake.
"No, no, I didn't mean it that way, honey..." the prince consort sighed, lowering his eyes as they welled up. "I... I know you're omitting stuff because you're afraid I'll Trance out and go on a rampage. Can't blame you after all I've done... but please... I've worked really hard to make sure it will never happen again. Freya can attest to it!"
The queen's lower lip trembled as her resolve wavered, and Zidane could tell a storm raged on within her heart and mind. After pondering her course of action for a moment, she sighed and reluctantly put her faith in Reis and Kuja's training.
"... Remember when I told you we fought Mildred and her followers at the castle library?" she confessed with a quivering voice. "That's... kind of a half-truth. Our son, he... he slaughtered most of them before we arrived. Only the Butcher and Lady Kildea survived."
The Genome stared blankly at his wife in utter shock.
"I-Is he..?"
"... Like you? No, not exactly... he's more like... your brother..." Garnet replied, biting her lower lip. "I know some people can still harness the power of Black Magic despite the absence of Mist, but... he burned the rebels to a crisp single-handedly, and then finished them off with a Blizzaga spell."
Zidane choked on his own spit.
"W-What..? B-but... no way..!" he stammered between coughs, craning a bewildered stare at the unconscious boy.
"I saw their still writhing bodies, Zid, impaled on ice spikes the size of pillars..." the queen recalled, her delicate visage contorted into a mournful expression.
Robbed of his usual eloquence, the king found himself unable to hold back the tears anymore. War was no longer at his doorstep; it had barged into his home and forced his child to kill in self defense, yet another tragedy he had proven utterly unable to prevent.
"I know what you're thinking... stop right now," Garnet said, gently holding her husband's hands.
"But it's true..."
"The only truth that matters is that you've never stopped doing your best, as a father, as a king, as a husband and friend," the Summoner summarized with aplomb. "You are neither invincible nor infallible, just like everyone else. That's part of being human, you know?"
Zidane uttered a disheartened chuckle.
"I ain't human, remember?"
"Really? That's no way to honor Vivi's teachings, don't you think?" Garnet retorted, cradling her husband's face.
Vivi. They had mostly stopped using his name long ago, originally because of the sheer grief his passing brought to them, and then out of an inexplicable sense of reverence. As if by not mentioning him, they could pretend he was on a long journey of sorts, and would one day come back to them as a grown man.
"Vivi..." Zidane sighed, slowly sinking in his chair. "Maybe the Black Mages and the Genomes are more similar than we thought..."
"Daddy..? You're... back..." a weak little voice interrupted their conversation, causing the royal couple to exchange surprised glances, automatically forget what they were talking about, and rush to their son's side.
Despite his otherwise simian agility, the king was so overcome with emotion that he tripped along the way and nearly fell face-first to the floor, causing Garnet's heart to skip a beat. None the worse for wear, he picked himself up and embraced the half-conscious prince so tightly that the boy thought his ribs would crack under the pressure.
"Oh gods... I've missed you so bad, buddy..." Zidane blurted out, trembling uncontrollably.
"Dad... you're crushing me..."
"Ah..! I'm sorry..!" the king gasped as he loosened his grip, suddenly understanding what Freya was going through after receiving the mark of the gods. "You okay, son..?"
"I'm okay daddy... I missed you, too..." the prince replied with a tired smile, snuggling against his father's chest.
"... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... I'll never let you down like this again..." the king hiccuped, holding the boy as if he was made of sand and could slip between his arms for good at any moment.
Grinning brightly for the first time in a while, Garnet joined in the hug with a tad too much enthusiasm, causing the whole family to collapse in a laughing heap over the ruffled sheets.
As the laughter gave way to cheerful conversation, the queen stared at her husband and child in contemplative silence, running her fingers through her son's raven hair before reaching for Zidane's hand. "This is what's at stake... this is what I must protect..." she thought, her soul seething with grim determination. No matter who or what stood in her way, no matter the cost, she wouldn't stop fighting until they were safe.
Until her home was safe.
Folkvángr
Sitting on a cliff, overlooking what used to be the golden domain of Lord Berlioz alone, Gizamaluke took a moment off his ever-busy schedule to bask in the warmth of its illusive sun.
His mother's plan had succeeded; the two celestial realms were already halfway fused, and Gaia's Master Crystal's radiance had proven amply capable of sustaining Folkvángr for eons to come.
He wondered if the denizens of the now-joint afterlife would have trouble co-existing, considering their vastly different outlooks and the injustices that they had been subjected to in life, but given that change is always difficult, some slight growing pains were to be expected if it meant everyone got a final shot at choosing their ultimate fate.
Besides, what's the worst they could do? Killing each other?
"Not gonna lie, I'm pleasantly surprised by the beauty of your father's creation," Lady Reis commented out of the blue, having made one of her infamously stealthy apparitions.
"A little too lavish for my tastes, but it will do," Gizamaluke answered, a lopped smirk on his lips.
"Oh, you know ol' Berlioz, always overcompensating for what he's lost," the goddess cheekily added. "It's nice to see him return to his old self, though, even if he's still quite rough around the edges."
"Tsch... so, what now, mother? Things aren't looking well back on Gaia..." the dragon prince asked, dead-seriously. "Bishop played Ulrich like a fiddle. She managed to pin the blame of her own actions on Burmecia to save face, and now the entire continent hates us again."
"No need to fret, son. If Freya could settle a centuries-old conflict involving your father, then she's more than qualified to restore the trust that Ulrich has foolishly betrayed," Reis answered. "She will need all the help we can provide, but I'm positive she'll succeed."
Lord Gizamaluke smiled ever so slightly.
"The Black Mages came to me this morning, bringing some decidedly curious news," he said, changing the subject.
"Oh? What did they say?"
"They claimed to have sensed a most unexpected presence in Alexandria. A pure, first-generation Black Mage, different from the mindless abominations that Bishop has created."
"You don't think..? Could it be him..?"
"At this point, I'm ready to believe anything," Gizamaluke said.
*1 This happened in Chapter 24 "Alone in the Dark"
Author's note:
Happy 4th Anniversary, The Last Cherry Blossom!
I can't believe four years have already passed! Whether you've been following this story since the beginning, or you've just found it, buried and lost, if you're reading this, thank you! You rock! :)
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