Chapter 2

Zidane grinned to himself as he headed toward the Tantalus hideout in the Theatre District. He had not lost his touch, he thought as his opened the girl's purse and looked through its contents. Just a few Gil, dirty old receipts and nothing in the way of identification. Nevertheless, he knew that she would be after him in no time. He could see it in her eyes. When she caught up, he would return the purse to her with an elaborate bow, then ask her out for dinner, his treat. She was pretty cute, after all-

...wait. His Dagger was still waiting for him. He had promised her. He had a headache and a heartache all at once just thinking about her. He loved her so much, it pained him to be separated from her for so long. But she was no longer Dagger. She was Queen Garnet now. She had a whole nation to be responsible for. And he- He would always be a street thief, a free man, a peasant unworthy of the Queen. After two years of separation, he still couldn't quite gather the courage to face her.

"Stop! Thief!" came a cry from a distance behind him. He looked back, expecting a chance to save some damsel in distress, only to find the hooded figure whose wallet was in his pocket. Oh shit. He didn't expect her to catch up THAT quickly. By reflex, he turned and ran.

"Oof!" suddenly he bounced off something in front of him and landed on the floor. A split second later, a heavy blade came down aiming for his head. He scrambled away just in time and the blade hit the ground harmlessly. He looked up to see his boss, Baku, take another swing at him. He jumped backward and pulled out his twin short swords in one motion. The two grinned at each other as they went at it, neither one giving way to the other. Metal clanged against metal.

Zidane gave a yelp as he felt a burning sensation on his thigh. He thought that he must have had gotten nicked by Baku's sword at some point. It was only after a moment that he realised that his pants were actually on fire! He hopped around frantically, trying to extinguish the fire while fending off Baku's relentless sword thrusts.

Somehow, he managed to fish out the burning item in his pocket and threw it on the ground. He and Baku stared at it, he in wonder at why the girl's purse had spontaneously burst into flames, and Baku at why in the world Zidane had such a girly item in his possession.

At this worst possible point, the hooded girl went up to Zidane and extended her hand out to him expectantly. Zidane could only look at her, point at the purse burning merrily on the ground, and shrug helplessly. The girl was horrified when she recognised that her purse and the Gil inside were being burnt to a crisp. She shot him a look of pure hatred, and strode off angrily.

"H-Hey! I'm sorry! Wait!" Zidane called after her. She only walked off faster.

"Gwahaha! You lose!" Baku gaffled.

Zidane sighed, slumped his shoulders and looked at the ashes on the ground. A corner of a photograph caught his eye. It must have been stashed in a secret corner of the purse. He bent down and picked it up. The photo had been badly burnt, but he could distinctly see... silver hair. Alarm bells went off in his head. He snapped his head around, looking for the girl, but she had already left. Instead, he thought he saw a shadowy figure in a pointy hat dart around a corner.

"Damn this is bad, this is bad!" Zidane yelled as he took off after the black mage.

"What's so bad?" Baku scratched his belly as he watched what was the equivalent of his adopted son go.

xxxxx

She stomped down the path angrily, her vision blurred by frustrated tears. The light from the setting sun glinted off the stray strands of her silver hair. She wanted so much to be like other girls, to work hard in the day as shopkeepers or waitresses, and laugh and flirt with a cute guy or two at night. But if she took off her hood, people would stare at her strangely and point at her behind her back. She couldn't understand why. And now that horrid thief had burnt all her remaining Gil, for his amusement, she supposed. Sigh.. it was going to be another long night for her in the streets.

She slowly made her way toward the Industrial District. She had her own little corner there, right by the factory that stuffed pillows, cushions and the like. If she was lucky, she could get a nice little broken mattress to sleep on. A bonus about that District was that there would not be anyone around there at night to look at her with suspicious eyes. There was always those like her, homeless and wanderers, but she could always scare them into submission. She fingered the dagger that she always kept about her and scowled. They were all cowards.

The last of the workers stepped into the air cab leading out as she turned the corner into the Industrial District. She looked around and was glad to see that she was alone. She may be adept at handling herself, but that didn't mean she enjoyed intimidating people. She checked in her favourite corner -and yes! There was a relatively nice-looking sofa thrown there. She sat down gingerly to test it. The stuffing was a little thin, but it held well. She tried to lie down on it. There was a broken piece of wood that dug into her back, but if she shifted her position and avoided that, she could make herself quite comfortable. Finally, she had some good luck for the day.

She pulled the heavy hood off and gazed at the stars. She imagined that her brother was looking at the same stars, somewhere in this world, or even beyond. Her brother had been missing for two years now. It was not as if she could not live without him; he often left her alone in their home for days on end, but this was the first time that he had been gone for so long. So she travelled to look for him. It wasn't as if she was worried about him- no, never, he would laugh at her if she did that- she was just tired of being alone.

She watched her hair glitter in the moonlight. The silver reminded her of her brother. She sighed. Her brother did always warn her not to leave their home, saying that Gaia was merciless, difficult, treacherous. She was always jealous of him having the chance to travel the world and explore all wonders, while she could only read about the same wonders in their library. Now she realised that he was right. She thought it would get easier over time, that she would eventually be accepted, but it had been two years and people did not go any easier on her. Now she was too far away from home to give up and travel back before she found him. She had considered cutting all her hair off, but she couldn't bear to do that. Her brother loved her hair, almost as much as his own. She sighed again and closed her eyes.

Suddenly, she heard a rustling sound. Her eyes shot open instantly, only to find two large glowing eyes glaring at her menacingly. She started to scream, but the mage immediately smothered her with a smelly cloth. She tried to twist and turn and pull the mage's arm off her, but to no avail. Frantic, she pulled her dagger out and swung it wildly. It only cut shallowly into the mage's arm, but he yelped in surprise and loosened his hold. She rolled off the sofa and onto her feet. The mage recovered quickly and tried to tackle her down. However, she was agile if not strong, and managed to free her hand holding the dagger. She took a swipe at his face, and the mage stepped back to avoid being cut. Taking the chance, she broke free and ran.

Angered, the mage let loose a fire spell. The girl tried to dodge as the air exploded around her. The fire missed its target, but the force of the blast sent her hard into a wall. Pain shot through her shoulder, but she picked herself up and desperately tried to get away before the black image could charge up another spell. But he had the advantage of range.

"Demi," he chanted as he moved his hands fluidly through the motions needed to cast the spell.

She felt a heavy sensation that started from her chest. A small circle of dark light emerged from the centre of her body and spread outward rapidly. The gravitational magic pulled her to the ground. She felt as if her whole body was being pulled into that dark circle. The pull grew in intensity till she felt as if she was imploding. She screamed in agony. Then, the pull on her was suddenly released. Her sensations exploded. Her body convulsed violently, then lay still.

xxxxx

Zidane stepped into the dark and lonely streets of the Industrial District. He had gone back to the market, combed the entire Theatre and Business Districts, but saw no sign of the girl. The Industrial District was the last place he had thought she would be at. There were no residential areas here, so the only lights were dim and in disrepair, and no soldiers patrolled the area at night. He held his short swords at the ready. The district was infamous as a breeding ground for gangsters, cutthroats and robbers after dark. However, it was unusually quiet tonight. That deepened his worry. Yeah, he had been through some pretty scary places, many tough fights and had almost lost his life more than once, but the atmosphere of this place was still getting to him.

He searched cautiously through the streets and narrow, dusty alley. Suddenly, there was a distinct scratching noise behind him. He whipped around, only to see a large rat foraging through some pieces of cardboard. The rat stared at him with menace in its eyes, squeaked angrily and darted off. Zidane laughed nervously at himself, scratched his head and wondered if he should return home. He must have been thinking too much that afternoon. The girl must be safe in her home already. He would find her in the market again tomorrow, compensate her for the burnt purse and Gil, and treat her to a meal as an apology. Yeah. he would do that. Zidane took a deep breath and started to make his way out.

Suddenly, a sharp scream cut through the heavy air. It stopped abruptly, but Zidane was able to gather the general direction of the sound. Adrenaline pumping, he sped off in that direction. Seconds later, there was a sound like a large thunder clap, followed by a flash of orange light just around the corner of the far end of the street that Zidane was on. A fire spell. He pushed himself to run faster. An agonized scream pierced through the silent alleys as he sped around the corner, skidding to a stop.

In the distance, he saw a figure with long silver hair writhe in pain, then lay still. A black mage with large yellow glowing eyes picked the motionless figure up effortlessly and slung her over his shoulder. He began casting a spell, moving his hands through complicated motions.

"Hey! Stop!" Zidane shouted as he rushed toward the black mage, weapons raised.

Startled, the mage's eyes grew wide as he saw Zidane approching him, fast. He completed the previous spell and immediately directed a low-level Thunder at Zidane. He jumped out of the way in time as lightning flashed from the sky. He was knocked off his feet, however, as the blast of electricity hit the ground. A column of green light surrounded the black mage. Zidane recognized it as the teleportation spell that the black mages had used in Cleyra. He scrambled to his feet, launched himself toward the mage and thrust his sword out- only to strike thin air. The black image was gone, girl and all. He kicked the ground in frustration. Damn, if he had been just a little faster...!

A girl with silver hair, abducted by an awakened black image.. Zidane did not know what this all meant, but he had the feeling something bad was about to happen... again.