Chapter 3

The brand-new Prima II took off from the castle's airship docks. It was one of few newly completed airships on Gaia that ran on wind magic provided by black mages. Ever since the mist disappeared, old airships had lost their ability to fly, and their parts were being sold to build new airships. Lindblum's expert engineers had been working round the clock to produce more airship designs. The Prima II was the brainchild of none other than the Regent Cid himself, as a way of appreciating Tantalus' role in saving the world, as well as their work in helping to rebuild Lindblum.

The new airship was longer and flatter, but the mermaid; the airship's figurehead and the theatre troupe's lucky symbol, was replicated in perfect detail. The new stage inbuilt into the airship had more tricks and traps than ever before. Tantalus was currently hard at work scripting a play (and thieving scheme) that would make use of all their new toys.

"You should use the platform right here and trigger EX-13, then I would jump in from here and-"

"Nah, boy! Y'all reckon zee effects would wait for ya? Now da' way I see it..."

Zidane sighed as Marcus and Ruby squabbled over the timing of their aappearances.

"I told you guys not to follow," Zidane said, turning to his red-headed friend leaning against the doorway, "you should have stayed in Lindblum to perfect the play!"

"And let you fly our stage away?" Blank retorted, raising an eyebrow.

Zidane sighed again. He knew that wasn't the real reason. His friends were worried for him, ever since he came back and refused to go see Dagger. However, he was worried for their safety. The guys were really good fighters, yes, Baku made sure of that, but none of them had any real combat experience, unlike him. And Ruby didn't even know how to hold a dagger! However, he was also glad to have them for company. He supposed he just had to make sure that none of them got hurt.

Yesterday night, after the black mage had gotten away, Zidane decided that he had to find out what was going on. The obvious place to go for more information was the Black Mage Village. He thought of "borrowing" the Prima II to get to the Outer Continent. But first, he had to go back to the Tantalus' hideout to grab some supplies. He did tell the other members that he had to leave to settle some things, but made no mention of the airship. His friends had insisted to go with him, but he vehemently refused. To prevent them from following him, he had walked out of Lindblum, doubled back to stay at the inn for one night, then sneaked onto the Prima II early the next morning. Who would expect that the whole Tantalus gang was waiting for him at the steering room when he got there? They knew him too well.

With three days to spare before they reached the Outer Continent, Zidane joined in the rehearsals of the troupe. He had missed them tremendously, during both his chase after Kuja and when he was stuck in the Iifa tree. He relished the thrill onstage and their sneaky endeavours offstage. The adrenaline rush when they had to keep in perfect time, lest their play failed and their actual ploy got discovered.

In their latest remake of "I Want To Be Your Canary", Zidane and Blank had a sword fight scene where they were to make use of fancy sword techniques and special effects to captivate the audience, giving the rest time to search around the nobles' homes. The new sword choreography was complicated, fast, and entailed a certain amount of danger. Zidane and Blank were alone on the stage going through the movements in slow motion, building the muscle memory needed to pull the act off. Zidane thrust his longsword at Blank's head, and Blank did a back flip out of the way. In retaliation, he raised his right hand in a flourish of power, and at this point, a green fireball was supposed to explode in Zidane's face. Zidane fell to the floor in mock injury.

"You know," Blank said as he brought his sword down slowly in a finishing move while Zidane rolled out of the way in slow-mo, "I heard that the Queen of Alexandria had refused all handsome and politically powerful suitors. Rumours go that she had already fallen in love with an ugly pauper. Maybe you should finally show your ugly face to the people of Alexandria?"

Zidane winced at the damage to his reputation, got to his feet and pointed his sword at Blank. "Hearsay! I have the looks of a prince, but alas! I am but a commoner, never to be worthy of a Queen!" He jumped and struck down at Blank, who allowed the tip of the blunt sword to brush across his chest. Blank brought one hand to his chest as if in pain, and thrust his sword arm at Zidane, missing him by a large margin, "If even the Queen does not mind, who are YOU to speak about status?"

"Precisely the point!" Zidane yelled, all his bottled up frustration flowing out, "We will always have a difference in status! The one I love is Dagger, not Queen Garnet!" He grabbed Blank's outstretched hand, while Blank pushed off the ground to aid him as he swiveled Blank over his shoulder and threw him on the ground, perhaps with more force than he intended.

Blank hit the floor of the stage with a loud thud and groaned. At this point in the script, he was supposed to relent and let Zidane step past him. Instead, he sprung up immediately and swung his sword at Zidane. Taken aback, Zidane raised his sword in defense and managed to deflect the attack, but not completely. The blunt sword hit his shoulder, not hard enough to draw blood but enough to leave a nasty bruise later on.

"Queen Garnet is Dagger! Stop treating her as if they were separate people! Do you know how hard it is for her, not knowing whether you are alive or dead?! Stop being a coward and go face her!" Blank shouted at Zidane.

Zidane was enraged. How could Blank lecture him when he didn't understand his feelings at all? Blank had never even been in a serious relationship before! Zidane gripped his sword and charged at Blank. Metal clanged as the two swords connected. The two of them separated and charged at each other again. They exchanged a flurry of blows, neither gaining an advantage as they were evenly matched with a longsword, but Zidane had much more stamina than Blank, which was expected after the battles he had gone through. Blank struggled to keep up with Zidane's advances. He put up his sword again to block Zidane's slash. The two pushed against each other, neither retreating. Blank ground his teeth and willed himself to hold on, as he his muscles screamed in protest. Zidane felt Blank faltering. He used a burst of strength and pushed Blank back. Blank overbalanced and fell. Zidane used the flat of his blade and slapped Blank's sword away. He brought the tip of his sword to Blank's throat.

The sound of clapping echoed around the empty stage. Both of them turned as Baku walked over to them. "Alright, boys! Was that the new choreography? That was great!" he exclaimed.

The two looked at each other. Blank couldn't help but snicker. Soon, Zidane joined in as well and the two of them burst out in uncontrollable laughter, much to Baku's bafflement. Zidane flopped down beside the youth who was practically his brother, while trying to catch his breath from laughing too much. He felt better after the fight.

"I want to be her canary, but I don't want to be kept in a cage."