Disclaimer- I don't own Final Fantasy IX or any of the characters in the story.

Author's note: I might no be able to update for a while because my little brother's getting surgery and I've been charged with taking care of him while he recovers. I'll update again as soon as I can.

Chapter 4: Unexpected Emotion

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"Lani? What are you doing here?" Zidane asked. He stepped off the table and stood at the other side of the table as her.

"Rescuing you." she said, placing a grilled fish on the table in front of him. Zidane's mouth watered at the very sight of real food. He greedily went for the fish, grabbing at it with his bare hands.

"You really were hungry weren't you?"

"Mmf" Zidane said with his mouth full.

After putting about half of the fish in his mouth, Zidane swallowed and took a few deep breaths. "Thanks Lani, but why are you in Madain Sari?"

"After Red chased me out of the Eidolon Wall I was forced to camp out a few miles away from here. Later that evening he found me and told me that if I ever came near any of you again he'd kill me."

"Amarant said that?"

"He said that he wanted to finish you off himself."

Zidane rolled his eyes. "That sounds like him."

Lani had a distant look on her face. She stared at the ground as if in thought. Zidane recognized this expression. He had caused it plenty of times.

"You like him don't you?" Zidane asked.

"What? That punk?"

"I know that look." Zidane said, going back to his roots of hitting on girls.. "I've seen plenty of girls look at me like that."

"Hmph," Lani scoffed and walked back into the kitchen. "So what?" she said from the other room. "There's no way he'd give me a chance."

Zidane followed her. The kitchen was the same as it was before. A cutting block on a table to the left and two ovens off to the right. Pots and pans were scattered everywhere. There was also some chairs sitting on the small porch which overlooked the waterfall just beyond the small room.

"That's not true." He said. "He might not seem like it, but he's a different person now. I'm sure he'll at least listen if you talk to him."

Zidane noticed that Lani had the same distant expression on her face as before, but this time it was much sadder. Zidane changed the subject in order to lighten the mood.

"You still haven't told me why you're here." he said.

Lani walk over to the walkway leading to the room below and leaned on the ropes used as a guardrail. "Well, I tried getting back to the Mist Continent, but Fossil Roo was blocked and the Alexandrian Fleet was destroyed right before my eyes. I became so weak after wandering around for days. Then the moogles here rescued me. That's when I realized I've been selfish all my life."

Hearing Lani talk about her unexpected exile, Zidane realized he didn't have a plan to get back home. He hadn't put any thought into it and had merely assumed that something convenient would come by.

"It's so wonderful living with the moogles. I haven't thought about money once since I've been here. I'm glad things turned out the way they did."

"But now you're stuck on another continent away from everyone you know. Doesn't that get to you at all?"

"I didn't have any friends." Lani snapped. "I made my living by hunting people down and killing them! That's all. I have nothing to go back to."

After giving Lani a second to calm down Zidane asked "What about Amarant?"

"What about him?"

"I know you like him. Even if you won't admit it."

"Do you ever stop talking?"

Zidane leaned back against the wall. "Nope." He answered with a smile.

Lani looked at him with a scowl and turned to walk down the stairs into the small storage room below the kitchen. Zidane walked to the platform with the two chairs and sat in the one closer to the waterfall. After a minute Morrison came to stand by his side. All the other moogles of Madain Sari were behind him.

"Excuse me Zidane," Morrison began, "But we all believe it would be better if you helped Lani leave Madain Sari."

"Really?" Zidane responded. "But why?"

"Although none of the moogles mind her being here, it's not healthy for her. She should be out living an enjoyable life rather than condemning herself to a life where she suppresses her feelings for those she cannot see."

Zidane was set back. Morrison was rather well spoken for a moogle.

"Please," he continued. "Help her leave the village and return to those she loves."

Zidane took a minute to consider the seriousness of the situation. Lani would be a valuable ally against the monsters they would inevitably fight on the way home, but she was unpredictable, as proven by the argument just few minutes ago. Zidane thought to himself. The best way to convince Lani to leave would be to give her a few more minutes and then apologize and promise to help her out however he could.

"Sure," Zidane answered Morrison. "I'll help her."

"Thank you Zidane." Morrison said.

"Besides, I can't leave a girl helpless like this." Zidane said standing up.

Zidane turned to walk down to the lower room. As he entered the room he saw that it had been turned from a somewhat of a storage room into a small bedroom for Lani. She was sitting on the bed facing away from the door looking out at the cliffs.

"Lani?" Zidane began.

"I've been thinking." Lani said. "The only reason I became a bounty hunter was because I never had any friends when I was a kid."

Lani turned and Zidane could see that she had been crying. This was a side of Lani that no one had ever seen before.

"Everyone always picked on me because I was more athletic than them. I could even beat all of the boys in my neighborhood in a race. I got shunned because of it."

Zidane still stood in the doorframe. He was touched by Lani's story. He had always assumed that she was a raving lunatic with a big axe. Lani really had human emotions.

"But then you come along, acting like you care."

"I do care." Zidane protested.

"Bullshit!" Lani yelled. "Nobody cares about me. No one ever has, no one ever will."

"Maybe if you gave someone else a chance, they'd turn out to be nicer than you thought."

"But I tried to kill you!" Lani began. "I've set traps, I've fought you, I even kidnapped that small purple haired girl and used her for ransom. You should hate me!"

"But I don't." Zidane put he hand on Lani's shoulder and smiled his best smile at her.

"I don't understand you."

"You sound just like my brother."

Lani managed a slight grin from this, then turned and looked out at the cliffs again.

"Tell you what," Zidane said. "Come with me back to the Mist Continent." Lani looked at Zidane in surprise. She really didn't understand him. "When we get back, we'll find Amarant and I'll help you get a date with him."

"What if he says no?" Lani asked skeptically.

Zidane thought for a moment then smiled and said "Then I'll let you kick my ass."

Lani smiled back in appreciation for Zidane's kind thought. "Sure." She said, brushing away any signs of tears from her face and changed her smile from a kind one to a jokingly evil one. "But tell anyone you saw me like this and I'll kill you where you stand."

Zidane laughed. "Agreed." He turned to leave, intent on finishing that grilled fish from earlier.

"By the way," Lani said, stopping him in his tracks. "I saw some writing down at the Eidolon Wall that you might want to check out."

"Really?" Zidane asked. "What does it say?"

"I didn't get it. I think it would be easier if you saw it yourself."

Zidane nodded and walked out from Lani's room to the Eidolon Wall. The last time he was here was a little before he left with Garnet, Vivi, and Eiko to the Iifa Tree. He never really paid the wall much attention since he couldn't summon and it wasn't really important to him, but it was important to the summoners and to Garnet and Eiko. He stepped carefully when he entered the circular room, trying to be as respectful as he could. A lot of the wall was cracked and worn. Finding whatever Lani was talking bout would take some effort. However, after a few minutes of searching, under a fading picture of what appeared to be Ifrit, he saw:

I survived the storm.

I wonder if you two are okay?

I see the two of you smile

every time I close my eyes.

I imagine I see you

when I open my eyes.

I have a mortal wound.

I won't be able to wait

for you very long.

I regret being so unemotional

for all these years.

I'm writing down everything here

in the hope that you'll read it someday.

To my dearest wife Jane,

Although we fought many times,

and I may not have shown my affection

enough, I love you very much.

To my beloved daughter, Sarah,

My life changed when you were born.

You made me happy.

These are the things I want you to know.

Zidane couldn't believe it. Zidane recalled the memory he saw in Memoria of the woman getting into a boat with a young girl during a storm. He was on a small bridge over the two as he saw the two board a small boat which was falling apart with rags for sails. The girl mentioned in the passage, Sarah, had to be the same person as Garnet. Dagger's real name is Sarah? Zidane said to himself in disbelief. Garnet's father had written this message so that he could tell his daughter that he loved her. Zidane placed his hand on the wall, on top of the writing.

I promise I'll bring her here one day.

The Next Day.

"Are you ready yet?" Lani belted out at Zidane as she waited by the entrance to Madain Sari.

"I'm coming, hold on." Zidane said as he came running up towards her. Zidane and Lani had been given backpacks full of food and supplies by the moogles. They would easily last a week out in the wild with what they had now. And with Zidane's new plan of getting past the guards at Conde Petie, he could be by Garnet's side in less than a month.

"Took you long enough."

"Geez, sorry."

"Whatever. Let's go."

All the moogles stood waving goodbye to the two visitors.

"Goodbye!"

"Have a safe trip!"

"Tell Eiko to visit us!"

"Kupo kupo!"

Zidane and Lani set off, heading back towards the city of the dwarves and their way back to the Mist continent.

Meanwhile…

Kuja had been walking all night looking for the spot on his map. It was a badly drawn map with everything either scribbled or horribly out of scale. Not to mention how his improper nourishment was weakening him. Kuja could survive out in the wild for a long time, but the food available really didn't suit his pallet. There was nothing but roots and various plants, but Kuja didn't really worry about himself. He had a mission.

After days of searching and massive confusion from the bad map, Kuja had finally found the location on his map. He grinned to himself.

"Soon."

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Krimson- Too tired to think of a skit this week. Sorry.

Damien- Why do I always end up asking this? Please Read and Review.