Bold/Italics: Song Lyrics

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Final Fantasy IX content, only Feona and my song lyrics.

Summary: Garnet grows weary of Zidane's true nature and forced him to go back to Lindblum to rejoin with his family in Tantalus. While he's in Dali, a familiar scene unfolds that reminds him much of his own a while ago...ZidaneOC bits of onesided ZidaneGarnet. Rating may change.

II: Xenophobia
The unduly fearful or contemptuous of that which is foreign, especially of strangers or foreign peoples.

It was passed dawn and the sun shined brightly from the sky. Zidane had gotten a room at the inn, and told Feona to meet him at the train station so they could leave. She seemed a bit reluctant to go but went on her way anyway.

"Is... that all you're bringing?"

"U-Um..."

Feona was stand not too far from him, her fingers holding a small dirty brown sack by its dark white strings. Her eyes were averted away shyly just as she had always done when she would find him staring at her. A slight nod of her head gave him his answer. He wasn't really one to talk due to the fact he didn't care anything at all with him besides money.

"Never mind - it doesn't matter." He told her, not walking her to start another small freak out like she did before. "Let's just get on the train before it leaves, hm?"

He reached his hand to grasp hers and felt her flinched slightly at the touch. He was going to pull his hand away but he could feel her lightly gripping it afterwards, her eyes still facing downwards. A smile tugged on his face and he started to lead them towards the train station, practically dragging her along since she was walking particularly slow.

The train was already at the station, the doors opened to let anyone on while stewards stood outside of them to collect the gil to get on. Zidane glanced down at Feona who was too busy looking at the train with widened eyes. He wasn't sure if she had brought any gil with her - he had forgotten to tell her, assuming she had already knew due to all the fliers she had yesterday.

Regardless, he had some gil that he had borrowed from Alexandria before he left, knowing he would need to take the train eventually. At the time, he just thought of getting the hell out of there. He just hoped they wouldn't notice and send an army after him - knowing Garnet's over precautions.

The monkey tailed boy stopped in front of the rather short ticket man. He looked up at both of them, flickering from Zidane to Feona. "Two people?" He said out loud before holding out his hand. "That'll be three hundred a person." The blonde almost winced at the price but rummaged through his pant's pockets anyway.

Feona had a tight grip on his hand with both of her own, looking at the train and kept her eyes away from boy in front of them. There was a nervous look on her face and she looked like she was about to run back to the village, but didn't make any moves to do so.

"...You kinda look familiar." The ticket boy said suddenly, causing Zidane to pause from his search and blink. "I could have sworn I saw you in the newspaper or something a while ago." That made the blonde freeze up. He had been in many pictures with Garnet due to the fact of them being together. He didn't think he would be recognized so soon; after all it was only five pictures or so that he had actually been in with her.

He let out a slightly nervous laugh. "Y-Yeah, well. Maybe I might have the same appearance as the person you're thinking of." He said, trying to end the conversation.

"No..." The ticker boy shook his head. "It was definitely you...I remember that tail of yours." Just as the sentence was said, his tail twitched. That was one of the reason he hated being the only Genome on Gaia.

He took out six hundred gil and placed it hastily in the boy's hand. "Here you are," He tightly held onto Feona's hand, causing her head to turn towards him. "Let's get on board." He said, pulling her on with him.

"H-Hey! Wait!"

Zidane chose to ignore him and walked down the aisles as far from the door as he could get. He didn't want people questioning him as to why he was here and not in Alexandria. He was sure they would figure that out soon enough by the Queen herself.

He slowed down, feeling Feona stumble a bit and turned his head towards her with an apologetic smile but she wasn't looking at him. She was looking at everyone else on the train, even more nervous than before. Her other hand was curled to her chest as she turned her head frantically from the right to the left. He had a feeling she just had some sort of fear with people rather than just the people from her village.

"Hey now..." He stopped, placing his other hand on her shoulder, causing her head to crank towards him in surprise. Did she forget he was there? "Don't worry - you'll be fine." He told her with a small grin while she averted her gaze downwards with a light nod. With that, he started to walk downwards once more looking for an empty booth.

The train had shifted forwards when they finally found their seats. Feona had jumped, looking around once more while Zidane almost chuckled at her rather clueless attitude. "You can relax, Feona. The train's just moving that's all."

Her violet-maroon eyes flickered over to him, blinking before she looked away with a sheepish look. "O-Okay..." She stuttered while he smiled slightly at her.

The whole time on the train ride, she was fidgeting with her fingers and looking either at the other seats or out the window. He knew the only reason she wasn't looking at him was because he was watching her. It wasn't that he was trying to be creepy, but he just wanted to make sure she was alright. She was a nervous wreck.

Remember

"Who is that kid?"

"Who is he? Don't you mean what is he?"

When you lost your way?

"Yeah, he's the only one with that stupid tail."

"What a weirdo...who has a monkey tail?"

And you couldn't be found?

"Yeah what a freak!"

"Get outta here!"

I went searching for you endlessly

"Yes, my angel of death. But only until you came of age."

"The body becomes a vessel, which greets a new soul..."

And I would say to you:

"Z-Zidane?" Feona's voice snapped him from his thoughts. He blinked his teal eyes towards her, looking a bit surprised while her eyes flickered away from him.

His tail slight swished from underneath him. "Is something the matter?" He asked her.

"U-Um..no." She answered him timidly while he tilted his head in confusion. There had to be something she had to say. She rarely spoke unless she wanted to ask something. Other than that, she was silent. Her eyes flickered over to him before instantly looking away when their gazes had locked. "Y-You were...just um...spacing out." She said, fiddling with her dress.

Zidane put his head straight. "Oh." He said lamely before giving her a slight grin, "Sorry about that. I was just...recalling something." He explained, glancing out the window as his grin dropped a bit and he stared into the morning sky.

"...Sad."

He turned back towards her, "Hm? Did you say something?" He asked her.

"Y-You looked...sad." She said, looking up at him. Her eyes seemed to want to look away but she kept them on him. "Y-You...still kind of...do." She murmured lowly, but the blonde had heard her. When she saw the sad frown spreading on his face, she instantly looked scared. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to..! I mean, I wasn't trying to..!"

Zidane placed a hand on her head, causing her stop her rambling. "It's alright." He said with a small smile while she stared up at him with blinking eyes. "You're right, I was." He ruffled her hair a bit. She really reminded him of a child. "I was thinking about something into a past that I didn't really need to remember." He moved his hand and leaned back into his seat.

"I-I'm sorry for asking." She apologized, bowing her head a bit.

The blonde merely shook his head. "There's no need to say sorry." He gave her a grin while her head rose up, blinking at him. "You don't have anything to do with it." A sheepish look appeared on her face as she gave a nod with a slight blush on her face, her eyes flickering off to the side. His grin merely spread to her reaction.

The train ride took about six hours. They had to stop off at the South Gate and Gizmaluke's Grotto. Each time they would wait for an hour before continuing to travel. Feona had fallen asleep half way there with her head resting against the window. Zidane had remained up, staring out the window as memories of crossing these lands with his friends came to his head.

"Feona..." He started to lightly shake her when the train had come to a halt. "Feona...wake up! We're here." She started to stir a bit before she sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and looked around tiredly with a confused expression. Zidane couldn't help but smile at her. "We're at Lindblum now." He told her.

Almost instantly, her eyes got wide as her head jerked towards the side, staring at the window. "R-Really?" She asked, obviously trying to look for any sign of the city.

"Yeah, but you won't see it on this side." He told her as he got up. She stood after him as he started to move out the booth. He stopped, looking back at her partly cowering form and held out his hand for her. She stared at it but took it with less hesitation than before and he started to walk towards the exit of the train.

When they stepped off, she started to hide behind him and held his hand with both of hers tightly. He smiled slightly to reassure her as he walked towards the opened gates of Lindblum. She occasionally looked over his shoulder to get a better look but the gates blocked at lot from this angle except for the castle top.

As soon as he stepped through those gates and went up the stairs to the streets, a large smile spread on his face. He was home. He was in the place where he actually belonged and felt that he was.

He started to walk a bit faster than before, forgetting for a moment that Feona was with him and slowed back down. He glanced back at her. "I have to go see my family before I give you a tour, alright?" He told her and ceased walking, turning around. "You can come with me or you can wait for me here..."

"N-No!" She said quickly shaking her head vigorously. He blinked at her small outburst, not expecting it. The grip she had on his hand tightened as her eyes looking over at all the people walking around them. He could tell she was shaking - and rather violently too. "I don't...want to be left...alone."

Zidane stared at her, his eyes widening. Slowly a smile spread on his face as he placed his free hand on her head, smiling. "Alright, let's go." He told her while she stared up at him a small blush on her face as she realized she had just spoke up loudly and averted her gaze away.

He was glad that Lindblum didn't change over the few years. It still has its air cabs, districts and places of business. They rebuild the city very well. It looked like it wasn't even damaged during its attack. He wasn't surprised people didn't notice him - after all it had been a while. He still didn't want anyone to notice him. Explanations were too much of a hassle right now.

The air cab stopped at the theater district and Zidane was overly excited to see his old thieving group again. He was practically dragging Feona off and down the short walkway. She tried not to stumble but ended up doing so anyway. The monkey tailed boy slowed down as he came to the doors of his old hideout. A grin broke out on his face.

"It still looks the same as ever..." He murmured to himself, sounding completely prideful.

Feona stared at the building. "Y-You...live here?" She inquired timidly.

"Well...I used to live here actually." Zidane explained to her, scratching his backside with a slight anxious look while she seemed confused. "I was coming back from a place I didn't really belong." He told her while she seemed to understand that. A smile spread on his face again. "Well...time to say hello, Feona."

He felt a bit nervous doing this though he had no reason to be. With a small exhale, he started to knock on the door, hard, like he had always done. He made Feona jump a bit and hide even more behind him. After a few seconds, the unlocking of the door was heard.

"Really, how more appalling could this city become; Pounding on the door with the most unappealing and galling way possible..." The voice trailed off as the door swung open. Zidane was more surprised that the other guy was.

"Kuja?"

Whoa, that took a while for me to update. Sorry, for the wait guys and thank you for reviewing Hoshi, Eidolon Twilight Princess, and Bitingbullets. Oh, the cliffhangers how I love them...I'll try to update more. I'm starting to play the original game again. Those song lyrics are a part of my own song so I can take the credit for that C: