Chapter 3
Sleep. Zidane finally caught some that night, but it was plagued with visions of destruction and horror caused by his hand. Villages burning, people running in terror, Alexandrian knights chasing them down and running them through.
First came the sight of Treno burning, like some dark fireplace, the great round circle of the former city holding in the destruction. Nobles ran for their lives to the waterfront, attempting in vain to escape the destruction. The slums lit up like suns, burning quickly and then curdling back on themselves like paper.
Atop Doctor Tot's tower stood Zidane, cloaked in white, hands held to the sky, head back. He laughed sadistically, and then…an eye appeared in the sky – a great red eye. With a flash, Treno was gone.
Lindblum was next. The dark Zidane stood over Regent Cid, who was on the ground, a dagger gently pressed against his neck. In the background, Lindblum crumbled like a tower of pebbles. Airships exploded…the smell of burning flesh lingered sickeningly sweet in his nose, and then…Flash! The red eye ended it.
Then, a site far worse – Garnet, down on her hands and knees, shedding tears of pure remorse. Dark Zidane stood behind her, grinning, as below him, Alexandria burned. His airship hovered gently over the flames, as if caught in the warm updrafts. Garnet stared into his eyes with a look of anguish spread across her face. As the dark Zidane went to strike, reality returned in a flash, and he bolted upright in bed, panting.
Sweat streaked down his face and back. He felt exhausted, like he had just run a marathon, despite having been asleep since late last night when he returned from the Outer Continent.
Zidane glanced to his left at the sleeping form of Garnet.
"It was…just a dream. Just a horrible dream…"
She stirred. "What's…what's wrong, Zidane?"
He sighed a long, drawn-out sigh. "Nothing. Just a bad dream."
"Well go back to sleep…" Garnet muttered, and was immediately asleep.
Zidane would have gladly, as he was completely exhausted, but he knew he would not be able to fall asleep again that morning. Besides, glancing out the window, he saw the very top of the sun rising above the eastern mountains.
Grudgingly, he hopped out of bed and pulled on some clothes. He trudged towards the doors and gently opened and closed them.
The hallway was empty, as he felt it should be in the morning. Zidane slowly made his way to the balcony at the end of the hall and sat down in a chair overlooking the lake.
"I've got to get away from here. I know it's just a dream, but I don't even want that possibility to exist…"
In the distance, Zidane could spy the Prima Vista II bobbing up and down very gently in the airship docks on the far side of the lake – Alexandria had expanded to make room for the airships now that the Mist was gone and they couldn't float without their engines being on.
That was possibly the worst part of the Mist being gone – ships relied entirely on their engines to stay aloft. When the Mist had been around, ships could float atop it and simply use the engines for propulsion, although they still had to fly above the Mist level sometimes, in which case the engine did it all.
When the first Prima Vista had been shot down by Queen Brahne, it had leveled out on the Mist before plummeting down to the Evil Forest. Under normal circumstances, it would have kept on floating without power, but the hull damage was enough that it could not stay aloft, much like an ocean-going vessel filling with water.
So now that the Mist was gone and steam engines dominated, the people of the Mist Continent had to come up with inventive ways of docking. Obviously Lindblum had always been set – it was so high above the Mist that ships could never float on it and be anywhere near the castle city. Cid had engineered immense scaffolding inside of a massive tower to hold the ships in place when they docked – massive rails carried them out when they took off, as well.
As for Alexandria, the answer had been simple – with a great lake in the middle of the city, one must merely touch their ship down in the water and pilot it towards the docks that had been built on the east side. In fact, nearly every airship built before the steam engine was buoyant, and there wasn't a single ship built since that wasn't.
Treno had done much the same for its docks. The City of Nobles was filled with water and lakes.
Burmecia had more of a challenge. There were few lakes in the area, and the mountains flanking the city were generally too steep to build anything, such as scaffolding, on. Cid decided that part of the money that Lindblum was donating to Burmecia would go into an ambitious project to divert the Daines River and flood a low-lying depression in the Daines-Horse Basin near the city. It could be used as a port.
Of course, ships with balloons could dock anywhere, so long as there remained helium in the blimp. But for ships without balloons, such as the Prima Vista, or pretty much any steam ship, an alternative was needed.
As Zidane turned these matters over in his head marveling at the progression of technology in such a short time, he was unaware that Steiner had marched up behind him and was staring out over the city.
"Beautiful morning, isn't it, sire?" he asked. Zidane leapt up.
"Woah there, Rusty…just about scared me to death!" he replied. "It is gorgeous though, isn't it?"
Steiner nodded. "Anyway, I was asked by your comrades to let you know that they depart later this morning."
"Comra- Tantalus?!? Oh great! I forgot all about that! Thanks for the heads-up, Rusty!" Zidane exclaimed, dashing past the knight and down the hallway.
As he grabbed his pair of Orichalcons, the Ogre, and his cloak, he suddenly had the urge to ask Baku to take him with them. For a moment it all made perfect sense – just a vacation, y'know? He'd come back…after a couple of months. Yeah!
And then reality sank in and he remembered that he was the ruler of a kingdom and that he couldn't just take vacations.
But what if it wasn't a vacation? What if it was a permanent leave of absence? Then he would be completely justified in his actions, right? But he couldn't just leave Garnet. He still loved her. But! What if Tantalus was to "kidnap" him? Yes, that might work nicely.
"Oh wait," he suddenly stated, standing in the middle of the foyer. "I used to be one of them. Nobody'd buy that in a million years."
The more he thought about it, the more he remembered his terrifying dreams he had been having lately. His longing for the past. He was scared to death that he really was changing, and that he might just cause trouble for everyone in the world.
"That's it, then," he said. "I'll do it. I'll go with Tantalus. They can just tell everyone that they had no idea I was going to run away. They thought I was going to go to Lindblum anyway. Yeah! They can tell everyone that I just hung around there for a few days and then took the first freighter out of there to…the Forgotten Continent. Yeah! But I'll actually be a member of Tantalus once more! Foolproof."
He was already at the lakeside, stepping onto the boat. Somehow, he just knew that he had to do this. 'I can't cause any trouble,' he thought. 'I won't be responsible for the deaths of thousands.'
The skiff docked at the airship port on the east side of the lake and Zidane hopped off. Baku was right there, arguing with the port master.
"No, no, NO! I'm not payin' no bloody 10000 gil because YOU suddenly decided that large ships dockin' cost a higher rate! Not gonna stand for it!" Baku shouted, prodding the port master in the chest with a fat finger.
"I didn't just decide this, it's been that way for a year now! We were just unaware of the size of your ship before you showed up! So pay up!"
"Money troubles?" asked Zidane, arms crossed.
Baku lit up. "Zidane! Tell this suit here that I had no idea that large ships cost extra!"
"With all due respect, your highness, this man owes me 10000 gil!" the port master spat, extending a shaking finger in the direction of Baku's girth.
"Look, I'm sure it was an honest mistake," Zidane replied, shrugging. "Can't you let it go, just this once?"
"No! Who's going to pay for the extra space that his obese theater ship took up? Somebody has to!"
Zidane growled. "Fine, here. I'll pay."
"Uh, Zidane, you don' have to. Honestly, I'll pay 'im."
Zidane shook his head. "Consider it my initiation fee."
Baku looked at Zidane quizzically as the king extended a gloved hand and deposited 10000 gil into the palm of the port master.
"Thank you, your majesty," breathed the port master, glaring at Baku. "Have a nice flight!"
Baku grabbed his hand and roughly shook. "Will do! Gwahahahahaha!"
He threw his arm around Zidane and pulled him towards the Prima Vista II. "So! What did you mean by 'initiation fee'?"
Zidane grinned. "Let's get on board. I'd rather tell everyone."
Baku called Blank, Marcus, and Cinna to the meeting room as soon as they got on board. Zidane navigated the ship by memory – it had only been altered very slightly from the original design of the Prima Vista.
As the five took their seats, the other three greeted Zidane warmly.
"Okay, I'm just gonna say it. I'm rejoining Tantalus."
Everyone looked shock, much to Zidane's surprise. Cinna lowered his mug of beer with a slackened jaw.
"What?" Baku asked.
"I'm coming with you guys and joining Tantalus!" Zidane said. "I've already made up my mind, so don't try to change it."
"But you can't just…" Baku began.
"Hey, I just said not to try to change my mind! Now listen! You guys can just tell everyone that I told you that I was going to leave for Lindblum today ANYWAY and that we all thought it would be nice to travel together, but then when we got there, I took the first freighter out to the Forgotten Continent and you had no idea until a week from now or something! You guys get off without any trouble, and we can go on adventures again!"
"Hey man, what about Garnet?" Blank asked.
Zidane sighed. "It won't be forever. Just half a year or so. Just until I know what I need to know."
"Why couldn't you just tell her? I bet she'd understand," Marcus said, belching.
"No, she wouldn't. I think she would if it were something more heroic, but I'm just eloping with a band of thieves. I think she wouldn't understand at all!"
"Well, if it's only for six months'r so… sure, why not? For old times' sake, eh? Gwahaha!" Baku replied. "What do you guys say?"
"You sure about this?" Marcus asked. Zidane nodded. "Alright then. Sounds good to me!"
Blank nodded, slamming down his mug. "Me too!"
Cinna gulped down the rest of his beer. "Once Tantalus, always Tantalus!"
Zidane grinned. He honestly didn't feel bad about this. After all, it would only be a couple of months. Six or seven max. And when he came back, he hoped Garnet would understand. He would even try to visit every month, if only for a few minutes. It was genius.
He had to find out whether he was discovering latent powers or not, and he figured, it would be best for him to be where he couldn't destroy nations if it turned out that he actually was.
As he made his way to the crew room that night, full with beer and spirit, he felt more comfortable than he had for months, and he was certain that if he just got some more time to see the world, he would be happy as a clam to go home in six months and never do this ever again.
'Yup,' he thought, as his eyelids drooped, sleep overtaking him, 'it'll be great.'