Chapter 9
Stumbling, panting, and damn near bleeding, Zidane collapsed through the door of the Tantalus hideout, gasping for breath like a fish out of water. Blank collapsed on top of him.
"…Get off of me, Blank…," Zidane muttered.
"I would, but I don't have the energy."
Zidane pushed his friend off of his body with as much force as he could muster, which wasn't much. He then forced himself up and over to a chair.
Baku, Cinna, and Marcus soon bumbled on in, arms dangling at their sides. Cinna collapsed as soon as he was inside, but the boss and Marcus made it to the table.
"We're NEVER doing another raid like that EVER!" Cinna spouted from the floor. Blank mumbled something sounding like complete and total agreement.
Baku yawned. "That was…bad, sure…but hell, we had no idea somethin' would happen…"
Zidane put his feet up on the table and leaned back, closing his eyes. "Maybe, but it was still stupid of me."
"It was stupid of all of us," Marcus replied, pouring beer into five big mugs.
"Yeah, but our next job won't end up like that," said Baku, kicking off his boots.
"There won't be a 'next job'…," Zidane began. "Well, not with me, anyhow. We got blood on our hands, whether we directly killed anyone or not…"
"Aw hell, 'snot our fault. Whoever set us up's responsible for the deaths of them Burmecians…," Baku replied, taking a deep swig of beer.
Zidane shrugged. "Maybe. Either way, I'm a king. I can't keep on doing shit like that. I wanted to get away from Alexandria so nothing bad would happen, but then, we go n' do this…It's ironic, really. I gotta go home, boss. I can't let shit like this happen."
Blank and Cinna were snoring. Baku threw his boot at Blank, who rolled over and stopped. He did the same to Cinna.
"I know…hey, I don't think you got nothin' to worry about…y'know, with your power, n' all. You're a good person, Zidane. Too good to do anything bad."
Zidane stared into the beer. "But boss…I did do something bad. Just yesterday. And I hope Alexandria won't have to pay for it."
Baku shifted his position in the chair. "What, you mean like…pay for the ship?"
"No! I mean…that Burmecian, the one who lived…he saw me! What if this starts a war?"
"Naw. They got no proof. None at all. They'll jus' think he's a loony."
"Either way, boss…I'm going home. I can't stay here anymore…I can't be a thief and a king at the same time… they're mutually exclusive," Zidane replied. "I'm gonna leave in the morning. But I'll visit. Don't think this is the end, boss."
"Course not!" replied Baku. "Through thick n' thin, Tantalus sticks together. We'll always be a family, kid. Everyone in this room."
Marcus nodded. "You got lucky, Zidane. You got the girl. You're a king! So get out of here and go live the royal life! Leave the thievin' to us."
Zidane grinned. And yet… "I'm gonna miss the adventures, though…"
"Shoot, there'll be adventures! You'll have stories aplenty by the time your end has come, mark my words," Baku said, giving Zidane the thumbs up. "They'll tell tales…naw, legends…about King Zidane, greatest king of Alexandria who ever did live. You'll be like Gilgamesh!"
Zidane laughed. "Boss, Gilgamesh is still alive. I used to play Tetra Master with him in Daguerreo!"
"Stupid, I know that! Don' mean he's any less legendary!"
Amarant awoke to the cold gray light from his guest room window, feeling completely comfortable. He hadn't slept this good in ages; his bed in Luxor was lumpy, dirty, and hard. These rich folks knew how to live.
Outside, rain was falling hard. He laid for a few minutes and listened to the pitter-patter of raindrops on the window pane.
Finally, with a yawning stretch, he sat up and glanced around the guest room. As far as guest rooms went, it was quite nice. It looked like most any room in the castle, with its red velvet carpet, marble floors and walls, and gilded trimming. It wasn't very large, but it didn't need to be.
The bounty hunter stood and pulled on his white shirt and brown leather jacket. He grabbed all of the rest of his gear immediately. Finally, he grabbed his boots, put them on, and opened the hall door.
It came as no surprise to Amarant that the hall was empty. He had a feeling that mornings in the castle of Alexandria had their own, slow pace.
Amarant walked down the hall, intent to get some breakfast before he left for Lindblum. He was going to leave Mikoto behind if he could – it's not that he didn't like her, he just wanted to travel alone for this trip. He would stop back here on his way back to the Outer Continent to see if she wanted to come back or not.
The hall opened to a large common area, where a few couches sat around a fireplace. Two guards stood in the corner, conversing casually. They nodded a curt good morning as he passed through the doors to the staircase area.
Out on the balcony opposite where he stood, he could see Mikoto. She was gazing off into the distance, and he didn't intend to let her know he was leaving. He silently snuck on by.
Amarant entered the kitchens slowly, hoping to find a cook. To his mixed horror and joy, there stood Quina, frying up a multitude of eggs in a pan.
"Amarant! You here breakfast?!?" Quina shouted, roughly embracing the man. The Qu quickly released, turning back to the eggs. "Be done two minutes! Go get at table!"
Amarant wordlessly turned and went out to the table, pulling out a chair near the closest end to the kitchen. After a few minutes, Quina came out, carrying a platter covered in all manner of breakfast eats.
The androgynous Qu set the platter down and dished Amarant up. He watched hungrily as three strips of the most succulent bacon he had ever laid eyes on plopped onto his plate, followed by two fried eggs, hash browns, and sourdough toast.
Quina then served itself up and took a seat across from Amarant.
Amarant greedily attacked a strip of bacon, sucking it down like spaghetti.
"There more, if you want," Quina said, smiling. Amarant practically feinted.
"So Amarant, what you do here?" Quina asked, shoveling hash browns and egg into its gullet.
Amarant replied with his mouth full of what have you. "Oh! I…(gulp!)…came to…talk to…(smack!)…Zidane…'bout…(slurp!)…a genome I saw."
"I see. He not here, but you know, right?"
Amarant nodded, further attacking his plate. "So…how's life treatin' you?"
"Oh, it good. I head chef for castle, you know. I make delicious yummies, I eat delicious yummies. I serve friends. We all enjoy. It really good."
Amarant hadn't known that Quina was the head chef. It had really improved its cooking skills; this was definitely the greatest breakfast Amarant had eaten for years. "That's good to hear."
After a second helping, and then a third, Amarant slurped up the remaining yoke on his plate and got up. He thanked Quina for the best breakfast he could remember and walked on out.
"You come back eat more yummy-yummies soon, Amarant!"
"Count on it!" he called, heading for the stairs, leading down into the foyer. Outside, the rain was still falling in sheets. He walked out slowly.
It was actually pretty warm, hovering around seventy degrees. Amarant was glad – he had always enjoyed warm rains.
He glanced down at the lake, where his ship bobbed gently up and down in the dark waters. He began walking down to the boat that would take him to the port, but was quickly stopped by a voice from behind him.
"Amarant! Wait a moment!"
The bounty hunter turned and watched Beatrix run out after him, her sword bouncing up and down as she went.
"We just received word early this morning that a Lindblum Commerce Guild ship was hijacked and crashed yesterday. All ships are grounded until further notice."
"Are you kidding? What do you think the chances are of my ship getting hijacked?" he asked, more than slightly miffed.
Beatrix shrugged. "Sorry, but it's not my doing. The queen made the decision. You can wait for an extra day or two, right? It's not like you're not in the lap of luxury."
Amarant grinned. "Yeah, I guess so. Just kinda bull, is all."
Beatrix nodded. "Yes, I know. Once the Burmecians finish their preliminary investigation, her highness will make the call. So for now, just relax. Did you get breakfast yet?"
"Yeah. It was amazing. That Quina is sure better than he…she…whatever it is…used to be."
Beatrix laughed. "Well good. If you want to head into town, go right ahead. Again, I'm sorry about this."
Amarant shrugged. "It's alright. Gimme a chance to go shopping anyway. Some scumbag busted up my claws the other day."
Beatrix smiled and said goodbye. She ran off to do whatever it was she needed do, which, with her, was always something.
Amarant turned and continued down to the skiff, inspecting the damage Tirkto had done to his claws. Nothing a good blacksmith couldn't fix, but nah, he decided – he'd just buy a new set.
"Where to?" asked the Alexandrian soldier as Amarant stepped on.
"Into town, please," he replied, glancing up at the gray sky. It was probably better he didn't fly today anyway.
As the skiff pushed off, Amarant heard the buzzing of propellers and looked up. An airship flew overhead, a trail of fire blazing through the sky off of one of its dual booms. The front of the boom, where numerous propellers should have been, had a gaping hole in it. The boom itself was fast deflating as helium escaped into the atmosphere.
"Holy crap!" the soldier said, watching as the ship disappeared over the Aerbs, presumably crashing into the ocean. "More hijackers, maybe?!?"
Amarant shook his head. "No, I would say that was either an accident…or it was shot down."
As he said this, he noticed a small ship rising out of the lake behind him – an Alexandrian naval vessel. Presumably it was off to look for the crash site. So much for no airships flying, although he knew he still would not be able to take off himself.
Zidane had managed to persuade Cid into lending him a ship, even though Tantalus's little mishap, which he had kept a secret from Cid, had lead to a temporary ban on aviation. Zidane told Cid that he needed to get back to Garnet and help her deal with the trouble caused by the accident.
So, around midday, Zidane touched down on the surface of the lake of Alexandria. The sky was still gray, and it had been raining since yesterday morning now.
As he stepped off of the ship, he was met by an irate port master, who at first protested his arrival and shouted about the ban until he realized who he was talking to.
Zidane passed right by without saying a single word and got on a skiff to the castle. The soldier rowing had put a big tarp overtop to keep the rain out.
Zidane knew that it was best he return to Alexandria. Tantalus was too much trouble for him.
As he stepped off of the skiff, he was greeted by an interesting sight. Amarant was leaning against the wall outside the castle, inspecting a shiny new pair of claws. He glanced up as Zidane approached.
"So the king's back…," he said, moving forward. "'Bout time."
Zidane grinned. "What're you doing here, man? Long time no see."
He extended his hand, which Amarant shook. "Just felt like seein' your smiling face again."
Zidane laughed. "Right. Really, though. What brings you down?"
"I saw a genome in Luxor a few days back. Mikoto didn't know anything about it, but I thought you should know."
"Huh…," Zidane muttered. "A genome…? That's weird. Anything special about it?"
"Yeah," Amarant replied. "Had silver hair. Didn't talk like all the others either."
The king thought about that for a moment. "That's…disturbing. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Hey, by the way…you didn't bring Mikoto here with you, did you?"
The red haired bounty hunter nodded. "Yeah, I did. She's upstairs somewhere. Why?"
Zidane was now a little scared. "Two nights ago…I was CERTAIN that Garnet and Mikoto were talking about me. And then I was certain that Mikoto was here."
Amarant was about to reply, but he was cut off. "Sire! How did you get a ship back here?!?"
Steiner came bustling out of the castle, huffing and puffing.
"Easy, there, Rusty. Cid let me take one."
The knight sighed. "Oh. Good. Please come with me, sire. Beatrix has something she must tell you."
Zidane and Amarant followed Steiner into the castle and upstairs to a meeting room. Assembled around the table were Beatrix, Garnet, and…Freya? Mikoto was standing by the window, staring out. She merely glanced at Zidane as he entered.
"Hi, Zidane. How's it going?" Freya asked, beckoning for him to sit beside her.
"Hey, Freya. Whatcha doin' here?" Zidane asked, sitting.
Freya was about to speak, but Garnet cut her off.
"Zidane, how did you get back? Why are you back, anyway?"
Zidane shrugged. "I dunno, I just felt like it was time to come home. I borrowed a ship from Cid."
"Well, impeccable timing. I was just about to brief everyone on the situation," Beatrix said.
"What situation is that?" Zidane asked, fearing a Burmecian war. Maybe that's why Freya was here.
"Yesterday a ship went down," Beatrix replied.
"Oh yeah, I know about that. But that was two days ago, you mean."
Beatrix shook her head. "Another ship went down yesterday morning. Right over our heads. It looked like it was going to crash into the ocean, but we sent out a navy ship, and there was nothing."
"Huh…so Freya, why are you here?" asked Zidane.
"They sent me to talk with Beatrix about these recent ship crashes," said the Burmecian dragoon. "Kind of pointless, but…I suppose it must be done."
Zidane nodded. He glanced at his sister. "Hey Mikoto, how ya doin'?"
She simply shrugged without even turning to face him.
"Why's she here?" he asked.
"She insisted on coming," Amarant said.
Suddenly the door opened and two of the Knights of Pluto, Weimar and Haagen, ran in. "We just received eyewitness accounts saying that two ships have been seen over the Aerbs near Treno! One looked like the ship that crashed yesterday!"
"Are you certain?!?" asked Steiner.
"Yessir, Cap'n!" replied Haagen.
"We got ten reports, all the same!" Weimar said.
Zidane glanced out at the sky. "Well…fire up the Red Rose…guess we're going for a little flight."
"I'm coming with you," Freya said, standing up.
Beatrix nodded. "I shall come as well."
Amarant grinned. "I'm in."
Mikoto turned to face the group. "I am coming along."
Zidane protested. "No, no, you had better stay here where it's safe."
"I'm coming, Zidane," she replied.
"O…o-okay."
Steiner glanced around at everyone in the room. "I shall stay behind with the queen."
Zidane nodded. "Alright, gang. Let's get going."