-Ruby's story shows of moving on in life, Cinna's story shows of the few reasons for people's passions and such (possibly reason for living), Blank's story shows of how much our actions affect one another and how the lack of trust can change people.

Fanfiction is being a douche again...I just give up with the patterns...oh, and by the way, this will most likely be the last chapter that would be posted alone. Why? Because I'm already working on the last chapter, when that's over and done with, it's coming out with the rest of the chapters that haven't been published yet!

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy IX, if I did, then....I'd give Tantalus some attention.

"Oh Zidane..." Freya sighed. "I never knew Garnet would....oh, how tragic." she seemed to empathize, remembering her own problem with Fratley. She pat my shoulder. "You seem to have gone through too much, if there's a lot more that happened after learning you lost your love." I frowned.

I turned away. "Lots of people tell me that..."

"Zidane, I'm here to listen to everything. If you need, you can go on." She said, her tone insisting she would be fine if she never knew. Of course, I knew Freya longer than I knew anyone who was with me until the very end of our adventure as a team. She would be dying to know.

"Well, I hope you don't get tired of me talking." I said, lying down on the bed, staring at the ceiling with my hands above my stomach. "Maybe I should make a time skip."

"Come on, Zidane. You can remember...!" Kuja cheered softly, obviously teasing me like I was a little dog. "Just one line!"

"I get it Kuja." I laughed. It's hard to believe it's been so long already. Almost ten months since I came back with Kuja from the Iifa Tree. He really managed to get on the good side of everyone, one way or another. He became a Tantalus brother, a true brother to Mikoto, and even the Black Mages.; especially Vivi. It's amazing how he's living life. To think he used to live in a grand palace under quicksand. I grinned at Kuja.

"My good man, you are indeed a true friend to me. I thank the gods for having such a noble partner to aid me in my time of need."

Kuja gave a chuckle, something I've been hearing for a while now. The hair he cut from before with my dagger grew back, or at least, some. His hair reached his upper back, and it wasn't as shiny as it was before. He's proven to be something almost opposite narcissistic. At some points though, Kuja would insult people like he always does; but only to people he doesn't like.

"Hey, I'm going to go get myself some water, you want?" Kuja asked, smiling.

"Nah, I'll pass."

He nodded, standing up and walking to the kitchen he seemed to love so much. Marcus came in just as Kuja went out, looking serious. It sent slight shivers down my spine. Marcus only looks serious when he's going to talk about something bad.

"What are you doing here?"

He shoved a newspaper in my face, scowling. I grabbed the newspaper, reading the headline and nearly choked on air. I fell silent, staring at the headline in disbelief, looking back at Marcus, at the newspaper, and back at Marcus. I felt my mouth hang open. I shook my little empty head. "...this...this can't be..."

"Yes."

"But..."

I stared at the headline, still in shock and disbelief. 'Queen Garnet of Alexandria, refuses to continue ruling kingdom until lost lover returns. Lover assumed to be dead.' Nothing went through my head.

"Marcus...I..."

"You're causing a lot of trouble, Zidane."

"I know, I just...I..."

"So, she was just another pawn in your little womanizing game? Have some shame, man."

"She's not! I just...last time, I heard her say she was going to pick one of her suitors...so, I just left her. It looked like she was gonna be forever happy with that lucky bastard of a man. Marcus, I'm just a thief, she's a queen. I don't care what Kuja says, I know this is hopeless. I can't possibly rule a kingdom with her, even if I tried. I don't know what I am to her and all of Alexandria..."

"Zidane..."

"How am I even sure it's me?"

He fell silent, shaking his head. "Zidane. I'm fully aware of the little 'parables' you're getting here. I know Ruby told you about her long lost friend who died in that aircab incident. I know Cinna told you about his dad, who was murdered. I know Blank told you about Lani. I just hope you're ears a ready for another one."

"Marcus, you too?"

"Zidane, Tantalus is practically made of people with sad pasts you could learn a thing or two from. Lindblum isn't exactly the safest place in the world, especially way back." Marcus took a seat on one of the random chairs I had in my room. "Tantalus was made by Boss because he thought it was one way to bring a little joy to people with sad pasts. I just don't know why we have to steal as well, but it makes us happy. Tantalus used to be just for acting...as time flew by, it became an act-and-steal thing."

"Well...why?"

"I guess it's because Baku wasn't exactly the richest guy around, especially since he found you."

That took me by surprise. I tilted my head a little in wonder. "Me?"

"Maybe you were the reason Tantalus changed. But you shouldn't be sad about it..."

"But—"

"What are you trying to do? Distract me? I have a little story to tell you." Marcus halfheartedly laughed a syllable. "From this, I'm pretty sure you're gonna learn something useful in life. Which is funny, because you knew this a long time ago."

"What do you mean?" I asked, tilting my head in wonder.

"You see, before, my uncle used to work as a merchant. He wasn't exactly successful and always slept in rags and all. He never felt a bed for longer than two nights straight. He was one of the most pitiful people I've seen. Sometimes, I was ashamed of him. With time, he started to change, he became bitter to everyone. And it only backfired, causing him to be more bitter to the world. I began to hate him for that." He sighed, in annoyance, maybe.

"One day though, when I was forced to be with him under my dad's orders, we both heard a scream. Being the little kid below ten, I was scared and hid behind the cart. He scowled and slapped my back, making me stand. He handed me a sword and told me to come with him. Zidane, let me tell you that he wasn't exactly the healthiest man around. He was already suffering from old age that time. He couldn't even walk straight, but whenever I help him, he just spits and shouts at me for not trusting his own legs that were clearly outdated."

"Wow. What a great guy." I said, extremely sarcastic. "Can't believe he ended up like that."

"Tch, anyways." Marcus said, shaking his head a little. "I had to follow him because I loved my dad, and my dad told me to follow everything he says, plus, if I didn't, it meant punishments from him. And his punishments were harsh, really harsh. While I followed him, we saw a little girl, her mother and a thug, cracking his knuckles and demanding for some money. Like I said, Lindblum wasn't the safest place around, especially at night. My uncle, to my surprise just ran at the thug. You can imagine how shocked I was."

"My uncle ran at him and pretty much jumped at him, hitting his back. It was weird, but the little girl and woman managed to thank him and run away. The thug, pissed off, threw my uncle against the wall, but didn't stop him. My uncle just ran at him again, telling me with his voice barely heard to stab the guy with the sword. But that meant killing him, didn't it? And I was a little kid, what could I do? I couldn't, especially since I was just below ten. I hated the guy, so it wasn't hard to just leave him there; I was afraid to stab a guy and kill him too. How could I? And how could my uncle even force me, right?"

"When I ran away, I didn't want to go back to check on my uncle. I still felt guilty, but I forced myself to think that he deserved it and that he was the worst person I've met. I knew I was lying, though. I knew I was because he wasn't; that thug was, picking on women for money. So I just stuck with the next best option, and that was to hope my uncle was alright."

I nodded my head, telling him to go further. Something told me that, well, something really bad happened, since Marcus suddenly stared at the floor or his lap and didn't say anything for a moment or two. I was literally at the edge of my seat, or more accurately, bed, and urged Marcus to go on. "And then?" I asked softly.

"The next day, the police found my uncle dead, and my father didn't believe me when I said that my uncle forced me to kill the thug. The thug ran away, never to be found until recently and my dad never looked at me the same way. He believed that I hated my uncle so much, I lost my sense of justice and left him there to die by the guy's hands. The feeling was horrible because, well, I was the cause of my uncle's death. And he didn't deserve to die because he saved that little girl and her mother, who is now suffering from amnesia because the thug managed to get to her."

"Since that day, my dad never treated me the same way again, since he loved all his brothers. My mother was the same, only she looked a bit sad when she was reminded of that incident. What else happened since then was that I learned that even faced with difficult choices, we can't be selfish and we can't lose our sense of justice, even if it means to sacrifice something. The way I see it, it's the same here."

I nodded my head slowly. I couldn't get what Marcus meant, but when I replayed what he said. That we have to make choices and make sacrifices. I didn't even have anything to lose, so what was I still doing here? I stood up, making a decision. "Alright. I'll go o Alexandria." Marcus smriked.

I was just about to take my cloak when both of us heard a crash of some sort. Or at the very least, a couple of glasses breaking. After that, we heard Ruby scream for a moment. We looked at each other and ran out of the room to see what happened.

"It sounded like it was from the kitchen!" I said, looking at Marcus.

"Kuja?"

My heart nearly skipped a beat. Something in me..."Yeah."

We both ran to the kitchen, seeing Ruby kneeling down beside Kuja's passed out form.

I was in front of the stove, stirring the soup that boiled just right in front of me. I tasted the soup with the ladle; it was almost right, somewhere near the way Kuja did it. It was a bit off. What did Kuja add? It wasn't salt; it was something else. What did he call it again? Okashii no yasai? Not even that helps me. He didn't know what it was, so he just called it 'funny vegetable'. Always. Even after he found out what it was. I forgot what it was really called, but laziness took the better of me and I figured it was okay by itself.

I poured some soup into a white bowl for Kuja to drink from. He called this soup a 'feel better' soup. The childish part of me told me to make some for aniki; maybe he'll feel better. The soup was warm like it should be. I smiled faintly, putting the cover of the pot back on and turning the stove off. Grabbing a spoon and putting it nicely in the bowl, I walked out of the kitchen, going to my room, where Kuja was. We put up another extra bed for him. It was nice and comfortable, I'm sure Kuja wouldn't mind spending the rest of his life there.

Too bad the 'rest of his life' is probably...how much longer? I sighed.

"Kuja?" I said, raising my tone on the last syllable. I knocked two times like I always do, like a bleak attempt to be unique. Everyone does either three knocks or one; so why not only two? I laugh at my logic. "Kuja?" I called again, bending forward to put my ear against the door. I heard his voice.

"Yes...?"

I smiled, even though he wouldn't see me. "It's good you're awake. I got you some soup. The one you said was a feel-better." I laughed a little, opening the door slowly, popping my head in. "Sorry, but there's no okashii no yasai." I halfheartedly grinned.

"That's okay." He said "But the vegetable is what makes it good."

"Sorry..." I sheepishly rubbed the back of my head, the bowl set beside Kuja. "I really couldn't find any..."

He took the soup in his hands, both shaking a bit. He put the spoon aside and just drank from the bowl, almost delicately. I just watched him from my bed, which wasn't too far from his. When he was done, he licked his lips and looked at me.

"...what?"

"...what indeed." I grinned at him.

"By the way, your queen..." He looked down at his empty bowl like it was the only thing in the world he could look at, frowning. "Your queen is waiting for you, Zidane. Maybe you should go to her. It's rude to keep a damsel in distress waiting."

I smirked. "She's not a damsel in distress."

"She seems to be." Kuja looked at me again. "Maybe you should give her a note of some sort. Let her know you'll be okay. You're okay and you'll go back to her. This could just be a silly misunderstanding, so you can't just keep her waiting like that."

"Good idea." I smiled sheepishly, getting a pen and paper. I wanted to make it short and sweet, because if I want to explain myself, I'd rather be brave and do it in front of her. As of now, I just want to stay beside Kuja, as a brother. He's been a great aniki to me, so I should repay him by being here when he needs it.

I scribbled what I wanted to tell her and made it as short as it could be. I raised it up an arm's length away like a child. My handwriting was horrible, but it wasn't illegible.

'Dagger...please wait a little longer.'

It was night, and I sneaked out of Lindblum again. Or, more accurately, asked Boss if I could and walked out, saying bye and worrying about Kuja a bit. I clenched the paper, careful not to lose it. I was wearing my cloak, careful no one still knew I was alive other than the obvious. I set a Gysahl Greens on the chocobo tracks, and Choco came running at me, giving a happy 'kweh'. I smiled, petting Choco's feathery head. He gave another kweh and looked at me curiously.

"Come on Choco, to Alexandria again."

"Kweh!" Choco was excited—he must want me to dig up treasures with him again—and went behind me, making his head dive under me and scoop me up onto his back. He ran as fast as last time, if not faster, and began climbing the cliffs.

We were nearing Alexandria, I think. It didn't seem to take too long to get there, but it was longer than I hoped it would be. I was paying more attention to my thoughts; Kuja suddenly growing weak, Tantalus' sad pasts, if Dagger really was talking of me. Things haven't exactly gone my way, so I wasn't sure if it would be different now, and I hope it was. Choco was so fast, I had to cling to his neck, still drifting in my own thoughts. He suddenly stopped, causing me to snap back to reality.

Choco, for the first time in my life, couldn't run past a monster. It was big and feisty. I've never seen it before. It looked like a mix between a cat and a scaly dragon with rabbit ears that didn't know it was on the wrong side of the continent. Dragons don't appear here, they appear a bit over the mountains, or...somewhere there. I just knew it wasn't supposed to be here. It snarled, roared, clawed. Its fur rose, its long, rabbit-like ears threw themselves back. Its green-iris eyes narrowed.

Choco trembled and let out soft 'kwehs', backing away slowly as the cat-dragon-rabbit thing took its own steps forward. I grit my teeth. Alexandria can't be too far off from here. I jumped off Choco and grabbed my daggers with skill. "Choco, run!" I shouted, but Choco wasn't so sure. I gave him a look over my shoulder, saying he had to. Choco gave another kweh and began to run as fast as he could in the other direction. I looked back at the monster, bigger than a chocobo but smaller than a Grand Dragon, definitely. It bared its teeth. I think it feasts on chocobos, not humans or...what I am. I smirked, thoughts aside.

Twirling my daggers, the strongest pair I had, I grinned. "Come get me, kitty." I taunted, bending forward for an easier time running fast. Baku's words suddenly came across my mind. At a time like this, everything he taught me did. After all, I don't know what this monster does and I'm alone. At night, too, so that means no one can surprisingly appear and aid me when I need it.

'When ya run, you should be like an arrow. An arrow's fast because it doesn't have anything restricting it from being fast. It doesn't have anything that blocks the wind, pushing it in the direction it came from. You need to try and mimic an arrow, to make yourself fast. Bending down can help a little, maybe ya should try that.'

That's exactly what I did, running sidewards. I dodged every tail whip and claw-scratch it could do. The cat-dragon-rabbit thing snarled and tried pouncing. I dodged, but barely, and took the opportunity to get atop it. Its wings stretched to their limit and the cat-dragon-rabbit thing tried desperately to reach its back and bite me, trying to scratch me while I was on top of the weird thing, what ever it was. Its tail lashed like mine would when I was abnormally angry. I grinned, piercing my dagger through its stomach. It let a roar-cry or something of pain and flung me off.

"Oomph..." I muttered, landing on my lower back. I got up slowly, clenching the dagger I still had while I watched it curl up in pain. It collapsed, tail still swishing. I was waiting for it to stop moving so I could get my dagger from its stomach. I don't think it would last longer.

It let out a variety of sounds—growling, hissing, roaring, crying, snarling, whimpering...the list is endless. Finally, it collapsed, tail dropping. I gave myself a pat on the back. Mighty good job, I must say. Killing that thing on my own is an accomplishment for me. Smugly, I walked up to it to retrieve my dagger that I couldn't just summon out of there, but I wish I could. I stepped on its side, about to climb up when it suddenly roared and curled up, tail blocking the only way I had to get out. Its tail was long, so it had me sort of trapped in a circle it formed itself. It snarled.

I gripped my dagger tightly, bending forward a little and snarling myself. I waited for it to attack first, remembering what Baku said.

'Sometimes, you gain the upper hand when a person is attacking. Ya have to be patient in a fight. Sometimes, defense is the best offense. Ya have to know when to do an attack as a defense. Ya have to have a sense of balance 'cause, when ya lean on one thing too much, yer strength could be yer downfall.'

It seemed to wait for me, but grew impatient after a few seconds and lunged at me. I smirked and ducked, dodging its head but barely. I thrust my dagger through its throat, hearing a yelp of pain from it. It tried desperately to get away but it couldn't. I started feeling the weight of the damn thing slowly dropping on me. If that thing wasn't going to kill me with its mouth, it was going to kill me with its weight. And it was god damned heavy.

I tried getting away, but it's neck trapped my leg. I sighed in great annoyance. Was I supposed to cut the whole head off just to get my leg out? I couldn't feel it breathe, so I guess I could take my time slicing each muscle with the dagger a bit away from me, still in its throat.

Oh wait a minute, I can't take too long.

Perfect.

"How...the hell...am I...supposed to get...to Dagger...now?!" I sliced the last neck muscle with my dagger. How gruesome the whole scene was, blood pouring from it like a waterfall. Right on my leg. My poor, poor leg that was stuck under some weird, pathetic excuse for a dragon with rabbit ears and cat limbs but had what seemed like armor made of dragon scales covering its chest like a chest plate, its head like a helmet. It had armor on its limbs and neck but they all had small gaps. This cat-dragon-rabbit thing wasn't properly protected, and I praise the gods for that. This thing was a pain in the ass already.

I cut through what looked like an artery, which was now spewing blood. I gagged. You can say I wasn't exactly fond of blood.

"What the hell are you, anyway?" I muttered to the dead thing, pulling my leg out with, of course, my arms and whole upper body. It took a few seconds, but I was successful, throwing myself in its pool of blood. Or near it. I really wish it was the latter.

"What a wonderful night. Day. Whatever." I sighed. "I'm starting to think letting Choco go was a bad idea." And so was only bringing only one Gysahl Greens. Tonight was really wonderful, but I had to go to Alexandria, still. What were they going to do without their ruler, right? Dagger hasn't been doing a great job since I 'visited' her. They said the whole kingdom of Alexandria was falling apart, bit by bit, but they still feel sorry for her rather than angry. I wondered how Dagger could do this. What was going through her head?

At that moment, I saw something fly towards me, a rolled up paper in its hand. It landed next to me, panting like it was in a hurry. It was the purple moogle that delivered letters. Who was it again? Artemacion? Artemasian? Oh yeah, Artemicion.

"Zi...Zidane!" He panted, almost falling to the ground. "You...you have a letter!" I arched my brow.

"A letter?"

"Yeah." Artemicion regained his composure and took a deep breath, handing me the letter. I took it and unrolled it, seeing why it seemed so important, given Artemicion just flew by here as if in a hurry. When I saw what was written, my eyes widened.

"Artemicion! Do you have a Gysahl Greens? I need it. Oh, and..." I reached for my pockets, grabbing the letter that was addressed to Dagger. "I need you to deliver this, too. It's a letter to the queen of Alexandria, Garnet til Alexandros the XVII. It's urgent."

"Again?" Artemicion whined while giving me the Gysahl Greens. "Fine, for the guy who saved my fur." He grabbed the letter from me, taking in a large amount of air. He began flying his little way of flying. I never exactly knew how moogles could fly. I could only assume the wings were for directing themselves and they just inhale large amounts of air to float. I don't know, I'm not a moogle expert.

I didn't waste time wondering. I set the Gysahl Greens down and jumped on Choco's back the moment he came running at me. "Choco! Back to Lindblum! It's urgent!" I yelled, though not in anger towards everything that took place that night.

Just in too much worry.