Chapter two ~ Light of Destiny

Zidane caught his breath. For a moment, a breeze swept the black hairs away and the brown eyes burned through him intensely. Though hidden by a mop of black hair again, Zidane still felt attracted towards the unknown beauty and if the rough years under Baku's guidance wouldn't have taught him better, he would have run towards her, trying to touch her silky skin.

Instead, Zidane made a step backwards, alarmed by her scary talent in approaching without making a sound. For a moment, there was nothing but silence between the two strangers.

Then, by another breeze, her feminine scent swept over to Zidane and blew him away, and for a moment he was tempted to let his guard down.

But then, a sign of unequivocal danger appeared: The tip of his tail started to twitch.

Zidane clenched his teeth. He remembered the day well, when Baku and the others had seen his tail the very first time. Up to that point, it had never crossed his mind that it might be usual to have a tail, but the faces of the others had told him it was more than unusual: It was unnatural.

Even after they consulted several doctors, no one could explain to them or even guess why Zidane had a tail looking like a monkey's. From that day on, Zidane felt even more like he would not belong to the rest of the world.

But there was also a good side to having a tail: whenever he was in real danger, it instinctively began to twitch.

Zidane turned to follow his instinct, when the beauty suddenly raised her voice. "You found me." It wasn't a question, but a statement, and Zidane froze when he heard her voice: Soft, melodious and with the unmistakable sound of a person with authority.

"What do you mean?" he asked carefully while reaching out to his daggers, so slowly that he himself could hardly feel the movement of his hands.

The woman in the cloak walked a few steps aside, sitting down on a bench near the water. "Not many men dare to come here," she said while looking into the waves, so dark they were almost black. "But you did. I am grateful for that, so I will give you more than my other customers."

Zidane tilted his head in confusion. After a moment, his eyes lit up, just for his face to darken when he remembered something Cinna had told him a few months ago: A beautiful, addicting woman was wandering through the dangerous streets of Alexandria. She was what the people would call a prostitute, but in Cinna's opinion, she was something else.

"Haven't seen her myself." Cinna's face wore a sad expression, as if he would pity himself. "I once caught a glimpse of her, but before I could be sure, she was gone." He stared into the crepuscular light of the fire Zidane had inflamed minutes ago.

"So?" Zidane pulled Cinna out of his thoughts. "What's so special about another whore?"

But Cinna shook his head by saying, "She's no whore. She's personified lust. And dangerous. If ya ever get the chance to see her and she offers you her service, then there are only two options left for ya: Accept, or run as fast as ya possibly can if you haven't got 500 Gil at least. The Dark Princess, as people call her, isn't alone on the streets. Whenever a man refused her offer, he ended up being dead."

Zidane frowned. "Why? What's the purpose in killing potential customers?"

Cinna answered him with a grin, "Because her identity is a secret. Men who get in contact with her lose all their memories except for the souvenir of having had a great night. No matter who she might be, she does everything she can so nobody reveals her true identity."

The flood of memories stopped when the Dark Princess raised her head to look at Zidane. "What are you waiting for?" she asked. "Do you not want me?"

Cinna's warning throbbed against Zidane's reason, but he pushed it away with a soft shake of his head. The temptation was too high for him to resist. "I want you, but... don't have the money, I guess."

The woman frowned until her eyebrows met, but then she shrugged her shoulders. "How much do you have got?" she asked, her voice still gentle and soft, though Zidane thought he might have heard a hint of disappointment.

"Three hundred and fifty" he answered and the Dark Princess nodded. "Come to me," she pat the free space beside her. Zidane followed her instruction, his heart beating fast once he caught her feminine smell. He fumbled to get the money out of his pocket, but the woman shook her head.

"Not yet," she said. "I never take the money before I did as I promised."

She reached into her cloak and pulled out a little flagon, filled with a golden, shining fluid. The brown eyes captured Zidane's with intensity. "Drink this with me and then your most secret dreams shall come true."

The young thief gulped. At the back of his head, reason and warning fought to get a hearing, but the temptation was too big. He was the womanizer of the group – not only because he enjoyed women, but also because he believed it to be the best way to prove his masculinity towards the older members of Tantalus – and as such could never back down from an offer like that.

Zidane reached out his hand to take the flagon, but suddenly, an explosion teared the air, causing both of them to jump from the bench. The golden fluid spilled over the stone, its flagon making a ridiculously quiet sound when it broke compared to the explosion just a few seconds ago.

Zidane tensed; his instincts told him this place was far from safe – and somewhere in his mind, his reason mocked him for letting down his guard in the first place, but he had no time to listen. He looked over to the woman and saw that she was clutching her wrist; she had tried to break the fall with her arms and the broken glass had ripped off her skin. Blood was dropping down her arm, contrasting against the paleness of her skin.

Suddenly, Zidane heard footsteps and the rattling sound of armor above the numbness in his ears. Without thinking, he grabbed the woman at her unhurt wrist and dragged her along. He dashed through the streets and was thankful for all the forays he had done during his work at Tantalus; his legs did all the work for him while his mind was trying to grasp the situation.

Far away, there were more explosions and screams started to rise. Zidane could see the red shimmering light of fire and burning houses beyond him.

Explosions in Alexandria? There is no other underground organization here at the moment, is there!? Who would win by killing off citizens? How many are suffering at the moment?

The Dark Princess was looking back as well, her eyes wide open and in shock. Then, her expression hardened and just when Zidane was about to run into an alley, she stopped in her tracks

"Let go off me!" she hissed at him and squirmed her wrist out of his hand, her eyes having a furious glance as she made a step backwards.

Zidane opened his mouth to ask her "What do you think you're doing!?" but another explosion occurred and the sound drowned his voice. He and the Dark Princess had to press the hands on their ears, struggling to hold their position because of the blast.

They eyed each other warily while they tried to regain their footing. The woman's eyes were darting towards the alleyways around them, obviously searching for an escape route. But before she could take the chance to run away, Zidane grabbed her arm. "Don't run away all on your own!" he screamed to be louder than the cries and explosions all around. "You're going to get hurt!"

Her brown eyes sprayed sparks as she stared at him and tried to rid herself of his grip. "Don't tell me what I have got to -!" Her eyes grew even wider as she recognized figures behind Zidane's back. The thief turned around quickly and was confronted with five soldiers.

They held their swords up and moved slowly towards him. "Don't move!" one of them demanded. Zidane turned around, wanting to grab the woman's arm once again and run away, but there were soldiers behind his back as well. We're trapped!

He shortly looked at the woman beside him. She was frozen in shock, her lips were moving without making a sound, her eyes about to pop out of her head. Suddenly, Zidane felt a feeling unknown to him before: He was responsible for another person's life. This is different from being with Blank and the others; we got our backs in fights. But she… she is vulnerable! I need to protect her! For the first time in his life, Zidane felt the heavy weight of responsibility laying on his shoulders.

His lips formed a grin. By looking over his shoulder, he said "Not moving, eh? Yeah, alright."

Before the soldiers could react, Zidane took one of his daggers and threw it in a circular motion. The blade slashed the throat of two soldiers before it flew back to Zidane. The thief caught it while running towards the soldiers that had obstructed his escape route. With a smooth strike, he decapitated one. The resistance of muscles and bones did not bother the sharp dagger, it cut through it like butter.

Before the head fell down to the ground and blood spilled on the dirty stones, Zidane turned around his axis and rammed his other dagger into another soldier's stomach, then he split the helmet and head. The crashing bones crunched terribly, and the soldier broke down, jerking and spilling more blood onto the street.

Zidane's eyes rushed through the area. One of the soldiers was making a move towards the Dark Princess, but before he could reach her, Zidane threw one dagger right into his face. The soldier tried to raise his shield, but Zidane rushed towards him and before the warrior could react, the next dagger pierced through his eye. Blood curdling screams rose from his quickly paling lips, but Zidane had little time to feel pity and drew his daggers out of the jerking body.

The two soldiers that were left stared in shock at their dead companions, and Zidane took the chance and ran towards the woman. By bracing on her shoulder, he spiraled through the air and ended up behind the soldiers. He wanted to knee one of them in the guts, but the man was faster and blocked Zidane's attempt with his shield. Before Zidane could react, the soldier rammed him with his shoulder so Zidane fell against a wall.

He crunched his teeth when the pain went across his backbone, but he branched from a little case right onto the soldier. Zidane raised his arm to crush the dagger into the soldier's neck, but the other warrior ran towards him and Zidane had to jump off to evade the strike of the massive great sword. A decent blow waft his cheek and Zidane could even perceive the reflected glow of the moonlight on the blade.

Zidane took a second to gather himself, then he ran towards the two soldiers. Both of them raised their swords, but Zidane crossed his arms and before the soldiers could strike, he slit their guts by opening his arms wide again. With a gurgling sound, both soldiers fell down, lying in their own pools of blood.

The thief convulsed, then he cleansed his blood stained daggers at a piece of matter leaning against a wall.

Finally, he turned back to the woman. During the whole fight, she hadn't moved, paralyzed in fear. But now, the fear in her eyes had gone and the calm was back again.

"You okay?" Zidane asked while walking towards her, but stopped after making one step, the hostile look in her eyes distracting him. Just when he was about to ask, she vomited out: "I do not need your help."

"Bu -!"

"I can take care of myself!" she interrupted him and looked at him with disgust. She gripped into her cloak and pulled out a little round thing. By a click, she removed the safety catch.

"Wait!" Zidane shouted, but before he could react, she threw the smoke-bomb. His sight blurred and he had to cough terribly, his lungs burning as if filled with sand. He caught a glimpse of her turning away, followed by a huge person with red hair, but Zidane's sight was too bad to see anything else.

Carefully, he walked backwards into the alley he wanted to hide in before and waited for his eyes to recover. Once he could see clearly, Zidane checked the street.

When the thief was sure he was alone, he rushed back to the headquarters.

He pulled the cord hidden behind wood. His breath hurt, his legs didn't want to run any longer, and Zidane sighed in relief when Cinna opened the door.

"There you are," he simply stated when Zidane entered. The young thief raised his head and looked surprised when he found Baku, Marcus and Blank sitting around the table. They were all staring at him.
Zidane ducked. In anticipation of punishment, he took a seat beside Blank. But Baku just ignored Zidane's interrupting entrance and waited for Cinna to sit down as well.

"Guys," the leader started to talk, "we got a problem. This outside is our problem. We have to solve that problem. Quick. Ideas?" Zidane raised his hand. Baku gave him a glance, then sighed. "Our problem is," he pointed out before Zidane could ask, "that those people out there now think that we are responsible for the explosions and the fires."

"Why?" Zidane could not help but ask. "We're thieves. Not terrorists. They should know that by now."

Instead of Baku, Blank replied, "But we are currently the only well-known group here. Heck, even I thought we were the only ones," he added with a displeased frown. "I wonder who that might have been."

Zidane put his head slant. "Even so - what's the big deal?"

Now, not only Baku, but Blank, Marcus and Cinna as well sighed.
"You know our rep," Marcus answered. "We might be thieves, and we might be dangerous; but we are not heartless killers and firebugs. But now..."

"These people now think that we are exactly that," Blank quickly pointed out. "We're boned."

Zidane raised his left eyebrow and crossed his arms. "I see. Not good. What has been set on fire anyway?"

"Some grain silos." Cinna shook his head. "By now, they must think we came here to kill 'em!"

Baku leaned towards Zidane. "Do ye understand? As thieves, we need the people to be scared of us, fear us – but if they seek for revenge, we're dead in the water. Now, we have to find a solution so they won't set us up." The leader waited some silent minutes. "So, what can ye think of?"

"We could set another fire..." Cinna started slowly, "a small, harmless one, and leave proof for another group. Remember this wannabe assassin group that came here a couple of days ago? They were even stupid enough to create an icon for themselves."

Blank shook his head. "Nah, too dangerous. Guards or other thieves might catch us in the act."

"They're going to catch us if they start searching for real now," Marcus mumbled.

Now, Zidane became restless. "Is it that bad?" he asked carefully. "I mean, this place is well-hidden, so..."

Baku barked, "Ye might think this is a good hidey-hole? Pah! In Lindblum, we had dens a ton better than this as our last escape – ye should remember those! Anyhow, the kingdom of Alexandria is small, the people unworldly. Their Knights of Pluto," at this point, Marcus and Blank chuckled, "are a bunch of good-for-nothin'! That's why our new headquarters have been set up here! And as long as we're only naughty thieves, they won't bother to search too deeply. But now..." Baku shook his head in defeat. "I always wanted to become louche with ye guys, though I never thought of getting such bad status."

"So what if the Alexandrian people think badly of us?" Zidane was almost too shy to ask. "Just as you said, boss, they're unworldly. They know nothin'."

Baku laughed darkly. "If this would stay a local matter, I wouldn't give a shit 'bout it! The Knights of Pluto may search till the cows come home, they'll never find us. But it won't stay like this. The soldiers in Lindblum are a ton better than this Alexandrian crap. And as much as I know the Queen, she will ask Cid Fabool to help her." Suddenly, Baku chuckled for several seconds. Blank, Marcus, Cinna and Zidane shot each other confused glances, but waited patiently for him to calm down.

After a short time, Baku rallied. "Anyhows, guys," he then started with his loud voice, "Seems like Cinna's idea the only thing we can go for. I will give ye seven days to set another fire. Leave evidences for this other group, oglops for all I care! In the meantime, I'll get our stuff packed and make the Prima Vista ready to head off back to Lindblum in case you fail."

Zidane frowned in surprise. "Isn't it stupid to go back to Lindblum with a reputation as that?"

Baku chortled. "Nope. It's the best thing to do. Don't ye remember our times there? Haven't said ye want to go back ever since we left?"

Zidane shrugged his shoulders and nodded at the same time. "I do. Still; wouldn't it be dangerous?"

Baku shook his head. "No, it's perfectly fine. Trust me. I know that we're safer in Lindblum than we might be here for now."

With a frown, Blank asked, "Why seven days? Anything special?"

Baku shook his head. "Just giving ye guys a reason to hurry... Of course I have a special reason, idiot!" he then added shouting. "And now off with ye! I wanna see some changes damn soon!"

Before going back into his room, Zidane picked up Blank mumbling something weird: "I can't go now. Not yet."

Morning had come already, but Zidane laid on his bed still wide awake. He tried to get the sleep he needed so much, but his thoughts were chasing each other. His feet and legs felt as if they wanted to run until they could run no more, his heart was racing as if he had done it.

Finally, Zidane got up with a sigh. Since he had seen the look on Blank's face, he couldn't stop worrying about it. Just what is it that Blank has to do here? And why doesn't he talk about it with the boss or us? It's not like Blank hiding anything from us. Zidane frowned, remembering how Blank had call spending time with him 'babysitting'. … Do I even know him? Has it been my fault? Anyone's fault? Or is he haunted by dreams of the past?

Zidane remembered the day well when Blank had told him about his past.

"It's not like I've been here forever, ya know?" Blank's face showed a little smile, but it didn't reach the eyes. He leaned against a wall, Zidane sitting on a bench beside him.

"Where do you come from, then?" Zidane asked surprised. He couldn't imagine Blank being somewhere else than in the streets of Lindblum. Blank, who knew its secret ways and hidden places best. Blank, who knew everything about Lindblum's history. Blank, who had lived there ever since. Or so Zidane has thought.

So quietly that he could hardly understand his friend, Blank whispered "Treno."

Zidane gasped for air. "You serious? Treno? That Treno? The city of the rich? You lived there?"

Blank nodded slowly. "I was born there, but lived there only for a few years. Until I was five." Suddenly, he silenced. Deep in his own thoughts, Blank looked over the streets of Lindblum. There was hustle and bustle everywhere. The people were walking from one place to the other, carrying their bags, shopping and chatting. Zidane looked wishfully to them. The next day, he and the whole Tantalus, were about to head to Alexandria. Baku had said they would have great business there and lots of space.

"I wasn't born here. Yet, I feel like I was indeed." Blank's voice was full of sorrow, but Zidane couldn't figure out why. His friend went on talking, "If it wasn't for Tantalus, I would stay here."

Zidane looked at his best friend in shock, but Blank just smiled. "Trust me, I won't leave you until my time has come. That's a promise."

And there, in front of the sunset, Zidane took Blank's hand very tight. He thought it was a promise for eternity.

Later that day, the young boy had asked the others about Blank's past. Marcus was the only one who had answered with a sad smile. "It's better for you if you don't know. It's not a happy past."

Zidane shook his head and came back to present-day.

I will ask him. I have to know what has happened to him during his five years in Treno. He's gotta tell me!

Zidane got up abruptly and was about to go to Blank's room to get the answers he had been waiting for for years, when Cinna almost ran into him.

"You up already?" his companion asked surprised, then he waved with his hands. "Doesn't matter, just the better! Come, we're about to head out."

Zidane hurried after Cinna, who was leaving the headquarters through its secret entry. "Why all of a sudden?" Zidane asked between two steps.

"The assassins", Cinna answered briefly and headed on while trying to give the most important information to Zidane. "Blank... found their sign." Gasp. "Near the" gasp "bakery. Take the advantage now!"

Zidane was now on a level with Cinna. Being much younger, he could talk more easily than Cinna (Zidane also supposed it was Cinna's strange mouth that made talking quickly hard for him.) "So we're setting another fire now?"

Cinna shook his head. "In broad daylight? No, gonna observe."

Zidane frowned, "Why the hurry then?"

Cinna seemed to lose the strength in talking. "Blank," he simply said.

A few streets further, Blank was waiting for them. "Finally," he said and turned towards Zidane. "I didn't thought you'd be here so soon."

Zidane waved his hands "I was getting up anyways. So... what's going on?"

Blank pointed to a wall nearby. "Look at it", he ordered.

Though Zidane still felt like Blank was hiding something, he did as his friend wished and moved closer to the wall. There, he saw a strange sign, so entwined he could hardly see what it was supposed to be. But then he recognized that it was a dagger, followed by a bloodstream. The young thief frowned. "What is this?" he asked.

"Their sign," Blank said.

By rolling his eyes, Zidane answered, "I knew that. I meant: What is this that it's so important to come and get me?"

Blank snorted. "I want to give you the special task to learn how to draw it."

"Why me?" Zidane asked annoyed.

With a sly grin, Blank answered, "Because you're the only one skilled enough. Didn't you tell us you've been imitating several signatures before we met you? Go and show us how skilled you really are."

The younger thief tried to protest, but Blank did not allow it. "We're going now, planning the fire. And you are going to sit here and try your best in copying it. We will set the fire once you're an expert at it. And, Zidane," Blank added while turning away, "please try to be unflashy."

Zidane snorted, but kept his mouth shot while the rest of his gang walked away. Then he turned to the sign at the wall. A sigh escaped his lips. "Oh man, this is going to last all day."

The days passed by and Zidane had to stare at the wall all day long; Blank only allowed him to come home late at night for some sleep. During that time, Zidane became extremely awkward. Sitting on a bench or standing on his feet all day long, focusing the sign and trying to copy it was more than boring. But whenever he asked for a break, Blank just shook his head. Even though his task was nothing physically exhausting, he felt exhausted and tired nonetheless when he got home late at night. The sign started to haunt him, even in his dreams he saw it over and over.

Five days had passed when Zidane walked up to Blank and chucked a piece of paper in front of him. Blank bend forwards and looked at it. A grin appeared on his face when he saw it was the assassins' sign, perfectly copied. He looked up to Zidane and smiled at him.

"You've been doing great," he complimented, but the young thief just answered with a shrug.

"Even if you want to set the fire right away – I'm gonna sleep."

Blank chuckled and nodded. "Sure. We'll set it tomorrow. Marcus? Go tell Baku." A big smile appeared on Blanks face. "Might be we can stay here after all."

A last check on his equipment. Daggers, paint and the mouth mask were at their places. Zidane nodded. Good. We're ready to go!

He took a last look at his comrades. Marcus and Cinna carried hay, Blank a torch and a box of matches. They all nodded at each other, then hurried towards the grain silos. While the others prepared the area around the silos, Zidane painted the entwined sign on the first of them.

He felt remorse, setting grain silos on fire, but he knew it was the only way to stay save. The young thief remembered Blanks words.

"We're going to set two silos on fire. We'll chose those which are the farthest from houses. We don't want to hurt anyone; we just want to keep us save."

Zidane clenched his teeth, but he went to the second silo nonetheless and painted the sign once more. The day before, he had painted the sign on the grain silos from the last fire and hoped nobody would wonder about it. With a nod to Blank, he pulled back into the shadows of the houses. Together with Marcus and Cinna, he waited for Blank.

The redhead set the torch on fire and then slowly ran it through hay, then ran away quickly. While the four thieves pulled back quietly, the two grain silos caught fire and just a few moments later, screams were to hear. Zidane jerked, but kept on running nonetheless.

The four thieves grinned at each other for the success of their mission, when suddenly, a shadow fell on Marcus. Only a second later, he was knocked over by a huge person with red hair, who then struck the stumbling Marcus into the nearest wall. Zidane heard Marcus coughing and moaning and cried out for his friend.

The stranger ignored his previous victim and turned towards Cinna, who had taken his gavel and ran towards the attacker, about to strike him, but the colossus made a smooth move and was out of Cinna's reach. He took a bench, raised it over his head as if it weighed nothing and threw it against Cinna, who was knocked out immediately.

Zidane wanted to run towards his hurt comrades, but Blank made a sign and portend him to run back to the headquarters. Zidane shook his head. Are you crazy, Blank!? I can't just leave you here!

But Blank glared at him in a way that allowed no disobedience. Zidane balled his fists. This is Blank's commando. I have to follow his orders. Blank… surely knows what's best.

So the young thief nodded, turned around quickly and ran as fast as he possibly could. Now the stranger seemed to catch an interest for Zidane: He turned around, observed him for a moment and then ran after him. Though Zidane was a quick runner, he could hear that the stranger was catching up. In order to evade, Zidane rolled to the right and the redhead, who couldn't react so fast, ran a few meters ahead, but he caught himself real quick and turned to Zidane again.

Zidane narrowed his eyes. Seems like you're set in me, huh? Well, you can have that!

He was about to take his daggers, when Marcus and Blank blocked his way. "Run home!" Blank ordered while keeping an eye on the giant, who was now standing still, probably considering whom to finish first.

"I can't leave you alone!" Zidane protested, but then, somebody pat his shoulder. It was Cinna, his face full of blood.

"This guy broke my nose," he sizzled and Zidane could hardly understand him. "Run, Zidane. Someone needs to protect Baku in case it's a bigger plan."

Zidane shook his head in doubt, but Marcus turned and grinned. "Let us have some fun, Zidane. Granted, that freak got the element of surprise on us, but now we'll hit him hard; an easy match. Just do as you're told."

Still uncertain, Zidane looked over to Blank, who was nodding towards him. "Run, boy."

Zidane clenched his fists, his eyes filled with tears, but he nodded nonetheless and then rushed away. He could hear the stranger trying to run after him, but the others blocked his way and soon, Zidane was out of their sight.

He rushed to the headquarters and noticed to his big shock that the secret door was open. Without further hesitation, he bolted in the main room and quickly closed the door behind him, glancing around wearily. When he saw no one, he went to the bureau of Baku.

The first thing he noticed was that there were two people in the room – one lying on the ground, the other standing with their back towards him. The second thing he noticed was a decent, feminine scent he felt oddly familiar with.

Zidane could hear how the person was searching for something in a little casket on Baku's desk. The young thief made a step towards them, but stepped on something soft and wobbly and, without thinking, made an irritated noise.

The person whipped around and the hood of the cloak fell down. Zidane gasped when he recognized her. It was the Dark Princess!