The thief and his princess
Summary:
When Zidane, the youngest thief in the infamous Tantalus group, meets the mysterious Dagger on the Alexandrian streets, he thinks of her as nothing but one of his many flirts. But with time, he will realize that the girl does not only hold the power to bind his heart forever, but that she is an unwilling part of a conspiracy that can easily destroy the world. - A FFIX AU Fan Fic
Chapter seven ~ Awakened Forest
After endless of hours walking through the forest, Amarant suddenly stopped. He raised his left hand to point Zidane and Vivi not to move. Without giving them a chance to ask him what his action was about, the warrior put on a giant glove on his right hand. Right above the holes for the three middle fingers, there were enormous, red claws. Now, Zidane realized why his companions were so badly injured by just one strike of the warrior.
Then, Amarant ran just around the corner.
"Hey, Amarant, wait!", Zidane called out and pulled out his daggers. "Come on, Vivi!", he called back whilst running after the redhead.
As he ran around the corner, he saw a very small, round entry. He just caught a glimpse of the redhead disappearing into it, but it was proof enough for him that Dagger was inside, so Zidane hurried towards the entry and jumped through it.
He entered a big, round room that was naturally made out of roots and in its center sat a plant. A plant, which tuck its tentacles into Daggers body!
The young princess still laid on the ground motionless. However, a soft sparkle glowed around her body.
"Garnet", Amarant said, and even though he was as calm as always, his voice seemed somewhat different from before.
Angrily, Zidane turned towards the warrior: "What was that about 'She can defend herself' from before, huh?!"
"She does", Amarant wanted to answer, but Zidane just ignored his sentence and went on: "Don't you see her? She's lying down there, almost dead! How could you be irresponsible enough to make her wait?! How could I...", he ended and let his head hung down.
To his surprise, Vivi pulled at his trousers. "Look up, Zidane", he said and his voice sounded as if he was in complete awe. "Look at Dagger, she..."
Against his will, Zidane was forced to look up. And his eyes were about to fall out because of what he saw.
The plant monster, who just had its tentacles in Dagger's body, removed them gently. Instead of hitting her like a fiend would normally do, it almost looked as if it caressed her. Now, as Zidane looked closer, he realized the soft sparkles were not only around Dagger herself, but also around the plant.
In awe, he turned to Amarant. "She... she controls it?", he asked to make sure of his intention. The redhead nodded, not even bothering to say something.
"But why is she asleep, then?", Vivi asked scared.
Zidane, who felt somewhat lead towards the princess, answered in Amarant's stead: "She's not fully recovered yet." Slowly, the thief approached the princess and as he did, the light grew bigger and brighter. Finally, he kneed beside her. His eyes were almost glued to her face, her holy, lovely face that was so pale and yet so rosy.
"Dagger", he whispered and to his surprise, the princess opened her eyes. But they were empty. Just as empty as when Beatrix controlled her. With a voice that wasn't her own, she spoke: "The princess is still recovering. Don't interrupt."
But Zidane, following his nature, started to ask: "Who's talking there? That's not you, Dagger, is it? Are you somewhat controlled by that fiend itself?"
"Not a fiend", a voice from behind answered. Zidane turned around and saw Amarant, who had approached the princess as well. "An Eidolon."
"What?", Zidane asked confused.
"An Eidolon. A sacred beast, summoned by herself. You've never heard of the Esper, did you?", he asked as he recognized Zidane's confused expression, who just shook his head. "If you're worth it, she'll tell you herself." The warrior turned away, as Zidane asked: "But what will we do now?"
Amarant only turned his head a bit and answered: "We do as the Eidolon says. We wait."
The thief turned his heads towards Dagger. He gently caressed her face as he mumbled: "I'll be waiting here. I promise."
"It's been... two hours now", Vivi stated finally whilst looking down to the ground. Amarant didn't answer as if he hadn't heard him, but Zidane nodded. "I know. But as long as this … thing", he jerked his head towards the plant that still tucked its tentacles into Dagger's body, "doesn't stop, we can not leave. You're really sure she's gonna be okay?", he added towards Amarant. The warrior let out a sigh, then he turned his head and pointed shortly towards Zidane: "Do you know any better? Thought so", he shook his head as Zidane kept quiet, "Then stop questioning. Garnet will awake soon." With these words, he leaned back towards the tree, crossed his arms and closed his eyes.
"Man, you're tough company", Zidane said disappointed. "How about you, Vivi? Any idea what to do now?" The black mage looked up surprised, then he let his head hang down again. "No, not at all", he mumbled, "I just hope the princess is getting well soon."
But Zidane was tired of waiting. He got up and walked towards the plant. "Hey, Eidolon!", he called out whilst pounding against the body. "D'you hear me? Come out, we're tired of waiting!", he exclaimed and hit it more powerfully.
Suddenly, the entire place started to glisten. Small lights came up from the ground and the princess' upper body started to move up. Her head hung back and her satin-like hair looked like a black waterfall. "Dagger?", Zidane asked warily as she went higher and higher, until her feet left the ground. From the middle of her body, a wave of blue light occurred, spreading outwards. Another one followed, quicker this time, as the following waves started to pound. "Dagger!", Zidane screamed as he had to helplessly watch her floating. A circle of light appeared around Dagger's body and started to turn, faster and faster until it wasn't visible to the eye anymore. Just in that moment, an explosion occurred and floated the entire place with bright light.
As the light disappeared, Dagger was sinking down to the ground. Zidane, whose eyes came back to normal the fastest, ran forwards to catch her. Gently, she directly landed in his arms. Her hair covered her face, her pale and beautiful face and Zidane could not help but stroke her cheek.
Dagger slowly opened her eyes and looked around surprised. "Everyone..? You all came." A slight smile appeared on her face.
Suddenly, the cave started to shake. Parts of rocks and dirt fell down the natural ceiling.
"An earthquake?!", Zidane asked alarmed.
"No. It's the forest", Amarant answered.
Vivi turned and looked at him. "But why?"
"Forgive me", Dagger said, "The Eidolon, it..."
Heavily, the rocks crushed on the ground, nearby the travelers.
"Hell the reason, let's get outta here!", Zidane exclaimed and rushed towards the exit, still Dagger in his arms.
The entire forest seemed awake. Roots exploded from the ground and chased after the group or crossed their direction. Without him knowing, Zidane has become the leader and the air was filled with his instructions.
"To the left! No, stop, turn around! This way! Vivi, hurry up! Heads up! Wait, not this way! Attention, roots from above – from the left – the right – down!"
Suddenly, fiends appeared from the sides. Before they could reach the group, Amarant threw something at them and they backed down. From this moment on, fiends appeared in larger amount, crossing the small spaces the routes left out.
"Zidane!", Amarant shouted as he fought another group of fiends. "I'm running out of missiles. Do something!"
But what?, Zidane thought helplessly. They reached a round clearing that was quickly surrounded by roots and enemies.
Zidane put Dagger down and the group aligned back to back. But no matter how many fiends they fought, more and more replaced the dead.
Amarant turned to Dagger and looked at her seriously. "Once more I'll pay a part of my debt." He turned around and rushed towards the fiends of the eastern direction.
Vivi grabbed his staff more tightly and looked towards Dagger. "Please take the opportunity when it's there, Dagger", he said and moved towards the western side of the clearing.
As Zidane turned towards her, the princess started to understand and shook her head, but Zidane looked at her with a caring expression: "We'll watch your back, Dagger."
She shook her head heavier. "No, I do not want this! Why do you do this?!"
"We came all the way here to rescue you, Dagger. Amarant, Vivi and I... we knew it might be dangerous. But nonetheless, we decided to come."
"No, I will not run and -"
"Don't ignore our attempts, Dagger! If you give up now, everything we've done for you will be worthless. Don't make us regret saving you. And also", he added winking, "don't stress yourself. We won't take long."
As Dagger didn't answer, he gently touched her shoulder and pointed towards the northern direction, where a soft light could be seen.
"You see this light? If you follow it, there'll be a lake. As you go along with the lake, you'll leave this forest. All you have to do is to be quick and determined. This Eidolon-thing will help you on your way. Wait outside for us."
Dagger looked at him concerned. Then, she lift her hand up, only pointing with her pinky finger. "Promise me that you will come back."
At first, Zidanes eyes opened because of surprise, but then he gently smiled and gave her his pinky finger. "I promise." Then, with a last look on her face, her turned around and drew out his daggers. "Run", he said before he rushed to the fiends of the southern direction.
Just for a moment, Dagger looked after him and Zidane, taking a look back, shouted: "What are you still waiting for, Dagger?! Run!"
She stepped back and nodded, then she turned away and ran, leaving the men behind.
Even though he was busy with the fiends closing him in, Zidane checked on Dagger once more.
She'll be fine, he thought relieved, but he had no time for thinking anything else as the fiends were nearly running over him.
Amarant, who was out of all his missiles and had to fight with his claws seemed to be troubled.
"What's wrong with you, Amarant?!", Zidane asked in a one-second-lasting pause. "The way you beat us up back then in Alexandria, you weren't struggling that much, were you?"
"Don't be ridiculous", Amarant snapped at him as he killed three fiends with one giant strike. "These things aren't more of an opponent than you were. They're only large in numbers."
Zidane nodded, grinning, then he shot a glance towards Vivi and saw in shock how the black mage was on his knees.
"Vivi!", he shouted and attempted to run towards the boy, but the fiends kept him away. "Vivi!"
The black mage lifted his head up and looked at Zidane. "Don't worry", he brought out, stumbling over his words, "I'm fine." Slowly, he prepared another spell to defend himself.
Zidane cursed. If it keeps going like this, he'll lose. Amarant and I have to hurry with our share of fiends, or else..."
It was this moment when the fiends started to move away from Zidane. At first, he thought they were moving on to Amarant and Vivi, but then he saw how they weren't moving on, but making space.
Amarant, who noticed the change in the behavior went to Zidane. "What are they up to?", he mumbled warily but Zidane simply shrugged: "How should I know?"
The ground started to shake and Zidane prepared himself. This... is no good.
Vivi took place beside Zidane. "What is coming?" and Zidane only shook his head.
Then, it appeared. The largest and most enormous plant Zidane had ever seen.
Light! Finally, there's the light!
She had numerous bruises and wounds, she gasped terribly because of all the running and she had blisters on her hands because of grabbing her staff so tightly, but Dagger had managed it: She escaped the forest.
Just directly beyond the last woods, she fell on her knees. "Saved at last", she sighed and inhaled the air. Then, after she had used the water from the nearby lake to wash her face and hands, she laid down on the ground, looking up to the twilight sky. The thought she had suppressed the entire escape inevitably came up again.
I wonder... how the others are? Finally, she dared to think it. And as she did, all the bad feelings welled up inside her. All the regrets that almost made her walking back throughout her escape. The princess shook her head and held up her hand, pointing out her pinky finger. No. They will come back. He promised.
Even though she was holding on to this thought, the hour she had to wait outside seemed like an eternity to her. Finally, she heard how someone or something fought its way through the woods. Soon, Amarant and Zidane appeared, running as fast as they could. Dagger just caught a glimpse of it, but as far as she could tell, the forest behind them started to change. Green leaves, brown trees, even the following fiends turned gray.
Zidane waved heavily with his arms. "Run, Dagger! The forest - it's turning into stone!"
But Dagger wasn't listening. There was another, a lot more striking thought in her mind.
Where..
Amarant and Zidane got nearer and nearer to the border of the forest. "Give it all you got!", Zidane tried to encourage Amarant, who remained silent.
… is...
Just as the fiend directly behind Zidane turned into stone, both he and Amarant jumped and quit the forest.
"Vivi?", Dagger asked as Zidane and Amarant were still catching their breath. Zidane, who just had a very relieved look on his face, turned defensive. "He... He didn't make it."
Dagger stared at him in shock. "He.. died?", she asked even though she didn't want to know. Slowly, Zidane nodded and shook his head at the same time. "Yes... or no." Daggers face turned angry. "What do you mean by "Yes or no"? Is he dead or is he not?! Answer me!", she demanded as the thief did not answer.
"We can't know. The fiends were easy to handle, but as their boss appeared, the forest started to turn into stone. We had to make our escape – and barely managed it."
"But what about Vivi?", Dagger asked as tears filled her eyes. "How could you leave him behind?", she directly addressed Zidane.
The thief looked up and gave her a sorry look. "We didn't want to, Dagger. But he was much slower and as we were to realize this, it was already to late. The fiends had surrounded him and he... he fell to the ground."
Dagger looked away, troubled by the sincere look on Zidanes face. "You promised you would come back", she muttered.
"He probably isn't dead", Amarant declared. "Since everything turned into stone, there might be a chance of him turning into it before the fiends could kill him."
The princess looked at her guardian with hope. "So we can save him?", she asked but the redhead, who got up, snorted. "It's not as easy as you think. If we revive the entire forest, Vivi would be dead before we could reach him. We need something that only cures touched areas." With a look to the trees which had formed a wall around the forest, he added: "We first have to open our way in before we can even think about saving Vivi."
"Does that mean..?", Dagger started and Zidane nodded: "For now, all we can do is moving on. Dagger", he suddenly added in a soft voice and walked up to her, "Don't worry. I promised you we'd all come back and I will fulfill this promise. Vivi will be rescued."
After resting in front of the forest, the three decided to leave by daybreak. Zidane went ahead, Amarant served as rearguard and Dagger went between them. The eyes of the princess were big and bright, she turned her head every few seconds, trying to at least catch a glimpse of all the new things.
Zidane, who noticed her excitement, turned around and grinned. "You didn't come out of the castle often, did you?"
Dagger shook her head. "No. I used to remain inside the castle walls. Except for my... walks through Alexandria, I have not seen much else. The world is truly astonishing", she added smiling.
Zidane nodded slightly and gave her another smile. "That's true. There are so many places in this world that are truly beautiful."
"You must have come along a lot of places", Dagger assumed, "Being part of Tantalus."
Zidane laughed. "Oh yeah. Loads of places – some of them I wouldn't ever want to visit again. But still, my time with Tantalus... I'll never forget."
Dagger frowned as she took place beside Zidane. "Which makes me think... What might have happened to them? As the forest turned into stone – it could not be they-?"
Zidane shook his head. "Don't worry. Baku and the others sure know how to survive – a ton better than I do anyways. I'm sure they made their escape long before we did."
"And when will you meet up with them?"
Zidane stopped his steps and looked to the ground. "I..."
Leaning forward, Daggers face became worried: "Zidane?"
"I... probably will never meet up with them again", the thief admitted, but the princess kept questioning: "What do you mean by that?"
"Rescuing you happened out of my own decision. Baku didn't agree with me and I had to leave Tantalus in order to search for you."
Daggers eyes opened in surprise. "You left Tantalus... for me?"
Zidane, who now restarted walking, turned his head towards the princess and smiled. "Don't worry. I'm free to do as I please now. Besides, I could rejoin Tantalus if I want to. Put that aside – what do you want to do now?"
Dagger folded her hands and looked down. "If the airship would not have fallen down, we..."
"We'd already be in Lindblum", Zidane concluded. "What did you want in Lindblum again?"
"It is because of my uncle Cid. He lives in Lindblum and he is the only person I know who might stop Mother from going on", Dagger explained. "Before my father died, he told me that whenever I have a problem, I could go to Uncle Cid."
Zidane nodded thoughtfully as he remembered. "Lindblum, huh? Too bad most of the gates are closed at the moment. It won't be easy to get all the way there."
Dagger looked at him with sincere eyes. "Please. I have to go to Lindblum."
Zidane looked up and nodded. "Alright. We'll find a way – somehow. But be warned – it might take long and the roads are dangerous."
Dagger nodded. "Uh-huh."
"And how do you plan getting to Lindblum?", Amarant asked. He had closed his eyes for the entire conversation, but now he opened them and looked towards Zidane. "As you yourself said, the gates are closed and will eventually be opened in another month or so. And if you take a look around-", he said and pointed to their surroundings, "there are only mountains. And with the forest being inaccessible as well, there is nowhere else to go."
For a moment, Zidane was silent and turned his head to follow the shape of the mountains. Suddenly, his face lit up and he grinned back to Amarant.
"Hope's not lost yet", he answered and pointed towards a cave in the northern direction.
"The Ice Cavern", Dagger suddenly said and both men looked at her.
"You know this place, Dagger?", Zidane asked but the princess shook her head. "No, I have never been there before. But I have read about it. It is said that the cave goes through the entire mountain and ends on the other side. But it is full of fiends and not many dare to pass through it."
Zidane put himself in a victory pose. "Got'cha! We will go through that cave and see what's on the other side. Any complaints?", he asked and looked at Amarant, but the warrior ignored him.
With the Ice Cavern as their new goal, the group went up ahead.
Authors note
I'm sorry it took me SO LONG to update my story. When I started writing this fan fiction, I didn't think much about the ending. I completed the storyline last week and figured I had to do a minor change so it would fit with the rest of the storyline. I can't make any big promises, but I do hope I can update this fan fiction at least once a month. Life has been busy for me, especially since I finished school this year. I'll try to write chapters in advance so I can upload them even during a busy month.
I will release one more chapter for this month so those of you who've been following this story since the very beginning have something new to experience.
Thanks for reading, as always!