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 eight ~ The Ice Cavern
"T-this place is.. cold!", Zidane snorted in disbelief.
Amarant gave him a short look. "What did you expect as Garnet said Ice Cavern?", he asked and nearly sighed.
Suddenly, Zidane looked up. "Now that you mention it – you should stop calling her Garnet. If we come to any villages or cities, her true identity would cause only trouble. We should stick to calling her Dagger."
The princess nodded. "You are right. As my true identity may be troublesome, we should opt for a substitute."
"And – you should try to talk less like a princess", Zidane added with a grin. "Speaking like that is so weird."
"Understood", Dagger said confused, "I will work to my utmost extend."
"No no no no", Zidane answered. "In such a case, you'd say 'Alright, I'll do my best'!"
"A-alright, I'll do my best."
"Good, let's go, shall we?", Zidane asked and turned around, moving deeper into the cavern.
Again, Amarant almost let a slight sigh slip and Dagger turned around. "You look troubled, Amarant", she said with worry in her voice.
Amarant pointed towards Zidane who was nearly out of sight already. "Why are we following him? He is not strong, he is not smart and he clearly has no idea where he's going."
Dagger had her hands on her hips. "Amarant! He risked his life to save mine – I owe it to him."
"He didn't do anything!", Amarant exclaimed without any passion in his voice. "I would have been faster without them – not to speak of the fact we wouldn't have entered the forest without them. We had a plan, Garnet, and -"
"It's Dagger", the princess interrupted him harshly, then she sighed. "I know what you want to tell me, Amarant, but..." She looked to Zidane and mumbled: "I trust him."
For a moment, Amarant said nothing. Then he just shrugged and said "As you wish."
"You know...", Dagger slowly said, looking at her crossed fingers, "I never thought of you owing your life to me, Amarant, and you don't have to come with me if-"
"I will owe you my life until the day I die", the warrior interrupted her and moved on, leaving the princess behind with a troubled look on her face.
The small group advanced through the cavern and yet again, Dagger was amazed and more than once, they had to wait for her to look at flowers or ice structures.
"I have read so much about this place, but its beauty is more than astonishing", the princess said in awe, but when her eyes met Zidane's, she quickly corrected herself: "It's a beautiful place."
Zidane chuckled. "If you're so easily amazed, what will happen once we reach Lindblum? You've never been there before, have you?"
Dagger shook her head. "I have been there when I was a child, many many years ago. But during the past years, Mother refused to go visit my uncle. I can't remember any of my past visits."
"Which leaves me wondering... Why did your mother change so much?", Zidane asked, more himself than Dagger, "People don't change that quickly for no reason."
"I do not know", Dagger mumbled.
"Quiet. We're surrounded", Amarant interrupted the two and got himself into fighting position, covering Dagger.
Around them, a large mass of flans had assembled. The yellow wobbly things didn't look like serious opponents to Zidane but Amarant seemed displeased.
"What's the matter, Amarant?", the thief asked grinning while drawing his daggers, "If you're too scared I'll ward them off."
For a moment, it looked like Amarant was about to grin with frustration, but then he simply said "Go ahead."
"You bet!", Zidane stormed off and sliced two flans in half. "Haha, just you watch!", he shouted victoriously, but to his dismay, the monsters grew back together as if nothing happened. "What the -?"
"Haven't warded off many, have you?", Amarant asked as he walked up to Zidane. The thief looked at him astonished: "Was that a joke? It was, right? Dagger, did you hear that, Amarant can make jokes!"
The warrior grunted. "Shut it. We could've used that black mage. They are susceptible to fire."
Zidane shot a glance at the princess. "Your Eidolon doesn't by chance control fire?" He vaguely remembered hearing that Eidolons are bound to a special element each.
Dagger shook her head, embarrassed. "No. It's Shiva, the Ice Queen."
Zidane rolled his eyes. "Aw, great. And now?", he asked towards Amarant as they sliced up flans only for them to reunite.
"Retreat", the warrior muttered. "What?!", Zidane asked shocked, "they're flans, Amarant. We can't flee from flans!"
Suddenly, Dagger screamed: A wyerd, a small mammoth-like fiend with greenish fur and two long curled tusks, approached her from behind.
"The wind lays out my path", it said in a humanoid voice as it reached out to strike Dagger, but in the blink of an eye, Zidane was in front of her and blocked it: "Don't you dare!"
"Zidane!", Dagger called out as a second wyerd approached. "Get out of my way", the fiend uttered but Amarant dealt with it in a matter of seconds, using his claws to separate the head from its body.
"Good one, Amarant!", Zidane said as he fought the first wyerd. He thrust his two daggers simultaneously into the fiends neck and was about to pull them out of the dying body when all of a sudden, one of the flans hit him from the side. Losing the grip of his daggers, Zidane tumbled and was surrounded by other flans. Without his daggers, all the thief could do was defending himself with his bare hands and soon, he was having bruises from the flans' attacks, who could deliver a surprisingly harsh blow. Amarant was busy with warding off the flans approaching Dagger, as the princess rushed towards the wyerds dead body. She tucked out the daggers with all her might and fell on her butt due to the power she used to pull, but quickly raised herself up again in order to hurry towards Zidane.
"Wait!", Amarant called after her and tried to close up on the princess, but the flans didn't let him advance. Helpless like so, he had to watch how a cave imp approached. It wore furry clothes to protect itself from the cold and its hat was so low that the only thing visible from the face was its long tongue. While carrying an iron dagger in one hand, the other hand held a dangerous potion. Before Amarant could warn her, the cave imp had grabbed Dagger and poured the potion all over her face. For a second, Dagger was trying to defend herself by hitting the fiend with the daggers but then, suddenly, all her movements ceased and she fell to the ground. Before either Amarant or Zidane could break free, the cave imp grasped the princess at her hair and pulled her through the Ice Cavern, beyond a small window-like entry.
"Dagger, no!", Zidane screamed and once again, the trance took over his body and brought instant death over the flans coming too near. Even without his daggers, he hit the fiends and as if he was using magic, they broke down and died. Zidane picked up his weapons Dagger had left behind and followed the cave imps trail, without saying a further word. Just as silent, Amarant followed him and both seemed to have a dangerous aura surrounding them.
It didn't take the two men long to find the cave imps hiding place. The disgusting fiend had brought Dagger to a small chamber covered in ice like the rest of the cavern. It sat on a sort of throne in which a moogle was engraved and seemed busy braiding some black strands of hair and adding them to its clothing.
Zidane wanted to storm off, but Amarant held him back: "If you just run in there, it'll find a way to cover you in it's sleeping potion and you'll just be as helpless as her."
"Then what's your plan?", Zidane snapped. "The longer we wait, the more likely this thing is to kill and eat her!"
"Hand me your dagger", the warrior said. Zidane didn't seem to understand, but he handed his dagger over without questioning.
Amarant took position and aimed at the cave imp. He took his time calming his breath until it seemed he was one with the weapon. Just as he was about to throw, the princess let out a pained moan and distracted, Amarant missed the cave imps heart and instead struck its shoulder.
The fiend cried out in pain and jumped of the throne. Both Amarant and Zidane stormed into the chamber and tried to reach the cave imp before it could open its bottle of potion. Zidane was the first to arrive but he only escaped the tossed liquid by an inch, shoving his dagger into the unharmed shoulder of his enemy, which, as a result, let loose of the dangerous bottle. The sleeping potion scattered all over the place but Zidane and Amarant managed to escape it. The cave imp, however, was not so lucky: It was incapacitated by its own mixture. Quickly, Zidane slashed its throat open and rushed to Dagger, who was still motionless.
"Oh Dagger, are you okay?", the thief whispered worried as he lift her up, then his eyes opened wide. "This dirty little thing...", he muttered.
The beautiful long hair of the princess had been cut off and now merely reached her chin.
"There's no helping it", the thief mumbled as he lifted her onto his arms and stood up. "We need to make a little rest here until she wakes up."
With a small nod, Amarant positioned himself in front of the chamber opening and kept guard.
Zidane was happy the princess was still wearing her cloak so she wouldn't get cold. He had rested her head on his lap so she would have at least some comfort while he and Amarant were sitting on the cold ground.
"How long will it take for the sleeping potion to lose its effect?", Zidane asked Amarant.
"You asked that three times now. I. Don't. Know", the redhead replied. "It can't be much longer. They are made for quick usage and I doubt these creatures are intelligent enough to make a permanent potion to begin with."
Zidane mumbled some words Amarant couldn't understand, when he suddenly gasped: "Dagger!"
The princess opened her eyes slowly and smiled as she recognized Zidane. Then, as she realized she was lying on his lap, her face turned red and she got up. "Wh- why did you do that?", she asked embarrassed and wanted to tuck her hair as her hand reached the nothingness. Slowly, the young woman turned her head. "My... My hair..?", she whispered as she understood and Zidane spotted tears in her eyes.
"I'm really sorry, Dagger. But when we reached you and the cave imp, it had already cut off that much."
For a moment, it seemed as if the princess was about to burst out into tears, but then she shook her head and observed the chamber, trying to escape the thought of her beautiful hair being cut off. As she saw the ice throne, she moved up on it in curiosity. "What a cute moogle engraving", she said while stroking the ice. "I wonder where the cave imp got it fro-" She stopped and for a moment, there was silence.
Amarant, who had left his guarding spot, stood beside her, his arms crossed as usual. "It's a real one", he gave the obvious statement.
Abruptly, Dagger turned around and yelled: "I can see that! Why didn't you do anything?!"
"Rescuing you was our top priority", the warrior answered, not the slightest moved by Dagger raising her voice. "Besides, neither Zidane nor I possess the ability to free it from the ice block."
Dagger looked to the ground, obviously ashamed. Then, her face lit up and she said "But I do!" Upon grasping her staff, she mumbled some words and an icy wind brushed through the chamber. Shiva, the Ice Queen, appeared. She resembled a human with fair blue skin even though she was a lot taller and was wearing only small pieces of dark blue clothing to cover crucial parts. Her eyes, from a frosty blue, looked at Dagger as the princess pointed towards the throne. "Please set him free", she begged and without hesitation, the Eidolon turned to the throne, placed its hand on it and within a matter of seconds, the ice melted, releasing the moogle. Without further notice, Shiva disappeared in a swirl of arctic winds.
"That's... an Eidolon?", Zidane asked surprised and Dagger nodded: "Yes. She's the Ice Queen Shiva."
"Oh yeah, you mentioned something like that back then", Zidane mumbled and examined the moogle, which still wasn't moving. "Seems like it'll need a while to defrost from the inside."
"We should get going", Amarant said and turned towards the door, but Dagger shook her head. "Wait! I still have this", she added and pointed towards a small envelope inside her cloak.
"Ah, right, the moogle letter", Zidane remembered. "Mosh gave it to you in Alexandria. Whom where you supposed to deliver it to?"
"A moogle called Mois in the Ice Cavern", Dagger answered firmly and Zidane's face seemed to darken a bit. "And you're sure this is Mois?", he asked nonetheless.
"I am!", Dagger responded.
"Figures", the thief mumbled and sat down. "Fine! We'll wait for Mois to wake up. And I hope for his own good he is Mois."
Only a few minutes later, the moogle started to move.
Dagger sat up and smiled: "You're awake!"
The moogle smoothed out its fur and looked and the princess. "I am, kupo, thanks to you! My name is Mois, nice to meet you, kupo."
"Ah, that was nothing", Dagger answered shyly and smiled even bigger. Then, she reached into her pocket. "I have a letter to you, from Mosh from Alexandria."
Suddenly, the moogle seemed troubled. "From Mosh, kupo?! What does that rude guy want from a girl like me?"
"Oh, so you're a girl?", Dagger said surprised and the moogle fluffed up: "Of course I am, can't you tell, kupo?!"
Dagger shook her head: "I apologize, that was rather rude. I had expected another male moogle after I met Mosh. I did not mean to upset you."
Zidane nudged her. "Watch your language, Dagger."
The princess' eyes opened wide. "Oh, you're right. I mean, I'm sorry!", she added towards the moogle and handed over the letter. Without another word, Mois opened the letter and read it.
It seemed as if she had frozen once again.
Zidane walked around the moogle to catch a glimpse of the letter. After reading it, his face lit up. "Ah, so it's a love le-"
"Will you keep it down, kupo!", the moogle exclaimed and hit the thief. Then it stormed out of the chamber.
"Oh no, it's gone", Dagger said saddened but Zidane gave her a big smile. "Don't ya worry about it. I'm sure she's already on her way to Alexandria to meet up with Mosh. Never knew that they're that talented, but this love letter could've come from me."
Dagger gave the thief a curious look. "I remember, you said you're popular with girls. Are you having a girlfriend?"
"A girlfriend? Dozens, at last!", Zidane replied laughing, then he realized his mistake but it was too late: Dagger has turned around and left the chamber together with Amarant, while saying "Where did you say this cavern ends, Amarant?"
Zidane sighed and hung his head down. "A starter's mistake, Zidane", he mumbled before he closed up on the two.
The rest of their wandering through the Ice Cavern passed by without further troubles. With the cave imp being down, the other fiends seemed to fear the party and they could thus reach the end of the cavern within another hour. The last part of the Ice Cavern resembled a staircase and as they exited it, the three stood above the mist, with a breathtaking view.
"It's... beautiful", Dagger said astonished as she could see miles and miles away.
"Alexandria is built above the mist as well, so you should've seen it from time to time, right?", Zidane asked surprised, but the princess shook her head.
"My room in the castle has no windows, so I could never see that far. It's beautiful."
"You said that already", Zidane said but he smiled.
"What's the village called there?", she asked excitedly and pointed towards a small cluster of houses and a mill.
"That's... er... Dali!", Zidane answered. They have small airships, so I'm sure we can borrow one to get to Lindlbum!"
"Come on you two, let's go!", Dagger called as she had already started the climb down, with her eyes sparkling in excitement.
Like this, the group headed to their new goal: The frontier village Dali.
Authors note
A new chapter! Wohooo! Can't believe it. YAY! *parties* This chapter is a bit shorter than the previous ones – then again, it's more of a small interlude anyways. I hope you like how it turned out.
Another proof that I'm a horrible author: Even though I wrote down the entire storyline last week, I added the whole "Dagger gets captured and loses her hair like so" part just while writing. I can't seem to do what my storyline says. Whatever, makes this chapter a bit more exciting and fun, doesn't it?
Until next month with a new chapter!
P.S. Thanks to my friend and fellow writer RadiantKeybladeFantasy for constantly reminding me of writing. It's mostly thanks to his efforts that I worked up the time to write again! You should check him out!
Ruska