"In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer."
- Albert Camus
"Please, be in the lab... please, be in the lab..." Zidane repeated as he pushed a big blue button on a strange terran machine. Despite Gaia's relative lack of refined materials and energy sources, Mikoto had managed to jury-rig a crude transoceanic communications system using parts salvaged from the Invincible. It was light years away from the extremely advanced tech of her homeworld, but it worked well enough.
"Hello? Zidane, is that you?" Mikoto said through the brass speakers that Regent Cid had installed in the recently inaugurated Royal Communications Room.
"Yes! Hi there, lil sis! How's it going?" the king joyfully answered.
"I'm fine, thanks. Working, as usual. What about you? Has little Tot shown any signs of..?"
"Nope! He's okay, healthy as his dad!" Zidane blurted out, trying to avoid that particular subject.
"Wonderful! I'm glad to know that he's a success."
"Oh, c'mon! You know it gives me the creeps when you start talking about him like he's some sort of science project..." Zidane complained, disturbed by her cold, technical outlook on life.
"Sorry, brother... I guess my speech patterns still need improvement..." she immediately apologized.
"Don't worry, I know you meant no harm. Speaking of harm, I have some very bad news..."
"Huh? What happened? Are you alright?" she worriedly asked him.
"Do you remember when you tried to... uh... extend Vivi's lifespan by charging his soul core with that weird machine of yours?"
"Yes... poor thing. Why do you ask?"
"Well, it seems that someone has managed to crudely replicate the device that gave him life and the implications of it are freaking me out."
"What..? That's impossible!" Mikoto muttered, flabbergasted, "The soul core was bleeding edge terran technology when Bran Bal was destroyed! A world like Gaia should not be able to produce one!"
"Well, a Burmecian soldier just brought me one... and it seems to have been mass-produced to boot," the king explained, his voice tinged with fear.
"... Does it have..?"
"A crystallized soul, yeah."
Mikoto went silent for a moment.
"That is completely unacceptable! It violates every single point of the Declaration of Black Mage Rights!" she exploded.
"Not to mention that the soul inside this thing is definitely not where it should be..." Zidane deadpanned. No matter how much progress she had made, his little sister still had trouble getting her priorities in order.
"I'll be there tomorrow. Hide it, don't let anyone steal it from you. Has that soldier told you what kind of vessel was it powering?"
"Judging by his sketches, it belonged to some sort of mechanical Black Waltz knock-off. Must be an offshoot of the original project or something."
"Somebody must be producing them... someone with ties to Kuja and access to a cache of his technology that we didn't know about."
"That would be logical since these things seem to come from Treno. I knew those guys were bastards, but this time their asshole level is completely off the charts," the king stated.
Mikoto went quiet for a moment.
"... In your place, I'd find out who is manufacturing them and I'd send a team into their headquarters to gather evidence of their crimes. If you exposed them in front of the entire Mist Continent, they'd have no choice but to shut down their operations," she suggested, making his brother raise his eyebrows in astonishment. He remained in stunned silence for a moment before bursting into laughter.
"I knew you would love the Sir Thomas Clancy collection I've sent you!" he exclaimed, "You've read them all, haven't you?"
"... maybe," Mikoto sheepishly answered.
"That's my little sister!" Zidane said, clapping his hands in front of the microphone, "Actually I was thinking about doing something along those lines. I'll contact Blank, see if his team is up to the task. Speaking about spies, I don't know what to do with the Burmecian that I've mentioned earlier. He seems to be a decent guy, but he's still a spy and it could all be a ruse to gain intel on what we know... any suggestions?"
"Hmm. I might be able to help you with that..." Mikoto answered.
"Really? Oh, you're gonna use one of those cool mind-reading tricks of yours?" Zidane inquired.
"Exactly. Let me talk to him tomorrow. I'll determine if it's safe to let him go," his sister asserted.
"Thank you for everything, Miko! I miss you a lot!" the king exclaimed.
"I miss you too, Zidane. I'll be in Alexandria with my tools tomorrow. Take care of yourself, okay?"
"I will. Take care of yourself too. Love you!"
"... Love you too," Mikoto shyly replied before logging out.
Tired, but determined, Garnet watched over her unconscious friend. She was sitting on a wooden chair with a cup of tea and an oil lamp as her only companions. Next to her, Freya slept peacefully with a smile on her lips. Every once in a while, the queen checked if the Burmecian was still breathing and resumed her post when she was sure that her chest heaved steadily.
Zidane opened the door slowly, wincing at the loud creaking sound it made.
"Could you contact Mikoto?" Garnet whispered.
"Yes. She'll be here tomorrow to take a look at the core." the genome answered while he sat alongside his wife, "How is she doing?"
"She seems to be fine, but I'm scared, Zid... what if she never wakes up? I couldn't bear something like that..." Garnet muttered, seeking comfort in her husband's arms.
"She'll be okay, I'm sure of it," Zidane lied, trying to reassure his wife despite sharing her fears himself, "If there is someone capable of surviving anything that Gaia can possibly throw at her, it's Freya."
Garnet sobbed quietly, her face buried in Zidane's chest. He kissed the top of her head and stroked her hair until she calmed down.
"I'm going to see if I can contact uncle Cid. He needs to know about all this," the queen said, wiping her eyes before kissing the genome, "I love you so much, Zid... I don't know how I'd deal with all this without you."
"You'd surely find a way. You're awesome, you know?" he answered, stealing a last kiss before she stood up.
"I don't want to find out if I could... I'll be back in a minute, if something happens, send Adelbert." Garnet said before leaving the guest room.
Zidane remained quiet in his seat, thinking about everything that had happened in less than a week. The alleyway massacre, Puck's death, now this... it was way too much to process. He stared at his lifelong friend for a while, hoping that the bad feeling he had about her future was wrong. "At least she seems to be happy..." he thought.
Freya opened her eyes, finding herself once again in the royal guest room. To be sure, she turned around and looked out the window. Effectively, she was back in Alexandria.
"Was it all a dream..?" she wondered, remembering her recent experiences in Fólkvangr. Somehow, she could feel that Frigg and Kain were still with her, smiling.
Loud snoring interrupted her train of thought.
"Who's there?" she squeaked, startled by the sound. Sitting on his chair, Zidane slept with his mouth wide open and his head comically tilted back. Garnet was sitting next to him, quietly sleeping on his shoulder. "How does she manage to sleep with all that noise..?" the Burmecian thought, trying not to laugh.
"Huh..?" the queen mumbled, awakened by the dragoon's voice. "Freya..?" she muttered before grabbing Zidane's shoulder and gently shaking him, "Zid, look! Freya is awake!"
"Hngh... mmh..?" the genome mumbled, blinking dumbly for a moment before springing back to life like a jack-in-the-box. "Well, I'll be damned! Look who's back with us!" he exclaimed, excitedly squeezing Garnet's hand.
"Hello, guys..." Freya said with a big smile. Garnet lost no time in hugging her tightly, catching the Burmecian off-guard.
"We were so scared! I'm so happy to see you awake!" she exclaimed. It took Freya a couple of seconds and a bewildered glance at Zidane to overcome her respect for the queen's authority and hug her back.
"Thank you... I wasn't going to leave you alone with all this," the dragoon said.
"The ultimate badass on Gaia is challenged to a deathmatch by a freaking god of war and she kicks his ass because she doesn't want to abandon her friends. Holy shit, woman, that's both cute and corny as hell!" the king quipped, making Freya and Garnet chuckle.
"You're one to talk about corny motivations..." the Burmecian shot back with a smug smirk.
"Touché," Zidane answered, clutching his heart as if it had been pierced by a sword, "Hey, Rusty! Freya's awake!" he shouted, prompting Garnet to shush him.
Steiner immediately barged into the room crying like a big, dumb child.
"Lady Freya! I thought... I thought you were going to... Bwaaaaah!" he sobbed, dramatically kneeling beside her bed.
"Oh... hello, Adelbert..." the dragoon muttered, awkwardly patting his helmet in a misguided attempt to calm him down.
"Rusty, come on! If you keep getting snot all over her she'll get tetanus or something..!" Zidane exclaimed, pulling the musclebound knight back, "Hey Freya! Please tell me that you said a cool one-liner when you kicked that motherfucker into space!"
"Well... about that..." the Burmecian stammered, "I didn't actually beat him..."
Everyone went silent for a moment.
"What do you mean..?" Garnet asked, already knowing that she wouldn't like the answer.
"Let's just say that Berlioz let me off the hook for now..." Freya replied, much to everyone's confusion.
"But Wulfweird said that you'd only wake up if you won the fight!" Zidane exclaimed.
"It turns out that I've impressed Berlioz enough for him to temporarily spare my life, but he will... well, kill me if I don't begin my Spear training soon," the Burmecian explained.
"Then we'll kick his ass first!" Zidane furiously spat, making everyone turn their heads in his direction, "I don't know about you, guys, but I've had enough of all this Berlioz business and I'm not gonna stand idly by while this entitled asshole threatens her like that!"
"Zidane..." Freya said, smiling at the rabid genome, "I appreciate your concern, but you need not worry about me, for I've agreed to those terms of my own accord..."
"What?!" Garnet squeaked, "Why would you do something like that?!"
"Because if I managed to become the new Spear of Berlioz, we could prevent the war from happening altogether!" the Burmecian replied.
"Woman, listen to yourself! You're selling your soul to a guy that's threatening to kill you if you disobey him! And without guarantees of any kind, to top it off!" Zidane exclaimed on the verge of yelling.
"Zidane, think of all the lives we will save if this works! We could defeat Ulrich, disband his army and restore peace to the continent! Think of all the cherry tree hills that we could build together!" Freya answered, raising her own volume too.
"The risk is not worth it!" The king exploded, making his friend shrink in her place, "What if Berlioz forces you to fight us in the name of who knows what whim of his?! Have you considered the possibility of all this mess being HIS idea? What if he's the mastermind behind Ulrich's crimes and just sent you the box to replace him with a stronger queen?! Motherfucker has been scheming for hundreds of years and, as far as I know, he just let his last Spear be horribly murdered without even moving a finger to save him!"
"Zid, calm down please! You're overreacting!" Garnet hissed.
"I'm not overreacting, Dag! We already were knee-deep in shit before Freya invited the fucking god of murder to the party!" the genome shot back, blinking away tears. He then shifted his attention to the Burmecian once again, "Why Freya? Why do you need to throw your life away like this when you could simply let us help you?"
"Zidane! Shut up this instant!" the queen blew up at him, scaring the wits out of everyone in the room, "You're being incredibly unfair to her! What if she's being threatened into becoming his servant?! Have you even considered the possibility of Berlioz forcing her to pretend that she's okay with this?!
"No, Garnet... he's right..." Freya stammered, her lower lip trembling so much that she had trouble talking, "I'm sorry..."
Neither Garnet or Steiner had ever heard it, but Zidane knew full well that whenever she spoke with that broken voice, it was because she had finally hit rock bottom.
"Oh, fuck..." the genome muttered, burying his face in his hands, "I'm sorry, Freya... I'm so sorry... I really went too far this time."
"No... you're right, monkey-tail..." the Burmecian croaked, "I should have declined his offer, even if he took my life for doing so... I didn't think he could use me to hurt you..." she said, hiding her shame behind her silver bangs.
"That's not going to happen, Freya. Not even in a million years." Garnet intervened, lovingly holding her, "We'll find a way to make things right."
"Can you possibly forgive me for all I've done..?" the Burmecian stammered while the queen stroked her hair.
"There's nothing to forgive, Lady Freya." Steiner intervened, "You have relinquished your own soul to protect us all. Besides, we still don't know if what you did was a mistake. Maybe something good can come out of this."
Zidane blankly stared at the Pluto knight, feeling like the biggest jerk ever.
"Maybe you're right, Steiner..." the genome conceded, before shifting his attention back to the burmecian, "Freya... can you forgive me for being a complete asshole? I didn't mean what I said, I was just..."
"... worried, I know..." the dragoon muttered, completing his sentence. She left Garnet's embrace and sat upright, offering her old friend an apologetic smile.
"... dragon pals?" she asked.
Zidane chuckled and smiled back.
"Yeah. Dragon pals."