Just as he had thought, word of what had happened and who was to blame spread throughout Treno almost instantly. He had been more than fortunate to find a cloak that fit him amongst the wares at a small shop in the poorer district. The people there had not yet heard of what he had done, or simply did not care about anything that happened in the rich sector. Either way he was thankful for them as he now sat against a stone wall near the edge of the city. He had given the mages the last two items that they had needed; and they had thanked him as though he were a hero before teleporting back to the black mage village.
He didn't feel like a hero. What had he accomplished? All he had done was kill one guard that was trying to poison the woman he loved. He loved her. He could say that now to himself as easily as stating the fact that he was still breathing, and gods he missed her. Had she moved on? Had she married some snobby prince that could afford to buy her all the nicest things? His heart sank the more he thought about it. Even though he wanted desperately to hurry to Alexandria and see for himself, there was still work to be done. He had vowed to protect her, no matter what the cost, and he would be damned if he let someone that tried to kill her get away with it.
He could sit here wondering if he had done the right thing for hours, but the fact was that Burtrard surely had been one of the first to know that his would be assassin was slain, and there was little doubt that he was already planning another way or finding someone else to send to kill her. He had to be stopped, one way or another. He pushed himself to his feet and began walking back toward the rich sector. It was time to find Burtrard.
To his surprise, finding him proved to be incredibly easy. He had expected the man to have gone into hiding after his guard was slain, instead he found him standing in the middle of the square addressing a sizable group of people. He blended in with the crowd and began to listen to the man's speech. "Dear friends! It is sad news that I must share with you this night! Rumors have been spreading that one of our guards, a man with a family and who has served this great city with loyalty for many years, has been slain. I am saddened to say that that rumor is true!"
He didn't like where the man's speech was heading as there was a gasp of fear and disbelief from the audience that had gathered to listen, and he was again thankful for the cloak as none had yet noticed his presence.
"Yes!" Burtrard continued. "A good man has been slain tonight on these very streets! His killer did not care if your safety was endangered! He did not care if peace was broken this night!
Zidane could feel dread seeping in as the crowd began to grow angry. It was only a matter of time before they would be out for blood.
"I do not believe that this man's murderer was one of you! No, I believe that is what they wanted you to think! Do any of you truly believe that a man such as this loyal guard could be murdered in cold blood by one of our own upstanding citizens?" There was a murmur of agreement amongst the crowd as the considered this. Zidane wondered where he was going with this but was sure it couldn't be good. Despite this, he had to again give the man credit, as he put on a show of remorse worthy of one of Tantalus' plays.
"No! It is with great sadness that I must speak the truth! This may be hard to believe for some of you, but the assassin was sent by none other than the tyrant queen of Alexandria!
There was another collective gasp from the audience, and it was obvious to Zidane that most if not all of them believed the accusation. The man had showed no proof of anything, and yet the group of people, all of them, looked as though they were ready and willing to go to war. The nobles alone of course wouldn't be any physical threat to Alexandria. But, their combined wealth and resources might be another story altogether. Had he made a horrible mistake killing the guard? No. If he hadn't stopped him, the queen and more importantly, the woman he loved, would have been dead. What difference would anything have made then? He needed to think! Why couldn't he stay calm and think!?
To his dismay, Burtrard continued with his voice elevated as if he had already won some victory, with no longer any trace of his faked sadness. "Yes! She would like you all to believe that she wants nothing but the restoration of Alexandria, but kingdoms are not rebuilt without resources! Do you believe that a queen such as her will find a way to get the resources on her own? No! She will take what she needs from all of you! It will not matter to her if it leaves you penniless! Twice already, she has abandoned her own people! Do not think that she will give any of you even a passing thought?!"
Zidane growled in frustration and pushed himself forward in the crowd; he had to stop this! If he let Burtrard continue, it could be the start of a war! With Alexandria surely still struggling to recover, there was just no way that they would be able to handle another war so soon, whereas Treno had been one of the least affected placed in Gaia. If anything, they had all but prospered and grown stronger. He began to quietly pull the dagger from his belt as he drew to the front of the crowd but stopped as a young boy surely no older than six with curly brown hair approached Burtrard defensively. "She's not a Ty Rat! She's a good queen! My daddy says her and her comp- her friends saved us!"
Burtrard looked at the boy with an equal measure of distaste and disappointment upon noticing his ragged attire and shook his head before attempting to shoo him off. "You poor misguided boy.. Has living in the slums stripped you of your senses or are you simply too young to see the obvious? Either way, run along back to your parents. I would hate for you to further disappoint them with your ill-conceived notions of fairytales."
Zidane felt pride as the boy balled his fists and stood his ground firmly even as tears began to run down his face. "It's not a fairytale! We lived in Alexandria before it was destroyed! You're just a no-good liar!" There were a few chuckles and poorly concealed laughs from the crowd that stood watching the unexpected development, but even those that did not laugh obviously saw the boy only as amusement. He tried his best to bite back his anger for the boy as Burtrard knelt before him wearing a dark grin. "And who might your father be? Is he here among us? Surely u do not wish to continue to make him a fool?"
At this, the boy broke down crying, and instead of answering him, turned and ran toward the alleyway. Zidane did not want to let Burtrard cause any more damage, but that boy was upset from more than just the things that had just been said to him. With a sigh, he released his dagger and made his way after the fleeing boy. Like Burtrard, it did not take long to find him. The boy was sitting on the edge of the walkway, his feet hanging over the side and his head on the railing still crying. Without any introduction, he lowered his hood and sat beside the boy. At first, he said nothing, instead looking up at the night sky thoughtfully. After a few moments he could hear the boy's sobs subsiding. "Who are you? And why did you follow me?" He asked quietly.
Zidane did not answer, but instead asked a question of his own. "It's your dad isn't it? He was.. Hurt in the attack, wasn't he?" The boy remained silent, but his renewed tears told him everything he needed to know. The boy's father wasn't just hurt in the explosions; he was killed. His mother must have brought him here to try to start a new life. With sadness, placed an arm around the boy's shoulder. "My name's Zidane, what's yours? Everything is gonna be okay."
The boy sniffled a few more times before replying quietly. "I'm Ralph… how is everything gonna be okay without my dad? Mama works so much she doesn't even have time to play with me anymore.."
Zidane turned his gaze back toward the stars. "I'm sorry, but there's nothing that can bring ur dad back, none of you deserved what happened, but sometimes in this life, there's things we can't change. But hey, you do still have your mom, and it may not seem like it right now, but she loves u very much. I'm sure if she could, she'd be spending time with you right now. But sometimes, we have to do things to look after the people we love, even if it means you can't be with them the way you want to..."
He looked back at Ralph and could see that he was trying to understand. "I guess what I mean is, I know you're hurting and I know that's not gonna go away for a long time, but I'll bet your mom is hurting too and needs you just as much as you need her. If you stick together and you're there for her, she'll be there for you too and you'll get through this." Zidane finished with a smile. Ralph visibly cheered up at his words and thanked him before presumably running off to find his mom.
"But what do you do when the only way to protect the people you love is by becoming someone they'd hate…?"
….
Burtrard was sitting alone in his garden terrace, seemingly without a care in the world as Zidane could see no sign of any guards nearby. How could any man, even one this vile, be so at ease after trying to start another war for some personal gain? Zidane carefully clung to the shadows as he quietly drew nearer to the man who's dark plans he had no choice but to end quickly. He was careful not to step on any of the fallen leaves, for fear that there might be guards simply waiting where they could not be easily seen.
He was pretty sure he could handle Burtrard's guards if it came to that, but the last thing he needed was to give the people that apparently hated Dagger more fuel to use in rallying people against her. The thought that what he was doing might be hurting her as much as it was helping her was not lost on him, but it was too late to turn back now. He was so close he could smell the alcohol seeping from Burtrard despite the expensive perfumes that was meant to mask it. Were most nobles just drunks with money? Sure, he had drank his fair share, more if he was being honest, but at least he hadn't pretended to be something he wasn't. Had he?
He pushed the thoughts aside, and quietly pulled the dagger from his belt. In a matter of seconds, Burtrard would be done. "If you're going to kill me, have you not the stones to look me in the eyes?" Burtrard drawled, making him jump. How had he known he was there? He hadn't even glanced toward him. "Relax. I have no intention of alerting my guards, nor do I believe you will lay even a finger on me."
"And why is that?" Zidane asked guardedly, not moving from where he stood.
"Because knowledge is power, and power has always been the greatest form of currency. Rich as I may be, my wealth of knowledge far outweighs my wealth in coin. Do you believe that you are the first to try to kill me? No, there have been many others." He finished, taking a drink of his wine then swirling what was left in the bottom of the delicate glass.
Zidane didn't want to listen to the man because he was certain that anything he said would be lies, a gnawing doubt in the back of his mind wondered if he might hold some truths as well. "What knowledge do u think I would want to hear bad enough to not want to stop u?"
Burtrard did not answer for a moment, holding his gaze to the last of his wine as though lost in thought. "My knowledge always comes at a price. This time, the price is that you leave here and make no further attempts on my life. I know who you are, and I know that you have honor enough to hold to your word, as do I. So, those are my terms, I will tell you something I think is of great value to you. If you find yourself in agreement, then I live. As a bonus I suppose, I will make no further attempts to kill the lovely Queen Garnet, for in truth I care little whether she lives or dies. It was merely a profitable venture. What say you? Do we have a deal?"
He still didn't think he could trust him, but what did he have to lose by listening? "Alright. But how will I know you're telling the truth?"
"You may judge that for yourself." Burtrard replied and downed the wine. "You think me some monster for my actions or some grand puppeteer? No, I am simply a cog in a very large wheel, playing the part that was given me. I too bow to others and must demonstrate my loyalty to stay alive. The world is changing; there is no use trying to stop it. Those in power, ones with influence and reach far greater than my own, have already set the wheels of that change in motion. Her majesty was to be killed simply because Alexandria need not be a part of the equation. I have never claimed my hands to be clean, but I would not have any woman slain were it given to me to decide. I would simply have her dethroned, the kingdom left to mind its own business. But I am afraid her fate has already been decided by others I cannot control."
Zidane mulled this over, and as much as he didn't want to believe Burtrard, he could feel the sincerity behind his words. "Who is it that you bow to?"
"I will only give that information if you agree to spare my life and keep this meeting of ours a secret." Burtrard replied firmly, though with little emotion.
With a grimace, Zidane slid the dagger back into his belt. "Tell me."
For the first time, Burtrard turned toward him. "I know not who truly pulls the string, only the one who pays me handsomely."
"Then who is that?"
"Someone I believe you knew quite well I believe, though I wander how well you know her now." Burtrard commented darkly.
"Who?" Zidane spat, but could feel his stomach drop in anticipation.
"Freya Crescent.