Sparks flew and a metallic clang resonated through the woods as the metal spear clashed against the blade of the dagger.
"You're looking a lot better!" Zidane chuckled, struggling to catch his breath.
Freya smiled warmly, though her face betrayed her concern. "I'd say you were going easy on me, but you don't look so good."
Zidane scratched the back of his head sheepishly and turned to look toward the black mage village just across a small stream. "Miko says I'm doin great."
"We both know that's a lie." Freya replied taking a seat on a nearby stump to rest. "That girl is rarely optimistic about anything and you're exhausted after sparing for only a few minutes. So, what did she really say?"
Zidane sighed. "Can't ever leave it alone can you?"
"No." She replied simply.
"I just cut it a lot closer in the Lifa Tree than I first thought.." He evaded.
"You're gonna have to give me a better answer than that. Besides, you still owe me an explanation for why you never let any of us know that you were still alive! I'm sure Garnet is worried sick about u!"
"She was worried?" He asked, trying to hide his surprise.
"You astound me with how blind you can be at times." Freya commented, shaking her head in exasperation. "Now out with it."
Zidane laughed softly in defeat. He had always known the woman's stubbornness was pretty much unmatched. "I finally made it to Kuja, but he was already too far gone.." He paused searching for the right words. "When I saw all the roots crashing towards us, I was sure I'd be joining him. I tried grabbing him and rolling out of the way, but as soon as I thought I had cleared them, an explosion of pain shot through me and everything went black.."
Zidane bent down and picked up a smooth stone near the edge of the stream and skipped it across the water. Freya didn't press for him to continue, but he finally did. "When I woke up, I found out that Miko saved me. Not only did she dig me out of that damned tree, but she figured out how to use the invincible to fix most of my injuries, even though it still took me about six months to get well enough to do anything on my own."
"But we asked Mikoto, and she said there had been no trace of you." Freya defended.
"I told her not to tell anyone." Zidane replied guiltily.
Freya shook her head again in disbelief. "You didn't want us to know you were alive because you were bed ridden? After everything we've all been through together? Do you think I'm foolish enough to believe that's the reason?"
"Even if I had told everyone I was alive, it still wouldn't have changed a damn thing!" Zidane exclaimed in exasperation, his tail thrashing.
"You mean with Garnet.." Freya replied, working it out in her head. "Because you're a thief and she's a queen?"
"That's how it works, isn't it?" He spat bitterly.
"There's no law saying she has to marry a prince." She offered sympathetically.
Zidane turned back towards her. "Even if she could marry me, why would she want to? What good is a thief that's not even good at stealing anymore?"
"You stole that airship didn't you? How did you manage that by the way?" She chuckled, standing up and joining him beside the stream. When he made no reply, she lowered voice and became more serious as she asked "I take it Mikoto wasn't able to heal you completely..? You're not going to..?"
"I'm not gonna die anytime soon." He replied with forced optimism, not looking at her. "But I'm sure as hell not gonna get any better either.. all it takes is for me to try running just a little too fast, or to fight just a little bit too hard and I'm gonna collapse again and if by some miracle I manage to get back up afterwards I'll be even weaker. There's no fixing me! Yea, I hated knowing I was just a thief, but at least I was able to do it well! Half the time I feel like I can barely walk or that I would fall down if I wasn't holding on to something; so what good am I now?"
"I fall down all the time, but that never stopped you from wanting me to go with you." A small voice answered from behind them. Instantly recognizing it, Zidane and Freya turned around sharply.
"Vivi!" Freya exclaimed cheerfully. "I haven't seen you since you went on the first airship to look for Zidane!"
Vivi adjusted his hat shyly. "Mikoto wanted me to try to find something to help make a potion that would help the other black mages. I think I found what she was looking for, but I don't know if it will work or not.."
"I'm sure Miko will be able to come up with something!" Zidane smiled; his dark mood gone at the sight of his friend.
"I'm trying to stay optimistic like you taught me. No matter how bad things seemed, you always looked on the bright side of things." Vivi replied, in what Zidane thought was a smile.
"You don't seem to be too surprised at seeing Zidane alive." Freya commented after a moment with a raised eyebrow.
"You knew I was alive?" Zidane asked, though his voice held no bitterness.
Vivi looked down and fidgeted with his gloves. "I was with Mikoto when she found you. I helped her fight off the monsters while she and um.. another genome carried you. I wanted to come talk to you after you woke up, but Mikoto said you didn't want us to know that you were there. She would have let me come see you anyway, but I didn't want to make you feel worse.."
"Vivi.. I'm sorry I didn't mean to-" Zidane began but Vivi interrupted. "It's ok. Sometimes when I feel upset, I don't want to talk to anyone either. When we were traveling together, you taught us how to do almost everything: what we could do if we felt hungry, what to do if we were attacked at night, how to stay warm if it was cold, how to stay cheerful when it felt like we should feel anything but… The only thing you didn't teach us was what to do when we felt lonely…" Vivi looked over at two black mages that had begun to pick apples nearby. "For a long time I didn't understand why you never taught us that, but after I traveled alone for a while I finally understood."
"What did you understand?" Zidane asked.
"I realized it was because there is no answer. I think that even though we're all different, in a way we always feel alone and maybe it never really goes away.. but if we can find someone or some place that makes us happy, a place to call home, then maybe it can make us forget about the bad things we can't change.. I know I'm going to "stop" eventually, but if I can help find a way to help the other black mages live longer, or reproduce as Mikoto says, and them be happy then that will make me happy too."
Without warning, Zidane dropped to his knees and hugged the black mage. "Thank you."
….
"It's going to be winter soon, but if we can keep it up I think we just might make it." Zidane commented as he watched a mixture of Burmecians, Cleyrans, Terrans, black mages, and even a few people that had once resided in Lindblum and Alexandria worked on building a larger stable for the chocobos. He wondered vaguely if they should be referred to as any of those things, since the tiny village had tripled in size and everyone there now called it home. He didn't guess it mattered, but one thing he did know is that there was a lot to like here.
While it was true that the surge of newcomers, especially those in dire health, had been a heavy burden on the genomes and mages; they hadn't seemed to mind. Food had run out quickly, as had potions and antidotes, but fortunately he and the black mages had been able to make arrangements with the dwarfs who were more than willing to trade them most of the things they needed in exchange for those help digging in a new mithril mine they had discovered. The dwarfs were hard workers, but there wasn't enough of them to make any real progress. Zidane thought its was more than a fair trade, especially since the dwarfs were also willing to share a portion of the mithril, but had thought it best to leave it up to the villagers themselves. The discussion proved both short and decisive, with most of the men who weren't building new homes volunteering immediately. And so, things began to steadily improve and grow.
Many of the trees near the village had been cut down and used for wood and provide a clearing for the town to grow into a city. Not only that, but since the threat of the mages being found and killed had passed, a clear path had been made to allow easier trading. Everyone working together as equals had made the job seem almost enjoyable. He couldn't lie and say it had been easy for everyone to get along at first, after the initial shock of being freed had passed many had shown varying levels of distanced to others. The Burmecians and Cleyrans blamed the Alexandrians for what had happened to them, the Alexandrians blamed the Burmecians. The few people from Lindblum had mostly kept to themselves, but had panicked when he had told them they would be staying with the Black mages, even the others had stopped their arguing to express their outrage. Persuading them that the black mages were friendly and not monsters had probably been the hardest argument he had ever had, but look at them now.
The people whose homes had been destroyed by Kuja's mages now welcomed these black mages as if they were family, even holding funerals for two of them that had "stopped" in which everyone attended. Thanks to Vivi, Mikoto had finally found a potion to greatly extend the black mages lifespans. While that wouldn't stop them from dying out eventually, it would help those that were still alive enjoy their lives as long as most humans, and that had been worth celebrating. As for the Genomes, they had all started off mostly child-like, but now they had all begun to develop their own personalities, each with their own likes and dislikes. Many of them had grown to dislike looking the same as all the others, and had all but forced Mikoto to take time from her other projects to come up with a way to change their appearances. Some had chosen to keep their tails and simply changer their hair or eye color, while others opted to have it removed in order to look more human like someone they fancied or to simply be different than how they were created. As a result, the city now teemed with people of every conceivable race and variation and yet, for the most part everyone was treated equally.
Despite his inner objections and hesitations, everyone constantly turned to him when a major decision was to be made, and with a large thanks to Freya's wisdom he knew, he had managed to them happy and steer the city in the right direction. Jokingly, Freya had referred to him as their king during a town gathering. To his utter surprise and disbelief, many had begun to chant "King Zidane! King Zidane!" At first, he had refused to accept it declaring that he was just a normal guy, like everyone else there. But, a woman in the back had stood and declared him hero, thanking him for saving her and her son. Many others chimed in about various things he had done for them and that he was the one they wanted to lead them.
So now, about a year and a half from the day he had chose to walk away from Garnet and the others to try to save Kuja, and to escape the harsh reality that he would ever only be a thief and she a distant Queen, here he stood a thief king of a kingdom of outcasts. With Freya as his close friend and advisor, and Vivi there to remind him of the things that mattered, it almost seemed doable. They hadn't yet decided a name for their kingdom, but that would come in time. Whether he could admit it or not to himself, he had become someone he could almost be proud of. What would Baku say if he were there and could see him now? He'd probably tell him he was a lousy thief. Because, even with everything he had now, he was still a long way from the one thing he wanted most. Alexandria's greatest treasure wasn't anything kept locked in a vault, and one way or another even if he couldn't be with her, he would see her again and at least tell her how he felt. That was a promise.
...
A/N: Just wanted to say a quick thank you to all of you that continue to stick with me chapter after chapter and especially to the ones that took the time and effort to leave a review or messaged me! I can't express just how much your kind words mean to me and I really hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!