"W- where do we go from here?" Garnet asked, trying desperately to block out the cold as she looked back toward the castle and shivered. Zidane had insisted that she wear his jacket, but damp as it was it did little to cut the frosty winds.
"I'm not sure it'd be a good idea to go back to the castle after what happened, but what do you think?" Zidane replied, wincing in pain as he moved to stand beside her.
As with most things lately, it wasn't an easy answer. Part of her wanted nothing more than to hurry back and demand that Braxton be removed from his position and exiled so that he could never set foot in Alexandria again, but her more rational side knew that it wouldn't be that simple.
She had known for a long while now that most, if not all, the Council had been plotting to get rid of her. Whether it was marrying her to someone they wanted to be in control, or even going so far as to hire an assassin themselves. Either way, she had known something was bound to happen at the feast, so under Beatrix's advice and admittedly more than a little paranoia on her part, she had chosen to wear an enchanted necklace that had been a prize of her mother's instead of her usual royal pendant. It wouldn't have saved her life if she had been mortally wounded, but what it had done was lessen the effect of the sleeping weed she had ingested during the feast.
She had to admit that that particular plant had been the last thing she had expected to have to endure. Her mother, being far more paranoid than she could ever claim to be, had ordered the necklace to be crafted with magic that would stop almost any know poison. Combating sleeping weed, however, had never been its intended purpose. Thankfully. It had done enough to keep her mostly conscious during the night's events, only succumbing to its effects for a few moments before waking to Zidane standing atop the balcony railing.
Though she had been unable to react while fighting against an overwhelming desire to sleep, she had heard most of the conversation that night. "I- I don't think it would be a good idea either." She chattered, hugging herself and letting out a small whimper as another cold breeze swept through the valley. "They're p-probably looking for us already."
"I take it it's not going to be a rescue party." Zidane groaned, shaking even worse than she was with his bare arms exposed to the elements. Garnet shook her head solemnly, not meeting his gaze. Even without seeing her eyes, she couldn't hide the emotional pain she felt. He couldn't imagine what it must have felt like, so he chose not to press. "Then maybe we should try going through the north gate and see if we can make it to Dali. From there, we can try to get some supplies and figure out what to do next." At first, Garnet did not say anything in return, but after a moment of continuing to stare in the direction of the castle, she nodded in agreement. "I hope Beatrix and Steiner will be ok..."
He wanted to tell her that they would be fine. That together they would be able to stop the council before anything bad happened to anyone but, lying to her had never come easy. "I know I always gave Rusty a hard time, but he's tougher than most and I'm sure he'll look after Beatrix too. He tends to be very protective of the people he cares about. I can't imagine how he'd be with his own wife." He finished, remembering how many times the knight had tried to pummel him for getting too close to Garnet.
To his surprise, she turned toward him suddenly with a puzzled look on her face. "How did you know about Steiner and Beatrix's marriage? We kept everything very private." She narrowed her eyes at him with a challenging expression.
"Uh.." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly and began to walk toward Dali. "Lucky guess?"
She wasn't buying it. "Now that I think about it, how did you sneak into the castle?" He may have imagined it, but for a second, he could have sworn he saw her fighting back a grin.
"I didn't, you invited me." He answered simply, not looking at her.
"W-what?" She asked in genuine confusion as she hurried to keep up with him. "If I had known you were still alive I would have-"
"You did invite me, you just didn't know it was me." He interrupted apologetically. The pair trekked on in silence for a while as she digested the information and tried to figure everything out. Seeing her calculating expression from the corner of his eye, he remembered just how much he had missed talking to her. "You were one of the suitors using a different name? But why?"
"Nope, I wasn't one of the suitors. Try again." Zidane laughed, feeling genuinely happy for the first time in a long time. He had always loved the light teasing that they had often shared.
"Zidane.." Garnet replied firmly, stopping in the snow behind him. She wanted answers. Zidane dropped his gaze to the snowy ground and stopped, turning to face her.
"I told you before in Memoria, if I got the chance to propose to you, I'd do it the right way when it's the right time… we both know that wouldn't be at some ball or party I know u didn't even want to be at."
Her expression softened and he immediately recognized that look, he had seen it quite a few times near the end of their journey together. It was one he could definitely get used to. "But if you weren't a suitor then how did you- Wait!" She stopped herself, eyes widening as she backed up a step taking in his attire. The letter she had read from the supposed King of Mélamar, now seemed almost too familiar. "I got a letter not long ago, but it was from- No, but that would mean that you.." She spluttered, trailing.
Zidane shifted uncomfortably. "Yea… according to Freya, Mikoto, Vivi and a few others, I guess you could say I'm a king now."
"…H- how?" Garnet whispered softly, not taking her eyes from his.
Zidane closed the distance between them and gently took hold of her upper arms. "There's something weird goin on and I'm not entirely sure what it is. There's so much… so many things I need to tell you and I can try to explain more of it when we get to Dali, but I guess the short of it is something like this: Somebody out there is planning something, and I think it's a lot bigger than just taking your throne. Whoever it is, has already tried to kill you more than once but I couldn't let that happen… On my way here I found out that a lot of innocent people, Including Freya, were locked in a dungeon below Cleyra that I never even know existed. I wanted so bad to come back to you and keep the promise I made you, but they needed someone to help them, and I couldn't just leave them on their own…" He trailed off for a moment, lost in his thoughts but Garnet waited patiently for him to continue.
"From there the only place I knew to go was back to the Black Mage Village." He chuckled tiredly to himself. "I guess the word somehow got out that it was a pretty safe place to live cause it didn't take long for more people to find us that wanted to live there and they needed a leader…" He paused again, struggling to find the right words. "I thought they should have picked somebody better than me, but Freya and the others wouldn't take no for an answer… I'm so sorry I didn't make it back sooner.. I just… I wanted to be better for you."
Zidane raised his gaze back to hers, and to his surprise saw tears running down her face. Before he was able to instinctively ask her why she was crying, her velvet lips crashed into his.
One Week Later…
"Ugh…" Beatrix groaned as she lifted her head from the damp filthy concrete of the dungeon cell. What she wouldn't have given for a bed! She wondered, staring up at the ceiling for a while before pushing herself to a sitting position. Outside she could hear water dripping from the melting snow and an occasional plop as a larger piece of snow broke free from the castle wall underneath of the morning sun.
Sliding over a bit, she relished in the warmth that came from the bright rays that snuck through the bars of the tiny window that adorned her otherwise empty cell. She supposed most other kingdoms probably had at least a few modest advancements in their dungeons that made them slightly more livable, but as she turned her attention back to the grimy drain in the middle of the floor, she had recalled how Queen Brahne had insisted that the people they threw in the dungeons were no better than rats, and they deserved to live like it.
"If I somehow make it out of here, I shall endeavor to at least add a chamber pot to each of the cells…" She mused softly in a detached sort of way. "I think perhaps I'll even treat Steiner's soldiers better… maybe even learn their names and try to make our groups work better together…"
After a moment, Beatrix laughed bitterly and struggled to sit up against the cold stone wall. Who was she kidding? She no longer had the energy to stand, let alone escape. She was to be publicly executed and with Braxton now king, you could bet her execution with be swift.
"That vile bastard." She coughed weakly.
Even though Garnet had always spent most of her days constantly hurrying from one duty to the next, a level of determination that had always made Beatrix proud, Braxton seemed to have no trouble finding the time to personally deliver her daily meal that consisted of barely enough stale food to keep the rats alive. He seemed to take great pride in watching her guzzle the dirty water that she had no choice but to accept in her state of dire thirst.
From the first day, the vile man had had no qualms about dismissing the guards and outright bragging about his victory. She would remember that conversation even in her grave...
"Well, Well, Well! If it isn't the mighty General Beatrix fallen from grace." Braxton smiled as he waled toward her cell, being careful to stay out of arms reach of the bars.
"You!" Beatrix seethed, jumping up and grabbing the cell bars angrily.
"Now, is that any way to treat your king?" He taunted raising an eyebrow.
Beatrix recoiled, not taking her eyes from his as she attempted to discern his meaning. "What did you just say?"
"And I thought it was supposed to be that buffoon Adelbert Steiner that was supposed to be the fool. Have you truly not figured it out yet? Now that the Garnet Imposter is out of the way, I am your king now. At least I will be once the coronation is concluded tomorrow."
"You? The king of Alexandria?" She laughed in disbelief.
"Who else?" He countered. "I was meant to be king! Not only do I hold powerful allies in Treno, but no one on the council has devoted their life to this kingdom the way that I have. I will be the greatest king that has ever graced Alexandria's throne! Mark my words, even the might Lindblum will tremble before my rule."
"No one would ever follow your rule!" Beatrix spat.
Braxton's grin faded, as anger flashed in his eyes. "You think so? Unfortunately for you, they already are! The Council has already accepted me as the next rightful king! Despite what you may think, people need a strong ruler that's willing to do whatever is "Necessary" to steer this sad excuse of a kingdom in the direction it should have been heading all along!" Instead of Handing her the tray of food, he slung it angrily against the bars scattering its contents across the room. He then turned and started to leave.
"Her Majesty is twice the ruler you could ever be." Beatrix commented sourly.
"Shut your wretched mouth, wench!" He yelled, whipping back toward her and stomping to her cell. "That bitch of a queen, barely more than a whelp, wasn't even royal blood! Even one more day of watching her pretend to be a queen and masquerading around the throne would have been more than this heart could take!" He clenched his fist over his chest and shook his head in mock disappointment. "She would still be alive if only she had been selling flowers on the corner somewhere, living in the streets where she belonged."
"Her Majesty is still alive!" Beatrix screamed at his retreating form as he made his way up the stairs and out of the dungeon leaving her in the darkness of her cell alone.
Beatrix had wanted to curse, scream and kill the man for everything he had done! Instead, she held it together and sat back quietly in her cell. No matter what, a General was supposed to stay composed. She had hoped she would never see him again, but the next day at about the same time there he came again. She had expected more taunting or gloating at her expense, but his somber expression caught her off guard.
He approached her more slowly this time, making no comment at first and she eyed him suspiciously as he looked around at the metal bars. "I am sorry that these cells aren't more accommodating, I cannot imagine how uncomfortable you must be."
"Whatever it is that you came here to say, be done with it and leave me alone." Beatrix replied. As much as she hated being all alone in the cold damp room, she vastly preferred it over having to be anywhere near the man.
"I don't suppose I blame you for your countenance, I must admit I was a bit harsh yesterday." He apologized, seeming almost sincere in his pained expression. "I was wrong, it was rude and disrespectful for me to talk of the late queen in such of a manner, gods bless her soul."
"What?" Beatrix asked, tiredly rising to her feet and walking toward the door of her cell. "I told you the queen is-"
"I'm afraid her body was found this morning, washed up on the banks of the river past the waterfall." He interrupted softly.
"That's a lie!" She countered, though she felt her heart sinking no matter how hard she tried not to believe him.
He merely shook his head as a parent might at a stubborn child. "As much as I felt distaste towards her, no one deserves to die at such a young age… it truly is a tragedy. Had it not been for the cold and the knife in her chest, perhaps things could have ended differently."
Beatrix said nothing and only stood there, lost in the enveloping silence.
"Here is your food…" he offered, sliding it gently under her cell. "Perhaps in time we can move past this foolishness and perhaps you will even consider finding redemption in serving me as you once did the late queen."
"I would gladly die before I serve you." She replied softly, numb to the room around her.
"If that is what you wish." He nodded in acceptance. "But do you not desire freedom?"
For a moment, she did lock eyes with him. "Freedom is lost the moment you bow to someone undeserving… Alexandria's freedom was lost with our queen. If I were to escape this cell, it would only be to put a blade in your throat." For a moment she thought his face paled, but he turned from her quickly and left the dungeon.
"Was it true?" She asked herself as she looked down at her trembling hands. There was no denying the blood that had covered the royal chamber and the strip of dress lodged in the crack of the railing. Had the queen, her closest friend, fallen to her death? Or had she been dead before she hit the water?
Beatrix sank to her knees and grasped the bars tightly. She was overwhelmed with guilt and self-blame, sadness for the loss of her queen, loneliness at being trapped in her cell, and a deep burning hatred for the new king. She wanted to strangle Braxton for all that he had done, but mostly she wanted to scream. So, she did. She screamed till her lungs were sore and her throat burned from the effort, and she was to hoarse to continue.
The next few days had been a blur. Braxton had came and went but his words had fallen on deaf ears, the food he delivered left untouched. All she felt was a detached existence, teetering between her own thoughts and her cold dark reality. It wasn't because she was trapped in the dungeon; as a seasoned General she had been trained most of her life for this possibility and knew that she could handle it for months if the need required. And yet here she was only few days later, feeling like a shadow of her former self.
"Is this repayment for all that I've done while serving Queen Brahne? I should not have followed orders that I knew to be wrong… and more than anything I should have been there to…" She trailed off for a while, lost in her thoughts. "This is what I deserve."
"Come to your senses, have you?" Braxton asked, jarring her back to reality. She hadn't even heard him walk in. Was this how Garnet had felt after the death of her mother?
"Still not talkative I see." Braxton commented simply. She made no move and did not look at him. "Pity."
He walked towards her and placed his hands on the cold steel. "Your execution is tomorrow. The council wants to see you hanged for your crimes, but if you cooperate with me, I will see to it that you get the guillotine; it is much faster and far more painless."
"Cooperate?" She asked hoarsely after a time.
"Yes. It seems that fool of a captain, Adelbert Steiner, has been missing for some time and we believe he may also be to blame for the death of the queen. Perhaps you know where he might be? Hmm? I hear the gallows can be quite an unpleasant death if things don't go smoothly…"
This jarred her from her dark thoughts. "Steiner is missing?"
Braxton sighed in frustration. "That is what I said. I believe he has been missing since the celebration."
"Steiner is still alive…"