Filling In The Blanks

A/N: I adore this story. I just feel sad that I'm most likely not getting any review for it (I'm on the fifth chapter and I haven't posted it yet :D) Please review if you can!

Disclaimer: I wish I owned this game. Someday...

Quick Random Thought: Just got back from my school trip :D It was funn!

Chapter 5: Everyone Wants Something

Gloom drifted in the air, just as the mist settled atop the water, as though it would never move. When Zidane looked down, he could see the water rippled slightly, the wind moaning in the trees. He could not see the bottom, as murky and clouded as it was.

Crows and other red eyed and black feathered birds pecked their long, sharp beaks in the rubble of charred items in the street. There was a place that Zidane recognized very well with flashes of laughter and color. It was the market area of Alexandria.

Sitting silently for a moment, passing it by he stared. The place he recently saw girls of multiple races playing with their dolls was a torched trolly and several broken swords. The place where people held mock fights in front of stands had cold, hard stone wet with a chilling rain, almost completely reduced to dust. Where the old inn was, no longer stood, but rather a pile of stones, and the sign of the Lion's Pride Inn broken in half on the ground.

Turning around, he stared forward, cerulean eyes wide. "Alexandria?" He whispered almost silently.

No one answered him for a long while. Instead, it was the black haired girl sitting silently next to him with her eyes closed, hands encircled around her diamond necklace that spoke, hardly any louder than he was. It was as though the silence was as fragile as peace in this world; everyone was trying to be still.

"It was taken over sometime ago..." She murmured softly. No one seemed to notice her talking, except for the bulky knight sitting next to her, eyes tightening shut a bit more at the generous tone of voice she used with strangers. In a world quite like that one - Zidane could understand. "It's looked like this ever since..."

That was the last thing Zidane wanted to know. Taken over? By who? Just when he had passed out with his friends, Alexandria had been so peaceful and beautiful. How much time had passed, and why in the world was he even there at all?

He watched as they left the seemingly dead city, and onto the grassy lands. He'd never seen outside those boundaries, so he didn't know what to expect; but he dreamt it looked much different...

The grass was a luscious green, but not in a good way. Mud was smeared all about, the grass trampled on and stomped into the ground. The wind was even more ferocious outside the city, whipping their clothes and the water about so much, it made almost everyone in the boat shiver.

In the distance, he could see a large forest, dark shadows looming about, and a bad vibe rolling off in fat waves. More random trees and large roots spread across the broken prairie, just as ominous and shattered looking as the rest of the world. He wondered just where all the people were.

The quiet and beautiful Bermecians, the loud obnoxious animals, the never restful humans, quick and intelligent elves, and the many more life forms he used to see day after day. They had all vanished, leaving no sign they had ever been there at all.

After sight seeing for a little longer, the blonde and the mage picked up on the glances and eye shifts people were shooting at one another. Some were concerned, others angry, and the majority were curious and intrigued. Their eyes, no matter the color or shape, held a conversation very close bonded people could only share. He realized now that he was an intruder in this situation, and in the end, he knew he would most likely get hurt or punished for his actions.

Although, he couldn't shake the fact, even in this scary world where his best friends did not exist, and his house, family, and everything was in disarray, that he felt he knew the redhead. Glancing over, and locking eyes with him, they stared at each other for a long time.

If only - maybe if he could see the other guy's eyes. Maybe then, if he could pinpoint the color he could get an exact on who the person might be in relation to him and his reality. He wanted answers he knew he wouldn't receive right now, and that's what forced him to look down. He still held the dagger tightly in his hands, the sheath protecting him from the sharp metal.

He just wished he knew what happened, but figured he wouldn't be able to figure it out. Not without these answers he so desperately needed to go on.

He thought about how puzzled he was about this situation, and then thought about his companion he had met not too long ago. He had seen him in the wondrous Alexandria only a day or two before, so he was going through the same thing, and most likely the same thought process. His sapphire eyes scanned the mage's face, looking for any signs of knowledge perhaps he knew, and Zidane didn't.

The short and small mage caught his eye, and a shaky smile tried to pull from his lips. Even though it didn't work, it gave the blonde the kind of determination and hope that he needed to see right then. Any support from anyone who knew he wasn't crazy was such a glorious and scarce thing at the moment, he welcomed it with open arms.

Before he knew it though, they were in a small village on the river. The woman jumped out, and began to tug the boat to shore, the man climbing out with less speed to help her. As they heaved it onto the bank, everyone jumped out, Zidane and his companion he didn't quite know in the middle of the group as they made their way into the village.

It was a pretty empty place, with a strangely still working windmill, a few houses that looked in pretty good shape, and a small garden with a pitifully scary scarecrow. They were lead into the largest building, and down into a hole. As the blonde climbed down the ladder, he felt an overpowering sensation to scream, as though he were trapped in something he did not want to be trapped in.

The ladder was rickety and molding, some of the rungs cracked off. Underground was cold and dark, more candles lighting the way. But unlike the giant building they had been in, this place offered some sort of comfort, or at least people tried to make it seem that way.

Multiple colored rugs were dropped down on the stony floor ways, and the walls had a bad paint job of bright colors. There were a few pieces of furniture in multiple rooms, with a few animals here and there like cats and pigeons. It looked like it could have potentially been a large house or home for people who needed one, if it hadn't been in the location it was.

They stopped unexpectedly, and whipped around, all eyes narrow and accusing.

"Alright..." The large man pulled the sword off his back and pointed it at the two, who backed up into a wall, "who are you?" he questioned.

"What's going on?" He looked up at the taller man, eyes slightly defiant.

"I asked you a question, and you're in no position to not answer it..." He growled the remark as intimidatingly as he could.

"My name is Zidane." He tried to act calm, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw the redhead tense and freeze, unseen eyes boring into him, making him slightly uncomfortable. "I gave you who I am, now tell me what's going on!" He demanded, this tightening tension he was feeling from the teenager overpowered by confusion and rage.

His eyes swept over the room. They were in a dining room of sort, with a weird dog creature sitting at a chair with papers sprawled in front of him, eager to get some of the gossip of the two new people. There was a man sitting on a chair sipping something or another, but he was old and didn't look like he said much. The redhead was leaning against the door frame, eyes eternally hidden, and the black haired girl stood completely straight with her staff held in both of her hands horizontally. The two with swords were personally interrogating them.

"And who is this!" He pointed his sword at the black mage, who whimpered and fell backwards trying not to get hit.

"Don't do that, otherwise we won't tell you anything!" Zidane growled, sticking with the mage considering he didn't want to get started on fire.

"You don't say things like that or I will personally cut you up limb by limb..." The woman now, threateningly came into the fray, words burning into Zidane's mind, almost making him flinch. "Where did you come from?" She snarled, pearly white teeth showing under her ruby lips.

"I don't know! I was just asleep down there, and -"

"He's lying!" The tall man brought his sword back in amazement, voice booming, although he still wouldn't let Zidane release his tense position.

"No one ever wakes up from that..." The black haired girl spoke for the first time since the boat, her dark eyes widened, obviously shocked.

"So that means you two are trying to trick us! They've seen our hide out now, we must kill them!"

"I don't even know who this guy is!" He pointed to the mage, sitting terrified next to him.

Making a meeping noise as the sword of the woman was pointed at his face, the mage tried to cower into the wall. The broadsword of the massive man shoved close to the blonde's throat made him scared to swallow.

"So you were lying to us... Tell us the truth..."

"You wouldn't even believe me if I tried!" He glared, knocking the sword away, getting a staff pointed at him this time too.

The young girl suddenly turned angry, although he could tell with the shadowy glimmer in her eyes, she was more curious and wanted to get answers out of him for her own pleasure, more than she wanted to hurt him. That was a good sign. Maybe they listened to her.

That made him want to snort in his mind. Why would two people who seemed to be older than twenty listen to a teenage girl. She was beautiful, and she looked strong enough to hold her own, but so did the other girl. If anything, they listened to her opinion, and tried to fit it into an unimportant part of the plans. Zidane wasn't normally wrong on those kinds of things.

"More lies!" The man in the armor crowed, waving his sword in the air like a mad man, "He cannot even stir an alibi let alone get himself out of death!"

The more they began to accuse each other of too little or unimportant information, the louder it got in the tunnel, their voices echoing off the walls, and making a few things fall from their hanging spots on the rock. Nothing bothered them though, because it wasn't as though there were many other people in the room. Only the two who were sitting there listening to the conversation. They wouldn't contribute.

"We should just kill them now!" Zidane didn't know who said it, but he could tell their voice was being heard over his.

"We didn't do anything!" Even the quiet mage beside him piped in, and that's when suddenly from the back of the room a voice sounded, surprisingly calm.

"Enough..." That shut everyone up immediately, which confused Zidane. It was disturbing how silent it was in the tunnel. "The two of them are dreamers."

Both teenagers looked over at the boys, positively baffled at the news they just received. If the situation wasn't such a scary one, and Zidane had possibly been with Griffon, perhaps he would have laughed at the expressions that played across their faces.

The older two of the small group looked at them, and back at the old man, who walked over with hands clasped behind his back. He was covered with royal - looking armor, that didn't look anything like armor at all. It looked comfortable and cloth; something that wouldn't cause irritation or an uncomfortable feeling. There was a ripped and burned red cloak that surprisingly still carried behind him, although absolutely not as long as it was before.

"But that's impossible..." The young girl stood perhaps even straighter than before, setting her staff quietly down on the table.

At this time, the giant dog like creature gathered up his papers, and briskly walked out of the room. If Zidane and this mage were really these dreamers (he didn't even know what they were, and he knew a lot about himself, so he thought) he wasn't sure if he would spread the word of just wanted to get out of there before things got too confusing and juicy.

The old man smiled and walked slowly up to Zidane, "I'm sure you have a lot of questions, friend..."

"Um yeah... Quite a few of them actually..." And with that, he let his eyes scan everyone in the room, eyes stopping on the redhead who still stared at him, as though he had seen a ghost.

??

A/N: I'm guessing you all know who the four people are, and I'll throw names at you in the next chapter :D Finally some explaining right? Hahaha! Well, I hope you liked that chapter! I really hope you all review so I can get your opinion on this! Please and Thank you! The story is picking up!!

-zesty-