Filling In The Blanks

A/N: I have no clue what's going to go on in this chapter - but I'm excited to write it! I hope you all like the story so far, and I can't wait to see how you all review on it! :D Since I haven't posted even the prologue yet lol.

Disclaimer: I don't own it... And I won't ever and I'm started to accept that.

Quick Random Thought: My large cat is in front of the screen and I can't see anything.

Chapter 11: Curious Questions and Concerns

"Oh my gosh! Freya! What are you doing here?!" After seeing the relief flood over the Bermecian's face when she found it was Dagger in the grass, and not someone she didn't care about, the girl was completely convinced it was the white haired role model she had that she hadn't seen in many months.

"I have some pretty important information that could help you guys out..." She smiled, her hat tilting up, and in the gleam of moonlight, showed her beautiful, sparkling eyes.

The younger girl smiled and helped Zidane up, although didn't recognize him the rest of the walk back. She was much more caught up in what Freya had to say, even though she wouldn't report much until she was with everyone at once, although she had to envy the girl's enthusiasm. If she wanted so much to learn about what was going on everywhere else in the world, her job would be a lot less stressful, but the precautions she had to take were absolutely terrorizing.

The most painful thing about coming to the kingdom of Alexandria was being away from her home for so long. Of course it was corrupted with Kuja's minions, but she missed the rain and the smell of it all, and not to mention Sir Fratley. She wanted so dearly for him to come, and aid her on her quest to help, but he refused, saying he must keep in Bermecia until the war cleared so that he could protect his king as they hid undercover, trapped in the city. Dejected, she allowed herself to come back to Dali.

Once they were back, and greetings were shared to welcome her back to the Alexandria nation, the business could officially be started.

"What exactly brings you back here, Freya? What important information do you have for us?" Beatrix asked excitedly; she was thrilled to have yet another from their main team back.

"Information of the war and Kuja spread in Bermecia. Sir Fratley, who I still have no persuaded to come to Dali yet, has been able to get key information from the King, "He's on the move... These dreamers who escaped have definitely got him in an uproar. If he learns of the rebellion getting large enough, he plans to awaken some of his fleet, but of course..." She shook her head, not showing her eyes, "he might not be able to do that if the two out there will spoil his plans."

"Do you have any idea on just where he'll be, if he decides to awaken them?"

"They'll start in Alexandria... As that's where they're all kept, and sweep out from there. But there's been a couple interesting laws pasted."

"What do you mean laws?" Steiner asked, sitting up straighter in his chair, his lack of attention suddenly snapping back into place, "He never makes laws if he can help it..."

"You need papers and passes to get into basically any city now... And when I mean basically any - I don't just mean Bermecia and Cleyra, Lindblum and Alexandria, I mean Conde Petie, Esto Gaza, Treno, and Daguerro. And then... The works - gates have been built so people can't just sneak in, guards have been placed almost everywhere now, and people who aren't citizens of these cities can only be in there escorted by a guard. There are curfews now. Everyone must be back inside their homes by eight at night, normally when the sunsets..." She shook her head, disgusted.

"That's horrible!" Dagger gasped, "Why would he do that?"

"To keep a better eye on who's moving about. With guards patrolling almost every prairie and such now - it was so challenging to get here - they can keep a better rope on what rebellion is where, and if there are any people up to fishy business," she scrunched her nose, as though smelling just that foul odor in the air.

"What did take you so long, Freya?"

"I had to fight my way through one brigade. They were quite off their trail - or at least, surely weren't moving from their resting position for a while. I snuck up on them - they hadn't seen it coming. I say good riddance... From what I picked up on by their conversations - they were headed towards Dali, and with you two patrolling, you could have run into some trouble."

"Yeah... They did a week ago, guards looking for the dreamers..." Beatrix nodded, signaling she knew just what the Bermecian meant though.

"Who are these two anyways?" She questioned, gesturing towards the black mage nodding off, and Zidane who stood silently paying attention.

Cid took a breath, smiling slightly, his white mustache moving with his lips, "Freya... I would like you to meet Zidane Tribal, and Vivi Orunitia... The two escaped dreamers."

Her eyes widened much larger than they were meant to be, as she pushed her white hair out of her face. "Well well..." instead of extending a hand, she bowed slightly, "It's an honor... Meeting the first two people to escape Kuja's clutches, in his own capitol castle at that!" She laughed, her mood suddenly brightening, "This truly is a treat... Does anyone realize just how much they'll help our cause?"

Everyone grinned, and the blonde appreciated the encouragement, although it dropped more stress on his already aching shoulders. He slumped slightly, and everyone knew him and the girl must be exhausted.

"Everyone should sleep then..." Steiner nodded, "We're all in need of it, and it seems as though we shouldn't be out at such late hours anymore."

Breaking apart from the eventful night, Zidane and Vivi walked down the hall, "I liked Freya... She seemed very nice..."

"I agree with you, Vivi," he flashed the mage a smile, "say... How about tomorrow I help you with combat fighting."

"Me? But magic -"

"Magic can wait..." He smiled, "Think about if you get magic exhaustion - what would save you then if you didn't know how to fight?" in a twisted way, it was a slightly mean way to back Vivi into it, but the Genome knew it was for his own good.

"O - Okay..." He nodded, pulling his hat closer to his head, "I'll do it!"

"That's the spirit, Vivi!" He smirked, and looked down, a fondness unknowingly lighting up in his eyes, "You get some sleep now though, so we can practice early tomorrow!"

"Okay!" The mage sounded excited, and for that Zidane was happy; he didn't want the poor guy to feel too horribly stressed.

As Vivi wobbled down the hall, groggily trying to get to his bed before collapsing, Zidane lingered in his doorway, wondering what would have happened, had he never met the mage, and how scared he would be to be alone. That got him thinking on his friends again, it bothering him that he couldn't ever figure out if they were real or fake. Had he known all he knew now, he would have stopped, outsmarted the guards, and doubled back around to try and find them.

Shaking his head, he shut his door with a thud and flopped down on his bed for some well deserved rest.

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Clanking footsteps on the red carpeted hallway were menacing enough to make everyone move to the side. Even though he was their equal on many levels, they still respected him the most... He had the most power out of them all.

Smirking under his gold plated helmet, he gripped the hilt of his sword at his side tightly, feeling his fingers strain at the effort. His cape swayed behind him, the red almost blending in with the carpet, but the crimson color of it much more subtle to the brightness of the floor.

Taking a sharp left, he hurried down the hall, even though his mind screamed for him to stop. Despite his gruff attitude, and the sudden fear that sent everyone cold when he stepped into a room in his armor, a scowl permanently etched onto his helm, he did not want to tell his Lord this. It scared him very much - what his punishment would be.

It wouldn't for say be his punishment either... It would be his Lord taking out his frustrations pent up out on him, sending him to do some pitiful job even he was well above. Shaking his head slightly, he pushed open the doors into the long, breezy room.

Green, lively plants outlined the white, ivory walls, the floors glimmering with material so shiny, some thought it to be magic that could keep it so clear. Pink and purple tulips lined the outside, as the almost fake blue sky could be seen outside the pillars and unglassed windows, miniature green forests gardened under them.

It had the essence of a gazebo, even though it was the most important room in all of the castle. The red carpet did not end, but it changed from red, to light blue at the doorway. His Lord had always complained about it clashing with things - a somewhat odd argument, but nothing he, himself would comment on.

"My Lord..." He bowed, taking off his helmet, shaking his sandy brown hair only slightly.

Looking up, honey brown eyes met silver-blue hair, not expecting to see his lord standing with his back turned.

"General Strand... I trust you have something to report?" The light, airy voice was poisoned with an uninvented anger, waiting to come out.

"Lord Kuja," he began, taking a deep breath, hoping the man he stood before would turn around so he could see the reaction of his news, "another brigade has failed to report back."

Kuja's pink lips pursed in disapproval, as he swung his legs around, hands still clasped at his back, to face the man.

"They were sent out a week ago, Sir, and still no reports. Although in their camp closer to the North Gate were the dead soldiers. None seemingly survived."

"This upsets me, General Strand," was the only thing he said for a very long time, "their causes of death?"

"Are unknown, Sir, although there didn't seem to be a struggle, or even more than one person. To sum it all up, one person killed this brigade being a surprise, and being graceful about it, Sir."

This time, Kuja's brow creased, his left hand unconsciously bunching the white material by his thigh, bunching it up, letting it go, and repeating the process, pretending it was the man's throat.

"I want to know who the person who killed this brigade - what brigade was it?"

"The Rose Brigade, Sir - made up of all men except one black mage, Sir."

"Of course... Yes, I want to know the murder of these people... In the mean time, find Sergeant Corks and have him write to their families - I want them alerted right away."

"Of course... And we will find out who was behind this, Lord Kuja..." He made the promise, bowed once more, and turned to take his leave.

It wasn't as though Kuja was bad to the people who followed him. He would be fine being the leader of the world if people just obeyed him... But life was so unfair sometimes - people did rebel against him, which was somewhat upsetting, their families magically disappearing, and sometimes, being murdered on the spot. But the people who did serve him... Well they would get the satisfaction of having their families taken care of, and ensured spots in cities.

Smiling, his brushed at his blue eyes, lined with red. It seemed whoever this person was who kept killing his brigades in Bermecia was surely have to be dealt with.

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"I think they'd make a fine addition... They seem to know what they're doing..." It was Freya's voice they heard first, coming from the tunnels far ahead of them, the loudness of the conversation echoing quite a long ways away.

"But they haven't been here that long! That would make our small group much too large - too many people to look after! Especially if you're planning to stay for a while, Freya!" Steiner's voice boomed, and no one needed to strain to hear what he was talking about.

"They know how to take care of themselves..." Blank insisted, his voice tense and rigid.

"It wouldn't kill you to have some black magic on your side either..." Nadina added her opinion as well, and the two of them, creeping up on the conversation, could imagine her crossing her arms defiantly.

"Think of the disadvantages..." Beatrix pleaded, "Just for a moment, so we can get things straight... What if having them around, and out and about causes them to get captured, or in a round about way, us to be killed?"

"Are we just not going to chance it forever then?" Blank questioned, sitting up, "If they're here, they might as well help."

"Blank have point!" Quina agreed, his tongue sliming the air, his spit slicing through it, and landing on the floor. His chef's hat slid in front of his eyes for a moment, before he readjusted it with a wiggle.

"What's going on?" Zidane tried to ask casually, although he had been listening in on their conversation for quite some time.

"Zidane! Vivi! Just the people we wanted to see!" Cid invited them in, an amused smile dancing on his lips, "We are in the middle of a great debate right now!" He shook his head disapprovingly, although the smirk never swept off his face.

It seemed on one side of this debate, there was Freya who looked as though she wanted her opinion to matter even more so considering it didn't when she was in Bermecia. She wanted to be heard, not just thrown to the side, and even though she had been away for a while, she was still very much so part of the team.

The next person was Dagger, and although she hadn't said anything the blonde had heard, her opinion stood strong willed at being for whatever was at hand. Her eyes were defiant, hands locked together politely in front of her, head held high. She had a lot on her shoulders right now, and in the end, her decision would out weight everyone else's.

To the side of her was Blank. He was breathing hard, and anyone could feel the hot glare through the leather around his eyes, making it impossible to ignore his passion on the subject. He knew Zidane the best out of any of them, and if he could make a comment on just how valuable the teenager was, they should take his word for it.

Standing not far away was Quina. Although no one knew quite what he was about, it was apparent he had liked the blonde and the mage, and thought they would be a good addition to whatever was going on. The bandit didn't know for sure, nor did the black mage, but they had an idea from the facial expressions of everyone, who was agreeing on things, and who was not.

Nadina was seated in a chair, trying to calm Steiner down with glares, which weren't making much of an impact. She was obviously for - since they had heard her opinion in the hall a while back and next to her was Beatrix, not quite knowing where to go.

They assumed, from knowing her personality, she was trying to analyze the situation, but couldn't do so considering the fact her opinion actually mattered.

Then there was Steiner, who looked irritated and bewildered, completely blown out of proportion, his face red, and his eyes dancing with a flame lit from within.

The only person in the room who looked gleeful, and possibly slightly giddy, was the Regent Cid. He seemed to think this conversation was simply dazzling in all due respects, "Truthfully, the choice here is up to you, Dagger."

All eyes shifted to her, as she stepped forward. Breathing slowly, she mustered up a smile, "Zidane, Vivi... I'd like to invite you to join the main team of the rebellion with Beatrix, Quina, Freya, Steiner, Blank, and myself..."

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A/N: Yay! Oh my god... That was like the hardest chapter out of this whole thing to write, but then the Kuja idea struck me and I'm like oh yeah, I've got it all planned out.

I hope you all liked it - it was an absolute bitch to write :D Have fun everyone!!

Leave me some love and reveeeiw! I would really very much appreciate it!

-zesty-!