Filling In The Blanks
A/N: Wish me luck :D This chapter should be pretty interesting to right about.
A/N #2: Lol before posting this, I thought I would put in another thought - This is my FAVORITE chapter of the whole story. Absolutely my favorite one! :) Please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 9, or any of its characters
Chapter 19: Escape from Hell
Weapons were drawn quickly, the darkness circling them like an airborne disease that would never leave, and though they were blind to see their predator, they slashed relentlessly in the air, ready to kill whoever threatened those they tried to protect.
But soon enough, behind one unable to fight, a faint glow of light bobbed in the distance. It became closer, and moved more quickly the more clashing erupted in the echoing corridor. There was a weak, but loud scream that caused the unstable walls to shift, and dust and pebbles to fall. The fight died slightly at the sound of the voice, and the light illuminated the hall just enough for each of them to make out a Bermecian and a Genome.
Though there wasn't enough time to greet each other, as Freya whipped around, her tail slapping Zidane in the stomach as they moved forward as a unit. Dagger hung knowingly back, though she wished to help whoever was with the new-found Bermecian (it sounded a lot like Beatrix, and for that even more so she wanted to assist), if the guards spotted her, they would have a difficult time escaping, and not to mention explaining.
Zidane hurdled his dagger, the ruby on the hilt glinting in the light, to hit the guy in the face before he could clobber the brunette with whatever he was holding. A painful scream exploded from the throat of the man as he tried to scratch the dagger away from impaling his cheek before he melted to the ground in a dead heap of flesh and bones.
Three guards after that pounced on Zidane, in an attempt to pin him to the floor as he struggled.
"The dreamer!" They screamed, almost all in sync, "someone call an alarm!" One spewed, straddling Zidane's torso so he couldn't flip over and buck the guy off of him.
Two guards attempted to stumble away, one from the way the small group came, and another in a mad-dash to dart past Freya. The Bermecian stabbed her spear into the man's back, a perfect aim into his heart - killing him instantly. It was as though she were plucking him up on a shish-ka-bob stick more than anything. The other guard didn't even realize Dagger was there until she wound up and bashed him in the back of his head, most likely his skull cracking. She didn't have enough force to kill him and collapse his skull into itself, but she figured it got the job done.
It seemed the more the blonde struggled, the more guards showed up to hold Freya off. He wasn't exactly sure where Dagger had gone, but he hoped that she was safe, hidden in the shadows, or at least around a corner or something of the sort. Finally, one guard made one wrong move, and Zidane bridged, throwing two puny guards off of him with the force, as he flipped up into a handstand, and back onto his feet.
"We need to move, Freya!" He yelled, bewilderment plastered onto his face; the adrenaline was making him rear to go, and he figured then would be a good time to do so.
"Right behind you!" She called as he took off at a dead sprint.
He could hear the pitter patter of her footsteps behind him only by a little bit when he ran into someone. Whipping out his dagger right away, he saw it was simply Dagger, looking scared at the speed the thief could achieve in such a quick time. He jumped up, grabbing her arm and almost yanking her along as he pulled her up. She hardly had any time to plant her feet on the ground before her next step was needed.
Freya caught up fast, easily running behind them before they broke into a brighter room. Dead bodies were scattered around, and it was silent except for the dripping of what they could see in the dim candle light flittering on the walls, was water.
"Hello?" A voice called out; surprisingly enough it was from Zidane.
"What the hell are you doing!" Dagger hissed, yanking his arm so he stumbled closer to the two females.
"If any of our friends are as hurt as Beatrix, we need to call out to them - they aren't going to be able to meet us somewhere. Sit tight, perform a cure or some shit, and let me look around."
"We don't have time for this, Zidane!" Beatrix pleaded in a raspy voice.
"If you don't get a cure now, you'll die."
It was blunt, but it was well said, and Freya carefully laid her on the ground, yanking the metal and wood woven door shut, and placing as many soaking bodies, and scraps of wood and stone in front of it as she could.
"That's the only door I'm blocking off since it's apparent we don't want to go that way anymore... We will need to move fast."
Zidane walked around, rolling people over, and kicking items out of the way to see for familiar faces. He did find one: but it was of a guard who he had seen at the very beginning of the fight. He was slightly fried up by some magic, but otherwise sopping wet, pale and wrinkled skin... He had been the one who had struck Blank down at first, breaking his arm in God knows how many places. He was dead: his injury from Beatrix's spell paralyzing him long enough to allow him to drown in the water. One of the unfortunate who never learned how to swim, as he was most likely too caught up in his duties to this castle.
The blonde shook his head and stepped over the guard, not wanting to see his face anymore. Though he had been the cause of some trouble, Zidane hated to see people he had seen in his life time dead on the ground, when he was still breathing, though he wasn't sure how much he deserved to live.
Finally, on the far corner of the room, the sapphire eyed teen let out a yelp. Freya glanced over, Dagger too engulfed in her spells trying to patch Beatrix up, and the woman, who had more strength than she did minutes ago, glanced over too, her curiosity sparking.
Zidane shoved a few things to the side, and slapped the side of Steiner's face. "Hey! Wake up!"
He let out a groan of a sort, and opened his dark eyes to see Zidane in front of him. With a sudden realization and burst of rage, he roared and shoved the blonde backwards. But seeing who exactly he had just shoved, he managed to control himself, even if the rage of seeing the blonde alive and well angered him. He was though, delighted to see his sight had mostly come back to him.
"Steiner!" The gasp was breathy, but it was one none the less, and the woman stumbled to stand on her own. Dagger, broken from her spell, quickly grabbed her before she fell over.
The knight looked at the female he had always thought to be so strong. Though he had seen her in times of weakness, this had really taken the cake. Blood was everywhere, whether new or dried. Her brunette hair had a strong, red crimson tint to it, and her red pants, darker than they normally were, were close to matching her armor and skin that had been stained with the substance. Her abdomen looked slightly disproportioned, though he did not know why, as he couldn't see the giant hole in her lower back. All around, she looked frightening in her weakened state, and a new kind of anger sprouted within him at seeing her like that...
Of course, his undenying (to himself only... barely even that) love for the woman only fed that fury until close to madness. To see her like this only made him gape like an idiot, before struggling to gain his footing to trot to her side. Zidane helped the striving man, and received a push aside for reward. He supposed Steiner wasn't very happy with him at the moment.
He moved to the woman, not sure where he could embrace her for fear of hurting her. The wound was in an unknown place to the man, because of so much blood caked on her body. He settled for touching his hand to her cheek, and felt the small pressure of her leaning her head into it.
"What happened to you?" He questioned, still managing to sound professional.
"I..." She trailed as her face pinched in pain and she began to cough violently. Blood was spat onto the ground, and Steiner watched as she completely collapsed into Dagger.
The young girl carefully replaced her on the ground and began another spell, though again had to break it off out of interruption.
A loud bang thundered within the room, coming from the door Freya had blocked with half of the opening's unmoving objects and bodies. She took a step back, her arm up in level with her neck to protect her from any unsuspected blows. Another bang boomed and echoed down the unblocked halls, making everyone whip their heads back and forth. It was all an illusion house, noises drifting in on them from different places, paranoia raising their senses, but also their imagination.
"We need to move..." Freya spoke, quickly gesturing to Dagger to perform the fastest spell she could.
The banging began to get louder, as Freya checked over Steiner, ripping from her long red jacket rough pieces of cloth, and tying them tightly around his wounds. He winced, but was otherwise alright to move with the pressure, and carefully picked Beatrix up.
The cure was complete, but she was otherwise unconscious for the time being - she had lost too much blood.
Zidane picked up Steiner's sword - only four feet away from where he had been for the last hour, and sheathed it on his back once more. Zidane took to the front, Dagger not far away, and Freya holding up the rear. Steiner shot a glance at Dagger, thinking she wouldn't see it. It was harsh and disappointed, but when she did, in the end, spot it, just out of the corner of her eye, and her heart sank. She had disappointed someone she never wanted to dishearten. Turning away, she broke into a quick run with the blonde in front of her - so far he was the only one who would speak with her... It's because he didn't know how serious the situation was.
?
Blank strained to stand up. He was a little wobbly, and used a lot of breath, but he finally focused enough of his energy to move towards a hall way entrance. When he finally walked into the new hall, after feeling as though he had been there, unconscious or not, for days on end, he let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.
As soon as he began to muster up the spark of energy for him to walk without stopping, he was rammed into a wall, yelling in frustration and pain as he collapsed onto the ground. His arm was underneath him, and his eyes watered, though he refused to cry. He wasn't sure it was possible for his arm to hurt more than it did now. The excruciating pain ripped through his body sending cramps and tingles throughout his arm and shoulder, straight down to a small, jolting shock to his feet.
"Blank?" He looked up to see Quina standing in front of him, tongue hanging down in confusion.
"Quina?" He yelped, feeling angered that it was because of the Qu all his hard work had gone down the drain.
Quina easily plucked Blank off the ground and let him fall back into a standing position, and when he began to tip back, pushed him forward again to correct his dizzy balance. "What you doing?"
"What are you doing?" Blank asked in a baffled ire, "Tromping around in the hallway like an enraged chocobo!"
"Sound delicious! Must find food, must find friends!"
Blank looked at the Qu with some wonder. There had been no damage to him, at least, no more than when he had first met Quina. He stood, confused, and smelling, his tongue wagging around, a large amount of drool rolling off of his tongue, and in a glue-like fashion stringing and dropping to the floor.
"Have you found anyone else?" Blank winced as he walked around the heavy bodied comrade standing in front of him.
"Me find food... Friends second."
Blank rolled his eyes: that was the essence of Quina. Though he didn't have a lot of time to ponder about it, as guards slid down the hall and immediately began their relentless attack on the two of them. Quina, convinced food was being hidden by those treacherous people, used his eat ability to gobble one up, curious as to what they tasted like. Unfortunately for him, he spit the guard back out, the others watching in extreme horror. Terror trembled through them as Quina locked eyes on them next, wondering if perhaps they tasted different.
That's when Blank heaved a few stones, his aim astonishing, hitting them in the head, the ring imitating itself, bouncing off the walls. They fell to the ground in a daze of deafness, and that's when Blank slit their necks, watching the blood spurt onto the ground. Letting the last of the guards drop toward the ground, he glanced at Quina.
"Let's move!"
Quina easily kicked one of the guards, disgusted by his lack of exquisite taste, and hobbled swiftly off behind the redhead.
?
"This seems to be familiar..." Zidane stopped and looked into the room. Wine stains were splashed all over in the form and direction that the wave pushed it. Though it was washed away with the pure liquid, its color stained the wood and floor, along with it drunken guards who weren't even aware of what hit them. The wood from the kegs was scattered all over.
"Do you know the way from here?" Steiner asked, looking around the oddly colored room.
"I'm pretty sure..." Zidane mumbled, looking at the statue that not so long ago, Blank had yanked them behind to hide from the men ready to chew the drinkers' asses out.
"How do we find Blank, Vivi, and Quina?" Dagger asked, her voice quiet.
"Perhaps they're already outside..." Freya offered at least a little comfort to her - she had to give her thanks for that.
Footsteps were being heard that caused them all the hush. Everyone was quiet, and slipped into a darkened corner of the room. When they saw Quina, his giant body wagging itself around, they all jumped out, gleeful to see their comrades.
Zidane stared at Blank, as the redhead smirked at him. They shared a moment no one else would understand, from what all had happened - they were both still alive. Blank's earlier words to the blonde, even before the fight in the dreamers' room, had stayed true so far.
"Where's Vivi?" Dagger voiced her main concern at the moment to the two that just joined them.
"We thought he'd be with you!" Blank replied, breaking his stare with the blonde to look at the girl; she bit her lip, a fear spreading in her eyes.
"He's probably hiding somewhere knowing Vivi..." Zidane started, but turned away, "or he's hurt..." That would definitely make him feel absolutely awful. "We need to find him."
"We need to get help with these wounds! We can't allow Dagger to help us until we have a safe place... Like the boat!" Steiner insisted.
"You wanting to leave Vivi?" Quina asked, not knowing the seriousness he had just implanted into everyone's minds.
"Ridiculous..." Zidane expressed his disgust.
"We wouldn't be in this God damn mess had it not been for your foolish mindset!" Steiner barked.
"I never asked you to come get me..." The blonde's words dripped with poison as he pushed past Dagger and Steiner, "I'll find him myself..."
"I'm coming with you!" Dagger and Blank spoke simultaneously.
Freya watched Steiner's face conduct a beet red of rage; he looked as though he couldn't breathe he was that angry. "We'll all go, but we must be quick... Steiner is right to a certain extent. Beatrix won't make it out of here if we do not hurry..."
Zidane nodded to the rat-like woman. He appreciated the compromise, not really expecting to get one... And he respected the fact they needed to find help for the knight, otherwise she would die... But after the mess he had created, he could not leave Vivi behind. He wondered in his mind just how upset Vivi had been, had he been at all. A lot of pity went out towards the small, black mage, and he hoped that they found him safely without harm.
?
Vivi's eyes finally opened after a batch of even icier water had been dumped upon him. He opened his eyes to find, not his friends he wished for aid from, but enemies he willed never to see. A tall and boney one with a creepy smile, and even creepier features smirked at him, "The li'le runt is awake!" He laughed, yanking Vivi off the ground.
"Let's bring him to Lord Kuja at once!" There was a heavy set one as well - someone much larger than Steiner, though not with muscle but fat from too much food.
Vivi struggled, though it was weak because of his tumble he had taken from the beam. He looked up, simply out of curiosity to find it crumbled from the ceiling, an odd space in the neatly structured wood.
But what blocked the guard's first path was Zidane. Vivi cried out in joy, straining harder to get to the thief. Behind him were Blank and Freya, and he could see a shadow of Steiner's large form, carrying another. He didn't see if it was Dagger or Beatrix, but he couldn't see either with the group. He assumed the worst, though didn't have much time to assume... The guards yanked him up.
"Another dreamer!" One yelped, "Get him!"
"We've got one! Let's not risk losing it! They have some bloody resistance members with them!" The guard holding Vivi seemed to make the command and whipped around, running out the next door.
Zidane growled and pounced after them, his sprint faster than everyone else's. A guard took to Steiner, being the weakest because he had to look out for someone, not even recognizing Dagger as she flew by as quickly as she could. Ever so carefully, Steiner laid Beatrix upon the ground, calling for the others to keep going.
He unsheathed his giant sword and began to battle it out with all the guards wishing to extinct a tough member of the resistance. One guard there knew him as Adelbert Steiner, Captain of the Pluto Knights from such a long time ago, and that being expressed aloud, caused more and more guards to come at him. He fought to protect the woman behind him, knowing very well the others would be safe.
The group, minus Steiner, pushed ahead, through obstacles and corridors, getting themselves lost once more. Vivi's cries were becoming faint as the group, minus Zidane, had to stop to wait for Quina. Soon, because the poor Qu hadn't had anything to eat the whole day, collapsed out of pure exhaustion onto the ground, his stubby legs not wanting to work any longer.
"Go ahead. Must find food!" He pulled himself around, half crawling, half rolling in an attempt to find food; otherwise it was sure he would go crazy.
The others didn't think about it again, though Dagger was hesitant about continuing to run, because she was afraid that someone would catch Quina off-guard. Though she knew he would be alright, and that's what ultimately made her keep going.
Zidane felt footsteps behind him, keeping a keen ear on the cries ahead of him, only a little ways. He was doing a good job of keeping up with the guards, not letting his team mates slow him down. Freya was the first to gain on him, and soon behind followed Dagger and Blank.
The blonde tripped around a corner, sliding on the water as Dagger almost fell, Blank stopping to help her up. He watched the guards shut a door. He recognized this weirdly lit room as the one he had first found himself in before, thinking of his night with Dagger not long before he found her.
A gasp escaped Dagger's pink lips as she watched them quickly placing a second layer of wood on top of the door with magic. It must have been there all along, set up incase of pursuit. Quickly, Zidane jumped and kicked the door, hoping to bust through it.
But he fell to the stone, flat on his face with a groan. There was no kicking it in - the second layer was too sturdy... It had to be made of different wood. Freya looked around it, wondering just how they were going to get through this, when suddenly she lashed out with her spear.
Conveniently, a part of the door crumbled away, and there was a small hole in it then. Her spear had worked miracles as Zidane squeezed himself through it. He felt the splintering wood dig into his sides, but kept pushing himself through, watching above, already a quarter up the spiral stair case of stone, Vivi yelling down to Zidane, thrown over the shoulder of a quick moving guard.
He finally fell through the hole, rolling and hitting a table that hadn't been damaged during the wave. Yelping, he jumped up, peering at Blank pulling himself nimbly through. Even with a broken arm he was a strong fighter. Dagger was screaming at him, unable to see the blonde, to hold on and wait for them because he had no idea what could be in the castle above.
After Blank fell through, Zidane pulled the young girl through, even easier to fit than Blank, who was beneficially smaller than the Genome. Freya took one glance at the hole her weapon had made, poked her head through and shook her head.
"I shall catch up to you!"
"Freya we -" Dagger started, worry reflecting in her eyes.
"I cannot fit in a short amount of time. I'll break more of the door and catch up to you, I promise!"
The three of them nodded and began heading up the stairs, watching as the group of guards and Vivi were half way up. Running for what seemed like days, they were almost all the way up the stairs, gaining respectably on the guards, when a lever was pulled, and they had to dive backwards in order to not be hit from a gate falling.
It was a very tall gate, but easily climbable. Though the metal was rusted, and seemed sharp and ragged at some points, the squares made for easy grips to get over the giant gate. Unfortunately, Blank shook his head.
"Zidane, you have to go."
"What? What about you?" He asked, biting his lip.
"I can't get over that gate..." he shook his head and held up his hugely swollen, bleeding arm, "I can't do it with this. I'm amazed I've come this far... I can't even grip anything with it, and you have to bring Dagger over. It would take too long to make two trips... Just go on without me..."
He unstrapped his dagger and tossed it to the blonde. "Take good care of it and bring it back to me, okay?"
Zidane nodded, and very hesitantly helped Dagger onto his back.
"And Dagger?" Blank started, acknowledging her for the first time.
"Yes?" She looked at him, her chocolate eyes glittering with what seemed like salty tears threatening to fall. Every friend of hers they had to leave behind in fear of losing another one... She wondered if they would get everyone back together before they died.
"You are well aware that inside dwells Kuja... Inside dwells the evils we've worked so hard to dodge the last however many years... They know who you are Dagger, you have to be careful... The only advantage you have is that you should remember that castle like the back of your hand."
"Always have..." She smiled encouragingly, though it didn't not reach her heart.
"Good luck!" He called when Zidane was already easily climbing, half way to the top.
As soon as they were at the top, unexpected by Dagger, Zidane jumped the rest of the way. He earned a scream, but otherwise the two of them were undamaged from the long drop. He set her on her feet, and they began to run again, silently pushing open a much nicer door compared to the ones below. Blank put his hand up to the gate, and tightened a fist around it, angry that he couldn't stick with the others.
?
There wasn't a lot of commotion through that door anymore. Everyone was aloft the dungeons, and so the guards and other inhabitants of the castle, figured they were also far above the enemies. This was a very good, and a very bad thing for Dagger and Zidane. The good news was, was that the guards would take their time taking Vivi, who was no longer screaming, being so warn out, and also having silence cast upon him (a quite literal effect of muting the victim, everyone had actually found out - along with not being able to cast spells), to Kuja.
"How do we do this?" Zidane whispered.
Dagger bit her lip. She didn't know quite how they were going to pull this off, not being able to find Vivi through his voice. She looked all around the room they were in, to find that there were a few helmets, and she glanced at Zidane who could only nod at her thought...
?
It wasn't long until their plan was put into action... An unsuspecting guard walked into the room, mumbling angrily to himself about how dumb it was that he had to pick up all the damn armor. Apparently, the news of what was going on downstairs had not been spread too terribly bad... It must have been told only to those who needed to know...
Unfortunately, a pot to the head was what this guard got. He never had to clean up the armor because he was completely knocked out. Zidane yanked off his entire body of armor one piece at a time, throwing it down to Dagger's feet.
"What are you doing?" She hissed in a whisper, "This armor is going to fit you!"
"We don't have enough time," he began yanking a boot off of the guard, holding his breath from the stench, "to wait for another guard... You're going to have to dress up and hold me for a hostage to bring to Kuja..."
"You're crazy! I can't pull that off!"
"I have faith in you, Dagger..." He smiled at her as best he could muster, and finished pulling off the man's armor before shoving him under a table and stacking some stuff on top of his slumbering body.
Slowly the girl slipped into the armor, it too big, but also loose fitting enough where as she could still wear her shoes in the boots, and her clothing under the armor. The only problem was her staff, that didn't fit the weapon of a guard at all. Zidane took it, and gave to her Blank's dagger. He shrugged, shoving it behind some mops leaning against the corner of the small storage room. They would have to come back for it later as he threw a cloth from the table the guard was shoved under, over it.
Though it wasn't something to joke about, Zidane had to muffle a snicker at the girl.
"What's so funny?" She demanded.
"You've got to use a manlier voice than that, Dagger, if you want to be convincing..."
She sighed. Her naturally high soprano voice was going to be difficult to mask, but she tried it out anyways. Though Zidane didn't laugh out loud, she saw his slyly hidden smirk as he whipped around and found some rope.
"Are you going to tie him up?" She questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"Nope..." he shook his head and threw the rope to her, which she clumsily caught in the large armor. "You're going to tie me up... And take me to Kuja."
"Are you insane?" She gasped.
"Nope..." He winked in an attempt to give the girl encouragement, but it didn't really work as she tied the rope around his hands. "Leave it loose so I can break out of it, okay?" She nodded in agreement, and kept it loose but convincing and lead him forward. "Good luck, Dagger."
"You too..." She gulped and pushed opened the door.
She was sure there'd be guards all over them, pouncing on them and such, but she came to find Zidane was a surprisingly good actor. Though the night in the meadow had been shocking, this truly took the cake. His head was bowed in defeat, his eyes set downcast with a slight limp to his walk. His teeth were barred, and every so often he gave the hint by stopping for Dagger to shove him forward, though her shoves were measly because of her nervousness.
Guards glanced, and people whispered, but no one interfered as she made her way through the castle. Of course, there were a lot of things that she didn't like about the redecoration. Her heart was ripped open, and she could feel tears prickle in her eyes when she saw portraits of her family, and decorations of pride to the Alexandria Kingdom replaced with demonic objects she couldn't quite describe.
As they moved she got more and more anxious. As they walked on by, towards her mother's chambers, she passed the room that used to be her own, and her curiosity peaked. There was no one around, so her hand slipped slowly off of Zidane's back, as she turned.
He hissed unintelligent words at her as she slowly pushed open the door. She slide her head through the small crack, but before she could set her eyes in the space, Zidane yanked her back out, eyes wild. She turned away from him, glancing from him to the door when finally she turned her back on her old life. He didn't understand, but he was right... They needed to move forward and get Vivi...
As they climbed the last set of stairs, they saw royal knights right outside the door. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw General Strand standing outside.
"Who are you?" He barked, causing her to jump.
"I'm..." She had to think on her feet, but her mind began to blank. The rage she felt towards this man suddenly burst out of no where, and she wanted to scream who she was. Her voice got professional and high, her natural voice showing out a bit, "I am Ga-rt."
A kick from Zidane saved the whole mission.
"Gart?"
"Gart..." She nodded slowly, her voice lowering in an almost shame. Twice now in the last three minutes she had almost blown their cover and gotten both of them killed.
"You have a dreamer... Christ you're going to get promoted..." He opened the door and pushed her and Zidane in. She was amazed it actually worked, and she could tell by Zidane's large exhale he was surprised too.
Inside the blue room, the freezing air from outside drifting in, the plants lining the windows were all frozen over, no time to even die. Sitting at the desk, with a few people bowing in front of him, was Kuja himself. His icy hair cascaded over his shoulders, and his red and blue eye make up was surprisingly scary as he looked up, his cold eyes sharp and intense to Dagger's dark orbs.
"What is this?" He hummed, causing the people to turn around.
Zidane glanced up at the common looking people giving him glares, his eyes confused on who they were. He supposed he was still behind on a lot, therefore looked back down to seem more frightened. There was a shuffle in the corner, and both Dagger and Zidane glanced to the side to see Vivi struggling against some guards trying to get to Zidane. His eyes were wide with a worry the two were touched by.
He chuckled, "We've found both of our missing dreamers..." He smirked, "and those two who have delivered them to us... Prism, and..." He looked towards Dagger expectedly.
"Gart." She choked out.
"Gart..." Kuja smiled and let out a small chortle, "Perfect..."
With so many guards around, it finally hit the two of them that maybe they would never get out, and they had just dug their own graves. Zidane closed his eyes and let his head drop to his chest in defeat knowing it would be almost impossible. Vivi was tied up, and there were so many in the room, and not to mention the way back down to their friends... Let alone Kuja alone being so close - and could so easily kill them.
He looked back up at the five people bowing in front of Kuja's oak desk. Scanning all of them, sizing them up, was not hard, until he reached the last... It was a girl... Her hair was a wavy blonde, thrown up into a messy bun and... And those eyes were, what color? He couldn't see through his hair. Flicking it out of the way he tried to get a look at her when he was pushed to the ground, letting out a groan from hitting the floor with his face.
Dagger noticed that the plants began to grow more green and lively-looking, and the temperature of the room began to increase. He was calming down... The magic of the dangerous weather was being lifted.
Kuja walked over to Zidane and yanked him off the ground, looking him straight in the eyes. Zidane's orbs narrowed as he spit in the man's face. Kuja dropped him, roaring for him to be executed, and Zidane spun around tripping him, tugging his hands free of the ties. As the so called Lord began to fall, Zidane's furry tail slapped him in the face, infuriating him to a new level.
The man howled as he fell to the ground spat out spells, wails morphing together in such a fashion no one could even understand what he said. The magic ricocheted off of everything, hitting his own men, unfortunately not hitting his target.
Everything was happening so fast, Dagger was jostled back to the door where she could only wait. The Genome's race was a well advantage versus the people in armor, as he threw Vivi over his shoulder, and jumped on top of any furniture he could find to dodge the guards. He couldn't get a good look at the blonde he was wondering about before he was pushed and basically thrown out of the room.
Dagger helped him up, kicking off the loose boots as she ran and ripped off the helmet. The gloves came off on their own, and Zidane picked her up on his other shoulder, his adrenaline getting the best of him, and jumped off the balcony to the main floor so they had some sort of a lead. Things were getting warmer the further they ran away, but it was obvious the guards were gaining fast.
He burst through the door, knocking it completely down as Dagger began to strip the armor off of her and grabbed her staff, Zidane shoved a remedy down Vivi's throat. As quick as he could he drank it, and cast as big of a fire spell as he could possibly send at the door to stop the guards, though Zidane knew it wouldn't stop Kuja.
He picked Dagger up on his back, Vivi on hers, and climbed the gate, Blank stumbling to get up as he saw them coming. Like a spider, Zidane's movements were swift and bug-like as he basically hurdled the wall, and set his two comrades down, completely out of breath.
"We... have... to move!" He yanked Blank out of his sitting position, and they ran down the stairs as best they could. Vivi lagged because every so often he would stop to send a spell ripping up the stairs, hungry for human flesh to burn up, since stone was not a great conductor of fire.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, they saw the door had been chopped away slightly, and when they ripped it off (easier from the inside) they saw Freya sitting with Quina, who was still eating whatever food the Bermecian produced. They both jumped up when they saw the four of them.
"Let's go! We have to find Steiner and Beatrix!" Zidane screamed, allowing Freya, with the best memory of their direction lead quickly.
Even Quina did not fall behind this time as they moved. The guards, easily dispelling the fire, were on their tails. Zidane's heart thumped in his chest as he gripped Dagger's hand, making sure as they hopped over things, she didn't fall. Glancing up at Freya, he saw her mimick his move, gripping Vivi's hand as tightly as she could, all knowing to his clumsiness.
The blonde felt as though he would throw up his lungs, the guards basically breathing down their necks. He ultimately knocked it out of his mind, but that girl he had seen... She looked a lot like Elouise... He shook his head as he glanced to Dagger, the girl's face in his mind disappearing all together seeing the porcelain face of the resistance member. He scowled looking forward, determined to make sure everyone got out of there alive.
Everyone knew that one wrong turn in that hell would be the complete death of them...
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A/N: Wow... That was fun to write :D I loved it! Thanks for reading! Review!
-zesty-
