Filling In The Blanks

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 9 or any of its characters.

Chapter 28: Panic and Pain

Dagger's eyes almost refused to open. Slowly she turned to her side, blinking slowly in an attempt to shake away the sleep. She saw Beatrix sitting by the window – like she did every morning… After the drinking incident, she hid in the room, watching the world through the hole in the wall – ashamed of her actions, though no one really blamed her at this point in time…

As the girl reflected on Steiner's death, she tried so very hard to be strong. In many cases, it was Beatrix showing the courage to help Dagger, this time, the girl decided she would be the one to do it… Her outing with Zidane yesterday… She knew exactly what Steiner would say about it, and it caused a stabbing pain to rip through her heart.

With a sigh, she rolled off the bed, standing and stretching, before saying a light good morning to the knight. The woman didn't turn, but mumbled something back – she couldn't face Dagger… not yet…

And the young leader never heard what the chestnut haired knight said to her, she was just happy she was at least saying something… Moving into the house, she slipped out, not wanting to interrupt the family's breakfast where they chatted merrily. This early in the morning, she couldn't make out anything besides the rally ho's with their thick accent.

It was tough not having a home anymore… She glanced down at herself. She didn't have a brush, not that she really had a need anymore, and she didn't have any clothes besides the ones she wore – she supposed now she knew what it was like wearing armor when you had to sleep on the battlefield.

Walking into the burning sunlight, she glanced around, seeing a few resistance members moving about. Ruby walked along, sounding almost as depressed as ever, and the girl decided to wait for her to catch up.

"Hi Ruby," Dagger spoke to her in the best tone she could muster.

"Hello Darlin'," Ruby glanced up at her pale face, smiling slightly.

"Is everything okay?" The raven haired girl questioned, wondering why she looked so down.

"I hate it… I hate it that when it comes to plans to get outta this wretched place, there ain't no girls involved in creatin' it."

"What?" This was news to Dagger – definite news.

"Yah, that's right… Them boys are all makin' plans – have been for the past few days I reckon – to get outta here, and somewhere more discreet…"

Dagger glared, "Why didn't they tell us? We're just as important as any man of the resistance…"

"They're in one of these big meetin' houses… I suppose if you wanted to release all fury on a haystack, I reckon you could, honey."

"I think I might just go do that…" She was outraged… The girl marched up to the first guard who yelled rally-ho at her, and mumbled it back. "I have a question for you… And if you don't answer, I'll throw you in the river, and make sure you never come back out…" She scowled.

With as menacing of a face as that one, he shook slightly, "Yes?" He prompted her to finish.

"Where are the people not of Conde Petie gathering?"

He began to sweat, specific instructions from a blonde haired, rugged looking thief not to tell this exact girl sweeping through his mind. Unfortunately for him, the threat outweighed his duty, and he pointed to a house not very far away. Her mood did a complete one-eighty, and a sickly sweet smile graced her lovely lips.

"Thank you…" She moved across the bridge, and shoved the door open, not willing to knock. A group consisting of her uncle, the Tantalus crew, Quina, a few random men she didn't care about, and a very surprising Blank and Zidane as well.

"Dagger!" Cid seemed almost nervous at her ominous stare.

"Plans of getting out of Conde Petie, and you didn't bother to even tell the rest of the resistance?" She demanded answers.

Everyone looked to Blank, knowing quite well under a threat from Ruby, he told her, and she had told the fuming Princess with a depressed sigh – yeah… they had everyone pinned…

"Who told you where we were?" Zidane questioned out of her.

"That's not important," She growled at the blonde, not caring that she had a soft spot for him at the moment, "What the hell?" Everyone was slightly afraid – no one had seen Dagger this angry before, "You have been spewing to me, Cid, that I have just as much right to be –"

"Dagger…" He spoke softly, "We didn't include anyone who had lost someone important…" That shut her up. He gestured to the Tantulus crew, and she realized that the Nero brothers were missing. One was dead, the other was grieving and not invited…

"Do you really believe we would keep you and Beatrix especially in the dark?" Blank questioned, "We were going to involve everyone – but it seemed after Beatrix's incident, it would be for the better if we involved people with a straight head…"

"And Ruby?" She tried to defend her point.

"Ruby's loyalty to the whole crew would have definitely wavered her opinion on things – though she may not be mourning as much as Zenero, she's definitely hurting…" Blank pointed out with a nod.

Dagger bit her lip, now feeling slightly foolish for bursting in like that. She bowed her head, but Cid cleared his throat, trying to clean the unorganized situation. "Well Dagger, now that you're aware, why don't you join us?"

She slowly sat down, not daring to glance into Zidane's eyes for fear of disappointment on his part – or something even worse… Lust, a smirk, anger… She didn't even want to think about it.

"We must all act as though, instead of a rebellion, more close – like a group of friends, or perhaps even families…"

"That's one hell of a big family…" Blank mumbled.

"Let's catch Dagger up to date first, huh?" It was Zidane who suggested this, and she glanced up in surprise, her chocolate eyes shining in shock. He winked at her, without letting anyone see it, causing a rosy color to occupy her cheeks.

"We believe that if perhaps we can get the citizens of Conde Petie to know who I am – if I tell them my true identity… Maybe they would give us pass."

"Pass?" She questioned, tilting her head.

"I'm sure you've seen the grass on the outskirts of the opposite side of the city…" Marcus stated; she replied with a simple nod.

"That is 'sanctuary' to this city – a honeymoon spot for people who get married on that bridge out there…"

She nodded – somehow she couldn't really absorb the information, her night with Zidane the previous day blocking up her judgment. The blonde cleared his throat, in an attempt to get her to focus.

Shaking her head, she answered, "Yes, I know of the marriage process in this city…"

"Perhaps, if we could have two people marry, we could convince the town to allow both 'families' to go through to the honey moon spot…"

"Risky, in my opinion…" Blank voiced.

"He thinks we won't be able to get through – I agree with him… I doubt they'll let us through with anything but force…" Zidane pumped the air with his fist, though no one paid mind to his excited attitude to such a situation.

"We could sneak?" Dagger offered her opinion, noticing thoroughly, how Zidane's head whipped her way – accusing to letting people know what happened between them.

"Allowing even twenty people to sneak past would be devastatingly hard…" Baku reasoned in his gruff voice.

"We could go maybe… ten at a time each night… And maybe start getting a base camp set up somewhere…"

Dagger's leadership to the rebellion showed through again – everyone liked that idea best… They took a vote, and it was almost unanimous.

The meeting was wrapped up pretty well after that with a few more details thrown in by other members. They had decided they were going to start that night. It was settled – they were ready to make another move…

?

Things went actually tons more amazing than they thought, and after only two weeks they had all of their members out. The guards were a lot less cautious than people had expected them to be, they had found after the first three nights – a specific time where there was absolutely no one guarding the edges of the city.

Beatrix had been the only one who didn't want to leave that place. She said that perhaps after the news was given to her – her irresponsible actions had been a sign she should take a whole break from this – she told Dagger, Cid, and Baku that perhaps she was no long suited to be a knight in this war.

It took an extra two days after the fourteen for Dagger to stay with her, talk with her about what happened, and convince her, after so many tears were shed, that she still needed her.

They had ventured a bit further down the road, just so no one quite figured out where they had gone. Though the people of Conde Petie were very kind to them – they knew the higher ups wouldn't be very happy if they found out what the resistance had defied – it seemed like a pretty important tradition to them.

Zidane walked down the dirt road – he was traveling with Blank and Ruby to go get water. It should have been a very peaceful walk – except for the two people he was with.

Although he wanted his quiet time, it was rather amusing to watch Blank and Ruby together. Though their feelings were clear, their relationship hadn't advanced a lot, except for private moments that Zidane had caught behind this tree, or that bush… They actually had normal conversations where they weren't yelling at each other, and he'd even seen Blank holding hands with her when they thought no one else was looking.

It was such an amateur relationship – something cute, rather than passionate – but he figured that fit them… For the beginning of it all, they didn't need passion unless there was tragedy – he only hoped it stayed that way.

"Dammit Blank, yer more stubborn than a –"

"Not another metaphor – I can't stand them Ruby!"

"Well I'll be!" She gasped.

The blonde stayed quiet, not wanting to draw attention to himself and have to pick sides. He would never let Blank down, and yet the wrath of Ruby even scared him.

"Don't act like you're surprised Rube, you knew that I hated them – I bet that's why you say them!" She gasped again, punching him square in the arm, causing him to yelp.

He rubbed it, "Dammit, that's my bad arm!"

"Serves you right!" She huffed, crossing her arms and tossing her hair as though it had been practiced; Zidane didn't miss the apologetic look she cast towards the redhead though.

As they moved quickly down a hill, but still at a comfortable pace, all three of them heard a young, though soprano voice.

"Hey! Mog! Don't run away! It's probably just another animal! Mog!" The whining was almost unbearable, but comical all at the same time, "Get back here you dumb butt!"

The trio moved swiftly down the path now, wanting to catch up to the girl. When they saw her, she was hanging by her overall strap on a tree branch. Blank and Zidane snickered immediately.

"What are ya doin' up there, Darlin'?" Ruby wondered allowed, purposely being obvious.

"I'm stuck can't you see that?" The girl snapped – but it was only half hearted; she smiled at them afterwards.

"Do you want help?" He watched the fluffy moogle run away in fear, "Since you're companion deserted you…"

"Mog is such a scaredy cat!" She huffed crossing her arms, but just then the thin branch snapped, and she screamed, knowing she was going to fall into the river type ravine that lay below her.

Zidane jumped into action, and caught the girl, landing safely on the ridge above them. Purple flowers dotted the emerald grass in an almost animated way – and she glanced up at him, eyes star struck.

"Wow!" She gaped like a fish.

He set her down, "Hey…" He glanced at her purple hair, the horn, and odd clothing, "I remember you!"

"What?" She suddenly tried to turn away, in an attempt for him not to recognize her, "Don't be silly, I would remember someone like you…"

"No, no… A few weeks ago in Conde Petie! You stole from that stand!" He crossed his hands, "Where do you live? Why would you steal?"

"Don't ask all the questions!" She stomped her foot, "I've been here, and borrowing from Conde Petie for a very long time – I'm the one who should have questions for you! You just arrived!" She sent him a hard glare, but neither backed down.

Blank was snickering at the pair before Ruby stomped on his foot with her shoe, "Grow up!" She hissed, it not mixing well with her accent.

He hopped around for a few moments, rubbing his foot, as Zidane jumped back down, the purple haired girl following suit.

"What's your name?" The blue haired, young woman questioned kindly.

"Eiko… and that moogle you saw before was Mog… She's really shy!"

The little girl kept glancing at Zidane, "Hey, you know, since you saved me… I owe you…"

"Uhh…" He scratched his head, then crossed his hands behind his head, placing one ankle behind the other, "That's not necessary."

"I insist!" It seemed kind of like a command, "I want to have you over for dinner!"

"Dinner?" The three parroted in unison.

"Yeah!" She scoffed, as though she thought they were unintelligent for asking her again, "Don't make me repeat myself… All three of you can go!" She smiled, "And if you have a couple other friends – since it seems like there were quite a lot of you in town – you can bring them! Just not too many, okay?" She smiled lovingly, suddenly excited. "This will be great! Come tonight!"

She skipped around them, "Follow the path up a few miles, you'll come to a desert type place, and then some canyons… Follow the trail in between, and there will be a point you'll hear a river – keep following that, and you'll know where to go! See you later!" She danced away, following her own music.

"That was…" Zidane started, unable to finish.

"Weird…" Blank offered, though not as a question – he was simply finishing what everyone thought.

"Are we gonna go?" Ruby asked, glancing at the two.

"I'm not sure…" Zidane shrugged, "Let's talk to Cid – maybe this would be a good place to go for supplies…"

?

Cid had decided to send a group of people. It would consist of: Marcus, Cinna, Blank, Beatrix, Zidane, Dagger, Vivi, Quina, Ruby, Freya, and a few others – he wanted to see what this girl was all about.

The others would scout to a hidden place – perhaps with water nearer than where they were positioned now, and someone would be waiting for them later that night where they had first camped just to get everyone out of the city.

The group agreed to go, and Baku would be the one coming to pick them up. The two groups split, and the resistance members went on their way.

It didn't take long to hear the water – Dagger had a good ear for such a thing when she wanted to, and Eiko was nearby to greet them. Immediately, even Beatrix had to smile fondly the way Dagger got jealous because the purple haired girl was so interested in Zidane.

It was becoming more and more apparent that she had feelings for him, while he still did a good job at hiding it when he wanted to.

"What is this place?" Dagger questioned, running a gloved hand across the wall in curiosity.

"Madain Sari… At least, that's what everyone used to call it…" Eiko nodded solemnly, and though Dagger wanted to press further, she figured there was a good reason the young girl stopped.

"Do you live here alone?" Zidane asked, concern bubbling in his tone.

"No," She shook her head and smiled brightly, her mood doing a complete one-eighty, "I live here with the moogles!" She giggled, "They just aren't around at the moment…"

The night moved forward in a similar fashion. They explored the place, and all made pretty good friends with Eiko. They had asked her questions wondering why she didn't want to live with anyone else – she had smugly retorted a perfectly wonderful answer… Moogles, or the rally ho people of Cone Petie… Who would you chose?

Even Dagger came around, and everyone at least seemed to be laughing some more. Though things had been pretty uneventful from Kuja's side of things, they just now had started loosening up a little, and it was even easier being in Madain Sari.

Eiko vaguely watched one of their team members – the fat one with the blue skin and huge tongue – try to catch a fish in the water. He, or she, or whatever it was, fell into the water and didn't resurface for some time… She shrugged it off after a while… No one asked, so she didn't feel the need to say.

As for the few members of the Tantalus crew (minus Ruby of course – she wouldn't take part in such childish things), they seemed to take a liking to pranking the moogles. They were so weary of humans, that spooking them wasn't all that hard. Some got used to it as time went on, but there were a few who jumped every time, even if the scare was only seconds apart.

As the night began to wind down, Eiko stumbled upon the black mage sitting by himself on the edge of a rock, watching the distance.

"What are you sitting up here by yourself for?" She asked, dropping down next to him.

"Thinking…" He answered simply and shyly.

"Why?" She questioned, causing him to pause.

"Just about the past and the future, and maybe even a little about the present."

"You're kind of too indepth… You just have to live life as it comes!"

"Easy for you to say – you don't know what I've gone through…" He sighed, feeling bad after he just had a backbone for the first time in his life.

"Tell me…" She urged, almost as a challenge.

Instead of answering, he leaned back on his hands, kicking his feet, and watching the stars.

"Have you lost anyone, Eiko?"

"Sure!" She nodded, "At a time like this – I think everyone has…"

"You know about the war?" He seemed baffled.

"There are a few moogles who travel place to place – they spread the news here… This is the second most moogle populated place in all of Gaia!"

He went back to his prior subject, "Do you mind me asking who?"

"My whole tribe actually…" She nodded sadly, "There was an attack on my village five years ago… Everyone died besides a few… Then a plague hit… Not too far away there were waste products from some sort of an experiment Kuja was doing up here – away from the populations he ruled – that hit my people with a bad sickness.

Only my grandfather and myself survived this, but I was too young to know exactly how. He raised me, until sickness too took him when I was five…"

A silence swept over them as they listened to the running water not too far away. In the distance, a yelp was heard from Dagger, accompanied by a symphony of laughs, indicating a prank for the moogles went wrong and scared her instead.

"I'm sorry to hear that…" He offered, and looked away, "If it makes you feel any better… my grandfather raised me too…"

"Oh? Then how did you end up here with these people?"

"Five years ago, I was taken from our dwelling somewhere around Treno –" she nodded in understanding, having studied books that she had stolen and from her grandfather's wisdom of the world, "And then… after that I've never seen him again."

"Where did you go? I mean – you were kidnapped?" She questioned softly.

"Yeah…" He nodded, "I was part of his group of dreamers – I guess that's what they call us – someone powerful he wanted to brainwash… both Zidane and I were part of it… But we both woke up, and escaped… We met up with Blank, Beatrix, and Dagger, and they lead us back to Dali…"

"Wow…" She breathed, "That sounds scary…" He nodded, and another silence wafted over them – this time it was permanent as they sat, enjoying it as newfound friends.

?

"I want to welcome you with us, Eiko…" Beatrix nodded, "I've spoke with Dagger about it, and we believe it would be better if you traveled with us – but only if you'd like to see the world, and help fight for a cause…"

She glanced at her moogles, and a few encouraged her, indicating that so long as she had Mog with her, she would always have a connection to them. She smiled confidently, and turned towards Beatrix, truly believing she could help fight this war.

"I accept your offer Miss Beatrix!" She smiled brightly, skipping over to her moogle friends, "You all be good, okay? I'm putting Oleive in charge…" She shyly stepped out and nodded, as she turned back around. "Well… I'm ready!"

"Let us be going then – Baku will be waiting for us…"

?

As supper began to settle in their stomachs, and the night dwindled on, not a lot of talk was created as they made their way forward. It was difficult to navigate where to go, but that's why Eiko distracted herself by moving forward, leading with Beatrix.

A light shown a little ways in the distance, and they sighed in relief.

Finally, something didn't go wrong… Zidane smirked a little, lifting his hand to wave at Baku, about to spit out some comment that would be well known to push his buttons. But as they got closer, they realized there wasn't just Baku there, but a few others as well…

In fact, Baku wasn't there – only unfamiliar people…

A man in silver armor stood before them, proudly and confidently, a scar hashed across his face, and his expression distorted into wickedness.

"Get them."

?

A/N: An uneventful chapter left with a cliff hanger! :) At least you finally meet Eiko… Lol I know you were wondering sometime when she would be thrown in there :) I hope you're excited! I'm excited to get back going with the story line – they've been chillin' in Conde Petie for too long!

I hope you enjoyed – please review!

-zesty-