Filling In The Blanks
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
A/N: I'm so sorry about the late late update! I know again, I have no excuse... But, I have no internet on the computer I write on, so USB's are such a hassle to use and put it on one computer, and take it from another and ugh :) bear with me!
Chapter 33: Fever
Zidane watched the apparently rare rain fall down on the patches of grass. It wasn't quite Dali… nor was it the Alexandria he still yearned for. For the most part, he had thrown it from his mind to let his displeasure show of not knowing where all those people went… where his friends had gone…
After he had single handedly been the reason Dali was off the map, they were found out and forced from their home, and so many deaths, he refused to believe that he could possibly get back there. This time, it would entail stealing the airship… He couldn't do that – not after the damage he had caused.
Their once organized resistance, with statuses and guard duties, training, and working as a team all seemed to crumble now. He watched a fair group of people trying to dig a hole – mostly the ones who had lost someone dear – who wished to go back to simpler times.
Their recent escape had been an epic, but highly unknown one. No one would really speak about it with the resistance members – though everyone was warned through meeting and assembly, and quite a bit of gossip, that someone was on their trail. They needed to move.
Zidane laid back, feeling the wet grass tickle his neck. The rain pecked him in the face, causing him to blink every time a drop ricocheted off his skin. Now that there was time to think about things, he really was going back to how everything had began. No, it wasn't with him waking up from a false world, or even with him being reunited with the Tantalus crew… It was something further than that.
A memory… A horrid memory he had had – in the dream or real world – he couldn't remember… Perhaps he had re-experienced the memory more than once. The voice was so tiny – so defiant, yet so obviously scared… The blood shed, the sword, and the love in the woman's eyes before she was struck down. A gory death awaiting both who tried to protect the young boy.
The soldier and the fear he had felt, the bile that had piled in his throat after realizing what had happened… They had called for Zidane, but these people he still didn't know.
At that moment, a presence collapsed in the grass next to him, and he looked lazily over at Vivi, who mimicked his movements, and was watching the rain as well.
"Hey…" he spoke lightly to the young mage.
"Hi Zidane." He immediately could tell there was something bothering the mage.
"What's wrong, Vivi?"
"Things are quiet now…" He sighed and glanced at the blonde, before focusing on the sky once more. Somehow the colors were still beautiful, even with clouds rolling over the fresh air.
"So they are…" The Genome really had nothing to say to the younger mage – the sorrow that surrounded them was suffocating the advice out of him.
"What do you think happened to them?" Vivi asked quietly, as though he were afraid of someone hearing him.
The wind wavered the grass around them as Zidane closed his eyes, inhaling the scent of moist soil – probably from the people trying to dig themselves a hideout once more.
"Who?" Though he knew the answer to his own question.
The mage wrung his hands in front of his stomach, the gloves squeaking – they were probably soaking wet. "The Dreamers…" Vivi offered shyly.
Zidane's face screwed into a distorted and unreadable expression. The taste of disgust in himself for not being able to save anymore of them filled in his mouth, as he turned to his side to spit. After that it was silent – Vivi received his answer without words.
"Do you think I'll ever see my grandpa again?"
The question was so small and sad, it almost broke Zidane's heart. Though his confidence had been built and shattered so many times since he awoke in this new world, he still didn't have the mind set to realize it would build itself back up again. But at that comment, it started to mend.
"Ill get you back there, Vivi… No matter what happens – I promise I'll take you back."
Vivi smiled and sat up, along with the Genome, "Thank you…" He stood them, unstable on his feet, and wobbled off. Zidane fell back into the soft grass with a tiny 'oof' sound, diving back into his thoughts on these unknown people…
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"This cannot keep happening!" Steiner persisted, "That's two attacks! Two attacks in the last five months than there has since this resistance was started!"
"Steiner –" Beatrix tried to calm him down.
"No!" He almost roared, everyone else waiting in the meeting for him to finish, "It is my duty to protect the Princess – my duty to protect these people, and none of us are doing a good job!" He barked.
"Steiner!" This time, Beatrix hissed, leaning against the counter with a glower up on her face, "That's enough – stop being immature."
"It's the damn dreamers… Why can't we just give them up?" Everyone turned to a voice that they hadn't heard in such a long time. His bitterness had been growing with every moment since Zidane and Vivi had first joined them. His dark hair was gelled back from his face, his eyes hard, "First I've lost my arm, and now we're losing members!" He scoffed.
"If you don't like it," Blank started coldly, irritated with this guy always interrupting something important, "Leave. You can't do much with one hand…"
Everyone glanced at Blank, almost warning him not to say much more. The man steamed, his whole face scarlet with rage. "I can do anything you can do – even what you can't do!" He roared, jumping up, along with the redhead.
Blank wanted to taunt, despite Dagger and Beatrix's warnings to simply sit down, "You can huh? Then clap!"
The outburst of fury caused the man to lash out and throw a chair at the redhead, who deflected the slow moving piece of furniture easily, though it fell on the floor with a clash and snapped into two.
"We have limited furniture!" The chestnut haired woman was yelling out as everyone began to fight.
"This place is disgusting! I want to go back to Dali! We'll help rebuild!"
"Fuck you Rendell! Why can't you and your non-existant arm just go away!"
"Rendell is right! They've caused so much drama!"
"Why can't we all just stop arguing?" This question was spoken loudly, the petite girl standing on the table and stomping her foot, "This is a time we need to be together!" Dagger yelled at all of them, "And we are the most broken resistance ever! If we ever want to win this war – especially now – we need to stop arguing!"
Rendell snorted and stalked out of the room, Darious close behind him.
Everyone settled down for a moment, Ruby innocently dropped the small dwarf she had picked up in rage, Blank trying to stick the chair back together, and Steiner putting his large sword away behind his back.
"Dagger is right…" Cid nodded solemnly, "We need to begin with a plan…" He waved a letter in the air, "I've received word from the moogles in Treno…" He sighed, "Before, Kuja did not enforce his laws – we are lucky… His laws of needing papers and such to get into cities was not enforced before we got to Conde Petie. The result of us on the move has caused him to enforce these laws now – Conde Petie we are going to get supplies from still yes, but unfortunately we cannot go in and out as we please – we must be careful… I do not believe that we can stay on the Outer Continent unless we find a different place to go… As we find a place to settle, we must – and I stress that we must start coming up with training methods and plans – Kuja must go down before he engulfs the whole world."
Everyone was silent – on the edge of their seat, waiting for him to say more. Steiner leaned forward, on the verge of rallying the troops right now, and heading straight for Alexandria.
"My friends – my brothers and sisters – our preparation for so many years has finally begun drawing to an end… We must act now… For the loss of my kingdom, Bermecia, and Garnet's kingdom – we must fight… Rallying the world to help us is the only way that we can win this war…"
"But how do we rally the world when everyone is oceans apart?" Freya almost pleaded – wanting so desperately for a plan that will work.
Cid took in a deep breath, and a grin played out on his face – one they had not seen in such a long time, "My friends, I am going to construct an airship!" The glee in his voice forced everyone to break out into smiles.
"How the fuck is that going to work?" Baku yelled out, throwing his fist in the air, "We can't just get whatever we want!"
"We need a decoy… To obtain a ship of Kuja's…"
"What?" Someone gasped, "You want to toy with that idea already?" It was an elf – who was ever weary about distracting themselves with decoys. His watery colored eyes glanced at Cid with hope, but also despair – there was no way this could work.
"Though I know only a few select people have ever been there, I was hoping perhaps that a group could go to Terra…"
"Terra?" Blank gasped, glancing around, wondering if Zidane was in the meeting or not.
"This group would ultimately include Zidane and whoever else I think fit best to go with him… We'll keep one dreamer here, and send the other out – I believe this is the way to score Kuja's ship… While the group is getting the ship, we relocate to somewhere safer for the time being…"
"That's so crazy…" Marcus shook his head, his pointed ears moving back and forth with his head, but soon a smirk showing his pearly teeth took over his features.
"It might actually work!" Cinna yelped in joy.
The Tantalus crew seemed to rather like the idea, and all whooped with joy, "Cid you're one crazy man!" Baku praised – kind of – as he laughed along with his team. "We'd be honored to escort Zidane!"
Cid's smile was one of true fondness for the determination of the ever-fun Tantalus group, "You shall disguise yourselves, once more, as stage actors… Your first mission as a group once more…" He turned to Blank, "You are not officially with the Tantalus crew anymore, I know… But…" He nodded, knowing the redhead would love this opportunity, "If you'll do the honors –"
Immediately he vigorously nodded, "Yes! Definitely!" He fist pumped the air and Cinna picked him up in a hug.
"Finally! We're on the move again!" Marcus laughed, "Let's go find Zidane!" Everyone raised off except for Baku, who decided to stick around for the rest of the meeting.
Dagger bit her lip. She still wasn't speaking with Zidane, but with how rowdy that group was, she wondered if they would be okay. "Is that such a good idea, Cid?" She questioned, tilting her head to the side.
"It's the only choice we have, Dagger…" He nodded, "I didn't want to have to split our numbers even more, but I need help here in order to get another airship started… By the time they come back, I'll have one and maybe half of a second one started, I just will need most of the members' help."
"But –"
"It's a good plan, Dagger…" Beatrix nodded, agreeing with Cid full-heartedly, "They'll be alright…"
"You shall leave in the morning," He nodded to Baku, "I would go prepare, and get some well-earned rest."
The man nodded gruffly and slowly ran off, tripping every once in a while before he disappeared from sight.
"This leads me…" he took in a deep breath, "To also welcome the two new members to the resistant – in much happier times… Amarant Coral, and Eiko Carol. Amarant helped our members escape the clutches of Kuja's northern army, and Eiko helped us along our way in Madain Sari, with her she brings Mog…" Everyone was delighted to see two new faces, plus a moogle, and wanted to make them feel at home as soon as possible.
A woman in her late forties came forward with a bag of supplies for both of them to begin with. Each contained a blanket, and some spare clothing and belongings for them to feel at home. Each thanked the woman and the whole resistance and allowed Cid to continue with the meeting.
"Now! I want to assign some groups! It's going to be difficult at first, but I promise that we're going to figure things out! We are too close to Kuja's Northern Army for comfort, and that's why I want to move. Eiko, do you know of anywhere else in your discoveries of the Outer Continent that could help us…?"
"I know that there's a forest somewhere south of here – much south actually, but in order to access it you have to hit north first… I'm not sure if it's already occupied or not, but that would probably be the safest place for us to go!"
"Good! After Tantalus leaves tomorrow, we'll head that way, but I want it to be slow going! I'm going to create teams to get our jobs done efficiently and with haste." Cid slowly began panning out groups to cover plenty of jobs for everyone.
Though it was a big responsibility for the two, they were the most familiar with the outer continent – Amarant was put in charge of the scouting party, and Eiko was his right hand. They had eight others with them in the group to find a perfect place for the new resistance headquarters far enough away from any Kuja soldiers.
Quina was in charge of meals and scavenging for food. He had Mog every so often with him, and twenty other people to help him with this job.
Vivi was amazingly in charge of teaching those capable to further their black magic skills, or in fact, any magic skills at all. He was nervous, because he was leading the team by himself, but at least there were only a few who could wield these powers. They would be with him whenever they weren't assigned to other groups.
Freya was going to teach people how to heal. She wasn't the best at it, but she could treat some wounds, and was going to make sure everyone knew – even the youngest members – how to deal with broken bones, fatal injuries and what not, and possibly even learn a very mild blue magic spell (it wouldn't work for all of them), and she was going to be in charge of making all the potions and everything else that came with it – she would have four others to help her do that.
Cid would be leading the airship crew. They were going to work hard and fast on making airships, as they were the prime travel in order to get followers to help them with Kuja. He would lead a team of ninety to help him scavenge for parts and materials, and to actually help him put the whole thing together.
Steiner and Beatrix were in charge of getting everyone trained up. Almost everyone knew how to fight, but in order to win such a war, they were going to need to know how to take on multiple enemies at once, and know the small tricks that come with things. The people they trained would be with them whenever there was a lapse in whatever their own group was doing.
There were other groups, involving people to make clothing, and run errands back and forth from Conde Petie – the really sneaky people. Dagger jumped around from Vivi's group, to Freya's group, to training with Steiner and Beatrix, but she was never ever allowed to go scouting. In fact, she was hardly let anywhere alone – the security on her needed to be higher when they were at a dangerous spot in their mission.
The remaining people who didn't occasionally help with the other groups, were left to gather material and such for shelter. They weren't ready to build yet, but they figured having it with them would sincerely help when they finally picked a spot to be comfortable.
That was about the whole resistance then, and they were set to start their quest – Cid just prayed nothing went wrong…
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"Are you nervous?" Blank asked, glancing at the blonde standing next to him, still soaking wet from the rain.
He shook his head, but was silent.
"You've got that Alexandria stuff bothering you again, don't you?"
Zidane glanced at his best friend with surprise, "How did you know?"
"Don't you remember – one of the first days I had you back and we were sparring in the meadow in Dali, I told you I began using my brain in the five years you were gone. Besides, I think going back to Terra has you nervous."
"You know… The Dreamer thing is always going to bother me… and truth be told – I am nervous going back to Terra… I don't remember anything about it, but I do remember what to expect – and I'm honestly spooked about what I'm going to find. On top of that… I think I've connected the dots about something I didn't remember before."
"Huh?" Blank asked, his unseen emerald eyes blaring with curiosity.
"One of the dreams – or flashbacks of my life before I was captured… A man and a woman being slaughtered right in front of me – she called me Zidane… Blank, I think that was my parents."
The redhead's eyes widened – not even before had he ever heard of the blonde's parents, except in passing when they first met that meant that they had died due to Kuja's wrath.
"What?"
"I know…" He nodded, "I want to find some stuff out – Blank… I know you aren't going to like it, but I have a crazy idea again…"
"Oh no…" He glanced at the blonde, but when he saw the smirk, he couldn't help but have a smirk on his own face too.
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A/N: Well so you didn't find out about the thing right away this chapter :) the pendant anyways, but I'm looking forward to starting this new part… I'm sick of everyone being depressed.
Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this :D Please review! The plot is going to pick up again!
-zesty-
