Filling In The Blanks

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

A/N: No excuses, but a review from an anonymous person did inspire me to write :) thank you!

Chapter 40: Organized Chaos

And now the Genome stood in the middle of the street, staring, and waiting… This was a dangerous façade they were playing…

And Zidane didn't know if they were going to win…

When the anticipation of the first long moment of silence ended, Zidane's shoulders relaxed a little. He was still very on edge, but at least now he had some breathing time.

Part of him didn't want it though – he wished that Kuja would just come, and get the killing over with… But that made him wonder – would the man even kill him? Vivi hadn't been slaughtered on the spot, but perhaps the man was too furious with Zidane and Vivi's efforts to keep them around… Or maybe Vivi was stronger, and more valuable.

As he pondered these thoughts, he wondered about Elouise and Griffon, his two best friends in the world besides Blank… Who knew if he would ever see them again… Maybe when he was dead, he would finally get all of his questions answered.

Death… a word he had heard so many times, and yet now, cowered away whenever it came up in his mind. His emotions were jerky, as he suddenly glared in anger, furious that the word scared him.

He waited there for what seemed like hours, or perhaps even days. The black mages suspiciously followed the Tantalus out of the city, wondering if they were going to try and display some sort of disturbing, side-turning, anti-Kuja type thing. The blonde scoffed, almost disgusted that they were so easily fooled.

And as he began to pace, he somehow knew he heard it coming. It started very faintly, and he didn't want to believe it. But soon, it got louder, more noticeable, and then finally, it came into sight.

Just as they had all thought it would, there was Kuja's ship, soaring through the air.

In the bright windows, you could see the silhouette of a person – arrogance swirling around his very figure. Zidane nodded, knowing now he would have to be at the top of his game: he would have to be able to focus and win.

It took a long while, and the Genome twice started to turn and take off on a dead sprint. His instincts were forcing him to move, but his mind knew he had to stay put. Finally, once the ship was landed, not far in the distance, crushing some small homes, a whole army seemed to slowly leak out of the aircraft like a visible, airborne disease.

"Kuja!" He yelled before he could stop himself, "You couldn't take me on yourself! So you brought your entire army!"

This fueled the man to move faster. Goodbest to get it over with…

"Dreamer!" He yelled, though his voice was surprisingly mellow, but also hallow, and it sent chills down the blonde's back. "Why do you break away? Why, as you watched when you fled that day, that you're glorious Alexandria was crumbled, did you not wish to avenge those who had fallen!"

"I'm avenging them, by helping those who are going to take you down!" A low, dark laugh began, and slowly built, until Kuja threw his head back and laughed outright. Even those in his army shifted and glanced at each other.

"Do you really think you're efforts can stop me? My dear boy – how could you possibly stop me, when I caught you in my grasps years ago! My power is peaking now! There is no way that you'd be able to stop!"

"That doesn't mean I'm not going to try…" Zidane growled, standing firmer in his place now than he had moments before.

"You're a fool! Why do you resist what cannot be resisted, instead of joining and flourishing!"

"I would rather suffer five lifetimes, then help those who kill for no reason, take control over things that aren't theirs, and have no mercy on those who might falter!" His words sounded foreign to him, but he could tell they were having an impact.

Though Kuja must have believed Zidane couldn't see it, soldiers were sneaking across buildings – trying to surround the one man army of the dreamer. Kuja also didn't notice that slowly, these soldiers were being picked off by the stubbed amounts of blue magic that Ruby knew, and the traps that were set up.

"You are a fool…" The words were a hiss on the wind, and Zidane took a step back, intimidation spreading over his body. "Destroy him!" the order boomed, ringing through the air for a split second before those who could, charged.

And now, the blonde would be put to the biggest test of his life…

Kuja himself didn't directly attack Zidane. He must have thought he was still too good for that. The Genome exhaled a few times before the first soldiers descended upon him; he knew he'd have to fight for a long time before reinforcements came… Plus, he had to lure all he could away from the ship – that was, after all, their main goal. As the first wave hit, he slashed mightily through the air with his dagger, spinning and jumping over each soldier, throwing them down as quickly as he could manage.

Landing safely on the ground, he dropped low, smelling the fresh dust being stirred. Two soldiers stuck swords into each other above him, and when they started to crash down, he rolled out of the way. Throwing his dagger into his tail, it stuck sneakily into an unsuspecting man, and then he rolled again. As his tail wrapped around him, he grabbed the dagger and hopped instinctively up, spinning and swiping a few guys off of their feet. With both hands on the dagger now, he poked it dangerously, into the faces of a few men.

They screamed and toppled over, their shrieks bone chilling as some of their comrades tried to back off without being noticed. Somewhere beyond the wave of men, Kuja was yelling furiously, obviously in a rage simply because the dreamer wouldn't go down.

But the blonde couldn't keep focused on Kuja, as another few men tried to come at him, this time from all different sides. Three men behind him tried to trap him by knocking a wooden pole on top of him, and the two in front of him were engaged in a sword fight.

Zidane glanced behind him and grinned, knowing how he would play out this act. As the pole finally fell, he took a grand leap, and grabbed the shoulders of the soldier in front of him. Flipping over the man, he kicked his legs into the face of the one standing behind him, and shoved the prior backwards. The pole landed on him, and missed Zidane only by a few inches.

He was not going down without a fight…

?

Blank skid to a stop, watching as Zidane took down a few soldiers with a pole. "Nice!" He breathed with a grin. Things were going better than expected.

Feeling his teammates fly by him, he picked up his pace once more, and watched as Ruby tried to keep herself steady, while taking out as many soldiers, as discreetly as she could. At one point, while running along a thin plank to the next building, she slipped.

Knowing not to blow their cover, she squeezed her eyes shut, but Blank slipped behind her and grabbed her hand. He smirked sheepishly at her as she dangled, before he easily hoisted her back up onto the edge. Their exchange was completely silent, but suddenly, a fondness for the girl swelled in him.

Rolling his eyes, and thinking something about being an over-emotional girl sometimes, he tried to run and glance down at his best friend at the same time. He was doing well, though more and more men kept charging towards him. He wondered how long Zidane would be able to keep it up.

As they crossed the buildings as silently as they could, though Blank didn't want to admit it, he was scared. His heart was pounding, and he was losing his breath far faster than he should have. But this was intense – this was a matter of life and death… They didn't have backup to come after them, as Zidane and himself had had in Alexandria that night…

He forced himself to keep moving, tearing his eyes away from the one-man battle below. He didn't want to think about it.

Glancing ahead, he saw Marcus maneuvering silently and swiftly. He looked so calm, the youngest on the Tantalus couldn't understand how he could keep it together so well. But Marcus was the one with the plan… right?

?

Zidane's breath caught in his throat. It had been almost an hour of constant fighting, and he had no chance for a break. He tried to move back, no longer able to see his team running around the edges of the city. Another slice to his arm, and he stumbled back. Though he was still taking many down – groups of people verses one thief was too hard.

Flipping back, and flinging the small knife from his boot at the nearest enemy, he took off in the other direction, coaxing battle cries from Kuja's loyal soldiers. He skidded around the corners into alleys, and up onto buildings. Tantalus would have enough sense to hide if they heard what was going on – so he wasn't really worried about breaking their cover.

Trying to find a place to escape into, for just a moment of peace, he continued running on the roof tops, until he spotted an open window. Jumping down onto a thin ledge, he leapt for the opening, rolling on the ground as he stumbled inside.

All was quiet for a moment, as he laid there, breath sucked into him, to stay completely quiet. He prayed he was close enough to the wall, or far out of range so they didn't see him as they passed. The cries lifted and fell, and he knew, until they figured out that he had dodged them, he was safe.

For a few more minutes, he lay there, knowingly bleeding, but sucking in as much oxygen as he could. Sweat beaded down his face, and his eyes flickered under his lids. Finally, they creaked open, and he flexed his muscles.

The area was dark, and part of his mind swept over the play, and what part they would be performing right now, and just how good it actually was without the real group there… Sitting up, his recognized a familiar set up.

It wasn't until a few minutes after that he realized he was back in the place he'd been weeks earlier. He was calmer now, about being there… Thinking about his own house, and the death of his parents was frightening, but it would be to anyone who, up until those moments, hadn't remembered them…

Moving about, he realized he had accepted this fate, or was simply numb from battle. He didn't have much time, but he wished to explore the house he so eagerly fled from before.

Pushing open a door, he glanced around at the various, rotting pieces of furniture within. There was a small bed, with a torn and burned blanket, while glass was scattered across the cold carpet. He looked on the shelf, seeing pictures of faces he couldn't remember, but felt some familiarity to. Shaking his head, he turned away, the blonde woman's eyes haunting him from the memory.

Some toys were still strewn out on the floor, and he glanced at them, trying to gather their details without actually touching them. One resembled an airship, another: a bermecian dancer with an, what appeared to be, Alexandria knight. Things that (assuming this was his own room) probably seemed surreal and unrealistic to him when so young, being so far away. But now, he yearned for things like Bermecia and Alexandria – things he had come to know more about than his own homeland.

He heard noises on the streets below, and glanced up, understanding that his time was up. Though it haunted him, he hit a picture frame against the wall, of what appeared to be himself, but much younger, with an older blonde man and woman. He wished still, to see more of the house, and rushed into the hall.

The space not in a room was colder, and drearier – for at least in the rooms it seemed more like a dream than anything else. Hurrying across the hall and into the next room, he immediately spotted a large bed, and a tipped over nightstand. The closet seemed like it was ripped into, and he began rummaging around it in curiosity. When he pressed closer to the wall, his foot creaked over a floorboard. Tilting his head, he reached down and felt, knowing there was an obvious cut out in the floor. Trying to get a grip, and ripping it up, he saw a few things inside.

Plenty of money, from all different places, and definitely items that, to Zidane, didn't seem like much, but if they were hidden, he knew they must have had some value to the family. In there, was a small box. As he heard more yelling outside, he was torn to leave, but something was urging him to continue his investigation.

Carefully lifting the lid, he saw inside, two golden rings. One had some sort of beautiful gem in the middle, the other, simply had carvings on the sides. If Zidane was suspecting correctly, they were wedding rings, and he figured that if Kuja planted his mages in Terra early enough, they must have wanted to hide them, incase soldiers raided their house.

The one other thing in that box, was a golden necklace. It wasn't feminine in anyway, and yet, he felt like he had to have belonged to his mother. Pulling it out, he saw a deep sapphire color, glinting in the dim light from the window. His thief-personality kicked in as he grinned, safely storing all three pieces of precious jewelry in a safe place on his being. He would have something to show of his parents now – so they weren't forgotten again.

As the noises became louder, he knew it was time to go, and quickly threw himself through the window, landing, scaling a building. It didn't take long for scouts to spot him, and yelling erupted from below.

Zidane figured it was time to go back to the original scene, and distract Kuja. Enough games… He was going to completely his mission as bait, even if it was the last thing he ever did…

?

"Where's Zidane?" Blank whispered harshly, body pressed tightly against the wall. His eyes jerked from one place to the next, and his chest puffed out and in quicker than it should have.

"Shhh!" Cinna and Marcus simultaneously hushed him, and he pouted. Dammit, if Zidane was hurt, he didn't want to be hidden anymore.

So far, they had done a good job of fooling Kuja – Zidane was putting up a well enough fight that they really did believe he was alone. Unfortunately, with Kuja still standing in his safe spot at the edge of the boarding ramp to his ship, they could go no further.

Zidane had to reel him out, otherwise their mission couldn't go any further than this…

A sudden cry had Blank on edge as he whipped his head in the other direction, straining his eyes and craning his neck to try and see.

"Kuja! You're a fool! You pretend that your rule over the world is a good one! That people will eventually fall to you, and stop fighting!" The blonde's voice carried boldly across the distance of himself and Kuja.

The soldiers hadn't found their way back through the maze of the city, but their cries weren't too far off.

For a moment, Kuja's face puckered as though he had tasted something sour and bitter, both at the same time. But swift control quickly returned to his features, a small smile dawning upon his lips.

"You silly boy…" He walked forward a few steps, raising his hands from his sides in a godly motion. "You realize why I captured you, correct?" A sigh escaped his lips as his feet crunched over rubble from a nearby building. "You are a dreamer… Nothing more – nothing less… Do you see what you are to these people? A power weapon! Without you, they would have been smothered by now…" He shook his head, "And you, and that young black mage are alone… No one understands what you're going through – nobody cares for anything but winning the war…"

He stopped, staring Zidane straight in the eyes, throwing a hand up to halt the oncoming soldiers from attack. This simple gesture told them that this would be Kuja's fight now, through words, and if needed, through strength. They lowered their swords and staffs, knowing they wouldn't fight again.

"They're fighting for what they believe in – they're fighting for what's right!" Zidane came back strongly, narrowing his eyes into slits, as he gripped the hilt of his dagger harder. His knuckles were beginning to turn white.

"And using you to get there? Zidane, in Alexandria you were happy! You could have been on your way to Lindblum writing plays –"

"What the fuck is this guy talking about?" Blank snarled, anger rising in his throat. Baku slapped a hand on his shoulder.

"We have to wait and see what happens…" He whispered, eyes wide with confusion and concern.

"Zidane, you had friends! Best friends…" The Genome froze, wondering if Kuja knew Elouise and the others.

"How do you know this?"

"Boy, it was my world…" He nodded slowly, "The others still believe they're in it… Tell me – wouldn't you want that? You were so happy, and your friends were there for you – would never use you as bait!" He grinned now, smirking as though he had the whole game figured out.

Zidane had to restrain himself from stumbling back. Did this man know their whole plan? But then why was he still pressing forward, testing how far Zidane would hold his ground.

And now, the question that had been eating away at him since that very first moment where he stumbled blindly away from guards, and towards his old friends – a thief, princess in disguise, and two former knights, resurfaced itself.

"Where is Elouise?"

To that, Kuja smiled, taking another step forward.

?

A/N: Wow! That took me long enough! I actually ended up liking where I went with their conversation! I know it was kind of random, that chunk with Zidane in his own house, but I needed to through it in there, and I know you didn't want a whole chapter of fighting :D

Here will be the big climax! What will Zidane choose to do? :D I hope you guys enjoyed! Please review!

-zesty-