Filling In The Blanks
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 9 or any of its characters.
Chapter 50: If You Thought That Was Different…
"Come and help me…"
She stepped forward unsteadily, trying to be brave. She wasn't sure what she was looking for, but that voice sounded like she needed help.
"Please hurry…" It pleaded with her, and her eyebrows knit together, and her step increased in speed. She did indeed have to hurry.
"Why aren't you helping me?" It demanded, but gently, still in that sad lull as before.
"I'm trying!" She insisted, moving forward, tears pricking her eyes. Why was she so upset? Who was this girl that was talking to her? And why couldn't she see her?
"He won't let anybody be happy… If not him, his followers… his army of dreamers… A resistance cannot defeat the most powerful army ever created…"
Beatrix stopped, her chestnut curls flowing in front of her face. Her feet lifted off the black surface, and soon she found herself floating. Her honey eyes misted over with tears, when, with dread, the realization of those words hit her.
Her whole body was numb as she looked around. "We can try!"
"And lose too many to count?" The voice countered. "Lose more than you know? Follow in his footsteps – lead at least an echo of the life you wanted to live."
Beatrix's eyes narrowed as she turned around, feeling so claustrophobic in the solid black surrounding her. She found herself kicking forward, propelling herself like she was swimming. The woman sucked in a deep breath, just to make sure she wasn't.
"You don't take into consideration how much hate these dreamers hold…" The girl pleaded, though her monotonous, sad voice never raised a pitch. "Kuja's lies were fed to them, and they cannot be undone. No matter how many truths may or may not lie in their heads, they will fight for an Alexandria they once knew…"
"But we can stop them!" She tried to force the information upon this voice she heard, yet couldn't see. "We can stop these dreamers – we have Zidane and Vivi… They can tell them that Kuja was lying!"
"To an outside party… Who's to say you aren't lying?" Her voice questioned.
Beatrix felt her anger grow. She felt herself swell with frustration… She knew this thought – she had had it before, when her doubt was at its peak. But they could stop them… They could, and they would save the world.
"What about your life, Beatrix?" The child asked her. "What about the things you wanted in your future…?"
"They will come in time!" She insisted.
"But what if they don't…"
And then Beatrix turned around, and saw a little girl, dressed in leather hide boots, peasant pants, and a long white blouse, obviously too big for her. Her eyes hair was almond, the locks curling under themselves at the very end. Her stature was small, but confident…
She looked almost exactly like Beatrix…
There was just one difference…
Her eyes were a dark charcoal swirling with so much wisdom and torn with desperation and frustration.
This girls eyes… Well, her eyes looked exactly like…
Steiner's.
Beatrix awoke with a start. She sat up straight in the chair and glanced around. A book was laid open in front of her, recently serving as her pillow. There was a creak in the airship, but she knew it was just from air pressure…
The night was silent as she moved into the hall, only a candle to guide her way. Her eyes trained in quickly, but didn't venture much further than before her feet. She was worried a corridor would suddenly fall off, and she'd smack into a door, awaking another sleeper.
Eventually, she found an archway that lead into a meeting room. Not the central control station of the ship, but an old room with posters of plays, starring all the Tantalus crew – books upon books, along with crisp sheets of parchment with play lines scrawled messily across the page. There were costumes stuffed into already-full trunks, and trinkets from different places in the world lined the shelves. There were even some bouquets of dried flowers, their smell still engulfing the room.
How could she see all this? A lantern was lit at the middle table, and there was no other than Steiner, sitting next to it. His hands were folded neatly on the table, and his charcoal eyes – the same she'd just seen, though he wasn't involved in her dream at all – were trained on a piece of parchment.
"Steiner?"
He jumped, and hastily stuffed the parchment into the pocket of his pants. She stared at him for a long moment. His regular armor had been shucked away, though a light, mythril shirt was tossed carelessly onto his being, black, armored pants covering the bottom half of his body. His steel boots were still in place, but his helmet was nowhere to be found.
Before she could comment on his trying to be so sneaky, she took a long look at his face. You could tell where his helmet ended, because the dirt and grime that built up over time lined his face, his ears and the highest parts of his forehead, or furthest back parts of his cheeks were clean – well… cleaner.
His black hair was completely disheveled – just like it was the few other times she'd ever seen him without his helmet. The brunette knew his sword wasn't strapped to his back, but wasn't stupid enough to think he didn't have a dagger slipped into his boot.
"What are you doing here?" She questioned, tilting her head.
"I was just…" He looked around the room, then heaved a sigh. "I was thinking."
She gestured to the now empty table. "What was that you were reading?"
"Reading?" He let out an uncomfortable laugh, "More like nodding off if you ask me!" He tried to play it off like no big deal, and most of the time, Beatrix would let it go…
But letting it go this time would mean she'd go back to her dark, creaking room, wide awake with the image of her and Steiner's daughter burned permanently into her head.
"I don't believe you," she said bluntly, hoping he'd shed some light on the current situation.
He lifted one end of his mouth in a sort of half, crooked smile. "You don't have to…"
She took this as a cue to sit down, and did so comfortably, though his eyes never left her. After a moment of unnecessary movement, she sighed and slipped a tanned hand over his arm.
"Steiner…" She mumbled, staring at his charcoal eyes.
"What's wrong?" He could read right away that something was troubling her.
Beatrix shook her head. "The same thing as always. The constant threat of war looming over our heads… It's messing with my thoughts."
"What do you mean?" He loved that when he spoke to Beatrix one on one, her speech suddenly became informal, and he found she didn't sit in such a superior, uptight position. The contrast was an impressive one.
She didn't want to share her unnerving dream, especially since she wasn't sure where she and Steiner were at. It was obvious that they cared for one another, and someone might even say that they're in love… but they hadn't ever talked about it.
"In my dream…" She sighed, knowing she would exaggerate different parts to keep the child out of her explanation. "A little girl calls out for help…" She shook her head. "When I tell her I'm trying to help, she tells me that Kuja can't be defeated…" She looked up at him, and he watched the flame of the lantern flicker sadly in her honey brown eyes. "She tells me that even if he can, the dreamers will fight… and she tells me, even though I already know, that we cannot win against them…"
Steiner's face went immediately soft, and if it was anyone but Beatrix – who acted far more superior to Steiner than most probably deemed necessary – saw it, they would be shocked.
"Beatrix…" He mumbled, shifting so he could clutch his hand in hers.
They sat like this, quietly, for a long moment.
"You know that's just your doubts playing tricks in your mind…" She wasn't sure if he was talking to himself, or to her.
"And if its not?" She shook her head, "Maybe we ought to just go into hiding, and try to live out the rest of our lives as happily as we can…"
He smiled and tilted his head at her. Slowly, ever so slowly, his unarmored hand rested on her cheek. She seemed to lean into it instantly. "Are we not happy now?"
"I mean… of course I'm happy with you, but I–" His fingers moved to her lips, giving her the signal to silence herself.
"Do you believe if we turned back now, we would be able to live comfortably under Kuja's rule? That is the whole reason to fight…" He leaned forward so their foreheads were almost touching. "I would rather die fighting beside you, then spend and eternity without this war, because I would have never become close to you…"
She let on the faintest of smiles. "It's not exactly poetry, but it'll do…"
He chuckled, and bravely leaned the rest of the way forward, capturing her lips with his.
"We are supposed to be mortal enemies after all…"
She tilted her head, her eyes rolling, and then staring up at him innocently, a coy smile on her face. "Ah yes… we can't forget that."
He smiled again, tenderly, and replaced his hand on her cheek. "Please don't worry about that fight… Who knows… Maybe we'll get enough people to stand behind us… Maybe we can get them to pause, for only a few seconds…"
Beatrix stared at him longingly, unsure of how to answer. After what seemed like decades, she finally spoke – so quiet that he hardly heard her. "Would that be enough?"
"Does it matter at this point?" He shot back at her in a whisper, and pressed his lips against hers once again.
She sighed into it. She was too tired to fight, too longing for his company for her to care… So for a moment – even if it was just for a few seconds, sitting with the shroud of darkness to protect them, just a little flame between the two of them, she allowed herself to let go, and be happy without the weight of the world on her shoulders.
"I didn't think this would be such an interrogation…"
The man who paced stopped and stared for a moment. Two of the newcomers shrunk back, cowering.
"Such poisonous words from the one who is handcuffed and held by my own personal guards…" He hissed, flipping his hair over his shoulder, and advancing towards the trio. "I can see your friends already wish they hadn't come…" He sighed, taking on a pitying expression for a moment. "That means they probably won't talk…"
"They came with me to show they supported me and what I'm choosing to do! They were never going to talk anyways!"
"Pity…" He sighed, suddenly ignoring the one talking and walking back to the two, quivering on their knees. "What are your names?"
His finger trailed along one's face menacingly; his icy cold hands sent shivers down the man's spine. "Speak!" He snapped, causing all three of them to jump.
"My n-name is D-D-Darious… Pl-please don't k-kill us…"
Kuja let out a ringing laugh, bouncing off of the walls of his office balcony. "My dear friend –" all three of them cringed at the word, "- why would I kill you when you've come to give me information?"
He turned quickly to the other man, who stared down his partner. "And you… My don't you look bitter…" He almost slithered over to him, and examined his features. "Your wound looks fresh – not even a year old…"
The man visibly swallowed.
"Tell me… Was your motive to coming here propelled by the circumstances surrounding how you lost your arm? What is your name?"
"My name i-is Rendell… And y-yes…" He sucked in a breath, trying to control himself. He came here to get Zidane to leave them, after all… The Genome dreamer had been the cause of all of their problems, and giving Kuja information would eliminate him… "Yes… An earlier attack on Dali – one shortly after the dreamers escaped, severed my arm from me…"
Kuja let out another bellowing laugh. "Did you all come because of your hate for the rebellion? Or your hate for the dreamers? Hell, just your hate for Zidane Tribal?"
Nobody would answer.
"I suppose from your silence I can assume yes…" He wanted to tell them how this would expose not just the dreamers, but the entire resistance, but kept his mouth shut. "Then tell away!"
He circled back around to his desk and sat on the front of it, crossing his legs, and leaning towards the resistance members. "Tell me what you know about Zidane and Vivi…"
Elouise also leaned forward in anticipation, from her seat on the balcony's window. Part of her wondered the status of these dreamers… the status of Zidane… What was happening to him? And why in the world would he rebel against Alexandria? She didn't know anyone who loved their simple life style more than him…
"Look!" Zenero yelled, and turned towards the group, his eyes beaming. "Land! There's land! I see it!" Everyone who was near enough to hear him rushed to his side, trying to see what he saw.
"It's just the reflection of the haze!" One shouted irritably.
"No! It's getting closer!" Another person pointed to the glass, and everyone leaned in close.
It was true – the mountainous structure was coming closer to them in view, and Baku watched excitedly from the wheel, turning their airship directly for the mountain.
News traveled quickly through the ship, and soon, anyone who wasn't there before, rushed to the front of the ship. Baku's eyebrows furrowed.
"Come on guys!" He barked from behind the wheel, trying to pull on it hard to the left so they didn't tip. "It's a piece of land! You've been livin' on it your whole damn life! You're going to flip the fucking ship!"
Enough people backed up that the immediate danger was gone, but nobody wanted to leave the room.
"Stupid, fucking…" he grumbled, glaring at towards the sea.
"We've made it?!" Steiner gasped, running into the room and moving to the front of the ship. He squinted his eyes, trying to make himself see more clearly. "What have we made it to?"
"Ipsen's castle is just on ahead!" Zenero shouted from his spot at the navigation board. "Up over that mountain, in the valley!"
Everyone's voices filled the room, but Steiner could see, from the amount of concentration locked on every Tantalus member's face (including even Blank and Zidane), that they weren't helping.
"Come on people!" He suddenly shouted, "Get back into the halls and rooms! Let them handle landing! There's windows scattered all over the ship!" He glanced around, wondering if someone would contradict them, "Ones with better view!"
Immediately, that got people rushing out the door, stumbling over each other. Soon enough, only a few people remained to look out the window, and it seemed the crew could live with that.
"We're going way too fast!" Marcus shouted from one end of the room, pushing buttons and pulling levers. "If we keep up this speed, we'll hit the mountain!"
"That's impossible!" Baku scoffed, "I just looked and –" he glanced again at the gigantic mountain, and it was rapidly approaching now, at least a couple miles closer than before everyone cleared from the room. "Dammit!" He cried.
"What if we go up?!" Cinna yelled, his movements mirroring Marcus'.
"It's too steep of a climb," Zidane shook his head, his eyes wide. "We would never even make it in time!"
"We did not come this far to get stranded on the wrong side of the damn canyon!" Baku growled. "Pull up! I don't care if the engine starts screaming at you! Pull the fucker up!"
"I don't like this!" Cinna cried as everyone yanked down hard on the biggest lever in their station.
"I feel like we're always havin' this problem! No matter where in Tar'nations we go!" Ruby cried out.
The ship started to rumble, and everything started to clatter and shake. "Is there anything we can do?" Beatrix asked, hoping they could help.
"Better start countin' your lucky stars!" Baku laughed, the enjoyment of flying with such high stakes no longer hidden on his face.
The mountain was rapidly approaching now, and the wood groaned in protest, everything jumbling about. Faintly, they could hear the rest of the people on the ship, low screams or anxiety-filled yells rumbling down the halls.
"Here we go!" Marcus told them, the first aware that the ship would scratch the top of the jagged rock.
There was a hideous screeching noise as the heavy wood of the floating airship scraped over the solid earth. But it wasn't this they were worried about. Even as sparks flew outside their windows – everyone's eyes widened when they saw how narrow this valley was.
To get down close enough to the ground before the end of it was sure suicide. It only took a few moments for everyone else to figure this out, because screaming ensured shortly after.
"We're gonna die!" Cinna bawled, his voice an octave higher than it was supposed to be. Needless to say, this statement was not very comforting to those who never flew air crafts.
Everyone threw every device they could reach into the opposite position, and the ship chugged and stalled for a moment, before a quick descent began. If they were going to make it, it was going to be close.
Yells from all around came, and when Beatrix glanced into the hall, she saw everyone scrambling to get to the other side of the ship – not wanting to be there when their viewing side smashed against the rock.
"Hold on to your big boy panties!" Baku screamed, giving one final, giant tug of the wheel, spinning the ship a little bit, before its bottom slammed into the ground. Luckily, it wasn't rocky, and the soil sunk willingly beneath the ship… At least, as willingly as it could considering what had just occurred.
A dust cloud rose up all around them, leaking into just-shattered windows, and the door that malfunctioned on impact had opened. For a long while, everything engulfed in the dust was silent.
No movement was seen, and no life was heard.
And then, all of the groaning and moaning started.
Zidane threw a piece of splintered wood from himself, coughing as he struggled to see everyone around him. He was alive… That was already unbelievable enough. Could he hope for multiple more miracles for others to still be there with him?
For such an anti-climactical thing, it was sort of a scary situation. Sparks were continually flying from the control, and really the only thing visible in the room.
The blonde shook his head, and stood. As soon as he did so, he wished he hadn't. He stumbled back, holding his head, and suppressing a groan. He must have gone down hard when they landed.
And then his thoughts finally triggered on his teammates. "Dagger!" He whispered in urgency, stumbling through the room, worry rising in his throat.
His feet pushed through the debris on the floor, and every time he hit another piece, he winced, fearing for the condition of the airship. The thief also admitted with a grimace that he probably stepped on someone in the process of getting to the door.
"Where are you…?" He mumbled to himself, pushing himself off of the doorway into the hall, glancing around. The door was sparking too, and he shook his head, wondering just how long it would take them to get back off the ground.
Fear ground into his stomach, and he had to clutch his midsection for a moment as his thoughts gnarled his stomach into a knot. If Kuja found out where they were and made it here fast enough… There'd be no escape…
They'd all be dead.
"Dagger!" He yelled.
Footsteps echoed from down the corridor, and he stepped forward, his hand against the wall. His leg was throbbing, and he couldn't see anything. "Dagger is that –"
A sharp, metallic sword was held to his throat.
The thief had been outsmarted by this threat, even before he'd had time to process that there was one. "Back away from the wall," the steely voice hissed.
He didn't move for a moment, still completely in awe of the situation. The sword pushed harder against his neck, and he instantly obliged. As soon as he was standing on his own, she roughly grabbed both of his hands in her one, and dropped her sword, sliding out a long piece of rope.
Kuja was already here? His forces had already touched Ipsen's castle? Zidane rolled his eyes – he couldn't be surprised… The damn guy had even gotten Conde Petie, and those were the most clueless people he'd ever met!
He took a moment to touch on this, waiting for her to wind the rope around his hands. And then, as nimbly as he could, he leapt, finding it was easy to jump over his hands, her, and tuck his arms around her waist, the restraint helping to keep him in place.
It was all so quick, she had to stumble to react, but the only thing she could do was struggle against his tight grip.
"Who are you?" He demanded.
Instead of answering with a name when the Genome really thought he had an upper hand, a sharp whistle pierced the air, and he was cringing (though not letting go of her) at the noise.
Before he knew it, five more people had their hands on him, yanking him around, and slamming him into the wall.
"Bring him outside with the others," she spat, turning on her heel and walking towards the central command of the ship.
It continually took these five guys to get him to cooperate, and they more dragged him than anything else. He made himself heavy in hopes of getting some sort of reaction, but he had to admit, he was impressed by the steady gaze forward they kept.
Once outside, his eyes finally started to adjust, and he lifted them, just in time to see Steiner punched in the gut. He immediately started to squirm, hoping to get free.
"Zidane!" His head whipped to the side, seeing Dagger pulling weakly at the two guards holding her to the spot, tears in her eyes.
He knew that if he showed anymore struggle, they might take it out on the girl, so he shot her a pleading look, and then kept his head straight forward. It seemed that most of the ship had already been evacuated, and that made the blonde wonder just how long that debris had him knocked out for.
There were only a few more people being filtered out – one of which being Marcus. He thrashed wildly, and there were even more people surrounding him than Zidane. His legs bucked up like a horse, and his head whipped from side to side. His string of curses could be easily heard a while off.
The man who'd just been harassing Steiner moved briskly towards the Tantalus member. He mumbled something, and Marcus spit in his face. That earned a hard punch to the face that would have had him sprawling backwards had it not been for the many people trying to keep a hold of him.
But he kept his head high, eyes narrowed, always suspicious.
The blonde cursed silently in his head. They had the whole crew… The top two teams of the resistance, now in Kuja's clutches because of such a mistake…
He glanced up again, and saw Dagger staring at him, a sense of hopelessness in her eyes… So everyone else figured the same thing.
Zidane was about to let himself slump on the ground, before a woman walked up to him briskly, grabbing him under the jaw, but not quite choking him. She forced his head straight, his bored eyes locking with her angry ones.
"You said your name was Zidane?" She muttered at his face, a look of pure disgust in her expression.
If she was going to be a bitch, he was going to be an asshole right back. "Really, I never said anything… It was that –" She started to squeeze his neck, and her thick metal glove, he could feel, pierced into his skin slightly.
"Don't be a smart ass with me… You're in big trouble…" A wicked grin overtook her face. "You're going to die, Kuja scum!"
A/N: Well how was that?! Did you like it?! :D Even though not a lot went on, I still enjoyed writing that one! I'm moving quickly now, thanks to those still supporting this story! :)
Please leave me some love, kittens!
Tried to edit, but not very good at it :P All mistakes are my own!
Also, in the works is my next Final Fantasy 9 story. I don't have a lot done yet, and obviously I don't have much of a plot at this time (when do I plan out anything anyways?) but if you're interested, and would like me to continue with this idea, let me know!
-zesty-
