Filling In The Blanks

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

Chapter 64: Consider Coming With Us

Dagger wrung her hands together as her footsteps echoed down the hall. When they had gotten off the tram, the tension hadn't completely erased, but it was bearable. However, with her anxiety rising as they twisted through bright corridors that reminded her of a place she could barley remember, tensions rose with it.

Beatrix hovered over Dagger, eager to see Hilda. She worried about the girl, and the fact she cared so much about what her aunt thought.

Aunt…

The woman smiled. Dagger had almost no family left… To find out that her uncle's wife was still alive – someone who had watched her grow from an infant into a very small child, was still alive, was probably something very big for her. Despite the irritating older guard, and the fact the younger guard's eyes never left her back, plus Beatrix shadowing her every move, the ex-knight hoped that nothing could ruin this for her, and that she would be happy instead of nervous.

"So… you're the heir to Alexandria, huh?" Surprisingly, it was the boy a little older than Dagger who spoke first. Finally breaking his ever-rigid step next to his partner, he swung around, walking backwards with his hands in his pockets. His voice was light, and almost airy.

He pulled his helmet off to reveal his shaggy blonde locks and soft hazel eyes. He searched the girl who walked nervously now-in front of him, hoping for some sort of an answer.

She gave him a nod, and that encouraged him enough to continue.

"I heard rumors…" He shrugged, "Just a little bit of gossip from some of Kuja's soldiers who were at the docks for supplies when I was on duty down there… They had said something about a few missing 'dreamers' and a Princess… I didn't believe it was true," he let on a surprisingly boyish grin, "But I guess I was wrong!"

She gave a polite smile, but wasn't sure what else to say. She only vaguely noticed, with all of the attention suddenly turned on her, when they turned now, or when their feet padded on carpet instead of stone. All she could think about was how he knew where to go without standing straight forward.

"My father was from Alexandria…" He seemed to hesitate before finishing, but tried to keep the bright smile on his face.

"Really?" She asked, finally responding to him verbally. She considered him for a moment, and decided to give a little back to the conversation. "What did he do for a living?"

He let out ringing laughter – too gentle to be a knight who carried a sword for battle in times like these. "He was a farmer."

She blinked in surprise; she had expected him to say a knight, and she would have proceeded to ask about the Knights of Pluto – the only male brigade she had ever heard stories about due to Steiner's constant presence in her life.

The blonde boy seemed to sense her questions, because he elaborated quickly after. "He was part of the local militia – that's how he met my mother…" He shrugged, as though it was a simple enough story. "My mom was the knight, you see…"

Beatrix raised an eyebrow, wondering if she would have known this woman.

"Was?" The younger girl squeaked out, sorrow choking off her voice.

His shoulder slumped, but only for a moment before his grey eyes met hers again. He gave her a soft, understanding smile. "My father was killed in the battle of Alexandria… Kuja took it when the army was out, defending a false attack on Lindblum… The militia was called in to help fight because over half of Alexandria's knights were away."

Beatrix's eyes grew hard and she had to turn away. She remembered the arguments about letting Lindblum fend for itself, or help Alexandria's most precious ally, putting her own city in danger. She, being the Queen's protector, didn't have a say in army matters, but remembered having to bite her lip to keep her opinions at bay anyways.

"My mother, despite being seven months pregnant, snuck off with the troops. Nobody can differentiate a pregnant woman in armor on her horse in such a brigade… With a false alarm in Lindblum, and hearing the news about Alexandria, she went into labor early…" He trailed, realizing that maybe his story wasn't fascinating anymore, and yet the three of them listened on. "She died in labor. A good friend of hers watched over me, and told me stories of my parents…"

"That's awful…" Dagger muttered, remorse curling in her stomach. "I'm sorry…"

"Yeah well…" He gave her a light, lopsided smile, "It was a long time ago… Things will get better." She winced at his words – so far, they had only gotten worse.

"We're here," the older guard cleared this throat, sounding much less angry having to interrupt his partner's terrible story, than he had been before.

The two ladies stood together, Dagger crossing her hands behind her back and flexing them to keep from fidgeting. The older royal guard pushed open the doors to a makeshift throne room, where Lady Hilda sat, not on the throne, but on a small table close to a window, the sun leaking in and casting its rays over everything it could reach. Gold glittered off of the marbled stone in the room, and the blonde woman, looking just the way that Cid had always extravagantly described her, sat upon the piece of furniture as poised and delicate as she possibly could, her face considerate, hand clutching a paint brush as her vision bore into a canvas.

"Lady Hilda," the two men bowed in front of her, the older snapping up quickly to introduce her guests. "The two you've requested –"

She dropped the brush, as though this was a complete surprise to her. Her eyes, normally elegant and always looking down on others with a sense of authority and confidence, widened uncharacteristically, and she stumbled over herself a couple of times in an attempt to reach them fast enough.

"Princess Garnet til Alexandros XVII…" She breathed out, tilting her head to the side. My… how you have grown since I saw you last… Her voice was low and faint, and the girl ducked her head slightly to make sure Hilda didn't see her blush.

"Beatrix," she continued, reaching for the woman's hand. Loyally, Beatrix held it out to her, and bowed slightly.

"M'lady," she mumbled, still trying to keep her eyes on Dagger.

"It's nice to… um… meet you?" Dagger let out a floating laugh, unsure how to word exactly what it was she was saying. But Hilda understood and let out her own chiming giggle, shaking her head.

"Yes! Indeed it is! Though you're the same flesh and physical body of the two year old I met so many years ago, I could not imagine you at the time, grown up to be such a fine young lady!"

"Thank you," she nodded, then glanced around. "If you could, Lady Hilda –" she felt it more appropriate to call her by her title, instead of aunt. It wasn't formal enough – contrasting sharply with the way she addressed her 'Uncle Cid'. "Please call me Dagger…" She shook her head, a smile playing at her lips, "I haven't been called Garnet by many since I was four years old."

"More than a decade later…" The woman mumbled in awe. It certainly wasn't sinking in fast enough that this was the same niece she had played peek-a-boo with years and years ago. "I will heed your suggestion, Dagger…" The lady grinned, pulling her close. "I'm so glad you've made it through the war to this point…"

She cringed, her thoughts unwillingly sliding back to Zidane… lived through this point. Not all of them would go home…

After all of the formalities and talk of growing up and the resistance, they settled on the couches, more questions than either party could imagine running through their minds. It seemed that Beatrix and Hilda had already gone over most things about the resistance and running the city the day before when they'd first met.

There was one question though… "How do you keep Kuja's soldiers out of the city?"

The two older woman glanced up in surprise. Out of everything, this is what Dagger wanted to know?

"I just mean," she began wringing her gloves together, wondering if maybe she should take back the question completely. "Dali still had patrols, and there weren't any more than two-hundred people there at any given time… even in the best of years… How does Lindblum get away with two wall guards and one guard outside the gate? Black mages of course – but their awareness is easy to elude."

"Ah! You ask a good question," Hilda nodded, signaling she understood what the younger girl was asking. She sucked in a breath. "After I came back to Lindblum all those years ago," She played with a stray thread coming off of the arm of the couch, as though unsure of the story.

The other two were almost stone still, listening intently to the story. This was something Beatrix hadn't bothered to ask the day before.

"Like I said before, Kuja was surprised to see a leader here. I bargained with him… I told him he had a free reign of rules in the city, as long as he didn't occupy it. It was strange, having such a civil conversation with a man that evil. He asked my demands for taking over without a fight, and I told him that I would personally make sure every citizen stayed in line, and that if there was some sort of resistance that came to my attention, I would put it out." She let on a grin, "You can only imagine the type of fury he had when his troops stormed the city and weeded Tantalus out. I simply told him I hadn't any idea what he was talking about… Kuja is an evil man – one who shows mercy on very few, but I fully believe, even to this day, he will do what is easiest for him… and the easiest thing for him to do, was keep me alive, and let me rule my people…"

"So he trusted you?"

"A ridiculous decision, really," she added with a small laugh. But a wave of her hand, as though clearing smoke from the air, brought a certain soberness back to the conversation. "He upped the black mage count in the city after that, but still didn't want a confrontation with the whole city of Lindblum… My people do well to abide by my rules… Nobody wants Kuja's aware soldiers in the city, tormenting their lives… for the most part, everything is still relatively normal here. A cut in supplies to the shops, and sometimes it is hard to circulate money, but it could be much worse."

"Amazing!" Beatrix breathed. "I cannot believe you managed something like that…"

"I think," she began with a sad nod, "that if Cid would have been with me, he would not have been so compliant. That is one thing I pride myself on – the patience and influence to do what I please…"

There was silence for a moment for a few different reasons. To the older ladies' surprise, Dagger rose from the couch, and knelt in front of Hilda lovingly, sweeping the blonde's sparkling hand, covered with jewels, polish, and part of the glittering sleeve of her gown, into the raven's gloved hand.

"Won't you come with us?"

The question was so out of nowhere, that neither could say anything until the raven continued to explain.

"I can see it very clearly that you miss Uncle…" She shook her head slowly. "And I know that he really misses you too… You could come with us – surely you've had escape plans from the city –"

"I couldn't abandon my people…"

"With all due respect, Lady Hilda…" The girl gave a challenging grin – something she'd learned from rough housing with the boys. "Any people involved in the war, or thinking about any resistance will be coming with us…" She gave a curt nod to silence the oncoming questions. "The ones who have no interest in choosing sides and getting themselves killed will be safe…"

"But… to abandon them?"

"Not abandoning… Moving to help more people… And I think if you were to go, more people than we ever could have imagined would follow!"

"Wouldn't the mages find it odd that the city was emptying out?" It was Beatrix who asked this question.

The young leader turned to her protector. "Do you remember when we had to escape from Conde Petie, past the guards?"

"Yes but –"

"Only a few people went at a time… It was a little slower, but it worked!"

"How would you propose we let them leave? Kuja's soldiers who take shifts at the gate communicate with soldiers elsewhere – they would know if the people leaving with their papers never got to where they were going…"

"How would they know where to look? Kuja already knows there's a resistance – there's no point in hiding that people are going there."

"We could be followed…" Beatrix bit her lip.

A silence enveloped the three who could only glance at each other eerily.

"Otherwise, we could sneak them out of the harbor, and loop around the shoreline…" Hilda let on a lopsided smile. Unless supplies are coming in, Kuja hardly ever watches the coast, because nobody is allowed to have ships."

Suddenly, the two resistance members were grinning ear to ear, huddling around the woman as they slowly made plans.

"I have a double who could take my place…"

"A double?!" Dagger asked, stunned.

Hilda nodded, delicacy coming back to her being after the initial excitement of moving on… finding Cid again. "We've been training her for awhile now, incase anything were to happen…" She fidgeted, as though excited to spill the next piece of information to them. "She met with Kuja the last two times."

The two girls gasped in disbelief. "He didn't know?"

"If he knew, he would have destroyed her on the spot…" Hilda shrugged her shoulders. "You should see her… She's got every mannerism, all the speaking quirks – the expressions, the walk, the clothing and the looks right down to the pale skin and liquid gold eyes perfect! She might as well be me! She will be able to lead the citizens well if her opinion were to ever be needed."

"So… you're saying you'll come with us too?" Dagger smiled, tears pricking her eyes. Would Cid finally get the reunion he never knew was coming?

Hilda sucked in a huge breath. She would have to tell her people in secret – ask who was willing to follow her… She would have to tell them the journey would be rough, and many dangers would be included… but she knew they would follow. To get their old Regent and Lady back – it would be a treat for them all. To be in the presence of such high figures – like Sir Fratley, Beatrix, Steiner, Garnet – the two escaped dreamers, magic users, first aid paramedic figures – everyone would be inspired by those already in the resistance… She was almost one-hundred percent sure that no one would regret their decision to move on from the mundane town of Lindblum.

Biting her lip to contain her smile, she straightened her shoulders, making herself look taller and younger than before. "I am saying I shall go."

An excited squeal escaped Dagger, and before she even realized what she was doing, she flung her arms around Hilda's neck and hugged her tightly. Somehow, everything seemed to be falling into place… Everything seemed to be going right…

Maybe they'd have better luck than they originally thought…


Steiner blinked, tilting his head as another recruit left, their bags on their backs, to meander around the city, before heading down to the docks.

"I'm really surprised," Zidane commented, standing leisurely with his arms crossed, next to the ex-knight. "You know I really didn't think we'd have this many people…"

"It is because Lady Hilda is moving on."

"She must be a really good person to have this many people willing to uproot their homes…" He watched as a family – a pregnant woman, her bright-eyed husband, and six year old boy walked out, ready to go as well.

"She is amazing," Steiner praised quietly, watching Dagger kiss the little girl's forehead, while Hilda embraced the two parents.

After just one week of preparation, everything was ready. Hilda had moved quickly, and met up with Sally on a few different occasions. The first initial meeting of recruits had been good, but not nearly what the two older women working as a pair herded in.

Sally had been one of the first to lead a small group down to the pier. Marcus and Baku would give them directions once they were outside the castle boundaries. Ruby stood down by the water with Cinna, prepared to help them skim the water's edge once they slipped under the docks. She'd been gone for a day now, and still there were so many recruits to follow her.

Hilda would be one of the last to leave, hoping to see people off as they left. Vivi and Oden had left the night before, and Fratley had gone with a group earlier that morning. Eiko had wandered off with a particularly quiet group, hoping to get their spirits up and chatting before they met the rest of the resistance. Beatrix had gone down to the dock after a quick good-bye to Steiner and Dagger, prepared to leave with the next group that looked like they needed extra assistance. Blank had left with one of the very first groups, better at sneaking around in the daylight – when they were still nervous about sending people across the prairie with the sun beating so high in the sky.

Freya, Amarant, and Quina would be waiting for everyone as they arrived. Lysandra would assign them battle groups, and everything would slowly start to fall into place. Zidane and Steiner would be in the very last group to leave – which would hopefully be soon. As much as they wanted to continue recruiting, the prolonged time there were people wandering outside the city meant more time for Kuja's spies to spot something or someone.

Hilda would be in the second to last group, while Dagger would be in the very last. Initially, most had been opposed to both of them going so late, but each insisted on being there to encourage every family or lone soul that had decided to help with their cause, by seeing them off personally. Steiner chewed on his lip, arms folded. Having all of his armor back on unnerved him, and he was convinced that someone would recognize him or Zidane. With the blonde in his regular garbs as well, the knight's hair stood on edge. It would be so simple for a mage's eyes to lock on him, and stay on him – readily ruining all of their plans and single-handedly slaughtering all of those that hadn't made it to the marsh, just because the mage would report its findings.

"We'll be fine, Rusty!" Zidane seemed to sense his strained thoughts and glanced at him with a relaxed smile and dancing eyes. It really seemed like nothing in the world could dampen his spirits, and even though he had seen the genome at his worst, he did a damn good job fooling everybody else.

"I hope so," he muttered, before collapsing into a chair. "We only have a few more hours before we'll be forced to leave… We don't want Dagger and Hilda out in the night…" He glanced out the windows, pointing lightly with his hand towards the sky. "There's a storm approaching, and it wouldn't be a good thing for us to be caught in it."

"I think I just heard Hilda tell Dagger there shouldn't be too many more people coming… I wonder how the market place would look right now…"

"With how many people came through today – I believe it would be deader than normal…"

His voice was rigid, and his tone was serious, but Zidane knew it was the man's attempt at a joke. So he grinned a little and let out a soft chuckle, stuffing his hands into his pockets with ease. He wasn't really worried – except for that storm Steiner had predicted. While he and the knight didn't see eye to eye on many – many – things, he whole-heartedly agreed that a storm wasn't something they'd want to be stuck in. His stomach did flips just thinking about it.

"At least everything's been as smooth as it has…" He grumbled, and Steiner wondered if he was even meant to hear it. It sounded more like the young thief was trying to convince himself, rather than the knight standing next to him.

The black haired man suddenly smirked. There was that doubting interior that he had known from the start that Zidane possessed… nobody could be that optimistic all the time. But soon, that grin was swiped off of his face, for he realized that these conditions were far more dire, and he should probably give the blonde a break. He was becoming strangely fond of the teen – accepting him into their small, dysfunctional family unit that made up the elite group; though he didn't enjoy him all the time, he realized the blonde had done more for him than he had initially realized.

A woman bursting through the wooden door of their hideout suddenly interrupted his mindless flow of thoughts. Her long black hair flew up from her back, and she moved before it could settle back down again. Her long robes swept the floor, and her eyes were frantic for anyone who would listen.

"Who are you?!" Steiner snarled, stepping forward with a large hand placed dangerously over his sword.

"Please…" She mumbled. "You might have heard Ruby speak of me… I am Adriana…" Her words fell out of her mouth, almost too quick to understand. "I run the makeshift orphanage at the old Tantalus Theater…" She shook her head, "That is not important. I have urgent news!"

Dagger was the first to react, basing her trust on a vague story Ruby had told her just a few days ago about one of the children there. "What is it?"

"I saw an army of mages marching into the city… From what I can gather from moving closer to the gate, soldiers are coming in as well…" She shook her head, "I fear that they might have found you out…"

Instantly, they were all stumbling over each other, words blending together as they argued what to do. Being so scattered, they didn't have any strategy on how to deal with troops – especially with Hilda and families who were simply not ready to fight sitting in the hideout, waiting to move to the marshes.

"Enough!" Steiner yelled, unsheathing his sword. Everyone's eyes snapped to him – wide and frantic… scared. "Everybody must follow orders strictly or prepare to die! This is your first taste of war –" A wry and somehow grave smile overtook his features as his eyes hardened, "Indulge, for this will be the easiest thing in the resistance that you conquer!"

Zidane figured it was lucky that Rusty was taking the lead. It seemed like besides Beatrix, he was the best at making strategic moves, and though Dagger was the leader of the resistance as a whole, both of them knew that she wouldn't able to deal with the pressure of having so many lives in her hands. Ruling a kingdom she could do – protecting families under a sword, no white mage could do.

"I want the families to move to the docks immediately! There will be no wandering nonsense to throw mages' stares off of your back! Get down their right away, and the first person to get there, make sure you inform our resistance members of the situation!" He then turned to Hilda and Dagger. "Hilda, you must go now."

"But what about the rest of –"

"I will send anyone else your way who wishes to go after everything has died down," Adriana offered. "Across the prairies, into the marshes…" She let on a sheepish smile, "I do not know the exact location that you speak of, but those marshes are easy to get lost in… If I send people your way within the next week – please do not let them wander to their death… Find them, for they won't have anyone to guide them!"

"Fair enough," Steiner nodded. "It's important though, that we continue to leave in small groups. If Kuja's forces find our trail, it will be easier to pick people off from such a large group, and harder to hide… Do not all go together!" He turned back to their Lady, "But Hilda, you must go in the first group you can… Make sure Baku or Marcus go with you… Dagger, I want you in the second group!"

"But –" She couldn't help but stare worriedly at Zidane. Were they going to stay behind and fend off the soldiers? That would be way too risky… Steiner would never volunteer them for that…

"Go! There is no time to argue!" He howled at her, causing everyone to move. He turned to Zidane, the last remaining resistance member in the room. "We need to pack everything up here… Anything that might give away a detail that we were back – we must protect the remaining citizens of Lindblum as best we can."

He nodded determinedly, "Right!"

So as everyone began clearing out, they began retrashing the hideout. Furniture was kicked over and snapped, and the ashes in the fire were thrown around the area – looking much like it had when they had arrived. Zidane set to work rolling up the few remaining blankets that were on the bed, clipping them to his pack, and stuffing them anywhere he could.

Steiner rummaged Baku's room under the loft, trying to make sure nothing was left there. He swiped a few maps off of the dresser, and checked all of the drawers. He heard Zidane's pounding footsteps echo in the large, abandoned room.

Both of them met in the kitchen, where all of the food was dumped into Steiner's bag. With his armor back on, he had a lot more room, and whether it was canned, open, or half eaten, it was swiped into the satchel. A pot Ruby had splurged on and bought was shoved in there too, squishing all of the bread and Cinna's home-made pastries to the bottom of the leather hide bag.

Zidane dove to the door, watching as the last of the members shuffled down into the next district. His eyes strained, hoping to catch sight of any soldiers. There were none – but he noticed how empty the streets were. Word was moving faster than Kuja's forces. They were indeed coming.

"We have to get out of here!" Zidane yelled, though he knew that the knight would be able to hear his regular voice just fine. The adrenaline was pumping his heart faster than he would have liked, as he took out his dagger and slaughtered the legs to the table. The home they had built back up in the past couple of weeks was hard to tear back down, and a lump of sorrow and panic filled his throat. His eyes were bewildered and crazy as he searched for Steiner, who threw more soot from the fireplace around the kitchen. "There's no more time to make it perfect!" He told the older swordsman.

Steiner cringed when he saw the place. In no way did it look abandoned – just messy, and hastily overdone – like they had tried too hard to make it look like a dump. He prayed that the rest of the citizens who had decided to stay in the city would be safe, and that Kuja's anger didn't get anyone not involved, in trouble.

They heaved everything into their arms, wheeling around the corner after they exited the hideout, to run into a small, plump man with a large nose and glasses.

"Who the hell are you?!" Steiner bellowed in a panic. He had no interest in wasting time with men who wanted to chat.

"You are Steiner!" He said immediately, adjusting his jostled glasses. They could hear the angry shouts of the soldiers – only a few blocks down. Blood pounded in Zidane's ears, making him dizzy. He hadn't felt quite an adrenaline rush since before Terra… He had been prepared to die there – never thought he'd make it back… He had planned since the beginning to make it to Treno and Dali – Lindblum was not the place he wanted to be murdered.

"What of it?!" He demanded, unable to keep up the chatty charade for the sake of time.

"I am Dr. Tot!"

"Dr. Tot… Why does that sound – Dagger's old teacher?!" Steiner asked, eyebrows shooting up.

"I know I am late, but please – take me with you –"

"You're in!" Zidane said immediately, peering around his pile of things. "Let's get going! They're going to be on our tails if we wait any longer!"

Without anymore words, the plump man picked up his satchel he had lost on the ground when he rammed into the duo, and they all made a hasty retreat down to the docks.

Zidane could basically feel Kuja's forces breathing down his neck, and when he heard a female yell, his breakfast swam in his stomach. He got this haunting feeling that Elouise was among them – furious and ready to kill for a man that had ruined their lives… He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to shrug the grimy feeling off of himself, and pushed himself faster.

It didn't matter what was behind him right now – he could deal with that once he was safe… Once he was in the marshes, doing what the resistance did best: building from the shadows. Safe with his friends, safe with his family…

Safe with Dagger.


A/N: Well, the end of that was TOTALLY impromptu, but I hope you enjoyed it! I know I did! It was easy to write, because it was so fast paced, but I hope you got the kind of panicked feeling when you read, instead of just a sped up-writing style sort of feeling.

Anyways! I hope you all leave me some love and comments about this chapter! Finally, out of Lindblum we go!

-zesty-