Filling In The Blanks
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy IX or any of its characters.
A/N: Here, may I point out a fun fact for any who read the author's notes. This chapter will be coming to a completely satisfying full circle in terms of chapter titles. Don't worry, the story doesn't end here, but if you'll notice – chapter 1, with Zidane still in the dream world, was "A perfect reality", and now – 95 chapters later: "A reality shattered". You'll understand what I mean by coming full circle when you read, but I just had to share that with you guys :D I still cannot believe I've come this far – thank you EVERYONE for your support!
Gosh, I'm such a loser lol.
Chapter 95: A Reality Shattered
She gripped her weapon, feeling the handle beneath her fingers. The rain pushed her blonde hair into her emerald eyes, but did nothing to deter the deadly expression on her face. She watched with quiet rage, waiting for the right moment to strike.
Her lord's men continued to swarm the pitiful group of seven before her, but to say she wasn't impressed would be a lie. They were doing extraordinarily well – Lord Kuja wasn't joking when he said that they were powerful and dangerous. She had to give them that credit at least.
Her eyes flickered to the one who moved a little different than the rest. He favored his right leg, though there was no apparent injury in his left. He twirled a little quicker and dodged a little faster, but his moves weren't as crisp or sharp as the others… out of practice perhaps?
She let out a small grunt as she watched him rush an unsuspecting soldier. A man who was simply fighting for his home – a man who probably had a family he would no longer return to because of the blonde who had just leapt on his shoulders and used a quick slide of his feet to break the man's neck.
The blonde woman tore her eyes away from the thief whose moves interested her the most. She leaned against the railing of the roof and watched the pathetic movements of the mage who was supposed to be quite powerful. But he was still standing, and that was – she supposed - impressive in itself. The two rogue knights of Alexandria had obviously not lost practice over their long years away from their home kingdom. They moved the best – most in-sync and able to read their enemies' movements. The Bermecian was unfamiliar to her, but she had been briefed about the powerful dragon knight who would probably move with the group. Apparently, she had been there, aiding Bermecia's street rats who challenged the men positioned there to help keep the city stable without a leader.
And that left the redheaded thief and the princess. The redhead was able to hold his own – quick and small and deadly to say the least. He continually hovered over the princess, helping aid her where she lacked skill with a blade.
"Elouise," she turned for a moment back towards the people who were waiting for her call.
Her disgruntled face melted away as Avalanche stood before her, his platinum blonde hair clinging to his shoulders and neck. His ears stood tall, ever listening for the signs of a break in the battle below for them to make an appearance.
"Do you see him, Eli?"
She nodded slowly, not wanting to give away his quiet question to the rest of the angry, eager dreamers around them. Elouise and Avalanche knew the rogue dreamer – knew that he had always stood for peace – and were the only ones who saw a better light of him once in his life.
"Who would have thought he could do something like that?" she whispered back at the elf.
He nodded slowly, taking a few steps forward to watch the rapid fighting below. His eyes trained in on the blonde as well, who had moved closer to the rest of his group for the time being. His sharp eyes caught the grin he tossed the redhead, and something like anger flared in his stomach.
"They trained him to be a killer… They trained him to hate these men; I do not even know if it is his fault."
"But he is our enemy now," she said coldly, her grip tightening on her chakram. Tears stung at her eyes as she looked back down below. They weren't far away, and wouldn't be hard to see if there wasn't rain, but she could see enough.
Rogue Princess Garnet was hit down. A man – just a grunt in the army – hit her hard on the back, and her small frame crumpled. Elouise narrowed her eyes; Weak she thought to herself, though she didn't understand that in the same position, she probably would have fallen to.
The two blondes watched as Zidane shot past enemies, having seen the same assault on the girl that they did from the roof. He ignored the quick swipes at him, and disregarded the blade that caught him on the arm, leaving a deep gash that oozed dark crimson. He slid underneath the man with the heavy mace, throwing himself over the girl as a human shield. The weapon came down hard on his back, but he didn't cry out. Elouise had to give it to him – he was tough. But she could hardly focus as he heaved up the girl and popped a potion open for her quickly.
He held her face in his hands as Kuja's troops were distracted with one of the knights, suddenly setting their weapon ablaze with some sort of magic spell. Once the potion began to affect her, she shakily opened one of her own, tossing it to him as they split apart.
It could have been a completely innocent exchange, but Elouise knew better. She watched his eyes trail after the girl, and saw his protectiveness of her swell. She knew because he used to look at her in a similar way. Rage bubbled in her stomach like a fiery acid and her fingers flicked her weapon at her side. She had to refrain from stomping her foot and screaming, giving away their position.
She hadn't any idea who this Zidane was anymore. A stranger with a face she'd memorized in a past life. In her blinding rage, she didn't see that he was the same caring goof who was her best friend – just this traitor to her beloved city… to the city that used to be beloved to him too.
"We're going down!" she ordered over the rain.
"But –" Avalanche started, but she cut him off.
"Tell the army below to begin retreating! Take any injured off of the field who can be treated! We will sweep in now! Avalanche, lead the others to get medical help."
He nodded, though his light eyes didn't show agreement to her hasty decision to enter the battle. He glanced over the rail one more time as the signal was sent out to begin retreating – their fires flared up for the last time via the black mages standing at the cauldrons before the light slowly began to die down. People began moving back from the resistance members immediately.
As Elouise disappeared into the building, preparing to assault her one-time best friend, he watched as one of the ex-Alexandrian knights began calling for retreat. His stomach tightened; something told him he wasn't going to like what happened next...
"Retreat!"
The words, faint in the wind and rain, but still audible enough for her to follow the command, felt like the best music she'd ever heard. She leapt to her feet, having collapsed on the ground in exhaustion when Kuja's troops began clearing out.
Her head swiveled to the side, trying to locate Beatrix making large, over exaggerated movements to get everyone's attention. Normally the woman would be a bit more discreet, but the knight knew she couldn't afford to waste time.
Dagger began to stumble towards her, squinting her eyes in the rain. Her hair dripped down her back, and she began to feel the cold for the first time. Her breath came out shaky, and she'd lost the dagger Beatrix had given her some time ago. Her staff, chipped and splintered at the ends, was still clutched in her right hand tightly as she moved.
Chocolate eyes flickered to her left and right, locating Steiner – who was the closest to Beatrix. His arm was tucked up to his chest, and blood leaked out from somewhere under his armor, pouring out onto his armored pants. She saw Freya next, who supported only a few cuts and bruises – probably still having the most energy out of all of them. Vivi's hat was ripped in a couple places, and he moved too slowly, but he otherwise seemed fine.
She reached Beatrix before her knees began to shake, and she fell to the broken cobblestone. Immediately, the brunette was kneeling before her, her strong hands heaving her up by the shoulders. Dagger crumpled forward, leaning heavily on her knees.
"Let's get moving! The other two can catch up!" Beatrix instructed, and inch by inch, they began descending into the shadows of another narrow street.
The girl turned, smoothing her soaking hair out of her eyes. She searched the rain and watched the redhead sprint towards them, barely keeping upright and staggering at a lopsided angle. One side of his head was completely smeared in blood, and his arm was in no better shape, but he was still conscious.
Everyone shuffled, broken and battered against the stone until Blank met them.
"Where's Zidane?" he huffed.
"He was not right behind you?" Freya asked, before she suddenly whipped around, only then hearing the strange silence underneath the heavy weather.
The others followed her line of sight, halting in their retreat. Vivi stumbled forward, fear glinting in his eyes. All he wanted was to be gone; he could hardly stand anymore, but now that Zidane might have broken off from them, he feared what all of their futures would turn to.
"No…" Dagger whispered as another bout of lightening crackled in the air. "No, no, no! He was so exhausted! He had to have wanted to listen why would he –" she wasn't sure now if it was just rain running down her face, or tears as well.
Blank hobbled back forward. His eyes widened as figures began to appear only twenty yards before the lone blonde. Another chain of lightening lit up the broken square just enough for him to see. He hadn't any idea what Zidane's dream world looked like, nor what the people in it appeared as, but something in his gut told him. "The dreamers are here."
Dagger moved to stand next to him as the blonde squared his shoulders, not even a field's length away from them. But their enemy's view of the rest of the resistance was blocked by a large, shattered stand and a hefty pile of brick and torn up road ahead of them.
Another sting of lightening and a loud crash of thunder as Dagger let a blood curdling scream rip from the back of her throat. Anguish laced the horrible cry as she stumbled forward, watching as Zidane stood alone against the most powerful players in Kuja's army.
There was a silence that neither knew how to break. The rest of the dreamers stood restless at Elouise's command. This was, after all, their job. The only thing that Kuja requested be absolutely accomplished during this ambush, was the capture of Zidane Tribal – and they were only moments away from it.
"What the hell are you doing, Elouise?!" He tried to plead, the first thing to tumble out of his mouth.
She stared at him for a moment, the look on her face making him feel that she thought she was truly superior to him – a look he'd never seen her wear seriously before.
It had been two years since they'd seen each other. Two years since the day that those guards at his house had told her that he'd been moved – sick, probably dead. He hadn't made any attempt to contact her when he got better, and then she found out he was with the resistance – the one thing that had shattered Alexandria into bits.
"What the hell am I doing?" She boomed back, her voice harsh and rough and not at all what he expected. "I haven't seen you in two years! You were presumed dead after you got sick and passed out that day in Alexandria! I came back to check on you and they said you were being relocated to Lindblum! That you'd probably die! And then I find out that our world has been shattered, and you are fighting with the resistance that took down our city!"
His eyes widened. He knew Kuja had that spell on them, but he was taken aback when it came from her. "Eli, you have it all wrong!"
"Don't you dare call me that like nothing has changed!" She yelled at him, pointing her spiked chakram at him. "Don't you dare try to deny what you've been doing!"
She gave a signal he didn't understand, but the rest of the dreamers' statures became suddenly more rigid, but they were still.
"Alexandria isn't Kuja's city! He isn't supposed to be the ruler of anything! The Princess she's –"
Elouise scoffed, tossing her head and letting her wavy bangs smack her back in the face. "Yeah! The Princess! She's intoxicated you plenty! Has you thinking that she's in love with you, so that someone who loved his city so fucking much would betray it!"
He shook when he heard her peg Dagger's emotions for him so easily, but poisoned the feeling of it with the false accusation of those feelings being fake. The grip on his dagger tightened, but he swore to himself he would not fight her.
"How could you do this to us?!" She yelled at him. "You're fighting with the same people who killed Vienna and Griffon!"
His heart seemed to groan, and his shoulders sagged at the news. Those two were dead? Were they laced in with soldiers they were constantly coming across – did Zidane not even recognize them? Were they part of the consistent waves that the seven of them had fought to take down just moments ago?
"They're monsters, Zidane!"
His heart nearly broke. Here he was, standing down the most powerful portion of Kuja's army. He knew Mae's abduction was a trap; he knew the things Elouise was spewing were lies fed to the dreamers by Kuja, but it was a big blow to see her determined face – to hear the words coming from her when he knew they weren't true.
"You're wrong," he told her, his voice surprisingly steady.
She let out a cry and suddenly shot forward, both of her weapons at the ready. He planted his feet, ready to fend her off.
"Why are you resisting good people, Zidane?!" She yelled at him, clearly enraged, but she had gotten to that point far before her confrontation with the genome – seeing how delicately he handled Dagger, and how much protection he was willing to give those around him made her sick. "You were never bad! Why now?! Why when it's important?!"
Her weapon finally struck out to reach him, and he ducked down, more alert then he'd been the entire rest of the battle. His sapphire eyes blazed through the rain, contrasting sharply with his face smeared with mud and blood. He watched her spin around, throwing her entire body into the leaping twirl as her spiked weapon bore down on him again.
The genome tucked into himself and rolled away, feeling the adrenaline pump into his veins once again. He was nervous – nervous that Elouise would be enraged in the way he was when he fought Kuja in Terra. If she entered trance and faced him when he'd been fighting for so long already – when his leg throbbed and his cuts were starting to burn in the cold rain – he would have no chance. One of her blades nicked his tail, splitting open the skin as blood oozed out over his fur. He tried to ignore her impressive hostility. No one could say the dreamers had just been sitting around for two years.
"I'm not bad, Elouise!" he tried to cry out, though somewhere inside of him, he knew she wouldn't listen. Kuja's right hand or not, the blonde girl had always been stubborn and hard to get through to. He was cursing that trait now. "You've been mislead! This is all a big misunderstanding! Kuja is –"
He stopped mid-explanation as her shoes crunched over the gravel and swung up, catching him in the jaw. He tumbled to the side, feeling too heavy to hold himself up as he crashed to the ground. But when her weapon came down on him, he rolled out of the way and leapt up, letting his tail hold him from a post protruding from the ground, much like earlier in his fight. She growled and began tearing at the post, which moved far easier with his weight sagging it to one side.
Zidane blinked, trying to think fast as he pulled himself up onto the post and leapt from it, way over her head; he landed heavily, but otherwise on his feet. Lightning flashed around him, and for a moment, he was blinded by the quick light. When his vision focused again, Elouise was suddenly on top of him, swinging blindly into the darkness and shuffling over the cobblestone.
"You can't want this!" he insisted. "You can't want a war!"
"Who said I did?!" she yelled back at him, tears staining her own vision as her soaked hair, falling from its bun, continued to whip around her face and neck as she swung. She was frightening.
He saw a change in Elouise there. He saw the hurt in her eyes and the pain in her voice – the confusion about why things had suddenly changed in her world. It was something he was so glad that he and Vivi hadn't had to go through, but he was so struck by a pain and guilt to the fact that others he knew had to play into Kuja's games.
"If you don't want a war, why would you think the resistance wants one too?!" She nearly stopped, and that gave Zidane enough to roll back to his feet. "Why would the resistance continue to appear if they weren't fighting for something worth it!?"
"Trying to take power away from its rightful owner is not worth killing hundreds of people!"
"So you agree with me!" he yelled in her face as she dropped a weapon and went straight for hand to hand combat. The genome grabbed at her hands, trying to stop her vicious onslaught without hurting her. She tore her fingers away from his slippery grip, trying again and again to take the advantage over him. "You agree that war is stupid! You agree that this war is pointless! Have you ever stopped to consider that Kuja is the one taking power!? Why would an entire world raise up against Kuja! Why would Bermecia and Cleyra and Alexandria and Lindblum – why would they all be fighting to stop someone if he was the rightful ruler!?"
Elouise pushed off of him, and both bodies stumbled back. She was heaving fast breaths, watching him with sharp, emerald eyes. They were wild with emotion, and the way her fists shook at her side made her look truly insane. He could hardly stand, but sheer willpower was keeping him upright, though he slouched to one side and hardly put any weight on his left leg. Her eyes swept over his broken being, though she hardly noticed his exhaustion and poor stature while he wore the fierce expression he did. His blonde bangs hung in front of his face, dark and nearly brown in the constant downpour.
He didn't look like a killer. He didn't sound like one… he still felt like the same Zidane she had grown to care about in her five years in Alexandria!
Wait…
She had lived in Alexandria her whole life… hadn't she? Her brow furrowed as a sudden ripple of confusion floundered through her gut. Why did she suddenly feel like she had only been in Alexandria for five years – known Zidane and lived on her own for five years – when she had memories reaching back as far as she could remember?
"Think about it, Elouise… Please! Kuja is playing you for a fool!"
"You're lying!" But her voice sounded shaky, unsure and sad. Sad like an unbelievable truth just blossomed in front of her. She shook her head, trying to expel Zidane's words from her thoughts as she shot forward again, throwing a punch at his jaw.
The hit was hard, but he continued to stand. He felt the toe of his boots skid across the brick, hiccupping where the plaster held them together.
"He's a monster, Eli… Look at us! He's pitting us against each other!"
"Stop it!" She screamed, continuing to advance on him. Her breaking composure continued to propel him forward in the fight.
He ducked under her sloppy punches and leapt over her sweeping kicks. His feet shuffled him backwards as his heart pumped in his chest. She was infuriated – that much he could tell – but he knew her well enough to know it was because he was right, and she was starting to see it. She wanted to believe him, but something inside of her told her that he was lying. He was going to fix that.
"I can prove it!" he yelled at her, making her jerk to a stop and almost fall forward on her face. "Kuja put a spell on you to make you believe all of this!"
She stiffened, as though the sudden rage had left her, and she slowly built her composure back up in the moments that followed. The rain was letting up, but the two of them hardly noticed that the thunder was just a lingering rumble on the horizon now, and the lightening seemed less intense. It was still just Elouise and Zidane, fighting a fight pent up in their minds for two years.
"How are you going to prove something like that?" she growled, though she stopped accusing him of spewing off lies.
Zidane could hardly catch his breath now as he fumbled in his pouch, pushing past the sparse supply of potions and antidotes and phoenix downs he had brought with him, just in case something like this happened. This was the only chance he was going to get to take Kuja's biggest advantage in the war away from him – the only chance he was going to get to take his friends back.
Even those waiting for Elouise's command to move in and take the genome now leaned forward in suspense as he held the two reflective pieces up to show her. She tilted her head at him, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. She was humoring him, but it wouldn't last long.
The tension in the air was so heavy and hot it nearly evaporated all of the rain gathered on the streets, soaking bodies of the dead and broken structures of the city. She gripped her weapon tighter, feeling the rough texture of the handle underneath her strong fingers. He flexed and pushed with all of the strength he had left on the mirrors. They pushed back on him, almost willing him not to use them. But he got it. They pushed together and a bright light illuminated the entire square.
The other resistance members watched on in awe and fear. What if it didn't work? What if they still didn't believe Zidane? What if there wasn't anything they could do to save him at this point? Beatrix had ordered nobody to move to help him, because that would be letting Kuja win. That would be a mistake. Blank and Dagger teetered dangerously close to blowing their cover while Steiner gripped Dagger's hand, as though it was there for a reminder to not run forward. Freya was supporting Blank, never willing to admit she wanted to race forward to help the blonde just as much. Vivi gripped his hat until his fingers tingled. Beatrix could hardly stand being quiet behind their hill of destruction as cover.
They had had faith in Zidane up to this point. They knew getting in the way of this fight would just result in another capture, or someone else getting hurt. They knew it was his fight to fight and were there only to hope and pray that he got away and could flee from the desolated city with them.
When the light faded, Zidane held his breath, staring at the girl in front of him, searching her face for something – anything – that indicated a change.
She seemed to be waiting for it to, her one free hand curled tightly into a fist as she stared forward at him, her eyes saying things she didn't want him to know.
"Fool!" Someone suddenly yelled in the crowd. It was a hippo-like creature with a mop of sticky brown hair on his head. His eyes were little and angry, and he pointed forward with his heavy broadsword. "It didn't work! I'm still just as fueled for justice against the disgusting resistance as I was before! You destroyed our city! You cry lies to give your friends more time to escape! You try to turn us against our Lord to receive reward when all you deserve is death for the destruction you cause!"
A roar of cheering went up in the crowd of dreamers. They were still angry, and they were still upset at the resistance for taking their home.
Zidane stared down at the now-connected mirror in his hands. "I don't understand…" he mumbled, clearly at a loss. His heart had been soaring – he had received the chance, and he had taken it… and now… what? "Maybe it needs more time…" he whispered hopefully, though his heart was sinking.
His eyes slowly peeled off of the strong magic-dispelling item in his hands to see a rush of people stampeding towards him. Elouise still stood on her slightly heightened pile of Alexandrian rubble, her shoulders slumped with distraught and disbelief.
She thought she could change his mind.
She didn't want to have to kill him.
She didn't want Kuja to be right.
Zidane suddenly realized he was out of time, and began scrambling backwards. Soldiers came at him from every angle, and through the crowd of confusion about the mirrors and the magic still swirling in his mind, he stumbled every step, trying to find an escape. Something hit him in the arm then, a tendril of pain spiraling down his limb, and he looked down to see a blow dart.
Fatigue began to drown him like a surface of water he could never seem to break, and he dropped his dagger as it clattered to the ground. The world spun in slow motion. He had to work harder than he felt right to keep his heavy eyelids from shutting. Kuja's dreamers still swirled around him. Their shouts of anger and distrust filling his ears like cotton.
As the dreamers began to rush the genome, Beatrix stuffed a fist in her mouth, wondering if she had made a mistake. She watched in horror as Zidane lowered the mirrors, and stared at them in self-doubt and sorrow. The sound of battle roared to life before them again, and Dagger let out a cry of despair.
She shot forward, and somewhere in the back of Beatrix's mind, she remembered Cid's words.
"I fear she will do whatever it takes to protect Zidane, and while I full heartedly agree that she should be allowed to do this," he looked away, almost ashamed, "if it comes down to the very last second, and it is a choice between letting Dagger live or die,pleasedo not let my niece die…"
The knight reached forward, fingers outstretched to the girl whose suffering was so plain on her face. Her breath was heavy and her hair flew before her young features as she moved. Dagger's whole body quaked with the fear and insecurity and sorrow of finally losing Zidane. The most anticipated moment of this mission that they all thought wouldn't happen once they reached Dali.
The brunette leaned, trying to reach Dagger, before her arm suddenly dropped.
She couldn't do it.
She couldn't stop Dagger because she knew if it was Steiner out there, about to be dragged off to die, she would race forward too, no matter who tried to stop her. She couldn't live with the heart break seered onto the girl's face. She couldn't do it, even if it meant failing Cid.
She failed the Regent.
She failed to do the duties bestowed upon her as a knight.
She failed to protect the princess as the Queen had requested of her fourteen years ago in this very same city.
Dagger stumbled around the bend of their safe spot, continuously pushing off of the ground with her palms to keep upright. There was so much noise ahead of her, and the screams behind her trying to make her stop met the battle sounds and nearly made her pass out. Her cries to Zidane, stumbling with tranquilizer in his arm, caught in her throat, nearly choking her as she moved.
"Zidane!" she shrieked, her voice high pitched and scratchy. Her body was ready to collapse. She could feel the tremors starting in her arms and legs from exhaustion. "Zidane!" the raw sobs suddenly broke through the dam she had built up, and were uncontrollable now as she felt a heavy pressure on her stomach.
Her feet were lifted off the ground. She realized suddenly that Steiner was picking her up by the waist to pull her back. "No!" She screamed, tears streaming down her face, nearly sticky with emotion. Her clammy hands pulled at his strong, armored gloves. She bucked against him, kicking her legs out in a scene that would have caught the attention of everyone before them had they not been busy trying to take Zidane down.
"Zidane!" she screeched again, though his name was broken on her tongue as she sobbed. Her throat throbbed as she continued to shriek, "Zidane!" she groaned, still trying to fight Steiner. But her heart knew that it was over even though her limbs continued to thrash. She had been stopped from going to the genome's rescue.
She promised to protect him, but she couldn't – she didn't.
She watched through blurry chocolate eyes as he was dragged away, a smeared trail of blood behind him, as Kuja's army disappeared deeper into the city – her city!
"Let me go!" She wailed, her body still trying in vain to escape from the knight. Sorrow and despair filled her as he hugged her tightly to him. She heard Blank and Vivi openly sobbing somewhere behind her, but tried to ignore it for the sake of her own sanity. Her head was spinning. Her throat was bleeding raw from the screams. The rain sparked ice in her and she shuttered. "Adelbert Steiner, you let me go now! I have to save him! I have to protect him! They're going to kill him if we let them get away!"
Her struggling increased then as her cries rose once more. The three of them blended together like a heartbreaking song, and she couldn't take it anymore. Her body suddenly went limp with sheer exhaustion, though her voice yowled higher and louder than before, upset that she'd been forgotten, devastated that Zidane had been forgotten.
"You can't go, Dagger, they'll kill you!" Her mind suddenly began picking up Steiner's words. Freya and Beatrix were silent.
"Let me go! They'll kill him! You have to understand!"
It was a struggled to keep hold of her. Steiner tried to squeeze her without hurting her, but she continued to lash out, hitting him anywhere she could – twist her body in any way she knew how. "Dagger! Stop!"
She slid down him then, her body not listening to her raging commands anymore as he enveloped her in a hug.
"I hate you, Steiner!" She screamed at him suddenly as her arms jerked up and she began to beat his armor. The clamor was hardly heard as the rain pelted down – harder again after the dreamer's battle. "Why couldn't you let me go?!" she demanded of him. "I hate you! You've wanted to see him dead since the beginning! I hate you! He will die because of you!" she repeated over and over again.
Steiner squeezed his eyes shut, trying to ignore her words, knowing that she was just upset. He held onto her tight for security, as though she was his only comfort against the decision to sentence Zidane to death by not racing forward to help.
Beatrix stood quietly, her arms drooped at her side as her eyes were frozen wide in horror. She watched the scene in front of her, as Steiner succeeded where she had failed, and she realized then that he was the better knight. He had always been the better knight – looking out for Dagger no matter what happened.
Her eyes twitched to the side, if only for a moment, as she watched Freya cling to Blank, having had to stop him from running for the blonde as well. But he didn't scream as the girl did, only cry into her as his body slowly shut down from injury and defeat.
They had lost him.
"Zidane," Dagger moaned as though she were broken. Her heart throbbed, beating in her throat and her ears, and she was convinced that that had shattered too in the catastrophe that had been laid out before them. "Zidane."
"We have to get out of here," Freya dared to whisper, igniting another round of horrifying wails.
Even though Dagger continued to insist that she hated the knight around her, she hugged him tightly, afraid that if she let go of him, he would be gone too. He picked her up in his arms now that her body had finished convulsing in anger.
Zidane was gone.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed the battle, and I hope that the chapter kept you on the edge of your seat even though it was painful for me to write, so I bet it was painful for you to read! You were all very right when you guessed this chapter would be sad! :(
Thank you for the continued support from those who have stuck with me since the beginning! This has been the big moment I've been waiting to write since the very first ideas of this story started to lay out in front of me!
Tell me what you think! Thank you for the added Guest Reviewers last chapter and if you're interested in my soundtrack for this chapter, inspiration came in the form of Listen to Your Heart (slow version) by DHT.
-zesty-
