Filling In The Blanks
Disclaimer: I don't own FFIX or any of its characters.
Chapter 112: Forward
"Can I come… er – in?"
He didn't want to say he was shocked to see her, but he was surprised. He nodded once and stood from his chair, dropping the quill pen on the table. "Of course," he answered with a nod, scuttling around the rickety piece of furniture to meet her. "Are you alright?"
Dagger stared up at Cid, her eyes big. "Uncle… I'm…" she trailed before finally, she let out a cry and launched herself at him. He stumbled back and let out a little oof of surprise. But he caught her, as he always had when she'd given him overzealous hugs, though his back pressed into the table.
"What's the matter, Dagger?"
"Beatrix and Steiner told me," she finally spilled to him. "It was a few days ago, but I was too afraid you would be angry at them."
"What did they tell you exactly?" he asked, though he already had a pretty good guess.
Her eyes changed from watery to dazzled, the tears becoming sparkles as she stared star struck up at him. "They told me about Victoria and Conry – about my mother and father."
"Ahhh…" he tried hard not to chuckle. He knew it was only a matter of time – especially after he found that they had recruited Sally into the resistance. That old woman enjoyed gossip nearly as much as she loved designing dresses for Hilda and Victoria.
"Conry… your brother…" That shimmer turned to tears again as she hugged him tighter. "I never got the chance to say I was sorry for what I said to you in the forest, about not caring now that you have Hilda back. You have done so much for me – you did so much for my mother and father…" she trailed. "I don't even know all of it, and I have acted so spoiled."
"Oh Dagger. I know you didn't mean it. I'm sorry I made that judgement call for you. I know it was not mine to make but if anything happened to you… Well Conry would roll over in his grave if I didn't protect you."
"But you've done so well," she shook her head, "if anything were to happen to me now, I would want to die knowing that you understood you've been so good to me. You have protected me. If I die, it's my own fault."
"Oh hush now, Dagger," he murmured to her as he hugged her again. This time, he squeezed maybe a little harder than he ought to have. She let out a little laugh, snuggling into his jacket like she had done when she was a child. "Do not be so silly with your words. There is no danger facing us now."
"I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate everything – even the things I was too young to remember, or things that happened before I was born. Thank you for taking me in when Alexandria fell. If I didn't have your guidance…"
"Steiner and Beatrix have done a fair amount of the teaching too, do not be fooled by their modest stories. You would have been fine without me," he smiled, "but I am glad we are not without each other, my fiery, young niece. You have so much life left for you."
"We both do," she answered with a small smile. "I just… I guess that's just what I wanted to say."
He grinned at her, "I'm glad it was good news, and I am glad that the consensus was finally made to tell you about your family." She gave him a quizzical look and he shrugged, "While I know the reasons it was good to keep you from this information for a while, I can tell you with no further frustration about the subject that I was overruled when I voted to tell you about your kingdom as you were growing up."
"You… you voted for what?"
Cid gave a small laugh, "I do not think you should hide from who you truly are… though I am glad that when you were small, the rest of the resistance hammered the idea of not summoning into you; I fear we would have not made it so far if we'd been given away about you long ago."
"You wanted me to know all of these things?"
He nodded. "But it was for your safety and the safety of our members that the decision was ultimately decided to wait."
She hugged him again, this time silently. He smiled, knowing exactly why she was doing it. "Thank you, Uncle Cid."
"You are welcome, Sunshine," he told her.
When the raven pulled back, he retreated back around the desk, just about to sit until he looked up. She hesitated where he had left her, biting her lip and looking like she wanted to say something.
"Is there something else bothering you?"
"You aren't... angry at Zidane, are you?"
He shook his head, knowing this time it was not a laughing matter. "Why would I be?"
"It's just…" she shuffled her feet against the stone, and her boot made a grating noise on the rock. "What happened this morning…"
"Oh… Hmm, well, while I do not agree with the way he went about it, I understand why he was mad. I think any of us would have been – Steiner especially… even more so if it was Beatrix. I don't think it was fair how it was said to him, but everything that Steiner said was a very valid point. Zidane needs to start being careful."
She nodded slowly, pushing her hair behind her ears. "That makes sense."
"What are you thinking?"
She glanced up at him and her chocolate eyes burned darker in the dim light, "Maybe Zidane has a point… About Marcus and Baku anyways."
"Ah, that. Yes… well, I do think we have sort of forgotten how long they've been away. Madain Sari has done a spectacular job at slowing the time, being hidden away like this. Though there is so much progress going on with training I can't say I'm displeased. However, since Zidane has just begun to walk again, all of this information is still very new to him… I think he has reminded us how long Marcus and Baku have been gone."
"Right… I was just thinking – is there anything we could do? Could we have some people fly out to Treno – see if we can find them? I know it is dangerous, and I do not want to force another hard decision on you, but… We can't afford to lose them, because they are excellent fighters and because they are our very good friends. They're family."
Cid lifted the paper he had been writing on and waved it in the air. She saw black ink scrawled across the page. "I agree with both of your statements. We cannot afford a trip to Treno, not when Zidane is finally up and about. However, I do think it is justified to send a message via moogle, and hopefully, they'll be able to tell us what's going on."
Dagger smiled, finally feeling at ease now that both of her points were finally spoken. "Thank you again."
"Absolutely," he nodded to her, and then she was finally satisfied enough to walk back out the door.
And nearly straight into Vivi.
"Vivi!" she exclaimed, jumping back so she didn't trip over him. "I almost didn't see you!"
"S-sorry," he stuttered, not looking at her but fidgeting.
It was then that she noticed the backpack slung on his shoulders, and her eyes widened in alarm. "Vivi, is everything alright?" she knelt down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. He looked back at her, his eyes almost sad. "Where are you going?"
"I just…" The mage glanced down at the straps on either shoulder and sighed helplessly. His voice got a little higher pitched and he gripped the worn edges of his hat in nervousness. "I was so sad for Zidane today."
"Oh, Vivi," Dagger murmured, her eyebrows knitting together in worry. She sat then on the ground, cross legged. Vivi joined her.
He wrung his gloves together, and she could see the lines where he twisted them the most – patches of faded color, lighter than the rest of the leather. "It's just that I wasn't there at all while he was healing because I felt like I would let it slip. And now he's so upset. I should have just told him… it wasn't fair for him not to know. And now he won't know if Marcus and Baku, and sometime, Blank will be okay. Especially since he can't walk, and he can't leave…"
"So you thought you'd go?" she guessed, her voice quiet.
He squeezed his eyes shut. "I just wanted to help."
"I'm not mad," she insisted quickly. "It's just something that I wish I could do for him too…"
Vivi glanced up at her, shock in his eyes. His back stretched upward and he sat a little straighter, maybe in bewilderment.
"Really?"
She nodded, "Yes. You have no idea how much I wish I could get out of this place – to find answers I know more than just Zidane is searching for… But that's not my place. And it's not a good idea to make it yours either."
He stared at her, trying to be brave – trying to challenge her authority.
She hoped she could talk him down instead of force him. Vivi was the last person she wanted to inflict her authority on.
"We can't leave… because that would make Zidane want to come with us even more. And it's dangerous out there, Vivi. Kuja was literally a day away from finding us in the forest – where we thought we would be safe… where we thought we were hidden. Something had to have given us away. And if something happened to us trying to help Zidane, you know he would never forgive himself."
She could see by the way that Vivi sunk and his head bowed that she had convinced him. "I know you're right. But I feel so helpless."
"We all do," she told him, knowing it sounded a little cliché but understanding that it was the perfect truth. She jerked her thumb backwards, "Cid is sending word to Treno, hoping to reach a moogle who has seen Marcus and Baku," she nodded when his head rose, "we are trying to do something."
"That makes me feel better," Vivi admitted quietly.
A sudden smile overtook Dagger's face then. It was the type of grin she couldn't control, and probably looked crazy. The sun beat down on the duo sitting in the dirt as Dagger made unconscious lines in the dry soil with her gloves and stared with a grin in her eyes at Vivi. They could faintly hear the training going on just a clearing away and the girl knew she would have to be getting back to it soon.
"You are Zidane's best ally, you know that?"
"What?"
She laughed. "You never cease to amaze me, Vivi. All you do is try, but you know when to stop. All of the rest of us go out there and put our lives on the line stupidly, just to make the situation worse – Zidane included. But then there's you, who will listen when someone tells you to stop, because you see the sense in not putting yourself in unnecessary danger trying to help, when you know it would just upset the person you're trying to help in the first place!"
"I-I guess…" he trailed.
"You are wonderful," she drew out her words and gave him a hug before helping him up. "Why don't we go train with the others for a little bit, and then you and I can go spend some time with Zidane? Now you don't have to worry about saying anything you're not supposed to."
He nodded, clutching his hat again, "Okay!"
The two of them headed towards the battle together, watching on the sidelines for a moment as Lysandra instructed another unit.
"Always look for your enemy's weak spot!" she was yelling to them. "When you are both extraordinary fighters, you will need to see the kink that comes out when he is tired! Use it, and defeat him before you lose all of your energy!"
Freya was currently in the ring up against Rama – the Bermecian that had led Cid's last airship to Terra, Daguerro, Oeilvert and a few other cities and villages to gather resistance members. And while many of the onlookers, hoping to learn a thing or two from their fight – had seen Freya and Fratley fight in Qu's Marsh, or the brief spar with Freya and Amarant when they'd first arrived in Madain Sari, this was a completely different fight.
It was something that many warriors had always enjoyed about Bermecians. Their fighting styles were so unique to their race, and so unique to themselves, that you would never watch the same fight twice, not even with the same weapons or same moves.
From the looks of things, the two Bermecians had been fighting for a while and everyone in the crowd was leaning forward, their fingers to their mouths in anxiousness, waiting to see what would happen next.
Their spears continued to clash, sometimes the sound of metal ringing against each other, sharp in the ears of onlookers, and sometimes the butt end of them would hit and the loud patter of wood hitting wood created equally as loud of booms.
Freya's eyes gleamed as she whirled backwards, away from the slightly-longer reach of Rama's spear. Rama, while still quick, was slow to pull back up straight again, and reeled up, cracking his spine as he did so.
Her eyes narrowed in on this slower movement and she ducked back onto her hands, hoping he would reach out again so as to not get too close to her. This seemed to work, as he reached back out, stretching his long limbs downward to reach her.
As he did so, she slid underneath him – an unexpected move for a proud Bermecian, and kicked up, ramming her powerful legs into his stomach and propelling him into the air. He flew backwards and landed hard on his side.
Freya shot forward, hoping to end the fight quickly so they could break. Her chest heaved with staggering breath, and she felt sluggish though her movements were still executed almost perfectly. Rama had lost his spear when she had hit him, and shooting forward she picked it up and half-lunged, half-collapsed into the spears, jammed in a criss-cross, framing his head.
He was pinned, and she had once again won the fight.
A low round of applause sounded as she yanked the spears from the ground and helped her sparring partner up. He gave her an uncertain smile and shook his head. "You still live up to your reputation, Freya Crescent, may no one ever lose faith in your strength."
Her lips pressed into a thin smile, though she didn't have the energy to answer him.
"There is always time to help a teammate when they're down," Lysandra finished, also applauding Freya's win, "do not forget that without your comrades, you would have gone down a long time ago. So returning the favor whenever you can is the best option in battle. Standing as a united front will overcome scattered enemies."
"Sometimes I think they all stand here to watch you fight, Freya, instead of listen to the lesson," Dagger greeted her with a smile. "Great work, to the both of you."
They both nodded, "I hope to see you in the sparring ring sometime today, Dagger," Freya spoke, her voice gravelly with exhaustion. "You must show us what you have learned with all of your hard work here in these last few weeks."
She laughed and scratched her neck uncomfortably and those involved in the conversation noted that she had picked it up from Zidane.
"I think many members would find it useful to watch your style of fighting, Dagger. You are never the front foremost fighter, and I believe that will be many of our warriors."
"You think so?" she questioned, peeking up through her lashes at Rama. "I feel I can only give a little advice to them…"
"Rama speaks well," Freya nodded, shifting her weight to one foot and planting her hands on her hips, "many of us who have been fighting for years will be in the front. The others may not be."
"Alright," she nodded, trying to be optimistic, "I'll give it a try…" her eyes shifted to the side – specifically to the northeast path up away from the thick of rebels and toward Zidane's more secluded healing place. "But, then I have…" she glanced at Vivi staring around distractedly at her side, "some things to take care of." She had promised the mage, after all.
"Very well," Rama nodded with a gentle smile. He was older – Fratley's senior by roughly fifteen years, though that was hardly any time to the Bermecian race; they were the longest living creatures of the world minus the elves and moogles.
Lysandra, never getting enough of any battle-ensuing conversation, had overheard the entire thing. "So it seems we need a worthy challenger!" she laughed, her voice bold and her one eye twinkling with delight. "I haven't seen Dagger in the center of a lesson for a long time!"
"I have a lot to do," she poked at the commander, though a heavy smile was on her face. It was clear her mind was elsewhere, but she had a duty to those she trained with.
"Well, luckily I have quite the fight picked out for you, Dagger," she grinned wickedly at the girl, "because I was just thinking that Ruby sure hasn't been put in in a while, and I know everyone would be dying to see that fight."
While Dagger knew it could have been a lot worse, she had to stop herself from cringing. Nobody got to see Ruby fight – not really anyways. She was usually part of the façade – part of a distraction, or the bigger scheme of a plan. But not today, and definitely not in the final fight against Kuja's army. The girl would be there, dagger in hand, and lethal as she ever was – the sort of lethal that only a few knew she possessed.
Somehow, Dagger made eye contact with Cinna across the crowd, and his grin was almost worse than Lysandra's. Her stomach dropped. She knew Cinna well – especially after the last couple of years – but she had never been on an official team with the Tantalus teen – she didn't know what he knew.
She almost groaned.
And the crowd that had almost started to disperse was back again, and if she really looked, she realized that there were probably more people there than before, itching to see the Princess fight.
A sigh left her mouth. This wouldn't end well.
She'd have a lot of things to prove in this fight. Rubbing her cheek with her glove, she wished that Zidane was there for some encouragement – or better yet, Blank – because he wouldn't want Ruby talking about winning all the time (because that was his job) so he would root for Dagger, even if it was just to make his girlfriend mad.
"Fighters to the ring!" Lysandra shouted giddily. Dagger crudely thought how the magic better have been affecting her. Better that then excited to watch one of the two white mages of the entire resistance get obliterated in the ring.
Ruby nearly flounced to the middle of the empty space, and the two girls could hear the murmurs all around them. While interested in the fight because of the Princess, nobody thought her challenger was very formidable. The blonde still had on her lace gloves, and her long heeled boots did nothing to intimidate either.
Intimidate anyone else, anyways.
"Don't ya go easy on me now, Dagger," she warned, standing almost cutely in the middle.
"Believe me," she answered, almost miserably as she slid into a defensive position immediately. The sun was suddenly too hot on her skin and she wished she'd bound her hair away from her face, "I won't need to."
"Go!" Lysandra cried, waving her arms crazily in the air.
Dagger bobbed from one side to another as she held her staff up in apprehensive defense. While she was petite and quick, Ruby was lithe – sliding like a cat and dancing on her feet, a panther, wild and ready to strike. Her eyes narrowed, almost feline in nature as she shot forward, her speed on the initial pounce rivaling perhaps even Freya's, though it was something Dagger knew she didn't consistently keep up during her fight.
Ruby tipped up on her toes and heaved down, her dagger suddenly an axe, her whole body weight put behind it. Dagger tucked into herself and leapt out of the way, rolling and spewing up a bout of dust. It hit the onlookers to her left and they coughed. She didn't miss their excited grins though as she bounced back to her feet.
As soon as her boots hit the dirt, Ruby was at her again, raining her dagger down. This time, instead of leaping out of the way, Dagger threw up her staff, catching the dagger in it. It chinked into the wood, and she felt a certain amount of white-magic leak from the weapon. If her opponent chopped her staff in half, it would lose any magical properties it might possess.
But the dagger had been lodged, and Dagger took this time to spin her own weapon, effectively yanking the handle of the blade from Ruby's nimble fingers. However, in her haste to jerk it away, she lost control of the staff and it went spiraling out of the ring.
Both of the girls watched it go, almost with a look of disdain. Dagger even let out a sigh before dragging her eyes back up to Ruby, who stood over her in a rigid position. And then, just like their fight had never paused, she was bounding forward again, her ebullience exerting off of her like an intoxication. Dagger felt drunk off of the pure giddiness of Ruby's advance. It was both inspiring and terrifying.
She decided maybe Ruby liked to show off a little too much.
Dagger threw up her hands to stop a well-rounded kick – a kick that Ruby hoped would snag her lower – in the shoulder perhaps – to knock her to the ground without hurting her. But the Tantalus member was too fast in the retreat of her missed kick for Dagger to do anything cunning like grab her boot.
Instead, Ruby continued to spin, a dancer with her hair piled on top of her head in a bun. The younger remembered the last time they'd spent much time together – sitting in the infirmary in the forest, holding hands and weeping over the loss of some dear friends – crying and seeking comfort after such uncertainty had pushed down on them.
Dagger dropped to her knees, perhaps out of exhaustion though it proved to be an advantage. The timing was perfect, as Ruby had just gone up for another kick. Now Dagger was underneath her, and lunged for the leg holding her steady on the ground, assertively tackling her over. Both girls collapsed in the dirt, and if there wasn't so much pressure building from the silent crowd around them, Dagger might have laughed at the silliness of it all.
The feeling of euphoric nostalgia lasted for only a moment, because before Dagger could manage to scramble to her hands and knees, Ruby had flipped back on her hands, earning some ooooh's from the crowd as she bridged and pushed herself onto her feet once more. Dagger scuttled to keep up, stumbling to stand.
At least, if nothing else, Dagger could proudly say she got the first hit. Ruby daintily pulled off a lace glove, Dagger staring at her apprehensively as she smeared the blood of the cut from her cheek back to her ear. Ruby's almond eyes flashed, not with any sort of anger, but pure determination.
Backpedaling, she hoped to dodge the advance from Ruby, but to no avail. Stunningly quicker than any previous attempt at an assault, Ruby's fist found her gut, and before she knew it, Dagger's vision was doubled and she was stumbling back in an attempt to get out of range. Though she was impressed with herself that she did not fall to the ground and wheeze.
Another punch to the side of her face knocked her into the dirt. She could hear Ruby's breath when she got close, haggard and tired, like this fight was doing more than just training her. She was about to continue to rage before Dagger kicked up blindly, catching Ruby in the thigh. She cried out and stumbled back, wincing as she pulled her hidden dagger free from its resting place against her thigh. Blood pooled under her skirt and it clung to her, sticky with the substance.
While they were focused on their own fight (and the same went for the entire crowd of spectators), Lysandra babbled on about a lesson here or there. But sometimes, she would trail off in the middle of a sentence because the intensity of the spar flared again. She too looked vaguely surprised at Ruby's speed, if not her hidden skills.
However, Dagger was not part of the Elite group for no reason. It took discipline and skill of fighting on her own to get to where she was, and she wasn't going to let Ruby overshadow that fact about her.
The flaw with Ruby's fighting style was the quick spouts that drove it. She had never been the most up front fighter – always cheap shotting and acting as a distraction as she was taught to do; many of their long-time resistance members knew how well Ruby fought and understood that with the determination, she could have probably landed herself a spot next to Blank on the Elite team if she had so desired.
Thank the heavens she hadn't though, or she would be a force to be reckoned with in training.
As if she wasn't already.
When Ruby finally moved again, her speed was still quick, but Dagger spotted her lilted limp immediately. Blood curled down around her calf and leaked into her tall boots from the slice to her thigh.
"Ruby," she breathed out, feeling like she was literally heaving the words. "We should heal you!"
"Kuja's men ain't gon' give you the chance to do that in battle, Dagger," she stopped long enough to say. The two girls slid in a circle, neither of them wanting to take their feet too lightly off the ground, for if the other pounced, it would give them the advantage due to less balance.
Dagger sighed, knowing that the twenty-year-old had too much pride in front of all of these people to listen to her. Ruby had been a spitfire since they'd met, but if the last few years had done anything to her, they had made her more stubborn.
"Do your worst, then," she offered up, almost lazily. Her thoughts, for the briefest of moments, flashed to Zidane and the anxiousness in her body shone through in her jerky movements. Ruby, thankfully, said nothing.
The two of them tossed a few more heaved punches. If she wasn't so busy fending off the older girl's heavy attacks, Dagger would have thought that to the audience, this fight had to look so much less appealing – no awe inspiring moves deserving of wide-eyed speculation. But when she knocked Ruby back with the force of her crossed arms shoving forward with all of her strength, she took a look at the crowd and saw that their faces were just as enamored by the fight as they usually were.
Ruby dug her heels into the earth, ducking underneath a well-aimed punch (though it still missed) from Dagger before driving her connected wrists, much like a volley to a ball, upward under her chin.
Dagger actually cried out, and her neck rolled under the weight of her now-heavy head. Her vision was jarred and her knees shook underneath her. She wondered if she would stay standing for very much longer.
Ruby stayed close, intending to snag another hit, but Dagger could hear her labored puffs of breath. Using her dizziness to her advantage she dropped to her knees, simultaneously kicking out and swiping Ruby's feet out from underneath her. While the girl fell back (Lysandra not bothering to stop herself from reminding everyone that even when you injure an enemy for what seems like the last time, they will almost always still have a trick or two up their sleeve), Dagger conjured the briefest of cure spells, casting it over herself. She watched the green and white sparkles fall around her, and felt the bruise already fading from her face – even before it purpled in the first place.
"That ain't fair!" Ruby almost laughed, struggling to stand.
"Two things about what Dagger just did there! One is that there is absolutely no better time than in battle to help your comrades. If you can use a first aid technique, cure or potion – never stop to finish off an enemy first. Just push him back for long enough so you keep yourself safe as well. The second is never underestimating a heal: you can always find people to fight, but not always the time to heal. Better safe than sorry."
The crowd murmured in agreement as Ruby stood, shaking on her knees. The blood stained her green skirt now, creating an almost red sleeve down her leg.
"Darlin'," she puffed, shaking her head. "Ya are a hell of a lot better fighter than ya think ya are."
Dagger took a shaking breath, feeling her body ache. Her ribs popped when she sucked in the air and she weakly shook her head at the girl. "So are you."
The girl gave a wry smile before darting forward again, her speed still so impressive. She ducked underneath Dagger's swiping arm, a knife having been slid from her glove and into her opposite hand. Ruby kicked up with her boot, but instead of hitting the raven with the laces of her shoes, she jammed her heel into her stomach.
Dagger fell back, the wind sucked enormously from her lungs. She gave a great gasp, like she had been underneath water and hadn't been able to break the surface. Her back connected with the dirt, and it skid underneath her, the hard, dry pebbles ripping at the light fabric of the blouse underneath her jumper.
She felt if she must, she could roll over and bring herself standing again. But Dagger knew she was worn out, and she knew Ruby was looking to end the fight. The intense difference between the princess and the warriors of the resistance were pride; she was willing to accept that in a training match, she had lost: even though she had enough energy left to stand.
Applause broke out in the crowd and a collective release of a forgotten, held breath washed over the audience. Ruby let out a bubbling laugh, limping mildly to Dagger and extending a hand out to her.
"Great job, darlin'."
"It was a well win, Ruby," Dagger replied, catching her hand and letting the girl hoist her up. Before anything else, she released as powerful a cure as she could muster before Ruby could run off, halting the bleeding of her leg and stitching the skin. The actress winced, the pain still ghosting her injury, though it had stopped bleeding.
"I remain impressed with your progress, Dagger," Rama complimented, moving toward her with Freya who mirrored his grin.
She laughed a little ironically, "I lost."
"Sometimes in training it is more beneficial to watch the journey as a whole than the win."
She smiled, unsure what else to say. Her thoughts had already left the arena as Cinna and a few of the others who knew Tantalus from Lindblum and Treno honed in on Ruby, swarming her with victory cheers. Her eyes wandered beyond the bluffs, envisioning the Healing Cove and already seeing Vivi standing nearly uncomfortably on the sidelines, waiting.
"Go now and attend to your needs," Rama gestured up the path – Dagger wasn't as smooth as she hoped to be.
"Thank you," she bowed mildly before taking Vivi's hand and nearly shooting off towards where everyone knew the blonde resided.
Sometimes Quina forgot that Quale had come with them from Qu's Marsh on the Mist Continent.
There were a few different qus still living in the swamps of his prior home, but Quale had pulled Quina aside when they'd been there and said that he had inspired him. For once, it had had nothing to do with food, and everything to do with the older qu realizing that Quina had played such a big role in the resistance, that when they decided to leave the marsh, he would pack up and head after them after a few days.
To be honest, Quina hadn't thought Quale would show up. He knew that his master had a passion for cooking, but was also a homebody – never likely to step away from his comfortable shack in the long grasses amongst the many croaking frogs. And Quina hadn't even known that the qu had shown up, just like he said he would, for a long time.
They had gone back to rescue Zidane immediately – Quina hadn't even had time to drop his stuff off in his underground bedroom in the forest near the black mages before rushing to get back on a ship and rescue Zidane. He hadn't been there five days later when Quale had showed up.
And even after they had gotten back, training had commenced so fast, and he had been so exhausted (because nobody ever asked how oblivious Quina was doing after losing so many friends, but he didn't blame anyone – he could look a bit unmindful at times) that he hadn't even talked to Quale.
It wasn't until after Zidane had woken up, and he was able to visit the blonde a few times that Quina finally got the chance to sit down with Quale. It was quiet; both of them had been through a lot since they'd last spoken.
"Quale happy to see Quina. Quale proud of Quina," he had finally spoken, a little uncomfortably.
But there was a silence before Quina had done the most human thing that Quale had ever seen. He waddled over to the old qu – his master – and hugged him, no slobbering included.
And then the two of them cooked.
Since then, that's all that had to be done, really. The two no longer had to argue about the world and ingredients and technique. They cooked in unison, and usually, the food turned out delicious.
That's what the two of them were doing that day.
It had been a long time since the resistance had moved through a kitchen like a dining hall, huddled together and chatting with no worry of who would hear them. There was a certain merriment that night, with the sun finally sinking below the red horizon, sending blasts of brilliant orange into the impending blue-violet of the sky.
Everyone was there, and Quina was happy that all of his friends could finally enjoy a nice time together without having to train. But there was one friend missing… and he had sent Dagger to do his dirty work and retrieve him.
She had gone, strategically taking Eiko and Vivi with her, hoping to get Zidane to meet everyone in the hall.
That hope was ruefully misplaced though, when they bounded back onto the balcony plaza. Eiko came in screaming, the other two looking a little out of breath.
"Zidane is gone! He's gone! Has anyone seen him?!"
An uproar triggered at that moment, and a dizzying wave of voices pulled Quina into an eruption of bewilderment and anger. He clutched the spoon in his hand harder and moved in an almost slow-motion to face Quale.
His mentor looked on as the others stood in an outrage. Steiner slammed his hand on the table, shoving back from the bench he was sitting on and nearly toppling over the dozen others he was sitting with.
"We should have seen this coming!"
"How long ago do you think he left?!"
"How could none of us have known!?"
Barks of chatter swallowed the rest of any distinct words as the debate arose: go after him, or let him go?
"Grab your weapons," Beatrix instructed to the group sitting next to her. Freya and Rama were amongst them, along with an older couple from Lindblum and an ex-con (of Kuja's – which meant he was an absolute ally of the resistance) from Treno. "We'll go after him to Fossil Roo and figure out what to do there. I'm thinking we'll catch him if we're quick."
Eiko was still yelling about and Ruby had latched on to Dagger for support. Both of their heads whipped back and forth at the commotion, though neither could muster a word. Cinna was rubbing his balding head with a confused hand, wondering what had truly propelled Zidane into this sort of action.
"Wait! Look over there!" Odin's unusual voice rose up above a mass of the cluster, quieting enough people for him to speak. "He hasn't left!"
The entire dining hall, just moments ago an explosion of noise, fell silent as Zidane and Mikoto drew up the path. He rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand, the other clutching the crutch on his right, "Um… hey guys."
A cumulative sigh ran over the resistance as Eiko flung forward, clutching his good leg with a never-ending stream of hysterics. Dagger and Ruby collapsed to their knees in relief and Steiner sat, an embarrassed flush creeping up his neck.
"Mikoto said that dinner would probably be soon…" he trailed.
A number of people groaned, clutching at their chests as the sudden panic attack they had to feel – a few anxiety filled minutes just to see the genome waltz onto the plaza.
"We still seem to underestimate our good friend, Zidane," Freya said finally as the group slowly began restarting where they had left off, "he has not disappointed us yet."
A/N: GUYS IM SUCH A JERK! Finals and a trip to New Orleans and college junk was totally getting in the way and I forgot to update before I left and when I got back it was no less busy and I'm SORRY! And with such a mundane chapter to come back on. Bleh. I'm going to be better. I promise.
Okay, so I know last chapter I said that this chapter would have some character building – but for the sake of a few action scenes I've pushed it back. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, though there probably wasn't a whole lot going on.
This chapter served for the biggest writer's block I have known in a very long time… so I'm glad it's over with so I can keep continuing quickly for you! Thanks for all of your support, especially with my poor updating!
-zesty-
