Filling In The Blanks

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

Chapter 120: A Day's End

Vivi watched with despair as his friends snuck along the path, picking up more stones as they went. The soldiers, luckily, had so many rocks hailing down on them that they were currently unable to see the direction in which they were coming from, and if everyone kept moving, it would take longer to track them.

That made no sense to him. He didn't like how risky it sounded, but Vivi had to admit he rather liked to play it safe, so not many plans would suit him in the way he liked.

But there was one problem.

Why did he have to be on the team that had to go down onto the ground?

Steiner said it was because he could make a magical barrier to protect them if things went wrong. Ring of fire. Barricade of ice. Something of the sort.

Blank said it was because he couldn't throw a rock far enough.

"Ready, Master Vivi?" Steiner asked, shifting his weight as Amarant threw him a makeshift vine. He stared at the rope, long grasses and roots quickly woven together. He didn't want to express his distaste for it, as Eiko looked way too proud when it was done. But she got to stay with the rest of them on the ledge.

He gave a curt nod, reminding himself to be brave.

Steiner volunteered to go first, claiming that if the rope could hold his weight, it would hold anybody else's. Amarant tied it tightly to a boulder in the ground as the mage watched on with dismay. Their fate was dependent on if the boulder knot would hold while they tried to escape back up the vine.

Freya watched the three of them as they descended the vine and dropped to the ground. As soon as they were all down, she heaved Beatrix over her shoulder and trudged over, exhausted.

"No Quina?" Steiner asked in a low voice as the bermecian shifted the brunette's weight to him.

"Unfortunately no, we did not see him."

He nodded solemnly as they quickly worked to adjust Beatrix on his back.

"Up there!"

They all froze when the call rang out. One soldier who managed to get his small, metal shield from behind his back had raised it over his head, spotting Eiko on the edge.

"Just a stupid kid! Let's get her down!"

"They don't know it's the resistance," Amarant concluded as they all crouched behind another boulder, hoping to hide now from the one man who could see without getting pelted.

Vivi shook his head, pointing his gloved hand like a gun and aiming it towards the ground. He felt his power build up, and he concentrated it into one thin line.

It sprang out from his index finger and straight into the grass. The day's dry heat had wreaked havoc on the tall grasses and the fire caught immediately. These sorts of fires weren't uncommon, so he figured this move would be safe.

The flames sprang to life immediately, sweeping over the grasses towards the path the soldiers were on. The waves of red and orange heat rolled in front of the boulders, temporarily hiding them from view.

"Great thinking, Vivi!" Freya praised, grabbing the vine, "Let us use this distraction to go!"

Steiner nodded in agreement and headed up after her, the rope groaning under the weight. But with the heat of the fire below them, they soon would have no other choice than to go up.

And nearly just as quickly as they had gone down, they were right back up on the ledge and Amarant was cutting the vine. Vivi's eyes were wide with shock. Something about their dramatic plan hadn't gone wrong? It seemed too good to be true. On the other hand, he and his friends couldn't have that bad of luck all the time, right?

The redhead flung the braided rope over the edge and it disintegrated into the fire before it hit the ground. Eiko was doing a fine job keeping the soldier's eyes on her – springing about closer to the edge where they could see her, hopefully hiding everyone else with the distraction.

"Eek!" she squeaked suddenly, stumbling back. She turned, blood dripping down the side of her face. The soldiers had begun chucking the rocks back up at the edge in hopes of bringing her down before they had to move away from the fire. One had hit, splitting her head under her bangs.

Freya dropped down quickly as the girl sprang away from the edge. The shouting continued below, but it was receding. They were having to move further away due to the flames. Vivi was relieved; blood was pouring down the side of Eiko's face. The trail parted ways around her eye and contoured her petite nose, somehow making the turquoise of her eyes pop. Freya pushed her bangs out of her face to inspect the wound.

"We can delay treating the wound long enough to escape this wretched path," she stated; but even as she said it, Dagger was already summoning enough white magic to stop the bleeding, if nothing else.

"Is Beatrix alright?" she asked, feeling helpless. The brunette's body would no longer accept the healing abilities of white magic. And she was pale and limp against Steiner's back.

"She suffered a concussion or two at the very least. As we were leaving the city I noticed the blood seeping from underneath her vest. Someone's sword caught her in the back. I have patched it up the best I could in the time we had."

"We should stop and make sure she's alright –" Dagger was starting to suggest, but Blank shook his head.

"We have to get going! We've ran into too many groups of Kuja goons today. They're going to start putting two and two together and realizing that they've seen us."

"She's breathing and that's all that's important right now," Steiner told her, though the strained look in his eyes said he agreed with her.

Dagger bit her tongue and nodded, hoping then they could move fast enough. Beatrix had been out of commission long enough the first time she was stabbed; she didn't want to see the damage of getting a sword caught in her back end up any worse.

"Let's move," Zidane nodded.

Eiko could guide them almost blindly. The fear in her voice came mostly from the blood that was mixing with the sweat on her face and burning her wound as the mixture slid down her face. Vivi watched as she scrubbed her right eye profusely and he assumed that the blood had started to trickle in.

Her instructions were staggered – her attention focusing on getting the sting out of her eye, but to no avail. Without a word, Vivi grabbed her hand and they ran like this for the remainder of their escape. He didn't tell anyone how hard she gripped his hand.

Somehow, the rest of their escape was uneventful. The soldiers must have been too preoccupied with the flooding of Conde Petie still, for Amarant had informed them he'd stopped seeing signs of fresh tracks long before they saw the cliffs hiding Madain Sari arise from the desert mirage.

The brutal heat of the day was waning into a warm twilight as they rounded the last jagged corner into Madain Sari. There, they were greeted with small team building groups, anticipating the return of their Elite soldiers and leaders.

If it had been any normal situation, cheers would have erupted. There would have been a collective yelp of glee that they had returned safely, alive if not unharmed. But their resistance was in hiding. Everything they were working towards had not yet been achieved and so, they were met with slow hugs of those closest to them, and the most respected silence one could muster.

And then Steiner, having set Beatrix gently on a roll out mat that the moogles had hurriedly brought from their medical cove, made contact with Quale and suddenly the entire quiet celebration fell into a sorrowful reunion.

They had been preoccupied with escaping the most dreadful of outcomes their training exercise could have brought. They had lost one.

Quina was nowhere to be found.


Her muscles were on fire. From the moment her mind began to turn again, she ached. Her eyes cracked open, feeling heavy with the crust of tears. Or something of the sort.

"How are you feeling?" the question was soft – gentle on her ears.

"Like hell," she answered, her throat on fire and her voice raspy. She made a movement, hoping to sit up and check out her surroundings.

"I probably wouldn't sit up then," the suggestion seemed well thought out, like it had been practiced. Beatrix found herself smiling wryly. Dagger knew her too well.

"Where are we?"

"We're in the medical cove of Madain Sari," she let out a sigh, hoping to keep the conversation light, "I do wish they'd break a skylight into this place."

"I don't know if my eyes could take it," Beatrix answered truthfully.

There was a comfortable silence for a moment. The brunette could only guess Dagger was trying to decide what to say next.

"You really ought to be more careful with your health, Beatrix. I can't heal you every time you get stabbed now, really."

"Stabbed?" is that why she throbbed so much?

"Well," Dagger fiddled with her fingers, looking a little distraught. "I guess it wasn't so much a stab as a gash. But a rather ragged one. The stitches don't even go in a straight line."

Beatrix never considered herself queasy around blood, but for some reason that comment made her stomach churn. She decided not to pursue the topic with any more questions. "Anything else?"

"A severe concussion. It took a whole day to get Steiner to leave your side. He needed the rest."

"A whole day? How long have I been out?"

"We're on the third day now," she spoke quietly. "Quina is gone."

Beatrix sighed and closed her eyes. The memories of her fight on the bridge were coming back to her, and Quina was the most prominent. She couldn't muster words before Dagger continued.

"Steiner keeps insisting that Quina has gone off on his own before and has always been okay, but that seems different in a way. Freya said Quina had signaled her not to worry about him. But how can we be okay with his capture? He's in Kuja's hands."

"Quina is smarter than we all give him credit for," there was a pregnant pause, "but that is all the comforting words I have to give."

Dagger sighed again. "I guess there truly isn't anything we can do now. It was easier when Zidane was captured. We were right there in Alexandria. We know how much Kuja loathes him. We knew right where he would be. Quina… who knows about Quina. Who knows if Kuja could recognize him as a resistance member if he saw him."

"He is particularly flippant towards qus, and I do believe that will work to Quina's advantage this time."

"I hope so."

They were quiet again. Beatrix swore she could hear the distance clangs of metal against metal. Training must have started up again. The thought made her ache more if she was being honest with herself.

"I'm tired, Dagger."

The girl gripped Beatrix's hand.

"I know," she whispered.

They stayed like this until Beatrix drifted back into an unsettling sleep.

Dagger watched her for a while, waiting for the deep worry creases on her forehead to smooth out before she finally released the ex-knight's hand. Feeling a little lost now that Beatrix had woke up and didn't need to be watched so carefully anymore, she rose from her spot on the cove floor and wandered out into the sunlight.

If it wasn't for the quiet remorse that had fallen over the resistance, it would feel like any other day. Though she suspected it did feel like a regular day to most of the resistance. The first day was hard – everyone knew Quina. He was probably one of the most well-liked people in the resistance behind Zidane, Vivi and Cid. But his absence was felt by fewer the longer he was gone. It was sort of a tragic take on her friend's disappearance, but she knew it was for the best. As a whole, the resistance was taking the sorrow they felt from the loss of Quina and productively overturning it into motivation to train harder and faster. To cease the war they had been craving an end to for so many years.

"Hey you," the voice came out of nowhere and Dagger jumped, having been too wrapped up in her own thoughts.

Zidane had appeared along the bridge behind her, and she turned fully to see him. He seemed to be doing well. It looked like his posture had improved in the last few days. Maybe it actually hadn't, but to Dagger, the way he held himself seemed to be different. She guessed it had to do with successfully surviving the training run nobody thought he would be able to execute.

Actually, despite his sore and exhausted muscles from finally stretching back out after all that time, Zidane had returned the most unscathed of them all. Vivi had been a close second, but he had tripped and fallen a few times on the dash home.

"Hi there," she smiled. Despite the recent events, she couldn't help herself from being delighted to see his spirits up.

He caught her in a brisk kiss before stepping back from her again. "I'm guessing now that you're out in the sunlight, Beatrix woke up?"

She nodded, "You guessed correctly. She's sleeping again now."

"Probably not a bad idea," he hummed at her. "Do you want to go out in the boat today?"

She let on a soft smile. Zidane knew exactly what to suggest to relax her. She considered it a truly considerate gesture – none of Tantalus had been back down by the water since they'd released the wood violets.

"I would love that. But do you think it's alright if we sneak away?"

"I don't think anyone will notice," he took her hand gently, and they retreated along the bridge that he had appeared on when they first crossed paths.

Their walk was quiet – something that Dagger appreciated. There wasn't a lot she wanted to voice; there were so many of her own thoughts she was still trying to sort out.

"We need to be quiet from here on," he mumbled to her.

Her brow furrowed, "Why is that, exactly?" she questioned, though her voice had dropped to the same volume as his.

"You'll see," he winked at her with a grin.

Her eyes narrowed, "I don't like that look you're giving me."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he told her, speeding up their walk.

She almost sighed in exasperation, but decided that her curiosity was going to get the best of her. Just why was Zidane bringing her out here?

A question danced on the tip of her tongue suddenly, and she found herself blurting it out as they reached the rocky slope towards the water.

"Why were you out here, anyways?" She knew that for a long while, Zidane's spot was down by the water. But he had been moving away from that the further from his awakening they advanced.

Without answering her, he dropped to the ground and gestured for her to do the same. Out of pure reflex, she dropped almost faster than him and army crawled forward, matching his pace.

He peaked over the edge and despite herself, she was doing the same.

There down on the dock was Vivi, sitting by the water. His feet were over the edge, dangling only slightly so as to not disturb the weight on his shoulder. Eiko's head was nestled in the crook of his neck, and Dagger had to notice that she looked more relaxed down there than she'd seen the small girl look in weeks.

For a long time, Dagger caught Eiko pining privately (and sometimes not so privately) for Zidane, but when they fled to Madain Sari, those loud affections slowly started to drift away. Perhaps this was why.

Their voices were too low to understand the conversation.

"Zidane Tribal!" Dagger whisper-yelled at him. "You just brought me down here to spy on Vivi and Eiko!"

He was grinning, but didn't look at her. "Shh," he hushed her, "you're going to miss it."

She didn't want to show her interest, but her head whipped to the front just in time to see Eiko shift. Vivi turned his head towards her and very bravely, the girl speedily leaned forward so he couldn't shy away. Her lips caught on his.

Her eyes had started squeezed shut, like perhaps that would give her the bout of courage she was looking for. But after a moment, her features smoothed back out. Vivi's eyes were wide for a whole couple of seconds before they fluttered shut.

Dagger's jaw dropped to the ground, though around her shocked expression were the outlines of a grin. She knew that Zidane held a smug but delighted expression himself.

Butterflies exploded in her stomach. Watching Eiko and Vivi brought about the memory of the first time she was kissed, her eyes closed with Zidane hovering above her. They were laying in the soft grasses just outside Conde Petie.

Despite her objection to spying on their friends, she had to admit that what Zidane had helped her witness brought about more happiness in her than bringing the canoe onto the water that day ever would.

"We better go before they see us," Zidane whispered, shuffling backwards.

She moved with him before they stood up, dusting the sand off of their fronts.

"I cannot believe we saw that," she murmured to him as they started to retreat.

"Maybe we'll have to go out on the water a different day," he told her, "it looks occupied right now."

She had to retain a snort, but couldn't control the chuckle entirely. He began laughing with her too, and that heavy weight that had been on her chest since their return finally lifted. There was some hope after all that things would turn out okay.


"Do you ever think about taking up an instrument?"

Marcus raised his eyebrows and he and Blank turned with equally questionable glances towards their friend.

"That's quite the question, Cinna," he retorted, before turning back to sharpening his dagger.

"What dumb track is your mind on this time?" Blank asked, though his voice wasn't harsh; Cinna learned long ago to toughen up to Blank's jagged retorts.

"If it were a different time, I'd love to play the piano," Ruby answered, ignoring the oddity of the question and answering outright. "But with our lifestyle, I think the violin is just more fittin'."

"The violin?" Blank raised his eyebrow skeptically. Ruby knew how to rope him into a conversation just for the sake of arguing someone's opinion. "I don't see you as a violin player, Ruby."

"Well I certainly didn't see ya as a saxophone player, but ya started to learn nevertheless."

Cinna snorted, "I forgot about that. Damn, that saxophone was bigger than you were, Blank!"

His cheeks reddened, "Yeah well, the saxophone didn't last very long, did it?"

"Longer than the trumpet," Zidane retorted, sitting down.

He had balanced five bowls of whatever Quale and the moogles had cooked up for dinner that evening in his arms. Cinna was quick to distribute them and then put the last one on the ground to wait for Dagger to join them.

Zidane hadn't started as part of the conversation, but seemingly knew the exact argument they were having.

"Well!" Blank defended, the red in his cheeks deepening, "There were already like five trumpet players in Baku's brass band and they all had superhuman trumpet talents."

"That might be the nicest thing you've ever said, Blank!" Marcus teased, examining the contents of the bowl. "Fuck, what's in this?! Does anyone else notice the meal choices getting sketchier and sketchier."

"Be nice," Ruby hissed at him, though she wore just as unsure of an expression as she tipped the contents around in the bowl.

"I, for one, am not going to take advantage of the meals we get prepared for us every day!" Cinna declared, before tipping the bowl up and slurping some of the contents loudly. They stared at him as he smacked his lips contemplatively.

His face paled after a few moments. "This is disgusting."

"Morrison is probably on cooking duty tonight. That moogle is damn near a genius, but his cooking skills are awful. I can't believe they keep him on the rotation," Zidane chuckled, glancing between his bowl and Dagger's untouched one, trying to decide which looked more appetizing to take for himself.

"Maybe moogles have different taste buds?" Cinna offered lamely. Nobody answered him, though he did get an eye roll from Blank. "How hard do you think it would be to find the ingredients for my peanut butter pie?"

There was a collective moan from the group.

"Don't be such a tease," Marcus insisted.

"I'd give up darn near anythin' for a piece of that delicious pie right about now," Ruby commented, sinking into a lazy, side-lounging position.

Cinna's eyebrows rose, crinkling his forehead. "I'm glad you guys appreciate me for something."

"If only that," Blank was quick to correct, though his eyes still looked glazed over from the mention of the sweet dessert.

"You guys look pretty happy! The food must be great tonight!" Dagger commented, her mood chipper. They didn't say anything as she took a large bite from her bowl, the only one who thought to bring a spoon.

Her face crumpled not long after launching the eating utensil into her mouth. She swallowed it with some effort and pealed the spoon back out of her mouth with a slow smack. "Why didn't you warn me?"

"We wanted to see if you'd stay just as optimistic," Blank said, still staring at the ever-darkening sky.

"Do you have any Resistance Leader Perks that could get chocolate for us?"

Her lips puckered as she thought about it. The longer it took her to answer, the more she captured the attention of the team around her. "I think I might be able to bribe some out of Sally, depending on what you want it for. She still has a stash of treats for the kids."

"I might have just fallen in love with you," Cinna admitted.

"Get in line," Zidane commented, sticking his tongue out childishly at the other thief.

"Cinna wants to make some of his peanut butter pie –"

"Say no more, Ruby," Dagger put a hand up, shaking her hair and stopping her. "I will do everything in my power for that chocolate if I am promised a piece of that pie."

"Deal," everyone said in unison, though it was really no one's decision but Cinna's.

"Someday Cinna, I want you to give up the engineering that you're good at, and open a bakery or something," Dagger remarked, "Queen's orders."

"Queen's orders, eh?" Blank raised a teasing eyebrow. "Alright taking on all of the bossiness of a Queen when you're still just a Princess, huh Garnet?"

She shivered, "Don't call me that."

"Ya'll will have to get used to it eventually, darlin'," Ruby mused.

Dagger sighed, "I know. I don't know how I will though. I don't foresee myself realizing anyone is addressing me unless they're right in front of me."

"It won't be Garnet you'll have to get used to though, right?" Zidane said, "It'll be Your Majesty, and Her Royal Majesty, Queen Garnet."

"Garnet til Alexandros 17th," she nodded slowly. "That will definitely need some getting used to." She looked at Zidane, "What about you though? If you treat me right, you'll have plenty of titles to get used to yourself."

"How come Zidane is going to end up a King? I just don't see that being fair. He isn't ruly enough to – erm – well – rule."

"And you are?" Marcus chuckled.

"King Cinna," he scratched his beard and shot his friends a grin, "I think it has a nice ring to it."

"I don't think we need to be worrying about any King titles. Dagger will be able to make whatever rules she wants and if she knows what's best, she won't be placing any Tantalus member on an official king's throne."

Dagger shrugged, "There are traditions to uphold, Zidane."

He was becoming visibly pale at the thought. "Let's just see when we get there. I don't think I'll be able to handle any of the stuffy clothing."

"Who says the clothing will be stuffy? I bet wearing robes is very freeing on the man goods," Cinna said.

"I like to think Kings still wear pants," Blank retorted. "At least if you're going to be king."

"Hey!" he whined, igniting a chuckle from the others. "Okay, okay. Let's do a democracy! Let's vote on who would be the best ruler!"

"What? You're crazy," Zidane chuckled.

Dagger nodded, "Alright," she puckered her lips, thinking for a moment, "everyone sit in a circle and put one of your shoes in front of the person you want to vote for. We can do it with our eyes closed!"

"A good alternative to us lacking parchment, I suppose," Cinna grinned, trying to sound intelligent and fancy.

They sat in a circle and all took off a shoe, except for Ruby, who instead took the second of Cinna's shoes due to her long boots. After multiple complaints about the stench of his feet, both of his shoes were returned and Ruby received Dagger's other boot, while Cinna received the other of Zidane's boots.

"No peaking!" Dagger giggled as they all shut their eyes. Tantalus and all of their formal, step by step plans, lobbed their shoe-vote at their desired candidate quickly before opening their eyes. Dagger was flinching, having been pelted with all but two shoes.

One of Zidane's boots sat suspiciously neat in front of Cinna, and one of Dagger's boots sat in front of Marcus. All of the other shoes had collected on or around Dagger's lap.

"Well we all know who voted for Cinna," Blank said sarcastically. "I thought it was an unspoken rule in democracies that you can't vote for yourself!"

Cinna shrugged, "I haven't any idea what you're talking about. One of you obviously thinks I'd be a great leader."

Zidane pointed to his other shoe in Dagger's lap, "Well you had my other boot and my vote landed with Dagger so…" he trailed off, leaving Cinna with burning cheeks.

"Well… What about Dagger's misplaced vote! She didn't vote for herself so she voted for Marcus! What's up with that?!"

She shrugged, "I think that Marcus has the responsibility to be a monarch," she admitted.

"Like he needs anything else to be arrogant about," Blank snorted, giving him a little shove.

"I'm honored by your vote, Dagger," he said, trying to sound humble. It really just came out smug, even when he tried to keep it out of his voice.

Zidane snorted at Marcus' tone of voice before staring down at his bowl again. His expression was sad, but weirdly optimistic. "Maybe it's something we'll get used to…"

"It's better than nothin', right?" Ruby coaxed, giving Zidane a half smile and shrugging her shoulders.

Dagger sympathetically gave the genome her spoon and he put on a brave face before slowly dipping into their meal. The others tried not to stare as he began eating. He hoped conversation would pick back up as he tried to swallow dinner.

Ruby seemed to be on the same page as him, because she rubbed her hands together, shifting her legs to cross them underneath her. She fluffed out her skirts, a little fidgety, to cover her legs.

"Did ya'll see Eiko followin' Vivi around today like a lost 'lil pup today?"

Dagger's face turned bright red. Before she could whip her head to the side to warn Zidane to keep his mouth shut, he was already choking on his food trying to get the words out.

"We happened across the best thing in the world earlier today. Vivi and Eiko were sitting down by the water –" Dagger shoved him, trying to shut him up; he only grinned wider, "- and they had their first kiss!"

"Awwwww!" Ruby cooed, clasping her hands together. She blinked her eyes lazily at the rest of her team, her face lit up with glee. "Ain't that just the sweetest thing?!" When the others seemed more interested in Zidane's investment in the whole conversation, she pouted by throwing her blonde hair over her shoulder.

"I didn't take you as a gossiper," Blank told his friend, trying to fill the lack of movement by taking his first bite of dinner as well. He made a face, but didn't comment.

"Come on, wouldn't that be great to see? They're so little!"

"That's private, Zidane," Dagger tsked, stealing her spoon back so she could eat her own meal.

"Man," Cinna sighed, slumping back. He stuck his belly out until it touched the side of the bowl sitting on his lap. He lip jutted out in a peculiar pout. "Vivi's like, eleven and getting more action than me."

"I'm sure you'll get plenty of action when you're king," Marcus laughed, leaning backwards on his hands and staring at the thief with a grin. "You won't even know what to do with all of the ladies."

Dagger's face turned even redder, "That would be completely taking advantage of your status!"

Blank pointed a finger at the flustered girl, "This is why we voted for Dagger. She's too pure to even accept perks."

"I'm definitely not," Cinna flat out admitted, grinning and taking a finger full of the food in his bowl. He must have forgotten how sour it tasted, because he didn't even take the whole bite. "We did when we were still based in Lindblum. At least, however many perks you get as a thief in your kid and tween years."

"We didn't get a lot of sympathy for free food, but we definitely got attention of the ladies."

"At ten years old?" Dagger didn't look like she believed them.

"I know it's hard to wrap yer head 'round, sugar, but I am sad to report they ain't lyin'," Ruby sighed, tracing her index finger in the dirt and darkening her white gloves. Her eyes followed her finger for a moment in an infinite loop before looking back up. "For some darn tootin' reason, girls seemed to like the dorks."

"Hm," Dagger grunted, shaking her head and taking another bite. "That is peculiar."

"Ouch," Cinna grouched.

She smiled softly at him as their silly conversation died away. They had all decided by then that they were hungry enough to eat the atrocity of a dinner in front of them, and that was what preoccupied them. Dagger focused in on the light chatter around her, each group talking about something different, trying to stay light hearted and positive. She was proud of her people – they were making it through the day with high spirits. Soon, when they'd had enough training, those high spirits would be what brought them to victory.

She gripped her spoon a little bit tighter at the thought. Everyone could feel it, she was sure. She felt the intensity of training that had grown over the months – an intensity that had started timidly and fumbling. She felt teams looking to each other for different specialties – looking at each other as family and true allies than people they were tossed together with. Everyone was beginning to trust each other, and in that way, like her, she knew they felt that the final battle was coming.

Soon, either Kuja would discover their final hiding spot, or they would march upon Alexandria's graveyard and take back Gaia. She glanced around the clearing, knowing that this was not all of the resistance members, and yet, close enough.

They were nowhere near big enough to take on an army.

But there were more than there once were, despite losing friends along the journey. And they were tough. She knew that they were a hell of a lot tougher than Kuja would give them credit for.

He would have a massive army. No doubt the small amounts of trouble the resistance began causing him in the last few years would fuel him to make a better army. But she knew from Ruby and Blank's run in with Tawn at the South Gate over a year ago now that there were soldiers in Kuja's cohorts that no longer agreed with his thirst for war.

And Avalanche had been an inspiration, really. Whenever she thought back to meeting the elf in the cells of Alexandria's castle, she had hope. Perhaps they wouldn't have to take out all of the dreamers – perhaps he would do enough work on his side of things, that it would be easier for them to cope with the lies they'd been fed for the last three years.

"Err… Zidane," all of them looked up, startled by the unfamiliar voice.

Standing in front of them was a middle aged man with dark hair and light eyes. The corners of his eyes were stamped with crow's feet, and there were various other lines marking the age on his face. But his expression was still kind.

"Sam," Zidane nodded, though he was genuinely surprised. They hadn't talked more than a few times here or there since their introduction in Dali – before he was abducted.

"Could we… maybe speak?"

Immediately, the genome stood. He nodded and walked pridefully forward, trying hard to keep the limp from his stride. "Of course. It's been awhile."

Sam nodded, falling in slow step next to him. He tried not to analyze Zidane a lot. His personality had mostly recovered, and the damage done to him had been healed immensely, but there were still many scars that littered his body – a constant reminder to all of those brave enough to look of the tortures he endured during his month in the Alexandria Dungeons.

"I haven't felt as though there has been an appropriate time to approach you since the use of the mirrors on the Dreamers in Alexandria."

"Oh," he started lamely. Had it really been so long, and had he really been so distant as to not stay in touch with those who found hope in him?

Sam let out a sigh. "It was so long ago, it feels silly asking the obvious now."

"Please," he encouraged, "Ask. I know I certainly haven't been available for questions much," he chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck, "I'm always in too much trouble."

"Well… The mirrors did not work on the dreamers, yes?"

Zidane sighed, "We really, truly thought it was a spell. I guess it wasn't… just a really well fabricated lie."

Sam's face fell, but he didn't look particularly surprised. "Did you… see Elouise? I know that you couldn't know what my wife looks like, but you and Elouise were so close…"

He nodded slowly, "I did see her, yes."

"How… did she look?"

"Besides coming after me with a weapon, she didn't look bad," he let on a wry smile, though he hoped it lightened the mood more than it came off as bitter, "she looked healthy, and safe… As safe as she could with Kuja. But I think if the lie was so well fabricated, he wouldn't be doing any harm to his Dreamers."

"That is a relief to hear," he whispered, his voice unable to rise any louder.

"I found another one of our friends when I was being held captive in Alexandria's castle."

"What?"

"He is an elf named Avalanche. I don't remember a lot about it, but he saved my life. The others told me about how he saved my life countless times, and their lives by leading them out after the rescue as well."

"Was he a friend of Elouise's as well?"

He nodded, "I think they are closer now, still. He believes my story. I think the longer they loom away from Kuja's fake Alexandria, the more holes open up in his story. Avalanche told me dreams of a world that feels familiar but the memories are not his. That was what happened to me when I started remembering things about my past. He's going to take care of her. He cares for her. But he wants to do everything in his power to make sure the Dreamers are able to make a fair decision on who to fight for when the time comes."

"Do you think it'll work?"

"Elouise is a stubborn girl," he nodded, "but I think someday – maybe not for a long time – but I think someday someone will get through to her."

"What are the plans for the dreamers in battle?" He asked, and Zidane knew it was in fear for his wife, for there was no one to vouche for her based on a Dream Alexandria friendship.

"I'm not really sure. My hope is that none of them will be killed before we have a chance to prove to them that we aren't the bad guys and that they were tricked…"

"But," Sam sighed, "That won't be possible for all of them."

"I guess it depends on how good of a fighter they are."

"Good thing my wife has always been a clutz," Sam spoke with a light and sorrowful tone. Zidane laughed to humor him, but knew his wife would be a great fighter now after three years of training as a dreamer. He didn't voice those thoughts, though. Any amount of hope he could lend to someone, he would.

"I'm glad you sought me out, Sam. I think it'll be okay. Be hopefully that you'll see your family again."

"I just want to bring Elouise back to my sister. I hope she is doing well in Treno still," he mumbled. "Moogle mail is hard when most of it has to be filtered through Kuja's forces."

Zidane nodded in understanding, suddenly grateful to the moogles that would hide any resistance communication, even if it meant it was life threatening to them.

"I think things will turn out okay for you, Sam. I really do."

He shook Zidane's hand then, his eyes crinkling with the most genuinely grateful smile that Zidane had seen in all of his time with the resistance. "It honors me that I've met you, Zidane. And it gives me great hope that you can say words like that to me."

"I'm glad I can offer some sort of support," he answered, feeling like his words weren't expression the right amount of gratitude – not like Sam's.

"I will let you return to your feast," Sam nodded, glancing back at the small group who was trying not to look conspicuous and also catch a glimpse of their conversation at the same time. "I do hope they take Morrison off of dinner rotation. It's no secret that everyone hates his food."

Zidane burst out in laughter, feeling like that was the perfect end to the day.

They may have lost some people, but that was all the more reason to fight. It was all the more reason to embrace the life they had in front of them, and not let a horrible thing like war completely erase their memories and personalities – their life.

?

A/N: Oh my god… I am horrible.

Firstly, let me update you on some life things. I am in my last full-time semester of college. Hold up guys, I started writing this puppy when I was in middle school. Let's see – I was in eigth grade… Half of that year, four years of high school, five years of college… I do believe that this Christmas will be the 10 year anniversary of Filling In The Blanks.

Guys, I really need to finish this story bahaha.

Seriously though, thank you for all of the support in my absence. I have had a few great inspirations. First off, let me give a special shout out to Jester of the Moon, returning with a review for the first time in four-plus years. She was always my greatest motivator back in the day, and to realize that she is still reading was truly a gift.

Secondly, a little bit of a sadder note. I have a high obsession with Gravity Falls. And if any of you are familiar with the show, you'll know it was prematurely finished due to fans being too good at picking up clues and spoiling the story – guessing what would happen before it happened, causing a lot of stress for the writers. Anyways, living vicariously through a fanfiction called "For the Health and Safety of Mabel Pines" and its sequel "For the Morality and Sanity of Dipper Pines", I was obsessed. The first story was beautiful, and filling in all unanswered questions in the second story was even better. The author had finished the second story, didn't like the way it turned out, and was about halfway through the rewrite (once the rewrite was finished she would delightfully continue the series) when she stopped updating. No more updates, and soon after that, the rewrite was taken down. Then the original sequel was taken down. And I was searching for the original story "Health and Safety of Mable Pines" just the other day, and realized that was deleted by the author too.

I was so sad. Why, when you have story gold, and so many, MANY people who love your writing, would you want to take them down. There is no worse anguish than when you fall in love with a fictional story, only for it to go unfinished.

Um. I was doing that to you guys. How dare I build this 120 chapter story, only to leave it behind. Abandoning the story has never been in my plan, but after six-plus months without an update, I feel like that's where most of you thought I was headed.

That entire light-bulb moment happened to me yesterday. And since then, I cranked out 7000 words to present to you guys in the form of slight story progression and a lot of fluff to make up for my absence. I promised myself that before I worked on anymore projects, homework, caught up on anymore shows or basically did anything else with my social life, I would finish this god damn chapter.

It might feel a little filler-ish, but it's finished. Thank the Lord. I will never do this to you guys again. Those are my lame excuses, love me for them. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I hope you're ready for me to continue with this story, because I understand there is only so much procrastinating I can do before I have to wind down this 10 year long project. So many fond people and memories I have come across in this time span.

Don't worry though, for all of my sappy comments, it's not over yet.

I hope to hear from you guys about the chapter. I hope I put in just enough fluff to make up for my absence.

-zesty-