Zidane struggled to his feet, refusing the offer of help from the people crowding around him, and looked around, drawing his daggers. Rikku laughed slightly. “He’s, like, so not here, you know? So, like, what’s with the sharp stuff? Put it away, dude.” Zidane glared at her, and she shut up quickly. He kicked a stone angrily, and stared moodily at the floor.
“Come on, Zidane. He’ll be back. We’re just going to have to wait a while. You should be more worried about Light.” Blank’s voice shook Zidane out of his memories, and he looked over at his spiky-haired companion. He was kneeling over by the lifeless body of Light Yagami, whose eyes were closed and cheeks were gaunt. “He’s dead then?” Zidane asked. Blank nodded grimly. Zidane swallowed. “Okay…What do we do with the body?”
Blank blinked heavily. “I’ve done everything I can think of to try and preserve the body with herbs and plants, but that isn’t enough. I guess we’ll just have to bury him and leave. That’s all we really can do.” Zidane nodded slightly, and set to work digging a large hole, partly with his daggers, partly with his hands. Night fell just as Zidane finished digging, and he lifted the body into the hole gently, covering him up with the fresh earth. Everyone had drifted off to sleep but for Zidane and Blank, who sat together for a while, staring at the makeshift grave.
A few metres away, Demyx emerged from his customary black hole, and scurried into the clearing. Zidane stood up. “Where the hell have you been?” he demanded quietly, trying not to wake the others up. Zexion grinned sheepishly. “Like, I said, family emergency.” His mind flashed back to Twilight Town, but he pulled himself to the clearing. “Sorry about that, won’t happen again.” Zidane sat down again. “It had better not,” he muttered angrily.
He decided he wouldn’t tell them about Twilight Town. Why did he need to? It was just a girl in the Weapon Shop (though her aura was very strong) and had no effect on them what-so-ever. Besides, the Signo Squad was just a ruse, he’d find the Golden Chamber by himself, and he would steal everything. And then it hit him. The only chance he had to figure out its whereabouts… was when he left. What a fool he’d been! Now he’d have to find it with no clues or anything! Or would he?
“Zidane. This Chamber, the one we were guarding and stuff, where is it again?” Zidane jumped up, his daggers gliding effortlessly from his belt to Demyx’s throat. “You LEFT us! How could you! If you hadn’t pulled a disappearing act on us, we could have defeated Kuja, or rather, The Moonstone, and Light wouldn’t be dead right now!” Blank pulled him away. “Stop, Zidane! He couldn’t have known, or done anything! Leave him out of it, okay?” Demyx laughed inwardly, barely holding it back. The Moonstone had been here… So that means that he, The Topaz, would have to follow suit. What was it Moonstone had said? If I strike, meet by the lakeside…
“Ugh, would you look at the time?” Demyx gasped, looking down at his watch-free wrist, “I gotta go, past my bedtime!” He ran off. Zidane shouted. “DON’T YOU DARE!” Demyx simply ran. Zidane stood there, fuming. Blank knew to back off. As Zidane vented his anger on a nearby log, Blank sat by the grave of Light, for some reasoning thinking back to his Prima Vista days, wondering if those happy times would ever repeat themselves…
Zidane was gazing up into the dark sky, lost in his thoughts. A sudden, blunt hand shaking his shoulder forced him to clear his head. “You okay?” That was typical of Blank; beneath his tough exterior, he always wanted people to be okay. He was a caring person, really. Zidane nodded, still a little lost in his memories. “Yeah, fine. I’m just gunna go to bed, I reckon.” Blank nodded worriedly, and settled down to sleep, himself.
Zidane lied down on the grass and tried to get comfortable. There was something not right about Demyx; every time he was around, his tail started twitching uncontrollably. Who was he really? And why had he joined this group of people if all he was going to do was wander off alone? Zidane tried to sleep, but just couldn’t. There was something about to happen…and whatever it was, it wouldn’t be good.
Meanwhile, Demyx stood by the edge of the lake, and gazed across the silver surface. It was so still, so perfect, so…annoying. And where was Kuja?
Perfection was something Demyx had always hated. If he couldn’t be perfect, nothing could. “Dance, Water, Dance!” he cried, and the middle of the lake erupted. Hundreds, maybe thousands of Demyx’s appeared, made of clear, crystal water. The top of the lake, now several metres shorter, swarmed with them. “Enough, Topaz.” Came a smooth voice from the lakeside. Demyx jumped. “Kuja, you scared me!”
Zidane could stand it no longer. “I’m going to see Cid, I can’t take this! Something has to be done, someone has to warn his Majesty about this “Moonstone”. Someone has to warn him about Kuja!” Blank nodded, admiration in his eyes: His friend was back. Rikku nodded, her plaits jumping wildly. Seifer stood resolute, his eyes showing his emotion. “Let’s go!” Zidane said, and began sprinting through the forest, towards Lindblum.
Kuja chuckled. His laugh was mesmerizing; cool and quiet, yet it had a sharp quality to it. Demyx couldn’t stand it when Kuja laughed, and so counted to ten in his head while he got it out of his system. Once Kuja had finished laughing to himself, he addressed Demyx again. “How fares the hunt for the chamber, Topaz?” Demyx nodded slowly. “Not bad, Moonstone. I have infiltrated the group calling themselves the ‘Signo Squad’, and gained the trust of most of the members. Apart from monkey boy…He really doesn’t like me.”
Kuja flicked his hair out of his eyes carelessly. “Yes, Zidane always has been stubborn. You will have to work hard to get him to trust you. But do you yet know the whereabouts of the chamber?” Kuja urged. Demyx shook his head. “I know it is near Lindblum, but of its exact location I can’t be sure.” Kuja nodded, and walked away, over the lake. Demyx watched him go. “Not so much as a ‘thanks’ or even a ‘goodbye’,” he muttered. “Ah well, better get back to the circus before it leaves town.”
Demyx worked his way back through the dense forest, into the clearing. “I’m back!” he announced brightly, and then looked around. Light’s grave looked foreboding, and the upturned log cast a menacing shadow onto the sparse grass, while the final embers died in the pile of logs that had been a fire. Cursing, Demyx tugged at his long hair. “They’ve gone!” he screamed, and ran through a path in the forest at random.
Demyx stopped after about five minutes of running, panting heavily. He was scratched and grazed from all the trees and bushes, and had tripped over a tree root, banging his knee. He sighed, and scratched his head. “Fine, got no choice,” he said, and began chanting quietly. Once he had finished, a black line of thunder-like material flew out from him, and he followed it quickly. But he was breathing more heavily again now; that magic had used a lot of his energy.
As Zidane and Blank lead the party back to Lindblum, Rikku shouted to them. “Hey! Aren’t we forgetting someone?” Zidane looked back, and stopped instantly. Demyx! Should he stay, and wait? Or carry on? Zidane couldn’t tell. Demyx was a waste of space really, left at the worst times, came back at the worst times, only to leave instantly again. Why should they wait?
But then, Demyx hadn’t done anything bad. He just seemed… pathetic. But he WAS part of the Signo Squad, they couldn’t leave him behind. “Stop! We wait for Demyx.” Zidane said, and Seifer groaned. “No arguments! We wait for Demyx, and that’s that!” The Squad rested. What could they do? Zidane was the leader, his word was law. So they stopped. And waited.
Meanwhile, Demyx had slowed to a walk. The black line stopped a metre in front of him. He walked forward. “Zidane?” No answer. Flash! A man leapt from the trees, and Demyx was enveloped in red. Wind whirled around him, he felt drained, and called out “Vincent, stop it! Vincent! BLOODSTONE!”
