“Come out, come out wherever you are!” Yuna cried as she walked briskly through the forest. Several birds, rabbits and other assorted animals lay twitching or motionless in her wake, she had tried to be flowers and tried to be kind, but they had taught her to fight, they made her owls and she was hunting. Her eyes darted from tree to tree, her fingers grasped the pistols in her hands loosely but surely as she stepped up the pace. No-one had ever escaped her shot, and no-one ever would. She would find her prey and eliminate them both.
Seifer ran after Rikku, who was throwing herself around the castle (to the irritation of those around her). “Oh My God! He’s not here either? Okay, thanks!” She ran off in a westerly direction as the guard looked on, perplexed. Seifer dashed along the corridor she had disappeared into, and bashed into her from behind. There was no reply, no apology. Seifer picked himself up, put his hand on Rikku’s shoulder and looked at her eyes. Following the gaze, he looked up the stairs, to see Zidane walking down them slowly. Rikku ran up the stairs, stopped centimetres in front of the man and slapped him, hard, across his left cheek.
“Like, how dare you! You didn’t even like, apologise or anything!” Zidane did not falter. His head stayed in the position it fell when he was slapped. He looked up at Rikku, into her green, swirling eyes. And she looked back into his. For a moment she saw a flicker of sadness… and then the eyes returned to the bright yellow they had been before. Zidane lifted his head into a perfectly upright position, lifted his arm slowly, mechanically, pushing her to the side. He continued walking down the stairs. Seifer himself walked to the foot of the grand staircase, and noticed something was wrong. Zidane’s eyes were a bright yellow, his face was grey, and his neck (although no shadow was visible) was eclipsed in black. As Seifer stared on, Zidane walked through the doorway, and out into the sunlight. He continued, never stopping, and walked through the streets of Lindblum with Rikku and Seifer in two. Single-mindedly, purposefully, he made his way though the packed and bustling streets until he reached a monument erected to Regent Cid I and began to climb. Rikku and Seifer shared (not for the first time) worried glances and returned to their staring at Zidane. He reached the top of the statue, climbed on top of it, balancing precariously on the statue’s head. Then he spoke, and his voice was heard throughout Lindblum’s many busy streets.
“Hear me, Citizens of Lindblum! Fear me, and my powers! This pitiful boy you see before you is nothing but a puppet, an empty body who I now control! To you, I shall be known only as The Moonstone, and I am here with a simple message from my Lord. Either bow to his will… or perish along with the rest of this pathetic world!” Zidane lifted his arms, and Rikku noticed as they raised above his head, that his head was getting blacker and blacker by the second. As a ball of flame appeared, enlarging above his head, his entire face and even his hair became black as night, a shadow of his former looks. Only his eyes remained, a pure, brilliantly strong yellow, shining like gold. Moonstone-Zidane laughed, or seemed to, as no sound escaped his mouth. The ball of fire was now larger than a house, being raised high into the air as if by… Magic…
Rikku grabbed Seifer’s arm tightly and tugged him through the crowd behind her. “Like, come on already!” she called backwards, and Seifer jogged forward a few steps, enjoying the way it felt to have her holding his arm. “Zidane! Like, hurry up and get the hell off of that stupid statue, will you? You’re being such an attention seeker!” Rikku cried. Moonstone-Zidane looked down at her, and laughed his big, booming laugh again, and threw the fireball down at Rikku and Seifer and the crowd around them.
People flew apart, trying to get away before the fireball hit. Rikku didn’t think fast enough to react, but felt herself being thrown away by something, and landed heavily on the floor. Seconds later, somebody landed on top of her, and all the wind was knocked out of her. And then the fire hit. There was a roaring in her ears, and she still couldn’t breathe properly. Silence. Wasn’t it? There was a ringing in Rikku’s head, but she thought that was all she could hear. She pushed the still lump off her, and then gasped.
“Seifer!” she called. For it was he who had thrown her away from the fireball. He had jumped on top of her so he would take the pain instead of her. He was lying there, barely breathing, singed and smoking slightly. “Seifer!” Rikku repeated. Her voice was shrill, but she couldn’t fight that. He couldn’t die; he just couldn’t. Where was everyone else? Who even was there in the Signo Squad that would help her? Then she remembered Blank! He was sure to have some sort of potion or cure or something! Rikku pulled herself to her feet, and grabbed Seifer, steadying him on her shoulder and dragging him along next to her. As she walked away, she checked back over her shoulder. There was no sign of Moonstone-Zidane.
Bang! Crash! Another bird hit the forest floor. Yuna was getting very bored now. She began running, darting between the trees with an agility that surpassed even that of an Olympic runner. Tree after tree disappeared behind her, and she looked quickly at every possible orifice that Topaz and Garnet could hide in. Left, right, straight, up, down, left, right- wait! She stopped. Carefully concealed beneath several rocks, something was shining. Pulsating, the light flashed and receded, flashed and receded like… a spell. Yuna aimed a shot in the perfect centre of that flashing light. “Checkmate.” Bang! Red liquid hit the floor outside the cave. The light stopped. Garnet screamed in pain, and Topaz gasped. Pearl had found them. A muffled cry came from the make-shift cave, Topaz had obviously cupped his hand over Garnet’s mouth. Pearl took a few steps backwards. She reached into a pouch on her belt, and took out a small object. Green in colour, it had a small pin at the top. She ripped out the pin. “Watch out, Pearl’s about!” She called simply, and threw the object at the bottom of the rocks. The explosion could be heard for miles.
Blank looked around. That was Kuja’s voice, there was no mistaking it, Zidane had described it so vividly that Blank was totally certain. However, that wasn’t what had Blank’s attention. The voice had an undertone, like… two voices mingled as one. And he was positive, he would stake his life on the fact that the undertone belonged to Zidane. Blank ran in the direction of the voice, pushing aside Lindblumian citizens as he rushed to find the cause of such a voice. And then as he ran, he turned his gaze skyward… to see a massive, floating ball of flame.
This freaked him further. Blank ran faster, pushing his legs to the limit as he rounded corner after corner in the twisting streets. As he turned a final corner, his legs stopped. Gave way. He crumbled to the floor, and began to cry. He knew. There was Zidane, standing atop the statue of Regent Cid I, but that was not Zidane at all. Sure, it had Zidane’s body, his clothing and even his tail. But his face, his eyes… He looked like some freakish combination of Zidane and Vivi. And that could mean only one thing. Kuja, or rather, Moonstone, had taken over Zidane’s body, infused it with Mage genes… and Zidane now served a new master. The ball of flame sped towards the crowd, towards Rikku, and just as the fireball hit Seifer pushed her aside, and took the blow himself. He lay, scorched, on top of Rikku, whose eyes had filled with tears. And then, before Blank could react. Zidane was forced to the ground. The force of whatever-it-was had caused the ground to crack around Zidane, and his body looked torn. More cuts appeared every second. And all around him was a red storm, fury and clothing and sheer, raw power. Was this another of the Stones?
Rikku spotted Blank slumped on the cobblestones and pulled Seifer’s limp mass over to him. “Blank! Thank goodness, I could so use some help right now! Like, Seifer’s all burnt and hurt and not breathing properly and stuff, and I dunno what to do! You gotta help me, please?” she sobbed. Blank said nothing, he simply pointed behind her, to Zidane, where he was still in the centre of the red storm. Rikku gasped, and laid Seifer gently on the floor before pulling Blank into a tight hug. “He was your best mate, right? That sucks. What d’you reckon is going on?” Blank shook his head, and pulled away from her. He started walking over to Zidane, and Rikku grabbed his arm. “You can’t, you’ll get hurt! Besides, I need your help here.” Blank still blanked her, and simply wrenched his arm away, walking on. Rikku sank to the floor next to Seifer and watched Blank walk away.
Blank approached the storm quickly, and as soon as he reached it, the fire calmed. Zidane was left in the middle, himself again, but hovering a few inches off the ground. Blank took a step forward, and Zidane fell forward. He rushed over and caught him gently, looking around for who it was who had caused the fire. He saw no-one but Rikku and Seifer. Zidane’s eyes fluttered open and Blank propped him up on his feet. Zidane yawned, stretched, and swallowed. “Wuzzgoinon?” he spluttered. Even he didn’t know that the darkness was still fighting in his heart.
In the cave, Garnet had seen the grenade fly in and launched herself back, tugging Demyx along again. The cave didn’t seem to end, but even though Garnet was pushing past her physical limits, she could still see the innocent, green ball lying on the rock floor. She wasn’t going to make it, Demyx wasn’t going to make it, they were both about to die, they were going to die in this dark, secluded, lonely place. She would never get to see Zidane again…His face fizzled into view as the grenade exploded outwards, throwing Garnet and Demyx forward by metres.
A second figure appeared above the monument in Lindblum’s City Square. The man wore a dark red cloak, and his brown hair fell to just above his shoulders. “My name is Bloodstone. I have been sent here to eliminate you. No more small talk.” Then Blank realised: It wasn’t fire that Zidane was engulfed in at all: The red storm was the cloak, and the cuts came from the clawed gauntlet that replaced the man’s left hand. Rikku looked up at the man, and noticed for the first time that everything that ever went wrong seemed to have something Gold in it. The Chamber was booby-trapped, Zidane’s eyes turned gold, and now a gold gauntlet? What was next?
The man- Bloodstone, seemed to float above the statue, and he lowered to the ground. Zidane looked blurrily around, Seifer groaned, and Rikku realised that it was her and Blank against this man. She didn’t know how strong Blank was, so she’d have to rely on her own power more than hope for his. She brought her own daggers from her pockets as Blank raised a short sword, and they dashed towards the man in red.
Garnet rose quickly. She had no time to calm herself down, she needed to act now. Blood dripped from her hand where the bullet had passed through, so with her left hand she began to drag Demyx’s unconscious body though the cavernous tunnels as quickly as she could and away from the crazed general behind her. Pearl walked forwards, inspecting the damage she caused, then entered the cave herself, continuing in her usual, calm manner. “This cave won’t go on forever, you know…”
Rikku gripped her blades tightly as she ran towards Bloodstone, and she slashed the air in front of her as she reached him. She clenched her teeth and closed her eyes tightly as she sliced her daggers downwards, bracing herself for the feeling when they came in contact with the person. But it never came. Her daggers flew through the air effortlessly, and the surprise knocked her balance off. Blank rushed forward to stand her up properly again, and she looked around quickly for Bloodstone.
Bloodstone had glided away in the few milliseconds between Rikku closing her eyes and when her daggers would have hit him. He flew behind her and Blank and tried to attack them from the back, but Blank sensed it was coming and used his blade to block it. Bloodstone and Blank’s blades clashed with a terrifying sound, and Blank grunted with the effort of keeping him and Rikku safe. Bloodstone pushed harder, but Blank refused to give into his instinct to just give up.
Rikku saw that Blank was struggling frantically, and she could tell that he wouldn’t be able to hold out for much longer. So she acted on impulse. Running around Blank, she whipped her dagger to Bloodstone’s throat and dragged him backwards. Blank pushed his blade away, and Bloodstone almost fell over. But Rikku had him by the collar, and kept him on his feet. Blank’s rage built up again, and – thinking of Zidane lying just feet away, battered to a pulp – began punching and kicking at Bloodstone.
Rikku was terrified of how angry Blank was, but she stood there numbly, just holding onto Bloodstone until eventually, Blank ran out of steam to vent. Rikku was supporting Bloodstone completely; his legs had folded. His face was a swollen mess, with slits for eyes, and he had a nosebleed. Rikku took all of this in, and let him fall to the floor. “Blank,” she whispered. Blank was stood a little way away, breathing heavily. She knew he would have heard her, but was choosing to ignore her. “Blank,” she repeated, louder this time. “You have to help me with Seifer right now. You have got to help him. You just have to!” she cried.
Blank looked up at Rikku with dull eyes, and shook his head. Rikku launched herself at him, suddenly angry. “You promised! You said you would! You said…you said…that you…you would…promised…” she sobbed at him. Blank looked puzzled. “No I didn’t.” Rikku looked up through her tears, and flew over to Seifer again, crying into his hair. Blank stood over Bloodstone, who peered up at him through his mangled face. Blank kicked him, and he grunted, clutching his stomach in pain. “Cloud…help me…” he grunted. Blank didn’t know who Cloud was, and didn’t care. He kicked Bloodstone again. “Argh!” he screamed. “Cloud! What am I supposed to do?! Help me, please!”
Garnet began to slow. She’d run out of energy, and Demyx wasn’t exactly the lightest person to be dragging through a pitch black cavernous walkway with a freakish woman on your tail. Demyx was beginning to regain consciousness, so he was helping (if you could call it that). The cavern echoed with each footstep, with the mild laughter of Pearl who would be merely a few metres away. If she could see, she would realise that a single shot now could kill Garnet, and then Demyx with a second. She just prayed that the cavern didn’t stop soon, or else she’d have to fight.
Pearl continued her slow walk. She didn’t realise how close she was to her prey, but she knew they weren’t far away. Due to the distance she (and those fools in front) had walked, the light no longer reached them, and darkness reigned supreme. She heard rumbling from behind her, the crashing of rock against rock, and smiled. The cave had caved-in. Now they were all trapped. She would complete her mission. She lived to kill. Nothing would stop her now.
Bloodstone lay there, a bloody shape on the ground, and all of a sudden, everyone was quiet. Rikku lay against Seifer, tears running silently down her cheeks. Seifer lay motionless, and the crowd had returned in solemn silence. Blank looked at the writhing, pitiful form of Bloodstone and immediately lost his bloodlust. What had he done? Was this man close to death, all because of him? Had he nearly killed a man? He shook his head. And then stopped abruptly. The man’s voice, mannerisms… he was not Kuja. Not by a long shot. He’d been sent to kill them, but… Blank was so unsure of himself.
The Emperor sat upon his Golden throne. Smiling, he sipped at a Cosmopolitan he had between two of his fingers. The drink was always his favourite. Let’s see, he thought. Topaz was on the run. Garnet as well. Tiger Eye was in the next room. Moonstone was skulking off somewhere, no doubt attending to the training of his new and vastly improved Mage Army. Bloodstone was on the verge of death, calling out to his old friend, and Pearl had condemned herself and two others. Everything was working perfectly.
