Howdy doo, peoples. ^_^ This one is yet another fic in progress, and probably the one that'll be finished sooner. It's a Vivi fic that goes through what may have happened if Vivi stayed at the Black Mage Village, rather than going with Zidane and company to eliminate Kuja (at about late Disk 2, methinks). This is the first draft so expect weird sentences, paragraphs, and lots of mistakes... I'll post of a newer version as soon as I get around to it.
Word of warning: This fic may contain spoilers for people not up to at least Disk 4...
The sun didn’t look as bright as normal. The usual glaring gold looked more red and the clouds seemed to gather in huge flocks stretching across the sky to hide the sudden period of weariness dimming the star’s glow. The birds soared higher up in the sky, as if the added strain on their part would grant them access to the sun's warmth, or at least more so than the creatures that toiled farther down from it.
That was one of the few things Vivi noticed the day after his transference from the company of his closest friends to the care of what could be his family. He didn't notice that he hadn't eaten since the moment the familiar wag of Zidane's tail disappeared into the shadows of the forest, or that he hadn't managed a single hour of solid sleep. Mr. 288 knew of it, and he had tried to help and console the child. "Your heart will understand that your friends aren't abandoning you," he had said. "They'll surely visit whenever they can."
"B-but what if Kuja...?" Vivi didn't dare to voice that concern in whole in fear that somehow, he would jinx his friends.
"Don't you worry, Vivi. The valiant shall triumph over the wicked, as they always have..."
Then why hasn't Kuja been defeated yet...?
He sat alone as he had for the past several hours on the walkway built on the roof of the Black Cat Synthesis Shop, staring over the tangled branches of surrounding forest canopy and into the dull blue/gray sky. Things had been much different since Vivi had decided to stay at the Black Mage Village. His will to explore was just as strong as ever but he didn't quite get around to doing any. The fear of leaving his people behind burrowed deep into his mind. So, he spent most of the past twenty-four hours watching the birds fly by, unmoving except for the slow rise and fall of his chest and the drowsy blinks of his eyes.
Vivi didn't move when he heard the thumps of feet nearing him. He didn't need to; the clanking of metal against the sides of the wooden ladder alerted him that is was Mr. 288 for the fifth time that day. Vivi liked Mr. 288, but he wasn't without irritation towards his persistent visits. The wood of the roof-top walkway groaned softly under 288's feet as he clambered up to peer at the back of Vivi's flopped over hat. An uncomfortable silence hung between the two before Mr. 288 cleared his throat and mumbled as he had several times before, in a solid and calm voice.
"You know, we're all getting very worried about you, Vivi." He paused again, then added, "You don't seem very happy about your decision to stay with us." Another silence drew out, lasting quite a few moments. Mr. 288 shook his head slowly.
"You don't need to worry about me," said Vivi. "I'm here because I worry about you all..."
"Do you think it's worth giving up being with your friends and seeing more than any of us could even hope to dream of?"
"... I... I don't know."
The "younger" mage felt a warm hand set on his shoulder. Even though he was just a child, his life span had already been longer than any of the other mages.
"You can't loose sight of what you dream, Vivi..."
An edge formed in his voice as he blurted, "I've dreamed of finding others like me for as long as I can remember. I'm not about to leave that behind."
Just as quickly as Mr. 288's hand planted itself upon Vivi's shoulder, it had retreated back to the former's side. 288 sighed and said in a voice quiet and tinged with sorrow, "I understand the pain you feel. It's not easy to leave your friends just to stay at some little village hidden away somewhere. But it doesn't do anyone any good to dwell on that pain..."
Vivi closed his eyes and tangled with the immediate appearance of a thousand memories, each labeled with the faces of those five. "I know... I can't help it, though..."
The hand returned to his shoulder and the fingers gave a gentle, almost fatherly squeeze. "I know... Come now, you must be starving. Why don't you go get to know some of the others over lunch?"
Vivi's eyes slowly opened and he turned his head to look up at Mr. 288. Eyes glittering with the warmth of a smile hidden against the jet black of his face looked right back. He felt a grin perk at the corners of his lips, however weak, and nodded. "O-okay..."
"Alright. We'll meet you by the Chocobo shack." With that, Mr. 288 turned and disappeared back down the ladder, the squeaks and clanks of his departure growing softer and softer.
He watched the ladder way for a moment before his body registered a mental command to get himself up to go down and eat. His joints moved stiffly beneath his clothing, sending hushed flares of soreness through his limbs. A sharp wince drew across his face at a particularly distinct pain stinging in his rear end. Ugh... Been sitting too long. His legs moved in slow, jerking steps while his body readjusted to movement. Eventually, he made his way to the ladder and climbed down, grunting softly with the effort, to meet the villagers still unknown to him.
~~ >< ~~
... What am I doing here?
Monotonous crunching sounded away in his head as he ate, staring blankly at the plate of vegetables sitting before him.
They don't need me here...
There was a constant chattering all around him, though he couldn't really hear a single word of it.
... do they...?
Laughter blossomed from the five other mages sitting in a circle around the banks of the narrow stream that cut across the eastern end of the village. They were all seated in the lush spring green grass, talking and laughing merrily as if the troubles that threaten to rip each apart from the soul out had been stripped away with the passing breeze. All except for, of course, Vivi, who was silent with his eyes down at his food. The words floating around him lost all comprehension, gained, and lost it all again in an audible blur.
"Oh... when we.... That wa- ... -oo good..."
More laugher, then another picked up on the unfinished trail of words.
"And... he... hurt..... Why do you th-- ... --unger ones... no.... ever...."
"Why.... think th-- ... come...?"
"... don't..."
There was no more laughter now. Two of the mages had their heads tilted back to watch the sky while the other 3 glanced about between themselves. One, the name of whom Vivi had already forgotten, stood up with his empty plate and nodded politely to everyone else.
"I... back to Cho-- ... born... --ay now."
Friendly words were exchanged before he left, disappearing somewhere by the Chocobo shack. The others promptly went off to their homes, as well, leaving Vivi alone with Mr. 33, who he remembered as being one of the two that tended the Chocobo shack.
"Well... --ink, Vivi?" he asked, placing his hands at his hips.
"Huh?" Vivi shook his head and rubbed his eyes. He was so tired...
"I said, 'what do you think Vivi?'"
"... A-about what?"
The other chuckled and winked knowingly, though his guess of why Vivi hadn't been paying attention may be farther off than he thought. "About helping me and Mr. 111 take care of the Chocobo egg."
Vivi hesitated; surely, they knew about his clumsiness. ... They can trust me with that egg? "... umm..."
Mr. 33 nodded his head in an insisting manner, beaming. "It'll give you something to do. Always helps to do something fun when you're sad.
"W-well..."
Mr. 33 went on as if Vivi hadn't said anything. "And when it's born, you can name it and play with it and teach it to do all sorts of things."
The thought of gaining another friend did sound rather tempting, in addition to the purely enthusiastic bounce in the other mage's voice. Vivi considered, then nodded hesitantly.
The already cheerful glitter in 33's eyes doubled in intensity and his stout body hopped once with joy. "I know you'll enjoy it, Vivi!" he cried. "This'll be perfect since you're so nice and concerned and stuff." He gave the sun a brief glance. "Oh, it's almost time to put new hay on the egg. Don't want to get bugs getting on it, now do we?"
Vivi wasn't sure if the question needed an answer so he didn't offer one.
"You go on ahead to the shack. I'll clean up a bit here and meet you there in a minute." Promptly, Mr. 33 snatched the remaining plates from the grass and skipped towards the village cook house leaving Vivi alone with the gentle lapping of water in the stream.
"Well... This might be fun after all," he muttered to himself. So, he started the short walk just a ways down from the stream and around the back side of a tall round hut to find himself staring at the profile of a small wooden Chocobo hanging on the thin wooden door. Light and shadow alternated upon his form from the arms of the windmill spinning high up on the face of the shack.
He pressed his hands against the door and stepped in as the edifice swung open easily, the creaked back into its place within the doorframe. A Black Mage, Mr. 33's close friend, was sitting down beside the makeshift nest that dominated the single room. The mere way the place had been set up could have given one the impression that it was a somber shrine to some feathered deity. Carefully framed sketches and paintings of Chocobos hung about the walls. Wisps of hay lay along the floor in long threads trailing out of an "altar" filled with the stuff. A light gray egg crowned off the small structure, blanketed against mats of golden hay.
"Pretty, isn't it?" asked the mage already present. He was sitting on a small crate beside the egg, watching it as a mother hen would watch her own clutch. "I can't wait to see it hatch."
Vivi nodded, waddling towards the egg and the mage. "When is it supposed to hatch?"
"Any day now, any day now. We've been watching it and keeping it warm ever since we found it."
Vivi froze halfway across the room. He had seen eggs before, eggs almost exactly like the one sitting silently in his presence. Fed and nurtured by the power of Mist, and forced to hatch and release a mindless puppet into the dark world... The frozen pang of terror sliced into him, eyes widening as he raised a trembling hand to point accusingly at the egg. "H-how do you know what kind of egg it is?"
Mr. 111 turned his head to peer over his shoulder at Vivi. "Well, if you listen hard enough, you can hear it make little Chocobo noises sometimes." He gave the egg a friendly pat, chuckling. "If it was a monster egg, I think it'd be a little bigger."
The door gave a short whine and Mr. 33 stepped inside. Mr. 111 gave him a nod and stood up. The two shuffled around a barrel set against a wall, one lifting the lid and the other taking an armful of hay. The lid was set aside by Mr. 111, who had initially picked it up, and he tenderly set his hand along the lower half of the egg and picked it up. He then looked at Vivi and gestured to the mound of hay that served as its matting. "Can you scoop all that out, Vivi?"
The child nodded and did as he was asked, digging up as much hay as he could hold between his two arms and stood aside for Mr. 33 to lay in a fresh new layer.
"Y'know," Mr. 33 mumbled as he carefully patted the fresh hay into the "nest". "It's a shame that we can't make more of ourselves..."
Mr. 111 gave him a sharp glare and gestured to the little on in their presence with his head, trying hard not to make the gesture noticeable to the one being gestured to. Vivi saw it all the same.
"Well... I'm sure we'll find a way, soon," said 33 quickly, though a voice thick with hesitant doubt. His head bobbed with an awkward nod of reassurement and his face wrinkled with a forced smile.
The egg was put back in place, and the shack was fixed up a bit before the elder two left. The chastising tone in Mr. 111's voice soared weakly, but audibly, inside with Vivi before the door of the shack shut behind them.
Vivi stared cold and hard at the egg. Did the others know where they came from? Isn't there a chance that just beneath the dry gray shell waits the developing body of a brainless Black Mage?
... How would it feel to be killed by a brother?
He could feel the upstarts of tears begin stinging at his eyes. How did those mages that he had personally killed fell, if they felt at all? Did they have to die because they were the slaves of a tyrant?
If the egg turned out to be another Black Mage, Vivi would love and care for him no matter what. If he can be an individual right when he hatches, then maybe there's hope for us after all... He sniffled then whispered into the cool silence...
"... I won't let you be a puppet..."
Vivi left right then while eyes yet to be born stared after him, wide and unblinking beneath the flimsy shell that protected them from the world.