The interior of Castle Alexandria was always lush and extravagant, but perhaps it was most obvious in the dining room. Rich tapestries hung everywhere from the beautifully lined and covered walls, and even the ceiling had been painted a dark blue, then was sprinkled with small twinkling lights to project an image of looking up at an evening sky. Though it had cost a great deal, Queen Garnet had assured the citizens of Alexandria that she had paid for it with her own funds, not the kingdom's. She went even further by holding a grand public feast the day it was completed, though she ended up paying several thousand more gil to clean up after the event. Nevertheless, the table was decorated with several candelabras, each illuminating the room with their touches of light. The table, set exactly in the center of the room, sat 16 people, with two seats at the top for the royal family, two seats at the bottom for any special guests, and the remaining seats on the sides for any courtiers, retainers, or other, less exalted guests.
Queen Garnet was the first one into the room, arriving in her favorite white satin gown decorated elegantly with several necklaces hanging down her neck. Though the dress was still gorgeous, she had purposefully not chosen for most glamorous dress, for though the reunion would be largely informal, it was still considered a traditional event.
As Garnet walked into the room, she gazed around quickly to see if anyone else was there. Seeing she was alone, she sat at the queen's chair at the top of the table and began daydreaming until the King hopped in. Only very rarely did he wear anything considered formal, and this happened to be one of those times, dressed in black pants similar to the ones he usually wore, a black vest that covered his entire chest and his usual ascot. Also a rare item was the fact that he had neatly combed his hair in strips along the side of his face. He plopped down next to his bride.
"Guess we're the first ones here, eh?" He asked Garnet nonchalantly.
"Yes, I suppose anyone who was here earlier left so we would be able to greet them." Garnet said, taking a small sip from a glass of water nearby.
Zidane nodded. "Hey, where are Rusty and Beatrix? I told them if they didn't show up to eat I'd give them the boot."
Garnet nearly choked on the water she was swallowing. "You what!? Zidane, how could you do something that nasty?" She shouted angrily.
Zidane gave a sheepish grin at his fuming wife. "Hey, uh...I just they should sit down and eat with their friends."
Garnet's temper cleared a little when she heard that. "Well...I guess that does make sense. We don't want them standing around like a bunch of statues while the rest of us talk, do we?" She asked, more to herself than to Zidane.
The King opened his mouth, ready to reply, but he heard a creak coming from the other side of the room and turned his head. A tiny head popped in through the crack in the slightly opened door, and it began speaking in a timid voice.
"Um, I'm not too early, am I?" He asked quietly.
Garnet laughed. "Come on, Vivi. I want you to sit right here, next to me." She motioned by patting the seat on her right gently. Vivi nodded and began waddling across the room in his usual fashion. Vivi was dressed in slightly better clothes than his usual gear, but not much. He was wearing solid dark green pants, unlike the striped ones he usually wore, and had sturdier shoes on. Though he was still wearing his blue overcoat, he had a brand-new pointy hat on, as he thought it was better than the one had usually had on, as it was had been ripped apart of stitched together.
Vivi sat down calmly and looked at the royal family nervously. "So, um...How's Alexandria doing?"
Zidane shrugged. "Could be better."
"Zidane!" Garnet hissed to him. Vivi grinned, glad that the two were still bickering with each other, even after all this time. The queen turned to him. "Things are fine here, but hoe in Black Mage Village?"
"Oh, they're fine. The Genomes are really nice, and they help the rest of us tend the land and things like that."
"That's good. How are all of your friends doing?" Garnet followed.
"Well, a lot of them have stopped over the years. I think since the original foundation of the village, only me and Mr. 288 are left. But it's fine, because there are a lot of new babies in the village now."
Zidane frowned to himself. He knew that Vivi had gained an appreciation for both life and death, but even he was never that casual talking about it. Still, Zidane decided not to press the issue, as the last thing he wanted to do was ruin the party.
The three continued talking for a few minutes before the door opened again. Walking arm in arm were the most regarded knights in Alexandria, as well as the bodyguards to the royal family. Lord Steiner and Lady Beatrix had arrived in full armor, complete with Excalibur II hanging from Steiner's back and Save the Queen hanging from Beatrix's. Zidane leaped out of his chair when he saw them.
"Steiner! I told you not to come here in your armor!"
"Nay, you said if I or Lady Beatrix refused to eat we would be relinquished. So, we will eat the breakfast and perform our traditional bodyguard duties simultaneously." He and Beatrix sat down at the two seats at the bottom of the table, directly facing the King and Queen. Zidane sighed, realizing there was no use pressing the fight, and sat down again. Vivi began talking again.
"Ummm...How are you two doing?"
"Quite well, Master Vivi." Steiner piped up.
"Yes, though things at the castle have been rather boring lately..."Beatrix murmured.
"Beatrix!? Are you saying you were prefer we be at war?" Steiner bellowed. Beatrix sighed, then giggled.
"No, Adelbert, I'm just saying I wouldn't mind traipsing around the world on some adventure like I used to every once in a while."
"Oh, well...That's fine, I suppose. But don't expect it to happen anytime soon."
Beatrix giggled again. "Sure thing, Adelbert."
The door opened and once again the morning light poured in from the hallway. In came a skipping young girl, dressed in a cute light purple dress that allowed her wings to show through. The dress color nearly matched the hair she had put into a ponytail, while the jewel on her neck nearly matched the color of the horn on her forehead. She was giggling uncontrollably, and immediately took the seat on Zidane's left, where she sat across from Vivi. She rested her head on Zidane's shoulder at the first opportunity.
"How have you been, darling?" She asked in her usual sweet voice.
Zidane looked at her. "Darling? You're forgetting, Eiko, I'm a married man now."
"Yeah, but you know the number of marriages that end in divorce nowadays, and I'll be waiting when it happens!" Eiko said jokingly. Everyone at the table, even Steiner, laughed at the joke.
The laughter broke immediately when the door opened again and an unexpected guest walked in. She was wearing commoner's clothes, and had let her blond hair hang out in front of her face. Steiner started to rise from his seat, but Zidane beckoned for the knight to stay seated. Zidane himself got up and walked to her.
"Mikoto, what are you doing here?"
The Genome stared at her
prototype, her "Older Brother" as Zidane had put it. "I don't exactly know,
Zidane. I saw Vivi leave for Alexandria a few days ago, and ...I'm not sure. I
just felt like I needed to go too." She said, looking away. Though she had been
created without emotion, just like her predecessors Kuja and Zidane, she had
just begun to have her own feelings. Zidane gave her a hug. The seven were left along for
nearly ten minutes before the next guest arrived. Also dressed in normal street
clothes consisting of a olive green over-shirt, dark green pants and a cross
hanging from his chest, the large man walked in and stared at the situation. His
massive amounts of red hair wavered around for several seconds before settling,
and his light green skin shone brightly against the light coming into the room.
He stayed silent and took a seat next to the only one he could really stand,
Vivi. The room was uncomfortable for a few seconds. Finally Vivi started
speaking. "Um, how are you, Amarant?" He asked, still a bit scared of the big
guy even after all this time. Amarant stared at the black mage. Seeing the
tiny twitch of fear in the child's eyes, his expression softened and he allowed
a soft grin to appear on his face. "Oh, pretty good, I guess. I still have a
couple of bruises from that crap from last year, but other than that I've been
doing alright." The others breathed a sigh of relief, content that someone
had even gotten Amarant to talk. Conversation continued until the door opened
yet and a large group of five people wandered in, none of them wearing anything
particularly fancy or formal. Leading the pack was Baku, followed closely by
Blank, Marcus and Ruby, and trailing behind them all was Cinna. Zidane rose upon
seeing them. "Guys! You all made it! But where are Benero, Denero and
Zenero?" Blank chuckled. "Marcus and me told 'em if they stayed behind and
worked on the ship we'd give them three Zombie cards. They don't know they
already had them and we just took them." Everyone but Steiner chuckled, who
found no humor in petty thievery. Baku sat down first, next to Mikoto. Following
him was Blank, than Ruby, wanted to be close to him, and Marcus took the last
seat in the row. Cinna looked at the remaining seats, and after deciding to stay
as far away from Baku as possible, he took the seat to the left of Steiner,
nearly across the entire table from his boss. Baku grinned, glad he was still
able to instill such fear in his team. Entering next was the duo of Freya and
Fratley. Both were wearing traditional Burmecia formal outfits to show the unity
the two kingdoms had. Freya saw the empty seat next to Amarant and took it. Ever
since the two had met, she had felt a special rapport with him, and knew he felt
the same way. As she took her seat Amarant glared at her, unsure what to say.
Freya felt the same way and instead nestled with Fratley, who had taken the seat
next to her. After they sat down Zidane stood up and looked around the table.
All the seats were taken except the seat next to Cinna and Fratley. Zidane began
a quick list. "Let's see...Me, Garnet, Vivi, Eiko, Amarant, Mikoto, Freya,
Baku, Fratley, Blank, Ruby, Cinna, Marcus, Steiner, Beatrix...Where's
Quina?" At that moment the giant creature burst through the door, out of
breath and exhausted. Wearing the most suitable clothes he could find, he
waddled to the remaining seat and sat down tiredly, apologizing to Cinna and
Fratley as he did so. He looked at Zidane apologetically. "Me sorry. Found
kitchen, and got lost in the food." He grinned, embarrassed. The other laughed,
and Zidane shook his head, indicating it was no problem. He took his seat and
rang a little silver bell that he had waiting until all his guests arrived.
Barely ten seconds had gone by before waiters walked into the room, holding tray
after tray of the most delicious food in all of Alexandria. The 16 looked at the
food, all very eager to dive into it and see what it had to offer. Upon seeing
it arrive, Garnet stood up and began the speech she had prepared. "Ladies and
gentlemen, I humbly present to you this time of return where we can reflect on
out past years and hope that we may have many more happy ones in the future. Let
us remember the ones who had bravely give their lives for us, and let us vow
never to forget their memories." There was a brief moment of
silence. Garnet waited, then spoke again, raising her head. "Now, let's
eat!" The words were hardly out of her mouth before three or four hands had
already dove into the trays. As the giant group ate, talking among them
gradually started. A few hours passed, and Garnet sat back in her seat,
smiling. The reunion had been an incredible success. Everyone was having a great
time, the food was incredible, and the company was superb. Even Mikoto and
Amarant were talking with the others, something they rarely did. After the
meal was completed the group sat back in their chairs, content with the meal and
still talking with each other. Garnet glanced at the grandfather clock in the
room and learned that noon had just passed. She stood up again. "Ladies and
gentlemen, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for making this breakfast
such a great time. We will gather again for dinner tonight, and..." She was
interrupted suddenly by the door creaking open and a guard rushing in, carrying
a dirty young man over his shoulder. Steiner and Beatrix immediately rose from
their seats and crossed their swords in front of him. "This had better be of
utmost importance to disturb one of the Queen's personal events, boy!" Beatrix
shouted to the guard. She could see the guard start to tremble, who nearly
dropped the other body in fear. "I...I deeply regret the intrusion, Lady
Beatrix, but this man was seen crawling to the castle gates, saying he had to
deliver a message to the Queen before he died. We threw him out twice, but he
just wouldn't stop trying, so we figured he must have something very important
to say." Beatrix stared at the guard coldly to see if he was telling the
truth. She could see easily that he was to the best of his knowledge.
"Dismissed." She said. The guard, who was now sweating, saluted quickly and sped
out. By this time the rest of the group had risen from their seats and were
looking at the crumpled body on the ground. The man was very bloody, and was
dressed in rags. His eyes were barely open, and were constantly moving, as if
searching for something. Garnet fought through the crowd to get to him, and
finally she reached him. Despite Steiner's warnings, she laid down and listened
to the main, who had begun whispering in her ear. The look on her face turned to
sheer horror as she heard the man's dying words. Total silence
ensued. Finally the man stopped whispering, laid his face down, and whispered
something in his ear. She then stood up. "Steiner, get the Invincible ready,"
She said calmly. "M...My Queen, that may have just been a madman..." "This
man said that on an island far, far away from here, a magician is creating
tornadoes to cause airships to crash, then he harvests both the survivors and
the bodies and subjects them to horrible mutilations. He was lucky enough to
escape. "Queen Garnet, he was probably an insane fool who..." Beatrix
started. "...who could describe Kuja perfectly." Garnet said quietly. A
series of gasps and groans ensued, while Zidane stayed silent. Finally
Steiner spoke. "Very well. I shall tell the engineers to get the Invincible
ready." Baku shook his head. "Nah, no need for me. Me and my boys will pilot
it." "Then let's get this over with." Amarant said. The party began filing
out into the hallway until only Zidane, Garnet and Vivi were left. Garnet and
Vivi could see the tears forming in Zidane's eyes, and moved to console
him. "I can't believe Kuja is still alive." Zidane said, shaking his head.
"And he's still doing all that garbage. It's just...AAGGHH!!!" Zidane stormed
out of the room in a fit of rage. Vivi and Garnet were left alone. The Queen
felt the mage's little hands touching her waist, clasped in a hug. She returned
the favor graciously. "Come on, Vivi, let's get going. We'd better get
Zidane." Garnet finally said. "Garnet?" She could hear Vivi
ask. "Yes?" "What did you say to that man before he died?" Garnet let
go and stared into Vivi's eyes. "I said 'Thank you.'" With that the two
walked out of the room together.