CHAPTER THREE

Tears. Falling down her face and onto the floor. Many worthless tears that never should’ve been shed. Never.

It had been too long, Garnet had told herself, since Zidane had left. It had been too long to think he’d return. Zidane was a loner at heart; he wandered freely along the surface of the planet and did things to please himself, never others. Never anyone else.

Her, for example…

Garnet was scolded daily by either Steiner or Beatrix. "Your Highness, the kingdom needs you. Why are you still pining over that monkey when you have a whole nation waiting for you to breathe in their direction? Things change, Excellency, and with them so, too must you. Forget about Zidane for now."

Forget…?

"Never," she told herself in the mirror, sitting in her quarters atop Alexandria palace. The sun streamed into her windows and the room looked to be made of gold, but the poor girl’s heart felt like lead.

"I won’t forget. Everything we’ve gone through…it was too valuable a lesson to learn. Live for today…fight for what you believe in…"

She stared at her face in the mirror, her eyes tearing up again.

"Believe…in love."

Garnet stood and, wiping the tears from her eyes, made her way to the castle library. It seemed she’d been going there to be alone since returning to claim her throne. In her quarters, after all, someone was always walking in on her.

No one was in the library but the Pluto Knight, Laudo. He’d become somewhat of a sounding board for the new queen since she’d taken up the habit of traveling down here; Garnet had to say she wasn’t displeased. Laudo was a pleasant boy to be around.

Boy? He was three years older than her…

Laudo looked up at Garnet’s approach and grinned. "Hi, Dagger."

They’d agreed, one day, that Laudo would not call Garnet "your highness" or some such rubbish. But Garnet tried to avoid being called by her given name, so she told him to call her Dagger.

"Hello, Laudo," she offered and sat across from him at the reading table. She spied the binding of his current book; something by Lord Avon.

He put the literature down then, and focused on her. "So, what’s going on today? Not busy up on the throne, I take it?"

Garnet…Dagger shook her head.

"I wouldn’t know, Laudo. I’ve been in my room all day. But if anything came up, I’m sure Beatrix would’ve retrieved me by now. Or Steiner would’ve thundered up the stairs screaming about the end of the world or something."

Laudo chuckled. "Yeah, that’s the captain for you. Actually, I think I saw him headed to your room earlier, but he came right back down the stairs without you, so…I dunno."

"Hmm," Dagger exhaled. "That seems strange. But I don’t think I even care today, Laudo."

He smiled nervously at her. Laudo knew what it meant when Dagger adopted an "I don’t care" attitude, and he knew how to get it gone as well.

"Thinking about Zidane again, eh?"

That opened the floodgates. Dagger stared at her hands, clasped on the walnut suface of the table. She felt more tears well up, ready to burst forth at any given minute.

Laudo sat patiently and waited for her to begin venting.

"it’s hard to deal with," Dagger began. "When someone you love is gone, you know?

"It is a true emptiness, and a relentless one as well. So long as your love is gone, you can’t even breathe correctly; your movements are so slow….the world is gray and white, with no color. No…differences. Everything is the same as it was the day before, and before that, and…"

Dagger looked up from her rambling and saw Laudo, smiling and nodding, paying the utmost attention. How sweet he was to humor her like that.

"Go ahead," the knight urged. "I know that’s not all."

She smiled in an advance apology for the fool she was about to make of herself.

"Well…it’s just hard. I traveled with Zidane for some time….it was splendid. Never did I feel more alive or…free.

"Now what am I supposed to do? It’s great to be back in my homeland, tending to my people, but…this is not the life I wanted, Laudo. It’s never been. I want to be with Zidane and everyone, traveling the countryside and exploring…fighting monsters. I want that…no. I need it."

Laudo grinned. "I know the feeling, Dagger. Desire’s funny like that. It makes people look at themselves in a new way, and more often than not it changes them. You were just one of the ones who changed is all."

He leaned toward her a bit, offering a bit of closeness to make her feel better.

"You aren’t selfish, Dagger, and you aren’t stupid either. I know both of those words have run rampant in your mind, because I’ve been where you are before. Look at me. My family wanted so badly for me to be a soldier, so I joined the Knights of Pluto. But deep down in my soul, writing is my true calling. So, I’m stuck. I don’t want to disappoint my family, but I long to write a grand novel someday."

Dagger smiled distantly. "I feel better knowing you can relate, Laudo. But, I feel stupid for that because it’s like being glad for another’s pain."

"It’s not wrong," Laudo offered. "I’m glad I make you feel better, actually. But you know how I feel about Zidane. He’ll come back, eventually, because he won’t be able to do otherwise. From everything you’ve told me, he loves you a great deal. Just…have faith, Dagger. Without faith, nothing else is worth the effort."

Dagger nodded. "I know, Laudo. I have faith, but it becomes very hard sometimes. I appreciate your listening to me whenever I get this way. It’s a comfort to—"

Footsteps, hard and loud, accompanied by a rhythmic "clang!"

Here comes Steiner, Dagger thought.

"Your highness!" the captain called down the stairs. Dagger stood and waited for him. Steiner appeared, his large face flushed and his tin armor glinting dully in the library’s torchlight.

"Ah, your highness, I’ve found you! Pray tell, what were you doing down here? And Laudo, shouldn’t you be on duty? Take your nose out of those useless books and do your bloody JOB!"

Laudo stared at his captain a moment, tears forming in his eyes. He always got this way when Steiner yelled at him.

"Captain?……..Waaahhh!" the Pluto knight went running off, bawling.

Steiner stared after a moment, then returned his attention to Dagger.

"Hmm, having a slow day, your excellency? I am sorry to disturb you, but some visitors have arrived and I thought you would be most pleased to hear of their arrival."

Dagger was intrigued. "And who might these visitors be, Steiner? Uncle Cid and Aunt Hilda?"

The big man shook his head. "No, your highness, I would say you will be more excited to see these visitors. Guess again."

"But…oh, I don’t know, Steiner. Tell me!"

Adelbert Steiner grinned, which was indeed a strange sight.

"Oh, alright then. The visitors are none other than Miss Eiko, Lady Freya, and Master Vivi. They’ve come to see us, your highness."

Dagger felt the smile creep onto her face and make itself at home. Freya? Eiko and…Vivi? It was divine providence.

Her friends, appearing at a time like this? The gods loved Dagger, to be certain!

She headed out of the library and toward the boat dock to wait for her old friends to arrive. This was just what she needed; a visit from her allies, the people she fought alongside against Necron. They would make her feel better; they would help her sleep tonight.

Perhaps they would have word of Zidane…

Dagger stopped walking and ran to meet her friends.