The Reunion

Chapter Nine - Gifts and Reminiscing

Author's Note: Thank you very much for the reviews so far. I'm glad I started this story back up again, and trust me, I'm not stopping until it's finished. Hope everyone is enjoying it so far! By the way, I got a review from someone claiming I stole this story from them. This is one of my friends, who, for some reason, wanted to put a review like that up claiming I stole the story from their computer files. Trust me, this story is 100% my own.

As Saturday morning arrived, bringing with it a partly cloudy sky, everyone was still fast asleep... everyone, that is, except Eiko. She decided to get up early and prepare for the giving of the gifts she had bought for everyone. As she entered the Hilda Garde 5, she went to the room where she had placed the two bags of gifts a few days before. "I have been looking forward to this, especially since yesterday," she said to herself. "The anticipation of giving these out almost killed me!" As she started to pick up both bags, another thought crossed her mind. Instead, she decided to look through the bags at all the goodies that she ended up getting for everyone.

Eiko lost track of time as she went through the bags, and eventually, after pulling everything out of both bags then putting it all back again, she decided it was time to get back inside Alexandria Castle. Bringing both bags with her, she shut the airship hatch behind her and crept quietly into the castle.

However, she heard some noise coming from the kitchen and dining room as she shut the front door behind her. Deciding to sneak to her room to drop the gifts off, she found that Cid and Hilda must be in the kitchen as well as whoever else was up at this time. Realizing she was starving, Eiko didn't waste anymore time in running off to the dining room. Inside, she found not only Cid and Hilda, but almost everyone else who had stayed the night before as well. Zidane, Dagger, Freya, Beatrix, Cid, Hilda, Blank, and Marcus were already sitting at the table. Amarant was standing around the table. The sounds of Quina telling the castle chefs how to cook the food was heard from nearby in the kitchen. Eiko quickly joined the others at the table.

"Morning, Eiko!" said Zidane. "Cid and Hilda were wondering where you had gotten off to. I told them you probably went out for a walk or something and not to worry."

"Oh, actually," began Eiko, "I was in the airship getting the gifts ready that I got for everyone. Sorry for making you worry, mom and dad."

"It's alright, Eiko," said Cid. "Just let us know next time where you are going to be, please."

At this moment, Cinna entered the dining room. "Did I hear something about gifts being given out?"

Eiko laughed. "Not yet, Cinna... but soon, I promise!"

"Alright, then," said Cinna. "You should give them out right after breakfast. That would be a great time."

Baku entered the dining room next, followed by Ruby a few minutes later. By this time, the food was already being set on the table by the chefs as Quina took a seat at the long table as well. There were eggs, gravy, bacon, sausage, biscuits, toast, several different kinds of jelly, and a variety of drinks. Just as everyone was about to dig into the delicious breakfast, Zidane spoke up.

"Wait a minute... we're missing somebody, and I know who it is." Zidane turned to Beatrix. "Beatrix, where's Rusty? He didn't drink THAT much, did he?"

"Steiner did have quite a bit to drink last night, and I'm letting him sleep in a bit longer. Don't worry about him... it's his own fault if he completely misses breakfast."

"Alright then," said Zidane with a shrug. And with that, everyone began to dig in, including Amarant, who still seemed to be lost deep in his thoughts from the night before.

About halfway through breakfast, Steiner finally came stumbling into the dining room. He went to the table and laid his head face down on it. "Water, please," were the only words that he mumbled.

After breakfast was finished and Steiner had as much water as he could hold, the time finally came for Eiko to give out the gifts that she had bought for everybody. The giving of the gifts was held in the library, which was as good a spot as any for such an event. Eiko decided to stop making Cinna wait and gave him his gift first, which was the shiny silver hammer.

"Thank you very much, Eiko, this is an awesome gift!" shouted an excited Cinna.

Everyone else's gifts were handed out, one by one. For her mom and dad, Eiko got a set of Monopoly money. "Thanks, Eiko, for this nice... gift," said Cid with a puzzled expression on his face. For Baku, a new dragon mask. For Marcus and Blank, a new blanket for each of them. "I thought you might need some new covers after visiting both of you and seeing your beds," Eiko told them.

Eiko got Ruby a new scarf. For Beatrix, a shiny sheath to place her "Save the Queen" sword in. For Freya, some new Dragoon boots that made jumping into the air even easier. For Quina, a very detailed cookbook. For Amarant, a new pair of gloves. For Steiner, some new gauntlets. For Dagger, a new tiara. And finally, for Zidane, a shiny gold medallion.

"Wow, thanks, Eiko!" said Zidane. "This medallion is really nice. Where did you find it?"

"At a local coin shop in Lindblum," responded Eiko. "It just opened recently and I thought I would check it out."

Zidane placed the gold medallion gently in his chest pocket. As everyone continued to tell Eiko how much they appreciated her getting gifts for them like this, noon approached quickly. Cid and Hilda decided it was about time for them to head back to Lindblum.

Everyone went outside to see them off. A few clouds still hung in the sky, but the sun was shining through now. Cid and Hilda went up to give Eiko a hug. It was Cid who spoke first. "Eiko... you have always been a brave little girl. I know you can destroy Necron with the help of all your friends. I must have faith that you will come out of there alive. Still, though... it's hard to see what you must face come tomorrow. Please... visit us one more time before you face Necron tomorrow."

Cid began to break down into tears at this point. For the past five years, he had cared for Eiko, giving her a place to live and providing her with all her needs and most of her wants. Hilda began to cry as well as she hugged Eiko even tighter.

"Don't worry, I will be fine!" Eiko said, but even she had to fight to hold back the tears. There was no way to predict what was to come the next day, but Eiko knew she had to be strong.

Cid and Hilda continued to say goodbye to everybody else before leaving in the Hilda Garde 5. Not long afterward, the members of Tantalus decided to head back to Lindblum as well.

"You can stay as long as you guys want!" said Zidane. "Well, at least until tomorrow, anyway."

"Nah, we gotta get back," said Baku. "Besides, this is your guys' weekend. Enjoy it. Oh, and Zidane," Baku added, "I want to see you make it back alive after tomorrow. All of you who must face Necron for that matter. Got it?"

"Yes," said Zidane without hesitation. "We will take Necron down, you can count on it!"

The other members of Tantalus wished Zidane good luck before taking off in the Hilda Garde 3, and Ruby also decided to head back to the town of Alexandria. "Take care, guys, and good luck!" she said before heading off.

The group had now almost been cut in half, going from fifteen to eight. It was now Zidane, Dagger, Steiner, Beatrix, Eiko, Freya, Amarant, and Quina. "Well, that really dwindles it down a bit, doesn't it?" said Zidane with a grin.

"Who else is expected to show up?" asked Steiner. Though he was still feeling a little bad, he was beginning to get back to 100%, slowly but surely.

"Sir Fratley should be here pretty soon," said Freya. "He did say that he would be here by the afternoon, and it's after 12:30 right now. So, Zidane," continued Freya, "what else do you have planned today?"

"Well, other than the reminiscing later on, we need to make preparations. You know, get all of our weapons and armor together that we are going to use and equip," responded Zidane.

As they continued to stand outside for a bit, enjoying the warm but windy air, Amarant decided to speak. "How do we know that Necron is powerful enough to actually kill any of us who don't show up tomorrow by 5:00? Or, for that matter, how do we know that he is powerful enough to kill anyone else who tries to enter the Iifa Tree or the area around it?"

Zidane thought for a few seconds before responding. "Well, when I made the pact with Necron, I somehow felt that because I had made this pact, he would, without a doubt, be able to act on it. I sort of gave him the permission, but at the same time, I know that he won't back down on his word not to try and harm anyone beforehand, because he can't. Even though he is the 'darkness of eternity' and everything, I know that he at least won't back down on his word."

"Don't worry, Zidane, we won't let you down!" shouted Eiko. "We will take Necron out, once and for all!"

"Yes, look at all we went through already," said Steiner. "Though it's already been five years, I know that we can still vanquish any evil that threatens this world."

Zidane smiled. "Heh, heh, I'm glad you guys are enthusiastic about this. That's really good, because confidence is the key ingredient to our success, I believe."

A couple hours passed before Sir Fratley finally arrived. He told everyone that he was working overtime helping with the re-building of Cleyra, and in return, Freya told him about the battle she and the others must face on Sunday. Though Fratley was pretty shocked and cautious about Freya's safety at first, he began to be more at ease as the day went on.

Eiko had bought Fratley a new Dragoon helmet, which was a shiny silver color. Fratley immediately tried it on and thanked Eiko for the gift. For a good part of the rest of the day, the group, with the help of Beatrix and Fratley, made preparations for the big battle with Necron the upcoming day. They all got their strongest weapons and armor together. Zidane decided to let Freya and Quina take the Red Rose to Burmecia and Qu's Marsh so they could get their weapons and armor. Amarant already carried his with him. As the evening began to drag on, everyone had a late dinner in the dining room and decided to talk about the old times as they were finishing up their food.

"Hey Amarant," began Zidane, "remember that time I kicked your ass at Madain Sari? I had to set you straight, man, you were way out of line!"

Amarant glared at Zidane, before saying, "well, I didn't want to hurt you too badly. After all, your little fanclub was looking on and I would have felt bad if I had beat your ass in front of them."

"Oh, ho, good one!" shouted Steiner, who decided to stay away from anything with alcohol in it for the night. "I remember trying to blame Zidane for touching the 'princess' as she was back then whenever she, Zidane, Master Vivi, and I passed out from the cold in the Ice Cavern."

"Yes, we were always getting on each other's nerves!" said Zidane. "That was back when our journey was just beginning. Who would have ever guessed all that happened throughout the course of the entire journey? All of us meeting up with each other and all the challenges we faced."

"I remember joining up with you and Vivi when we left Lindblum, Zidane," said Freya. "Garnet had given us that sleeping weed you had given her, and she and Steiner were off! I remember you being so worried, Zidane!"

"Yeah, I didn't know Dagger had it in her to do such a thing!" said Zidane.

"I hated feeling useless during those times," said Dagger. "I felt that I had to do something."

"Well, you sure worried me sick," said Zidane. "Let's see... we then met up with Quina and took s/he along with us. Vivi began wondering about his grandfather after that point..." Zidane stared down at his plate, until Eiko finally spoke up.

"I miss Vivi," she said sadly. "It's a shame that his lifespan ended when it did."

"But at least he was able to go on the adventure of a lifetime," responded Zidane. "I really miss him too. He was always in a conflict with himself, wondering why he existed and everything. But I think he was able to work everything out before he died. Even though he says he learned a lot from me, I in turn learned so much from him as well."

"How did he create his 'sons?,'" asked Steiner. "I never understood how that was possible after we got rid of all the mist."

"Well, it still existed underground in caves," replied Freya. "I imagine that Vivi somehow used that as a means to get the process started. How they look just like smaller versions of Vivi, though, I don't know. How many black mages are left in this world, anyway?"

"I wondered the exact same thing," said Zidane, "and I asked Mikoto about it the other day. She told me there were still quite a few living in the Black Mage Village. Apparently some of their lifespans were lengthened somehow."

As more pondering and reminiscing continued, Freya finally decided to ask Fratley the question that she had been longing to ask him for a while.

"Fratley," she began, "I know your memory has been returning to you, piece by piece, for a while. I have also been wanting to ask you this for a long time. Do you now remember exactly how you lost your memory... or is it all still a blur...?"

Fratley quietly glanced across the table before turning to Freya. It seemed as though he had been wanting to avoid this question. As he hesitated, he knew he needed to say something. "Well," he began, before Beatrix spoke up.

"It was my- I mean, I'm the reason Sir Fratley lost his memory."

The room suddenly grew very quiet, and there were surprised looks all around the table. Finally, Freya gathered her voice back in order to speak.

"What do you mean?" she asked. "How could you be the reason he lost his memory?"

"Actually," Fratley began speaking again, "not only is she the reason I lost my memory, but from what I remember, I'm the reason she has wore an eyepatch all these years."

Still more silence all around the room, along with a few gasps this time.

"You are correct," said Beatrix. "You see, when Fratley was doing his travels, he and I met once on the field. It was in the area between the Evil Forest and the Ice Cavern. He said he was looking for a worthy opponent in which to face him, and I told him I would challenge him. And I must say, we had one of the greatest battles the world has ever known. Eventually, he jabbed my eye with his spear, which I returned with a sharp blow to his head. I believe I shattered his helmet, but we were both in too much pain to continue. We both stumbled off in opposite directions, so it was essentially a draw."

"Yes," said Fratley. "Throughout these years, my memory has gradually returned. I was more foolish back then. I was just looking for a challenge."

"I can't believe it," said Freya. "After all this time, that is the reason you lost your memory? In a fight with Beatrix?"

"Beatrix, I can't believe it either!" shouted Steiner. "You never told me what happened to your eye!"

"I'm sorry, Steiner," replied Beatrix. "I just never felt like sharing that with anyone, especially after we all became friends. I was ashamed to fight somebody who I now consider an ally."

"As am I," said Fratley. "I still feel bad for the entire battle, even months after I remembered how it all happened."

"It's all in the past now," said Beatrix, "and what matters is that we are allies now, so let's just put it all behind us."

"Agreed," said Fratley.

Freya was still quite shocked to find out the entire story this way, but she felt it was best to keep it all in the past as well. A lot had changed since those days, and at least she eventually did find Fratley.

"Well, I think we all learned something new tonight," joked Zidane. "And let me say, I did not see that coming at all."

"Nor did I," said Steiner. "Beatrix, you should have told me."

Beatrix turned to look at him. "I'm sorry, Steiner, but it was something quite personal. I have shared everything else with you, and you have always been there for me if I asked. I love you, Steiner. You know that."

Steiner and Beatrix got up from the table and gave each other a hug. "I love you too, Beatrix," replied Steiner.

"Aww, isn't that sweet?" laughed Zidane. "Should we hug, too, Dagger?"

Dagger laughed as well. "C'mon, Zidane, don't ruin their moment!"

But Zidane got up and picked Dagger up out of her chair. He hugged her tightly, then said, "hugs all around!"

She laughed, as did most of the room. Out of the corner of her eye, Freya saw Amarant slip out of the room. 'Where is he off to I wonder?' she thought to herself. She quickly turned to Fratley, said "I'll be back in a few minutes," and left the room to follow Amarant.

After Zidane finished giving everyone a hug who wanted one, he glanced at the clock in the corner of the dining room. "Wow, it's after 10:00 already?! Damn!"

"What is it, Zidane?" asked Dagger.

"Oh, I just didn't realize it was already that late is all," said Zidane. "Not that that is late or anything, but man, time sure does fly!"

At this point, Quina ran into the kitchen and brought out a delicious-looking coconut creme pie. "We eat pie now!" said Quina.

Steiner surveyed the pie. "Ohh, I don't know if I can eat anymore, but I shall try!"

Eiko practically jumped out of her seat. "Yum! I sure could eat some more!"

As they all began to get a piece of the delicious pie, Zidane looked around the room. "Hmm... what happened to Freya and Amarant?"

"Freya said she would return in a few minutes," said Fratley. "As for Amarant, I have no idea where he went."

"Wasn't Mikoto supposed to show up for the reunion, Zidane?" asked Dagger.

"Oh, I planned on visiting her before the battle tomorrow," replied Zidane. "She wanted to stay around the Black Mage Village anyway, just in case she was able to sense Necron getting more powerful or anything. We can all visit her tomorrow before we head to the Iifa Tree."

"What about the surprise you have planned tomorrow?" asked Steiner. "What has become of it?"

"Nothing," said Zidane. "I definitely still have the surprise planned, and you'll all know about it tomorrow! Anyway, I'm going to turn in soon. Big day tomorrow."

"That's an understatement," said Beatrix. "I'm going to worry so much when you all go to the Iifa Tree tomorrow."

"Yes, as am I," said Fratley. "I will probably be heading back to Cleyra in the morning... let you guys enjoy your surprise tomorrow, Zidane."

"I'll be in Lindblum," said Beatrix. "I'll probably stay with Cid and Hilda, just so I'm not alone."

"Good idea," said Steiner.

"Don't worry," began Zidane, "all is going to turn out well tomorrow! By tomorrow night, the seven of us will be returning to a celebration for the ages after we take out Necron once and for all!"

Amarant was on the boat in front of Alexandria Castle, ready for the Alexandrian soldier to paddle him to the town of Alexandria, when Freya ran up to him.

"Hey, not so fast!" she shouted. "Where are you going? You just taking off without an explanation?"

Amarant looked up at her before speaking in a serious voice. "I have to take care of something. I will return as soon as I can. Tomorrow could be the very last day of my life, and I must go pay a visit to somebody."

Freya smiled. "Ahh, a certain redhead, I presume?"

"Shut up," replied Amarant, who still managed to form a bit of a grin as the boat was taking off.

Freya laughed as the boat faded into the darkness. "Go, Flaming Amarant! Go get her!"