A/N: I'm just taking a little break from 'Keeping in Touch' with this one. I've been playing FF IX lately (again… it's my favorite game by a lot and I think this is play-through number 5! XP) and I got inspired

I do not own FF IX. If I did, I probably wouldn't change a dang thing about it!

I ran to the royal balcony as fast as I could in the hope that I would find her Highness there. I was not disappointed, and she was gazing at the sky... or more accurately the winged monstrosity flying through it.

"That's Bahamut, isn't it..." the princess gasped out. She took a deep breath and steeled herself for the nightmare to come while she turned to look at me. "Beatrix, please gather our soldiers." There was a slight waver in her voice that betrayed her fear, but I was proud of her courage... courage that I wasn't worthy to behold. After my part in multiple genocides, and her near execution, I couldn't bear to meet her gaze. I thanked my tall stature for the ability to look over her without my averted line of sight being too obvious. If that boy Zidane hadn't arrived when he did... the thought was more than I could bear, but bear it I must. The Burmecian knight Freya's claim that it was too late for me to seek forgiveness was painfully clear, but perhaps I could serve out some form of penance for my sins. My atonement would come into the form of subservience and complete selflessness until battle or illness claimed my life. Until that day, I would suffer my guilt and shame in silence.

I managed to snap myself out of my thoughts. There was work to be done and my selfish melancholic reveries held no value. "Yes, your Highness! Our soldiers have already assembled and await your orders." We rushed to the great hall.

The sound of Captain Steiner barking out orders echoed through the castle just before our arrival. "HURRY UP, YOU FOOLS! This is an emergency! Get your act together before the princess arrives! Line up!"

Against expectation, Steiner had the Knights of Pluto standing at attention just before our arrival.

Loud and brash Steiner...

Slightly bumbling Steiner...

Gallant and proper Steiner

Dedicated and loyal Steiner... that I couldn't help admiring, even when I had considered him a rival. After fighting alongside him against the Bandersnatches, I discovered I could trust him watching my back in battle more than any soldier under my own command and my admiration grew. His knights in the other hand... let's just say I was rather impressed that they all managed to salute together!

This happened to be the first time Steiner and I had seen each other since our encounter at the dock, and we hadn't sufficient opportunity to get to the bottom of who the letter was really from, or for. Truthfully though, regardless of the letter's composer or intended recipient, his dedication wasn't the only thing about him that I found myself admiring.

He was looking in our direction, but I could swear that he was looking at me just as much as the princess and I felt the temperature in my cheeks raise slightly. I really hoped that it didn't show. Even if he indeed shared my affections, A monster such as myself certainly didn't deserve them.

Standing next to her highness, I gestured to the Knights. "Your Highness, as you can see, we are ready to act at any time. Please give your orders."

Princess Garnet took a few moments to size up the knights standing before her and attempted to remember the talents of each individual. From what I knew about them, and their confident reactions to her orders, she did rather well, and the squad disbursed.

"Beatrix, let's go!" Steiner called out, that gallant stare never wavering.

Steiner and I saluted the princess and rushed out of the castle and into the streets. Citizens were running away, trying to evacuate... citizens that we needed to protect.

Steiner looked at me and I dared to meet his gaze. The strength of his dedication clearly visible in His eyes. "This is it Beatrix."

"I will give my all for Alexandria!" It was time to become a monster again... only this time it was to protect, not destroy.

The corners of his mouth turned up uncharacteristically and replied with his usual zeal, "well said! Let us march on to victory!" My heart fluttered for a moment, but I quickly dismissed it, reminding myself that those sorts of things were not for monsters like me.

We rushed out of the castle gate into the square and it wasn't long before we came across a hideous beast chasing down a fleeing citizen. It looked like a monstrous blue-black slug with spines all down its back. It dragged its enormous bulk forward at a startling pace with six forward-facing legs tipped with enormous, vicious looking spikes. Across its front were numerous golden glinting spots that almost looked like eyes of some sort.

With a yell Steiner charged the beast and I was right on his heels. When he was just about in range to strike, the devil struck out with two of its leg spikes. Steiner dodged the one and took a glancing blow from the other but that didn't stop him, and he thrust his sword right into the center of the glittering eye-things. Him having gotten the beast's full attention, I was able to leap onto it from the side and cleave what I imagined was its head off. The beast shuddered before collapsing.

Steiner extracted his sword and I jumped down. I considered telling him to be more careful and try not to get hit again, but he seemed entirely unconcerned with it. I looked at the furrow the creature left in his armor and noticed that not only was it one of dozens of superficial rents and scratches, but not a single major breach in its integrity could be found. Replaying the short fight in my mind it dawned on me that he had no intention of avoiding the strike entirely at all as that would have required him to evade too far to be able to riposte. Instead, in a calculated move he dodged just enough to not be impaled and held faith that his armor would absorb the rest of the blow. Again, just like against the Bandersnatches, I was further impressed with his competence in battle.

With a nod to each other, we continued out of the square and through the main gate before hearing a loud chittering.

"Beware, Beatrix! The enemy is close!" For not the first time, nor probably the last this night, I found myself smiling slightly at his gallantry before I spied one of the creatures leaping off a nearby roof towards us. How it even managed to get up there in the first place was a mystery that could wait! Before it even landed, we started charging the beast. We simultaneously delivered mirrored strikes as it hit the ground, severing the horror's legs as if we'd choreographed the attack beforehand. The beast roared in pain and attempted to slam into Steiner. His sword was still too far out of the way to bring it back to bear and I was too far out to the side to intercept the attack. Letting go of his sword with one hand, he reared back a gauntleted fist and swung it into the side of the fiend's head, knocking it away. Not wasting the opportunity, I lunged forward again between the brute and Steiner and with an upward swing of Save the Queen I severed the head from the brute before it collapsed just like the last one.

We exchanged glances before nodding and moving further from the gate, deeper into town. After running a short distance, we came across yet another one of the creatures coming straight at us.

"You wish to fight us!? You despicable beast!" Steiner shouted in challenge. As we were about to charge, that familiar chittering sound came from behind and I turned around to see another one of the brutes quickly coming from behind. I sighed in frustration, realizing it was time to pull out all the stops.

"For her highness!" I shouted

"For the princess!" Steiner roared.

I needed to dispatch this one quickly I held my sword I front of me. Chanting slightly, I felt a familiar rush of power and the beast was torn in two as I used Shock, my most powerful Seiken skill. Hearing a roar behind me I turned around expecting Steiner to be holding his own, but I did not expect to see him plunging his sword through his brute's 'head' finishing the beast off! On the ground near him were half of the creature's legs that he had already hacked off in order to get close enough for the killing blow. The speed with which he was able to dispatch the devil through sheer skill at arms and without magic of any kind had me both relieved and astonished, and I felt my admiration grow further yet.

We kept running through town and found another of the despicable creatures.

"Prepare to die!" Steiner shouted as we both charged. We made it halfway before the streets lit up with an orange hue. I glanced in Steiner's direction to see flames dance across his body, hot enough to make his armor glow slightly. He staggered briefly but didn't stop advancing. I looked over onto a nearby roof to see another beast. Its legs are waving about as if trying to cast magic, and given what just happened to Steiner, that was probably what it was doing! I held out my hand and started another incantation. An ethereal wind whipped up and sent my hair swirling as writhing bolts of bright blue holy energy shot from my outstretched fingers, perforating the horror sending it to its demise. I turned back to Steiner just in time to see his fiend send him sliding across the ground, the cobblestone of the road eliciting sparks from his armor.

"STEINER!" I ran to the beast as quickly as I could before leaping clear over the legs and brought my sword down its head. As my blow split the head of the horror, summoned lightning struck through its body from my sword rupturing blood vessels and organs turning its insides to mush.

Having slain the abomination, I rushed to Steiner. He was climbing to his feet and looked a little shaky for a moment.

"Beatrix, are you alright?" His eyes full of concern, heedless of his own condition.

I looked at him incredulously. I could see a trail of blood trickling from his forehead, and a more trailing down his burned upper arm from under his maille sleeves. "I'm fine, what about you? You're wounded." I held my hand up and started channeling for a cure spell.

He gently pushed my hand down and took it in his to stop my spell. "It's just a scratch," he said quietly. Though it wouldn't have been out of character, it didn't seem like this was from bravado. It was more like he was telling me to conserve my magic. In truth, I'd only be able to cast another couple spells or Seiken arts as the ones I cast earlier were some of the most strenuous in my arsenal. Glancing down at our hands I could feel myself start to blush from the contact, and a small smile spread to my face. When I looked back up there was an incredible warmth in his eyes... I slipped my hand from his and hardened my expression. I was still a monster and my guilt wouldn't let me accept his tenderness. I could practically see him crumble at before he looked over my shoulder and his own face hardened in resolve. "PERSISTANT BASTARDS!" He shouted. I turned to see another couple of the demons rushing our way. I groaned at the seemingly endless train of these devils.

We both rushed towards the monstrosities, but before we were able to close the distance one reared back and spewed a foul vapor. It burned my eyes and seared my skin. In spite of the pain, I felt my mind getting murky, and after staggering for a moment everything went black.

I returned to consciousness to see a large spike-tipped leg lunging right for my head! Grasping Save the Queen, I rolled to the side and to my feet just in time to dodge the spike but was too slow to dodge the follow up attack with the brute's head. Pain seared through my flank and I was sent sliding across the ground like Steiner was earlier. Staggering to my feet, I saw that my arms were bleeding after scraping along the ground. There was a loud roar from behind me and I saw Steiner battling against two of the behemoths! He had just cut off a couple of the legs of one, but my heart sank when I saw that his left arm was tucked up tightly against his body and he was swinging his large sword with one hand. I glanced back at the advance of the creature that had almost impaled me, and back to Steiner and his battle.

Forcing the pain in my arms and side out of my head, I reversed my sword in my grip and plunged it tip first into the ground. Waves of orange and scarlet energy pulsed from the point of impact outward ripping and charring the flesh of all three of the devils with my Seiken art: climhazzard. It didn't kill the beasts, but the heavy damage they sustained eliminated the threat they posed, and they slinked off as Steiner and I staggered to each other.

Reaching arm's length, I held my hand out and started the incantation for the most potent cure spell I could muster. This time he didn't stop me. Blue and green restorative power surrounded us as the pain in my side disappeared and the open wounds on my arms closed. The burns on Steiner's exposed skin from the earlier fire spell healed up and he rotated his shoulder a few times to test it. It seemed like I was able to fully heal us, but that was the last spell I would be able to cast this night.

"This is futile! Let us return to the castle." I said breathlessly.

"No! I cannot face the princess until we destroy all these beasts. On my honor, I vow to protect the princess, the citizens of Alexandria, and..." he straightened up to his full and impressive height and looked at me in such a way that I felt my knees go weak, and not from fatigue. "Beatrix! I... I shall protect you!"

Were it coming from anyone else I would have laughed at the notion of anyone claiming to be able to protect me better than myself, but he had repeatedly proven himself my peer in battle. Not only that, I realized that while he saw me as a general and warrior, he saw me as something else, something that I didn't believe anyone else saw... a woman.

"Steiner..." I gasped out lightly before casting my gaze away again. The reality of my past crashed down upon me like a weight around my neck... regardless of how he felt, a monster like me wasn't worth protecting.

"Watch out!" Steiner shouted and shoved me away, preventing me from being flattened by another one of the monstrosities that leapt off of a nearby roof. I quickly rolled to back my feet and saw him leap to the flank of the beast, taking hold of one of its back spines with one hand and bringing his sword down on its head to split it in two with the other.

We looked around and saw more of the demons. At a glance I counted 5, but the chittering of more could be heard. "...This might be it for us!" Steiner called out.

If I was to die in defense of my kingdom and my queen, it would be a fitting atonement for one like myself. I felt a measure of peace and cried out in return. "I have no regrets!"

We advanced on the nearest horror and Steiner cut in front of me and crouched down. Quickly realizing what he was thinking, I jumped onto his shoulders he sprung up allowing me to leap clear over the spike legs and plunge my sword straight into the head. The beast shuddered and slumped as I dropped back to the ground.

The corner of my eye caught movement and I looked up to see yet another beast had launched itself from the roof with the intent of crushing me, but this time it was too late for me to dodge. I saw the underside of the creature as if it was falling in slow motion but at the last moment, I found myself hurled to the ground a couple yards away. There was a flash of light and my perception of time returned to normal. Steiner must have pushed me out of the way, but I gasped sharply as I realized that he wouldn't have had time to dodge himself. I felt the formation of tears stinging my eye, but I forced myself to look back. Never in my wildest imagination did I expect to see the sight I beheld, and it took my breath away completely.

Steiner was a man transfigured. His armor, normally plain and rather dingy, was spotless and glowing with an inner silvery light. His face was covered by a large visor and the rest of his armor had similarly expanded to completely cover his body. He had become an impregnable fortress that walked like a man. As impressive as his appearance was, the most shocking thing was that the hulking form of the beast that had threatened to crush us was held aloft on his shoulders. Steiner's knees and back were bowed slightly, clearly straining from the effort, but not so much that this would be the end of him. He heaved the brute off his shoulders onto its side and he picked up his sword that he must have dropped when he pushed me. With a mighty one-handed swing, he cleaved through the fiend with the entire length of the blade, and halfway through the cobblestones below.

I was rendered entirely speechless at the display of strength and power and for a few seconds I just stared with my mouth agape. A few seconds later I realized what just happened... Steiner had tranced. A surge of emotion so powerful that it changed a person and made them greater that they could normally ever be. A surge of emotion borne out of concern... for me. Though I was not worthy of such consideration, I was still touched and in awe of that level of devotion. With this new development, it appeared that we might be able to make it out of this alive after all.

The tranced knight pulled his sword out of the ground and offered me his hand. "Beatrix... There is something I must tell you!"

Accepting his help, he pulled me to my feet. "What is it?"

"I..."

"Save your valediction, Steiner." I interrupted. "We'll live to see another day." Maybe one day I will have atoned sufficiently to hear those three words that I knew he longed to say, and I longed to hear. Unfortunately, that time was not tonight, not when it looked like we had a good chance at survival. Survival meant I had more penance.

We charged again and with the tremendous power of his trance, we were able to make short work of three more beasts before we looked up into the sky to see enormous white feathered wings that spanned the entire length of the city. The structure they were attached to dwarfed even the castle. They wrapped around the castle protectively before we saw Bahamut let out an attack from the sky. The attack did absolutely nothing to the wings and it looked like her highness had somehow summoned an Eidolon of such power that even mighty Bahamut could do nothing to it. The wings started to glow even more and when they became almost too bright to look at they exploded out with dozens upon dozens of tendrils of an incomprehensibly massive display of holy energy. Several of the tendrils splintered off from the main swarm and vaporized the beasts that we were able to see, but most of them went after Bahamut.

The King of Dragons made a valiant and impressive display of dodging the onslaught, but he was overwhelmed in a matter of seconds. It looked like the battle for Alexandria was finally over. I let out a sigh of relief just before I saw a massive glowing red eye peering through the clouds. Waves of sickly energy emanated from it and her Highness's eidolon wrapped its wings protectively around the castle again. It was to no avail though, for as powerful as the eidolon was, even it appeared to be no match for the power in the sky. My heart tightened in my chest as the wings turned black and started to burn away. The acrid stench of burning feathers threatened to overwhelm my nostrils before a foul nimbus of light burst down from the eye. The light streaked down through the eidolon and the castle causing massive damage and an explosion that appeared to completely destroy the castle and emanated all the way to us. Once again, I saw things in slow motion as the wave of destruction approached us and I saw our doom in its advance and suddenly I knew no more.

I unexpectantly woke an indeterminate amount of time later. I took a moment to collect myself and found myself pinned to the ground. I looked at the weight that was holding me down to find it was the unconscious form of Steiner. Realizing that he must have protected me from the blast with his body, I crumbled inside.

With tears streaming from my eye, I rolled him over. I laid atop him and beat his armored chest with my fist. "Why!" I screamed aloud. I stopped beating and cried out, "I'm not worth it!" Guilt weighing more heavily on my heart than ever before.

I gasped as I felt his breath in my hair. I reached inside the hood under his helm to feel his neck for a pulse. My breathing hitched in my throat when I felt that it was normal, and he must have just been knocked out from the blast. The additional protection from his tranced form must have absorbed enough for him to survive. I pulled my fingers out of his hood and gently stroked his cheek while gazing into his face, while words could not begin to describe the relief that I felt.

I heard some debris crumbling and I looked up to see two Pluto Knights approaching. I blushed horridly at being seen in this position and clambered to my feet while wiping the tears from my eye.

"Captain!" they both cried out when they saw Steiner laying there and started running toward us. Stopping a few feet from me they saluted.

"Private Blutzen,"

"and Private Kohel,"

"reporting general!" they finished in unison.

"He's alive." I assured them. "Do you know of his travelling companions?" I asked.

"Of course, ma'am, information is our specialty!" Blutzen replied.

"Bring him to them. I don't know what they're going to do next, but I think he's going to be needed." I ordered. "There's also a little girl traveling with them who has remarkably powerful white magic that I think he's in need of"

"Yes ma'am!" the replied and saluted again.

Kohel walked closer to me than duty and custom would normally allow. "We don't know everything that happened out here, but you're worth it to him."

My face heated up again, realizing how much they had seen. "How do you know that?" I demanded.

His replied quietly, "ma'am, information is our specialty... including rumors..." I glared at him and he quickly added, "n-not that we have any intention of spreading them, we just c-collect them!" He backed up, saluted again, and the two of them picked up Steiner under one of his arms each and went off while grumbling about his weight.

Meanwhile, I looked toward the crumbled wreckage of the castle and did my best to put Steiner and our feelings out of my mind. The night wasn't over and there was work to do…

A/N: I always thought that Beatrix seemed to be at peace way too quickly after her turn around, so this is my attempt at what she might have been hiding inside whilst matching the dialogue to the game verbatim (I think). I hope you liked it and depending on feedback I might continue this concept later after finishing my Code: Lyoko stories that are floating around in my head.