Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Concept of... ❯ The Night It All Fell Through ( Prologue )

Title: The Concept of...

 

Summary: Gaia, finally finding peace after a long while, is once again rocked as a group of radicals rise up and begin to eradicate the royals from the world. In the heat of the fray, can light shine once more?

 

Rating: PG-13+

 

Fandom: Final Fantasy IX

 

Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, Continuation

 

 

Prelude

The Night It All Fell Through

 

Crickets chirped lightly in the courtyards of the Alexandrian Castle. A few nocturnal fiends roamed about the area, causing no trouble to anyone and having nothing done to them in return.

 

The residents of Alexandria slept peacefully in their beds, as they had been able to do for the last three months.

 

Under the reign of Queen Garnet Til Alexandros, the Kingdom of Alexandria had once again returned to it's long-forgotten peace following the end of the chaotic reign of Garnet's mother, Queen Brahne.

 

Soldiers of Alexandria patrolled the streets of the sleepy town. It was a nightly task, done every dusk despite the usual inactivity of the city. Usually the only problems the soldiers found in the streets were a few petty crooks and perhaps and monster or two every few weeks.

 

Of course, no one would expect such a peaceful, quiet night to be interuppted by explosions in the sky or masked warriors flowing from seemingly no where. No. No one would expect that the world would be changed so dramatically on a peaceful night of chirping crickets and sleeping peasants.

 

No one would expect that the night would be known forever after as The Night of Eternal Flames.

 

---

 

The sheets were cool against Zidane Tribal's bare chest as he lay in his large bed. The only sounds in the room came from him as he snored away softly, of course unknown to himself.

 

The male rolled over and bit and his snoring ceased as his arms wrapped around the other person on the futon. He hugged the dark-haired girl gently in his sleep, she sighed peacefully as he did so.

 

The night was suddenly interuppted as a flash from outside crossed Zidane's eyes. He cracked open an eyelid and glanced back at the window. Noticing that it was still night, he yawned and prepared to fall back into slumber.

 

He would have too, had a loud explosion not awoken him further.

 

Zidane cursed lightly and rolled out of bed just as his partner sat up in shock. She looked around, looking extremly pale in the night atmosphere.

 

"What's going on?" She asked, looking at Zidane with shock in her tiresome eyes.

 

Zidane pulled himself off the ground and rushed over to the window to look out. He pulled away the drapes and stepped out onto the balconey. His blue eyes widened at the sight he saw before him.

 

Flames rose in the city across the swamp. In the distance, he could hear shouts as the regular residents were awoken from their quiet slumbers. Suddenly, another flash was seen as a ball of fire shot from the clouds and crashed into a tower on the other side of the castle.

 

The ground shook as Zidane spun around and stared across the room at the girl, "Dagger, let's go."

 

Without a word, the girl jumped from the bed and sprinted across the room where she threw on her white night robe and turned to nod towards her lover.

 

Zidane grabbed two things from underneath the bed and stepped towards the door. He opened it and placed the two daggers into his waistband for safe keeping. He turned around to grab Garnet's hand before rushing across the cold pavement.

 

The entire castle was awake with shock as soldiers and residents alike flowed from their chambers. Some carried weapons, others just fled in pure terror.

 

Garnet and Zidane fly across the castle grounds, rushing down a staircase and entering a large, square chamber where they pause.

 

Soldiers rushed across the room, not even stopping to notice that thier Queen had awoken from her slumber. Finally, a familiar face burst through one of the doors.

 

The familiar jumbling of armor caught Zidane's ears and he spun around to look up at the pale face of Adelbert Steiner.

 

The large male held a large sword in both of his over-sized hands and breathed heavily. He looked down at the Queen once before turning to Zidane.

 

The shorter male was the first to speak, "What the heck is going on?"

 

"A... raid...." Steiner breathed heavily, placing his hands on his knees to catch his breath. "No idea who they are... You gotta get the Queen out of here..."

 

Zidane nodded, "Kinda assumed that much. Any ideas, rusty?"

 

Steiner, who had long ago grown accustomed to the nickname, stopped and pondered the question. He thought a moment then nodded, "Take her to the docks. There will be a vessel their awaiting you. I don't beleive the enemy is attacking from the seas."

 

He nodded briskly, "Right."

 

Garnet spoke up, "Please be careful, Steiner."

 

"If it is your wish, your majesty." Steiner nodded with a confident smirk, "Take care of her, Zidane."

 

"You can trust me."

 

Steiner stared at the male for a moment then nodded, "I know."

 

The Captain of the Knight of Pluto nodded once more to his old friend before turning around and rushing down the hall once more, barking orders as he did so.

 

Zidane once again grabbed ahold of his love's hand and rushed down the opposite hall. He turned a quick corner before feeling the night's cool breeze on his face. He tensed up as thy entered the castle's courtyards.

 

More flames shot from the sky, blasting into buildings and streets. Shouts could now be heard easily from the city and fighting could also be heard over the yelling.

 

Garnet pulled Zidane's arm and he tore himself from the chaos occuring within the city and once again took off thorugh the courtyard. He took the lead and pulled his lover through the night.

 

He could hear her breathing quicken, Niether of them were quite used to this kind of excerssion anymore. Still, he pushed forward and eventually, he was able to smell the sea air.

 

The two of them entered the room that housed the elevator that would take them to the royal port. They stepped onto the platform and Zidane pulled the switch, it wasn't long before they were stepping onto the docks of the port.

 

Just as Steiner had said, a small vessel sat ready to take off in the harbor. However, as they apporached the ship, a splash was heard. That was when they noticed the skirmish occuring just on the dock next to the ship.

 

Zidane cursed and withdrew the two daggers from his waist. He rushed forward and parried a blow that would severe the head of one of the ship's officers. The enemy was surprised and hopped back, holding his curved sword in his hands tightly.

 

The man wore an all black uniform with a black hood over his face. It was impossible to make out any features on the soldiers other than his human-like form.

 

The soldiers shouted and lunged at Zidane, who dodged the blow easily and delivered one of his own to the man's shoulder. The wound bleed, red blood seeping through his uniform. The man dropped back and Zidane took the oppurtunity to deliver a kick to the man's chest, sending him into the sea.

 

Zidane turned around to address the member of the vessel's crew and stared at the pale-faced male. He cleared his throat, "Get the ship ready for departure."

 

The man nodded in confirmation and rushed onto the ship to prepare it. Zidane turned around and once again entered the fray.

 

This time, the men were ready. There were two of them. One parried a blow from Zidane's right dagger while the other lunged for his gut with his straight-sword. Zidane just barely dodged the attack and kicked the man in the stomach with his knee. The other male blocked another blow from Zidane's dagger but was unable to dodge the smack he landed on his chin with the hilt of his other.

 

The man he'd kneed in the stomach was on all fours on the ground. Zidane placed one foot on the man's back and used it to jump into the air. He drop kicked the other man in the face with both feet, sending him into the water. Another soldier tried to attack Zidane from behind as he fell towards the ground.

 

The man attacked with no weapon but delivered a sharp jab to Zidane's chin. His vision grew blurry and he fell back, nearly plummeting into the water himself. The unarmed man tried to attack again but Zidane ducked below the attack and delivered a punch of his own to the man's chest. He took a step backwards and Zidane stole the momentum.

 

He smacked the soldier in the face with the hilt of his dagger then delivered a roundhouse kick to his face. The man stumbled backwards, falling over the other man who was still on the ground. The grounded male stood in a fit of frustration and ran at Zidane.

 

Zidane simply side-stepped the man's attack and brought his dagger around to slice through the man's tender juggular. Blood sprouted from the wound and the male fell to the ground in a fit of gurgling and coughing before he eventually perished.

 

A sound from behind caught Zidane's attention and he turned around to see the vessel's engines roar to life. He ran to the side of the ship as a member of the crew emerged onto the dock.

 

"Garnet, come here!" Zidane shouted over the noise of the engine.

 

The girl, who'de been standing away from the battle a few yards away, walked up to Zidane. He helped her onto the ship's deck then prepared to board himself. Another noise, however, caused him to turn around.

 

A new batch of enemies had emerged from the doorway and stood ready to board the ship. Zidane cursed as he looked behind him at the measly bit of troops that stood to guard the soon-to-depart vessel.

 

Zidane cursed once more and turned to address the crewman. He nodded to the man and the male shouted the order to depart.

 

Garnet shouted, "Zidane, no! You must come!"

 

The male's heart dropped at the sound of his lover's voice. He gritted his teeth and turned to address the new enemies.

 

The vessel began to pull away from the docks and Garnet fell into a fit of tears and shouting. Zidane bit his lip as he turned to look at his girl once more and heard the last bit of her voice over the sound of the approaching foes.

 

"Zidane, please! Meet me there! Meet me at the place of our song!"

 

He thought of the comment once before turning back to meet the first of his enemies. He parried a blow from the soldier and slammed his dagger into the male's stomach. He threw the soldier off his blade and prepared to meet the rest of his enemies.

 

"I'll meet you there, Dagger." He said as he prepared for the onslaught, "Or die trying."

 

To Be Continued...

 

Wow, this is the first bit of fanfiction I've written in quite awhile and the first time I've spread from the Ghost in the Shell category in forever. I really hope every enjoys this bit of fiction but I will mainly be working on my original works. However, I have always loved FF9 and have wanted to write a good story for it for a very, very long time. I just hope this all turns out good.

 

Please review, I love feedback especially constructive criticism.

 

By the way, my name on Fictionpress is Ilze09, so if you could check out one of my original stories, I would really appreciate it.