Old Friends, New Beginnings (Open)

[Zidane]

Things had finally settled down after the whole 'not being dead' thing had erupted on stage. The sun was bright and shining down on the young thief as he lounged about by the docks that lead into the castle. It had been about a year since he had set foot here, but.. not much had changed.

Things here still seemed calm and quite as the guards bustled around taking shifts and patrolling about the castle grounds to ensure no suspicious people were lurking about. Things seemed, pretty perfect. Well, to those who hadn't been outside of the Mist Continent anyways... On his way back home, Zidane had witnessed something he didn't know if he truly believed.

Mist.

Mist had begun to appear again. Yet, he hadn't mentioned word of this to the others yet... How could he? What would he even tell them? 'Oh, hey guys! By the way, the Mist is back so... we're in some deep shit!' Ya.. that would go over well...

He sighed as he rested his arms behind his head as he leaned back and closed his eyes to contemplate his options. Well, Dagger certainly wouldn't be thrilled to hear he was leaving as soon as he got back... Maybe he should just leave? And not tell anyone? No, that wouldn't work either... He'd make them all worry even further..

Well, whatever decision he made, he'd need to do it soon. Before things spiraled too far out of control.

[Vivi]

Golden eyes blinked in the gloom. He had been feeling his way around in the dark for a while. This corridor seemed to go one forever...

When Vivi had awoken, the tiny mage had been covered in a white sheet. Yawning and pulling it off of him, he found that it was covered in dried up flowers and dust... but his hat was no where to be found. Looking around, scratching his head, Vivi noticed many many similar "beds" like the one he'd awoken on; stone table like beds covered in dried and withered flowers. Removing the sheet to step down, Vivi found that his clothes had been stripped from him. Replaced by a simple white gown; no shoes or under clothes.

Stretching and sneezing from all the dust, the brilliant eyes glowed from Vivi's face as he stepped down onto the frightfully cold floor and shivered. Looking over at the tables next to him, he got an eerie feeling... Was this a hospital or something? It was so dark... Vivi reached a hand up and pulled back one of the curtains just slightly... and immediately dropped it, whimpering.

All these sheets... were covering dead people... Vivi's eyes widened in shock. He began desparately feeling his way forwarda along the ends of the stone tables where the dead were layed. Finally he reached a doorway and a corridor and began carefully padding in his barefeet down the dark hallway. It took what felt like hours and by the time Vivi finally wrapped his hands around a doorknob and during the time in the dark, he hadn't thought about what he'd been doing down there or how he'd gotten there to begin with... The sight of the dead body had only frightened him into the intense need to vacate the tomb quickly.

As the door groaned open and Vivi got a breath of fresh air, he had to squint at the brightness of the day. The graveyard was quiet and solemn, but not nearly as forbidding as the mausoleum. Vivi walked towards the palace; his home had been near it and if he remembered properly where he was, he was pretty sure it was not far from here. He walked carefully through the streets and was a little curious as to why there was no one on the streets. Possibly all the kids were inside having lunch... it was odd seeing the streets nearly empty.

Vivi felt a little turned around and was quite lost. He looked up and realized he was passing the docks... He tried to think where he was when he turned and noticed Zidane.

Slowly things started refocusing in his mind. He had been heading home... home was in Alexandria... he had been waiting... for...

"Zidane... you're home..." Vivi whispered, his voice hoarse and scratchy from lack of use, his white gown billowing around him.

[Mikoto]

She needed to contact Zidane. She could feel him far away, in Alexandria. But will it reach him...?
"You have seen the Mist already, right? It's coming from the Iifa Tree. Again. The souls are spreading. Again. I don't know why. I cannot tell why. Iifa Tree is dead, Garland is dead, Terra is... Do you have any idea?" she whispered. It had to reach him. Somehow.
(the rest is in "The Mist" thread on the Outer Continent)

[Zidane]

With a heavy heart and a heavy sigh, the young thief continued to think of how to handle the situation with the most damage control. Geez.... Things just didn't seem to want to work his way... His tip of his tail flicked impatiently back and forth and quick jerky movements as the minutes continued to tick away. He'd have to act quickly to make sure that the problem didn't get out of control but...

Dagger's beautiful face swept over his mind as an image of her lips plastered in a disappointed frown as the tears streaked down her cheeks....

He quickly waved the image away. No. NO NO NO. He couldn't think of that right now... If he didn't leave again, things would only get worse. His fingers curled tightly into a fist as he lightly beat himself in the forehead, as if trying to force the ideas to surface. His concentration was only thrown off by a small voice calling out to him.

"Not now, Vivi..." He groaned from behind closed eyes. Wait... was that really...? "VIVI?!?!" The genome quickly shot straight up and to his feet as his bright blue eyes widened with disbelief and surprise.

The blonde thief dashed forward as he knelt down and held the small mage by the shoulders. The others had said he had stopped, yet, here he was. Oh... Perhaps a clever trick on their part. They had even gone as far as to hide him away and stuff him into burial attire. "Did Rusty put you up to this? Or Dagger?" He questioned as he mulled it over. Well, all that really mattered was that Vivi was here and okay. He'd find his prankster later. Another matter was still on his mind...

But before he could open his mouth to inform the mage, another small voice came to him. "Mikoto?" He looked about, puzzled, not seeing the other genome anywhere in sight. Obviously she had figured out a way to communicate from a distance and was now speaking only through his head. "Ya, I know... I'm working on it. Keep me updated and be safe."

To Vivi, Zidane was talking only to thin air... But by the time he was done, he looked back down at the hatless mage with eyes full of determination. "You up for another adventure?"

[Soumei]

Maru was slowly walking down the street. He was doing it for a while already, because Soumei left him to “check on something”. He didn’t even know how much time had passed. He was completely out of his mind after a while of being lonely and it was starting to creep him off. The Gimme Cat ran out of ideas about where the green-haired girl could be but the weather felt so good, that there would be no harm to search a bit more…

As for Soumei, he knew that something had changed. She wasn’t as talkative and loud as she had been when they came to Alexandria. Maru even enjoyed that, but he was a little (just a little) worried about her being off-character. He knew her for a while, so he could tell when she had a problem with something. Just asking about it wouldn’t work, as well as guessing, because how the hell the Gimme Cat could know what’s in the girl’s crazy mind? Having thought for a while Maru got tired of it and started counting rocks on the ground, just to have something to do.

After some time of mindless walk through streets of Alexandria, Maru thought, that he hadn’t checked the castle. Unfortunately to get there, you have to get on a gondola, and with Maru’s luck, it wasn’t there at the moment. Finally he decided to fly there, because you have to use your wings once in a while if you have them. Soon he reached the docks that lead to the castle. There were some guys talking but as soon as he noticed that, something grabbed him and dragged him behind some boxes and barrels.

When the Gimme Cat managed to get this person’s hands off his eyes, he realized it was Soumei. She put a finger to her lips. “Be quiet.” She whispered. “It’s the guy from the play!” Maru rolled his eyes in annoyance. Then he noticed, that the green-haired girl had her usual smile on. That was it. She was just bored and when something exciting happened, she was back to normal. “So what are you going to do, Meow? Sit here and stalk him?” Soumei didn’t react at first, so Gimme Cat poked her. “I’m not sure yet.”

That was predictable for her to say. They sat hidden for a few more minutes, before Soumei suddenly jumped and shouted “Did I hear adventure?!”

Awkward silence.

Everyone’s eyes were on Soumei at that moment, and she was just smiling brightly. “Oops?” She whispered quietly to Maru.

[Vivi]

Vivi looked up into Zidane's eyes and felt all the previous apprehension drain away. The little black mage had missed his friend so much! Vivi immediately jumped up and hugged Zidane, white burial gown billowing behind him, bare feet sticking out the bottom.

"You're home! I missed you!" Vivi whispered, his throat still very scratchy. In the midst of all the happiness Vivi felt a sharp angry pain in his stomach accented by a loud grumble. The little mage blinked, confused. He didn't think he'd ever been so hungry before... or thirsty...

Vivi didn't have time to mention it before Zidane asked if he was ready for another adventure. Vivi looked down at himself.

"Um... well... you mean... right now?" He asked tentatively. Surely they weren't going on an adventure with Vivi so under dressed... His stomach growled again and Vivi thought, 'Or underfed...'

Then the attention was pulled away from Vivi as a new person approached. Vivi reached up to adjust his hat in shyness, but lowered his hands again when he realized his faithful companion was no longer there. ...Where HAD his clothes gone anyway?