Midnight Dream

Heya people. Its been awhile, huh? i've been slacking on this work...ive been writing my own novel (300 pages so far!) plus just dealing with my crazy life!! well after putting this on the shelf for so long i decided to work on it again...BTW, lemons WILL start in the NEXT chapter...and if this chapter sucks, well, consider it my "warming up" chapter...its gonna take me a minute to get back into the swing of fanfic writing after writing my own stories for so long...oh yeah! and of course i dont own any of these people. Slavery is illegal.

Freya Crescent stared out the window and sighed as the constant rain that plagued Burmecia fell in a deluge into the earth, making the ground into one huge marsh. Droplets of rain splashed against her windowpane and rolled slowly down, like tears falling from a cheek.
"Fratley...where are you???"
This question had haunted her for over a year now. Sir Fratley, the love of her life, had simply dissapeared off the face of the earth on one of his travels. No one had heard from him since, and everyone seemed to have forgotten about him...except her. She could'nt. No, she WOULDN'T. She would wait for him until the world explodes. But it got so hard sometimes...she cried out those four words every day and night, every sunrise and sunset, but the only answer she received in reply was the constant silence of the mountains and the angry thundering of the clouds above.

Freya lived in Burmecia, the "City of Perpetual Rain." Of the Three kindgoms on the Mist continent Burmecia was the smallest and least influential. Their people looked like a cross between humans and rats and tended to stick to their own kind. To the east of their city lay the enourmous tree of Cleyra where their brothers and sisters lived, surrounded by an eternal sandstorm. The two cities had been divided long ago.
The city of Burmecia itself had an unquestionably gothic style to it, with tall archways and forbidding towers and stain glassed windows adorning almost every building.

She had no desire, no NEED to stay in this depressing hellhole any longer. There was nothing for her here anymore. Fratley was not returning. Deep down in her heart she had always known that, but she couldn't admit it to herself until just then. When she did it was much easier than she had anticipated it being. In fact, it came almost as a relief. Her life in this place was over. She had wasted it. She had to find a new start, a new city, a new life...she had to find her true self. And for those who want to find or lose themselves, there is only one place on the planet to go-Lindblum.


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"WAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOO!!! RUBY!!! HEY RUBY!!! BRING SOME MORE DRINKS FOR ZIDANE HEREEEEEEE...Heee heee saaaaaaveed my liiifff-*hic*" Marcus fell off his chair in a drunken stupor and passed out.
The entire crew of Tantalus was celebrating their recent theft with a round of drinks onboard their 'theater' ship, Prima Vista. They had flown all night from the noble's house in Treno back to Lindbulm and the sun was just beginning to rise out of the mist behind the magnifiscent city, tainting the sky golden and pink, light fluffy cirrus clouds parting to make way for the yellow orb. The world below the mist had only a half an hour or so of sunlight per day-then it was blocked out by the inpenetrable sheen of mist. But fortunately Lindbulm was built above the constant fog.
Zidane the remaining contents in his glass of whiskey. He caught Ruby's eye and winked at her playfully, drawing a giggle followed by "Ah do dehclayre!" in her husky southern accent.
Zidane stretched his arms out wide and then pushed himself away from the table. He over the body of Marcus and went out onto the deck to greet the welcoming sun, a contented smile creeping across his face as he stared out over the world below them. He looked out into the horizon and saw the outline of Linbulm fast approaching. Within fifteen minutes they would be inside the Falcon's Gate.

Lindbulm! a city encompassing both the best and worst of the world. From upscale classy houses to theives dens and whorehouses, the city had an unimaginable variety of lifestyles you could live out. Lindbulm was without a doubt the largest city on the Mist Contenint- No, the entire world of Gaia. Linbulm Cast rested in the middle of this congested, overpopulated metropolis. High walls surrounded the entire city, making entry to it possible only by Airship, boat, or through a special gate on foot.

Once they had parked the Prima Vista safely in the shipyards, Tantalus headed back immediately to their hideout in the theater district.

Zidane swung around from the beams on the ceiling with his monkey tale, laughing and tossing things at Blank, Marcus and Cinna. Benero and Zenero chased eachother around the room snorting and whining through their leather masks.
Baku walked in and slammed the door behind him. "ALRIGHT FOOLS! Nicely done, Nicely done!!"
Zidane swung down from his perch and joined his comrades around a wooden table in the middle of the single-room hideout.
Marcus was still a little woozy from all his drinking and collapsed on the bed, snoring like an old man. Baku belted out his trademark laugh and tossed the treasure onto the center of the table where it was admired by everyone.
"yep! aint she a beaut? This baby's gonna fetch us about 50,000 gil at least!"
The treasure was a golden urn with jewels and diamonds encrusted in it.
baku suddenly took on an air of seriousness and cautioned the rest of the group, "Hey. Be on your guard guys, alright? It's probably nothing, but i got a feeling we stole from the wrong rich asshole this time...we might be in trouble if he's able to tail us."
Blank waved his hand dismissively. "Aw Come on boss...do you really have such little faith in us? don't you think the 'Greatest band of theives' can watch their own backs?"
"That's not the case Blank. But from what you and Zidane told me, it sounds like that guy has some pretty ruthless security measures...look just be careful is all i'm sayin. Anyway, that's it. meeting adjourned boys. Come back at 12 o' clock sharp tomorrow and we'll talk about where to sell this lil' darlin. Now scram! Get outta my house!"
The tantalus hideout was also a clock tower, and at that precise moment the clock struck 10 in the morning, waking marcus from his sleep. By the time he was fully focused everyone had left, including Baku.
"Oh man...i've got such a headache.." Marcus stumbled out the door and took the trolley to the inn.


After the group broke up Zidane decided to go hang out in the market district.
The trolley ride their provieded him sufficient time to sort out his thoughts.
Zidane had no idea who his parents were, where his birthplace was, or where he came from. His first memories were off Baku teaching him the ropes of thievery. His life with Tantalus was all he'd ever known, but he was content with it. It was a good life that provided plenty of opportunities for travel and adventure, and the occasional one night stand with a girl at wherever the place their pilfering had led them to.
but deep down inside him he felt like something was missing, something was not with him. For all his confidence and cheery demeanors he felt like he had a hole in him. 'I guess that's why i've stayed with this for so long', he thought, 'this way i can get money while looking foatevatever it is i need at the same time.'
But how can you search for something that you don't know even exists? This dilemma troubled Zidane, but not to the point of it holding him back.

As soon as Zidane stepped off the tram into the business district he heard loud shouts and jeers coming from down the street. as he exited the tram station he saw a huge swarming crowd gathering further down near the marketpace. excited, he took off running, swinging up to landings of second-story buildings to get a better look.


Down below him in the center of the crowd was a woman wearing a pointy red hat and a red coat stood poised with her spear held delicately but firmly between her hands. Snaking down out of the back of her coat was a rat's tail. zidane knew instantly who it was.
"FREYA!" he called out.
If she heard him, Freya didn't respond. Instead she leapt towards a Zaghnol that hotteotten loose into the streets of Lindbulm that Zidane hadn't even noticed before. With a few deft cleaves of her blade, the Zaghnol's legs were cut out from under it. Even without the ability to move it still thrashed and snarled furiously, threatening to gore anyone who got too close. Freya leapt high into the air, the blade of her spear shimmering in the rays of the sun. Without warning the spear came shooting back down to the ground
and pierced the skin of the Zaghnol's back deeply, sendling droplets of blood slowly draining out of the wound down its orangeish fur. A few moments later Freya came down from the sky, landing with her hands on the spear, pushing it even further down into the Zaghnol. She dragged it upwards through bone and sinew, creating a huge gash up the back of the monster as it growled out in pain. When even that failed to execute the raging beast, Freya jumped down in front of the monsters face. She was about to thrust the spear straight through its eye when, with a sudden burst of energy, the Zaghnol pushed himself forward as far as he could go without legs and impaled Freya through her left shoulder with one of its tusks.
"AAAHHHHHHHGHH!" Freya screamed in a voice that was not hers; it seemed to come from another voice. The whimpers she gave off were neither human nor animal, they were something more primal, something that had been around since the dawn of life in the ocean: pure, unabridled pain, not held back by anything.

Without thinking about what he was doing, Zidane unsheathed both of his daggers and jumped off from the porch he had been watching on. Twirling the blades around between his forefinger and thumb he flew down from his vantage point with lightning speed. The crowd gasped as they saw a young boy brush his golden locks out of his face and move towards the beast menacingly, a scowl on his face.
"Hang on Freya!!!"
"Zidane? You idiot! stay back, i can handle it myself!!"
"Oh. Being impaled was all part of your plan?"
Freya was silent for a moment until the Zaghnol gave a violent twist of its head, sliding Freya even further down onto its tusk.
"Ok! Hurry up and kill the monster!"
Zidane ran straight ahead at the Zaghnol in what apeared to be a suicide attempt. At the last minute before the Zaghnol thrashed its head downwards to crush Zidane, he rolled underneath the beast's chin and continued running on, dragging his dagger through the bottom of its mouth until he reached its throat. With two foreful slashes he cut the Zaghnol's throat open. The monster gave an ear shattering roar before collapsing to the ground, dead.
Zidane emerged from the dead carcass a few seconds later and gently removed Freya from the tusk. He ripped off a piece of his shirt and wrapped it around the wound to stop the bleeding until she could get to a hospital. They both stood quietly for a few moments, breathing heavily and panting, wiping blood- whether the Zaghnol's or their own they couldn't be sure- from their faces. Once they had caught their breath Zidane turned to Freya and, grinning, said "It's been awhile, huh?"


OK!! thats it for Chapter 2. I'll have three up in another day or so...Please REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I need to know if you guys think im doing good or if im sucking donkey balls! Oh and lemons WILL start next chapter i swear on the soul of the great Squirrel God. Also, the pairings listed on the summary are subject to change, so you'll probably be seeing some stuff that wasnt mentioned, or stuff that was mentioned not there...
Well thanks a lot im out for today!
aragato