timeandtides_backup | Our paths, they did cross, though I cannot say just why...

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Our paths, they did cross, though I cannot say just why...

Characters: Garnet and Zidane
Progress: Ongoing
Summary: A Reunion after one long (and one less long but more confusing) absence.
Location: Alexandria
Date: January 1804
Warnings: Nothing? Well, emotions. And probably some wibbles.

Zidane stood outside of Dagger's door inside the Palace at Alexandria, staring at the ornate pattern on the wood with an oddly distant expression on his face. He'd entered this door hundreds of times, he dropped in on her constantly and it was an open invitation, and yet suddenly he was nervous. He didn't want to say scared, but that was there too, lurking away at the back of his mind.

He almost made himself knock, almost, his hand raised up to knock, stopped, raised again, and then he stopped and frowned at himself. This didn't make any sense. Sure, this wasn't exactly an usual situation, but...but she was still his girl. This shouldn't have been anything different. He shouldn't be so nervous.

So, after a few moments of collecting himself, Zidane reached out and pushed the door open, stepping in the same way he had hundreds of times before, with the same big smile (he hoped) and cheerful expression (he hoped) that was always there. He was happy to see her...he really was. No matter what else was going on, he was always happy to see her.

"Hey Dagger, I'm ho-" the briefest of pauses. "Back."

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Only if you take me with you! her heart cried, but she had to bite her tongue. Maybe Zidane's wanderlust was contagious, because Dagger was sure she had to have caught it from somewhere. Ever since the flash of light, the word of new places and people appearing over the face of Gaia, she'd wanted to see it all for herself. Her responsibilities laid in Alexandria, and until things had stabilized, she couldn't very well go traipsing about on some tour across the world!

Finally, she sighed, turning to tuck her head beneath his chin. "Maybe not quite as spontaneously as you're used to," she admitted.

He shifted faintly so that she could get comfortable like that, giving her a little squeeze as she turned her head, that smile still on his face, though his eyes were narrowed as he thought about what she had said.

"But...I could go," he said, and there was actually a little bit of surprise in his voice that it hadn't just been a 'probably not'. "Because...there's so many things out there, Dagger. New towns and caves and castles and..." He actually laughed softly.

"Well, you know me." He could never resist an adventure, after all. "Hey, you could even come with me sometimes. We could make Rusty run the kingdom for a few days."

She almost laughed. Almost. "Somehow, I don't think that Steiner would be too happy about that."

And then, she did laugh; softly, something more felt than heard. It was so much like old times, Dagger wanted to cry. If it all turned out to be some elaborate dream, she hoped she never woke up. There was so many dark, terrible things she had to think about, and for that moment, she felt the weight lifted, if only a bit.

"Well, I'll be king, so it doesn't matter if he doesn't like it, right? 'cause...king." He nodded sagely at this obvious truth, and then smiled when he felt her relaxing some in his arms.

It was a relief. He knew whatever was going on in the world had to be such a pressure on her. If he'd shown up, and she'd said she was getting married, just like that...he probably would've left. Just to make it not worse.

Instead, well...he didn't have to. He gave her another reassuring squeeze, and kissed the top of her head gently, but didn't say anything else.

"It's not quite that simple," replied Dagger, with a tone of resignation. She'd long ago come to accept that fact that, more often than not, she would be watched, and followed. Of course, she hadn't let that stop her from occasionally sneaking out into to town. Still the same old white-mage garb, but it seemed to do the trick.

A pause. "If you want to get out, you can't tell anyone, they'll just insist on following." and then she craned her head back, so that she could look up at him.

"I'm pretty good at not telling anyone till I'm already gone, you know," Zidane said, tilting his head to peer down at her, a little grin on his face before he looked away. When he spoke again, it was in a 'dictation' sort of voice.

"Dear Rusty, we've gone to see what this 'Raithwall's Tomb' is. Will be back in a week. Don't burn the castle down. Do whatever Beatrix tells you. Love, us"

And then he looked back at her, and gave her a little kiss again on her forehead. "See? Works like a charm."

Dagger rolled her eyes, although the faintest of smiles curled her lips. Leave it to Zidane to pursue the most simple, obvious solution, even if it could never really be so easy. Although, maybe it could. It always seemed to work for him, somehow. Much to her aggravation, at times. Raising up on the tips of her toes, she placed a chaste kiss to his cheek.

"...I've missed you," she whispered, her voice cracking.

Zidane did have a way of making things like that work. Whether it was his charm or some trick of his personality...or just some trick....he seemed to always find a way. So she should've just had faith that he could pull this off, too.

Something about the kiss, and those whispered words, stilled his smile though, as he looked down at her face. He reached up to run his fingers through her hair lightly, letting the tips trace across her cheek. He wanted to say something in return. He had missed her, he needed her, he didn't want her to marry vayne, something deep and emotional and resonant that would make this problem go away.

His tail had been flicking about in a panic for the last twenty seconds or so as his mind raced, but now it settled, slipping up to curl lightly around her left wrist. He seemed...calm. And there was a little smile tugging at the corner of his lips. And then he surprised even himself as he leaned down slightly to kiss her, a soft kiss on the lips, it was hardly more than a peck, and then looked her in the eyes with those huge orbs of his.

"Marry me?"

She could have drowned in those eyes of his. And then just as she thought she might do exactly that, he spoke again. Dagger blinked. She drew back sharply, pulling herself out of whatever daze she'd fallen into, scanning his face.

"What?" she asked Then, she seemed to calm a little. "Don't tease me, Zidane."

Zidane seemed rather confused when Dagger backed away like that, though his tail managed to keep its grip on her wrist. "What? I...I'm not..."

Here, have a frown. Did he do it wrong? There must have been something he...Oh. Right! "I forgot!" The frown turned into a bit of a grin, as he promptly dropped to one knee in front of her, still gripping her hands, and keeping that tail around her wrist.

"Alright, so, I still have to go get a ring and stuff, right, but...uh..." Okay, pause. It had been hard enough the first time. And this time was more...formal and stiff and less off-the-cuff-take-the-chance sort of thing. But once a breath was taken, and his eyes met hers again...

"Marry me, Dagger?"

Dagger had been about two seconds away from getting irritated with him over the whole thing. That is, until he dropped to one knee. At that point, her heart leapt into her throat, and she thought she might have stopped breathing. All she could do for the longest time was stare down at him in disbelief. 'Marry me, Dagger.' -- it didn't come anywhere near close to the proposal that Vayne had made; simple, to the point. Familiar.

"...Is that what you really want?" she asked, voice barely above a whisper, but so full of hope.

Now that question got that sideways smile of his up at her, and a little kiss to back of her wrist...simply by merit of being the closest exposed part of her. And then he gave her other wrist a tug with his tail.

"If I didn't, would I have asked? Come on, Dagger. You know me better than that." Was he terrified? Yes. Of course. Good lord. Did that mean he didn't mean it? Not a chance.

Dagger wasn't sure she had ever concocted any ideas of what a proposal aught to be like; most people of her station never had the luxury of anything particularly romantic, as their matches were more often than not, made for them. Rarely in stories did anyone ask; they simply ran away together.

This was different. It was spontaneous even if she'd prodded him into it and simple, and the look in is eyes even if she pretended not to see the twinge of fear there spoke more strongly than any choice of words.

Dagger pursed her lips together, feeling a burning sensation in her eyes. Her knees buckled, and she dropped to them. With one insistent motion, she pulled her hands from his grip so that she could throw them around his neck. She tackled him with such force, it threatened to send them both to the floor.

"Yes." she hiccuped. "Yes, I will."

The ring she had held so tightly, slipped from her grasp and rolled across the carpet.

Zidane remained as still as he could, just watching her face as she seemingly tried to, what, make up her mind? He was afraid for a second she was going to hit him, honestly...until she had talked him, her arms going around his neck, and he had to shift his balance pretty badly in a desperate attempt to keep from falling over.

When she actually spoke though, he couldn't hide his surprise, and the momentary distraction sent him dropping right down onto his rear, though he managed to make sure he absorbed the impact, and she just wound up with his arms around her waist, and her legs stretched out behind her as he held her tightly.

"For a second I was pretty worried there," he said, his voice soft and slightly teasing, but his hug got a little tighter.

Dagger squirmed, settling herself in his embrace. It was awkward, laying half across the floor like that, not to mention a bit compromising. she prayed no one decided to walk in on them right then. Tightening her own grip, Dagger buried her face in his neck.

"What would you be worried about?" she murmured, and then sniffed. "You don't really think I'd have made such a big deal out of it and then said no, do you?"

"Well, no." He admitted softly, his hand coming up to run his fingers absently through her hair. "But that didn't mean I wasn't scared something odd would happen and you'd say no for some random reason I don't understand. I did miss a year." He smiling though, and he turns his head to give her a little kiss on the cheek. He doesn't actually care at all if someone comes in, but he knows that she does. Still...he won't suggest moving for a minute or two, because...this is rather nice.

"Very glad you didn't though," he added.

Dagger said nothing in reply. In the minutes that followed, the room became so quiet, so peaceful, she could have fooled herself into thinking that there was no one else around for miles. It was then, that everything really began to sink in.

Zidane had asked her to marry him. She'd said yes. Of course she'd said yes, but... he'd asked her to marry him and she'd said yes. The reality of it was staggering. Something she'd thought about since she was a little girl, and something she'd been pushed and pushed to do for several years now. She was going to be someone's wife.

"You won't regret this... will you?"

Zidane had been enjoying the peace, then. It was the first time he'd completely relaxed since he'd woken up in Treno, honestly. No worrying about sky people or missing friends or most importantly, losing Dagger. He'd fixed that, the main problem, the big...issue. The rest would fall in line.

"Hmm?" He shifted his head a bit to look at her after she spoke, reaching up to brush her face from her hair and kiss her again on the cheek. "Nope." That little smile of his. Sure, there would be issues, and problems, and other issues, and more problems, and then presumably a disaster or two. But Regret? Eh, Zidane was awful at regret anyway.

"What about you?"

Slowly, Dagger shook her head, before resting her cheek against his shoulder. Her arms slide from around his neck, then under his arms, around his back.

"I would only regret, if I had pressured you into something you didn't want," she replied softly.

I will not pressure you. Words Vayne had spoken to her. It was like a dark cloud suddenly blotting out the sun; in the midst of things, she'd almost forgotten that she still had to clear things up with him. But then she remembered everything else -- the meeting gone do horribly, the arguments over nethicite, the epitaphs, the death toll...

How could she in good conscience turn him down now, when he was already grieving his brother?

"Well, don't you worry about that," Zidane shifted a bit as she did, deciding he wasn't very fond of sitting on the floor barely able to get his arms around her with her legs stretched out like that. So, he decided to fix it. "I'm pretty good at ignoring pressure, if you haven't noticed." Okay, that was...mostly true. "Just trust me, okay? You didn't pressure anything. Hup."

As he spoke, he managed to get his arms more under her, and he shifted up, hauling them both to their feet, though once they were up there, he was actually carrying her, an arm behind her back and one under her knees. What? He's an acrobat, he can do that sort of thing.

A quick glance about, a few steps, and he plopped down on the couch, still holding her gently, letting her legs stretch out away from him and settling her rear on his leg. "That's better."

When he hoisted her into the air like that, she let out a very undignified yelp of surprise, and tightened her grip on him. Not that she really ever believed he would drop her, but he'd given her very little warning, and the whole thing was just a bit more than she'd expected!

Then, the next thing she knew, she was seated in his lap, the both of them sprawled on her little red sofa. Both the chunk of nethicite from earlier, and the would-be engagement ring laid on the silk rug, ignored, but no forgotten. Indeed, those unpleasant truths had wormed their way into her mind and taken root rather quickly.

So, rather than settling back into position, Dagger sat up, her arms slacking, hands coming to rest in her lap. There was no hiding the troubled expression on her face.

Zidane noticed the change a moment before she actually moved, and by the time her hands were in her lap, his head was titled forward, turning to the side so he could look up into her face.

"What's wrong?"

He was sure he could guess, and even then there were probably a dozen more things wrong than he even knew about, but he didn't try to guess at any of them out loud, just...letting her answer. He did place a hand gently on her back, rubbing a small line up and down her spine, trying to be reassuring.

Dagger sighed, and the expression on her face solidified; guilt.

"There's been so much that's happened, just in the past few weeks. People... peopled have been killed, recently. From the fiend invasions, and recently, epitaphs appearing outside of Oeilvert. And, well..."

Fidgeting with the hem of her sleeve, she diverted her eyes. "Can I ask you... not tell anyone about us just yet?"

Zidane can understand how the first thing would bother her, Dagger always seemed to take things like that so personally. Well...so did he, though not when it was something that had happened while he was apparently sleeping under Treno. Not yet, anyway.

But how she got from that to the second question? He didn't have a clue.

"What are you talking about? You've been hinting about this for years and now you want to keep it a secret?" Yes, he's confused. And perhaps just a little bit hurt.

"Please don't misunderstand. I'm... happy, really, I am," said Dagger, and she reached for his hand. She needed him to know where she was coming from. "But I still have not given Vayne an answer. Just yesterday, he informed me that his brother, Larsa, was killed in conflict with an Epitaph. He is my friend still, and he's grieving now. I must think of a way to handle this so that I don't cause him any more grief than he is already dealing with. For him to hear this before I've talked to him myself would only make matters worse."

Dagger gave his hand a gentle squeeze, a silent plea for him to understand.

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