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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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.

On the one hand, Zidane could understand what she meant about not wanting to bring extra pain to someone she considered a friend. On the other hand, this Vayne had tried to steal his girl, and Zidane wouldn't have been at all upset about some pain coming to him. Maybe even an extra swift kick in the shins to make it worse.

Still...

"I have to tell Blank," he said after a moment. He wasn't agreeing with her reasons, he was just...well...telling what it would take to get him to go along. "And you have to tell Beatrix. But not Rusty or Eiko, they can't keep their mouths shut..." He sighed softly.

"How long do we have to keep it a secret?" Okay, he really didn't like this at all.

It seemed reasonable enough of a request, although, Dagger wasn't sure she trusted Blank once he had a few drinks in him. Still, he was the closest Zidane had to family, with the rest of Tantalus still missing, and she couldn't very well fault him for that. She nodded slowly as he spoke.

But then she frowned, her lower lip worried between her teeth as she considered the question. "I don't know... believe me, this is not how I wanted things to be, but you've said it yourself, they won't be able to keep quiet about it."

She lifted a hand, and brushed the hair out of his face, combing her fingers through gold locks, trailing back to play with the ribbon-tied tail at the nape of his neck.

Zidane suspected the hand in his hair was meant as part of her apology about this, most because she knew he rather liked having her hands in his hair. He would have probably tried to stop her, to keep the conversation more focused, but...well, it was hard to do sometimes.

"But you will tell him. Eventually," it was a half-question, half-statement, and he fixed his gaze on her. "A week or two, but..." He frowned faintly. "It would be cruel to leave him on," okay, Zidane didn't actually care about that. "And I am not sure I will be able to watch you have to...pretend to be considering it. If he visits."

Which, given that Zidane had appeared on the network and his normal relationship to Dagger was public knowledge, the thief was almost certain the man would do. What man would give up Dagger without a fight?

After half a moment's pause, Dagger nodded slowly. Zidane had a very valid point; to leave him hanging for too long may only make matters worse. Still, it seemed it would be best if she would wait, at least until the initial pain of his brother's loss had dulled. Although, that could be quite some time, or never. There were days she still grieved the death of queen Brahne..

"Actually, I'd like to introduce you if I could," said Dagger. "He's really quite the gentleman, I think you'd get along just fine."

Oh, she no idea just how wrong she was.

"Well, uh. If you think it's a good idea." Somehow, Zidane did not think he was going to like meeting the man who'd tried to steal Dagger away from him, but...well, he'd pretend. For a little bit.

Maybe.

"So, what do we do? I mean, if we're not telling anybody?" And then another pause, and a faint frown. "...Do I still have a room at the castle? I know it's been a year but..."

"We... well, we..." Dagger paused, finding that she didn't have an answer. She sighed, her arm draping around his neck and shoulder, as she curled up in his lap. "I don't know."

His new question had her lifting her head, blinking at him. He'd taken any personal items with him the last time he'd left. "A room can always be made up, that's never a problem." She had a feeling that wasn't what he'd meant, though.

Zidane let his arms drape around her again as she seemed to wilt a little in his lap at her realization that she didn't know what to do. "Well, we have to tell them eventually. I mean...otherwise it's kind of a sad sort of engagement..." He gave her a little smile, his attention not really on her answer to the room question until he really thought about it.

"...What do you mean? I have all my stuff in that guest room on the second floor, right? Or did you have it put into storage?"

Dagger gave him a strange look -- similar to the one given to someone who has maybe just sprouted an extra limb. "No, you took everything with you the last time you were --"

She stopped mid sentence. More and more, she was really beginning to believe that he'd forgotten everything, and it hadn't all just been some ruse to get in good with her again. Her brow creased in consideration. "...you might ask Blank? Maybe you took it back to the Tantalus base."

Zidane sighed at the way Dagger again started talking about a time that he didn't remember and honestly wasn't sure about. Everyone kept acting like he had been here somehow. But he couldn't have been, he'd remember!

It was getting tiring though, saying that over and over, so he just sort of nodded his head in resignation. "I'll ask him. This is so weird." He smiled at her and leaned forward to kiss her softly.

"Oh. What kin of ring do you want?"

"Hmm..."

Now there was something she hadn't really considered. It wasn't as though she really needed any more pieces of jewelry -- she had a set of jewelry for nearly every precious stone known to humanity. Gold, Silver, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, all of them left to her by her late mother. She changed her jewelry depending on her choice of clothing and the occasion.

"Something that goes with anything," she said, finally. "Something simple."

And then, a playful poke in his ribs, "and preferably something not stolen, or purchased with stolen gil." It was joking in tone, but if Zidane knew her at all, he'd know she was dead serious.

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

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