Chapter 3Ex-Best Friend
_____The day of the Festival of the Hunt has finally arrived. Shirley, Zidane, and I are standing around at the base of the stairs outside of the Guest Room of Lindblum Castle.
_____"Well Ashley, the Festival of the Hunt is about to begin."
_____"Yeah. Good luck, Shirley."
_____"...Where'd Zidane get to?"
_____"Look on that couch behind you." Shirley looks over her shoulder.
_____"He's sleeping." She suddenly bursts out laughing. I walk over to the couch where Zidane's laying on his back, sound asleep, and I kick him fairly hard in the arm several times, while loudly saying,
_____"Wake up, ya lazy idiot." I stop kicking him and rest my foot against his arm. I think to myself,
how can he still be asleep after that? He suddenly grabs my foot and shoves it off his arm, causing me to fall forward, on top of him. He grabs my arms and pins them behind my back, so that I can't move.
_____"Who's the idiot now?" he says playfully.
_____"Ok, ok! I give! I give!" I say. Shirley walks over as Zidane lets go of me and says,
_____"Knock it off you two, the Festival's about to begin." Then the booming voice of one of the guards of Lindblum Castle sounded from the top of the steps. The guard said,
_____"The Mus, Fangs, and Trick Sparrows have been released in the Industrious, Business, and Theater Districts. You shall receive points for each creature you defeat.
(I am taking this part directly from the game, and do not have the full quote at this time.)_____We head to the train stations, and take the ones to our respective Districts. As soon as we get the signal to start, though, I take the train right back to Zidane's district. There is no way I'm letting Shirley take advantage of Zidane being alone. I follow him through the District, dodging behind buildings and anything else I can find so he won't know that I'm following him. I watch with admiration as he defeats beast after beast. I checked my watch, and saw that time had almost run out. I nod with satisfaction as Zidane fights his last Fang, thinking what I great job I did protecting him. Suddenly I hear something behind me. Did Zidane miss a Mu? I swing my dagger around behind me and hear it clang off metal. My neck catches up with my swing and I see Shirley, smiling innocently at me as her blade gently pushes mine away.
_____"Little jumpy, are we?" Her innocent laugh grates on my nerves.
_____"Only ‘cause you snuck up on me."
_____"You're not usually this easy to sneak up on. You've been paying an awful lot of attention to Zidane during the battle. Isn't that a little bit odd?" I want to rip that smile off her face.
_____"Is it so odd to admire my brother's fighting skills?"
_____"Oh, so you're saying you…
feel for him?"
_____"Of course I do, he's my brother." I try my hardest to look cool and calm, not letting my frothing rage show through at the disgusting thing she was implying. Just then, the bells signaling the end of the event rang, mercifully cutting the conversation short. Zidane had started heading toward the station and consequently us. He noticed us and waved, pleased with how he did in the Festival. I wave back, ignoring Shirley. When we board the train, I sit between them.
_____When we get back to the Castle, we see that others have gotten back first and that the list is posted with a crowd around it, some looking excited and others disappointed. Surprisingly, Dagger is there; she came to watch Zidane. He goes straight over to her and pulls her into a hug, and I can feel the death glare Shirley is shooting her. They talk while the rest of the participants file in, until the guard calls for silence and doles out the prizes. Then Zidane motions me to come over to an empty corner.
_____"Hey, I'm going to go back to Alexandria with Dagger and spend some time with her. Can you handle yourself?" I know he knows I can handle myself, and I realize he's asking if I can handle Shirley. I nod and smile.
_____"Go on, have fun with your girlfriend. I'll take care of things here." I give him a small wink and I set off to find Shirley, hoping to distract her long enough for Zidane to get away with Dagger. When I finally spot her looking around to see where Zidane went, I dash up to her, determined to put on just as good an act as she could.
_____She's holding her chosen prize, the Butterfly Sword.
_____"Ooooooh," I squeal, "it's so pretty! Look at all the gems set in the hilt!"
_____"You could've had one yourself, if you'd bothered to earn any points." She gives me a sweet giggle that I cringe inwardly at, but instead I scratch the back of my head.
_____"I was worried, I'd heard rumors about this year's special monster, I was worried he'd run into it. I was gonna help him fight it if he did."
_____"Aww, you're such a good sister." A sickeningly sweet smile fixes itself onto her face, and I show one right back to her and thank her.
_____"Ha ha! Thanks, Shirley, I try. He's the only thing I've got in this world." She softly nudges me with her elbow and it's all I can do not to smack her away.
_____"Hey now, you've got me." My heart sinks, my senses flaring sharply, danger sirens going off in my head.
_____"Yeah, I do." One last smile. "It's getting late, I'm sure Zidane's already set off for home without me, I better get going too." I take off before she can say anything, and wave over my shoulder as I go.
_____When I get home, I dive under my covers, shivering uncontrollably, feeling like I've just escaped an encounter with death.
