Pointy Hat (Patreon)

A/N: 

FF9/Worm Cross

Summary: Several years after Zidane and Garnet tied the knot, Vivi fears his time to stop is upon him. Having said goodbye to his friends, he sets out to travel the world like he did in his earliest days, and stumbles his way into an entirely new one. 

POINTY HAT

Prologue

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Taylor lay on her bed in her bedroom, habitually clenching and unclenching her fists like the doctor had told her to when one of her panic attacks set in. 

She’d been claustrophobic ever since the locker, and getting over it was proving difficult. Her room wasn’t small but the covers touching her skin felt close. Occasionally the feel of even the blanket holding her down was enough to trigger a flashback to the locker. 

Anything that made her feel trapped or enclosed did. She was getting better but she didn’t know whether or not her mild claustrophobia would ever completely evaporate. 

“Fuck…” she thought anxiously. “Two days. I have to go back in two days.” 

It was almost two in the morning and she hadn’t slept a wink. Sleep had been harder and harder to come by the closer her return to school came. She’d been out of school for almost three weeks now, recovering from infections. Bug bites and toxic waste hadn’t make her healthy. Who knew?

She sighed and sat up. Trying to sleep obviously wasn’t working. She considered running but thought better of it. Running had never been something she’d really enjoyed, and while she’d attempted to start running in the mornings, it hadn’t stuck. She’d lost the small pudge she’d had before her hospitalization due to simple lack of appetite, and didn’t see much reason to make herself even thinner. 

“It’s… going to be worse, isn’t it?” she thought aloud. 

Probably not right away, she reasoned. Probably not even for months. But how long until they orchestrated another locker? How much more could she take?

Putting aside the grim thoughts, she moved to turn on her lamp with the intention of reading a book till dawn. Before she could reach it though, she caught sight of an unusual flicker outside her window. 

“Huh?” she murmured, leaning over her bed to look closer.

Sure enough, up in the deep night sky a flickering light appeared to be falling. A shooting star? Hah. Maybe she should make a wish? Like those ever came true.

‘Why not?’ she thought bitterly. ‘Okay. I wish that… fuck. I wish things would get better. I wish someone would help make things better.’ 

After a moment spent watching the shooting star, which was still visibly falling, she scoffed at herself. A stupid wish, for a stupid, irrelevant girl. Her mom would’ve been ashamed. At the very least she could’ve been a little less cliche.

She made to turn the light on again, when she noticed that the star was still falling. 

Was it… brighter?

Her eyes widened as the tiny dot widened into a burning object that was hurtling towards her with alarming speed.

In a blink, the distant object seemed to coalesce into a burning… thing. Her heart stopped as the object slammed into her backyard just below her, sending a small eruption of dirt and mud flying up high enough to actually splatter against her window.

She blinked a few times, shocked at having survived the high-velocity dirt spray. A few more minutes passed before she could gather up enough coherence for thought.

“What… the fuck?” 

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

“H-hey. Are you… okay?” 

The words were cloudy and unclear in his mind, but had a definite feminine tone to them. 

“Ughh…” he groaned, his body aching. 

Awareness fluttered in as he slowly came awake. Vivi groaned and rolled over onto his side. He was incredibly thankful for the magical protection granted by the Robe of Lords. Without it, he suspected he’d have been paste after a collision like that.  

“Ugh… where… am I?” he thought cloudily.

“Are yo… wh-what? What are you!?” the shocked voice came again, more clearly this time, accompanied by a shuffling noise as the girl backed away from him.

Vivi smiled inwardly, amused by the question, despite the pain from his extrastellar crash.

“I’ve been…” he paused stretch and crack his aching bones, “...asking myself that all my life. But, where it counts, I think I’m human enough.” 

The black mage shook himself. He moved to rise, only to discover that his limbs felt profoundly tired. He pushed through and rose to a sitting position, with a rough groan and spent a moment taking in his surroundings. 

Oh. Damn. His hat had fallen off. No wonder the girl sounded so frightened. 

He spotted the hat lying a few feet away, but when he tried to reach for it, his arms gave out on him he splashed face down in the dirt.

The surprised voice snickered, then stopped. “W-well… human or not, you don’t look so good. Are you okay?”

Picking himself back up, Vivi found himself in a rundown looking backyard. A large… home, he wanted to call it, loomed in front of him, with light spilling out of it. Light like he’d seen on Terra. Light that didn’t flicker. 

Despite that unsettling connection, this light has a significantly less sinister feel to it. Certain objects around the place also lent it a comely feeling. He was relatively certain the odd standing object near the sliding glass door to the house was a grill. Terra didn’t have grills, so this place was already looking marginally better than the last time he’d traversed worlds.

“Sorry. That was rude. It’s just… you look different. I wasn’t sure if you were actually human or… like, a robot some cape made. Do you remember who you are?” said a cute if slightly nerdy looking girl who stood warily at the edge of the crater he’d made.

She reminded him, very very dimly, of Doctor Tot with her large glasses. That was where the similarities ended though. She was obviously female, young, and human. 

Sitting as she was, he couldn’t tell how tall she was, but she looked slender, and about his age at least physically. Knowing humans as he did, she was almost certainly at least five years his senior, but he’d done a lot of growing in the years since his first journey with Zidane, Eiko, and the others.

“Robot? That’s not far off, actually,” Vivi joked. He’d long since come to terms with the circumstances of his creation. His joking attitude towards it now, certainly had Zidane’s influence written all over it. “But I’m more than my maker intended. I’m Vivi; what’s your name?” 

The girl blinked, a little put off. “Uh… I’m Taylor.”

Oh. She was shy. He grinned, though of course only his eyes would show Taylor that. He was immediately reminded of himself, and maybe his first meeting with Puck. He’d come a long way since the shy black mage he’d been. Zidane was the worst father figure ever. Vivi already missed him.

“Well then, Taylor. I’m sorry to come flying in like that. I’m sure it was probably… intense. Didn’t mean to cause trouble,” he said contritely. “Especially not for such a pretty girl!” 

The girl flushed at the compliment but the embarrassment was immediately replaced with an iron cold tone of suspicion and defensive malice. She didn’t say anything but her reclusive posture said more than enough to Vivi. 

The girl didn’t acknowledge the compliment, but her tone was no longer curious, or friendly. “Are you going to be alright?” 

Vivi frowned. “I… did I offend you? I’m sorry. I… yeah I’ll be just fine. Just a sec.” 

He fished around in his bag and pulled out an Elixir. He had a whole bag full of them, as well as hundreds of other potions, farmed for this trip specifically. He didn’t even know if there would be a way back so he wanted to be prepared. Zidane had loaned Choco to him so he could prepare for it specifically after all. 

Vivi sighed in elation while the lights flashed around him and the potion worked its magic effects on his aching limbs, healing all damage and restoring his oddly low mana pool in an instant. The trip must’ve taken more out of him than he’d expected. Well. Powering the Shimmering Road with his own mana was probably a stupid idea to begin with. 

The familiar feeling of the healing tonic seemed to mesmerize the girl though. 

“What was that?” The girl asked. “What sort of cape are you?” 

“Cape? I’ve… never really worn one myself.” Vivi replied casually. “Only person I know who did was this oglop… err.. Yeah nevermind. If it isn’t obvious, I’m not from around here. Like, not from this world not from around here. Any chance you could… help me out?” 

The girl’s eyes bulged as she tried to processes that. Vivi actually enjoyed the various emotions that flitted across her expression. 

“What did you need?” Taylor asked, after a long pause. 

“Well, for starters, knowing what world this is would be nice. If this is Terra, I’m going to be so mad I got dropped off in the land of the creepy genomes last time. This looks much more inviting,” Vivi said jovially. 

“Uhh… this is Earth.” 

Vivi cocked a skeptical eyebrow. “...Earth.”

Taylor returned the look. “What?”

“You… really?” Vivi asked, confused. “Like really? Your whole planet is named… Earth? As in, dirt?” 

The girl snickered, involuntarily. She schooled her features shortly, seeming almost offended by being forced to laugh. She reminded him a bit of Beatrix when she glared. Way too cold. But it was less suspicious now. Less defensive.

“I guess I’d never really thought about it before. It does sound kind of unflattering, doesn’t it?” Taylor asked, seeming a bit more comfortable. “Well if Earth is so bad, what’s your planet’s name?” 

“Gaia,” Vivi answered without hesitation.