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Princess Garnet–no, Queen Garnet–put down another bouquet of flowers on the gravestone that belonged to the only man she had ever loved. After the last battle with Kuja at Iifa Tree, Zidane had disappeared. Later on he had been found dead among the tree branches next to their dead enemy who laid there dead on the ground. Garnet had felt how her heart broke into pieces when Zidane’s body was brought out from there along with Kuja’s. She had hoped that Zidane would’ve made it out alive and well but she hadn’t been granted her wish.
Zidane was buried in Alexandria’s cemetery that hadn’t been destroyed when Kuja and Garland had attacked the city. It was in a isolated location of the town and built nearby the city wall. She had considered on burying Zidane at the private cemetery in the castle’s grounds but had then decided otherwise because that particular location was in a worse condition because of the attack than the one in the city. Garnet also thought the city one was a lot better as it was bigger in size and it was surrounded by trees and bushes–well, had been before the attack that had wiped everything out–and the gravestones were all in neat rows. Between them there were stone paths to walk on.
She knew Zidane wasn’t a fancy guy so this was a perfect resting place for him. His stone was located in the northern parts of the cemetery, nearby the river between the city and the castle. There was an old, forgotten small port nearby that Garnet would always use during her little trips to the cemetery. She didn’t think anyone else knew this hidden place even existed because it looked so old and the path from it to the cemetery looked so old and overgrown. That’s how Garnet wanted it to be because then nobody would use it too.
Garnet knew she was being incredibly selfish when she said she wanted to take Zidane with her. It wasn’t right to bury him to a different place than his brother but she just couldn’t help it because she wasn’t ready to let go of him just yet.
After the burial, Garnet had visited Zidane’s grave often. At first she had gone there almost daily, sometimes even multiple times in a week. It was because she felt like he was there with her. She couldn’t see him anywhere but she recognized him anyways. It was the warmth that seemed to wrap around her every time she walked to his gravestone. It was so comforting while she was mourning for his death. She knew Zidane would’ve been present during her coronation if he had been alive and on that day she had visited him twice; once in the morning and again in the evening after sneaking out of the castle without anyone noticing her. She knew that everyone would tell her to stop if they knew because none of them understood why a royal princess would be sad over a man who had helped Tantalus to kidnap her in the first place. They wouldn’t understand how she felt if she tried to explain it to them and that’s why it was way better to not to let them know that she snuck out to go visit Zidane.
Garnet wasn’t sure why she always wore a dress when she went to the cemetery to visit him. She hadn’t even noticed it at first but as time went on, she acknowledged that for some reason she always wanted to look as pretty as she could when she visited his grave. Even today she was wearing a pale green dress along with golden jewelry on her hair and neck. She looked way too regal and she was sure people probably already talked about it but somehow Garnet didn’t care as long as she could meet the man she loved. She was aware that eventually she would be told to marry somebody and she probably would do it out of duty but not because she wanted. She didn’t think she could truly love anyone else in her life ever again.
“I have no idea of what happened to you back there”, Garnet whispered as she touched the stone. “But I hope you didn’t suffer when you left this world… I miss you every day…” she said and felt tears fall on her cheeks as she did.
It was the same thing every time she came here; the moment she started talking and opening up of her feelings, she also started crying. Talking about her loss made it too real and she wasn’t sure if she was ready to accept it just yet. Even just thinking about him made her feel sad and longing for Zidane’s company every single time. He was someone who had made her feel more confident in herself during a time when she had needed it the most. Eventually she had developed feelings for Zidane but had never told him that because she hadn’t thought it was important at the time.
It was something that she regretted often.
“We’ll meet each other again one day, I promise”, Garnet said and kissed her fingertips before touching the cold gravestone gently, hoping that her feelings would reach Zidane in the world beyond. Then she stood up, took a deep breath to regain her inner balance and wiped all of her tears away from her cheeks, took a deep breath and left the cemetery where she knew she would return later.
*
What Garnet didn’t know, however, was that the man she loved was closer to her than she thought he was; Zidane’s ghost watched her walk away in complete silence. After he had died, he hadn’t wanted to move on. Instead he had followed his princess back to Alexandria where he stayed until he would be ready to leave. He wanted to make sure that Garnet would be okay before he’d leave this world.
Over the past six months he had noticed that his presence in this place only made it harder for Garnet to truly move on with her life. He was sure that she came to this place because she somehow felt his presence there even though he had tried so hard to make himself invisible to everyone. He had clearly failed in that attempt and had only made Garnet suffer.
He regretted it more than anything.
“I’m so, so sorry, Garnet”, Zidane whispered even though he knew she wouldn’t be able to hear his words as she was long gone. So he just sighed and stood up.
It was time to move on.