"REVIVED"

The forest all around him was stone. Dead. Unmoving. Silent. Still, Marcus crept swiftly and steathly, unable to rest for a moment. He considered that there may possibly be just one thing still alive among all the matter that had been turned to stone so many weeks ago.

Even if something did stir and block his path, Marcus knew his sheer will and determination would see him through. He was so close to his friend…and also so alone.

Ideally, he should have brought along at least one other companion. However, the crew he left behind in Alexandria had issues of far greater importance to deal with at the time.

In fact, it was still rather foolish of him to be here in the petrified evil forest rather than in Alexandria helping do nothing short of saving the world. However, he'd made a promise.

Besides, if he rescued Blank, the world would have one additional ally to save it. Marcus had no plans to turn back now. From the moment he'd left the castle behind, he knew he'd made the right choice.

The large, tightly packed trees parted and thinned out to form an opening which was littered with rows of the very forest creatures that nearly cost Zidane, Vivi, Steiner, and Princess Garnet their lives. Thus far, the only casualty was Blank, but a cure was in hand.

The army of petrified beasts was deathly silent. Their massive forms, numerous across the tree-canopied landscape, were grim reminders that one wrong move and Marcus' life could be snuffed out in a few quick strokes.

Up at the front of the pack, Blank's petrified form rested in the stoned claws of a beast who'd also been petrified just seconds before it was able to crush Blank in its pincers. The stone effect probably saved Blank's life.

The stone figure in the monster's claws looked like a statue immortalizing a hero. The thought moved Marcus, but the strong man refused to give into emotional tears.

He unleashed the power of the Supersoft, aiming it as specifically as possible at Blank alone. But, to extract Blank from the claws that held him would require something Marcus hoped he'd never regret.

As the color and life returned to Blank's form and the stone melted away, returning to warm flesh, so did the body of the monster.

Marcus stood ready for this and slashed his recently acquired Mythrill Sword at the beast, distracting it enough that it released Blank from its pincers.

Blank fell to the ground and collapsed in a heap, alive, but confused.

Marcus had grown stronger since the last time he'd been in the evil forest. Luckily, the creature was rather stiff and slower than before, a lingering effect of the petrification. Marcus moved to a position defending Blank, sword drawn for combat.

As predicted, the revived creature was slow to strike, aiding Marcus in slaying it quickly. It dropped to the ground dead, and Marcus watched it seconds more, acute to any slightest motion it might have made.

He heard Blank stir, and the creature still hadn't moved. Blank groaned and hoarsely said to him, "You're . . . wounded."

Marcus really hadn't noticed, but once Blank pointed it out, Marcus realized the beast had scored a fairly impressive flesh wound along his sword arm.

"Let me . . . help you." Blank feebly raised a hand.

Marcus protested. "No. You're weak. And we should get out of here in case the Supersoft's effects continue working on every last thing that was petrified around here. We can't fight the forest alone."

As Marcus reached down to help Blank to his feet, he healer bestowed the effects of a low level cure spell on him.

"Dammit, I said save your strength!" Marcus insisted, pulling Blank up to his feet.

"Sorry. It comes naturally."

"Yeah, well. . ." How mad could Marcus really be? Besides, now was no time to argue. He slipped his arm behind Blank and held him up as they navigated back along the sea of silently petrified forest beasts.

As they cleared the beasts and reentered the plain forest, Blank released his supporting grip on Marcus and tested a few steps on his own.

There, he requested they pause.

"But not for long," said Marcus. "You have until we return to Alexandria to get your strength back. If my suspicion is correct, we're gonna be thrown right back into the fray once we're there."

Blank locked his fingers together and stretched his arms out, savoring the good feel of flexing. "Can't wait. . ." He arched his back to get more kinks out. "So, how long was I out for?"

"Long enough." Marcus turned back toward the path out of the forest. "Now, come on. Let's move."

THE END

© 2002 Zeng Li. Based on Final Fantasy 9, copyrighted material belonging to Squaresoft. I wrote this story the night I played the part of the game where Marcus and Blank assist your party at Alexandria Castle. It's intended to fill the gap in the flashback to actually show how the Supersoft revived Blank from the petrified evil forest.