(Arias87; some ideas by Final7Darkness)
Many months had passed since Kuja and Necron's defeat, and the heroes who saved Gaia (and pretty much the entire universe) from its doom continued with their lives, which would never be the same again, for good or for bad.
Garnet continued her reign as the queen of Alexandria, with her boyfriend Zidane at her side. Protecting her and managing the Alexandrian army were Steiner and Beatrix, also in a relationship after all the moments they shared together during the adventure made them realize their mutual feelings.
Thanks to the efforts of a group of scholars and mages led by the brilliant Dr. Tot, they managed to find a way to increase the lifespan of the black mages, allowing them to live almost as long as a human being. Unfortunately, this solution did not work on black mages that had stopped moving. Even then, the black mages were immensely overjoyed for this. Including Vivi, whom Garnet appointed Court Wizard of Alexandria, despite his young age.
As for the rest of the heroes, Eiko Carol was adopted by the Dukes of Lindblum, Cid and Hilda. Freya returned to Burmecia in order to help her people rebuild her destroyed hometown. She and Flatley resumed their relationship, despite the latter's amnesia.
Amarant decided to travel the world in in a journey of self-discovery, as well as to become even stronger. Her former bounty hunter pal, Lani, joined him in order to get stronger as well. And lastly, Quina returned to the Qu Swamp, satisfied with her experiences traveling Gaia as well as all the exotic food she got to taste.
It was a nice and warm day, the second day of summer. Queen Garnet, accompanied by general Beatrix, were in the castle's hangar, watching how an airship labeled Hildagarde IV docked in. Once it finished its landing, a door on its prow opened, and a ramp extended forward as if it was the tongue coming from the mouth of a big, metallic animal. Several Linblum soldiers came out of the ship, forming two rows and stood to attention. After that, three people, a man, a noticeable younger woman and a blue haired little girl came out of the ship as well.
“Garnet!” Eiko yelled and rushed to hug her longtime friend. Garnet smiled and crouched to receive Eiko's hug.
Even if Eiko didn't like Garnet much at first due to her crush on Zidane, her animosity towards the current queen disappeared at the same time her precocious crush on the thief did. The moments they lived together during the adventure, plus the fact that they were the last two Summoners helped them to become great friends.
“Welcome to Alexandria again, Eiko,” Garnet said sweetly. She then broke the hug and took a look at her. “Did you grow? You look taller since the last time I saw you.”
“You can bet on it! Six centimeters!” Eiko said proudly. “By the next year I'm sure I'll have outgrown you!”
Besides her height, Garnet noticed that Eiko no longer wore her red shirt-yellow overall combo, but instead wore a white and pink sleeveless dress, something far more fitting for the daughter of a Duke. She still kept her iconic hair bow.
She smiled at Eiko, before standing up and addressed her adoptive parents. “Great Dukes of Lindblum, it's an honor to to meet you again as well,” Garnet said as she made a polite bow.
“Oh please, I think that after all that we went together, we can't forget about such formalisms,” Cid said. Then he turned to Eiko. “We'll come back to pick you up in six weeks. Now be a good girl while you're here, okay?” Eiko nodded in answer.
“Wait, you're leaving already? Aren't you going to stay, even a few days?” Garnet asked, a bit crestfallen.
“I'm afraid we can't, honey. Linblum's reconstruction is about to finish, and we need to be there to oversee it. Maybe once we're done we can come to visit again,” Cid explained.
“On the meantime, I hope you take good care of our Eiko,” Hilda added.
“You don't have to worry, I'll make sure she'll be fine,” Garnet assured them.
“Good to know. Goodbye Eiko, have fun while you're here. We love you,” Hilda said as she hugged Eiko.
After waving Cid and Hilda goodbye and seeing the Hildagarde IV take off, Garnet, Eiko and Beatrix returned to the castle.
“Come on Eiko, I'll show you your room,” Garnet said as she started walking. Eiko, meanwhile, shoot a look at Beatrix.
“Do I know you? Your face looks familiar but I can remember you...”
“My name's Beatrix. I'm the head of Alexandria's army. We met a few times. You sure you don't remember me?”
“Ah, yes! That badass lady knight!” Beatrix smiled upon being described in such fashion. Unfortunately, Eiko's next question wouldn't be as complimentary. “So, have you married Steiner yet?”
Beatrix blushed. She was turned aback by the sudden and tactless question
“Eiko!” Garnet said in a reprimanding tone.
“What?” Eiko said, not understanding what she did wrong. “I thought they were an item!”
“My, this kid is sure something,” Beatrix said, still blushing a bit.
“Eiko can be a bit...brash. But she's a real sweetheart once you get to know her,” Garnet told Beatrix.
“Of course I am!” Eiko said, proudly. “Hey, that reminds me, what about Zidane and you, are you married yet?”
Beatrix couldn't help but let out a chuckle, while Garnet stared at her, unimpressed. “You know Eiko, I think that while you're here we'll have to work on your manners. You're a princess now, you can't go asking people questions like that.”
“Why not?”
“Because it's wrong.”
“Why it's wrong?”
“Because...ugh, I'm not in the mood for this kind of argument,” Garnet said, defeated.
“The kid's sharp, I'll give you that,” Beatrix mentioned. The general then noticed something odd about the blue haired girl. “Um, Eiko, honey, you're going to be here a whole month. Didn't you bring any luggage?”
“Yeah, I did,” Eiko replied laconically.
“Well...I don't see it.”
“That's because it's here,” Eiko said before pulling something out of one of her dress' pockets. Upon inspection, the two women realized that it was a set of tiny suitcases. Sensing their confusion, Eiko explained “I used the Mini spell to shrink my luggage. That way I can easily carry it wherever I go.”
“Wow, that's...really smart of you, Eiko,” Garnet complimented.
“Thanks!” Eiko smiled proudly.
They re-entered the castle, and as they made their way to Eiko's bedroom, the people they met, either be guards or other kind of staff took some time to salute Garnet and Eiko. One of those people was one of their old adventure pals. And the new Court Wizard.
“Vivi? It's that you?” Eiko asked upon meeting the black mage.
“Um, yes, yes I am. Welcome to-”
But the poor black mage was interrupted when the blue haired girl pulled him into a bone-crushing bear hug.
“VIVI! I was dying to see you again!” Eiko said, lifting the black made from the floor, and after a few moments, she placed him down again. “Wow look at you, you look so cool now with those fancy clothes! And you got taller too!”
Indeed, Vivi also had some change of wardrobe. He now used to wear a long, dark blue robe, decorated with small golden stars as if to mimic the night sky. He kept his old, pointy hat, however.
“Th-thanks,” the black mage managed to say, a bit flustered, as he adjusted his hat. “You look good too. You got really pretty.”
“Aw, thanks! Well, now I have to unpack my stuff, so see you later, okay?”
“Yeah, sure,” Vivi said. He then saluted both Garnet and Beatrix, and left.
Once the black mage was out of sight, the two women stared at Eiko, and smiled teasingly. Something the blue haired girl didn't like one bit.
“What?” she barked at them.
“Well, guess that I don't have to worry about you stealing Zidane from me anymore, given that you set your sights on somebody else,” Garnet said, almost unable to repress a laugh.
“Hey, that's not what-”
“I think that you two look really adorable,” Beatrix added. Eiko was starting to blush.
“Maybe we should set a play date for you two?” Garnet continued, as Eiko's face turned redder by the moment.
“A black mage boy with a white mage girl. Almost look like something out from a romantic novel!” Beatrix said.
“Shut. Up!” she hissed.
“And now, my dear Eiko, you know why it's wrong to meddle with others' love affairs,” Garnet said, smiling triumphantly at her.
“Okay, okay, I've learned the lesson, can we change the topic now?”
They arrived at the guest room that it would be Eiko's for the time being without any further incident. It was rather big, if a bit empty: it had white walls decorated with a couple paintings of Alexandria, a queen-sized bed with a canopy, and two wardrobes.
“Neat room, is almost as big as my room in Lindblum!” Eiko said as she inspected her bedroom. She appreciated that the window had a view to the sea.
Eiko set her tiny luggage in the floor, and undid the Mini spell. Upon seeing the actual size of her luggage, Garnet realized that maybe Eiko came up with that solution upon realizing that nobody of her size could move such massive suitcases. Eiko opened one of the suitcases, which was full of clothes, and started to move said clothes to one of the wardrobes.
“Hey, I was thinking that we could do something special to celebrate my arrival here,” Eiko suggested.
“Oh, great idea! What do you want? A dance party? A dinner party outside? Say it and it will be done,” Garnet offered. She chastised herself for not coming up with something herself. It would have been a nice welcome surprise.
“Actually, I had something different in mind,” Eiko said. She avoided to say anything in order not to upset Garnet, but she hated those kind of parties. As the Dukes of Lindblum's daughter, she had attended to quite a few of those parties in the months she's been living with them, and they were terribly boring. But there was a kind of party she loved almost more than anything. “A slumber party!”
“A slumber party? What's that?” Garnet asked.
Beatrix stared at her with her eyes wide open. “You never had a slumber party?” the general asked, incredulous. Garnet shook her head.
“You see, it's a party held at night, on a friend's house. We stay up late and talk, and tell scary stories, or do each others' hairs and nails, or have pillow fights...it's super fun!”
“I remember those. When I was younger we used to have those parties with other cadets. The best part was the pranks we pulled on the Pluto Knight cadets,” Beatrix said longingly.
“Wow, you guys are making me feel so jealous...” Garnet said, a bit saddened. As the crown princess, she had a fairly reclusive childhood and pretty much no friends of her age. The closest thing she had to a friend was Dr. Tot, and he could have been her father.
“Well, it's not too late. You're still pretty young. So this slumber party will be not just for Eiko, but you as well,” Beatrix said. “You'll have a lot of fun, I can assure you that!”
“In fact, I the last slumber party I went, the host's brother was constantly bothering and making fun of us, until I went and BLAM!” Eiko made a dramatic hand motion. “Minimized! We played with him like a doll all night. In the end he apologized and learned his lesson, so I turned him back to normal. Then mom gave me a lecture on why I can't just shrink people I don't like, which then I asked how's that different from the time she turned dad into an oglop...after that she grounded me for two whole weeks without dessert, can you believe that?” Eiko said indignantly. Upon realizing that she went off-track, she said, “The only thing is...I don't know any other girl here besides you two. It's not going to be a very big party...”
“Hey, it's okay. Some of my sleepovers were just me and other two girls. Sometimes what matters it's quality, not quantity. We'll make sure this will be a party to remember,” Beatrix reassured the little girl.
Suddenly, an idea began to form in Garnet's mind. Perhaps she could still gave Eiko a welcome gift she would never forget.
“It's settled then. Since my bedroom is the biggest, we'll make the party there. Go there after sunset. Oh, and I'm going to prepare a surprise for the party you're going to love,” Garnet said as she smiled at Eiko.
“Really? What it is?” Eiko asked, her interest perking up considerably.
“If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise. You'll see tonight.”
Garnet then exited the room. Eiko was left wondering what the surprise could be, while Beatrix, who took notice on how Garnet's expression changed while Eiko told her story, already had an idea herself.
…
Later, during the dusk, Zidane was alone in the castle's garden, pacing from one side to another. On his hand was a note written by Garnet (he recognized her handwriting) asking him to meet her in the garden at sunset, that she had a surprise for him. He hadn't seen her the whole day, understandable since she probably spend most of the day with Eiko, so he was dying to spend some time with her. Did she plan some sort of night escapade?
The young thief's face lit up upon seeing somebody arriving, but his smile quickly faded upon seeing that it wasn't his lovely girlfriend, but certain grumpy knight. If not for his appearance, the loud “CLANK CLANK CLANK” noise his armor made while walking was enough for Zidane to recognize Steiner. The knight seemed to have the same reaction upon seeing Zidane.
“What are you doing here?” Steiner demanded the thief.
“Good night to you too, Rusty,” Zidane said nonchalantly. “And I could ask you the same, you know.”
“Well, for your information Your Highness asked me to meet her here at this very hour for a very important matter to discuss!” Stenier said, and he waved a note in front of Zidane. “Now what are you doing here?”
“Funny thing, Garnet send me a note requesting me to do the same,” Zidane told him as he showed him his own note.
“What? That can't be!” Steiner said as he snatched the note from Zidane's hands and inspected it closely.
“Oh, hey!” said a new voice. “Did the Queen asked you two to meet her here?”
Both Zidane and Steiner turned around to see the newcomer. “Master Vivi!”
“You got it right. Wonder why does she want to see us three,” Zidane said as he mused over the situation. Garnet has never been this mysterious.
“Maybe she has a mission that only us three can hope to accomplish?” Vivi wondered aloud.
“Unlikely. If that was the case, then both you and me would have been enough to deal with it,” Steiner said. Zidane simply rolled his eyes.
“Oh look, there she is. We can ask her now then,” Vivi said, as he pointed towards Garnet, who was walking to them.
“Oh good, I see you're all here. Sorry for being late,”
“It's okay. So what do you want from the three of us?” Zidane asked.
“You'll know in no time. But first, come closer.”
The three guys looked at each other a bit confused, then they simply shrugged and did as they were told. Then, in a fraction of a second, Garnet spread her arms outwards and shouted “Sleep!”
Purple magical waves came from her hands and flied through the two men and the black mage boy. They barely had time to react before the three of them fell to the ground in deep slumber.
“Well, that wasn't bad for my first black magic spell,” Garnet said in a self-congratulatory tone. Based on the amount of energy she poured on the spell, they'd be asleep for about fifteen minutes. More than enough. “Mini!” she shouted again, pointing her hands at the sleeping trio.
Silvery sparkles coming from her hands showered the trio. In a few seconds, they started to shrink, slowly at first, then much faster, until they were no bigger than ten centimeters tall. Garnet couldn't help but giggle at how cute the three of them looked at that size. Unlike the previous spell, this one would last at least twelve hours.
“Don't worry guys, I'm sure you'll have as much fun as we do,” Garnet said as she walked to them. “Oh, who I'm kidding, we're going to have the most fun. But you will have some fun too. Shield!”
Garnet generated a magical shield around the sleeping trio, which would be used as a vessel to carry them. Well, the hardest part of the plan was done. She couldn't wait to see Beatrix and Eiko's faces when they saw her “surprise”. And definitely she couldn't wait to see the boys' reaction when they woke up.
…
“Girls, I'm back!” Garnet announced as she entered her bedroom.
Beatrix and Eiko were sitting at the edge of her bed, properly dressed for the sleepover. The former was wearing a white dressing gown, while the latter was wearing a lavender nightie with a smiling moogle face on it, as well as fake moogle wings like the ones she had on her usual clothes. They were apparently having some small talk until the queen arrived. Both girls noticed what she was carrying.
“Oh, hi Garnet! Is that the surprise?” Eiko asked expectantly.
“You're correct. Come and take a look if you want.”
Both girls did so, and their surprise was almost instant. Eiko immediately took the magic bubble from Garnet's hands so she could inspect the sleeping tinies closer. Meanwhile, Garnet went to one of her wardrobes and began to undress.
“I can't believe you actually did that!” Beatrix said. Oddly, she didn't sound accusatory, but actually amused.
“You knew I was going to do this?”
“Yeah, though I had my doubts you'd have to guts to do such thing. Must say you impressed me, girl.”
“Do you...think it was wrong?” Garnet asked, now a bit unsure.
“Oh, no! You didn't do anything that can't be fixed. Besides, it's not that we're going to torture them or anything like that,” Beatrix said. Then she added: “Well, maybe we'll make them suffer a little.”
Garnet had finally done undressing, wearing now a dressing gown similar to Beatrix's.
“Hey, girls, they're waking up!” Eiko shouted upon noticing Zidane groaning and stretching. “What do we do?”
“I have an idea!” Garnet said as she took the bubble from Eiko's hand. She undid it, and placed the minimized men on her bed. “Come on, hide behind a side of the bed each! Hehe, this is going to be epic!”
…
Zidane groaned as he slowly woke up. His head felt dizzy. What happened? The last thing he remembered was Garnet shouting something, then everything faded to black.
Once his mind was a bit clearer, he inspected his surroundings, which were completely alien to him. He standing over some sort of red fabric that was oddly familiar. Besides him were Vivi and Steiner, also waking up.
“Hey, you two!” Zidane said as he walked towards them. “You okay?”
“Yes...I think...” Vivi said as he stood up, and readjusted his pointy hat.
“What happened?” Steined muttered, still a bit groggy. “Where are we?”
“My guess is as good as yours, Rusty,” Zidane said as he helped Steiner on his feet.
“What kind of floor is this?” the knight wondered. “It's...soft!”
“Yeah, it looks like it's some kind of giant bed,” Vivi observed.
“That makes no sense,” Zidane said. Then something caught his eye: far from him, there was a stylish table with two chairs, which were also very familiar. Then it hit him. “Wait, I know where we are! This is Garnet's bedroom!”
“Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!” Steiner asked, incredulous.
“Then...it isn't wrong for us to be here?” Vivi asked. “Well, for Steiner and me, at least.”
“That's stupid. This place is massive!” Steiner protested.
“Evidently, we've been minimized. That's why everything looks so huge.”
“Wait, so are you telling me that somebody cast a Mini spell on us, then said person brought us to Garnet's bedroom?” Steiner asked again. “But who could have done that?”
“Well...the queen could...” Vivi suggested. “It was the last person we saw before all this happened.”
“Come on Vivi, Garnet would never do that,” Zidane said, a bit appalled at Vivi's lack of faith in his girlfriend.
“Actually, Vivi's kind of right there,” a female voice said. It was loud, and sounded a lot like Garnet.
“Garnet?” Zidane asked, trying to figure out where her voice came from. “Are you there?”
“I'm closer than you think, my love.”
Zidane looked around, but she was nowhere to be seen.
“Okay, I see that from your perspective it must be hard to find anything. Look at the left side of the bed.
The three minimized guys did so, and what happened next left them petrified with shock. A gigantic Garnet rose from that size of the bed. Garnet smiled, satisfied with the reaction she got from the guys. “Say, how do I look from there, little guys?” and then, to accentuate the effect, she slowly removed her dressing gown, revealing that she was wearing nothing underneath but an orange bra and panties.
She smiled seductively while swinging her hips. Steiner quickly covered Vivi's eyes as he averted his gaze, but Zidane couldn't help but stare at her magnificent body. Even if the sight of Garnet in her underwear wasn't alien to him (given that they even slept together) the fact that she was so massive somehow made her even more attractive. It was less like watching a pretty girl and more like staring at a goddess. His heart was pounding so fast and so furious that even Garnet could hear it.
“Now, I'm sure that you'll have a lot questions going through your heads, but rest assured; you guys are in no danger. We simply want to have some fun with you three tonight,” Garnet said in a gentle voice.
“We?” Vivi asked, his eyes still covered by Steiner's hand.
“Look behind you.”
The guys did so, and much to their shock, there was Beatrix, just as gigantic as Garnet, and also wearing a dress gown, smiling mischievously at them. Like Garnet, she removed the piece of cloth, leaving her only with a white bra and panties. Though, unlike Garnet, rather than a provocative pose, she flexed her arms, and blew a kiss at Steiner, whose face turned into an intense shade of red before tumbling backwards, almost unconscious. Beatrix couldn't help but giggle at her boyfriend's reaction.
While Vivi tried to reanimate Steiner, Zidane took a quick look at Beatrix's body. She lacked the queen's soft skin and almost perfect figure, but barring a couple battle scars, Beatrix's body was also a work of art. From his perspective, Zidane could appreciate her well toned muscles, abs, arms and legs, which gave her a powerful yet undoubtedly feminine appearance. She was also better endowed than Garnet.
“And now, meet our special guest, whom this party is on her honor,” Garnet said.
As soon as Garnet stopped speaking, Eiko leaped from her hiding spot at the feet of the bed and landed right in front of the shrunken trio.
“BOO!!” she yelled, causing them to fell on their butts, startled. “Haha, you should have seen your faces right now!”
“Well, now that the introductions are over, I'll tell you what all this is about,” Garnet said as she climbed into her bed. Beatrix and Eiko did the same, and the three girls sat on the bed in a circle surrounding the shrunken guys. “As you know, our friend Eiko came here to spend part of the summer, and to celebrate her arrival, she thought that maybe she could have an sleepover with us. She also told me that one time in another sleepover when she shrunk a boy that was bothering her and her friends, and played with him like he was a doll. And I thought, wouldn't it be cool if we did the same?”
“What? Are you nuts?” Zidane shouted, rightfully pissed. “You shrunk the three of us just to be your toys for your little party?”
“Come on, it will be fun!” Beatrix added.
“Though if you don't like my idea, you only need to say it, and you will be back to normal,” Garnet said.
“Well, good that you didn't lose your senses completely-” Zidane said before being interrupted.
“But keep in mind that if you refuse to play with us, we will be VERY disappointed in you, which would result in some...unpleasant developments for the near future. Not to mention how cold you have to be in order to break a little girl's heart like that,” Garnet said as she pulled Eiko to her side, while Eiko gave the trio a well-rehearsed puppy dog eyes.
There was a moment of silence, before Vivi spoke up. “O-okay, if you promise to be careful, I'm in.”
Garnet smiled. “Good. See? A little boy has more guts than you two put together. Such a shame.” she said to Zidane and Steiner, shaking her head.
“Alright, I will play with you too. But keep in mind that I have my limits!” Steiner said, not too pleased with what he was forced to do.
“And said limits will not be pushed, you have my word,” Garnet said, then she turned at Zidane. “Well?”
“Okaaaaaaaay...” Zidane said unenthusiastically. “But I expect some big reward for doing this, understood?”
“I knew I could count on you, my love. As for the reward, soon you'll see that this party itself is reward enough.”
“What do you mean?”
Garnet brought her face dangerously close to Zidane, and kissed him. She meant to kiss him in the lips, but ended up kissing him in the whole face instead. The force of the kiss was such that the tiny thief fell backwards. “You'll see soon.”
“So now that everything's settled, what do we do first?” Eiko asked.
“How about we warm up with something physical activity? Like a pillow fight!” Beatrix suggested.
“Cool idea! Girls versus boys!”
Naturally, Eiko's suggestion for the teams was met with a wave of protests from the shrunken guys. Fortunately, Garnet had a more balanced solution.
“Maybe we should make teams of two, one boy and one girl each. What do you think?” Garnet asked. Her suggestion was met with universal approval.
“Wait, it isn't going to be a bit too dangerous for us?” Vivi asked, his mind overflowing with all the horrible possibilities that it could befall to both him and his fellow tinies. “You could seriously hurt us.”
“Don't worry, I have a solution for that as well,” Garnet waved a hand at the tiny trio, and shouted: “Protect!”
Her hand produced many silvery sparkles that showered the shrunken guys, and a slight blue glow covered them before it quickly faded.
“That's it. My magic will protect you from any harm. Now even if you fall from a great height or if we step on you accidentally, not only you won't suffer any harm, but you won't feel any pain either. Now shall we begin?”
A few minutes later, everybody was ready for the pillow fight to start. The teams were Garnet and Zidane, Eiko and Vivi and Beatrix and Steiner. Each girl was holding a pillow as they eyed their opponents in anticipation. The guys were at their partners' respective shoulders, not knowing how exactly they could help.
“Okay, ready? Go!”
The pillow fight started, and the three girls swung their pillows wildly in an attempt to smack their opponents, however, in no time, it was made clear that Beatrix was the best combatant, packing more strength than Garnet and Eiko together, and unbeknownst to the summoners, she was holding back considerably. Eventually, the two youngest girls couldn't take back anymore and moved away from the lady knight in opposite directions.
“You cowards! Come here and face your fate!” Beatrix shouted. Her gaze switched from one girl to another constantly, as if to decide who should she take down first.
“Hey, Garnet, I think I have an idea,” Zidane whispered into his girlfriend's ear. “Maybe I can blind her, then you go for the kill.”
“Alright, guess that sounds better than a direct approach,” the queen replied before grabbing Zidane. “Hey Beatrix, catch this!”
Garnet tossed Zidane at the female knight, and luckily he landed just on her face. He took no time and latched on her one eye, which closed automatically.
“OW! My eye! Get out of there, you scum!” Beatrix shouted as she tried to remove the tiny thief from her only good eye.
“Come on Garnet, now! I don't know how much I can stay like this!” Zidane hurried his girlfriend along. And then, the thief felt somebody grabbing his tail and pulling him back from the female knight's face. But it wasn't Beatrix, but Steiner.
“I should have guessed that a scoundrel like you would go for such a low tactic, taking advantage of her like that!” Steiner said in a reprimanding tone. “Now get out of my sight!”
Steiner then tossed Zidane back at Garnet. However, rather than landing on the queen's pillow like the knight had calculated, the thief instead landed on the queen's...other pillows.
“Good work, Adalbert,” Beatrix said.
“Oh my...sorry my queen!” Steiner said, red with embarrassment.
Garnet squeaked loudly upon feeling Zidane landing on her cleavage. She quickly tried to fish him from there, but much to her horror, she saw that Beatrix had taken advantage of her predicament and was charging at her with a terrifying grin on her face.
“Beatrix, wait! Time out!”
But Garnet's pleas were ignored, and Beatrix smacked her in the face with such force that the poor teen spun in mid air several times before falling to the ground.
“Sorry, my queen, but there are no time outs in war.”
Zidane was eventually able to climb out of Garnet's cleavage and slid through her body back to the floor, and then ran towards her face.
“Garnet, are you okay?” the tiny thief asked. Garnet's answer was just an unintelligible groan. Beatrix had hit her so hard that she was almost knocked out. Even with a pillow, that one-eyed woman was a force to be reckoned with. “Come on Garnet, wake up!”
Zidane was startled upon hearing rather loud, earth shaking booming footsteps coming in his direction. He turned around, and saw Beatrix towering over him like an angry goddess. Whatever the female holy knight had in mind for him, it wasn't going to be pretty. Steiner, standing on her shoulder, smiled at him smugly, knowing that whatever his girlfriend would do, he'll love it.
“Uh...eh...sorry for poking your eye before,” Zidane said meekly. “No hard feelings?”
Beatrix crouched down. “Sure,” she said as her lips formed a menacing smile. Then she moved her free hand at Zidane, and flicked him, hurling him backwards until his body slammed against a wall. “Apologies accepted.”
“Did I mention how much I love you?” Steiner said rather sweetly.
“A lot of times. But I never get tired of hearing it, so you may continue doing it. Well, one down, another one to go!” Beatrix said evilly, as she turned back to Eiko.
Even with Garnet's protection spell, that had hurt quite a bit, and Zidane shuddered to think what would have been of him if he wasn't protected. Then again, maybe that was the reason for why Beatrix decided to use violence so freely. With his body completely sore, he walked, or better said, dragged himself to Garnet, still in the floor.
“Garnet? Are you okay?” He asked again, poking her face with his hands. Garnet didn't reply. Suddenly, her body began to glow with an intermittent pink-white light. “Oh boy...”
Meanwhile, Beatrix was about to fight Eiko and Vivi. She towered over both children. She kept that same, intimidating smirk.
“Ready to meet your maker, little girl?”
But Eiko didn't show any hint of fear. “Ha! You'd wish!”
“It will be your doom, then,” Beatrix said as she walked to her menacingly.
“You know, while you were busy smacking Garnet, I've been devising a brilliant plan to take you down. Go Vivi!” Eiko said as he placed the tiny black mage on the floor.
The terrified Vivi looked up at Beatrix, who towered over him. She always found her a bit intimidating, and now that she was gigantic to her, plus her well toned muscles were exposed, that feeling had multiplied by one thousand, and he even wondered why he didn't run away in terror yet.
“You expect the black mage boy to defeat me? I concede that he's powerful, but at that size, his spells will only make me tickle,” Beatrix said as she looked down at the diminutive black mage.
“Exactly!” Eiko replied. “Come on Vivi, get her!”
However, Vivi was still petrified with fear.
“Don't let that overgrown bully intimidate you, Vivi! I believe in you! Now do your worst!”
Eiko's words of encouragement seemed to dispel his fear, albeit momentarily, and prepared to attack. “Thundaga!” Vivi shouted as he shot a bolt of blue lightning at the female knight's belly.
“Ow! Hahaha!” Beatrix said as she unconsciously bended forwards and took her hands to her midsection, unfortunately making Steiner on her shoulder to lose balance and fall down.
“It's working! Come on Vivi, keep going!” Eiko said enthusiastically.
Now more confident after seeing that his spells had some effect on the one-eyed giantess, Vivi continued to pelt Beatrix with lightning bolts at different parts of her exposed body.
“Hahaha! Please! Hahaha! Stop! Hahaha! I CAN'T BREATHE! Hahahahaha...!” Beatrix said as she laughed uncontrollably, clutching her sides.
Eiko knew that this was the time to strike. As an epic, awe-inducing music came out of nowhere, Eiko leaped at Beatrix, pillow in hand, ready to strike. Her pillow was suddenly wreathed in white flames. Her pillow hit Beatrix with such force and with so much energy that it resulted into a pillar of white light that shot upwards, tearing the castle apart...
...truth be told, all that happened only inside Eiko's vivid imagination. What really happened was that Eiko mustered all the strength a seven year old girl could gather (which wasn't much) and smacked Beatrix in the face. The female knight barely felt the hit, but decided to indulge Eiko and pretended it was a fatal blow.
“Oh noooooo...” Beatrix said theatrically as she dropped on her back like a fallen tree. “I've been defeated. I have brought shame to my rank and my country. What will be of me?”
Buying her act, Eiko walked towards Beatrix and placed a foot on her belly. “Yes! I have defeated you! Everybody bow before Eiko, the great conqueror of Alexandria!”
“Please great and powerful lady, have mercy of this defeated knight...”
“Mercy...IS FOR THE WEAK!!” Eiko shouted as she continued smacking Beatrix on her face with a pillow. Of course, Beatrix was going to have none of it, and broke character.
“Oh, that's it missy! If there's something I can't stand is unsportmanship! Time to teach you a lesson!” Beatrix said indignantly.
She quickly disarmed Eiko and pulled her into a headlock.
“Ack! Vivi, help me!” the blue haired girl pleaded as she flailed her arms and legs in a vain attempt to break free. But unfortunately, the black mage was at lost of what he could do. He was afraid that, if he used his magic he could hit Eiko, unaware that at that size his spells were almost harmless. “Okay, I surrender, I surrender!”
“Good,” Beatrix said as she released Eiko. “Well, then it's safe to say that I won this-”
“BEATRIX! I'M NOT DEFATED YET!!” Garnet's booming voice said from behind
The one eyed woman turned around and saw Garnet, floating in mid air. Her hair was now blonde, and her skin was pink, with many glowing white glyphs and runes across her body.
“You entered trance? Like, seriously?” Beatrix asked, unamused. What were the chances of such thing happening?
“I know right? It always happens when the least you expect. Or when the least you need it. BUT NOW'S NOT SUCH MOMENT!!!”
Using her magic, Garnet pulled two pillows to her hands and rushed towards Beatrix. With her enhaced strength and speed, the queen of Alexandria delivered an epic beating to the one-eyed knight, who was barely able to defend herself, much less attack.
“Stop! Using trance as a boost is not fair!” Beatrix protested.
“Everything's fair in love and war!” Garnet retorted back. She was really bad for some payback.
The storm of pillow blows continued. Beatrix even fell on her butt trying to resist the queen's onslaught. In the end, she was force to admit that it was a fight she couldn't win.
“Okay, I surrender! Stop, please!” Beatrix asked, as she dropped her pillow.
Garnet accepted her offer. She dropped her pillows, dispelled the trance, and helped both Beatrix and Eiko back on her feet.
“It seems that I'm not only the queen of Alexandria, but the queen of pillow fights too. Wohoo!” Garnet said as she pumped her fists.
“That's my girl!” Zidane cheered from below.
Beatrix then realized that Steiner had fallen from her shoulder, and after quickly scanning the floor, she found him rubbing his body. She quickly picked him up.
“Oh my stars! I'm so sorry Adalbert! Are you okay?” Beatrix asked, concerned.
“Yeah, I'm okay. The queen's spell worked like charm, and I barely felt the fall,” Steiner said. Then he added: “Well, even without that spell, it would take something more than a little fall to take me out.”
Beatrix smiled sweetly at him. “I'm sure of that.”
Minutes later, after tiding up all the mess the pillow fight had caused and a round of healing magic (while harmless, Vivi's Thundaga spells left some ugly red spots of burnt skin on Beatrix's body), they once again gathered on Garnet's bed to decide what to do.
“Well, that was pretty fun. Anybody has a suggestion of what to do next?” Garnet asked, as she glanced at her friends, both big and little.
“Oh! I have one!” Eiko said as she raised her hand and bounced up and down. “Truth or dare!”
“What's that?” Garnet asked.
“Good grief girl, what kind of childhood did you have?” Beatrix asked, surprised at Garnet 's ignorance of such a popular game.
“Hey, I was pretty much not allowed to leave the castle, okay?” Garnet replied defensively.
“Truth or dare is a game in which you either choose truth or dare: if you choose the former, somebody asks you a personal question and you have to answer it sincerely; if you choose the later, somebody dares you to do something wild or embarrassing,” Zidane explained as best as he could.
“And since this one is not based on physical strength, maybe we could make it boys versus girls!” Eiko chimed in.
“Oh, sounds fun. Who wants to go first?” the queen asked, looking around.
“Ladies first,” Zidane said with a rogue grin.
“Okay, you chicken. I choose...dare!”
“Alright. Then I dare you...to do a belly dance for me!” Zidane said, smiling smugly at her.
“Wha-whaaat?” Garnet said, shocked. She blushing furiously. “But...I don't know how to dance! Or at least to dance that way!”
“Come on girl, you can do it! Don't let the team down!” Beatrix said.
“But...er...I have no music! Dancing without music is really awkward!”
“It's okay, I got that covered!” Eiko said as she produced a flute seemingly out of nowhere.
Garnet eyed at Eiko angrily for pretty much dismantling her excuse for not to do the dare. Sighing in resignation, she picked Zidane, placed him on the floor, and got in position.
“Okay, let's get over with this. I'm ready,” Garnet said, her face red as a tomato.
Eiko began to play a fast and cheerful tune, and Garnet began to move at the rhythm of the music, trying to ignore all the eyes that were on her.
From his position, Zidane had an amazing view of his gigantic girlfriend moving her long, shapely legs, swinging her hips and shaking her body. Despite her her claiming not knowing how to dance, she had some really good moves. It was an spectacle worth of being minimized. He thought he could take her to some party at a bar so she could show off her moves.
“And how long I have to keep dancing?” Garnet asked in a pleading tone.
“Until I'm satisfied with your performance,” Zidane said as he lied back and continued enjoying the show.
Garnet cursed to herself. How long did she plan her to do that? She was completely sure this was some sort of revenge for shrinking him like that. She looked down for a moment, and could see that her boyfriend was wearing the widest grin imaginable.
I bet you won't be smiling so much if I “accidentally” stepped on you, Garnet thought bitterly. Of course, that is!
The red hue on Garnet's face slowly disappeared as her movements became less awkward and more fluid, as if she somehow became more comfortable dancing. Something Zidane liked. She was also starting to get dangerously close to him. Something Zidane did not like. Garnet then moved her feet when he was resting. He quickly rolled aside before her foot landed.
“Hey, watch out!” Zidane called out from the floor as he stood up.
“Oops, sorry,” Garnet said, feigning innocence. “I told you that I'm really bad at dancing.”
Once again, Garnet moved one of her feet towards Zidane, forcing the tiny genome to jump aside. Everybody watching from the bed chuckled in amusement.
“Garnet, this is not funny!” Zidane protested.
“Really? Because I'm having lots of fun. I think I'm finally getting the hang of this.”
Zidane decided to run away before Garnet tried to step on him again, but the raven-haired summoner wasn't going to allow it. She gracefully jumped over Zidane, and landed just in front on him on one foot, causing a ground-shaking tremor, knocking the thief on his butt.
“Enough! It's enough already! The dare is over!” Zidane yelled before Garnet had a chance to step on him again.
“Excellent,” Garnet said, satisfied. She then picked Zidane, and returned to the bed. Beatrix and Eiko high-fived her.
After seeing how Garnet had turned his dare against him, he decided that it was better not to mess with the girls as long as he was shrunken. At least, not in ways they could retaliate.
“By the way, your highness, let me tell you that your dance was mostly impressive,” the knight said to Garnet.
“Thank you, Steiner. But it will be long before I dance in public again.”
“Since you dared Garnet, I think it's only fair for you to go next, Zidane,” Beatrix stated. Zidane didn't say anything, and nodded. “So, truth or dare?”
Zidane's choice was clear; he wasn't going to let the girls take advantage of his size. “Truth!”
“Alright. Okay girls, let's think something good to ask him.”
The girls pondered for a couple minutes. Suddenly, Eiko's face lit up as if she realized something. She crawled towards the other two girls, and after pulling them closer, she whispered something, which made them smile as well. Zidane had a bad feeling about this.
“I can't believe none of us thought of that,” Beatrix said.
“Come on, it was so obvious,” Eiko added.
Garnet then cleared her throat. It seemed it was her who would ask said question.
“Okay, here goes the question: how many girls have you kissed before we met?” the queen asked.
Zidane gulped in horror, and internally cursed Eiko. She had to ask the only question he was hoping he would never had to answer. Garnet towering over him didn't make it any easier. Plus he was sure she wouldn't buy his answer.
“Just one.”
Garnet quirked her eyebrow. It was far lower than he had expected. “Zidane, you have to tell the truth. Come on, it was before we met. I won't be mad.”
“That's the truth! It was when I was twelve. I played one night Spin the Bottle with some childhood friends on Linblum, and that's how it happened.” The three girls shot him a suspicious glance. “I'm telling the truth! Sure I may flirt a lot -ahem, used to flirt a lot, but my success rate wasn't actually good. In fact, you were pretty much the first girl who returned my affections.”
There was a moment of tense silence.
“Okay, I believe you,” Garnet finally said. Eiko and Beatrix turned at her.
“Really?”
“Yeah. I mean, she used to flirt like that with me too, and it was kinda annoying, so I don't think any girl with any self-respect would fall for that. It wasn't until he dropped that that I realized that there may be something more to him besides a horny teen.”
Zidane wasn't sure if that was mean as a compliment or as an insult. He decided not to dwell on it.
“Alright, so I passed?”
Garnet smiled at him sweetly. “Yes, you passed.”
Zidane sighed in relief. Between the dance of death, and now this, he wondered if he would survive this sleepover.
“Okay, who goes next?” Beatrix asked.
“How about Eiko?” Garnet said. She was still a bit mad at her for helping Zidane with the dance dare.
“Me? Uh, okay. I choose...truth!”
The guys huddled up and decided what they could ask her. Eiko tried to pick up what they were hearing, but due the fact that they spoke in whispers coupled with their small size made such task impossible. It took them no time to make their choice.
“Alright Eiko, answer this: How attractive do you find me?”
“A lot,” the blue haired girl answer happily. Upon seeing Zidane's reaction to her rather brutally honest answer, she added: “What, did you expect me to turn red and become a stuttering mess? I mean, yeah, I know you and Garnet are boyfriend and girlfriend now, but it's not like I didn't make evident that I had a crush on you.”
“Well, that was anticlimactic,” Zidane said, a bit disappointed.
“Wow, this kid is sure something,” Beatrix added, rather surprised. “She's so precocious, it's almost frightening. I didn't start thinking about boys until I was twice her age.”
“Well, that's because Eiko didn't have a very normal childhood,” Garnet whispered at her. Beatrix nodded at her telling her to continue. “She lost her only family when she was just three, and until we found her, her only friends were a bunch of moogles.”
“She was raised by moogles?”
“Actually, it was her who raised those moogles,” Garnet clarified. “Not only she had to take care of herself, but of those moogles as well. She used to steal food from nearby villages, and was forced to traverse alone paths infested with monsters which could eat her in one bite. To say she had a rough childhood is an understatement. That's why she pretty much was forced to grow up faster than she should.”
“Oh my, the poor girl. How tragic,” Beatrix said, stricken with grief. “Its a good thing that the Dukes of Lindblum adopted her. Her life will be much easier from now onwards.”
“Indeed. I hope that her new life will allow her to recover some of her lost innocence.”
Beatrix observed that Eiko's life was diametrically opposed to Garnet's. The current queen had such a sheltered upbringing that before meeting Zidane and traveling the world, was way too naive for her age and had very little idea of how the real world worked.
“Hey, what are you two murmuring?” Eiko asked at them suspiciously. She swore she heard her name a couple times.
“Nothing important, honey. Shall we continue playing?” Beatrix asked.
“I think it should be a boy's turn now,” Garnet suggested.
“Hey Vivi, what about you going next?” Zidane asked as he patted the black mage in the back.
“What, me?!” the black mage replied.
“Realx, I'm sure they'll go easy on you.”
“O-okay. I choose dare,” Vivi said.
“Ohhhhhh, we have a brave boy here!” Eiko cheered.
“Actually, I choose dare because my life isn't all that interesting. I don't have any dark secret or something like that,” Vivi said.
Zidane face-palmed so hard it echoed through the whole room. He definitely need to teach that kid to be brighter.
Like the guys before, the girls huddled up to decide a dare. Even if they were more audible, the guys still couldn't understand what they were whispering. Unlike the boys, however, they spent far more time trying to decide what to do.
“Okay, we dare you...to climb Eiko!” Garnet said.
“What!?” Vivi asked incredulous, as he looked at the smiling blue haired girl.
Moments later, Eiko was standing in front of the bed with Vivi at her feet. The tiny black mage looked up. Eiko looked down at him, smiling. Despite Eiko's short stature, she still looked huge to him. Plus he wasn't actually good at climbing. Or any physical activity, actually.
“Well? I'm waitiiiiiiing...” Eiko said as she moved her feet a bit.
Eiko snapped Vivi out of his thoughts, and decided to get going. He first climbed on her right foot. That was easy enough. The hardest part came when he tried to climb her leg. Her smooth and soft skin made it almost impossible to climb, and end up sliding downwards quite a few times.
“Hehe, it tickles!” Eiko said one of those times.
“Come on Master Vivi, you can do it!” Steiner cheered from the bed.
“Yeah! I saw you facing things far worse than that! That's piece of cake!” Garnet joined in.
This time, Vivi managed to reach her knee without sliding. And from there, he was able to latch onto the edge of Eiko's nightie.
“The hardest part is over! You almost got it!” Zidane shouted.
True to the thief's words, climbing fabric was much easier than climbing bare skin. It didn't make it any less exhausting, though. By the time he reached Eiko's neck, his whole body hurt like hell. With one last effort, he got on Eiko's shoulder, and lied on his back, gasping for air.
“Awesome Vivi, you did it!” Eiko cheered. Vivi, however, was just too tired to say anything. “Aww, I think we overworked you a bit.”
Eiko then picked Vivi from her shoulder with one hand, and placed her other hand some centimeters above him.
“Cura!” Eiko said. Vivi was enveloped in a blueish white light that lasted a few seconds. “Do you feel better now?”
“Y-yes. Thank you,” Vivi said, a bit better but still exhausted. Eiko giggled at him as they returned to Garnet's bed.
“Who goes next?” Zidane asked.
“Guess that would be me, given that I'm the only girl left. And I choose dare,” Beatrix said.
The guys once again huddled up to decide a proper dare for the female knight. Zidane advised caution, bringing up her previous attempt to make Garnet do something embarrassing which backfired in a spectacular way. After some deliberation, they chose a dare.
“Okay, we dare you to let us tickle you and see how much can you hold your laughter,” Zidane said in a challenging way.
Beatrix was a bit taken a back by the dare, but she wasn't going to step down to the challenge. “Alright, punk. Do your worst.”
A moment later, Beatrix was lying on Garnet's bed (Garnet and Eiko had to get off to leave the one eyed woman some space) and the three shrunken guys were about to tickle her.
“So, shall we begin?”
“First I have a couple of conditions: no magic, just your hands,” Beatrix said.
“Understood,” Vivi said, acknowledging that that condition was for him.
“And second, if you guys touch some of my...intimate areas, you will have a rather violent meeting with the sole of my foot, got it?”
“Don't worry, general. I know better than trying to take advantage of somebody a hundred times bigger than I am,” Zidane said. If Beatrix was already dangerous at normal size, he didn't want the imagine what she could do now that she was (relatively) gigantic. It was better not to think about it.
“Okay, you can begin now! But make no mistake, my determination and endurance are harder than steel! You won't even get a chuckle from me!”
Then guys got to work immediately. They spread through several areas of Beatrix's body: Zidane was on near right armpit, Steiner on her left side, and Vivi was standing near her bellybutton. Upon reaching their destination, they began to tickle her. The dare didn't last long.
The moment Zidane started to tickle her armpit, the general laughed loudly (at least to him) and unconsciously and very quickly rolled to the left in order to avoid Zidane. This had the unfortunate side effect of catapulting Vivi into mid air, but fortunately for the black mage, Garnet and Eiko had guessed when he would land and quickly placed a pillow to cushion the fall.
Steiner, however, wasn't so lucky, and didn't had time to react before he was buried under the flesh of his massive girlfriend. It took some moments for Beatrix to realize what had she had done, and upon moving aside, he saw her boyfriend half buried in the bed.
“Oh my...I'm so sorry Adalbert!” Beatrix said as she plucked him, and held him to her face. “Are you alright?”
Steiner gasped for air before answering. “Y-yeah...it takes something more than being crushed by a giant woman to take me out...”
After Beatrix healed Steiner with her white magic, everybody else decided it was time to put this game to an end. Unfortunately, only Steiner remained.
“Steiner, you're the only one left. If you don't feel with enough strength to continue, we'll understand,” Garnet said softly.
“No, no, I'm okay. Everybody did their part, and this knight isn't going to be left behind!”
“Alright, what do you choose then?”
“Truth! I've done nothing in my life I'm ashamed of, and I have no dark secrets!” Steiner declared proudly.
For some reason, Beatrix reaction was to narrow her eye and glare at her boyfriend, looking almost pissed.
“Oh really? Let's see about that,” Beatrix said coldly. “I'll be back in a moment, I need to go to my room.”
Everybody was puzzled as for why Beatrix had reacted that way, including Steiner, who was starting to worry. True to her word, she was back in less than two minutes. She was holding something behind her back.
“I wanted to talk about this in private, but this was too much of a good chance to pass. Okay Adalbert, if you have nothing to hide, then you'll have an explanation of what this was doing in our bedroom!” Beatrix said as she revealed what she was hiding behind her back. Steiner immediately turned pale with shock.
Beatrix was holding what appeared to be a ragdoll, curiously dressed exactly as Garnet's casual clothes, with a white shirt and orange overalls, which was clearly what upset Beatrix the most.
“Is that...me?” Garnet asked as she eyed the doll.
“Well, Adalbert? I'm waiting for an answer.”
“...it's not mine!” Steiner managed to blurt.
“Then whose it is then, and why it was in your possession?” Beatrix asked again.
“It belonged to one Zidane's friends. I found it on one of the bedroom I was placed after the Prima Vista crashed in the Evil Forest! It's true, I swear it!”
“But why did you keep it?”
“I planned to get rid of it, but I just forgot! It's the truth, you have to believe me!” Steiner pleaded to his angry girlfriend.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“He's telling the truth,” Zidane intervened. “Cinna used to sleep with a doll, which he told me he lost after the crash. But I didn't know it was a Garnet doll. I need to have some serious talk with him...”
“Besides, if I used a doll to satisfy some...sick perversions, don't you think I would use a bit less ugly?” Steiner added.
“He's got a point. I feel insulted to think that somebody would consider that horrifying toy to be me,” Garnet said, before taking the doll from Beatrix's hands so she could inspect it closely. There was something written on it. “Princess Garnet, fifteen years? Well, this thing is old. I'm almost seventeen.”
“Besides, even in the hypothetical case I cheated on you with another woman, it wouldn't be with the queen! He's too young, plus I see her more like the little sister I never had than a love interest!”
Beatrix pondered about Steiner's words. His story did make sense, and he had proven to be a trustworthy man multiple times. And her feelings for Garnet pretty much mirrored his owns, since both of them had seen her growing up since she was a baby. Despite her suspects, deep inside she knew he was telling the truth.
“Alright, I believe you. What you said makes sense. Plus my heart also says that you're being honest.”
“You do? Why, yes, of course! I told you that I have nothing to hide, and I stand by it!”
“But next time, be more mindful with this kind of stuff! This misunderstandings can end a relationship!”
“Don't worry Beatrix, I will,” Steiner promised her. The knight then turned at Zidane at said: Uhm...eh...Th-thank you. You know, for supporting me there.”
“Don't sweat it, Rusty. We're in this together. I would hate to lose Garnet for some sort of stupid trifle like that,” Zidane said as he patted his armored shoulder.
Meanwhile, Garnet was still looking at the doll. Eiko crawled towards her.
“Hey, if you don't like it, can I have it?” the blue haired girl asked.
“What? Why? Eiko, if it's dolls what you want, I have dozens of them you can have, which are better than this...ugly thing,” Garnet said as she looked at the doll in disgust.
Eiko ignored Garnet and took the doll from her hands. She then put the doll near Zidane.
“Haha, look! Zidane's so tiny that even the doll is twice as big as he is!” Eiko said with a chuckle.
“Eiko, get that thing away from me! It's creepy as hell and reeks!” Zidane said as he tried to shove the doll away.
“I'm Garnet! Kiss me, Zidane, muack muack!” Eiko said as he shoved the doll against the tiny thief. “Come on, give the princess a smooch! Muack muack!”
Garnet chuckled at the display, when suddenly another idea crossed her mind.
“You know, I think what we could play next...” the queen said as she got up from the bed and exited her bedroom. “Wait, I'll be back in a minute!”
After several minutes, Garnet returned, holding something cupped between her two hands. She placed what she was holding on the floor, and everybody could see it was a bunch of tiny boxes.
“Mini!” Garnet said, pointing with her index finger at the boxes.
The Mini spell that garnet had placed on the boxes before for easy transportation was broken, and they began to grow, until they reached its original size. Curious, Beatrix and Eiko left the bed and went to inspect the contents of the boxes Garnet had brought.
“Dolls?” Beatrix said, as she picked up a doll in a dress from one of the boxes.
“I think Eiko got a good idea there. We can play with the guys as if they were our dolls!” Garnet said.
“...I don't like where this is going...” Steiner muttered to himself. Garnet, however, noticed his expression.
“Oh, relax! We haven't hurt you so far, right?” Garnet asked.
“Well, that finger flick Beatrix gave me before did hurt quite a lot...” Zidane said dryly.
“But this is different. Playing with dolls entails no violence at all,” Beatrix said in a reassuring tone.
“Ha, speak for yourself!” Eiko said with a wide grin, which made the three tiny guys to sweat nervously.
“Anyway, we're not going to do anything violent involving dolls,” Garnet said. “I have an idea! Let's play pretend we're a family with the dolls. Steiner and Beatrix are the parents, Eiko and I are their daughters, and Zidane and Vivi can be our boyfriends we just met.”
“Well, that doesn't sound too bad...” Steiner mentioned.
In no time, the girls used the toy furniture from some of the dollhouses in order to set something resembling a living room on the floor. Then they placed the shrunken guys on it, grabbed the dolls they liked the most, and the game began.
“Welcome back, dear!” Beatrix said in a mock, high pitched voice as she moved her doll towards Steiner. “How was your day?”
“Er...good, I guess?” Steiner asked, a bit confused. His answer was followed by an uncomfortable silence.
“Well?” Beatrix said.
“Well what?” Steiner replied, a bit annoyed.
“Aren't you going to kiss me like you usually do when you get back home from work?”
“WHAT?” Steiner suddenly shouted. “I'm not going to kiss that thing!” Steiner said, though this time he was talking to Beatrix instead.
“I knew it!” Beatrix continued, without braking character. “You don't find me attractive anymore!” Beatrix turned the doll's back to Steiner and pretended to cry.
“Uh...no, of course not! You're just as pretty as when I first saw you!”
“Then kiss me!”
“O...okay,” Steiner said as he walked to the doll. Fortunately, this one wasn't nowhere near as ugly as Cinna's Garnet Doll Eiko had liked so much, so it wouldn't be so bad.
The knight was about to do it, until he realized that the doll was twice as tall as he was, and there was no way he could reach its face.
“Um, honey, you're too tall. Can you bend over, please?”
“Sorry, but I'm afraid that I can't do that. I was born with much less moving parts than the average human,” Beatrix said, who couldn't help to suppress a giggle.
“Then what I'm supposed to do?”
“Well, you can always climb me.”
“This has to be a joke,” Steiner muttered to himself, but deep inside he knew the answer.
With great resignation, the diminished knight started to climb the doll. Fortunately, it didn't take him long until he reached the face, closed his eyes (the doll's face creeped him a bit, especially being so close) and kissed it in the mouth.
“Aw, thank you dear! I knew that deep inside you still love me,” Beatrix said.
Steiner sighed in relief as he climbed down.
“Oh, look honey, here come our girls!”
“Hi mom! Hi dad!” Garnet chipperly said as she moved her doll towards Beatrix's, and pretended to kiss her. Then she moved her doll towards Steiner.
“What, you too?” the knight said, incredulous.
“Sorry for asking some affection from my dad,” Garnet said, mildly saddened.
Grumbling, Steiner proceeded to kiss the doll, this time on the cheek. Fortunately, Garnet was nice enough to lower the doll to his level. The knight saw Eiko doing the same kissing ritual with Beatrix doll, and sighing, he walked towards the blue haired girl's doll to kiss it as well.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Eiko asked in mild disgust as Steiner walked to her doll.
“Don't you want a kiss too?”
“Ew no! Only pretty boys are allowed to touch this face,” Eiko said smugly.
“Hey, don't talk to your father like that! Sure he isn't as attractive as when he was young, but he's still pretty nice looking,” Beatrix said in defense, though Steiner couldn't help but feel that there was a thinly-veiled mock among those words.
“Anyway, while we were out we met a couple boys, why don't you meet them?” Garnet asked.
Steiner saw Garnet picking Zidane and Vivi from the back of their collarbones, and placed them gently in front of him and the Beatrix doll.
“Nice to meet you, folks. I'm Zidane, and I'm an theater actor,” Zidane said.
“Oh, an actor! That's so nice! Isn't it nice, dear?” beatrix asked Steiner as she nudged him with her doll.
“Eh...I guess so...” Steiner said.
“And I'm Vivi. I'm a magician,” Vivi said, and produced a few small flames from his hand to show it.
“Oh, our girls has such a knack for picking talented boys!” Beatrix continued gushing.
“That's not the only news we bring. I heard that there's going to be a dance contest tonight! Wouldn't it be awesome if we all took part on it?” Eiko interjected.
“Oh, definitely!”
Zidane cringed upon hearing this. Dancing with a giantess wasn't an experience he'd wish to repeat, much less this soon.
“It will be the perfect chance to showcase our new boyfriends!” Eiko said, as she moved her doll so it looked like it was excited.
“But before we go, we need to buy a new dress for each of us! It's going to be an important event with lots of fancy people!” Garnet interjected.
“Though we shouldn't just buy new dresses for ourselves. I think our guys need something new as well,” Beatrix suggested.
“WHAT!?” Zidane and Steiner yelled in unison. Unfortunately for them, their protest was ignored by the girls.
“What are we waiting for? Let's go to get some new clothes!”
The girls started to play dress-up with their dolls with the spare dresses that there were in one of the smaller boxes, as well as using the dresses of the dolls they weren't using. They also asked the guys about their opinion on how they looked, though they suspected that the girls didn't put much weight on their opinion.
What was merely annoying turned into horror when Garnet brought what it was unmistakably male clothes. Fortunately for them, the dress-up session was short lived as the clothes were too big for them. Beatrix suggested to cut the clothes to make them their size, but Garnet shot down the idea, arguing that it would take too much time. Though she did mention that the next sleepover she'll be better prepared.
After that was done, they prepared what would be the dance floor, placing boxes and other items in a square. They also used the dolls they weren't used as a makeshift spectators.
“Alright, the dance contest is about to begin!” Garnet announced enthusiastically. “Our first participants are Vivi and Eiko! A big applause everybody!”
Everybody applauded as Vivi carried the large doll to the center of the dance floor. Once again, Eiko and her flute provided the music, as she began to play a cheerful tune. Vivi tried to dance with the doll, but it was too big for him and he could barely move. Beatrix literally lend him a hand and grabbed the doll, relieving the tiny black mage from the superhuman effort he was making. Their dance was slow and harmonic, but Beatrix eventually increased the pace, and in the end Vivi rather than dancing was trying to hold onto the fast moving doll. Once the music stopped, Beatrix did so as well, and Vivi felt onto the floor. He tried to stand up, but fell on his butt, completely dizzy. He was picked up by Steiner and took away from the dance stage.
“An applause for Vivi and Eiko, which delighted us with such an amazing dance! Now our next participants are Garnet and Zidane!” Beatrix announced.
Zidane entered the dance stage carrying the Garnet doll. His face was wearing a confident smirk.
“Music please,” the tiny thief asked. Eiko obliged, and started to play another tune, this one with a faster rhythm and pace.
Even with a doll almost twice his size as his partner, Zidane took no time in showing off his dance skills. His movements were swift and passionate, his dance steps were fast and graceful, and sometimes it even gave the impression that the doll was an actual girl rather than an inanimate toy. It was easy to guess that Zidane had quite a lot of experience as a dancer. Once his dance was complete, he was met with an overwhelming applause. Even Steiner had to admit it was really good.
His ego pleased, the thief took a bow and with a huge grin on his face, left the dance floor.
“Wow, those moves were amazing! How did you learn to dance like that?” Vivi asked, genuinely impressed.
“Well, you know what they say, girls like guys who can dance. Plus Tantalus was officially a theatrical troupe, and many of our plays had dancing numbers. I can teach you if you want,” the thief said.
“Ha! You call that inelegant flailing a dance? Now I'm going to show you how high-class gentleman truly dances!” Steiner interjected before Vivi could reply.
“And closing the contest, we have now Beatrix and Steiner! Let's see if they can top what we've seen so far!” Eiko announced.
Steiner walked in just as confident as Zidane, carrying the Beatrix doll over his shoulder. Eiko began to play her flute once more.
Steiner's movements were far more slower and calmer than Zidane's, and danced holding the doll much closer to him than Zidane did. Everybody was surprised to see how a man with such a brutish and huge complexion as Steiner was capable of such graceful and elegant movements, even wearing a heavy armor, as if he thought the doll was made of porcelain and was afraid of breaking it. Once the dance was over, he received an applause almost as big as Zidane's. He also took a bow and left the stage.
“So, who do you think did it better?” Zidane asked.
“Well, after seeing you two...I don't think that's going to be me...” Vivi said, a little saddened.
“Oh, don't think so low of yourself, Master Vivi! I believe you made an amazing performance out there! Plus you had to deal with handicaps that neither Zidane nor I had to face,” Steiner said, trying to encourage the black mage.
Garnet cleared her throat to get the guy's attention.
“Well, after seeing all three dances, we liked them so much that we couldn't decide a winner, so it's going to be a triple tie!” the queen announced.
“Congratulations to all of you! None of you lost! Which means that none of you truly won either, but that's okay!” Eiko chimed in.
“So...is the dollplay over?” Zidane asked, hoping for the answer to be yes. Vivi and Steiner thought likewise.
“Hmmmm...I guess that we have played enough to this,” Garnet said, eliciting a hopeful smile from his tiny boyfriend. “What do you say, girls?”
“Yeah, I think we can do something else now,” Beatrix said.
“What are we going to play now? Eiko asked.
“I'm glad you ask. You see, once again, something Zidane said before gave me an idea of what to do next,” Garnet said as she pulled something out of one of the boxes. She smiled deviously as she showed it to her guests.
It was a bottle.
“What!?” Steiner barked, clearly disgusted.
“Yeeeeeaaaahh!! Awesome idea!!” Eiko cheered, her reaction the exact opposite to the knight.
“Alright, I believe everybody knows already how this goes, so let's sit in a circle,” Garnet said. After the other five complied, she put the bottle in the middle and asked: “Who wants to go first?”
“Oh, me, me, me, ME!!” Eiko said enthusiastically as she spun the bottle, and watched it spin with a hopeful grin on her face.
But said grin disappeared when the bottle stopped, and it pointed at Garnet.
“Wait, no! I want another try! This one doesn't count!” Eiko immediately protested.
“Absolutely not. Everybody gets just one try. No go and kiss Garnet,” Zidane said.
Eiko frowned, and moved towards Garnet. They appeared to kiss, but due to Garnet covering her face with her hand, the guys couldn't tell if they were kissing in the lips or it was just a kiss in the cheek. They guessed it was the later, but decided to let it slip since Eiko was so little.
“Okay, who goes next?” Eiko asked.
“Vivi, you're besides her. Why don't you go next?” Garnet suggested.
Vivi nodded and walked towards the bottle. He tried to spin it, but despite pushing with all his strength, the bottle hardly moved. Eiko giggled and decided to lend him a hand.
As he saw the bottle spin, the black mage contemplated the possibilities and wondered which could be the best and worst outcomes. The latter happened when the bottle stopped pointing at the person sitting to his right. Who happened to be Beatrix. Vivi let out a terrified squeal.
Beatrix attempted to reassure him with a friendly smile. “Aw, come on I'm not that bad, right?”
While Beatrix was indeed a very attractive woman that many guys would love to kiss, she still instilled some fear on the little black mage, who still remembered his painful fights against her in the past in vivid detail. The fact that she was comparatively gigantic now only made it worse.
“I won't bite, I promise,” Beatrix said as she extended her hand towards him.
Mustering some courage, the black mage stepped on Beatrix's hand, and let her carry him towards his face.
“Ready?” the knight asked. Vivi only nodded in response.
Beatrix moved Vivi closer to her mouth. She puckered her lips, and gave the black mage a kiss on his whole face. Even if she tried to be careful not to hurt him, she had kissed him with such force that she made him to tumble backwards once the kiss was over. Even with the darkness that concealed his face, Beatrix could see that Vivi was blushing.
“Well...?” Beatrix said, with a giggle.
“It was...nice...” was Vivi's reply.
Beatrix smiled once again. “See? I told you I don't bite,” she said before leaving Vivi on the floor once again. “Okay, my turn!” the female knight said before spinning the bottle.
This time, the bottle stopped pointing at Garnet again.
“Oh...”
“Okay, what's with me and having to kiss all the girls?” Garnet asked a bit annoyed.
“Can I spin the bottle again...?” Beatrix asked meekly.
“No way! If I had to kiss Garnet, then so do you!” Eiko vehemently protested.
“Ugh, fine, let's get this over with...” Beatrix said as she crawled towards Garnet.
After a few moments of hesitation, the two girls finally kissed each other in the lips. The kiss lasted a little longer than a second, but for them, it seemed like an hour. Upon breaking the kiss, the two of them noticed how everybody else was looking at them. Especially Zidane.
“You might better remove that grin from your face, if you know what's good for you,” Garnet said to Zidane in a menacing tone.
“Hey, this night I've been shrunk, nearly gotten stepped on by you, and played with as if I was a toy. You can't blame me for finally enjoying such a sight for sore eyes,” Zidane said, but upon seeing the mad scowls of Garnet and Beatrix, he decided it was better to drop it. “I'm besides Beatrix, so I guess it's my turn, right?”
Garnet nodded, and Zidane prepared to spin the bottle. Unlike Vivi, he had enough strength to push the bottle into spinning. He had hopes that he had pushed the bottle with the right amount of strength so it would stop at Garnet. The bottle's spinning started to slow down...
...and much to his horror, the bottle stopped at Steiner. He felt his heart stopping for a second. Steiner felt likewise.
“WHAT? No! I demand another try!” Zidane complained.
“I think you know the answer to that,” Garnet sternly replied.
“Come on! If not for him, at least do it for me! I don't deserve this!” Steiner interjected.
“I don't remember you protesting when I had to kiss the queen,” Beatrix said, just as unamused as Garnet. “So you two better start smooching, or there will be consequences.”
“And that kiss better be good! We're not going to admit a half-assed kiss!” Eiko chimed in.
Knowing that there was no way out of this, the thief and the knight walked to each other, and got ready for the inevitable.
“Okay, let's get over with this already. You ready?” Zidane asked. Steiner merely let out a disgusted grumble.
Without further ado, Zidane grabbed Steiner's face with both hands, and pulled the knight into a surprisingly passionate-looking kiss. The three girls watching the display cooed and squealed in delight, and Eiko even clapped. The kiss broke when Steiner pushed Zidane away from him.
“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?” the Knight angrily asked.
“Um, a kiss? Listen, I enjoyed it as little as you did, so don't act as if it was my-”
“I don't mean that! You caught me off guard! You didn't even let me time to prepare!”
“Time to prepare? Prepare how, exactly? This was like removing a sticky bandage: the faster you do, the less it hurts.”
“Come on guys, don't fight. If it's any consolation, it was a great kiss,” Garnet mentioned, trying to suppress an amused giggle.
“Thanks. But no, it's not of any consolation,” Zidane dryly replied.
“Well, in that case, consider that the fate getting all of us even. Now let's move on. It's my turn to spin the bottle. Let's hope it doesn't point at Beatrix or Eiko again,” Garnet said as she spun the bottle.
And just as he wished, the bottle stopped at a boy. Vivi, to be precise.
“First Beatrix, and now Garnet? Wow, Vivi is surely lucky,” Zidane groaned, a bit disheartened.
“Why can't you just feel happy for Master Vivi? You are supposed to be his friend,” Steiner chided the thief.
Like Beatrix before her, Garnet extended her hand for Vivi to hop on. He then brought the tiny black mage to her face, and gave him a big kiss on his face.
“Oh, well. At least I get to kiss a cute boy,” Garnet said, giggling at the black mage in her hands. Vivi blushed furiously. She then gently placed Vivi back on the floor.
“Who goes next?” Eiko asked.
“Adalbert. He's the only one left to spin the bottle,” Beatrix said.
With an air of resignation, Steiner walked to the bottle and made it spin with a mighty push. He prayed for it not to stop at Zidane. And his prayers were most likely heard, because the bottle stopped at Beatrix.
“Haha, yes!! Fortune smiles upon this knight, as a retribution for make me kiss that thief before!” Steiner said as he pumped a fist.
“I can't believe you guys' luck...” Zidane grumbled, clearly jeaqlous of Steiner's luck.
Steiner quickly ran towards Beatrix. The one eyed giantess smiled, and quickly grabbed Steiner with both hands and brought him to her face, and the two of them shared a long, passionate kiss.
“Well, how did that kiss feel?” Beatrix asked once the kiss came to an end.
“It was something like...like your usual kisses, only a thousand times more intense. Maybe there's something good to this shrinking nonsense you put us through,” Steiner said.
“Oh, there is much more than you can imagine, Adalbert,” Beatrix replied as she placed the knight on the floor.
“Okay, that was fun. Now that we completed a round, shall we play something else?” Garnet suggested. “I don't want to kiss Eiko or Beatrix again. No offense, girls, but you're not my type.”
“Yeah, me too. Kissing rusty once is too many times for a lifetime,” Zidane said.
“What? No! We can't stop so soon! I didn't get to kiss any guy!” Eiko pouted.
“Well, sometimes this game is no fun. I didn't get to kiss any girl either,” Zidane said with a shrug.
“Um...if you want, you can kiss me,” Vivi interjected.
Eiko turned at the tiny black mage, and stared at him surprised. “Really?”
“Yes. You shouldn't be the only girl who didn't get to kiss a boy,” Vivi kindly said. Eiko's mouth formed a huge grin.
The black mage immediately regretted those words, as Eiko suddenly leaped at him, landing right above him, pinning him to the ground with her hands. Unlike Beatrix and Garnet, who made sure their kisses were soft and gentle, the blue haired girl then gave Vivi one long and intense smooch all over his face. When the kiss ended, Eiko was till grinning, and Vivi was still lying on the floor, breathing heavily.
“Admit it. It was the best kiss you ever had,” Eiko said.
“That was...something...” Vivi said, panting.
“Well, while the ladies' man there recovers, let's discuss what are we going to do next. I don't care how dangerous it is as long as I don't get to kiss Steiner again,” Zidane said.
“Will you stop bringing that up?” Steiner angrily said.
“I have an idea. How about hide and seek?” Eiko suggested. “Back in Madain Sari I used to play it with the moogles all the time. It was super fun! Plus it helped hone my hiding skills when I escaped from a monster or went to nearby villages to steal some food.”
“That sounds okay. Who's going to be the ones hiding?” Zidane asked.
Eiko just stared at him. “It isn't obvious?”
“Yeah, this place is too small for the three of us to hide, and there would be no way for you to tag us,” Beatrix added.
“Okay. Then what do we do? How do we win?” Vivi asked.
“We will stay on the bed and count to sixty, while you guys go and hide somewhere. While we look for you, you'll have to get back into the bed to be safe. If one boy is safe, then the boys win. For obvious reasons, hiding under the bed, or anywhere near is banned. Is this okay?” Garnet said.
“When you mean the bed, you mean the top of the bed? Because climbing it will take any of us a lot of time,” Steiner commented.
“True. I guess that being close to the bed should be enough to be safe. Any other questions?”
“Yeah. This is a given, but I think that girls shouldn't be able to use magic. You already have enough advantage over us,” Zidane suggested.
“Fair enough. Any more suggestions?” Garnet asked again, though this time nobody said anything. “Okay, then we shall begin now. Eiko, Beatrix, get into the bed with me and let's start counting. The three of you, go and hide somewhere.”
While the girls closed the eyes and counted aloud, the guys scattered through the (to them) massive bedroom, hoping to find a decent hiding spot. Vivi saw that the drawer near the bed had enough space for him to hide under it. Zidane decided to hide behind one of the table's legs. Running out of options, Steiner decided to hide behind the pile of boxes containing Garnet's dolls still there.
“...fifty eight, fifty night, sixty! Ready or not, here we come!” Garnet declared as she and her two friends removed their hands from their eyes.
“Alright, let's spread out to cover more area. Think where would you hide if you were their size. And there isn't any 'too obvious' place to hide, so look everywhere,” Beatrix instructed, as if readying her troops for an incoming battle.
“Relax, general. It's just a game,” Garnet said, as she chuckled at her.
“Oh, I think I saw our first target!” Eiko whispered to thw other two.
“Really? Where?” Beatrix asked. Eiko pointed out at the table in the middle of the room.
“Where? I don't see anything,” Garnet said, as she squinted her eyes.
Suddenly, both of them saw what warned Eiko of somebody hiding there: there was a small tail sticking out from behind one of the table's legs. Garnet grinned deviously.
“Alright, let's sneak around him and leave him no escape route. Even at that size, Zidane can be quick and nimble. We have to be even quickest,” Garnet adviced. The others nodded, and slowly approached the table.
Zidane cursed to himself. Not just one, but the three girls were heading towards her position. The only reason for doing such a thing is that they saw him. But how? The table's legs were wide enough to hide his whole body. Then again, that was a mystery to be solved later.
Even if they tried to be silent, there was no way for the tiny thief not to hear their booming footsteps and sense the way they made the floor vibrate whenever they walked. Soon, three pair of legs were surrounding the table. Zidane was forced to move in order to avoid being spotted. Then again, it was impossible to remain completely hidden from three different people for long. An he was about to be proven right.
“Boo!” Eiko said behind Zidane, and giggled.
Zidane quickly turned around to see Eiko crouched in front of him, with a smile on her face and her hand already extended to grab him. The small genome only had a fraction of a second to jump out of her reach. He had no time to catch his breath, as he saw movement on the corner of his eye, and jumped again to avoid falling into his giant girlfriend's grasp.
“Zidane, you're trapped. There's nowhere to run,” Garnet said calmly as she tried to grab Zidane again.
“Ha, you'd wish! You may not believe me, but I've escaped from worse places and situations than this one.”
As if to challenge that statement, both Garnet and Eiko tried to reach him at the same time, but he skillfully managed to dodge them both.
“You can't dodge us forever!” Eiko claimed.
“Come on Beatrix! Grab him while he's busy with us!” Garnet said.
They were about to get ready to catch him, when suddenly a familiar sound caught their attention. Like metal pieces clashing against each other. Clank clank clank.
Eiko turned around to see that Steiner had left her hiding spot among the boxes and was running as fast as he could towards the bed. However, the noisy armor betrayed him.
“Somebody catch him!” Garnet shouted.
“Leave him to me,” Beatrix said, as her lips formed an devious smile.
As Beatrix left, Zidane noticed that Garnet and Eiko were distracted, and thus giving him the perfect chance to run. He took that chance and didn't look behind.
“Hey!” Garnet said as she noticed Zidane running away. She crawled towards him and tried to grab him, but the tiny thief jumped out of danger just in the nick of time.
“Haha! You can't-”
Zidane was interrupted when something heavy fell on his tail, pinning him to the floor. Turning around, he saw Eiko, standing behind him, with one of her feet firmly pressing on his tail. Zidane tried to pull his tail out, but to no avail.
“Good job, Eiko,” Garnet said as she walked towards Zidane, towering over him. “I'm sorry, dear, but you lost.”
Zidane sighed in defeat, and didn't move as Garnet's fingers wrapped around his body.
Meanwhile, Steiner was racing towards the bed, the safe zone. His run was disrupted by a series of tremors that headed his way. He knew the source of such tremors, and didn't even bother to look around. He couldn't stop. At least, until a pair of colossal legs planted themselves in front of him, cutting him from safety.
“Well, well, look who came out of hiding,” Beatrix said, smirking down at the tiny knight. “Going somewhere, Adalbert?”
Steiner froze at the sight of the gigantic one-eyed woman towering over him. His brain tried to come up with a way of avoiding her, but so far there was no luck.
“So, you do admit defeat? Okay then. Boring, but that's the wisest course of action,” Beatrix said as she got on her knees and extended her hand towards the knight.
“FIRAGA!!”
A small nova of fire exploded centimeters from Beatrix face, and the female knight instinctively jerked her body backwards as she closed her eye and held her hands in front of her face.
“Come on Steiner! Run!” Vivi said behind him.
“Master Vivi! You're a sight for sore eyes! Thank you so much!” Steiner said as he started running besides the black mage. “But what are we going to do now?”
“We can't go to the bed! We have to find a new hiding place and lose them!” Vivi suggested.
“Oh, that was really clever,” Beatrix said as she got back on her feet again. “Let's see how well you do against THIS!”
The female knight stomped her foot on the floor with all her strength, causing such massive tremor that even Garnet and Eiko sensed it. The shockwave it created was powerful enough to send the shrunken knight and black mage up in the air a few centimeters. They landed painfully on their butts.
“Aw...” Vivi said as he rubbed his damaged posterior.
“Come on Master Vivi, I know it hurts, but there's no time for that! We have to keep moving!” Steiner urged the black mage as he helped him back on his feet.
A couple of booming footsteps warned them of another incoming giantess. Garnet was coming towards them, with a huge grin on her face, and Zidane on firm grip on her right hand.
“Hello, boys. Ready to face your fate?” the queen said as she came closer.
However, Vivi had an idea. The moment Garnet raised a leg, he prepared to cast a spell.
“BLIZZAGA!” Vivi shouted as he cast a stream of ice beams, not at Garnet, but at the floor in front of her.
“What are you doing...?”
The moment Garnet's feet touched the frozen floor, she immediately slipped, making her fall on her back.
“AAAAAHHH!!” Garnet yelled while she fell. The impact caused yet another shockwave that made Steiner and Vivi lose balance again.
“Nice one Master Vivi! With your magic prowess there might be a chance to win this unfair game!” Steiner said, his heart full of optimism.
“Ha! You'd wish!” Said a youthful voice above them.
The knight and the black mage looked upwards and saw Eiko, standing on the bed, with an even wider grin on her face than Beatrix or Garnet.
“She won't dare to...” Steiner said, fearing what the blue haired little giantess was about to do.
“I think she's going to,” Vivi said, guessing what was going to happen.
“FLIGHT OF BAHAMUT!” Eiko shouted as she jumped at the shrunken guys, extending her arms in a dramatic pose.
The horrified shrunken duo tried to run away from Eiko, but it was too late. The horned girl landed on top of them on her belly, pinning him to the ground. Such move could have killed Steiner and Vivi instantly, but fortunately Garnet's Protect spell was still active, and they didn't suffer any harm. However, the impact left their bodies completely numb.
Eiko stood up, grabbed Vivi and Steiner, and raised them above her head as if they were trophies.
“Wohooo! We win!” Eiko cheered as she jumped up and down.
“Ugh...I can't feel my...everything...” Steiner moaned.
“I think me too...” Vivi said.
“Come on, don't be such ninnies. That couldn't hurt that much, right?” Eiko said as she placed them on the bed. “Though maybe I kind of overdid it. Cura!”
As threads and sparkles of silver light surrounded their bodies, Vivi and Steiner regained their mobility, and the numbness went away. Garnet and Beatrix, with Zidane on the former0s hand, returned to the bed.
“Well, that was fun, even if incredibly short and one sided,” Garnet commented.
“What do we do now?” Eiko asked. Her question was followed by a rather long yawn.
Garnet looked at the night sky through the window. “Hmm. It's a bit late. I think that we should officially end the sleepover now.”
“What? So soon?” Eiko protested, and yawned again. “But I want to continue playing!”
“It's way past your bedtime. You can do whatever you want tomorrow,” Garnet replied in a stern tone.
“You can't make me go to bed! You're not my mom!”
“No, but in your mom's absence, you're under my direct care, so I'm the closest thing to your mom here. And you're going to bed now.”
“Buzzkill.”
Garnet ignored the pouting child and turned her attention to the black mage.
“Vivi?”
“Yes, your highness?” the little mage asked.
“Mini!” Garnet said as he pointed at him with his index finger.
Vivi yelped, as he feared that he was going to be shrunk even further, but instead he saw how everything was getting smaller instead. After some seconds, he returned to his original size. He then remembered that a second application of Mini nullifies the first one.
“Vivi, be a gentleman and walk Eiko to her bedroom, please. Then you should go back to your bedroom and sleep as well.”
“Y-yes, of course,” Vivi said as he followed Eiko out of the queen's bedroom. “Good night!”
“Good night to you as well,” Garnet said, as he saw Vivi and Eiko leave.
“Er, Garnet. Aren't you going to grow us as well?” Zidane asked, feeling a bit uneasy. “Or me at least?”
“Yes, I had enough of being a toy soldier,” Steiner added.
“And why should I do such a thing?” Garnet asked, as she sported a roguish smile.
“What? Are you going to leave us like this? But I thought that this was just for the sleepover!” Zidane protested.
Both Garnet and Beatrix grabbed their respective boyfriends, and headed for the bed.
“And what makes you think that this party is over yet?” Garnet asked.
“Yes. Now that the kids are out of the way...the real party can begin!” Beatrix added, as both she and Garnet started to forcibly undress their shrunken boyfriends.
“Ho boy...”
...
Meanwhile, the kid mages were traversing the castle, heading towards Eiko's bedroom. While they walked, Vivi noticed that the blue haired summoner was a bit upset. Even if a full night of activities and games was starting to take its toll on her, she still had some energy left to burn out.
“So...did you have fun tonight?” Vivi asked.
Eiko turned at him, and smiled sweetly. “Yeah, it was the best sleepover I ever had! I hope we do that again soon. What about you? Did you have fun?”
“Uh...it was scary a few times...well, a lot of times...but in the end, I did have fun too, I guess.”
“Given that you were kissed by every girl, which one do you think is the best kisser, Beatrix, Garnet or yours truly?”
Vivi yelped in surprise. That question caught him completely off-guard. He had forgotten how direct Eiko could be sometimes.
“Eh...yours?” Vivi said timidly.
Eiko stared into his eyes with her eyes narrowed, raised an eyebrow, and leaned so close to him she was starting to invade his personal space. “You aren't telling me that just to please me, right?”
“N-no! Beatrix and Garnet are way older than me, and when they kissed me it felt like being kissed by an older sister. You, on the other hand...your kiss felt much different.”
Eiko leaned back, and smiled. “Glad to hear it.”
After a couple minutes walking hallways and starirs, they reached Eiko's bedroom.
“Good night, Eiko,” Vivi said as he opened the door for her.
“Good night, Vivi,” Eiko said as she was about to get in, but stopped midway. “Um, Vivi, given that you've been living here for quite some time, you know Alexandria pretty well, right?”
“Yes. Why do you ask?”
“Tomorrow I wanted to go for a walk around the city and see it better. And I thought that maybe...you could be my guide?”
“Oh. Well, as the court wizard I have some duties to perform, so I'll have to ask the queen first. But I don't think there will be any problem, so yeah.”
“Thank you! I can't wait for tomorrow!” Eiko said as she hugged Vivi in joy and kissed him in the cheek. “See ya tomorrow then!”
After Eiko closed the door, Vivi just stood there, motionless. He took one hand to the spot he has been kissed. Under the darkness that concealed her face, a smile formed. As he made his way towards his own bedroom, Vivi suddenly felt he couldn't wait for tomorrow either.
END