FF9 Short Story: Halted by Confusion

What puzzled everyone else in hindsight was that no one quite knew where Vivi had learned the spells he used. Oh, the Break spell was simple enough, it was practically expected at this point when the Black Mage was confused. No, what had everyone else wondering were the other two spells.

The confuse spell hitting him from the Lamia wasn't a surprise, and really, in Lamia territory they should have taken precautions. This forest was the only place they lived other than Gizamaluke's Grotto.

"Break!" He shouted after spinning on the spot.

"Oh cra-"

The magic effect of stone surrounded Freya for a second, and when it cleared she was now a perfectly startled instant statue.

"Zidane, give him a tap and snap him out of it!" Dagger said.

"Way ahead of you, Dagger." He grinned, and moved.

Vivi, however, cast another spell, and a stream of bandages materialised in the air around Zidane.

"Wait, what's thi-Mmmph!" Zidane protested, cut short by the first bandage going over his mouth.

The rest of them swung in too, binding his legs together, making him drop his weapons, and starting to wrap his arms while pulling them over his chest. He struggled and protested behind his gag as his arms were crossed over and bound to his chest, the bandages wrapping more and more of his body up until he lost balance. Now like a worm, Zidane writhed on the ground even as the last touches went into place, binding up the last unwrapped spots below his neck. Fortunately, it stopped there, but the thief was now squirming helplessly.

Now the only party member left in control of her senses, Dagger could either have freed Vivi or Freya. She, however, chose to stare in surprise at Zidane.

"...A mummifying spell?!"

However, Vivi was still confused, and thought Dagger was another enemy.

Zidane the Worm squirmed and writhed, trying to get closer to Vivi and give him a small nudge, but it was all for nothing. Vivi cast the spell.

It was a strange spell, though only Zidane and Vivi truly saw it. Clouds of what looked like fluff and stuffing surrounded Garnet, and then encased her in the fluff.

For a second, other than the amused Lamia fanning itself, only two sounds could be heard from Zidane and Dagger while Vivi span around on the spot, dazed and confused.

"Mmmph!"

However, it did not last. The fluff, and Dagger with it, began shrinking and glowing. The sound of rustling cloth could faintly be heard over Zidane's muffled surprise, and then eventually, the fluff burst away, to reveal that Dagger had been transformed into a rag doll barely twelve inches high.

"Mmmf?!" Zidane exclaimed, as the confused Vivi began shooting balls of ice at the trees.

The Lamia, meanwhile, had grown bored and left, content the interlopers were helpless. Zidane was the only one able to move that wasn't away with the fairies, of course, and he tried to do so.

He managed to struggle over to Dagger, and saw she now had button-eyes, skin made of felt-like cloth, ragged mop-like hair, and her clothes seemed to be stitched in. A line of pink made her mouth smile, and sown onto one stubby felt hand was a small knitted staff.  

Dagger for her part was very confused herself. It was like petrification and shrinking, the unsettling inanimate feeling and that sense the world was now much larger around her, but unlike stone, the velvet and fluff she had become was not losing heat. There was no cold sensation, and instead she felt... Fluffy.

'To be honest, I'm glad Zidane's got a gag on, I think I'd want to hit him once I'm back to normal if he made a pun about me being a real doll.' Dagger thought.

Zidane's eyes shimmered a little as he mmph'ed something.

'...Okay, I think I'm going to hit him.'

It was nearly an hour later that Vivi ran out of MP and swung his own staff at himself rather than a tree. Zidane, who had moved over to a tree to try and cut through the bandages (no luck) and Freya's lance (no luck, it simply slid from her petrified fingers and wound up point-stuck in the ground - attempting to knock it over would knock Freya over too) in the meantime, as well as simply writing to try and move his limbs between moments of exhaustion.

"Mppph!" Zidane said, thinking Vivi had shaken himself out of the confusion and they'd soon all be free.

Only for the Black Mage to fall over unconscious from his own self-inflicted attack.

Though only one of the trio could even come close to vocalising it, they all cried out in enraged anguish.