A Final Fantasy Unlimited Fanfic
Standard Disclaimers
Thanks to JP for Betaing. (who is not an anime fan, but is a good sport, and loves my stories.)
Thanks also to Madalyn for her lightning eye. (who has several HP and Gatchaman fics round here)
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It has been a boring day on the command deck of Jane our fabulous Elenium powered submarine.
Boring days are good.
It means we don't have to fight Chaos.
But this was a bad boring day. The radar crew started bickering over some petty matter, and Cid had to look down from his command post and hiss "silence!" Several times.
Chobi was grumpy and sat down, feathers ruffled, he wouldn't play with the Twins, who were on the verge of a fight anyway.
I was maudlin, thinking of home.
After a few hours of this I was thoroughly moping, and looking at the sullen faces all around. (Not including the Comadeen, who are masked, Chobi who is expressionless, and Kaze who is militantly indifferent to virtually everything except a good battle.)
"So glum. We ought to do something to cheer up." I say to no one in particular.
Chobi yawns his loudest and rudest yawn.
"Now look at this." Ai says from behind me. Good girl. Ai has managed to get Poshepocket to produce some of those muesli bars that are nourishing and everyone seems to like. A fine change from seaweed broth and bread.
Ai walks about handing out bars. Everyone on the deck at that moment gets one regardless of rank or being in Ai's good books.
She stops by Kaze who is in his typical attitude, slumped against the wall, huddled up like he was cold (or very insecure) staring blankly into space.
He hasn't moved all day. Not that this matters; it means we can find him if anything happens, (or more than likely, he will see something happen, saving us the trouble of going to his lair in the hold and having to explain that we need him.)
She holds out the bar to him. Kaze takes it.
Ai stands over him. "Well?"
Kaze looks up, the bar halfway to his mouth so he can use his teeth on the wrapper.
She holds out her hand, "give it back."
Kaze looks incredulous and I'm thinking Ai is such a good girl, she's going to unwrap the bar because Kaze doesn't find such things very easy one handed.
To his credit Kaze hands back the treat.
And Ai says "you have no manners." And stomps off the deck leaving Kaze staring after her.
I jump up and run after her, grabbing her in the corridor. "What was that in aid of?"
She gives me that look and says. "Mr Kaze didn't say thank you."
"So?"
"He's going to have to learn manners. Its not like we are running around in the wilds dodging monsters here. He's got to be a little nicer." She put on a very superior look. "If Yu or I had behaved that way at home... We would not have got treats for a week."
I shake my head. "Don't be mean, Ai" I say wearily. Kaze has saved our lives many times. I won't begrudge him candy. He's got so little to look forwards to. Its not like we are short on sweets. Poshepocket seems very good at gobbling up decent food and giving sweets in return. I hold out my hand for the offending item.
Ai draws back. "If we don't say please and thank you we might as well go join Chaos ourselves."
I sigh miserably. Ai is so right. We have to have standards. "If its any good to you, I think you should go back and give it to him; apologise if you wish, don't if you don't, but explain that you would like to see him a little more grateful, he doesn't have to say anything, a nod or a smile will do."
She looks dubious.
I decide not to remind her of what Kaze has done for us, I don't remind her that I can see inside his soul, and he's of pure heart. Instead I crouch to bring myself to Ai's height. "It's pretty rough here for all of us. Kaze is better equipped to survive in Wonderland its true, but that doesn't mean he should be denied decent food if we have it. He has to eat the same muck we all do, and frequently goes without. At least on Jane he gets his rations three times daily same as everyone else."
She nods slowly. Like me, Ai did not believe the sort of things she would end up eating in Wonderland, no doubt she is thinking Kaze used to not have to eat rats and snakes in his own world.
"We all have to be thankful we can remember good food. Kaze has no memory of it. The candy in his head is all gone. His world is gone and he's empty now, all he possesses is revenge, that's probably the only thing that keeps him alive and helping us."
Ai turns away, tears in her eyes. Then she looks resolute. "No, I'm not going to go back and apologise to Mr Kaze...But I will put his treat on his bed so he finds it, I will give him several bars." She starts down the corridor.
I walk with her to the storeroom in the hold. Kaze was offered a cabin of his own when we plucked him out of the water. Jane is a big ship and we have plenty of cabins. I don't like to think why this is so; but now there are less crew than she was designed for.
But Kaze for reasons best left to himself has decided to sleep in a storeroom. No one argued with that, but Nav said to me in private We must be the only ship who stores their mascot in the hold.
Mascot? I said. This was the last thing I would have called our dark saviour.
Well, he's lucky, and he doesn't seem to perform any other function.
I had to laugh. Fine, just don't tell Chobi that.
And Nav laughed too. I won't offend the chocobos feelings.
We make our way down to the ships hold and the storage room where our antisocial hero lairs.
Fortunately its full of crates of Cid's equipment, stuff we wont need except in special circumstances.
Otherwise Kaze might not get the privacy he craves.
Ai pushes open the door .
Inside is a scattering of crates "where is his bed? Surely he doesn't sit in that position all night?"
But he might well do: when outside I do not sleep, I meditate and watch over the twins while they sleep. Neither does Chobi for that matter, he fluffs up and puts down his nictitating membranes but he never actually shuts his eyes.
Wonderland is too dangerous for true sleep.
Kaze meditates a lot too. In fact that's all he ever does when not walking aimlessly like his namesake the wind or shooting at a Chaos creation. I can see him meditate, I've done it so often myself. He sits wrapped in his cloak and thoughts, staring into space, periodically scanning around with his good eye for danger.
You cannot catch him out.
The only time I saw Kaze sleep was when he was on the Ghosttrain, this was after that World where sand came falling from the sky, the one where the Death Lord Pist stole the Magun right off of Kaze's arm. (And how did he do that? its plumbed into his veins for Kwannons sake! Not to mention it's got Kaze's heart in it!)
Pist was dematerialised (serve him right for thinking he could fire the Magun! The Magun is part of Kaze's body for good or evil, there's no way anyone else could use it.) And Kaze got his dreadful gun back where it belonged. Only I can use the Magun; it is my heart.
But I was freaking at the manifestation of a terrible winged demon.
Gundragon.
Kaze was sat in the seat opposite the Twins and me. This little episode had taken a lot out of him. Normally he simply walks off after firing the Magun. (After giving it an unbelieving stare, I don't think he truly takes his weapon for granted even though it is bonded to his arm.) That is, if he doesn't disappear with the Summons.
I now know why Kaze turns up like he does with no obvious ways of getting from world to world. The Magun transports him.
Does that dreadful weapon have a mind and will of its own?
But this time Kaze zonked out pretty much as soon as he got to the dubious safety of the Ghosttrain; He was exhausted even beyond what using the Magun did to him.
The wolf girl Lou cuddled up to him all that time; This is how I knew Kaze was sleeping; normally he's so flighty about being touched. Its not he turns nasty, (Kaze does not have a nasty bone in his body; he saves it all for Chaos...and this Makenshi.) But you can see him draw back and start to shake.
He's having flashbacks. They frighten him. It's the only thing I've seen him frightened of. (Save that exquisitely horrid moment when he realised the Magun was no longer attached firmly to his right arm)
Perhaps its for the best he's amnesiac...
For all our sakes.
I have a feeling after seeing that unexpected manifestation of Gundragon when Pist foolishly tried to fire the Magun it's safest for us all Kaze doesn't remember anything.
Who is Kaze? What is his connection to Gundragon, the creature who has haunted my darkest nightmares since I witnessed him blitz the UN task force into splinters all those years ago?
But Kaze slept, and Lou cuddled him, she smoothed his rumpled cloak, groomed his matted hair with her fingers and even went to the bold step of uncovering the Magun and putting her ear against it so she could hear his heart beating.
I don't want to think about that either.
Nor those Demons he summons
Nor the Deathlords
Nor Omega
Nor our probable eventual fate...
I point to the far and darkest corner where crates have been pushed aside to make an enclosed space. "Here's his nest."
And it was a nest. A bedroll, and a couple of very disordered brown blankets, that was all.
Smelling strongly of sweat, metal, gun oil and general dirt. (Lou would have a field day.)
No personal possessions; Kaze always keeps his few things on his person. He wears a multipocket bodywarmer (or is it a flak jacket?) under his cloak.
He even wears that massive sawnoff shotgun of his on Jane. I know that the Magun is part of him, but really...
Cid tried to get him to leave it in his lair at least, and Kaze gave him one of his great varieties of hostile stares.
Ai lays the candy bar on his bedroll; she grabs Poshepocket who giggles. "I want some nice treats for good Mr Kaze please."
While I am wondering how the erratic Poshepocket will interpret that request he spits out a few items of painfully familiar candy. (Where does he get these things? How does he know what Ai means?)
Oh, and a cartridge case.
Full of explosive shells for that extra tiresome target.
Ai and Poshepocket smirk and I decide it's safest to say nothing. Wonderland is no place for a Pacifist.
Ai behaves with truly remarkable tact when she got back on the bridge.
She sits down by Yu who is hugging Chobi. "Like the treat?"
Yu smiles, "yes, Chobi liked his too, he ate it wrapper and all."
"I'm glad so. Not much candy in Wonderland."
Yu looks sad. "Icky food. We're like Chobi; he eats whatever he can grab." He shakes his head. "I sometimes think the Earl pillages entire worlds so he can eat sweets. Bastard." He puts on a sour look worthy of Kaze.
Ai nods. "Do you remember how mum and dad used to take our treats off of us if we didn't say thank you?"
Yu still looks surly. "I'm sorry if I didn't say thank you. I'll say thank you again just to make sure." He looks down, "and thank you Poshepocket too."
The sentient bag giggles.
"That's a good thing. If we forget our manners we are as bad as Chaos."
Kaze is within earshot but makes no sign he overheard.
But then he never does.
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