A/N: I wrote this a long time ago, and I decided to edit it up and upload it for one of my best friends for his birthday. Please excuse any errors or inconsistencies. I tried to fix them, but I may have missed a few. And I'm really not that good at first-person, so ignore any stuff that I may have messed up with that. And the ending, I'm sorry if it seems sudden.

Disclaimer: I most definitely do not own Final Fantasy.

I exhaled. After holding my breath for around a minute, my lungs felt like they were the first part of my aching body to spark. The fire was spreading quickly, making it difficult to do anything. So I relaxed as much as I could and thought. My brother couldn't find me. If he did, he would easily kill me with one or two spells. I gently set my daggers beside me.

"Oh Zidane," my brother's girly voice called to me. I could hear his boots stepping on the stone ground, the water splashing around them.

My clothes were soaked from sweat, blood, and the water. I wanted to scream. Scream for Dagger. Scream for revenge. I wanted to call for death, hopefully taking my brother out with me. But I couldn't. If he killed me now, Dagger would die. He would call on Bahamut and wipe out Alexandria, killing Dagger and all of the people who have helped me. I cursed under my breath as the pain of the burn on my leg returned.

"Zidane!"

His voice was angry now, furious even. He was growing impatient with my refusal to crawl into the open. My refusal to accept the inevitable. This man, my brother and surely the most girlish man alive, had killed at least a thousand people easily. And now, as the finale of this thing he called his 'play', he wanted me dead. He wanted to take my life before he died. The only person who could strike fear into his black heart, the only person who could make him cry. Me. His brother. The person who somehow replaced him in Garland's master plan. I gritted my teeth as I pulled myself to my feet.

"Hey Kuja!" I called, picking up my daggers. I limped out into the open. I immediately spotted my brother among the stalagmites. He turned to me, a grin forming on his thin lips. He placed one hand on his hip, the other hand raising to move some of his hair out of his face. A small ball of red energy started forming in his left hand as he held it out, taunting me.

"Dagger!" I cried as a young girl's image appeared in the sphere. Suddenly, the sphere grew huge and Kuja shot it at me. I hit the ground harder than ever before, soaking my hair, making it stick to my face. The sphere became a large ball of flames before it sizzled out in the water. Kuja laughed.

"Oh, Zidane. Why fight? We both know how this is going to end," he said as a purple glow formed around his hand, quickly turning blue. Icy blue. Despite my leg burning again, I started running. I jumped onto a wall and ran a circle around Kuja on the wall before lunging at him. The look of shock appeared on his face moments before blood started to soak both of us. He attempted to cover the large cut on his arm with a piece of cloth from the bottom of his white cloak. It was blood red in seconds.

"How does that feel, Kuja?! I bet it hurts...just like the burns you gave me," I shook my head, taking a step back from him. His face showed nothing but anger, but his eyes were full of fear. Just like Dagger's were before he..."Why did you attack Alexandria?! Why, Kuja?! Why?" I screamed at him, throwing my two daggers down. "That was Dagger's home! And you killed her mom! How can you kill without remorse?!"

Kuja forced an evil grin. "It's simple, Zidane. I want her dead. I want them all dead. If I can't live forever, I'm taking out Gaia with my demise!" He shot a ball of ice at me. I reacted too slowly, the end of my tail turning blue with specks of ice and snow in the fur. He shot spell after spell at me, missing a few times. One stopped me in my tracks. Before I knew what had happened, I was on the ground with Kuja standing over me. Ice surrounded his hand. It was the end.

"Thundara is a nice spell, isn't it, Zidane? Very different. Very painful," he gently touched my chest. I screamed in pain. "Excruciatingly painful is a better word, am I right?" He laughed at my screams of pain. All I could do was hope Dagger ran from Alexandria while she could.

"Go...go ahead, Kuja. Kill me now...Dagger will never love you," I forced a cocky smile. He frowned.

"Shut up, Zidane. I will kill you. Just let me think of a very painful and embarrassing way to die." Kuja thought for a minute, giving me time to make a plan on how to turn Kuja's magic against himself.

I knew what he had decided before he turned back to me. Both of his hands were glowing purple. I silently apologized to Dagger. I can't protect her anymore. Kuja raised his hand and a purple circle formed on the ceiling above me. I felt myself rising from the water. I lunged for my daggers as the first of many purple orbs hit the ground where I was just less than a minute ago. Kuja screamed. Furious, he stopped the spell and tried to shoot an unknown spell at me. He couldn't even finish creating it before he was on the ground. The water around him started turning red. Red from his blood.

I reached down and grabbed his hand. "Kuja...my brother..." I said softly.

"Let me die alone. I...I have nothing else I want from you," he snarled. I hated seeing him like this. He couldn't even allow me to apologize.

"You're really dumb, aren't you?" I laughed. He refused to even smile. "Hey...I'm not gonna leave my brother to die. Even if I was the one to deal the final blow. I'm sure you'd wanna watch me die too." He smiled a little. At least he wasn't going to die angry at me. Well...no more angry than I would have been if he killed me.

"I'm sorry," he said so quietly I could barely hear him. He had to repeat the words for me to even believe he said them.

"It's okay. I would have done the same, Kuja," I sat next to him.

"Why do you stay...after what I did? Even if I did stay if we were to swap places...I would be cheering and watching you die...not trying to comfort you," Kuja said. I shrugged. Silence. I looked over at Kuja. He was completely still. I stood up, retrieved my daggers, and started to leave. I took one look back at my brother.

"Y'know...you look so peaceful...when you're sleeping. I just wish...that you were truly sleeping." I left him alone in the cave to rest. He needed it.