Disclaimer- I don't own any of the Final Fantasy characters in this story.

Author's notes: Sometimes, you really have to hate your job as an Emergency Response Officer. You really do. XP I tried my best with this chapter, and I think it's better than last month's, but I still didn't have enough time to write it as I would have liked. Hope it's up to snuff.

Chapter 9: Separated at last.

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The battle clashed all around me. Swords, spells and explosions erupted everywhere, and I could barely move. It was all I could do just to sit up, but Kaiten… He wasn't moving at all.

"Five Kujas?" Zidane asked, shocked as anyone could be. "Are you sure? He's never used a spell like that before!"

"He has… new powers… in Trance…" I muttered, falling to my side again. More than anything, I wanted to sleep, but I knew that would mean people would die. I had to use that to keep myself awake and moving.

"Did he ever have an ability like that in your world?" Zidane asked.

"No… nothing like that…" I wheezed. Talking was far more difficult than it should have been, but Dagger had already healed all my wounds. I could already see her working on healing Kaiten, but he still wasn't moving. I would have to check on him in a moment. "He must… have learned it… Don't know how though…"

Could my being here have affected the outcome? I had already changed various events, big and small, just by being around. While I didn't think Kuja learned a new spell just to deal with me, it seemed possible that I might have done something to interfere.

Zidane clearly didn't like the situation anymore than I did. He would have to kill the man who was, in some ways, his own brother. "I guess that just means we need to beat him fives times. It sounds like he's trying to separate us and kill us one at a time."

"Then we should stick together, right?" Vivi asked.

"Exactly. If we kill Kuja's copies one by one, then we'll have the upper hand. Dagger, are you done with Kaiten yet?"

Dagger wasn't able to carry Kaiten in his heavy armor, but she could at least flip him onto his back. I could see him breathing. "He's fine, from what I can tell. I just think he and Trevor are drained."

"We'll let them rest. I'll need you two with me to take down Kuja. Stay close and don't let him break us apart. Vivi, hit hard and suddenly. And try not to hit me. Dagger, just stay ready to heal anything. We might run into the others out there."

Lifting my shorts swords felt like lifting a truck, and what was left of my armor kept me rooted to the ground. "No, guys… wait," I tried to say. But my efforts to slow the others were useless. They ran off without me, jumping to new platforms and chasing after shadows. Maybe they would find Kuja and win. Maybe they would be cornered in this trap and die. Either way, I wasn't about to lay here and wait to see what happened.

Harnessing all my remaining strength, I gave a yell and pushed myself onto my stomach. I could barely hold on to my swords, so I had to leave them behind. I reached out as far as my arm would stretch and planted it in the ground. I pulled, hard as I could. I could feel the muscles strain and threaten to pop my arm out of its socket, but I pulled all the same. I could feel the armor grinding against the crystal floor, but it wasn't enough to stop me. I had to overcome it, even if it killed me.

After what felt like minutes, digging into the ground, I finally felt myself budge. It wasn't much, but I would take every inch I could gain. Reaching out with my other arm, I tried to repeat my success. Perhaps it was my sudden enthusiasm, but moving became easier. The more I moved, the faster I could do it, until I was pulling myself along a foot at a time. It felt like forever, but soon enough, I found myself underneath a floating crystal platform, hovering inches above me.

"Kaiten? Are you conscious?"

"I don't like that new technique Trevor," he called down weakly. "I really don't."

"God dammit," I muttered. "I thought you were dead!"

"Just tired. That blast took everything out of me."

I reached up to grab him, but my arm missed in a wide swing. "C'mon. We gotta get up. The others need us."

Kaiten was silent. I couldn't even hear him move.

"Kaiten… I said let's go!" I pushed myself up on my elbows and fell back onto my knees until I was sitting. I could see Kaiten now, and he looked as bad as he sounded. "Kaiten?"

"I can't do it Trevor," he said. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to break my promise. I can't follow you into this next fight. I'll just hold you back and get us both killed."

I fell forward onto the crystal he rested on. "Bullshit! I'm not going without you!"

"You don't have a choice." Kaiten slowly reached into his armor. It looked like it took all the effort in the world, until his arm pulled back and he had a sparkling silver potion. It was one I was already familiar with.

"Is that an Elixir? Where did you get that?"

"Borrowed it from the kid before we fought Damien. Thought we might need it. Here, take it."

"What about you? You don't have a second one?"

"I did, but…" The hand holding the Elixir opened to reveal a few extra shards of glass and a streak of blood. The sight made my blood chill.

My mind was made up. "You take it! You're hurt worse than I am!"

"The Elixir soaked into my skin when the vial broke. I don't have an injury there, though I didn't get the full effect."

"But your blood—"

"—Was left over when the vial broke. I'm fine. I'm not going to die. Just take the damn Elixir!"

Hesitantly, I gripped the potion from Kaiten's weak hand. I felt bad for taking the whole thing for myself. I wouldn't even be alive if it weren't for him. It wasn't fair for me to take the whole thing! "What if we split it?"

"What if we what?"

"We'll split it. I'll drink half and let you have the rest."

"Trevor, you won't get the full effect that way. You need every advantage you can get, especially against Kuja. I have no fight left in me, so he'll ignore me. Knowing him, he'll probably want to keep me alive to see him kill the rest of you. See that he doesn't get that chance."

"But Kaiten—"

"But nothing! You're more than strong enough to do this! I've always known it, which is why I sided with you so quickly! Once we had that battle in your mind, I knew you had fantastic potential. You're almost as strong as I am. You would have made a hell of a Spectral Knight. Now go and prove it!"

I looked down at Kaiten, not with compassion or concern, but in anger. He didn't understand how bad I felt leaving him to die like that. However, I also knew he was right, which was why taking the Elixir from him didn't feel entirely like betrayal. I just had to tell myself that Kaiten was backing me all the way, even as I downed the entire potion.

The effects were immediate. Thanks to Dagger, most of my wounds were gone, but the Elixir finished the job, leaving my body unbruised and cut-free. The biggest effect came from the rush of energy, which hit me so hard that I just about collapsed from my muscles jolting. I felt better than I did, even when I got my new body. I stood, flexing my arms and legs, perhaps stronger than when I walked in to fight Damien.

I looked down at my savior and friend, who looked like he was nearly unconscious. "Kaiten? Are you gonna be alright?"

"I'll be fine," he said. "The princess healed me too. A little sleep and I'll be fine."

Our crystal platforms were on the very edge of the battlefield, and Kuja seemed intent on fighting closer to the center, near the Crystal itself. Kaiten would be safe for the most part, assuming a stray attack didn't rocket itself to him.

"Just stay down for now, ok?" I told him. "I'll finish this up and we'll go home together."

"Like I have a choice," he griped. "Just watch out for Ultima. If that hits us, we all die!"

"I'm well aware of that." I walked over, picking up Crimson and Azure. The Black Mages in the village crafted them for me. They asked me to use them to kill Kuja, to stop his evil plans. After I dropped them in the Iifa Tree, I thought I had failed them, but now I had a second chance. I was not going to lose this fight!

With five Kujas loose in an enormous arena and the party broken up, there was no way to know which way to go first. Crystal platforms floated by as the sounds of battle echoed in every direction. I couldn't even tell who was fighting from the sounds, but one of them sounded closer than the others, so it would have to do.

I jumped on platform after platform, headed to where I could hear steel striking crystal. There weren't explosions with each hit, so it couldn't have been Amarant, and I couldn't hear armor clanking, so it couldn't have been Steiner either. I climbed my way up the side of a steep crystal and saw Freya pouncing after Kuja in Trance, who flew effortlessly through the air, dodging each attack.

"Freya!" I called out. The crystals here were all aligned at an angle, facing slightly inwards. Freya with her strong legs could excel, but I would be in trouble. Still, I couldn't just leave her to fight Kuja alone.

Freya twisted in midair and landed with her clawed feet on the tip of a crystal. She gave me the shortest glance and went back to tracking her prey. "What are you doing here? I thought you were too exhausted to fight!"

"Change of plans," I said quickly. I hoisted myself over the edge of the crystal and kneeled. "Kuja split himself up, so we need to take down all of them."

"I gathered as much," Freya snapped. "I don't know how much good you'll be here though. This arena isn't suited for you. Get out and help someone else."

"It's not exactly easy to find anyone else. How about you can the attitude for once and we come up with a plan together?"

Kuja had spent his time hovering on the far side of the arena, as if allowing himself to remain blissfully unaware of us. However, he had his eyes on us both and watched carefully. "So now another player enters the stage? Wonderful! Now I can dispatch two of you together in harmony!"

"Theatre-loving cretin," Freya muttered under her breath. "Fine, you can help, but I don't know what you can do beyond distracting him."

Freya was probably right. I looked around and there wasn't much to this arena. Just the inwards crystals, but there was also a floating platform that revolved around us. It wasn't much, but possibilities played in my mind. The revolving platform was our wildcard…

"Freya, can you distract him? Do you have any wide-range explosive attacks?"

"Just one, but it should do the trick. What are you planning?"

"I'm gonna—"

"What are you scheming over there?" Kuja called out to us. He flew to the center of the arena and hovered as magic bolts sparked to life in his palms. "It isn't polite to upstage the other actors! Perhaps I should force you back!"

I didn't have time to reveal my plan as Kuja let loose a dozen bolts of energy straight at us. Freya leapt away and I had to fall backwards, ending up on the far side of the crystal platform. I slammed Azure into the side of the platform and dug its claws in. I came to a stop halfway down the crystal when the spell exploded on the other side of the platform, rocking the entire thing. I held on as best I could, but I had swung Azure in urgency and didn't have a solid grip. The attack was strong enough to knock me from my place and send me falling again.

As the world started to spin around me, I felt myself land hard on another floating crystal. To my delight, it was the same wildcard platform that I had spotted earlier. The blast had covered something of my escape, and if I laid low, I might be able to pass overhead without Kuja seeing me.

I clutched the edge of the platform as it passed slowly overhead. There was still smoke coming from the blast Kuja had launched. The crystal I had been sitting on was cracked and fragmented. Thank god I had dodged in time.

Below, Freya was jumping between attacks, trying to swing at Kuja as he flew away each and every time. Freya was hopelessly failing and there was little she could do considering Kuja had the range advantage. She could barely leap in time as Kuja destroyed each platform one at a time, chasing after her. If I didn't help her, she wasn't going to last, and we needed every one of our fighters.

As my platform flew higher, I stood and positioned myself, swords at the ready. Freya missed another swing of her polearm as Kuja danced about before sending another bolt of energy her way. I waited for the apex to pass and then stepped off, hurling down towards them both.

Demons Sabers sprouted from both short swords. I aimed for Kuja as he awaited Freya's next attack, hitting him when he was least prepared. Unfortunately, he was in excellent form and grabbed me out of the air by the collar. I was so shocked that I lost my grip on the energy and the Demon Sabers sizzled.

"It is not polite to interrupt others," Kuja said. Power swelled at his wrist and I could feel my neck singe. "Go sit down and be quiet."

The attack went off without interruption. Kuja's spell seared and blistered the skin at my neck as he launched me. I flew backwards through the air until I crashed into a mound of rubble. It did little to stop me, but it was better than a full impact on a solid platform.

I scrambled up some of the larger rocks to right myself up. As I looked around, I could tell that Kuja had sent me into one of the ruined crystals. The rubble wasn't enough to support me in the awkward gravity, so I flailed like a drowning fat man. It wasn't until I caught a larger stone that I was able to straighten up.

Kuja was aiming at me again. I didn't have the footing to dodge, so I powered up an Explosion to intercept. Perhaps I could lessen his damage without killing myself. Like I was ever that lucky. I just had to pray that I could still move after this.

The blast came sooner than I expected, but didn't land where I anticipated. Kuja was engulfed in flames as fireball after fireball hit him. I saw Freya standing on a platform with an ethereal dragon's head spitting fireballs at Kuja. Not all of them hit, but the ones that did looked like they really hurt. That must've been the technique Freya had mentioned earlier.

"Now it's getting interesting!" Kuja chuckled as the dragon faded. Freya jumped along the edge of the arena, prompting Kuja to launch several more energy bolts at her. More platforms were destroyed and by the time Freya scooped me up, over half of them had been demolished. Broken bits of crystal floated where the platforms had once been.

"Trevor? Can you move?" Freya asked, hiding us behind another platform.

"I… think…" My voice came out gravelly and it felt like I had skin flaking off from inside my throat.

"Don't talk," Freya warned. "Your neck has been badly damaged from that last attack. Can you still fight?"

The attack hadn't damaged my arms or legs. I couldn't give a hardy battle roar anymore, but I could still stab Kuja in the face. I just nodded to Freya.

"Good, because I might have a technique to kill him with, but I need him to stand still for it to work. With all the flying around he's been doing, there's no way I could catch him in it. Now, I can throw you at him, but you'll have to take it from there. Can you do it?"

I gave her my best "Are you crazy?" look, but either she never cared about my answer in the first place, or I had lost part of my face as well as my throat and couldn't convey facial expressions as well as I thought.

"Good," she said, holding her polearm out. "Now hold on."

What had started as a bad idea soon became worse. I held on to one end of the spear as best I could, as she twirled it around like a spaghetti fork. I could feel my stomach churn as she spun me faster and faster until she flicked the polearm as hard as she could towards what I could only assume was the center of the arena.

By the time I got my bearings and could tell what was going on, Kuja was already in my face. I reached out and grappled him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. It was an awkward hold, but I was able to hang on well enough.

"What are you doing?" Kuja asked, bewildered that Freya had basically "Fighterdoken'd" me into him. I recovered as best I could, but in the sudden close proximity, didn't have a lot of room for error. Kuja tried to grab me and blast me away like he had before, but I was able to charge a sword faster than he could charge a spell. Every time he tried to attack, I swung an Explosion capped short sword at him. He would dodge by twisting around or trying to fly, but with my arm locked around him, it didn't do any good. We were locked in a bizarre stalemate of sorts, probing defenses and waiting for a real chance to strike.

"Enough of this!" Kuja declared. Since he couldn't shake me off, he tried using my grip to my disadvantage. He started spinning up, performing backflips with ease. I hung on as tight as I could, but the centrifugal force was too much to endure. My fingers twisted in his flaming red hair, but even that wasn't enough. My hand slid and I soon found myself falling up, out of control.

"Now I've got you!" I could feel a sudden heat coming from around me. My spinning slowed just enough to see Kuja channeling a spell in both hands. There was little hope in me dodging as small orbs danced around my body in a spell I recognized all too well.

"Flare Star!" Kuja yelled ecstatically.

Each orb shot out a ray of light which lanced through my body, piercing me with the most intense heat I had ever felt in my entire life. It was like my organs were getting sunburned. To my horror, the energy collected and condensed for a moment inside me, seconds before exploding. I couldn't scream if I wanted to, though I did cough out a healthy dose of smoke.

As I plummeted from the sky, I tried to take solace in knowing that all the good I had done in life up to this point wasn't for nothing. Immobile from sheer pain, I landed hard on an angled platform. The only reason I didn't slide off was because of a particularly sharp rock that dug into my back. By comparison, that pain was nothing, but I did worry about it puncturing a lung.

"You know, it's often difficult to separate bravery and stupidity," Kuja laughed as he hovered towards me. "I believe you suffer from both. This deserves a reward of sorts. For your bravery, I'll use my strongest attack to kill you quickly. For your stupidity, I'm going to start by casting it on your legs."

I couldn't speak, but I could still see. Even as Kuja rolled in his sadistic laughter, I could see the intricate rune sprawling on the air below him. It was large and took the shape of a dragon's skull, adorned with twin horns and draped with wings. It made the space between the remaining platforms look like a large summoning portal. Oh, this would be good…

Freya's Dragon's Crest was her strongest Dragon Knight's ability, and I couldn't think of a better chance to use it, and not just because I was about to die. The air itself seemed to erupt in a roar as an enormous maw broke through the run. A dragon made of fire and light came forth, lighting up the entire arena. The wide jaws took Kuja by surprise and clamped down on him as the energy of the attack condensed, much like the Flare Star had. With a burst of heat, the Dragon's Crest finished and dissipated. I saw Kuja's body crumble as the magic thinned, his body turning to ash as it fell from the air.

I could only watch in amazement as my platform rocked in the aftershock. I would have worried about sliding off in my state of injury, but Freya came to my rescue soon enough. She held my hand until the vibrations stopped and cast Reis' Wind twice on me, healing most of my wounds. I only had a few cuts and bruises left.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine," I said, my throat healed enough to talk again. "Nice finish there."

"It was too easy," Freya said. "For all the trouble Kuja's given us, I'd have though he would have put up much more of a fight."

"Then perhaps, he was just a copy."

"Would that really make a difference? Kuja is just as dangerous no matter how you look at him."

"Yes, unless his copies don't have nearly as much power as he does. They would have weaker strength and attacks." Though after getting hit with a Flare Star, I wasn't sure how true that was.

"Perhaps," Freya contemplated. "But now we're a step closer to winning. How many copies did he split into anyway?"

"Five, and at least one's dead."

"Enough for the rest of us. We might be able to find another one or two before the fight ends."

I stood and cracked my neck. The loud pop and the sudden release just felt amazing after the battle. "Sounds good. Lead the way."

Freya turned her back on me and stepped towards another platform. This one was floating high above, out of reach for me to jump, even in the decreased gravity.

"Freya? Where are you going?"

"It would be best if we split up. I'll head this way, and you go that way."

I shouldn't have been surprised by Freya's attitude by this point, but I could almost feel my jaw hit the floor. "Are you shittin' me? You're going to play this bullshit again? I just ran in to save you, and you're going to back away again because you don't trust me. For gods' sake, what the hell to I have to do to prove I'm not a bad guy? I don't have a malicious motive! I just want to kill Kuja and save the world, EXACTLY LIKE YOU DO DAMMIT!"

Freya turned to face me again and stared at me harshly. I returned the gaze, but then she sighed. "Perhaps I earned that, after how I've treated you. And you did help me. I could not have won without you. But it's not distrust that suggests we part, but strategy. There are at least four more Kuja copies fighting that we have to stop. You and I know their limits, so we'll be able to counter and combat them properly. I would enjoy fighting alongside you again, but I'm faster and we need to find all of the copies as quickly as possible. I'll make my way this way, and you go that way. We'll fight our way inwards if we have to and regroup at the center. If the original Kuja is anywhere, I believe he would be there, guarding the Crystal."

Stunned was the least of how I felt. I listened to Freya's entire heartfelt confession and could tell she was being completely honest with me. For weeks, I felt uneasy with this woman. Could our differences finally be mending? "Freya…"

"We need to move quickly. Time is of the essence. Just…" Freya held out a hand and a calm gaze. "Take care of yourself Trevor."

I smiled at Freya, for the first time in I don't know how long. I took her hand with a firm grip and we shook. "You too Freya."

She didn't linger beyond that. When she took her hand away, she leapt as high as I'd ever seen her go, jumping to the next platform. With her gone, I was alone again. I let out a breath and crossed my arms.

"Alright then. Where to go next…"

I looked around as the distant sounds of battle resounded. I had lost them to my own sounds of battle, but they came in fine now. It was all just a matter of finding the nearest one now. Zidane, Dagger and Vivi were hopefully still together. That just left Eiko, Steiner, Amarant, and Quina. The others would likely be tracking their own Kujas, or maybe trying to find the others. I could only hope no one was seriously hurt.

Just then, a high-pitched scream resounded through the air. It was nearby and seemed to block out a close explosion. "Eiko?" I wondered, praying that I hadn't just heard a death shriek. I had found my next fight, and quickly ran along the platforms, swords already in my hands.

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I know, this chapter is much shorter than I like them to be. Work has been real hard lately and includes fun little security threats that demanded tons of mandatory overtime. Getting home in the wee hours of the morning gets real old real quick. XP And with added projects and other writing going on in the background now, I just don't have free time anymore. As such, I haven't been able to put nearly as much time or effort into Shattered Mind as it so rightly deserves, especially not with an end-boss battle. I'm sorry that things are working out like this guys, and I wanted this to be a longer epic, but it looks like I'm going to have to break the final fight(s) into multiple chapters.

Still, I promise to do my utmost to give you epic battles and badass characters until the story is finished. And I promise, I have a few special somethings lined up that you won't see coming, both in real life and in Shattered Mind. One thing I will tell you though is that one surprise includes launching my own website within the next few months as soon as my next book is published (should be at the beginning of next year). So, that's one of many things to look forward to.

Oh, and if you ever run into me on the street, please be better than my coworkers. Don't remind me that I look like I didn't get any sleep. XP