CHAPTER 9:

THE GUESTS OF KUJA

Consciousness returned to Mikoto slowly, and with it, memory. She didn't remember falling asleep in a cylindrical metal room, Wedge propped against the wall, his spectacles askew. "Wedge?" she asked. "Wake up."

She had to shake him gently before he did so. He winced, putting a hand to his head. "Damnation, but I have a headache. Mikoto, where are we?"

Mikoto thought about it. They had tried entering the Desert Palace through the entrance concealed by quicksand, but they had clearly been anticipated. They must've been knocked unconscious. As for the room… "I have seen only photos before…but we are in an oubliette in the Desert Palace." She looked at the spiral pattern in the metal floor, and then edged away from the centre. "And the floor can open up to something very unpleasant."

"Indeed it does, dear sister," came the hated voice of Kuja.

"Kuja," Wedge said, getting shakily to his feet. "Your hospitality leaves something to be desired, old chap."

An effeminate titter echoed through the loudspeaker. "Ah, Wedgewood J Bishop. Already, I can see your wit is sharper than that of your brother. A shame I have not made your acquaintance sooner."

"You'll forgive me for saying that the feeling is not mutual," Wedge said, moving closer to Mikoto. "You laughed at her tears."

"Protective of her, aren't you? How much of the truth has she told you?"

"She told us all that both she and you, along with Zidane, were made by Garland to be killers," Wedge said, putting a shoulder around her arms. Mikoto was glad for the contact. "She told us of Terra assimilating Gaia, all to prolong its life."

"So, the salient details of the truth at least. I would ask then if you would be allies, but something tells me that that's not on the cards. Still, I have use for you. Wedge, Mikoto, I will open the oubliette, and let you out. Once there, wait until I have gotten Zidane to come out. Unless you'd prefer the fire to the frying pan?" Suddenly, the floor irised open slightly, and Mikoto and Wedge stared at the lava revealed, the hot stench of sulphur jabbing at their nostrils. And Mikoto, from her once brief study of the Desert Palace and its facilities, remembered what it was.

"Not much of a choice," Mikoto muttered, as the door opened, and they hurriedly stepped through. They waited for a minute or so, until Zidane and Cid emerged from another oubliette. They noticed, in the meantime, a pair of Black Mages standing ready on a platform.

"Stand between the Black Mages. They will send you to me," Kuja said over the PA system.

They did so (save for Cid, who seemed to be overlooked by Kuja), and soon found themselves surrounded by the familiar (to Mikoto) energy field of a teleporter…

…Only to find themselves in a lavish and opulent bedroom. And standing there, smiling arrogantly, was Kuja.

It was the first time Mikoto had seen him, beyond photos. Tall, slender, effeminate, dressed in robes and what looked like a thong, he nonetheless radiated power. Though she had to concede Zidane had a point: thinking about how Kuja concealed his tail was a fruitless and possibly traumatising exercise.

"Well, isn't this a nice, heartwarming family reunion?" Kuja asked. "Plus one, of course, but I wanted to see if Wedgewood was better than his brother, though that does set the yardstick a trifle low. In any case, welcome to my humble abode."

"You wanted us here for a reason, Kuja," Zidane scowled. "Cut the crap, and get to the point. I don't care if we're family, you killed so many people, you hurt Dagger, and for what? I get that you want to break free of Garland, but there should have been other ways."

"True, but they would have been so boring," Kuja said with an indifferent smile. "Very well. I need to send you on an errand, to fetch something for me from a place called Oeilvert."

Mikoto felt a sickening jolt of realisation. "You want the Gulug Stone."

"Indeed. The ancient museum of our people. It's not my kind of place. I'm not fond of ancient history, and I like anti-magic fields even less. Garland put it around there, as well as populating it with rather powerful monsters. Sadly, I am more used to using magic, whereas you are more used to using brute strength to get your way."

"Why do you want this Gulug Stone thing?" Zidane asked.

"He wants access to Mount Gulug," Mikoto said, interrupting Kuja. "There was a race of mole-people who lived there who had Eidolons. He is probably hoping there may be one left, one he could use against Garland." Her green eyes met Kuja's pale blue ones. "Garland's intervention has left you scrambling for any avenue to strike back."

"Take care, sister," Kuja said, pointing a finger at her chidingly. "You are all my prisoners at the moment. You are in my power, which is absolute here."

This coming from the defective ensouled Genome who cannot even enter a Trance, Mikoto thought mutinously, though she kept it to herself, lest Kuja retaliate.

"In exchange for allowing you and a small selection of your comrades in retrieving the Gulug Stone for me, I will let you live. Refuse, and I will cause them to plunge to a burning death. Your decision," Kuja said to Zidane.

"That's no choice at all," Zidane snarled, before saying, "I'll take Steiner, Amarant, and Freya with me. If there is an anti-magic field around Oeilvert, I'll need some heavy-hitters." He looked at Wedge. "Sorry, Wedge, but if I take you there, and there's too many powerful monsters…"

"I understand. A damned shame, though. I would have loved to have seen a museum of another world, even one with as repulsive intentions as Terra."

"I have an old tourist guide somewhere in the library here," Kuja said. "Mikoto and Wedge will remain here. I want to know my sister a bit better, and Wedge may prove to be more interesting than his brother. He is certainly promising. But I suggest you hurry with your errand, Zidane. Give me a moment, and I will summon your chosen comrades." He took a microphone from a nearby stand, and summoned Steiner, Amarant, and Freya, activating a series of buttons on a nearby control panel as he did so.

Soon, Zidane and the others were sent on their way, Zidane glaring at Kuja, and demanding that he keep their side of the bargain. And Mikoto and Wedge were left alone in the presence of the megalomaniacal Genome.

And the first thing Wedge did was ask, "I'm curious, have you amputated your tail? Only, I'm not sure how you can hide it with that rather vulgar outfit you wear."

"Vulgar? I wear this as a lifestyle choice!" Kuja snarled.

"Apologies," Wedge said, stepping back. "I sometimes blurt out odd things when I am nervous."

"I hide my tail using a spell, if you must know," Kuja said. "I am nothing like the soulless golems wandering aimlessly in Bran Bal."

"That much is obvious," Mikoto remarked.

Kuja shrugged, before saying, "Come, let us have a look at the library. We have some things to discuss…"

Mikoto saw how astonished Wedge was when they were brought to the library. For a time, he capered amongst the shelves, clearly unable to decide what to read. It was only when he was given a couple of books by Kuja that he went over to a desk to read.

Mikoto, meanwhile, found herself being led a slight distance away by Kuja. She didn't like the hungry, predatory gaze of her fellow Genome, and she wished Wedge had not been distracted so easily by the tomes Kuja had given to him. "Now, sister…I wanted to discuss our future."

"Our future?" Mikoto echoed.

"But of course. Zidane, as you doubtless saw, has gone native. There's no hope of bringing him back into the fold. But you…like me, you have been so unjustly discarded by Garland. An Angel of Death with her wings so cruelly clipped." He stroked her cheek tenderly, and Mikoto fought back a flinch of disgust. "Once we overthrow Garland, we can rule Gaia. I have no interest in a decaying revenant of a world whose time is long since past. This world is so much more interesting, more alive than Terra. Don't you agree? So…alive. Even Bran Bal is little more than a village filled with zombies, revenant reflections of the true nature of Terra. Hollow, soulless, and ultimately dead. Even you, with your façade of emotionlessness, are more alive than they are. We can begin a new dynasty, you and I…a dynasty of deities, immortal deities ruling over this primitive little world. You can have anything you wish." He chuckled, looking at Wedge, who was flipping between pages and reading what lay within. "You can even have him as a cicisbeo."

"A what?" Mikoto asked.

"A cicisbeo…it's a Gaian term, the male equivalent of a mistress or concubine(1)." Kuja rolled his eyes. "Of course, Garland denied you a vocabulary and poetry. But then again, he denied you many things. Without him, you have no purpose, Mikoto. What a lovely name. You do know it means 'precious' and 'nobility' in one of the ancient Terran languages?"

"No, I didn't."

"He named you beautifully, but insincerely. He stole your purpose away, Mikoto. Without that, you are little better than those soulless vessels wandering about Bran Bal. An empty vessel. I can fill you with purpose, full to the brim."

For a moment, Mikoto felt something settle on her, weighing down on her, trying to get her to accept his words. A hypnotic spell, a small part of her thought detachedly. She wanted to accept it, as she lacked purpose. She still did.

And then, suddenly, Wedge's words in her ears, when she was lying in bed after her suicide attempt. At least one person would mourn your passing. I care not if you were made as a weapon. You didn't choose to be one, and you can choose not to be. Zidane has obviously chosen his own destiny, away from this Angel of Death nonsense. Why can't you?

Kuja seemed to realise that she was resisting, and doubled the spell. But Wedge's later words came back to her. In fact…until Doctor Tot came along…I was wavering in the purpose of my studies. Self-study, mostly. All I can tell you, Mikoto, is that I don't really have a purpose in life myself, unless it is to learn everything I can. Sometimes, if a purpose in life is taken from you, or you don't have one in the first place…you have to look for it. You may spend the rest of your life looking, that's what Doctor Tot said. But better to look for a purpose in life than to throw it away.

Mikoto met Kuja's eyes, and said, quietly, but with an undeniable strength, "I will choose my own purpose in life. Not you. Not Garland. And not anyone else."

A spark of anger flared up in Kuja's eyes, but moments before he could retaliate, Wedge said, from his desk, "Kuja, old chap, I don't suppose you have any spare copies of this book? I mean, it really is quite fascinating! I could happily live the rest of my days here, all other concerns notwithstanding."

"Oh, I can make a new copy easily enough with magic," Kuja said, his smile becoming slightly fixed. "But stop calling me 'old chap'."

"It's a term of endearment, old chap. I thought you appreciated politeness and gentility." Wedge had gotten up, and was peering at a particular shelf. "Then again, like many who affect those things, it's merely a veneer, isn't it? A façade." He blinked, as if realising something. "Not that I am innocent of such a thing. It's just that the mask sometimes becomes a second skin, that you forget who you really are." His blue eyes flashed behind his spectacles as he glared at Kuja. "But I know enough about myself. I enjoy learning. I will become known for my theories on genetics. And I detest people like you, who steal the happiness of other people for your own amusement. You could have found another way to gain Alexander without so much bloodshed. The fact there was so much speaks volumes about your character."

"Rather careless talk, coming from a man whose power is dwarfed by my own," Kuja said lightly, but magic coalesced around one of his hands pointedly.

"And it's a rather puerile way to end an argument, simply by murdering the man opposing you. I thought you prized intellect, old chap. I mean, look!" He pulled out a massive thick tome, with a rather large red and gold-coloured jewel on the cover. "A first edition of the spellcraft journals of Doga and Unei. I know scholars who would sell their soul to you for this, or at least their firstborn."

"But not you, I take it?"

"Well, no, it's enough to actually hold it in my hand. I've got a reprint at home, anyway. The fascinating thing about it, from a thaumogeology point of view, is the jewel adorning the front."

"What about it?"

"Well, I…" Suddenly, Wedge's thumb, which had been pressing down hard on the jewel, suddenly broke it. And he grinned, maliciously. "Oops. Butterfingers." He flung the book at Kuja like it was a grenade, knocking him to the floor. He grabbed Mikoto's hand, and dashed away, pausing only to grab the two books Kuja had given him. Behind them, Mikoto could hear Kuja cursing…and the distinctive roaring, whooshing sound of a Flare spell.

"A Flare Stone!" Mikoto hissed in realisation.

"I recognised it from my thaumogeology books," Wedge said as they dashed down the corridors. "We've got to liberate the others!" They ran to a teleporter. "Can you send us back to them?"

"Of course!" Mikoto yelled, before she began punching at a control panel. They soon dissolved in a blizzard of light…

…And reappeared near the oubliettes. Cid saw them arrive. "What's going on, ribbit?!" Cid demanded.

"There has been a change of plan!" Mikoto said. There was a small workshop nearby, with Mikoto looking around it. She turned an hourglass, and then activated a nearby switch. Suddenly, the oubliettes opened. "I did not think studying the history of this place would ever pay off," she murmured.

"A good thing you did then, Mikoto," Wedge said, as Eiko, Vivi, Quina and Garnet came in, having escaped from their oubliettes. The two of them explained the situation to the four mages.

"Now, here comes the hard part," Mikoto said. "We need to activate parts of a special security system before we head out of here. There are bloodstones we need to take after activating. Otherwise, there's a security drone called Valia Pira which we will face, enhanced by the bloodstones if they are in place. This way, if we destroy Valia Pira, Kuja won't be able to retrieve us should we leave."

"But what about Zidane?" Eiko asked.

"We'll have to hide in wait, and find a way to intercept him once he returns," Mikoto said. "I doubt there are any Eidolons left in Mount Gulug…but we need to be careful. Kuja will have a contingency plan in place." She looked at Eiko pointedly. "After all, places with Eidolons often have extraction circles, and we have a summoner here who he may intend to exploit. We need to get going."

With that, the young Genome, with the others following close behind, dashed off into the depths of the Desert Palace, hoping they could escape in time…

CHAPTER 9 ANNOTATIONS:

As you can see, Mikoto's taking charge, and Wedge manages to get the drop on Kuja. I hope you liked the scene with Kuja trying to recruit Mikoto, in a creepy manner. Okay, they're not genetically brother and sister, but I wanted a freaky incestuous context there.

1. I needed a word that was the male equivalent of a mistress or a concubine, and found this word after some searching through Wiktionary. You learn something new every day, and this seemed like the sort of word the cultured Kuja might use.