Forget what I said about next week's update. I wanted to finish Kuja's past fast so I took a large chunk of my day and wrote this chapter. Well, here is the end of this story arc. Enjoy.
Silver wings
This is how Silver came into their life. He was born nine month after Kuja and Ariane's wedding, a boy with silver hairs, a long monkey tail and sapphire blue eyes. Kuja instantly loved him.
He was his and Ariane's child, the testimony of the never-ending love they shared. His birth was painful, but Ariane was strong. When came the pain, she bit a bit of wood to muffle her cries and gave birth to a pale-skinned baby who didn't cry as his first shout. He laughed, and he did it when he saw his father's face. Kuja called him Silver because of the shine of the fur on his body. Ariane didn't say no.
Laurent and Maria also had their own kid, a baby girl with blonde hairs and cyan eyes that was a little less than one year older than Silver. They called her Lucy, for she was the light of their life. Silver and Lucy grey up together, almost as siblings.
However, Ariane soon proved to be quite stubborn when it came to the child. When Kuja asked her how they would take care of their child, Ariane came him one simple answer.
"I take care of him. You take care of the estate. Understood?"
In other words, leave the task of raising him to me and just play with him. At first, given what a hard job it was to take care of a young baby boy, Kuja agreed. Make his meals, wash him, change his diapers, those things weren't for him, really. But Silver grew. And things became tense. Once Silver became a clean boy and could eat regular food, Kuja tried to involve himself into giving him education … and Ariane bared her mommy-wolf's fangs.
"Ariane, Silver is also my son! Why can't I take care of him?"
"Because that's not your job."
"How's that, 'not my job'? As long as it was dirty, I didn't mind at all. But Silver's no more a baby now, he's a kid! Ariane, he will turn three by the end of the week! Please, let me take a part in his education. I've had enough to just play with him …"
"Be happy you had the funniest part."
"He is a boy, not a girl! Sooner or later, I'll have to teach him 'man things'."
"Exactly. 'Later'. For now, I'm the one in charge of him here."
That's the problem when your wife is as powerful as you are. You can't beat her to submission with some hard-hitting spells unless you want her to fight back. Kuja could do nothing but to accept and they resumed their peaceful life. Until an incident came that brought everything upside down.
This incident was a slaughter. The slaughter of the Sairen family, understand, Laurent, Maria and their daughter. Somehow, that night, Ariane had a dream in which she was warned something bad was happening to her friends. Indeed, the Kings and the Sairen were as close as possible and a strong friendship bound the two houses. That night, Ariane was warned that something was happening to them and woke Kuja up. After convincing him to go see, they ran at the estate and saw their fears being confirmed.
Maria, Laurent and all of their servants and guards had been killed, trashed in the goriest way and their blood was covering the floor. Ariane fell on her knees, unable to stand it. Kuja looked at the scene in horror and quickly called their attendant, Jarim, that he gathers people to clean the place and give the corpses proper burial. As they did, they found Maria, her breasts trashed and her womb sliced open. Laurent had his throat ripped and twenty dagger strikes n the heart. Most servants were simply killed in a strike. The murderer(s) had made his task to go hard against the noble couple only, as if he was exerting revenge. Ariane finally entered Lucy's room and found the girl, her body bleeding by dozens of cuts. When she took the frail body of her best friend's daughter, Ariane suddenly felt something. Lucy … Lucy was still alive! But she was dying. Closing her eyes, the woman spoke a single name.
"Stellan."
Obeying her call, a man appeared. Kuja, who had followed her, saw him. The man was clad in a dark armor and a black toothed blade was hanging on his back. Wisps of dark smoke escaped his armor and his eyes were two glowing purple points under his helmet. The man kneeled to Ariane and looked at her.
"What do you want, Ariane?"
"Please." The woman begged. "Save her."
She handed him the bloody body and Stellan took it.
"She's still alive."
"But she will die soon if nothing is done! I can't … I can't let that happen."
Stellan seemed to frown.
"You know I have to take her to Eä to save her."
His eyes narrowed.
"You also know you are banned from ever setting foot in your home-world again, Ariane."
"I know, Stellan. If I do, my soul is in for a one way ticket to the Abysses. But Lucy isn't. If you take her to Eä to be saved, the gods won't say anything."
Stellan looked at her.
"Fine, I'll take her to Remora."
He caressed her cheek.
"Take care of you, young Guardian."
"Don't worry, Master. I will."
On this, Stellan and Lucy disappeared in a swirl of darkness. Kuja came to Ariane.
"Who was it?"
Ariane closed her eyes.
"My Master, the one who took care of me and taught me to control my powers."
Kuja frowned.
"What are those places, Eä, Rémora, the Abysses?"
Ariane looked at him.
"Do you want the truth, Kuja? Do you want to know who I really am, knowing I might totally shock you?"
Kuja took her in his arms.
"You are my wife and my love toward you is unconditional. Whatever you are, I will love you."
"Alright then, let's return home."
That night, Ariane told him everything about her identity. In fact, it appeared she didn't belong to Gaia. She came from Eä, a world 'where men and gods walk side by side'. This world was far ahead of Gaia in many ways. It was ruled by fifteen gods, ten for the elements and five for the notions that were good, evil, life, death, time and space. They watched over the world and its people, making rules you better follow. One of them was to never kill a family member. And that's that very rule Ariane broke. Because one of her ancestors that was immortal, the Great Archimage Rama, had sealed an ancient god of fire inside of her, Phenix. As a vengeance, Ariane trained with Stellan and fought him before killing him. To escape the god's punishment, the maiden sought haven in Gaia where the five gods couldn't follow her. This is where she lived.
When asked about the Guardians and her relationship with Stellan, Ariane told him that the Guardians were people chosen before their birth by the elemental gods to receive their powers. There were ten Guardians in each generation, the elders teaching the younger ones. Stellan was an immortal like Rama, and the very first Guardian of Darkness. He had taken care of the girl after her parent died, killed by demons, and during the time she was Phenix's vessel. Ariane herself was the Guardian of Fire, which meant she had absolute control over the burning element. Her powers were even more powerful because of the presence of Phenix, who now lived inside her pendant. Indeed, magic worked differently in Eä and in Gaia. In Eä, everyone could more or less use magic, which resolved around elemental manipulation. The eans even had a seventh sense to feel it. In Gaia, you had different magic types with definite spells. Not in Eä. They talked about several other things such as how was Eä and how were the people. In the end, they fell asleep.
Time went on. Silver grew and it soon appeared that he had inherited his father's physical appearance, only to have his mother's powers. The child was bright and cheerful. Innocent. His silver hairs were often tied into a ponytail and his tail had a soft silver fur. His clothes were white and light blue with ornaments of silver and gold. Kuja was proud of him, especially when he discovered the kid playing with the silver dragon. On that occasion, the boy named the creature and called it Vritra, the Cloud Keeper, just like another mythical dragon his mother told him about. Kuja loved nothing more than to take the kid with him and have a long ride in the sky and above the Mist. Silver's laughs echoed for days in his head after that.
At five, Ariane and Kuja discovered several things about their son. The first was that the kid had powers similar to that of his mother, except they were over ice. Silver could make a snowball in the palm of his hand or shape ice into various tool, especially swords which he started to play with. Because of that, Ariane started to teach him swordsmanship and magic. Not wanting to feel left aside, Kuja took care of the moral education of the boy. Silver was sharp and intelligent. He quickly learnt to read, write and count. He was also very sensible to music and poetry.
One day, after Kuja left his office, Silver snuck inside and found some poetry sheets that were lying around. Not thinking twice, the kid took them in his room. Kuja discovered the theft no long afterward.
"By the … Ariane, there's a thief in this estate!"
Ariane quickly came to her husband's side.
"A thief? What was stolen?"
"Poetry sheets."
He shuffled through them.
"Three of my poems are missing. Let's see … To the sky, Clocks and That's all."
Ariane frowned.
"You read me some of those poems before. They are beautiful."
She started to chuckle.
"Maybe you have a fan."
Kuja looked around.
"Let's go see Silver. He may have seen something."
When they came to Silver's room, they were surprised to hear a singing voice. Kuja leaned closer and listened.
Travel light, let the sun eclipse you,
For your flight is about to leave.
"Those are the lyrics of To the sky!"
Ariane listened too.
"He's singing them."
Kuja was about to open the door when Ariane stopped him.
"Let's listen."
And so they stayed still.
Bird's high view
Awake the stars 'cause they're all around you
White eyes will always brighten the blue
Chase your dreams
And remember me, sweet bravery 'cause
After all those wings will take you
Up so high
So bid the forest floor goodbye
As you raise the wind and
Take to the sky!
Ariane smiled.
"That sounds nice."
Kuja had a smirk.
"I think it's time to present Silver to the high society."
And so Silver entered the world his parents lived in. Long white coat covering light blue cardigan and dark blue pants, knee-high boots decorated with silver and pearls entwined in his hairs, Silver became a part of Treno's mundane life. It was unusual for a child to go into parties at such a young age, but the boy was an excellent singer who loved nothing more than to sing his father's poems, to the greatest pleasure of the ladies around. When she found out he was interested in piano, Queen Stella took on her to become his teacher. Needless to say Silver was a good student.
However, not everyone liked the popularity of the King family. And so, one day, an incident happened.
That night, Kuja, Ariane and Silver were attending a party held by Queen Stella. The boy was singing That's all, which proved to be a hit, when assassins appeared out of nowhere and aimed their crossbow to Silver. The kid saw them in the mirror and dodged just in time. Needless to say Ariane and Kuja didn't like it at all. There were twenty, well trained and armed to the teeth, dead set on killing the boy, but the parents were two powerful mages. They answered blow for blow, leaving but a handful of the men standing. However, the assassins somewhat succeeded on a point. In the confusion, Silver had disappeared.
Silver ran through the corridors and to the street outside. Those men wanted to kill him but he wasn't about to let them do it. He ran at random to the slums of Treno, stealing a vial of red taint from a shop. Once he found a hiding place, he took off his coat and tore it before spreading the taint on it. This was a trick he read about in an adventure book. He spread the remaining of the taint on the street and the walls before tearing a piece of red and white cloth and throwing it on the ground. He let drops of the taint going through the alley until he reached the water front. There, he emptied the vial and let go of the coat. He sighed. This cloth was one of his favorites and it broke his heart to have to get rid of it that way. But he had to do it to mislead the men after him. After that was done, he took a ragged dark cloth and went in another direction, going deeper into the slums.
As he looked for a place to hide, he bumped into a kid.
"Hey, watch where you're going, scum!"
Silver frowned.
"Who you're calling scum, you rat?"
The boy was two years older than he was and had torn clothes and brown hairs. The boy looked at the silver-haired kid and took of the rag on his back, revealing the attire.
"A noble, huh? Don't you know it's dangerous to hand around here? Who knows who's going to slit your throat open and steal your purse?"
"I don't mind if it's just stealing. I'd rather lose my purse than my life."
Other kids appeared behind. The brown boy smirked.
"Look who stumbled right on our territory, guys …"
Silver snarled and ice appeared in his hands.
"What are you going to do?"
The boy smiled.
"We'll take everything you have, beat you to death and drop you to your mommy."
"Come and try …"
A girl with a long wooden pole had a smirk.
"Look who's playing tough. I betcha don't know how to fight."
Silver just called a sword of ice.
"I'm on the run. Let go of me now."
The boy looked at the girl.
"We let him go, Jess?"
The girl with long brown hairs shook her head.
"No, Rick. I've got a better idea."
She smiled.
"We're a gang. Our law is simple. I'm giving you a chance, rich kid. Beat our leader and you take his place. Lose and we beat you, steal your things and drop you to the water front."
"Deal." Silver just answered.
The boy, Rick, stood in front of Silver.
"I'm the boss around. Ready to fight?"
"Stop speaking and take your weapon."
Rick took a dagger. Soon, he and Silver were engaged into a clash. Because of his foreign origins and good training, the noble kid was fast and agile, his mother having taught him the secrets of the Shadows, the Secret Agents of her home-world. Rick aimed to the abdomen but Silver sidestepped, passed his ice sword to his tail and hit him this way. He nimbly dodged the blows of the slum kid and answered by kicks and fists, not wanting to truly harm the boy. Finally, he jumped and delivered a roundhouse kick in Rick's jaw. The boy fell to the ground. Jess raised a brow.
"Nice one. Who taught you to fight?"
"My mom."
The girl had a smile.
"Well, the rules are the rules. Welcome in our team, boss."
"My name is Silver, of the King family."
The girl nodded.
"Well I'm Jessica, Jess for short. Those two at my side are Jonah Biggs and Michael Wedge, alias Biggs and Wedge."
She showed two younger kids that were of Silver's age. Biggs was small and potbellied while Wedge was blonde and lean. A young girl appeared behind Jessica who smiled.
"And this is my younger sister, Daisy. As for Rick, you know him already."
Silver smiled as his ice sword disappeared.
"Nice to meet you but I'm afraid I can't stay here. There are assassins on my trail. I managed to mislead them, but they'll find me eventually."
Jess raised a brow.
"Assassins from who, exactly?"
"I don't know. I think I saw the emblem of the Bishops on them."
Rick frowned.
"Why didn't you tell us earlier? It would have saved you some time. Come."
They led Silver to a part of the slums that was well-hidden and furnished like a home.
"That's our hideout. You can call it home. Don't worry about the assassins. We hate anything that comes from the nobles."
"But I'm a noble." Silver returned.
"You beat me. You're our boss. We don't care if you're a noble anymore. You're one of us now."
And so, Silver settled with Rick and Jess's gang. The following day, Jess took him to the top of the tower.
"There's a ritual you must undergo to become truly one of us. It's called High Dive."
"High Dive?"
"Yep."
She came to the edge of the tower and opened her arms.
"You must jump from the top of this tower and all the way down to the bottom."
Silver looked down. There was nothing but a pile of straw for them.
"I … really have to do that?"
"Yeppa."
Silver gulped. What if he broke something? Jess laughed and let herself fall headfirst. She landed unharmed in the pile. Rick followed and, one by one, Biggs, edge and Daily did as their elders. Silver stood on the edge, anxious. He was about to back up when he saw something strange. There was a man in black starring at him. Suddenly, the man took a dagger and ran at him. Silver gasped. It was an assassin! He looked at the man, then at the void, and at the man again … Closing his eyes, he took a step back and jumped in the empty space below.
The wind blew past him. When he dared to open his eyes, he found that the ground was coming a bit too fast for his taste. Reacting on instinct, he used his ice powers and shaped wings of ice. Jess watched in awe as Silver instinctively corrected his balance and flew above hem, landing on his feet a little away. Unfortunately, the momentum was so great that it carried him into a crate that crashed under the strength. Rising from it, a little shaken, Silver looked at them.
"Did I do it?"
Jessica smiled.
"Yes you did. Now you're truly one of us."
For one month he stayed with the gang, evading the assassins and learning the way of the streets. In the end, they found him and tried to kill him, but Silver and his friends fought back. Ariane and Kuja, who were wandering nearby, heard the fight and came to see. They were shocked to see their son, who they believed was dead, trying to kill those who wanted his skin. When the assassins saw the two parents, it was too late.
The family was together at last and happier than before. Ariane welcomed her son's new friends and took care of them, teaching them to fight all the while giving them a true home and a job. At the same time, disgusted by what had happened, Kuja startied to devise of a way to create bodyguards for Silver. This is how he conceived the black mages, mindless, powerful puppets made to fight and serve. Talking with Ariane, he slowly built the plans for them and, on Silver's plea, he made him a slam, kid-looking black mage he gave his son for his sixth birthday. This is how Vivi was born.
Life was going well. Silve was growing into a fine kid, Kuja's black mages were flawless, Ariane grew in power, beauty and wisdom … But one cannot escape his past, and Kuja's dark origins caught up with him. On a fateful night, everything went down.
Unable to sleep due to a strange feeling, Silver rose from the bed he shared with Vivi, his toy. He crept in the corridors and went to the resting room where he heard his parents talk. Their tone made them freeze.
"Ariane, my love, think of it! I'm giving you the world on a silver platter! Isn't that what you want?"
"No, Kuja. I don't want the world. Just you."
"You already have me."
"Then I need nothing more. I don't need fame and glory. I don't need Alexandria or the world! Please, Kuja, my love, come back to your senses."
Her tone was begging, even pleading.
"I feel perfectly fine, my sweet flame angel. You don't have to worry. All I want is the best for you or Silver."
"If that's the truth, let go of those foolish plans and let's go back to the way we were before."
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because this is the way I am."
"No … You're not like that. I didn't marry a man ruled by his thirst of power only."
"Ariane …"
Silver risked a peak inside. His father was standing in front of his mother who seemed to be crying. Ariane spoke again.
"Hold me. Take me in your arms and tell me all of this is just a bad dream."
Kuja obeyed but still whispered.
"This isn't a dream. I Am really going to conquer the world, one kingdom at a time."
He looked deeply at her.
"And if you accept, you will be queen at my side."
"I refuse." Ariane retorted. Her voice was hard as stone. Kuja frowned.
"So be it, then."
He took a dagger. Silver gasped at the sight, taking the attention of the adults to him. Kuja and Ariane looked at him, surprised, then Ariane saw the dagger Kuja was holding. Her eyes turned crimson red.
"If Silver wasn't here, I would have killed you."
Kuja's eyes widened and he summoned his magic.
"I don't have such limitations!"
The clash started. Kuja and Arian were powerful. And the thing with mages is that, when there are family arguments, they don't throw plates at each other. They throw spells. Silver, Vivi and the rest of the house escaped as fast as they could as Ariane battled Kuja in light and fire. In the end, half of the estate was destroyed and Ariane hovered above the group.
"Kuja and I are breaking. Silver?"
"Yes, mom?" The kid weakly answered.
"You're coming with me. The others do what they want."
"Can't I keep Vivi?" Silver asked.
"No. And Jess, Rick and the others can't come either. Let's go, Silver."
Heartbroken, the boy followed his mother. Stellan soon appeared before Ariane.
"Are you ready to return?"
"Yes. Have the gods forgiven me?"
"Indeed. They won't go after your soul anymore."
"Alright then. Let's go home."
And so they left Gaia. Jess and the gang returned in the streets and stayed here while Jarim, Vivi and the servants found Kuja in he ruins of his home. The mage was wounded and exhausted, and his right forearm was bleeding from a nasty burnt. They settled somewhere else in Treno and never heard about Ariane and Silver anymore.
And so, that's the end. Next chapter, we return to the present. The three sheets Silver stole are actual songs sung by Owl City, Coldplay and Genesis (Phil Collins). Finding the lyrics should be easy ... Also, all that is about Eä is mine. The rest is to SQE.
See you next week!