Whoo! Long chapter! ^^; Battles 'n stuff. I fixed a few errors because they were bothering me. @@; Anyway... please enjoy.
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Three had heard many tales about the legendary grace and beauty of the current princess of Alexandria since Kuja had begun allowing him to roam the castle freely. The eternally gossiping guards were always talking about this noble or that noble being fetched to wed the princess, and how he had fallen instantly in love with her, and when he was refused, how he had become so heartbroken he leapt off a cliff into the foaming seas. She was said to have the most lovely voice in all the land, and the most sweet, kind, and gracious nature. If someone had been planning to capture a jewel for ransom, there would have been no better target.
Kuja had been rather distraught at the news, and had immediately locked Three up in his room and disappeared. Almost two days of stillness had passed now, most of the time spent watching the shadows shrink and stretch and the two moons sail across the sky. He couldn't make himself stay asleep, so sat cross-legged on the end of his bed, trying to read. Something was keeping him from concentrating, however, and he found himself drifting away from reality, looking for shapes in the darkness, memories gnawing at the back of his mind...
When Kuja did return, he seemed to have recovered and recovered his liquid mercury personality, and was as cool and smooth as ever while leading Three away. He discussed the weather pleasantly until they had reached the airship, a small and agile creation, and then turned to him. "There are three men who are responsible for the kidnapping of the princess. My intelligence tells me that the first is a middle-aged man, a knight... he should not be any trouble. The second is a small black mage, a defect." Three raised an eyebrow but remained silent. "The third is a thief with a very recognizable characteristic... he bears a tail. You, dear Waltz, are to kill them, all of them, and bring the princess back. Do you understand?"
Three nodded. Somehow, he had not felt a touch of fatigue while waiting in his room, but now was suffering from painful exhaustion.
Kuja's eyes suddenly narrowed and he drew up to glare directly into the Waltz's dark face. "If the princess has so much as a scratch, I will see to it that you receive the most painful, torturous death I can conjure for you. Do you understand?"
"Yes," Three growled back, tightening his grip on his weapon. "I understand perfectly."
"Good," Kuja said pleasantly, pulling back. He brushed a little silvery hair out of his eyes and nodded to the queen's two jester-servants piloting the airship. The Mist engine began to sing and snarl as the airship picked up off the ground. The Black Waltz leapt up to its nose and seated himself there, laying his staff across his lap and closing his eyes slightly. Kuja tilted his head back to watch them, a new, wicked smile forming. "Be cautious, dear Waltz, as they have already killed the other two," he called as the slim airship rocketed upwards into the sky.
The winged black mage landed lightly on the cargo ship's deck, looking around. What caught his eye immediately was the slender young woman with long brown hair, walking towards the steering house. Following behind her with a oddly familiar waddling gait was a small boy with an oversized, steeple-crowned hat.
That girl must be the princess... indeed, she is quite lovely...
The boy with the large hat stopped walking, and began to slowly turn. Their eyes met, red-gold fury looking down into large, brilliant, innocent yellow light. There were like the eyes of the puppet-mages... but... that deep, glittering gaze held something that no doll could comprehend...
Fear.
"No...!" the boy breathed, taking a step backwards and losing his balance with the rocking of the ship. Three smiled slightly, raising a hand, feeling the satisfying electricity licking at it, and pointed, a small bolt of lightning leaping through the air to strike the small mage. The boy yelped with pain.
Weakling...
"Vivi!" The princess ran back, kneeling by his side, expression filled with worry. "Are you okay!?"
Three's voice came, low and ominous. "So, No. 2 was defeated by a small child! You are no match against my power!" His eyes glittered. The little mage began to whimper softly and cling to the princess, who stared up at him with a mixture of emotions. Three laughed, deep and cruelly, looking at them both with cutting scorn. "Princess, stay there while I eliminate this child!"
Something glinted in the corner of his eye, and he looked up. A line of puppet-mages, the cargo ship's crew, had abandoned their posts and begun to walk slowly forward. Their eyes were dull, unseeing, but they marched steadily forward, all perfectly identical in their miserable purple robes, marionettes... Walking towards them. Surrounding the princess and the small weakling mage...
"Are you... protecting him?" Three looked each over slowly. They all turned together to look at the little boy, then turned back to face him. Their eyes conveyed nothing, but he felt a wave of magic moving through them, and a soft touch of spirit descending towards the airship...
These...
"...Nonsense. You are no different from mindless dolls! What can you do?" The little mage rose as he spoke, yet when he tried to step forward, the princess dragged him away. The puppet-mages raised their hands, holding small flames. Three's glare grew brighter and narrower. "Get out of my way! Do you dare to fight a Black Waltz?" The name Kuja had given them slid out through his teeth, cold and deadly, dark, delightful...
Not a mage stepped away. The little flames grew a bit, spluttering in the wind, but still alive. Three snarled softly, hatred rising in him. "I said, get out of my way!" he hissed.
He raised his hand again. Thunder echoed from around it, a halo of wicked blue lightning forming there and seething angrily before exploding outwards in a wide bolt of vicious electricity that caught all four of the puppets and threw them backwards against the steering house. They made no sound as the lightning's claws caught them, beating them ruthlessly, spitting with fury, and at last tossing them over the edge of the deck. The thunder caught the barrels that contained mages remaining dormant, its undeniable destructive force ripping the wood apart and tearing through the creatures, awakening to death. All of them fell from the airship, thrown into the wind by the strength of Three's explosion of anger, short existences as dolls without destinies ended.
Dumb animals asking to be delivered to their fate... puppets... those rebels, that boy with the large eyes... all of them are the same. Numb, deaf, stupid creatures.
A new smile of reassurance and pleasure came to his lips.
I am the only one with a mind of my own...
A cry stirred him from his dreams birthed of bloodlust. The little defect, pulled out of the way of the blast by the princess, had now come running. Liquid starlight trickled from the corners of his eyes, wide and watery with silver tears. His voice was high and choked with sobs the boy was trying to swallow. "Why...? Why would you do such a thing!?" He gasped for breath and stared up at him, a blend of confusion and despairing fury shining in his expression. "Weren't they your friends!?"
Friends...
"You fool," Three whispered, eyes narrowing further, as he lowered his palm to face the child. "Do I look like some lowly black mage soldier?"
A knight ran up to stand behind the little boy. He trembled with anger, expression tense and furious, and incredibly amusing to the winged black mage. "Even if they weren't you allies, what you did was reprehensible!"
Another human... another blind fool.
Three laughed again, drinking in the beautiful atmosphere of death he had created there. "Worry not about them: many more are being produced even now!"
"What are you?" hissed a male voice. Three recognized the speaker as the young man with a tail Kuja had warned him about. He looked just as angered as the knight, perhaps even more. Looking into his eyes, Three knew that this young man was not such a fool.
They're all here... it is time.
He straightened. "Ah, the princess's bodyguards have gathered! How very convenient!"
Yes... kill them... make them suffer...
"Answer me!" snarled the man with the tail, reaching for a pair of daggers at his belt.
Three chuckled. "It wouldn't do you any good if I answered... because you're all going to die!"
Perfect...
His laughter echoed across the decks as he began to raise his staff. He brought it cutting through the air, feeling the bladed end slice satisfyingly through the light clouds now enveloping the ship.
...weapon...
"I will eliminate any who stand in my way!" he cried, drawing back into his familiar counterattack stance.
Just as he did, a light began to shine from the heart of the little black mage. A last luminous tear fell to the deck before he was surrounded in an aura of silvery lavender light. He radiated energy into the surroundings as he clasped a small wooden staff and held it in front of him, beginning to chant quietly. The thief got out his knives and lunged for Three, missing, and getting the cruelly bladed head of the winged soldier's staff thrust into his back. He tumbled head over heels for a moment before regaining his footing and bracing against the side of the ship to prepare a second attack. Three closed his eyes briefly and muttered something under his breath, then waved his weapon in a large arc, a ferocious blast of lightning exploding from the tip and catching the heavily armored knight, who groaned and winced backwards, dropping his guard. Three picked up off the ground, preparing to strike again, when the child's voice lifted again, this time loud and bitter.
"Thunder! Thunder!!" he screamed, sparks flying everywhere. The two other kidnappers leapt aside, and the twin bolts of lunatic electricity found their route to the sky, leaping through the Black Waltz, making his breath catch in his throat and forcing him to drop back down to the deck to recover. As the last of the spell faded away, the child's aura faded, and he fell back into a sitting position, panting. The thief charged Three from behind, scoring a good hit, and the knight rushed in as well, but Three was able to bring his staff up and block the attack.
Pain...
Flame burst from his hands, leaping outwards, attacking everything in sight. The thief tried in vain to protect the little mage, but they were all hit by the eruption of black magic. He swung the weapon around and drove its head into the knight's face, causing him to lose his balance and topple over. Ice was birthed next, encasing the iron-clad warrior, biting like wolves at his flesh...
They must too... suffer pain...
The young man saw that he was distracted and leapt in at precisely the right moment, jumping up and bringing his daggers with him, cutting huge gaping wounds in the Waltz's chest. Three gasped, staggering backwards, dropping to one knee, overwhelmed by pain. "You... You scum...!" he choked, closing his eyes, involuntarily beginning to tremble.
Kill.
How could I be defeated...? I am a... I am the...
Kill.
I must... I must not...
Kill.
...losing... to... a doll...?
Kill.
Memories... something sweet... gentle... playing against his cheeks... embraced from afar... promising and angelic... giving him... power...
Kuja...
KILL...
A beginning... touched by the sweet echo of destruction... gave him a new smile... a black, cutting smile he turned to those three that still watched him, all but one with looks of smug satisfaction and recognition of victory. His wings ceased shaking, and reached out to seize the wind. "I exist only to kill!" he cried, feeling the air lift him upwards, away from them, as he found laughter, though each time he drew breath he gave a small shudder of pain. As he was pulled back towards the small airship he had arrived on, he saw the two little jester twins disappear into the high Mist, fleeing...
Kill them all.
He ignored them, landing beside the steering wheel, which he took hold of. He was wracked with pain... pain... which he could inflict on them... which he could use, evoke, and brandish...
Kill them...
"I exist only to kill!" he hissed, bracing himself against the wind now. "I exist only to kill!" His wings stretched out, drawing more torturous, biting pain... but no matter... "I exist only to kill!" The cargo ship loomed ahead of him, and his burning eyes caught it, as his voice rose to a scream... "I exist only to kill...!"
The smaller airship swung towards the cargo ship, pursuing it towards South Gate. Three did not seem to notice the gate beginning to close, only seeing the vessel that harbored three beings screaming for their lives to be ended. The slim ship pulled up next to it, and Three saw the small boy, standing before one of the puppet-mage's hats, caught on the railing. What sort of deep sorrow those large eyes held...
Kill...
...the Waltz was oblivious to. He raised his hand, blinding electricity building up there, fueled by power from beyond either's understanding. The little black mage watched for a moment, then hung his head, trembling slightly. Three's delirious smile widened as the rays of lightning grew to their maximum power...
The boy's head snapped up with his hands, fire circling around him and then leaping up in a beam of concentrated flame and anger. Three was thrown against the side of the small airship and it lost control, spinning away. He took a moment to recover from the shock, and drew himself up again, reaching for the steering wheel, consumed with pain without feeling any of it.
Kill...
The cargo ship plunged into the gate, with the thin, light Alexandrian ship on its tail, coming back up to be parallel with the larger airship. Three saw the man with the tail, and he called his lightning again, laughing inwardly as the electricity licked along the length of the ship...
KILL!
A spark fell upon the wooden deck and started a fire. Three looked back, surprised, not comprehending what had happened for a moment. It slowly dawned on him, and he turned back to try to regain control, but the small airship had already begun to fall away to its death.
There was a nova of shattering metal and splintering wood. Lightning, fire, and ice ran along Three's limbs, fully excruciating, so painful he could not cry out. It threw him, and he tried vainly to open his wings and escape. A massive force came rushing in, however, and clamped down on one raven wing, wind tearing him away, conjuring fireworks and an overwhelming blackness rushing in.
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Pweeze review! AA Pweeeeeze! Or I won't tell you about the myshterious stuff that happens next! ^^; No, really, reviews are inspiring. Kindly do.