Whoo! Kuroi's still alive and kicking, and she decided to write stuff for Black Waltz 2-kun. Yaaay! The guy's awfully neglected, and so I feel it is my duty to write fics for him. If you've read my "Tool of Destruction", you'll get the general idea of the way this one will flow. Because we know so little about 2-kun, I'll have a lot more liberty with it. ^^ Let me know if you think it's any good!
---
It was like being born out of the arms of heaven into the land of brilliance itself. Everything was alive and glowing, pulsing with happiness, radiating an aura of complete and total perfection to every corner of the world. The blood of the universe flowed in pale pearl rivers, and the breath of the constellations puffed lazily across the faded sapphire sky. Drops of liquid diamond danced upon the beautiful breeze, seeking something or someone out at the edge of existence. The white sun's smile touched everything...
He was given only a few moments before the utopia began to sink away. At first he was puzzled, gazing in awe upon the silvery completeness rapidly being replaced by total darkness. It was being taken against his will. He tried to follow it, but the blackness made shackles around his wrists and ankles. He screamed, struggling against the supreme power, wishing after the holy grounds shrinking away.
The darkness allowed him to fight for a while, then smote him over the head with a club of ferocious flame. The last twinkles of the land beyond faded away, and he kept screaming, writhing, trying to pull his hands away. He closed his eyes against an intense heat that was beginning to reach out to him, a wicked fire licking with its cruel sweetness at his face, closing its razor-sharp claws around his legs, and creeping up his body, embracing him in its destruction, smiling at his wails of pain. He did not give up, but kept straining against it, exhausting himself in a desperate attempt to free himself from those hateful rays. Every ounce of energy he put out was gathered up and returned by the fire, which grew in strength, and he at last forced himself into oblivion, a pitiful creature melting before the supreme power.
In unconsciousness, he could not sense the specks of silvery blackness creeping into his cage. They peppered the fire, flavoring it, having it cook him to their very specific tastes. Those little points of evil were much more potent than they first seemed, and they were intent on fulfilling their task.
Dare not cry, little one. You will not be weak. Dare not open yourself to existence. You will learn to obey.
There was nothing more he could do, and smoldered silently in the smoke of nonexistence, painted by darkness to become an especially black creation.
Graceful fingers brushed away a lock of silvery hair. A slight frown was set into that pale face, the violet eyes glinting with a mixture of worry and disappointment. Kuja was not pleased with the creature's reaction to reality. Perhaps he had succeeded in infusing power into this one, judging from its ability to expend energy, but a vital element... stability... was missing. If this creature continued to behave like that, it would someday bring its own bloody destruction upon itself...
But it had been an improvement from the other three attempts. The first was weak, and took time to develop, when Kuja needed a great army immediately. His second attempt was a stronger creature with a brief lifespan, lasting just long enough to serve the purpose he had created them for. He had then realized he needed a combination of the two... something strong that could grow and become even more powerful. His first attempt at this hybrid of abilities had been an utter failure. Well... perhaps he had learned something from the construction of that disaster, and had put those values missing into this model. The creature was still small, but that would change once it was exposed to the open air, and its growth was stimulated. The small and fragile limbs would become sturdy and powerful. The heart and lungs would grow strong after being forced to struggle through a life of hardships. The black magic pulsing within the newborn creature would grow and develop, as well...
Yet... without that needed stability, it might grow in directions Kuja did not intend it to...
This one was much more handsome than those preceding it. It was more slender, more gracefully built, its form even, without the knots or sharp angles that were present in the others. After the awful cripple Kuja had seen before, he had become determined that all his mages would stand straight. Kuja had also modified another aspect of the previous hybrid's design: the wings. Beautiful raven wings were set upon the shoulders of this creation, large and magnificently constructed, each feather molded perfectly and sewn together to create a delicious explosion of blue and black. The faults of the first hybrid's wings were all remedied, and its wings were now glorious. Kuja would have liked to have those wings.
Kuja contemplated his creature for a little while longer. Perhaps it could be considered a success... but there was still that fatal flaw that had caused the poor fool to knock himself out. He could not stop with two...
Time passed. He continued fighting the fire until at last he was forced to give up or kill himself. Then he began watching the strange, drifting souls outside through the bluish field that held him away from a new world, like the land of moonlight flowers he had almost forgotten in his struggles. That world was filled with mysteries he couldn't understand, and hardly tried to, in his exhaustion. Even as his strength returned, he was not too interested in the peculiar motions beyond the barrier, for it was a totally different dimension. He waited, though he wasn't sure what it was for. Something buried in his memories yearned for the silver heaven, and was presented with something very different.
It was a terrible shock into reality. His little world began to tremble violently, making his head spin and his consciousness grow muddled. Something was sucking him forward and backwards at the same time, and he tried to scream again, choking when what he inhaled was not the heavy substance he had spent his beginnings in.
Air.
He was tossed into the air. Everything became a fireworks show of exploding pain. Points at the sides of his head throbbed with pain, and his sensitive virgin skin burst into flames in the extreme heat. He was still struggling with that strange, thin, fiercely hot substance he had tried to swallow, and spat out a mouthful of Mist, now gaseous, and tried vainly to breathe the soft layers of absurdly weak air. Flames kept stabbing at him cruelly, laughing at his predicament, and he kept trying to scream, blinded.
The pain did not go away, but it seemed that his sanity returned. Though he was tossed into chaos, he somehow could still cling to what he knew... He was being starved of air. He ceased his frenzied gasping and made an effort to regulate his breathing. Some instinct that Kuja had sewn into his subconscious told him to stand, and he alerted the nerves that ran along his legs. Yet he was still too weak to move them, and he found himself straining against the chains binding him down once again. But this was a different force...
His sight was just returning, and he saw something framed with the streaming silver of his memories, creating some soft, pulsing energy that sent small shocks through his head. Noises came out of it that he would perceive, but not understand.
"He has strength, but he doesn't know what to do with it..."
Strange, unknown colors were just becoming visible to him, but he was losing the field as quickly as he was gaining the ability to recognize its details. His despair lashed out hopelessly as this wondrous new world sank away, as his utopia had before it.
"Poor little fool, Black Waltz no. 2."
He blacked out.
---
Please review. It'll help me to continue a lot. It'll also help my self-esteem, which could really use a boost. oO; Anywhoo... Read me! Review me! I can provide you with fics on (almost) anything! I am Kuroi Mahotsukai. Find me, and send me emails. (Sooo sorry... I've been replaying Legend of Mana and couldn't resist! ^^;)
