[Insert Disclaimer From Chapter 1 Here, Iffun You Wanna.]

*walks in carrying Chibi-Black Waltz no. 2 on her back* Ahhh... finally got up the energy and determination to write it. It's over... only 5 chapters long. There was kinda a lot of stuff crammed into this chapter, but it's functional, and I think it's somewhat decent. Please read on, enjoy, and review me. oo *puts Chibi-Two down*

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Two had seen the princess of Alexandria once before, while he was hiding behind a curtain by a long hall that ran along the full length of the castle. A few female soldiers were escorting a group of three very unalike humans; the familiar Kuja, in his usual pastel-colored costume, an older woman Two found quite repulsive, in the fancy clothes of a queen, and an elegant, slender and graceful young woman with a beautiful face, dressed in a meticulously designed dress of soft, flowing white fabric. Kuja was speaking with the queen while the princess followed meekly behind, eyes cast downward. Something about the way her head was turned, however, told the mage that she was not a silly little child who was unconcerned with the affairs of senior powers, and that she was listening intently. He continued to watch them progress down the hall and turn into a room on the other side, the forbidden side, and gave a little sigh of disappointment, turning to wander off in search of something else to amuse himself with for a while.

He had explored every corridor in his wing, and was once again bored with life and becoming destructive. One problem was that Kuja brought him to the dungeon for battles less often, and thereby cutting off the route by which the winged mage vented his frustration. When he did get the chance to fight, he was especially bloodthirsty, and would kill anything Kuja allowed him to. He was no longer picky about whether he ended the waking days of souls or not. And he had also become even more irritable and quick to anger than ever before, for reasons lost to him. It was probably because of old age, though none but Kuja would believe it, perceiving Two to be in his prime, young, vigorous and passionate in almost all ways.

Two had grown out of slaughtering furniture as he had when he was in a child in a bloody mood, and now turned his aggression towards the new toys Kuja had conveniently scattered all over his territory. They were almost human in appearance, standing upright with the correct number of limbs and a head in the right place. They seemed a little awkward, their walk being a waddle, their clumsy hands incapable of doing much. What made them different was that their faces were hidden behind an eternal veil of blackness, an immortal shadow the brims of their steeple-crowned hats cast, impenetrable by anything except the brilliant yellow light of their eyes, their appearance so similar to one the mage knew well and adored. When Two had first seen them, his heart had nearly burst with joy. He was no longer a lone misfit among the dull-eyed human populous. At last, creatures like those he had dreamed of had appeared, and he would no longer be alone!

But when he tried to talk to them, they would not respond. He thought at first they were ignoring him, and tried vainly to wring a response out them, desperately trying to gain their attention. After what seemed like ages of fruitless efforts, he lost his patience and burned one to cinders. Kuja had been watching him, and told him with a laugh that these creatures were mindless dolls he had designed a long time ago to serve as his army, and that he would never find a conscious one in the bunch. Two was humiliated and filled with even more hate for the silver one he was unable to express. When his battles became less frequent, he unleashed that bitter black magic upon the dumb black mages, becoming somewhat satisfied with watching a little of their enormous mockery of his existence fall to pieces.

It was the worst time for Kuja to lock him into his room unexpectedly for a full night and most of another. He woke one morning to find the door firmly sealed and no possible means of escape. He had learned to let himself slide between matter to new locations, but was unable to use that method to transfer himself to somewhere out of his field of vision. He tried to knock the door down, but it would not come, and an attempt at burning it down made him realize there was something preventing him from using his magic inside the small room. He tore at the walls in desperation before collapsing, exhausted, and curling up by the door to wait for someone to save him or the end of the world to come.

The solution turned out to be the former, and his savior, Kuja himself, could not help but chuckle at the state the room and mage were in, particularly the mage. The fingers of his gloves were torn up and stained with blood, his sleeves were now ragged and he had begun molting blue-black feathers at an astonishing rate. Two had to restrain himself from leaping at Kuja and ripping his internal organs out when he first saw the ridiculing expression below the waves of silver hair. He decided against this when Kuja offered him some new clothes, a shower and a comb.

*~*

"The princess has been kidnapped?" Two asked, pulling on his new gloves.

"Yes." Kuja smiled as the mage turned and began carefully preening his wings. "She is very important to the kingdom and must be retrieved immediately."

"I know that," the mage snorted, fondly smoothing down a few beautiful feathers. "Why are you telling me this? Am I going to be the one to go out and retrieve her?"

"Of course," the silver one went on in a soothing voice. "You are the only one strong enough to complete such a difficult task."

Two smiled fiercely under the blackness, beating his wings against the still air once. No matter how much he hated Kuja, he loved being flattered. "Fine, fine. I'll do it."

"Zorn and Thorn will fly you to Dali, where the kidnappers are resting. A young man with a tail, an older knight, and a small black mage, a defect, one of the older models. They are quite formidable..."

The Black Waltz stood up and gave an exaggerated bow. "Don't worry, my liege, I won't have any trouble killing them. You've seen how I fight."

"Like a child having a tantrum," Kuja muttered under his breath, but then went on, all smiles. "I advise you to be on your guard. They have already killed Black Waltz no. 1..."

Two dropped the comb and stared at him. "What?"

Kuja's grin widened, amused. "They have defeated Black Waltz no. 1."

Of course. Kuja had always called him Black Waltz no. 2, so there obviously must have been a Black Waltz no. 1. But he was still shocked, and then enraged. There was... had been another like him. Not just a black mage puppet. A Black Waltz. Maybe this other one was tall and narrow-eyed like him, with the same wings of darkness... and Kuja had sent him off and let him die before Two had ever gotten to meet him! What Two would have given for a brother... "You... you... my... could've... why!?" Two gasped, eyes flashing angrily.

Kuja just kept smiling. "You wouldn't have liked him, anyway. He was ugly and weak. Quite weak. You would have grown tired of him and probably killed him, too."

Don't, Kuja scolded when Two started to protest. Do you doubt me?

"No... I mean... yeah," Two muttered, confused and miserable.

"Good," Kuja chucked. "I trust you will get the job done."

"I will..." His yellowish eyes seemed to almost glaze over as Kuja struck down and gently swept away the last of his lonely longings.

*~*

"Get off the airship. We have arrived."

"Terrible, your snoring is. Sleep a wink, we could not."

"Whatever," Two muttered, sitting up and looking around rather wearily, brightening considerably when he realized how different this place was from the castle. He had wandered into a few courtyards before, and gone up on the roof, but he had never been this outside. There were rolling fields, forests, mountains... he was delighted. A sharp poke at the back of his mind rather like a rather like that of an annoyed silver-haired warrior made him drop the poetry and look around with a different intent. "The kidnappers are around here?"

"Over there, standing by the cargo ship," one of the jester twins yawned. Two peered in that direction, picking up his quarry's vague movements. He was not exactly bursting with enthusiasm at finding them, as he still needed sleep, and would have appreciated having a quick sightseeing tour, but Kuja kept prodding at him.

Come, dear Waltz. Go and slaughter them! You know you desire it...

The wind felt so much better here. He opened his wings and caught a breeze, then began leisurely making his way towards the group of unsuspecting humans. They were so unsuspecting that they did not notice him until the last minute, and, appreciating their startled looks, he gave an impressive series of dimensional slips to get them to gawk even more. They were all there, the young man with a tawny tail, a knight clad in heavy, second-rate armor, an extremely small black mage dressed in peculiar clothes, and the beautiful, beautiful princess, now dressed in much plainer clothes, but still obviously the princess.

"Princess Garnet," he called sweetly, pleased with her gasp and step back, "the queen is waiting for you at the castle!"

The young man snarled and stepped back into a fighting stance. "You were all sent by the castle!?"

"What? What are you talking about!?" asked one of his companions, the knight.

"You were all unconscious from the blizzard. He said he was a Black Waltz!" shouted the tailed one.

"Are you to one who defeated No. 1?" Two looked in his direction. A small child screamed Brother!, but he ignored it, and raised his voice haughtily, "I am Black Waltz no. 2!"

You are stronger...

"My power, magic, and speed make me far superior to No. 1!" Two sneered, enjoying their stares. "Resistance is futile," he hissed, before turning back to Garnet. "Come, Princess. The queen awaits!"

"No! I will not return to the castle!" she cried, surprisingly courageous. The mage was only slightly taken aback.

"Come with me, or you'll regret it!" He gave her such a wicked smile that she saw through his eyes that she gave a barely audible gasp and stepped back, behind the young man.

"Wait! I, Steiner, shall escort the princess back to the castle!" shouted the knight, looking between the winged mage and the tailed one.

Two turned that smile upon the older man. What a fool! He snickered at the open display of naiveté. "You think I care? I won't let you stand in the way of my mission!"

Kill... them...!!

"Princess, stay there while I kill the others!" He felt along the wind and braced himself. "I won't let you get in my way!"

A shift came in the rotation of the worlds, and he flung himself along it, ramming into the younger man who gave a yelp of surprise and tumbled over backwards. When he turned, he saw fire flowing freely from the hands of the little mage, who then pointed it towards him and sent it blazing towards the Waltz with a cry of "Fire!". Two would have been able to easily dodge the attack, had he not been so surprised to hear the mage speak, and winced a little as the flame ran along the length of his wings. Still, it was not too severe... The little one had no idea of the sort of pain that could be evoked with black magic. Two chuckled.

"This is how you use Fire!" he laughed, feeling flame rising in him, true, ruthless, malicious flame. He traced a circle around the group of fighters in the his mind, leaving the princess out for a reason, and let the fire lose. The three were lost in its hateful, deadly grasp, and he savored their cries, blissfully happy in his arrogant way.

They were brave, if not stupid, to keep fighting him. The mage managed to place a spell of fire on the knight's blade, and the older man rushed forward, slashing him with a great show of strength. Two was knocked breathless, but recovered, beat his wings a few time to regain his balance, and let them taste his Thunder.

Even the darkest, most painful electricity could not persuade them to give up. The princess waved her magician's rod and summoned a wave of light to heal them... oh, white magic, detestable white magic. The small mage kept calling his pathetic little fire attack, perhaps the only spell he knew, and being blasted by Two's superior spells. Sword strikes came... Two did not keep track of how many. The little tailed one, a thief, cut him across the chest with twin daggers... and promptly met a wave of angry fire, a far more powerful spell, fueled by anger and an ancient drive to return pain delivered to him... Fira.

Time passed. The battle was long... surprisingly long. Two had not expected them to last this long. Perhaps it was the princess's Cure spells, or something else lost to him, but they were still strong and he was weakening... It was getting harder to breathe, and his wings were weary...

As he was fending off an attack from the knight, the thief caught him by surprise. He turned in time to see the young man charging him, and gave a startled cry of pain as the thief sunk a dagger into his chest.

Ha ha ha ha... Too bad.

Burns and bleeding wounds, wings that screamed in agony. It was too painful, and he collapsed. He was being burned again... he already lost from the silver heaven, and now this world was rapidly retreating as well. He would have gasped with disbelief, but he found himself choking.

No... how... how can I lose? I can't... I'm... I'm invincible...

Pain... pain... and now loneliness again.

He was starved of air, with only that one breath left, and he let it out, despairing, with the softest sob of anguish.

"Wh-Why...!?"

*~*

There was no reality in that world. There were no souls. No light. What there was... was pain. Endless pain, endless agony, endless torment in the pit of darkness. There was mourning, there was resignation.

This one did not mourn or resign to be tortured for the rest of existence. There was fighting, bitter fighting, struggling against the pain. Denial of the pain. There was no end to the resistance, there was no point of giving up, only pain, pain, and blind fighting.

At times, there was despair... and something just a step away from giving up...

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Well, like I said, I appreciate reviews... I'm sure Chibi-Two will as well! ^^ That's all for Touch of Flame... I be startin' Tears of Starlight soon enough, cuz Chibi-One will be so much fun to write about. oo; We shall meet again...