Chapter 3 - The Return of Kuja
"So he's alive... Kuja's alive...?" Vivi asked his friend as the entire group sat in the conference room of Lindblum Castle.
"...Yes, he is." Zidane replied.
"Zidane... why didn't you tell us?"
"I didn't want to make you all worry... I can see why you would, obivously, for what happened two years ago we'll never forget. The memories that he has left us stick deep in our hearts and in our souls."
Dagger sat in complete shock. It was to her a bitter pill to swallow. She stood upon her shaking feet and pushed Steiner away in angry as she confronted her husband.
"Why isn't he dead Zidane?! Why not?!"
"I saved him... I brought him out of that place with me, out of death... but we got parted as I helped him escape. I thought he was dead... I thought my brother was dead. He's the closest thing I have to a brother anyway..."
Dagger sat down again and held her hands upon her head.
"Zidane... I can understand why you saved him. It's who you are, the same man I've grown to love over our time together... you have to understand something though... it's a bitter pill to swallow. I still hold him responsible for the death of my...mother... and all that has happened to Alexandria. So many people died because of his actions. You can why I would be upset, don't you?"
"Of course he can."
The warriors turned to the door, and everyone apart from Zidane jumped straight into a fighting stance, for the man that spoke was none other than Kuja himself.
"You can all put your weapons down... I'm not a threat to any of you... especially with Zidane around."
Everyone reluctantly put away their different weapons, and Zidane signalled for them all to sit back down at the table.
"Kuja... It's been a while." he said.
"It most certainly has. I heard about you and the young lady... I should offer my congratulations."
Dagger looked at him, but her expression was not one of gratitude for the compliment. Her hatred for the man was apparent. Kuja's eyes sank downwards, and the young Queen was almost thrown by this. But not quite.
"Such a gesture means little when spoken from the mouth of a tyrant such as yourself Kuja. Why are you in Lindblum?"
"I am here for the Festival, is it not so obivious? I see that we will be pitting our skills against each other Queen Garnet... I look forward to the fight. But that is not why I have come here today. I want to talk to you all. I want to propose something to you... but I am afraid that past differences are going to lead to my rejection. Still, I will try my best."
Zidane stood up, and walked to the front of the room.
"Kuja, I think we should leave this a while... everyone's a little shaken, they've only just found out that you're even alive."
Dagger interrupted him quickly.
"No Zidane, I want to know what he's after now. I can see that you trust him but I don't. Kuja, what makes you think that you can walk in here and ask for our help only two years after trying to kill us all? Why wouldn't you betray us now?"
Everyone sat around the table nodded in agreement.
"I can understand exactly why you wouldn't want anything to do with me. After all, the memories that you all share are painful enough. My appearance must have been quite the shock that you all don't deserve, but I had no choice but to come. Do you want to know the reason why?"
Suddenly the bell rang, to summon the participants of the competition to the arena.
"Damn..." whispered Dagger.
"Don't worry Queen Garnet, we will speak after our battle. Are you still willing to fight me?"
"Yes... I would never run from you Kuja."
The 'tyrant' laughed to himself.
"Ha... I see you've picked up a few ideals from my brother... I'm not too surprised, he's a very influencial person. Even more so than myself."
Dagger walked out of the room past Kuja, and he sighed and turned to Zidane.
"That girl... she's going to be tough to beat. Her hatred for me sparks quite a reaction within my body. Has she expanded on her eidolon powers?"
"You'll have to wait and see Kuja. But I have to go, I'm fighting first, and I wouldn't want to let anyone down. Especially Marcus!"
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"Aghhhh.....!" Marcus cried as Zidane chased him around the ring.
"You retard Zidane! Leave me alone!"
Zidane was screaming with laughter, he was obiviously enjoying himself.
"Hahaha, come on Marcus! You can do better than that! What's the point in you protecting as a knight if you can't even challenge me in a fight!"
Marcus suddenly grinned, and stopped in his tracks. Zidane, travelling too fast, was forced to jump right over his friend. This was the chance Marcus had been waiting for, and with full force he punched Zidane with his left hand, sending him flying towards the end of the ring. The crowd gasped... this one should have been a formality! Zidane thought that the gig was up as he flew through the wispy air, but suddenly he remembered something, and an idea hit him with full force.
As Marcus stood celebrating in the middle of the ring, Zidane raised his double-edged weapon which he had chosen for the fight. Aiming straight down to the ground, he pushed downwards with all his might. The pure force of the blow caused Zidane to fly straight back towards the ring. And straight back towards his opponent. Marcus turned around to see the terrifying figure of his young friend flying towards him.
"Oh... shit..."
Zidane's foot caught full force with Marcus's chin, and the Calcutta Knight flew straight out of the ring, and into the crowd. This time there was no miraculous recovery. Zidane was in the Festival of the Hunt... or was he?
"Hey!!!!" yelled Marcus as he got to his feet. "That isn't fair! He was out of the ring, I should have won!"
"Cool it Marcus, I won, alright? The rules say the first feet that hit the ground are disqualified. My feet didn't even touch the pavement. Sorry man, you fought well."
Marcus was annoyed, but not so much that he was going to be bitter, so he shook the hand of his friend and walked off the ring, nursing his pride. Zidane walked off smiling, and Baku walked over to him as Beatrix and Blutzen prepared to fight in the middle of the ring.
"Gyahahaha! Very good! You're a lot stronger than you were with us!"
"Yeah... I've fought a lot of battles since then. Kuja's a tough guy... he's here you know? Kuja."
"Hehehe... yeah, so I heard... what's with that, hehehe..."
"He says that he has something he needs to tell us."
"...Do you trust him?..." asked Baku gently. At this moment Blutzen flew straight out the ring and Beatrix held her hands high in the air to signify her victory.
"I don't know. I think I do, but what happened two years ago... It can't be forgotten so easily, especially for Dagger. It's hard for her to cope as it is, without Kuja being around as well."
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Dagger sat down at her seat inside the cafe and sighed. He was alive. The man who had destroyed her life was alive after the belief that he was dead. And he wanted to 'help' her? What about leaving forever... it would be a good start.
"May I have this seat, or is it reserved?"
Dagger shuddered and looked up at the imposing face of Kuja standing before her.
"Kuja, just fuck off. I don't want to know you. Why are you even here?"
Kuja sat down at the table and faced the Queen.
"I'm here because I owe Zidane a favour. I owe the man my life. He showed the ultimate mercy upon me and gave me a new reason to live, a new ideology to stand by. That's why i'm here, not for me, not for anyone but Zidane. He saved my life... now I'm gonna save his."
Dagger shuddered at what the man had just said to her, but she was listening to his words more intently now.
"...Zidane's in trouble?"
"As are you... as is everyone at this Festival. Including myself. That's why you're going to pull out of the fight."
"Hey! Why would I do that!" she shouted angrily.
Kuja got up to his feet once more.
"Because when the Festival begins a terrible force of destruction is going to engulf Lindblum, and you will be out of here before it happens, back to Alexandria. Zidane will remain here with me."
Dagger tried to interrupt but Kuja kept on going.
"Hold on a minute Queen Garnet. The reason that you will be leaving is because you have to lead Alexandria. If Zidane and yourself were both to die... Alexandria would be in ruins. The country needs you as a leader."
"Maybe so, but Zidane means a lot to me, I'm not going to wander off and leave him to die here. He's my husband, not a commodity."
Kuja smiled at her, and she nearly had a heart attack, for the compassion that she spotted in his eyes didn't seem possible to her.
"I understand. I'll see what I can do... if this is the case though, I think you should fight me, at least to keep a regular routine to the whole thing... we don't want any unneccesary rumours flying around."
Dagger nodded, and Kuja walked out of the cafe. She sat and stared at the man who had destroyed her life... and she realised that she had little hatred for him in her heart. She didn't know why, for after all she had every reason to despise him. But the spark wasn't there anymore, and she felt disturbed.
----------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, many battles had been fought and decided. Vivi had beaten out Sir Fratley in a very tough encounter by piercing the solider's armour with a well placed Firaga attack. Vivi's power had obiviously increased over the past two years, and he looked a lot more confident in himself now. Married life must have brought out a new maturity in the young mage. Troa, the young solidier who had so easily disposed of Quina in the last round had also won his fight. Zenero was declared winner of his battle with his brother Benero, and Weimar Trimast, formerly of the Knights of Pluto won his battle against a young fighter from Lindblum. Freya, Steiner, Baku and Eiko were also through, and the former bounty hunter Lani who had worked for Bramhe two years ago had made it through her battle. Her skills had improved over the past couple of years, and Zidane told his friends that it was because Lani was not fighting for greed or power anymore, but for herself and none other. Regent Cid stood up upon a makeshift podium which had been quickly created for the hunt.
"The next battle will be Dagger Tribal against Kuja Tribal. The fight will commence shortly."
The similarity in the names caused many in the crowd to wonder what was going on. Was the young queen fighting against a family member?
Dagger walked into the arena, cool as she could be, and stood waiting for her opponent to arrive. She hoped that he wouldn't turn up, for her feelings were in a mess, and she couldn't find it in herself to focus on the task in hand. To fight Kuja again after all that had happened seemed wrong in the eyes of the young lady.
Suddenly Zidane's brother walked straight into the ring, diverting his eyes from the gaze of the princess. Regent Cid stated the rules to both fighters, but neither were listening, caught up in their own focused thoughts and feelings. Little did Dagger know how hard it was for Kuja to fall back to days of old and fight once again. Especially against her...
And then the battle began.
Kuja jumped into the air, and immediately fired a massive charge of Fire magic at his opponent. Dagger dodged the attack and created a Shell around herself. She knew that Kuja's attacks were mostly magical, and if he was able to make a full on attack she would have trouble holding him off. Kuja suddenly fell towards her, his left foot outstreched, and he caught Dagger full on with a kick to the chest. The crowd gasped as she tried to get up from the blow, whilst Kuja stood before her.
"Come on Garnet, you don't honestly think I'm THAT reliant on magic, do you? I am Zidane's big brother after all."
Dagger rose to his feet and backed off slighty before assuming her fighting stance once again.
"You're not fit to be his brother you scumbag!" she screamed as she rose her hands into the air. Kuja laughed to himself. Zidane had obiviously taught her a few choice phrases. 'Scumbag' was hardly a word associated with the royalty of Alexandria.
"Is that so Queen Garnet? I get a different impression. I don't think i'm as hated as i'm made out to be... isn't that right?"
But Dagger was trying to block out his voice, and Kuja suddenly ran towards her at full speed. However his clenched fist only hit thin air, and he looked around to find that she was nowhere to be seen. He realised what was about to happen, and he pulled his hands over his face for protection. The air was becoming dry and damp, and Kuja braced himself.
"So he's alive... Kuja's alive...?" Vivi asked his friend as the entire group sat in the conference room of Lindblum Castle.
"...Yes, he is." Zidane replied.
"Zidane... why didn't you tell us?"
"I didn't want to make you all worry... I can see why you would, obivously, for what happened two years ago we'll never forget. The memories that he has left us stick deep in our hearts and in our souls."
Dagger sat in complete shock. It was to her a bitter pill to swallow. She stood upon her shaking feet and pushed Steiner away in angry as she confronted her husband.
"Why isn't he dead Zidane?! Why not?!"
"I saved him... I brought him out of that place with me, out of death... but we got parted as I helped him escape. I thought he was dead... I thought my brother was dead. He's the closest thing I have to a brother anyway..."
Dagger sat down again and held her hands upon her head.
"Zidane... I can understand why you saved him. It's who you are, the same man I've grown to love over our time together... you have to understand something though... it's a bitter pill to swallow. I still hold him responsible for the death of my...mother... and all that has happened to Alexandria. So many people died because of his actions. You can why I would be upset, don't you?"
"Of course he can."
The warriors turned to the door, and everyone apart from Zidane jumped straight into a fighting stance, for the man that spoke was none other than Kuja himself.
"You can all put your weapons down... I'm not a threat to any of you... especially with Zidane around."
Everyone reluctantly put away their different weapons, and Zidane signalled for them all to sit back down at the table.
"Kuja... It's been a while." he said.
"It most certainly has. I heard about you and the young lady... I should offer my congratulations."
Dagger looked at him, but her expression was not one of gratitude for the compliment. Her hatred for the man was apparent. Kuja's eyes sank downwards, and the young Queen was almost thrown by this. But not quite.
"Such a gesture means little when spoken from the mouth of a tyrant such as yourself Kuja. Why are you in Lindblum?"
"I am here for the Festival, is it not so obivious? I see that we will be pitting our skills against each other Queen Garnet... I look forward to the fight. But that is not why I have come here today. I want to talk to you all. I want to propose something to you... but I am afraid that past differences are going to lead to my rejection. Still, I will try my best."
Zidane stood up, and walked to the front of the room.
"Kuja, I think we should leave this a while... everyone's a little shaken, they've only just found out that you're even alive."
Dagger interrupted him quickly.
"No Zidane, I want to know what he's after now. I can see that you trust him but I don't. Kuja, what makes you think that you can walk in here and ask for our help only two years after trying to kill us all? Why wouldn't you betray us now?"
Everyone sat around the table nodded in agreement.
"I can understand exactly why you wouldn't want anything to do with me. After all, the memories that you all share are painful enough. My appearance must have been quite the shock that you all don't deserve, but I had no choice but to come. Do you want to know the reason why?"
Suddenly the bell rang, to summon the participants of the competition to the arena.
"Damn..." whispered Dagger.
"Don't worry Queen Garnet, we will speak after our battle. Are you still willing to fight me?"
"Yes... I would never run from you Kuja."
The 'tyrant' laughed to himself.
"Ha... I see you've picked up a few ideals from my brother... I'm not too surprised, he's a very influencial person. Even more so than myself."
Dagger walked out of the room past Kuja, and he sighed and turned to Zidane.
"That girl... she's going to be tough to beat. Her hatred for me sparks quite a reaction within my body. Has she expanded on her eidolon powers?"
"You'll have to wait and see Kuja. But I have to go, I'm fighting first, and I wouldn't want to let anyone down. Especially Marcus!"
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"Aghhhh.....!" Marcus cried as Zidane chased him around the ring.
"You retard Zidane! Leave me alone!"
Zidane was screaming with laughter, he was obiviously enjoying himself.
"Hahaha, come on Marcus! You can do better than that! What's the point in you protecting as a knight if you can't even challenge me in a fight!"
Marcus suddenly grinned, and stopped in his tracks. Zidane, travelling too fast, was forced to jump right over his friend. This was the chance Marcus had been waiting for, and with full force he punched Zidane with his left hand, sending him flying towards the end of the ring. The crowd gasped... this one should have been a formality! Zidane thought that the gig was up as he flew through the wispy air, but suddenly he remembered something, and an idea hit him with full force.
As Marcus stood celebrating in the middle of the ring, Zidane raised his double-edged weapon which he had chosen for the fight. Aiming straight down to the ground, he pushed downwards with all his might. The pure force of the blow caused Zidane to fly straight back towards the ring. And straight back towards his opponent. Marcus turned around to see the terrifying figure of his young friend flying towards him.
"Oh... shit..."
Zidane's foot caught full force with Marcus's chin, and the Calcutta Knight flew straight out of the ring, and into the crowd. This time there was no miraculous recovery. Zidane was in the Festival of the Hunt... or was he?
"Hey!!!!" yelled Marcus as he got to his feet. "That isn't fair! He was out of the ring, I should have won!"
"Cool it Marcus, I won, alright? The rules say the first feet that hit the ground are disqualified. My feet didn't even touch the pavement. Sorry man, you fought well."
Marcus was annoyed, but not so much that he was going to be bitter, so he shook the hand of his friend and walked off the ring, nursing his pride. Zidane walked off smiling, and Baku walked over to him as Beatrix and Blutzen prepared to fight in the middle of the ring.
"Gyahahaha! Very good! You're a lot stronger than you were with us!"
"Yeah... I've fought a lot of battles since then. Kuja's a tough guy... he's here you know? Kuja."
"Hehehe... yeah, so I heard... what's with that, hehehe..."
"He says that he has something he needs to tell us."
"...Do you trust him?..." asked Baku gently. At this moment Blutzen flew straight out the ring and Beatrix held her hands high in the air to signify her victory.
"I don't know. I think I do, but what happened two years ago... It can't be forgotten so easily, especially for Dagger. It's hard for her to cope as it is, without Kuja being around as well."
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Dagger sat down at her seat inside the cafe and sighed. He was alive. The man who had destroyed her life was alive after the belief that he was dead. And he wanted to 'help' her? What about leaving forever... it would be a good start.
"May I have this seat, or is it reserved?"
Dagger shuddered and looked up at the imposing face of Kuja standing before her.
"Kuja, just fuck off. I don't want to know you. Why are you even here?"
Kuja sat down at the table and faced the Queen.
"I'm here because I owe Zidane a favour. I owe the man my life. He showed the ultimate mercy upon me and gave me a new reason to live, a new ideology to stand by. That's why i'm here, not for me, not for anyone but Zidane. He saved my life... now I'm gonna save his."
Dagger shuddered at what the man had just said to her, but she was listening to his words more intently now.
"...Zidane's in trouble?"
"As are you... as is everyone at this Festival. Including myself. That's why you're going to pull out of the fight."
"Hey! Why would I do that!" she shouted angrily.
Kuja got up to his feet once more.
"Because when the Festival begins a terrible force of destruction is going to engulf Lindblum, and you will be out of here before it happens, back to Alexandria. Zidane will remain here with me."
Dagger tried to interrupt but Kuja kept on going.
"Hold on a minute Queen Garnet. The reason that you will be leaving is because you have to lead Alexandria. If Zidane and yourself were both to die... Alexandria would be in ruins. The country needs you as a leader."
"Maybe so, but Zidane means a lot to me, I'm not going to wander off and leave him to die here. He's my husband, not a commodity."
Kuja smiled at her, and she nearly had a heart attack, for the compassion that she spotted in his eyes didn't seem possible to her.
"I understand. I'll see what I can do... if this is the case though, I think you should fight me, at least to keep a regular routine to the whole thing... we don't want any unneccesary rumours flying around."
Dagger nodded, and Kuja walked out of the cafe. She sat and stared at the man who had destroyed her life... and she realised that she had little hatred for him in her heart. She didn't know why, for after all she had every reason to despise him. But the spark wasn't there anymore, and she felt disturbed.
----------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, many battles had been fought and decided. Vivi had beaten out Sir Fratley in a very tough encounter by piercing the solider's armour with a well placed Firaga attack. Vivi's power had obiviously increased over the past two years, and he looked a lot more confident in himself now. Married life must have brought out a new maturity in the young mage. Troa, the young solidier who had so easily disposed of Quina in the last round had also won his fight. Zenero was declared winner of his battle with his brother Benero, and Weimar Trimast, formerly of the Knights of Pluto won his battle against a young fighter from Lindblum. Freya, Steiner, Baku and Eiko were also through, and the former bounty hunter Lani who had worked for Bramhe two years ago had made it through her battle. Her skills had improved over the past couple of years, and Zidane told his friends that it was because Lani was not fighting for greed or power anymore, but for herself and none other. Regent Cid stood up upon a makeshift podium which had been quickly created for the hunt.
"The next battle will be Dagger Tribal against Kuja Tribal. The fight will commence shortly."
The similarity in the names caused many in the crowd to wonder what was going on. Was the young queen fighting against a family member?
Dagger walked into the arena, cool as she could be, and stood waiting for her opponent to arrive. She hoped that he wouldn't turn up, for her feelings were in a mess, and she couldn't find it in herself to focus on the task in hand. To fight Kuja again after all that had happened seemed wrong in the eyes of the young lady.
Suddenly Zidane's brother walked straight into the ring, diverting his eyes from the gaze of the princess. Regent Cid stated the rules to both fighters, but neither were listening, caught up in their own focused thoughts and feelings. Little did Dagger know how hard it was for Kuja to fall back to days of old and fight once again. Especially against her...
And then the battle began.
Kuja jumped into the air, and immediately fired a massive charge of Fire magic at his opponent. Dagger dodged the attack and created a Shell around herself. She knew that Kuja's attacks were mostly magical, and if he was able to make a full on attack she would have trouble holding him off. Kuja suddenly fell towards her, his left foot outstreched, and he caught Dagger full on with a kick to the chest. The crowd gasped as she tried to get up from the blow, whilst Kuja stood before her.
"Come on Garnet, you don't honestly think I'm THAT reliant on magic, do you? I am Zidane's big brother after all."
Dagger rose to his feet and backed off slighty before assuming her fighting stance once again.
"You're not fit to be his brother you scumbag!" she screamed as she rose her hands into the air. Kuja laughed to himself. Zidane had obiviously taught her a few choice phrases. 'Scumbag' was hardly a word associated with the royalty of Alexandria.
"Is that so Queen Garnet? I get a different impression. I don't think i'm as hated as i'm made out to be... isn't that right?"
But Dagger was trying to block out his voice, and Kuja suddenly ran towards her at full speed. However his clenched fist only hit thin air, and he looked around to find that she was nowhere to be seen. He realised what was about to happen, and he pulled his hands over his face for protection. The air was becoming dry and damp, and Kuja braced himself.