Disclaimer: You know.

Recap: Vanessa has just cornered Kuja and Misha. Zidane interrupts at the last minute.

Kuja's P.O.V

I took one look into the frightening black eyes of Vanessa and backed away. They used to be so full of life and understanding. But now..they were cold and expressionless. I was completely defenseless until Zidane decided to barge in. He had the Ultima Weapon drawn and ready.

"You are not taking anybody!" He yelled. I took this chance to charge up a Flare spell in the palm of my hand. Vanessa snapped her fingers and laughed evilly as three clones that looked exactly like her in ways appeared. I backed into the corner slightly as the blue colored one smirked at me. Garnet stood behind Zidane, gems in hand.

"Flare Star, Twister, Blizzaga." Vanessa muttered. The Orange colored one held up in her hand what were obviously the makings of a Flare Star spell and floated off the ground. The dull yellowish colored one raised its hands as a cool breeze blew in. The icy blue colored one rose into the air with the makings of a Blizzaga spell in her hands. I released the spell in Vanessa's general direction. She yawned slightly as all three clones pointed down a couple of inches in front of her and formed a shield. The spell slammed into the shield and fizzled out. I gasped. It was a..

"Elemental Nullification Shield." I muttered out to myself. The three clones smiled as if to say, 'Exactly.' Zidane charged up to the third clone just as it released the Twister spell. I watched horribly as Zidane was sucked up and thrown 50 feet into the air. Garnet snarled and stepped up. This really wasn't going to be to good. Garnet lifted one hand into the air.

"Bahamut! King of the Dragons! I summon thee!" She yelled.

All of a sudden, a streak of red light blazed across the sky. The signaled the arrival of Bahamut. It descended into the square and sorta landed next to Garnet.

"Bahamut, Mega Flare!" Garnet ordered.

"Garnet.." I hissed at her. She ignored me and continued to watch Bahamut's careful approach towards Vanessa and the three elemental clones. Vanessa backed away slowly still with a slight smirk on her face. She reminded me of that time when I first encountered Bahamut at the Iifa Tree. I shuddered at the thought. Bahamut opened his mouth as it began to crackle with flare energy. The Ice Element Copy of Vanessa glared as Bahamut grew closer and closer.

Bahamut fired the energy at the ice copy first. The copy barely had time to react and was quickly overcome. The Icy copy disappeared instantly. Vanessa snarled and snapped her fingers. The Fire and Wind copies disappeared before Bahamut could get another shot at them. Now only one was left. Vanessa laughed.

"Stupid Fools..Just hand over the child." She muttered.

"We will never!" Garnet yelled out. She called Bahamut back and held out an Aquamarine.

"Leviathan, Serpent of Water! Arise!" I stared at Garnet. What was she thinking? She was going to destroy the castle to get her point across. I couldn't blame her really. I watched as Leviathan engulfed Vanessa and the other half of the castle in water. When the attack ended, Vanessa was on the floor. I didn't realize until now that Vanessa was weak against summoned creatures. It was oblivious now. Vanessa slowly got back up only to be engulfed by another wave.

She was rolled over to the balcony and over the edge. Just before Leviathan could do it again, she flipped down into the street. Garnet and me rushed over the side, only to have a Flare Star attack slam into us. We flew back a few yards into the wall. Vanessa floated back inside. She was in trance. Misha cowered in the corner, whimpering. Vanessa turned toward her.

"There is no need to be afraid.." She muttered. I got up and snarled.

"You are not going to take her! Not while I'm still here!"

"Hmph." She flew down and grabbed me by the neck. She was stronger than me, surprisingly.

"Why wont you die?"

"…"

"Answer me!"

"..Do you really want me to die?" She stared at me with her cold black eyes again. Garnet and the others began to close in around us slowly.

"Hand over the child, Kuja." She said as I waved my hand behind my back at Zidane. They were getting too close. Vanessa could cast Shockwave Pulsar and boom! We would be all be fried crispy in seconds. Vanessa backed up a little towards the balcony.

"Vanessa, come on. You don't want to do this."

"…" She looked at with those black eyes of hers again. This time there was a hint of expression in them. Then she dropped me and ran for Misha. Garnet summoned Bahamut just in time again. The Mega Flare attack slammed into her sending her flying across the hallway. She got back up slowly. Vanessa had cuts and bruises all over her face and body. She even had a nasty wound on her right side. I walked over to her slowly. She was not in a good shape to fight. She looked up at me with part of her purple hair hanging in her face. Her eyes were now back to their normal color. Before I could help her up, Bahamut cast another Mega Flare. I heard her cry out 'Shell' before it slammed into us.

When the smoke cleared, Vanessa was unconscious and on the floor again. She had burns all over her body. It was oblivious that she had taken the hit for me. I glanced at Garnet then at everyone else.

"I think its over.."

Later on that night, I went to check on Vanessa in the infirmary. She was halfway awake now and slightly alert to what was going on around her. When I entered, she turned her head to the side.

"Feeling better?" I asked.

"Go away." I sighed and walked over to where Vanessa could see me.

"Come on. We know it wasn't your fault." Vanessa glared at me with those teal colored eyes of hers.

"Kuja, don't you understand? Garland had control of me..I shouldn't have let that happen!"

"It wasn't your fault, Vanessa."

"..You don't understand. He can take control of me at anytime now." I shook my head at her.

"Tell me one thing."

"…"

"What did he want with Misha?"

"He said that he needed Misha for something.."

"For what?"

"..I can't remember.."

"Vanessa, tell me about your childhood."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't not want you to know." She turned over and faced the door. I sighed and headed towards the door. I heard a small sniffle from under the pillow. I felt really sorry for Vanessa. It wasn't her fault..

P.O.V Change: Vanessa

I sniffled from under my pillow as hot tears began to run down my cheek. I didn't want anyone to know about my past. It still hurt. I shouldn't have fought Katrina. Garland had done his damage to me. He managed to poison my dragon form and now..I'm pretty much helpless. It hurt to move so I didn't bother. The funny thing is I'm immortal. So I'll be like this forever. What a fitting end for me..

I stayed awake the whole night. I listened to the normal noises of the castle for about 2 hours until I heard the familiar sound of Kuja's boots on the floor. I peeked out from under the pillow at him.

"Feeling better?" He asked softly.

"Why wont you leave me alone.." I sat up slowly even though my side ached and glared at him. He studied my face for a bit then sighed.

"What did he do to you?"

"..He 'disabled' the dragon side of me. So I can no longer fight on your side or use magic. I'm helpless forever.."

"You can't give up yet."

"Don't you understand, Kuja?! I can't fight anymore so why do you keep insisting that I shouldn't give up?! I am helpless understand? Nothing you can do with save me. Nothing.."

"I'm sure Dr. Tot can think of something." He said. I felt like leaping out of the bed and grabbing his neck. He doesn't understand. Maybe he doesn't want to understand. I sighed and leaned back against the pillow. My body hurt too much to do anything else.

"Ok..see what this Dr. Tot can do about my situation. ..I trust you."

"I promise I will find a cure for you." He said as stepped out and closed the door behind him. I looked down at my hands and sighed. I was weak. I closed my eyes and went back to sleep. I woke up a few hours later, only to see Zane, Zinnia, Alicia, and Misha in the room.

"What are you doing in here?" I said, with a voice full of sleep.

"We came to see you, Vanessa." Zane said.

"Yeah, we came to cheer you up!" Misha said. I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Thank you." I tried to smile.

"We decided to take you out with us." Zinnia said. I shook my head at her.

"Don't worry. We'll help you." Alicia reassured. Why did I have the feeling this wasn't going to be too good? Alicia helped me get out of bed and get out of the infirmary. I looked around as my eyes adjusted to the light of the castle. My side and my legs ached badly but I didn't care. I couldn't ruin Alicia, Zinnia, Zane, and Misha's fun. We stayed out in the Business District of Lindblum all afternoon or at least until I started to complain about my side.

We arrived back at Alexandria Castle late that night. I had so much fun with those four. However, I was still weak and helpless. That would stay on my mind forever. As I was slowly making my way back to the infirmary, I felt something click within my mind.

'Do you honestly think you can cure yourself?'

'W-who are you?'

'You have forgotten me, my servant.'

'I am not your servant! I never will!'

'As long as I exist you will be under my power..'

'No…'

Then suddenly everything went black…


Author's Note: The 's represented Garland's and Vanessa's telekinetic speech. Anyways, Chapter 7 will be up soon.