Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy IX. Squaresoft does. If I did own it,
I would be filthy rich and wouldn't need to be writing these stories....
Dagger sighed and leaned her head back. "I hate to do this to you, Shiva. I saw your attachment to this place."
"I won't be gone forever." The ice queen sipped cautiously at her tea; she had already frozen the cup over in concern for Kuja. Had they found out about him yet?
"I had a dream, you know. I wouldn't have summoned you if it weren't for that."
"Oh? What about?"
"Kuja. It was like he never died, and it was like everything was going to happen over again."
The herbal tea beneath Shiva's lips froze and cracked the little china cup. Damn, she thought. And what had the villagers told about Kuja?
"Is it all right? I know you were still training that little girl........ Lila, was her name? She seemed saddened about something; I assumed it was because of your leaving."
You assume too much, my summoner.
Where is my darling boy?
"We were thinking of going to Esto Gaza. You know, to monitor Terra...."
Damn again.
Kuja's ice-blue eyes fluttered open. He observed his surroundings like a child would with a new toy. The smooth ice walls of the cavern were curved upward like a stone dome. Tall and wide double doors, decorated with intricate metallic designs, stood open at the other end of the room. Kuja was safely bundled up against the carved wall. Even under the multitudes of warm blankets, he shivered. The young man now wished he'd never left home.
'Home? What is this home of yours?'
Kuja stood up, shedding all but one of the blankets, out of necessity. He looked toward the source of the mind-voice, only to find shadows. The whole room was shadowy, but the west and southwest sides were enshrouded in a makeshift night. The Genome, sliding more than walking, made his way across slick floors, stumbling into the dark haven of his mind's perpetrator. Trying to stand, Kuja slipped again.
A giant wing went out to steady him, and Kuja used it for support until he was sitiing in front of the creature who had spoke to him. Silver feathers were everywhere, floating in the air. An amused gaze fell upon him from pools of black. The dragon, the real "Angel's Envy" repeated his question with the smallest hint of humor in it.
'What is this home of yours?'
"D-dali......" then again with more confidence, "Dali is my home."
'You once dreamed of a home, is this not true?'
"I belong in Dali, with Grammy and.......... Lila!'
'You do not belong to this world. Your home is Terra. It is my duty to bring you back to the crimson light which you destroyed.'
"Destroyed? How could I have- I've never been outside of Dali!"
'No. All you can remember is Dali. That's different. What you had done, what your former self had done, was to destroy your own homeland. Perhaps..... it was because you were created, never born.'
"I don't understand." But Kuja did understand, a very small sliver. He remembered why both the blue and the red lights had always been snuffed out, been eaten by each other. Because he had destroyed it all, his own homeland; but even if this was so, all he could remember was his feelings. He couldn't remember what had driven him to the conclusion that all had to be destroyed. He choked on his words, "I don't understand!"
'You are my master, Kuja. I have no tight, nor the desire to force you to learn who you were. Please calm yourself! ....I had given up finding you, but here you are, right in front of me. You're so very real. Where are you going to go now?'
"Would you..... Would you take me to Dali? I want to ask Grammy what..... She knew who I was."
'On the morrow, Kuja. The night is treacherous near Esto Gaza.' A mental laughter filled his mind, 'You and I both seem to think the same of those Priests.'
Kuja lay down, sheltered by a silver wing, and sorted out the questions he had when he got back "home". 'There's just something else......'
"Yes?"
'Do you remember what you named me?'
Kuja sighed, his first memory, however terrible his past might have been to destroy worlds, was of a King of the Skies. "I named you...... Radali." The Genome slipped into a different symphony of night, one more familiar than any he had ever heard.
It was the early evening now. The sun seemed to reflect off of the little cottages of Dali. The sight was breath taking at this alititude, and Kuja reveled in it. The little houses and stores looked like a child's toys, and the people her dolls. The flight here was moderately paced, due to Radali's love of scenery, but they had made good time. Despite the man's joy at coming back to Dali, something that seemed to wait his arrival disturbed his subconcious mind.
There was an airship landed just outside of the town, a monstrousity of blue metal. Kuja clutched at Radali's "mane" and shuddered. 'Master, that's........'
"The Invincible!"
Kuja's eyes went blank as he remembered the eye. The all-seeing eye. He was created. Created to destroy, why deny fate? Why tell yourself you are different from a soulless vessel and fulfill the exact footsteps that had been laid out? Why tell yourself that Fate has no holds on you and then follow it's every whim? The pain, the glory, the blood! You ruled your mind, but you gave in to the laws of others! You rebelled only to do what you would've done!
Ambition blood pain glory war weapon kill kill kill pain glory POWER! nothing, nothing, you are nothing, no life, no soul, nothing YOU ARE NOTHING!
Kuja's hands trembled. Radali rolled one jet black eye up to look at him with concern. The Genome's body convulsed and shuddered, listening to his mind's conflict. It wasn't true, it couldn't be!
"IT'S NOT TRUE!" Kuja's reverie shocked him off the back of Radali. Screaming his defiance, a high-pitched cry, the dragon dove after his fallen master........
A dragon's cry!
Dagger's head snapped up in shock. Shiva's hand gripped the table and it froze in her fingers and broke to pieces. Kuja had come back! Dagger knew the dragon's call, but she'd soon know who flew with it, that couldn't be allowed! But Shiva could not defy her summoner...... She was forced to withdraw to the Opal. All the while she prayed for Kuja's safety.
"Zidane!"
"I heard it, Rusty, I heard it!" Steiner, Amarant, and Zidane rushed out of the inn and looked up. A silver dragon was making a dive, then pulled up sharply, knocking over the villagers with a large gust of wind. Zidane bore his Ultima weapon from it's sheath, and ran for the creature's landing site. Dagger was there. Eiko, Freya, and Vivi were coming from the Observatory. For once, Zidane wished Quina were here with it's Blue Magic. No time. Not now.
The dragon bore its fangs before them and hissed. A limp body was being protected behind and to the side of the creature. Silver hair, pale skin.
"It's Kuja!" Freya yelled, but Zidane hardly heard her. Weapons bared, the party lunged for the silver dragon.
A metallic clank resounded as Zidane's weapon met with claws. The intense heat of a Firaga spell lashed over him, catching Steiner and Eiko full on. He could hear Dagger yelling, cursing, struggling with an uncooperatie eidolon to his left. The dragon screamed at Zidane and threw him back towards Amarant, bowling them both over like rag dolls. The form behind the dragon stirred......
The form behind the dragon stirred. Kuja sat up and rubbed at his head. It took merely a second to take in all his surroundings. Radali was fighting all of them, holding his own by a sliver that his spells would allow. The little black mage threw a powerful Blizzaga at him, and he fell to the ground screeching of frostbite and dull pain. Another Genome, Zidane, his brother, Flew at the dragon, leapt, weapon naked in the dying sun. It was closing in for Radali's heart.....
Kuja's eyes flickered, lightning began to crackle around him, everything was tinted crimson. His hair flashed from silver to a blood-red hue. The energy was unharnessed but Kuja tapped it anyways. This was Trance. He would destroy them all. He was the most powerful, and only the strongest would survive. White-hot energy burst forth in the form of a wave, washing over everything in deafening silence. Even so he heard himself screaming.
Everything was burning, he could smell the blood boiling. So much, so much that was spilling and seeping into the ground, through the soil and then in another world, where the souls of many dying would feast on it, and dream of the Terra they once knew. There were other screams, many familiar. The village was burning, burning itself to damnation.
Stop!
'They got away, Kuja. All of them.' Radali growled.
Kuja gasped in the smoky air. What had happened? Radali was next to him, shielding him once more but from a more physical threat. The man threw the wing off him, and ran into the village. Everything had burned down. there wasn't even anything left from the flames to feed another one, even a campfire. Kuja dug through the ashes of old homes, wept over Grammy's vegetable garden, and the old Item Store. He found the scorched forms of little children in the midst of playing tag when the heat killed them. But still, he searched until he came upon a ruined little cottage on the edge of the town.
He ducked under fallen beams and stepped carefully around coals when he heard a little moan come from the room next to him. Overjoyed at the thought of a survivor, Kuja forced open the door......... and his little world fell around him.
Little Lila lay on the floor, charred one one whole side of her body. Kuja dropped to his knees and cradled the little girl in his arms, tears now flowing over the dam he had built over him. One small green eye blinked up at him, and the unscathed part of the young child's face smiled carefully.
"K-k............kuja?"
"Yes, Lila, I'm here. Hush now, you're gonna be all right, it's all....."
"I m-m-m-missed you..... so much....... Will you.......tell....... me a story?"
Kuja couldn't even respond. The girl fell limp in his arms, with half a smile still on her face. The tears came more, and more, until he thought he might drown in his own sorrow. He screamed over and over, rocking the small burnt body back and forth in his arms.
And then he and his princess flew away on a silver dragon. Never to claim a happily ever after.
Author's Note: It was a little awkward with Kuja and Radali's first conversation, but it sure did flow after that...... Thanks to Nemear for the silver dragon's name. There were excellent names offered by Daze Riot too. Now, I need to go find a tissue.......
Dagger sighed and leaned her head back. "I hate to do this to you, Shiva. I saw your attachment to this place."
"I won't be gone forever." The ice queen sipped cautiously at her tea; she had already frozen the cup over in concern for Kuja. Had they found out about him yet?
"I had a dream, you know. I wouldn't have summoned you if it weren't for that."
"Oh? What about?"
"Kuja. It was like he never died, and it was like everything was going to happen over again."
The herbal tea beneath Shiva's lips froze and cracked the little china cup. Damn, she thought. And what had the villagers told about Kuja?
"Is it all right? I know you were still training that little girl........ Lila, was her name? She seemed saddened about something; I assumed it was because of your leaving."
You assume too much, my summoner.
Where is my darling boy?
"We were thinking of going to Esto Gaza. You know, to monitor Terra...."
Damn again.
Kuja's ice-blue eyes fluttered open. He observed his surroundings like a child would with a new toy. The smooth ice walls of the cavern were curved upward like a stone dome. Tall and wide double doors, decorated with intricate metallic designs, stood open at the other end of the room. Kuja was safely bundled up against the carved wall. Even under the multitudes of warm blankets, he shivered. The young man now wished he'd never left home.
'Home? What is this home of yours?'
Kuja stood up, shedding all but one of the blankets, out of necessity. He looked toward the source of the mind-voice, only to find shadows. The whole room was shadowy, but the west and southwest sides were enshrouded in a makeshift night. The Genome, sliding more than walking, made his way across slick floors, stumbling into the dark haven of his mind's perpetrator. Trying to stand, Kuja slipped again.
A giant wing went out to steady him, and Kuja used it for support until he was sitiing in front of the creature who had spoke to him. Silver feathers were everywhere, floating in the air. An amused gaze fell upon him from pools of black. The dragon, the real "Angel's Envy" repeated his question with the smallest hint of humor in it.
'What is this home of yours?'
"D-dali......" then again with more confidence, "Dali is my home."
'You once dreamed of a home, is this not true?'
"I belong in Dali, with Grammy and.......... Lila!'
'You do not belong to this world. Your home is Terra. It is my duty to bring you back to the crimson light which you destroyed.'
"Destroyed? How could I have- I've never been outside of Dali!"
'No. All you can remember is Dali. That's different. What you had done, what your former self had done, was to destroy your own homeland. Perhaps..... it was because you were created, never born.'
"I don't understand." But Kuja did understand, a very small sliver. He remembered why both the blue and the red lights had always been snuffed out, been eaten by each other. Because he had destroyed it all, his own homeland; but even if this was so, all he could remember was his feelings. He couldn't remember what had driven him to the conclusion that all had to be destroyed. He choked on his words, "I don't understand!"
'You are my master, Kuja. I have no tight, nor the desire to force you to learn who you were. Please calm yourself! ....I had given up finding you, but here you are, right in front of me. You're so very real. Where are you going to go now?'
"Would you..... Would you take me to Dali? I want to ask Grammy what..... She knew who I was."
'On the morrow, Kuja. The night is treacherous near Esto Gaza.' A mental laughter filled his mind, 'You and I both seem to think the same of those Priests.'
Kuja lay down, sheltered by a silver wing, and sorted out the questions he had when he got back "home". 'There's just something else......'
"Yes?"
'Do you remember what you named me?'
Kuja sighed, his first memory, however terrible his past might have been to destroy worlds, was of a King of the Skies. "I named you...... Radali." The Genome slipped into a different symphony of night, one more familiar than any he had ever heard.
It was the early evening now. The sun seemed to reflect off of the little cottages of Dali. The sight was breath taking at this alititude, and Kuja reveled in it. The little houses and stores looked like a child's toys, and the people her dolls. The flight here was moderately paced, due to Radali's love of scenery, but they had made good time. Despite the man's joy at coming back to Dali, something that seemed to wait his arrival disturbed his subconcious mind.
There was an airship landed just outside of the town, a monstrousity of blue metal. Kuja clutched at Radali's "mane" and shuddered. 'Master, that's........'
"The Invincible!"
Kuja's eyes went blank as he remembered the eye. The all-seeing eye. He was created. Created to destroy, why deny fate? Why tell yourself you are different from a soulless vessel and fulfill the exact footsteps that had been laid out? Why tell yourself that Fate has no holds on you and then follow it's every whim? The pain, the glory, the blood! You ruled your mind, but you gave in to the laws of others! You rebelled only to do what you would've done!
Ambition blood pain glory war weapon kill kill kill pain glory POWER! nothing, nothing, you are nothing, no life, no soul, nothing YOU ARE NOTHING!
Kuja's hands trembled. Radali rolled one jet black eye up to look at him with concern. The Genome's body convulsed and shuddered, listening to his mind's conflict. It wasn't true, it couldn't be!
"IT'S NOT TRUE!" Kuja's reverie shocked him off the back of Radali. Screaming his defiance, a high-pitched cry, the dragon dove after his fallen master........
A dragon's cry!
Dagger's head snapped up in shock. Shiva's hand gripped the table and it froze in her fingers and broke to pieces. Kuja had come back! Dagger knew the dragon's call, but she'd soon know who flew with it, that couldn't be allowed! But Shiva could not defy her summoner...... She was forced to withdraw to the Opal. All the while she prayed for Kuja's safety.
"Zidane!"
"I heard it, Rusty, I heard it!" Steiner, Amarant, and Zidane rushed out of the inn and looked up. A silver dragon was making a dive, then pulled up sharply, knocking over the villagers with a large gust of wind. Zidane bore his Ultima weapon from it's sheath, and ran for the creature's landing site. Dagger was there. Eiko, Freya, and Vivi were coming from the Observatory. For once, Zidane wished Quina were here with it's Blue Magic. No time. Not now.
The dragon bore its fangs before them and hissed. A limp body was being protected behind and to the side of the creature. Silver hair, pale skin.
"It's Kuja!" Freya yelled, but Zidane hardly heard her. Weapons bared, the party lunged for the silver dragon.
A metallic clank resounded as Zidane's weapon met with claws. The intense heat of a Firaga spell lashed over him, catching Steiner and Eiko full on. He could hear Dagger yelling, cursing, struggling with an uncooperatie eidolon to his left. The dragon screamed at Zidane and threw him back towards Amarant, bowling them both over like rag dolls. The form behind the dragon stirred......
The form behind the dragon stirred. Kuja sat up and rubbed at his head. It took merely a second to take in all his surroundings. Radali was fighting all of them, holding his own by a sliver that his spells would allow. The little black mage threw a powerful Blizzaga at him, and he fell to the ground screeching of frostbite and dull pain. Another Genome, Zidane, his brother, Flew at the dragon, leapt, weapon naked in the dying sun. It was closing in for Radali's heart.....
Kuja's eyes flickered, lightning began to crackle around him, everything was tinted crimson. His hair flashed from silver to a blood-red hue. The energy was unharnessed but Kuja tapped it anyways. This was Trance. He would destroy them all. He was the most powerful, and only the strongest would survive. White-hot energy burst forth in the form of a wave, washing over everything in deafening silence. Even so he heard himself screaming.
Everything was burning, he could smell the blood boiling. So much, so much that was spilling and seeping into the ground, through the soil and then in another world, where the souls of many dying would feast on it, and dream of the Terra they once knew. There were other screams, many familiar. The village was burning, burning itself to damnation.
Stop!
'They got away, Kuja. All of them.' Radali growled.
Kuja gasped in the smoky air. What had happened? Radali was next to him, shielding him once more but from a more physical threat. The man threw the wing off him, and ran into the village. Everything had burned down. there wasn't even anything left from the flames to feed another one, even a campfire. Kuja dug through the ashes of old homes, wept over Grammy's vegetable garden, and the old Item Store. He found the scorched forms of little children in the midst of playing tag when the heat killed them. But still, he searched until he came upon a ruined little cottage on the edge of the town.
He ducked under fallen beams and stepped carefully around coals when he heard a little moan come from the room next to him. Overjoyed at the thought of a survivor, Kuja forced open the door......... and his little world fell around him.
Little Lila lay on the floor, charred one one whole side of her body. Kuja dropped to his knees and cradled the little girl in his arms, tears now flowing over the dam he had built over him. One small green eye blinked up at him, and the unscathed part of the young child's face smiled carefully.
"K-k............kuja?"
"Yes, Lila, I'm here. Hush now, you're gonna be all right, it's all....."
"I m-m-m-missed you..... so much....... Will you.......tell....... me a story?"
Kuja couldn't even respond. The girl fell limp in his arms, with half a smile still on her face. The tears came more, and more, until he thought he might drown in his own sorrow. He screamed over and over, rocking the small burnt body back and forth in his arms.
And then he and his princess flew away on a silver dragon. Never to claim a happily ever after.
Author's Note: It was a little awkward with Kuja and Radali's first conversation, but it sure did flow after that...... Thanks to Nemear for the silver dragon's name. There were excellent names offered by Daze Riot too. Now, I need to go find a tissue.......