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....
It was the promise of a beautiful day. The sky erupted into flames, turning what clouds there were to tones of rose and copper. The dawn marked a new beginning, a page unwritten, for an era that would bring a world through shock and confusion and into the hands of it's new ruler. Kuja looked through what he dared to call a "window" to overlook Esto Gaza again with impaitience. His plan involved taking out that bothersome monastery first. He did need target practice for the return of his higher powers after all.
"Radali?" The silver dragon raised his head in interest, "Shall we go?"
The Angel of Death looked down upon the small building with amusement. Nothing slow.... he thought, I'll make Alexandria suffer enough. Decided, he raised his hand and summoned forth the energies of Ultima. With one last forlorn gaze at the peaceful place, he threw the spell down to the earth. Ultima raced downward, its heat too much to be ignored by the doomed humans below. They foolishly ran outside to watch their own death sentence in wonder and awe as it crashed around them. Esto Gaza was obliterated. Kuja was elated.
"It's time they paid! Alexandria!" He laughed, a dreamy but wicked sound. On Radali's back, he flew away to the city of Alexandria, where he would find those who pushed him to his limits. Those who really took Lila's life. Ironically, he chose to wear the clothes Grammy had made for him on his first day anew; it was only fitting.
The white Genome laughed again, and all who heard it shivered, and wondered what would become of them now.
"So we were going to....."
"Uncle Blank! Uncle Marcus!" A little boy, no older than ten, bounded up to the three Tantalus members. Chocolate colored hair and an equally sable tail were all that was visible to the common passersby. The child skidded to a stop, losing his balance and toplling over at Zidane's feet. Zidane lifted him up and ruffled his hair.
"Da--ad! You're embarassing me!"
"Koh, you're supposed to be-"
"Mama said that you're gonna be in trouble if you don't come home!" Koh placed his hands on his hips and stamped his foot in Dagger-fashion, "Right now!", he claimed in a pathetic attempt to copy his mother's voice. Blank politely coughed and nudged his fellow thief.
"...... Blank, Marcus, could you just.... watch him for a minute?" Zidane ran for the palace as fast as humanly possible, leaving his two friends to ponder on how they were going to keep the little boy busy for half an hour.
"You know, the city streets ain't a place for a young prince."
"I'm not a prince! I'm a world-class thief like my dad!"
Blank and Marcus looked at each other with smirks on their faces, "If you're such a great thief, you oughta be in Tantalus!"
"Tantalus! Like you guys? How do I get in?"
"Well..... You gotta find some treasure!"
"Uh, of course, it has to be worthy of a thief!"
"Cool! I'll do that right now!" Koh ran off, leaving his babysitters in the dust
"Look what you did now, Marcus!"
"Me?! You know I'm not good with kids!"
"Well, who is?" Silence.
"Ruby!"
"This is gonna be the best! Where would Dad go to find treasure?"
Quaintly, but to the misfortune of Alexandria's rich, there was a convention being held in the town square. A horde of Nobles were collecting, trading, and examining antiques. Koh strode up to the group, making polite conversation as was expected, and listening to the auctioneer rattle off about various items.
"And here we have a few lovely little items.... All together in a set!" Koh's attention perked up; a whole set of treasure might make me a better thief than Dad! The auctioneer displayed four small round mirrors, each of a different color. Their craftmanship caught the prince's eyes, and he made up his mind. That's what he'd bring back for Tantalus!
"Ruby? Rubyyyy!!"
"Hold your horses, darlin', I ain't short of hearin'!"
"Hey, how's business?"
"Aw, now ain't you sweet? Comin' over to check on lil' ol' me!"
"Uh, yeah..... Anyways, we got stuck babysitting the prince and.... we were wondering if you could....... maybe help us find him?"
"You lost that poor chillun? I bet he's scared to death!"
"And you coming after him's gonna make him so much calmer......" Marcus mumbled.
"Huh? You say something sugar?" Ruby had a look on her face that told Marcus he'd better not be messing with her.
"N-no! Nothing! Let's go!"
"The mirrors had been safely swiped and were just barely jingling in his pockets. Glowing with excitement and pride, he skipped his merry little way for Ruby's theater, where he'd wait until his uncles gave up on looking for him. Behind him, in the city square, all chaos had broken loose as the bidders found the main attraction stolen- surely by some vagabond.....
Kuja stood astride Radali, glancing over Alexandria with a tilted chin. This was going to be such fun. Slowly, Radali made his descent and landed in the shadows of a tall parapet. No one had noticed. All the little people were busying themselves with material possessions, not even aware of Death's prescence. Kuja raised his hands and prepared a Thundaga spell.
"Act One begins."
"The pendant!" He had almost forgotten. "Mama'll kill me if I lose it!"
Koh ran back down the alley towards the convention. As he was running, a single silver feather dropped down from above. The little prince looked up.... into the malevolent gaze of a giant dragon.
The Thundaga spell startled the Nobles, but not near enough. Kuja and Radali fluttered down into the midst of chaos. More and more Thundagas flew from his hands, the people gave out short, firghtened cries before their breath sizzled in their lungs. Deciding his game had gone on far too long, Kuja unleashed his Flare Star, finishing off the majority of the meddlesome Nobles. As he was about to turn to the castle, Radali stopped him.
'Master! The boy!'
"What?"
'That child down there... the Prince of Alexandria!'
Kuja smiled to himself. "It seems I have a new playmate."
Koh was frozen in fear as the ice-blue eyes of Death fell upon him.
Dagger's head bobbed slightly in agreement as she and Zidane went over a plan with the protection of Gaia. She was just thinking where Koh might be, worried that he had been left in the hands of his "uncles", when she heard screams below the tower.
"Zidane!"
"Let's go!"
Oh Koh, please be safe! She grabbed the Tiger Racket and the Opal jewel and sprinted off with Zidane. On the way, they ran into Vivi and his eldest son, off down the alleys and side-streets. Everything was a blur of magic and fleeing bodies.
"MAMA!"
Everything in the square suddenly went silent. The Nobles, the newly arrived "heroes", even the souls of those dead stopped in their transgression from one life to the next in cold anticipation.
Kuja smiled at the child. His tender, white neck was in his hand, a Holy spell cocked in the fist of the other. Queen Garnet screamed for her child; Zidane held her under control, trying to rationalize with his brother.
The heat of the spell grew stronger, the little boy's eyes widened and his mouth mouthed a silent plea for help.
"This is for Dali! Zidane, this is for my princess!"
Author's Note: Hee hee hee! Don't ya hate the suspense? Will Kuja kill the child of his greatest enemy? Will Koh's parents be able to rescue him in time? You'll have to find out in the next chapter! Oh and by the way: Keep the reviews flowing! This is really inspiration!
Kuja: *looks down at Wakizashi* .............
Me: ............
It was the promise of a beautiful day. The sky erupted into flames, turning what clouds there were to tones of rose and copper. The dawn marked a new beginning, a page unwritten, for an era that would bring a world through shock and confusion and into the hands of it's new ruler. Kuja looked through what he dared to call a "window" to overlook Esto Gaza again with impaitience. His plan involved taking out that bothersome monastery first. He did need target practice for the return of his higher powers after all.
"Radali?" The silver dragon raised his head in interest, "Shall we go?"
The Angel of Death looked down upon the small building with amusement. Nothing slow.... he thought, I'll make Alexandria suffer enough. Decided, he raised his hand and summoned forth the energies of Ultima. With one last forlorn gaze at the peaceful place, he threw the spell down to the earth. Ultima raced downward, its heat too much to be ignored by the doomed humans below. They foolishly ran outside to watch their own death sentence in wonder and awe as it crashed around them. Esto Gaza was obliterated. Kuja was elated.
"It's time they paid! Alexandria!" He laughed, a dreamy but wicked sound. On Radali's back, he flew away to the city of Alexandria, where he would find those who pushed him to his limits. Those who really took Lila's life. Ironically, he chose to wear the clothes Grammy had made for him on his first day anew; it was only fitting.
The white Genome laughed again, and all who heard it shivered, and wondered what would become of them now.
"So we were going to....."
"Uncle Blank! Uncle Marcus!" A little boy, no older than ten, bounded up to the three Tantalus members. Chocolate colored hair and an equally sable tail were all that was visible to the common passersby. The child skidded to a stop, losing his balance and toplling over at Zidane's feet. Zidane lifted him up and ruffled his hair.
"Da--ad! You're embarassing me!"
"Koh, you're supposed to be-"
"Mama said that you're gonna be in trouble if you don't come home!" Koh placed his hands on his hips and stamped his foot in Dagger-fashion, "Right now!", he claimed in a pathetic attempt to copy his mother's voice. Blank politely coughed and nudged his fellow thief.
"...... Blank, Marcus, could you just.... watch him for a minute?" Zidane ran for the palace as fast as humanly possible, leaving his two friends to ponder on how they were going to keep the little boy busy for half an hour.
"You know, the city streets ain't a place for a young prince."
"I'm not a prince! I'm a world-class thief like my dad!"
Blank and Marcus looked at each other with smirks on their faces, "If you're such a great thief, you oughta be in Tantalus!"
"Tantalus! Like you guys? How do I get in?"
"Well..... You gotta find some treasure!"
"Uh, of course, it has to be worthy of a thief!"
"Cool! I'll do that right now!" Koh ran off, leaving his babysitters in the dust
"Look what you did now, Marcus!"
"Me?! You know I'm not good with kids!"
"Well, who is?" Silence.
"Ruby!"
"This is gonna be the best! Where would Dad go to find treasure?"
Quaintly, but to the misfortune of Alexandria's rich, there was a convention being held in the town square. A horde of Nobles were collecting, trading, and examining antiques. Koh strode up to the group, making polite conversation as was expected, and listening to the auctioneer rattle off about various items.
"And here we have a few lovely little items.... All together in a set!" Koh's attention perked up; a whole set of treasure might make me a better thief than Dad! The auctioneer displayed four small round mirrors, each of a different color. Their craftmanship caught the prince's eyes, and he made up his mind. That's what he'd bring back for Tantalus!
"Ruby? Rubyyyy!!"
"Hold your horses, darlin', I ain't short of hearin'!"
"Hey, how's business?"
"Aw, now ain't you sweet? Comin' over to check on lil' ol' me!"
"Uh, yeah..... Anyways, we got stuck babysitting the prince and.... we were wondering if you could....... maybe help us find him?"
"You lost that poor chillun? I bet he's scared to death!"
"And you coming after him's gonna make him so much calmer......" Marcus mumbled.
"Huh? You say something sugar?" Ruby had a look on her face that told Marcus he'd better not be messing with her.
"N-no! Nothing! Let's go!"
"The mirrors had been safely swiped and were just barely jingling in his pockets. Glowing with excitement and pride, he skipped his merry little way for Ruby's theater, where he'd wait until his uncles gave up on looking for him. Behind him, in the city square, all chaos had broken loose as the bidders found the main attraction stolen- surely by some vagabond.....
Kuja stood astride Radali, glancing over Alexandria with a tilted chin. This was going to be such fun. Slowly, Radali made his descent and landed in the shadows of a tall parapet. No one had noticed. All the little people were busying themselves with material possessions, not even aware of Death's prescence. Kuja raised his hands and prepared a Thundaga spell.
"Act One begins."
"The pendant!" He had almost forgotten. "Mama'll kill me if I lose it!"
Koh ran back down the alley towards the convention. As he was running, a single silver feather dropped down from above. The little prince looked up.... into the malevolent gaze of a giant dragon.
The Thundaga spell startled the Nobles, but not near enough. Kuja and Radali fluttered down into the midst of chaos. More and more Thundagas flew from his hands, the people gave out short, firghtened cries before their breath sizzled in their lungs. Deciding his game had gone on far too long, Kuja unleashed his Flare Star, finishing off the majority of the meddlesome Nobles. As he was about to turn to the castle, Radali stopped him.
'Master! The boy!'
"What?"
'That child down there... the Prince of Alexandria!'
Kuja smiled to himself. "It seems I have a new playmate."
Koh was frozen in fear as the ice-blue eyes of Death fell upon him.
Dagger's head bobbed slightly in agreement as she and Zidane went over a plan with the protection of Gaia. She was just thinking where Koh might be, worried that he had been left in the hands of his "uncles", when she heard screams below the tower.
"Zidane!"
"Let's go!"
Oh Koh, please be safe! She grabbed the Tiger Racket and the Opal jewel and sprinted off with Zidane. On the way, they ran into Vivi and his eldest son, off down the alleys and side-streets. Everything was a blur of magic and fleeing bodies.
"MAMA!"
Everything in the square suddenly went silent. The Nobles, the newly arrived "heroes", even the souls of those dead stopped in their transgression from one life to the next in cold anticipation.
Kuja smiled at the child. His tender, white neck was in his hand, a Holy spell cocked in the fist of the other. Queen Garnet screamed for her child; Zidane held her under control, trying to rationalize with his brother.
The heat of the spell grew stronger, the little boy's eyes widened and his mouth mouthed a silent plea for help.
"This is for Dali! Zidane, this is for my princess!"
Author's Note: Hee hee hee! Don't ya hate the suspense? Will Kuja kill the child of his greatest enemy? Will Koh's parents be able to rescue him in time? You'll have to find out in the next chapter! Oh and by the way: Keep the reviews flowing! This is really inspiration!
Kuja: *looks down at Wakizashi* .............
Me: ............