Ahh. 5th chapter is up! Something important is revealed in this chap.
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy, or anything that's realted to it, is not mine.
********************************************
Oh no! Earth is in trouble!
Chapter 5: *Truth*
Kuja and Sephiroth looked at each other, motioning the other to answer Amelia's question. There was silence for 10 minutes. Both of them were busy thinking what they should say.
"I'm waiting for the answer." Amelia said, tapping her foot impatiently on the floor.
Both Kuja and Sephiroth looked at each other again. Sephiroth had found the best solution - to escape. He checked his weapon to ensure that the stop materia was there, and then casted the spell on the brunette. "Shall we run?" he asked.
Kuja shook his head. "You run if you want, but I won't. Elliana saved my life, so I owe her something. I need to repay her kindness."
Sephiroth didn't know wether he was supposed to laugh or gape in surprise. So, he did neither. "Never thought *you* have that kind of attitude," he said, and at last decided to stare wide-eyedly at Kuja, and then grin.
Kuja looked abashed. Of course he *could* have that kind of atitude. He also has feeling. But he was absolutely sure he's gone soft. He must find a way to cover that, though. "She's my fan," he said, shrugging. "She's been hurt because of me. The least I could do is to stay with her till she is fully recovered."
"Yeah, right," Sephiroth said, ending the topic. Somehow he knew that was not the real reason. "What should we tell Amelia about why we came here?"
Kuja pondered that for a while. A thought finally came to him, and he snapped his fingers in triumph. "Do you remember the Time Compression caused by that Ultimecia from Final Fantasy VIII?"
"The time when everything got mixed up?" Sephiroth said and suddenly began to chuckle. "Of course. You know what? When it happened, I saw this old man with long white hair, his face all wrinkled. In his hand was a long cool- looking sword that looked kinda like my Masamune Blade. There was another old guy in front of him. He had spiky hair. If it weren't for the white hair color and wrinkled face, I'd swear its Strife. He was also holding a sword - it resembled Ultima Weapon. Then, they shouted what it seemed like a battle cry, and began to charge forwards at each other."
The silver-haired guy paused for a while to let out another chuckle. "Then, there was this cracking sound, and they both held their backs, groaning. That's when two grandmas came, each pinching the men's ear, telling them to stop their endless brawl. From what I heard, it's been happening for 50 years!" He shook his head in disbelief. "I'd give a thousand gils to whoever that could tell me who those two old boys are."
"Then you owe me a thousand gil," Kuja said, grinning.
"Huh?"
Kuja's grin grew wider. "The two old men you saw were no other than Cloud Strife and." He paused for a while to see the reaction on the other guy's face, which was a mix of surprise, disbelief, anxiety and curiosity. "YOU! You were looking at yourself in the future."
"Wha." Sephiroth thought of a thousand words to protest, but nothing was able to escape from his mouth. Perhaps it was because he suddenly realised the truth of Kuja's statement. "I don't believe you."
"I don't care wether you believe it or not. A fact is a fact," Kuja said, trying to stop his grin. "Whatever it is, you owe me a thousand gil."
Sephiroth wanted to protest again, and once again, his mouth failed him.
"Just put that aside first," Kuja said. "So, you knew about the Time Compression. It's possible that Amelia also knew about it too, judging from the fact that she and her sister played Final Fantasy. That's how they knew us in the first place."
"So?"
"Just tell the girl that we were here because of the Time Compression. Tell her we're sucked into a 'black dimensional hole' that brought us to this world." Kuja smiled at his brilliance. That was a *really* great plan he had thought.
"You might be right." Sephiroth said thoughtfully.
"Right about what?" It was Amelia. It seemed that the stop spell had worn off.
Sephiroth looked a little shock by her sudden recovery, but he smoothly covered it with a lie. "Kuja's right. We need to tell you the truth about how we ended up in your world."
Amelia arched an eyebrow. For a moment, she looked suspicious. Those guys were definitely hiding something from her."How?"
"The Time Compression," Sephiroth said matter-of-factly. "When it happened, both of us were sucked into a 'black dimensional hole' that brought us to this world."
"Wow. I didn't know the Compression affected the whole worlds!" Amelia exclaimed in surprise. Then she suddenly sighed. "I wish it brought *me* into your world rather than you into my world."
"I guess you're not lucky." Sephiroth shrugged.
"Yeah." Amelia sighed and sat on a chair nearby. A lot had happened that day. As long as she could remember, it was the first time Elliana had ever been injured that badly, but Kuja and Sephiroth's appearance at her house was the greatest event in her life. Their explanation earlier sounded somehow not right. There's no doubt they're lying, and she could've sworn they had stopped her using their spell. But, if they didn't want to tell her the truth, she's not gonna pry it out.
"Where would you two be staying?" she asked.
Sephiroth and Kuja looked at each other. "Dunno." Kuja replied, shrugging. "I think we'd manage to find a cave of some kind."
"The only cave I know around here is already used as a religious place."
"We'll find an inn, then." Sephiroth said.
"And pay the fee with your Gil?" Amelia said. "We use Ringgit here. The innkeeper might've never even heard of Gil before, unless they play Final Fantasy, of course. Why don't you stay for a while at my house? In case you haven't noticed, I have plenty of unoccupied rooms."
"Why, how very kind of you to invite us," Kuja said sarcastically. "We'll accept your offer."
"That's what he's been hoping all along." Sephiroth murmured, and Amelia laughed.
********************
"Who do you live with?" Sephiroth asked as Amelia parked her car at the pavement of her house. "Apart of you sister, I meant. I don't remember ever seeing anyone else."
"I live with my sister. As for the servants, I think they must've gone hiding somewhere. That's what I told them to do in case those people attack my house." Amelia said.
"You mean that wasn't the first time?" Kuja asked.
"The ninth, actually."
"What do they want? Money?" Sephiroth asked her.
Amelia didn't answer. "Let's get into the house. I'll show you your rooms." She got out of the car and walked straight to her house without looking back.
"She's hiding something," Kuja observed thoughtfully.
"So do we. If she doesn't want to tell us, let's not bother her," Sephiroth said.
"Whatever you say."
When they got into the house, Amelia was talking to an old woman with a motherly face. The scoundrels they had defeated earlier were already gone, and the house was perfectly tidy. It seemed like nothing bad had happened there. Kuja wondered whether the sliding door that Sephiroth broke was already replaced.
As they approached the two women, a maid came towards them. "How can I help you, good sirs?" she asked politely.
"Nothing." Kuja told her. The maid nodded and went on with the task she had been doing earlier. Apart from her, there was another few tidying up the living room.
As soon as Amelia finished talking to the old woman, she turned to face Kuja and Sephiroth. "Those scoundrels are already arrested. The police came just after we left."
"Did anybody die?" Kuja asked. "I'm not sure if I accidentally killed any of them."
"Most of them were badly injured, but they survived."
"'Ch. I should've hit them harder," Kuja said grudgingly. "What about the guy who shot Elliana?"
"He's not dead yet, if that's what you want to know," the old woman said. "Oh, sorry for interrupting your conversation. I'm Mrs. Anna. Nice to meet you, young lads."
'Young lads?' Kuja thought. No one had ever called him by those words before. "It's a pity he's not dead yet. One of my fans would be really glad to go to his funeral." Kuja said. "Is he going to get a more severe punishment that the rest of his friend?"
"I'm not sure."
"Then I'd better take care of that myself. Do you happen to have the address of his jail? I'd like to pay him a little visit. He should get paid for what he had done."
"Ease your anger, young man. Nothing good would come from it." Mrs. Anna smiled warmly at Kuja. "And I'm sorry, I don't have the address."
"Nevermind, then."
"Shall we go to your rooms now? Mrs. Anna had prepared several rooms you could choose from," Amelia said. "Let's get upstairs. See you later, ma." She kissed Mrs Anna's cheek and went to the stairs.
"She's your mother?" Sephiroth asked.
"No, she's the head servant here. She raised me and my sister since we were little. That's why we call her ma."
When they got upstairs, Amelia showed them the rooms they could choose. Kuja chose the room which he and Sephiroth had broken into earlier that day, and Sephiroth chose the one next to it.
As they waited for Elliana's recovery, Sephiroth, Kuja and Amelia grew closer to each other. Although they had only met for a few days, it seemed like they've known each other for years. Kuja and Sephiroth had forgotten their plan of world domination, and instead, thought of staying there forever.
****************
Meanwhile, in a nameless place, two cloudy lights shrouded together, one was emitting a soft blue light, while the other pulsated with an iridescent light.
"Everything went as what had been destined. We've succeeded in our task." A soft, melodious voice said. The sound was coming from the blue light.
"Yes," another voice said. The sound was a chorus of various different voices, which was emitted from the iridescent light. "But only for now."
*****************
Elliana felt herself floating. Strangely, she couldn't feel any kind of liquid around her, not even the slightest breeze. It seemed like she was floating in nothingness. Soft murmurs from thousands of voices filled her ears. Instead of being annoyed, she found herself filled with calmness. She opened her eyes to see what lied around her, but only found endless darkness. She knew she was dreaming.
After what it seemed like eternity, the murmur stopped. She opened her eyes and looked around her. The sun was shining so brightly that she had to squint a few times to get adjusted to the light. She was standing in a street of a small village. Around her, the villagers were chattering happily, while the children were playing some elaborate games of theirs, running and laughing at each other. Deep down in her heart, she knew she had heard those laughters before, had witnessed the scene around her, and had lived in the peaceful village. Not only in dream, but also in real flesh. Seeing the cheerfulness of the village, she suddenly felt a smile formed subconsciously on her lips, and the next thing she knew, she was laughing along with the kids.
Then, a little girl who resembled her came running to her. The girl smiled, and motioned her to come with her to play whatever she had been playing. Elliana returned her smile, and let her hand being led away by the little girl. For the first time in her life, she felt the kind of peace and happiness she had never felt before.
All of a sudden, dark clouds began to move rapidly towards the village and covered the once brightly burning sun. Everything turned gloomy. Wild winds came from the clouds and blew the village apart. People screamed and ran in every direction to escape the chaos that had befallen the village. Elliana looked up at the dark clouds that hung threateningly on the village. She cursed them for ruining her moment of happiness. As if responding to her curse, the clouds began to pulsate, and finally revealed a huge, devillish- looking eye. It stared down at her in pure hatred, consuming her soul, slowly sinking her into a world of drakness, deeper and deeper.
Her eyes jerked open and she quickly sat up, her heart pounding loudly.
"You okay?"
"Huh?" Elliana turned to the direction of the voice, and saw Kuja looking at her - somewhat intently. "I-I'm just fine. I had a dream, that's all." She looked around her, and then at the bandage on her stomach. "It seems that I'm stuck in a hospital."
"Naturally." He said and took a newspaper, holding it in front of his face so that she couldn't see the relieved expression on his face. He had been sitting by her bed for approximately 5 hours that day, waiting patiently for her to return to consciousness.
"How long have I been stuck here?"
"Three days."
Elliana sighed. Being stuck in a hospital was among the things she hated most. "I hate the food here. Were you the one who sent me to this place?"
"Me, Sephy and your sister."
"So, you've seen Amelia," she looked over Kuja's shoulder, but there was no one else in sight. "Where are the others?"
"Finding something to fill their bellies."
"How 'bout you?"
"I'm not hungry," he replied, still holding his newspapers in front of his face. This time, he was trying to hide his wince when his stomach growled.
"I don't know that *Kuja* had such a high interest on newspapers."
Kuja didn't answer.
"Hey, why don't we go over to the cafeteria and seek them out?" Elliana said, rubbing her stomach, which had just growled recently. She winced. "My stomach is quite empty, too."
"No way," Kuja said with a tone that usually used by parents to scold a naughty kid. "You're staying here. Doc said, if you move too much, your wound would reopen. And that will lengthen the amount of time you have to spend here."
Elliana sulked at his words. "Since when did *Kuja* become so protective?"
"Since a little girl got shot because she tried to save him."
Elliana stared at Kuja in disbelief, not trusting her ears. She was wondering whether it was her eyes or ears that got problem. Perhaps the person sitting before her was not Kuja. "Wow. Never thought *that* could be coming from you. You must have changed a lot, or maybe there's something wrong with your brain?"
Kuja didn't bother to answer, or got angry. She might be right, there must be something wrong with his brain. By the way, behind the newspapers, he was busy cursing himself for slipping those words.
"I've got an idea!" Elliana said suddenly, snapping her fingers. "Why don't you cast your cure spell on me? That way, I'd be outta this place in no time!"
Kuja put away his newspapers, finally. "I won't."
"Why? You owe me something 'coz I had saved your ass."
"It would make the doctors suspicious," he paused for a while to let Elliana understand his point. "Need me to explain?"
She shook her head. And sighed. Of course he can't use magic on her. The doctors would *surely* 'smell something fishy' if an almost-dead girl suddenly walked out of the bed, fully recovered in just a few minutes.
"Whatever it is, you still owe me for saving your life," Elliana said.
Kuja wanted to say that he actually owed her nothing as he had also saved her life, but decided not to. He didn't know why, it's just his instinct. "What'd you want me to do?"
"Hmm." she considered for a while, but came out with nothing. "I'll tell you later."
"Fine." Kuja shrugged. There was a long silence before he broke it with a question, "What did you dream about just now? At first, you were smiling, then, there was a look of horror on your face. After that, you were cursing. Something about a damn eye."
Elliana's face became serious as she retraced back her dream. It wasn't the first time she had had that kind of dream. It had started since her 16th birthday, which was three months ago. However, it wasn't so clear before, and she never came to the 'big eye' part yet. She struggled to find the right words to describe the dream, but she couldn't find any. For some reason, something inside her was preventing her to tell anyone about it, especially Kuja.
All she could say was, "I don't know."
"Nevermind. Just be sure to tell me when you know."
Elliana nodded. "Alright. But pease, tell me how did you get to this world? And why?"
"Ask your sister. She knows the *truth*." Kuja said, wearing his infamous lopsided smile.
Quite long, isn't it? I've got some spare time 'coz it's school holiday!! Woohoo!! But I've got tonnes of homeworks.. *sigh*
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy, or anything that's realted to it, is not mine.
********************************************
Oh no! Earth is in trouble!
Chapter 5: *Truth*
Kuja and Sephiroth looked at each other, motioning the other to answer Amelia's question. There was silence for 10 minutes. Both of them were busy thinking what they should say.
"I'm waiting for the answer." Amelia said, tapping her foot impatiently on the floor.
Both Kuja and Sephiroth looked at each other again. Sephiroth had found the best solution - to escape. He checked his weapon to ensure that the stop materia was there, and then casted the spell on the brunette. "Shall we run?" he asked.
Kuja shook his head. "You run if you want, but I won't. Elliana saved my life, so I owe her something. I need to repay her kindness."
Sephiroth didn't know wether he was supposed to laugh or gape in surprise. So, he did neither. "Never thought *you* have that kind of attitude," he said, and at last decided to stare wide-eyedly at Kuja, and then grin.
Kuja looked abashed. Of course he *could* have that kind of atitude. He also has feeling. But he was absolutely sure he's gone soft. He must find a way to cover that, though. "She's my fan," he said, shrugging. "She's been hurt because of me. The least I could do is to stay with her till she is fully recovered."
"Yeah, right," Sephiroth said, ending the topic. Somehow he knew that was not the real reason. "What should we tell Amelia about why we came here?"
Kuja pondered that for a while. A thought finally came to him, and he snapped his fingers in triumph. "Do you remember the Time Compression caused by that Ultimecia from Final Fantasy VIII?"
"The time when everything got mixed up?" Sephiroth said and suddenly began to chuckle. "Of course. You know what? When it happened, I saw this old man with long white hair, his face all wrinkled. In his hand was a long cool- looking sword that looked kinda like my Masamune Blade. There was another old guy in front of him. He had spiky hair. If it weren't for the white hair color and wrinkled face, I'd swear its Strife. He was also holding a sword - it resembled Ultima Weapon. Then, they shouted what it seemed like a battle cry, and began to charge forwards at each other."
The silver-haired guy paused for a while to let out another chuckle. "Then, there was this cracking sound, and they both held their backs, groaning. That's when two grandmas came, each pinching the men's ear, telling them to stop their endless brawl. From what I heard, it's been happening for 50 years!" He shook his head in disbelief. "I'd give a thousand gils to whoever that could tell me who those two old boys are."
"Then you owe me a thousand gil," Kuja said, grinning.
"Huh?"
Kuja's grin grew wider. "The two old men you saw were no other than Cloud Strife and." He paused for a while to see the reaction on the other guy's face, which was a mix of surprise, disbelief, anxiety and curiosity. "YOU! You were looking at yourself in the future."
"Wha." Sephiroth thought of a thousand words to protest, but nothing was able to escape from his mouth. Perhaps it was because he suddenly realised the truth of Kuja's statement. "I don't believe you."
"I don't care wether you believe it or not. A fact is a fact," Kuja said, trying to stop his grin. "Whatever it is, you owe me a thousand gil."
Sephiroth wanted to protest again, and once again, his mouth failed him.
"Just put that aside first," Kuja said. "So, you knew about the Time Compression. It's possible that Amelia also knew about it too, judging from the fact that she and her sister played Final Fantasy. That's how they knew us in the first place."
"So?"
"Just tell the girl that we were here because of the Time Compression. Tell her we're sucked into a 'black dimensional hole' that brought us to this world." Kuja smiled at his brilliance. That was a *really* great plan he had thought.
"You might be right." Sephiroth said thoughtfully.
"Right about what?" It was Amelia. It seemed that the stop spell had worn off.
Sephiroth looked a little shock by her sudden recovery, but he smoothly covered it with a lie. "Kuja's right. We need to tell you the truth about how we ended up in your world."
Amelia arched an eyebrow. For a moment, she looked suspicious. Those guys were definitely hiding something from her."How?"
"The Time Compression," Sephiroth said matter-of-factly. "When it happened, both of us were sucked into a 'black dimensional hole' that brought us to this world."
"Wow. I didn't know the Compression affected the whole worlds!" Amelia exclaimed in surprise. Then she suddenly sighed. "I wish it brought *me* into your world rather than you into my world."
"I guess you're not lucky." Sephiroth shrugged.
"Yeah." Amelia sighed and sat on a chair nearby. A lot had happened that day. As long as she could remember, it was the first time Elliana had ever been injured that badly, but Kuja and Sephiroth's appearance at her house was the greatest event in her life. Their explanation earlier sounded somehow not right. There's no doubt they're lying, and she could've sworn they had stopped her using their spell. But, if they didn't want to tell her the truth, she's not gonna pry it out.
"Where would you two be staying?" she asked.
Sephiroth and Kuja looked at each other. "Dunno." Kuja replied, shrugging. "I think we'd manage to find a cave of some kind."
"The only cave I know around here is already used as a religious place."
"We'll find an inn, then." Sephiroth said.
"And pay the fee with your Gil?" Amelia said. "We use Ringgit here. The innkeeper might've never even heard of Gil before, unless they play Final Fantasy, of course. Why don't you stay for a while at my house? In case you haven't noticed, I have plenty of unoccupied rooms."
"Why, how very kind of you to invite us," Kuja said sarcastically. "We'll accept your offer."
"That's what he's been hoping all along." Sephiroth murmured, and Amelia laughed.
********************
"Who do you live with?" Sephiroth asked as Amelia parked her car at the pavement of her house. "Apart of you sister, I meant. I don't remember ever seeing anyone else."
"I live with my sister. As for the servants, I think they must've gone hiding somewhere. That's what I told them to do in case those people attack my house." Amelia said.
"You mean that wasn't the first time?" Kuja asked.
"The ninth, actually."
"What do they want? Money?" Sephiroth asked her.
Amelia didn't answer. "Let's get into the house. I'll show you your rooms." She got out of the car and walked straight to her house without looking back.
"She's hiding something," Kuja observed thoughtfully.
"So do we. If she doesn't want to tell us, let's not bother her," Sephiroth said.
"Whatever you say."
When they got into the house, Amelia was talking to an old woman with a motherly face. The scoundrels they had defeated earlier were already gone, and the house was perfectly tidy. It seemed like nothing bad had happened there. Kuja wondered whether the sliding door that Sephiroth broke was already replaced.
As they approached the two women, a maid came towards them. "How can I help you, good sirs?" she asked politely.
"Nothing." Kuja told her. The maid nodded and went on with the task she had been doing earlier. Apart from her, there was another few tidying up the living room.
As soon as Amelia finished talking to the old woman, she turned to face Kuja and Sephiroth. "Those scoundrels are already arrested. The police came just after we left."
"Did anybody die?" Kuja asked. "I'm not sure if I accidentally killed any of them."
"Most of them were badly injured, but they survived."
"'Ch. I should've hit them harder," Kuja said grudgingly. "What about the guy who shot Elliana?"
"He's not dead yet, if that's what you want to know," the old woman said. "Oh, sorry for interrupting your conversation. I'm Mrs. Anna. Nice to meet you, young lads."
'Young lads?' Kuja thought. No one had ever called him by those words before. "It's a pity he's not dead yet. One of my fans would be really glad to go to his funeral." Kuja said. "Is he going to get a more severe punishment that the rest of his friend?"
"I'm not sure."
"Then I'd better take care of that myself. Do you happen to have the address of his jail? I'd like to pay him a little visit. He should get paid for what he had done."
"Ease your anger, young man. Nothing good would come from it." Mrs. Anna smiled warmly at Kuja. "And I'm sorry, I don't have the address."
"Nevermind, then."
"Shall we go to your rooms now? Mrs. Anna had prepared several rooms you could choose from," Amelia said. "Let's get upstairs. See you later, ma." She kissed Mrs Anna's cheek and went to the stairs.
"She's your mother?" Sephiroth asked.
"No, she's the head servant here. She raised me and my sister since we were little. That's why we call her ma."
When they got upstairs, Amelia showed them the rooms they could choose. Kuja chose the room which he and Sephiroth had broken into earlier that day, and Sephiroth chose the one next to it.
As they waited for Elliana's recovery, Sephiroth, Kuja and Amelia grew closer to each other. Although they had only met for a few days, it seemed like they've known each other for years. Kuja and Sephiroth had forgotten their plan of world domination, and instead, thought of staying there forever.
****************
Meanwhile, in a nameless place, two cloudy lights shrouded together, one was emitting a soft blue light, while the other pulsated with an iridescent light.
"Everything went as what had been destined. We've succeeded in our task." A soft, melodious voice said. The sound was coming from the blue light.
"Yes," another voice said. The sound was a chorus of various different voices, which was emitted from the iridescent light. "But only for now."
*****************
Elliana felt herself floating. Strangely, she couldn't feel any kind of liquid around her, not even the slightest breeze. It seemed like she was floating in nothingness. Soft murmurs from thousands of voices filled her ears. Instead of being annoyed, she found herself filled with calmness. She opened her eyes to see what lied around her, but only found endless darkness. She knew she was dreaming.
After what it seemed like eternity, the murmur stopped. She opened her eyes and looked around her. The sun was shining so brightly that she had to squint a few times to get adjusted to the light. She was standing in a street of a small village. Around her, the villagers were chattering happily, while the children were playing some elaborate games of theirs, running and laughing at each other. Deep down in her heart, she knew she had heard those laughters before, had witnessed the scene around her, and had lived in the peaceful village. Not only in dream, but also in real flesh. Seeing the cheerfulness of the village, she suddenly felt a smile formed subconsciously on her lips, and the next thing she knew, she was laughing along with the kids.
Then, a little girl who resembled her came running to her. The girl smiled, and motioned her to come with her to play whatever she had been playing. Elliana returned her smile, and let her hand being led away by the little girl. For the first time in her life, she felt the kind of peace and happiness she had never felt before.
All of a sudden, dark clouds began to move rapidly towards the village and covered the once brightly burning sun. Everything turned gloomy. Wild winds came from the clouds and blew the village apart. People screamed and ran in every direction to escape the chaos that had befallen the village. Elliana looked up at the dark clouds that hung threateningly on the village. She cursed them for ruining her moment of happiness. As if responding to her curse, the clouds began to pulsate, and finally revealed a huge, devillish- looking eye. It stared down at her in pure hatred, consuming her soul, slowly sinking her into a world of drakness, deeper and deeper.
Her eyes jerked open and she quickly sat up, her heart pounding loudly.
"You okay?"
"Huh?" Elliana turned to the direction of the voice, and saw Kuja looking at her - somewhat intently. "I-I'm just fine. I had a dream, that's all." She looked around her, and then at the bandage on her stomach. "It seems that I'm stuck in a hospital."
"Naturally." He said and took a newspaper, holding it in front of his face so that she couldn't see the relieved expression on his face. He had been sitting by her bed for approximately 5 hours that day, waiting patiently for her to return to consciousness.
"How long have I been stuck here?"
"Three days."
Elliana sighed. Being stuck in a hospital was among the things she hated most. "I hate the food here. Were you the one who sent me to this place?"
"Me, Sephy and your sister."
"So, you've seen Amelia," she looked over Kuja's shoulder, but there was no one else in sight. "Where are the others?"
"Finding something to fill their bellies."
"How 'bout you?"
"I'm not hungry," he replied, still holding his newspapers in front of his face. This time, he was trying to hide his wince when his stomach growled.
"I don't know that *Kuja* had such a high interest on newspapers."
Kuja didn't answer.
"Hey, why don't we go over to the cafeteria and seek them out?" Elliana said, rubbing her stomach, which had just growled recently. She winced. "My stomach is quite empty, too."
"No way," Kuja said with a tone that usually used by parents to scold a naughty kid. "You're staying here. Doc said, if you move too much, your wound would reopen. And that will lengthen the amount of time you have to spend here."
Elliana sulked at his words. "Since when did *Kuja* become so protective?"
"Since a little girl got shot because she tried to save him."
Elliana stared at Kuja in disbelief, not trusting her ears. She was wondering whether it was her eyes or ears that got problem. Perhaps the person sitting before her was not Kuja. "Wow. Never thought *that* could be coming from you. You must have changed a lot, or maybe there's something wrong with your brain?"
Kuja didn't bother to answer, or got angry. She might be right, there must be something wrong with his brain. By the way, behind the newspapers, he was busy cursing himself for slipping those words.
"I've got an idea!" Elliana said suddenly, snapping her fingers. "Why don't you cast your cure spell on me? That way, I'd be outta this place in no time!"
Kuja put away his newspapers, finally. "I won't."
"Why? You owe me something 'coz I had saved your ass."
"It would make the doctors suspicious," he paused for a while to let Elliana understand his point. "Need me to explain?"
She shook her head. And sighed. Of course he can't use magic on her. The doctors would *surely* 'smell something fishy' if an almost-dead girl suddenly walked out of the bed, fully recovered in just a few minutes.
"Whatever it is, you still owe me for saving your life," Elliana said.
Kuja wanted to say that he actually owed her nothing as he had also saved her life, but decided not to. He didn't know why, it's just his instinct. "What'd you want me to do?"
"Hmm." she considered for a while, but came out with nothing. "I'll tell you later."
"Fine." Kuja shrugged. There was a long silence before he broke it with a question, "What did you dream about just now? At first, you were smiling, then, there was a look of horror on your face. After that, you were cursing. Something about a damn eye."
Elliana's face became serious as she retraced back her dream. It wasn't the first time she had had that kind of dream. It had started since her 16th birthday, which was three months ago. However, it wasn't so clear before, and she never came to the 'big eye' part yet. She struggled to find the right words to describe the dream, but she couldn't find any. For some reason, something inside her was preventing her to tell anyone about it, especially Kuja.
All she could say was, "I don't know."
"Nevermind. Just be sure to tell me when you know."
Elliana nodded. "Alright. But pease, tell me how did you get to this world? And why?"
"Ask your sister. She knows the *truth*." Kuja said, wearing his infamous lopsided smile.
Quite long, isn't it? I've got some spare time 'coz it's school holiday!! Woohoo!! But I've got tonnes of homeworks.. *sigh*