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Chapter Eight

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Kuja looked down at the victims of Eiko's Eidolon hit. They were all unconscious and he smiled to himself. But he looked closer and there was still one who stood! It was his sister, Mikoto.

'What?' He thought to himself, 'How come she's still alive?'

Mikoto kept on walking towards him, not caring about the past, not caring about the present, and certainly not caring about the future.

And then she just stopped. "Kuja!" She called out for him, "If you were really a man, come down and face me!"

Kuja let out a bitter laugh, "Is that supposed to sound like a threat?" He asked her.

Mikoto still glared at him, "I'm waiting!"

Kuja rolled his eyes, turned to the little girl under his spell, and murmured a spell. Soon after that, the girl snapped out of it and sunk into a deep slumber. After that, Kuja turned back to Mikoto's direction, took a few steps foreword until he was on the edge, and jumped landing gracefully on his feet. He smiled at her. She just rolled her eyes.

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Mikoto rolled her eyes as her brother smiled at her; Kuja had always been like this, trying to look as if he were stronger, more powerful, and better than anyone else.

 "What do you want?"

His tone wasn't as nice and charming as his smile, and suddenly, Mikoto felt weak.

She had no idea what to say, what to do, or how to act. She gathered all her courage and finally answered…

"Kuja, you have to stop this! What happened to you Kuja? You weren't like this…you changed, remember? You saved Zidane, Garnet, and the others…What happened to you?!"

She yelled the last part so loud that it echoed through the city. Kuja stared at her with emotionless eyes. He only stared, and it made Mikoto feel uneasy.

She felt a bit dizzy and her mind and body weren't obeying her much, it didn't take a genius to recognize what Kuja wanted…

'He's hypnotizing me!' Mikoto thought. She quickly diverted her eyes from him and looked away.

"What is wrong Mikoto? Don't you like staring at me?"

"I prefer to stare at a wall."

Kuja laughed bitterly at her. "Ignorant fool! You shall pay!"

He raised his arm muttering an Ultima spell. By this time, Mikoto stared at him again, but this time, she stared at him in shock.

'Oh dear! Zidane, Cloud, where the heck are you?'

"MIKOTO!!"

"Zidane?"

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Zidane ran through the streets of Burmecia desperately searching for his friends, Cloud was a few feet behind, but the others were way behind.

"MIKOTO!" Zidane yelled again.

"Slow…down…Zidane! You'll…kill…us…all…!" Cloud called out from behind him.

"I don't CARE!" Zidane yelled.

He stopped suddenly at the sight of a dragon in front of him and Cloud crashed into him. "What's wrong?"

Before Zidane could say anything, Vincent, RedXIII, Cait Sith, Beatrix, Steiner, and finally Cid came crashing into them and they all fell on the wet muddy ground.

"Ow! Get off me!" "Don't step on my tail!" "My cigarette! Where's my @$#% cigarette?" "Who's lying on me?" "Oops, sorry." "Get off me you ignorant old man!" "Hey! Who're you callin' old!?" "Uhh…Zidane?" "MIKOTO!" Those were some of the things said by the companions.

"Zidane! Where IS Mikoto?" Asked Cloud.


Zidane fought to break his left arm free and pointed at a direction, "There!" He answered.

Cloud followed the pointed finger, and what he saw was a very unpleasant sight. Tifa, Garnet, Yuffie, Barret, and some kind of rat-human were all lying on the ground not moving. And a few feet ahead of them stood Mikoto facing the man in his dream…

'Kuja?'

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Garnet groaned in pain as her eyes opened, she sat up and looked around. Everyone was lying beside her not moving but one, Mikoto. As she averted his eyes from them, she saw Zidane and some other people all on top of each other and smiled, but when she looked at the other direction, she saw Mikoto and Kuja, Kuja was muttering an Ultima spell.

"NO! Mikoto!" Garnet yelled. She reached for her rod and quickly got to her feet. "Shell!" She yelled. An orange aura engulfed the female genome and then Ultima struck. Mikoto fell back obviously injured badly.

"MIKOTO!" Zidane came running into the picture followed by Cloud. The others came to the aid of the others.

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"Mikoto! Oh no, Mikoto, speak to me! Speak to me Mikoto, please!" Zidane was crying as he held his sister close to him.

Cloud looked at the other genome with sympathy and put his hand on his shoulder. He knew how it was to lose someone dear to you, he had experienced this three times, once was just an all most.

"Zidane…" Cloud whispered softly, "You could still save her."

Zidane turned to Cloud with eyes full of tears, "How!?" He yelled, "How?! Tell me!"

Cloud didn't know how, he didn't know anyone who had survived an Ultima hit even if that person was protected by Shell. But still, Mikoto could be saved. He reached for his Cure Materia slot and took it out, he held it in front of him and murmured a spell, and then he shouted. "Cure 3!"

A green aura engulfed Mikoto, but it had another effect. The cure spell was hurting her instead of healing her!

Zidane and Cloud both turned their eyes towards Kuja. "You used two spells in one!" Cloud shouted. "But…how?"

Kuja held out two green Materia, an Ultima and a Zombie. Cloud stared in shock.

"You have Materia! But…how did you get them?"

Kuja laughed at Cloud's words and pointed behind him, Cloud and Zidane both followed his pointed finger. "Did you know Cloud, that your little girl over there was such a help in her stay with me. Her Materia came in handy, especially after I learned how to use them."

Tifa, who awoken from her sleep, gasped.

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Upon hearing those words, Tifa quickly opened the slots in her fists to find that there were no Materia. "No…" She whispered to himself and then stared at Kuja. "No! You bastard! How could you do this!?" She got up and ran to the side of Cloud and Zidane.

"Zidane," Cloud said as he drew his sword, "Get in the back with Mikoto."

"What? No! I want to stay!" Zidane shot back.

Cloud glared at him, and that alone made Zidane change his mind. He gathered Mikoto in his arms and ran to the back. Soon after that, Vincent and Beatrix were by Cloud and Tifa's side.

Kuja laughed bitterly at the four.

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Kuja laughed bitterly at the four.


"What pity!" He said, "All you against me? Am I so strong that no one could defeat me?"

"Let Eiko go!" Tifa demanded.

Kuja laughed again, "And let an important slave go by so quickly? Hah! I think not!"

He circled around the four until he stopped beside Vincent. "Hmm, interesting thing you have there." He said pointing to his clawed arm. Vincent glared at him.

Kuja continued to circle and stopped by Cloud, "And you, with that sparkle in your eyes. What is it?"

"Mako." Cloud stated simply.

"Ahh…" Kuja acknowledged and continued until he stopped by Tifa. "And you…" His gaze hardened at her, "You and that rat-thing defeated me, that won't happen again. I assure you."

"Hah! You WISH!" Tifa shot back.

He glared at her and continued until he stopped by Beatrix. "Ah, General, don't you remember me?"

"I remember no evil."

"Honor…" Kuja murmured. "That is the one thing that keeps you alive, isn't it?" He asked. The four party members nodded and Kuja's gaze hardened again. "Then let your honor go down the drain. Ultim-!"

He was suddenly hit by a flute. "Oh no you don't!"

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Author's Note:

Whee! Another chapter! I like this chapter! We're close to the end…yes…Review nice ppl^_~

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END

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