Disclaimer: I do not own FFIX. End of sentence. PERIOD!

Never Again: Chapter 3

The storm was starting to pick up. It was raining heavily, and the two boys were huddling together in the middle of the grassy field to try to survive the rising winds. Worst of all, fire was coming down from the sky onto a nearby village. Kuja could feel Zidane shivering in his arms. Then he realized that Zidane wasn't the only one shaking, but he couldn't tell whether they were cold or scared.

"Kuja, what's going on?" Zidane tried to yell. It sounded more like a whimper. "Why does it rain fire in Gaia?"

"That's not the weather, Zidane. I think Garland's found us," Kuja answered into his ear. He wasn't sure if Zidane could hear him or not.

"Does he think we're in that village? Is he trying to kill us?" Zidane whimpered again. He was shaking more violently now. Or was it Kuja who was shaking?

"Don't look so shocked, Zidane," Kuja thought to himself. "Garland would kill us both in a heartbeat if he wanted to, and it wouldn't surprise me if he did want to kill us. We did run away with his prized silver dragon, after all."

They stood there and watched. The light from the fires was reflecting off his glassy blue eyes, and its eerie glow flooded over his face. He wanted to do something, but there was nothing he could do. There was no that he could take on Garland and survive, let alone win. He learned that earlier that night when he tried to escape the first time. Luckily for him, the scene wasn't bothering him much anymore. Kuja could no longer hear the muffled screams and cries of the nearby town. Nor could he hear the deafening thunder, the blowing wind, or the crashing waves up against the shore. They were all being drowned out by the sound of his heart pounding in his ears.

The next sight was even more horrific than the fires falling from the sky and destroying the town. The eye of the Invincible had turned into an actual eye instead of glowing red circle at the bottom of the ship. The sinister eye was looking down on the town, and there were unusual glowing energies swirling up to it. He could see the people desperately trying to escape. The poor souls on the rickety wooden boats would be blown away in this storm, and the people escaping by foot would have a hard time finding a road to take that wasn't on fire. They were just as confused about this tragedy as he was, if not more.

"What's going on? What's Garland doing? What happened to the Invincible? What are those things floating up to it?" Again, Zidane was asking a million questioned a minute, but Kuja found himself asking the very same questions.

"I'm sorry, Zidane, but I don't know the answers to any of those questions," Kuja answered.

The energies forming from the village continued up toward the ship. "Are we really what he's after?" Kuja asked himself after watching for a few minutes-possibly the longest minutes of his life. "He never did land like we thought he was going to."

The energies finally stopped flowing. The giant eye of the Invincible slowly closed and disappeared. It turned back into the creepy red glowing circle that Kuja had always recognized as the Invincible. The fires were starting to die down, and the cries were no more. He could no longer see the boats in the ocean. Either they had gotten away successfully, or they all had perished in the storm. "Were there any survivors?" Kuja thought to himself. "What have you done, Garland?"

The Invincible was departing. They could no longer see it. Kuja sat back down on the ground, took a deep breath, and attempted to contemplate what just happened. Zidane looked at him and quickly sat down next to him. He noticed that Zidane was still shivering, but not as badly as before.

"Is it over? Is that what Garland came to Gaia for? He doesn't even know we left. We'll be safe, right?" Zidane asked softly.

"...I guess so...I sure hope so," Kuja said out loud to himself. He wasn't sure he believed that, but denial could be a good healer.

He lay back, grateful for the break he was getting. The experience hadn't harmed him physically, but he was being eaten alive mentally. He wanted more than anything to sleep, but he couldn't. Instead, he rested his eyes for a minute, and for only a minute. Zidane was shaking him at the end of that minute. "Kuja, look! The dragon's coming back. We can leave."

Kuja forced himself up and scanned the skies for the dragon. He found it, but something was different about it. He strained his eyes harder to see the dark figure upon it that he could barely see before. "Don't be so sure we can leave, Zidane. I think Garland's on our dragon."

Kuja could feel the wind sweeping across his face as the dragon touched down on the ground. He watched as Garland climbed down from its back and calmly walked toward them. Kuja wanted to run but his feet felt like they were being weighed down by cement blocks. He saw Zidane scurry behind him. "Is he expecting me to get us out of this? He has too much faith in me," Kuja said to himself.

"Did you like the show?" Garland's voice sent a chill down Kuja's spine. "You should. This is what you are being trained to do. This what you were created to do." Kuja's eyes narrowed as he gave Garland a death stare.

"What are you talking about?" Kuja croaked softly.

"You're my Angel of Death, Kuja. Zidane is too, but you've corrupted him. Now you're trying to take him away from me."

"Angel of Death?" The words didn't seem to flow right to him. "You killed all those people. Why?"

"It had to be done. If you come back home, I'll explain it to you. I'll explain why you were created in the first place."

"No," Kuja said a little louder, "I'm not going to help you kill people!" Kuja fired at him. His magic was extremely weak compared to Garland's, but it was enough to temporarily blind him. He grabbed Zidane's arm and lead him to the silver dragon. They got onto its back and were off the ground before Garland could finally clear the smoke away.



Author's Note: I tried really hard to get this chapter done and post it all in a day-since you begged so nicely (and since I can't afford to loose another flying monkey battle). It'll probably take more time than a day until you get to read it 'cause it takes almost a day just to post it, not to mention write it. But for the record, I got it done. And don't expect it quick like this all the time. I only got it done because I had a long weekend (I love teachers' meetings). Anyway, you're supposed to review (even though this is about the forth time I told you to). o(^_^)o monkey.

-Insomniac-