Disclaimer: If I'm not allowed to own a life then I'm certainly not allowed to own a video game...company...thing. Ok then.

Never Again: Chapter 6

Kuja woke for a second time that morning, and surprisingly, in his own bed. He didn't remember ever going back to Terra. He remembered leaving Zidane at the inn and getting on the Invincible, but everything after that was a blur. Then he thought to himself, "Was I..."

"Dreaming? No, all of it was real."

"Garland?" he said almost jumping out of his bed. "Don't you have anything better to do than watch me sleep. And this mind reading thing isn't actually comforting either...By the way, how did I get here?"

"You won't remember even if I tell you."

"I already know that I don't know, but I'd still like to know!" Kuja argued.

"If you really want to know, think about it for a while."

"Can't you just-," Kuja noticed that Garland was no longer listening and stopped to think. "...Damn blue light."

"Are you ready to get up yet? I have a few things to show you," Garland interrupted his thinking. "You may not like what I'm about to show you, but it's something you have to know for my plan to work."

Kuja looked at him for a moment trying to understand what he was telling him and trying to figure out whether he should trust him or not. He slid his feet to the ground and started to stand up. He found that he was sore for some reason, especially his back. "Did I fall off the airship or something?" He started following Garland down the hallways and out of Pandemonium, which was strange because Garland never let him out. Kuja usually snuck out by himself and got to meet the people in Bran Bal-sorta. They weren't the kind of people that did much or said much of anything.

Garland led him to the laboratory. Kuja never likes to go there whenever he sneaks out. It's even creepier in there than it is in the rest of the city. He never understood what they were making or studying in that laboratory. "Is this place familiar to you?" Garland interrupted again.

Kuja stood shocked for a moment. "How did he find out that I've been sneaking out?"

"It should be familiar. This is where you and all your brothers and sisters were created." A sigh of relief emitted from Kuja's mouth. "Don't look so happy. I know that you've been sneaking out."

He tried to let the sneaking out part slip his mind for the time being. "What do you mean by brothers and sisters? I don't have a sister."

"You have a sister. Many of them, actually. And more brothers than you thought. Just look around. All of these genomes were created just like you."

"What do you mean? I'm not like them! How can you even call these people living?"

"I guess you were created a little different. You were created with a soul. Unfortunately, it made you a little too...emotional. Next time I create a genome, I'll have to take the soul into more consideration. Aside from that, you were created just like them, and you're just as insignificant as them." Kuja stood shocked for a moment. Then Garland decided to direct the conversation into a different direction. He walked over to the tubes in the opposite corner and looked up at them. "Isn't life beautiful?"

"That's not life! That's a sick science experiment!"

"It's how you were created, and it is what you will be fighting for." He waited until Kuja's confused look started to fade away from his face before continuing. "It may not seem like life now, but it will be. For the people of Terra to survive, Terra must merge with another younger planet. Usually, the planets are too young to have life so souls flow freely, but Gaia is different. We must disrupt the flow of souls in order for Terra to merge with Gaia. This is what I demonstrated the other night."

"But you killed all those people," Kuja argued.

"It's either us or them," Garland answered calmly.

"I'm not going to kill a bunch of innocent people to save a bunch of people who aren't even people!"

"The original souls of Terra can't survive here unless Terra merges with another planet. The people you see here are merely host bodies for the original inhabitants."

"I don't care! I still don't want to hurt innocent people."

"They're your brothers and sisters. Don't you see the resemblance? Don't you care about them?"

"I'm not like them!"

"So they're not like you. They don't have souls yet. I guess that means they lack the right to live." Garland was yelling now. He snatched one of the genomes from its working place and took it in his arms. Kuja heard a sudden crack followed by a loud thump. The genome was down on the ground. Its neck was twisted in an unusual position, and its tail gave a final twitch before giving into the sudden death. And all poor Kuja could do was stare. Garland was yelling again, but Kuja was too preoccupied with the cruel death of his fellow genome to pay any attention. He did manage to catch the last of what Garland was saying when he pulled away from his disturbed stare. "They'll all die! Is that what you want?!"



Author's Note: Sorry that it took me forever to get this posted. It should probably be longer for all the time it took, but oh well. That's life. I'm so tired right now. I was up late trying to finish this since I actually got my self to sit down with my computer. Me and the t.v. have had a lot of bonding time (mainly because I've been avoiding my biology homework), so my computer hasn't gotten a lot of attention. Anyway, please read and review (it's amazing how I always manage to remember to put that last part into this little paragraph at the bottom of every chapter).

-Insomniac-