Disclaimer: This is me, disclaiming Final Fantasy IX.

Never Again: Chapter 11

"Wake up, Kuja," Garland's sinister voice welcomed Kuja's morning.

"Were you watching me sleep again?" Kuja moaned aloud. "Last time you did that, I found out about some of you disturbing plans. Now how is that fair?"

"You catch on quickly, Kuja. Now come with me," Garland commanded. Kuja struggled to full consciousness and rolled out of bed.

When Garland noticed that Kuja was finally up, he left the room motioning Kuja to follow. He did so cautiously, keeping as much distance as possible between him and Garland but not so much distance that he would lose him. Then he led him to a room unfamiliar to Kuja.

"Huh...what's this place?" Kuja said to Garland before he realized that Garland had disappeared and that he was locked in the room. He spun around a few times to see if his eyes were tricking him or if his paranoia was getting the best of him. "What's going on?" he called out to the empty room when he was completely convinced that Garland was nowhere to be found.

"Nothing," Kuja heard Garland say. He spun around again, hoping he would see something besides a blank wall. Not to his surprise, nothing there.

"Could you be more specific besides 'nothing'?" he called out again.

"Just a simple experiment. Stand still!" Garland's voice instructed.

"Somehow, I just don't trust you," Kuja answered, trying to stall Garland's experiment as much as possible.

"To bad."

"Why do I have to be the guinea pig in your little experiment?" Kuja continued to stall. Garland didn't answer. "What are you going to do?" he asked a little louder just in case Garland hadn't heard him. But still no answer. "...Garland? Why won't you answer me?"

Unsurely, Kuja prepared for Garland's experiment by getting into a fighting stance. He wanted to be able to cast a spell on a second's notice just in case the situation required it. Knowing Garland, the situation probably would require it. He expected Garland to sic giant monster on him or put him though some other incredibly difficult, inane task. He stood unmoving with his eyes scanning the room for a few minutes before anything happened. Then he heard a very faint sound. He tilted his head from side to side so he could pick up on the sound better. It became unnecessary to tilt his head a few seconds later, since the sound seemed to gradually get louder.

"What kind of experiment is this?" Kuja asked suspiciously, but not really expecting an answer.

The sound kept getting louder, but Kuja still couldn't identify where it was coming from. All he knew was that it was a high-pitched noise that was annoying, but not necessarily painful...yet. He also noticed that the sound was starting to change a little more. Not only was it getting progressively louder, but the pitch was getting higher too. He covered his ears when the noise started to become unbearably annoying, only to realize that it could not be blocked from the outside. This noise seemed to come from inside of his head. He clutched his head even harder, hoping that his effort would have some kind of effect. Then he remembered that it wouldn't be Garland if his experiment wasn't incredibly painful and incredibly difficult.

"Garland, stop it!" Kuja finally yelled, even though he could barely hear himself over the noise. "Ok...I give up. You can stop the noise now! ...Garland? ...Stop!"

Kuja ran toward where the door used to be and started to pound on the wall with his fists while yelling out to Garland. Unfortunately, all of his screams and pleas were completely incoherent. The noise had consumed them. Fortunately, the noise stopped getting louder and more high pitched, but it didn't help Kuja's head. Garland had set it at an uncomfortable level and waited for it to potentially drain the life right out of Kuja.

Eventually, Kuja had stopped pounding and screaming, and now he was on his knees, clutching his head. Standing took too much energy. Through all that, only one thought could penetrate the noise: "Just play dead! Maybe he'll stop the noise if he thinks you're dead!"

Kuja laid himself down on the ground as gently as he possibly could while still trying to make his falling dead act look as believable as he could make it. He didn't want to hurt himself anymore; the pain from the noise was enough. He lay on the ground for a few minutes, trying to keep a strait face. He had to keep his act up even though he was really wincing in pain on the inside.

When the noise did not stop, Kuja's thoughts took a turn for the worst. "What if Garland knows that I'm not really dead...that I'm just faking it. Would he make my sentence worse for trying to deceive? Does he really expect to kill me with this noise?"

The noise started to get softer and the pitch was going down. It was a slow and gradual process of finally disappearing from Kuja's head, but not as slow of a process as it took to get the sound in his head in the first place. Kuja didn't mind. He was just glad that it was leaving. He broke his act to let out a sigh of relief, but threw a party on the inside.

He heard the door next to him open and then heard Garland enter. He inched closer to Kuja's limp fallen body and started to nudge his shoulder with the tip of shoe. The chill from Garland's metal toe bothered Kuja, but not enough to get him to move from his peaceful state. "Stop poking me, you freak! Can't you see that I'm dead?!" Kuja joked to himself - his biggest fear being that Garland would've hear his thoughts and punished him for it.

Garland, angry with Kuja's refusal to wake, bent over and started to shake Kuja with his hand. "Kuja, I don't have time for this nonsense! Wake up!"

"Just let me sleep."
Author's Note: I'm finally done with a chapter!!! Oh happy day! And I'm gonna dedicate this chapter to someone too! This chapter is dedicated to the weather (honestly, who did you expect me to dedicate it to?). Because of the weather, school was cancelled, and I was trapped at home. That's the only reason that I got this chapter done in the first place. Unfortunately, staying inside too much has caused me to go insane. But don't worry, I'll be ok. I would've gone insane anyway if I were forced to go to school this morning instead of staying home and sleeping in, so it's all good. I also got to have some hot cocoa. That should help my insanity out a little.

-Insomniac-