Author's Note: *trying to pry off Twilight's Star* ...Okay, I'm having a bit of technical trouble, involving the fact that I recently became solid again... and in the process, caused TS to latch onto me. This makes it increasingly difficult to type... and even harder to think... *Kuja and his band of shounen-ai buddies (Raz, Blade, Blase, and TS's Kain) snicker* And she keeps POKING me! I find this VERY annoying. And then, there's Neko who's threatening to put me in handcuffs! What is WRONG with you people? Is school starting to get to you?! ...I ask this because yesterday, I was cleaning three dog pens and humming that tropical-soundin' Chocobo theme song. Insanity, I tell you!

Kuja: Yes, you're insane all right.

Blase: No doubt in the world.

Raz: Crazy.

Kain: Yep.

The other guys: ...What are you doing in a LeFox fic?

Kain: What's Raz doing in Silver Shahrazad?

Raz: I'm also Fox's cat. Meow! *turns into a small grey cat and sits contentedly in Kuja's lap*

LeFox: AHAHAHA! *grabs the poor kitty* So! YOU'RE THE ONE STEALING THE MILK FROM MY BREAKFAST!

Raz: No, that would be Artimis... Stupid Persian...

LeFox: Don't... you... dare... insult... my... ARTIE!

Raz: Uh, maybe it was Sno-Ball!? Hehe, or Shadow? I'm... I'm not biased, but I don't like Siamese...

LeFox: *looks angrier than ever* Shadow is an outside cat, Razzie... just like you will be!

Raz: Maybe it was Spunky?

LeFox: ...Spunky... Spunk likes milk... but he can't jump that high! He's too fat!

Raz: Um, can we... get on with the fic?!

Readers: Yeah!

LeFox: ...Okay...



DESERT PALACE

I flipped through the book I was holding listlessly. I couldn't focus on anything... Kuja had left me hanging the night before. And now, he was standing before a full-length mirror, pulling a comb with an engraved handle through his hair, carefully avoiding the feathers. He had a special tiny comb for those. I stared up at his reflection in the mirror. He looked back at me in his image, smiling teasingly. He was such a bastard... and such an angel. He placed the comb on the dresser by the mirror, picking up the miniature one and intently combed each feather slowly. I almost laughed then, comparing him to a bird. I wondered if he lost his feathers once a year... and then they regrew? And now he looked as if he were preening. He finished, and looked back at me strangely. "I was under the impression that you were reading...?" he said, his voice almost a purr. I smiled in a way that could almost be called seductively. He was wearing that revealing outfit again... only without shoes. His tail was hidden again... I wasn't used to it. I felt as though I were looking at a stranger; and I didn't like it. He carefully applied his makeup. I felt almost wary now. He was going out today... was he going to leave me here....?



"Are you going somewhere?" I asked, trying to keep the hurt sound out of my voice. He smiled softly, and I recognized him again. "I was hoping you would come with me, actually... I've gotten so tired of staying inside all of the time... I was thinking a trip would help." he said almost shyly, walking over and taking my hand. "Please come with me, Blase..." he was begging me. "Where would we be going to?" I asked cautiously. "...Wherever you would like." he replied, sitting on the bed by my side. I studied his expression. He was staring at the floor quietly, awaiting my answer. He didn't even look like my Kuja... the one I had spent so much time with. "Who are you, really?" I asked, not realizing that I had spoken aloud. He looked at me with shock in his eyes. "Wh-What...? What do you mean?" he asked disbelievingly. "Haven't I been honest with you? Haven't I told you everything... even the things I never admitted to myself... I... I even told you about Madain Sari! Do you know what it took to confess to that...? Do you realize how much of myself I've revealed to you?!" he was shouting through tears, standing and glaring at me. I didn't know how to respond. Of course I knew... he had told me everything... trusting me. But I didn't know what to say to this teary-eyed riddle of a storyteller. So of course, he had no idea what I meant to say to him, whatever that was.



"I can't believe I opened everything to you... I revealed everything... damn you! Damn you!" He tore away, running from the room. I could only stare after him, praying he would return. ...But as most of my prayers go, I took the initiative and ran after him. I didn't know the way around the Desert Palace, and Kuja was much lighter and faster, so I was at a disadvantage. I let my heart lead me, and my feet carry me. I passed stained glass windows, statues, and paintings. I went through hallways, stairwells, and balconies, looking for him. After what seemed an eternity, I entered what seemed to be the dungeon. "Kuja?" I called, entering a small room off to the side. It was obviously a torture room (Angel of Death 87, I noticed this too... PsycheFox thought it was used for... other reasons.). And that's where I found him. He was huddled next to a wall, tears spilling down his cheeks. His makeup was running. "Kuja... I didn't mean it that way... I meant that I don't recognize you like this..." I held his chin in my hand for a moment, then kissed his forehead. I felt him wrap his arms around me gently. "Blase... I thought... I thought you meant that you didn't trust me... that you didn't... think I was being sincere... but I'd never lie to you... Never... I promise..." he whispered, and I knew it was him... I knew it was the same Kuja who had told me those beautiful and horrifying stories.



"About that trip... what if I suggested that we go to Alexandria... I heard it's being rebuilt." I suggested. He buried his face in my neck, and I know he started crying harder. Much harder. He stayed that way for at least ten minutes... and I held him as tightly as I could. And then I knew... it was just as I had suspected... he was the one who had attacked Alexandria. It had been my worst fear, and my most dreaded hunch. The high priest of Esto Gaza had said that the Black Mages that had entered Mount Gulug were accompanied by a man with silver hair wearing revealing clothing. And the Black Mages had attacked Lindblum... so would they not have been involved ith Alexandria's destruction, as well? But I couldn't find any anger toward the sobbing man in my arms. I felt nothing but compassion for him. Compassion and love. "How did it happen, Kuja..." It was more of a statement than a question. He flicked his tail. "It... it was my mission..."



=My duty to Garland consisted of finding someone with a greedy soul and taking advantage of them. I searched for someone who fit that outline... who was in a position of power, and who would thus have militaristic resources that I could use. Queen Brahne of Alexandria wasn't willing to become militarily active at first, but at my promise of power, her greed made her give in. Her general, Beatrix, was fond of me at first... we became friends slowly, but that companionship faded altogether when... well, we'll get there. The other part of my mission included finding a summoner... that was my personal mission. I planned to find a summoner so I could use their Eidolons... consequently, I found Princess Garnet Til Alexandros very useful... you see, she was born in Madain Sari. A sequence of events led to the queen's adoption of the summoner girl... I used Brahne's position as both a queen and a mother.



I first met the queen accidentally. And it was a... rather embarrassing first meeting, as well. She had taken a trip to Lindblum, and in an attempt to obtain some privacy, she had gone with Beatrix and a couple of her soldiers to Pinnacle Rocks. Likewise, I had gone to Pinnacle Rocks upon hearing that there was a strange ghost there. I suspected that it was, in truth, an Eidolon. Haha... I'm not much of a rock climber, as you could probably guess. I slipped and fell from a high branch into the river... and I was pretty beaten up from the fall onto the rocky riverbed. I was bleeding heavily. And that was how Beatrix found me. I guess it was a sympathy game at first.



** "Your Majesty, look!" General Beatrix exclaimed, pointing to the river below them. Queen Brahne looked down with some effort. It felt dangerous to be this high on such a thin branch... and she certainly wasn't the acrobat of the year. She gasped at what she saw. Red flowed with the clear water, standing out vividly and ominously. Blood... something was dead or injured. The younger of the two soldiers with them cringed. "Ugh... I guess a Zaghnol died and the bats are having a party..." she said, with disgust in her voice. "Beatrix, go up ahead and see what it is." Brahne ordered, not wanting to see for herself. Beatrix smiled discreetly. Her queen was squeamish. The General went on alone, following the twisting vines. Finally... she found him.

"Dear Gods! Are you alright!?" she exclaimed, leaping down beside the collapsed body. He was soaked in water and blood, with huge gashes all over his slender body. She splashed water on the boy's face, saying, "Wake up... come on, I can feel your pulse..." over and over. She sighed. She wasn't nearly strong enough to lift him when he was carrying at least two extra pounds' worth of water. His breathing was shaky. "Your Majesty! Come quick! Please, hurry!" she called desperately. **



They rushed me to Alexandria. I was only partially aware of what was happening... I had lost so much blood... At the time, all I could see was red. Bright, terrible red, which faded to black before appearing vividly before my eyes again. I was unconscious for two days, lying in the soldiers' barracks. Not the shabby ones of the Pluto Knights... the ones belonging to the Alexandrian army. I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't get to enjoy the elaborate decor of the barracks. When I finally woke up, General Beatrix was there. I found out later that she had watched over me for those two days. She asked all of the questions: My name, age, origin. I had to lie about where I had come from, of course. I said I was a weapons dealer that had traveled from the Outer Continent. Beatrix was like a mother. She was thirty-two, I was nine years younger at twenty-three, but she treated me as though I were a child while I was recovering. Afterwards, she became far too busy to spend time with me.



It didn't take me long at all to get into Queen Brahne's favor. Garnet saw me many times... but she never attempted to speak to me. I think she wanted to believe I was a ghost who would eventually fade away. She suspected me of evil from the first day she met me. We were never exactly introduced. ...I was happy in Alexandria... happier than I had been in such a long time... I felt as though I belonged. Almost as I felt in Treno later... but more on that some other time. But my mission took priority, and I began talking-casually, at first-about having the ability to bestow power... great power. She took the bait-hook, line, and sinker. Eventually, we began speaking of Black Mages. I told her that I could create Black Mages for her... and she was ecstatic to think of the power that was available to her. Even Beatrix was woven into my plan, though I don't know how or why. I think she didn't know what was going to happen. Neither... neither did I.=



He stopped on a whisper, sounding dreamy. What was he thinking...?

Author's Note: *still trying to pry off Twilight's Star* ...I added one more chapter to BbL... The Epilogue... now will you PLEASE get off of me? As for Light of the Stars... I can't find the disk. (I save all of my fics on floppy disks in case the computer crashes AGAIN.) But if and when I find it, I'll update! ...Neko... did I update soon enough?! No handcuffs... right? Right...?!



Review, and I'll... uh... I'll play Go Fish with Kuja! No, I really will!