A/N: Whee! Been a long, LOOONG time since I was here last! It feels good to be back! ^^;; hope some of my original readers are still floating around somewhere and aren't too pissed at me for leaving them hanging for about a year. *cowers* please don't hurt me! Remember that if you kill me, you'll never know the end to my story… NEVER! *ahem* so please R&R, no flames, because flames belong in the microwave.

Jade: Flames don't belong in a microwave!

MT: They do when I'm cooking! Anyway, enough of my babble! On with the new chapter!

***Jades P.O.V***

I knew what to expect as we entered the next room; mages- tons of them. But something was wrong, my heart was pounding, and as I looked up at the mass-produced mages, I felt a bead of sweat run down my cheek.

Vivi let out a short cry beside me, but I found myself unable to comfort him. Something I couldn't explain- something about these mages caused my blood to run cold.

"Jade," Zidane clapped a hand on my shoulder, "Are you alright?"

I forced a smile, "I'm fine," I replied, "Of coarse I'm fine, why would I be un-fine? Eh-heh heh." I laughed nervously, backing up and tripping over a switch.

A loud crash behind me gave me everyone's attention, and the mages toppled over in a domino-like fashion.

"I didn't do it! I swear!" I cried automatically, throwing my hands up in defense.

"Someone's coming," Zidane whispered frantically, "Let's get out of- -Jade, watch out!"

One of the black mages had fallen off the assembly line; I turned, only in time to see the brim of a pointy hat as it came tumbling towards me.

I struggled under the weight of it, trying to get free.

"Get it off me! It's crushing my internal organs!"
"Shh! Jade, shut up!" Zidane hissed trying to quiet me.

"Oh, my spleen!" I wailed.

"What to we do?" Vivi cried.

Zidane turned his head, hearing quickly approaching footsteps and shouts of "it came from over there!"

"What do we do?" he repeated, "We run!"

Zidane slung the princess over his shoulder and pulled Vivi along by the hand

"Zidane, you jerk, you can't just leave me here!" I screamed growing panicked.

He turned, giving me a sympathetic look, and a half-hearted thumbs up.

" I'll think of something," he said, "Just trust me."

"You there!" a tall man pointed, "Who are you!? Why are you here?"

Three men followed behind him, the first of which accused, "She must be a spy!"

Two men grabbed my wrists, the third pulled the lifeless mage off of me.

"A spy huh?" The taller man mused, "Well, show little miss spy our best."

" I-I'm not a spy!" I shouted, "Leave me alone!"

"That's enough," A familiar voice commanded, "Leave, all of you."

I looked up to see two Ice blue eyes staring down at me.

"You!," I gasped, "You're…My age???"

I couldn't help checking this villain out; although he was taller than I was, he seemed about the same age- not what I had expected considering our previous encounter. He had long black hair, reaching down to his calves, and wore a long blue tunic and high boots.

(Well, I prefer blonds…wait! He's the bad guy! What am I thinking!?)

He glared at the two men, "I said get lost."

"Yes, sir!" the four replied, letting go of my arm and dashing off.

He came towards me, "So I see you've managed to wreck my machines."

"You're machines!? YOU are the one producing these mages!?" (I thought it was Kuja!)

"I oversee production of these mindless dolls." he responded arrogantly.

"You're in league with Kuja aren't you!? What do you want with me!?"
"In league with that fool? Far from it!"

"Then why…?"

"You'll stop asking questions if you know what's good for you." he retorted, "And don't entertain any notions of leaving here before he returns."

"He?" I asked, ignoring the warning about 'asking questions.'

"You don't really think that fool, Zidane, would leave you here all alone do you?"

(Uh-oh… this doesn't sound good at all…)

A/N: DUN DUN DUNNN!!! I luv my evil dude! *huggles him* and I have him here today to say hello!

Nomi: … -.-

MT: Say hello!

Nomi: … you all should die.

MT: ^^;; sorry about that everyone, *scolds Nomi* that's a bad villain! Very bad villain!

Please R&R, I'm SOOO sorry it's taken this long, the next update wont take a year, I swear on…uhh… Nomi's life!
Nomi: I'll kill you first
MT: ^^;; eh-heh bye!