Disclaimer – I own nothing that isn't mine, which is just about everything.
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed! You are all brilliant and I appreciate it more than you can imagine!
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Helix – Kuja's Story
Chapter 8 – No Going Back
Again the blackness enfolded him, and Kuja found himself in the void. Though he saw nothing his feet were on firm ground, and he took a few steps forward, searching for light. His footfalls were unnaturally loud, and at the edges of his vision colours swirled and danced just out of his reach. His nervousness grew, and he tried desperately to comfort himself.
"This is all a dream!" He said aloud. His voice fell away from him slowly, and seemed to take an age to die away. Twisting round, Kuja tried to "see" what was happening in this strange place, but the fleeting shapes only disoriented him, and he sank to his knees and covered his eyes.
"This may be a dream, but I am not." The cruel, mocking voice of Kalat broke the silence.
Again Kuja looked round him, and this time a swirl of blue light formed in front of him, the centre of which was shot through with a thousand colours that looped around each other in a nauseating dance. Occasionally it seemed to solidify into a vaguely humanoid shape, but only for an instant and then it continued is strange pattern. Kuja gave up trying to study it, and instead glared at the ground, his attention focused on talking to Kalat, who he guessed was trying to frighten him.
"What are you doing here?" He asked. "I thought you weren't supposed to contact me."
Kalat laughed, his form swirling and flashing brighter than before.
"This isn't an official visit, Terran. I am here because I want to be here, and those old fools on the Council of Judgement can't do anything to stop me – they can't even sense that I am here, in your dreams."
"I am doing what you wanted, you can't hurt me now." Kuja's voice was calm, but he shook with rage, his hands clenched into fists and his nails digging into his sweating palms.
"Oh but I can, foolish Terran. Yushan is weak; her attempts to help you have failed. I have seen to it all – you will fail! Then she will also suffer; I will make you both suffer forever! You have no hope, why not give in now?"
"There is always hope." Kuja said. However, his mind could think of nothing to comfort him.
"Where will you find your hope? In your little friend: Chi'azmo9164?" Kalat sneered. "Does he know of the crimes you committed, the lives you took? Do you think he would help you if he knew, or be your friend when he finds out? No, you will be alone again, and I can have the satisfaction of watching you fall."
"I won't give you the chance." Kuja said through gritted teeth. He forced himself to look at the swirling mass and yelled defiantly: "Even if I am alone, I will complete the task you have given me – I swear it!"
"I am afraid I can't allow you to complete the task. Do you think I am going to sit back and let you be pardoned for your crimes? No, I will see to it that you fail, and if you, Yushan or your little "friend" get in my way, I will destroy you." Kalat's form faded, and the void enveloped Kuja once more.
"You can't do that!" Kuja screamed into the darkness.
"The cycle must go on!" Kalat snapped furiously. "You are destined to die, you and all the other weak links in the chain. Sacrifices must be made. Do not deny your fate, Terran. All will be as it should be."
"No! I am not worthless - my life can mean something! You coward, there is such thing as redemption, and I will prove it!"
********************
"No! No! I will prove it to you!"
Kuja's voice was terrifyingly loud in the small laboratory. Chi, panicking, shut the door and tapped on the side of the cube again, hoping that Kuja would wake from his nightmare.
"Quiet!" He hissed. "Wake up, oh please wake up!"
Kuja continued to moan and thrash about, his feet kicking the sides of his cell as he turned in the impossibly small space. Chi realised that waking him would need more drastic measures, and he decided to go ahead with stage 1 of his escape plan. He had already managed to disable security, which had been the easiest part. The technology in the city was so sophisticated that people had become complacent, and left most of the maintenance and security to machines. Machines of course could be turned off. No one even bothered to watch over the laboratories because the design of the cages made escape impossible. From the inside, that is.
Crossing over to the panel, Chi called up the program that controlled the cages. They were designed to be operated in conjunction with the moveable arm that transported the specimens. Chi disabled the arm's program so he could open Kuja's cage without it getting in the way.
"Or picking him up and breaking his ribs." Chi thought. He made sure that all the systems would reactivate and hide all trace of his tampering, and then he took a deep breath, silently said farewell to his old life and opened Kuja's cage.
The process was silent, and made not the slightest bit of difference to Kuja's condition. The genome continued to shake, and yell his meaningless pleas.
"No, I can be saved! It is not my fate!"
Chi walked over t him. He had to wake him up; he could not carry him where they were going. He realised with shock he would have to touch him, probably shake him to wake him up. Physical contact with people in the City was unheard of, and went against everything he had ever been taught. To make matters worse, Kuja was not even human, he had said so. The thought made Chi more scared than ever. The shouts and yells grew worse though, and he realised he had no choice.
Edging closer to Kuja, Chi knelt down and put out a shaking hand. He edged it forward, and tried to think of something, anything other than what he was about to do. This would mark him forever; there would be no going back.
In the end, it was the thought of the torture Kuja had suffered that got him moving. Whatever he was, inflicting pain like that to any living thing was wrong! He could still see the injuries on him now. Carefully picking a spot on Kuja's arm, one untouched by wounds (there were not many such spots) he slowly edged his hand forward, flinching every time Kuja moved. Eventually skin touched skin, and Chi flinched, pushing Kuja's arm as hard as he could then flinching away. Kuja stirred, and almost seemed to wake, but then his eyes fluttered and he slipped back into sleep. The moans started again.
Chi shuddered desperately. He tried to clean his hand. It looked like he had to touch him...again. Kuja's skin had felt wrong somehow. Not necessarily because he wasn't human, but because Chi had never touched another living thing before. The idea filled him with dread. He reached out again, and through force of will forced his hand to remain on Kuja's arm, and this time, to grasp. Pulling as hard as he could, he succeeded in half- dragging Kuja out of the cage, where his torso lay on the floor of the laboratory. Kuja moaned once more, then his eyes snapped open and he sat up. Chi sprang backwards as if he had been shot, his eyes wide with fear.
Kuja seemed disorientated, as if he did not know where he was. He put his arms out hesitantly, feeling for the confines of his cage. Finding the opening but no barrier, he climbed shakily to his feet, pulling his lower half out of the cage. His tail stretched out and then curled gracefully behind him, while Chi watched with shocked fascination. Turning round slowly, Kuja saw Chi for the first time. Slow recognition crosses his features, and he guessed some of what had happened.
"Thank you. I was having a nightmare." He tried to keep his voice as level as possible, he was still not completely used to Chi, and it seemed that his double was a having a few problems adjusting to seeing him as well.
"Y-you were yelling." Chi stammered. "I came to g...get you. We have to leave the city tonight."
Kuja nodded, while inwardly his heart leapt. There was a chance - his hopes had not been in vain!
Chi backed towards a pack of some sort on the floor, and gestured across the room to a bundle stacked near a desk. He was still obviously shocked about something. Kuja wondered if he had said anything odd while he had been asleep.
"I-I got you some clothes." Chi said, his eyes quickly darting to the pack on the floor. He began to rummage furiously. "They are my spare set. I think they are too big but...maybe you can cut them?"
"They will be fine, thank you very much, Chi." Kuja smiled warmly and walked across to the bundle, aware of Chi's fascinated gaze.
The clothes of course were far too large for him. Tight fitting on Chi, they billowed out around Kuja's small frame. The trousers were baggy enough for him to curl his tail around his leg. However, he suspected that one look at him and people would know he wasn't human anyway. He was a good foot or two shorter than Chi. Rolling up the sleeves and legs of the trousers, Kuja stretched and felt the scars pull. Wincing, he rubbed his arms.
"I have some salve for you. You can use it later, but now we must leave as soon as possible. I have transport waiting."
Kuja nodded and walked towards Chi, who refused to meet his gaze. Kuja knew how he felt; this was a frightening experience for both of them. He had a further worry – if the dream was true, then he had a very powerful enemy who wanted him dead. The people of the City were the least of his worries.
It was late at night, and thought the lights outside of the laboratory were as bright as always, there were very few people about. Chi led Kuja swiftly through mazes of corridors and elevators, occasionally ducking into side rooms to avoid being spotted. They each carried a small pack that Chi had explained contained the few things he had not managed to take to the transport. Kuja was still worried about his doubles obvious agitation, he seemed even more on edge than he should have been and Kuja couldn't help thinking he was to blame. What if Chi knew about him, about Gaia? The thought made him feel rather ill himself. He forced himself to forget it for the time being, he had more pressing things to worry about.
Chi was forced o slow his pace, Kuja's smaller frame meant that he had to often run to catch up with Chi, and in his weakened state he was quickly beginning to tire. Chi knew they couldn't afford to go much slower and so he tried to compromise, but it was hard. Kuja never complained, but Chi knew he was close to collapse.
Finally, they entered a vast hangar, full of different transport craft. Chi led the flagging Kuja up to one of the smallest; a perfectly smooth streamlined craft no more than eight metres long. He pressed his hand against the side and a hatchway in the seamless exterior opened. Kuja stumbled inside and collapsed in a corner. The interior was dull silver, a contrast to the silver of the shell. It was very uncomfortable and there were no chairs save for the one in the "cockpit" section of the craft, which Chi was sitting in. Kuja didn't care, he was too exhausted and some of his wounds had started to bleed again.
Chi closed the door to the craft, and initiated the take-off procedure. The craft made a low humming noise as is ascended. Chi pressed a few more pads and as the craft pulled out of the hangar, he came back into the midsection of the craft and knelt beside Kuja, fishing something out of his pack.
"This should help your wounds. Rub a little on each. We are going to visit an acquaintance of mine. They will discover we have gone and will follow us but we should have reached our destination by then. We can go into hiding. I can get supplies to help us but after that, I don't know what we can do! We will be hunted for the rest of our lives."
Kuja sighed, he had guessed as much. He had to find out what he had to do, how he could help these people. Being a fugitive (escaped specimen) wouldn't help, but Chi was the only hope he had. Kalat wasn't going to play fair, and Kuja knew he needed every little bit of help he could get. Chi had to trust him.
He walked up to the cockpit section, Chi seemed to be busy correcting their course, but his eyes were filled with tears. Kuja didn't know why, but he still felt like he owed Chi something. His double had risked a lot to help him.
"Chi...when we get to wherever we are going, I have something to tell you. Something important. I hope you will understand."
Chi looked round, his eyes red with emotion.
"I'd like to know...about you. When we get to the city."
Kuja smiled, but it was a rueful, sad smile. He knew what he had to say would cause more pain than enough.
"And I would like to learn about you, and this world." Chi gave him a puzzled look. "Where were we, and where are we going?"
Chi's eyes lit up with a sense of adventure.
"We have just left the Pure City – Laemanos, and are on our way to one of the Great Cities - a City of Leisure and Indulgence, the centre of Happiness: Zanarkand, the City of Many Souls."
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Yes, it is officially a Crossover and yes, I knew this would happen. I suppose this means I have to change the category next chapter – so beware. There will be spoilers for a few things up ahead but I will warn you in due course.
I hope you liked it. I did a long chapter on purpose because I know I have been mean and not updated for ages. If you have any comment of questions please review, I would love to hear what you have to say.
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed! You are all brilliant and I appreciate it more than you can imagine!
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Helix – Kuja's Story
Chapter 8 – No Going Back
Again the blackness enfolded him, and Kuja found himself in the void. Though he saw nothing his feet were on firm ground, and he took a few steps forward, searching for light. His footfalls were unnaturally loud, and at the edges of his vision colours swirled and danced just out of his reach. His nervousness grew, and he tried desperately to comfort himself.
"This is all a dream!" He said aloud. His voice fell away from him slowly, and seemed to take an age to die away. Twisting round, Kuja tried to "see" what was happening in this strange place, but the fleeting shapes only disoriented him, and he sank to his knees and covered his eyes.
"This may be a dream, but I am not." The cruel, mocking voice of Kalat broke the silence.
Again Kuja looked round him, and this time a swirl of blue light formed in front of him, the centre of which was shot through with a thousand colours that looped around each other in a nauseating dance. Occasionally it seemed to solidify into a vaguely humanoid shape, but only for an instant and then it continued is strange pattern. Kuja gave up trying to study it, and instead glared at the ground, his attention focused on talking to Kalat, who he guessed was trying to frighten him.
"What are you doing here?" He asked. "I thought you weren't supposed to contact me."
Kalat laughed, his form swirling and flashing brighter than before.
"This isn't an official visit, Terran. I am here because I want to be here, and those old fools on the Council of Judgement can't do anything to stop me – they can't even sense that I am here, in your dreams."
"I am doing what you wanted, you can't hurt me now." Kuja's voice was calm, but he shook with rage, his hands clenched into fists and his nails digging into his sweating palms.
"Oh but I can, foolish Terran. Yushan is weak; her attempts to help you have failed. I have seen to it all – you will fail! Then she will also suffer; I will make you both suffer forever! You have no hope, why not give in now?"
"There is always hope." Kuja said. However, his mind could think of nothing to comfort him.
"Where will you find your hope? In your little friend: Chi'azmo9164?" Kalat sneered. "Does he know of the crimes you committed, the lives you took? Do you think he would help you if he knew, or be your friend when he finds out? No, you will be alone again, and I can have the satisfaction of watching you fall."
"I won't give you the chance." Kuja said through gritted teeth. He forced himself to look at the swirling mass and yelled defiantly: "Even if I am alone, I will complete the task you have given me – I swear it!"
"I am afraid I can't allow you to complete the task. Do you think I am going to sit back and let you be pardoned for your crimes? No, I will see to it that you fail, and if you, Yushan or your little "friend" get in my way, I will destroy you." Kalat's form faded, and the void enveloped Kuja once more.
"You can't do that!" Kuja screamed into the darkness.
"The cycle must go on!" Kalat snapped furiously. "You are destined to die, you and all the other weak links in the chain. Sacrifices must be made. Do not deny your fate, Terran. All will be as it should be."
"No! I am not worthless - my life can mean something! You coward, there is such thing as redemption, and I will prove it!"
********************
"No! No! I will prove it to you!"
Kuja's voice was terrifyingly loud in the small laboratory. Chi, panicking, shut the door and tapped on the side of the cube again, hoping that Kuja would wake from his nightmare.
"Quiet!" He hissed. "Wake up, oh please wake up!"
Kuja continued to moan and thrash about, his feet kicking the sides of his cell as he turned in the impossibly small space. Chi realised that waking him would need more drastic measures, and he decided to go ahead with stage 1 of his escape plan. He had already managed to disable security, which had been the easiest part. The technology in the city was so sophisticated that people had become complacent, and left most of the maintenance and security to machines. Machines of course could be turned off. No one even bothered to watch over the laboratories because the design of the cages made escape impossible. From the inside, that is.
Crossing over to the panel, Chi called up the program that controlled the cages. They were designed to be operated in conjunction with the moveable arm that transported the specimens. Chi disabled the arm's program so he could open Kuja's cage without it getting in the way.
"Or picking him up and breaking his ribs." Chi thought. He made sure that all the systems would reactivate and hide all trace of his tampering, and then he took a deep breath, silently said farewell to his old life and opened Kuja's cage.
The process was silent, and made not the slightest bit of difference to Kuja's condition. The genome continued to shake, and yell his meaningless pleas.
"No, I can be saved! It is not my fate!"
Chi walked over t him. He had to wake him up; he could not carry him where they were going. He realised with shock he would have to touch him, probably shake him to wake him up. Physical contact with people in the City was unheard of, and went against everything he had ever been taught. To make matters worse, Kuja was not even human, he had said so. The thought made Chi more scared than ever. The shouts and yells grew worse though, and he realised he had no choice.
Edging closer to Kuja, Chi knelt down and put out a shaking hand. He edged it forward, and tried to think of something, anything other than what he was about to do. This would mark him forever; there would be no going back.
In the end, it was the thought of the torture Kuja had suffered that got him moving. Whatever he was, inflicting pain like that to any living thing was wrong! He could still see the injuries on him now. Carefully picking a spot on Kuja's arm, one untouched by wounds (there were not many such spots) he slowly edged his hand forward, flinching every time Kuja moved. Eventually skin touched skin, and Chi flinched, pushing Kuja's arm as hard as he could then flinching away. Kuja stirred, and almost seemed to wake, but then his eyes fluttered and he slipped back into sleep. The moans started again.
Chi shuddered desperately. He tried to clean his hand. It looked like he had to touch him...again. Kuja's skin had felt wrong somehow. Not necessarily because he wasn't human, but because Chi had never touched another living thing before. The idea filled him with dread. He reached out again, and through force of will forced his hand to remain on Kuja's arm, and this time, to grasp. Pulling as hard as he could, he succeeded in half- dragging Kuja out of the cage, where his torso lay on the floor of the laboratory. Kuja moaned once more, then his eyes snapped open and he sat up. Chi sprang backwards as if he had been shot, his eyes wide with fear.
Kuja seemed disorientated, as if he did not know where he was. He put his arms out hesitantly, feeling for the confines of his cage. Finding the opening but no barrier, he climbed shakily to his feet, pulling his lower half out of the cage. His tail stretched out and then curled gracefully behind him, while Chi watched with shocked fascination. Turning round slowly, Kuja saw Chi for the first time. Slow recognition crosses his features, and he guessed some of what had happened.
"Thank you. I was having a nightmare." He tried to keep his voice as level as possible, he was still not completely used to Chi, and it seemed that his double was a having a few problems adjusting to seeing him as well.
"Y-you were yelling." Chi stammered. "I came to g...get you. We have to leave the city tonight."
Kuja nodded, while inwardly his heart leapt. There was a chance - his hopes had not been in vain!
Chi backed towards a pack of some sort on the floor, and gestured across the room to a bundle stacked near a desk. He was still obviously shocked about something. Kuja wondered if he had said anything odd while he had been asleep.
"I-I got you some clothes." Chi said, his eyes quickly darting to the pack on the floor. He began to rummage furiously. "They are my spare set. I think they are too big but...maybe you can cut them?"
"They will be fine, thank you very much, Chi." Kuja smiled warmly and walked across to the bundle, aware of Chi's fascinated gaze.
The clothes of course were far too large for him. Tight fitting on Chi, they billowed out around Kuja's small frame. The trousers were baggy enough for him to curl his tail around his leg. However, he suspected that one look at him and people would know he wasn't human anyway. He was a good foot or two shorter than Chi. Rolling up the sleeves and legs of the trousers, Kuja stretched and felt the scars pull. Wincing, he rubbed his arms.
"I have some salve for you. You can use it later, but now we must leave as soon as possible. I have transport waiting."
Kuja nodded and walked towards Chi, who refused to meet his gaze. Kuja knew how he felt; this was a frightening experience for both of them. He had a further worry – if the dream was true, then he had a very powerful enemy who wanted him dead. The people of the City were the least of his worries.
It was late at night, and thought the lights outside of the laboratory were as bright as always, there were very few people about. Chi led Kuja swiftly through mazes of corridors and elevators, occasionally ducking into side rooms to avoid being spotted. They each carried a small pack that Chi had explained contained the few things he had not managed to take to the transport. Kuja was still worried about his doubles obvious agitation, he seemed even more on edge than he should have been and Kuja couldn't help thinking he was to blame. What if Chi knew about him, about Gaia? The thought made him feel rather ill himself. He forced himself to forget it for the time being, he had more pressing things to worry about.
Chi was forced o slow his pace, Kuja's smaller frame meant that he had to often run to catch up with Chi, and in his weakened state he was quickly beginning to tire. Chi knew they couldn't afford to go much slower and so he tried to compromise, but it was hard. Kuja never complained, but Chi knew he was close to collapse.
Finally, they entered a vast hangar, full of different transport craft. Chi led the flagging Kuja up to one of the smallest; a perfectly smooth streamlined craft no more than eight metres long. He pressed his hand against the side and a hatchway in the seamless exterior opened. Kuja stumbled inside and collapsed in a corner. The interior was dull silver, a contrast to the silver of the shell. It was very uncomfortable and there were no chairs save for the one in the "cockpit" section of the craft, which Chi was sitting in. Kuja didn't care, he was too exhausted and some of his wounds had started to bleed again.
Chi closed the door to the craft, and initiated the take-off procedure. The craft made a low humming noise as is ascended. Chi pressed a few more pads and as the craft pulled out of the hangar, he came back into the midsection of the craft and knelt beside Kuja, fishing something out of his pack.
"This should help your wounds. Rub a little on each. We are going to visit an acquaintance of mine. They will discover we have gone and will follow us but we should have reached our destination by then. We can go into hiding. I can get supplies to help us but after that, I don't know what we can do! We will be hunted for the rest of our lives."
Kuja sighed, he had guessed as much. He had to find out what he had to do, how he could help these people. Being a fugitive (escaped specimen) wouldn't help, but Chi was the only hope he had. Kalat wasn't going to play fair, and Kuja knew he needed every little bit of help he could get. Chi had to trust him.
He walked up to the cockpit section, Chi seemed to be busy correcting their course, but his eyes were filled with tears. Kuja didn't know why, but he still felt like he owed Chi something. His double had risked a lot to help him.
"Chi...when we get to wherever we are going, I have something to tell you. Something important. I hope you will understand."
Chi looked round, his eyes red with emotion.
"I'd like to know...about you. When we get to the city."
Kuja smiled, but it was a rueful, sad smile. He knew what he had to say would cause more pain than enough.
"And I would like to learn about you, and this world." Chi gave him a puzzled look. "Where were we, and where are we going?"
Chi's eyes lit up with a sense of adventure.
"We have just left the Pure City – Laemanos, and are on our way to one of the Great Cities - a City of Leisure and Indulgence, the centre of Happiness: Zanarkand, the City of Many Souls."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes, it is officially a Crossover and yes, I knew this would happen. I suppose this means I have to change the category next chapter – so beware. There will be spoilers for a few things up ahead but I will warn you in due course.
I hope you liked it. I did a long chapter on purpose because I know I have been mean and not updated for ages. If you have any comment of questions please review, I would love to hear what you have to say.