A/N: Aw . . . only five reviews for the last chapter? What was wrong with
it?! Blah . . . Oh well, I'll live *gets strange thoughts. Cheesy grin*
Anyhow, I'm afraid I have to add another warning to this chapter! No!!!!!!
But this one's REALLY important. An issue is going to come up in this
chapter that may be a little . . . touchy for some. Perhaps even taboo. I
don't want to offend anybody with it. I just wanna look out for ya guys
^_^ And I'm surprised that the idea in this chapter hasn't been used
before. At least, I don't think it has. Oh well. Read on and enjoy!
More reviews *sob*
P.S. This chapter's REALLY short but it packs a LOT of material.
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy . . . (Square: Thank God . . .) Lol.
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"When they took the fourth amendment, I was silent because I don't deal drugs. When they took the sixth amendment, I kept quiet because I know I'm innocent. When they took the second amendment, I said nothing because I don't own a gun. Now they've come for the first amendment, and I can't say anything at all."
- Tim Freeman
Queen Garnet Til Alexandros the XVII sat on the wall outside of Alexandria Castle, gazing out across the moat and wringing her fingers with nerves. Only one thought remained in her head:
/I can't be in the castle with that man . . . I can't be in the castle with that man . . ./
Nobody else knew yet. She couldn't tell them. She didn't WANT to tell them. All their happy endings . . . gone. A simple sighting and their lives were ruined . . .
"Someone up there must REALLY hate me," Garnet muttered, raising her eyes to the star-streaked sky. She spotted a boat crossing the moat and her spirits rose ever so slightly.
"Zidane . . ."
The blonde-tailed genome leapt off the gondola, nodding politely to the Alexandrian soldier and trotting up the small road to his fiancé. He looked concerned when he saw her.
"Hey, Dagger . . . You all right?"
Garnet tried to smile her most dazzling smile but it fell rather flat. "Yeah, I'm just recovering a little, I guess,"
"Yeah, me too,"
They both hesitated. Garnet tapped the wall with the back of her boot. Finally, she voiced the question that had been killing her for hours.
"Zidane? Why did you lie to me?"
The genome cocked his head to the side looking rather surprised and perhaps a little hurt. "What do you mean? I never lied to you,"
"Yes - yes you did," the queen argued. "You told me that . . . that THING . . ." she pointed behind her in the direction of the castle. "Was dead. How could you lie to me about something like that?"
Zidane exhaled slowly, running his fingers through his hair. Quietly, he slid up onto the wall next to her majesty, chewing his finger thoughtfully.
"Dagger, honestly, I had no idea he was alive,"
Garnet laughed coldly, shaking her head. "I don't believe this . . . You're lying to me AGAIN!"
"No, really! I'm not!" Zidane defended, wishing there was some evidence out there to prove it. "I was just as surprised as YOU were,"
Garnet pursed her lips, frowning. "Zidane, I want to know EXACTLY what happened in the Iifa Tree and the three years it took for you to return to me. And I want to know NOW," she turned her eyes onto the young boy, trying to read his mind. His expression was impossible to scan. He seemed to be thinking hard.
"Dagger, I really told you everything I knew. I never lied to you,"
"Fine. Then tell me everything you know now,"
Zidane nodded, shifting upon the cold rocks. "All right," he agreed. "I can go with that . . ."
He paused, closing his eyes as he thought back to those dreadful times.
"Well," the nineteen-year-old began, folding his hands in his lap. "As you know, I returned to Kuja in the Iifa Tree after the destruction of Memoria,"
Garnet nodded, recalling how aggrieved she'd been at his departure.
/Flash/
Promise me you'll come back . . .
/Flash/
Zidane continued, ignoring the cold breeze that seemed to be settling over the peaceful city. "Kuja was in nasty shape. Too injured to move. I kept his morale up by singing our song. It seemed to help him a lot. And I needed all the help from that guy I could get. Our strategy was for him to drain magic from me, and him - in turn - to destroy the roots with it. It was difficult, I won't lie about that. It took us two weeks just to manage; and that was with no food and very little water. Also, the transfer of magic left me extremely weak, and his own use of magic left his just as sick. It was getting harder and harder for him to save enough magic to drain more from me. And I, of course, was steadily running out,"
/Flash/
"Come on, Zidane. Just a little more,"
"Oh god, Kuja. I can't do this,"
"Don't give up! We're almost there!"
/Flash/
Garnet scowled, face darkening. "You sang our song? In front of HIM?! How could you?!"
Zidane rolled his eyes, annoyed at the queen's ignorance. "Remember how I told you I survived by singing our song? Well, that's the truth. Not only did it give him strength, but it fueled me on as well. Besides, he already knew the words," Zidane clapped a hand over his mouth hurriedly, realizing he'd said too much.
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing,"
"Hmm . . ." Garnet looked suspicious. Zidane had a feeling she was going to bring the subject up again later. Trying to evade the topic further, Zidane continued with his exposition.
"Anyhow, once we made it out of the Iifa Tree we realized it was still attempting to destroy the planet. The two of us traveled to Conde Petie and used the last of our money on ethers and potions. Then we returned to the tree and slowly battled it over the next month. We defeated it,"
Garnet nodded, understanding dawning in her eyes. "Yeah, no one was ever able to explain why the tree stopped so suddenly. I'm glad I know now,"
Zidane made a face, resting his head in his hand. "Well, the destruction of the tree left us in an even nastier pickle,"
"What?"
"It released all of the Mist Monsters. This meant that Kuja and I had to defeat all of THEM too. That took us many months because we had to travel all over the continent to destroy them before they managed to migrate to more heavily populated bodies of land. However, during that time, I became aware of some things . . ." Zidane branched off, voice fading. Garnet looked up sharply, face stern.
"What things?" she queried, frowning considerably.
/Flash/
Oh my god . . . I . . . I don't believe this . . .
/Flash/
Zidane suddenly didn't want to talk about those months anymore. "Dagger, honey, I can't continue this conversation . . . I'm sorry . . ."
Garnet would have nothing of it. "Zidane, you PROMISED me," she nearly shouted, turning towards him angrily. "I want to know what happened and I think I have a right now that I've been slammed so cruelly back into reality by YOUR god damn brother,"
Zidane's shoulders slumped. He knew she would never stop pressing it out of him. His fiancé was quite the stubborn mule. The genome tried to think of a way to tell her what he'd seen.
"Okay," he said, choosing his words carefully. "Do you remember when Kuja was in the Alexandrian courts?"
Garnet wrinkled her brow, thinking hard. "Not really, to be honest. It was right after Father's death and the castle was in a bit of disarray. Those times are pretty much a blur of color to me,"
Zidane managed to bite off part of his nail.
/Woops . . ./
"Hmm . . . Well, do you remember . . ." Zidane stopped, frowning. Had she even been there? Kuja had explained everything to him later. But he'd left out some of the details. "Do you remember the night Dr. Tot left Alexandria?"
Garnet sighed, watching the ripples on the water, the moon forming a fuzzy white path of light across its great surface. "How could I forget? He was my teacher; my only friend. I thought I'd never see him again,"
"Do you remember WHY he left?"
"No, I sat on the stairs nearby. It was after my bed-time and I wasn't supposed to be up that late. But I heard a lot of shouting. Some of it was from Tot. Some was from Mother. Some from Beatrix. And . . ." she stopped, her eyes widening to the size of saucers. "Kuja! I forgot that Kuja was the strange white-haired man that had been prowling around the castle all that time! He seemed so different then. But not in a good way,"
"Well," Zidane muttered. "Tot left for a lot of reasons. You know most of them already. Because he disagreed with Brahne's new attitude, because he didn't like the production of black mages, because he was angry about the unnecessary war. But there's another reason that not too many people know about. One that you must never utter to anyone,"
"What?"
Zidane let out a deep, painful breath, gazing up sadly at the blackened sky.
"Kuja was addicted to heroin," he said slowly, eyes filling with tears.
"Dangerously addicted . . ."
/Flash/
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Zidane growled angrily as he twirled the stick between his fingers, desperately trying to spark a fire for the night.
"Light, god damn it!" the agitated genome cried, jamming the wood into the dirt. It broke in half and he let out a scream of frustration. "Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT! Kuja! Get the hell over here and light this god damn fire!"
Kuja peered out from around the log he'd been sitting against, a small smile playing across his features.
"Fire problems again?" he queried mockingly, tilting his head to the side. "My, my . . . and you call yourself the supreme angel of death . . .?"
"Just shut up and light the god damn fire!"
"Fine. But only if you cut it with the 'god damn's,'"
"And why should I, god damn it?"
Kuja turned away haughtily, folding his arms over his chest. "Fine then. Be that way. No fire for you,"
Zidane leapt angrily to his feet, brandishing both halves of the stick in his hands as if he were holding his twin daggers.
"Kuja!" he whined. "I'm not kidding! We need that fire to keep the Mist Monsters away!" the blonde threw down the sticks and ran over to the log, peering around the side. "Kuja . . ." he stopped as his brother slid something behind his back, looking up at Zidane in surprise.
"What?!" the silver-haired man snapped, looking annoyed. Zidane's eyes narrowed.
"Kuja, what did you just hide?"
"Nothing! Now move it. I gotta go light the stupid fire,"
Zidane held his ground, arms crossed. "Kuja, what did you just hide?"
"Nothing!"
"Hand - it - over,"
Kuja leapt up angrily, teeth bared. Zidane's lip curled as well. Then he saw it.
"Oh my god . . . I . . . I don't believe this . . ."
He dropped down onto one knee, taking the object delicately into his hands, eyes swirling with disbelief. "Kuja . . . how - how COULD you?!"
Kuja collapsed down heavily into the dirt, staring blankly at it as well. He just gazed, as if seeing the thing itself for the first time. Zidane numbly unscrewed the top, tipping out whatever was left. It was nearly empty. He slowly raised his eyes, boring into his brother's turned head. Their was rage chiseled into every inch of his face. Zidane shoved the syringe furiously into the silver-haired man's arms, breathing heavily with conniption.
"You . . . you were using . . . heroin?!"
Kuja didn't answer. He just continued to look away. Zidane stood up angrily, fingers balling into fists at his sides.
"I . . . I don't know how I can ever forgive you for this. I . . . I just . . . GOD DAMN IT!" he yanked his dirty blonde hair, shaking his head in frustration. "How - do - you - LIVE with yourself?!" he let out a stifled cry of rage and turned away, breathing hard. Behind him, Kuja stood up slowly, still holding the syringe in one hand. He stared at Zidane for a moment who - sensing his brother's eyes upon him - turned around.
"I'm sorry . . ." Kuja whispered.
"Sorry won't cut it, Kuja," Zidane snapped, seething. "Any respect I had for you before just went spiraling out into the cold damn hell of the universe,"
"I can stop anytime! Really!"
"So stop now,"
Kuja's silence said everything. Zidane just let out a sarcastic "ha" muttering "it figures" under his breath and turning on his heel. After only one step, he heard a small clatter behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that the syringe had slipped out of Kuja's grasp, falling to the barren ground with a faint plink. Zidane swiveled completely around, glancing at it. Then up at Kuja. The sorcerer just shrugged. His arm was turned purposely towards his brother, the black and blue blotches in the crook of his elbow clearly visible. They both reached a silent mutual agreement.
Carefully, Zidane brought his foot down upon the thing, a small crack ringing through the air as it shattered into a million pieces.
And then Kuja told him everything . . .
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/Flash/
Garnet gasped, hand over her mouth. "Kuja was on heroin?!"
Zidane nodded gravely, sighing sadly. "You bet. Had been for years. Everyone in the courts knew it. I guess it would have been kinda obvious,"
"But where did he get the new stuff from?"
Zidane smirked, no amusement in his eyes. "Where do you think? Conde Petie, of course. That area is a land mine. The thought never even crossed my mind,"
Garnet seemed to be having a hard time taking all this in. "So . . . so Tot knew? And Beatrix? And Mother?"
"Yep, yep, and yep,"
"I - I had no clue,"
"Neither did I," Zidane grumbled. "That was part of the reason for the hatred that formed between him and Beatrix. I think they may have actually liked each other at one point,"
"Ugh! Kuja's just horrible!"
Zidane lowered his eyes. He wasn't going to argue with her. Nothing he could possibly say would change her mind.
She could never understand . . .
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Kuja sat in a guest room on the top floor of Alexandria Castle, frowning. They didn't have to tell him he was imprisoned. He knew. Beatrix was probably standing outside the door with a key, grinning. He exhaled heavily and collapsed back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
"I hate this place . . ." he mumbled. "You see, Zidane?! This is why I didn't want to come back with you,"
As if in answer to his question, the sound of a lock clicking alerted the silver-tailed genome's attention. He sat up quickly, ready to yell. But all he saw was a flash of honey-colored hair and a pair of shiny glasses before Megan flung herself onto him, looking near tears.
"Oh, Feather! I was so worried!" she cried, smothering him with joy.
Kuja chuckled to himself as he managed to sit up, still holding Megan in his arms. He rocked her back and forth, trying to keep her from crying. She sniffled and after a moment pulled back, hands on his shoulders. She grinned.
"I'm so glad you're okay!"
"I'm fine, Megan! Honestly!" Kuja laughed, realizing how much he'd missed her pretty face. She still looked uneasy.
"Why did they do that to you?" the young woman asked, eyes shining inquisitively. Kuja stared at her. Her face. She'd been so happy to see him. She may have even loved him. Would he ever know?
Quietly, he took her into his arms once more, squeezing her into his embrace. She fell in contentedly as he rubbed her back gently.
"It was just a mistake, Megan . . ." he whispered, feeling their bond of trust breaking as he did so.
"Just a mistake . . ."
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A/N: Was that okay?! Please say it was okay!! I bet it's pretty easy to see where some problems are going to evolve in the future. Hmm . . . Kuja's a little liar, eh? Well, I assure you Kuja's "problem" won't affect the plot of this story; only make it a little stronger at times. I hope I didn't offend anyone *has a panic attack with nerves* So read and review! Review more! I feel neglected . . .
P.S. Whoo, I got that up FAST! Weird. Though I SHOULDN'T have what with the lack of reviews *cough*!
()()()()() Black Mage Dad ()()()()()
P.S. This chapter's REALLY short but it packs a LOT of material.
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy . . . (Square: Thank God . . .) Lol.
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"When they took the fourth amendment, I was silent because I don't deal drugs. When they took the sixth amendment, I kept quiet because I know I'm innocent. When they took the second amendment, I said nothing because I don't own a gun. Now they've come for the first amendment, and I can't say anything at all."
- Tim Freeman
Queen Garnet Til Alexandros the XVII sat on the wall outside of Alexandria Castle, gazing out across the moat and wringing her fingers with nerves. Only one thought remained in her head:
/I can't be in the castle with that man . . . I can't be in the castle with that man . . ./
Nobody else knew yet. She couldn't tell them. She didn't WANT to tell them. All their happy endings . . . gone. A simple sighting and their lives were ruined . . .
"Someone up there must REALLY hate me," Garnet muttered, raising her eyes to the star-streaked sky. She spotted a boat crossing the moat and her spirits rose ever so slightly.
"Zidane . . ."
The blonde-tailed genome leapt off the gondola, nodding politely to the Alexandrian soldier and trotting up the small road to his fiancé. He looked concerned when he saw her.
"Hey, Dagger . . . You all right?"
Garnet tried to smile her most dazzling smile but it fell rather flat. "Yeah, I'm just recovering a little, I guess,"
"Yeah, me too,"
They both hesitated. Garnet tapped the wall with the back of her boot. Finally, she voiced the question that had been killing her for hours.
"Zidane? Why did you lie to me?"
The genome cocked his head to the side looking rather surprised and perhaps a little hurt. "What do you mean? I never lied to you,"
"Yes - yes you did," the queen argued. "You told me that . . . that THING . . ." she pointed behind her in the direction of the castle. "Was dead. How could you lie to me about something like that?"
Zidane exhaled slowly, running his fingers through his hair. Quietly, he slid up onto the wall next to her majesty, chewing his finger thoughtfully.
"Dagger, honestly, I had no idea he was alive,"
Garnet laughed coldly, shaking her head. "I don't believe this . . . You're lying to me AGAIN!"
"No, really! I'm not!" Zidane defended, wishing there was some evidence out there to prove it. "I was just as surprised as YOU were,"
Garnet pursed her lips, frowning. "Zidane, I want to know EXACTLY what happened in the Iifa Tree and the three years it took for you to return to me. And I want to know NOW," she turned her eyes onto the young boy, trying to read his mind. His expression was impossible to scan. He seemed to be thinking hard.
"Dagger, I really told you everything I knew. I never lied to you,"
"Fine. Then tell me everything you know now,"
Zidane nodded, shifting upon the cold rocks. "All right," he agreed. "I can go with that . . ."
He paused, closing his eyes as he thought back to those dreadful times.
"Well," the nineteen-year-old began, folding his hands in his lap. "As you know, I returned to Kuja in the Iifa Tree after the destruction of Memoria,"
Garnet nodded, recalling how aggrieved she'd been at his departure.
/Flash/
Promise me you'll come back . . .
/Flash/
Zidane continued, ignoring the cold breeze that seemed to be settling over the peaceful city. "Kuja was in nasty shape. Too injured to move. I kept his morale up by singing our song. It seemed to help him a lot. And I needed all the help from that guy I could get. Our strategy was for him to drain magic from me, and him - in turn - to destroy the roots with it. It was difficult, I won't lie about that. It took us two weeks just to manage; and that was with no food and very little water. Also, the transfer of magic left me extremely weak, and his own use of magic left his just as sick. It was getting harder and harder for him to save enough magic to drain more from me. And I, of course, was steadily running out,"
/Flash/
"Come on, Zidane. Just a little more,"
"Oh god, Kuja. I can't do this,"
"Don't give up! We're almost there!"
/Flash/
Garnet scowled, face darkening. "You sang our song? In front of HIM?! How could you?!"
Zidane rolled his eyes, annoyed at the queen's ignorance. "Remember how I told you I survived by singing our song? Well, that's the truth. Not only did it give him strength, but it fueled me on as well. Besides, he already knew the words," Zidane clapped a hand over his mouth hurriedly, realizing he'd said too much.
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing,"
"Hmm . . ." Garnet looked suspicious. Zidane had a feeling she was going to bring the subject up again later. Trying to evade the topic further, Zidane continued with his exposition.
"Anyhow, once we made it out of the Iifa Tree we realized it was still attempting to destroy the planet. The two of us traveled to Conde Petie and used the last of our money on ethers and potions. Then we returned to the tree and slowly battled it over the next month. We defeated it,"
Garnet nodded, understanding dawning in her eyes. "Yeah, no one was ever able to explain why the tree stopped so suddenly. I'm glad I know now,"
Zidane made a face, resting his head in his hand. "Well, the destruction of the tree left us in an even nastier pickle,"
"What?"
"It released all of the Mist Monsters. This meant that Kuja and I had to defeat all of THEM too. That took us many months because we had to travel all over the continent to destroy them before they managed to migrate to more heavily populated bodies of land. However, during that time, I became aware of some things . . ." Zidane branched off, voice fading. Garnet looked up sharply, face stern.
"What things?" she queried, frowning considerably.
/Flash/
Oh my god . . . I . . . I don't believe this . . .
/Flash/
Zidane suddenly didn't want to talk about those months anymore. "Dagger, honey, I can't continue this conversation . . . I'm sorry . . ."
Garnet would have nothing of it. "Zidane, you PROMISED me," she nearly shouted, turning towards him angrily. "I want to know what happened and I think I have a right now that I've been slammed so cruelly back into reality by YOUR god damn brother,"
Zidane's shoulders slumped. He knew she would never stop pressing it out of him. His fiancé was quite the stubborn mule. The genome tried to think of a way to tell her what he'd seen.
"Okay," he said, choosing his words carefully. "Do you remember when Kuja was in the Alexandrian courts?"
Garnet wrinkled her brow, thinking hard. "Not really, to be honest. It was right after Father's death and the castle was in a bit of disarray. Those times are pretty much a blur of color to me,"
Zidane managed to bite off part of his nail.
/Woops . . ./
"Hmm . . . Well, do you remember . . ." Zidane stopped, frowning. Had she even been there? Kuja had explained everything to him later. But he'd left out some of the details. "Do you remember the night Dr. Tot left Alexandria?"
Garnet sighed, watching the ripples on the water, the moon forming a fuzzy white path of light across its great surface. "How could I forget? He was my teacher; my only friend. I thought I'd never see him again,"
"Do you remember WHY he left?"
"No, I sat on the stairs nearby. It was after my bed-time and I wasn't supposed to be up that late. But I heard a lot of shouting. Some of it was from Tot. Some was from Mother. Some from Beatrix. And . . ." she stopped, her eyes widening to the size of saucers. "Kuja! I forgot that Kuja was the strange white-haired man that had been prowling around the castle all that time! He seemed so different then. But not in a good way,"
"Well," Zidane muttered. "Tot left for a lot of reasons. You know most of them already. Because he disagreed with Brahne's new attitude, because he didn't like the production of black mages, because he was angry about the unnecessary war. But there's another reason that not too many people know about. One that you must never utter to anyone,"
"What?"
Zidane let out a deep, painful breath, gazing up sadly at the blackened sky.
"Kuja was addicted to heroin," he said slowly, eyes filling with tears.
"Dangerously addicted . . ."
/Flash/
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Zidane growled angrily as he twirled the stick between his fingers, desperately trying to spark a fire for the night.
"Light, god damn it!" the agitated genome cried, jamming the wood into the dirt. It broke in half and he let out a scream of frustration. "Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT! Kuja! Get the hell over here and light this god damn fire!"
Kuja peered out from around the log he'd been sitting against, a small smile playing across his features.
"Fire problems again?" he queried mockingly, tilting his head to the side. "My, my . . . and you call yourself the supreme angel of death . . .?"
"Just shut up and light the god damn fire!"
"Fine. But only if you cut it with the 'god damn's,'"
"And why should I, god damn it?"
Kuja turned away haughtily, folding his arms over his chest. "Fine then. Be that way. No fire for you,"
Zidane leapt angrily to his feet, brandishing both halves of the stick in his hands as if he were holding his twin daggers.
"Kuja!" he whined. "I'm not kidding! We need that fire to keep the Mist Monsters away!" the blonde threw down the sticks and ran over to the log, peering around the side. "Kuja . . ." he stopped as his brother slid something behind his back, looking up at Zidane in surprise.
"What?!" the silver-haired man snapped, looking annoyed. Zidane's eyes narrowed.
"Kuja, what did you just hide?"
"Nothing! Now move it. I gotta go light the stupid fire,"
Zidane held his ground, arms crossed. "Kuja, what did you just hide?"
"Nothing!"
"Hand - it - over,"
Kuja leapt up angrily, teeth bared. Zidane's lip curled as well. Then he saw it.
"Oh my god . . . I . . . I don't believe this . . ."
He dropped down onto one knee, taking the object delicately into his hands, eyes swirling with disbelief. "Kuja . . . how - how COULD you?!"
Kuja collapsed down heavily into the dirt, staring blankly at it as well. He just gazed, as if seeing the thing itself for the first time. Zidane numbly unscrewed the top, tipping out whatever was left. It was nearly empty. He slowly raised his eyes, boring into his brother's turned head. Their was rage chiseled into every inch of his face. Zidane shoved the syringe furiously into the silver-haired man's arms, breathing heavily with conniption.
"You . . . you were using . . . heroin?!"
Kuja didn't answer. He just continued to look away. Zidane stood up angrily, fingers balling into fists at his sides.
"I . . . I don't know how I can ever forgive you for this. I . . . I just . . . GOD DAMN IT!" he yanked his dirty blonde hair, shaking his head in frustration. "How - do - you - LIVE with yourself?!" he let out a stifled cry of rage and turned away, breathing hard. Behind him, Kuja stood up slowly, still holding the syringe in one hand. He stared at Zidane for a moment who - sensing his brother's eyes upon him - turned around.
"I'm sorry . . ." Kuja whispered.
"Sorry won't cut it, Kuja," Zidane snapped, seething. "Any respect I had for you before just went spiraling out into the cold damn hell of the universe,"
"I can stop anytime! Really!"
"So stop now,"
Kuja's silence said everything. Zidane just let out a sarcastic "ha" muttering "it figures" under his breath and turning on his heel. After only one step, he heard a small clatter behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that the syringe had slipped out of Kuja's grasp, falling to the barren ground with a faint plink. Zidane swiveled completely around, glancing at it. Then up at Kuja. The sorcerer just shrugged. His arm was turned purposely towards his brother, the black and blue blotches in the crook of his elbow clearly visible. They both reached a silent mutual agreement.
Carefully, Zidane brought his foot down upon the thing, a small crack ringing through the air as it shattered into a million pieces.
And then Kuja told him everything . . .
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
/Flash/
Garnet gasped, hand over her mouth. "Kuja was on heroin?!"
Zidane nodded gravely, sighing sadly. "You bet. Had been for years. Everyone in the courts knew it. I guess it would have been kinda obvious,"
"But where did he get the new stuff from?"
Zidane smirked, no amusement in his eyes. "Where do you think? Conde Petie, of course. That area is a land mine. The thought never even crossed my mind,"
Garnet seemed to be having a hard time taking all this in. "So . . . so Tot knew? And Beatrix? And Mother?"
"Yep, yep, and yep,"
"I - I had no clue,"
"Neither did I," Zidane grumbled. "That was part of the reason for the hatred that formed between him and Beatrix. I think they may have actually liked each other at one point,"
"Ugh! Kuja's just horrible!"
Zidane lowered his eyes. He wasn't going to argue with her. Nothing he could possibly say would change her mind.
She could never understand . . .
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Kuja sat in a guest room on the top floor of Alexandria Castle, frowning. They didn't have to tell him he was imprisoned. He knew. Beatrix was probably standing outside the door with a key, grinning. He exhaled heavily and collapsed back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
"I hate this place . . ." he mumbled. "You see, Zidane?! This is why I didn't want to come back with you,"
As if in answer to his question, the sound of a lock clicking alerted the silver-tailed genome's attention. He sat up quickly, ready to yell. But all he saw was a flash of honey-colored hair and a pair of shiny glasses before Megan flung herself onto him, looking near tears.
"Oh, Feather! I was so worried!" she cried, smothering him with joy.
Kuja chuckled to himself as he managed to sit up, still holding Megan in his arms. He rocked her back and forth, trying to keep her from crying. She sniffled and after a moment pulled back, hands on his shoulders. She grinned.
"I'm so glad you're okay!"
"I'm fine, Megan! Honestly!" Kuja laughed, realizing how much he'd missed her pretty face. She still looked uneasy.
"Why did they do that to you?" the young woman asked, eyes shining inquisitively. Kuja stared at her. Her face. She'd been so happy to see him. She may have even loved him. Would he ever know?
Quietly, he took her into his arms once more, squeezing her into his embrace. She fell in contentedly as he rubbed her back gently.
"It was just a mistake, Megan . . ." he whispered, feeling their bond of trust breaking as he did so.
"Just a mistake . . ."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: Was that okay?! Please say it was okay!! I bet it's pretty easy to see where some problems are going to evolve in the future. Hmm . . . Kuja's a little liar, eh? Well, I assure you Kuja's "problem" won't affect the plot of this story; only make it a little stronger at times. I hope I didn't offend anyone *has a panic attack with nerves* So read and review! Review more! I feel neglected . . .
P.S. Whoo, I got that up FAST! Weird. Though I SHOULDN'T have what with the lack of reviews *cough*!
()()()()() Black Mage Dad ()()()()()