A/N: This is the longest chapter yet, coming in at almost twenty-two pages
^_^ And it was FREAKING HARD to write. I dunno why. I mean, this
certainly isn't a filler chapter, but it kinda felt like one while writing
it. But still, I think the message this chapter sends is really good. I
mean, this is one of those chapters where you can pretty much say "it had
to happen some time." Because ALL Kuja fics have a chapter like this one.
It's like some kind of requirement or something. But whatever. 'cause, of
course, I, Black Mage Dad (who is a girl . . .) would not settle to do
something so ordinary. So this chapter is a little . . . different than
the normal cliché. I actually took some old ideas about Kuja and changed
them so that the perspective was different. I didn't change any of the
actual things he ever did, but I changed some of his motives for doing them
(which I can, because the game never reputed anything I wrote in here.
Nya!). So just read on! I hope it's good. I had a difficult time getting
through this chapter because I started writing it in an evil, angry, kill-
kill mood. Then, somewhere after the dragon and before the Goumon scene in
this chapter, I suddenly got really, really happy! And I still am *dances
around the room.* The only problem was . . . I still had to keep writing
the depressing crap I'd started. Made things . . . rather difficult. Ah
well, I'll just pray it worked anyways!
Disclaimer: I no own game! Quina only want yummy-yummies!
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"Le roi est mort, vive le roi!"
– Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi (The King is Dead, Long Live the King), Enigma
Demeter stood with her back facing Megan. The door was closed. Now it was only her and the Summoner. Kuja didn't count. It wasn't really him . . . Megan clutched a fist near her chest.
"Wh-what do you want?!"
Demeter whipped around, piercing the Summoner with her lilac eyes. "Megan Yorokobi . . . How much you have changed in so short a time . . ."
". . . What . . .?"
"Why, I still remember when you fawned after Kuja like he was a product going out of stock! Now all you can do is hate him . . . Very interesting,"
Megan squared her shoulders, standing tall. "Well in case you didn't know, DEMETER, I am descended of the Madain Sari tribe. They were MASS-MURDERED and SLAUGHTERED by Kuja when he was only FOURTEEN years old!!! My father died that day and bled slowly while handing me over to my mother and grandmother. I can still remember it . . . The warmth of his blood growing colder as it soaked through my clothes . . . And for what?! So that Kuja could run back like a happy little puppy to his master, awaiting praise, and then dea – "
"– YOU KNOW NOTHING!!!"
Demeter bared herself menacingly over Megan, her eyes flashing angrily. Megan backed up but still held her ground.
"I think I know SOMETHING!" she shouted back, stomping forward, fists clenched. "How DARE you try to defend my father's BUTCHERER!!!"
"HOW DARE YOU MAKE BIASED ACCUSATIONS!!!"
"HOW DARE YOU DEFEND THAT . . . THAT ANIMAL!!!"
Demeter narrowed her eyes and lashed out, grabbing Megan's sleeve. The young girl shrieked, memories of her imprisonment on the Indomitable resurfacing and drowning her with fear. However, Demeter was simply leading Megan away towards the opposite wall; her sleeve the leash. Megan struggled and protested the entire way.
"W-wait! What are you doing?! Let go of me, damn it! LET GO!!!"
"Shut up!" Demeter spun Megan around so that they were face to face. "Stop whining!"
"Stop pulling on me!"
The purple-eyed woman took a deep breath to calm her angry nerves. ". . . Fair enough . . ." Megan looked distinctly ruffled and she plucked at her sleeve indignantly.
"Gods, what the hell was THAT for?!"
"We're going somewhere," Demeter said simply. Megan blinked several times. That was probably the last answer she'd expected.
"Wh-where . . .?"
"There," Demeter pointed one steady finger at Kuja's form lying several yards away. Megan raised an eyebrow.
". . . Have you flipped . . .?"
"No, though I'm not surprised you asked. Megan, I want to show you something. I want to show you something that . . . few others will ever have the privilege or the curse to see,"
"Which is . . .?"
"I'm going to show you the real Kuja,"
Megan snorted. "No need for that. He's right there, dead. Serves him right,"
"No, no. I literally mean the real Kuja. You see . . ." Demeter sighed, running her fingers through her rich mahogany hair. "I have this . . . power . . . Many do possess it, but few are free to roam and use it. I can, and I do,"
"What?"
"Use it,"
"Oh. And this power is . . .?"
"I can enter people's souls,"
"Uh, newsflash," Megan hissed sarcastically. "Kuja's soul is GONE! You said so yourself!"
"Yes, but I can still go there. I want to take you with me. There, I can show you all his memories, his deepest darkest secrets, and even things HE doesn't remember,"
"Ew, you're a sick pervert, you know that?"
Demeter violently grabbed Megan's collar and lifted her up, causing Megan to cry out and squirm in protest.
"Now you listen to me, you Summoner BRAT! I do NOT and will NEVER abuse my privilege to do this with people! What should stay private stays private! ALWAYS!!!"
"Okay, okay! Geez, put me down!"
Demeter lowered Megan slowly, the Summoner's glasses askew. The violet- eyed woman then sighed, rubbing her temples.
"You must bear with me, Megan . . . I'm just a little irritable lately,"
"If you don't mind my asking . . . uh, why?"
Demeter hesitated then looked away. "I'm not here to tell you my life's story," she muttered under her breath. "But I just want you to know that the very balance of my OWN personal issues hangs on the fate of these people and Kuja . . . There is something that I . . . left behind. And I cannot return to it until the balance of the planets is restored,"
". . . O . . . kay . . ."
Demeter suddenly whirled around. "Enough talk," she grabbed Megan's arm, wrenching her forward. "We're going,"
And all Megan could register was the strangest roaring in her ears before everything went black.
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"Zidane, are you sure you're okay?" Garnet whispered, gently touching her fiancé's knee. Zidane closed his eyes wearily, leaning back against their bedroom windowsill. The heat of the outside world warmed the glass as the sun began to ascend over the horizon; radiating into Zidane's exhausted muscles.
"I won't be okay until my brother's alive . . ."
"But . . ."
Zidane opened one crystalline eye angrily. "I don't want to hear it," he barked. "We all die eventually. Kuja's time is just . . . going to come a little early. That's all,"
Garnet nodded, pulling her hand back. ". . . Yes, of course . . ." /Oh, Zidane, why do you lie to yourself? Don't you suffer enough already . . .?/
"When do you think we're going to leave?" Garnet queried. Zidane shrugged, closing his eye again and settling back into the nook of the window.
"Whenever Beatrix thinks we've 'strategized' enough,"
"But we have so little time!"
"I know, I know . . . Just let them do their thing. Beatrix has never lost a fight when someone she loves is involved,"
Garnet chewed her lip. "This is all my fault . . ." she murmured, fighting back tears. "I accused Kuja of trying to destroy us all again. He was so angry. None of this would have happened if I'd just kept my damn tongue to myself!"
Zidane sighed, tangled locks of blonde falling into his eyes. "It would have happened eventually . . . You can't blame yourself forever,"
"Then can I at least blame myself once?"
"No,"
Garnet smiled shakily. "Zidane . . ."
"Just chill, Dagger," the ex-thief snapped. "Everything's going to be okay. I just know it . . . We're going to release those souls, stop the assimilation, and when Kuja's back, he and I are gonna kick Garland's scrawny metal ass!"
The queen stifled a giggle, knowing it was inappropriate in the present situation. Still, she couldn't help but grin.
/Thank you, Zidane . . . You always know how to raise our spirits . . . Now we just need to raise yours . . ./
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"Ngh . . . What in the . . .?"
Megan opened her eyes blearily, feeling horribly nauseous, then yelped.
"Wah! I've gone blind, I – oh." She replaced her glasses with a blush and sat up. It took a lot of effort. Her limbs felt like thick jello and her head was as heavy as a lead weight. It was not unlike the feeling one gets after standing on their head for several hours. "Oh . . . man . . ." Megan gagged, rubbing her face. "I feel wasted . . . Like that time I drank fourteen shots of vodka at that party and passed out in the chocobo pen and – WHERE THE HELL AM I?!!!"
She looked up demandingly at Demeter, who stood by calmly overhead. Everywhere she looked . . . It was blue . . . Like this pulsating rhythm of light. As though the life of the planet beat in the blinding aqua sensation of the world. Towering trees, so metal in appearance – yet alive – graced the sky magnificently above their heads like shining monoliths. They glittered and shimmered, much like the rest of their ethereal world.
"What . . . IS this place . . .?" Megan whispered, taking in the sheer colossal size of the empty sky above her. The world felt so dead . . . Yet it was so beautiful.
"Where are we?" Demeter queried. "Why, we're on Terra,"
"Terra? You don't mean – "
"Yes," Demeter cast her violet eyes down at Megan. "We are on Kuja's world,"
Megan let out a gasp of sheer horror and scrambled to her feet. She teetered, still a little dizzy, but used her anger to catch herself.
"Whaddya MEAN, we're on Terra?!!"
"We're on Terra," Demeter said simply.
"Argh! No, that's not what /I/ mean! I mean, how the HELL are we going to get back?!"
Demeter seemed to smile with amusement at the young Summoner's foolish spectacle. "Dear, we're not REALLY on Terra. This is more like . . . an alternative glimpse into the past. Like a replay of . . ."
"Memories?" Megan queried, spinning around as she gazed in awe at the crystalline, syrupy substances dripping from the trees. They were suspended in frozen, magnificent animation; caught in mid-ooze. Even the stream nearby, which was so sparkly and full of wonder, was still. It was as if time ceased to exist on this corpse of a planet.
". . . Sort of . . ." Demeter rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "But this isn't only Kuja's memories we're seeing. We've entered his soul, but the soul is made up of other people's thoughts and feelings as well. All souls are. They are interconnected creatures, able to enter one another. One person's soul can contain the same event written over from thousands of perspectives. That's why these memories are unbiased. Because we are seeing what all who were present saw from outside of them," Demeter took a deep breath.
Megan blinked. "And . . . why are we doing this?"
"I want to show you some things,"
"But why?"
Demeter didn't answer. She was looking at something far away. Megan followed her gaze into the cold, desolate world of Terra. Through the synthetic trees and lost souls she saw what seemed impossible on Terra: movement. A boy was walking beneath the canopy of metal foliage towards them. Megan frowned.
/He's alone . . . This boy, whoever he is, is walking around in this empty place by himself . . ./.
Once he came into clearer view and the shadows had ceased scattering his features, Megan let out a gasp of surprise.
"No way!"
But there was no denying it. The child, seemingly no more than three or four years in age, was beautiful. His eyes were gleaming blue like the rest of the planet and his hair was a shimmering cascade of silver. Though it was only a bit past his shoulders and the distinctive dragon feathers were missing, Megan knew those flawless features anywhere.
". . . Kuja . . ."
"Not Kuja," Demeter corrected. "Look," She pointed and Megan followed her finger to Kuja's face. Then she honed in on his eyes.
Empty. They were empty. Not empty as in the milky blindness that Kuja had possessed of late, but true, blank eyes. Not an emotion or thought seemed to stir behind them. His face was expressionless.
". . . What the heck . . .?!"
"He's a genome," Demeter explained, watching as what appeared to be Kuja walked past them. The boy stopped for a moment as if testing something in the air, then continued on his way. Megan caught a glimpse of his silver tail trailing limply behind him. The women watched Kuja until he was out of sight and the pulsing blue light of Terra had swallowed him away. "He's a genome . . ." Demeter repeated tiredly. ". . . And thus, has no soul,"
"But Kuja DOES have a soul! An EVIL soul!"
"He didn't always have a soul," Demeter said tightly. "At one point he was like that, though only until around the age of four. He was an empty, soulless husk,"
"And WHY did you show that to me?"
"Come," Demeter grabbed Megan's arm and tugged. There was a sensation of falling through rushing, screaming waters, and then she toppled over.
"Ow!" Megan fell face-first into the eerie, aqua grass of Terra. Embarrassed, she noticed Demeter standing steadily on her feet. The purple- eyed woman glanced down at her with a raised eyebrow as if to say "you really are the clumsiest girl on the face of this planet . . ."
"Wh-where are we?" Megan queried, rising shakily and trying to hide her blush. Demeter blinked for a moment and then said,
"The edge of a forest,"
"Yes I can see that, but – "
"Just watch,"
Megan peered curiously into the shining, steel-like trees. Everything was so quiet. Unnaturally quiet, even for Terra. Like the forest was waiting for something . . . Then an earth-shattering scream broke through the silence and the forest seemed to erupt with pain. Megan stumbled a step in surprise as an enormous silver dragon, its head thrown back and its eyes bulging, hurtled into the air. It beat its wings furiously, shrieking so horribly that Megan had to cover her ears. She fell to her knees, cringing. Demeter didn't move.
"God, what the hell?!" Megan cried. The dragon rolled over in the air as it rose above the forest. It seemed to be twisting and flailing in incomprehensible agony. When Megan saw what the cause of the dragon's cries came from, she nearly threw up.
The dragon's left front leg was ripped completely off. Tattered sinew and bone stuck out from its severed flesh which was spraying blood across the forest floor. The dragon was flying as if trying to escape something, but it was weakening and dropping lethargically back to the earth.
Megan covered her mouth in horror, feeling her stomach turn over. Blood . . . So much blood . . . She closed her eyes, feeling the bile rising in her throat. However, Demeter's voice broke through the pounding in her ears.
"Look, fool!"
Megan cracked open her glazed eyes and saw a familiar sight running from the forest. It was the boy from before . . . Kuja. But he was taller now, if only a few inches. And his hair was longer. But the biggest change was in the eyes. They were no longer gray and empty, but shining and full of life.
/He has a soul, now . . ./ Megan acknowledged amidst the nausea. She saw, however, that the only emotion in Kuja's eyes was fear. Fear and the feeling that she herself had at that moment. The feeling that the contents of your stomach are about to be turned inside-out.
Kuja was several yards away, blood splattered on his violet Terran clothing. Suddenly, a gruff hand seemed to come from nowhere and Megan gasped.
"Garland!"
The Terran overlord stepped out from behind a tree, yanking Kuja up by his collar. He shook the boy, shouting.
"You let the dragon get away!"
"I'm sorry, Master Garland!" the young Kuja sobbed, wriggling desperately to escape from his creator's iron grip. "B-but I can't fly!"
"You CAN fly!" Garland hissed, giving Kuja another rough shaking. "And you will KILL that dragon! Do you hear me?!" With a snarl, he threw Kuja into the grass. The young boy dodged a kick and scrambled away. Megan watched, wide-eyed, as the silver dragon suddenly gave a great heave and collapsed to the ground with a thunderous crash. Garland smiled thinly.
"There you go, boy. The dragon is down. Now . . . finish her off,"
Kuja looked up at Garland fearfully, then at the dragon gasping on the ground several yards away. Its great feathered wings were twitching, its body trembling. The dragon glanced at Kuja with one glazed eye. Kuja bit his lip.
"But Master Garland . . . it's dying. Why should I kill it . . .?"
"You must be RUTHLESS, boy," Garland snapped, glaring down at his charge. "Show it no mercy. Be it on the verge of death, push her over the edge. If that were a Gaian now, could you kill it? Could you have ripped its leg off with your own bare hands?"
Tears were pouring down Kuja's cheeks. Megan had never seen him cry. "No,"
"Then you are not ready!" Garland smacked Kuja across the shoulders, sending him sprawling into the dirt. "You will kill that dragon NOW or I will kill YOU! DO YOU HEAR ME, BOY?!!"
Kuja sniffled, nodding, and dragged himself onto his hands and knees. He crawled slowly up to the dragon, gazing, horrified, into its fading face. The dragon let out a small whine, blood dripping from its nostrils. Kuja came up to the great beast's side and sat there on his knees, staring at it.
". . . Kill her . . ." Garland whispered, staring intently at Kuja. Megan could tell even from her distance so far away that Kuja's very life depended on what transpired at the forest's edge.
"I can't," Kuja breathed, his eyes locked on the dragon's.
"Kill her," Garland's voice was more forceful this time.
"No,"
"KILL HER, DAMN IT!"
"NO!!!" Kuja leapt to his feet, sobbing hysterically. "It didn't do anything! This is POINTLESS!!!"
"SHUT YOUR MOUTH YOU INSOLENT LITTLE RAT!!!" Garland stomped forward and kicked Kuja hard in the side. The young boy groaned, rolling over in the dirt. Garland stood over him menacingly.
"You will kill that dragon now . . . Or you are going back to the Goumon,"
Kuja's eyes widened with petrified fear. There was panic written all over his face. The kind of panic where you can't even breathe anymore. ". . . No . . .!"
"Yes!"
"I'll kill the dragon, Master Garland! I swear!" Kuja seemed to be pleading for his life.
"What's the Goumon?" Megan whispered, glancing sideways at Demeter. Demeter didn't respond, but there was a similar, more suppressed horror in her violet eyes even after she had witnessed this event so many times before. Whatever the Goumon was, it was something unspeakable . . .
Kuja stood, trembling. The sorcerer's eyes closed as he raised his small hands to cast a spell. The dragon stared back at him blearily. Somehow, Megan felt the monster didn't blame Kuja for her death. The steady flow of crimson blood from the creature's torn leg was lessening. A faint light formed in Kuja's hands. With deadly grace, he reached down and pressed his fingers against the dragon's shivering flesh. The monster roared in pain at the touch, seizing madly, and then lay still.
Kuja had killed it . . .
The light faded leaving Kuja standing there, stunned. Garland was grinning. Without so much as a word of praise he turned slowly and began to walk away. Kuja blinked.
"S-so . . . I don't have to go to the Goumon . . .?"
Garland stopped, his back facing the child. He chuckled. "Of course you do, fool. You defied my orders. Openly. And called your training for the destruction of Gaia 'pointless.'"
"But you said – !"
"Next time you will not question my orders then, will you?" Garland glanced over his shoulder mockingly. Kuja trembled, his eyes disbelieving, before he passed out with a sigh. Megan felt that familiar anger for Garland resurfacing.
/He's nothing but a child . . .!/ she thought furiously to herself. /Gods only know how he treats his other genomes and Zidane!/
Garland sneered and vanished. Kuja's small body vanished with him.
Silence descended.
"That's horrible!" Megan squeaked.
"You haven't seen anything yet . . ." Demeter murmured.
"Wh-what do you mean?"
The mage glanced at Megan with heavy lids and a solemn expression on her face. "Do you want to know what the Goumon is?"
"I don't know . . . do I?"
Demeter smiled dryly. "No, but I'm going to show you anyways," She sighed. "Goumon is an old Terran word for 'torture.' But in Kuja's case . . ." she hesitated, looking sad. "Kuja spent about half of his non-genome childhood up to the age of twelve in the Goumon. About a total of two years. I have two reasons for why I'm going to show you this,"
"Oh yeah? And what would those be Oh Great Queen of the Disgusting Visions?"
Demeter ignored the rude comment. "One, because I want to show you what Kuja put up with as a child – "
"Are you trying to get sympathy out of me?!" Megan snarled, rudely interrupting. "Because it's not working!"
"Is it?" Demeter smirked knowingly and continued, not taking heed of the frustrated look on her charge's face. "And second, Garland is probably going to utilize something like the Goumon on Zidane and the others. It's an effective tool for bringing down an enemy and those who aren't used to it like Kuja typically die from it. I need you to see it first hand. You must warn them,"
"Do it yourself!"
". . . I can't . . . I'm leaving,"
"Where are you going?!"
Demeter said nothing and grabbed Megan's arm. The rushing sensation returned, blurring Megan's vision, and then they came back to a screeching halt. Megan didn't fall this time, and she hissed that haughtily to Demeter. Demeter rolled her eyes, but Megan didn't see it.
Everything was dark.
"Hn? What is this place?" Megan inquired, looking around into the empty black.
". . . The Goumon Room . . ." Demeter hissed.
"The torture room?"
"Sort of. But . . . when you're in here . . . it's not really . . . Hurry, let me show you,"
Demeter gripped Megan's sleeve and led the Summoner soundlessly across the room. She seemed to know her way around pretty good. Then, suddenly, they appeared within a large, technical chamber. It seemed to be some sort of lab, full of strange metal gadgets hanging in loose wires from the walls and high-polished black flooring. Steel tables of noxious liquids and blinking lights stared down at the pair from every which way. But it was too dark to specifically make out what anything was. The room looked more like a dim grayness with dark, shadowy objects drifting about.
A soft moan alerted Megan's attention to the center of the lab. A steel table was fastened securely down and on top of it lay . . .
"Oh, it's Kuja!"
"Yes, in here for what occurred a few hours ago," Demeter said solemnly. "I'm just warning you, Megan; I know about your little phobias and . . . well, this may not be the sort of thing you want to see,"
Megan smirked. "Are you kidding? Kuja suffering? I love it," She moved in closer, but – though she tried to hide it – Demeter caught the doubtful look in Megan's eye.
The Summoner later regretted not heeding the mage's warning. What she saw there that day was a memory that haunted her forever. Even years later when it seemed the scars had healed, still the sight that befell her continued to grip her heart in sleepless nights.
Kuja lay there upon the table, twitching and sobbing with pain. Megan stared, wide-eyed, as the young sorcerer cried out. He seemed to be in mortal agony, yet there were no wounds . . . no weapons . . . nothing to pain him in the least.
"Demeter, what's wrong with him?!"
There was a shuffle and the purple-eyed woman scooted in beside Megan. She didn't say anything for a moment.
"This is the Goumon. It is . . . so horrible that it is a wonder he's not dead,"
"But what is it . . .?"
"Watch,"
Kuja's eyes were open but glazed and dilated with pain. He gasped, gripping the table hard. He wasn't even shackled down, but agony kept him in his place. He shrieked, and blood dripped down his chin. He shivered, the pain so great that he didn't seem to know where he was anymore.
"My god . . ." Megan whispered.
Kuja seemed suddenly desperate to get out of the room. He rolled over slightly on the table, then hissed and curled in on himself. His tears stained the cold metal as the boy, no older than six or seven years old, rolled himself onto the floor. Megan backed up as the child hit the tile, not even acknowledging that he had fallen. Kuja's eyes rolled up in his head as the pain seemed to increase and he clutched his chest, half- dragging himself away from the women.
He didn't get very far.
Within a matter of moments, the searing convulsions overcame him. The young sorcerer collapsed lifelessly against the floor, coughing up handfuls of crimson blood. Then, much to Megan's horror, he succumbed and lay there, sobbing, crying, and moaning in anguish.
"My god . . ." Megan repeated. She reeled and fell back. Demeter caught her, looking seriously at Kuja.
"I'm sorry," she said softly. "I know that was not the sort of thing you should have seen. Hold on," She propped Megan up and waved a graceful arm. The scenery vanished into darkness leaving Megan and Demeter standing alone in an empty, inky void of nothingness.
Megan couldn't stop shaking.
"Wh-what the hell . . . What the hell was wrong with him?!"
"The Goumon," Demeter began to explain. "It's a spell Garland can use. It's a horrible, horrible thing. Imagine this: Garland puts a spell upon a person's body so that their nerves will tell the brain it's in pain, even when it's not. Those under the Goumon will literally feel the most excruciating torture when nothing is there. It . . . sort of feels like having your insides scraped out with a rusty hook; except all over your body at one time. Most people die from it because the pain shuts down their organs. But Kuja was trained with it for years. He can take it for hours, as you saw back there. But he never learned how to defeat it. And because of that, if Garland uses it on Zidane and the others they will surely die. YOU have to warn them,"
Megan nodded numbly. "Yes . . . Yes, of course . . ."
"Now hurry," Demeter clutched the Summoner's sleeve once more. "I have much to show you!"
The world was whizzing by. Years passed in a matter of seconds. Garbles of voices filled the empty void and then everything stilled once more. Megan looked around, realizing they hadn't left the room.
"Huh? Demeter, what are you doing?"
"I'm going to show you the answer to a question you have not yet asked but undoubtedly will: why was Zidane never treated with the Goumon?"
Megan glanced around the room. It looked exactly the same. Then, suddenly, the door at the other end (which was blended so steel-like into the rest of the room that Megan hadn't known it was there) flew open and a slightly older Kuja tumbled in. Garland was standing behind him, breathing hard with rage.
"And you'll stay in here until you can learn to manage him!"
Kuja spat angrily, glaring up at Garland. "You can't hurt me!" he shouted back. "You think your little . . . mind games are gonna do me any damage?! You're all washed up!"
The door slammed shut in his face. Megan didn't get a chance to ask what all that had meant because at the moment there was a flash and they were somewhere completely different . . . Demeter's eyes were closed and she was muttering to herself as if she was directing traffic. Seeing what the woman was up to, Megan tore her eyes away and sat back to watch the show.
Now they were in a crude bedroom. Kuja was sitting at a desk, mapping something down with a ruler. Then he screamed, crumpled it into a ball and threw it violently at the door. Flash.
Now Kuja was yelling at Garland. The words couldn't be made out, as if somehow the memory was missing pieces; fragmented. Then Garland struck Kuja, and Megan knew why . . . Flash.
Now Kuja was at least eleven years old; beautiful. He was trying to cast a spell. It failed. He looked around, then cast one on himself. Flash.
This next scene was very different. Demeter opened her eyes to watch and Megan took that as a sign that there was more than a few seconds of image here. The women were standing within an enormous, circular hall. A winding staircase drove up the middle and arched into the heavens before fading away to nothingness. Garland stood on the bottom-most steps, Kuja hovering a few feet away from him on the floor. They were glaring daggers at one another.
"You can't do this!" Kuja shouted, clenching his fists at his sides.
"I just did," said Garland curtly.
"Then what was the point of everything?!" Kuja demanded. "You left me in . . . in torture-rooms for goodness' sake! And you trained and you trained and . . . AND YOU CHANGED ME!!!"
He was crying now; heavy, painful tears.
"It was for the benefit of Terra," Garland shrugged. "Your training will come in handy . . . when you bring war and chaos unto Gaia,"
". . . You changed me . . ." Kuja repeated, his voice a faint whisper.
"I did," Garland nodded. "I made you better. You were weak before; like those feathers in your hair. But now you are strong and you will be capable of bringing me souls,"
"I won't,"
"You will," Garland's eyes were gleaming maliciously. "Because I can still snuff you . . ."
"You can't control me . . ."
Kuja's words were cut short. Garland was holding out an arm, and Kuja was speechless. A spell. Then he cried out, thrown from his feet. He skidded backwards and lay upon the floor, sobbing.
"You changed me . . ." he repeated over and over again. "You changed me . . ."
Garland turned around and began to slowly ascend the stairs. Kuja's chanting followed him; creeping up the steps.
"You changed me . . . You betrayed me . . . YOU REPLACED ME!!!"
Garland did not respond . . .
Flash.
The Goumon room again. Only one thing was different: a cage – a small cage – at the far end. There was something even smaller in it. Something small and golden . . . With a tail.
"Zidane!" Megan gasped.
There was no doubt about it. The tuff of bronze hair, those seeking blue eyes . . . And that small golden tail, curled around the body of a creature no bigger than a Mu.
"He's adorable!" Megan whispered excitedly. Demeter frowned.
"Just watch," she instructed, serious as usual.
The door at the end of the room (the weird blending-in one) creaked open cautiously. Megan watched with mounting curiosity as a silver-haired head poked into the chamber, looked around nervously, and then led a tip-toeing body inside.
Kuja crept nervously into the room, pushing past steel tables and attempting not to knock into any noxious beakers or blinking machines. Then his eyes fell on Zidane, and a twisted, malicious smile spread across his features. Megan was taken-aback. She'd never seen that look on his face before. Even when she'd found out who he was, it was still so difficult to picture that expression on his pretty face. But there it was, plain as day. Now his previous words made sense. Garland HAD changed him. The soft, tender-hearted young boy of the images she'd seen before was gone. Now Kuja was cold. The aura of ice around him was almost stifling. He wasn't a genome anymore. He was the Kuja that Gaia had come to fear . . . The Angel of Death.
At the tender age of twelve years old, Kuja was insane . . .
Now Megan could see it; the message Demeter had been trying to send. Kuja had been warped since childhood. It was like this shield of anger had been built around him and changed his entire psyche. This was not the man Megan knew. This was a child who's very thoughts were simply figments of a disillusioned lifestyle.
This was sick . . .
"Oh, Zidane . . ." Kuja whispered, staring coldly at the cage. "Look where Garland has been keeping you . . . Why, he doesn't even treat his PRIZED possessions much better than Gaian dogs. No wonder I lost my purpose to you . . ."
Zidane blinked up at Kuja slowly. "What're you talking about?" he queried in his innocent, four-year-old voice. It was sweet and melodic. This little imp couldn't hurt a fly.
"You know, Zidane," Kuja's lips were twisting into a sneer. "As long as you're alive, I am dead. You don't want that, do you?"
"Wh-why can't we live together?" Zidane clutched the bars with his tiny hands, looking confused.
"Because, Zidane," Kuja's voice was soft and deadly. "You're stronger than I am. And Garland can't afford to have TWO of us around . . . I'm sure he'll settle for one. He just didn't specify WHICH one . . ."
". . . Brother . . ." Zidane sounded worried now.
"Zidane, hold still while I kill you . . ."
Megan closed her eyes. She knew the outcome, obviously, but couldn't bear to watch.
"Open your eyes!" Demeter snapped. Megan reluctantly obeyed. What she saw took her quite off guard.
A ghost-like image was standing at the far side of the room as Kuja raised his arms to cast a spell. It vanished and reappeared beside the young sorcerer; a man with silky silver hair in a graceful, trailing braid, and blind, empty eyes . . . He looked oddly familiar. The man seemed to whisper something before evaporating. Megan sensed a strange presence . . . Like snow retreating into slush.
Kuja's arms dropped limply to his sides, and he was staring at Zidane as if seeing his tiny frame for the first time.
". . . I can't . . ." he sniffled, turning away. "You . . . you're my brother . . . And you . . ." Kuja suddenly whipped around, looking terrified. "I won't let you be ruined and changed like me! I'd . . . I'd rather send you off to Gaia than watch Garland have his way with you . . .!"
Flash.
"Brother, where are we going . . .?"
"Shh!"
They were in a forest now. It was raining and storming hard. But this was no forest of Terra . . .
"We're on Gaia, now!" Megan gasped. Demeter nodded as the two of them walked briskly after the retreating forms of the young Kuja and Zidane.
"Brother, I'm scared . . . This place is dark and creepy . . . Like Pandemonium,"
"Don't be afraid, Zidane," Kuja suddenly stopped walking and let go of the little hand he'd been holding. "We're going to play a game, alright?"
"A game?!" Zidane looked delighted at the prospect of the fun he never saw on Terra.
"Yes, it's an old Gaian game. It's called: Hide-and-Seek,"
"Ooh! How do you play?!"
"Well . . ." Kuja was twisting his hair nervously as the rain splattered and beat against the two young children. It was so dark that only the lightning revealed the gnarled, groping branches of the trees. "I'm going to go hide somewhere in this forest and you have to find me, okay? All you have to do is count to ten, alright? Do you remember how to count to ten?"
"Um . . . One . . . Two . . . Three . . . What comes after three?"
There were tears shining in Kuja's sapphire eyes now, visible even against the rain.
"Good enough," he whispered hoarsely. A crack of thunder lit the sky and Kuja quickly ushered Zidane towards a tree. "Okay now, Brother. Just turn towards that tree and count – as best you can – to ten. And no peeking, alright! Otherwise, you're cheating. And the new Terra doesn't have any room for cheaters!"
"Okay!"
Zidane turned eagerly away, hiding his face against the soggy trunk. Kuja stared at him, breathing hard. Then he whispered three choked words that only someone standing as close to him as Megan was could hear them:
"I love you,"
Then Kuja whipped around and ran. He ran and ran and ran. Zidane heard the squelching of his footsteps and raised his head.
"Huh? K-Kuja . . .? W-wait! Where are you going?!"
"Don't follow me!" Kuja sobbed, tearing through the underbrush. Tears were pouring down his cheeks. Zidane's tiny, pleading voice followed him into the shadows.
"BROTHER!!!"
Flash.
Everything was moving quicker now. Megan didn't have a chance to ask questions or even acknowledge where they were. The scenes were coming faster and faster and faster . . .
Kuja staring up at a sparkling, double-mooned Gaian sky. There were tears in his eyes again for the beautiful planet he would have to destroy.
Kuja in a green, wispy field, leaning against a brilliant silver dragon. It nudged him with its nose and he laughed. The only joy he received in those fatal days on Gaia.
He was an adult now, exactly the way Megan remembered him. Meeting Zidane for the first time beneath a rainy Burmecian sky. But the love was gone with the nagging loss of his only brother. Now there was only cold irony.
Alexandria was alight with the gleaming wings of Alexander. Kuja was shouting something angrily down a street of panicked citizens who watched the spectacle in frightened awe. The great eye was open . . . Kuja didn't even feel the pain before the traitorous rays of destruction hit him.
Back on Terra, Kuja stood above the form of Garland bent on one knee as though pleading for mercy. But Kuja was different now; barely even recognizable. Thick red feathers billowed in his hair, his body warped with muscle. A ringed tailed of black and crimson flicked the ground as his eyes – the color of blood – gleamed with incomprehensible rapture. Megan saw Garland fall, then. The fatal kick. The others were watching, even Zidane. Megan couldn't hear their words . . . everything was foggy. Kuja's eyes lost their luster as some unspoken words reached his ears from the world beyond. He was laughing hysterically. Zidane was kneeling on the ground, his eyes a mixture of worry and . . . pity?
Flash.
The great Crystal spun slowly. Kuja stared at it feverishly. He was waiting . . . Waiting for Them. Madness swirled in those dark red eyes. No time . . . No time . . . Destroy it now. Megan could hear the voices as if they were a part of her. Kuja was hungry. Hungry for death. Yes . . . Kill them all. Die as one of them. Die as if you were always one of them; accepted, loved.
Zidane is there. Kuja doesn't recognize him anymore. He's lost all touch. The heroes are down. Kuja has nearly killed them. But then there is an explosion and he's falling . . . falling down . . . down to his merciless death.
The red is gone on the surface; crimson has retreated to white . . . But it's still in there, lurking deep.
Flash.
Zidane is sitting beside Kuja. It's so dark that their forms are barely visible. Zidane's eyes are mourning for what hasn't yet occurred. Kuja is dying . . . The roots are coming . . . It's the end. Zidane embraces Kuja one last time . . . As his brother . . .
Kuja was standing beside the moat of Alexandria Castle. Megan saw her own face looking down from one of the castle's windows, eyes widened with horror behind their glasses as Kuja sunk into a passionate kiss with another woman. But then the woman's face shifted, and Megan saw her own . . . The face in the window fled tearfully away just as Kuja, oblivious, swung the girl around and dragged her into a head-lock. The new Megan leapt away . . . becoming Lulian. She couldn't fool him.
A city is burning. Towers like mountains are aflame.
". . . No . . . You wouldn't . . .!" Megan stared up at the orange-streaked sky. Demeter was silent in her cruelty. People ran past them through the streets. A great beast – an Eidolon – roiled viciously overhead attempting to stop It . . . The great Eye.
"No! Don't show me the destruction of Madain Sari!" Megan sobbed, backing away from the screaming citizens of the lost Summoner Village.
". . . I have to . . ." Demeter whispered. "You need to see something . . ."
As the citizens ran for their lives, a young boy walked slowly down the road. He allowed the people to brush past him while never actually touching their charred flesh. His hair was silver, his eyes were blue. He was only fourteen years old again . . . Kuja.
Kuja didn't move as he saw a piece of rubble the size of an air-cab crash from the smoldering sky. It caught a man, crushing him at the midriff. Blood sprayed into the street, covering the young girl he'd been holding in his arms. His daughter.
"Megan . . ." the man whispered, unable to move. His spine was snapped in two. "Megan, where are you?"
The girl let out a horrified sob. The chunk of earth had missed her. "P- Papa . . .!"
"Megan!" Two women were rushing as fast as they could to the scene. The younger one, fair and beautiful, let out a shriek of horror.
"N-No!"
"Martha . . ." the man closed his eyes, his life ebbing away onto the street. "Take her . . . Megan . . ." He shifted his arms slightly, allowing the other, older woman to take the child.
". . . Meisei . . . Don't leave us . . .!"
"Martha . . . protect her . . . with your life,"
"I-I will," she was trembling with tears that didn't want to come.
"And Mother . . . Make her happy . . ."
"Of course, Meisei,"
They didn't see the pair of blue eyes upon them of the silver-haired boy that stood on the side of the street. Blood splattered his clothes . . . the blood of the dead-man. He was crying.
". . . Oh, Zidane . . . Garland has turned me into a monster . . ."
He turned and fled.
And then they were back to present day. Megan found herself standing and shaking in the infirmary of Alexandria castle once more, Demeter alongside her. The Summoner couldn't speak. Her voice had caught in her throat. She felt nauseous . . . angry. Angry at the world.
Demeter closed her eyes wearily. ". . . Do I have to ask . . .?"
"No," Megan whispered. "Tell Zidane and the others . . . That I will make Garland RUE the day he caused this suffering to innocent lives . . ."
"And . . ."
"Yes. Tell Zidane and the others . . . I'm coming too,"
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A/N: Wah, poor Kuja-san! *huggles Kuja* I so sad for him! So? Was this chapter any good? I was kinda worried about it. I'M ON SPRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING BREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAK!!!!!!!!!! So maybe I can crap out the next chapter faster, ne? This one took fo'-eva'. Technically, I SHOULD be working on my web-comic (for those who don't know, it's like an online manga where you post it a page at a time about once or twice a week on a designated schedule; sort of like a fanfic with artwork) over break. But whatever. I'm hoping by the next chapter I'll have a link to give you all. Of course, I will then proceed to get on my hands and knees and beg you all to become followers of my web-comic. I think you'll like it! I mean, I know none of you have EVER seen my artwork . . . But you know my writing/story style, and that's a good start. It IS an original story, but don't let that deter you. See, here's the cool thing. I wrote the plot of my web-comic (Untitled Levotica) when I was twelve years old, which was only a few months before I stared this fic (yes, I DID devise the plot of this fic when I was twelve . . . So sue me). But I never thought I was going to USE Untitled Levotica. So a lot of THAT plot melted into here. So if you become followers of Untitled Levotica, you will be some of the few who get the joy of seeing where half the characters of this fic came from! Particularly Ummei. The character that he developed from shows up some time in chapter one. Drakja's character is a mix of two characters that will be in this comic, one of which shows up in the chapter-cover on the second page. Oh, and Lulian's character (who shows up early but doesn't have a part for awhile) is SO obvious it's almost disturbing. And here's the wonderful, beautiful news I have. If all goes well with my web- comic, I'm going to make an on-the-side web-site where I'm going to post fanart, which WILL include Final Fantasy. Y'all wanna see how I draw Kuja? Then you'll just hafta stop by an' see my web-comic when I get it up (I'm having technical difficulties right now). Okay? Is that a deal . . .? *sniffle*
ERDA NAD ERIVWE. OMG, how cool is that? I scrambled the words, and it made new words . . . Oh, I am in a good mood today!
Disclaimer: I no own game! Quina only want yummy-yummies!
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"Le roi est mort, vive le roi!"
– Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi (The King is Dead, Long Live the King), Enigma
Demeter stood with her back facing Megan. The door was closed. Now it was only her and the Summoner. Kuja didn't count. It wasn't really him . . . Megan clutched a fist near her chest.
"Wh-what do you want?!"
Demeter whipped around, piercing the Summoner with her lilac eyes. "Megan Yorokobi . . . How much you have changed in so short a time . . ."
". . . What . . .?"
"Why, I still remember when you fawned after Kuja like he was a product going out of stock! Now all you can do is hate him . . . Very interesting,"
Megan squared her shoulders, standing tall. "Well in case you didn't know, DEMETER, I am descended of the Madain Sari tribe. They were MASS-MURDERED and SLAUGHTERED by Kuja when he was only FOURTEEN years old!!! My father died that day and bled slowly while handing me over to my mother and grandmother. I can still remember it . . . The warmth of his blood growing colder as it soaked through my clothes . . . And for what?! So that Kuja could run back like a happy little puppy to his master, awaiting praise, and then dea – "
"– YOU KNOW NOTHING!!!"
Demeter bared herself menacingly over Megan, her eyes flashing angrily. Megan backed up but still held her ground.
"I think I know SOMETHING!" she shouted back, stomping forward, fists clenched. "How DARE you try to defend my father's BUTCHERER!!!"
"HOW DARE YOU MAKE BIASED ACCUSATIONS!!!"
"HOW DARE YOU DEFEND THAT . . . THAT ANIMAL!!!"
Demeter narrowed her eyes and lashed out, grabbing Megan's sleeve. The young girl shrieked, memories of her imprisonment on the Indomitable resurfacing and drowning her with fear. However, Demeter was simply leading Megan away towards the opposite wall; her sleeve the leash. Megan struggled and protested the entire way.
"W-wait! What are you doing?! Let go of me, damn it! LET GO!!!"
"Shut up!" Demeter spun Megan around so that they were face to face. "Stop whining!"
"Stop pulling on me!"
The purple-eyed woman took a deep breath to calm her angry nerves. ". . . Fair enough . . ." Megan looked distinctly ruffled and she plucked at her sleeve indignantly.
"Gods, what the hell was THAT for?!"
"We're going somewhere," Demeter said simply. Megan blinked several times. That was probably the last answer she'd expected.
"Wh-where . . .?"
"There," Demeter pointed one steady finger at Kuja's form lying several yards away. Megan raised an eyebrow.
". . . Have you flipped . . .?"
"No, though I'm not surprised you asked. Megan, I want to show you something. I want to show you something that . . . few others will ever have the privilege or the curse to see,"
"Which is . . .?"
"I'm going to show you the real Kuja,"
Megan snorted. "No need for that. He's right there, dead. Serves him right,"
"No, no. I literally mean the real Kuja. You see . . ." Demeter sighed, running her fingers through her rich mahogany hair. "I have this . . . power . . . Many do possess it, but few are free to roam and use it. I can, and I do,"
"What?"
"Use it,"
"Oh. And this power is . . .?"
"I can enter people's souls,"
"Uh, newsflash," Megan hissed sarcastically. "Kuja's soul is GONE! You said so yourself!"
"Yes, but I can still go there. I want to take you with me. There, I can show you all his memories, his deepest darkest secrets, and even things HE doesn't remember,"
"Ew, you're a sick pervert, you know that?"
Demeter violently grabbed Megan's collar and lifted her up, causing Megan to cry out and squirm in protest.
"Now you listen to me, you Summoner BRAT! I do NOT and will NEVER abuse my privilege to do this with people! What should stay private stays private! ALWAYS!!!"
"Okay, okay! Geez, put me down!"
Demeter lowered Megan slowly, the Summoner's glasses askew. The violet- eyed woman then sighed, rubbing her temples.
"You must bear with me, Megan . . . I'm just a little irritable lately,"
"If you don't mind my asking . . . uh, why?"
Demeter hesitated then looked away. "I'm not here to tell you my life's story," she muttered under her breath. "But I just want you to know that the very balance of my OWN personal issues hangs on the fate of these people and Kuja . . . There is something that I . . . left behind. And I cannot return to it until the balance of the planets is restored,"
". . . O . . . kay . . ."
Demeter suddenly whirled around. "Enough talk," she grabbed Megan's arm, wrenching her forward. "We're going,"
And all Megan could register was the strangest roaring in her ears before everything went black.
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"Zidane, are you sure you're okay?" Garnet whispered, gently touching her fiancé's knee. Zidane closed his eyes wearily, leaning back against their bedroom windowsill. The heat of the outside world warmed the glass as the sun began to ascend over the horizon; radiating into Zidane's exhausted muscles.
"I won't be okay until my brother's alive . . ."
"But . . ."
Zidane opened one crystalline eye angrily. "I don't want to hear it," he barked. "We all die eventually. Kuja's time is just . . . going to come a little early. That's all,"
Garnet nodded, pulling her hand back. ". . . Yes, of course . . ." /Oh, Zidane, why do you lie to yourself? Don't you suffer enough already . . .?/
"When do you think we're going to leave?" Garnet queried. Zidane shrugged, closing his eye again and settling back into the nook of the window.
"Whenever Beatrix thinks we've 'strategized' enough,"
"But we have so little time!"
"I know, I know . . . Just let them do their thing. Beatrix has never lost a fight when someone she loves is involved,"
Garnet chewed her lip. "This is all my fault . . ." she murmured, fighting back tears. "I accused Kuja of trying to destroy us all again. He was so angry. None of this would have happened if I'd just kept my damn tongue to myself!"
Zidane sighed, tangled locks of blonde falling into his eyes. "It would have happened eventually . . . You can't blame yourself forever,"
"Then can I at least blame myself once?"
"No,"
Garnet smiled shakily. "Zidane . . ."
"Just chill, Dagger," the ex-thief snapped. "Everything's going to be okay. I just know it . . . We're going to release those souls, stop the assimilation, and when Kuja's back, he and I are gonna kick Garland's scrawny metal ass!"
The queen stifled a giggle, knowing it was inappropriate in the present situation. Still, she couldn't help but grin.
/Thank you, Zidane . . . You always know how to raise our spirits . . . Now we just need to raise yours . . ./
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"Ngh . . . What in the . . .?"
Megan opened her eyes blearily, feeling horribly nauseous, then yelped.
"Wah! I've gone blind, I – oh." She replaced her glasses with a blush and sat up. It took a lot of effort. Her limbs felt like thick jello and her head was as heavy as a lead weight. It was not unlike the feeling one gets after standing on their head for several hours. "Oh . . . man . . ." Megan gagged, rubbing her face. "I feel wasted . . . Like that time I drank fourteen shots of vodka at that party and passed out in the chocobo pen and – WHERE THE HELL AM I?!!!"
She looked up demandingly at Demeter, who stood by calmly overhead. Everywhere she looked . . . It was blue . . . Like this pulsating rhythm of light. As though the life of the planet beat in the blinding aqua sensation of the world. Towering trees, so metal in appearance – yet alive – graced the sky magnificently above their heads like shining monoliths. They glittered and shimmered, much like the rest of their ethereal world.
"What . . . IS this place . . .?" Megan whispered, taking in the sheer colossal size of the empty sky above her. The world felt so dead . . . Yet it was so beautiful.
"Where are we?" Demeter queried. "Why, we're on Terra,"
"Terra? You don't mean – "
"Yes," Demeter cast her violet eyes down at Megan. "We are on Kuja's world,"
Megan let out a gasp of sheer horror and scrambled to her feet. She teetered, still a little dizzy, but used her anger to catch herself.
"Whaddya MEAN, we're on Terra?!!"
"We're on Terra," Demeter said simply.
"Argh! No, that's not what /I/ mean! I mean, how the HELL are we going to get back?!"
Demeter seemed to smile with amusement at the young Summoner's foolish spectacle. "Dear, we're not REALLY on Terra. This is more like . . . an alternative glimpse into the past. Like a replay of . . ."
"Memories?" Megan queried, spinning around as she gazed in awe at the crystalline, syrupy substances dripping from the trees. They were suspended in frozen, magnificent animation; caught in mid-ooze. Even the stream nearby, which was so sparkly and full of wonder, was still. It was as if time ceased to exist on this corpse of a planet.
". . . Sort of . . ." Demeter rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "But this isn't only Kuja's memories we're seeing. We've entered his soul, but the soul is made up of other people's thoughts and feelings as well. All souls are. They are interconnected creatures, able to enter one another. One person's soul can contain the same event written over from thousands of perspectives. That's why these memories are unbiased. Because we are seeing what all who were present saw from outside of them," Demeter took a deep breath.
Megan blinked. "And . . . why are we doing this?"
"I want to show you some things,"
"But why?"
Demeter didn't answer. She was looking at something far away. Megan followed her gaze into the cold, desolate world of Terra. Through the synthetic trees and lost souls she saw what seemed impossible on Terra: movement. A boy was walking beneath the canopy of metal foliage towards them. Megan frowned.
/He's alone . . . This boy, whoever he is, is walking around in this empty place by himself . . ./.
Once he came into clearer view and the shadows had ceased scattering his features, Megan let out a gasp of surprise.
"No way!"
But there was no denying it. The child, seemingly no more than three or four years in age, was beautiful. His eyes were gleaming blue like the rest of the planet and his hair was a shimmering cascade of silver. Though it was only a bit past his shoulders and the distinctive dragon feathers were missing, Megan knew those flawless features anywhere.
". . . Kuja . . ."
"Not Kuja," Demeter corrected. "Look," She pointed and Megan followed her finger to Kuja's face. Then she honed in on his eyes.
Empty. They were empty. Not empty as in the milky blindness that Kuja had possessed of late, but true, blank eyes. Not an emotion or thought seemed to stir behind them. His face was expressionless.
". . . What the heck . . .?!"
"He's a genome," Demeter explained, watching as what appeared to be Kuja walked past them. The boy stopped for a moment as if testing something in the air, then continued on his way. Megan caught a glimpse of his silver tail trailing limply behind him. The women watched Kuja until he was out of sight and the pulsing blue light of Terra had swallowed him away. "He's a genome . . ." Demeter repeated tiredly. ". . . And thus, has no soul,"
"But Kuja DOES have a soul! An EVIL soul!"
"He didn't always have a soul," Demeter said tightly. "At one point he was like that, though only until around the age of four. He was an empty, soulless husk,"
"And WHY did you show that to me?"
"Come," Demeter grabbed Megan's arm and tugged. There was a sensation of falling through rushing, screaming waters, and then she toppled over.
"Ow!" Megan fell face-first into the eerie, aqua grass of Terra. Embarrassed, she noticed Demeter standing steadily on her feet. The purple- eyed woman glanced down at her with a raised eyebrow as if to say "you really are the clumsiest girl on the face of this planet . . ."
"Wh-where are we?" Megan queried, rising shakily and trying to hide her blush. Demeter blinked for a moment and then said,
"The edge of a forest,"
"Yes I can see that, but – "
"Just watch,"
Megan peered curiously into the shining, steel-like trees. Everything was so quiet. Unnaturally quiet, even for Terra. Like the forest was waiting for something . . . Then an earth-shattering scream broke through the silence and the forest seemed to erupt with pain. Megan stumbled a step in surprise as an enormous silver dragon, its head thrown back and its eyes bulging, hurtled into the air. It beat its wings furiously, shrieking so horribly that Megan had to cover her ears. She fell to her knees, cringing. Demeter didn't move.
"God, what the hell?!" Megan cried. The dragon rolled over in the air as it rose above the forest. It seemed to be twisting and flailing in incomprehensible agony. When Megan saw what the cause of the dragon's cries came from, she nearly threw up.
The dragon's left front leg was ripped completely off. Tattered sinew and bone stuck out from its severed flesh which was spraying blood across the forest floor. The dragon was flying as if trying to escape something, but it was weakening and dropping lethargically back to the earth.
Megan covered her mouth in horror, feeling her stomach turn over. Blood . . . So much blood . . . She closed her eyes, feeling the bile rising in her throat. However, Demeter's voice broke through the pounding in her ears.
"Look, fool!"
Megan cracked open her glazed eyes and saw a familiar sight running from the forest. It was the boy from before . . . Kuja. But he was taller now, if only a few inches. And his hair was longer. But the biggest change was in the eyes. They were no longer gray and empty, but shining and full of life.
/He has a soul, now . . ./ Megan acknowledged amidst the nausea. She saw, however, that the only emotion in Kuja's eyes was fear. Fear and the feeling that she herself had at that moment. The feeling that the contents of your stomach are about to be turned inside-out.
Kuja was several yards away, blood splattered on his violet Terran clothing. Suddenly, a gruff hand seemed to come from nowhere and Megan gasped.
"Garland!"
The Terran overlord stepped out from behind a tree, yanking Kuja up by his collar. He shook the boy, shouting.
"You let the dragon get away!"
"I'm sorry, Master Garland!" the young Kuja sobbed, wriggling desperately to escape from his creator's iron grip. "B-but I can't fly!"
"You CAN fly!" Garland hissed, giving Kuja another rough shaking. "And you will KILL that dragon! Do you hear me?!" With a snarl, he threw Kuja into the grass. The young boy dodged a kick and scrambled away. Megan watched, wide-eyed, as the silver dragon suddenly gave a great heave and collapsed to the ground with a thunderous crash. Garland smiled thinly.
"There you go, boy. The dragon is down. Now . . . finish her off,"
Kuja looked up at Garland fearfully, then at the dragon gasping on the ground several yards away. Its great feathered wings were twitching, its body trembling. The dragon glanced at Kuja with one glazed eye. Kuja bit his lip.
"But Master Garland . . . it's dying. Why should I kill it . . .?"
"You must be RUTHLESS, boy," Garland snapped, glaring down at his charge. "Show it no mercy. Be it on the verge of death, push her over the edge. If that were a Gaian now, could you kill it? Could you have ripped its leg off with your own bare hands?"
Tears were pouring down Kuja's cheeks. Megan had never seen him cry. "No,"
"Then you are not ready!" Garland smacked Kuja across the shoulders, sending him sprawling into the dirt. "You will kill that dragon NOW or I will kill YOU! DO YOU HEAR ME, BOY?!!"
Kuja sniffled, nodding, and dragged himself onto his hands and knees. He crawled slowly up to the dragon, gazing, horrified, into its fading face. The dragon let out a small whine, blood dripping from its nostrils. Kuja came up to the great beast's side and sat there on his knees, staring at it.
". . . Kill her . . ." Garland whispered, staring intently at Kuja. Megan could tell even from her distance so far away that Kuja's very life depended on what transpired at the forest's edge.
"I can't," Kuja breathed, his eyes locked on the dragon's.
"Kill her," Garland's voice was more forceful this time.
"No,"
"KILL HER, DAMN IT!"
"NO!!!" Kuja leapt to his feet, sobbing hysterically. "It didn't do anything! This is POINTLESS!!!"
"SHUT YOUR MOUTH YOU INSOLENT LITTLE RAT!!!" Garland stomped forward and kicked Kuja hard in the side. The young boy groaned, rolling over in the dirt. Garland stood over him menacingly.
"You will kill that dragon now . . . Or you are going back to the Goumon,"
Kuja's eyes widened with petrified fear. There was panic written all over his face. The kind of panic where you can't even breathe anymore. ". . . No . . .!"
"Yes!"
"I'll kill the dragon, Master Garland! I swear!" Kuja seemed to be pleading for his life.
"What's the Goumon?" Megan whispered, glancing sideways at Demeter. Demeter didn't respond, but there was a similar, more suppressed horror in her violet eyes even after she had witnessed this event so many times before. Whatever the Goumon was, it was something unspeakable . . .
Kuja stood, trembling. The sorcerer's eyes closed as he raised his small hands to cast a spell. The dragon stared back at him blearily. Somehow, Megan felt the monster didn't blame Kuja for her death. The steady flow of crimson blood from the creature's torn leg was lessening. A faint light formed in Kuja's hands. With deadly grace, he reached down and pressed his fingers against the dragon's shivering flesh. The monster roared in pain at the touch, seizing madly, and then lay still.
Kuja had killed it . . .
The light faded leaving Kuja standing there, stunned. Garland was grinning. Without so much as a word of praise he turned slowly and began to walk away. Kuja blinked.
"S-so . . . I don't have to go to the Goumon . . .?"
Garland stopped, his back facing the child. He chuckled. "Of course you do, fool. You defied my orders. Openly. And called your training for the destruction of Gaia 'pointless.'"
"But you said – !"
"Next time you will not question my orders then, will you?" Garland glanced over his shoulder mockingly. Kuja trembled, his eyes disbelieving, before he passed out with a sigh. Megan felt that familiar anger for Garland resurfacing.
/He's nothing but a child . . .!/ she thought furiously to herself. /Gods only know how he treats his other genomes and Zidane!/
Garland sneered and vanished. Kuja's small body vanished with him.
Silence descended.
"That's horrible!" Megan squeaked.
"You haven't seen anything yet . . ." Demeter murmured.
"Wh-what do you mean?"
The mage glanced at Megan with heavy lids and a solemn expression on her face. "Do you want to know what the Goumon is?"
"I don't know . . . do I?"
Demeter smiled dryly. "No, but I'm going to show you anyways," She sighed. "Goumon is an old Terran word for 'torture.' But in Kuja's case . . ." she hesitated, looking sad. "Kuja spent about half of his non-genome childhood up to the age of twelve in the Goumon. About a total of two years. I have two reasons for why I'm going to show you this,"
"Oh yeah? And what would those be Oh Great Queen of the Disgusting Visions?"
Demeter ignored the rude comment. "One, because I want to show you what Kuja put up with as a child – "
"Are you trying to get sympathy out of me?!" Megan snarled, rudely interrupting. "Because it's not working!"
"Is it?" Demeter smirked knowingly and continued, not taking heed of the frustrated look on her charge's face. "And second, Garland is probably going to utilize something like the Goumon on Zidane and the others. It's an effective tool for bringing down an enemy and those who aren't used to it like Kuja typically die from it. I need you to see it first hand. You must warn them,"
"Do it yourself!"
". . . I can't . . . I'm leaving,"
"Where are you going?!"
Demeter said nothing and grabbed Megan's arm. The rushing sensation returned, blurring Megan's vision, and then they came back to a screeching halt. Megan didn't fall this time, and she hissed that haughtily to Demeter. Demeter rolled her eyes, but Megan didn't see it.
Everything was dark.
"Hn? What is this place?" Megan inquired, looking around into the empty black.
". . . The Goumon Room . . ." Demeter hissed.
"The torture room?"
"Sort of. But . . . when you're in here . . . it's not really . . . Hurry, let me show you,"
Demeter gripped Megan's sleeve and led the Summoner soundlessly across the room. She seemed to know her way around pretty good. Then, suddenly, they appeared within a large, technical chamber. It seemed to be some sort of lab, full of strange metal gadgets hanging in loose wires from the walls and high-polished black flooring. Steel tables of noxious liquids and blinking lights stared down at the pair from every which way. But it was too dark to specifically make out what anything was. The room looked more like a dim grayness with dark, shadowy objects drifting about.
A soft moan alerted Megan's attention to the center of the lab. A steel table was fastened securely down and on top of it lay . . .
"Oh, it's Kuja!"
"Yes, in here for what occurred a few hours ago," Demeter said solemnly. "I'm just warning you, Megan; I know about your little phobias and . . . well, this may not be the sort of thing you want to see,"
Megan smirked. "Are you kidding? Kuja suffering? I love it," She moved in closer, but – though she tried to hide it – Demeter caught the doubtful look in Megan's eye.
The Summoner later regretted not heeding the mage's warning. What she saw there that day was a memory that haunted her forever. Even years later when it seemed the scars had healed, still the sight that befell her continued to grip her heart in sleepless nights.
Kuja lay there upon the table, twitching and sobbing with pain. Megan stared, wide-eyed, as the young sorcerer cried out. He seemed to be in mortal agony, yet there were no wounds . . . no weapons . . . nothing to pain him in the least.
"Demeter, what's wrong with him?!"
There was a shuffle and the purple-eyed woman scooted in beside Megan. She didn't say anything for a moment.
"This is the Goumon. It is . . . so horrible that it is a wonder he's not dead,"
"But what is it . . .?"
"Watch,"
Kuja's eyes were open but glazed and dilated with pain. He gasped, gripping the table hard. He wasn't even shackled down, but agony kept him in his place. He shrieked, and blood dripped down his chin. He shivered, the pain so great that he didn't seem to know where he was anymore.
"My god . . ." Megan whispered.
Kuja seemed suddenly desperate to get out of the room. He rolled over slightly on the table, then hissed and curled in on himself. His tears stained the cold metal as the boy, no older than six or seven years old, rolled himself onto the floor. Megan backed up as the child hit the tile, not even acknowledging that he had fallen. Kuja's eyes rolled up in his head as the pain seemed to increase and he clutched his chest, half- dragging himself away from the women.
He didn't get very far.
Within a matter of moments, the searing convulsions overcame him. The young sorcerer collapsed lifelessly against the floor, coughing up handfuls of crimson blood. Then, much to Megan's horror, he succumbed and lay there, sobbing, crying, and moaning in anguish.
"My god . . ." Megan repeated. She reeled and fell back. Demeter caught her, looking seriously at Kuja.
"I'm sorry," she said softly. "I know that was not the sort of thing you should have seen. Hold on," She propped Megan up and waved a graceful arm. The scenery vanished into darkness leaving Megan and Demeter standing alone in an empty, inky void of nothingness.
Megan couldn't stop shaking.
"Wh-what the hell . . . What the hell was wrong with him?!"
"The Goumon," Demeter began to explain. "It's a spell Garland can use. It's a horrible, horrible thing. Imagine this: Garland puts a spell upon a person's body so that their nerves will tell the brain it's in pain, even when it's not. Those under the Goumon will literally feel the most excruciating torture when nothing is there. It . . . sort of feels like having your insides scraped out with a rusty hook; except all over your body at one time. Most people die from it because the pain shuts down their organs. But Kuja was trained with it for years. He can take it for hours, as you saw back there. But he never learned how to defeat it. And because of that, if Garland uses it on Zidane and the others they will surely die. YOU have to warn them,"
Megan nodded numbly. "Yes . . . Yes, of course . . ."
"Now hurry," Demeter clutched the Summoner's sleeve once more. "I have much to show you!"
The world was whizzing by. Years passed in a matter of seconds. Garbles of voices filled the empty void and then everything stilled once more. Megan looked around, realizing they hadn't left the room.
"Huh? Demeter, what are you doing?"
"I'm going to show you the answer to a question you have not yet asked but undoubtedly will: why was Zidane never treated with the Goumon?"
Megan glanced around the room. It looked exactly the same. Then, suddenly, the door at the other end (which was blended so steel-like into the rest of the room that Megan hadn't known it was there) flew open and a slightly older Kuja tumbled in. Garland was standing behind him, breathing hard with rage.
"And you'll stay in here until you can learn to manage him!"
Kuja spat angrily, glaring up at Garland. "You can't hurt me!" he shouted back. "You think your little . . . mind games are gonna do me any damage?! You're all washed up!"
The door slammed shut in his face. Megan didn't get a chance to ask what all that had meant because at the moment there was a flash and they were somewhere completely different . . . Demeter's eyes were closed and she was muttering to herself as if she was directing traffic. Seeing what the woman was up to, Megan tore her eyes away and sat back to watch the show.
Now they were in a crude bedroom. Kuja was sitting at a desk, mapping something down with a ruler. Then he screamed, crumpled it into a ball and threw it violently at the door. Flash.
Now Kuja was yelling at Garland. The words couldn't be made out, as if somehow the memory was missing pieces; fragmented. Then Garland struck Kuja, and Megan knew why . . . Flash.
Now Kuja was at least eleven years old; beautiful. He was trying to cast a spell. It failed. He looked around, then cast one on himself. Flash.
This next scene was very different. Demeter opened her eyes to watch and Megan took that as a sign that there was more than a few seconds of image here. The women were standing within an enormous, circular hall. A winding staircase drove up the middle and arched into the heavens before fading away to nothingness. Garland stood on the bottom-most steps, Kuja hovering a few feet away from him on the floor. They were glaring daggers at one another.
"You can't do this!" Kuja shouted, clenching his fists at his sides.
"I just did," said Garland curtly.
"Then what was the point of everything?!" Kuja demanded. "You left me in . . . in torture-rooms for goodness' sake! And you trained and you trained and . . . AND YOU CHANGED ME!!!"
He was crying now; heavy, painful tears.
"It was for the benefit of Terra," Garland shrugged. "Your training will come in handy . . . when you bring war and chaos unto Gaia,"
". . . You changed me . . ." Kuja repeated, his voice a faint whisper.
"I did," Garland nodded. "I made you better. You were weak before; like those feathers in your hair. But now you are strong and you will be capable of bringing me souls,"
"I won't,"
"You will," Garland's eyes were gleaming maliciously. "Because I can still snuff you . . ."
"You can't control me . . ."
Kuja's words were cut short. Garland was holding out an arm, and Kuja was speechless. A spell. Then he cried out, thrown from his feet. He skidded backwards and lay upon the floor, sobbing.
"You changed me . . ." he repeated over and over again. "You changed me . . ."
Garland turned around and began to slowly ascend the stairs. Kuja's chanting followed him; creeping up the steps.
"You changed me . . . You betrayed me . . . YOU REPLACED ME!!!"
Garland did not respond . . .
Flash.
The Goumon room again. Only one thing was different: a cage – a small cage – at the far end. There was something even smaller in it. Something small and golden . . . With a tail.
"Zidane!" Megan gasped.
There was no doubt about it. The tuff of bronze hair, those seeking blue eyes . . . And that small golden tail, curled around the body of a creature no bigger than a Mu.
"He's adorable!" Megan whispered excitedly. Demeter frowned.
"Just watch," she instructed, serious as usual.
The door at the end of the room (the weird blending-in one) creaked open cautiously. Megan watched with mounting curiosity as a silver-haired head poked into the chamber, looked around nervously, and then led a tip-toeing body inside.
Kuja crept nervously into the room, pushing past steel tables and attempting not to knock into any noxious beakers or blinking machines. Then his eyes fell on Zidane, and a twisted, malicious smile spread across his features. Megan was taken-aback. She'd never seen that look on his face before. Even when she'd found out who he was, it was still so difficult to picture that expression on his pretty face. But there it was, plain as day. Now his previous words made sense. Garland HAD changed him. The soft, tender-hearted young boy of the images she'd seen before was gone. Now Kuja was cold. The aura of ice around him was almost stifling. He wasn't a genome anymore. He was the Kuja that Gaia had come to fear . . . The Angel of Death.
At the tender age of twelve years old, Kuja was insane . . .
Now Megan could see it; the message Demeter had been trying to send. Kuja had been warped since childhood. It was like this shield of anger had been built around him and changed his entire psyche. This was not the man Megan knew. This was a child who's very thoughts were simply figments of a disillusioned lifestyle.
This was sick . . .
"Oh, Zidane . . ." Kuja whispered, staring coldly at the cage. "Look where Garland has been keeping you . . . Why, he doesn't even treat his PRIZED possessions much better than Gaian dogs. No wonder I lost my purpose to you . . ."
Zidane blinked up at Kuja slowly. "What're you talking about?" he queried in his innocent, four-year-old voice. It was sweet and melodic. This little imp couldn't hurt a fly.
"You know, Zidane," Kuja's lips were twisting into a sneer. "As long as you're alive, I am dead. You don't want that, do you?"
"Wh-why can't we live together?" Zidane clutched the bars with his tiny hands, looking confused.
"Because, Zidane," Kuja's voice was soft and deadly. "You're stronger than I am. And Garland can't afford to have TWO of us around . . . I'm sure he'll settle for one. He just didn't specify WHICH one . . ."
". . . Brother . . ." Zidane sounded worried now.
"Zidane, hold still while I kill you . . ."
Megan closed her eyes. She knew the outcome, obviously, but couldn't bear to watch.
"Open your eyes!" Demeter snapped. Megan reluctantly obeyed. What she saw took her quite off guard.
A ghost-like image was standing at the far side of the room as Kuja raised his arms to cast a spell. It vanished and reappeared beside the young sorcerer; a man with silky silver hair in a graceful, trailing braid, and blind, empty eyes . . . He looked oddly familiar. The man seemed to whisper something before evaporating. Megan sensed a strange presence . . . Like snow retreating into slush.
Kuja's arms dropped limply to his sides, and he was staring at Zidane as if seeing his tiny frame for the first time.
". . . I can't . . ." he sniffled, turning away. "You . . . you're my brother . . . And you . . ." Kuja suddenly whipped around, looking terrified. "I won't let you be ruined and changed like me! I'd . . . I'd rather send you off to Gaia than watch Garland have his way with you . . .!"
Flash.
"Brother, where are we going . . .?"
"Shh!"
They were in a forest now. It was raining and storming hard. But this was no forest of Terra . . .
"We're on Gaia, now!" Megan gasped. Demeter nodded as the two of them walked briskly after the retreating forms of the young Kuja and Zidane.
"Brother, I'm scared . . . This place is dark and creepy . . . Like Pandemonium,"
"Don't be afraid, Zidane," Kuja suddenly stopped walking and let go of the little hand he'd been holding. "We're going to play a game, alright?"
"A game?!" Zidane looked delighted at the prospect of the fun he never saw on Terra.
"Yes, it's an old Gaian game. It's called: Hide-and-Seek,"
"Ooh! How do you play?!"
"Well . . ." Kuja was twisting his hair nervously as the rain splattered and beat against the two young children. It was so dark that only the lightning revealed the gnarled, groping branches of the trees. "I'm going to go hide somewhere in this forest and you have to find me, okay? All you have to do is count to ten, alright? Do you remember how to count to ten?"
"Um . . . One . . . Two . . . Three . . . What comes after three?"
There were tears shining in Kuja's sapphire eyes now, visible even against the rain.
"Good enough," he whispered hoarsely. A crack of thunder lit the sky and Kuja quickly ushered Zidane towards a tree. "Okay now, Brother. Just turn towards that tree and count – as best you can – to ten. And no peeking, alright! Otherwise, you're cheating. And the new Terra doesn't have any room for cheaters!"
"Okay!"
Zidane turned eagerly away, hiding his face against the soggy trunk. Kuja stared at him, breathing hard. Then he whispered three choked words that only someone standing as close to him as Megan was could hear them:
"I love you,"
Then Kuja whipped around and ran. He ran and ran and ran. Zidane heard the squelching of his footsteps and raised his head.
"Huh? K-Kuja . . .? W-wait! Where are you going?!"
"Don't follow me!" Kuja sobbed, tearing through the underbrush. Tears were pouring down his cheeks. Zidane's tiny, pleading voice followed him into the shadows.
"BROTHER!!!"
Flash.
Everything was moving quicker now. Megan didn't have a chance to ask questions or even acknowledge where they were. The scenes were coming faster and faster and faster . . .
Kuja staring up at a sparkling, double-mooned Gaian sky. There were tears in his eyes again for the beautiful planet he would have to destroy.
Kuja in a green, wispy field, leaning against a brilliant silver dragon. It nudged him with its nose and he laughed. The only joy he received in those fatal days on Gaia.
He was an adult now, exactly the way Megan remembered him. Meeting Zidane for the first time beneath a rainy Burmecian sky. But the love was gone with the nagging loss of his only brother. Now there was only cold irony.
Alexandria was alight with the gleaming wings of Alexander. Kuja was shouting something angrily down a street of panicked citizens who watched the spectacle in frightened awe. The great eye was open . . . Kuja didn't even feel the pain before the traitorous rays of destruction hit him.
Back on Terra, Kuja stood above the form of Garland bent on one knee as though pleading for mercy. But Kuja was different now; barely even recognizable. Thick red feathers billowed in his hair, his body warped with muscle. A ringed tailed of black and crimson flicked the ground as his eyes – the color of blood – gleamed with incomprehensible rapture. Megan saw Garland fall, then. The fatal kick. The others were watching, even Zidane. Megan couldn't hear their words . . . everything was foggy. Kuja's eyes lost their luster as some unspoken words reached his ears from the world beyond. He was laughing hysterically. Zidane was kneeling on the ground, his eyes a mixture of worry and . . . pity?
Flash.
The great Crystal spun slowly. Kuja stared at it feverishly. He was waiting . . . Waiting for Them. Madness swirled in those dark red eyes. No time . . . No time . . . Destroy it now. Megan could hear the voices as if they were a part of her. Kuja was hungry. Hungry for death. Yes . . . Kill them all. Die as one of them. Die as if you were always one of them; accepted, loved.
Zidane is there. Kuja doesn't recognize him anymore. He's lost all touch. The heroes are down. Kuja has nearly killed them. But then there is an explosion and he's falling . . . falling down . . . down to his merciless death.
The red is gone on the surface; crimson has retreated to white . . . But it's still in there, lurking deep.
Flash.
Zidane is sitting beside Kuja. It's so dark that their forms are barely visible. Zidane's eyes are mourning for what hasn't yet occurred. Kuja is dying . . . The roots are coming . . . It's the end. Zidane embraces Kuja one last time . . . As his brother . . .
Kuja was standing beside the moat of Alexandria Castle. Megan saw her own face looking down from one of the castle's windows, eyes widened with horror behind their glasses as Kuja sunk into a passionate kiss with another woman. But then the woman's face shifted, and Megan saw her own . . . The face in the window fled tearfully away just as Kuja, oblivious, swung the girl around and dragged her into a head-lock. The new Megan leapt away . . . becoming Lulian. She couldn't fool him.
A city is burning. Towers like mountains are aflame.
". . . No . . . You wouldn't . . .!" Megan stared up at the orange-streaked sky. Demeter was silent in her cruelty. People ran past them through the streets. A great beast – an Eidolon – roiled viciously overhead attempting to stop It . . . The great Eye.
"No! Don't show me the destruction of Madain Sari!" Megan sobbed, backing away from the screaming citizens of the lost Summoner Village.
". . . I have to . . ." Demeter whispered. "You need to see something . . ."
As the citizens ran for their lives, a young boy walked slowly down the road. He allowed the people to brush past him while never actually touching their charred flesh. His hair was silver, his eyes were blue. He was only fourteen years old again . . . Kuja.
Kuja didn't move as he saw a piece of rubble the size of an air-cab crash from the smoldering sky. It caught a man, crushing him at the midriff. Blood sprayed into the street, covering the young girl he'd been holding in his arms. His daughter.
"Megan . . ." the man whispered, unable to move. His spine was snapped in two. "Megan, where are you?"
The girl let out a horrified sob. The chunk of earth had missed her. "P- Papa . . .!"
"Megan!" Two women were rushing as fast as they could to the scene. The younger one, fair and beautiful, let out a shriek of horror.
"N-No!"
"Martha . . ." the man closed his eyes, his life ebbing away onto the street. "Take her . . . Megan . . ." He shifted his arms slightly, allowing the other, older woman to take the child.
". . . Meisei . . . Don't leave us . . .!"
"Martha . . . protect her . . . with your life,"
"I-I will," she was trembling with tears that didn't want to come.
"And Mother . . . Make her happy . . ."
"Of course, Meisei,"
They didn't see the pair of blue eyes upon them of the silver-haired boy that stood on the side of the street. Blood splattered his clothes . . . the blood of the dead-man. He was crying.
". . . Oh, Zidane . . . Garland has turned me into a monster . . ."
He turned and fled.
And then they were back to present day. Megan found herself standing and shaking in the infirmary of Alexandria castle once more, Demeter alongside her. The Summoner couldn't speak. Her voice had caught in her throat. She felt nauseous . . . angry. Angry at the world.
Demeter closed her eyes wearily. ". . . Do I have to ask . . .?"
"No," Megan whispered. "Tell Zidane and the others . . . That I will make Garland RUE the day he caused this suffering to innocent lives . . ."
"And . . ."
"Yes. Tell Zidane and the others . . . I'm coming too,"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: Wah, poor Kuja-san! *huggles Kuja* I so sad for him! So? Was this chapter any good? I was kinda worried about it. I'M ON SPRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING BREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAK!!!!!!!!!! So maybe I can crap out the next chapter faster, ne? This one took fo'-eva'. Technically, I SHOULD be working on my web-comic (for those who don't know, it's like an online manga where you post it a page at a time about once or twice a week on a designated schedule; sort of like a fanfic with artwork) over break. But whatever. I'm hoping by the next chapter I'll have a link to give you all. Of course, I will then proceed to get on my hands and knees and beg you all to become followers of my web-comic. I think you'll like it! I mean, I know none of you have EVER seen my artwork . . . But you know my writing/story style, and that's a good start. It IS an original story, but don't let that deter you. See, here's the cool thing. I wrote the plot of my web-comic (Untitled Levotica) when I was twelve years old, which was only a few months before I stared this fic (yes, I DID devise the plot of this fic when I was twelve . . . So sue me). But I never thought I was going to USE Untitled Levotica. So a lot of THAT plot melted into here. So if you become followers of Untitled Levotica, you will be some of the few who get the joy of seeing where half the characters of this fic came from! Particularly Ummei. The character that he developed from shows up some time in chapter one. Drakja's character is a mix of two characters that will be in this comic, one of which shows up in the chapter-cover on the second page. Oh, and Lulian's character (who shows up early but doesn't have a part for awhile) is SO obvious it's almost disturbing. And here's the wonderful, beautiful news I have. If all goes well with my web- comic, I'm going to make an on-the-side web-site where I'm going to post fanart, which WILL include Final Fantasy. Y'all wanna see how I draw Kuja? Then you'll just hafta stop by an' see my web-comic when I get it up (I'm having technical difficulties right now). Okay? Is that a deal . . .? *sniffle*
ERDA NAD ERIVWE. OMG, how cool is that? I scrambled the words, and it made new words . . . Oh, I am in a good mood today!