"Don't treat me like I'm just your puppet!"

This enraged shout sliced through the darkness, awakening Kuja. He opened his eyes and looked around. He was still on Terra, but Garland was now speaking to an older Kuja, around fifteen. He screamed and yelled at Garland, but the old man just stood there calmly, with an amused expression on his face.

"I will control my own destiny!" the young Kuja shouted.

The older Kuja gasped in horror as he realised that he remembered this scene. He knelt on the floor with his head in his hands, blocking out the memory. But the images kept on coming, as though this was not happening outside his body but inside his eyes. Even when Kuja shut his eyes he could still see the blue light of Terra and the furious figure of his younger self projected on his eyelids.

Please, not this... anything but this...

Garland watched the raging Kuja until his anger had burned out. "Have you quite finished?" he asked coldly.

The young Kuja turned his back on him.

"Never mind. It is irrelevant now anyway."

The young Kuja looked back over his shoulder, in spite of himself. "What do you mean by that?"

"Why, your services shall no longer be needed, of course." Seeing the look of confusion on Kuja's face, Garland smirked. "You were always inferior, Kuja. Ever since you were created, I was always looking for something better. When I created you, I was looking for a particular type of soul. Something intelligent and spirited. Something that could take matters into his own hands when things went wrong. It didn't occur to me to find a soul that would obey. I assumed that you would naturally obey me. However, you didn't. So I created a replacement that would. Meet the Second."

A blank- faced Genome walked from the shadows. He was short and stocky, and he had short, scruffy blonde hair. He was as different possible from Kuja, as if Garland had made his body specially to highlight the differences between him and the Second. Only the eyes, the washed- out blue eyes, bore any resemblance to Kuja's, but where Kuja's eyes shone, Zidane's were dull, as if the light behind them hadn't been switched on yet.

"Isn't he perfect?" Garland grinned. "You have been unwilling and weak from the start, Kuja. You never listened, you never complied. I know all about your little jaunt in Gaia. Did you really think that you could deceive me? The Second will be the new clay from which I shall mould the perfect Angel Of Death! Then my plan shall be complete and I will assimilate Gaia."

The young Kuja kept his face turned from Garland's, so he could not see the tears streaming down his face. The older Kuja raged at him through his sorrow. "Say something! Defend yourself!" he cried desperately. "You- can- destroy- him! Don't- cry!"

Sobbing, the younger Kuja ran from the room, and his elder counterpart screamed. "Enough! Please! Why are you showing me this?"

But instead of answering him, the scene darkened and another came into view. This time it was the Kuja of three years ago, in Burmecia, realising Zidane was still alive. At the Iifa Tree, when Bahamut had turned against the elephant- lady and killed her. Then another, and another, faster and faster, until they blurred into each other. Kuja stood in the midst of the wailing vortex, screaming with it, until he could no longer tell whether the sound was coming from his mouth or the scenes replaying in front of him.

I have looked forward to meeting you for a long time, Princess...

Sing for me, my sweet canary. I, too, will welcome you come with open arms.

Play a requiem for her and all of Alexandria!

Should I kill you slowly to express my gratitude for all that you have done? Or quickly to show my love?

I'm gonna die just like the black mages I so despise!

I finally realised what it means to live... I guess I was too late.

I was just looking for solace... and perhaps a little forgiveness...

I don't think I would hesitate to kill him.

I forgive you...

For the sake of all our years in flight...

A huge flash of white erupted in Kuja's mind, and unexpectedly, he was flying in the skies over the Iifa Tree. But not on his dragon. He was flying free, his sleeves trailing behind him like great white wings. The face caressed his face as he swooped through the air in ecstasy. "I remember, silver dragon!" he cried into the gusts of air whooshing past him.

Suddenly he was back on his dragon, and, just as suddenly, he had fallen from its back, down into nothingness. Complete nothingness...