Personally, I rather like this chapter :beams:...I think I'm updating too quickly...'cause surprisingly enough...:looks back on work:...There's only about seven more chapters and then it's finished:gasp: Anyways, ya know the drill y'all! R&R and hey, why you're at it, why not check out some of my other work? You know ya want to...:flutters eyelashes:

Chapter 5

'He who had a thousand friends
Has not a friend to spare,
While he who had one enemy
Shall meet him everywhere.' William Blake

'I will not condemn for what you did yesterday, if you do it right today.' Sheldon S. Maye

Garnet paced her bedroom with a mixture of impatience and frustration. She had heard a rumor that disturbed her greatly and she had ordered confirmation of this rumor nearly an hour ago. No one had full-filled her request and she was growing angry. She stormed over to the window and threw them open so hard the glass nearly shattered. The queen scowled down with contempt at her bustling kingdom. The mood was slightly different today however. The citizens were loitering around the square, no doubt eagerly awaiting the return of their loved ones, friends and relatives from Burmecia.

All of a sudden Garnet felt the room press onto her, as if gravity had increased and everything had become very heavy. She felt lonely. Everyone was waiting for someone they cared about to return but here she was trapped in her castle waiting for no one but herself. She sat down on the floor and held her bare arms and tried to dispel the feeling. As hard as she tried images and sounds came into her head, all relating back to him. A flash of a cheeky grin, astute eyes that held an adventurous spark, sandy blonde hair and a touch that couldn't be matched. Her eyes were hot at the corners as she thought of him.

'Zi…dane…wh-where are you?'

But before she could firmly grip her sanity, the voices came again like a viper uncurling from beneath a rock to spit its deadly poison.

Darling. Have you heard anything from Burmecia?

She tried so hard to resist speaking back to them but their voices were sweet and melodious, whispering soothingly in the back of her mind. 'N-no. It's probably just a rumor. I-I'm sure the troops are fine,' she replied quickly. She thought she heard them sigh.

You weren't thinking of him again were you, love?

'N-no. Never.'

You can't lie to us. We are one; we hear your thoughts, we feel your emotions. Forget him. You only need us. You always have. We have been with you much longer than he. You are in our debt for all the times we have aided you.

'W-why me?'

Silly girl, they snapped, but continued more gently, we thought you would know; you are the strongest summoner on Gaia. Besides, you know us and we know you. They laughed making icy fingers crawl down Garnet's spine. No need for awkward acquaintances then, eh?

Already her mind was slipping. All the questions she had wanted to ask just fell away from her and she sunk into their dark embrace again, hypnotized by their cooing voices that sung a sinister lullaby only she could hear.

Let us go over the plan, sweet one. Do you remember it? Do you remember what you have to do? Their voices were like tinkling bells.

'D-destroy all of the strongest warriors on Gaia.'

And who are they?

'Vivi Orunitia, Adelbert Steiner, Freya Crescent, Eiko Carol, Amarant Coral and… Zidane Tribal.'

Excellent! Once they're out the way nothing can prevent us from attaining out goal. The tables shall turn for the humans, and we shall enslave them as they enslaved us. And you, love, will rule as queen, never to feel the emotions you wish to be rid of again.

'Yes, my Eidolons; I will do whatever you please.'

Garnet sat down on her bed and waited for the news to arrive. A flash of white caught her eye and she looked out the window to see what it was. To her surprise she saw a beautiful owl staring at her. It was the most magnificent bird she had ever set eyes on so she sat motionless as not to scare it. It was whiter than cotton and had two particularly long feathers sticking up from its forehead, adding to its virgin beauty and elegance. Its large, intelligent eyes studied her before it flapped its wings and flew away in a graceful cloud of feathers. Garnet only had a moment to wonder what an owl was doing out in the daytime when there was a knock at the door. She leapt to her feet.

'Come in and be quick about it!' she barked, leaning forward and resting her hands on her hips. 'I've already wasted a lot of my time waiting for a reply to that rumor.'

Steiner stepped in gingerly and saluted, avoiding eye contact. He could see the shock register on her face and waited for the torments he would receive.

She said, 'Why are you back so early? You were meant to station yourselves in Burmecia until I gave command for you to leave! Why didn't I hear the troops return? Answer quickly!'

'They're all dead,' he replied bluntly.

Garnet stood there for a moment to let this information sink in.

'D-dead…? All of them…?'

Steiner nodded, staring at the wall behind her.

'H-how could you let this happen…you idiot! Do you realize what you've done?' She took a step forward and struck him round the face. Steiner was surprised by this but didn't try to defend himself – he would not lay a finger on his queen no matter what she did – or show any emotion on his face. Instead, he returned calmly, 'I am very sorry, Your Majesty, but it was impossible to defeat them…by the end.'

'What do you mean by the end?' she snapped back, annoyed that he hadn't reacted to her slap. 'Was it Freya?'

'No,' he said, and then looked to into her eyes; dark eyes that were clouded with insanity. 'Zidane was there.'

She nearly dropped to her knees at just hearing his name.

'And Master Vivi,' he added. 'There was no way I could of fought Zidane, Master Vivi and Freya and lived.' Steiner waited for her reaction, but getting none he said carefully, 'Zidane completely demolished our troops. The Dragon Knights killed one-hundred at the most, Vivi destroyed about another hundred and Zidane…' He trailed off.

Garnet's eyes went wide with shock. 'But we sent one thousand troops out there! Are you seriously telling me that the thief killed eight hundred highly skilled soldiers by himself? It's possible!'

'I would not of thought it possible if I had not witnessed it with my own eyes.'

'Why are you alive then?'

A contemplative pause. '...I don't know, My Lady.'

Garnet's mind was racing. Could he have become that strong? If so, how would she destroy him? What was worse, it seemed that he had joined forces with the others. If he were there every time she tried to kill them, she wouldn't be able to lay a finger on them! What if Steiner had made a pact with Zidane and was spying on her? It seemed that her armies were ineffective.

You must try another method of destroying them.

Damn him! She thought she had destroyed him when she broke his heart.

Find his weakness, love…

'His weakness?'

'Pardon, Your Majesty?'

Garnet jumped. 'I-I said, does Zidane have any weaknesses?'

She truly has gone insane, Steiner thought, but said, 'It certainly didn't seem like it. Not on the battlefield anyway. He seemed invincible.'

'Don't be a fool. Only Eidolons are invincible.'

Steiner inclined his head. 'Eidolons? What do the Eidolons have to do with anything?'

She stumbled over her words but managed to shout at him nonetheless. 'How dare you address me in that manner! Get out of my room now and prepare the funeral services! I don't want to see you at all for the rest of the day!'

Steiner bowed then saluted. 'Yes My Lady.'

As he exited her chamber his voice still echoed round in her head.

Not on the battlefield anyway…

Garnet sat down with a sly smile adorning her features.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

'You came back quicker than I had thought.'

Zidane was sitting on the bridge, his favorite place in the Black Mage Village. He had only arrived a few minutes beforehand but already Mikoto had found him. Not that he minded. He knew that if he asked to be left alone she would do so.

'Vivi wanted to stay to help out longer,' he told her before she could ask.

She sat down beside her brother and they listened to the stream's song. A fish leapt and broke the silence. Leaves drifted like unmanned vessels beneath the bridge and out the other side. Zidane wished he could be in one of them, drifting peacefully without knowing or caring where he ended up. He looked across to Mikoto and was surprised to find a young, female Genome sitting on her lap and staring distractedly at the stream. She looked at him in the Genome fashion - a usual blank stare - then looked away again.

'Say hello, Kali; don't be rude to your older brother,' Mikoto scolded and tapped her lightly on the back of her head.

The little girl didn't look at him but greeted him with a quiet hello. Zidane smiled at his little sisters.

'You know,' he said, 'if you come here at a certain time during the night, they say you can see water spirits dancing on the surface. You have to look real careful though and be real quiet 'cause the slightest noise startles them away.'

Kali seemed to consider this for a moment, her gray eyes flickering dully.

'That is… not true. There is no such things as water spirits.'

'How do you know? Have you ever seen one?'

Kali said nothing but just gazed into the stream. Finally she asked, 'When do they come out?'

'Hmm…early evening I think; just as the sun goes down. They like it then because they blend in with the shadows.'

'They are fire-flies,' Kali said.

Zidane laughed and his eyes creased in the corners. He was about to say something but Mikoto interrupted him.

'Was Steiner there?'

She was staring with a somber expression into the stream, her arms wrapped around Kali protectively. He realized how much she must care for them and thought of the comment he had made earlier – seeming like a decade ago now – You're like a kind of mother to them.

'Yes he was there,' he replied finally. 'Still alive and well, even after I left.'

He thought he heard Mikoto sigh with relief.

'I remember Steiner,' Kali said in her monotone voice. 'He was dressed in clothes that were meant to be shiny but they were going rusty.'

Zidane laughed again. 'Wow, you have a good memory! You must've been really young back then.'

After landing on Gaia, Zidane noticed that the Genome's were ageing. But it was a strange sort of ageing, quite unlike the way that Zidane and Mikoto had aged. The others grew bigger and their features became less childish but it came to a point where they simply grew no more. When Zidane had asked Mikoto why this was, she explained that because Garland had intended to use their bodies as vessels, he did not want the souls to be received into bodies that were old and weak. What would be the point? So every Genome was created with the body of a five year old, which slowly developed into an adult's body. Number wise, they aged like everyone else over the years but even when they turned seventy they still possessed the body of a twenty year old. Herself and Zidane were exceptions because they were given souls.

'I am twelve years old,' Kali told her older brother indifferently. Zidane nodded and replied, 'I'm twenty-six! Does that seem old to you?'

'Age is irrelevant to us.'

Zidane shrugged. 'Fair enough.'

The stream chattered to itself pleasantly and didn't interfere with their conversations. Water boatman skimmed the surface and the fish came up to investigate. The evening twilight was enclosing around them. People were going to their homes. They greeted Zidane and Mikoto respectfully, a young Black Mage waved playfully at Kali who just stared through him – as was the way of the Genomes. Zidane admired their patience with such a faceless race of people.

'Lady Mikoto, you are hurting me,' Kali said suddenly.

Her brother turned his head in surprise and found Kali trying to squirm from her older sister's grasp.

'Oh, I'm sorry. I-I… didn't realize I was holding you so tightly. S-sorry.' She let her go and Kali stood up, frowning moodily as young children do. 'G-go on; you better get ready for the evening meal.'

The Genomes didn't need to eat but some would occasionally take a mouthful here and there out of curiosity. They attended the evening meal anyway, which was held in a large hall with the Black Mages, who were excellent cooks but hardly ate anything at all. It surprised Zidane how much the two races had in common and was pleased that the mages were gradually awakening the Genome's ideas, opinions and feelings about themselves and the environment in which they lived.

He looked over at his sister with a worried expression. She was kneeling in front of him and staring at the wooden boards. Zidane had always thought her to be quite pretty. When he had first met her he hadn't thought she was anything special. She had very plain features, with light blonde hair, an oval face and small colorless eyes. When she had broken free of her adolescent cocoon, instead of blossoming into a butterfly like he had expected, she broke free as a moth: neither ugly nor beautiful. She stood out from her brothers and sisters though, her eyes were wider apart and she full lips the color of cherries, and well defined cheek bones that made her look almost cat like.

'Zidane,' she said suddenly. 'I… must tell you something.'

'Mm? What?'

'I…I cannot say myself…especially not here. You must come with me and then everything will be explained.'

Zidane heaved himself up. The battle with the Alexandrian's seemed ages away now and he had forgotten his hunger long ago. He helped her up but she avoided eye contact with him.

'Have I done something wrong?' he asked lightly.

She shook her head and started walking across the bridge. 'No, not at all; but I think you will be angry with me.'

'I could never be angry with you!' Zidane laughed.

Mikoto said nothing.

She led him out into the dense forest surrounding the village. The evening coolness was creeping up on them and Zidane shivered and began rubbing his arms to get warm. The leaves shushed and whispered as the Genomes passed beneath them and the branches swayed and sighed in a hypnotic fashion. Twilight had induced shadows out of their daytime hiding places and fluttered in front of trees in an eerie, silent dance that sent Zidane's eyes darting for danger. An early rising fox crossed their path and a hare darted away in surprise. The wood smelt strongly of the damp undergrowth and the owls filled the air with a ghostly chorus.

Finally, the siblings reached a huge oak tree that dominated a clearing in the woodland. Its trunk was thickly wrinkled and its branches were twisted old fingers pointing in every direction. In its trunk, a deep notch yawned at them. The whole tree had been gnawed at by the weather but looked sturdy and powerful, it's roots had lifted above the ground as if it had tried to walk away and it wore a thick crown of leaves on its head. It reminded Zidane of the Iifa Tree – but much smaller.

Mikoto stopped before the trunk and stared up at its thick body. She called, 'I have brought him with me. You may see him, if you wish it.'

Zidane took a few steps closer and peered up into the intertwined branches above, expecting someone to drop down and greet him. Instead, the shadows within the deep notch stirred and a shape began to form. When it finally emerged Zidane did no more than raise an eyebrow while Mikoto bowed slightly beside him.

An owl sat just outside the notch. It was the most beautiful owl Zidane had ever seen and the fresh moonlight empathized its white feathers, giving it a ghostly appearance. Its large eyes stared down at Zidane and their color reminded him of an April sky in the morning, clear and crisp and a startling blue. The owl hopped onto a branch and sat their quite straight, radiating a sense of elegance and purity.

'This is what you took me to see?' Zidane questioned, tearing his eyes away from the beautiful bird to look at his sister. She kept her eyes to the floor and said nothing.

'Zidane.'

The voice made him jump out of skin because not only did he realize immediately where it came from but who's voice it was.

'It's good to see you again, brother. I almost didn't recognize you, you've grown so much!'

The Genome stared disbelievingly up at the owl that bobbed its head and seemed to almost smile.

I-it can't be…no… it isn't…it's impossible!

'K-Kuja?'

The owl fluttered its wings in an appreciative manner and let out a thread of laughter. 'I'm so glad you recognized me!' he exclaimed, then added lightly, 'my voice anyway.'

Zidane took a step back and stumbled over an uplifted root. For a moment he just sat there stunned, unable to take his eyes away from the owl.

'Have you nothing to say to me? After ten years all you can do is gawp? My my brother, I'm surprised; you always had something to say in a difficult situation.'

'Y-you…you're a-alive?' the Genome managed to force out. 'W-when…? How…? I-I was there when you died!' His rage burst into motion like a firework and he turned to Mikoto, jumping to his feet. 'How long have you been keeping this from me?' he shouted. His voice echoed harshly around them and a shower of leaves fluttered to the ground as a bird took flight in fear.

Mikoto kept her head bowed and didn't reply. This infuriated him more. He grabbed his little sister by the arms and shook her roughly.

'Answer me dammit!' he cried. 'How long have you been keeping this from me? Is it a difficult question? Do I need to spell it out for you? I trusted you! Why I should -'

'Leave her alone,' the owl said coolly, 'I asked her not tell you, for I feared your reaction. Put your sister down, brother.'

Zidane whirled on him, pushing Mikoto away, his eyes flashing in rage. 'I am not your brother! I never was and I never will be!'

The owl sighed. 'Argumentative as usual? Silly boy. I thought you had grown into a man but I see you still hold your childish temper.'

Zidane cried out and tried to leap up to the bird but he felt a weight around his chest and found himself being dragged back down the trunk.

'Let go of me, Mikoto!' he screamed and lashed out at her. She ducked her head and he missed.

He struggled with her a little but when she refused to let go he stopped trying to climb the tree and stood stiffly in her grip, shaking terribly.

The female Genome whispered to him, her voice quivering with the effort of trying to restrain her brother, 'Please listen to him, Zidane. I know you're angry but…he's only trying to help you. Just hear him out at least…'

'Why should I?' he snarled.

'Because he knows what's wrong with Garnet.'

The whole world came crashing down around him. Fragments of memories flashed before his eyes, images of Kuja, and his wife, Terra, Gaia. They were twisted and muddled, hidden within the mist of time. But some poked their way through and he felt once again his terrible loss, his longing to hold his wife again, and his affection toward his friends and somewhere amidst the confusion, the respect he had for Kuja. He remembered as clearly as if he were reliving it, the day he had fought his way back into the Iifa Tree to save him, even after all he had done. He felt the prick of sadness that had touched him when his brother had died in his arms, sorry for what he had afflicted on the world. The look in his eyes had moved Zidane and he was looking right into those very eyes again.

'A-are you… still…sorry?' he said thickly. He was about to explain himself but the owl seemed to of read his thoughts.

'That is why I am here. I never got a chance to make up for the things I did, I'm not sure if I ever can. But…the gods gave me one more chance to redeem myself. I took form as an owl when I returned, the symbol of the gods, of forgiveness. I waited silently in the shadows for years, eagerly waiting the day I would be able to restore what I had destroyed. That day is today.

'I will make up for all the pain I caused you by delivering you from the thing that causes you the most grief now. I will make up for the suffering and destruction I inflicted on the world by preventing the next war. Only then, my dear brother, can I rest in peace. So the answer to your question is clear; I am still sorry. Now here is my question to you, Zidane. Do you still forgive me, as you did when I lay on the verge of death inside the bowels of the Iifa Tree?'

It's true. It is Kuja. He's back from the dead. Can I trust him? A picture of Garnet flashed through his mind. I'll have to. Besides, that doesn't change anything, after all that day in the Iifa Tree…changed my life. Kuja…

'Yes… I still forgive you.' Then he added as an after thought. 'I'm sorry Mikoto.'

She did not look at him but shook her head in a dismissive gesture.

The owl ruffled its feathers and Zidane could picture Kuja's sly smirk when he asked rather proudly, 'Well then, what would you like to know first?'

Horray for owl-Kuja! I really wanted to in-coperate some sort of magical being into it and I've always thought that if Kuja were an animal he'd either be a white cat or an owl, because a cat looks cunning and an owl in beautiful and graceful... :hugs Mikoto for no reason:...so erm...tell me what ya think of Kuja! Review peeps!