:coughs importantly: I have done a fanart of Zidane and owl-Kuja. It's based on the first paragraph of chapter 10 so you'll be getting a preview of the future! It doesn't give much away but ...:shrugs:...the link is in my profile..GO LOOK! hehe...R&R!

Replies:

Jenki Emeralds - Garnet's only saying 'bad words' because she possessed. But you didn't know that and I doubt you're even reading this chapter…so I'm wasting my time saying this really aren't I? Thanks for your review anyway!

Ikecer -no I've never actually reenacted my scenes, probably because I don't particularly want to kill people, but I did do martial arts for a while if that's any help. Hm… although, I doubt very much brilliant authors such as Stephen King went up to a Pet Cemetery to bury his dead son NOR did he release a super-virus to wipe out America and fight the imps of Satan…but hey I could be wrong. Thanks for the review!

Tc chan -:screams: WHERE DID I PUT THAT? Omg that is a MAJOR error on my behalf…of course Burmercia doesn't have a cinema! I will change that when I can be bothered! Thank you for pointing it out…I don't even remember writing it ¬¬;;

Kuja King - well…It is written in there that it's none of the eidolons we actually know It's a dead eidolon, it's soul is the only part of it left. Perhaps I didn't make it clear enough ; )

THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS GUYS, KEEP 'EM COMING!

Chapter Eight

'I take the sting and close the door
On everything that I became
I close my eyes to see your face
It holds me up and knocks me down.'
- Hell is for heroes

He could feel it even now, pulsating like a living thing, erupting his senses in flashes of bright lights like fireworks, exploding through his fingertips. It twirled and spiraled inside him, part of his being and he wasn't afraid of it. He accepted it, met it eye to eye and overcame it, compressing for later use. His power. He knew not when he came upon it, perhaps years of battling powerful monsters had allowed him to acquire these unfamiliar abilities gradually, like building an indomitable castle. Bit by bit, piece by piece, he became unknowingly stronger and though he did not know it at the time, his foe began to quail before his approaching form, blending into the shadows to avoid his sweeping eyes. They began to fear him.

Kuja saw that soon enough. He wanted to lure the beasts of the woods out to battle Zidane, so he could witness his brother's 'god-like' strength for himself; but there was hardly any need. They came out briefly and observed him, only to turn and flee like terrified children from the male Genome. Even stupid beasts like those could sense his 'god-like' powers, and returned to the inky blackness they had dragged themselves from without even battle cry escaping their mouths.

This is how the owl knew that only Zidane would be able to possess the fiery soul of an Eidolon.

But he also knew that Zidane wasn't mentally up for the challenge; he was emotionally unstable, which he guessed was what the Eidolons wanted. Using his love as a weapon against him was a clever plan, Kuja had admitted to himself while scanning Zidane's condition skeptically. But, he thought, it's nothing a little training can harden.

Momentarily, Zidane was perched on a nearby branch staring up at the leaves, at nothing. He had a veil drawn over his eyes and expression. Kuja could tell he was in another place mentally. He needed to dispel this distant mindedness or else the Eidolon would capture his thoughts, unwrap them and destroy him. Not that the Eidolon was evil (or so he hoped), it could not be helped; an Eidolon can hardly help its powerfulness. Just like Zidane couldn't help his.

'Zidane!' the owl screeched suddenly and Zidane started, then looked across at the beautiful owl with a mixture of annoyance and melancholy glittering in his blue eyes.

'What?'

'Don't 'what' me. You know 'what'. How are you meant to become strong enough to dominate such immeasurable power if you cannot prevent yourself from daydreaming?' Kuja snapped with a façade of anger specking his voice. 'Wake up, get down from that branch and do what I tell you!'

Zidane turned on him then, staying ever true to his new, unpredictable, violent outbursts that were leaving black spots on his golden reputation. His perfect teeth were bared and his tail was savagely lashing back and forth as he launched himself like a rocket at the nocturnal bird in an amazing show of brutality.

Kuja hopped neatly out the way and Zidane crashed to floor. 'There, you're awake and you've got down. That wasn't hard was it?'

'Shut the hell up damn bird! I don't need to take orders from you!' Zidane spat back, brushing leaves and twigs off his front.

'Oh my dearest brother, I think you do,' Kuja countered in a mocking voice. 'You want to save Gaia, don't you?'

Zidane growled and shot a withering glare at the owl before nodding stiffly.

'Excellent! Your training begun a few seconds ago and you've failed already. Lesson one: Control your anger.'

'Dammit! You could of warned me!' he flared.

'Failed again!' Kuja hopped from foot to foot in amusement and gave a little scream of laughter. 'You're just going to keep on failing aren't you? What a hero you turned out to be! I thought you were meant to be strong, but you can't even protect your own wife! Ha ha!'

'Damn you bastard I'll shut you up for good!'

Zidane threw himself at the old oak's trunk and tried to climb. Kuja rained him with twigs and leaves while laughing manically and throwing more taunts at the infuriated Genome.

'Look at you, pathetic creature! A mere woman has defeated you, oh mighty warrior, broken your little heart as if it were made of glass! What makes you think you can do anything, let alone save the world again?'

Finally, Zidane realized what his brother was doing.

The former thief allowed himself to slip down the trunk, feeling the scratch of the bark against his chest. He sat down on the floor cross-legged and stared intently at some moss that was growing purposefully up the tree. He took deep breaths.

'Giving up eh?' Kuja continued, flapping his wings. 'You always were a coward, you ran from your wife even though you knew she needed your help! You're weak, Zidane you always have and you always will be, no training I can ever give you will change that!'

The moss was an olive green color, speckled with light blue flowers that reminded Zidane of the crystal blue sea he had swum in when he was very young.

'You don't know what's good for you! You stupid boy, you can hardly call yourself a man! With the courage of a mouse and the brains of a Mu! Save Gaia? Ha! It was all luck! I defeated you once and I could do it again with one hand tied behind my back! And then when I'm finished I'd run off with that pretty wife of yours!'

He imagined himself in that clear ocean, laughing as the waves washed over him, rimmed with froth like a cake lined with frosting. He was with his Tantalus brothers –he remembered now! The color of the sea was so intense, and he could see fish – the colors of a rainbow – darting nervously around his feet. He could hear the soft lullaby of the sea around. He could smell the salty water. He could taste it in his mouth. He could –

'Zidane.'

His eyes snapped open.

'Well done,' Kuja said calmly. 'You've learnt to control your anger.'

They had not much time left until Garnet released the Eidolons, but Kuja didn't seem to care as Zidane progressed in his training in leaps and bounds. His brother was a good student and from the point where he learnt to control his anger, he tried to focus his energies into concentrating on the labors that awaited him rather than drift away on a cloud of misery.

Sorrow, regret and guilt were the focus of his training. At first they overwhelmed him, especially when Garnet's name was mentioned. He would become quite foul-mouthed when the owl tried to wake him out of it and disappeared for an hour or two until Kuja would find him finally, slumped like a scolded child in a dark corner of the forest. After laying upon him the severity of the situation and not getting a polite response, Kuja had tried another approach.

'How do you think she is?'

Zidane had bristled slightly, as if preparing for a fight, but relaxed again and inclined his head slightly, thinking. 'What do you mean?'

The owl had fluttered gracefully to the forest floor and looked up at his brother with cool, amber eyes. 'It's a simple question, isn't it? How do you think she's feeling?'

'Hell, I dunno,' he had replied crudely.

Kuja had laughed in an owl-ish shriek. 'Well, put yourself in her position! Things that no one else can see or hear are manipulating you, you've just dismissed the person you love against your will and have denied even your strongest feelings. You're turning your back on everyone you've ever cared about and are about to claim war over the world in which you grew up in, and you're being told all this by the things that you thought you trusted and have been a part of you since you were a child.'

The Genome had contemplated this for quite a while, staring solemnly at the ground with an alien expression carved into his flawless features. Eventually, he had replied, 'Scared…I guess. Confused. Betrayed. Trapped…and lonely…real lonely.'

'Do you think she wants to stay like that?'

'…No.'

'Then you should set her free. She would be grateful, she loves you after all.' The owl had then added more gravely: 'But you're not going to be able to even get near her again if you don't dispel these feelings and get on with your training!'

After that gloomy afternoon Zidane's attitude to his training had improved dramatically. He stayed alert whenever Kuja mentioned his wife's name (which he made a habit of to do frequently) and listened intently to every order his older brother gave.

In all honestly, the ex-thief found the training excruciatingly difficult. The pain that seared through his soul every time the snow-colored owl spoke her name – and with such accusation! – was unbearable. However, he had found a trick that made his heavy emotions seem lighter, that even Kuja didn't know about, no doubt he would be irked if he did. At first, Zidane had tried to counter the dark emotions with better ones, trying desperately to grasp at the threads of his love for Garnet and cling to them; but it hurt; so he stopped. Now he found that all he had to do every time he became angry or miserable or full of loathing, was just to conjure the distant memory of the time he had been in the sea. He could not exactly locate where he was; he must have been very young. But just the thought of the unblemished, crystal ocean that lapped lovingly around him was enough to quell the emotions that raged within him. It relaxed him, soothed him, washed away the anxiety he felt, so he clung to that memory like a shipwrecked man clinging to driftwood, and struggled through his training with the man that had once sought to destroy him.

So now, Zidane was finishing a day of training, which consisted mainly of meditating, balancing the difference between emotion and strength, compressing and calming his thoughts and imagining himself in the ocean with Tantalus. He was lying on the highest branch of the oak tree and listening to birds singing to the sunset, letting fatigue sweep over him. The reddish-pink hues of the sun tinted his skin and bathed him in a gentle light, dappled by the leaves, motionless in the still evening. He had his hands behind his head and had one leg arched, the other leg swinging lazily over the right side of the branch. His eyes were half open.

What is to become of me? he thought in a haze of tiredness. Will I die? Will I…kill Garnet? Can I really do it? Has it come to this? No! There must be another way… there must be…another…be another…way…I can't, can I, I can't no! But I can't turn back now…too late… He let out a long yawn and what he thought next was so close to sleep he had forgotten about it when he awoke. Garnet…I love you.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Zidane I love you.

She startled herself from a disjointed slumber and sat up hastily. For a blissful moment between sleep and consciousness her thoughts had been her own, and in those few seconds her they had been drawn to one subject like moths to a flame: Zidane. But now that she had fully awoken her mind became twisted again and the Eidolons persuasive magic pulsed through her veins, as deadly as poison. Now she could not remember what she had thought and reckoned that it hardly mattered…yet her heart was aching and there was something surfacing…a memory? A face? A feeling…? Yes! A feeling…what?

Love, it's so nearly time; are you wasting your precious moments lingering in bed?

The feeling was gone.

'I'm tired that's all,' she replied hastily. 'I'll get up now.' Quietly. 'Did the assassins I sent out have any luck destroying the group?'

An annoyed grumble vibrated in the back of her mind. Not yet, but they shall find them soon. It seems they have disappeared, including your captain.

'I know…' She quickly averted the subject. 'I hardly think they've disappeared. They've probably congregated somewhere to discuss the situation. I haven't the faintest clue where.'

Garnet was dressing now, pulling her gown on carelessly. A flash of light caught her eye suddenly and she looked to the left. An oval mirror winked back at her. She had not looked in a mirror for so long, she had no care to, why should she care what the people around her thought of her anymore?

But there was a sudden temptation, an urge, drawing her to the reflective glass this time, just to look. Despite her world-famous beauty, Garnet was not a vain person but for some reason she just wanted to see…see what? A strange curiosity had arisen in her that she could not explain.

Our preparations are almost complete. Very soon, love, very soon. It's so close…we can taste it, we can feel it, and we can see it!

'We can see it'…the words echoed in her mind as she drew closer to the mirror, suddenly oblivious to everything around her, as if she was in a bizarre horror setting where something hideous would jump out of the mirror.

And we shall bring the Falcon Claw to you, the key, the key to the summoning which you will unlock and bring us forth! This exhilarating feeling is overpowering! Yes! Yes!

She stood before the mirror now and it took every fiber in her body to stop her from screaming. And it wasn't because she looked different; it was because she didn't recognize the person staring back. For all she knew she could have been looking into the brown eyes of a stranger. Her eyes were sunken and blood shot, her lips thin and cruel, her hair was a tangled, greasy clump sitting like a monster on her back and dark lines of dirt rimmed her skeletal face and neck.

What's wrong love?

A sudden streak of sanity erupted within her mind and she screamed inwardly. Like a vivid dream, she suddenly saw herself smashing the glass screens that were her mental imprisonment. Her cage shattered in crystal teardrops and she was overwhelmed. Suppressed memories and feelings came flooding back in a blazing squall and she collapsed backwards. Garnet became aware. For the first time in years she became completely aware of everything around her, she would look at things and they would have meaning, not the emptiness the Eidolons had portrayed to her. It was like she had been looking at things through a mirror, she could see them and they looked real but they weren't and she could not touch them or feel them or link them together with precious memories and she screamed, 'I am free!'

She could think! Her thoughts were her own and she was thinking!

'I am thinking!' she cried in delight and laughed at the top of her voice while screaming: 'My thoughts! My thoughts! I can think! I can feel!'

She was happily drowning with intense feelings that bound her in a cocoon of bliss and ecstasy. She had not felt so alive for years! She screamed again at the top of voice just because she could, just because there was nothing inside preventing her from doing so and she laughed and laughed until tears rolled down her sunken cheeks and her side hurt.

The door was flung open and an alarmed looking Beatrix flew in with her sword unsheathed. She stopped when she saw Garnet on the floor laughing like a lunatic. She stepped forward gingerly.

'My…my Queen?'

Garnet opened her eyes and looked at her General, still laughing like crazy. It was when their eyes met that realization dawned upon Beatrix. It was all right now. It was okay. She was fine. Alexandria was fine. Whatever happened had ended finally. Steiner could come home. They were safe! The queen was back to normal!

So you think that's it do you?

Garnet's laughter ended so abruptly someone could of cast Silence on her.

Well your wrong.

The queen looked despairing at her general, as on final plea for help but was surprised to find Steiner's wife looking anxiously around with a deep frown etched into her forehead. Her sword was ready and she was in an attacking stance.

'Where are those voices coming from?'

Garnet nearly burst. 'You can hear them?' She scrambled to her feet, stumbling over the hem of her gown. 'You can hear the voices? You can hear what they're saying?' She shook Beatrix gently, her face alight with joy.

'Who are they?' the general demanded, worriedly scanning her environment.

Cold laughter echoed eerily around the room. Do no take it as a good sign love. The laughter came again and seemed closer. It made the hair on the back of Garnet's neck stir and prickle, goose bumps freckled her arms and she suddenly clung to Beatrix for support.

She didn't want to be alone again.

'Who are you and want do you want?' Beatrix cried out to the empty room. 'Show yourselves, cowards!'

Oh we will. It is time now. Prepare to face death and meet destruction in its most monstrous form.

'What are you – ah!'

Beatrix was thrown across the room as a wave of electric energy pulsed from Garnet's body. She was winded slightly and knelt on the floor, her entire body numb with the aftershock, and she watched Garnet in horror and confusion as she rose off the ground and hovering helplessly in the air. She was panicking terribly, sweat was pouring from her struggling form and she was sobbing madly as she was held in an invisible hand.

'No! Stop, I beg you!' she pleaded desperately but she was answered with only a cackle of unsettling laughter.

Garnet watched as the air in front of her sparked and cracked suddenly. The air seemed to cave in on itself, as if it was being sucked into a black hole no more the size of her fists. It let out a horrific bang and blue and violet pinpricks of light burst outward of this space, a sudden flash of intense light blinded her momentarily and when she opened her eyes she cried out in horror and tried to move away but could not.

Her old family amulet hovered before he face. Rays light danced off its slanted edges and shone tiny, square, rainbow reflections onto the surrounding walls and Garnet's face. Once she thought the crystal necklace was beautiful and it filled her with pride and awe whenever she set eyes on it, but now she was filled with fear and disgust and commenced trying to escape from it once more.

The Falcon Claw began to drift toward her, leaving a trail of magical sparks behind it and making the reflections dash madly around the walls like those of a disco ball. Unable to move, she let out a scream as the chain encircled her neck and she felt the familiar weight of the amulet press against her chest. There was a series of bright flashes that engulfed the room in their flare for long seconds before dissipating and then Beatrix found it suddenly clear what was happening; just too late.

It is time for a new beginning, they said.

EVIL EIDOLONS I KILL YOU!

ahem...

Well there you go, Garnet's not being possessed anymore by them, but does that mean they'll be summoned and will that change Kuja's plan? Who knows? Except me. And you, if you read the next chapter…which is nearly finished. Reviews are MUCH appreciated.