Life after Death

Chapter 2: Lilly

LLL

Author's Note: Oi! Cliffhanger! I am so evil! Except I already told you Loki wouldn't die…it would be a really short story if she did…anyway, in this chapter I introduce my next original character. That will be two out of three!

Loki: You really enjoy adding in your own characters, don't you?

Mel: Yep! But it'll work out, and the FFIX characters will still have major roles.

Disclaimer: Mel doesn't own FFIX. She's heart broken enough about it. You don't have to sue her to add to it.

LLL

"Die, Loki!"

Dear god, I'm about to be murdered by Vivi's kid. This is ironic. Very ironic.

"Sorry Tam, but today is not Loki's day to die!" a girl called out, the person sounding, over all, very happy.

"Huh? Lilly, stay out of this! Tam commanded, the energy dispersing. "The genomes have nothing to do with this!" I turned to face the girl, who stood straight and proud. She was a genome alright. Her hair was dirty blonde, hanging just over her shoulders. Her eyes were the same blue color as Zidane's, determined and curious. She wore a yellow shirt, the bottom half cut off, and the sleeves all but missing. Over it was a green chest plate, cloth attacked to it on either side, and draping around her arms like sleeves. The ends were baggy, and sewn to yellow gloves on her hands. Her skirt was green in color, matching the sleeves. The left half of it was ankle length, brushing over her yellow boot. The other side was extremely short, not even coming to her knee. A pale brown tail waved behind her cheerfully.

"Huh? I thought only Mikoto…" I was lost for words. This genome obviously had a soul, though only Mikoto was supposed to have one.

"I woke up yesterday!" The girl replied, pointed her thumb at herself. She smirked, and then glared at Tam. "Tam, leave Loki alone! She's done nothing to deserve death!" She put her hands on her hips, pouting slightly.

"What will you do if I kill her anyway?" Tam asked, blue energy forming in one hand.

"Simple, I'll do this!" Lilly snapped her fingers, vines sprouting up from the ground around Tam. They grabbed onto his arms and legs, one winding around his waist. They lifted him up into the air, Tam screaming wildly. He squirmed around desperately, trying to pry himself from the plants' grip.

"WH…WHAT?" I backed away from the mass, too curious as to how Lilly did that than to run away.

"It's okay, Loki! I'm not going to attack you suddenly!" Lilly said, laughing.

"How'd you do that?" I spat out, starring at the vines.

"Oh…I guess you haven't gotten yours yet!" Lilly said, shrugging her shoulders. She pointed to an emblem on her forehead. It was a green jewel, shaped in the form of a leaf, attacked to her forehead. How it stayed there was beyond me.

"So what?" I asked, trying to keep my attitude, and not run away like a scared chicken.

"It's the key to my power. Someone put it on my head, and suddenly, I woke up. Ever since then, I've been able to control plants and stuff!" She smiled proudly. "All I know is that we have a destiny together, and you're going to get one of these things too!" Lilly frowned and scratched the back of her head. "Or, at least that's what the strange person said…" She drifted off into thought, the only noise coming from Tam, who was still struggling with the vines.

"Tam, you idiot! You were supposed to kill Loki, not get yourself trapped like this!" I turned to face Tam, a silver haired man standing under him. His hair was longer than mine and feathery, his eyes the same blue color as the genomes. He placed his fingertips on his forehead and sighed, tossing his head back. He opened his eyes, and glared at the struggling mage.

"Isn't that…Kuja?" Lilly asked, cocking her head to the side. I had heard of Kuja from Vivi. He was supposed to be dead. The man looked at us, and held a finger over his lips.

"Don't tell Zidane, okay? He'd be mad if he found out I was behind this!" He winked playfully, and reached his hand into the air. "Flare!" He shouted, energy shooting out from him at the vines, hitting them immediately. I was blown backwards a few feet from the blast. The vines shriveled up, and released Tam. Tam landed next to Kuja, landing on his feet. Dark energy formed in Kuja's hand, and he laid his hand on Tam's back. Dark blue wings formed, one edge of every feather streaked with black. Tam gave his new wings a couple of flaps, and grabbed hold of Kuja's hand with both of his. He flew up into the air, and flew towards the Iifa tree, cackling as he went.

"Come back here Tam!" I shouted, running past Lilly to follow him on foot. I'd never catch up…but I had to! I wasn't going to let this silver haired pretty boy take control of Vivi's son!

"Loki, stop! You can't fight Kuja, not now!" Lilly shouted, taking pursuit of me.

"I'm not letting Tam leave this village! I told Vivi I'd keep them safe!" I shouted back, dodging the genomes.

"THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO FOR HIM!" Lilly shouted. I felt something hit me, and I toppled over, face first, into the path. Lilly lay on top of me, panting heavily. I squirmed under her, too tired from running, and the spell I got the tail end of to force her off me. I pulled my arms under my face, and cried. What else could I do? I couldn't help Tam, especially now that Lilly was on top of me.

"Loki?" Someone shouted. The voice was all too familiar. "Loki, where are you?" It called out again. Vivi sounded desperate, sad, confused. I didn't want to know what happened. It was obviously more bad news. "Loki, there you are! Loki, everyone has stopped! We were playing tag, and I was it! I was chasing Sari, when he just stopped running! I tagged him, and he fell over! He didn't say anything, and he didn't get up! I looked around for the others to tell me what happened, but they weren't moving or talking to me!" Vivi said, sobbing in between sentences. "Loki, why won't they talk to me?" I was too stunned to speak. I couldn't move and I couldn't cry.

Everything…everything was gone again! Tam was…I don't know what happened to Tam. All the other black mages stopped, except for Vivi. If they stopped, that meant Vivi would also.

Vivi…I don't care if you have stopped…I need you! Everything I have is going away again! Once your last son stops…I don't think…I can keep my promise. I don't think I can continue living…