Some time later…
Kuja had been living happily with Mira. They weren't married in the traditional Gaia sense, or Terran by any means, but they were husband and wife for the most part. They'd been lovers a short time after the incident with the grand dragon, and nothing was in sight of changing any time soon. Mira was coming in from one of her trips to Conde Petie, a basket of supplies in one hand, and some papers in the other. She seemed quite absorbed and didn't notice when Kuja walked up behind her.
"It that interesting?" He asked, looking over her shoulder. It was a general newspaper, one of the side story pages. Mira started at the sound of his voice and turned her head to smile at him.
"Well, yes actually. Do you remember that person you told me about once, who you said was like your brother?"
Kuja blinked a few times. "You mean Zidane?"
"Yes! That was him! It seems that he suddenly reappeared just a few days ago in Alexandria and he and the queen are going to be married in a week." She turned around to hand the paper to Kuja, who took it and began reading immediately.
"Well I'll be damned. I was beginning to think he hadn't survived." He scanned more of the article. "He sure took his time getting back to his lady love." He followed Mira into the kitchen and set the paper on the table. He stood there lost in thought as she put things away in the cupboard.
"You want to go to the wedding?" Kuja turned to look at her then shook his head as he laughed lightly.
"Am I really that transparent?" He came up and wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Nah. Only I can read you like that." She leaned up and kissed him. She still knew nothing about her past, but felt there was less reason now to know. She had everything she needed, right?
"Do you mind going? I know you've expressed an interest in other places before, but I don't want to force you to go…" Mira looked at him in mock shock.
"You think you could force me to do anything? Why Kuja, I didn't know you were that powerful." She playfully escaped his embrace and raced out of the room, Kuja hot on her heels. They ran around the house for a little while before he managed to pin her against the wall.
"So, when should we leave for the other continent?" Kuja leaned in and growled lightly.
"How about tomorrow…or maybe the next day…"
They set out for Conde Petie in three days. There was supposed to be an airship to pick up anyone who wished to come to the wedding of Queen Garnet and Sir Zidane (he got the title to marry her, no commoners marrying the princess). It was a fairly uneventful trip. They were rarely attacked, and when that did happen, Kuja took care of it. When they reached the dwarves town, it was packed to maximum capacity. There were people here from the Black Mage Village as well, and Kuja got a hat to cover his hair, to go with the long coat he was already wearing to cover his tail. With him wearing normal cloths, he figured no one would recognize him as long as they didn't look too close. He and Mira got a small cabin just for them, and decided they would stay to themselves for the trip (even though it was fairly short).
Kuja and Mira had come with their own little gifts for the newlyweds. Mira had done a picture with a beach and a sunset, Madain Sari in the far background. Kuja, not knowing exactly what would be appropriate coming from someone who had tried to destroy their home planet, had settled for a necklace for Garnet. He didn't really intend to see either of them in person. They had probably come to the conclusion that he was dead, and he had no reason to change that. If they knew he was alive and well, he might have to face charges or stay in a dungeon. He was all for turning his life around, but he didn't want to do it in some ugly cell. And, there was Mira to think about…
Their room had a window, and they could see Alexandria as they approached. The city was much as Kuja remembered it, before its destruction. They had done an excellent job of restoring it from what he'd done. Kuja could still hardly believe he'd been that blind. Mira must have caught some of his negative vibes. She reached over and gave his hand a squeeze. He looked over and smiled at her, glad at least for some things that had come of his mistakes. He wasn't sure if he could have become the person he currently was without her help…in fact, he was sure of it. He'd be dead if it weren't for her.
"The inns are going to be all full, you know." She said, looking back out the window.
"You didn't read much of the paper, did you?" he teased.
"I read about the wedding. What more did I need to know?"
Kuja laughed. "If you had read more, you'd know that every available building has been temporarily turned into an inn. There'll be room for everyone." He turned back to the window, watching as the ground came closer.
They did find a room. One of the people in town was using their house as a tavern. She overcharged a bit, but they didn't mind. They got some congratulations on being newlyweds (it was a good excuse to share a room) and decided it might be nice to explore. Kuja decided that they could drop off the gifts tomorrow, and decided to show Mira around. He took her to Ruby's theater, which was doing very well now that she had gotten some more actors (and after deflating Lowell's ego). They both enjoyed the show and thought they would probably come back. He took her around near the bell tower, and she loved seeing the moogle, Kupo, there. Kupo was very friendly with her, but seemed shocked to see her. If Kuja hadn't been worried about his presence being discovered, he would have questioned the furball about it.
They spent the next day in much the same manner. Even with all the people there, the streets rarely seemed that crowded. They had lunch in a small spot that had been turned into a picnic area. Once or twice, some people thought they recognized Kuja, but then Mira would call him by some other name and say how nice things were since they had last visited. Kuja was glad she was so quick with simple deceptions like that, or he would have surely been attacked or arrested. And Steiner, old tin can man himself, was patrolling the area constantly…when he wasn't having a snack with his Lady Beatrix.
Finally, on the third day, Kuja decided he should drop the gifts off at the castle. Mira still wanted to look around a bit, and he didn't see any danger in her being by herself. They agreed to meet back at the inn around sundown, and then went opposite directions. Kuja knew his way to the castle easily, but he tried to keep a very low profile. The gifts were all being gathered in the main hall of the castle. He intended to just go in, drop them off, and then leave. Unfortunately, when he got there, he found the hall fairly packed, and that he'd have a bit of a wait.
He was almost to where the gifts were. He'd been waiting nearly an hour now, and he really wanted to leave. Two people already had asked if they had met him before. He was thinking of Mira and some of the things he wanted to show her, when a hand clamped down on his shoulder. Trying not to act suspicious, thinking it was just one of the overtly friendly people who were celebrating, he just ignored it. Until he heard who the arm belonged to.
"I thought for sure you were dead, Kuja." Zidane, now Sir Zidane said in a low voice so no one else would hear him.
Kuja turned slowly towards him. Zidane was dressed in his normal cloths, nothing fancy. He didn't seem angry, but he was definitely on guard. Kuja and he stepped away from everyone else, into one of the side halls that were closed off from the public.
"Sorry to disappoint you. Though I was just as surprised to have woken up." Kuja took his hat of, his silvery hair falling down around his shoulders.
"How did you survive? And why are you here?" Zidane leaned against the wall.
"Someone helped me to survive. As to why I'm here," he held up his and Miraina's gifts, "I just came to congratulate you and the fair queen."
Zidane stared at the gifts before taking them from his former archrival, reading the tags. "Who is Miraina?" He looked slyly at Kuja, satisfied to notice a slight flush to his cheeks.
"Why, she's my savior and…ahem…girlfriend. Got a problem with that?" Kuja tried to look down his nose at Zidane, a smile of superiority on his face.
"You got a girlfriend? Amazing! Is that why you haven't gone on any rampages?" He got a glare from Kuja and held up his hands in apology. He set the things down on a nearby table just as Garnet walked in, her eyes widening at the sight of Kuja. Said Kuja bowed respectively to her. Zidane went over to his bride to be and patted her hand. "Look who came to the wedding! Seems he's turned himself around and even gotten himself a girl." Zidane was hoping she wouldn't flip and have him thrown in the dungeon.
"He intends only to stay for the wedding?" she asked coldly.
"Absolutely Your Highness. I would not like to overstay my welcome." Kuja was still very polite. He remembered the little queen's temper.
"Very good, as long as nothing bad happens, and especially not by-"
"Kuja!" A loud voice rang out from the other room, from the main doorway.
"Mira?" Kuja walked around and Mira came running up to him. Her hair was wild and her cheeks were flushed. She was breathing heavily from running. "What's wrong?" Kuja took her into the side hall where Zidane and Garnet were.
"Something is wrong! Something is going to happen! We have to do something, people are going to get hurt!" She didn't pay any attention to the royal pair.
Kuja put his hands on either side of her head. "Calm down and go slower. What do you mean something is going to happen?"
Tears started to form in her eyes, making Kuja very uneasy. He'd never yet seen her cry, not for anything. "I don't know. I just have this terrible feeling that something horrible is about to happen." He pulled her close as she started to sob, not knowing how else to comfort her. She'd known strange things in the past, like when there was going to be an earthquake, or where he'd dropped a ring he normally wore on his pinky finger, why couldn't she know something like this? Though it boded ill for Alexandria.
"What is she talking about? Who is this girl?" Garnet came forward, sympathy softening her voice.
"This is Miraina, and I don't know what she means. But she has more than once shown signs of clairvoyance. You'll want to take her warnings to heart." Having said that, Kuja turned his attention back to Mira.
"Well, what should we do? Stop the wedding? Just wait to see what shows up to destroy everything?" Garnet was sorry the girl was so scared, but she had her kingdom to think of.
"I don't know! This isn't my home, and as I'm not even much welcome here, I don't see why we should stay." Kuja said angrily.
Mira pulled away from him, her weeping having ceased. "No Kuja, we can't just leave. Whatever is about to happen, it's going to affect everyone, not just Alexandria." He looked at her annoyed. "Please?"
Kuja sighed. "Yes, yes, I knew you'd probably say something like that. I was just angry." He turned as Steiner rushed in the hall. "Is there a reunion I don't know about?"
Steiner stopped, not knowing what to make of seeing Kuja, his lieges, and some strange woman standing looking at him. He found his voice quickly enough. "Your Highness, there is a strange fire that has broken out near the entrance to the city. All our efforts to contain it are failing."
"Very well Steiner, we're coming right now." Garnet turned to Zidane. "I'm going to change out of my dress, I'll catch up with you there."
Zidane winked at her. "No problem. Coming Kuja?" He ran out of the hall, not waiting for an answer.
Kuja shook his head. "Will he ever change?" He looked at Mira and they ran out after the errant tailed to-be-groom. Garnet ran up the stairs to change and get her things for a battle if necessary.
The fire was not so much raging out of control as it was not stopping no matter what they tried. It hadn't yet destroyed anything really. The black mages were trying their magic on it, but to no avail. Most of the people had cleared out. Kuja, Zidane, and Mira arrived as the fire burst forward even more. The mages backed away from it, as it began to move toward them as if it had a life of its own.
"We have to put it out somehow!" Zidane went close enough to feel the heat from the flames.
"No duh!" Kuja looked closely at the fire. "This isn't a normal conflagration. It's not behaving mindlessly." He turned to the black mages, who looked at him in shock, realizing who it was. "Listen, we need to try and shoot a blizzaga spell at it all at once!" He turned back to the fire but the mages didn't get closer.
"Listen! He isn't here to hurt anyone. He wants to help! Please do like he says, we have to put out the fire!" Mira had turned to speak to them. They stood undecided for another moment, until one of them stepped forward and began casting the spell. The others soon followed suit and they were all casting the spell. They all unleashed their magic at the same time, blasting the fire. There was a lot of smoke, and they all thought they had succeeded in stopping the danger. Then the smoke cleared to reveal that the fire was bigger than ever!
"What the hell can stop this?" Zidane was backing away with everyone else. He didn't know what to do, none of them did.
Then something strange happened. Mira suddenly stopped retreating and walked forward a pace. Kuja reached out to stop her, but a tentacle of flame licked out and hit his hand. With Mira, however, the fire seemed to retreat from her presence. It moved away from her, like water retreating from the tide.
"What in the world?" Zidane said aloud. Garnet ran up at this point and saw Mira walking at the fire.
"Mira! Come back here!" Kuja called to her, but she ignored him.
"What is happening? Is she nuts!" Garnet tried to go forward, but again the fire lashed out. Kupo came up behind them all, watching the whole scene.
"I think it's time little lady, to stop this little problem, don't you agree?" He called out. They all turned to him, wondering what the hell he was talking about, and to whom.
"Yes," the voice came from Mira, but it was more resonant than hers was, and more devoid of feeling, "I think you're right." She raised her hands and light engulfed her. The light flew out over the fire, putting it out as it went. Finally there was nothing left but some stray smoke. Mira took a step to the side and collapsed, Kuja running up to her.
"Are you alright?" He didn't see anything wrong with her, at least nothing visible.
"Yes. What happened?" She turned to look at him, getting nervous when he looked like she was just a bit loony. "Did I do something?"
"Indeed you did!"
That voice. Kuja hated it with all his being. But he couldn't be alive! Kuja had killed Garland himself! Yet up I the air, on an airship of similar design to the Invincible, stood the hated figure of Garland. Half his face was now metallic, like his body, but it was most assuredly him. He stood smiling down at the assembled, seeming very pleased with himself.
"This young woman, you really have no idea, about who she is, do you? Well, what do I expect, from such a defect." He laughed, a cold sound. "You seem surprised to see me boy! You didn't think you could really kill me, did you? I've been alive for longer than you could imagine; you could never get rid of me. And you Zidane, you're almost as much of a disappointment to me as Kuja is! You could have had everything, and you throw it away for your 'friends'? How pathetic."
Kupo walked forward a bit, to be sure he was seen by Garland. "You know you may be able to beat them, but you know you can't beat her. You don't have a chance in a million years. You should leave while you still can, seeing as she's already shown that she can tap into her full powers when threatened." Kupo didn't flinch one bit when Garland glared at him. The most surprising of all was when Garland turned, and with a muttered curse, the airship took off, heading towards the northwest.
"What is going on here?" Garnet asked out loud, but no one could, or would answer her. Kuja was paying no attention to her at all.
Kneeling next to Mira on the ground, he tried to offer some comfort as she sat there shaking. The only thing she said was, "What am I?"