Title: Happily Ever After
Chapter: Dancing Mad
Author: Raserei Hojo
Summary: (Changed) FF Crossover. When you die, you're not really gone. In separate worlds, two men died. They were brought together in the darkness and a friendship began to grow. In an attempt to see an opera, magic is used, and witchcraft is called.
Rating: T
Feedback: Very much so desired!
Story Warnings: Male/Male, shounen-ai
Pairings: Kuja/Sephiroth
Disclaimer: Any recognizable characters of Final Fantasy VII or Final Fantasy IX belong to Squaresoft. Any that are NOT recognizable belong to me. However, feel free to use them in any story you wish.
-------------------------------
I feel like such an idiot…
Guiltily, Sephiroth was on his stomach, resting on the soft bed, smothered with silken sheets. While I rest here, Kuja's going to be executed. His emerald eyes narrowed and glared at the plush floor. What do I care, though? He's just a brat. An annoying, self-centered brat. Who cares what happens to him? Certainly… Not myself…
A strained breath escaped his lips as his gaze came to rest on the Masamune—polished and standing upright, leaning against the wall near the shut door, its sheathe close by. He smiled softly. "Such a shame to have not confiscated my weapon. Although, it is more of a shame for them, I think."
Pushing himself up, he winced and collapsed on the bed again as the pain seared each and every delicate cell within his body. He still wasn't fully healed, and the 'pain-killers' of Terra-Matra only made the pain intensify.
"Alright then. I'm a soldier, I know when to quit. Rest will suit me now, and then in the early morning I'll see if there's anything I can do."
Sephiroth closed his eyes, with no intention of sleeping. However, despite his decision, exhaustion quickly changed his plans and swept him into darkness.
---
"I'm not a 'thing,' I'm human too! Why don't you treat me like I'm a person with feelings? I'm not just a machine! I don't exist for you to twist and bend me as you please. Maybe I don't want to listen to your every order, and maybe I want to have a life of my own!"
A soft creak of a door that desperately needed oil.
"Hey! Listen to me! I'm not like you! I don't have to be bound to this stupid place, I don't have to follow the rules you try to bind me to! I'm my own person. Are you listening to me?"
There was nothing, and the darkness pressed closer.
"Answer me! Don't you have anything to say?"
The soft sound of a sword sliding across a sheathe was his only response.
"Fine. I'm leaving, and I dare you to stop me. I dare you to try and tell me what to do, even once more!"
---
"I'm not like them."
"Yes you are. You are like them in every single way, except for your hair. That is an exception."
"I'm not a mindless drone. I have a soul. I'm different. Why is that so hard to understand that?"
"No matter how many times you say you're different, that doesn't make it a reality. You will stay here, completing the petty tasks I give you. And, if I see fit, you will rot here with the others that you claim to be different from."
"That's a terrible fate. I won't let myself die that way. I refuse to die at your hand."
"Your will is far too strong, and if you continue to be the rowdy person you are, you won't be alive for much longer. Do you understand?"
He nodded. "Of course I understand." But that doesn't mean I have to listen to you for the rest of my life.
---
Kuja opened his eyes. "I'm not like them, and I refuse…to die like Garland intended." He sat up, glancing around the room. With his gaze settling on Kefka, he sighed and forced himself to stand. "First things first. These handcuffs need to come off."
A pile of small mouse bones rested in the corner, and Kuja decided that he could test his magic on that. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the image of the bones. Briefly, he imagined them lifting up, floating up and away from the floor that gravity had bound it to. With that image in his mind, he summoned a fragment of his remaining magic energy and cast a levitation spell on the bones.
Laughter bubbled in Kefka's through, and he laughed at Kuja's magic attempt.
Kuja opened his eyes, and hesitantly looked towards the bones. If they hadn't levitated, he was doomed with no way of escaping.
But good fortune was with him; the bones had floated.
He breathed a sigh of relief. "Excellent. I should have enough magic to get the key from the guard and slip it through the glass. But that glass is thick, and I don't know if I can make it transparent for long…"
"Uwee hee hee."
Kuja's brows knitted together. He didn't quite know…why…but that was the most annoying laugh he had ever heard. "You're breaking my concentration, you know."
"So what? You won't have magic left for long!"
"If I have no magic then we'll both be stuck in here until our souls are destroyed."
"You're wrong! You'll be destroyed! I'll get out on good behavior! Uwee! Hee hee!"
Kuja turned and calmly looked at Kefka. Without another thought, he cast a Silence spell on him and returned his gaze to the sleeping guard. "I forgot about him. If he wakes up and sees me casting magic, I can say goodbye to my escape."
Kefka's hands darted to his throat as he soundlessly gasped. He mouthed the words 'hate' repeatedly while Kuja concentrated on the key. He meticulously slid the key from the man's loose grasp. Kefka stomped his foot on the floor, the noise distracting Kuja.
The key shuddered in the air and fell with a clatter to the floor. Kuja held his breath has he intently watched the guard, praying to whichever deities would listen to him that the guard was a heavy sleeper.
The guard's hand fell limp at his side, but no more motion other than that was made. Again, Kuja sighed with relief, his eyes narrowing and glaring at Kefka.
"Stop distracting me. I don't want to be here with a megalomaniac. If you'll just go sit in a corner and be still, we can both get out of here. If not, then I will just allow myself to get out." He pressed himself against the glass, searching for the keyhole. "It has to be somewhere out there." He focused as best as he could past the glass, but it was ten inches thick and everything seemed to have a fishbowl-like appearance.
"I could make the glass transparent now… But if my magic runs out, I'll be trapped in ten inches of glass, just like a sculpture."
He saw it. Cattycorner of the guard was the keyhole. "Mm… Actually, wasting magic to get that key was pretty pointless. When the glass slides open it's loud." He glanced at Kefka. "I'm feeling generous and quite lucky today. Care to take a gamble?"
Kefka regarded Kuja, still voiceless.
"You see, I have no idea how much magic I have left. If I can keep the glass transparent for a few seconds, we can get out of here. If not, well, we'll be glass sculptures. What do you say? Are you willing to take the risk?"
When Kefka didn't respond, Kuja cast an Esuna on him.
"Glass sculptures, eh?"
"The finest in the world if my magic fails."
"You're really confident about this, aren't you?"
Kuja smiled briefly. "Well, you can't always be depressed. Bad things can't keep happening to you all the time, am I correct?"
Kefka crossed his arms over his chest. "Right, well when you're frozen in that glass I'll laugh."
"You're not coming with me?"
Growling, Kefka stalked over to the glass. "I'm coming with you! And I'll make you sorry you chose to take me along."
Kuja nodded. "Alright." He closed his eyes, summoning the last of his magic.
"I'm ruining my chances of getting out on good behavior."
"Kefka, you will never have good behavior. Now stop making me lose my concentration!"
---
The Masamune was gone. Sephiroth by now had torn the room apart entirely, and in the end he fruitlessly collapsed on the bed and anger. "It was there last night. I saw it before I fell asleep!" He closed his eyes, calming himself down. "Okay, collect your thoughts… collect your thoughts… What could have happened to your sword, Sephiroth?"
He gathered his memories of last night— his resolution to help Kuja, the dream… "The dream… That noise… That creaking noise… That was from the door." Sephiroth sat up and glanced over at the door that was left ajar. It had been closed before. "And the sound of a sword being slid into its sheathe—that was my sword!"
Sephiroth quickly stood and ran to the door. "I truly am an idiot." He wrenched it open and stalked down the hall like a cat focused on its prey. The only person who had the key to his room was Shenter, and he would be the only one with enough authority to confiscate the Masamune.
"I swear, if he so much even handles my sword improperly, I'll make sure his soul his destroyed."
---
Kuja and Kefka stumbled forward, past the glass, and a hairsbreadth away from the guard.
"Come on," Kefka whispered, silently crossing the room and heading towards the stairs.
Kuja could feel his magic draining quickly, and he silently cursed the handcuffs. He used the very last of his magic to levitate the guard into the cell. The moment the guard had passed through, his magic ran dry, and the guard fell onto the hard floor.
Waving innocently at the guard, Kuja and Kefka hurried up the stairs and threw open the door.
---
"Get off of me!"
And collided right into Sephiroth.
"Sephiroth!"
"…Kuja?"
Kuja grabbed Sephiroth's arm happily. "It's so good to see you!"
Sephiroth's brows knitted together. "But… I thought…" He shook his head then turned his attention towards Kefka. "And this is…?"
"I am the god, Kefka."
Kuja shushed him and helped Sephiroth off, but before he or Kefka could say another word, Kuja dragged Sephiroth out of the palace and into the daylight.
"Kuja!" Sephiroth whispered harshly. "Aren't you supposed to be in prison? Your execution date is tomorrow!"
"Well I'm glad I got out then. You don't seem to happy about it."
Sephiroth blinked slowly. "I am happy. I just don't understand how you got out."
"Oh, Sephiroth, Sephiroth, Sephiroth…" Kuja grinned and shook his head. "I may look a bit feminine, but that does not in any way mark me as being unable to defend myself. We have to get out of Terra-Matra, though."
Raising a brow, Sephiroth regarded Kuja. "…And where are we to go?"
"I don't know! Out of here! And quickly, people are starting to stare." Kuja resumed pulling Sephiroth along the road, ignoring the confused gazes of the citizens, praying no one knew he was supposed to be rotting in prison til tomorrow.
"What about those handcuffs?"
"Oh… I don't know, I'll find some way to get them off. It doesn't bother me much anymore, it's already drained all my magic."
"You're… so resourceful."
"Oh, and Sephiroth?"
"Yes, Kuja?"
Kuja smiled softly and gazed up at him. "Thanks for coming to save me, even if you were a little late." He winked and took off ahead of Sephiroth, who was left behind to stare after him dumbly for a few moments.
"Kuja! Wait up!"