Title: Second chances for an Angel of Death

Rating: R for language, and perhaps sexy chapters later.

Disclaimer: I do not own FF9 or any of it's characters. Yes there will be yaoi in later chapters. Thank you all for the reviews! I thank you for being patient with my updates. Thank you so much for everything!

Chapter 6.

It was mid-day and it was very hot out. The sun was high and bright, and strangely enough it was rather humid out today. The Conde' Petie Mountain path was no different than it usually was. However the ogglops hopping along the trail path had seemed to double in quantity. The bugs in general were especially bad. Perhaps from the ocean humidity blowing off the coast into the mountains. It normally kept the mountain path cool, but today was unbearable.

Zidane looked off to the west, noticing dark clouds on the horizon. Perhaps It would rain later. Then again the blonde never was one for being able to tell the weather clearly. He remembered Freya was always good at that. He smiled to himself as he reminisced about the travels he had with all of his friends. Steiner, Vivi, Freya, Armarant, Quina, Eiko, and… Queen Garnet. He folded his arms behind the back of his head as he stared up at the sky, walking. He wondered what everyone was up to. They were probably all worried sick about him. Steiner probably just assumed Zidane dead. The blonde could picture the Pluto Knight trying to convince everyone of the thief's demise.

He chuckled at the thought, grinning to himself as he shook his head, stretching his arms about himself. He could only imagine what kind of denial Eiko would be going through. The others would probably think it true and except the fact, but…. What about Garnet?

The beautiful Queen. Did she even miss him? The blonde shook his head. Of course she did. That hurt look she gave to him on the airship as they took off, leaving him just at the edge of the Lifa Tree. That was a look of hurt, concern and loss. Did she think he was dead too? The blonde really didn't know what to think really. In All the time he had spent with her, and gotten to know her… In all actuality… He didn't know her mind that well at all. He didn't know how she thought. Especially about him. Certain things he could predict about her, but for the most part. How did she feel about him in the end?

The blonde sighed to himself. Would he ever know? He cared about Garnet deeply. He truly did, but he wondered sometimes if it just wasn't meant to be. She was a Queen now, and all his chances of ever hooking up with her, were pretty slim as it was. He was a thief. A brilliant thief mind you, but still a thief. Steiner would never have it anyways. The man practically treated her like one of his daughters.

The reality of the whole thing, was that Zidane didn't think anything would work out anyways. He began to reflect on his own thoughts though. Did he really love her? He liked her, that much he knew, but did he truly love her? That was something even he didn't really know for sure. Then there was the question of… Did she love him?

Zidane snorted to himself. This is one of those times it was difficult to pick the woman's brain. With the way she treated him and his advances, he'd just assume she hated him. She might have, but Zidane didn't put it at hate. He was probably more annoying to her, more than anything. She seemed to care about him at some points. Like when she had come to his aid in battle at Pandemonium.

However she could have just done that because he was a comrade. Because they were a team. Nothing more. He sighed to himself. Who was he kidding? The only way he would really know is if they had a long talk about it. That was one of the first things he was planning to do, after he had taken care of Kuja that is… He wanted to sit down and have a long heartfelt conversation with the woman whom he was pinning for, to find out the truth. He wanted to know if there was a possibility of a future with the Queen of Alexandria, or if all his advances had been in vain.

His thoughts were interrupted by the silence behind him. He furrowed his brows and looked back to see Kuja treading along. The mage was staring off at the scenery the mountain path had to offer, lost in his own thoughts for the most part. He had been generally quiet since they had left the Lifa Tree.

Zidane stopped and watched Kuja for a moment. Kuja ended up walking right into Zidane, as he was not watching where he was going. He grunted, startled and this brought the mage back to reality. He grunted looking at Zidane. Obviously mildly irritated.

"What? Why did you stop?" He snorted, somewhat irritated.

This put Zidane at ease and the blond sighed with relief and smiled. " Nothing. You were just being really quiet. I'm glad to see your feeling better though." With that he turned around and kept walking, leading Kuja on down the path.

The mage grunted furrowing his brows. " What is that supposed to mean?"

"It's not important." Zidane yawned a bit, looking up at the sky. It wouldn't be much longer and they would reach Conde' Petie. Zidane figured it would be another hour or so. His stomach growled slightly and he blanched. He was hungry. He could wait until they got to Conde' Petie, but there was a slight problem. Zidane reached into his pockets, fishing around for Gil. He paused, stopping as he pulled out some Gil.

Kuja watched him blankly for a moment, stopping as well.

Zidane counted the Gil and winced slightly.

"We don't have a lot of money…" Zidane stated. He looked at Kuja briefly for a moment. He was almost skeptical for a second. He shook his head. " I'd ask if you had any Gil, but from the looks of it… A Thief couldn't rob you if they wanted to."

Kuja's eyes widened and he growled in offense. " I'm worth more money than you could possibly imagine! I have a palace and a mansion in Treno! How dare you-"

"Yeah. You're worth more than me now, because you have a bounty on your head probably. I don't suppose you carry Gil on you though?"

Kuja was silent. Zidane sighed and nodded, having expected as much and sighed, continuing to walk down the path. Kuja furrowed his brows following Zidane. He blinked when the Blonde took a side path that went off down to a Stream. Down below was a pair of werewolf like monsters. Kuja gasped.

"Zidane what are you doing!"

The blond blinked, looking back up at the mage before he continued further down. "I'm going to go kill that monster there and earn us some Gil." The thief proceeded down to a ledge just over the monster's head. He then dropped on top of the creature, knocking it down, then winding up in a battle.

Kuja was mildly confused at first. Why the hell DID monsters carry Gil in the first place? It was one of those weird facts if life that monsters carried Gil. Kuja always wondered why and never understood, but he simply shrugged his shoulders and went with it. It was kind of like one of those curious thoughts: Why are moogles always in some convenient place?

It didn't take long for Zidane to finish his battle. With a few slashes from his dagger's blade, it was over in the matter of minutes. Kuja peered down from where he was standing, watching as the beast fell to it's knees, face first into the water. It's carcass almost instantly began to rot, and Kuja could smell the beast's foul stench from where he was standing.

The mage groaned, backing away from the ledge, as Zidane began climbing back up with his prizes in hand. Zidane was mildly puzzled when he saw the disgusted expression on Kuja's features. He tilted his head to the side and blinked his big aquamarine eyes.

"What?"

"The… Smell. God… How can you stand it?"

Zidane shrugged and pulled himself up onto the ledge now, standing, brushing himself off. He put the handful of Gil back in pocket, and the two potions he had obtained form the battle in a pouch he had strapped to his belt.

" After spending months and months of traveling, you run into monsters quiet frequently. I'm used to battles." Zidane paused for a brief moment looking Kuja over for a second.

"And… Since you don't have your Magic anymore, I might have to train you in."

Kuja blinked blankly at Zidane. Kuja couldn't picture himself as being so barbaric as to actually have to carry a weapon. Magic was so much gentler and came so naturally to Kuja. It was a graceful art form in itself. Kuja had at one point in his life carried a weapon to defend him self when he first got to Gaia, but then he learned how to use magic and began developing his own abilities. The thought of having to use one again felt so alien to him. The again… after everything that had happened to him, Kuja would rather not have to fight at all.

Kuja just blankly watched as Zidane continued down the trail, pausing when he saw another monster grazing. He smirked and then whipped out his daggers and dove at the beast with fast quick agility.

Kuja grunted.

"You just killed one!" He didn't see the point in killing another monster. Then again Kuja had an amusing thought. Another poor traveler walking down the Mountain path only to stumble across a trail of monster corpses.

Zidane finished the battle as quickly as he had started it, stuffing more Gil into his pocket. However he didn't receive any other items, but that was okay. The thief blinked, looking back at Kuja now, furrowing his brows.

"Earning more money, Kuja. It takes more than 300 Gil to have enough for a room at an Inn, food, supplies..." Zidane paused for a second and looked Kuja over. "…And clothes too."

Kuja blushed slightly. He wasn't a very modest man, but he didn't enjoy walking around the wilderness half naked. It was uncomfortable. More than that, he was a little suspicious of Zidane, the way the blonde would occasionally cast a glance his way when he thought Kuja wasn't looking.

"How much farther is Conde' Petie?" Kuja asked.

Zidane looked ahead of the path and then looked at Kuja stretching as he put his daggers away finally. "Not much farther. It's just up ahead."

Kuja nodded as Zidane turned, and the two continued off down the path, Zidane stopping occasionally to battle a monster or two.

It was a half hour later before they actually reached Conde' Petie. It was indeed how Zidane remembered it. Just as noisy from outside of the dwarven village as it is within it. Smoke rising from the chimney tops, most likely from those in the village that tried to cook. However cooking wasn't necessary for the dwarves because of the Black Mage village not far from them. The black mages did all their business with the dwarves, as it was the closest village to them to do trade with, and the dwarves were not human either. So that was another benefit to the Black Mages.

Zidane had indeed debated on going to the Black Mage village, as Zidane figured they could get a means of transportation to get back to the Mist continent. However with Kuja in his company, doing anything would be hard. He didn't have to worry about Conde' Petie though because the dwarves had no recollection of what had been going on outside their village, nor did they know who Kuja was. They wouldn't care one way or another. They seemed delighted to have outsiders most of the time.

Zidane reminisced about the last time he had been here. He and Garnet had gotten 'married' in order to leave the village and continue on to the so-called 'sanctuary.' He had been shocked when Garnet suggested they actually go through with the ceremony. However it had been even more amusing when Vivi and Quina had gone through the ceremony together.

The blonde snickered to himself, which earned him an odd and questioning look from the platinum haired mage. Kuja simply shook his head and peered at the village. He had been here once…. But that had been many, many years ago. He had only stepped inside the village briefly, and then left. He didn't remember much about it afterwards, and neither did he now.

Zidane and Kuja walked up to the twin guards at the back entrance of the village and Zidane gave a cheesy smile, waving a little. "Hey guys!" he said.

This didn't get much of a reaction from the dwarves. They just looked at each other then back at Zidane and stared at him blankly. Not moving. This didn't appear to be the reaction Zidane had hoped for. He crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head down to look at his feet for a moment. It was apparent he was thinking hard at this point. "Shoot… How did it go?" he muttered to himself, scratching the back of his head. Finally it came to him and he smiled, giving a high wave.

"Rally-Ho!"

Both twin dwarves smiled and gave a friendly greeting, raising both arms into the air to shout their welcoming.

"Rally-Ho!" they both exclaimed. One of the dwarves recognized Zidane and scratched the back of his head, looking at Kuja out of confusion.

"Tis bien a long'n time sins ya first weent ta da Sanctuary, laddy. But ah doon't remember yer lassy look'n so dern pale." The dwarves English was difficult to understand. Then again, most of them butchered their pronunciation when they spoke, but Zidane managed to figure out what they were saying just fine.

Zidane looked back at Kuja and chuckled, seeing the horrified expression on the older man's face. He turned back to the twin guards and shook his head, shrugging. " Ah well… She saw...Um… A ghost?" Hoping it would satisfy the dwarves and they wouldn't ask any more questions.

And sadly, it did. The two dwarves pulled Zidane aside and gave him their sympathies about his "girl" suddenly becoming so scared she literarily turned "white." It was amazing they even remembered Garnet to begin with. But it was even more amusing that they thought Kuja was Garnet. Considering Kuja was taller and distinctly different looking. Then again… The dwarves weren't that bright to begin with.

Afterwards, Kuja and Zidane were allowed to enter the Village, after saying the proper greetings at the door. Which was ridiculous in Kuja's mind, but he went with it anyways…

"My god… Were those the village idiots? Or are the ALL like that?" Kuja whispered into Zidane's ear, somewhat horrified.

Zidane shook his head and snorted. " Hey now, be nice… Those were the twin guards, and for your information yes. Everyone in the village is like that. Some are brighter than others, but I suggest you keep your mouth shut. You don't want to offend anyone while we're here."

Kuja just kept quiet, narrowing his eyes slightly. " I was only asking…"

Zidane looked around for an Inn, but didn't find one right away. He ended up going to the main general store and walked up to the counter, asking the dwarf where an Inn might be for the night. To their luck, the two genomes were lead to a small area in the corner of the village, on the second floor. There was an inn in the very corner, over looking the valley below, out towards the southeast. Zidane could see the Black Mage village from there.

A small dwarf woman lead the two men into their room and left them to be, letting Zidane know he could pay her in the morning. Zidane nodded and the woman left. Meanwhile, Kuja had made his way to the window, staring out, his ice blue gaze grazing across the land. He sighed heavily then walked over to the bedroom and froze in the doorway.

"…Zidane?" Kuja called out from the bedroom.

Zidane blinked, shutting the door behind the woman as she left and tilted his head to the side. "Yeah Kuja?" he asked, walking over towards the bedroom.

Kuja turned looking at the other genome from the doorway. "Zidane… There's only one bed."

Zidane furrowed his brows and stepped into the bedroom, looking over Kuja's shoulder. He sighed, quietly cursing to himself a bit. "…They figure we're a couple. That's why there's one bed." Zidane shrugged, walking away and into the other room, sitting down at a little table and beginning to count the Gil they had earned.

Kuja seemed mildly bewildered and somewhat insulted.

"What? What gave them that impression?"

Zidane sighed looking up at the mage from where he sat. "The 'Sanctuary' is in the direction of the Lifa Tree. Whenever there is a newly wed couple in this village, they are sent to the Sanctuary on a honeymoon of some sort. In order to get to the Lifa Tree the first time, we had to go through ceremonies in this village in order to go on. They probably figure you're my wife."

Kuja's eyes narrowed. " Your… Wife!"

Zidane quirked a brow. " Well… You do look like a woman." And you act like one too. Zidane thought.

Kuja glared at him more out of annoyance than anything. Sighing he shook his head and walked to the bathroom of their room and sighed. "…. I'm taking a bath." And slammed the door shut behind him, leaving Zidane to ponder what might have offended the Mage this time.

By the time Kuja had finished his bath it was already dark out. Stealing a robe from the closet in the bathroom, Kuja stepped out into the room, pulling the white robe tightly closed. He flipped the light on, seeing Zidane wasn't in the room. He furrowed his brows, figuring the Blonde much have gone into the village for something. No matter. He walked to the window, pulling up a chair and sat down, staring out at the starlit sky. The moon was coming up at this point as the sun had probably set a while ago.

Combing his fingers through his damp hair, he sat there, pondering to himself. What exactly did Zidane plan to do now? Zidane had successfully rescued him from the Lifa Tree and saw to it that Kuja would survive, but now what? Zidane had mentioned Lindblum. Did the boy intend to actually take him there?

Brushing a lock of feather soft platinum hair out of his eyes, Kuja sat there, staring off. He wasn't sure what was going to happen. Even if Zidane brought him to Lindblum, he would have to hide Kuja. People know who he is and there was no doubt going to be some problems if people knew he was alive. For the most part, it was a wiser if Kuja didn't go out in the public, in his opinion anyways. If he did he would probably be beaten, kidnapped and lynched by a mob.

Another interesting thought came to mind though. More than anything, how would Zidane's comrades react? They would most likely want to kill him. The new queen would probably have him arrested by that buffoon for a knight. Kuja figured because of what he did was so inexcusable; they wouldn't even give him a proper trial. Not that he deserved it anyways. Kuja would be happy with a quick death to get it done and over with.

Would he really though?

The mage began pondering to himself. He himself had indeed noticed he had changed a lot. He rebelled in the first place because he wanted to live. He didn't want to die. Wasn't that because he was afraid of loosing his soul? Even if he did have one, like Zidane said, he would probably burn in eternal torment for the things he did in the first place to achieve that life he so desperately wanted. He practically did sell his soul to the devil in the first place, and it made him sick.

Kuja's thoughts were interrupted though, when the door slid open and in walked the younger blonde. He just stared at Zidane for a moment through weary and drained ice blue eyes, his long platinum hair falling into his gaze, framing the older man's soft features.

Zidane paused for a moment, peering at Kuja, his cheeks flushing softly. His aquamarine eyes seemed to meet with those ice blue ones, staring contently. They stayed like that for a short while, just staring into one another's eyes. Zidane found himself drowning in the ice orbs, as Kuja became somewhat distracted and lost in Zidane's soft ocean ones.

"I… Uh…." Zidane broke the silence, his voice quiet. Almost instantly, the older man diverted his gaze, looking off out the window again for a split second. He then looked back to Zidane and quirked both brows.

"Where were you?"

Zidane nodded some, coming back to reality as he held out some of the items he was holding. He walked over to the table a few feet from where Kuja was sitting, and set down two small boxes. He then held out a soft cream colored bag to Kuja, almost as a peace offering. Kuja, furrowing his brows, took the bag hesitantly then peeked inside, his eyes lighting up a little.

"I didn't know your size so I kinda guessed. Oh- and I know the color isn't something you'd probably go for, but they didn't have much variety in the shop. I just grabbed what I thought you might like out of the picks they had. It's not much, but it's better than walking around in those rags of yours." Zidane commented, scratching the back of his head.

Kuja smiled in Zidane's direction. "Thank you… Oh- what's in the boxes?"

Zidane blinked. "Oh! That would be dinner. I didn't know what you'd like there either. So I-"

Kuja smiled. A genuine smile. For as hard and cold as the older man could sometimes be, this smile suited Kuja. It wasn't his famous evil smile, or giggling grin. It was a real smile. "Thank you Zidane… It smells wonderful."

Zidane nodded, grinning back.

Kuja set the bag with his new clothes down off to the side. He would look at them in the morning, for now he wanted to enjoy just a quiet evening. Despite the fact that he felt like he should be punished for his crimes and be put to death for all that he had done, he felt somewhat grateful to the blonde. Zidane had been harsh and cruel at a few points… But all in all, the blonde had been so kind and thoughtful to the mage.

Pulling his chair up to the table, he opened one of the boxes and peered down at the food before him. It didn't look that great, but the Mage hadn't eaten anything in days. He was starving, and he wasn't going to turn down a good meal. Even if he could be stuck up at times- food was food.

Zidane pulled up a chair as well and began to chow down too, practically inhaling his meal. It disturbed Kuja greatly, and made the mage frown and scold Zidane on his table manors. Otherwise the genomes' dinner was peaceful and quiet.

After they had finished their meal, Zidane groaned, rubbing his stomach and yawned, looking at the clock on the wall behind him.

"It's late…" Zidane inquired. He watched as Kuja got up from his chair and walked into the bedroom, plopping down on the bed. Zidane blinked briefly then frowned, getting up and following Kuja, pausing in the doorway of the bedroom. "…How are we handling the sleeping arrangements?"

Kuja yawned, curling up on one side of the bed, clutching a pillow. "We'll just have to share I guess." He said sleepily, his long platinum hair falling in waves across the pillow, creating a halo beneath his head.

This resulted in a blush from Zidane, but it didn't bother the blonde too much. The younger genome shrugged and then shrugged off his blue vest, pulling his white shirt up off over his head. The weather was still unbearably humid and warm outside and of course, there wasn't any fans of any sort in Conde' Petie, so they would have to suffer from the heat.

Kuja didn't even seem to notice Zidane stripping, and began to fall asleep where he was. A soft bed was quite nice compared to the last few days of sleeping on the ground.

Finally, Zidane turned off the lights and crawled up onto the bed as well. He was a bit hesitant at first, considering Kuja was only wearing his robe. Then again… it covered more than Kuja's thong and armor. The blonde moved closer to Kuja on the bed, more or less so he wouldn't fall off, and found himself a little closer to the mage than he ever thought possible, or ever wanted to begin with. He mentally cursed the dwarves for doing this to him.

Kuja's lips parted slightly in his sleep as his lashes fluttered slightly. His breathing was soft and his skin glistening in the dim moonlight. With the way he lay just perfectly, every lock of hair glistening and his smooth pale skin seeming to glow under the lighting, Zidane found it suddenly very difficult to sleep.

He was tired, but he couldn't help but watch Kuja for the most part. Then he began to take back those harsh thoughts and intents towards the dwarves… at this moment, he thanked them for their mistake, because it gave him an excuse to lie beside this… Angel. As he watched Kuja he smiled to himself weakly.

Kuja deserved to live. Fate had given him a hard life from the start, and Kuja deserved to start over. Some way… Some how… Zidane was going to make that happen for the older man, and deep down in his heart he truly believed…

Perhaps there were second chances for an Angel of Death…

End of chapter 6

Author's comments:

Ha… I put this chapter together in less than a day or so. Wow. I'm proud of myself. I guess I need to have time and motivation to actually sit down and do these things though. Man. I think it's gonna take awhile before this story actually gets to the juicy parts. Hope you people are patient.

Ha ha… Yes I like how I pulled this chapter to a close. MUWHAHA! It's so grand… Anyways yeah.