A/n: Ack, I lied. I'm sorry! Tuesday was not a good day. But it's here now! Can I promise next teusday? Nope, but I can say, very very most likely. Thanks to- Malevalla, NeoNaoNeo, Pilotsolver(I'll get to your fic as soon as I can!), Rose Mage(Yours too!), Lori, and La Llama. So sorry for the shortish chappie, but the next one's gonna be long, this is pretty much a set up chapter for the climax. . Read and Review, please!

Disclaimer: Not mine. Nothing is. Wa...

Beautiful Equilibrium

It was decidedly night time in the caverns, the heat finally seeming to drain from the stone around them, the freezing cold setting it. Even huddled beside the campfire, the Black Waltz was freezing, his good arm rubbing his bad one in attempt to regain feeling to it, but to no avail. His wings were around him, trying to keep in body heat, but they too failed miserably. He had abandoned the camp for a little while, finding the firewood stock of some other traveler been here and past, building up the pitiful flames into something that could be called a tiny bonfire, but that only gave enough heat to warm the front on him. Not only that, but he was dead hungry.

Miserably, he sighed, his crimson eyes staring into the flames before him. What was he doing here?

Sitting a waiting, apparently. He knew that someone was going to get him out soon.

Really? He shook his head. Did he really know that for sure?

...Well of course. His brothers were coming for him, anyway. Yes, Two and One hadn't forgotten about him, hadn't given up! They were probably working at the wreckage pile as he sat here, thinking... thinking...

...they weren't coming.

Wait, no, Of course they-

No, they're not. He closed his eyes slowly, hanging his head. A sudden thought had occurred to him as he sat here, cold and alone. What if One and Two had given up? He and his brother's weren't necessarily that close... In fact, they weren't close at all! He could hardly call them his kin, the way they bickered over the most trivial things, got into fist fights about simple insults, and that's not mentioning the constant contest of 'who's the best waltz'. When he really thought about it, those two had no reason to save him- he hadn't been a resounding member of their party, the only uses he had were waking travelers unconscious and getting rid of their remains after they had finished with them.

...they had most likely already found a new place to forage from without him. They had abandoned him. And when Vivi's friends from the Black Mage Village came to find him, they'd take the mage- and kill the Waltz. Simple as that. He'd die alone.

A faint whisper came from the back of his head, sounding desperate. "I don't want to die..."

He growled and shook his head, answering mentally, the response that he didn't really have a choice.

"They'll come for you. They don't have anyone else..."

He growled, shaking his head, whispering, "They have each other. What else do they need? They always had a better bond between them than I did with either of them."

"B-but..."

Again, he sighed exasperatedly, but a tinge of sorrow leaked into his voice, the only emotion besides anger he had ever known. "I've got to face this. This is the end of me. I'm going to die here... alone."

"...you have him..."

Three blinked, his fists tightening. "...No! I'll not succumb his idiotic whining!"

"Why not? You've nothing else to lose..."

That was true. If he really believed that his brothers were coming for him, the only chance of his survival was to actually make f-f-...friends with the runt. He shuddered, growling darkly. "I'm not going to stoop that low. I'd rather die."

"...you sure about that?"

His voice rose angrily. "Of course I'm sure! Anything is better than that!"

"Why? Because he's better than you?"

"Better than-" He stopped, blinking. Was he having a fight with his conscious? This was insane...

The little voice was silent for a moment, then spoke again, sounding to him like someone was standing over his shoulder, whispering in his ear. "Better than you, Three. Better than you because he can admit his true feelings, he's experienced more emotion than you ever will. The only reason why you keep pushing away is because you know that. The only reason you wont make a alliance with him is because your afraid of it."

He stood suddenly, as if to get away from the voice. "I am afraid of nothing!"

"Yes, nothing... that's why you shy away from him. That's why you refuse to let yourself have feelings for-"

"I stay away from the whelp because I hate him!" Three yelled, ignoring the blinding pain in his broken appendage as he clenched his fists angrily. "For the humiliation I suffered on the Cargo ship because of him! Of the failure of my mission because of him! Kuja banished us from the castle because of him! My life has been a living hell because of him, and you try to convince me that it is nothing but my fear of him? Don't make me laugh!"

The voice came back with a vengeance despite his urge to silence it. "Your hate is based off of fear, Three! Everything you hate is- Vivi, the Black Mages, humans, Genomes, Kuja, yourself- all of it!"

This smashed into him. He almost stumbled, as if it were a physical blow. "...I...I'm not listening!" He growled finally, shaking his head.

"No, Three, your listening, your listening because you have to. Admit it, Waltz. Your just afraid of everything. Rather than stand and face it, you run away."

"Shut up!" The winged form shut his eyes tightly, walking from one side of the cave to the other in a rushed pace. "Shut up! You know nothing!"

"And you know you run away, that's why your doing it now! Your afraid of me, Three!"

Three threw his hands away from his face were they had previously been poised, roaring his demand. "SHUT UP!"

Everything was silent. He was standing, though he didn't feel it; he didn't feel the stinging cold wrapping it's slender hand about him, his stomach acid trying to tear down the lining of his organ looking for something to eat, the unimaginable pain ripping through his arm, didn't hear the voice, his racing breath, his heart pounding against his chest. He couldn't think, make a move, anything- he just stood.

And for a while it worked. He stood for a good ten minutes, his body beginning to shake as if he had just awoke from that horrible reoccurring nightmare of the airship.

That's right... it was just a nightmare...

He swallowed, trying to calm himself. He wasn't going insane. It was just his imagination...

Three closed his eyes slowly, taking a few steps, wings dragging dejectedly on the ground behind him. It was just a dream... that wasn't right, anyway. Afraid of Vivi? Kahah, absurd!

Then suddenly, a breeze wisped past him- no, not a breeze. A... a voice.

"You know it's true, Three... because I know it. I am you."

He stopped. The world stopped with him, and he was plunged into darkness.

†

A/n: A cookie for who knows what this means.

Dra haqd lrybbea ec yldiymmo puntanehk HL-17, pid ed'c kuehk du pa lahcunat vun Vyhveldeuh- pid ed femm pa bucdat uh sa fapceda...