Author's Note: Greetings everyone! I hope no one has been bored so far. The only comment I want to say about this chapter is that there is some explicit content. Other than that, I ask all of you to continue to read and send me some critical reviews.
There's an evil virus that's threatening mankind—
"Virus"—Iron Maiden
Mother Terra
Chapter VII
Although a shadow of its glorious days, Terra still held its remaining beauty—particularly its blue light. Garnet, however, did not have the opportunity to re-observe the landscape—not that it would have mattered. She was placed in a large room that was rather well furnished. Some prisoners would have found her room to be heaven. But, to Garnet, it was hell. She missed her husband. She missed her home. But more importantly, she missed her son. Garnet wanted to cry, but she realized that tears would not bring her son back to her.
Then the door to her room opened.
"Welcome to Terra," Nuri began, as he entered the room with a couple of genomes behind him. Goldwin was one of them. "Of course," continued Nuri, "I guess that's inappropriate for me to say, since you've been here once before."
Garnet said nothing, as Nuri came closer.
"I'm sorry about what happened earlier. Both with the knife incident in the Castle, and me having to slap you on the back of the head; but I had to, under the circumstances."
Garnet became fierce. "Bring me my son!"
Nuri waved a finger. "Not yet, I need you…"
"Mommy!"
Garnet gasped.
So did Nuri.
Aldous brought Hunter into the room. And for some reason, Aldous brushed his hands on his pants—as though he was trying to clean them from some disease.
"What the hell's going on here!"
Garnet paid no attention to Nuri. Her eyes were focused on her son. She held out her arms, and Hunter toddled over to her.
"Damn it," continued Nuri, "I asked a question! What the hell's going on here! I told you he was supposed to be separated from his mother until I had finished the negotiations!"
"Yes, I know that, Nuri," answered Aldous, while he finished brushing his hands.
"Then what the hell's he doing here!"
"Well, you see…I couldn't stand being around him any more."
"What! He's just a baby!"
"Well, yes, I know that. But for some reason he…he smells horrible! I mean, like the smell of death!"
"That's because he needs his diaper changed," interjected Garnet. She did not, however, look at either Nuri or Aldous. Instead she kept her eyes closed and pacified her son.
"No!" responded Hunter.
Garnet giggled. "Well, at least he's acting normal under the circumstances."
"A what?" added Aldous.
Now Garnet looked at Aldous and smiled. "You don't know much about little children, do you?"
Aldous said nothing.
And for a moment neither did Nuri. "Well, then change it!"
Garnet smirked. "Do I get complete, unattended, access to my son?"
Nuri became furious. He threw his hands in the air and finally sighed. "Fine…now change it!"
Garnet continued to smirk. "With what?"
"What do you mean 'with what!'"
"Well, normally I'd put another diaper on him. But since you decided to kidnap me against my will—and since I normally don't carry diapers with me—I don't have anything to change him with."
Nuri shook his fists. He turned his back to Garnet, but then he sighed and turned back. "Fine, where do we get them at?"
"At any store—too bad they probably don't exist here on Terra."
"I don't care. We'll get them. What else does he need, so we don't have to deal with this shit again?"
For the third time, Garnet smirked. "Yes, literally." And she ran off a list of items Hunter needed.
Once the list was completed, Nuri turned to leave. But before he did, he heard Garnet direct a genome to find a couple of cloths and some water. "There's no way in hell I'm going to let her boss me around like that again!"
A few hours later, after Garnet received all that was required on her list, Nuri returned. He discovered Garnet sitting on the floor with her son. The boy appeared to be happy. He had a pacifier in his mouth and a toy bear in his hand. But once he saw Nuri, he buried his face into his mother's bosom.
Garnet glared.
But Nuri smiled. "He seems much better than when I was here earlier."
"He was until your sorry ass showed up!"
Nuri smirked. "Your voice seems more like a commoner than a queen."
At the statement, 'more like a commoner than a queen,' Garnet returned the smirk. "That's because I spent a long time around Zidane."
"It seems he's quite influential."
"Very!"
"…You're not afraid of me, are you?"
Garnet continued to smirk. "I looked Kuja in the face, who was a hell of a lot more dangerous than you! Why should I be scared of you?"
But Nuri returned his smirk. "Nevertheless, I have some important business to discuss with you."
"You have no business to discuss with me!"
Nuri sighed. "For god's sake, don't make this harder on yourself. I know that you hate me, and that's okay. If you'll only help me, you and the prince'll be able to go home soon."
Garnet smiled.
"Ah, good! She's beginning to understand."
"And once I return home, I'll send an assassin after you! That is, if Zidane doesn't kill you first…Alright, let's discuss business."
Nuri smiled. "Good…Here's the deal. As you probably know my name's Nuri, and this is where I was born. And since I know you've been here before, you probably remember Master Garland's plan?"
"Yes."
"And as you also should know your husband—and indirectly, Kuja—were responsible for that plan's failure."
"Yes."
"My goal is to complete what Master Garland started, and I need you to help me convince your husband to help us."
"…Why?"
Nuri was stunned. "What do you mean, 'why'! You help us, and you and your son…"
"I understand that part of it, but what I don't understand is, why do you want to restore Terra? What good will it do? This planet is a lost cause! From what I can tell, there's nothing left but this portion that we're on, so why bother!"
Nuri smirked. "Zidane asked the same question…"
"And he told me your answer! 'Because it's the master's will.' Your master's dead! Why don't you think for yourself!"
Nuri gritted his teeth. "I am thinking for myself! I thought for myself, 'why am I here?' And the answer was to restore Terra! If you want to call that stupid, fine! But I know the world of Gaia. I know that its people follow whatever religious belief they have. Like the dwarves at Conde Petie or the citizens of Esto Gaza. It's funny that you don't say, 'they're not thinking for themselves,' yet not one of them can prove their religious beliefs; despite the fact that all of them have a reason for why they believe in them."
Garnet smirked. "It's funny that you claim to know the people of Gaia, and yet, you don't know what a diaper is."
"I know what a fucking diaper is! Don't put me in the same class as some of these other dumb-ass genomes!"
In his mother's arms, Hunter began to quiver.
Garnet decided to tone down her rhetoric. Not for her own sake, but for that of her son's. "My apologies…You're not an ignorant man, but you still don't know everything about Gaia. Nevertheless, you must be a fool to think that I—as a person from one planet—would allow another planet to do me harm."
"No harm will come to Gaia. People won't notice anything. All that'll happen is that some of Gaia's life energy will be used to restore the life energy on Terra."
"Do you know what a virus is, Master Nuri?"
"…A what?"
"A virus—it's a foreign organism that enters a person's body, and makes them sick…Sometimes it can kill them. What you have just told me sounds to me like a virus. Terra is a virus that wants to invade Gaia, and there's no way any sane Gaian would allow such a thing to happen. So you can forget my help, just like you can forget anybody else's help."
"I don't give a damn about the Gaians! I only care about the Terrans!"
"And I don't give a damn about the Terrans! I only care about the Gaians!"
"Then it appears that we have a conflict of interest."
"I guess so."
"…Maybe you're not scared of me…But I'm still the one in control of this situation!" Nuri stepped forward and grabbed Hunter's arm. He lifted the toddler off the ground, and Hunter screamed.
"Leave my son alone!"
Garnet went to grab Hunter, but a blast of fire burned her sleeve and sent her to the ground.
"Now listen to me, you fucking bitch! That was just a warning!" Nuri's hand emitted another red glow, only this time it was pointed at Hunter.
"No!" Garnet cried, over the cries of her son.
"Are you going to do what I fucking require!"
The flame became larger, and Hunter's screams increased with the flame's size.
Garnet fell to her knees and began to cry. "Yes, I'll do anything that you require! Just please leave my son alone!"
Nuri's face was still one of thunder when he nodded, and pushed Hunter back into his mother's arms. "Good, take your precious baby!" But within seconds, he appeared to be calm again. "I'm sorry about all that, but the planet must be restored at all costs."
