A/N: *folds paper clothing onto doll-replica*
Kuja: "There!"
Hilda: "I would never wear that."
Kuja: "You do now."
Chapter Fifteen:
BANG! BANG! BANG!
"Erin, for the love of Alexander, how many times must I explain that when I am in here, this is private time?"
"But you've been in there for over twenty minutes, Sir, and-"
He would have begun to claw his eyes out had he the means to, his groans of irritation drowning out the voice of his Chief Engineer. He had indeed been cloistered within his personal water closet for some time, but he just couldn't find it within himself to explain to the woman the amount of effort it took him to even partially undress himself and to reach newfound heights to execute his personal business?
Her fist rapped against the door once more, her voice uncaring.
"Minister Artania is calling for you, he says it's most urgent. Do you need...help?"
"Leave me be, woman!" he cried out between a bellow and a squawk, mortified beyond belief.
When the Regent managed to exit what had meant to be an exclusive space, he found his Minister standing alongside her.
He didn't know if an oglop blushed by nature but he could damn well feel his face heating up.
"Well, be on with it, why don't you?" he snapped, almost petulantly, the antenna upon his head jerking in spasms.
"Oh Sir…," Erin said pitifully, her face suffused with sympathy, hands folding into one another.
Cid stilled in foreboding, his blood running cold at the possibility their news might entail.
"What is it?" he asked, almost a little breathlessly, finding difficulty in reading either of their faces, scrying the furrow about their heads and coming back empty-handed.
Artania coughed slightly into a fist, inclining his head toward his monarch.
"Your ties are loose, Regent."
The little insect blinked in response before looking down upon his person, shouting a curse in response before flinging his tiny body around to adjust himself, uncaring to the increasing lack of dignity he was subjected to within his current state.
It was pride alone that had made him insist on wearing clothing but he was beginning to wonder if he should forgo the vestments altogether, his staff having seen nothing but the very worst of him these past months.
His little claws worked uselessly at the cords, taking several tries to maneuver them to advantage and eventual success. Despite the passing days, he was no more accustomed to manipulating this body as he had the day he had found himself trapped within it.
Hilda's hurt had been deep, he thought guiltily.
And the reality was that it was more probable than not that she was no longer even among the living.
The thought had his breath come out in a shudder, his claws slipping loose from his ties once more. He tried to calm himself in order to concentrate, his thoughts treacherous barbs that flayed him.
He needed her alive.
And found.
Quickly!
He needed her to undo her curse so that he may do right by his people. Word from his spies bode of trouble and he didn't know if he had it within him to give his state what they deserved in the way of leadership and defense.
And more than anything, he didn't think his heart could take it.
When his tiny but troublesome task was complete, he turned back to his two awaiting subjects, his annoyance now subdued and clouded with regret.
"Please tell me what it is that you have come to say," he sighed a little distractedly, his beady eyes weary.
"A soldier from the docking stations has alerted me that a girl with a falcon crest is requesting an audience with the Regent. She claims she is Princess Garnet herself."
Cid's entire being suffused with focus, the seriousness of the situation calling him to attention.
"...It is her. It has to be," his voice thickened with the weight of severity and reality, "No one else would have the means to replicate such an item," the little insect croaked, his claws fiddling with his mustache.
"I agree. I will go down now to confirm while you make your way to the throne room. If she is who she claims to be, we will meet you there directly," Artania hastened, not staying a moment more, knowing his instructions would be acknowledged accordingly.
Cid looked to Erin and the woman inclined her head silently before departing toward the docks, no doubt in efforts to expedite the construct of the Hilda Garde II, all three of them understanding that with the possible arrival of the Princess, everything they had feared was now beginning to unfold.
He bound as fast as his little legs could take him to the throne room, his personal guards positioned at select stations within the halls kind enough not to mention the sorry affair for what it was.
When he reached the doors, his men opened them for his tiny self without a word and he couldn't help but sigh in relief as they closed them in turn once he entered. It was little respite, but having the task of struggling to climb upon his own throne without pitiable stares was a consolation in its own right.
With tired arms and labored breathing, he had managed all the same, smoothing out the hairs of his mustache and adjusting his now askew cloak just as he heard footsteps from beyond approach the threshold. So many steps altogether strongly hinted that his Minister was not alone, leaving him with little doubt that it was indeed none other than Garnet who had arrived.
He had worried, to put it lightly, when he had not received word from Baku at the agreed time. But it seemed that either his long time friend had indeed pulled through for him or other events had unfurled in a manner that had the Princess of Alexandria seeking refuge from another governing state.
They entered then, a lot of five them, including Artania, stepping before him toward the middle of the grand room, covered in dirt and filth, their faces tired and spent, eyes much too large, conveying disturbance and distress.
Even engulfed in exhaustion and hunger, Garnet was breathtaking. Her face was such that even in age, she would remain radiant. The shock of her black tourmaline eyes framed by the intensity of her ink-jet hair would seem appropriate for a face with sharp angles, and yet they merely acted like a backdrop to enhance the pale softness of her quiet presence that instilled attention and silence amongst those who saw her. Slight and young as she was, her existence was such that she would always command the awareness and ambience within any given space. Her soul thrummed with it.
A rusty, haggard knight positioned himself slightly in front of the girl, silently favoring his right shoulder, no doubt injured and keeping quiet about the wound. Nothing of the obvious guardian hinted at a fierceness or ferocity usually found in soldiers that were in close proximity to charges in the way of royalty. Yet the set of his stance and the way he situated his rock solid body near his monarch while assessing the room spoke of a loyal protector that understood his person was a wall between his ward and the world in its entirety.
And as if borrowing from that silent, sentient barrier was a small little boy the likes of which he had never seen. Eyes that glowed not unlike soft embers beneath shadows and night under a hat much too large for his small body, his coat worn but lovingly mended, an arcane instrument strapped to his back. The boy's stare didn't leave the oglop while keeping close to the soldier, saying nothing, his emotions unreadable. He was quite sure the other's had yet to take notice of him however something in that glowing gaze gave way that this tiny little soul no doubt was quick to see what others did not.
His growing fascination was broken by a low whistle that pitched behind the princess. A blonde youth he had not noticed until now slid from behind Garnet, his arms crossed behind his head as he walked forward, his eyes taking in the little bug with what seemed like mirth and blatant disgust, a hyper golden tail thrashing behind him.
"Minister, I...I do not see the Regent," Garnet supplied politely, her voice telling in it's war of decorum against urgency.
"That's because there's an oglop lurking on his seat," the young man pointed out mischievously, his voice open with eyes wider and clearer than the expanse of the sky. Despite his fellow companions, there was an inviting ease and roguish spirit underneath all that filth and grime, his demeanor dazzling.
As preposterous as his person was, even the Regent had not been prepared for the blustering indignation that had come out of the knights mouth.
"What kind of joke is this?!" the champion cried out like an aggrieved mother hen who was fluster and feathers about their young.
Cid did his best to reign in his astonishment. Despite his initial appraisal of the fighter, he had not expected him to be a strong, silent type, but even this was beyond estimation. This...this was somewhat hilarious.
Garnet's face revolved between apology and confusion at his Minister with the odd little boy at the knights side remaining silent, while the young blonde one with the tail was crowing boisterously, holding his knees in laughter, which earned him the displeasure of the princess and now the attention of the soldier whose tongue lashings were downright silly at best.
"Is this another one of your tricks?!," the older man shouted at the youth, raising his sword in emphasis before wincing slightly, forgetting himself.
The boy grinned a wicked set of teeth, glancing at the man sideways as he brought his hands to his hips, leaning back with the gesture just slightly.
"Oh Rusty, you have no idea what I had to do to pull this one off. It took some convincing but I got the ruler of an entire nation in on this one, just so we could see your faces. He'll be coming through the door in no time to eat it all up."
The knight lunged for him and with a shout of laughter, the blonde easily dodged out of the way, the room a spectacle. As amusing as Cid was finding this all to be, Artania obviously did not.
"Are you quite finished, man?!" he almost bellowed, raising a finger in the direction of the armored one,"You're a knight of Alexandria, are you not? Act like it!"
The soldier's eyes looked ready to bulge from his skull, his lips smacking together in vexation before regaining the ability to speak,"You present to us a disgusting insect upon a throne and have the gall to remark upon my conduct?!"
Artania's eyes narrowed, his lips pursing to say something clever but devastating before a slight, stuttering voice interrupted the men despite its softness.
"S-Sir Steiner, th-that is th-the Regent," the little boy implored hushedly, looking back at the knight before returning his gaze to the oglop before them.
All the bluster within the oafish man dissolved almost instantly as he turned to the boy, his voice evident of astonishment and respect.
"Truly, Master Vivi?"
"It is as he says," Artania added, his mood also seeming mollified.
Cid understood that as his cue to finally join the peculiar yet highly comical conversation.
"What the boy says is true," he sighed a little wearily, the weight upon his soul far heavier than the mass of his new, small body.
He sat there expectantly, rightly guessing that the lot would need a moment or so to collect themselves and to reconcile the harsh truth that now stood before them. He knew that they were seeking him out in the most dire of circumstances and yet what they expected and what they now saw might send them on a tailspin of turmoil and panic. And when those very emotions began to cross their eyes, he decided then to intervene to allay their fears.
"Although I have been cursed as such, this secret has been most aptly kept these past months and Lindblum has been running accordingly, as ever. Please rest assured that the help you seek can still be found here."
He knew his voice didn't carry over the deep cadence it did with his human self, yet something of perhaps the attitude and confidence did, as he noted the little worry between the princesses' brows began to smoothen out in relief.
"And how did ever such a thing happen to you, Uncle Cid?" Garnet queried respectfully, her voice polite yet her eyes were found roving over him in a fastidious manner, taking in every particle of the creature, as if to leave no doubt as to his identity.
He noted the blonde watching her with a lopsided grin, something in his eyes speaking of recognition and knowing, of what, Cid could not ascertain.
The Regent comported himself and nodded, gesturing to Artania with his small hands.
"Please do not look unkindly to us as I admit to our humiliation that a thief had managed to quite skillfully invade our citadel to not only attack the Regent in his...sleep," and although the lie as a whole fell smoothly from Artania's lips, his mean-spirited nature couldn't help but take a dig at his monarch's misdeed. The jab wasn't lost on Cid, the oglop swallowing the waspish insult silently," By the time we had been alerted of the incident, the Regent had been cursed as an oglop and Lady Hilda had been abducted."
Something in Garnet's gaze sharpened and Cid could discern the gesture in admiration. Although she did not protest, she knew Artania had not spoken the truth. He continued to watch the girl as she too surveyed the group collectively, taken in.
"It was probably you!," the knight howled once more and this time, instead of egging the man on, the blonde tailed boy groaned in exasperation.
"That is not possible," Cid murmured thoughtfully, watching the mismatched collective with interest. The knight was obviously assigned to the princess and the blonde youth had a mouth on him that could no doubt be cultivated by Baku himself. But the small, strange, dark little boy. That was a story he was most interested in hearing.
Where Cid would normally clear his throat to bring the room to attention, he did his damndest to elicit a croak that was as regal as he could muster. The occupants of the room gave him the grace to not look at him pitiably as he spoke.
"I imagine there is a great deal of important topics to be discussed but first, I think rest would be in order. Minister, please see them taken care of accordingly."
Garnet's eyes latched onto his and he understood her meaning quite clearly.
Artania escorted the party out, the tired individuals either not noticing the princess lingering behind or too tired to worry, knowing she would be safe with the incapcitated oglop in the room.
"Won't you walk with me," the Regent asked politely, hoping down from his throne, his little legs carrying him toward the door in an odd little shuffle, Garnet's hands slipping behind her back as she hushedly followed his lead.
"How is your mother, girl?" he called behind him, waiting for her to discard propriety and to walk alongside him. They both knew without words that it would take her nothing to surpass his gait. Seeming adept at reading the mood, she did just that, meeting him at his side as they continued to the airship hangers.
"I find her much changed," she began, sounding as if she was trying to pinpoint within her own thoughts as to where to start.
"Your father's death dealt a blow to us all," Cid mused aloud. From what his spies had reported, there was more afoot than just the workings of grief. He didn't dare hope that Garnet was here to allay his fears.
"Strange people have been keeping my mother company as of late. And there's a suspicious man who's been prowling around the castle," she paused there, her mind unable to bring about a clear image to describe him. He always seemed to elude her. Just as she sensed him and would turn to meet his gaze, she would see nothing but his back turning away from her, silver and ominous. The aura about him made her shudder. Why was it no one else could feel it? Feelings of savage hunger and ambition, things that made people dangerous. She remembered relaying as much to General Beatrix but the woman had merely told her there had been nothing to be disturbed about and saw herself off, away from the girl. Garnet understood that Beatrix's loyalties lied first with her mother and knew that any further enquiries would be quashed immediately.
"She ordered a firing squad on the theatre troup's ship...knowing I was aboard. I have felt uneasy this past year but not alarmed. Not until just yesterday, when I had been in Dali."
They reached an empty dock, her eyes roaming over the space in question before returning her focus to the Regent who was watching her intently, a small hand beckoning her to continue.
"The little boy that was with me...he is a black mage. Of anything and everything Dr. Tot has ever taught me, there has never been any description by way of what a black mage had looked like in any of the old stories I have heard. Whatever they may have been in ancient times, they were not what he is."
Cid was lost momentarily, unable to grasp the sudden change in topic. At the mention of "black mage", he stilled, intent on listening further, a thread of a clue being slipped to him undeliberately. It did not escape his attention that his soldiers aboard the Hilda Guard were said to have been decimated by black magic.
"In Dali, we found a subterranean manufacturing plant under Alexandrian supervision. They were making more of him. Black mages. Scores of them, I wouldn't even begin to think of a proper number to describe them. Vivi is a lovely little thing, he would never hurt anyone, but to see what he can do is fearsome and powerful. To have so many like him, and being made like dolls, for what purpose?"
Cid spoke with choking dread," I can think of one…"
Garnet met his gaze, their thoughts in alignment.
"Are you q-quite sure that Vivi of yours...that boy would ever-"
"Don't you dare say it!" Garnet snapped, before righting herself, apologizing for the outburst," If you knew him, you would know how far from it he was. All this time, he had been raised as a child with a loving grandfather, never knowing what his origins were until now. I can't even imagine how someone so small could still stand and fight as he has after witnessing the horror that he has endured. He even protected me from the ones that had come after us."
She shuddered as she had remembered Black Waltz Three's words as he had edged closer to her while she had been steering their little ship toward South Gate, unable to let go of the wheel.
"This will set things right…"
She had not known what he had meant but the chilling inflection in those threatening words made her whole body quake in fear.
The oglop stared, his face seeming composed but his mind a riot of emotions.
Alexandrian forces had sent the creatures they had created after the princess herself. Why not soldiers? Had they not intended for her to...live?
He swallowed, hard, turning to stare at where his previous project had rested.
"I believe what you say about the boy...about...all of it," he tempered, wishing so very much he could rest his hand upon hers in comfort.
"...Where is Lady Hilda?" Garnet broke the silence, her voice almost cutting, but not offensively so.
"You're very observant to have caught Artania in a lie," Cid quipped with a little smile, wanting to chuckle but his vocal chords preventing him from doing so.
Garnet smiled back weakly with a shrug, her oily locks slipping slightly over her face," Dr. Tot says it's one of my more...alarming...qualities," she supplied, obviously not bothered by her former tutor's assessment.
Cid sighed then, his guilt becoming a companion of sorts, as undesirable as it was.
"I met a lovely lady at the pub…"
The smile evaporated from Garnet's face and her eyes sharpened accusingly.
"When Hilda discovered the affair, she took my new airship, the Hilda Guard, and there has been no sight or word from her for months. The ship was steam-powered, the first ever that did not require Mist to operate. And named after her, no less. Ironic, isn't it?"
He looked to her by way of his jest but her features had hardened.
"It seems to me that you are more concerned over your ship than your wife, Sir," she bit out reproachingly.
He winced at her piercing words, wishing he could take back that last part.
"Those eyes and words of yours could kill a man dead, girl. Did your Dr. Tot ever mention that as well?"
She merely stared him down, unwavering, until he continued.
"Of course Hilda is my priority! If you understood an ounce of my shame or terror for her person, you would not think of me as terribly as you must."
"Then the thief who cursed you?"
"One in the same, the very one who made off with my airship," he answered, trying to implore with his transparency how very sorry he was.
"I'm not sorry she changed you into this," the princess remarked, her shoulders softening," only the timing of it all," her gaze also loosening it's sharp edge," I need you now, very much so."
His heart wrenched at the way she said it, thinking that he could not fail this one too.
"The soldiers accompanying Hilda were found weeks after her sudden...departure. All of them dead upon the ground, either by the fall, or struck down by black magic."
"Black magic?" Garnet whispered, the two of them thinking about the black mages being produced in Dali, their only known source of black magic.
"If Alexandria were to have Lady Hilda, surely I would have known something…" Garnet wondered fretfully, her fingers rising to her chin, pondering in futility.
"Perhaps not by Brahne's orders although it would behoove her to have a monarch of another state if she were having soldiers made like standard issued weapons. But you mentioned yourself that she had strange people keeping her company these days."
They thought about this quietly, unable to assist one another in meaningful ideas as the variance and vastness of the unknowns were too great for them to surmise.
Burmecia.
The City of Perpetual Rain.
Kuja couldn't help the whimsy nature of his thoughts as he walked purposely through the endless drizzle, focused on the thing that he had barely caught within his peripheral vision. Too immersed in the possibility of the discovery, he paid no mind to the screams of dread and horror that cascaded like a macabre curtain around him, the fog acting like an echo of the inhabitants' cries as they were massacred.
He didn't look down as he stepped over a body, be it a mage or a dragoon, he cared not.
Surely not…
He couldn't help but to doubt his eyes but curiosity and amusement drove him forward as he entered a spiraling tower to confirm. His ears detected the sounds of labored breathing and a struggle, and as he continued to climb the long stairs, his head turned toward a rustling sound just in time to see a mage pass by a window, falling from outside the tower and toward the ground below.
Labeling the thing as debris and unconcerned about it's wellbeing, he continued on, hoping the anticipation he felt within him would be worth it.
And he wasn't wrong.
His chest heaving with exertion and a fearsome lance within his hands stood the King of Burmecia himself, fully immersed within the war upon his city, his height grand, his cape torn in three places.
Despite his distaste for their kind, their monarch looked the part of a regal fighter: lithe, intelligent, and dangerous when provoked. Kuja never knew his admiration could extend to a rat, but he gave credit where credit was due.
"Who are you?," the sovereign demanded, blood leaking into his right eye. He didn't flinch.
Kuja smiled predatorily, delighted with the find. He had no desire to kill the king himself and was quite unsure whether he would even bother. He had simply been bored and had found the one interesting thing to occupy himself with until the whole affair was over.
"I'm...unimportant, for the time being," Kuja averred, his voice mocking a soothing tone as he edged closer, thrilling slightly at the uneasy edge that hardened the dragoon's eyes. He pointed his lance in the silver-haired man's direction, standing even taller, elongating his spine.
"Yet you're with the human's...and those things," his baritone replied with distrustful calm, treading carefully.
Kuja's head titled at the strange choice of words, something distasteful about them taking away from his gaiety.
"I'm with the humans? Sir, what are you implying?" the mage stopped, throwing his hands behind his back, his head remaining tilted, neck bared to show the dragoon's lance meant nothing to him.
The King understood the slight of "Sir" in place of "Your Majesty" as a lack of respect, solidifying that the two were adversaries.
"As in you're not human. What else could I mean?," the rat asked, confused and very much on guard.
Kuja stilled, his hands sliding from one another to rest at his sides, his fingernails digging into the flesh of already abused palms.
"What did you say?" he asked with a severe calm he did not feel, stepping closer to the Burmecian.
"You understood my meaning clearly, why repeat it?"
And then something in the dragoon's perception shifted, his eyes sharpening in perception, as he recognized the change in the silver-haired man's bearing, the atmosphere now transformed despite the chaos around them.
"You're ashamed of what you are," he observed quietly, the verbal dagger clearly hitting the mark as the mage drew closer and closer, the lance at the ready to meet him in the middle.
Of all the things he could have said, could have fissured about his person, this vial thing had somehow managed to lash out at him in one of the very vital aspects of himself that he loathed.
To be a genome was to be one of them and he did his utmost to not even acknowledge it. Rather than magic, his fists were readying themselves to strike at the giant rodent, his instincts to hurt taking over his normal rationality.
The dragoon bent forward with his lance at the ready, welcoming the altercation.
The monarch inhaled in anticipation as Kuja drew closer and with it, and the rat's features shifted to confusion and surprise, his words also giving his opponent way of pause.
"...Lady Hilda?"
Kuja stopped in his tracks, the metal of his boots skidding against the stone floor, his face now mirroring that of the Burmecian before him, unsure if he had heard the whiskered man correctly.
"You...why do you smell of Lady Hilda? It's faint…"
Kuja's surprise gave way to understanding and he cursed himself internally, never taking any of the rat's heightened senses into account. Not that it mattered. His mages were eliminating the populace too quickly for any of them to even wonder at the strange scents he must be giving off in their wake.
He was impressed, despite himself. Before, in the beginning, he had thought to alert Beatrix of his find. But now he knew that he could not allow the man to live beyond this point.
"She would never betray me. We are...friends. What have you done to her?" he accused, plunging his lance toward the mage's chest, Kuja side-stepping just in time for a near miss.
There was an explosion from outside that deterred the silver-man's attention, the Rose Guard being called forth by General Beatrix, her voice authoritative and unmistakable. Kuja turned back to the King just in time to see the end of his long tail slipping from the window. The sorcerer cursed himself, running toward the opening to look down but the monarch was gone, no doubt using his knowledge of his city to his advantage to continue to kill off as many black mages as he could before he made his escape.
He took a deep breath and then another to settle himself, repeating like a spell that what the King knew was inconsequential, as the ears he might pass his information to would soon be annihilated.
He listened to the rain that poured from outside and beyond, taking in it's soothing thrums to quiet his rage, the water in his hair dripping to the floor beneath his feet.
"Kuja!" he heard Brahne call for him, her voice irritatingly loud and devoid of the decorum the King of Burmecia had displayed. He gritted his teeth and pushed himself toward the staircase and down back to the streets below.
A/N: Sorry for the filler chapter but I needed to set some things in place to set up for the next chapter. Thank you for taking the time to read this, as always, it is much appreciated. If you enjoyed this even a little bit, that is more than I deserve.