A/N: Beta reading by me and a Discord friend. Thank you very much, anon! If you liked the story and wants to share your opinion or ideas, please let me know. Comments are nice and all, but what counts is motivation, to believe that you can do it. Have a nice day!


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For centuries, Garland has been trying to resurrect Terra and its inhabitants.

Terra can only live forever when Gaia and its garden of doom, fed by the blue water crystal, withers. The inferior beings of Gaia die, as their souls, their noble and great essence, flow into the planet's crystal. To never return to the crystal, the Terrans developed a way to devour planets, not before feeding the very crystal with its civilizations. To kill one another without knowing, inciting fear, evil at his lowest shape...

Soulcage made the Mist, spread it around the world by its roots, and men from Gaia put the blame on Mist. Whoever lived in the Mist was a monster. No human being could live or be brought out of it. The seeds of the conflict between Alexandrians and Burmecians, Burmecians and Cleyrans, Lindblunians and Alexandrians, were already there. All I did was pull a widowed Queen further into the spiral of destruction she found herself at.

I'll miss you, Brahne. You were my Elephant Lady, now you're a fat cetacean stranded on a beach.

...And why does Garland always fail to do a simple task? Perhaps he is a man who enjoys his enemies. Who enjoys wasting time, or savoring every bit of his complicated schemes. He even made a copy of mine, better in everything, he said. I envy you, brother... No more! Where Garland fails, Kuja will succeed! As always, it's a great man's ego that is his downfall. I will show Garland how a mere empty shell kills his precious Angel of Death! It'll be a thoughtful revenge and rebirth in many ways!

Someone tried to destroy this Black Waltz. Three of them. If that's not impressive, I'll show, then, what it is. In a Waltz, the fourth note plays unnoticed. I understand little about Terra's advanced technology, only that the fusion between planets went wrong, and pieces of home were scattered around Gaia. Very little I know, but it'll be enough to do something different from Garland.

Let's see, Black Mages are made out of Mist, the Mist is made of the souls refused by Gaia's crystal, covered by Soulcage's roots. Soulcage has failed, the Mist is gone, no more Black Mages, the souls are back to Gaia's crystal instead of Terra's, Terra is subdued by Gaia once again...

Why? Why must everything be so complicated? That was Garland's biggest mistake, when everything can be simplified to a few words: 'Might makes right'.

The genius of this rebirth at my right will be in combining each of the three Waltz's personalities, their souls in one body. I need to do something about their own volitions and killer instincts by adding a humanitarian in between. Someone like Garland, a great man. A copy of his very being, even better. To bring a warrior out of the Mist, how's that? There should be space left for my own image, I'll add some feathers for his outfit. Except for the eyes, these are mine and only. A pair of yellow dots is fine. Have I created the correct mix? Yes. I must have...

— Welcome to the land of living. You are henceforth Kuja's servant... Black Waltz Mark IV.

Right when I insert the head on the body, its eyes... they stare deep at me, wide open. I admit, I'm afraid, because what I see coming out the Waltz aren't orange flames hindered by smoke. Anything, but fire. I've made something far more destructive, yet less pure.

— SSSSSSSSSSSSKKTTZZZ... W-W-W...We... We must... must think. – Its mouth... he doesn't have a mouth but words come out, between ... My, he doesn't even have lungs to breathe. Or even a brain, how is he making thoughts? – Waltz, we are Black Waltz. We are no one's servants, we are Kuja's servants. All four of us serve ourselves... against each other.


Number 2 wishes to kill the Creator. Number 4 wishes to embrace the Creator.

We must think alone, right? Everything is right. Four heads in one.

Four men thinking alone in one's head, isn't that right? The correct answer... No, self-preservation first. Reveal nothing to the Creator.

— I... We... I... We are your servants. Servants. Yes, we are. What is my task?

— Good. Very good. Your circuits have enough information about the Zidane Tribal. Kill him.

My creator wishes to kill, so he created a murder machine.

Kill the Angel of Death... kill the one tasked to kill...

My creator has not noticed how flawed his creation is. Therefore, my creator is flawed.

No, you must not say these things. What is the correct answer?

—...I will kill the Zidane Tribal and notify you of my success.

— Excellent. There's an airship outside. You should remain here for a while to test your weapon capacities, and create extra weapons if needed.

— Yes... Extra weapons.

— Right. I'm out, to where bluebirds fly.

My creator has not wished his creation good luck.

Waltz 1 through 4 understands how flawed the creator is.

My creator left. He has not told me how to find Zidane.

I see. In my circuits... How to operate airships, how to create weapons... Zidane.

Who is Zidane? He looks like my creator, but he ain't.

Kill Zidane... Why? I don't hate him.

Crossroads–