Spark the Clairvoyant, here is Kuja's redeeming moment. I told you it would happen.

This quote, which is the best part of FFXII's ending, is from Balthier. Watch out everyone, because it actually fits in very well with this chapter. And ooh, I am so glad I've finally got to this chapter. The first flashback, everyone! The first flashback! Ahem. Sorry.

Please R&R.

Chapter 20- Shinrai

You know what they say about the leading man? He never dies.

((((()))))

Dagger held the yellow translucent crystal in her hands, her mind full of memories. Kuja had once tried to destroy all existence by shattering this very thing. How precious it seemed to her, sitting in her soft palms. It seemed so fragile for something with such power….

"Hey, Dagger," Zidane started, breaking her thoughts away from the crystal.

"Yeah?" she asked, carefully pocketing it in the brown satchel at her side. She was surprised to see him staring at the dark stone in his hands, much like she had been doing to the crystal. "Is something wrong?"

He slowly shook his head. "I just don't know why Kuja wants this thing so bad. It's killing me, not knowing."

"Well, if it counts for anything, I still want to know what you and Kuja were talking about back at the Tower of Owen."

Zidane stopped in mid-stride. She stopped too, her oh-no-I-hit-a-bad-subject-with-him senses going off in her head. "Um… sorry, if you don't want to talk about it." She wondered if had to do anything with what happened back at the Iifa tree.

He only shrugged and started back walking towards Mobliz. When Kuja, Golbez, Bikke, Jecht, and Kefka hadn't been at the Tower of Owen, they had moved on toward Mobliz, where Terra, Celes, and Gilgamesh hopefully were.

They broke into a run as soon as two screams filled the air. When they abruptly stopped, Zidane swore and ran faster, Dagger struggling to keep up with him. Those screams had to have come from Terra and Celes. What kind of trouble were they in now?

Zidane skidded to a stop as he saw the two, Kuja, and some guy with silver hair and dark skin. He had pointed ears and wore clothes fit for a noble back in Alexandria. Terra sat in the rubble, her face in her hands. "It can't be… Light wouldn't have lied to us." She miserably shook her head. "It just can't be true."

"Light would never do that," Zidane said, startling them. "What are you talking about- something about Light lying to us? There's no way."

Astos frowned. "Actually, the Warrior of Light you all know is nothing but-"

Terra cut him off. "Don't. Let Light tell him, alright? It's already bad enough we know."

Being in the dark about anything irritated Zidane to no end. Still, if it was bad enough to shock them into silence and to reduce Terra to tears, Zidane wasn't sure if he wanted to know. Celes silently handed their crystal over to Kuja, who stood with some sort of staff. Dagger finally arrived, trying to catch her breath. "Oh, don't do that to me, Zidane! I almost dropped the crystal running so hard!"

She seemed oblivious to the mood- or rather, she ignored what was going on. After everything that had already happened, Dagger just couldn't take anymore drama any time soon. She cleared her throat. "Um, here's the crystal, Kuja."

He just stared her. Then broke into a shaky laugh. "Don't you realize what you just said?"

"I do," she growled, instantly silencing him, and making Zidane take a fearful step away from the queen, "now take the stupid crystal before I-"

"O-kay," Zidane quickly broke in, putting a hand over her mouth. "Let's keep the profanity to a minimum, okay, dear?"

Dagger ripped his away. "Don't you 'okay, dear?' me, Zidane Tribal!"

"Wh-what did I do!" he burst, backing away.

She simply growled and grabbed his shoulder, actually managing to make him wince. "Not. A. Word."

"Yes, ma'am," Kuja answered.

Dagger released Zidane's shoulder, staring at her in shock. "You abuse me to make Kuja apologize! That is cruel beyond measure!"

"Can it, Monkey-Boy!"

"Yes, ma'am."

Jecht whistled. "Boy, has she got you trained, Tribal."

Miserably rubbing his shoulder, he said, "Don't start, oldie-locks."

The former blitz star gaped. Golbez burst out laughing. "Good job, Zidane!"

He gave a theatrical bow worthy of his many years with Tantalus. "Naturally, my good friend."

"EVERYONE!"

Zidane leaned up and turned to see Yuna and Tidus running in. "Everyone," the gunner gasped, her hands on her knees, "Exdeath, Enuo, the Cloud of Darkness, and Garland have Gilgamesh captive. We… we have to get him back! Cecil and Kain went to find Light and Mage."

"They kidnapped Gilgamesh?" Terra gasped, eyes filling with new tears. "We thought he had just left with Bartz and Lenna!"

Tidus gaped. "No, the Cloud of Darkness somehow got him! Us, Cecil, and Kain just had a fight with them, but they teleported out before we could do any real damage."

Zidane frowned, spinning his daggers. "We've gotta go after him," he unnecessarily pointed out. "Who knows what they're going to do to him for betraying them?"

"Um…. Send him off to the Void?" Tidus said.

"Probably. Hey, what is the Void, anyway?" Yuna asked.

They all shrugged.

Kuja stuck the dark stone on top of the staff. "Done. Now, let's go get Gilgamesh and bring out Chaos."

Dagger was surprised to see him rise to action so willingly. "You mean, you don't think it'd be easier to leave him behind?"

Kuja gave her a strange look. "Why would I think that? He is one of your comrades, isn't he? If we're going to work together, we certainly can't leave him behind."

The queen gaped at this. "Y-you…. B-but…. Huh?"

He rolled his eyes at her lost, confused face and waved for them to follow. "We can meet up with the others and get their crystals on the way. Let's go, everyone. Astos, go catch up with Light and Mage, and inform them of what has happened."

The dark elf nodded and went off.

"Hey, hey," Zidane called, rushing up to him. "Can't you just teleport us to where he is?"

"Do you know his exact location?"

Zidane turned hopefully to Tidus and Yuna, who regretfully shook their heads. The thief sighed. "We're going to have to walk all the way? Geez, and I haven't even slept in, like, a whole twenty-four hours. I don't like all of this errand and rescue-mission business!"

Dagger realized the two of them really hadn't slept in a day. Where had all of this energy came from, then?

Kuja blinked at his bother. "Um… then you two come join us later."

Dagger again gaped. "Whaaaat?" she burst. "How the…. Why…. Huh?"

"Doing that repeatedly is starting become disturbing, your Majesty," Kuja said, cocking an eyebrow.

Her mouth shut and eyes narrowed. She jabbed a finger at him and growled, "Don't you dare call me by that title. You have no right! It's your fault I'm the queen anyway!"

His face paled, somewhat satisfying her for now. "Hmph! Let's go, Zidane."

"Huh? I thought we were going to sleep…."

"Gilgamesh first," she replied stonily. "And I don't trust that stupid brother of yours for a second."

Zidane groaned, allowing himself to be dragged along by Dagger. "You're all tight because we're with Kuja? Oh, lighten up, Dagger!"

She only growled in response and shot Kuja another dark glare. The others were far behind, deciding to keep as far away as possible.

((((()))))

Hours later, they finally arrived at the World of Darkness. Broken pillars instantly tipped them off that there had been a fight- and a nasty one, at that. Golbez frowned behind his helmet at the scene. "These have been felled by magic and weapons both. The Cloud and Gilgamesh?"

A shout from further ahead answered that question. "Luneth!" Terra gasped. She drew her thin rapier and rushed forward.

Kuja sent out magic orbs to break down the rest of the few remaining pillars still intact. He snarled as Garland, fighting Luneth and Arc, came into view.

Garland easily swatted the two away with his kinesis and turned to the newest arrivals in his game. "I see we've drawn you in at last, Kuja. You have done a good job at hiding from me thus far."

"I am not the coward you make me out to be," he spat, summoning more magic orbs. With a cry, he sent them flying at him.

Terra, meanwhile, grabbed the two boys and led them off. Luneth had a steadily bleeding gash on his arm, and Arc looked as if he would have a black eye by tomorrow. "What happened to you two?" she asked once they were far enough from the battle. Celes and the others were now trying their best not be knocked around by Garland. Terra quickly cast a spell to patch up Luneth's arm.

The boy numbly shook his head. "We were walking through here to get to the Western Keep, but Garland came out and attacked us out of no where. We were caught off guard."

The half-esper bit her lip at the boy's dazed expression. "Are you okay, Luneth?"

"…I'm just really… tired…."

Arc and Terra caught him as he fell. As Terra desperately tried to keep calm, Arc hastily leaned his friend up against half of a pillar. "Is he going to be okay, Terra?" he asked in a quiet voice.

She let out a shaky nod. "Of course." What a pitiful lie! she inwardly fussed.

Arc only drew up his knees and turned back to the fight to see Tidus and Jecht narrowly avoid the chunk of pillar tossed at them. "Terra… you go and help them fight. I'll stay here with him."

Terra gave him a look before standing. He seemed just as out of it as Luneth, and she definitely didn't want to leave either of them unprotected. "I'll stay here," she decided. "You get some rest, too, Arc. Both of you must have fought very hard."

The black mage was asleep almost instantly.

She fearfully turned back to the fight. Dagger had resorted to summoning eidolons- Carbuncle overhead had cast a barrier over the warriors while she constantly healed them whenever a stray sharp rock slashed out at someone.

Zidane and Tidus seemed to every where at once, running around Garland to try and find an open spot to attack, jumping away at the last moment before he retaliated by casting some kind of magic at them. Yuna and Jecht seemed to be just a step behind Zidane and Tidus's erratic movement, still fast, but concentrating on defending their two mages and summoner. Celes was basically on her own, working as a distraction for the two boys to get their attacks in.

It was obvious Garland was getting tired, but so were they. Fatigue was starting to catch up with Dagger and Zidane, whom were both getting slower, and thus were getting hit more. Golbez and Kuja were quickly running out of magic, the latter having only that to really attack with. Jecht, Yuna, and Tidus were still going strong, however, as was Celes. Terra knew she couldn't do much while watching over the boys, since Garland was too far out of range for any of her spells, so she bowed her head and prayed with all her might that they'd be okay.

A cry ripped her away from her prayer.

Zidane clawed at his throat, trying to pry away some invisible pair of hands. Kuja threw a flare spell at Garland, making him drop his hold on the genome. Zidane collapsed to his knees, gasping for breath and breathlessly thanking him. Dagger finally called off Carbuncle and rushed over to Zidane.

Things went downhill from there.

Golbez and Jecht were cornered up against two pillars with another flying straight at them both. Yuna tackled into them, pushing them away. It hit her in the back, causing her to scream. Tidus's eyes went wide and he started for her, but Garland's face put on a malicious grin as he tossed out a flare spell much like the one Kuja had thrown at him just seconds ago. The blitz ball star crashed into Celes.

Neither got up. Terra moved to back them up, but something snagged on her leg, causing her to trip. In terror, she turned to see the Emperor smirking at her, one of his trapms having stopped her. He knelt down and wrapped his hand around her mouth, cutting off her scream. "Shh, quiet now. Let's not wake up the children."

She turned her wild gaze upon the two boys covered in magic traps. The instant they woke up, they'd be bombarded. When had that happened? Why didn't Terra hear him sneak up on her?

"Enjoy the show," Mateus laughed.

Terra watched helplessly as Garland advanced on Dagger and Zidane, both staring up at him with a fearful expression. He cast holy on them.

Despite Mateus's hand cutting off her screams, she screamed anyway, clamping her eyes shut. Both were surprised to hear no screams

Terra looked up through tear-filled eyes to see a blurry white and purple blob standing in front of a teal blob and an orange blob. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve and looked back just in time to see Kuja fall to the ground. Terra finally ripped the Emperor's hand away. "Kuja!" she screamed. "No!"

Zidane jumped to his feet and ran to stab Garland, but he harmlessly threw him into a pillar. Garland easily did the same to Dagger. The Time Lord stopped at Kuja and lifted him by the neck, squeezing hard. "I must repay you for kicking me over that cliff, Kuja." He winced as Garland squeezed even harder and snarled, "I'm returning the favor!"

Kuja slapped his hand onto the red orb of his obsidian armor. Garland barely had time to process the action until he silently cast Ultima upon the old man. Both flew apart in separate directions, both landing on the floor. Terra struggled to escape the Emperor's strong grasp to run to her fallen friends. "Let… me… go!"

"Don't you think you ought to listen to the girl?"

Firion and Leon threw Mateus off, slashing out at the surprised tyrant. Maria helped Terra off the ground. "I'm sorry we're late," she apologized. "You go to Kuja, and I'll try to take the curses off these two."

Terra gave her a thankful nod and rushed towards her comrades. She hurried to each one of them, casting the most powerful curaga she knew. Celes put an unconscious Tidus's arm over her shoulder and walked him over to where Maria, Luneth, and Arc were. She carefully sat him next to them and rushed off to try and dig Yuna, Jecht, and Golbez from out of the rubble. She didn't need to, it turned out, when Jecht pushed it off himself. He rubbed his arm and helped Yuna off the ground. "You okay, kid?"

The gunner gave a barely coherent response. Celes draped her shoulder over hers as well and took her to Maria as well. "We're all going to sleep in late after this," she promised, both to her and to herself. Celes had more bruises on her than from the battle with all the chaos warriors when she first arrived in Dissidia.

"Mmm, I hope so. Tell Rikku to shut off the alarm clocks."

Celes didn't know who Rikku was, but nodded anyway, laying her next to Tidus. "Just rest, okay?"

The Magitek knight suddenly stumbled herself, falling to her knees. Maria made her lay down too. "You need your rest," she told her. "We'll fix everyone up, so don't worry."

Dagger and Zidane both shakily stood, trying to stand by pushing up together. This barely worked, but they were up nonetheless. Maria led them off, sure to keep them from looking behind them.

Terra fell to her knees next to Kuja.

Had it not been for his raspy breaths, she would have thought him dead. Terra furiously wiped at the tears in her eyes and set to casting cure. It took a while before his wounds were better enough to where he could stand, but Terra kept up the steady flow of magic. "Thank you."

She shook her head, not meeting his eyes. "Just rest."

"Is Garland…?"

"I'm pretty sure. That really hit him hard."

"But is he dead?"

Terra turned back to where he lay, unmoving. "I-I think so."

Kuja let out a sigh of relief. "Good."

((((()))))

Zidane woke up with a blue sky overhead. Rinoa's kind face suddenly filled his vision. "Are you finally awake?" she asked, helping him creak up into a sitting position.

"Yeah, I think." He looked around and noticed they were at Balamb. Maria made her rounds periodically casting cure on everyone- they seemed to be fine, aside from a few bruises and a slight concussion for each of them.

Kuja sat up against a hedge wall, his eyes closed. "…He jumped in front of us…," Zidane slowly realized. "He took Garland's blow so we wouldn't get hurt."

Rinoa sat down next to him. "I heard from Firion that he cast Ultima on both him and Garland to try and take him out."

"Hardly a good strategy," Squall's deep voice intoned behind them, "but I guess it worked. Old man Garland is dead."

Zidane turned to see the SeeD. "He's dead?"

Squall nodded and stuck his gun blade into the dirt. He took a seat next to Rinoa, absently combing his hand through her hair. "That's almost half of the enemy taken care of. We've still got Exdeath, Enuo, Ultimecia, Seymour, Sephiroth, Mateus, The Cloud, and Garland. After that, all we've got left to deal with is Chaos. Then Cosmos can take us home."

Zidane was surprised to hear sadness in his friend's voice. He too couldn't wait to go back to Lindblum and Alexandria, seeing his brothers in Tantalus and all the rest. He supposed he owed Freya from Burmecia- right before he left, she had told him to not to get into trouble. So had Steiner, and it made a goofy grin come to his face when he thought how the stuffy knight did like him, even if it was just a little and for Dagger's sake.

…Which reminded him. Zidane frowned and stood up. "I'm gonna go for a walk."

He spun on his heel away from the shrugging two, a conversation coming back to him.

((((()))))

"Then ask away, Brother."

Zidane scuffed at the old tile with his worn boots. "Back in Burmecia, didn't you recognize me? Why didn't you kill me on the spot?"

"…Killing a random stranger is one thing, but killing your brother is completely different. So I left you alive."

"Well," he started again, "what about in Terra? Did you intentionally let us get away then?"

He shook his head. "I had forgotten all about you and your friends, honestly. I had a few other things on mind- namely, that I wasn't immortal and that I was going to die. I guess wasting myself didn't help that, did it?"

Zidane shook his head. "No, it didn't. But, you didn't die. I didn't either. Cosmos saved us, remember? Right at the last second when Iifa's roots were headed straight for us, she popped us off to Dissidia to save our lives."

"Yes, and I owe her a lot for it."

"Huh?"

"Do you know why I'm doing all of this, Zidane? Summoning Chaos to defeat him?" When the blonde shook his head, Kuja said, "It's not so 'good' can prevail over evil- I couldn't care less about that."

"Then why?" he pressed.

Kuja wryly smiled. "I don't want him to destroy everything like I tried to do. Sure, he's a god of discord, and his sole purpose of existence is to destroy and create dissension, but I'm not about to let him destroy you all. I learned that you can't just take someone else's life for such a petty cause. So, I'm preventing him from stooping to my level." Kuja let out a small chuckle. "It's low, copying me like that, isn't it? Especially for someone such as him. But I'm only glad I didn't kill anyone on Terra besides Garland. I'm glad you got your friends and the genomes to Gaia in time."

"But you got us out of Memoria, remember? When Necron had almost killed us, you got us away in time."

He nodded, smiling. "Yeah. I'm glad I did that."

"And then…."

Kuja looked at his face, a quirky smile on his face. Zidane couldn't hold in the laughter any longer. "I can't believe I blew off Dagger to go save your sorry butt."

His brother gaped. "What!"

Zidane doubled over from the laughter. "And she was about to kiss me, too! Kiss me! How could I have wasted that chance on you!"

Kuja knocked his head, only making his chortling worse. "You flirt!" he accused. "Nothing but a skirt-chaser until the end!"

Finally, Zidane managed to calm down, the silly smirk still on his face. "Oh, well. I guess it was worth it in the end. Besides, once I get Dagger back home I'm sure she'll plant me a big one. It won't be the same, of course, but I'll take what I get."

Aghast at his behavior, Kuja only shook his head. "How did a serious conversation with you turn into this?"

Zidane shrugged, right as Dagger starting walking towards them. "It's what I'm here for, bro."

I don't know why, but I feel awfully accomplished with this chapter. I've been planning it for quite a while, so I'm glad I've finally gotten to write it. Hopefully the next few chapters will come as soon as these two, with any luck.