Title:  Second chances for an Angel of Death

Rating: R for language, and perhaps sexy chapters later.

Disclaimer: I do not own FF9 or any of it's characters. I just torture them and put them into odd, complicated situations. Snickers  anyways… There will be Yaoi. So I'm warning you now. I don't wanna hear any complaining from you whackos. The first chapter is ALLLLLL Spoilers!!! So I hope you beat the game before you read this! This is a major spoiler alert right now! Do not read if you don't wanna spoil the ending for yourself!

Now… Onto the fanfic .

Chapter 1.

….Farewell Zidane….

That voice….

A young man around sixteen years of age stood looking out over the landscape before him. He had shoulder length golden blond hair, and aquamarine eyes- and a tail. Yes. A tail. He seemed to furrow his brows some in confusion, as he looked around for the mysterious voice.

He's alive…

A giant tree placed in the middle of a dessert hell. It's roots were massive and large, and threatening; stretching  out as far as the eye could see. The roots seemed to be ripping themselves from the ground, thrashing about violently as they did so, threatening to destroy everything that destroyed them. The grounds he stood on were shaking now violently, and the boy's comrades were calling out to him that they had to go.

The thought of the pale haired man alive, flooded the young boy's mind. He had never wanted the powerful mage dead in the first place- perhaps only to beat the man sense-less, but never death.

The blond genome sighed.  Dealing with his comrades was no problem. After all, this was 'his' moment, wasn't it? As long as he returned…Then things would be fine. Things however, were unstable. He didn't know if he would ever return.

Well… it was now or never.

Walking up to the edge of the cliff which was right beyond the edge of the Lifa Tree, he peered out towards the violent, and devastating reaction of the Lifa Tree. It, like him, did not want to die. It did not wish to perish as it must. Zidane knew this. However, what must be done, must be done.

I hope he's okay. The blond thought to himself.

Aquamarine eyes centered on the tree as he took a step forward, bringing his hands to cup the sides of his mouth as he called out, as if hoping- no, begging  and pleading that the mage would hear him.

"Kuja! Can you hear me?! I'm coming to get you!!!" The blond shouted, praying he'd get a response. A sign of some sort, that the other man was not dead.

You still have time…

Forget about me and go…

The blond furrowed his brows slightly, shaking his head as a grunt escaped the hollow of his throat. He wouldn't have any of that kind of talk. He despised 'downers' or people who were always ' negative '. He'd have to have words with Kuja after all this.

You planning on dieing?! The hell you are!

"Shut up and stay where you are!" He commanded furiously, his voice edged with annoyance and irritation.

I don't understand you…

The blond smirked at the irony of that. Nobody does…

¤'-.,,.-/'¤

The pale haired mage took deep breaths, as he began to feel more weaker and thinner by the second. He felt light headed and cold as he lay sprawled out on what appeared to be either a rock or a giant leaf stemming off from the roots of the Lifa Tree. He coughed a few times, wrenching his hand over his heart as the pain dully throbbed in his chest before eventually subsiding. His hand fell to his side as his eyes slid closed for a brief moment as he simply concentrated on his thoughts, rather than his shallow breathing.

I've been wrong this whole time…

He failed. He failed his creator's purpose; he failed his own, and when he realized what it meant to live, there was nothing he could do. He had been too late, and now he was paying for his mistakes. Or that's how he saw it, anyway.

Life… Death… In the end, wasn't it all the same? Everything he'd done, he regretted. He wasn't even given enough time to apologize for his crimes. In a few moments, he'd probably be dead. Until then, he was left to think about all the homes, lives and people he destroyed. God, he hated himself. He hated the monster he had become. He had been beaten into reality and for that he was grateful.

He could feel himself slipping into an unconscious state. Soon the darkness would claim him, and his death would justify for all the pain and sorrow he had bestowed upon the innocent. He sighed, letting his ice blue gaze slip closed.

Soon… I'll be at peace…

After a few moments, Kuja heard foot-steps approaching his direction, not far from where he was. However, he was intent on dieing. He did not care if he was to be rescued or not. He was getting what he deserved. He simply waited for the darkness to claim him.

" Hey, you alright?!" Came a farmilure voice.

The pale man strained to look over his shoulder. "Zidane…?" He couldn't believe it.  Had he not told the young man to leave him be? He had furrowed his brows on confusion. Why had the boy come back for him anyways?

The blond hesitated a moment, seeming to have been standing on a ledge near the mage. He looked about, wondering if there was any other way to get where Kuja was, before realizing there was none. So he simply jumped from where he stood, landing beside the older man who lay helplessly sprawled across the leaf suspension.

Zidane continued to glance around their surroundings with a concerned frantic expression, suspiciously glancing around for another way out if it came to that. There was no saying when the Lifa Tree's roots would come crashing down around them during the last stages of it's dieing state.

Kuja had sighed and turned away, looking off to his side. His hair was strewn across the dirty platform he lay across, his arm draped loosely over his waist, and his clothes were ripped and torn badly. The pale man suffered dark bruises which were apparent across his body, which did not complement his feminine features, leaving him to look like a beaten whore.

"What are you doing here? I thought I told you to go…"

Zidane crossed his arms, staring down at the older man for a moment, hardly having to even think about the question before replying softly. " Wouldn't you do the same for me, if you knew I was in trouble?"

Kuja had winced and remained silent. Probably not.

Zidane sat down next to his older 'brother', leaving a short silence between them before responding quietly. "….Never mind."

Maybe Kuja didn't care? If that was true, then why did he use most of his energy to teleport the others to safety- if that WAS the case, anyways? There was another pause of silence which seemed to linger in the air between them. The sounds of the violent reaction of the Lifa Tree's roots, were muffled above them. Eventually, Kuja broke that silence, coughing a bit before sighing, his eyes sliding closed for a moment.

"…Your comrades were able to escape?" He asked, lifting his eyes to the blond again.

Zidane nodded, staring at his feet. "Yeah. I knew you had something to do with it…"

Kuja gave a week smile. " I'm glad they made it." I'm glad I did at least one thing right…

The blond nodded again in agreement, still not having enough courage to meet the other's eyes. Never had they ever once sat like this, in a peaceful way, just talking. Without violence. It felt bizzar to the blond, but it was also something nice for a change. He hated having enemies.

"Yeah well, it's our turn to get movin'."

Kuja's expression saddened as he looked away slightly. Don't you understand? It's pointless. What life would I live? The mage found it easier to brood then to accept the fact that someone might actually care about him. Never in his life had anyone ever been this… affectionate, or caring towards him. Garland had always used Kuja. Garland had always beat the mage, and abuse him. It was no wonder that Kuja was so untrusting and fucked up.

"…I don't deserve to live, after all that I've done." He said softly, his voice barely audiable in the dead calm of the cavern they were in. "I'm useless to this world…" He added, his voice having become an edge of a bit more bitter then he had intended.

Zidane's expression twisted into that of sympathy for the older man's words, and continued staring ahead of him quietly. Kuja, I really pity you. Here you were the most feared man to walk Terra and Gaia, and your giving up?!  He thought to himself. Another silence lingered in the air once more before he spoke, hardly sure of himself for what he was saying, but it was how he felt.

"No ones useless… You helped us escape, remember?"

Kuja winced. Please Zidane, don't make this any harder for me…

"After you guys beat me, I had nothing left… Nothing more to loose. Then I finally realized what it meant to live…" The older man sighed, feeling  more and more tired. "I guess… I was too late…" His words became distant and raspy. He felt himself slipping into unconsciousness.

So tired… He thought to himself. He gave the blond a side long glance before slowly closing his eyes, his lids growing heavy. Goodbye, Zidane…. Then, the darkness claimed him.

There was a long pause of silence, and the blond furrowed his brows. Glancing over, he saw Kuja had stopped moving, or slipped into unconsciousness. Aquamarine eyes went wide as the blond dove to the other's side, grabbing poor Kuja by the shoulders as he shook him violently. No, no, no, no, no, no!!!

"Hey! Don't you go dieing on me, alright?!" Zidane nearly screamed, shaking the man, trying to rouse him without success.

Just then, a large crash was heard above the two in the cavern. This alerted the blond's attention as he jerked his head upwards to look above. His eyes widened in absolute horror, as the Lifa Tree's roots began gushing down towards them, never showing it's mercy as it spilled it's wrath upon the tress passers.

Zidane gasped. Shit!!! Glancing down at the fallen man beside him, then at the gushing roots above them, he instinctively threw himself over the other man's body to protect him, his eyes squinting shut as he wrapped his arms around the other's body, clinging to him in hopes that they would survive, as the roots came crashing down….

Everything went black…

End of chapter 1.

Author Comment:

Aiyee…. Yes. I copied a lot of the dialog directly from the game. And this isn't where the actual fanfic starts. You could say this is the opening chapter. But whatever. Yeah. Things are gonna get intresting from here on out. Oiyo. Now I have to type up all the crap from my note book. But I'll post this first since I already have it on my computer now. And I'm sorry if this first part seems boring as hell! It will get better- I promise!!!- oh and the next chapter should be longer too. Probably a little shounen ai too.