Kuja strikes a devilish little deal with his younger brother for redemption. Should he succeed Zidane will see to it that Kuja never has to hide his face again, but if he fails… Chapter One: A Universal Truth.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 9, nor do I claim too, all of it's characters are simply being borrowed by me to play with. Any characters not appearing in FF9, are mine and do belong to me.
Notes before you begin: 1. Pairings to be attempted in this fic are Kuja/Beatrix, Zidane/Dagger, Lani/Blank, and Mikoto/Fratley. Listed in order of importance. 2. This isn't a Romance fic, it's Kuja redemption fic, so don't expect goo everywhere. 3. I'm a horrible updater, and if I forget to update feel free to send me hate mail, it'll probably help me finish it sooner.
Chapter One: A Universal Truth.
Zidane stared obnoxiously at me. I cringed and stared back at him, oddly enough he seemed completely oblivious to his rudeness and me. All of the sudden the golden hared hero sprung up like a monkey from his seat. He turned towards the shelf of books in Alexandria's magnificent library and pulled one off.
"You know brother, I've been reading."
"That must be extremely taxing on you, how are you fairing?" I asked as sincerely as I could.
"Arrrg… I can read! For crying out loud everyone always pegs me as dumb. Even Dagger was surprised when I told her about the deal with the Iifa."
"I must admit that I can see why… Zidane, you happened to leave out that slight little fact that I was there. I'm sure she wouldn't be so surprised if she knew that I had told you what to do." I smirked back at my brother and twisted some hair between my fingers. Lucky the silvery locks were coming back into their normal length, it had been such a pity that to chop so much of it off. And then having to deal with that blasted assassin who had been after Eiko. I still didn't understand why I had to go solve the problem, besides some obvious repentance… Yet still, it hardly seemed worthy of my skills, surely a few guards and that brat could have killed the man.
"Well anyway. I was reading about this guy named Amories. He killed his best friend's wife, and was looking for redemption…"
"Give it up Zidane. My redemption can only be obtained by bribing the whole world. Both living and dead."
Zidane sighed at me and frowned at what I had said. "Oh come on, you at least have to hear this one. I guarantee it's better then the rest."
"It better be."
"Alright. So here's how it goes in the story. Amories goes on three quests to redeem himself. The first he quests to redeem himself before the Law. To do that he's got to save the lives of three women who are doomed because the law cannot reach them. The second is that he quests to redeem himself before the Public. To do that he goes and saves the children of the town from a dark messenger. Then finally he must redeem himself before the wife. So he journeys to the underworld to seek forgiveness. On the way he has to free the wrongly imprisoned souls of hell, and by doing that he right's himself in the gods eyes. However when he meets the wife she wont forgive him unless he can take back what he has done."
"And therein lies the problem Zidane." I interrupted him cruelly.
"You'd think so too wouldn't you?"
"Oh dear, don't tell me you want me to bring half the world back to life—"
"Nooo!" Zidane huffed up and flipped open the book to near the end. "Damn Kuja, your always a pessimist. What he does is promises her and her husband the bodies of his first daughter and son."
"What sort of sick – Zidane! I can't promise off my unborn children! I can't even possibly have that many!" I shook my head wondering at my brother's idiocy and stood.
"Kuja would you just listen! I've got a plan!" He begged with his cute puppy dog face, just rubbing is how obnoxiously good he was.
"Fine! Out with it then." I clicked my hand in front of his face, noting that my old overly demanding personality was resurfacing.
"You don't need children, you can make mages."
I opened my eyes in surprise, the idea did make a certain amount of sense… "But I would need to make the mages from Mist." Once again a problem.
"What about Terra?"
"It's gone Zidane, there isn't anything left there."
"Yes there is, Garland spoke to me from beneath BranBal. That means there are soul's in BranBal, just waiting…" Zidane had another idiotic smile on his face, as though he thought he had finally out smarted me at something.
"Then I'll owe them." As if I didn't already owe them for blowing up their world.
"Owe them what? Their world is gone, they're practically gone too. It doesn't matter."
"I'm thinking this would only succeed in making people more pissed at me."
"Kuja, I have it on good authority that this'll work." Zidane crossed his arms and frowned at me, "Come on, trust me. I wouldn't have you go dashing about for nothing."
"Really now? Why I wouldn't put it past you to find something like that amusing." I tossed my hair at him.
"No, that's you... You're the one who sends people on errands." I briefly remember the incident with the Glug stone, and flinched inwardly at his taunt.
"Well let me think about it." And with that I brushed past my younger brother and headed out into the dark rooms beyond. Pairs of torches lined the walls providing the only light in the castle at this time of night. Some footsteps up ahead alerted me to a presence and I quickly dodged behind a window curtain. From there I could hear the definite click of iron upon marble. It was also a very feminine sounding step, casting my mind out I could feel the powerful white mage lingering on the other side of the curtain. Not powerful enough to be Garnet, but definitely someone with skill. More then likely it was Beatrix, or a 14 year old Eiko out for the midnight stroll.
A sigh caught my attention and immediately I knew that Beatrix did stand just a few feet away. I listened then carefully, and she let out another long drawn out sigh. It couldn't be the sort of sigh that a person who seemed to be so filled with joy could let out either. I might have categorized that sigh under, longing for lost lover or pining away after sexy stripper. Unfortunately that certainly wasn't me she was pining away after.
To Beatrix I was a very, very ,very dead mage. No more then a man who her queen helped kill; no less then the man who had courted her attention at one of Brahne's festivities. I wondered now deeply why she had returned any of my attention at all. After all, she saw into my marvelous plan, even if she didn't completely comprehend my intentions.
According to Zidane, Beatrix and Steiner were being married in a few weeks, so she hardly had anything to sigh about. If anything I should be the one sighing my life away. I had regrets, anguishes, complications; hell I even qualified for the 'most unpopular bachelor of the year' award.
So while I was happily lost in my own self pitying I felt, or rather saw, Beatrix's sword go straight through the curtain just inches from my nose. It made a horrible tinging noise as it hit the wall, which proceeded to damage and ring throughout my ears.
Instinctively I ducked as her sword was withdrawn from the curtain. "Show yourself—"
Proudly I cut her off from her speech, "For you face the mighty, and slightly blind, Beatrix!" That of course seemed to cut her off as has she watched me rise from behind the curtain she blinked her one eye in surprise.
Beatrix
He stood up, staring at me with a level grin. For a moment he reminded me of the, thankfully dead, murder Kuja. But the smile wasn't fitting for that man, and the hair was to short and scraggly. His hair which caught the moon light outside only appeared to be silver.
"Damn it Zidane! What on earth are you doing!?" I responded to him, although technically he was my king… Then again Zidane didn't act enough like a king to be considered one.
"Me?" He asked slightly surprised, and then he shrugged carelessly. "I was going to jump you, but I guess you heard me."
I rolled my eyes at him and stalked off, for some reason his voice kind of sounded like Kuja's. I guess I hadn't noticed it till now. It made sense however, Zidane and that man were brothers. Not only that but Zidane was loosing his old Lindblum accent to his new Alexandrian one, Kuja had always spoken with a slightly Alexandrian tone…
"Hello Beatrix! Fancy seeing you out here." Zidane said strolling up from the opposite direction from which I had left him.
"What do you want now Zidane?" I glowered at him.
"What do you mean want now?" He asked pouting his lip ever so slightly, and his tied up hair bobbed back and forth behind him. It struck me then that in order to be able to have gotten there he would either have had to run faster then anyone I knew, or learned how to teleport overnight.
"How did you get all the way over here?" I asked noticing that his clothes, which had been a pair of white pants and darker cloak were now a pair of red pants and a loose white shirt. "Wait a second, when did you change?"
"Change?"
"Yes! Change, I just saw you no thirty feet that way in a pair of white pants and darker cloak!" I felt as though my head was about to explode and I wouldn't ever figure this one out. He was playing with me. He had to be.
"Oh really." He looked somewhat startled. "I think that you must have seen one of the other Genomes… You know there are a few here in Alexandria."
"B-but…" I shook my head there was something going on here. "Nevermind, I must be tried." I waved him off and headed down the stairs before he could get any more fun out of his little game.
I walked down the stairs and out towards the main stairway when I spotted the dark cloaked figure. I couldn't possibly have imagined this man more then once, so quickly I removed my shoes and went creeping after him. He walked out front and then lifted up the hood on the back of his cloak, quietly he passed through the main doors and headed out towards the right. I crouched up to the door way and waited a moment before peeping out through it. Just barely could I see him, or who ever it was, heading to the tower to the right. He passed between the two guards who simply nodded at him, and then headed up the stairs. Casually I walked over to the men who guarded it. They both saluted as I approached. "Madam!"
"Soldiers, who just went through this door?" I asked in a serious tone.
"Zidane, Madam." One replied. I nodded and then headed between them and into the building. The guard near the entrance to the port waved at me and pointed at the door to the stairs. "If your looking for Zidane, madam, he went that way." I thanked him curtly and then quietly opened the door.
Stairs towered up above me, and a slight sound of clicking shoes came down to my ears. It seemed familiar, but I couldn't place exactly who it was that created that sound. Quickly I ran up the stairs, it didn't matter much now whether I was quite or not. Who ever this person was I had them trapped up here, no escape would be found at the top of this tower. Especially after the Garnet had escaped all those years ago and the banners had been removed.
Above me the footsteps quickened, and I pushed hard trying not to recognize the burning sensation in my legs for what it was. Damn, if this was another of Zidane's damn games I would kill him.
The stairs evened out at the last moment and I had to slow myself before I launched through the open door. I brought forth the Save the Queen and darted out onto the rampart. My eyes fluttered to both sides. He wasn't on my side so quickly I reached out my sword tapped it as far to my left as I could before I darted about the left. Instantly I crashed into the body of a slim, and relatively tall man. He shoved off the ground as quickly as he fell, and I knew then exactly who this was.
"Kuja." The word came out melodramatically as I was horribly out of breath from just running up the stairs. He looked at me with those suddenly cat like eyes and I knew it was him.
He paused and then stepped back, weary of me, which was quite the opposite of what I had expected. "Beatrix." He frowned as he said it, and then took another step back.
"How is this? Why would Zi—" He cut me off before I could finish that, and waved a hand through his hair, it was so characteristic of him to do that. Wave everything away with the stroke of his hand...
"Zidane has his reasons, as would anyone who knew I was alive."
"This is insane! What about the span on your life?" It might not have been the best question to ask, but I asked it anyway. There was no way Zidane couldn't know his brother was still alive. And hadn't Garnet told me that when Zidane told her the story, Kuja was seeking redemption? Could that really be true, Kuja – a mass murder – seeking redemption. A little far fetched at the very least.
"That's an odd question to ask, I expected something like 'Oh why did you do it Kuja?' or the very popular 'Why did Zidane allow you to live?'" His lips twisted up into his ultimate smirk as he looked into what I hoped was a cold and hard face. However I wasn't expecting him to leap up upon the railing of the terrace and glance down. It was a precarious position at the very least, and unless he had magically learned to fly….?
"Kuja wait…" I lowered my sword slightly, "Zidane knows you're here doesn't he?"
"No." And with that he flipped backward off the stones and plunged downward. I ran to edge only to catch a glimpse of the Silver Dragon which Dagger had related to me in her tales. It was strange to see him land that gracefully upon it's back before being whisked away.
"I need to find Zidane…" I sighed as I did so dreading the next week more then ever before.
Kuja
I awoke with the particularly itchy and tickling feeling of having feathers stuffed up your nose. Although in retrospect I certainly deserved every discomfort that the world could muster.
Naropa my dragon of the last four years shifted in response to my movement. She was a wonderful beast, although her mental capacity out weighted my original darling Meruava, she was still a beast. Her feathers unlike Meruava's were longer and held much more weight, yet she wasn't a powerful beast. She could out fly and out carry, but never out fight. So when Zidane had given her to me as a present I had been modestly disappointed.
She did however have her advantages. Long distance travel, unlike on Meruava, could continue well into the night with out tiring her greatly. Taking other people along for a ride would never have been possible either, but Naropa could easily carry three.
She shifted again and I felt a rush of wind down my side as my cloak came undone. I quickly moved to pull the heavy fabric back up against my skin, and then snuggled back down among the feathers.
Little flecks of pink colored sunlight sparkled upon the dragons feathers as we started to glide past the Iifa tree. It was dormant now, Zidane had seen to that after I explained what had to be done.
I could see the other dragons who now lived in the hallows of the tree bellowing out to us. Naropa shied away, still forgetting that there wasn't a dragon alive that could actually take me on. A few foolish ones leapt up into the air and streamed quickly out towards us. I saw two attempting to encircle us. The primitive hunting strategy was no use when the prey could easily defend itself. I patted her restless back, and raised one of my hands. "Firaga." I barely had to speak the word and flames were jumping from my hand only to eager to chase the dragons away. One of them attempted to fly through the raging aerial flames, and found himself promptly incinerated.
"Like a moth to a flame." I remarked as Naropa and I soared away into the rising sun. We continued to arch further east as the day went on. Her wings caught the Northern Wind easily and we road the cooler air into the desert. I felt her drop the tips of her wings down, and our altitude quickly changed. Her wings beat against gravity lightly as we came closer to the entrance of the cave. And then finally she dropped down onto the edge of the outside balcony. I gently stepped off her unto the platform and rubbed her nose lightly. "Go get some sleep, I'll bring you food later." With a crash she jumped off into the air and glided down into the place where airship's hulls had once rested. There was straw and hay, as well as trinkets that I had bought for her. And she quickly snuggled in amongst it all.
I walked towards the teleporter on the far end of the cave, practically grinning at the monsters that attempted to hide themselves in the shadows. I stepped upon the teleporter and directed it to take me to my main room. It was time for some research on Zidane's new little proposal.
Mikoto
I raised my eyes as my brother came wondering into his library, personally I hadn't expected him to be home for another day. What a pity.
"Mikoto?" He asked looking at me moderately surprised.
"Yes?"
"What on Terra are you doing?"
"Reading… That's what one does with a book."
"Yes, but in my house."
"You weren't home." I replied earnestly.
"Oh, so that makes it perfectly expectable to sneak about my house."
"I thought I had an open invitation." I queried back, after all he had told me I was welcome whenever I wanted to come.
"I believe normally the person who owns the home is supposed to—"
"I know that." I cut him off not wanting to listen to his overly dynamic speech. "But I thought you would be home, but you weren't. Besides, what am I going to do? Steal your precious library? It's not like I'm Zidane." He stared at me coldly, and then finally replied.
"Alright, stay if you must. I've got things to do so don't be bothering my work."
I grinned at him, and he simply waved a hand through his hair before heading up the stairs to where the fictional books were kept. It was a pity Kuja had turned out so very much like the one he hated. If only he knew that when I was back on Terra Garland had repeated that same phrase to me at least a hundred times. I was always out of his way; doing my one research or experiments, but the man refused to believe that I could possibly maintain things in such a manor.
I turned my head back down to the work on in my hands about genetically mutated Genomes. It had been written by Garland on several of his 'failed' experiments. The first was a young female who came out with two tails, and the cases progressed steadily from that point. The final one being Kuja himself. It was more of a record book of what sort of mutations caused what sort of effects and how the Genome would cope, if they could, with the mutation. I knew for certain that Kuja hadn't ever read this one, seeing as it had been kept in Garland's library since I was little.
I had taken quite a few of the books from the underground lab with me. Zidane had thought I was an idiot for grabbing the pile of papers and books which were kept on a shelf down there. But he no longer regretted that action. After all this one in particular was vital to my saving Kuja's life.
Such a pity I couldn't have grabbed everything. Especially the books on Pandemonium, those I had always wanted to read. I flipped another page coming to a very particular case about a Genome who's eyes glowed an unnatural color. Garland's hypothesis had never been proved in this case, but he suspected that it wasn't the genetic structure itself that cause the issue, it was the added mist to the solution. I found it a pity that there practically wasn't any Mist left on Gaia, if there had been then perhaps I could have preformed an experiment to see the effects of Mist upon human bodies.
"Mikoto, have you ever read a play about a man named Amories?" Kuja's voice came echoing down from the above library shelf.
"No." I replied quaintly.
"I see…" I could hear his footsteps coming down the stairs and he turned to look at me. "Would you like anything to eat?"
"I suppose."
He nodded and headed out into the hallway, past a moggle and around through the looping halls. He finally slipped up past the balcony for the security system and onto the teleporter. We arrived in the masterfully done dinning room. It was small in comparison to most of Kuja's rooms. Obviously though the man didn't place much importance on eating. I sat down at one of the gold rimmed chairs and watched as he headed off into the kitchen. It was hard to image my brother cooking, so I simply refused to follow him. Instead I contented myself with loosening the tops on the salt and pepper shakers and turning the knives upside down. I took the cushions on the chairs and tied them on backwards, and then I headed over to the candles and turned them upside down.
I was completely satisfied with myself as Kuja returned with a plate of sandwiches and a bowl of tomato soup. And as he sat them down on the counter and flicked his hand at the candles I remained perfectly calm. And at first he didn't even notice that the flame wasn't catching. But then he did and frowned flicking his hand out again and letting a flame jump forth. Again the candle didn't catch, so he tried again, and a fourth time, till finally he pulled the candle out of it's holder and realized what was wrong. He then quickly looked at me, however I pretended innocently to be plucking the tasty looking cheesy pieces of bread off the platter.
He growled at the candles, fixed them both and lit them. I noticed the way one of them leaned to the right after being well heated by Kuja's rather dumb attempt at lighting it on fire.
Note to self, Kuja's has the same stubborn gene Zidane has.
We proceeded for a little while with out to much of an interruption, but soon Kuja was fidgeting in his seat attempting to right the backwards seat cushion with out my notice. I allowed him a moment to right the cushion by lifting the bowl of soup to my lips and watching from the corner of my eye as he quickly turned the cushion about.
Next up was the knife. Kuja had been going to cut the sandwich in half when he pricked himself on the knife. However he only made a small face at in annoyance, and flipped it over.
It was unfortunate that by the end of the meal he had yet to touch the salt or pepper shakers. But I supposed that they could be left alone till another lunch.
"That was quite good Kuja. I had no idea you could cook."
"I've only been living alone for five years." He countered.
"Oh yes. Well, still... I assume that some people do have surprising talents." And I shifted the napkin in front of my mouth to hide my smile.
Please review and let me know what you think of it so far. Any inconsistencies you note I would be happy to clear up, and I always love questions.
Last edit: May 18, 2008