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Standard FFIX and other disclaimers apply
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Streams of Life
Chapter 5: Searching Through The Dark
"Stiltskin says Artemis was robbed of a letter for you," Mogki reported as he directed Zidane to the mentioned moogle beside him. Stiltskin handed over a bundle of hi-potions and ethers to Zidane, glad to make some income to support his travels.
Occasionally, there would be a whosh of a rumble as the transport that ferries people to and fro the Dragon's Gate of Lindblum castle.
"A letter for me?" The blonde boy grinned, not knowing what other expression to show except plain, optimistic curiousity.
"Yes, kupo. Just yesterday in Dali, Artemis claims. It was a really scary experience, he says." Stiltskin replied, rather concerned about the matter as if the threat concerned all moogles of Gaia (and ex-Terran ones).
"Woah! When did you see Artemis?" Zidane continued grinning, now in amazement at the speed of how news travel. Then he searched his pocket for the five hundred gil he owed the peddling mog.
"This morning." The mog adjusted his scarf on its head and settled his bundle on the floor together with himself for a short rest. "My feet are killing me, kupopo..." A mumble of complaint came from the furry wanderer.
Zidane shrugged and dismissed the event, since it probably had nothing important to do with him. In turn, he decided to voice his own current concerns."Say, you wouldn't happen to have any news or see anyone with tails like mine walking around lately?"
"Oh, if you're talking about the Black Mage village, there's a lot of them!" Stiltskin took the gil from the monkey-tailed one and stuffed it into his bundle.
"I was just there a week or two ago, it's a really nice place kupo!"Zidane opened his mouth, but then shut it while his mind tried to think of better ways to describe his siblings.
For one, he could try asking like this:"Hey, have you seen my brother? His name's Kuja, you know, long silver hair, has a wierd taste for clothes and wears make-up. You should know him, THAT Kuja who nearly destroyed Gaia, remember?"
Saying that might just occur the wrath or fear of the moogles* who barely escaped with their lives with each place Kuja destroyed. The aforementioned destroyer's brother gave an inward sigh and looked at the moogle he was talking to.
*note #1: I believe that Zidane will also incur the wrath of a particularly said sibling, who will protest that his clothes are not wierd, but unique and fashionable. The author feels strongly that since all female Alexandrian soldiers wear 'swimsuit-like- uniforms- such fashion is typical. That may further anger Kuja, though (being typical fashion?). And also, Zidane's good buddy Blank doesn't exactly have an eye for fashion either (which can be logically explained because of a strategically well-placed headband). Well...I am digressing.
"Actually, I'm looking for someone in particular. I don't know if they'll be at the Black Mage village, but there's a girl who looks like me but shorter, same hair colour, same eyes, same tail and wears pink. Any clues?"
Stiltskin paused for a moment in thought, then shook his head. Zidane shrugged. Perhaps all genomes looked the same to poor Stiltskin, like how it was between Zidane and the Qu. Quina was his teammate for many months and he could not even tell his/her gender, for crying out loud!
Lunchtime was approaching. Traffic flow was starting to get heavier at the Gate, and after Stilstskin had rested enough at Mogki's. He picked up his bundle and started fixing it on the end of his stick.
"Hey, I've to go kupo. Thanks for buying stuff from me!" Stiltskin waved and headed for the next cab to the castle, planning to head for main gate of Lindblum. Right after stepping a furry foot in the air cab, he suddenly recalled a detail.
"Zidane kupo! Artemis said it was a silver-haired man who..."
The air-cab whizzed off, and the last words faded off as fast as the train-like cab sped out of the station. However, that tidbit of information was more than adequete.
Zidane propped a hand on his hip and grinned himself silly. He felt like he could whip out a magnifying glass, dorn a coat and quote from a play he came across the Alexandrian castle library.
"Elementary! My dear Watson!" *
*Note #2: So Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did not have this line in his books, but it is too well known a line. ^_^ So please excuse me.
******
------
Mikoto took a spanner from a black mage underneath her and got to loosening the gear of what the people here call the "Invincible Version #3.1 Beta experimental".*
*note #3: That shows how many stages of improvement the Invincible went through, though the author believes this particular stage is not much of an improvement. It's VERY experimental.
There was something wrong with the engine and start-up connection and she wanted to find out why. The other genomes had not been able to identify the problem.
"Mikoto-san, I...I think the cover of the other gear is...is falling off," black mage #253 meekly pointed out.
The young girl glanced over to the rather huge metal cover that was hanging precariously on a loose hinge and asked her helpful assistant for a screwdriver to tighten it. Mr 253 watched in anxiety, for one wrong step could result in something dangerous.
"Stand away just in case I don't get it right," the young female Genome commanded. Of all times, the engine decided to work now. It might all have been just a loose circuit somewhere that decided to connect right at that very moment.
"Please be, be, be careful!" The black mage waved in nervousness as Mikoto tried to tighten back the gear hastily. Then, she narrowed her eyes in focus and hoped she could get down the ladder and power down the ship before the engine decides to give her a nasty burn.
"Whoosh!" Went the exhaust beside her. Pure energy radiated from the engine and Mikoto felt an unseen force jolt her from her position. She slipped from the top rung of the ladder. With a rational mind, she swerved a little to avoid landing head-on.
"Mikoto!"
Surprisingly, the voice was not from the black mage she had partially squashed from her fall.
A tall silver-haired man rushed out from the nearby hut's doorway and without a second word, averted his attention to the ship. With fingers resting on his temple, he concentrated. Wires, cables, connections floated into his mind's eye. Then he saw the loose connection that decided to close itself just a moment ago. Kuja mentally snapped the connection and the engine started to quiet down.
With a long suffering sigh, he turned his head to look at his fallen sister. "You could just call me fix this. You're not the mechanic in the family, my dear."
Mikoto pushed herself off Mr 253 and thanked him for breaking her fall. The black mage sat up and giddily shook his head from all that shock. The young girl propped herself and tried to stand up, but felt a sharp pain through her knee that forced her back on the ground. Tilting her head in slight irritation, she carefully examined her leg.
"Now what?" Kuja was near sulking as he squatted down in front of Mikoto.
"It's broken." The genome with light-brown hair said as-a-matter-of-factly.
Then came a Complaint. "Great."
The black mage with them started panicking and stuttered, "what...sho, shou, should we do...do now?"
"Just get ahead of us to where Mikoto's staying and tidy her bed. I'll bring her there."
The black mage stood there and looked down at Kuja for a moment. Kuja glared, and after waiting for a few seconds, pouted at the worrywart who still was in slight shock. That pout had the poor mage chilled to the very core of the mist that composited his very being and sent him quickly ahead to carry out Kuja's command.
Mikoto glanced in the direction of her trusty assistant scurrying off, then turned back to her brother.
"So you were watching me fixing the ship from the doorway the whole time, were you not?""All that clanking was disturbing my beauty sleep." the vain genome flicked his hair back, while Mikoto contemplated how much sleep this particular silver-haired one need, for it was already near dinnertime. It was rather amusing to her that Kuja took frequent naps. She never knew that until recently.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" The older man faced his back to Mikoto and made a signal for her to climb onto him. The young girl emitted a sound of puzzlement to question her brother's actions.
"I can't carry you the 'suave-looking way' with my hands under your knees and shoulders with that broken bone of yours. So piggy-backing would not be the most refined of all forms of carrying someone, but please cooperate, would you?" He looked almost embarrassed, a soft shade of red gracing his firm cheekbones.
Mikoto obediently wrapped her arms around her sibling's neck. She was easily supported and lifted up. Kuja was definitely much stronger than he seemed to be. She peered over Kuja's right ear and a smile spread on her face. The smile grew into a soft chuckle, which only bring a redder shade of humiliation to the poor Angel-of-Death's cheeks.
"Quit laughing, Mikoto!" He protested as he headed for the small hut beside No. 163's Medicine Shop. Then he was silenced as his younger sister's grip tightened on his neck, nearly choking him. She was not laughing anymore as her leg hurt her. With firm but light steps, Kuja restrained himself from coughing and moving his passenger as he moved on.
***
"How is she?" The Black Mage who run the medicine shop asked. He had brought some first-aid items and hi-potions over to the small hut. Mikoto's assistant had gone back to check the Invincible Version 3.1 Beta Experimental with a few other genomes now that they had identified the engine problem.
Kuja kept quiet, and took the first aid box from the item shop-owner. Having casted a sleepel on his sister, she slept on her bed while he had her bone snapped back in place. "She probably won't be moving around for a couple of days," he thought. Then he waved for the black mage visitor to put the hi-potions on the table while he casted a light curaga spell over Mikoto to erase traces of bruises and cuts obtained from the fall.
Wearily, the fair genome got up from the bedside and went out to the exterior room, settling for a cosy wooden chair and a table to lean his head down on.
No. 163 followed quietly, until Kuja seemed to finally notice his presence again. The tall man merely waved for the mage to go home. The black mage hung around for a while, then left the hut.
Night was falling, and the weather was somewhat turning colder. Kuja shuddered a little in the chill, wondering if he should grab an extra blanket before getting back to the bed beside Mikoto recently prepared for him. He was feeling a little more tired than usual, and weighed the option of how skipping dinner might affect his complexion compared to continuing his earlier interrupted nap.
Then a black mage came in. Kuja perked up, and looked at the mage. Studying the mage's actions for while, he confirmed that it was the one who gave him the items a while ago.*
*note #4: It's not Kuja's fault that he takes time to differentiate between the Black Mages. The author has difficulties himself finding other ways to describe the difference between them...
Holding a small wooden tray with two steaming mugs of hot drinks, the big-hatted being walked over to the table and put one of the mugs right in front of Kuja. The genome was bewildered with such an action, but was somewhat thankful as his indecision between eating and sleeping was somewhat alleviated.
"Hmm...hot cocoa? Not just cocoa powder, but with melted chocolate in it too." Kuja crossed his legs and smacked his lips lightly after a sip of the rich liquid.
"Miss Mikoto likes it, so I thought you might like it too..." The mage sat opposite Kuja and politely drank from his own mug.
"Just what I need." the 24-year old nodded and smiled, holding the mug with both hands in a graceful manner.
"You...like it?" The black mage hoped, looking up from the table that he had been staring at for the past minute.
"Yes. Rich and filling. It's rather fragrant, I assume you grind the cocoa yourself?"
If black mages had lips, this one would have his upturned into a very happy smile. Anyway, his eyes lit up brightly, but looking at Kuja's grim expression, he lowered the voltage of his eyes and dimmed them slightly.
"You black mages should hate me, shouldn't you?" The silver-haired youth pointed out softly, and without waiting for a reply, continued. "In a way, I created you, I used you and I let you die in battle for nothing."
Black mage #163 could only stare and listen.
Putting the mug down and leaning back on his chair tiredly, he murmered softly. "And now, the monsters I created became sentient and even built a cosy home for themselves out here, living as they like...It's so obvious that I'm the monster and not you..."
A meek voice rang out. "We don't hate you."
Kuja looked at his cocoa-drinking companion and gave a smile that indicated resignment and not acknowledgement. With a bitter laugh, he shrugged off the black mage's words.
"Maybe I'm just jealous," he admitted, "but don't you worry. Just a while more and I won't be here bothering you black mages. Perhaps days, weeks, or months at most. I'll probably die before you do."
Kuja's cynical tone sent a shudder up the Black Mage's spine of mist, which soon converted into a mist of sadness that reminded him of Mr 288's wise words; the long talks of life and death and fear that hung around them.
"Our lives are very short, but we try to be happy and do what we want." The black mage reasoned. "Why do you not do the same?"
Kuja raised an eyebrow at being somewhat lectured by his own creation. Then he gave a soft laugh, one containing more amused humour than sarcasm. "I was only complaining, you did not have to take it seriously."
The two stared in silence for a while, then the made offered to refill Kuja's mug. The genome politely refused, claiming to be in need of sleep.
"I'm not even supposed to be alive in the first place. By Terra, I do not even know how long I can last..."
With that thought, Terra's destroyer slowly made his way to his own bed and piled a blanket on himself. He only developed a habit of taking naps after Zidane rescued him from the Iifa tree. Being in trance and fighting Zidane's team with his limited lifespan was extremely energy consuming, and now, he had to obtain enough rest daily in order just to function properly.
Mikoto would think he had been like this all his life, since he acted as if taking naps was part of his daily vanity schedule. With that thought, he chuckled softly and snapped his fingers at the oil lamp on the table to snuff it.
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-------------------------------------If Mikoto was like Kuja, she would have scowled in annoyance. For when she woke up, Kuja just left her a note that he would be back in a day or two, and told her not to touch the Invincible Version 3.1 Beta Experimental for the period of time he would not be around.
With her leg bandaged and motion restricted, she could only wait for news. Then she decided to go out and look for news instead of waiting. Mogryo the mog stationed outside the Bobby Corwen's hut might be informative.
As she went out with the help of a crutch, she saw someone seemingly familiar dismounting a gold chocobo. In surprise, she quickly headed back to the hut, but was too late. The blue-vested boy caught sight of her and grabbed her before she could hide.
"Mikoto, what happened to you?" Zidane demanded.
"An accident involving falling off a ladder." Mikoto explained, then turned factual. "For your own safety, I advise you to stay away from me."
A hurt look flashed across the boy's face.
"What happened, Mikoto?""Your bout of flu...it won't be the first and last time you might be getting sick. It might be even worse."
"Huh?" Zidane had a blank look on his face, wondering how Mikoto knew about him being ill. From deduction, he concluded that Kuja and Mikoto kept each other contacted.
"But if you've come so far to find us, I should at least update you on what is going on." Mikoto relented, and let Zidane help her back to her hut. Zidane made a mental note to thank Ruby for giving him her last stalk of gysahl greens so that he could call Choco to get him here.
Upon reading the letter from Doctor Tot, he confirmed his belief that Mikoto and Kuja are together. Then he scratched his head, "I still don't understand. How have you guys got to do with my flu? It's just me and my body, isn't it?"
Mikoto sighed, and explained as simply as she could.
"Kuja and I found out that we're probably the only ones who could cause you to be that sick. We assumed that the substance that found its way into your body during the Iifa Tree roots attack only reacts violently to us from Terra.""Then aren't all the genomes going to be dangerous to me if you put it that way?" Zidane asked, still not comprehending her meaning.
"Simply speaking, besides you, Kuja and I are the only ones who can be considered to be 'true' Terra genomes."
"I don't understand - why should I react negatively to you guys?" The blue-eyed youth stared at the younger girl.
"Kuja and I are going to investigate what that impurity in your body is. We have a suspicion that it is the life of Gaia itself. The essense of Gaia's life concentrated into a liquid form."
Something clicked in Zidane's memory.
"Life? You mean the glowing green liquid at the bottom of the Iifa tree?"Mikoto nodded.
"And by having a speck of that in my body, how is that going to affect me?" Zidane wondered aloud, absently placing a hand over his abdomen where the Iifa tree root had struck through some time ago.
"The difference between us and the other Genomes is that we are given life on Terra, and our souls originate from there, Zidane. Terra's life is stronger in us than anyone else."
Thoughtful, the young bandit realized the clue Kuja and Mikoto found together.
"Terra's life force isn't green. It's blue..."
"Yes, and that's all I know. It doesn't answer a lot of questions; perhaps Kuja might know more."
That reminded the monkey boy, "where is Kuja?"
Mikoto handed him the note Kuja left her in the morning.
"I don't like the smell of this," Zidane said, worry underlying his voice.
"He'll be back in a day or two." Mikoto pointed out in the note.
Smiling, the older genome patted her head.
"You don't know what goes on in us older guys' heads yet, do you?" Zidane stated, "Anyways, I don't trust his note."
"Then what are we to do?"
"We'll look for him! No way I'm going to leave him to enjoy all the fun by himself!" Zidane announced, and slapped his chest twice in determination.
"Didn't I just tell you that being close to us might be very dangerous for you?"
"That's MY problem, not yours. Besides, your theory is not even a confirmed fact yet!" Zidane retorted, then gave his trademark grin to his annoyed sister.
"We'll look for him, and solve this all together, all right?"
That sounded quite enticing. The blond girl did feel something missing in her life without Zidane and his boundless confidence.
***************
---------------End Chapter 5
13th October 2001
2YK Productions