Chapter 7: And Hope Seeps Through  

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Kuja opened his eyes and rubbed them.  Wondering how long he had napped in the tent, he stretched and poured a bottle of water over his face.  He could care less if his make-up was running - there were more important things to attend to and time was running out.  

He did not travel long before he felt his legs aching.  Having made progress by pinpointing out where the Lifestone was spit out from the core of Gaia itself, he tried to gather clues on where the Lifestone could have been lost.  The Iifa Tree gave him great pressure, yet he could not really figure out the reason.  It was as if all of the Iifa tree was against his very essence and was trying to drive him out.  That very pressure made him weary spiritually.  Keeping up his mental and physical barriers helped ease the burden, in which he consistently had to rely on a bottle of ether to upkeep. 

The monsters, which attacked him along the way, started to form some kind of pattern.  From the hostility of the monsters and the directions they headed, he could gather the direction in where the Lifestone was.  Once in a while, smaller monsters would totally ignore him and scamper frantically in a particular direction.  

The slender elf-like man placed a hand on his hip and tapped his forehead with the other and fell into an intimidating yet graceful posture that only he himself was capable of.   

"It'll be useless if I just stand here, think and waste time.  Yet I should plan out and list what I have to do...which will, oh well, take even more time."   

And of course, when one is so deep into self-contradiction, foolish monsters that think themselves clever would approach and try to catch their prey unawares.  

"Do not think I cannot see you," Kuja's voice rang out loud and clear, confusing the monsters for a second and giving him a headstart.  With one hand casting a Firaga spell, he dissipated the monster into thin air without needing to spend precious calories turning his head. 

Kuja looked up, seeing the walls of the Iifa tree glistening with a thin layer of what seemed to be crystallized greenish liquid. 

"This is the same substance that turns into mist...and mist is like air, monsters are made from the mist..."  Clapping his hands together in revelation, he did a little hop over to a platform that brought him closer to the crystallized wall.  

Suddenly inspired, he plucked off a strip of metal plating off his armor.  Caring less about how his shoulder piece would look now, he scraped off some bright green powder and placed it on his palm. 

"Now, if this what Mist is made from," thought the Genome, "it should be no different from what monsters are made from." 

Concentrating a spell into the powder, the green sparkling particles sublimed into a small ball of white smoke. 

Mist. 

To prove his theory further, Kuja continued with pouring a strong healing spell catalyzed with his mental probing.  Who else but Garland who indirectly taught him skills of creation?  The creation of the genomes had taught him the curiosity of finding method to play god to other creatures.  The mist started to take form, and a fetus-like white creature took shape. 

A wry smile hung on his face, the silver man flexed his fingers which controlled the motion of the mist. 

"If I can create you from mist," Kuja taunted as he suddenly clenched his palm into a fist, letting his nails bite into the white skin, "I can just as easily let you dissolve into what you are created from." 

The monster forming in the womb that was mist went through a reverse process, diminishing in size, until it just dissolved back into mist, and into liquid life, which seemed now so soft and flowing instead of hard and crystalline.  The candyfloss like liquid slid down from Kuja's palm onto the platform he was standing on. 

It took quite a bit of his will not to let whatever is left of his own life essence to fall with the liquid mist.  It had been so tempting, so enticing to merge with the green substance.  And it was then when he realized the source of all the pressure he had felt the whole time.  

A leaf in lake was what he was, ever since he entered the Iifa tree.  Gaia's life force was overpowering him by her sheer volume, and he could feel the strength of the it now that his own life force was weak in him.  

"Now, if I were to die right here, my Terran roots would be like a ripple on water, dissolving into the large body of liquid it was made on, and never to be seen again..."  
 

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"Damn it!  I sure don't want any of us to die now!"  Cursing some more under his breath, the blonde held his Orichalcon tightly, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead. 

Mikoto could only stand behind him and look at the silver furred beast.  It was much larger than most other monsters, and much more sentient as well.  A howl came from its beak-shaped mouth as it started charging up for a strike. 

"You can't do this, silver dragon!  Let us pass, 'cos I sure don't wanna kill you!"  Zidane yelled, his tail taut with worry at the sight of seeing Kuja's dragon forbidding them to even come close to the Iifa tree. 

"He's not going to let us pass," a soft voice came from behind the blue bandit, giving him goosebumps. 

"Mikoto, don't scare me with that fortune-telling voice of yours!" 

"I don't tell fortunes." 

"I know you don't!  What should we do now?" 

"On second thoughts, I do.  I forsee this dragon giving way to us." 

With a curious eye on the petite Genome, the thief slowly let down his battle stance. 

Mikoto approached the dragon slowly, muttering something under her breath at the same time.  Approaching the furry creature of the skies, she flashed out a rare smile, one that was gentle yet somewhat despairing. 

"That's it, eh?  You're just under orders.  Let us through, dragon, we're here to help and not hinder." 

The dragon did something that would be a human equivalent of shaking a head at the notion.  In fact, it seemed extremely horrified at the idea of not fulfilling a task given by his silver-haired master who had destroyed Terra.  

Zidane had figured out that his sister had a little conversation with the oversized pet and waited for an explanation, which came in due time. 

"Zidane, the dragon here is as worried as either or us are about Kuja." 

"Then what are you doing blocking our way to help our own big brother out?"  Zidane demanded, "If you are worried about your own master, why don't 'cha just let us go help him instead of stopping us?" 

A suppressed whine came from the dragon's throat, which Mikoto soothed by stroking the muzzle of the beast. 

"So, where is Kuja anyway?  Is he really still at the Iifa tree now?" Zidane directed his question as he pointed to the ominous-looking tree that would take quite some hiking to reach though it was already in vision. 

"Don't worry.  Leave it to us," Mikoto continued comforting the dragon as it whimpered and guided her up on its back with a wing. 

"Zidane, we're going on a cushy first-class ticket to the Iifa tree.  Hop on!" 

"Is it me, or are you attempting humour, Mikoto?"  The blonde boy grinned, obviously trying to tease the girl. 

"No, I'm attempting idiocy, like what you do all the time." 

"That is so mean!  You sound terribly like Kuja!"  The blonde would have thrown his hands up in exasperation if he had not needed those very hands to grip onto the silver dragon as it swooped toward the entrance of the Iifa tree. 

"Would you care?" 

That question got Zidane's mind whirring for a while.  After a full minute of wind blowing into his face, he grinned and shrugged. 

"Nah." 
 

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Knowing that his current task was to follow the trail of the Life Stone, the weary man trudged back to the entrance of the Iifa Tree.  His patience was giving way under him as countless monsters regardless of levels crossed his path.  Whether they were deliberate or not in their crossing, the frequency of it annoyed the silver-haired one very much.  The alarming danger of his depleting strength was blatant to him as he drew a Fira spell out from his energy reserves. 

His options were not very open, and as a brainwave stuck, he scowled at his very intelligence.  A convenient option was offered to him, yet displeasing at the same time.  

He could cast a simple invisible spell over himself for a short period of time and just ride on the next monster heading for the exit, but the mere thought of riding on of those uncouth, hairy and scruffy beasts appalled him. 

"Me and my foolish Pride," he muttered under his breath as he waved a spell over himself, then finishing his work at the Iifa tree with one more silencing spell to temporarily numb the beast's mind to prevent detection. 

Not wanting to concentrate on the situation he was in, he concentrated on thinking of what to do when he found the Life Stone. 

And that was when a jolt brought him to a stop. 

He spun around, still on the poor trembling beast and narrowed his eyes when he saw the cause of all this panic among the monsters. 

A pack of monsters lay dead, and the rest who saw squealed and scampered away.  Of course, there will be a few wimpy ones like the one he was riding on, who, instead of running away, preferred to freeze there out of fear. 

For there, stood a massive monster, similar in shape to Soulcage, only larger and more intimidating. 

"Not to mention less bricks 'round the scruff of its neck and a worse breath to boot," sarcasm dripped off cherry lips and melted the ground with its acidity.  

Kuja look around, the entrance was within very close reach.  In fact, the only thing between him and the entrance was the large tree-shaped Halloween monster.  He dismounted his stead, which was still trembling, and took a few steps closer to the entrance.  He was now only an arm's length from the monstrous plant.  Being invisible, he decided to make use of this advantage to sneak around the tree.  

When he reached the other side into the open air of the outside world once more, something tugged at him mentally.  Looking back at the tree that was currently tearing apart his poor ex-stead, he eyes squinted.  Under the hot late-afternoon sun, he concentrated on scanning the monster.  A nagging pressure struck through his very being and coursed his blood. 

The same pressure he felt when he was facing the liquid life force of Gaia, only sharper and more focused. 

And it was within the bulk of a plant he was facing right then.  A chuckle crept up his throat as he summoned up strength he did not know he had, and launched a pre-emptive attack from behind the hideous excuse of a tree. 

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Mikoto pointed as excitedly as she could get, at the bustle happening at the base of the Iifa Tree.  Without any persuasion, the dragon swooped downwards, as Zidane kept a firm grip around the Orichalcon handles. 

"Hang on, Kuja!  We're coming!" 

"What the...?" A second of hesitation was enough for the giant plant to trip Kuja with a slimy root. 

A string of curses soon followed as the Fair One decided that there was no word in his eloquent dictionary that could express his embarrassment. 

"You shouldn't have distracted him..." Mikoto placed a hand on her forehead in exasperation and sighed. 

"I didn't mean it, I'm sorry!" A shout came, making the silver-haired Genome cringe, and in turn taking another blow from a tree root right in the stomach.  Frustration sank its teeth into Kuja's nerves as Zidane's continuous apologies rained down. 

Once the two blondes reached metres within reach of their senior, Mikoto gave her teenage brother one a hard shove that got him tumbling down the dragon. 

The monkey-tailed boy broke his fall skillfully with a simple back-flip, and then raced to his elder brother's side, joining in the battle.  Mikoto stayed with the silver dragon and quietly watched. 

"You're in a real bad shape, bro," Zidane commented as he threw a sidelong glance. 

The pallid genome was not even in the mood to scowl.  He felt something hot and sticky running down from his left side to his leg.  It was not a good sign at all.  

Zidane observed the monster carefully, and then pointed a finger at Kuja, "How in the world did you manage to offend a creature like that?!" 

Biting back the pain, Kuja answered through clenched teeth. "We have to kill it.  This thing swallowed the Life Stone." 

Without further argument, Zidane fought fiercely.  After a few rounds, he had sustained quite some injuries, for the foe at hand is simply too much for one to handle.  Just when he thought no one was going to help him fight the monster, a potion was thrown at him.  With experienced ease, Zidane caught it and downed it in one gulp.  Refreshed, he resumed his battle. 

"That's the least I can do," Mikoto smiled as she held a few more bottles of potion in her arms and took her position behind Kuja, who by now had retreated quite a few steps back from the creature.  He was shivering a little, the wounds and weariness making him cold before the sun could set.  He gritted his teeth and concentrated on moving forward to join Zidane's battle alignment.  

"Get out of here, Zidane," the elder genome ordered.  An occasional gleam of red covered his hair and skin. 

"You're not trying to Trance, are you?" The blonde youth could see that his elder brother was trying to force a trance to come.  

"Stop it, Kuja!"  Zidane shouted, alarmed when he saw blood spurting out from Kuja's wound from the effort.  Clutching his side, the tall Genome refused to stop the process of inducing an artificial trance. 

"Stop him, Mikoto!"  The blonde youth snapped as he quickly let his arms swing to his side, dropping his battle pose.  

Mikoto could only stand there and look; she had no idea what Zidane was up to.  To drop all defenses against an enemy was plain suicide!  This action had even Kuja shocked out of his chanting.  

Then the tree struck.  First, a root slashed him across the face, then another one slammed into his arm.  Zidane had stayed put, rooting his feet firmly to the ground as he took in the damage without complaint. 

Mikoto looked on, feeling quite numb from all that shock.  Outwardly calm, she was prepared to pull Zidane away if he was going to be hit point blank one more time. 

And one hit was enough. 

The Tantalus bandit glowed red, and a grin spread across his face.  Now many times more deadly, he dealt firm damage to his enemy.  Mikoto then realized his purpose of letting the monster attack him.  She gave a long-suffering sigh and started throwing him potions. 

Two more rounds of fighting was all he needed to get rid of the threat.  

"Heh.  Grand Lethal was overkill for this one.  Should've just used Stellar Circle 9."  The tranced genome mumbled to himself as he waited for the trance to pass in a few minutes.  "A natural trance is much healthier, Kuja." 

Without any defiant comment or snide remark, Kuja stepped over and held a hand out, chanting a spell that helped extract the Life Stone from the dissolving corpse.  It burned his skin when he touched it, and he immediately dropped it.  

Mikoto meticulously approached it as Zidane bent down, planning to pick it up when a flying monster swooped and took off with the little green crystal right under their noses. 

Too tired to even stamp his feet, Kuja furrowed his eyebrows.  Calling for his dragon to come to him, he hopped on and took to the air tightly trailing the feathered thief, leaving his two siblings on the ground. 

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- End Chapter 7 -