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Nocturne - Kuja's Fugue	By : SavageSavage Category: Final Fantasy VII > Crossovers Views: 1309 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
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I closed my eyes in the lovely sun, rolling over onto my back. Zidane had never shown me this before…the simple pleasure of relaxing in as little as possible, lying on the deck of an airship and watching the clouds.

'Kuja…Isn't this great?'

Weakly I smiled, swallowing back what I knew were tears. 'Y-Yes, Zidane. It's really…very wonderful.' But so much grief now…I saw him. I saw my brother. And here was Vivi with Eiko, she'd dressed in a cute little romper and stood admiring him for some reason….

'Vivi, I didn't know you looked like Kuja…I thought you were fat, but you aren't. You just have wide hips and a tail like he does--You're so pretty!' She grabbed for his arm, and they both ran laughing down the gangplank to the seashore. Friends…. Even though she'd called him annoying, and fat, and he'd been less than comfortable in her presence, they were friends at last….

Freya turned to look at me, stretching her long furry legs. 'Kuja…all this time, I thought you were some kind of sadist…. But to realize you were placed somewhere, in a hateful situation, that you couldn't escape--If only I'd known. I would never have been so cruel….' Even there, that somber face looked like she would cry as much as I wanted to.

'No…I'm the one to blame for your miseries……I'm sorry, Freya. All of you. I never wanted this to happen--I w-wanted--' I wanted to be a person, I tried, but it wouldn't come out. 'I just…. I never….' Never had friends, never knew how wonderful the sun and sky could be, just watching and feeling and loving….

Her hand smoothed over my shoulder. 'I know…so many things, so many lives…. We're all with one another for a reason. No one meets another soul in vain.'

'It's so cruel, Freya. I miss you. And I hate myself for what I did to all of you. Brahne…She might've been sick, Garnet, but I was so wrong to make her worse…It had to be my fault!'

The young Queen shook her head. But here she still looked like the princess she'd been when I'd met her, the pretty little canary who sang in a gilded garden, wings alight with sunshine…. Every one of them was in their own way a memory I could never forget. A sweet dream, the kind I would never know again, but could always hold dear….

I needed them…, and by their smiles, they knew it. Steiner approached in a cuirass only I could've thought of; the suit of armor in my castle had been the very same. I'd half-synthesized it with his, hadn't I?

'Kuja, I was approached by so many young lads today,' He seated himself, 'and my list of recruits is heavier than I could've thought——My knights are showing new depths of respect for their positions. All from one act…. One person…, who thought of a thing so simple it hadn't occurred to me. I really must thank you.'

'N…No.' Now I could hold nothing more back. 'No, Steiner, you needn't thank me…. It is I who owe everything to you…all of you. I needed the bonds of mortality more than I'd known. Thinking I was a god could not have been more dangerous, nor more wrong——I'm only sorry I couldn't save you…. I wish….'

'No one lives forever, kiddo.' Amarant's hand grabbed for my head. 'You and Vivi…you know we miss you too. Somehow our battle had to be the most adventure I'd ever known. Running after that little squirt kept me in shape. And if not for you, we couldn't've fought any of our own demons. We all had 'em.'

I sombered in the bright warmth here. 'I know. I just…wish mine hadn't been what kept yours at bay. I'd've been better served as an ally. And I only wish I'd seen it in time…. But tell me…, where you are——'

They looked up. Quina sat with a charming little cake, patient.

'Where you are,' I managed, '…are you happy? I—Is there any further pain? I couldn't bear it if this beautiful, loving dream wasn't what you saw too….'

'Kuja…,' Garnet approached to hug me tightly, 'we're here with you.'

The sun might've faded, but its warmth still hung around me. The airship's deck gave way gradually, to something soft and cool…fingers wiped my forehead, with something covered in fuzz. '…ou……ja, come on…. Are you all right…? You passed out——"

"……Ugh…," I agreed——the room swam back in around me, soft light in a bedroom that was neither as small nor as bare as Vivi's. Rather, it seemed I could hear the little mage's soft snoring from behind a nearby door. "…Is that…."

"Yes, he's over there. We're next to his room…it was the one I skipped before walking you to the bathroom." Sephiroth's face emerged in my vision now, eyes half-lidded with concern. "I shouldn't have let you stay there so long. The dizziness couldn't have been anything good…. And you haven't eaten either. I should have thought of that."

"W—Well, what made you stay in there to begin with? The ale? I can tell you it doesn't much affect me——" Not true; when I tried to sit up, my head spun from the action. I had to lie here, then, because trying to see left my brain wobbling in my skull.

He shook his head. "I don't know what made me sit with you in the shower. I imagine I just wanted to make you comfortable." Leaning in, he pressed his lips to my forehead. "You're not feverish…. You seem all right. And it's been hours since then——with your body weight, Kuja, the ale's been done for at least three. But you had nothing on your stomach. Did you want something to eat?"

"I don't know that I could," I admitted, feeling weak. "I did like the taste of that cake Vivi had, but I'm not sure Elena would make any at this time of night."

He looked away. "It was easier to say Elena made it than tell Rufus I'm an adept cupcake baker. Not something most men would admit."

"…B…But…. Darling, that ganache! The sweetness…. How did you make it taste less sweet and more distinctive? (Because I really would've eaten that cake if he hadn't, ale or no.)" I thrilled to think he'd been the master of such fabulous flavor! Sephiroth, bake cakes? What a charming idea….

He frowned, looking away. "Coffee. Black coffee, because I found myself a little pressed for time…. It felt lazy. And then I thought, I was already headed there with the book…and Vivi really had been a fittingly good boy, for whatever reasons I'm still not sure of…."

"So bringing a cupcake to a child endeared you to someone for once." My cheeks heated a bit. "More than only him, really."

One hand closed over mine. "You have to stay in this bed, Kuja. Do you hear me? I'm not about to let you try to go back…. There's not a way I know of for you to go home. And if you did, the whole of Planet might be changed. This place might never exist."

"I see." I'd hoped he wouldn't change the subject. But at any rate, nodding was all I could do now…he knew something about me I didn't.
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Nocturne - Kuja's Fugue