Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Requiem for an Angel ❯ Deadline ( Chapter 2 )

A/N: Hello again! Have you been waiting in suspense? No? Well, that's all right, the story's just begun. So yeah, here's chapter two, finally. Thanks for your reviews, and I hope you enjoy the next installment! Go on, read!

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy IX. Although sometimes I pretend.

 

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Requiem for an Angel

a Final Fantasy IX fanfiction

by Wakizashi

 

Chapter Two: Deadline

 

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That was the best sleep of my life, thought Claire Giovannucci as she drifted back into consciousness. She heaved a contented sigh, her eyes still closed. She was so comfortable, she didn't want to move a muscle. And then, idly, she wondered why she had fallen asleep in the first place.

 

Of course! It must have been a dream! Oh, thank you, God! The bizarre dwarves and the crazy town that was built over a canyon and that sinister - but hot - guy with the silver hair... It had all been a dream!

 

Smiling to herself, Claire sat up and stretched luxuriantly, her eyes still closed. What a crazy-ass dream, she thought with a yawn. It seemed almost unfeasible that her mind could have created that upside-down world by itself. After all, it was her brother that played all those fantasy games, not her. Oh, well.

 

She opened her eyes and found herself staring into a pair of icy blue ones.

 

"I am glad to see you are awake, little bird."

 

Claire screamed and tried to scramble away, but the silver-haired man grabbed her firmly by the wrist. "Calm yourself, my canary," he purred, his strange accent causing his words to flow off his tongue and into the air like music. "I wouldn't be so anxious to leave me, if I were you, considering the alternative."

 

Frowning at him, Claire took in her surroundings for the first time and nearly suffered another heart attack. They were sitting on the back of an enormous silverish-green dragon, which was flying through the sky while the ground swept by underneath them. Even as she watched, the beast's enormous wings sliced the air in smooth, liquid motions.

 

Her hand over her heart to keep it from bursting through her chest, Claire turned back to the blue-eyed stranger. "Who the hell are you, and what do you want with me?" she demanded.

 

"My name is Kuja," he replied, raising a hand to run it casually through his silver tresses. "Terribly sorry for casting a Sleep spell on you, but I feared that you might not come with me voluntarily." Once again, his words were much more gracious than the tone in which he spoke them.

 

Claire gaped at him. "A Sleep spell?" She shook her head in disbelief. "Why didn't you just ask me? You didn't have to put me to sleep and kidnap me! Geez!!"

 

The man named Kuja smiled wickedly. "On the contrary, I believe it was the only way to get you to come with me. It is most certain you would not have agreed once you saw my... mode of transportation." He gestured toward the silver dragon beneath them.

 

Claire swallowed. It all seemed so unreal. "So... why did you want me to come with you?" she asked.

 

"You will find out soon enough," he replied evasively. "But first, I wish to know your name."

 

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously; she didn't trust this man, and something inside her told her that she should be afraid of him. But at the moment, she really had no choice but to humor him. "Claire," she said quietly. "Claire Giovannucci."

 

Kuja repeated it, and in his voice it sounded wonderfully fascinating. "An odd name," he mused, "but no more odd than Kuja, no doubt." He gazed at her broodingly for a moment, and then looked out over the landscape below. "Ah, we're nearly there. Silver Dragon, take us a little lower."

 

The great beast rumbled its reply, and descended enough in altitude for Claire to observe that they had just passed over a mountain range and were now heading toward a vast desert. Scattered here and there across the arid wasteland were giant pits of quicksand. It was toward one of these frightful pits that the dragon was flying.

 

"Whoa, what are we doing?" she asked, fighting a rising panic. "Tell your dragon or whatever to stop, we're flying right into that thing!"

 

Kuja sighed, as if he were supremely bored. "Don't excite yourself, little bird," he replied. "Silver Dragon knows what he is doing. He's been here many times before."

 

"Well, what is it?"

 

"It is the entrance to my palace."

 

"Your palace!?" she repeated. "You have a palace?" She took a closer look at him, and decided he did look like the type to live in a palace. He certainly had an air of royalty about him.

 

As the dragon drew nearer to the sand pit, Claire realized what Kuja had been talking about: the quickly falling sand had concealed an opening at the bottom of the cavity. A metal walkway, beginning at the top of the pit, issued down into the hole; but the dragon, bypassing this, lowered itself straight through, landing at the bottom of a great cavern.

 

The dragon stooped low to the ground, and Kuja stepped off gracefully onto the ground. He stared up at her expectantly, and she hesitantly dismounted the creature, hoping it wouldn't turn around and take a bite out of her. Giving the dragon an affectionate pat on the head, Kuja led her through the cavern toward a round platform with strange symbols set into it.

 

"After you," he said, motioning toward the platform. As she approached it, he added, "You may feel a little... disembodied."

 

Interesting choice of words, Claire thought as she stepped on the platform. But before she could discern their meaning, she felt her skin begin to tingle. She frowned and looked down at her hands, and discovered with horror that she could see right through them. The lying snake! she thought with a desperate rage. He tricked me, and now he's going to vaporize me!

 

But suddenly all thought, along with all sensation, flew from her mind and body, and when she was aware of herself again, she was in completely different surroundings. Looking down, she saw she was on a similar platform, and she quickly jumped off it. Trying to slow her pulse, she took slow, deep breaths as she looked around.

 

She was in a large, lavishly appointed chamber with a tall, groined ceiling, lit by dozens of candelabras. Strange statues stood in a circle, keeping a vigilant guard, and at the front of the room a tall image of a woman with folded wings gazed benevolently down at her. Several doors leading to other chambers stood on either side, and a staircase wound upward toward more unseen rooms.

 

"Here, this belongs to you."

 

She jumped, startled, to find Kuja standing behind her, staring at her with an inscrutable expression on his pale face. He held out an object toward her, and she looked at it for a moment with a sense of incomprehension before she realized it was her purse. Clearing her throat nervously, she took it from him. "Oh yeah, I forgot," she said, dazed. "But... why have you brought me here? For that matter, why are you so interested in me?"

 

"Come," he said indifferently, seemingly ignoring her question. He took her through an arched doorway, and she followed, glaring at his back. They arrived in a huge, circular, domed room, with a tall bookcase set against one wall, and furnished with a few tables and a pair of comfortable-looking armchairs placed by a gigantic fireplace. Other books lay scattered in various places. While the room looked ancient, the furniture seemed to be a new addition. The space was vast and yet cozy.

 

"This is my sanctum," said Kuja, motioning to the armchairs for Claire to sit down. Taking a book from one of the shelves, her host placed it in her lap and sat in the opposite chair. With a raised eyebrow, Claire read the spine of the book: 'A Complete Historical and Geographical Guide to Gaia'. "What's Gaia?" she asked.

 

"Open it," he ordered.

 

Puzzled, she did as she was told. She nearly dropped the book as a glowing, blue spherical object about the size of a basketball appeared in front of her. The book seemed to be projecting it into the air. "What is it?" she breathed, bewildered.

 

"Gaia, of course," Kuja replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

 

Claire watched as the luminous orb slowly rotated on its axis. "It's a planet?" she asked.

 

"What does it look like?" Claire frowned, annoyed at his tone. "Yes, my turtledove, it is a planet. The planet on which you currently find yourself."

 

Her eyes darted from the glowing ball to Kuja. "What!? You mean this crazy place we're in right now is another planet? We're on Gaia!?"

 

"Correct. Here, to be more precise." Leaning forward, Kuja lifted a long, thin finger and placed it on a spot on the transparent globe. Amazingly, the orb responded to his touch and moved in the direction his finger pulled it. "My palace is here, on the Outer Continent," he said, turning the ball until she could see an irregularly shaped stretch of land surrounded by what she could only assume to be water. "And here," he added, pointing to the western end of the continent, "is Conde Petie."

 

"That's where I woke up and found that dwarf-guy staring down at me!" Claire exclaimed. "Before that, I was still in New York!"

 

"Yes," Kuja said slowly, taking the book from her. As he closed it, the image of the blue planet vanished instantly. "Yes," he repeated in a disconcerted voice as he set the book on a nearby table. "That is why I brought you here, Claire. This place you speak of, New York... Is it located on a planet called Earth?"

 

"Yeah, it is." Claire frowned. "Hey, how'd you know that, if I've never heard of Gaia?"

 

Kuja did not answer immediately. He stood up and removed his cloak, throwing it over the back of his chair. Claire tried not to stare, but it was pretty hard not to be surprised by what she saw. A billowy white shirt was draped over Kuja's slender frame, open at the collar and showing much of his pale chest. He also wore a pair of pale blue trousers and thick-soled tan boots, but none of these were what had caught Claire's attention.

 

Silver-gray, glossy, and twitching back and forth behind him as he paced restlessly across the library, was a long, furry tail.

 

Just when I was beginning to think he looked relatively normal, she thought, fighting an inexplicable urge to laugh.

 

As she stared at the fuzzy appendage, swishing around anxiously, Kuja stopped. "What?" he asked guardedly.

 

"Nothing," she said quickly, trying not to look too shocked. "So, as I was saying, how do you know about Earth, if I've never--"

 

"You're looking at my tail," he said bluntly, like an accusation.

 

"No, not at all," she said nervously. It suddenly occurred to her that it might be a bad idea to piss him off. "I was just, uhh... You have a tail?"

 

"I beg your pardon, but I do not appreciate you making light of the subject," he informed her imperiously. "Yes, I have a tail, as you have obviously noticed, and I would be grateful if you did not call attention to it."

 

Claire swallowed and looked down at her lap. "I-I know," she stuttered. "And I'm sorry... Kuja... I'm sorry for being insensitive, and... and it's a very nice tail. It looks... soft."

 

It was clear that Kuja did not take this as a compliment, but aside from an irritated sigh he did not comment on it. "Getting back to the matter at hand," he prompted, returning to his chair, "meaning your planet Earth, I have long known of its existence." He paused. "Many years ago, in a city called Daguerreo, I came upon an ancient text that told of a planet far from Gaia known as Earth. It was thought to be inhabited by billions of people, and its technology was unbelievably advanced. But the economy was weak, and for many centuries, the wealthy reigned mercilessly over the impoverished."

 

Claire nodded; she ought to know the history of her own planet, and it corresponded with what her host described. But to hear it from Kuja, someone who had never seen Earth, was strangely unsettling.

 

"Finally, the people began to prosper. They learned how to treat their diseases, to educate their children, to use their resources wisely, and to make their planet a better place to live." He stared pensively into the glowing fire for a long moment. "But just when it seemed the people would thrive, war broke out.

 

"A maniacal genius discovered a mysterious, powerful force and, wielding it, he brought chaos unto Earth. Nation after nation fell; countless people perished under this terrible power. Some tried to resist, to stop the tyrant, but... it was only a matter of time before Earth was beyond salvation. The entire planet was completely destroyed."

 

Through all of Kuja's narrative, Claire had been finding it more and more difficult to breathe. Now she felt like she was suffocating. "Destroyed?" she repeated in a strangled voice. "How do you know?"

 

"Oh, what do you take me for?" he snapped irritably. "Do you think I believe everything I read? I researched the subject extensively. The text was unquestionably genuine." He stopped, and resumed more calmly. "I am sorry to be the bearer of this news. But when you said in Conde Petie that you were from New York, I had to speak to you, at any cost." He leaned forward and placed his hand on hers, and she wondered absently if he had multiple personalities. "For you see, the text made it very clear where it all was to occur. It was to begin in New York."

 

Claire jerked in her seat, as if she had been physically assaulted. Somehow, she knew it was coming, but that didn't make the news any less devastating. "When..." She faltered, and tried again. "When is all this going to happen?"

 

"According to the text... it will begin in the year 2006 by your Earth calendar."

 

Again Claire felt a crushing blow. "2006!? That can't be! It's already 2005!" She pulled her hand out of Kuja's and passed it across her face. "Are you telling me..." she said, her voice barely audible, "that my planet is going to be destroyed in a year?"

 

Kuja nodded gravely. "I'm afraid so."

 

Claire exploded from her chair, driven by an illogical need for action. "I've got to stop it!" she exclaimed, pacing around aimlessly. "I've got to get back to Earth! There must be some way to prevent it from happening!"

 

Her host rose patiently to his feet. "Claire--"

 

"Don't you get it?" she said frantically. "I have to do something! If I don't, everyone will die! Oh, God, how am I ever going to get back-- Oww, let me go!"

 

Kuja had gotten hold of her arm and squeezed it tightly. She tried to squirm out of his grasp, but he had an iron grip. "Be calm, you silly girl," he said crossly. "You will do your planet no good by flailing about like a chocobo with its head cut off."

 

"Chocobo?" she echoed, baffled.

 

"There might be a way to return you to Earth," he continued, ignoring her. "And if we succeed, we might just be able to stop it from happening. Perhaps if we find this mysterious force before it's discovered..." He shook his head. "In the meantime, try not to lose your head. And I beg you, please don't act rashly. Everything depends on our prudence."

 

He released her arm, and she rubbed it, frowning at him. "You're really going to help me?" she asked skeptically. "The last time I asked for your help, you accused me of being a drunk."

 

He looked away from her. "I have my reasons," was all he said.

 

Though Claire didn't think this was a good enough answer, she wasn't about to badger the only person on this bizarre planet who was helping her. "Well, anyway," she muttered, sticking out her hand. "Thank you."

 

Kuja stared at it for a moment in shock, then slowly reached out and shook her hand. "You're... welcome," he said, blinking.

 

She raised an eyebrow. "What's the matter? You act like you've never been thanked before."

 

Pulling his hand out of hers, he turned away, his thrashing tail betraying his conflicting emotions. "I haven't," he replied in a low voice.

 

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A/N: Poor Kuja... Anyway, there you have it. Earth is on the brink of destruction. Kind of makes you glad it's only fiction, doesn't it? All righty, well, leave a review before you go, you nice person, you, and I'll get to work on chapter three!

 

Wakizashi

 

tricksparrow@hotmail.com