Chapter Five: Return of a
Nemesis
And so once again I found myself standing next to the fountain in Mardain Sari, above us the Invincible hovered, the noise of the engines quiet but constant.
It seemed odd, and incredibly ironic that it was in the Invincible that I returned to Mardain Sari, the very same ship which had wiped the town of the summoners off the map many years ago, leaving just two survivors, Eiko, who was being looked after by Regent Cid in Lindblum…and my very own Garnet, the queen of Alexandria…not by birth but as a replacement for the real Garnet Til Alexandros 17th who died young.
The draft from the Invincibles engines blew some sand up around me, some of it got in my eyes making me rub them irritably. When I opened them again I saw a cloaked figure watching me from in front of Eikos old house.
“Hey!” I called out, the figure ran into the house slamming the door behind him.
“Did you see it?” I asked Domino who was standing beside me
“I did,” she replied “Let’s go and have a look inside.”
“Wait a minute,” said Reiganna “Are you sure it wasn’t Lani?”
“No, it definitely wasn’t Lani, she wouldn’t have run off, neither Amarant or Garnet are here, she would have had no reason to.” I said, referring to Lani, a mercenary sent by Queen Brahne to kill me, she had, of course, failed and since then had led a solitary life, usually she lived around Mardain Sari.
I walked forward, over to Eikos house and when I got to the door I gently pushed it open and looked inside, again I saw the cloaked figure on the other side of the room.
“Wait, please!” I said holding up a hand to try to signal to it to stop.
But once again the figure ran, so I ran around the table and out into the kitchen after it, the figure was by the stairs leading down into the room, it ran down the stairs and stopped, trapped, no escape through the room below.
It stepped backwards, right up to the edge of the platform, leaning heavily on the wooden rail which creaked under the weight.
I stopped, no willing to go any further should the figure choose to jump.
“We mean you no harm!” I called out, Reiganna and Domino walked up either side of me, Mikoto I could not see but presumed she was behind me.
“Who….are….you?” asked the figure in a struggled voice, a male voice I noticed.
“I’m Reiganna, this is Zidane, Domino and Mikoto.” Said Reiganna, indicating me, Domino and presumably Mikoto.
“Zidane…?” said the figure, as if the name was familiar.
“That’s me.” I replied.
“I…I know you…” the figure said, he seemed confused, bewildered.
I looked at the figure, trying to make out a face, but the hood on his cloak obscured any facial features…though, the voice seemed familiar. He knew me and I knew him…from somewhere.
“I cannot tell if I cannot see your face.” I said, moving closer to him, slowly edging my way forward.
The cloaked figure looked left and right and then slowly pulled back his hood.
What I saw shocked me.
“It can’t be…” I said
“YOU!!” shouted an enraged voice from behind me, Mikoto stormed past me and towards the figure who I could now identify as being Kuja, my long lost estranged brother.
“Please…keep away!” he shouted in a horrified voice, edging back further, leaning backwards over the wooden fence.
“Mikoto!” shouted Domino as she ran after the angry genome, Mikoto had always hated Kuja for destroying their home of Branbul.
I watched with increasing horror as Kuja, trying to retreat even further from Mikoto, leaned too hard on the wooden fence which creaked and gave way.
With a startled yelp Kuja disappeared out of sight over the edge, it was a very steep drop, there was no way he could survive, especially not falling backwards. I sighed, I had found a brother and lost him again in under ten minutes.
Suddenly Domino broke into a ran and dived over the edge after him.
“Domino, no!” I yelled, running to the edge, I looked down and couldn’t see either of them.
Now I’d lost a brother and a sister…could it get any worse.
Turning back to Reiganna and Mikoto I shook my head, but they weren’t looking at me, they were looking at something behind me.
As I turned back around again I saw Domino hovering in the air holding Kuja tightly.
“Well done Domino.” I muttered under my breath, deeply relieved to see them both safe.
Domino flew slightly forward and then lowered herself down onto the wooden platform, releasing Kujas limp form which fell to the floor.
“He fainted.” She explained at my look of alarm.
We all looked at each other, an unspoken question on our minds.
Well, this really was a turn up for the books, finding Kuja the destroyer of Branbul here on Gaia, at Mardain Sari of all places.
He had looked so helpless, so afraid, nothing like the Kuja I knew. For me and him were closer than most knew.
Two types of genomes were constructed, the silver and the gold. Zidane and Mikoto were good examples of the gold series genome whereas Kuja and myself were silver.
There was only one other type of genome, Domino, she was a type of genome by herself, a failed experiment to integrate Eidolons into the genome race. I was extremely grateful that the experiments failed, had they succeeded then Gaia would have fallen as quickly and as inevitably as Terra fell to the Borg.
As far as I knew Kuja and myself were the only silver type genomes left, the others had either died in hopeless battles or were killed by their creators when they had outlived their usefulness, discarded as though they were tools.
But still, past history aside, there lay the mystery of Kujas sudden reappearance, the last I had heard of the silver genome was his death in the Ilfa tree.
Looking at his unconscious form I wondered what could have turned a once headstrong and somewhat arrogant genome into this quivering wreck which lay before me. The way he had been acting in Mardain Sari, it was almost as though he couldn’t remember who he was, if that was the case then what could we do with him?
Zidane was in the control room piloting the Invincible back to Alexandria, there we could find expert medical care for Kuja, despite all his past transgressions we are all brothers and sisters, I was sure that Mikoto could find it in his heart to forgive him.
Although I couldn’t help remember my conversation with Mikoto earlier, if indeed we couldn’t reproduce normally then Kuja had destroyed our only means of self-reproduction. Before me, his chest raising and falling slowly, could well lie the destroyer of the genome race.
No, it’s not him that’s killing us I thought It’s time….
Domino had gone off to find Thunderchild, I hoped that whatever had caused him to react violently the first time had now passed and they could talk again.
Kujas eyes opened.
“Where am I?!” he shouted almost immediately, sitting bolt upright.
“Easy, easy,” I soothed him, easing him back down onto his bed “You’re with friends, on the Terran ship Invincible.”
“Invincible…I know that name.” He mumbled.
“Yes, you do,” I looked at him, looked deep into his purple eyes, saw nothing but confusion and fear “You really don’t know who you are, do you?” I asked
Kuja shook his head
“No…do you?”
I nodded, unsure how much of his past he would really want to know, after all this was the first Angel of Death from Garland we were talking about.
“Please, tell me.” He asked
“Maybe Zidane would be better tasked to…” I said standing up.
“Please! At least tell me my name!?” pleaded Kuja
“Very well…your name is Kuja.” I told him
I turned and went to leave.
“Thank you…Reiganna…please…tell me one more thing.”
I stopped and turned around
“Are we related?” he asked, looking at my silver hair and tail.
I was about to open my mouth and answer him when all the lights dimmed suddenly and went red.
“What’s happening?!!” shouted Kuja, his voice dissolving into panic again.
“I don’t know!” I honestly replied
“Caution, reactor overload in progress, ship destruction in ten minutes.” Boomed the ships computer.
I stopped, looking up at the sound, the lights around me had turned from their tranquil blue into a blood red, making the corridor in front and behind of me look dark and sinister.
“There you are!” shouted a familiar voice
I turned and saw Thunderchild standing at the end of the corridor which led to the engine room.
“Thunderchild!” I shouted, unsure what else to say
He ran down to me, I noted that he had changed his clothing, instead of wearing colours of green and red he now wore black all over, it suited him very well.
“We have to get out of here!” he yelled at me, breaking me out of my daze, before I could answer he grabbed me by the arm and dragged me down the corridor back the way I had come.
“What’s going on?” I asked
“The reactor has malfunctioned…it’s going to overload and explode.”
“That’s a bad thing, right?” I asked, a little unsure of the precise technical details of Terran ship propulsion.
“It’ll vaporise this ship and take a sizable chunk of the Mist Continent with it.”
“Very bad.” I concluded
He nodded as we reached a lift and entered it, as the doors shut I turned to him and said:
“About what you said earlier…”
“Oh…don’t worry about that.” He replied dismissively
“But you were right, I…” I tried
“I said don’t worry about it, now leave it!!” he snapped irritably at me, he was clearly under a lot of strain, it must be the fear of the reactor explosion causing him to act like this.
The doors opened again and he walked out onto the command centre.
“Where are we?” he asked Zidane as I followed him out, the doors closing behind me
“About three miles from Alexandria.” Zidane replied
“Where are the others?”
“I’m here!” said Mikoto from behind me as she ran out into the room.
“As am I…and Kuja.” Said Reiganna as she followed Mikoto, helping an unsteady Kuja to walk.
“Kuja?!” asked Thunderchild as he saw the silver genome, but he shook his head dismissing it.
“Anyway, here’s the plan,” he said “Zidane, Miki, Rei, Dom and, err Kuja. You’re all gonna beam down and I’ll get the ship as high up as I can and use an escape pod.”
“What?!” I shouted “You can’t, I can’t!”
“If I don’t get this ship any higher then you can kiss goodbye to Alexandria, and everything else within a ten mile radius, do you understand?!!” shouted Thunderchild
“Now go!” he yelled pointing at us
As if to reinforce the urgency of his plan the ships computer announced:
“Caution, reactor overload in five minutes.”
“I can’t do that.” I said, crossing my arms as a show of rebellion.
“Neither can I.” Said Reiganna
“Or I.” Said Mikoto
“Surely, there’s a way to fix the reactor before it explodes?” asked Zidane
Thunderchild sighed and scowled at us.
“I’m sick and tired of your stupid narrow mindedness, now get the hell out of here!”
he shouted, pushing past Zidane and hitting a few buttons on the control panel.
I knew what he was doing, I ran towards him to try and stop him before he could complete the sequence but it was too late, as the world began to go white I shouted out to him.
“Thunderchild, I love you!!”
He turned, looking at me as the world changed and suddenly became a green landscape with small trees scattered about, in the distance was a small village I recognised as Dali.
Above me the engines of the Invincible thundered into life taking the ship high into the air, soon it had faded through the cloud layer above us and disappeared completely.
Reiganna was counting under her breath, Kuja leaning on her looked up expectantly, I watched with them.
“Four…three…two…one…zero.” Muttered Reiganna
As she said ‘Zero’ there was a white flash from above us and a loud explosion rent the air, for a time everything was so bright it was painful to look so I shut my eyes until I was sure that I could look again. When I did there was a huge bright orange fireball expanding through the cloud above, the cloud around it boiled and bubbled as the vapour was super heated by the fire.
I looked around the horizon, there was no indication of escape pods, or anything falling from the sky, looking back up I looked straight into the massive fireball, the seething mass of violent destruction as the shockwave passed over us, feeling like a strong warm wind which shook the trees and made the ground tremble slightly.
Zidane put a hand on my shoulder, I turned to him and burst into tears as it hit me, he was dead, my husband was dead.
My legs gave way beneath me and Zidane caught me before I fell to the ground, I was crying uncontrollably now, almost screaming in sorrow. Zidane hugged me close as the tears flooded down my face, I was in shock, unable to truly comprehend the scale of the situation.
Thunderchild and I had been married for a year now, we had been lovers for longer than that, I thought I had lost him before but somehow he had come back, now…now I wasn’t so sure.
Maybe he would come back to me…maybe he would come back.
Until then, I continued crying on Zidanes shoulder, lost without my love.
It was a very sombre group which stumbled into Dali that afternoon.
Domino had stopped crying now, I didn’t think that she had any tears left to cry, I’d never ever before in my life seen someone cry as much and as violently as she had when it became apparent that her husband was dead.
As much as I had distrusted Thunderchild I had to respect him for his nobility, he had sacrificed his life to save ours and the lives of everyone on this section of the Mist Continent, there was no greater sacrifice.
“I’ll go to Alexandria, I’ll try to get some airships out here as soon as possible.” I said as we stood outside the Inn.
“Airships?” asked Reiganna
“What good will they do?!” wailed Domino
“We can search the surrounding area, to see if they can find anything.”
Mikoto nodded
“Good idea, I will come with you.”
I nodded in agreement.
“There should be some Chocobos around here somewhere I can use.”
Mikoto suddenly ran off towards the windmill.
“I’ll get one!” she shouted
“Time is of the essence, it’ll be dark soon and we won’t be able to do anything in the dark.” I said to Reiganna.
Reiganna nodded, she then indicated Domino and Kuja
“What shall I do with these two?”
I looked around, my eyes then settled on the Inn, looking back to Reiganna I said
“Book a room, here’s some money,” I threw her a bag of 500 gil which she caught with one hand “We’ll be back as soon as we can.”
Mikoto came back leading a tall yellow feathered ostrich like bird, known to all as a Chocobo. It whistled at me playfully and nudged me with its beak.
“Ok Mikoto,” I said “Let’s go!”
I jumped on the back of the Chocobo and helped Mikoto up too.
Geeing the Chocobo on I shouted back to Reiganna
“Take good care of them Rei!”
Then we headed out of Dali and galloped for Alexandria.
Reigannas POV
“Hey!! That’s my Chocobo!!” shouted a tall man who burst out of a building next to the windmill.
“He’ll bring it back.” I assured the angry man.
“Who are you?!” he shouted at me, literally hopping mad.
“I am Reiganna of the forest.”
“Well I’m Mayor of this village, and if he doesn’t bring my Chocobo back right now I’ll get the King of Alexandria…a close friend of mine…after him. Heh, yeah, I’d like to see how far that Chocobo thief gets with Zidane Tribal after him!”
Smiling I lead Yugami and Kuja into the Inn.
“It’s funny you should say that.” I said over my shoulder to the Mayor “Anyway, I think the King of Alexandria is a little busy right now.”
The owner of the Inn was sleeping on the counter on one side of the room, on the other side a roaring log fire broke the silence of the room with the crackling and hissing of flames. A ginger cat lay sprawled out on the mantelpiece purring softly in its sleep, it was such a tranquil scene that I felt awful for disturbing it.
I tried clearing my throat, to see if that would wake him up, it seemed to work for a moment and then he started snoring again.
“Humph…sounds like a Snorlax.” Muttered Yugami beside me, before she walked over and smacked her fist on the desk next to him.
“Huh, wher, what?” asked the man as he woke up.
“We’d like a room for the night.” Said Yugami
“Domino?!” he said in surprise as he opened his eyes.
“Yes…a room, for the night.” She repeated
“Yes, yes, yes, of course. Err, here you go,” he stood up and picked a key down from the wall “Take this room, err, no charge for tonight.” He stammered
Yugami ignored him as she walked into the room closing the door behind her.
The man seemed visibly relieved to see the back of Yugami and he sat back down again on his rocking chair, gently rocking back and forth.
I shrugged and led Kuja into the room she had disappeared into. She was in there, sitting on the side of one of the four beds sniffing.
Kuja left my side and sat down next to her.
“Why are you crying?” he asked her
“I’ve just lost someone I love very deeply.” She replied
“What is love?” he asked her
Yugami looked at him as though he’d just admitted he was a hedgehog pie in disguise.
“What is love? You don’t know…well, no, I don’t suppose you would, would you. Well, when you feel strong emotions for someone, like your heart would break if you didn’t spend every day of your life with them. That when they’re not there its next you’re missing an arm or a leg. You care so much for that person that you can’t bear to see them hurt or injured…or dead. I love Thunderchild…but now…he’s gone.”
“He was a brave man…he saved all the countryside around us.”
“Yes…he was very brave…very brave indeed.” She broke down into tears again, Kuja wasn’t sure how to comfort the poor genome so he copied me and put his arm around her shoulder patting her gently.
“I’m sure Zidane and Miki will find something, He wouldn’t just let an airship explosion kill him off like that Yugami. I’m sure he escaped.” I said, grasping at straws trying to reassure Yugami.
I lay down on one of the beds.
“Until then, we should get some sleep…” I concluded
“Sleep!!? I can’t sleep!” shouted Yugami “I’ve just lost my husband…how can I sleep!?”
She stood up and stormed out of the room slamming the door behind her, Kuja stood up to go after her but I put a hand out to stop him.
“No Kuja…let her go.”
“Why? She’s upset!” he protested
“I know…but some people have to deal with grief in their own way. Yugami is better dealing with it by herself.”
Kuja nodded uncertainly
“I think I understand…tell me…why do you call her Yugami? Isn’t her name Domino?”
“Well…it is but it isn’t.”
Kuja sat back down on the bed opposite me.
“Could you tell me why?”
I nodded
“Very well, but it’s a long story.”
As he nodded in return I began to tell him the story of Yugami, of her creation, her turning against Lawrence and everything I knew about her and her past, Including some history of Thunderchild.