[001]

[fallen_stage]

Characters: Kuja and YOU
Setting: Floor 5, Floor 20
Format: Prose, but I'm willing to adjust.
Summary: Kuja woke up, dressed properly, then went to verify the note. He doesn't like what he sees.
Warnings: Depression, discussion of planet destruction, slight dissociation, suicidal thoughts

Floor 5

One of the first places Kuja found was the observation floor, peering into one of the viewing terminals. He had awakened disoriented and alone, wondering if he was in some sort of afterlife or final hallucination. The note he discarded as rubbish, focusing instead on finding true answers (and something more stylish). While he found his clothes easily enough (though many might find them startling), the red around his eyes is a touch crooked, the neutral color on his lips not quite perfect, his rust-colored nailpolish overlapping onto his cuticles in places.

What he found was a world destroyed. Gaia's once lush surface scrubbed clean of all life, leaving only dust and rock. Not even the Iifa Tree was left, no Mist leaking from caves, no monsters roaming the worldwide desert. The atmosphere was either sucked out or burned, the sky black and empty.

I won't let this world exist without me!

Floating up in a rush of agony and power, Kuja had unleashed it all on a half-dead planet. What plant life had managed to florish he cut down, burning glassy stems and watching them fall into other, asymmetical dominos falling and shattering against one another. Fauna was no safer than flora, an instant extinction as bodies were crushed by plants and scorched by magic. He even burned the silver dragons he was so fond of before, reveling in the beauty of their smoldering pale feathers. Bran Bal was crushed in a trice, and Kuja soared like a vengeful god cutting a swathe of judgement. Soon only the surface remained but it wasn't enough, it had to be hollowed and smashed just like Kuja, just like his ambitions and future and - and as the atmosphere was next to set ablaze, Kuja shaped some around himself as he sliced through the crust of the planet, molten chunks of the mantle exploding out and solidifying as it met the chill of space. Still not enough; not nearly enough. Kuja had to destroy more, had to stomp the pieces into space dust so there was nothing left, nothing but the void of space and the light of more stars with old screaming light that needed to be snuffed and silenced, nothing for ever more, nothing nothing nothing -

Nothing left. Nothing left of his past, nothing left for his future. Nothing left of his last pinprick of hope. Kuja stared at the console, numb with thoughts that circled but couldn't find rest. "Do I need a reason to help people?" was only met with "let's be happy here", a moral and a life and a soul made pointless for being cut short. A victory made pyrrhic by weak vacillation, by that damned boy who wouldn't back down and stole respect.

Eyes continued to stare at the wasteland, but they saw nothing.


Floor 20

On the edge of the platform into the empty space, Kuja sits, kicking his heels and heedless of the fall. Fair away from the staircases, he's hunched over, staring at the space below his feet. The note from his room is crumpled in his fist, but eventually he smooths it out and carefully folds it. Paper airship complete, he tosses it into the void, watching float downward before setting it ablaze with magic until it's reduced to ashes on the breeze.

Comments

Floor 20

[terrificmachoemperor]

"I should have done that with mine," a voice said from the back, looking at the paper sore before it burns into flames.

Hello Kuja. Meet the human bulldozer.

Kanji was already wondering how he could do that without a Persona. That, fortunately didn't last too long considering everyone he has met so far. A lady like this could wield fire wasn't something too hard to grasp when it came down to it.

..Except, you know, Kanji didn't realize this wasn't a lady. After Naoto and Link, it seemed like a natural progressing, really.

"You okay?"

[fallen_stage]

With his dark thoughts, a simple mistake is the least thing Kuja is concerned about. He glances at Kanji from the corner of his eye, wondering if this man is worth bothering with. After a short silence, he strings out an arc of electricity between his thumb and finger to look at it instead.

"Not really."

[terrificmachoemperor]

Okay okay ,he got it, you could use these magic spells, it's okay, he knew when he wasn't that interesting anyway. Kanji gave off a sigh, and wondered why he'd bothered in the first place. Damn you Yu for somehow causing him to be more sociable.

"Look, I ain't the best guy to cheer people up, but I could try to help if ya want, lady. I know that this tower's pretty lame, but I've been learning to make the most of it."

[fallen_stage]

Make the most of it. Make do. Normally that's what Kuja should be doing, should be making allies and gaining as much information as he can. Right now, though, he just... can't. Suddenly it all seems like too much effort for nothing.

Useless

"What would you suggest, then?"

Something more appealing than following the paper airship, perhaps. Wait a second...

"I'm a Lord, not a Lady."

[terrificmachoemperor]

Oh damn it, backtrack, backtrack!

"O-oh shit! SHIT! Man, I am so sorry about that," he stammers, totally not losing his cool, what you mean Kanji lose his cool--he was totally losing his cool. "Y-you don't look much like a lady, I promise!"

Kanji you were terrible.

"Uh...maybe I should go..."

[fallen_stage]

Kanji's fluster cuts through Kuja's dark mood better than sympathy might: Kuja laughs, turning to look at him at last.

"You're not the first to make that mistake. I do look very feminine, after all."

Ah, youth. How easily riled. Kuja toys with the idea of teasing him, distracted from his gloomy thoughts for the time being.

"Unless the women you know aren't feminine in the way I am."

[terrificmachoemperor]

Wow, way to confuse him even further. Kanji stands there with his mouth half open and ee sees Yosuke in his mind laughing at him. GDIT YOSUKE even when you're not there you manage to rile Kanji up.

"Hey don't get the wrong idea, okay?! The girls I like look just fine the way they are!" Just because he had assumed Naoto was a dude first doesn't mean he couldn't judge girls or not. Oh no. Now he was thinking of Naoto and her in a feminine outfit and...

...yeap he was gone into blushingland.

[capax_infiniti]

"A fitting end, to something that should be taken with a grain of salt at the very least."

Walking slowly along the ramp, heading for the entrance is someone who seems completely and totally unassuming. A rather old man, walking with a measured pace, his back hunched and arms resting just above his hip. He seems wholly unconcerned about the lack of any sort of handrail or barrier, letting wind simply wash around him. His yellow eyes are fixed on Kuja, studying him curiously.

[fallen_stage]

Unassuming indeed: Kuja knew looks could be deceiving, but he had a distaste for old men. Call it a bias. Therefore, Kuja only spared him a glance as he focused on the words instead.

"For the page, perhaps, but what about the screens?"

[capax_infiniti]

He's used to such things. Besides, he rarely makes eye contact when speaking with others himself, preferring to keep them at a distance or behind him.

"Disregardable. If there is a need for destruction, they're naught but glass. Projectiles or even one's own fist would render them unusable."

[fallen_stage]

Already Kuja was finding this old man tiresome. Would staying silent make him go away..? No, better to engage or he might try pestering Kuja again.

"Only a fool mistakes an image for the real thing."

[capax_infiniti]

"We were speaking of screens, not those on them. Sentients require more thorough handling than the inanimate." It felt like speaking to a four-year-old, like he was trying to explain something to Ventus and just staring at that blank, clueless face again.

I like how they both think the other is stupid XD

[fallen_stage]

Already Kuja was losing his interest; this man was just too irritating. Spare him from another pretentious scholar-type.

"Were we? Creating a purposeful misunderstanding doesn't make you clever."

Maybe he could kick this old man off this cliff too. (but then he'd die again)

clearly they are destined for great things

[capax_infiniti]

"Misunderstandings are bound to happen in places where worlds intersect. My apologies, then." A short, token bow, not that the other was looking his way. It almost was like dealing with Ventus again, handling things with white kid gloves to ensure that everything went appropriately. The only difference was that there really wasn't a reason to indulge this youth so.

Floor 5

[untiemyhands]

She's been here a while now, but Klara still hasn't quite mastered walking without her boots sometimes rending a terrible squeak from the polished floors. Kuja will have that irritating noise as a herald that she's there, peering into one of the terminals near the one he's occupied.

This girl - this terrible little ragged waif doesn't seem to even flinch at what she sees. There's a dissatisfied "hum," sure. But no abject horror.

[fallen_stage]

He hears her, hears the screech of her boots and sees her from the corner of his eye, but it's like it's all coming through glass, or as if he's been hit with Haste and the world is slow and strange around him.

At the noise, he stiffly turns to her, looking but not quite focusing, his mind's eye still spiraling into the destruction of everything he had ever accomplished, every tentative hope for the future. His lips move, frozen as if with disuse, managing only a single word.

"...Hello."

[untiemyhands]

"Good morning."

She's still staring into the terminal, mood unreadable after that 'hum.' It's not even morning, either.

[fallen_stage]

Was it morning? Kuja's internal clock was off, perhaps from transportation... Kuja bit his lip, heedless of his lipstick and the pain. Finally he took his gaze from the terminal to think about his surroundings. The note. If Terra and Gaia are gone, how did he get here?

"Excuse me... where is this place?"

What other possible planet could this be?

Floor 5 /quietly flails at castmate

[toy_souldier]

Vivi hadn't expected to find anyone in the observation room - he himself had kept far away from the dreaded place after his first experience with them. So what had brought him here? Perhaps a small flicker of recognition for his creator?

He still hadn't been prepared to see the familiar silhouette of the man, and a trickle of icy cold dread went through his back before he straightened. If Kuja was here, then perhaps the others had survived? And after all, even if Kuja was responsible for so much... he and Vivi were much the same, puppets made for a purpose who woke up and rebelled.

So, with a little wiggle to pull up his belt, Vivi quietly entered the room, stopping a bit behind Kuja. "... Hi."

SCREECH my dreams have come true ;w; <3

[fallen_stage]

At first Kuja doesn't notice, doesn't respond, too wrapped up in his morbid thoughts. When he looks for the source of the greeting, he looks down and. His breath stops, eyes widen, not believing what he's seeing. It's impossible. If Gaia was destroyed, then how..?

"H..."

Was he hallucinating? But no, the little... one was there, breathing and real. Slowly, Kuja starts laughing.

"Hahahaha! Of course! Who else should be spared but two puppets like us? It's just too funny! Ahahahaha..."

/FLAILS

[toy_souldier]

Vivi winced at the far too familiar laughter but hey, if he can manage not to die from heart failure from hanging around the Grand Highblood, he can handle the half-crazed Genome.

With a quiet sigh, Vivi just stared at Kuja, waiting for the man to calm down.

I've always wanted to play off a Vivi <3 castmates for FF9 are so rare

[fallen_stage]

Half-crazed isn't too far off the mark: Kuja keeps laughing like he can't stop, like his voice is acting on its own. He still isn't entirely sure Vivi isn't some guilt-induced hallucination. Eventually he falls silent at last, staring back at Vivi.

"Well?" Kuja says at last, "No words? No violence? Have you lost your fire, little puppet?"

\o/

[toy_souldier]

Vivi shrugged, just a bit bitter as he muttered, "No but that's coming sooner than later isn't it?"

He then sighed again, looking down at his hands for a moment before glancing up at Kuja again, sincere as he asked, "Are you okay?"

He was worried that Kuja might have sustained some injury when Gaia was destroyed, and he wasn't entirely sure just yet if he himself was responsible for said destruction or not.

[fallen_stage]

Physically, Kuja was perfectly fine: none of the injuries he sustained while fighting Zidane and his group remained, his clothes were somehow mended, even the sense of doom from his imminent demise was gone. Mentally, however, he was much more of a mess. The answer is simple; Kuja covers his face with his hand, taking a deep breath before facing Vivi again, not looking him in the eyes.

"...No."

But then again...

"Do I need a reason to help people?"

"How old are you?"

[toy_souldier]

Vivi frowned at the answer, and the frown only deepened with the question. Scratching his head through the hat, he thought on the answer for a moment before slowly answering, "... I think maybe over a year now. A year since Grandpa picked me up at least."

Pausing for a bit, he asked quietly, "I don't have much longer, do I?"