Epilogue

Close by, a broad-shouldered man is hunched over a desk. The shadow on the wall catches his attention, and he turns in his chair to face the bed. The man is a silver-haired, handsome person with cat-like green eyes that seem to glow in the candlelight. These bright eyes narrow as he looks over at the bed.

Now the person on the bed can be seen. He is a young man, shockingly beautiful. His hair is also silver, and falls messily around his snow-white face. His blue eyes are slightly dazed and hold a look of confusion. His face turns as he gazes wonderingly around the room. "Where....am I?" he asked, his voice smooth and strong, but slightly youthful. "This is not my room..."

The man at the desk stood up. "...Kuja?"

The youth on the bed turned at the sound of his name. Upon seeing the man, his eyes narrowed. "Who are you?" he asked, slightly unfriendly. "Another would-be hero that has come to stop me?"

The man shook his head. "I am Sephiroth."

Kuja clapped sarcastically. "Magnificent introduction," he said cynically. "How many times did you have to rehearse?"

Sephiroth frowned at Kuja's rudeness. Up until now, he had been marveling at Kuja's beauty, but now he was only irritated. ".....Don't you want to know where you are?"

Kuja nodded. "I demand to know."

Sephiroth frowned even more. "......You're dead," he replied.

"?!?!?!" Kuja's eyes widened slightly. "Is that a threat? My, you didn't even have the courtesy to answer my question first..."

Sephiroth sat back down in his chair. "I did answer your question," he told Kuja. "If you want 'courtesy' then let me say it this way: Welcome to Muround, the City of Death."

Kuja stared at Sephiroth for a moment. He seemed serious enough, but...Kuja shook his head. No, he couldn't be dead already! The last thing he remembered was destroying Terra, everything else was blank. He remembered being told he was dying, but he hadn't actually died yet....had he?

"...Aha ha ha ha!!!" Kuja burst into laughter. "What an idiotic joke. Did you actually believe I would believe something so stupid??? Just who are you, you fool?"

Sephiroth made a fist. He stood from his chair, glaring over at Kuja. "I told you, I am Sephiroth," he replied, voice iced with anger. "If you must know, I've lived in this Death City for two years now. Muround is like an afterlife before the afterlife. Souls come here after dying, and remain here until they choose to move on to the next life. Like a Prepatory school, understand?"

Kuja crossed his arms. "I know what Muround is, I've read the legends," he said nastily. "But I also know that I cannot be dead. I don't even remember dying."

"Niether did I when I first awoke here," Sephiroth told him. "It took me quite a while to find out what had happened, and even longer to accept it. You're lucky you woke up with someone here, I came to in a street, alone."

Kuja pulled himself out of the bed he had been sitting on and stretched. "Oh, isn't that sad?" he said sarcastically. "Poor Sephiroth...."

"....Now do you believe me?" asked Sephiroth.

Kuja turned to him. "...I don't know what to believe," he said quietly, eyes a little sad. "......but I do know that this is not Gaia...or Terra, for that matter. Perhaps it is Muround, and I did die. Or it could be a dream, for all I care. What does it matter?" Kuja began to laugh. "Terra is destroyed, Garland is dead, and my soul is still my own, that's all that matters! I was victorious after all! Mwa ha ha ha!!!"

Sephiroth stared. "....I'm glad you're so happy," he said dryly.

Kuja was not happy, but had convinced himself he was. "Aha ha ha ha!!! Sephiroth, was that your name? I feel like celebrating! Does this odd place have any wine?"

"........I don't even know who you are yet."

Kuja strode past Sephiroth, into the next room. Sephiroth got up with a sigh and followed him. His patience was wearing thin.

Kuja had found the kitchen by now. As he poked around for champagne or something of the sort, he thought of what a nice place he was in. It was darkly lit, but decorated somewhat like a more Gothic version of his old home, the Desert Palace.

Sephiroth stared at Kuja as the youth tore around his kitchen. What a brat. Sephiroth shook his head. Kuja had looked so peaceful and calm in his sleep....what a shame he wasn't really like that. ^^;

Kuja pulled out a bottle of wine. "Aha!" He pushed it into Sephiroth's arms. "Here, you serve! Let us toast to my victory!"

He didn't waste a moment, thought Sephiroth as he opened the bottle. He had a feeling that when Kuja realized the severity of being dead, he wouldn't be too happy. So let him have his wine and whatever now, Sephiroth decided.

Kuja lifted his glass and urged Sephiroth to do the same. "To my success in Terra, despite whatever consequences it had! To victory!"

Sephiroth nodded, lifting his glass briefly. "So, just who are you?" he asked Kuja. "They told me your name was Kuja..."

Kuja shook his head. "No, first you tell me why I am in your house," he ordered.

".....Muround is ruled by a group of spirits we call the Elders," Sephiroth began to explain. "They watch over the souls and make sure things are peaceful. There are some souls in Muround, like myself, that have decided not to move on at all, or to stay in Muround for a long period of time before reincarnating. After a year, we become 'citizens' and are assigned a job."

Kuja took a sip of his wine. "...And what does that have to do with you and I?" he asked. "Do you have a point?"

Sephiroth nodded, staring Kuja in the eye. "I've lived here for two years with no job, and the Elders were going to force me to move on," he said. "Then your soul entered this world, right in time. The Elders knew you were a restless, defiant soul, and were worried that you would cause trouble."

Kuja cracked up. "Mwa ha ha ha ha!!!!! They were right! Aha ha ha ha!!!" he laughed. "This world, whatever it is, is going to be shaken....khe he he..."

Sephiroth frowned. "....Anyhow, I volunteered to watch over you personally," Sephiroth said. "To keep you from getting any insane ideas...."

Kuja grew serious. He stared into Sephiroth's eyes, smiling evilly. "Is that so?" he asked. "You're going to be my keeper?"

Sephiroth nodded. "Yes...I am your keeper."

Kuja's eyes grew icy. "Then, I do believe we have a problem," he said. "You see, I don't take orders from anyone, and I am going to cause a lot of trouble. So. Either step aside, Sephiroth.....or face me in battle."

Sephiroth came up to the youth. "Then, I accept your challenge," he said fearlessly. There was a tinge of pity in his eyes for Kuja, for he really didn't want to hurt him. Kuja reminded him of himself....or as he had been during his quest for world domination. But that was so long ago...Sephiroth had matured by now.

Kuja smiled as he faced Sephiroth. He realized that he was not in Trance anymore, but that was okay. He still had his power. The young man raised his arms, preparing to cast a spell.

".....Wait a moment."

Kuja stopped in mid-spell. "Eh???"

"I suppose I should tell you that this entire world is protected by an anti-magic barrier," Sephiroth said. "Spells won't work."

Kuja's face grew stunned. "W-What?! You must be lying!!!" he raised his arms. "Meteor!!!"

Nothing happened.

"?!?!?!" Kuja's arms fell limp at his side. "I-it didn't...work.......why...."

Sephiroth drew his lethal sword, the Masamune. "There is no magic and no weapons in this world," he told Kuja. "Come, use your physical strength..."

Kuja looked over at Sephiroth, face still stunned. "...." He knew that he would lose if he attempted to fight Sephiroth. "......."

Sephiroth pointed the tip of his blade at the tip of Kuja's nose. "Are you going to fight, or not?" he asked, green eyes burning into Kuja's blue ones.

Even proud Kuja was too smart to fight. "I....I....I decline," he said, turning his back on Sephiroth. "Old-fashioned swordplay really isn't my type of scene."

Sephiroth sheathed his sword. "Then, we will settle up later."

Kuja was furious, though he tried to hide it. Now the reality of death was beginning to dawn upon him. He was powerless, helpless, and alone. "..........." Kuja grew moodily silent.

Sephiroth smiled a little. Perhaps now Kuja would be less disagreeable. Sephiroth went over to him, leaning over Kuja's shoulder. "Don't defy me," he told the boy in a quiet but firm voice. "I don't want to hurt you neccessarily, but my job is to make sure you are in line. I won't hesitate to be harsh."

Kuja whipped around. He and Sephiroth were nose-to-nose. "I am not your soldier to command," Kuja hissed at Sephiroth. "I obey myself, and that is all."

"You can't die in this world," Sephiroth told him. "You have no reason to fight."

"Yes I do," Kuja said quietly, shutting his eyes.

Sephiroth looked down at him. "And what is that?"

Kuja turned his icy gaze back on Sephiroth. "I'm staring at it."

With that, Kuja stormed off. As he left, he called to Sephiroth, "I'm leaving!"

Kuja was furious. Sephiroth........Sephiroth was just like Garland; mean and strict and cruel. The nerve of him, bossing Kuja around that way! Kuja scowled. "I refuse to relive the painful act of my childhood," he muttered to himself. "I will never be controlled like that again. Never."

Kuja searched the mansion until he found the front doors. He lifted his head. "I will not be kept here."

Kuja headed for the doors, but suddenly found himself being lifted up off the ground and slung over someone's shoulder. "?!?!?!"

Sephiroth had picked up Kuja. "The doors are locked," he said as he carried Kuja away. "You couldn't have gotten out anyway. Besides, Muround does have its evil souls. You wouldn't last a day on the streets, someone as beautiful and annoying as you are."

Kuja kicked his long legs. "How dare you!" he shouted. "Put me down! Anything would be better than being here with you, you moron! I do not belong to you, this is...wrong!"

"I have a job to do, Kuja," Sephiroth replied, carrying Kuja upstairs. "For two years, I've been bored and lonely. Now I finally have something to do, thanks to you. The Elders don't want you anywhere unsupervised."

"Then follow me and watch!" Kuja retorted. "See if I care! Just put me down!"

"It's too late for anyone to go anywhere," Sephiroth said, pushing Kuja's kicking foot away from his face. "Because there are so many different souls here, it is run very strictly. Curfew passed an hour ago."

Kuja stopped trying to be put down and hung limply over Sephiroth's shoulder. "...You sound like a soldier," he grumbled.

"That's because I *was* a soldier," Sephiroth said proudly. "First Class, legendary even. So I'm used to guarding rowdy criminals and being in charge."

Kuja exhaled. "What horrible luck...being stuck with you..." he said. "What a horrible ending to my show..."

"Show???"

"The play that was my life," Kuja said miserably. "This is a horrible ending."

"It isn't the end," Sephiroth said. "You're here, aren't you?"

"...you're right," Kuja agreed. "I suppose this would be.....an epilogue."

They were in what would be Kuja's room from now on, a large and luxurious room. The sound of pouring rain could be heard from the windows. Sephiroth put Kuja down once they got there.

Kuja brushed himself off. "Finally." He looked around. "...My room?"

"Yes."

Kuja walked around, taking in his surroundings. "Hm...it's perfect, actually," he observed in surprise. "Not that it makes the situation better, of course!"

"The room was decorated by your memories," Sephiroth explained. "The Elders designed all our homes and rooms according to who we are using magic."

Kuja had wandered over to his bookshelf. "....yes...my books..." he said distantly as he ran a hand over them. "My plays.....journals....they're here..." His blue eyes grew wide. "This....truly is Muround....no other place could be like this...." Tears formed in Kuja's usually icy eyes. "I....truly am....dead.........I.....I....died..."

Sephiroth didn't know why, but he felt sorry for Kuja. He almost wanted to hug him, to comfort him. Sephiroth frowned. Ever since he'd seen Kuja for the first time, he'd felt something, though he wasn't sure what. Sephiroth had never loved anyone before, so he didn't know what love felt like. This feeling he had for Kuja couldn't be love......could it?

Kuja suddenly noticed that Sephiroth was staring at him. "What are you looking at?!" he yelled, taking his sorrow and anger out on the soldier. "Eh?! You are dead as well, remember?!"

Sephiroth snapped back to reality. "I wasn't laughing at you," he told Kuja. "I was thinking about you, that's all."

"Thinking what?" Kuja began to pace the room. "How pathetic I am? I couldn't even battle you....me, the warlord who destroyed his own planet! Yes, powerful me....I can't even fight anymore...." Kuja's face darkened. "I know....I know you want to laugh! So go ahead! Go ahead and laugh! Garland would have.....Garland probably is right about now.......laughing at me.........everyone is, I know it......." Kuja sat down on his bed. "I know it...."

Sephiroth walked over to the window and stared out at the rain. "...I felt just like you when I awoke here two years ago," he told Kuja. "I'd come so close to destroying my planet and defeating my arch enemy...and then it was all gone. My power, my plan, my Godhood....all gone."

Kuja looked up at him. "You tried to destroy a planet???"

Sephiroth looked over at him. "Surprised? Yes, I had my life all worked out," he said in reminiscence. "I would nearly kill my planet and then become its God....I was created to be a god, so it should have been easy......" Sephiroth hung his head. "Except for that clone, that Cloud......and his friends too....I underestimated their power, and so I was defeated at the peak of my power."

Kuja stared. "You....you copied my act completely!" he exclaimed. "I did all that as well! Are you serious?!"

Sephiroth nodded. "Yes. That is why I'm here," he said. "It took me a year in Muround to accept all that had happened and regain my sanity. Once I did, I began to fear my next life. I was so evil....even though it was a little fun, I know that my next life will be a punishment for it. Thus, I remain here, until I find the strength to move on. I promised myself that next year I will undergo the reincarnation ceremony, unless I find myself ready sooner."

"Hmph. Go ahead and move on," Kuja said, lying back on his bed. "I'd be better off if you did."

Sephiroth shook his head. "Until you regain your sanity, I have a job to do," he said. "Don't count me out so soon."

Kuja stared at the ceiling. "I am sane," he said. "I never was insane."

Sephiroth exhaled. "I may be here for a *long* time...."

"Yes, you probably will be," Kuja agreed. "I don't plan on ever leaving Muround. If I did 'move on' then my soul and body would change, I'd be reborn as a different person, or as something not even human! I am not going to lose my soul or my perfect body."

Sephiroth smiled a little. "You're only afraid of being born into a life of suffering," he said. "I know, so am I. We were not exactly the best people, so we would probably be reborn into a harsher existance. But still, we have to move on someday. You can't live forever."

Kuja sat up on his bed. "I can!" he declared. "And I will! It is bad enough that I am forced to live in Muround, I refuse to lose anything else. So. Until I decide to leave, which I never will, you will be my caretaker, right?"

"Guard, not caretaker," Sephiroth corrected.

"Same thing," Kuja insisted. "You will support me, make sure I'm happy. You will serve me."

"I am not a servant!" Sephiroth said, getting angry again. "I will make sure you don't cause any trouble, and if you do, I'll punish you! That is all!"

Kuja was angry again as well. "You'll do no such thing!" he replied loudly. "I will do as I see fit, and you'll say nothing! Understand?!"

"I'm the one in charge!" Sephiroth yelled back. "As a soldier of Muround, I'm assigned to guard you! Nothing more!"

Kuja was fuming. "How dare you..."

"You're lucky, Kuja!" Sephiroth told him. "Right now, I could do anything I wanted with you! You should be grateful that I'm treating you so well."

"You call being locked up and yelled at 'well'?!"

"Am I torturing you?" Sephiroth asked. "Am I trying to kill you? No! I haven't even laid a finger on you, which is taking all my patience, believe me."

"I don't trust you!" Kuja said. "I don't.......trust you..."

"Of course not!" said Sephiroth. "We never met before! I don't trust you yet either! But we are stuck together, so we should try to make the best of it."

"You certainly are mellow for a world conquerer," Kuja sneered.

"I have to be," Sephiroth said. "If I wasn't, I'd go crazy. I wasn't always so calm, it took me two years to regain myself. Trust me, it's easier to simply go with the flow of things."

"Easy for you to say," Kuja said. "You don't understand......not at all. Reading a script is not the same as living it now, is it?"

"Understand what?" asked Sephiroth.

Kuja looked at him. "You weren't created by some lunatic and forced to obey him! You weren't created to serve only one destiny!" he yelled. "You don't know what it is to grow up always afraid-"

"...and alone and hurt," Sephiroth finished. "I know, Kuja, I was an experimental death angel as well. Created to achieve greatness, damned if you don't. Trained all your life for one dark thing, forced to be living in your own world, because no one else would share theirs with you." Sephiroth turned to Kuja. "I know. So don't you whine and think you're the only one who has had a hard life, because you're not."

Kuja was silenced for a second. Then, he lifted his head. "I've suffered more than you," he said, "and I don't care about your pain! All that matters is me, nothing else. And I've gone through so much pain because of my creator....so much....." Tears formed in Kuja's eyes again. "And it was all for nothing, because I died anyway! I lived for nothing! Just when I thought my life was finally worthy of me, it was all snatched away by the man I hated the most!!!" Kuja's eyes shook with the tears he refused to let fall. "So don't tell me you understand!!! No one can understand me! No one ever has, and no one ever will ever! All anyone ever wants to do is prosecute me....for my sins, for my defiance, for my actions, for anything! Everyone wants to hurt me for some reason! After all, what was my death? It was punishment for fighting for my life! It...I..." Kuja's voice cracked. He stopped talking for fear that he might cry if he didn't.

Sephiroth walked over to him. "Kuja..." He reached out to touch Kuja's face.

Kuja hit Sephiroth's hand away. "Go away. I'm going to lie down," he said shakily. His eyes were brimming with angry tears, and his bottom lip trembled slightly. "Go away," he said more quietly, ashamed of himself for getting so emotional.

Sephiroth touched Kuja's hair. "I do understand," he said to the younger conquerer. "I feel sorry for you, you remind me so much of myself. Kuja, I know defeat is hard to take, but don't think of it like that. I try not to."

"I was not defeated!" Kuja yelled. "I...I...died...that's all. I.....but I was fighting death, so.........in that sense, I was.....defeated...." Kuja blinked back his stubborn tears. "I lost..........the most important thing.......my....my life....."

Sephiroth held Kuja against his chest. "In a sense, you're still alive. Everyone must die someday...Kuja..."

The tears fell. Kuja crumbled into Sephiroth's arms, sobbing. "B-but I didn't want to die so soon," he cried. "I wanted t-to be more powerful than Zidane, and rule Terra, and...I could have, but......" Kuja buried his face in Sephiroth's cloak. "I was dying anyway, I had no choice. My life was over, whether I had killed Zidane or not, it was over. In the end, G-Garland forced me to.......to....do what he wanted.....after all...." Kuja laughed a little through his tears. "Ha ha ha ha! Such irony.....to live in rebellion and die in submission....Garland's only wish was that I die, and I fulfilled it. B-but what choice did I have? None! I couldn't fight it!" Kuja clung to Sephiroth's sleeve. "I couldn't fight it........I h-had to obey.......his last order......."

Sephiroth was a little stiff. He had never been so close to anybody in his life, except for Prof. Gast. He thought of how Prof. Gast had comforted him when he was a child, and decided to do the same for Kuja. "It's....it's okay, Kuja," he said awkwardly. "You don't have to be anyone's slave anymore."

Kuja was mortified. He hadn't cried this way since he was a small child, but he couldn't help it. "I...I.....I've become so weak," he said mournfully. "I've become....a normal person......"

Sephiroth could feel Kuja's body trembling against his chest, and his shoulders shaking. He held Kuja tighter. "It's not a bad thing to cry," he said, having shed many tears before himself. "It doesn't mean you're weak."

"Yes it does," Kuja said. "It does."

"You like having your own soul, don't you?" Sephiroth asked, turning Kuja's face upwards towards his own.

Kuja looked at Sephiroth with his tear-tracked face. "Y-yes, of course!"

"Crying is part of having your own soul," Sephiroth pointed out.

Kuja thought about this. ".....Yes...you're right. A Genome wouldn't cry, would it?"

Sephiroth didn't know what a Genome was, but agreed nonetheless. "No, it wouldn't."

Kuja leaned his head against Sephiroth's shoulder. "......No one has ever held me," he said distantly. "Or comforted me.........I was always left alone to cry, no one listened." Kuja looked up at Sephiroth. "But you......you're different.....you actually treat me like a....like a person..."

"You are a person, Kuja."

"We just only met," Kuja said, crying less by now. "Why are you so nice? What do you want?"

"Nothing. I just......." Sephiroth looked down at him. It was odd, he'd never truly cared for anyone before. But...now he was certain why. "I....I care about you, Kuja. I..."

"You......love me?" asked Kuja.

Sephiroth turned red. "Well.......I.....I do care......I...."

Kuja didn't wait for a reply. He leaned his head forward and brought his lips to Sephiroth's.

Sephiroth was shocked, but....it felt good, surprisingly. He kissed Kuja back firmly, putting his arms fully around the thin youth.

Kuja sat up, now kneeling in front of Sephiroth on the bed. His lips danced across Sephiroth's neck and face, and his hands began to pull off the black cloak.

Kuja's weight made Sephiroth fall backwards on the bed, and Kuja landed on top of him. The young man was energetic, not stopping for a moment.

"K-Kuja....I....Kuja, stop," Sephiroth took Kuja's chin in his hand.

"What? What?" Kuja asked, seeming to be in a rush. His blue eyes were wide and blazing with passion. The tears on his face were still fresh, but he had stopped crying.

"Kuja....you're so young..." Sephiroth touched Kuja's wet face. "Kuja....are you sure?"

Kuja licked his lips, looking almost demonic. "We're both dead anyway, what does it matter?" he asked.

Kuja wrapped his mouth around Sephiroth's neck again.

"Kuja..." Sephiroth put an arm around him. "Please, I don't want to....do something we'll regret later...."

Kuja stopped kissing him for a moment. "What do you want?!" he asked angrily. "Do you want the classic line? Fine, then listen! 'I love you, Sephiroth'. There!" Kuja resumed his.....errr.....actions....^^;;;;

Sephiroth decided to go ahead with it. "Kuja......then just know that...I love you too."

Kuja was too busy to respond. ^^;;;;;;;;