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year 5, quarter 3
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It was quiet the way he had remembered it being. That's exactly what he needed: quiet. Mateus walked past the stone arches, their arcane lettering still a mystery but not the one he was trying to solve. He let his feet carry him wherever they decided they wanted to go. This place hadn't changed in the slightest since last he had been here. The night even felt the same with air being calm and still with just the slightest of breezes to tease at the grass and his hair. Before he knew it he was back in that place. The gate towered above as he sat down on one the crudely made stone benches that must have been there since this structure had been made.
Mateus watched the swirling of the magic pulsating from the closed gate. Once he had wanted to know its secrets for abrupt power, but now that he had supposedly come across it, he wished that it would provide answers. The gate remained silent albeit Mateus' thoughts pestering it do something otherwise. As he lounged on his seat, he pulled out the shard he had fastened into a necklace. It's violently crimson hew still shone bright as he looked into it. That demonic voice that had told him to claim it had been so familiar yet so foreign. It was more disturbing than the devil he had pledged himself to in Palamecia. It reminded him too much of the face he had seen in the Priestess' mirror. He tried to shake the words and images away. Power. Or the promise of it.
Looking at the crystal too long caused him to remember too vividly the scene that had played out up on the tower's summit. That horned villain towering above him and the disgusting man he had sworn to keep away from its power. Her bathed in such calming blue it would have be-stilled his heart if it wasn't in such a rage at the time. Then she was gone. That's not what should have happened. In the aftermath after he had wandered about the desolate summit, a crystal he had picked up clutched in his hand cutting into his palm as small droplets of blood splattered against the snow, he had found the stairs, broken and treacherous, that led down and back into the tower.
Mateus searched for her through his decent. His words lost to people trying to figure out what had happened scrambling about with no eyes matching his own. Still there was no sign of her. He needed her he reasoned. Perhaps the Crystal had given her the vision she had desired before disappearing into the ether. He had to know what she saw if anything. He searched the snow that covered the grounds around the tower until his lips trembled and his fingers turned blue. Mateus could not find her.
Mateus shoved the crystal piece back into his shirt as the crimson caused his blood to boil to a rage. He lay down forcefully on the stone bench watching the ebb and flow of the magic. His mind replayed what had happened here the first time he had been here. That sorcerer that had taunted him so. The silver haired man flashed before him. He had encompassed everything that Mateus had lost: beauty, power, and a sense of purpose. Mateus gave a harsh laugh at his own expense. It had been the first of so many things to show him he was an emperor no longer but just a man tossed into an uncaring world of indifference.
No one had cared of his stature. Good or bad. Especially that general. His teeth grit a bit before he unclenched his jaw at the thought of her. Mateus would never admit it aloud, but she had saved his life, and he owed her debt. Merely fixing her wounds had not been enough. Had he done it just to relieve the sense of debt he felt to the woman who had nursed him back to health after he had been plundered at the base of the mountain? She didn't have to help him but she had.
The memories of so many other filtered through his mind. Those claiming to be princesses, a thief, a white haired man tugged at his chest, but had that just been a dream? He didn't know or care anymore. What was he to do in this world that cared so little for him? Mateus pulled out his shard once more staring into it. What power could the little thing offer after all? Would it even matter if he could take it? Matues rolled over on the bench. He just needed this quiet to think. So quiet and so serene. He felt himself dozing off as the magic permeated the air. So much to think about, so little he felt he could do.
The crystalus divider was a place of flickering mystery shrouded in silver light. These ancient ruins held secrets that could no longer speak in dead tongues that whispered of power and destruction and the coming of ages. Kuja had seen it before the old Terran artifacts, in the shrines and the guardians and that crumbling summoners’ wall. This was a quiet place where questions came to naught and thoughts flowed as freely as river currents.
Kuja walked the paths without really looking at them. He kept his eyes on the sky and that single, silver moon. He’d stayed longer than expected after his encounter with that eloquent and monstrous priest. The Gate is labyrinth of and one purposefully made. Those who built it wished it to remain closed. These new possibilities deserved his attention, and yet, Kuja found that his thoughts had strayed far from his plots or his research or the cryptic decoding of ancient ruins.
No. Tonight, his thoughts were mired in darkness and wavering yellow eyes.
In truth, he’d stayed because he hadn’t wanted to return to his familiar lair with its shadowed halls. He’d grown tired of the monotony and the isolation and that mage skittering about whenever he approached -- trying so clumsily to avoid him. Kuja hated looking at him. He hated hearing him, knowing he was there hiding and trembling and watching with those pitiful eyes. Kuja was a monster in that mage’s eyes, but that was nothing new. Kuja relished in his own monstrousness, knowing fully well the reputation he’d obtained, but this was different. For some reason, the look that mage gave him made his fists curl. Maybe because this mage wasn’t just another victim or a child or an idiot to take advantage of. No, this mage was…
nothing like him.
Kuja stopped. There was nothing around him but darkness and the relics of the dead. No prying eyes. No pretenses. He let his face contort and his tail lash its fury. He ran a hand roughly through his hair before tossing it away, choosing instead to lean against a pillar of weathered stone, scowling. It was chilling to the touch, but he didn’t mind, trailing his fingers across its rough surface and reminding himself again that even this purgatory of a world was better than the alternative.
The mage had been wrong. Kuja knew death and it was nothing like this. No, death was still and silent and so very, very blue.
Something shifted in the shadows.
Kuja raised his head, pushing back his hair to better eye the darkness. There was a human form down the path -- like a ghost to the perceptive eye. Kuja took a long breath, straightening his hair and the front of his jacket before clearing his face of expression. He had no reason to think he’d been noticed, but he wasn’t nearly as alone as he’d have liked.
This was no place for fevered thoughts.
Kuja pushed himself upright and continued down the path. The human figure took clearer shape as he approached. It was limp on a hard stone bench, rolled over, possibly asleep. Dressed in common clothes, Kuja almost dismissed it as just another homeless drifter before something stilled him where he stood. Magic emanated from the man like electricity. Kuja tilted his head, eyeing the man closer, before he caught a glimpse of the man’s face and dull familiarity shot through him like nausea.
The emperor. That gold-plated narcissist from the most impossible, violent corners of his dreams. He’d met him here once before, hadn’t he? How long ago had it been, and to cross paths like this again? Kuja would have called it an alignment of stars if he’d believed in fate. Instead, he called it a coincidence though one laced with a circular irony.
”We’ve met before, haven’t we?” Kuja eyed his fingernails, hip cocked to one side. ”That emperor. Mateus, wasn’t it? I see this world has done you no favors.” He touched his lip and laughed softly before tilting his head to eye the man in interest.
”Tell me. Did you ever find the power you sought?”
Mateus looked up as his mother finished arranging his hair in the horns that he so admired making sure the purple tint the lilac dye made would dry. His large childish eyes sparkled in anticipation as he hopped from her lap, and Aile quietly checked to make sure the door was closed and locked before moving to the dress er. Mateus' heart swole as he waited. His mother's gifts were always beautiful and exquisite just like she was. When she returned he was surprised but what she held.
"Do you know what this is?" "A flower!"
Aile gave a soft chuckle at Mateus enthusiasm as she sat down on the stool in front of her vanity. "It's not just any flower, my love. This is a wild rose." Mateus reached for it quickly pricking his finger on the thorns without noticing. Tears welled up and his lip quivered but both were quickly quieted as Aile wiped the blood from his finger and gave it a small kiss. "Shh." she comforted wrapping her arm around his shoulder and holding the rose up to his eye level.
"It seems you've already learned the lesson. This is my favorite flower, and it took me a long time to be able to get one for you from Fynn. They're beautiful, resilient, and can prosper anywhere, but they also protect themselves, much like you my son." Aile tilted Mateus head up to look in the mirror. His pale complexion
"Do you miss your home?" Mateus asked.
Aile gave a sad smile, "It's about time your father is going to want to start your learning. Best to go to him then for him to come looking." She handed the rose to Matt. "Keep it safe and hidden. Your father won't like it if he sees it."
~~~ "Did you ever find the power you sought?” The next set of images were quick and sudden. He saw himself smacked to the floor, rose petals scattered on the floor in front of the throne. Eyes. First his father's quickly warping into a demonic visage before finally staring at him with the same eyes he saw on the tower's summit. ~~~
Mateus awoke with a start. A man was standing over him watching. Was he remembering things or had he been dreaming? If it was the latter, he didn't feel rested any. Even as mind tried to catch up, Mateus had already stood dignifying himself and towering over the man even as the guard's clothing hung loosely and ill fitting on him. He blinked at the man once then twice a strange sense of familiarity taking over. It was like deja vu.
"Kuja?" Yes it was that sorcerer he had met here when he was first dragged from his home. Everything had changed since last he had been here, and ,yet, at the same time wasn't he still in the same predicament he had been when he came here. "Excuse my ill manners. It seems you've caught me at a rather unflattering occasion."
The crystal shard hanging around his neck began to warm against his skin. It sought power and both he and it knew the man before him had it in spades. Had it led him here? Maybe this man would know what to do with the crystal shard. Mateus wondered as he tried to look more presentable as if the half naked man before him somehow should shame him into doing as such. "Have you come to seek your answers once more?"
The emperor jerked upright at the sound of Kuja’s voice. Apparently he’d been asleep afterall, and looked blearily at him even as he jumped to his feet and made some token effort to make himself look presentable. It was in vain, however. Free of his golden armor or his noble’s silks, the emperor appeared just as common as everyone else. His plain clothes hung off him at odd angles, his make-up was long worn away, and his long hair was tangled from laying about in the wind. Yet still, there was that odd sense of pride in him that brought Kuja’s lips to the edges of laughter.
There were those who had fought for eloquence and higher standing and then there were those who were merely handed it on a silver plate. Kuja was the first, and the emperor was undoubtedly the latter. What a shock his own mediocrity must have been.
"Kuja?" Mateus blinked at him in mild confusion, but he seemed to recognize him nonetheless. Of course he did. Kuja wasn’t one often forgotten. ”Excuse my ill manners. It seems you've caught me at a rather unflattering occasion.”
”Do you find yourself sleeping on benches often these days?” Kuja let his eyes sweep slowly over the emperor from his tarnished boots to his wiry hair. ”What a tragedy to have fallen upon such piteous circumstances as this.”
Kuja paused. There it was again, that strange power crackling between them. It had come from the emperor -- Kuja was certain of that -- and yet, there was no consistent flow to it. No usual rhythm like the pounding of a beating heart. This was erratic. Tense. Kuja’s eyes narrowed slightly as he sought its source.
How could he ask without setting off the man’s suspicions?
Mateus straightened his clothes before asking, "Have you come to seek your answers once more?"
”So I have.” Kuja tossed one final, inquisitive look towards the power’s source before turning away to consider the night sky. The stars sparkled like pinpricks in black velvet. ”This place is the center of it all. Of that, I’m sure. I’ve made some progress, but I’ve concerned myself with more mortal matters as of late. Power and wealth and the sort. Soon, I think I shall acquire both.”
Kuja tossed his loose hair over his shoulders and hummed to himself in thought. ”I’ve started to wonder if it might not be better to remain here on this world. I must say, it is far easier to start clean than it would be to return to a reputation of infamy. And if time is really so fluid...If there’s an ending I’ve forgotten…” Kuja felt his lips purse. ”Well, then I suppose my work there is already done. I would like to have remembered it though. Leaving it like this is…unsatisfying.”
Kuja muffled his own scowl as he turned to face Mateus again. The sight of him brought the shadow of a smirk to his lips. There were some who could adapt better than others.
”And you? I see you’ve met, well, challenging times.”
Something had changed since last he had talked to Kuja. Where once his pride would have been wounded by Kuja's inference that he had become a street urchin, now Mateus took the comment without more than a slight hmpf. Between Celes and Sherlotta, Mateus had had to grow a thicker skin or his own sense of self worth would have left him frozen and dead on the mountain's side. Perhaps, that something that had changed was that he knew the contempt that people could spew at him, but at the same time he could show indifference to it at this point.
"Then it seems we've come for the same purpose." Matt added when Kuja agreed he was here for more answers. He believed Kuja had the right idea that this was the place where everything would come together eventually. It was the place he had awoken to in this world, and the place he felt himself tugged to now he had more questions than answers. Mateus inhaled sharply as the crystal burned against his chest once more. The crystal knew its secrets should be found here too.
"To start anew," Matt mused more to himself than to Kuja. "Would you create again the path you followed, or perhaps branch down a different one given the choice." A question once again more for himself than it was for Kuja. Still he was interested in the other's answer if he heard him. He had met so many people displaced that had to start over that had chosen to make due with their circumstance he wondered if he could do the same. Still, the knowledge this realm wasn't unified caused him to suck at his cheek
"Yes this world has provided its challenges," he though wistfully of all the trials he had been through. Rubbing his fingers together he felt the blanketed warmth of the curative magic he had learned on the mountain while at the the same time the crystal burned against his chest like a ring heated in the sun. "But challenge provides its own rewards if you rise to the occasion. My attire now can account for that," Matt pulled the crystal from under his wardrobe and let it dangle in front of his clothing. Its red light pulsated wildly against the calm cool colors of the gate.
"Strange how your lust for answers did not take you to the tower with its azure beam ablaze for all to see," Mateus mused knowing for once he may have something over this pompous sorcerer. "Alas the challenges of this world may have finally produced fruit for me." Mateus held his crystal shard aloft for Kuja to see. He'd be a fool to let him have it but perhaps in his own studies he would have yearned for it. "A promise of power it was, but when the reward was reaped it presented itself in such a form. Perhaps you know something of its origin and perhaps it might provide you with some answers of your own?" Mateus gave a courteous smile He'd allow Kuja to examine the piece of crystal but he left still attached at his neck. The crystal pulsated a wild crimson in his hand. It knew its use was soon to be discovered.
"To start anew,” the emperor said and then paused thoughtfully. ”Would you create again the path you followed, or perhaps branch down a different one given the choice?”
”Me?” Kuja echoed. ”There’s nothing to change.” Kuja’s lips curled into something between a smirk and a scowl. What had there been but destruction or death? No, Kuja would change nothing if only because there hadn't been a question. Would he lie down and accept his fate or would be rebel against it? There had been nothing to consider. ”No, if I were to somehow fall back in time, I would do it all again. Such a cyclical and pointless fate, but my choices were my own. I wouldn’t retract them.” Kuja’s eyes wandered back to the emperor. ”Though I wonder of you.” He smiled faintly then. To whom did his choices belong?
"Yes this world has provided its challenges, but challenge provides its own rewards if you rise to the occasion."
Kuja raised his eyebrows in surprise. That was the last thing he’d have expected from a man with so little self-awareness as this. Kuja tilted his head, smirking once more. ”Oh yes,” he said. ”I’ve always despised those who were merely handed their status. They will do anything to deny their own good fortune -- too weak to admit that their ill-gotten strength is but a facade. I would much rather a man who started with nothing, though I take no end of amusement watching the self-importance of the nobility crumble to dust.”
Kuja paused. There was that pulse of power again. He turned to search for it and this time found it wasily. A shard of some jewel or another, glowing in an eerie red. His eyes caught in an almost predatory focus. What secrets did it hold?
"Strange how your lust for answers did not take you to the tower with its azure beam ablaze for all to see." The man’s tone was almost mocking, his eyes bright with satisfaction. Kuja felt his lips thin.
”Why rush to the public eye when others will doubtlessly reach it on their own?” Kuja’s gaze cooled as he eyed the jewel shard. An eidolon piece, perhaps? It looked nothing like Alexander. ”Besides, I act only on my own whims and no one else’s. Though it’s fortunate that so many are willing to become pawns in another’s game.”
The memory still burned hot to the touch. A voice -- so familiar, why was did it fill him with hate? -- seizing his mind in all its merciless might. He’d stumbled and fallen to his knees, gritting his teeth against the pounding of his head. Garland. The thought came on instinct and stole his breath, but no. This was a different master that sought to claim him as its own. His hands had tightened until his nails drew blood. No. That would be its final mistake.
"Alas the challenges of this world may have finally produced fruit for me." The would-be emperor held the shard aloft as though to display the full extent of its power. He did not remove it from his neck, however, and Kuja fought the urge to snatch it away. ”A promise of power it was, but when the reward was reaped it presented itself in such a form. Perhaps you know something of its origin and perhaps it might provide you with some answers of your own?"
Kuja let out a breath. The man would be a fool to trust him, and an even greater fool to reveal his own prize. That meant that he was truly clueless as to its true nature. He was nothing but a mindless pawn.
”I have a history with jewels such as those.” Kuja tried to keep his voice steady. He wondered how much of his hunger slipped through the cracks of his control. ”At first glance, I’d assume it’s a summoner’s stone, but I can’t know for certain.” He smirked humorlessly. ”Do you mind?” It wasn’t a question. He stepped forward and eyed the stone closer. Its power was almost palpable now, a tension in the air that hummed at his fingertips. The man must have lacked any aptitude in magic not to sense it crying out for release. Kuja paused before reaching out to touch its surface.
Its power was like an electric shock. It surged through him, racking his body with pain and magic and something else -- colors in a flood of cool blue, glistening orange, and crimson red. The red was what lingered. A burst of shattering light and a swathe of feathers that scattered like raindrops or was he falling? He felt the whistling of wind, the nausea of vertigo, and then-
This is not yours to take.
Kuja recoiled away, breaths uneven, heart pounding. He raised his hand defensively as he stared at the thing. Had it just rejected him?
His laughter started quiet, weak behind the back of his hand. Then it grew louder as his fingers slid up to tangle through his hair and louder still as he tilted his head back in wild abandon. So that was the way of it. He would gain nothing at all after all of his plots and his schemes and his self-acquired magic while this worthless nothing of a man-
Was awarded for his obedience like a dog praised for learning a new trick. His tongue soured with disgust. That power would never be his.
His laughter faded as his hand fell back to his side. If that was the price to pay then he had little interest. Though Kuja had yet to find a barrier without some way to breach it.
”It seems that your crystal has chosen its master.”And so had Mateus. That pitiful wretch of a man.”It carries a frightening power, though I doubt its at full strength in that form. Even so, I think I can help to unlock its secrets. Without touching it, of course.” Kuja’s expression bittered as he looked to the jewel again. His fingers were still trembling, and he clasped them together to keep them steady. ”But I’d want something in return. Nothing too arduous, of course, but merely a fraction of your spoils. I have no doubts it can grant you the power you seek, but its magic seems disposable. It longs to free itself, and I doubt the same spell would work twice. If you should use it for your own gains, you would need more than that magic to sustain you. You’d need something more...An army perhaps…”
Kuja let his eyes drift from the emperor to the waxing moon. ”If given the chance, would you repeat your old ways? I wonder.” Kuja looked back to Mateus and smiled. ”If it’s power you seek, I can grant it to you and provide you with all the means to protect it. You can have your fame and your status -- I care little for such things -- but you would share with me your wealth and listen when I advise you. What’s been given can so easily be taken away.”
Kuja straightened, tilting his head in inquiry. ”Well?” The question was shrouded in shadow and the silver reflections of the moon. ”What is your answer?”
How dull. Mateus let a few hmms escape him as he listened to Kuja answer to the question he had posed rhetorically. Matues listened and thought of Kuja a man doomed to his own sense of accomplishment even knowing his fate was damned. How foolish could one be to retrace their path and not to seize the chance to remedy the mistakes in their flawed plans and enhance the perfected ones. Mateus only smiled and gave a slight shake of his head when the question was directed back towards him.
Mateus grit his teeth as Kuja only barely concealed his contempt for him and his former title. How little he knew, and how quickly he was to judge. The things he had done to become an Emperor. Yes, he had been given the advantage of being the king's son, but it was he who had elevated their land beyond the mountains. He who had taken his father's life in the middle of the night when the man had spent his usefulness. He who made the pact with Satan for power. He who had subjugated the land through his political and engineering might and prowess. Mateus may have been handed the silver platter, but he had been the one to fill it with a feast.
Pawns in another's game. Mateus could have laughed if he didn't the answers about the crystal. So this was how Kuja saw him and everyone else. Just pawns being moved about a chessboard, and he not part of the game. Luckily, chess was a game Mateus was more than good at, and one he was willing to play against one who thought himself off the board.
And then Kuja grabbed the crystal.
Mateus shook where he stood, but it wasn't an unpleasant feeling at first. The divider in front of him was gone and instead he was in a vision of blue. "To remember your deeds," a calm cool voice lamented the same voice as the blue from the tower's summit. The just as suddenly a vision of pink. The voice of his mother rang in his ear soft, sweet, and full of love, "To forget what you have wrought." And lastly a sea of blood red and the migraine inducing roar of a beast, "To reclaim your power once more."
The visions ended as Kuja had been flung from him by a force not his own. The crystal slammed forcefully against his chest as Mateus tried to rid himself of the headache that had been so sudden and just as quickly gone as he looked at Kuja sprawled on the ground. Mateus gave his own short laugh at the man before him. A piece of the game rejected from the board he didn't think he was on.
Still he tried to play.
Matues listened as Kuja promised him power as if the crystal's rejection was but just a trifle to be ignored in lieu of him. It was much too obvious a trap, a bishop waiting in hiding to ambush the king if he were to take the easiest piece. There had been a reason Mateus had never had a royal advisory. Those who aided power sought that same power in the end. Mateus would not make that mistake here. He knew what he wanted.
"No." it was simple, it was curt, and it was fast as Mateus crushed the crystal in his palm. The ensuing energy and red light pulsated through the divider's stones as Mateus was flung backwards a few feet before he slowly rose in the air, the black magic crackling at his fingertips. A power he had once forgotten now returned.
So offended and yet he kind of likes Mateus more now
Why should the world exist without me?
Kuja had often prided himself on his understanding of lesser minds. He’d often toyed with nobility, charmed his way into the arms of wealth, and derided those he thought not worth his time. Only rarely had he mistaken one classification for another, but it wasn’t unheard of that he’d misjudge a person on first sight -- particularly when his own disdain might have clouded his assumptions.
The emperor looked back coldly into Kuja’s eyes, and in that moment, Kuja realized he’d been wrong. His stomach turned and his expression soured before Mateus could even say the word, ”No.”
Before Kuja could so much as scowl, the emperor had reached towards his jewel and brought it tight within his fist. Kuja’s eyes widened as the man’s intentions became clear, and he reached out a hand to stop him. ”Don’t-!” was all he could manage before there was a sharp crack and magic burst from the man in a tidal wave of light and heat. Kuja raised an arm against it, quickly throwing up a protect spell that kept him just barely rooted in place as the emperor was sent flying back into the surrounding stone. As the air cleared, the magic dissipated but didn’t leave completely. No, there was a new hum stemming from somewhere before him. A constant one, low and pulsing with the natural rhythm of a heartbeat.
As the emperor stood, he brought his hand before him and willed violet sparks to his fingertips. Kuja straightened himself, letting out a short breath through his nose as his eyes narrowed.
There was no doubt, he’d misjudged this Emperor Mateus. He was not quite so weak-willed as he’d once seemed, and not so cautious either.
”Perhaps you have chosen your own path.” Kuja crossed his arms, glancing at him over his shoulder. ”You could have done it more intelligently though. That crystal could have been capable of any number of things -- powering a spell to threaten civilizations, summoning forth a beast to do your bidding, twisting the wills of men to your desires. Now we’ll never know. Though I suppose I should bid you congratulations on your magic.” Kuja cast him a bitter smirk before tossing his head aside.
”If that’s all then I suppose I’ll be going. There are many more with far weaker pride and a far stronger lust for power. I do have an army to make use of, after all, and I don’t intend to let this world rest.” Kuja started to leave before pausing, looking up thoughtfully. ”Your methods were stupid, but the sentiment…” He let out a short, humorless laugh. ”Perhaps you’re not the witless, spoiled dog I thought you were. There are two kinds of people, after all. You might be in the better minority.” He gave the emperor a dismissive wave without looking at him. ”Enjoy your spells. I have better things to do and lesser people to do them through. Until we meet again.”
Kuja left then without waiting to hear if the emperor would respond. He hated being wrong and he hated losing out on power even more, but there was something almost satisfying in the man’s reaction. “No.” It was such a simple word and yet it was one that lost no power in its brevity. It was, in essence, the spirit of rebellion and Kuja couldn’t help a weak stirring of respect in its use. The man had realized the game and rejected it in a way that would leave Kuja nothing but useless dust for his effort. It was a foolish plan. An idiot’s plan, and yet…
Could he say that he wouldn’t do the same? Perhaps with more subtlety. Perhaps after unlocking the crystal’s true power, but in essence, he would have rejected it just as strongly.
Kuja smirked to himself as he eyed the distant stars alone in their vast darkness. In the end, there were only two kinds of people -- those who succumbed to the desires of others and those who did not. It was only his immense misfortune that he had stumbled across one of the latter.
The magic warmed him as he felt it course through his veins. The sweet intoxication of it stirred him as he ran the purple tinged electricity beneath his chin. It was a warmth he had missed; the curative magic he had learned on the mountain top always felt so cool like an icy finger running down this spine. But this was his magic not a strangers. The magic he had studied long and hard in the library of the Castle Palamacia. The magic that both pleased his father and made his mother turn her eyes downward when he had shown her.
Mateus let Kuja try to tell him the choice he had chosen was wrong without a word. He simply smiled at the backhanded compliments and felt the crack of electricity bubble at his fingertips unable to stop summoning it like a child with a toy that had been taken away for too long. Even if Kuja were right and he had squandered the magic on nothing but his own magic, it was his. He would no longer be a burden to others having to rely on the kindness of stranger's to fight his battles for him.
"Until we meet again," Mateus mimed as Kuja sauntered away from him. For all of the reactions Mateus thought his rejection would accrue, a few more insults and a goodbye had not been in his thoughts. It was almost like a dog with its tail between its legs when caught doing something bad if a dog had grace about it. Stranger still, it seemed he had not made himself much of a foe, unless that was left unsaid, but a friendship neither had been forged. It would be interesting what that man would busy himself with now. Mateus smiled to himself as he turned after watching Kuja walk for awhile. The bid for power had angered him so, but that anger had fueled him into a decision and power amidst his own floundering none the less. "Thanks," he said to a man too far gone to hear.
