Home,Sweet Nest.(Kuja)

Talone was scowling some as she changed into a sun dress she bought in town until her salt water drenched clothes were clean. She wasn't expecting to leave Atlantica soaked in ocean water but didn't mind it as she didn't have any deliveries for the day. She stretched her wings to dry in the welcoming sunligt as she sat in the living room like nest of her forest home. She was drying some rabbit meat along with curing the furs for hides to sell at market. She could feel her wings dry quickly that she tried to take flight but couldn't as they were still damp.
"Never again am I going to Atlantica for as long as I exist."
She settled back down on a rabbit skin rug and began replacing the leather straps of her weapons before polishing the blades of salt.

Now Twilight Town has been lucky due to how it been visited by Kuja already once and still was in one piece and now it seemed safe from him, until he appeared again on the world through a darkness portal forged by some heartless he forced to work for him. When he walked out he looked around to see he was in the forest that belonged to Talone more or less and knew that he could find her soon enough if he just walked for a little while, but he never walks unless he wishes to and so he started to float over the ground and float around to what ever location he wanted.


After a only a few moments he finally saw the first part of Talone's tree home and so lifted himself up into the air to be at the right height to look around her home, he could sense her energies and knew to fly toward the largest part of her home which was a living room of sorts to her. When he finally reached the place he saw her working on her weapon and looking a tad bit wet at the moment, Kuja arched his eyebrow and said "Went for a little swim in Atlantica I see. Greetings Talone." he chuckled softly at his joke and waited for a response.

She looked over her shoulder to see Kuja chuckling at her still damp appearance. She put her weapons away and stood up. She bowed down slightly as she greeted him, a few drops of water coming from her hair."Hello Kuja. Yes I did just come from Atlantica thanks to trying to get a heartless to take me to Deep Jungle."
She grabbed a comb made of bone and ran it through her freshly washed hair to remove any remaining salt water. As she brushed her hair she looked back over to Kuja with her tail swaying slightly.
"So what brings you back to Twilight Town, and during the day at that?"
She put the comb away and smoothed the orange sun dress down so that it was just above her knees again. She then went over to look at how well the skins and meat was curing.

Kuja chuckled slightly for a few more moments until she talked said hello to him back and explained why she was in Atlantica in the first place, he nodded his head in understanding before saying "Yes it is a bit difficult to get the heartless to listen at times." He now sat in the air watching her comb her hair clean of salt water before she asked him why he was here, he looked at her and said "I am here on business my dear." he kept his eyes locked on her before saying "Ratchet seemed to have become quiet fond of you since meeting you, he always talks about you these days."

She froze for a moment at the mention of her innocent angel but continued with her chores. She tried to show little interest in the subject as she put some of the dried meat in a bag and took the skins down. She tied the bag closed as she walked over and gave the rabbit meat to Kuja.
"Here's a little treat for that dragon of yours. I didn't think the the little heartless would talk much of me in all reality. I'm guessing he made it home safe after our farewells that you mention him."
she could feel a small pain pull at her chest pretending she didn't care about the creature made of darkness. She moved back to her food store in a small hallowed piece of a tree and reached in searching for something. She didn't realize her tail was causing the dress to rise up as she dug further around in the food store. She finally found what she was searching for and pulled it out. I was a small stone box that looked to store valuables not food. She set it on a small area of the floor before starting to search it's contents.

Kuja notice the slight freeze up Talone did when he spoke of Ratchet and knew he hit a cord that was rather tender, he saw her fix up some food for Koutetsu to eat and so Kuja held the thing for a moment until it disappeared to his world. Kuja listened to her words and gave her a slight nod as he said "Thank you for the meat. Koutetsu will be happy to have some more of your cooked rabbit meat, and you couldn't be farther from the truth really. He is constantly chattering about you in such a loving tone, he speaks so highly of you that I am almost jealous. Almost that is, I find it refreshing for him to find a friend that isn't a machine he has made or a mindless heartless." He figured he has bother her enough with him at the moment as he watched her try to get something out of her food stores.

The only problem was that Talone's tail caused her dress to rise up and gave him a unrequested view of her panties to which he coughed uncomfortably as he had Yuffie and was not interested, when she was down looking and walked back to look through a box he looked at her and said, "I think you should avoid dresses my dear.....for tails tend to ruin their covering effect if you are not careful. If you understand my meaning." Kuja was warning her of this as some might try to take advantage of such a clothing malfunction.

She blinked a moment before realizing her dress must have Russian up when she was looking for the box. A faint blush crossed her face as she pulled out a chain with a ruby pendant on it. She got up and walked over to Kuja again as the blush was still on her features.
"All I could find in my size was this dress and I needed something dry to change into. Here, me and the heartless found this in a ship. I think the stone would suit you nicely."
She would have placed it around his neck for him but thought against it and just handed it to him. She then went back to the box and took the opal star hair pin out. She held it to her chest for a moment before putting it in her hair. She then went to place the box in the bottom of her food store but used her free hand to hold her dress down to prevent another embarrassing moment. She dusted her hands off and desided to bring up Ratchet.
"So what does Ratchet say about me exactly?"

Kuja waited for her to understand what he meant by that and when she finally blushed he figured the message got through to her brain, he saw her blushing while holding a pendant and explaining why she was wearing that dress and also told him about the ruby pendant. After giving it to him he placed it around his neck and found it did look good on him but it did clash with his purple clothing and caused it to disappear, he looked at her and said "Thank you for the gift, it looks good on me but seems to not work with this outfit. I will wear it again when I have the chance, as for your dress situation I will help you if only to ensure this doesn't happen again. I am already with someone and seeing such thinks makes me uncomfortable now days."

He watched her place a small opal star hairpin in her hair before she went to place the back back in the food store, though thankfully she didn't let the dress hike up by using her other hand to hold it down. When she asked about Ratchet he grinned inwardly before he said "Oh talked about how kind and loving you are, how you make him feel almost human again and not a heartless, how you made him like his own face once more, about how strong you are in battle, how brave you are, then he talks about how smart you are when it comes to survival skills, also goes on about how much he likes the sound of your voice, and then he goes on and on about how you look with it being how pretty or how cool you look. All in all you are a super hero to him, if I didn't know any better I would think he has a crush on you. But that would be silly talk."

She wanted to laugh the idea off of her little angel having a crush on her. She saw Ratchet more as her child than anything else. She thought of Kuja's offer on clothes as she looked at the dress and it's little edge of yellow trim. She sighed as she walked over to what seemed like a counter space and set some of her potion bottles on it, including the white medicine and purple wine bottle. She began emptying the white bottle as she began to talk.
"I wouldn't mind a different form of dress other than this drab thing. I'll make sure not to discomfort you again. now as for Ratchet, he seems more of a small child to me than anything else. He just seems to innocent to work for one of black blood."
She grabbed a bowl from under the counter format and placed various plants in it. She began to grind them down into a paste as she subconsciously hummed a tune.

Kuja made sure to not inform Ratchet of what Talone said at first as he figured that would not help him in anyway as it might simply depress the small mechanic as she then started to tamper with some bottles, soon after she finished talking about Ratchet and a new dress Kuja could see her making something medicinal.

He simply shook his head a slight bit as he said "Ratchet's personality hides his true mental age, his mind is sixteen years old and the only reason he seems to act so childish is that heartless do not reproduce like we do. Thus his body is without hormones to help make his mind think differently, it has to be kick started and I believe some how you seemed to have kick started his brain into growing up slightly while in Atlantica. What ever you did though is beyond me, as for your outfit I think I have a good idea."

Kuja snapped his fingers as one of his orbs appeared and flew at Talone like a shot but it quickly expanded and grew large enough to engulf her body in itself, soon her clothing were shifting and changing from a dress to something a bit more fitting for a woman of her stature. The orb soon burst to show Talone in her newest outfit and Kuja was pretty proud of himself for his work as he said "And there you go."

Spoiler:

She was taken aback yay he could trigger something such as growing up in some one that she stopped her work. When she was suddenly engulfed by an orb of energy. She could tell he outfit was being torn away and changed but felt much more comfortable in her new garb. She like how it was sleek black an the metal plating on her right shoulder and left hip. She felt rather odd that her dd that she had a sleeve on her left arm but other than that liked the change. She bowed he head as a thankyou before working on the medicine again.
"This is very suiting to my taste, thank you. Now if Little Ratchet saw me in this I think he would faint from what I have concluded. Could you please hand me that WalThissle up against the branch behind you? I ended up giving a friend of mine my last bottle of a wine my race makes and need to brew more."
She had finished making the paste and mix it in a bowl with boiling water to where it was a murky blue liquid. She then filled the white bottle with the mixture before tucking it away in her bag. She then uncorked the purple bottle and allowed the sour smell of WalThissle Wine fill the air as she boiled more water and set up a strainer in a separate bowl.

Kuja gave the young woman a slight bow of his head in return as he said "You're welcome my dear, and I concur that if Ratchet is indeed attracted to you that he would react strangely to your new outfit. Almost makes me want to call him here, but I don't need to run the risk of him falling out of the tree if he does pass out." He turned to look at the WalThissle she was talking about and lifted it up with some magic before giving it to her without touching a thing.

He watched her make her medicine and then smelled the scent of her special wine to which Kuja said "Such an interesting smell, never smelled the like before. Either way what should I do about Ratchet, should I allow him to continue to have this crush on him, tell him it is all but a dream, or would you rather be the one to tell him. It would be best to stop it while it is young wouldn't you agree?"

She calmly cut the WalThissle into more workable pieces before placin it in the pot of boiling water. She thought of the options she was given to try and be rid of the crush Ratchet had on her but she knew she didn't have the heart to tell her angel herself.
"I think it would be best for you to tell him as I think he'll freeze up if he see's me again. I can't believe I'm saying this but I don't have the heart to burst his little bubble."
She had her eyes closed while calmly stirring the slowly boiling wine. She added what looked like sugar but anyone that has talked to get before knows such a sweet doesn't exist in her cuisine. She walked away from it for a moment to wash out the bottles she had ready for it.
"As for this wine, it's made from a plant that comes from my home. It is extremely strong and one needs to learn to control time to age it correctly. I'm hoping Yuffie followed my instructions on consuming it..." she trailed off at the end when she heard the brew nearly boil over making her rush to pour it through the strainer so it could cool in the chilled bowl.

Kuja sighed a slight bit as he knew this would cause the heartless to freak but he did ask so he must do it, he figured it would be best to do it now and so he sent a mental message to Ryoko to tell the small heartless about the whole forget about Talone. He wasn't sure if Ryoko was the best person to do that but too late now, he looked at Talone and said "The massage has been sent, he should know in a manner or moments."

It was then that Kuja heard about Yuffie getting hold of that drink and well he just stared wide eyed at Talone before he finally said ".......Oh lord......." He placed his face in his hands before he continued "Yuffie is one of the worse people I know when it comes to drinking, she was the one to trick me into getting drunk with her. I'll make sure to get a hold of that wine before she accidentally hurts herself with it." Kuja was a little too busy worrying about Yuffie to care about the boiling over brew.

~Castle Oblivion~

Ryoko walked through the halls of the mostly empty castle as she would phase through a wall now and then to reach Ratchet's Lab located in the lower levels of the Castle. When she walked into the place she could see Ratchet running around working on many different machines with a pep in his step, and when he saw Ryoko he quickly walked over to her and said "Hey Ryoko." His face beaming and Ryoko sighed a bit as she knew that would end soon enough by saying, "Hey Ratchet, just to let you know your crush on Talone is a lost cause. The girl got no romantic interest in you, you are just a little kid to her. Sorry little man." she walked out after patting his head before she had to deal with Ratchet's reaction.

The little heartless stood there in shock for a moment as what he heard shook him to his core but soon the bright face he had darkened as he slumped forward with his head down low and his eyes never leaving the ground. He slowly dragged his feet to the power switch for the lab and when he switched it off the power started to shut down all around, as the lights faded out Ratchet disappeared into the shadows as a soft whimper could be heard. As the last light went out one could see a small crystal rose and a beautiful collection of feathers shine in the light, before they too disappeared in the Darkness when that light went out as well. When all was dark the only source of light was a dim yellow glow from Big Daddy as he did his rounds through the lab with a soft sad moan.

~Twilight Town~

Kuja got a mental message from Ryoko that she told Ratchet and said "He got the message now, I believe the crush he has is no longer there any more."

She didn't know why but she thought she could feel the little heartless fall apart at the seams. She started to distribute the brew into purple bottles when she graspped at her shirt where her heart was. She had never felt a guilt like this before as she was shaken to her own core of her little angel's pain. She tried to keep functioning with her task but ended up knocking a spoon to the nest floor.
"I hurt my innocent angel....me of all the people when I said I would protect him, I hurt him..."
She muttered these words under her breath as she cleaned up the mess she had made. Her eyes looked dull and her actions disconnected from the world around her. He wings even began to droop loosely around her as she sat down in the center of her rabbit fur rug.

Kuja was now growing bored until he noticed Talone grasp at her heart through her shirt and then she knocked a spoon into the floor before finally she muttered something but what he couldn't heard or tell. When she looked depressed and upset he figured that this had to do with Ratchet, after she sat down on her rug he landed on her floor and looked at her.

He let out a sigh before he said, "I'm going to guess that you have formed a bond with Ratchet and now you know how he reacted. I'm going to go out on a limb and say he didn't take the news too well......I knew I shouldn't of offered to let anyone but you tell him. Such things always work out better when it is kept between the two people, is there anything you wish to have done Talone? I could have him brought here so you can work things out with him, which at the very least would ease the pain you both are suffering." Kuja didn't care about the two but he needed his Mechanic working effectively and he needed the girl alive to gather more data on her kind.

At the mention of Ratchet her ears twitched and her wings picked up off the ground arounder her. The sad look in her eye could drown anyone that looked into them with a feeling of sorrow or pain. She latched her hand at her chest and nodded her head at the idea of Ratchet coming to her. Something strange was happening to her as her wings looked to have their feathers shrivel and fall out. She was slowly looking like an empty shell of her original self.
"Please let me see my angel...I have to make my angel ok...he has to be ok..."
Her first statement was clear but after that it was low and trailed off. More feathers began to fall and looked to form a ring around her as her body would shudder every now and then as if in pain.

Kuja smiled inwardly at how much of an effect little Ratchet has on this young woman and when she looked up at him and he looked into her eyes, well he could tell she was utterly depressed and he would of felt bad for her if he cared about her more that as potential ally. He noticed her hold her chest even more so and nod her head to his suggestion before he saw her wings start to change, as they were actually shriveling away and figured that the bond was very strong and could have negative effects on one another.

After listening to her statement about Ratchet he figured it would be best to bring him here now, and so he did as a darkness portal opened and Ryoko dragged Ratchet out of it and dropped him onto the floor. She was pissed as she said "Little bastard tried to claw my arm off. You take care of him now." Ryoko disappeared back into the portal while Ratchet just laid on the ground like a lump of shadows. But every once in a while a whimper could be heard from him as he was just depressed as one could get, it was bad enough to learn the crush was a no go but it really bothered him that it was because he was thought of as only a kid to her.

Kuja looked at the two and figured to float out of the way and to simply watch from above in the trees.

The instant she saw Ratchet dropped on the ground she rushed over to him in a flurry of dead feathers and tears. She picked him up daintily as she held him close almost humming a mournful tune. She didn't know why sue was like this but she was and she wanted to see the heartless's eyes smile and hear his laugh. It was almost to a point of maddness she cared. She draped her wings around them and allowed words to spill from her crying mouth.
"I never wanted to hurt you, you're my angel you shouldn't have to feel this hurt. I didn't expect you to fall foreign a cold monster, not me, I'm too battle scorn to be of that level of affection. I...I just don't know how to love like that..."
She let her whole body shudder and shake with each of her words. She was a complete mess now as she couldn't think anymore of what she should say but that Ratchet was the one with the choice. He was the one that powered this bond.

Kuja arched his eyebrows when he saw how quickly Talone rushed over to Ratchet and hold the heartless to her, Ratchet just let her hug her tightly but didn't move as he was conflicted on being happy that she is holding him and being sad that this was a lost cause. Ratchet then heard her call him her angel and talked about how she never wanted to hurt him, he finally moved to hold her back and let himself be the strong one for once though he did cry a bit as he didn't like to see Talone so sad.

When she finished talking he hiccuped a bit as he said "Y-you are not a cold m-monster *hic* not to me a-anyway.....you are a b-beautiful *hic* angel......and......and you m-much nicer to me than *hic* e-everyone else.....a-and I don't e-even have a heart...but *hic* I know that I-I like l-like you......" by now Ratchet had three feelings in his body. Embarrassment at telling Talone he pretty much likes her in a romantic way, sadness at seeing her so sad, and apprehension at what she will say to him.

She pulled her hug away some as to give him room to talk. A spark seemed tocome back in her eyes as he spoke so kindly of her even tough she hurt him. She held him close again as she rested her head atop his in a loving manner. She didn't allow herselfto cry S she reached for his face to hold his cheek in a caring manner.
"Such sweet words to me even though I hurt you means your feelings are to strong to be broken. I....I could learn to see you differently ...I just don't want to see such innocence full of saddness again....please forgive me..."
She laid a shaky kids in between his antennas as she held him close once more, not knowing what else to say to her sweet, completely innocent angel.

Ratchet sighed happily when he felt Talone rest her head atop his own in such a way, but when she held his cheek he leaned into it and smiled as it felt nice. Her words then made his eyes open an stare at her in shock before they became bright yellow once more and he smiled behind his scarf, his hug around her tightened as he now snuggled into her lovingly before he said "If y-you are happy then *hic* I am h-happy. T-there is nothing to f-forgive Talone. *looks at her with black tears of happiness* I am too *hic* happy to r-remember why I was sad in the first p-place."

When she kissed his head his body was pinkish and he gave her a kiss on the head though it was hard without lips, either way after that he was pink skinned now and looked funny as well as he was shyyyyyyyyy~ Kuja though had to hold back his laughter as a pink heartless looked quite funny actually.

She gave a soft smile as her wings lowly came back to life from the glow in his wyes to his words. She accepted the kiss to the head with a cheery giggle before looking at Ratchet to see he was no longer a black-purple color but pink. It puzzled her at first but she just took into thought he was blushing from her actions and words. She seemed to treasure the hug he gave her before finally setting him down infront of her. She looked restored to normal other than a Stray tear here and there on her face. She petted the top of his head gently and desided it was safe to make a comment on his new color.
"I never thought I'd see a pink heartless, but this one is too sweet to be cold to."
She smiled as she cleared away a few of his black years away from his face with her thumb. A content look on her face she looked up into the comply and called out to Kuja.
"You can come back down Kuja, all has been resolved."
As she said this she gave her angel yet another kiss atop the head.

Ratchet smiled even more so when he heard Talone giggle as it was pretty and when she put him down he just sort of fidgeted on the ground and looked down while blushing still, he looked up at her though when she petted his head but then she said something about a pink heartless and his eyes widened as he looked at himself to see she was right. He had turned pink from his blushing as he said "Ahhhh!!!*hic*hhh!!!" He did notice her wiping the happy tears off his face but then she kissed him on the head again and caused him to look at the ground and try his best to get his skin to go back to normal.

Kuja now had to chuckle before floating down to their level, he then looked at the two and said "You two make a rather odd couple, but then again Ratchet is still growing and so he might grow larger into a human type form. Or into a malogriff type form if he was to stay around you long enough Talone. But who knows." Kuja shrugged and waited for a response.

She quirked an eyebrow at the idea of Ratchet growing any bigger than he already was. She loved the fact that he was the befrect size for her to carry around and hold close. The thought of him having a more MaloGriff body puzzled her further. She then got up to pull a copper bottle containing a honey colored liquid out of her food store. She took a leaf and rolled it up to where it could function as a cup. She poured some of the liquid into the cup shaped leaf and handed it to Ratchet.
"Here, this should calm you down to where you return to your normal color. As for the shape changing into that of my race, I don't think that would be too good of an idea if he still wishes to work with metals. The body of MaloGriffs aren't meant to be contained to indoor spaces such as shops or labs, he would get too fidgety and gain random amount of energy from being cooped up all the time."
She was putting the copper bottle away as she said all this. She can remember clearly he childhood cramped in the apartment she live in with her parents and how she was always wanting out, feeling like a bird in a cage.