I liked my life as priest. Serving Mother was actually really fun. The others would get mad at me when I acted too childish though, especially Seymore sama. It wasn't my fault though. I heard Mommy and Daddy tell the church when they brought me here that I was mentally stuck at the age of seven. The church didn't seem to care at the time and I was welcomed in. I made a few friends quickly, mainly Zachary, Cloud, and Rozelinda. Zachary had a talent for getting himself into trouble, as he normally just completely ignoring the rules, never acting proper when required. He was too laid back, better suited for the normal world than church life. He told me that he was only there becuase the athouritiies thought the church would do him some good, not that it really helped. He was just as bad, if not almost worse for being forced into this life. But he was fun to be around and he always made me laugh when he pulled a prank or whatever he had done. I was perfectly happy with my life, that is until the SOLDIERs came.
I had been in the garden, helping Aerith with the flowers when Kunsel came in. "Greetings Kadaj, Aerith. All are required to show at the front hall."
I looked up at him. "What's going on Kunsel?'
"SOLDIERs have come. They are going to take some of us with them."
My eyes widened in shock. "But I don't want to leave. I like it here."
"You might not be chosen Kadaj. We have to go now though." he turned and walked out.
I looked at Aerith and walked out slowly.
I saw everyone lined up, waiting. Then I saw THEM. The SOLDIERs. There was seven of them, all males. Two of them stood out to me. Both were tall, but that wasn't what caught my eye. They both had silver hair like me. I was shocked. I had thought that just my family had silver hair, though I couldn't be related to them. I stood in line with everyone while Seymore sama talked to the blonde male. The blond man looked at the taller silver haired man and nodded to him. He walked towards us and I immediantly looked down. I could hear him walking around before stopping in front of someone. They didn't talk but I heard them begin to move. I glanced up to see Cloud following the man. He looked scared, and I didn't blame him. The man looked scary. I looked up to see who was going next. The next man was a bald man with sunglasses. He looked scary too. I watched him walk straight to Reno. I wasn't very good friends with him, but I knew that he was normally Zackary's partner in crime when he was causing trouble. He actually looked happy to go with the bald man. The next man who went looked a bit like Zackary. He was bigger and his hair was a little different, but other than that, they looked like they could be related. I wasn't actually surprised when he picked Zackary. I looked as two of my friends had been picked, hoping they wouldn't take Rozelinda too. I looked back to see who was coming now. It was a man with black hair pulled back into a ponytail. He walked up to Elena, one of the higher up priestess'. She was a nice lady, and I hoped he would be nice to her. He certainly acted like a gentleman as he led her over to where the others were standing, offering his arm to lead her. I looked back to see who was coming, seeing as only three men were left. It was the other silver haired man who was walking along. I suddenly felt the need to look down, worried he would pick me. I stared at the ground and listened as he walked, coming closer to me. I tensed when I heard him stop in front of me. 'Please don't pick me. Please don't pick me. Please don't pick me.' I chanted it in my head like a mantra, hoping it would keep me safe. No such luck. "You, silver hair. Let's go." his voice was very light, almost like a girls. I looked up at the man, meeting his bright green eyes. I followed him slowly, looking at Rozelinda for help as we walked by her. She looked at me sympathetically as I walked by, almost making me cry. The man led me over to the others, and I watched as a red haired man took his pick. To my delight and my fear, he picked Rozelinda. I started to walk towards her until the man who had picked me stopped me. "Stay here. You can go see your friend later. Now, what's your name?"
I looked down. "Kadaj."
"Yazoo."
"Yazoo, what are you going to do with us?" I looked up at him, feeling a bit better knowing his name.
"Did they not tell you? We're taking you as mates."
I looked at him in shock, now terrified to be near him. I wanted to run to Rozelinda so badly, to run to her comfort, but I couldn't. Yazoo looked at me, smiling. "Are you afraid now Kadaj?" I gulped and tried to look brave, though my eyes probably gave me away. "No, I'm ok."
He bent down so he was close to me. "Really now? Because your eyes tell me different. You're teriffied. I'm willing to bet you've never even touched your self. It's probably against the rules or whatever." I gulped and looked away, staring at the ground instead of looking at him. I heard him laugh and then I heard someone start to talk to our group. "Ok, let's go. Sephiroth, will you lead the way please?"
I looked up to see the blonde man who had been talking to Seymore sama standing in frot of the group. I watched as the other silver haired man noded and started to walk away, Cloud walking next to him. I followed slowly next to Yazoo, wishing I could just run back to the church where I belonged. I began to cry silently as we walked, knowing that I was doomed. I wondered what I had done to upset Mother that she forced me into that situation.
The walk was long. We were only about half way there before I collapsed to the ground, unable to take another step I was so exhausted. No one else stopped, or so I thought. Someone knelt in front of me and tipped my head up to look at them. It was Yazoo, his green eyes full of concren. "Are you alright Kadaj?"
"I can't go any further Yazoo. I'm sorry." He sighed before turning away from me. "Get on." I looked at him in shock. "What?"
"My back. Get on. I'll carry you until you get your strength back."
I climbed onto his back slowly, wrapping my legs around his stomach and throwing my arms around his neck. "I don't think you can carry me though."
He laughed as he stood up with no problem. "I may be small but I'm much stronger than you think." he began walking after the group.
I rested my head against his back, inhaling his scent. He smelled like the forest. It was oddly calmikng and I drifted off to sleep on his back.
When I woke up I was on a cave floor, laying on some fur pelts. I looked around and saw Yazoo sitting near me. I sat up, alerting him that I had woken. "Bout time you woke up. I was staring to think you were in a coma or something."
I looked around again. "Where are we Yazoo?"
"Our little cave sight. We each have our own dens. This is ours."
I look down. "So then, you were serious about the mating thing?"
"Yeah."
"But, I'm a guy, so are you. How can we have children?"
"Rufus said that the guy with the weird blue hair said that almost everyone in that church has the carrier gene. You CAN have kids Kadaj, and I plan to make sure we do." he put a hand on my thigh.
I flinched and looked away. "But..."
"Relax. I know you haven't done anything before so I'll take it easy the first time."
I forced myself not to cry in front of him, but I was so scared. I didn't want to be there, I wanted to be home in the church, with my family. I did NOT want to bear children. "Please, Yazoo. Let me go home. I don't want to bear children, I don't want to live in a cave. I just want to go home to my family."
"We're your family now Daj. There's no going back."
I didn't care anymore. I let myself cry, taking in his words. I would never see my home again, my beautiful church. I heard Yazoo move closer to me, pulling me into his arms. I fought weakly against him before just giving up to cry on his chest. He rubbed my back gently, trying to calm me. It wasn't going to work though. I hated him. I hated them all. They took us from ou9r home, our family, and they didn't even care. I knew I needed to find a way out of here. I would have to talk to the others and make a plan to escape back to the church.
After awhile I dried my tears and stood, walking out of the den with Yazoo behind me. Everyone else was around a large fire that had some kind of meat roasting on it. I saw Rozelinda sitting with the red head and I ran over to her. She stood and hugged me, pulling me down to sit with her. I buried my face in her shoulder. "Oh Rozelinda. This place is horrible. I wanna go home."
She rubbed my back. "Shh, it's alright Kadaj. It'll be ok, I promise. These people won't hurt us."
I looked up at her. "They want us as mates Rozelinda..."
She rubbed my back more. "I know Kadaj. Genesis has already told me that. He told me everything. He told me that Rufus, the blond one, said that this was Seymore sama's idea."
"What? Why would he do this?"
"I don't know Kadaj, but we're here now so we may as well make the best of it. Which means acting like they do. Genesis said that we should shorten our names to help fit in. He says I should go by just Roze."
"I like that. It's pretty."
"It is. Zackary has already shortened his name down to Zack and seems perfectly happy with Angeal, the man who picked him."
"Who are the other people?"
"Well, the bald man is Rude. He seems nice, but he's very quiet. The man with the long black hair is Tseng. He's very polite. I almost forgot that he was not one of us. I guess he was not a SOLDIER, but a turk. So was Rude. The other silver haired man other than Yazoo is Sephiroth. He's a very...strict man. He doesn't seem mean though. This idiot is Genesis. He's very nice."
Genesis looked at me and smiled. "Im not an idiot Roze, just different. And you forgot the big man. The blond is Rufus. He's the big man becuase he's a Shinra. I'm sure you guys have heard of Shinra Electric Company."
I nodded. "So then, he's the one who runs it?"
"Ran it before the big apocolypse, yeah. His dad started it."
"Oh. So then, are you all SOLDIERs except for Tseng and Rude?"
"Almost yeah. Yazoo is a remnant of Sepiroth, though he was human to begin with. Speaking of who. How do you like Yazoo? He can be kinda bi poiar sometimes but he's a good guy."
"I hate him. I hate you all, although you seem nice..."
"Hey don't worry about upseting me. I've had alot worse said to and about me. And We're sorry about taking you all. It was your big leaders idea, not ours."
"I wish I knew why Seymore sama would do this to us though." I started to cry again and buried my head in Rozes shoulder. "I don't know Daj but it could be a good thing. Yazoo really seems to care. He even carried you the rest of the way here. He would have left most people to rot or to get lost. He took care of you though. That's a rare event. Take what you can kiddo."
"I don't even want to be here though. I want to go home to the church."
"And I told you that this is your home now Daj. Now quit your annoying whining." Yazoo walked over next to us. I flinched as he sat next to me, pulling me away from Roze to set me in his lap. I fought back against him, even though I knew that I was no match for him. "I don't care what you said. I hate you for taking me from my life." "I'm sorry Daj but you have to get over it. Besides, the life you have here will be so much better."
"How will it be better?"
"First of all, you don't have to act all proper anymore. You can relax and be yourself."
"But all I've ever known was the church though. I don't know any different."
"Then you better learn Daj or you'll be out of place here."
"But I don't want to be here! I wanna go home!" I struggled to get out of his grasp.
He simply laughed and pulled me closer, tighter. Roze put a hand on my shoulder. "Relax Kadaj. You'll be safe here. Be glad you have someone to love you. Back at the church we weren't allowed to love remember? Now we can."
"But I don't love him. I hate him for taking me from my home." "You will learn to love him boy. Now cease your annoying whining. It's giving me a headache." I looked up to see the other silver haired man, Roze said his name was Sephiroth. I instantly felt afraid of him, so I looked down. "Sorry Sephiroth. I'll be good."
"You don't have to be good, just stop whining." he sat near us. "Oh be nice Seph. The kids confused. He has every right to be mad." Rozes mate said, Genesis was his name.
"Oh shut up Gen. You only say that to get in good terms with your mate."
"Not true. I'm already in good terms with her. And her name is Roze."
"Whatever Gen."
"Well wheres your mate? What was his name? Cloud?"
"Yeah. He's sleeping right now. The walk exhausted him."
"Ah. Well, you should be nicer to Yazoo's mate. He's not a bad kid, just scared."
"Eh, whatever." I drifted out of the conversation, off into my own little world. I was back at the church, perfetly happy. I was with Roze, as usual. Too bad I could never go back to those times. I never had a chance to tell her my secret, and there was no way I could tell her now.
I was finally pulled from my little world after a while. Looking around, I saw that everyone had shown up and were all sitting around the fire. Everyone was talking amongst themselves, that is until the blond got everyones attention. They all quieted and looked at him. "Ok, I honestly have to say that working with the church went better than I imagined. I was expecting it to go alot rougher, but it went smoother than alot of my old deals. Anyways. Since everyone seems to get along, I say we just go ahead with stage one tonight. Any disagreements?"
No one disagreed, and I wondered what 'stage one' was. The SOLDIERs seemed to know what it was though as they stood, almost one by one, and walked off with the person they had choosen. Eventually it was just Roze, Genesis, Yazoo and I left. We were all quiet, none of us really moving either. Yazoo was the first to move, standing up, pulling me up with him. "Well Genesis, good luck with Roze. She seems very strong willed. I'm going to take Kadaj back to our den for our 'stage one'" he smiled.
I looked at him. "Um...Yazoo, what's stage one?"
"Oh you'll see." he pulled me towards the den. I looked back at Roze, hoping she'd help me. She just gave me a reassuring smile and looked back at Genesis. I frowned, having expected her to stick up for me. Upset, I didn't even try to fight Yazoo off as he pulled us into the den and sat us down on the pelts that served as a bed. I did, however, jerk away when I felt him moving my hair away from my neck. "W..what are you doing?"
He smirked. "'Stage one', marking."
"Marking?" I back away from him slowly.
"It's exactly what the title is. I leave my mark on you, claiming you as mine. No one else can touch you after."
I backed up more as he stood up and walked towards me slowly. Unfourtunately for me the den was small and I quickly ran into the wall. I had no where else to run, and no one would come help me if I called. He advanced on me quickly. "Y...Yazoo. Please don't..." I shut my eyes tight and let myself slide down the cave wall to the floor.
I heard him kneel in front of me. He cupped my chin and tipped my head up. "Why do you hate me so much Kadaj?"
I opened my eyes to glare at him. "Because you took me from the only life I ever knew. I was happy there, we were all happy there."
"Are you so sure? Some of your friends seem happy to be away from there. I think there's more to this then you're letting on. Was it the church you liked or someone there?"
I feel my face go red. "N..no. No we weren't allowed to have feelings for other people. Even if we did there was nothing we could do. We couldn't act on them so there was no point."
"You didn't answer my question. Was it a someone that you liked?"
"It doesn't matter anymore."
"That's a yes. So I take it that she didn't come with us?"
I didn't answer him. There was no way I could. He couldn't know. No one could.
FLASHBACK
"Zackary?" I looked into the room.
Zack sat up on his bed. "Oi? What's up Kadaj?"
"Um, well, can I talk to you?"
"Course. Come on in kiddo."
I walked in, shuttinng the door behind me. I walked over and sat on the bed next to him. "So, what's up little man?"
"Well, I know we aren't supposed to, but I kinda like someone."
He laughed. "Ain't no big deal Daj. Everyone likes someone at one point in their lives, unless you're asexual, then, well, that's another story."
I looked at him, giving him the do-you-have-a-point look. He laughed. "Sorry, I get off track easily. Anywasys, it's no big deal. There's no rule saying you can't like someone. You just can't do anything with them. You can tell them though. Who is it?" "Well..."
"Come on Daj. You can tell me. I won't make fun of you or anything."
"Well...it's Rozelinda."
His face went dead serious when I said that. "Kadaj. I think you should just forget about it."
"But you just said..."
"I shouldn't have said that. I'm serious though Kadaj. Just forget it"
I could feel the tears coming to my eyes so I got up and ran from the room and straight to mine."
END FLASHBACK
I looked at Yazoo. He was giving me a strange look. "What?"
"You zoned out for a minute there. You weren't responding to me." he said.
"Oh. I was just...thinking. I'm sorry."
"Well you know, you never answered me. Was she someone we left behind?"
"No..." I said quietly. "Well, now we're getting somewhere. So it's someone we brought. Well let's see. There's Elena, Yuna, and Roze. There ain't alot to pick from. Let's see. I can't imagine it's Yuna. She seems too uptight for you. Elena doesn't seem your type either. She's just plain weird. That leaves Roze. Am I right?"
I look away, not answering him. "I'll take that as a yes. So why didn't you ever tell her?"
"I couldn't. I asked Zack what I should do, but he told to just forget it, even though he said not two minutes before that I should tell who ever it was. I was too scared too."
"So that's why you're so against me marking you. You think you might have a chance to tell her now."
I shake my head. 'No. She seems happy with Genesis. Now I really can't tell her."
"Well you know what. I'm not heartless, despite what you may think about me. I'll give you a week to get used to the idea of being here. Once the week is over I'll mark you."
"Really?" I looked up at him, shocked.
"Sure, why not." he stood up and walked to the bed. "Well are you going to sit against the wall all night and freeze or are you going to come to bed and stay warm?"
I stood and walked over, laying next to him. He reached over and pulled me close to him so I was against his chest. I was tempted to move away, but he felt so warm, so safe, that I couldn't bring myself to do it. I drifted off quickly with him holding me.
I woke up to the same sight I fell asleep to. Yazoo laid next to me, his arms wrapped tightly around me. It felt so safe, so warm that I almost forgot why I couldn't accept this. I tried to push myself up and out of his grip, but it was too strong. I just had to wait till he woke up and let me go. Till then, I was almost perfectly content to lay there in his arms. By the time Yazoo woke up I had fallen asleep again. He shook me lightly to wake me. "Oi, Daj. Wake up sleepy head." I rolled over, or at least tried to. "Leave me be. I wanna sleep." He laughed. "Ok ok Daj." he slipped away from me, covering me back up with the blankets we had. I fell back asleep and slept for another few hours.
When I woke the next time I was alone. I was thankfull for the peace as I sat up, last nights memories flooded back to me. Yazoo had given me a week. In that time I had to escape, even if it was on my own. Since I didn't know the land I had to either trick one of the SOLDIERs into leading me out of the forest or get one of them to show me around. First things first though, I had to get something to eat. Standing up, I walked out to the mian area. Everyone from the church was sitting around the fire, the SOLDIERs no where to be seen. "Hey guys. Where are the others?"
They all looked up. "They went hunting. A few of them will take us gathering later." Roze stood and walked over to me. "Did you sleep well Kadaj?"
I nodded. "So they'll be taking us out into the forest then?"
"Yeah. The guys will hunt while we'll gather gather berries and roots and stuff like that." she led me over to the group.
"Oh. That should be boring." in truth it sounded perfect. "How often will we go out?"
"Genesis said two or three times a week."
Perfect. I could learn the forest and then run on the third day. It would be simple. While the others talked I began to plan. I could take some of the pelts for warmth, store some of the berries and maybe some meat. I could be back home before the half moon. I'd be home for the festival of the lifestream.
The next few days were hectic. Yazoo left me alone for the most part, which I was glad for. I learned the basics of the forest on the two trips we took. Friday we would take the last trip of the week. That was my last chance to escape before Yazoo went to mark me. I wished I'd had more time to learn the forest, but this was it. I had stashed some berries and some meat in a little bag I'd found. The plan was to slip away during the gathering trip and hide in a little cave I'd found until dark. Then I could slip away and make a run for the church. Simple. If only things could be that easy.
We left early for the trip. It was the same everytime. We all gathered in the main area and waited for Tseng and Rude to come take us out. This time we got a surprise though. Angeal and Yazoo walked up. My mind scrammbled. If Yazoo was coming then my plan would be ruined unless I could get away from him. Yazoo walked over to me and smiled. "The turks had other affairs to take care of so we'll be going with you guys this time. Are you ok with that Daj?"
"No but you're going to come anyways."
"Come on Daj. I've left you alone for the most part. Can't you be a little kind to me?"
"No. Look, just stay away from me on the trip ok? I like to work on my own. You'll just be in my way."
"Ok ok. I'll stay out of the way." he walked over to Angeal.
Strangly enough he kept his word and stayed away from me as I worked. I knew the trip wouldn't be long so I gathered what I could as quick as I could. I heard the others walking my way, so I bolted. My cave wasn't very far away thankfully and I made it to it before they saw me. I could hear them calling my name but I knew that tey just wanted to take me back to the den site. No, I wasn't going to answer them. The cave was slitghtly cold, so I pulled out one of the pelts I had snuck into my bag. I was cold but free. And lonely. All my friends were there at the den site. It didn't matter. I had other friends at the curch. Sure I didn't hang out with them much but they were still there. Like Aerith and Kunsel and Tifa. Yuffie and Vincent were there too. Things would be ok. And with those thoughts I fell asleep.
I woke up at dark. The cave was freezing and my joints were stiff from the cold. Slipping the pelt into my bag, I walked out of the cave. The night was peacefull and cloudless. I sighed happily, starting my long walk.
After what felt like hours, I was completey lost and frozen. I pulled a pelt out and wrapped it around me. I tried to think. The church was always North of the morning Star, so if I waited till the morning lights I was sure to find my way home. The trick was staying awake and alive till then. I was sure there would be monsters in these woods, ones that had survived the apocolypse. The higher I was most likely the safest I would be. I climbed up the closest tree and sat in the branches. Surely being in the trees would be the safest thing. I must have been have asleep when I decided that. About half an hour later I heard a growling behind me. I turned to look but couldn't see anything. I figured it must have been my stomach and pulled out a piece of meat. The growling got louder when I pulled out the meat. By that time I was getting scared. It wasn't me that the growling was coming from. The next thing I knew I was shoved from the tree. I had been up almost 3 stories, and on the fall down I hit all kinds of branches. By the time I hit the ground I was cut up, battered and bruised. I must have hit my head hard too because my vision was fuzzy. The monster jumped down next to me, and I heard it ripping apart my bag, tearing into my food. I had a bad feeling I was next if I didn't move. Slowly, trying to be quiet, I began to crawl away. Unfourtunately, the monster heard my movements and growled. It started towards me and I knew I was a goner. I had been an idiot, thinking I could run home to the church. Now I was going to be eaten alive by a monster I couldn't even see. The creature lunged at me and I covered my head with my arms, my last attempt at defense.