O, Brother, Where Art Thou?

by SakuraAkiko

Disclaimer: I do not own any Final Fantasy Characters, names, places, or whatever. That would be cool, but I can claim whoever I want at Iwannaclaim at livejournal. :D Anyway...

Chapter 1:

Kadaj slammed the door angrily behind him. Dust fell like rain from the chandelier above him. He scowled. Kadaj closed his eyes and leaned against the door. The message that he just received made him want to blow something up. It was not fair. Why did he always have to do what Mother said? He always seemed to listen to her anyway, but could he refrain from listening to her just this once? No, if he didn't do what she asked, then she would just get his older brother, Sephiroth, to do it.

A muffled voice from the other side of the door demanded his attention.

"Kadaj, open the door!" Loz whined.

Kadaj's scowl deepened. "Brothers…" he muttered under his breath. He turned back to the door, unlocked it and opened it with a fake smile plastered on his face. He bowed elaborately and opened the door wide, "Hurry. We've got work to do." And with that, Kadaj's smile disappeared.

Yazoo sneezed as he followed. Loz coughed loudly and said, "This place is so old. It has so much dust."

"Really?" Kadaj retorted.

Yazoo joined in, "I thought this place was new, Loz. It was only built five hundred years ago."

Kadaj led his brothers through the rest of the old and maze-like halls, silently, through Nebelhiem Mansion to the library in the farther most corner of the spacious house.

They made it to the library where he motioned for his brothers to sit. They chose rickety chairs next to a chipped antique desk on what seemed to be a very old computer. Kadaj began pacing back and forth in front of the door, every time he passed a ray of sun coming through the dusty window reflecting off of his shoulder-length hair. Yazoo yawned and leaned back against the desk on the back legs of the chair.

Loz glared at him in silence. Last time Loz had tried to lean back in his chair, the back legs had broken, he had fallen hard onto a pile of sharp wood splinters and broken his tail-bone. He wasn't about to try that again, not only because of that experience, but because he had gained a few pounds of muscle in his upper body and had the largest body structure of all his brothers. Leaning back in his rickety chair was the worst thing he could do. He shifted cautiously. The chair creaked loudly and Loz winced. He glared at Yazoo as a little child would show to an older sibling that got what he wanted.

Yazoo noticed this and cast an arrogant grin at Loz. Yazoo was athletic, though not as buff as Loz, had a limber and thinner form and contained quite a few more brain cells than his brother. Although the oldest, he didn't look a day older than his youngest brother, Kadaj, and preferred to follow him instead of leading the silver-haired trio.

Yazoo cleared his throat. Kadaj still paced.

"Why were you in such a hurry to get here if you aren't going to tell us what is going on?" Yazoo asked, irritated. Kadaj stopped, his hair glinting in the sunlight. His head turned slowly, followed by the rest of his body before he said a word.

"Mother has given me a message," he paused, waiting to see how his brothers would react. They didn't. It was not new news that Kadaj would get a telepathic message from mother while they would get left in the dark. Kadaj continued nonchalantly, "She told us that we have other members of our family that she wants us to reunite with."

Loz's face was blank, "Who are we supposed to find?" His face became more confused as he thought about it, "Big Brother? I thought we have– "

Yazoo leaned forward, putting all four legs of the chair firmly on the floor. His face was serious, "She is not talking about Big Brother."

It was not a question, but a statement that showed he was as cunning and quick as the man he was created to be like.

Loz's face continued to be blank. Then he appeared as if his brain was working hard. Kadaj and Yazoo looked at each other and then at Loz. They wondered if he could figure it out for himself. Surprise slowly dawned on Loz's face, "My little brother!"

Loz jumped up from his chair, "I remember him! He's the one you dropped off on a random planet when we were younger." He had pointed at Kadaj, who scowled and mumbled something about the youngest stealing all the attention from Mother. Loz continued to talk about how much fun he had playing in the science labs and air ducts of their "father's" office building with the littlest brother.

The science labs were where they grew up. At the beginning, Mother's cells were experimented with, creating Sephiroth, their older brother. Of course, they weren't actually brothers, but clones with various traits amplified in each specimen. That is what Kadaj hated most about being alive, that and he was always referred to as an inferior being to Sephiroth, or a number. He was number 69686. He didn't know how many mistakes it took until they finally got to him. Kadaj hated that because he was just like the other four surviving clones and not in control of his life that the scientists had given him. That is why they all ran away. He needed to escape the torment and they gladly followed. Loz's positive monologue of memories pulled him out of his thoughts. He was always the childish one who never understood anything.

"– And we always mixed the frog eggs and salamander eggs to pull a prank on Dr. Hojo because he's the one who gave our little brother that tail he hated so much. And another time, we– "

"We already heard these stories, Loz," Kadaj drawled, stalked over to an old shelf of books, pulled a random book off and began flipping through pages. Loz still went on about various pranks not caring that his brothers weren't listening to him.

"A book of planets?" Yazoo asked. "You mean you forgot what planet you dropped him off at?"

Kadaj didn't look up, flipping through pages as he talked, "I remember where I put the brat…in Terra."

Loz snapped out of his happy memories and looked offended, "He wasn't a brat, you meanie! He was my friend. And you liked him, too, don't forget."

Kadaj continued like he had not heard a thing, "… I don't remember what galaxy it was in…Aha! Here it is." He looked up, triumph in his eyes, "The Snickers Galaxy."

"That's an odd name for a galaxy," Yazoo commented.

"You're face is an odd name," Loz sniggered.

"Shh!" Kadaj put his hand up and waited until they were looking at him. "We have to find Hojo's old lab."

"Why?"

Yazoo sighed, "If you shut up, Loz, then he would tell us!"

"We need to find Hojo's lab because it has the lab with the controls that will enable us to move the planet. And…" He glared at Loz, daring him to interrupt, then took a breath, "And because we lack a ship that can travel in space, this is our only option."

"That is impossible. It defies the laws of the universe." Yazoo countered. That couldn't be possible.

"Actually," Kadaj smiled. "It is possible."

The shock did not leave his brother's faces. "H-how?" Loz stuttered. "Well, the controls in Hojo's old lab centralize the strength of the gravity on various parts of the planet to help it move from neighboring planet to other star systems. Basically, the planet pulls itself along using its own gravity and the gravity of the other planets," Kadaj sighed dramatically. "Unfortunately, this does not affect any life forms on any planet, including ours."

"What a shame," Yazoo said. "I was hoping to get cries of agony from Big Brother."

"Do I get to play with him when we get there?" Loz asked excitedly.

Kadaj sighed, "Sure, Loz. As long as you two don't fight on the way back to our galaxy."

"Yay!" Yazoo leaned back in his chair again, "So, how do we find Hojo's lab?"

Kadaj leaned back on the book shelf, I don't remember where it is, but I know some people that would."

"Who?"

"Well," Kadaj began pacing again. "There is Big Brother, and Hojo's old boss, Rufus Shinra. From what Mother told me, Big Brother should be visiting Shinra within an hour at Healin Lodge. We can force the directions to the lab out of them. And if that doesn't work, we can always kidnap those kids that Big Brother takes care of. If he doesn't talk, then the kids get to swim in the river."

Yazoo smiled, "When do we leave?"

"Now."

It's me again. How'd you like it so far? I'd say read and review, but I've been through that drivel. I can't really give you anything but happy feelings that you made someone's day by reviewing. Whether or not you review, I'm continuing it for my own enjoyment. I've made a goal that I will complete this story no matter what.