A/N: Just to make sure everyone understands, this is NOT a slash fic! I don't write that stuff. Thank you, that is all. :-D

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Everything belongs to Square Enix.

Chapter One/The Return

The rain fell steadily down from an overcast sky. Cloud sat on the edge of his bed, staring out of the window into the gloom of Edge below. The silence, broken only by the plinking of water against glass, was ominous. Cloud shifted in his seat. He could not sleep. Something was not right, he could feel it.

It had been two years since the death of Kadaj and his brothers. Tifa had welcomed him into the Seventh Heaven bar and he had gone willingly. Taking his things from Aerith's Church, he now lived next to Tifa, Marlene, and Denzel. Life had gone smoothly following the attack of Sephiroth, the rebuilding of Edge continued slowly but surely. Rufus Shinra donated money to help. Cloud was confident nothing else could go wrong. Even now he was confident of it. So why was he so restless?

Cloud stood and made his way to the window overlooking the entrance to the bar. His soul felt uneasy, as if it were trying to tell him something. He walked over to where he had last put his sword. Gripping it his hand, he made his way over to his door. Opening it slowly he stood in its shadow, breathing heavily. There! He heard it again! A sound was coming from the kitchen downstairs.

Cloud walked slowly down the hallway. He opened the door to Marlene and Denzel's room, they were sleeping soundly. Shutting the door silently, he placed his hand on Tifa's door but stopped as he heard another sound from the kitchen. Tightening his grip on his sword, he turned and followed the sound.

As he approached the kitchen he stopped. He listened. Whatever had been making the sounds stopped as well. Cloud turned the corner and flipped on the light. He breathed in sharply at the silver-haired youth that stood before him, sword in hand, smirking at him.

"Kadaj?" Cloud could not believe his eyes. "How?"

The teen's smile widened, his green reptilian-like eyes flashing dangerously.

"Hello, Big Brother. Did you miss me?"

Metal met metal with a ring that vibrated throughout the bar as Kadaj threw himself at Cloud and Cloud moved to block him. Kadaj spun away, knocking over barstools in the process. Cloud leapt after him.

"You're supposed to be dead!" The fighter cried, slashing at the elusive boy.

"Now isn't that interesting," Kadaj said, moving to attack Cloud's left. "I don't remember dying."

Cloud leaped away, kicking over a chair in Kadaj's path to slow him down. His opponent just jumped over it. Cloud gritted his teeth, his thoughts moving towards the little ones upstairs, what would happen to them if he lost? He ran at Kadaj, his sword coming down on the youth's head. Cloud's blade only met thin air. Diabolical laughter sounded from behind him. Cloud whirled and blades met. Kadaj's face was inches from his.

"You died in my arms," Cloud growled.

"Where is Mother?" The silver-haired young man hissed.

Cloud pressed hard against Kadaj's sword, trying to knock him over. Kadaj just pushed back.

"Where is Mother?" He screeched.

"Your 'mother' is dead! You absorbed the cells, you became Sephiroth, and then you died!"

Something strange flickered in Kadaj's eyes. Then they hardened and grew ice cold.

"You're lying!" The youth screamed.

He whirled away. He leaped into every corner of the bar. "Where is she? I know you have her!"

Cloud could see it was useless arguing with the boy. He ran after him, swinging his sword down onto the other's weapon. The fight continued. Cloud was tiring but could see that Kadaj was not. Kadaj leaped on top of the counter, Cloud followed. They blocked, attacked, parried, and spun. Cloud had to admit, the boy's footwork was excellent.

Finally, they came to a standstill. Again their swords were locked, neither giving in to the other.

"Give it up Kadaj!" Cloud tried to discourage him. "The thing you called 'mother' is gone."

Kadaj's jaw worked back and forth slowly. "I need her! Tell me where she is!"

Before Cloud could reply a soft sound was heard. Both fighters turned. There in the doorway stood little Marlene. In her arms she held a teddy-bear and she looked on at them with puzzled eyes.

"Cloud?" She whispered questioningly.

Kadaj jumped off the counter and grabbed the eight-year-old. Marlene's eyes widened with fear as she felt the cold blade of Kadaj's sword at her throat. Cloud froze.

"Give me Mother or I'll kill her." Kadaj's voice was dangerously low. "You know I will."

Cloud lowered his sword slowly. "Let her go, I don't have Mother."

"Liar!" Spat the youth.

Placing Marlene under his arm, Kadaj leaped across the room in a single bound and turned once he stood in the doorway.

"If you want to see your little girl again," he cried, "give me Mother. You have three days."

With that the boy and the girl disappeared into the rain, leaving Cloud alone in the empty bar. He noticed something shining faintly on the counter. He knelt and picked up the silvery object. It was a string of silver hair. Cloud figured it. Only it did not feel like hair. It felt metallic. Cloud stood and gazed at the door, opening and shutting in the fierce breeze. Kadaj was not made of metal. Cloud frowned. But if that had not been Kadaj, who had it been?

000000

The darkness was like a void. It completely surrounded him, it choked him, it hurt him. Through the void he could hear someone calling his name.

"Denzel! Denzel!"

It sounded like a friend of his. He spun around, peering into the darkness but, of course, seeing nothing.

"Marlene?"

"Denzel, help me! Get Cloud and help me!"

Denzel turned around and around in circles, nothing changed. It was as if he were not moving at all.

"Marlene? Where are you?"

"Help me!"

Denzel flung out his arms. Nothing, he could feel nothing. He started to panic. Suddenly he was falling, falling through the blackness. He landed on something hard. Pain shot up his back. Standing up slowly he noticed a thin shaft of light coming from somewhere high above. A small figure was standing in the shaft. It was Marlene! Denzel raced towards her.

"Marlene!"

She turned towards him, her eyes wide with fright. She held her arms out to him. He ran into them. But as soon as they touched, she seemed to grow. Denzel felt leather beneath his figures and found himself in the arms of a tall youth. He jumped back, mouth opening in shock and horror as a face so very familiar smirked at him.

"What are you going to do Denzel?" The silver-haired young man asked. "Kill me?"

"NO!"

Denzel awoke. He placed a hand over his forehead. What a dream! He turned to tell Marlene about it. Strange, Marlene was not in her bed, and the covers were in a heap near the end of it. Denzel stood. She must be already downstairs, he thought. Getting dressed quickly, the boy bounded down the stairs. When he got to the bottom and turned into the kitchen, he stopped suddenly. Cloud was sitting at the table, both hands in front of him, holding something. He looked grave. Denzel crept forward.

"Cloud?" He asked.

The blonde head did not rise. Denzel began to feel frightened. Tifa Lockhart ran into the room.

"I can't find Marlene anywhere! She wasn't in her bed and then . . ." she trailed off when she saw Cloud. She approached him cautiously. "Cloud?"

Cloud stood. Tifa noticed he clutched something in his gloved hands. It shined in the dull light of the bar.

"Call Rufus," he said to her. "Tell him Marlene has been kidnapped . . . by Kadaj."

000000

"Dude, I thought Kadaj was like, dead." Reno stood behind his employer, arms crossed, head tilted in its cocky way. The president of Shin-Ra sat in his wheelchair, a blanket draped over his knees.

"This is indeed disturbing news." The man turned to look at Cloud who was leaning against the wall opposite him. "If Kadaj has returned, he is stronger than we thought."

Denzel whimpered slightly, remembering his dream. Tifa pulled him closer to her on the couch they were sitting on. Rude shifted on his feet where he stood next to Reno. An ominous silence shrouded the room. Cloud broke the stillness.

"I don't think it was Kadaj." The others turned to look at him. Cloud pushed off the wall and walked forward. He placed the silver strand of hair on Rufus Shinra's lap. "At least not the Kadaj we fought."

Shinra hesitated a moment then lifted the strand, rubbing it between his fingers. "Hmm. Strange. It does not feel like hair. It feels almost like—"

"Metal?"

"A thin piece of wire perhaps." Rufus Shinra turned to Rude. "Take this to the lab and have a look at it. Tell us what you find."

The black man took the strand gently in his large hand and left the room. Denzel shifted impatiently in his seat.

"Why don't we go after him now? Marlene is getting farther away by the minute!"

Tifa shushed the boy quickly. "We're doing our best to find out what we're up against. Then we'll know how to fight him. Understand?"

The eleven-year-old nodded, sighing. "I'm afraid for her Tifa."

The girl smiled sadly and wrapped her arm around the boy. Cloud stood still where he had stepped forward. He did not speak. Rufus Shinra tapped his fingers on his wheelchair arm. Reno crossed his arms.

"Well, this is awkward," he commented.

No one bothered to answer him. After a while Rude came back. He handed the strand of silver to Cloud.

"It is definitely some sort of metallic substance. An alloy of some kind."

Cloud held it gently. "He wants me to bring Jenova to him in three days. If this is just a robot or something, how could it act, talk, and fight just like Kadaj?"

Another oppressive silence filled the air. Cloud looked up at Shinra but the man had turned his face away. Cloud stepped forward.

"Rufus?"

"Correction," Reno put in. "This is awkward." He smirked at Rufus. "Should you tell them or shall I?"

Rufus Shinra sighed. "Before Sephiroth grew in power, and Kadaj and his brothers were still in their various stages of development, Shin-Ra made a copy of each of them. The technology was designed so that if any of the three were killed, another could take his place. The makings of these robots, or cyborgs if you will, were incredible. They looked, felt, acted like real human beings, aside from their skin being a bit icy to the touch. Every memory, every thought, every motive that Kadaj or his brothers experienced were recorded and placed inside these experiments."

"Then one day, about four years ago, the robot of Kadaj escaped the lab." Reno jumped onto the story. "Killed several SOLDIERs and disappeared. Pretty freaky."

"We shut down the project and destroyed the two other robots. We figured it was too dangerous to keep it going." Rufus continued.

"So this copy of Kadaj has been running loose for four years?" Tifa asked.

"Yes. Only . . ." the man trailed off.

"Only what?" Cloud prompted.

"The transmitter that transferred Kadaj's memories, thoughts and motives to the robot was still in Kadaj when he fought you, Cloud. When the Kadaj absorbed the Jenova cells and became Sephiroth, the transmitting stopped. Now that Kadaj is dead we must deal with this robot as if it was, in fact, Kadaj. For all the robot knows it is Kadaj. And that is what we must remember."

"So what am I supposed to do?" Cloud asked, growing impatient with all this talk.

"You must find the robot and destroy it."

"Destroy . . ." Cloud turned away. "I don't think I can face Kadaj again."

"Oh come on," Reno urged. "You can do it. It's not like it's a person. It has no feelings or anything."

Cloud frowned, remembering the tortured look in Kadaj's gaze when he told the youth his mother was dead.

"Yes . . . he does."