The two motorcycles sped across the desert, going insanely fast. They were racing neck in neck, the one behind trying to catch up with the other. Without warning, huge iron blades sprung from the sides of the motorcycle lagging behind with an audible swoosh. The driver grabbed one of the swords as the bike in front sped up. The driver of the escaping motorbike turned around to glance back at their pursuer.

A mistake, in retrospect.

The spiky-haired man perusing her lobbed his sword at her, missing her face by inches but ripping off her goggles. She spun around, but she was too late. Her motorcycle flew out of control, spinning around and eventually crashing into a large cliff.

The driver of the heavily armed motorbike stopped his cycle with a screech. He jumped off and walked over to the unconscious young woman lying in the rubble and broken motorbike parts. A strand of her delicate dirty blonde hair lay across her face, and her clothes were ripped and askew. The man bent down and picked her up out of the debris and slung her over his shoulder. As he got onto his bike, the girl regained consciousness for a brief moment.

"Stupid…chocobo…head…" She said weakly, and then passed out again.

Cloud and his motorcycle sped off into the distance, moving swiftly towards the city.

The Seventh Heaven:

"Who ordered this Maidens Kiss?"

It was near closing time at the Seventh Heaven, and Tifa was standing at the counter.

"That would be me."

She glanced over, and smiled. "Hey! Reno! Great to see you!"

Reno grinned. "You too. What's up?"

Tifa shrugged. Nothing much. Just normal business." She cocked her head sideways. "Where are Rude and Rufus?"

"The Boss gave me the night off. Rude's with him."

"Nice. So, what do you want the Maidens Kiss for?"

"It's a long story. See, I was-"

Suddenly, the door was kicked open. Tifa quickly moved into a fighting stance, and Reno spun around on his bar stool, muscles tensed.

Cloud stepped through the door with a large sack thrown over his shoulder.

"Hi, Tifa." He said, coolly. "Hey, Reno. What's up?"

Tifa relaxed. "Oh, Cloud, it's you. Where ya been?"

Reno inclined an eyebrow. "What's in the sack?"

Cloud scowled. "I found this kid-"

Suddenly, whatever was in the bulging sack began to thrash around. A smothered yell came from inside.

"LET ME OUT, YOU STUPID CHOCOBO HEAD!!! LET ME OUT!!! LET ME OUUUUUUUUT!!!!!"

"Um, Cloud?"

"Yes, Tifa?"

"What is in the sack?"

"Well, Tifa, It's like this-"

Tifa grabbed the front of Cloud's shirt. "Tell me. NOW."

"LET ME OUT, ALREADY!"

Reno got up and walked over to the bag.

"It's just some girl! She tried to steal my materia!"

"NO I DIDN'T!"

Reno tapped Cloud's shoulder. "Shouldn't you let her out?"

Tifa and Cloud's heads turned to face the sack, and Tifa shrugged.

"Ask Cloud. After all, it is his bag." She said, sarcastically.

Cloud scowled. "Fine. Open it."

Bending down, Reno swiftly untied the knot. Just before he had opened it, he looked up at Cloud. "Did you disarm her?"

"Yeah."

"Shoot. I was really bored."

"Can you let me OUT already????"

"Fine! Don't blow your top!"

The rope knot slid apart like butter on a hot knife, and a loose burlap cloak fell on the girl, covering her from head to toe. She thrashed about under it for a moment, and then threw it off.

She would be pretty, Reno thought, if she didn't look so pissed.

The girl arrogantly flipped her side ponytail over her shoulder. "I can't believe you stuck me in a sack!"

Tifa stuck her hands on her hips. "Why'd you try to steal Cloud's materia?"

The girl was irate. "I just told you, I didn't!"

"Please. I saw you poking around in my bag!"

The girl snorted. "I was TRYING to see if you knew yet. You don't, obviously."

Tifa tilted her head. "What don't we know?" she said, just as Reno said, "What're you called?"

"I'm Zella Yallow." She turned to face Reno head on. "What's with the stupid tattoos?"

Reno sniffed indignantly. "For your information, my tattoos are NOT stupid!"

"Suuuuure they aren't."

Tifa repeated her question. "What don't we know, kid?"

"I'm nineteen, thanks."

"WHAT. DON'T. WE. KNOW."

Zella shrunk back. "Chill out, Tifa."

"TELL US!" Cloud, Reno, and Tifa yelled.

"Fine! Fine! Geez…" suddenly, she was serious. "What I want to tell you, what I need to tell you, is that he's back."

"Who?" said Cloud, puzzled.

"The remnant. The one who "died" two years ago.

"Kadaj has returned."

The Lifestream Forest:

The delicate-looking, slender man raised his face to the dark night sky and laughed a loud, elegant, slightly insane-sounding laugh. He sounded like a little kid, albeit one that was more than a little screwy.

"Isn't it wonderful, brothers? I'm so HAPPY!" he yelled happily, addressing the two men behind him. They were almost identical to the laughing one, and could be the same person, if it wasn't for the fact that one of them had short hair, one had medium-length hair, and one had long hair.

But their hair was all as silver as the moonlight that shone on them.

The one with the short hair started to make quiet sobbing noises, and he looked sad.

"Don't cry, Loz." Said the one with the long hair, in a casual, unaffected tone of voice.

The one called Loz continued his sniveling.

The man who had been laughing turned to face his "brothers".

"Oh, don't quarrel! You're supposed to be happy!"

"Kadaj, this is my 'happy'"

Kadaj giggled gleefully. "Oh, Yazoo! You're so funny!"

Loz sniffed and wiped his nose on his sleeve.

"C'mon, Kadaj, we were just dead. Can't I be emotional for once without Yazoo ridiculing me?"

"Crybaby."

"Meanie!"

"Wuss."

"Kadaaaj! Make him stop it!"

Kadaj sighed. "I am surrounded by idiots." He muttered.

Yazoo addressed Kadaj. "Kadaj, shouldn't we try to find big brother?"

Kadaj became suddenly serious. "Of course we should. We need to apologize to our Nii-San."

"For what?"

Kadaj turned away. "Morons." He muttered.

The Seventh Heaven:

"WHAT?!?!?!" yelled Cloud.

"You're joking!" cried Tifa.

"Oh, great. Juuuuuust great." sighed Reno.

"To answer your questions," said Zella, "I said: Kadaj is back; No, I'm not joking; and yes, actually, it is great."

"How could Kadaj coming back be great??? Are you insane?"

Zella scowled. 'It's good that he's returned, because he's repented." She said, pointedly ignoring his questioning of her sanity. "He's not obsessed with Jenova anymore, and he has absolutely no urge to infuse himself with his "Mothers" cells. He's sorry about anything that he did two years ago."

"In case you've noticed, Kadaj is insane." Said Tifa testily.

Zella glared at Tifa, her gray-green eyes flashing. "You have ridiculous E-Cups that are probably made of silicone, and you're talking to me about insanity?"

Tifa was speechless, for obvious reasons.

"You're really obnoxious, do you know that?" said Cloud.

Zella smirked. "'Course I do."

"Insults aside, how did you come to meet Kadaj anyway?"

"I was riding my motorcycle through the Lifestream forest, when I saw three guys dressed in head-to-toe leather, with impossibly silver hair. They looked confused, so I stopped to check it out, and when one of them turned around, I saw that it was Kadaj."

"How do you know who Kadaj is, anyway?" said Reno.

Zella smiled wryly. "My little brother was one of the kids with geostigma that Kadaj and his gang kidnapped and brainwashed during the crisis two years ago. I tried to save him when they came back to the city, but one of Kadaj's freaky gargoyle thingy's knocked me out. When I woke up, I was lying on the roof of this building, and Arnet was fine again." She shook her head sadly. "I got to see Kadaj disintegrate, and to this day I still don't know who saved me from the gargoyle thing."

"Is your brother okay?" Cloud inquired.

"Arnet is fine. His geostigma got cured along with everyone else's."

"You do know that Kadaj was the one who caused the geostigma, right?"

Zella snorted. "Of course I know that he started it. I hated his guts. But he's different now. He's changed."

"I don't believe you." Said Cloud bluntly.

Zella shrugged. "Well, you will soon. He should be here in an hour or so."

"I believe I have misheard you." Coughed Tifa, who had just begun to get over the shock of Zella's E-Cup insult, "Did you just say that Kadaj would be here in an hour?"

"Yes."

"Oh." Tifa sighed, and wearily plunged back into shock.

"Can this get any worse?" said Reno.

"Probably." Replied Zella.