Chapter - 1: Advent Children

Yazoo and Loz sat down by the river outside the sea-shell shaped building they had been sleeping in for the past few weeks, the cold wind nipped at their patience, today was the day Kadaj was going to address the children. This place always had such a somber tone to it, the gray clouds in the sky, the gentle snow covering the ground, and most of all that wind, it whistled as it blew through the hallways and open spaces. The three of them were already in down moods, only four days ago, they found out that Shin-Ra did not have their "mother" on board the helicopter that the they waylaid and ransacked. Kadaj had been in meditation most of the morning and told the others to wait for him outside, they agreed and left, that was five hours ago.

"Am I the only one feeling that something is wrong?" Yazoo softly asked aloud.

Loz cracked his head to the side and ran his hand over his neck rubbing the back. "No, I fear that our plans wont go as we thought they would originally," he replied, "Kadaj wont see it, he refuses to give up hope."

Yazoo checked his gun once again as he had one hundred times over, and his companion hurled a rock into the lake, watching it skip across the surface a few times before vanishing underwater.

he reflected on his life as he watched the ripples in the water race towards him, he remembered spots and images of years long past in a small town, his childhood was only shattered frames that didn't make sense to him anymore.

The only three events that stuck out to him were, playing a game with some other children one was a boy with blond hair, a girl with long brown hair, and a rather tall child a few years older then him with wavy black hair and stern facial features. They were playing some sort of a game in a grass field outside town.

Another was full of sorrow as he remembered someone very dear to him dying in a terrible fire, he could not remember if it was his brother or his father.

The last memory was of men in uniforms coming into town and gathering all of the children and survivors together, only he and the kid with wavy black hair were among the ones shown into the mansion.

After that, sometime in the last two years Kadaj found him and Loz wandering aimlessly around some mountain peaks, he told them of all that had been going on and offered him a chance to see the Promised Land, a place were everything could be right, and they would go with their "mother"

Kadaj walked out into the dim light that surrounded the sullen city, the others turned to face him as he approached. "I don't…sense "mothers" presence as much today," he sighed, still holding up a façade of confidence.

"Are we ready to resort to The Recalling?" Yazoo questioned their leader.

Kadaj leaned his head back, considering the idea, and then stated while still looking at the sky. "Yes, we might be." he turned away from them and further considered his course of actions. "I still need two more children to complete the final circle," he announced over his shoulder. "Go find them."

Yazoo road his bike through the slums of Midgar, he lost sight of Loz a few minutes ago near the old church, but figured he could find more people in a more rebuilt part of the city. After awhile he stopped and put the kickstand on his bike down, he was in front of a building with a sign in hanging from it that said "7th Heaven". There was a light on upstairs and he saw a young kid with brown hair in the window, looking at the sky, and figured this was as good a start as any. When he opened the door, he saw a counter in front of him with drinks on it, an old arcade game over in the corner, and stairs leading upwards. This was a rather well lived in place, he thought to himself as he climbed the staircase onto the next floor.

Denzel heard someone enter through the door downstairs and moved over to the hallway to see if Marlene was going to run up and sit with him some more, they had been gone for awhile, Tifa, and Marlene, he was almost getting worried but he knew this had to be them. That feeling of worry flooded back to him when he saw a man with silver hair and black leather step out of the stairwell.

"Hello," Yazoo said offhandedly as he scanned the child's body for bandages or wounds. "Don't worry; you can be rid of the Star Scar if you come with me."

"Where is Tifa?" the kid asked as he raised his eyebrows. "And Marlene?"

"Ah, she sent me to come and get you," he lied. "Now if you want I can take you to her and the rest of them."

"I don't know," Denzel mumbled, she had told him to wait here and not to leave under any circumstance, but he was eager to get rid of the disease that plagued him.

"Yes you do," Yazoo teased. "You want to be rid of it, it hurts doesn't it?"

Yazoo made it back to The City of the Ancients first, with Denzel in toe, Kadaj was pleased as he inspected the child's wounds.

"Yes, we can use this." he remarked to Yazoo while kneeling in front of the kid.

"Use me?" Denzel asked with a puzzled look on his face.

Kadaj smiled and stood up. "Yes, we need all of the children to help us and together we will cure you all." he said as he turned back and began to get ready for tonight.

Loz arrived late, when he got there Kadaj had already gathered the kids to the raised platform next to the shell structure, Loz motioned Marlene into the crowd of children and moved to the side left of Kadaj and opposite Yazoo. The stern look on his leaders face showed displeasure with his overly long trip, and he knew he would hear about it later.

Kadaj was a great orator to the children, he went on and on about the Promised Land, and the Reunion with their "mother".

He stepped off the platform and pointed to the children. "Together with all of your spirits we can call on those once past," he shouted. "All of us can go to this land I have spoken of, we will use the power of Geostigma against itself and be free of this trapping!" suddenly his body began to glow with blue flame. "I will now summon forth power that will keep the unworthy away from what is rightfully ours!" his voice lowered and raised as the fire got bigger and was licking the tree branches above him.

To Kadaj the world turned white, and he could no longer see anything or anyone else, then before him a katana like sword materialized, it was more then twice as long as any other, it was Masamune. His smiled reached ear to ear as he reached for the handle, but when his hand touched it he felt the power within him dissipating, and suddenly it burst, a huge explosion, the world faded back to normal and he passed out.

Somewhere else, someone awoke and opened his eyes.

A few minutes later Kadaj opened his eyes to see Yazoo and Loz leaning over him, he was first filled with relief that he was still alive, and then anger crashed in.

"One of them doesn't have Geostigma!" he screamed to his two followers as he stood. Marlene took the bandage of Clouds out of her pocket and looked at it, this must have been why Loz kidnapped her she thought as she quickly wrapped it around here arm and faked a cough. Kadaj stopped cold in his tracks suddenly and stood still. "Someone has entered the forest and is coming towards us." he said as he turned around to face the children. "Are you all ready to get closer to "mother"?" he grinned evilly and his eyes beamed.