The Ties That Bind
an Advent Children ficlet by Mana Angel
In Jenova's perpetually dysfunctional extended family, ranking is determined by something far simpler and more exacting than seniority. Simply, there is Sephiroth. And then there is everyone else.
Of course, even such a stark division has its own gradients of everything in between, if only to keep things organized. Like sorting through photocopies, the best are those who are the clearest, most similar to the original; none of them have ever replicated Sephiroth completely, but those who have come close lurk at the top of the chain of clones.
(Cloud, referred to aloud as 'big brother' and silently called anything from The One That Got Away to less appreciative monikers, is shunted into a category all of his own, recognition for somehow standing equal to Sephiroth without being him. They don't like to think about it.)
Loz knows that he is nothing like Sephiroth. Knows, in fact, that save perhaps for the color his hair and the shape of his eyes, he bears no resemblance either in manner or form to Meteor's summoner. Even so, he is hard-pressed to believe that eyes that are the spitting image of the General's can fill with tears so frequently. It's a weakness, and it's humiliating, and Yazoo and Kadaj goad him mercilessly about it. What they do not tell him is that it is when he is most unaware, when he isn't trying to make up for his flaws, that he comes closest to looking like their brooding elder brother.
Their features have the same sharpness, the same shadows. Besides, though Kadaj's gang may not want to accept it, Sephiroth might have been more prone to crying than anyone can guess.
Yazoo is closer, perhaps, but still not quite there. He has Sephiroth's delicate girlishness about his hair and lips, but no one could mistake him for Sephiroth even in the dark. He's almost too delicate, really, and the skin-tight leather that passes for their clothing doesn't help improve the boyish impression he tends to leave on most, emphasizing jutting bones and too-thin limbs instead of the muscle and corded strength it's supposed to. Like Loz, he doesn't show any inclination to heft an enormous sword, favoring guns to put distance between him and his enemy, but guns that can be used just as well close-range if he happens to fall into a pinch.
He also appears to have inherited Sephiroth's supernatural ability to somehow keep his absurdly long hair tangle-free, blood-proof, and silky-soft, even in the middle of battle. Sometimes, Loz wants to cut it off when strands of it whip into his face, but then, it's rather nice to look at when it's blowing in the wind, so he'll tolerate it.
It is an unspoken rule between the thee of them that though he is the youngest, Kadaj takes the lead. He is, Loz and Yazoo will not dispute, the closest to being Sephiroth among them; even, perhaps, just a step away from becoming just as favored as the First. He chooses to use a sword (consciously or otherwise? Yazoo wonders), and his determination to find Mother impresses Loz (who is, in general, easy to impress, but after all, it's one thing to have the desire to find mother and to be physically unable to do so on your own because you break down crying every time you think of her).
Yazoo may have Sephiroth's hair, and Loz may have Sephiroth's eyes, but Kadaj possesses something beyond the physical, beyond simple appearance, that marks him out clear as blood on a sacrificial lamb.
Kadaj has Sephiroth's insanity, and that is perhaps what makes him the most dangerous of them all.
Ah, the AC clone trio. I've got a soft spot for Loz/Yazoo, and it probably shows -- anyway, I tend to wonder how the three of them actually felt, with all the expectation placed on them like that, so I've explored that just a bit. I suppose the characterization isn't really up to everyone's par, though.