Summary: To put it in a nutshell... Yazoo and Kadaj are searching the old lab complex in the ruined ShinRa building because Kadaj has been told by Mother that there is something of great use to them hidden therein when they come across a woman hibernating in a drug-induced sleep, genetically modified with Jenova cells by Hojo himself in a private experiment. They download all the information on her to their minicomputer, wake her up, and take both her and the file back to their hideout in the Forgotten City. There they discover some very interesting information concerning this woman, Zhaira, and a possible way to bring about another Meteorfall. Can Zhaira actually create another Meteorfall and take them all on a trip to the heavens above as Sephiroth tried to do two years ago? And what is Kadaj's interest in her, an intrest that goes beyond a working relationship?
Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII. All I have is a copy of Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus (desperately searching Ebay to remedy that problem, but the prices for Buy-it-Now are OUTRAGEOUS).
Queen's Quorner: Normally I only write Devil May Cry fics, but this idea just came out of nowhere - literally! - while I was considering a new storyline for my DMC fics. One minute I'm rolling over ideas in my head for "Happy Anniversary" and the next I'm thinking about Kadaj, Yazoo, and an OC with roots in Soulcalibur 3's Create A Character mode. After much consideration and spare time during last night's Dungeon and Dragons game, this is what erupted from the pen and onto the page. I don't claim to know anything of the specifics from the original FFVII, so all I'm going on here is what I know from AC and DOC, as well as the more common knowledge told to me by friends. Forgive me if I get things wrong; I'm only working with half of the information here. And please be nice to me. This is my first FFVII fic. I'm sorry if certain parts of this come across as prudish; believe me, anyone who reads my DMC fics will know that I normally don't write like that! Things will pick up as the story continues, worry not. I like living up to my ratings.
Fallen Angels
Particles of dust danced through the air, swirling across the debris of power and corruption. A sudden spill of golden stone and powder rustled to the floor as the long-untouched floor above creaked suddenly, a startling end to the eternal silence.
The first it had had in two years.
People had returned to the lab complex of ShinRa manor.
The man whose soft footfalls had disturbed the dust was leather-clad and slender, undeniably handsome and yet somehow much younger in appearance than he truly was. His silken hair, a wealth of molten silver, fell across catlike eyes the exact color of raw mako; he impatiently blew it out of his vision as his brother moved up beside him.
"Tell me again, Kadaj," the other said in a silken monotone. "What are we doing here, in the ruined base of ShinRa's power?" He flicked his long hair, the same shade as the younger's somewhat shorter tresses, behind his shoulder and stroked the pale metal of his Velvet Nightmare, looking around the broken building with unreadable eyes.
"Mother told me there was something of great importance in the ShinRa laboratories. More specifically, it is in Professor Hojo's old labs." Kadaj didn't spare his older brother a look, intent on the mini-computer he held in his hand, examining the digital map he had managed to recover from old files.
"What is so important about it? More than that, exactly what are we looking for?"
"She didn't say anything but 'you will know it when you see it.' Perhaps there are some of Mother's remains buried here. Hojo was, after all, the scientist with the greatest contact with Mother." Kadaj simultaneously ducked and climbed over two fallen steel beams, coming to a stop before an open doorway, the door long since gone. He consulted the small console once more, and nodded in satisfaction, a tiny smile gracing his features. "This is the entrance to Hojo's labs, Yazoo. Whatever we are looking for will be somewhere in here."
"Good." Yazoo followed his younger brother into the complex. "Let's find this...whatever-it-is and get back to the hideout. I am almost afraid to know what Loz has been doing in our absence."
"That is a mental image I neither need nor desire, Yazoo." Kadaj shuddered lightly; Loz was his brother, and he was a powerful fighter, but he otherwise has no like or use for the muscular Remenant. At times, Loz was entirely too human for his liking. His latest habit, enjoyed soley by himself, was absolute proof of that; neither Kadaj nor Yazoo would ever do something so base and messy as touching themselves. "Come on. Let's see if we can find anything."
The silver-haired men sifted through the complex, searching everywhere for something, anything, of use to them. Their search turned up several interesting objects, including the desiccated corpe of a rat, Hojo's private journal (which Yazoo pocketed for later perusal), some empty syringes, and an alarming amount of test tubes and vials with odd-looking remains and encrusted liquids on their insides, but nothing that seemed important enough for Jenova to have taken note.
"Kadaj, are you certain that Mother told you it was in Hojo's labs?" Yazoo finally asked, thinly-veiled frustration evident in his smooth monotone.
"Of course I am, Yazoo! What did you expect, that it would be sitting out in the open with a note saying 'Here are some of Jenova's remains for your long-awaited Reunion, love Professor Hojo?'" Kadaj flung his arms out in frustration as he walked away from his brother, stopping in the exact middle of the central room, spinning to face him with annoyance in his feline eyes. "I don't even know what it is we're looking for, only that it is something Mother told me to look for! If you have any suggestions, I would be thrilled to hear them!"
"I don't know, Kadaj!" Yazoo's temper snapped. "Ask Mother, not me!" He slammed one fist against the wall behind him, needing to get his anger out of his body and express it in full to his younger brother without harming him - Kadaj was the only one Mother spoke to, after all. A palm-sized section of the wall depressed where he punched it; with a surprised yelp, Kadaj fell through the floor.
"Kadaj!" Yazoo flew to the hole in the floor, sliding to his knees and peering into the gloom with anxious eyes. "Kadaj! Answer me!"
"Owww..." The minimal light shining through the sole broken window caught the metallic sheen of silver hair, revealing the youngest Remenant picking himself up off the floor. "What the fuck did you do?"
"I don't know. Probably hit a switch or something. Are you all right?"
"I'm fine, Yazoo. Bruised and dusty, but otherwise fine." He limped out of the dimly-lit square, rubbing at a spot on his hip. "I'm going to see if I can find a light switch somewhere."
There were some shuffling and banging noises, accompanied by some muttered curses, and then the dark space was filled with illumination. Yazoo saw a ladder on the opposite side of the hole in the floor extending to the floor below. He swung himself onto it and descended to the new area at a leisurely pace, a smirk playing about his thin lips. "You know, it would have been easier if you had used the ladder."
Kadaj merely glowered at him before spinning and stalking away. "Come on. I think there might be another room down here, if Hojo went to this much trouble to make that entrance."
The Remenants continued down the short hallway, until they reached an intact doorway, one of the very few they had seen during their exploration of the building, a keypad glowing beside it. "This complex must have its own separate power source," Yazoo guessed. "We haven't seen any working electrical equipment up till now."
"It would be something Hojo would do, if what I understand is true. He must have conducted private experiments down here." Kadaj examined the keypad, and pulled a wire from his mini-computer to attach to the keypad. "Judging from the thickness of the steel I passed on my way down here, I'd be willing to be that they were loud. This area is completely soundproof. Here, Yazoo. This is your thing."
"Of course, Kadaj." He moved past his brother and took the console away from him, typing at the small keyboard with practiced expertise. A few seconds later the keypad beeped, and the door slid open. "After you, Kadaj," Yazoo invited, retrieving his wire.
The younger Remenant didn't answer. He merely strolled into the opened room, hitting another light switch as he went.
"Holy... Yazoo?"
"Yes, Kadaj?" He didn't look up, too preoccupied with rolling the wire back up into the computer. The wire was being difficult.
"I think we may have found it." His voice was soft, almost as if he were...in awe.
"What?" The wire finally disappeared back into the mini-computer, and Yazoo joined his brother to stare at the contents of the room. An enormous cylinder stood upright in the center of the room, filled with bubbling green liquid and surrounded by computers, each of them quietly humming, all in perfect working order. Within the liquid was a woman, her hair floating around her in an inky cloud, clothed in a sleeveless white tunic. She was very still, as if she were dead, but the life-support system readings said otherwise. The woman was alive.
The brothers were stunned. How had this room survived intact? And what was this woman doing here? These and many other questions swirled within their minds as they stared at the woman and the equipment.
"I think you might be correct, Kadaj. Mother must have been talking about her."
KZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZ
Queen: Hello all! Normally Dante and Vergil would be here with me during this transmission, but since this isn't their story Kadaj and Yazoo will be taking their usual positions. Besides, they have jobs at the moment. Some kind of demonic infestation over in Washington, DC.
Kadaj: Queen, do they even know that you are associating with us? They normally don't let anybody else near you, after all.
Yazoo: I'm certain we could take them if they attacked us, but I would just as soon avoid such a confrontation. They can heal much more easily than we can, after all.
Queen: Don't worry, I've already told them. They aren't happy about it, but they know next to nothing of Final Fantasy VII either. So they're letting you two take the positions of Commentators for the duration of this fic.
Kadaj: Well, that's a comforting thought.
Queen: In any case, read and leave reviews please! All authors enjoy knowing what people think of their work. Oh, and by the way, I have a special use for flamers.
Yazoo: She does one of three things with them. 1) they are used to roast marshamallows, 2) she puts them in the grill and makes us all barbacued ribs, or 3) she pours gasoline on them and dances around them in minimal clothing sometime around midnight. The neighbors' reactions to that last one are always fairly amusing, to say the least.
Kadaj: Please leave a review? (makes puppy eyes at the Webcam)
Queen (points at Kadaj): How could you possibly ignore that face? Enjoy the fic and be kind to me! It's only my first FFVII fic!
(transmission ended)