Title: Keepsake

Rating: K

Summary: Reunion won't be the most fun thing in the world, but these days are peaceful and lovely and all Loz wants to do is remember the roads they fly down as they soar home.

A/N: Hi… I'm new to the FF7 fandom, but I'm really excited to get started. I hope I don't completely massacre the SHM's personalities. XD

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From time to time, along the many winding roads that led to Midgar, Loz would find something on the dusty trails that caught his interest – a child's Moogle doll on the outskirts of Kalm or maybe some shredded old t-shirt from Gold Saucer. At first, it was like a young boy pointing off into the distance, asking that those who accompany him look at the fireworks or the sea.

Once, while riding beside Yazoo with Kadaj up some meters ahead, Loz turned his head to the side and said to his younger brother, "See it? See that over in the bush?"

Yazoo sent him a quizzical glance and before they passed by the small patch of woods entirely, he did see it; there was a balloon, deflated and a dark pink, its string caught up in the thorns of the bush. Then, like déjà vu, it was gone, and Yazoo grunted in slight confusion.

"What about it?" he asked.

Loz was smiling, looking up ahead, just glad for his brother to have taken notice. "Nothing," he said, shrugging, "but wasn't it… I don't know, neat?"

"Neat," Yazoo hummed.

"Yeah! Neat. I wonder who lost it…" Loz was quiet then, his sharp green eyes slightly hazed and far away. Yazoo glanced back at him for a moment and decided to shrug it off; maybe the days of travel were wearing on dear Loz. From up ahead, their youngest brother's bike came into view – he had slowed considerably to encourage the two slow-pokes – and he sent a wry glare towards the two.

"What's the matter?" he asked loudly over the roar of the bikes.

Yazoo shook his head and before he could tell his brother not to worry, Loz interjected, "Nothing, Kadaj. But there was a balloon back there!"

Kadaj blinked.

Another time, they were closer to Midgar, and Kadaj was riding with fevered excitement, some predatory hunger blotching his forehead and cheeks red. The wind was in their faces, blowing their hair back over their ears and the mood had turned serious. Mother was near, Big Brother was just miles away, and all of them could sense it. Well, at least Yazoo and Kadaj could; their posture was rigid and poised; they were flying down the canyons in a rush.

Loz lingered in the back, no longer at his usual place beside Yazoo. Kadaj, who would normally be annoyed with this sort of lollygagging, was too involved in himself, in Mother's voice calling to him, to notice but Yazoo felt Loz's absence and looked over his shoulder only to find his brother stopped completely, bending at the side of his bike.

What in the world, Yazoo thought to himself and looked up to find Kadaj riding off, unaware of the situation. The long-haired man stopped and wheeled himself around in a hurry, riding in a cloud of dust to his elder brother's aid.

"What's wrong? Why've you stopped?"

Loz righted himself once again on the seat and was beaming from ear to ear, his pale face illuminated with the glow of a green materia. He held it in one gloved hand softy and said, "It was just sitting here by the road!"

Yazoo peered at it questioningly. "It's just basic fire materia…" he stated finally.

This fact didn't seem to discourage Loz from reaching behind him for his pack that sat at the back of his bike. He opened it up and settled the materia between a bundled up shirt and a broken yo-yo. Yazoo tilted his head gingerly to get a better look at the items and found them incredibly disgusting and dirty – they could be ridden with disease and it would not do at all for Kadaj to see such things.

"Loz, where have you picked these up from? Just the side of the road?"

"Uh-huh," Loz answered, patting the sack. "I call them my souvenirs. People throw away all kinds of things, Yazoo; just fling them to the ground."

"Perhaps they were discarded for a reason."

"For me to pick them up."

"No-"

"Hey, hey, just what's going on back here?" Kadaj had come back, expression contorted with annoyance and confusion. He looked from one brother to the other and skidded around to a halt. "What are you doing?"

Loz regarded Kadaj with apprehension – perhaps he knew as well that Kadaj would not take to his harboring trash as nicely as Yazoo had.

"He has an ache," said Yazoo easily.

Kadaj pulled a face of disbelief. "An ache? What kind of ache?" He narrowed his eyes at Loz.

Yazoo intervened once more, saying soothingly, "A back ache. He rides hunched-over. I am instructing him on how to ride properly."

Loz seemed at a loss but nodded nonetheless and said, lamely, "My back hurts."

"… Oh," Kadaj murmured. He nodded curtly. "Loz, sit straight. Come on, let's go. Can't you hear Her?"

Yazoo returned the nod and with that, Kadaj had zoomed off again, expecting the other two to follow. He rode off in such a hurry that a small chipped piece from his bike fell to the ground, surrounded by dirt and dust. Loz smirked to himself and completely dismounted, walked a few feet for the chunk of metal, and grabbed it to put in his sack.

Yazoo frowned slightly. "Loz," he snapped.

"What?" He jumped back on the bike. "You know… the closer we get to Her, the sooner none of us will be the same. And that's okay, but it's nice… to have souvenirs from our journey to Her… it's nice." He looked Yazoo in the eyes and smiled. "Maybe if I'm lucky, some lock of your hair will fall out as you ride, Yazoo."

Yazoo blinked, taken aback by the very idea, but before he could say anything Loz was revving his engine and was off, following their brother and he was laughing. He was following Kadaj to their doom and he was laughing.

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A/N: I don't even like Loz but here I am, writing about him. XD No idea what's wrong with me. But, you know, I feel happy, and I think I'll like it here.

Review?