A/N: I hope I'm not getting too tedious, now that the action is spaced out over three different places. Perhaps I should consider a different chapter format… I'll figure it out somehow. After all, this is still the beginning.

Hm, notes… I like reviews. I really, really like reviews. They inspire me to write faster. So thank you.

Resonance

04: Perspective

She was running, her child clutched tightly in her arms. Please, let her be going in the right direction. If she just got out of the woods… if she could just… "AAH!"

Tripping, she lost her grip on her little girl. Who was it who screamed? Perhaps it was her child. But when she saw the little body skewered on the double blades, the screaming didn't stop. Ah, so it was her voice after all.

"Don't worry, you're clean," proclaimed her attacker. As if it meant something.

"Monster!" she spat. "You monster! What have we ever done to you?"

Green eyes shimmered in the dark. "Damaged cells must be destroyed so that the body can heal." The corpse thudded to the ground with a flick of the killer's hand. She watched in horror as the… the monster stepped carelessly on and over the body of her little girl.

There was a cracking sound, bones breaking under those dirty, bare feet. A wretched, anguished cry burst from the mother's lips as she launched herself at her daughter's murderer.

"Don't touch her, you monster! Monster!"

For her troubles, she received a kick to the face. As the world grew dark about her, her fingers curled around the pink scrap of fabric.

"Murderer…"

-

It was a moonless night. On the grasslands, it made the sky look even wider and more remote.

"It must have been cold."

He turned his head, mildly annoyed at the voice disturbing the still night. "What must have been cold?" he asked, sneering ever so slightly.

"Out there, beyond the sky, where Mother came from," came the distant reply. It sounded almost dismayed. Disturbed, he turned to look at the teenager.

In those green eyes, he saw the glimmer of tears, not quite enough to mask the fear and doubt reflected in them.

"Everything will be alright once we find her," he told the teen carefully. "You, of all people, should know that, right?"

There was a long silence, and he couldn't help but sneak a glance at the youngest of the three of them. Then he went over and put an arm around the teen, fully expecting to be pushed away. Kadaj had always been the independent one (to put it nicely. One might call him an arrogant prick, but only on his bad days, out of earshot).

Instead, the teen leaned quietly against him, still staring at the vast expanse of sky, giving no reply to his query. Reading the loneliness in those wet green eyes, he, too, fell silent. It was the price of being chosen, the price of knowledge, the price of independence. They couldn't help shoulder the burden, but for awhile, perhaps, he could give the boy a little respite…

-

For a moment, he didn't know where he was. Above him was only darkness. Then the stars resolved themselves in his sight. He could feel the wetness on his face. A memory, a real one, unlike those inherited from his progenitor. Was the bastard watching this too?

But why was he crying? Kadaj alone had been pardoned, leaving the two elders to rot. Leading to this messed up chain of events… no, that wasn't true. The root of the current situation reached way, way back, to the moment Sephiroth was created. No, more accurately, it was when Sephiroth finally met his 'Mother' and made a decision. It was Sephiroth's will causing these ripples to form and distort….

Or perhaps it all began when a planet killer crashed though the sky onto this forsaken planet. Who could tell? So much had happened from then till now, so many paths forsaken to leave this single chain linking past to present.

Now what? It was Sephiroth's last gamble. Mothe… Jenova was gone, save a few stray cells they would be rounding up. Kadaj, the casualty of the last round of games, was gone too, together with Jenova's head that was briefly part of him. As part of their deal, even Loz was left with only a few cells, enough to preserve his personality, his memories, no more than what you would find in one with the stigma. The rest of what remained of Jenova's body was now concentrated in him. No more clones, no more puppets, just one unwilling idiot who made a contract.

And if Sephiroth won this time?

His eyes widened. If Sephiroth won this time…

-

Waiting.

He was the one who voiced the strategy, but the knowledge that Sephiroth could be out there somewhere harming people ate at him as much as anyone else. Everyone had to know that. Just because someone had to keep calm to steer in the storm didn't mean that he wasn't as worried or as concerned as the rest of the headless chickens running around. Fortunately, he had managed to convince Tifa not to tell the rest about Loz. There would have been more explaining than he really cared to do.

After the many-way phone conference, it was concluded that everyone should remain where they were and just observe the situation. Once more, it was up to him to state this very clearly. Once more, he was compelled by circumstances to take up the position of leader. One more reason to hate his ex-idol.

He made his escape the moment the meeting ended, locking himself in his room so that he didn't have to talk about it anymore. For a moment, he forgot about the boy inside.

Loz. On their previous encounters, he had been a snarling, towering man who had no problems recovering from one of Tifa's throws. He was also blown up by the morbid excess of materia he was trying to wield, together with the other guy. Yazoo, wasn't it?

But they were both back, only that Loz was now a little boy and Yazoo was quite clearly missing. The kid was convinced that his 'aniki' had been taken away by Sephiroth. He was probably right, just not in the way he meant it. If Sephiroth's mode of operation hadn't changed, which was highly likely (the egotistical bastard), the man known as Yazoo had probably become his puppet.

Just as he had once been, just as Kadaj…

The boy had cried himself to sleep earlier on. Lying on top of the dark sheets, partly wrapped in a black leather coat, his face looked chalk white. It looked as though he was having nightmares.

Frowning slightly, Cloud sat down on the bed. Yet another casualty, falling before Sephiroth's selfish delusions. The child had been utterly shattered by his inability to sense his beloved brother. It couldn't have been an act. Somehow, he just knew that Loz was one person incapable of deceit.

"Aniki," whimpered the child softly. "Aniki, help…"

Nightmares. He remembered the description of the white room and shuddered. Gently, he touched the boy, waking him.

In the flurry of motion that followed, he ended up with one trembling boy firmly attached to his neck. This was followed by moment of silence when said boy realized exactly who he was clinging to.

-

I'mgoingtodie.

It was the only thought in his head as he froze in realization of what he was doing. The thought promptly died an ignoble death when arms wrapped around him in what was unmistakably a hug. Thereafter, his mind gave up trying to make sense of the world and yelled at him to just enjoy it while he could.

"Nightmares?" asked the voice very softly. The razor edge that had been present in all previous questioning was nowhere to be found. Instead, nii-san sounded almost… concerned?

Tentatively, he raised his head to look at the man. Had he really seen a reflection of Sephiroth in this person looking down at him? Nodding shyly in reply to the inquiry, he dropped his head.

"Are you hungry?" asked nii-san.

With the reminder, Loz realized that yes, he was starving. He hadn't eaten a single thing since he woke in the morning. His stomach replied for him, eliciting a soft laugh from the man.

"I guess I should get you some food."

There was a sudden knock on the door, wiping the beginnings of the smile from Cloud's face.

"Cloud…"

"If it's anything to do with Sephiroth, I'm not here," said the man sharply. "We've been talking about it for the past three hours. I think that's enough."

"What about the boy?"

"…"

Loz chanced a glance at his nii-san. The woman was asking about him. What would she ask? He'd fought her before, before his… death. Was she still angry?

"Come on, let's get you some food," said the man softly, picking him up easily.

Tifa jumped when the door slammed open. Cloud was gone before she could even say a word. Uneasily, she watched him walk away with the silver-haired child in his arms.

-

The blades had tested clean. In the darkness of the late night or early morning, a single figure stumbled onward through a wood, a grotesque grin plastered across the too-pale face.

"Buy me a ticket back to paradise,
"Where the flowers smell as sweet as death,
"For, which fool would ask to be alive?"

He hummed softly, a nonsensical tune, even as his legs gave out and his body demanded rest. Ah, of course, he had forgotten. But maybe this was the way back.

"Buy me a ticket, back to paradise…"

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