Time for another chapter! Yay! XD. Now how should I start this...hmm...should I start with Yazoo and Loz or Kadaj first? So many ways to do this. XD. Whelp...I guess I'll just start writing first…
Mystical Authoress: When Reno and Rude are involved, things tend to get real crazy...XD
Frankokomando: Yes...short...the chapter before last chapter was too long so I kept last one short...maybe too short…^^;...well...I hope this one ends up to be a good length. XD
JilianLo: Things always get exciting with certain Turks around *cough Reno and Rude cough* XD
Therius: Reno is indeed a great character. XD. He's such a cool guy...and ridiculous.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy.
I'm really getting slow in writing.T^T...sorry. Gomenasai minna-san.
Kadaj flinches as Sephiroth steps closer to him. His attempt in trying not to fall asleep has obviously failed. Now, he was stuck in this dream world once again, unable to escape from the shadow looming over him. Panic flickers in his green eyes that dart around as they try to find a way to escape.
This time, Kadaj is not at the top of the building. Instead, he is in a small wooden church. The walls are crumbling and rotting, full of holes and gaps where Kadaj can see outside. From the holes in the roof, rays of light trickle in and casts its brightness amongst patches of white flowers. The sweet scent of the flowers blend with the musty smell of disuse and age.
Kadaj scoots away from the one winged angel, unknowingly smushing some flowers along the way. His hands are clenched in fists as he tries to stop the from shaking. Sephiroth merely steps forward once again, his feet mercilessly stomping on the flowers to destroy them.
Sephiroth bends over and grabs Kadaj by the front of his clothing, pulling the remnant up with ease.
"You sure took your time getting here...didn't you?" Sephiroth murmurs darkly into Kadaj's ear, causing Kadaj to whimper in fear.
"I...I'm sorry…..I…" Kadaj stammers as he frantically squirms in Sephiroth's grip.
Sephiroth snarls and tosses Kadaj to the side. Kadaj skids along the wooden floor and flowers, coming to a stop only after breaking through several church chairs and crashing into a pillar that's just barely standing. The blow of Kadaj's body against the pillar finally sends the stone to its limit, resulting in the whole pillar and part of the roof crashing down around Kadaj.
Pained screams echo from within the cloud of dust and flower petals. Sephiroth stands to the side, watching with an amused expression on his face. At last the screams subside along with the dust and flowers.
Calmly, Sephiroth saunters over to the wreckage with long strides, casually picking his way through broken stone, wood, and flowers. After a few moments of searching, he finally locates Kadaj huddled in a pitiful manner.
A sound escapes from Kadaj, a cross between a sob and a moan. In his right hand, he clutches a bloodied and broken left hand within his grasp. Surprisingly, the rest of his body is mostly unharmed except for minor scratches and bruises.
Sephiroth reaches for Kadaj's neck, but then he hesitates and his hand reaches for Kadaj's broken hand instead. Grabbing the bloodied hand, Sephiroth yanks Kadaj up to his feet, resulting in a shrill cry of pain from the remnant.
"I don't want any excuses from you." Sephiroth hisses as he squeezes the hand tighter. "Understand?"
Kadaj nods weakly, his face now streaked with dust and tears. "Y...yes…"
Sephiroth releases Kadaj. "Good. Besides...you should like this world. Here, your body isn't messed up and scarred. Your body is the perfection it should be."
Kadaj could only nod weakly as he slumps down onto the floor, cradling his broken hand to his chest.
"Where were we last time before you...ah...left…?" Sephiroth purrs menacingly. "Oh right...I remember. Your punishment. Aren't I right, my poor remnant?'
Kadaj suddenly leaps to his feet and sprints past the surprised Sephiroth. He leaps through a hole in the wall and stumbles as his feet catch on the edge of of the gap. Within milliseconds, Sephiroth was on top of him, pinning Kadaj down on the grass.
Clearly enraged, Sephiroth purposely steps on the injured hand as he gets off Kadaj. "You little...luckily there is no way to escape unless you wake up. And you can't run from me for long."
Kadaj screams, struggling to get his hand out from under Sephiroth's foot. "Ah! I'm sorry!"
Sephiroth finally removes his foot from the hand and then proceeds to drag Kadaj back into the church, not caring as Kadaj drags along the floor as he struggles to stand up and catch up to Sephiroth's brisk pace.
"Now the punishment." Sephiroth snarls. "I've got a lot of things planned for you…"
Sephiroth promptly walks over to a broken glass window and picks up a glass shard. He returns with the glass shard held menacingly in his grasp.
"Take it off."
Kadaj blinks, wondering if he heard Sephiroth correctly. "Wha-?"
"I said 'Take it off'." Sephiroth repeats.
"T...take what off?' Kadaj stammers.
Sephiroth gestures at Kadaj's leather clothing. Surprised at the request, Kadaj can only stand there dumbly. Sephiroth sighs in annoyance and instead does that for him, leaving Kadaj laying there with only his pants and shoes.
Sephiroth flips Kadaj over so he can see the remnant's bare back. Taking the glass shard, he slowly starts to press down on the pale back, breaking skin and releasing blood as he engraves something into Kadaj's back.
Kadaj screams, writhing as he tries to escape the sharp edge of the glass. However, Sephiroth is much too overpowering. Kadaj has no hope of escaping the firm grasp.
A few agonizing minutes later, Sephiroth finally gets off Kadaj. Kadaj gasps from the floor from both relief and pain. Blood slowly trickles down his back and onto the flowers beneath him, staining them a slight pink colour. Kadaj whimpers as Sephiroth leans down and teasingly licks some of the blood off, purposely using his teeth to bite at the cuts.
"I don't think that's enough…" Sephiroth smirks. "I don't think you've learned your lesson quite yet…"
Kadaj lets out a small scared squeak. "No!...I have…"
Sephiroth ignores his pitiful pleads and drags him up by the hair. "Let's go to a certain...place."
"W...where?"
"Oh you'll see…"
Sephiroth starts walking briskly out of the church, dragging Kadaj's battered body behind him like a rag doll. Kadaj attempts to keep up with the fast pace to prevent himself from being dragged along the floor and to lessen the pain from Sephiroth yanking at his hair.
But Sephiroth is much too fast for the weakened remnant. It is only in the matter of moments before Kadaj is gasping for breath as his feet drag along the grass.
Sephiroth suddenly turns around, drawing them both to a stop. Kadaj stumbles and promptly faceplants into the ground.
Sephiroth, who isn't even out of breath, scowls in disapproval. "I expected more from you."
Kadaj looks away from Sephiroth, ashamed of how weak he is. Surely mother would never love someone as powerless as him. What hope did he have to prove that he was indeed useful to Jenova?
"Mother still has plans for you." Sephiroth says suddenly as if he was reading Kadaj's mind. "Personally, I don't think you're useful at all...but I do what mother says."
Kadaj almost lets out a breath of relief. Maybe it was still possible to be loved by her.
"Now get moving." Sephiroth commands.
Almost robotically, Kadaj stands up and shuffles after Sephiroth. Sephiroth slows down his pace to allow Kadaj to follow after him. Moments later, they are entering the woods filled with white, almost glowing, leafless trees.
"A...are we heading to...the...the...Forgotten City…?" Kadaj asks in a small, hesitant, fearful voice.
Sephiroth ignores him and continues walking. Soon, Kadaj confirms that they are indeed headed towards the Forgotten City.
At last, they stop walking when they come to a small pond of water. Kadaj peers down at the clear water, no longer a murky black that he had once turned it to. The face of a frightened white haired boy stares back at him as memories of the children come back to him.
Those innocent children. Kadaj had literally turned them into slaves that did whatever he told them to do. Before, he had thought that it doing so would make him less lonely, the children with geostigma connecting him to his mother and becoming little brothers or sisters to comfort him. But now that he thinks about it, what he did was just pure cruelty.
"You remember this place...don't you?" Sephiroth smiles darkly.
Kadaj nods, his face pale in fear. The image of Marlene hugging Loz's leg and Denzel staring blankly ahead with green eyes keeps flashing in his mind. Something finally snaps within Kadaj. He leaps up and suddenly kicks the unprepared Sephiroth in the face.
Sephiroth recoils in shock. Taking advantage of the surprise attack, Kadaj sprints off into the woods, not caring of branches that scratch his body as he runs.
Run. He needs to run. To get away from Sephiroth. To escape from this place. To run from the memories.
A sudden heavy weight on his back sends Kadaj sprawling on the floor. Sephiroth slams Kadaj's broken hand against the floor, releasing a scream of agony from Kadaj.
Sephiroth's black wing beats furiously in the air, his face twisted in a look of anger and danger. A brown smudge of dirt on his cheek shows clearly how successful that kick was.
"Why you little...I swear...I'll kill you." Sephiroth snarls as he drags Kadaj back to the pond. "Unfortunately, mother doesn't allow me to. But once I can...I'll make sure it will be a long and painful death…"
Kadaj squirms, desperate to get away from the small pond. To his dismay, he finds himself once again staring at his reflection in the pond. He only stares at himself for a mere second before Sephiroth's hand shoves his head into the water.
The coldness of the water seeps through his skin, chilling his bones as Kadaj struggles to break free from Sephiroth's unrelenting grasp. Small bubbles of precious air escapes from Kadaj's mouth, floating to the surface and disappearing into the sky. His lungs feel as they were being compressed, forcing all the oxygen that remains out of his body. A burning sensation gradually builds in his chest, growing to the point that it was near unbearable. Air. He needs air now. Opening his mouth, Kadaj's body forces him to draw in a huge breath. Only there is no air, only water.
His vision begins to cloud, black dots seemingly to creep in from the edge of his vision. Slowly, he feels his consciousness slipping away. A cold blast of air suddenly blasts in Kadaj's face and his body immediately responds with a pained gasp of air. He chokes, hacking out water from his lungs as he coughs while droplets of water drip from his hair.
A wave of relief floods him, only to quickly leave him as Sephiroth shoves his head back under the water once again. The same burning pain overwhelms him again in an instant, only for the relief of air to come back when his consciousness is almost gone.
Part of Kadaj wishes that Sephiroth just held him under there to end the constant pain. However, Sephiroth makes sure that he does not slip away into unconsciousness.
Sephiroth finally stops after long minutes of doing this. Kadaj struggles to regain his world gradually begins to fade away, becoming almost a black void.
Sephiroth smirks. "I will see you next time."
Then, the nightmare world evaporates into a mere memory.
Kadaj jerks up from his bed, gasping as he draws in breaths of air. Cloud and Tifa look down at him in worry. A small circle of blood stains the blanket where his hand is. A quick glance at the bed also confirms the fact that his back is bleeding too.
"Kadaj! How did this happen!?" Tifa demands. "Tell me."
Kadaj shakes his head weakly, clutching his broken hand to his chest.
Cloud gently pulls Tifa aside. "Kadaj...please. We need to know how this happened to you."
Refusing to speak, Kadaj stays silent and avoids Cloud's gaze.
Cloud sighs. "Alright. Let's clean you up first...but after that we need to talk. Understand?"
Kadaj looks away but allows Cloud to take his broken hand gently.
"Tifa...get me a bucket of water and towel please. And...uh...get the kids out…"
Tifa nods and goes to do so. Kadaj continues to stare at the wall as Cloud tends to his hand.
Cloud moves on to wash the blood off Kadaj's back. He can tell that there are words engraved into Kadaj's back, but through all the blood, it is hard to tell what it says. Using the wet towel, Cloud gently wipes away all the blood until the letters are visible. All of a sudden, Cloud drops the towel and knocks over the bucket of pink bloody water as he steps backwards, splashing it all over the floor.
Kadaj turns around in surprise, only to find Cloud staring at his back with eyes wide open in shock and fear.
"W...what…" Kadaj rasps out, trying to see his back.
Cloud closes his eyes as he takes in a deep breath to calm himself. "On your back...it says...it says…"
Kadaj looks at Cloud impatiently, wishing for him to get to the point already.
"'You are just a puppet'..."
Kadaj pales upon realizing that he had been scarred for life, tainted by the being that he was created from. He grabs the upturned bucket on the floor and promptly vomits.
Reno peers down at Loz, studying the big man on the ground in front of him. Loz stares back, his face showing obvious surprise upon seeing the redhead. Rude stands behind Reno, looking around the barren dirt land around him as if trying to look for some other form of life. All three of them fall into an awkward silence.
Reno is the first to speak. "Yo. How do you stand the heat in that leather clothing!?"
Loz blinks, clearly not expecting such a question. "Uh...um…."
"Well, who cares 'bout that." Reno replies before Loz can finish speaking. "Where's the other guy? You know...the one that I was fighting while you were fighting Rude."
Rude gives a cough of annoyance. "That was one hell of a fight I hated. You hit me with your lead pipe, Reno, and almost hit me again. Not to mention a sign fell on my head followed by you. And even worse, you stepped on a pair of my sunglasses. And then you crashed the helicopter."
Reno groans and turns to face Rude. "C'mon! I said I was sorry! And hey, the helicopter crashing wasn't my fault. Blame it on whatshisface...they guy who's supposed to be with this guy. He shot the controller and broke it. Not me."
"But you still need to pay for the sunglasses."
"No I don't! You've got plenty!"
"You've also got to pay for the last six you broke too."
"Ruuuuuuuuudddddddddeeeeeeeeee!"
Rude ignores Reno's pleas and focuses back on Loz. "Where's your brother?"
Loz shrugs. "Yazoo went off to look for somewhere safe we could stay...but I don't know exactly where he is...I saw him go that way." He points in the general location Yazoo went. "Yaz said he would come back for me…"
Reno nods. "Alright. Let's go look for him. Then we'll bring ya both back so you guys can see your other brother."
"Other brother!?" Loz exclaims, almost jumping up in joy upon hearing this. Of course he couldn't with his malfunctioning legs.
Reno nods again. "Yeah. What's his name again? K...Kabob? Cake?"
Rude sighs. "It's Kadaj."
"Yeah. Him."
Loz's eyes light up in pure excitement. "He's alive!"
"Yup. Now let's go."
Reno and Rude turn around to get back onto the helicopter. Loz attempts to follow them but only succeeds in dragging himself a foot before giving up.
"A bit of help here!" Loz shouts after them.
Reno turns and blinks. "Ya can't walk?'
Loz shakes his head sullenly.
'Alright. Rude, go carry him."
Rude scowls at Reno and promptly smacks him on the head. "Why me?'
"Cus you're stronger than me. End of story."
Rude rolls his eyes and proceeds to drag Loz onto the helicopter.
Reno sits in the pilot seat and grins at the two of them. "Ready? Let's go!"
Slowly, the helicopter rises and moves towards the direction Yazoo headed in.
Yazoo stumbles as he continues trekking through the dirt land. So far, he has not found anything of much use except for rocks. Wincing as the heat of the sun continues to burn his pale skin, Yazoo wonders if he should start heading back for Loz.
He glances backwards at his footprints. It is probably best to go back to Loz.
A sudden breeze sweeps through the area. At first, it feels quite refreshing after the long walk in the burning heat. However, the breeze quickly becomes a ferocious wind, picking up dirt and rock as it blows over the ground. Yazoo loses his footing and tumbled onto the ground.
He curls up in a small ball on the ground, protecting his face and mouth from the particles of dust in the air. After many long moments of staying like this, the wind finally dies down and Yazoo stands back up.
The wind had swept away all signs of his footprints and scrambled his sense of direction. Wherever Yazoo looks, the scenery seems the same.
A bubble of dread rises up from within. He spins around several times, desperate in finding some sort of indicator in which way he came from.
"Crap. No. Which way?!" He begins to panic.
As the feeling of anxiety bubbles over the rim, he begins to sprint in a random direction, the fear pushing him to keep going. All sense of logic is overwhelmed by the panic. The only thing Yazoo can think of is to run, find the right way to go, and get back to Loz.
It is only after long minutes of running that he finally comes to a stop. The panic is still there but now logic has at least returned to him.
Immediately, he curses at himself for being so stupid. Why had he run in some random direction? Now surely he had gotten himself more lost.
Yazoo groans.
"I'm sorry, Loz. I don't think I'll make it back...I'm sorry…"
A/N: Yay! 3000 words. Good. Within the word range I wanted it to be. XD. Whelp...I kinda feel bad now for what happened to Kadaj. I wanted torture...but...uh...sorta went a bit overboard with it. ^^;. I wanted to do a simple toss to the ground and the glass...but...the simple toss ended up as a broken roof and pillar plus a broken hand...and the glass...well...that was planned. The almost drowning...yeah...that...was totally not planned. Actually, Byaku suggested black widow venom but I is too lazy to research that. Might do it later though. XD. And the glass part was my friend 's idea. XD.
(If Sephiroth was a potato then he would wage war against the yams - Byaku 2014)
((...right...sure…..O_o))
Whelp. That's it. Please review! Please!