Chapter 4
The sky was beginning to glow along the horizon when Chaos turned back towards the warehouse. It had taken him the rest of the night to process the shock of the remnant's appearance in his life.
Rage had welled up inside of him when the youth had attacked. How dare the whelp attack him when he had just rescued him? It had taken an immense effort to reign in his desire to annihilate the boy as he tamped his anger back under control. He wasn't sure why he bothered – the world would get along just fine with one less punk kid.
Then, as he held the teen down, recognition had crept in. It was slow at first – the last person he expected to show up under his roof was one of Sephiroth's remnants. After all, they were supposed to have died over a year ago.
He wasn't quite sure what to do with this new development. The helpless stray puppy he had dragged home suddenly turned out to be a thrall of Jenova – a harbinger of the destruction of the Planet. Not only a madman, but a powerful one. This really was more of Vincent's purview. Why did the whelp have to end up on his doorstep? Part of him thought maybe he should make Valentine aware of the remnant's return, but that would mean revealing himself to the ex-Turk as well, and he wasn't sure he wanted that. He had already saved the Planet once – why did this have to happen to him?
Although… he had enjoyed taunting the boy. The stray rose to the bait much more readily than Vincent ever had. It would almost be worthwhile to keep him around just for that purpose… But, no, the remnant would be gone by the time he got back to the warehouse – of that he was almost certain. It was better that way. He wouldn't have to make the decision – it would simply be out of his hands. AVALANCHE would probably find out about the silver-haired whelp in short order anyway. Yes, at least his problem was resolved.
Out of nowhere, something attacked. Chaos cursed himself for becoming distracted to the point of being so easily ambushed. He glimpsed a flash of shiny purple carapace as he attempted to put some space between himself and the large creature. The back of his mind registered the monster as a grashtrike, while the rest of him prepared to battle it.
The ugly crustacean monster attempted to ensnare Chaos with silk. Preoccupied with his own thoughts and caught unaware, Chaos found his left arm entirely entangled. With the sticky webbing reducing his mobility, he would have a hard time launching a counterattack and his evasive speed was severely compromised. It certainly didn't help that he had neither weapons nor Materia. He could thank Aerith for sending him back without any such tools at his disposal. Of course, he hadn't exactly made the effort to acquire any in the past two weeks either. Oops. Hopefully, that oversight wasn't about to cost him.
Luckily, the grashtrike appeared to be alone. He might have been in trouble otherwise. Grashtriken were pretty easy to kill with physical force alone, and he had that in abundance even when limited to the use of one arm. Being careful to avoid the crustacean's claws and stinger, Chaos let loose a series of blows that dazed the monster. His fighting style was blunt and reflexive; he had no need for frills or flare. Avoiding a poorly aimed assault by its stinger, he struck again, bringing the monster down to the ground. Chaos didn't stop until the creature was pulverized. He hadn't realized he had been sitting on so much rage. Better not to dwell overmuch on the source of that rage, for it had served him well today and that was all that mattered.
Chaos took a moment to consider the dead creature. A few monsters still lingered in Edge, despite the WRO's concerted effort to eradicate them within the city limits. The remains of Midgar and the wastelands were still heavily infested, but the monster population in Edge was pretty well contained, despite all the horrors released from that mad scientist Hojo's lab. Chaos shuddered at the thought. If ever there was a monster, it was Hojo.
As the grashtrike began to dissipate back into the Lifestream, Chaos moved in to retrieve the Materia it had left behind. Almost all of the monsters Hojo had experimented on had high concentrations of Mako, courtesy of the mad scientist's fixation on Mako treatments. Concentrated Mako could not be reabsorbed into the Lifestream upon their death, which resulted in Materia being left behind – probably the one useful feature of Hojo's sadistic machinations.
The spider-web Materia could prove useful to him in slowing down future enemies. He bent to retrieve the smallish ball of crystalline-like substance. Searing pain engulfed his hand, causing him to drop the offending object. Chaos stared at his hand where it had clasped the Materia. What in the bloody Lifestream just happened? Chaos had never heard of Materia that burned its handler, and certainly the Materia left behind by a simple grashtrike should not burn? There wasn't even a source of water nearby to dunk his now smarting and itching hand into. Leaving the Materia where it lay, he headed back to his lair posthaste.
Chaos strode into the warehouse intent on dousing his hand, getting something to eat, and then catching some sleep. He was not at all prepared to find the place still occupied.
The silver-haired youth stopped what he was doing – which appeared to be picking at one of his own hands – and turned to him with an exaggerated bow. "Welcome to my humble abode."
Apparently the boy had used the time alone to recover his wits. He seemed older now than the frightened teen that had awoken on Chaos' mat. The flippant remnant gazed up at him with his head tilted and his face partially concealed by his hair. A territorial urge rose up in Chaos. His abode? First the kid attacked him and now he wanted to lay claim to his lair?
"Why are you still here?"
"But, sir, you said we'd talk."
Eating the whelp was beginning to sound like a good idea again.
"I'm sure two monsters can find some diversion in this town."
"Speak for yourself, whelp." Never taking his eyes of the remnant, Chaos dipped his hands into the container of water he kept in his lair and scrubbed at them. Ah, that was a little better. He squatted and leaned back against a wall. Perhaps if he ignored the stray it would go away. It wasn't like he had fed it or anything. But then, he was curious… just a little bit.
"Where did you come from, Remnant? You're supposed to be dead."
"Don't call me that!"
Oh, yes, it surely was fun to get under the stray's skin.
"How do you know about me, anyway?" the boy continued in a more normal tone.
"Ah, I'm hurt you don't recognize me. We fought in the Forgotten City. Of course, you might not have noticed me if you thought you were just fighting my host – Vincent Valentine."
The boy sucked in his breath with recognition. Oh, the whelp was much more satisfying than Vincent. Valentine's morose nature and time as a Turk made him exceptionally good at covering his feelings. Not so with this boy.
"I've fought a lot of monsters. You can't expect me to remember all of them."
Nice attempt at recovery, boy; too bad you read like an open book. And it would take something a little stronger than the word monster to get under Chaos's skin.
"I'll ask again. What are you doing here?"
"I'm not entirely sure why I'm here, okay? I guess I wasn't wanted in the Lifestream." The boy sounded, suddenly, vulnerable. He was trying to hide it, but it was clear as day to the ancient being. "I just need to find my brothers…"
Chaos detected honesty in the boy's response. Surprising. His curiosity was thoroughly aroused now. "Brothers?"
"Loz and Yazoo. They won't know what to do without me around, the crybabies." The boy was using his tone of superiority to cover genuine sadness and concern.
"What about… Sephiroth? What about… Mother?"
"I don't want to talk about them!" High, shrill voice. Ooh, the boy really was touchy.
"So, you just want to find the other remnants? No plans to end the world?" How interesting to chat about ending the world like it was a perfectly normal topic of conversation. Strangely – in light of the events over the last few years – it seemed exactly that.
"Yes, I will find them. And you will help me, monster."
Ah, look who was being all authoritarian. It should have made him mad, but instead he found it… amusing? Perhaps he shouldn't be surprised – next to Valentine, even a chocobo would seem amusing. "I will do whatever I choose, whelp." It wouldn't do to let the stray get ideas or take on airs. He certainly wasn't responsible for keeping the remnant out of trouble. He should probably just eat the stray, or at least kick him out. "But… you can stay here for now."Where did that come from?"And… if it amuses me, I might get involved, but I wouldn't hold your breath… Meanwhile, you'd better earn your keep." Yeah, maybe the kid could get a job and bring home some gil. Having better grub around might actually make up for having to tolerate his presence. Sure, that was why he was allowing the whelp to stay.
The boy regarded him from behind his silver hair, but did not dissent.
"One more thing: your hair. It stands out too much. You'll have to get some hair dye." It wouldn't do to attract too much attention. Word of silver hair was sure to garner attention from AVALANCHE. Chaos wasn't sure where this strange new alliance was headed, but he definitely wasn't ready to involve AVALANCHE. "You'll make a great brunette. Or maybe we should go with purple?" That was a fun picture.
"No. Absolutely not! I am not changing my hair."
Whatever. "It's your funeral." Chaos took his blanket from where it had fallen on the floor during their earlier confrontation and tossed it on his mat. He reclined back and closed his eyes, effectively dismissing the remnant. It was a power play and he knew it, but one had to find their pleasure somewhere.
The boy paced from one side of the warehouse to the other. And back again. And…
"Knock that off," Chaos growled.
The pacing stopped.
Thanks for joining us for Chapter 4. As always, I am immensely indebted to ScribeofRhapsody and ScribeofRED for their input and patient guidance on this project. All credit and rights for FFVII remain with their respective developers and copyright holders.
Also, I would like to extend an enthusiastic "Thank You!" to our latest reviewer, LunaEtSidera. As always, reviews make Vendetta smile.
Until next time,
~ Vendetta ~
