DISCLAIMER: FINAL FANTASY AND ITS COMPONENTS DO NOT BELONG - I swear to god - TO ME.

"Get yourself together, kid. The next sandstorm is coming."

Rikku, the elderly lady that was in charge of this camp that Kadaj was stuck in, kicked his leg. The remnant popped a green eye open.

"Go away."

The stubborn boy wrapped an arm around a bundle of clothes, laying his head in the middle.

He knew that annoying girl - which was literally Yuffie standing in front of him - constantly tried to teach him out to use Materia but he knew enough.

"So you're gonna stay behind while sand just eats you all up?"

The elder carried a satchel full of tools and rations in one hand, almost like it was weighing it down. Her green eyes seemed to deepen in color, her facial expression one of fatigue laced with concern.

Why does she even care?

"I don't care."

His back was still turned to her, his lithe body bent over a wooden desk.

The woman sighed and lifted up the cloth, mumbling under her breath.

"Suit yourself."

After Kadaj heard the familiar beads landing on the floor, he brushed silver strands out of his face, looking in her direction.

I just want to be left alone. Why does she even bother?

He didn't care if he sunk in quicksand, swallowed up by the earth as he choked on sand.

He didn't care if he was left alone in the tent and a bandit raid swept by to take them all.

He didn't care if by some miracle Rikku kicked him out and he was forced to fend for himself.

In all honesty if Rikku gave him a sword to defend himself, he would just sink the blade into his chest.

Or if Rikku threw him out with no sword, no food, and no water, he would purposely starve himself. If it was possible for a remnant to die like that.

Brother killed me like he would kill anyone else, of course it's possible I'll starve to death.

"Hey Cat, at least throw some cover over yourself. Death by sand isn't exactly enjoyable."

Her permanent sarcastic voice seemed to seep into the tent, vaguely missing Kadaj.

"I'll take my chances."

He mumbled, shutting his eyes and just focused on the dense air that floated around him, the language of the children that he still didn't understand and the ever so constant presence of the woman outside of his tent.

Of course he should be out there looking for Mother but he had nothing to go out with. All of his powers he possessed before, all of the powers that Loz and Yazoo were jealous of were gone.

It was like Gaia threw him out clean, like she was throwing out a saint from heaven.

Although Kadaj was anything else but a saint.

"Isn't there anything that makes you happy?"

The elder walked in, spinning around threads around her wrist. For a second Kadaj wondered if it would snap her wrist.

"Not really."

Rikku rolled her eyes, letting out a big sigh.

"Kids these days- What about machina? Ever tried that?"

The youngest remnant thought for a bit. He brushed his smooth hair in front of his eye, sitting up.

"What's that?"

"You see those big machines outside? You get to learn how to operate and control them. Wanna try?"

Her voice contained something positive, something hopeful. It's like she wanted to lift him out of this depression and give him back the spitfire he possessed.

But still, how is that going to bring back Mother?

"Not interested."

He muttered. His fingers tightened around the bundle.

Just leave me alone.

"You gotta do something."

Even though Kadaj couldn't see, he could tell she had her hands on her hips.

"I am doing something. I'm not attacking you, which is a miracle."

Towards the end, he sneered.

"A miracle indeed. Tell me, didn't your momma ever tell you to be nice or something?"

What she didn't expect was a knife thrown at her direction which she dodged on instinct.

"Don't talk about Mother!"

Kadaj stood up, knocking the chair over.

"If another word falls past your lips about her, I'll make sure you'll rot in the sand!"

He shouted, his fists clenching by his side. His green eyes burned with rage, emotions threatening to spill over.

By now the elder could tell that before he landed here he went through harsh times but there was something else buried under there, under all that rage.

Something so lost, so long ago…

"Your mother was a kind woman, wasn't she?"

Rikku crossed her arms, facial expression lax despite the raging psychotic brat in front of her.

"A kind woman to others. But I see how she raised you, how you were born to be. I see the hate inside of you, a natural born killer."

Kadaj had enough. He whipped out another knife and sped up to her, swinging his blade. A satisfying swipe down and all this is over.

But she was still standing.

Her firm grip around his wrist brought him back to reality, his menacing green eyes flaring.

"So what if I am-"

"I bet your mother was a saint to others but when she got home, she was the meanest demon you ever saw. I bet she beat you even when you tried so hard to make it right."

Kadaj lifted up a foot and pushed her back so hard, she fell against the curtain and nearly took it down.

He felt so angry, so infuriated with this damn old hag. Mother was the thing that kept him alive all this time, Mother was the reason why he was sent back so he could try again.

How dare she open her mouth and say that?

"Shut up! Mother loved us all!"

He shouted, raising up a fist to slam her down. But, as usual, his fist was met with sand.

"Quick to defend are you, Cat? Did she defend you when you were knocked down? Beaten and bruised, starving out in the desert? Where was your momma then?"

She couldn't have said that, she couldn't…

The remnant swung the knife with whatever strength he had. Why was he so weak?

Rikku used this advantage to kick him in the abdomen, grabbed his wrist and twisted his arm. She pinned him to the cushion, pressing his arm painfully in his back.

"And you know what else I think?"

She sneered, squeezed around his wrist. Kadaj scowled and wiggled under her grasp, hating how his muscles were numb and feeling like there was thousands of tiny needles stabbing him in the legs.

Shut up…

"I bet that there was someone else in the house that she loved more than you. I bet her gaze melted when she looked at them but when she looked at you…"

No…

Kadaj's eyes shot open, his rage piling down to denial.

"No that's not true…"

Sephiroth…

Her serene voice whistled in his ears, picturing her pale arms holding him close to her bosom.

But then when she looked at Kadaj…

"Your mother was a saint in their eyes but in your eyes she was a perfect nightmare."

No…

Flashes of memories filled his head, the tranquility of her voice mocking him.

It was so unfair, it was just so unfair…

"Stop…"

All he wanted was to be noticed by her, all he wanted was to have a mother who treated her child like she was about to lose him everyday.

He brought her son back, helped spread a disease that nearly took the life on almost everyone on the planet, nearly tore the whole world in half…

And all he was met was this?

Not even a pat on the back?

Not even an I love you?

Kadaj didn't know when but Rikku's grip was gone, her fingers just touching his arms.

His eyes filled with tears, unshed tears that he held back for so long. His body shuddered, emotions running rampant throughout his body.

He choked on his breath.

"All I wanted… Was t-to be a good son…"

He coughed, tears wetting the blanket.

"I did all she wanted and even brought back the son she loved most… But t-that's not… Enough?"

He could still hear the soothing voice in his head.

"I never once got an 'I love you', all I wanted was to hear that but she doesn't even do that! I just wanted to be a better son, a better brother, but no!"

He wept into the sheets, raw emotion pouring out of him.

"She doesn't care, she just doesn't care…"

She never did.

Kadaj didn't register what happened as Rikku got off and gently helped him sit up, tears falling down his chin. He felt a soft cushion against his head, scented oils meeting his nose.

Right now he didn't care that he was pressed against her chest, he didn't care that her lithe wrinkled fingers threaded his hair, he didn't care that she was mumbled something under her breath as she rested her chin on his head.

The strange warmth in his chest and the foreign feelings of comfort oddly made him weep more.

"Maybe she didn't care at all. Maybe all she wanted was to see if you were faithful."

Those words oddly weighed in sympathy, too much sympathy.

"Mother is God in the eyes of a child."

"Is there a reason you called me here or it because you just wanted to see me?"

Cloud stood over the desk, looking aptly bored and somewhat bothered. His blonde hair was messy as usual and the usual black attire he wore was groomed and kept in place despite his trips to the desert.

Rufus Shinra was seated rather snugly behind his desk, his leg crossed over the other. His hair was neatly groomed, his pristine suit looked like it was recently folded and his skin was bursting with softness. He was sporting the same bored expression as Cloud, only a smirk was dancing on his lips.

Tseng was standing next to him, almost resembling the same status but something else was irking him inside.

"Why yes Cloud, of course we wanted to see you. We also have a few tasks at hand-"

"Not interested."

"How about a few gils-"

"Not. Interested."

Cloud cut off Rufus the moment he brought up certain kinds of 'tasks'. Well of course he was going to deny, it was marvelously Cloud after all.

"I see. Well now that the offer is out of the way… Tseng, show him the pictures."

The Wutaian nodded, his expression blank and serious but Cloud could tell there was something else tugging at his sleeve.

"We monitor these camps around the desert because their people are the only ones who strangely have no effect on Mako, therefore they won't react when they touch Materia and Mako alike. They live near the mines and we pay them so they can trade with us."

Tseng watched Cloud skim over the pictures from the droid cameras. He swore he saw his eyes flicker at one particular photo.

The photo was black and white but it was obvious the teenager staring blankly to the side was Kadaj. His eyes seemed to glow despite how dark the photo was and the short shoulder length silver hair fell in front of his face, almost beautifully. Cloud expected him to be angry or smiling madly but he was just sitting there solemnly. As if he just gave up on life and had nothing else to live for, much less do.

The people in front of the photo was working on something on the side, one of the guys had a full body suit and was bent over the hood of a machine that resembled an automobile but more advanced than they have now.

Children buried their hands in the sand, oblivious to the searing hot weather,

And all Kadaj did was just sit there on a barrel and watch them.

The same miserable but gorgeous face was just so melancholic, Cloud actually felt his heart pulling strings.

"There's this one camp that's far from the reactors but they live under a Materia cave. And they're different from the rest of the camps, this one is Al Bhed. Do you know about them?"

The Turk knocked him back and tilted his head a little bit, almost like a child.

Cloud shook his head.

"Not really. Just read about them in books, didn't really know they existed."

"Then you know they can make machines much more stronger than ours? They can make robots, almost like real people but they have a whole new different system."

When he sensed Cloud wasn't paying attention, he sighed.

"The point is, it's no surprise that someone from the Lifestream can end up near one of these places. And this happened to be…"

Tseng laid a finger on the picture that Cloud laid conveniently in front of Rufus.

"One of the remnants of Sephiroth. And the ringleader of them all, Kadaj."

Cloud stared at the photo silently, frowning. It's not that one of the remnants of Sephiroth were back, Kadaj just happened to pop out of the Lifestream but the fact that he seemed different.

The remnant was supposed to stand up and yell at everyone, shout at random kids and demand them where Mother was, throw a tantrum if no one knew and kill everyone in the camp out of anger.

But he was just sitting there…

"Cloud, we must have him here in two days. Who knows what he'll be doing during that."

Something tells me he won't be doing much…

"Alright."

The Turk's eyes shot open for a second out of surprise and Rufus just hummed, uncrossing his legs.

"You'll do it?"

Tseng asked, his tone full of surprise.

Rufus rose a brow and looked up at the Wutaian, his eyes glimmered and for a second he saw them shift.

"I'll think about it."

Cloud muttered, feeling the atmosphere change drastically. He snatched the photo off of his desk and turned around to leave.

"What are you going to do once you have him?"

The blonde tilted his head to the side, his blue eyes locked on them.

"Well, we'll lock him up. Keep him away for good. We wouldn't want him to destroy the planet again, after all that we did to save her."

Cloud nodded, twisting the doorknob slowly. He couldn't help but feel something was off about them.

Maybe they just changed. They felt bad for what they did years ago that made the planet like this so they rebuilt.

Little did they know, they're just gonna do what the old Shinra did.

Cloud left the two men standing there behind the desk, Tseng averting his gaze and Rufus reaching for a cigarette.

"Sir, are we really going to imprison Kadaj?"

The Turk looked at Rufus, completely overwhelmed.

It wasn't usual for a Turk to get this nervous but this was Sephiroth's remnants they were talking about.

Yazoo and Loz weren't a worry since they already proven faith and trust in the company but even then they were hanging their doubts on a thread.

The only reason Yazoo didn't put Rufus or Tseng's head on a pike was because they swore they wouldn't lay a finger on Loz. And even though he still mistrusted them, Loz was constantly surveillanced by Rude. So even if the two men wasn't doing their duty, the tan skinned Turk certainly was.

And to make sure that Yazoo wasn't planning on something, Reno was in charge of watching him. But even then there was still animosity between the two, even if it was very subtle. Something happened between the two, and it wasn't the fight in Midgar a year back.

But whenever the remnant was in trouble or his life was slowly ebbing away, Reno was always there for him.

However now that they found out about Kadaj suddenly appearing, they were going to act on one code they formed silently:

Family first.

"Tseng don't get so preoccupied with this, Yazoo and Loz will be away on a mission. And if Cloud brings him back while they're here, well…"

He shrugged, lighting up the cigarette in his hand.

"They are human now. Jenova is gone from their bloodstream. They're easier than before to eliminate."

Eliminate?

"Sir, you can't be…"

The Wutaian didn't show it but he was deathly scared inside. He couldn't let the remnants die, they were still a valuable asset.

"We did pledge to not lay a finger on them both, right? That was when they were still powerful, the influence on the Lifestream was still in their veins. Now that they're fully human - evident to what happened with Loz on his last mission - they can't do anything say we… Break the promise."

The blonde was completely stoic when he explained, the cigarette still lit as he started signing papers.

Tseng swallowed thickly, a bead of sweat forming on his forehead.

As much as he tried so hard to deny it, he couldn't help but see his father taking over the President. All of the riches were now available to him, the world was repairing and people were getting happy.

It was only a matter of time before Rufus just took it all. Just like that son of a bitch.

"Sir, you can't-"

"And who are you to tell me what I can and cannot do?"

Tseng himself was taken aback by the sudden remark, his eyes shooting open just for a little bit.

"Your shield, sir."

"And you are just a shield. Shields can't talk, they just cover. And they go wherever their master takes them. Now please, don't you have a task to do?"

He was shocked that the man would lash out, especially towards him.

The Turk he entrusted his life upon.

The Turk that took a bullet for him.

The Turk that would still take bullets and bullets if it meant he would be safe.

Now all this wasted time…

"Of course. I apologize, sir."

He averted his gaze and clenched his fists, taking the clipboard off of the desk. He felt emotions racing, piling up, bursting in his body and the two words he uttered throughout all his life was just… Fading away. To the back of his mind, unable to hear anymore.

Calm down…

The blonde stared down at the paper, the sound of writing on board stopped a while ago. Now it was just silence. The cigarette that he lit not too long ago was in the ashtray.

Tseng turned his back and for a split second hoped Rufus would beckon him over or at least mutter an apology.

But no. That's not what his father would've done.

"I'll be at my desk if you need me."

He swallowed, a lump in his throat as he turned his head.

Come on, say something…

Nothing.

The Wutaian gripped the doorknob and opened the door a little bit too quick. He shut it, leaving a mirror image of the former president in the room.

He really hoped it but he swore he caught Rufus cover his face.