The Only One in My Heart

Chapter 7

"None of this could have happened if I weren't so stubborn!" Kadaj slammed his fist on the transparent glass of a tank which was placed in a horizontal state. "I'm so sorry!" he said as a tear slipped down his cheek. "I'll save you, no matter what. Hang in there, Lana," he assured Lana, who was lying unconscious in the tank.

"Kadaj, it's time," Loz said at the door. Kadaj gave a nod to Lana before he exited the cool room. Lana had been asleep for two years. It was during their escapade in Midgar, they did not know that it was a time of Crisis; Kadaj knew disregarded Lana's premonition as another nightmare and caused them to run to safety in the chaotic city. Lana saved Kadaj but she was knocked unconscious.

Yazoo and Loz too went to Midgar after them but they came after the Meteor was stopped by the LifeStream. They would never forget Kadaj's expression when they approached him. He was cradling the unconscious Lana in his arms and his face was marred by the tears that had flowed down his cheeks.

Ever since they laid Lana in the tank, Kadaj had been quiet and reserved. It was like he had hardened his heart and no one could bring back the old Kadaj, not even his brothers. Everyday, Yazoo and Loz would watch as Kadaj visited Lana. Kadaj even left Eternal Love in Lana's hand. He was waiting for her answer.

The three brothers were now speeding in the highway in the middle of the ruined Midgar. All of them rode in silence until Kadaj gave a signal to Yazoo while Loz and Kadaj increased their speed.

Yazoo hid himself behind some rubble on the highway and he sat quietly on his motorbike, waiting for their so-called brother. A moment passed by and he heard the roaring of their brother's motorbike. Cloud zoomed past some rubble without knowing that an enemy had hid himself there.

Yazoo took off after Cloud and upon hearing the roaring of engine behind him, Cloud cursed himself for letting his guard down. He could hear his enemy drawing closer to him but he did not look behind him. Cloud prepared himself to block any attack that the enemy will pull out.

Yazoo quickly zoomed past Cloud and made a 270 degree turn with his motorbike. He pulled out his gunblade with his left hand and fired at Cloud, who managed to pull out his oversized sword to block Yazoo's bullets. Yazoo soon engaged in a battle with Cloud on their motorbikes.

Meanwhile, Kadaj and Loz went ahead into Midgar and to look for the children who were infected with GeoStigma. After confirming the number of the children who are infected, they prepared to leave. Yazoo appeared moments later after he had knocked Cloud unconscious in the highway.

"Go back to our quarters," Kadaj commanded his two elder brothers. "Let me play with my new found brother. He should be on his way here again by now," he said as a wicked smile graced his face.

Cloud sped along the highway, cursing himself for letting his guard down again. As he looked up ahead of the highway, he saw a shadow of a man in black standing in the middle of the highway. 'It's him again,' he thought. But he was wrong. Blue light emerged from Kadaj's left hand and flew towards Cloud.

Cloud hit on the gas and the motorbike sped towards the enemy faster. The blue light caused an explosion behind Cloud and threw Cloud, along with his motorbike into the air. As Cloud flew towards his enemy, he withdrew his large sword. When he was within the attack range, he swung his sword downward. But with a swift turn, Kadaj used his double bladed sword to parry Cloud's attack.

Cloud landed on the highway in one piece. He got off his motorbike and faced his opponent. As they began to circle one another, Kadaj ran into a ruin beside the highway. Cloud saw it and he ran after him. When he stepped onto the empty floor where rubbles were all around him, he saw the silver haired enemy grinned at him. Hate flared in Cloud's eyes as he remembered someone whom he once respected.

"It's nice to see you too, Brother," Kadaj greeted sinisterly with Souba in his left hand.

"Sephiroth!" Cloud shouted in anger.

"No," Kadaj replied calmly, "He's dead. You killed him, remember?"

"Who are you?" Cloud demanded.

"Kadaj," Kadaj answered with a wicked smile.

'He's not the one I fought earlier,' Cloud said to himself.

"It seems my brother left all the excitement to me," Kadaj laughed. Confusion was written clearly on Cloud's face. "You may have stopped Reunion two years ago but no more, Cloud. We will have the Reunion again, with Mother," Kadaj continued as he raised his sword.

"Over my dead body!" Cloud shouted and charged towards Kadaj.

Sparks flew as the two swords clashed together. Cloud was clearly struggling to defeat his new opponent but Kadaj was calm. Cloud kept looking at his opponent's features and moves. He saw that Kadaj was merely a teenager but his speed and agility could even outmatched Yuffie.

'Reunion with Mother and Lana,' Kadaj's mind spoke as the white ribbon that Lana once used flew into his view and momentarily wavered his concentration in the battle. When Kadaj came back to reality, Cloud had pushed him into the air with his oversized sword. Flipping his way to safety as he had learnt, Kadaj landed with style on the ground and charged at Cloud once again.

'This is for Lana!' Kadaj shouted in his mind. With the new strength, Kadaj forcefully threw Cloud's sword away from Cloud's grip. Kadaj landed on his knees with his back facing Cloud, waiting for Cloud's trick. As he expected, Cloud withdrew another sword and slashed at Kadaj, who successfully dodged it.

'What?' Cloud exclaimed in his mind.

'Kadaj…' Kadaj heard a familiar voice called him.

"Sorry to end this so soon, Brother," Kadaj suddenly said. "Next time, you will be dead!" Kadaj said as he jumped onto the rubble and disappeared into the city. Cloud was speechless and stunned of what had just happened that he stood there for a few minutes.

Kadaj hurried back onto his motorbike and went back to the place where they had been hiding for the past two years. It was a laboratory which was once used for the Mako experiments. They had been living in the rooms next to the lab where Lana was resting. Kadaj ran straight into Lana's room, ignoring the stares he received from his brothers.

"Lana," Kadaj called softly when he stood beside her, "Did you call me?" There was no response. "Lana," he called again. "I was dreaming again then," he muttered to himself as he sat down on the long couch beside Lana. Slowly, he began to feel drowsy and fell asleep on the couch.

"Lana!" Kadaj said, "Hurry up!"

"I'm here!" Lana whispered behind him.

"Come on," Kadaj said, "We'll find Big Brother in Midgar." Both Kadaj and Lana crept out of the house and made their way to the train station in the wee hours of the morning. After a few minutes of waiting, a train bound to Midgar arrived. They boarded the train and sat down, away from the other passengers.

"We will meet Big Brother again soon, Lana," Kadaj said excitedly. Lana nodded. Then everything was silent. No one spoke in the train as everyone was fast asleep. Only Lana and Kadaj were awake.

"Hey, Lana," Kadaj said.

"Hm?" Lana said with her eyes closed.

"About the necklace," he began, "The one called Eternal Love?"

"Mm-hm," Lana murmured.

"What would you do if someone gave it to you?" Kadaj asked.

Lana opened her drowsy eyes and looked at him, "What do you mean?"

"Will you wear it?" Kadaj asked. Lana's eyes drooped and she closed them.

"It depends on who gave it to me," Lana's voice got softer as she slowly gave in to sleep. Kadaj was close enough to hear her, he was somewhat relieve and yet afraid.

'What if she doesn't accept me?' Kadaj asked himself. 'Maybe Lana thought that I'm only her friend or worse…a brother?' Kadaj shuddered at that thought and tried to shake the thought out of his head. Suddenly, he felt a weight on his right shoulder. He turned and saw Lana sleeping with her head on his shoulder.

Kadaj was shocked and when he tore his eyes away from her, he could feel warmth spreading on his face. As the train journeyed further, Kadaj too felt tired and fell asleep without him knowing that he had rested his head on Lana's head.

"Hey, lad," the voice of a man rang in Kadaj's ears. Kadaj slowly opened his eyes and looked at the middle-aged man. "We have arrived in Midgar. Are you going down?" he asked. Kadaj nodded at him and thanked him for waking him up.

"Lana," Kadaj whispered as he gently shook her shoulder, "Lana, wake up."

"Hm?" Lana stirred.

"We in Midgar already," Kadaj told her.

"So soon?" Lana complained as she lifted her head from a very comfortable pillow. "Oh!" Lana exclaimed when she realized that she had fallen asleep on Kadaj's shoulder, "I'm sorry! I didn't know I was sleeping there!"

"No worries," Kadaj smiled, "Come on!" he said as he offered his hand to Lana. Lana took his hand and walked out of the train. Lana's face was bright red as they strolled down the streets of Midgar hand in hand but she turned to face another direction when Kadaj turned to her.

"What's wrong?" Kadaj asked when he realized that something was not right about Lana. Lana hung her head as low as she could and shook her head. Lana had even tried to hide her blush with the help of her long brown hair but realized that she had tied them up with the white ribbon.

Seeing that she wouldn't answer him, Kadaj left the matter at the back of his mind. Kadaj's heart was jumping with joy as he held Lana's hand in his. He couldn't hide the smile on his face. Lana, who did realize that Kadaj was smiling, thought that he was happy to see Big Brother again.

"We'll just get a room here," Kadaj said when they found an inn, "We never know when we will find Big Brother." Lana nodded at him and followed him in.

"Hello!" a young female receptionist greeted them.

"Can we have two single bedded rooms, please?" Kadaj said to her.

"I'm sorry," she said, "We have only a twin room. Would that be okay?"

Kadaj looked at Lana, who nodded. "That'll be fine," Kadaj said to the receptionist.

"There you go," she said as she handed Kadaj the keys, "Have a nice stay!"

"Sorry we had to stay in the same room," Kadaj said as he closed the room door.

"It's okay," Lana said, "Besides, we could save some money."

"We'll get freshen up a bit before we go gather some information about Big Brother's whereabouts," Kadaj suggested. Lana headed into the adjoining bathroom leaving Kadaj lonely in the room, feeling embarrassed. After Lana had showered, she came out to find Kadaj staring out of the window.

"Your turn!" Lana surprised him with a push behind him.

"Wha-" Kadaj exclaimed as he held on the window, "Hey-" he began to whine but Lana smiled at him with the most amusing smile she could show in front of him. "That wasn't nice," he stuttered as he felt a blush on his cheeks.

"I know," Lana smiled, "At least, I got you out of your day dream!"

"Whatever," Kadaj smiled as he closed the bathroom door. 'What's happening to me? Why am I getting so nervous around Lana? This wasn't supposed to happen! Geez,' Kadaj's thoughts when he stared out of the window flooded back into his mind. 'There's no denying it, isn't it? That I'm beginning to develop a new feeling towards Lana…I wonder how nice it would feel to hold her and…,' Kadaj stopped himself. 'What are you thinking?' he scolded himself.

"What took you so long?" Kadaj heard Lana's voice as he stepped out of the bathroom.

"I was, uh, enjoying the bath," Kadaj smiled. "We better get going," Kadaj said before Lana could interrogate him any further.

"Where should we start?" Lana asked Kadaj as they strolled down the street.

"Shin-Ra Company?" Kadaj suggested. Lana smiled at his idea.

As they approached the big building, a guard walked up to them, "Hello there, can I help you?"

"Um, we're looking for Sephiroth," Kadaj told him, "Can you tell us where we can find him?" The guard looked terrified for a moment before he composed himself.

"That guy," he said, "You are looking for him to avenge your parents, right?" he asked. Lana gasped but Kadaj held her hand and nodded to the guard. "I guess you'll find him in the afterlife," the guard continued, "The AVALANCHE is going after him, to the North Crater, I think. After all, that guy did destroy a lot of homes and killed a lot of people."

"AVALANCHE?" Lana asked.

"Yup, the leader is Cloud," the guard informed them, "They're a group of good fighters I must say. Heh, this time, Sephiroth is doomed!"

"Thank you, sir," Kadaj said and pulled Lana along with him.

"Big Brother wouldn't do that, would he?" Lana asked Kadaj.

"I wish I could say that he wouldn't do that, Lana," Kadaj said, "But if that guard was telling the truth, then something must have happened to him and made him did all those things."

"Let's split up and look for other information from other people," Lana suggested.

"Alright, meet back at the inn at six," Kadaj said and waved at Lana before heading to the north of the crossroad. Lana waved back and headed to the west.

All day, they walked up to so many people asking about Sephiroth's whereabouts but they ended up with the same information as was given by the guard.

"How was it?" Kadaj asked as Lana walked into the room. Lana shook her head. "Me too," he sighed.

"Now what are we suppose to do?" Lana mumbled.

"Get some food and then some sleep," Kadaj said, "We will take the train tomorrow to the North Crater and find Big Brother." That suggestion was immediately agreed by Lana.

That night, Lana had a premonition while she was sleeping. She was thrashing on the bed, crying helplessly. She called out his name time after time as she couldn't reach him in her premonition. But in reality, Kadaj had already circled his arms tightly around her, to tell her that he was there.

"Lana! Lana!" he began to shook her, "LANA!"

"Aaah-," Lana was stopped by Kadaj's hand over her mouth. She looked up at Kadaj and tears began to pour down from the corner of her eyes. "Kadaj," Lana whimpered as she laid her head on Kadaj's shoulder.

"It's alright. I'm here," Kadaj comforted. He felt Lana shook her head.

"I saw a Meteor coming," she said, "I got injured and I died…"

"Don't be silly!" Kadaj said, "You won't die. I'm here, I'll protect you. I won't let you die, I promise." Lana did not reply.

"Get some more sleep," he told her and reluctantly released his hold on her but Lana still held on to his collar. Kadaj looked down at the gentle girl whom he knew for eight years. There were still tears flowing from her eyes. "I'll be here till you fall asleep," he whispered in her ear and he wrapped his arms around her once again.

'I've always held her like this,' Kadaj's mind drifted, 'It always seemed right. It always felt comfortable. But why now do I feel so afraid to let go of her? Am I so afraid of losing her? Lana…'

'Kadaj…I know that I can always depend on you,' Lana wished she said to him. 'I feeling so weak, Kadaj, but you kept me strong. You would stay by my side no matter what happens to this world,' Lana closed her eyes and willed her tears to stop, 'Thank you.'

"Lana…," Kadaj murmured in his sleep as his brothers looked on from the door.