Nightmare

Chapter Five

Written by: Chibi Sephy

Disclaimer: I would only own it if everyone on the world just randomly died. I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon, so therefore it's still Square-Enix's. ;D

"Yazoo...?" Kadaj said a bit apprehensively, staring blankly at his slightly older brother's still body. He then took a few large steps forward; until he was by Yazoo's side. Following that, he knelt down by his side, and grasped the side of his face, as if making sure he was really unconscious. He stared at him momentarily, before raising his head slightly, so he could see the other's eyelids. They were now completely still; just like the rest of him.

To Marlene's surprise, Kadaj turned slightly and glanced at her, his eyes cold and serious.

"Girl," He said placidly, "Over in the left corner of the room, from where you are standing, there should be a bag full of healing potions... Retrieve it for me now."

"O-Of course!" She said hastily with a deep nod. Then, without the slightest hesitation, she ran in the direction that he had ordered her to. Once she actually reached the corner, however, she accidentally tripped over the bag he had spoken off, and hit the wall with her head.

The throbbing pain on her forehead was not her main concern, though. Instead, it was the sound of breaking glass, from a potion bottle that she had tripped over. The dusty brown bag could now be seen clearly, because of a green potion that had begun to leak. Marlene couldn't help but swallow deeply and look over in Kadaj's direction, hoping that this wasn't the potion he would need.

At the moment, he was not looking at her. In fact, his eyes were closed tightly—as if he were thinking deeply about something. However, she didn't let this slow her down, and instead she grabbed the stained bag and jogged over to him, dragging it behind her.

"Here!" She gasped, surprised by how heavy it had been. In that tiny bit of time, sweat had actually started to trickle down her face.

Kadaj, though, looked as calm as ever as he focused his attention upon her. He reached out for the top of the bag, and grasped it easily, noting the stain with an expression of disgust. Fortunately for Marlene, he neglected to mention anything about it, and settled himself on locating the particular one he needed. He quickly found the one he needed—A dark red concoction, which was glimmering slightly from the tiny bit of light the room possessed. Kadaj held it in front of his eyes for a moment, as if examining it to make sure it was the correct one. Apparently it was, and he glanced down upon Yazoo, preparing to administer it.

However, to both Kadaj's and Marlene's great surprise, Yazoo's eyes had finally opened. Even Kadaj, whom was supposed to be startled by nothing, jerked back a bit.

The main reason for this was that his eyes somehow looked far different than what they did just minutes before. Only half-open, they possessed much less of the glittering turquoise color that they did before, and instead had more of a bluish color lurking within them.

"Are they... Safe?" He murmured lowly, staring up at his confused younger brother blankly. "Is the rest of my family... Safe?"

"Your family...?" Kadaj said lowly, his brows furrowed greatly. "Loz, you mean? Of course he's fine!"

Yazoo shook his head softly, his long hair getting tangled up because of the hard ground below.

"No, no... My wife, my children..." He stated simply, still sounding dull and lifeless. Marlene then looked straight at Kadaj, to see what he had to say about this.

"B-But you don't have a wife or children!" He spluttered angrily, clenching his teeth together in anger. "All you have is us!"

By this time, however, Yazoo's eyes had closed once more, and his head had slid to the side of his cheek. All was quiet in the room now.

"Why," Kadaj said mainly to himself, paying absolutely no attention to Marlene. Then, he continued, his voice rising with each individual word. "Why did I have to be cursed with a damnable brother like you?!"

"Kadaj?" Came Loz's voice suddenly from the main entrance, his tone sounding slightly elevated from mild puzzlement.

Kadaj calmly gazed upwards slowly, being as he had still been looking at Yazoo. Marlene turned towards him as well; being as it was almost instinctual to do so.

Loz had dyed his hair a dark blue, almost navy color—he had obviously done it to hide his true hair color, which would have otherwise made people automatically be untrusting of him.

"What is it? What happened to him?" He questioned, raising a brow, and walking closer to them.

Kadaj didn't bother to reply at all, and turned his attention back to Yazoo, whom was still unmoving. Then, without any uncertainty, he opened his brother's mouth and poured the red liquid down his throat, making sure it emptied slowly, though making sure every last drop went down.

It took only a few seconds for the effects to work upon him, and he woke up quickly, coughing and spitting up the bitter liquid.

"Good morning," Kadaj said in an arrogant way, when Yazoo had the entire potion out of his system, and was sitting up. "So, how are your wife and kids doing?"

Both Loz and Yazoo stared absentmindedly at him, not understanding at all about what he had meant.

"That's what I thought," He then stated with a heavy sigh. "Oh well. We'll deal with this later... Loz?"

"Hmm?" Loz said in acknowledgment, having not expected his name to be called so quickly.

"Anything of interest?" Kadaj said, rolling his eyes. "After all, that's what you had been sent out for... To actually discover things we don't yet know..."

"I did find out that Strife discovered Lockheart, and he knows she has Geostigma," Loz said hurriedly, hoping to get the best news out first. "And he's desperate for revenge, going by what they—The Midgarians--say. He suspects us... He's been asking them for hours whether they've seen any 'men with silver hair'. Alas, none have been noticed recently." By the end of this, a smile had appeared across his lips, having found all of that to be amusing.

"So there's no lead as to which one of us inflicted the disease upon her?" Kadaj asked quietly, making sure he had the facts straight. When Loz nodded, he did the same, and a smirk edged across his own face.

"That's good... Without a direct target, he'll go against all of us with equal strength... And, of course, that will weaken him. One by one, we'll attack. I shall go last... Because I really want to be the one who finishes him off. As for you two... Well, you can decide who goes first. Preferably, I would like for you to go first, Loz. I would really like to talk to Yazoo about something, if you don't mind. We'll have to stay around the same area though, since we don't want him recovering his strength on us, after all."

"But what about..." Loz said, his gaze averting over to Marlene. "Her? Who's going to make sure she doesn't try to run off?"

Both Kadaj and Yazoo then turned their heads in her direction, with the latter looking deadened, and the other with a look of sadistic interest, his left hand on his chin.

"I shall watch over her for a while," He soon replied, smirking slightly. "Just make sure to eventually lead Strife over here, and make sure he has plenty of strength left... I really do want a challenge, after all. Yazoo, you should fight him first. Then, you are to immediately come back here. I want to discuss something with you. Is that clear?"

Yazoo solemnly shook his head at this, and Kadaj automatically frowned in response.

"I was appointed to watch over her," Yazoo said calmly, "And so I will continue to do so. We shall go with our original plan."

Kadaj sighed heavily, and placed his hand on his forehead, and sighed in a mocking way.

"But we're still in that certain predicament about what to do with our beloved little guest," He said, trace of amusement within his voice.

"She shall go with me," Yazoo responded easily, "I'll make sure she won't run away, believe me."

"Fine," Kadaj stated, now sounding quite annoyed. "But if she does happen to escape, you'll regret it... And you should believe me with that."

Yazoo nodded curtly, and then began to stand up. With a single glance towards Loz, he took a single step forward, and grabbed Marlene's small hand quickly. She almost flinched, but held back, and instead grasped his tighter.

"We will be going now, then," He said staring icily towards Kadaj, whom did the same to him. "You can be sure that I'll lead Strife to either you or Loz."

Then, practically dragging Marlene behind him, he walked past Loz, and then out of the main entrance, without a single backwards glance...

End Chapter Five