Chapter 27 – Epiphany
Kadj and his brothers had searched the entire plateau but had come up empty. They were freezing in the biting wind and so Kadj reluctantly led them back to the warm house. They stumbled through the front door and Yazoo and Loz collapsed on the sofas in the front room. Kadj stood in front of the fireplace, warming his hands, with his back to them.
Yazoo and Loz glanced at each other. The tight muscles in Kadj's back told them all they needed to know. They had seen him explode in anger before. He was truly dangerous when provoked and neither of them felt like they wanted any more trouble tonight. Kadj, reading their thoughts, said "She's not dead. She's out there somewhere."
Yazoo sighed and sat up. He leaned his forearms on his knees and looked up at his brother. "That may be true, but we can't continue to look for her while its dark. Wherever she is, she will stay there at least until dawn."
Kadj rested his forehead on the mantle and closed his eyes. "Mother," he whispered. He was exhausted from running around in the freezing wind outside but he knew that he was best able to attain the trance when his body was spent. He stilled his mind, letting the extraneous noise from the building around him fall away. He waited . . .
"She's back with him," whispered the voice in his mind. The sound of it always sent a chill down his spine. "How the hell did he find her?" he asked himself.
"Where?" he asked. He waited for an answer but none came. A few moments later, he turned and walked into the kitchen. He picked up the vial of liquid and rolled it between his thumb and forefingers, lost in thought. "Where would they have taken her?" he thought. He knew they wouldn't have been so stupid as to take her back to the bar. The bar . . .
He strode back into the other room and kicked Loz awake. He woke with a start and sat up, rubbing his eyes.
"You said she had babysitters. Who were they?"
Loz tried to clear his mind before he answered. It had only been a few moments since they had come in from the cold, but as soon as his head hit the sofa, he had fallen into a deep sleep and now Kadj's questions confused him. He shook his head to clear the fog and said "the two Turks, Reno and Rude."
"WHAT! Why the fuck didn't you tell me this before?" Kadj screamed at his brother. His eyes glowed with rage and before he could stop himself, he raised his fist and brought it down to deliver a crushing blow on the side of Loz's head. The bigger man ducked just before Kadj's fist connected and rolled out of his reach. Both he and Yazoo stood with their hands on their weapons, watching, waiting for the next move.
"ARGH!" Kadj growled and turned his back to his brothers, trying to regain his composure. He took several deep breaths and turned back to face them.
"What . . .?" asked Yazoo, looking from Loz to Kadj.
"The Turks, they work for ShinRa, and those two in particular report directly to Rufus," he snarled in reply. Loz and Yazoo glanced at each other, clearly still confused.
"And . . .?" prompted Yazoo. Loz said nothing. He just stood and glared at Kadj, murder in his eyes.
Kadj turned his back on his brothers and walked back to the fire. He was struggling to keep his temper under control. Were they really both that dense?
"If they were watching out for her, that means they are working with him." He couldn't bring himself to say Cloud's name. "And they wouldn't do that unless Rufus ordered them to."
Kadj's mind flashed to Sephiroth's face. He was the premier SOLDIER working for ShinRa at its height before Meteor. Sephiroth was ShinRa's creation, made from Jenova's life force, her genetic material, recovered from the Body itself.
"Don't you see? Rufus is trying to control another one. He's protecting the Mother, trying to keep her from us . . . again! He wants this rebirth as much as we do, but for different reasons."
The realization finally sunk in for Yazoo and Loz. Yazoo sat back down on the sofa and stared at the floor, his head in his hands. Loz, still wary of his brother, stood still and said nothing.
"Get some sleep. We have a long ride tomorrow," Kadj snarled at them as he walked to one of the bedrooms in the back of the mansion. He didn't want to be around them right now. He didn't trust himself.