Chapter Five: Aerith, the flowergirl
The little girl proved to be a tough nut to crack. Even Yazoo and Loz couldn't dig out any information from her.
"Let's just kill her." Loz said, in a fit of frustration.
"Don't be a fool." Yazoo muttered calmly. "We need her to find Mother."
Kadaj only listened quietly while the two brothers shot insults and sarcasm at each other. Only he knew the truth. He needed the child for the Reunion with the Great One. Only that gifted child can do that. Only she was different from the rest.
"Leave the girl to me." Kadaj finally said, bringing the entire conversation to rest.
However, Marlene refused to eat, drink or speak for that matter. For days, she kept quiet and refused to answer Kadaj's questions.
Kadaj knew he was running out of time. He knew for a fact that Cloud and his friends are searching everywhere for Marlene. It would not be long before they found their hideout.
"Speak, child! Or else, I'll kill you!" Kadaj warned, wielding out his double-blade and pointing it just slightly below her chin.
The girl did not tremble. Instead, she eyed him with unfeeling eyes, and did not say a word.
"Fool!" Kadaj snarled with rage as he lower his blade, his eyes started to glow an eerie hue of green and silver. "I'll let you taste a bit of my nastiness." He threatened darkly.
All at once, the room started to darken as Kadaj's hands emitted a strange grayish illumination that made his sharp green eyes even more frightening. There seemed to be a strong evil aura emitting from his body that even Marlene felt instantly, because she immediately shrank away from him and started to quiver.
"Frightened now, are we?" he whispered cruelly into her face. "I want you for the Reunion. Take me to Him now!"
"W-who…?" her first word since she got captured here three days ago.
"The Great One." Kadaj whispered, his face glowing with awe and love for the figure of worship he was referring to. As he said so, he raised both his hands up as if to sing praise to the man he termed the people's Savior.
"You don't mean him, do you?" her tiny voice asked, and there was a hint of fear in her voice.
His eyes met hers, and the poor child had to look away. At that instant of time, she could have sworn that she was looking into the eyes of a Devil.
"Yes, I do." He said calmly, "and I want to see Him now."
Without any warning, he suddenly moved forward and grabbed her shoulders so roughly that Marlene let out a small, frightened cry of despair.
And all at once, he was forcing her to look into his hypnotizing eyes and the world started to spin and turned white…
He was back in the church. Without the girl. However, it was as if this time, he was not alone.
You're here again… a voice spoke.
He turned around and saw no one. Could this voice be in his head?
You came here to look for me?Again, Kadaj was getting confused. Who could it be? Who was speaking to him?
"Where are you!" he called out, irritated that once again, he had let himself slipped into the dream. He hated this place.
I'm over here!Spinning around, he saw that she was sitting in the middle of the flowerbed, her usual place. She looked up at him as their eyes met and there was a faint smile on her face.
Kadaj started to walk towards her, drawn somehow, by the way she was looking at him and the scent of white lilies filled the air.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I could ask the same thing." She said, with a hint of giggle in her voice.
"Where's the child?" he looked around the church. It was deserted except for the both of them.
"She brought you to me." She said with a small smile. "How are you?"
Cloud…There was too much going on. He thought he could hear so many voices in his head. And then she was speaking again but he couldn't hear her this time.
"Wait…" he started to say.
But she didn't seem to hear him. She continued to speak, her deep green eyes enchanting him till he didn't know how to pull away from her strong gaze.
"I'm not Cloud." He said quickly, and he felt a little bit disturbed by the distinct shame in his voice, as if he was afraid he had disappointed her somehow.
She stopped speaking and stared at him for what seemed like a minute, none of them speaking a word.
I forgive you…Is that better now?"You're not Cloud." She finally said after a long pause.
He shook his head but didn't say anything else.
Then the white light came again and this time, Kadaj had to look away from the light because it was so piercing.
When the light faded away, she was gone. And he was standing alone, his blade held tightly in hand and there was a trail of crimson blood on the flowerbed.
"Let me go!" the girl squirmed in his tight grasp and when Kadaj finally realized he was in the room with the child, he let her go abruptly, causing the girl to fall back onto the floor.
Kadaj shook his head, still a little dazed by the vision he just had. Or was it a dream? Had he been dreaming again?
"The Reunion…" he muttered, annoyed now that the child had failed to bring him to the Great One.
Marlene, meanwhile, had cowered to the corner of the room, hugging her legs tightly around her as she looked up at him with fear.
He took a step towards her. "Who is she?"
The girl shook her head, tears started to trickle down her pale cheeks. He heard her sobbing but his heart did not soften. On the contrary, he got rather irritated.
"Shut up!" his green eyes glowed again and Marlene had to quickly cover her mouth to keep herself from sobbing too loudly, lest it angered the mad man again.
He lowered himself to her level, so that he was now in a squatting position. "Who is that girl in the church?" he asked again, this time his words were cold and hard and a deep frown formed on his face.
"I-I don't know…"
"She knew you. She called me Cloud. Who is she!"
It seemed as if there was a fraction of a second that Marlene stopped sobbing and her big round eyes widened with surprise. A concerned look settled across her face.
"Really?" she asked, intrigued now by the question Kadaj had posed earlier.
"Yes." He muttered, lowering down his tone. He didn't understand it too well, but he felt he had to know who that girl was and why she was haunting his dreams. It seemed as if Marlene knew something. Perhaps she was the key…
"Aerith! She's alive!" Marlene cried out, and there was joy in her eyes as she clapped her hands and almost jumped up to her feet. "I must tell Cloud!"
Kadaj got up to his feet swiftly and rest his blade on her small shoulders. "You are not going anywhere."
The girl quiet down but there was no longer fear in her eyes. It was almost as if she had forgotten he was in the room with her. There was a faraway look in her eyes as a small knowing smile crept onto her face.
Kadaj, meanwhile, was getting annoyed at the look of jubilation on her face. Yet he was curious to know who this Aerith person was and why Marlene was so interested to share the news of Aerith with Cloud.
Just when he decided he could grill her further for information, the door to the room suddenly swung open and Yazoo appeared, looking slightly worried.
"Kadaj, he's here."
Frowning at the intrusion, Kadaj cocked his head and glared at his brother. "Who?"
"Cloud."
Thanks for the constructive feedback! I realize I made some grammatical errors and such, so sorry about that! And thanks for reading and sharing your insight and opinion on this story.
Kadaj: When do I get to kiss the girl?
Aerith: What are you saying! blushes
Kadaj: shrugs
Cloud: walks in and glares