A/N: Okay, first of all, I would like to apologize for the wait. I promise, now that summer vacation is coming up for me in one week, I will have so much more time to write! Second of all, I would also like to apologize for the fact that this story is drawing out a bit and I thank you reviewers for bringing that to my attention as you have. To tell you the truth, this chapter and the previous chapter were supposed to be one big chapter, but from the looks of things, the result would have been very long and meandering (I don't know if it's been that way for some of you…I'm sorry!) and it would have taken me a million years to actually post it. Besides, some plot bricks for the rest of the story had to be laid in those chapters. It was actually probably a good thing that I cut these two chapters apart, because while I was writing this one, my computer failed and most of the part that I was working on was completely obliterated. Anyway, thanks for listening to me blab. What are you waiting for? It's the freakin' long awaited for chapter! Hurry up and read!

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy belongs to Square-Enix. Original Stuff belongs to me. (Gee, really original.)

She watched with amusement as the expression on the young female's face turned from tense curiosity to absolute horror in an instant after the angelic statue that blocked Her view was lifted away. She'd grown accustomed to that look - that disbelief that such a hideous being could exist - from the majority of those who saw Her. The two men who stood on either side of the female were sneering at the girl's reaction. She recognized those men as the ones who were appointed to watch over Her that night. When they had first joined their group of assassins, they had feared Her as all humans should; just as this female feared Her now. Now, while they were intoxicated, they gazed at her with awe, the same look that the scientist, Hojo had given her everyday when She had been under his care.

That such pitiful humans such as these men did not fear Her was infuriating. They ought to have been afraid after what their kind had done to her first beloved son, especially now that his young brother's were seeking revenge. Already She could sense one of them coming to Her; heeding Her call. Although he was not the son that had the Gift, She still longed to see him. She wanted to see the reflection of Her promised, eldest son in him. Two long years without seeing his face after he had been torn from Her and forced to return to the planet had been unbearable.

She could sense the intention of Yazoo's heart. He desperately wanted to see Her just as much as She wanted to see him, and soon, after he returned to his brothers and told them where She was, She would be able to guide all three of them to the one whom they would want to kill…the traitor.

The female in front of Her was trying to fight against the men that held her in place in order to look away from Her visage. The men effortlessly kept her in place. The girl was saying something in a tone akin to hysteria, but She couldn't make out the youth's words. Humans were so easily moved to panic.

The more rugged-looking man clasped his arms around the girl, pinning her arms to her sides and effectively stilling her. When she continue to struggle, the other man with slick hair stepped in front of her and with an expression of cold anger passed over the other man's face and he slapped the young female once directly across the cheek. The being in the glass encasing felt a surge of cruel delight at the girl's shock. She stopped struggling immediately and the man who had struck her whispered harshly that "as long as she shut up, things would go a whole lot smoother." The girl's face fell into hurt and fear and she tried to shrink back into the man holding her, who only laughed moved his arms to grip her upper arms.

The man with the slick hair moved up to the controls of Her encasing and activated a switch that moved the angel statue back in front of Her, saying that the girl had probably seen enough. Not that She minded all that much. She hated having to look out at the humans. Seeing their undeserved recovery only served to fuel Her destroy them all.

From outside of the glass, She could hear the girl begging the men to let her go free and the men threatening her to keep quiet, but She knew this wouldn't last long. The group of assassins was kept in utmost secrecy these days, and to lay eyes either Her or one of them was to condemn oneself. This wasn't the only human who had been brought before Her. It only gave the predators more reason to get rid of their prey.

A sharp cry resounded throughout the room, but Her mind was no longer on the humans. Another presence had joined the room, one of those She longed to see.

Her son had come.

This room had far too many boxes, Yazoo concluded as he passed yet another stack of wooden crates. He could feel his mother's call reaching for him, growing stronger with each stride as he neared the southern end of the old Shin-Ra building. Jenova's cells in his blood responded to her life force, which he could feel saturated the area; something that a normal human would have never sensed. He had no qualms about that, though. As far as he was concerned, he wanted to be as different from humans as possible, and particularly from their emotions.

Even if he had been alive for a short time, he had grown to believe that emotions would only get in the way of the completion his and his brother's plans. Emotions were full of weakness, especially those of guilt and anger, and he had thought that if he allowed himself to partake in such matters, he would be blinded by them, just as he was sure Kadaj and Loz had been. He had seen clearly how they reveled in their power and their ambition to carry out their master's plans. So, he had convinced himself that the duty fell to him to keep his mind clear and he had immediately hidden his composure behind a mask of indifference. For a while, it had worked.

Now, though, he welcomed his need to find Jenova. Even now he could hear her voice, soothingly whispering assurances of power greater than he could imagine. He was not accustomed to the feelings that that voice stirred within him, but that didn't mean they were unwelcome.

He kept running until he came to a "fork" in the path that the boxes around him made and paused. He was so close.

Stopping proved to be a mistake. Although his body had been made to be fitter than that of a human, it didn't keep him from getting tired. Leaning heavily against a crate with a peeling Shin-Ra emblem on its side, he allowed himself a moment to catch his breath.

It was just then that a sharp cry resounded from behind a row of large metal crates just to his left; the same direction where he could feel his mother's beckoning. It was only now did he realize how close he was and a new excitement flickered in his head.

His weariness completely forgotten, he pushed away from the wooden crates and ran along the path through the maze of boxes. It only took him a minute before he reached an opening in the stacks and found himself on the edge of a clearing near the wall of the ruined building.

Yazoo's eyes were almost immediately drawn to the opposite side of the clearing. A metallic figurehead took up most of the wall. It was in the shape of a silver angel, and although Yazoo had to admit it was beautiful, he knew that just behind the statue resided a being that to him would be more beautiful, more divine than anything that he had laid eyes on in his life thus far. It was from behind the figurehead that he felt the longed for life force radiating.

A sudden movement in the corner of his eye was somehow able to attract his attention enough to pull his reluctant eyes away from his mother, dulling the feelings that Jenova's call had stirred in him somewhat now that their bond had been broken, and since that part of his mind had been cleared, there was room for the confusion that was caused by the scene before him.

Two men were facing a large metal crate, struggling to keep something restrained. Yazoo could see that whatever was there was trying it's best to put up a good fight. He moved away from the opening in the boxes to get a better view of the creature.

A female was there, a young woman with brown hair that fell just below her collarbone. Her dark eyes were full of fear as was pinned against the crate by the more rugged man while the other man tried to keep her silent. The girl would occasionally get out a small scream, but she was only answered with one of the men hitting her across the face or in her abdomen. Yazoo could see her struggles were beginning to subside, and if she gave up, then these men looked about ready to kill her.

Yazoo frowned slightly. This wasn't…right. His feelings were in a jumble inside of his head. Part of him still wanted desperately to see his mother. She was only a few feet away. He could turn around right now and answer her call to see him, but his other feelings wouldn't allow it.
They kept him rooted to the spot, watching in a haze as the men preyed on the girl.

It was when the man with the slick hair gave a particularly hard slap on the young girl's cheek when the spark was set off in Yazoo's brain. The confusion from first setting his eyes on the group was gone in an instant, to be replaced by a growing fury. Before he knew it, the emotion had taken over, and a new emotion, an almost primal desire to protect the weaker creature, filled him to the point where he was finally propelled forward, as silently as a cat on the hunt, to arrive directly behind the man pinning the girl down.

Grabbing the collar of the man's jacket with the hand that wasn't holding his silver-topped cane, he yanked the man away and threw him back as effortlessly as tossing a pillow away. The man stumbled and fell, but managed to stay in an upright position as he tried to focus on what had just happened. The other man paused in his advances on the girl to look up, only to be met with Yazoo's fist. He was forced back, gripping a now bleeding nose and cursing. The girl, now unaided, slid to the ground, crumpling in a faint. Yazoo would have checked on her right then if he hadn't been preoccupied with the men.

The rugged man pulled himself to his feet and glared at Yazoo. "And who d'ya think you are, stranger, barging in on us like that? We were just having a bit o' fun."

His slurring gave away the fact that he was drunk. This would make things so much easier.

"My face," The slick man yelled indignantly, "Lester, show this swank no mercy! You'll pay for what you did to my beautiful face!"

At the same time, they ran towards Yazoo, ready to bear down on him with all their might. He fended off their drunken blows with ease, delivering smooth hits of his own into every inch of their pitiful faces and stomachs as he could with his fist. Not to say he didn't use his cane, of course. After a few minutes of battle, both men were sporting bruises from the silver headpiece as well as slashes from the cane's end. Both men were eventually forced to give up their head-on tactic and they separated themselves from either side of him to stop and take a breather.

"Hey Hyde, this guy ain't foolin' around," The man named Lester said in between gasps.

Hyde smirked, "Well then, best we stopped foolin' around too."

In a second, both men had whipped out their revolvers and had the barrels pointed at him. This caused no concern in Yazoo. The men probably wouldn't even hit him if he stayed still, seeing how their hands shook.

Simultaneously, both shots fired and all Yazoo had to do was duck to the floor with inhuman agility to avoid the bullets, which, although they had been fired by drunk men, remarkably found their way to the other man's wrist.

Both of them immediately dropped their guns and cried out in agony. It was Lester who recovered first, and with a yell of "You slimy little-," he ran straight towards Yazoo, arms outstretched, looking as angry as a hornet.

Yazoo, still on the floor from where he had ducked to avoid the men's bullets, gripped the man's injured wrist with his free hand and threw him down to the floor on his front with the momentum that he created while standing up at the same time.

Immediately, he heard the approach of Hyde as he tried to catch Yazoo off guard with a surprise attack. Yazoo stepped out of the man's path and right as the man passed him, Yazoo elbowed him squarely in between his shoulder blades, shoving him forward and making him fall in a heap on top of Lester.

While both of the men cursed as they attempted to disentangle themselves and regain their footing, Yazoo reached inside of his brown trench coat, pulled out his prized silver Velvet Nightmare, and pointed the double barreled end directly at the men, determined to finally end this.

Both Lester and Hyde froze at the sight of the gun, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. A heartbeat passed in which everything was still, before the men slowly got to their feet, hands up in the air, the fear obvious on their faces.

"Hey, no hard feelin's alright? We'll just leave it at this if you want. You can have the girl," Hyde said, grinning as though the entire fight had been a game, even if his voice shook severely with uncertainty.

Lester nodded dumbly and continued staring at the gunblade in Yazoo's hand. Yazoo, himself, never took his eyes off either of the men. If he pulled the trigger now, he could kill these men and ensure that they never harmed anyone else. But, in so doing, wouldn't he be helping the future victims, thereby going against his hatred towards all humans? He would be going against his mother's will…but wait, hadn't he just saved a human female from these men?

This realization clicked something off inside his mind, and all at once, all of the feelings from just moments before vanished, including his desire to see Jenova, which meant that all that he was in that instant was a confused, empty shell.

Yazoo lowered his Velvet nightmare and the men gave one quick glance at each other before scrambling through the opening in the crate stacks to get out of Yazoo's sights as quickly as they could.

Yazoo's arm fell limply to his side. His thoughts had become a jumble once again.

He had saved a human. He had saved on of those he hated.

From behind him, he could mother reaching out to him again. She met no resistance.

Yazoo turned to look at the angelic figurehead with a slight feeling of guilt arising from the mass of thoughts in his mind.

"I'm sorry, Mother," He whispered, dazed. "I've gone against your wishes."

He could sense that she was about to reply when suddenly a small whimper sounded from the metal crate to his right. Yazoo followed the source of the noise to see the young human whom he had saved still sprawled out unconscious on the building floor. A hint of worry touched Yazoo's heart, which now felt vulnerable after what had just taken place. He felt an invisible hand push him lightly towards the girl and recognized it to be his Mother. Her disappointed whisper to him to go and finish what he had started was a grave blow to Yazoo's heart, but he went over to the girl's side and knelt down.

He set his cane aside and gently lifted the girl's shoulders, cradling her in his arms as he began patting her cheeks in an attempt to wake her, the new feeling of worry taking its place in the open space of Yazoo's mind.

The first thing Tori was aware upon awaking was that she had a massive headache and her arms and legs were as sore as if she had been working out for a good long while. She became aware that a soft hand was patting her face, but if she tried to open her eyes, they would reveal nothing but a blurred mess. She grimaced and turned her head slightly.

When the hand moved and cupped the side of her face, she opened her eyes again. Everything was clearer now, but she still couldn't make out any details of the person leaning over her.

"Where am I," She said, weakly. Of course she remembered where she was, but it had been natural for the question to come out anyway. The events from earlier were coming back quickly.

Lester and Hyde had taken her to the run down Shin-Ra building laughing and joking around like kidnapping a teenager wasn't serious at all. They had entered and the Turks had amazed her with how easily they maneuvered through the maze of boxes in the large room. Then they had come to the clearing…and Hyde had turned to her and asked if she wanted to see something that only a few people were allowed to see and that she should be honored with such an opportunity. Lester had come behind her and held her still while Hyde had worked on the controls to the silver statue. At first she had thought that it was beautiful, until she had been forced to see the alien-like figure behind it. The sight had been too much, and she was ashamed to admit that she had lost her cool.

The men had become aggressive then, especially Hyde, which was an intimidating contrast to his somewhat gentle composure before. They had worked to keep her silent, threatening that if she brought any attention to them, the two Turks would kill her straight away. Although, she didn't have any doubt in her mind that they were planning to kill her anyway. After all, it wasn't like the Turks to show any mercy in general.

The last thing she could remember was Hyde delivering a hard slap, and then Lester's weight being hauled off of her and Hyde being hit so hard that his nose made a sickening, yet strangely satisfying crack before she had fallen into darkness.

So, if that last part was true, and she was still in the building, did that make the person who was holding her now the one who had saved her?

She tried to focus on the person's face, but the effort was making her eyes hurt. Impatiently, she shut them and waited for them to adjust.

"You're in the old Shin-Ra building. Don't you remember what happened," A low voice answered her question from before in a nonchalant tone that sounded slightly forced.

"Yes, it's just…I…I'm sorry…I still have a bit of a headache," She opened her eyes again and tried to smile, but her face fell into amazement at what her vision, now completely clear, was revealing.

She was looking into what was quite possibly the most beautiful face she had ever seen. She couldn't tell whether the person was a woman or a guy at first. The facial features were far too gentle to be a guy, and yet a masculine quality seemed to radiate from the person, too. She concluded that the person must be a man. Besides, any girl who had her hair dyed silver had another thing coming. But was his hair dyed? It looked natural, although it may have just been the dark tint of the room tricking her eyes. She could tell his hair was long, even if it had been tied back. Now that she thought about it, the long hair and face seemed very familiar, but Tori's head was still foggy and she couldn't recognize where she had seen the face before, even if she had seen the face before.

At any rate, and pardon her teenage language (she was still recovering!), this guy was freakin' hot!

The man raised an eyebrow and said, "Are you alright?"

She blinked out of her reverie and started when she realized that she had been staring at him for a good thirty seconds at least.

"Um…yes, I'm alright," She replied, trying to sit up much sooner than her body was prepared for. She clutched her forehead and the man's arms moved to give her some support again.

"Thank you," She managed to breathe as she stood up with his help. She looked up at him and discovered that he was much taller than she was, by at least half a foot.

He was staring at the metal figurehead on the other side of the clearing. He seemed…fascinated by it. Tori wondered if he had any relation to it. How else would he have been able to find the Turks and herself in the maze?

He suddenly looked down to face her, catching her peering up at him with shy curiosity. To her utter embarrassment, she blushed.

To her relief, he didn't acknowledge the fact that her cheeks were now the color of ripe apples. His face was showing the concern that she could tell he was trying to keep from his voice as he said with forced apathy, "Those men won't be returning to this place tonight. You are free to go back to your home, but it probably won't be safe for you to travel alone."

Tori nodded, not knowing what to say. Egad, those eyes were wonderful.

The man's features softened, even if he didn't smile, and he said, "Come, I will escort you home."

A/N: No, Yazoo is not turning into a softie. It's too early in the story! He's just very confused right now because all of these emotions are coming in at once when before he was supposed to be someone who couldn't give a care for the world even if his life depended on it. Personally, I blame Jenova. Now, as for the challenge I posted last chapter, yes Fire Gemron, Yazoo's disguise is modeled after Lucius Malfoy's costume. Congratulations, you really know your Harry Potter movies.