A/N: This is the hardest chapter so far, but hopefully, it's all right… Thanks to reviewers – I have seven now!


Ame ni Matte

Wait in the Rain

Chapter 4: Divide

Yazoo hated white. Whilst in the research labs, whether he was unconscious or conscious, all he could see was white. White coats, white light that burned his eyes, white eyes that reflected no hint of compassion at all. He had been labelled 2-4-A, whilst Loz was 2-4-B, and finally Kadaj, the last in Lab 4 on the 2nd floor, was 2-4-C. During his musings, Yazoo had wondered if their labellings were coincidental that he could think up such fitting names to them. A for apathetic, B for blubbering, and C for chaotic. He remembered name tags above their heads on the pristine tiles, looming over them as a cruel way to remind them that that was all they were.

Sometimes, he'd be able to witness true nature of where they were. He wasn't ever able to sit up, but he'd hear it, laying there on the cold metallic table. He was ever quiet, enduring pain and receiving no comfort. Loz would sniff ever so quietly, weeping uncontrollably whilst no one offered a hand or even a tissue. Little Kadaj though, the youngest of the three but condemned as the most crucial in the experiment's findings, would scream and shriek, writhing in the grip of plastic hands, his voice echoing off the walls. Yazoo remembered that it sounded as though ten young boys were shrieking. Who would have thought that a small boy could have such powerful lungs, or was it just from the agony of it all?

Yazoo, the middle brother, was not someone to rule out the possibility that Kadaj had endured more pain than he had. When one lab assistant had carelessly left Kadaj unbound on his bed, the youngster didn't need telling twice about escaping. He was fast on his feet for someone who hadn't been taught how to walk. But, Yazoo reminded himself, that was proof that the experiment succeeded. Experiments A, B and C learned and assimilated information, people's faces, sense of direction and their ability to train themselves physically a lot faster than that of an average person. Yazoo learned fastest, but Loz was quicker to make use of his knowledge practically. Kadaj was a mixture of both, learning and understanding at an incredible rate.

There was something amongst the life confined in four white walls that perhaps, kept the brothers going. A warm, gentle hand and a matching voice that used to tell them that everything would be all right, that it was okay to cry and feel angry. Yazoo remembered vaguely Professor Gast's face, a blurred long face that would lean over his, clear blue eyes that seemed to have everything Yazoo was deprived of. Professor Gast would – strangely, when no one else from the lab was there – let Kadaj sit up, talk to him and allow for Loz to look out the window, whilst Yazoo, shy as usual, would keep his distance from the white coated man at first before curiosity got the better of him, and he too would stand on his toes to peer out the tinted windows.

Then, mysteriously, a few years back, Professor Gast never visited them again.

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Looking round the corner, down the stairs, memories of lab coats, strong acidic smells and muttering voices came flooding into Yazoo's mind, this time unaccompanied by the reassuring thought that Professor Gast would be waiting for them. He fidgeted with his hair nervously, biting his lip and willing himself not to join his brothers in crying. He couldn't break down in front of his brothers when they needed him to be strong for them.

There was a large thump from upstairs, and a familiar sound of bawling.

"That's them," Dominic muttered, "they're awake. See, Evangeline? They have minds like demons, acting innocent but preying on us secretly…"

"Please, they're only children," Yazoo heard Evangeline say as he staggered up the stairs with half the grace he usually had, "all that rubbish about demon children, which books have you been reading?"

"They're more than just children, ma'am," a researcher said. Yazoo saw him out the corner of his eyes as he looked round slightly, coming up the stairs after him, "they're very powerful, and harmful to anyone. Please excuse us for intruding on your inn like this."

Yazoo never heard Evangeline's answer, since he was already in his room, slamming the door shut and leaning against it. To his surprise, he found Kadaj ripping off his bedsheets, tying them up so that it created a long grey rope a slight bit longer than him. Loz yanked a wall lamp off from its position, snapping off the curled gold stand and sticking it under the door, wedging it. He sniffed, wiping his nose.

"Good work, niisan," Yazoo whispered shakily. "We can escape from the window, though I think Kadaj has already thought of that."

The youngest brother had wrenched the window open, bringing a chilly but welcoming gust of wind. He stuck his head out and looked down, and then, without any warning, lifted himself out, hanging the bedsheet-rope around his neck. Ignoring the knocks on the door and the handle rattling, Yazoo dragged Loz to the window, hearing Kadaj uttering "I'm not going back, I'm not going back, there's no way I'm going back" as he descended down the wall carefully at first, but slipping and landing painfully in a flowerbed. Yazoo tossed out their bags, making sure Loz (who had cried the whole way down) was okay before climbing down after them, seeing the door smash open at last to reveal three researchers, tired from shouting and banging on a stubborn door that wouldn't budge.

"Are you going to tell me what that's for, Kadaj?" Loz asked through a sniffle. Kadaj looked at the sheets hanging round his neck.

"This? I'm going to use it to strangle anyone who's going to try and take me back there." There was a dangerous, livid look in the child's eyes. Loz swallowed.

"Seems like such a harsh way to thank Evangeline for being so kind to us, damaging her inn," Yazoo commented, grabbing his bags and daring to look up at three men scrambling to look out the window.

"It's going to be worse," muttered Kadaj. He rolled up his pyjama sleeves and marched back into the lobby. Yazoo could only stare and stand around stupidly next to a sobbing brother as he heard Kadaj shout obscenities and threats. Evangeline was shrieking, Dominic was yelling, and Loz unhelpfully mumbled, "Do you think Kadaj is strangling them with his bedsheet?"

A few moments later, Kadaj was out of the inn, holding in his small hands a bag. The jingling inside it could only suggest that Kadaj had just stolen Evangeline's money. If he had the time, Yazoo would've rolled his eyes, but on seeing their pursuers, he took hold of his brothers' hands.

And they fled. They fled until their legs broke down in protest, but they were, after all the experiments they had undergone, still the legs of children. And the researchers caught up, puffing and panting, running in fear of what their boss would say to them should they fail to catch his projects. Three researchers each grabbed one of the brothers. Loz started to cry even louder, Yazoo struggled helplessly, and the poor researcher who had fatefully chosen to grab Kadaj, wailed in pain as a set of teeth bit his fingers, and hands scratched at his face. The bedsheet-rope was a mass of cloth on the pavement, failing to protect the child who had made it.

Yazoo could hear a car of some sort driving past. Its bright headlights stunned the researchers momentarily, and using it as an opportunity, he twisted the arm grabbing him and made for the car, flagging it down. He could hear Loz pushing past the researchers to join him, and Kadaj clung against Yazoo.

"Hey, drive us out of here!"

"You what?" The driver, a lot of his face hidden beneath ragged hair and a cap, didn't look at all pleased. "You call me over just for that? I thought you guys were getting mugged or something, but you're children!"

"Just do it, please!" Yazoo took a leaf out of Kadaj's book and bit the researcher's hand, vowing to himself that he would train himself up in the future to be capable of fighting without having to resort to biting of all things.

"Please, Sir!" Kadaj held up his bag of gil, and green slitted eyes that were previously flashing and narrowed in insane malevolence were wide, watery and utterly adorable. The driver shifted in his seat awkwardly, and uttered, "…All right then."

In an instant, Kadaj and Loz were in the car, but Yazoo found he couldn't move his body. Three pairs of hands had clung onto him with no chance of escape. One man triumphantly said, "If we take hold of one, there's no way the two will go without him."

"Niichan!" Kadaj's hands were sticking out the window, Yazoo could just about make out, but it was true – it was either an escape for three or an escape for none at the rate they were going. He jerked his head to the driver.

"Go!" It had been difficult to say at first, but Yazoo was feeling his confidence come back. He desperately tried to ignore his brothers' shouts, the car door opening. Yazoo shut it again, keeping a hold on it as Kadaj banged his fists against the glass.

"Go! Get my brothers out of here!"

"Y-you sure? How about you?" The driver was looking so uncomfortable, but there was gil sitting in his lap, and cold green eyes that were Yazoo's were boring into him. The researchers were reaching for the door, shouting at the driver.

"Sir, we have a duty to take those boys back to ShinRa Corporation's Rese…"

"Just do it, will you!" Yazoo yelled. The driver reached for the handbrake.

"Too bad for you," he said to the man who had addressed him earlier, "I've never liked that company."

The car screeched and set off down the road. The researchers watched helplessly, loosening their grip on Yazoo. Yazoo didn't try to run though, it didn't seem important anymore. His brothers had gotten away, and it was the best feeling he had had for a long time. He could still hear cries of "Niichan! Niichan!" The last he had seen of his beloved brothers were their tear stricken faces pressing against the back window of the car, shouting to him. But Yazoo was sure they knew it was important for them to escape – if it only took one, why sacrifice another two more?

He felt something prick his arm as a researcher muttered, "Well, at least there's one who's well behaved. Hojo'll just have to make do with just one of his 'specimens'. Seriously, why doesn't he come to fetch the brats himself?"

Don't cry, Loz. Don't worry, Kadaj. I'll find you two, wait for me!

Then, everything began to blur, and Yazoo remembered no more.


A/N: That bit about the bedsheet: I was going to have it as a rope for them to climb down, but that's a bit obvious and clichéd. Using it as a weapon is something random Kadaj would do in a panic as a child, I guess. Action parts are so hard to write… :(

Next chapter: Loz and Kadaj end up at some place, and what of Yazoo? (Thoughts still pending here)

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