Author's note: This chapter doesn't have as many words as the previous ones, but that's only because there's more talking then descriptions. Things have indeed be hectic around here so it was incredibly hard to write this chapter, but hell I did it anyways. Just a small little note regarding last chapter: The response was so awesome! I can't believe it! Thanks! And for such a nice little lift to my mood, I shall give you another chapter and, what's this? More Cloud and Kadaj interactions of course! Thanks once again!

Abstract Silver

A world of disorder

He woke to a comforting warmth that radiated onto his face. It was a pleasant change from the cold of the night, and Cloud appreciated it greatly. He hadn't quite woken up get, hovering around the brink of sleep and the constant demands that he open his eyes and move around. The blond wanted to rest more than anything at the moment and turned to the side, feeling his body fall fast to the right where it collided with the church bench.

The sunlight was golden and intensely bright, spilling through any available hole or crack in the stone ceiling of the church. The water sparkled crystal clear under its morning rays, blinding Cloud with the brightness it was creating. Any remains of the flowers Aeris had were now visible, scattered around like autumn leaves, except these were of value. When Cloud looked up, eyes wandering around everything, taking in his too familiar surroundings, he watched as lines and lines of dust danced about in the sunlight, like they were mimicking fire.

In this peace that had settled itself in Cloud, he had not yet looked over to where Kadaj was and when he did, mako eyes widening somewhat, he found the younger man curled up in the fetal position, arms wrapped tightly around his knees.

Kadaj was obviously in a lot of pain. Easy to tell since his eyes were clenched so tight that protective tears shimmered in the sunlight. And not only did the sunlight reveal his tears, but the rotting blotch of black skin on the side of his neck, looking just as painful as the expression he wore on his face. He was trying to hide his pain by covering his features with his silver hair, but failed when he uncurled and let out what sounded like a scream of pain, muffled by the collar of his protective leather coat.

Cloud flexed his tired muscles, grunting as he stretched one in his arm a little too far, and sat up, slowly moving over to Kadaj. He was cautious, not quite too sure of what to do, but moved closer nonetheless when the younger man uncurled himself, despite his pain, and sat upwards, back facing Cloud.

"Go away," Kadaj bit out.

"We have to get that cured."

"There is no cure, didn't you know that?"

Cloud stopped mid-step, silenced. He had not forgotten that, being a victim of the Geostigma himself, but he had still not come up with a solution to Kadaj's problem. However, he wasn't about to give up, and broke the silence between them with a small grunt, walking so that he was within centimeters of Kadaj's personal space, which the rebel seemed to savor greatly.

"We can try to find something at least."

"Funny. Just funny."

Kadaj raised a shaky hand to his neck and immediately snapped his head to the left, hand falling limply to his side. He looked down, studying the small skin patches that had came off with the contact and dipped his still gloved hand into the water beside him. The same cooling sensation crept up the length of his arm, causing him to withdraw it when it grew too cold for him to handle.

Cloud remained silent, watching Kadaj with his pure blue eyes and could easily feel all the misery that was hanging heavily in the air, like a pollutant. He went to take another step forwards, so that he would be facing Kadaj, but the younger man stood up and whirled around, eyes fighting desperately to prevent the pain from showing.

It was the first time that he had been able to stand since he felt faint and his legs were forced to adjust to the sudden change, causing Kadaj to stagger to the side slightly. He still remained silent, a glare now settled upon his pale face. His hair, usually flowing over his one eye, had been tucked neatly back behind his ear, but the rebel still maintained his looked of glowing anger.

"You should have left me!" Kadaj snapped, pain seeping into his weakening voice.

"I promised myself that I would not let anyone else die."

"I don't care. Do you think my life is worth saving if I'm just going to rot into nothing anyways?"

Cloud said nothing, but chose to respond in his own way with silence, staring blandly at Kadaj. The rebel obviously wanted an answer and crossed his arms, flinching when the muscles moved painfully in his neck.

"Do you?"

"If there was cure for the children's illness, there will be one for yours."

Simply put, but Kadaj wasn't satisfied. He turned back around after giving Cloud one last glare. He let his weeping legs rest by sitting down near the edge of the healing waters, legs folded neatly under him. He was incredibly silent, not even making one comment. Kadaj, forgetting about the cooling sensation from before, dipped his hand back into the water and spun it in full, circular motions.

"What about my brothers?" The question alone sounded innocent enough, but Cloud didn't have any clue as to where they were, or if they even survived the explosion on the bridge for that matter.

"I do not know."

"Are they... dead?"

"If they were alive, don't you think they'd at least make some sort of an attempt to find you?"

Kadaj stopped what he was doing, and hung his head lower than he already had it, silver hair swaying lightly to the left before it went still. The air in the church became thick as if someone had just pumped it with fog. The silver haired rebel remained silent before his body shook from anger and the sensation of vulnerability.

"Listen..." Cloud had other things he needed to do right now and made to leave, but Kadaj's voice cut through any ideas of doing so.

"Tell me about mother."

Kadaj needed his thoughts to be taken off his older brothers and was fed up with all the weird emotions that plagued him since Cloud took his mother away. The rebel never knew enough and wanted to know more about his mother. How she would bring them all together. How they would all unite and have a reunion. How he was blessed with the 'illness' Cloud was talking about, that would draw them closer. He wanted to know everything.

"I want to know about mother."

The blond blinked twice, as if seeing Kadaj for the first time, and wondered if the younger man would ever understand who and what Jenova really was. He decided to give him some information, not too sure if Kadaj would want him alive in a couple of seconds. Cloud retreated to a near by bench and sat down, hands by his side.

"Jenova. She crashed down into the planet years ago. Her cells were used on many people and you as well." Kadaj stopped swirling his hand in the water, interested in what Cloud was saying. "But Jenova is nothing but a rotting piece of flesh, or used to be." It was the cold hard truth and Cloud knew Kadaj wouldn't accept anything he said anyways.

"Don't talk about mother that way," Kadaj's voice was nothing but a whisper.

"Look, I going to go and get my motorcycle, then I'm taking you to the Healin Lodge, if you like it or not."

"I'm not going back to that place," Kadaj spat, remembering the blond man in the wheelchair who had tricked him and recklessly thrown his mother over the edge of a thirteen story plus building.

"Doesn't look like you have much of a choice."

"I can stay here." Kadaj went back to circling his hand in the water, but as he did so a dark aura came about, polluting the water. "Ah!" The rebel pulled his hand as if he had just placed it in acid and backed away slowly, more weary of the water than ever. "What's wrong with it?"

Cloud was exhausted and needed to go and at least tell Tifa where he had gone, but wasn't too sure if he should tell her about Kadaj. He left the rebel where he was after one last glance and made for the doors, but Kadaj's struggling movements to get up stopped him. He was doing that a lot lately.

Kadaj became faint as the movement in his arms caused white hot pain to spread throughout his body. The black patch of skin stung tremendously and felt like it was only spreading further as the muscles in his body shifted. However, he did manage to fully stand, though his body was slumped to one side as to prevent any further pain from crippling him.

"Wait for me."

"You can't even stand up properly, stay here and don't move until I get back."

Kadaj wasn't one to take orders, even if his life depended on it.

"You can't just leave-"

Cloud turned around and opened the doors, the hinges creaking loudly in their ears. He stepped outside, feeling the stronger rays of the sunlight hit his back, and turned back to Kadaj's direction, looking at him sternly.

"Please don't go anywhere," he said exasperated.

Kadaj staggered towards a church bench beside his leg and sat down, facing the opposite direction of Cloud. He spoke no words, keeping dead silent. The blond sighed out of frustration and closed the doors as swiftly as possible, keeping quiet himself.

Tifa stood behind the marble table top of her bar, cleaning the glass, thoughts of Cloud on her mind. She was worried for his welfare, especially with the crazy silver haired rebel on the loose. And worst of all, he was completely unpredictable, and that bothered her the most.

After a great deal of reassuring, Tifa had managed to calm her friends down, convincing them that Cloud could handle the younger man by himself. Denzel had then burst through the door only moments later, causing more commotion. The other members of their group were there too, asking if everyone was all right. Frankly, things weren't at the moment.

She knew that Cloud would eventually come back, but she had found herself trying desperately hard not to pick up the phone and call his number, even though he misplaced his cellphone. The atmosphere had grown very tense. She hoped that something hadn't gone wrong, as did the children. Cloud would never leave the children.

Denzel and Marlene were upstairs, coloring something that they planned on giving Cloud once he returned. Their hopes skyrocketed with high expectations he would come back, always reassuring themselves. Tifa worried that their hopes would crushed if the blond never showed.

Quietly setting the glasses back into a black cupboard, the bar owner let a small sigh escape her mouth and break the silence that had wrapped itself around her. She dried her hands with a white and orange plaid cloth and set it down on top of the counter, walking over to the door, planning on locking it. Just as she was about to, the door opened suddenly and the last person, the only person she was dying to see again, stood in the doorway, a tired expression on his pale features.

"Is Denzel okay?" He said in a quiet voice.

Tifa regained her lost balance and stepped aside, allowing Cloud to enter the bar. She flicked the lock shut and went behind the marble counter. "Want a drink?"

"No thanks, I'll be leaving soon."

The cheery expression that Tifa had worn for only a few moments fell off her face, and was replaced with a somewhat saddened one. She placed the two glasses she had taken out back into the cupboard and answered Cloud's previous question. "Yeah. Denzel's just fine."

Cloud opened his mouth to talk, but was cut short when the hollow sound of small feet speeding down the stairs filled the silent atmosphere.

"Tifa!" Marlene spoke in a joyous voice with a little annoyance mingled in it. "Look what Denzel did!" She pointed to a piece of paper that the boy held tight in his small hands, one of Tifa, Cloud, Marlene and himself. Then, Marlene placed a hand on her hip and pointed to her face. "And look what else he did Tifa! He colored on my face!"

Cloud and Tifa both smirked at the markings on her small face. Sure enough black marker was strewn about, in lines, circles, and the odd shape here and there. Marlene didn't look too pleased at the two adult's reaction and began to pout. Something clicked inside of her mind, having not really pictured Cloud there, and forgot the matter, running headlong towards him.

"Cloud! You came back to see us!"

Cloud looked downcast, not wanting to disappoint Marlene or Denzel. "...Yeah," he whispered.

"How long are you going to be here for?" Denzel spoke up.

"...Not very long."

"Awwww," their childish voices clashed together.

"But I promise I'll be back soon, okay?"

Denzel seemed somewhat pleased, as did Marlene, but Tifa didn't. She looked more disappointed that he would be leaving than either child did. But she managed to give him a half hearted smile and went over to where Denzel was standing, walking around the marble counter top, and took his picture over to a small fridge, pinning it up with a tiny black magnet.

Tifa turned back to Cloud, who was giving his last good-byes to the children and leaned over the counter top, arms crossed. "Don't get yourself killed, alright?"

"I'll try not to."

He gave a small wave to them all and unlocked the door before stepping out, leaving the small group of people who had cared for him for so long. Cloud didn't spend any time wandering around and quickly went to get his motorcycle, knowing exactly where he had left it.

Kadaj would probably be bored out of his mind by now; breaking things, Cloud assumed. He couldn't waste any more time away from the rebel, knowing all too well how much havoc he could dish out in mere seconds. Time was an essence right now and the blond was thankful that he had some means of transportation.

Starting it up with a roar, Cloud spent a few seconds looking back at the Seventh Heaven bar, then sped off towards the church. He was going so fast that it was nearly impossible to dodge some of the objects that made themselves known only seconds before he almost ran them over.

His speed was good on his part. The church was coming up fast, but the worry in the back of his head that Kadaj would not be there was becoming overwhelming. He sped up a little more, carefully watching his speed, though it was recklessly insane.

Cloud stopped sharply, right before the double wooden doors of the church and jumped off the bike, not bothering to see if it landed alright or not, but he had installed an automatic kickstand so it didn't matter. The blond opened the doors, just as abused as the floor was from both Kadaj and his own motorcycles, and stepped inside.

Everything was the same. Sunlight still pooled down, onto the floor, though brighter. Nothing had been moved, not one church bench missing. The water lay in a calm pool ahead, sparkling blue, green, and gold. The same thick layer of dust still hung dearly onto parts of the floor, places that Cloud nor Kadaj had ever walked before. Everything was fine.

But Kadaj wasn't there.

Cloud rushed inside, eyes sweeping over everything, trying to find and trace of the silver haired rebel. He stopped in the center isle, just before the healing waters, and looked deep inside, hoping that he hadn't fallen in. Thankfully Kadaj wasn't there.

He checked behind and under every bench, in every small space, in every corner, behind every pillar, but Cloud could not find Kadaj. He ran back to the center isle and looked upwards, trying to see if he was on the roof anywhere, but the rebel was not.

Kadaj was missing.