Author's note: I'm updating early! Again! Wow! Just think of this as part one of my little x-mas present to anyone who actually reads my stuff. This chapter may be a little bit smaller than the previous ones, but I have been awfully sick while writing this so I apologize. But before I leave after yet another boring author note, I'd like to give an infinite amount of thank yous to everyone who has read and reviewed because the response is incredible (in my standards) and the amount of people who have actually read it are super huge. Keep on readin' and keep on reviewing! Oh and Merry Christmas too.

Abstract Silver

Come into the light

He could see them from here, standing upon the exact same cliff that Kadaj had been on when he had called the shadow fiends back. It had been their first almost encounter where he had almost got a bullet right between his eyes. Had he not been wearing his sunglasses, Cloud would have been dead.

Kadaj had caused a lot of trouble, yes, but it was all for one reason: Jenova. The silver haired rebel, Cloud knew without a doubt, still needed something to hold onto despite his arrogant behavior and the level of leadership he possessed over his two brothers. Without their mother, their monstrous Jenova, each and everyone of them would eventually be unwilling to live in the end or the Geostigma would see to their demise. That was clearly Jenova's fault.

As Cloud raced towards them, leaving Midgar behind him and the church as well, his mind stopped its spinning rampage and froze when he remembered the promise, though small in words but worth more than the world to Denzel, and had to refrain from stopping completely while his motorcycle exceeded unsafe speeds.

Not only was sheltering Kadaj from the other's a problem, but Cloud couldn't think of a time where he would he able to return back to the bar. There was no way that Kadaj would be safe by himself, completely unpredictable and suffering more than he had been before from Jenova's little gift, her precious Geostigma. It would be hard to convince the others to give it some thought about their view and opinion on the younger man and there was also the fact that one of Kadaj's brothers had kidnapped Marlene. Definitely not the best thing to do when Barret was her adopted father.

Yes, things would be complicated.

It was then, while Cloud's thoughts were concentrated on what the near future would be, that he noticed the one standing near the edge of the cliff began to raise his arm, aimed directed at Cloud himself. Shapes of the shadow fiends began to appear, but as the moonlight pooled down on the three figures, making them nothing but far away shadows, the one sitting down sprang forwards.

Cloud knew that it had to be Kadaj. After all he was the smallest out of the three. But it was surprising to say the least. That also meant that things weren't going to go by as smoothly as he had hoped. His life would obviously be in danger, but Kadaj's would be too if he kept opposing his brothers and acting out just as randomly as he had when throwing one of them to the ground up on the cliff.

It was going to be a close fight.

Pure moonlight, as bright as it could possibly get, showered all those under its icy beams with such intense brightness that it became just as hard to look at as the sun. From below, it illuminated small petals of a dying flower, all traces of its once pink color now completely drained to look like a wilting weed. Caked in dust, it made amends with the cracked ground that shriveled roots attempted to hold onto and was carried silently away by the wind, completing two full spins in mid air before it floated like an bird's feather in the darkness under the cliff.

The buster sword, nothing but a shadow and a reminder of a painful past, stood in the exact same place Cloud had thrust it into. And just like the sword, the three silver haired brothers looked like nothing but shadows from afar, only moving to pace back and forth or stand completely still for long, dreaded seconds. Even from a long distance away, it was evident that something was bothering them greatly, every movement a dead giveaway.

A cloud of dust rose into the air, polluting the moonlight surrounding them as Yazoo kicked it in irritation. His leather clad body was only a shadow, his silver hair the only thing distinguishable in the never ending darkness. He moved swiftly from his position behind Kadaj and walked with practiced grace to the furthest distance he could get between his younger sibling.

Yazoo had remained silent, terribly confused as to why Kadaj would pull off such a stunt as saving their enemy's life. His eyes displayed the perfect picture of cruelty and a never ending void of distant thoughts, all wrapped into a package of icy jade eyes. He had spoken no words after moving as far as he could away from his younger sibling, standing at the furthest point of the cliff where small pebbles broke free from the thick rock and plummeted into the black void below them.

The silence was deafening. Even as the wind had picked up so that it was now howling in their ears, it could not be heard. It was so overwhelming and so sickening that Loz had already begun to shift uneasily as he constantly moved his eyes from Kadaj then to Yazoo, and back and forth again.

Loz, the eldest out of the trio, didn't even have to make an attempt to see where their niisan was, he could already feel his power from their high place. There was no doubt in his mind that some form of trouble would arise, something a lot bigger than what he had estimated before hand. Whatever would take place, Loz knew they were going down.

Away from his older brothers, Kadaj sat, curled tightly into a ball, arms wrapped protectively around his knees in a death grip. His silver hair whipped fiercely into the side of his bowed head, causing small pin pricks of pain to arise, but only to fade moments later. He kept his eyes painfully shut, closing out the world around him, and dare he say, afraid of what was to come.

Since he body was not being forced to move at all, sleep was penetrating all the barriers that Kadaj had put up to stay fully awake. The silver haired rebel no longer closed his eyes for his uncertainty, but for sleep itself. Soon, despite his sluggish fights against it, Kadaj drifted into a different world that had once been his only means of an escape from reality...

"Kadaj ..."

"Wake up Kadaj ..."

Blinding light filled his vision. Kadaj knew right there and then that it wasn't the moonlight who was to blame for his pain stricken eyes, but a light of the past, one he despised with all his heart. There was never anything else but this light, consuming everything and making his senses completely unwilling to work. He hated the light just as much as he hated his past.

Realistically, the same smell had risen, disturbing and haunting at the same time. It was a mixture of medical equipment and disinfectant. Even before Kadaj regained his ability to see, he knew where he was and struggled to go back into reality, away from his nightmarish past, but could not. He was completely stuck.

Kadaj felt his eyelashes brush against his face before he slowly opened his eyes, vision blurred and unfocused. He didn't want to see what lay before him, afraid in his own childish way. He felt small, vulnerable, and helpless. Once his vision focused perfectly, the silver haired rebel was faced with the exact same room he had feared to see once again.

Tiled floor panels, as bland as a piece of paper, were finally noticed as Kadaj unwillingly moved his foot. The walls were cracked and were of a sickly gray color. It smelt damp in here, quite possibly from the small pools of water that lay scattered everywhere on the floor. It became evident that there was other life in here, scientists in fact, that mumbled to one another and jotted down notes from time to time while they stood silent and still, watching Kadaj patiently.

He felt isolated and became very nervous as many beady eyes, covered by thick lenses, came closer and closer as he tried to move. But Kadaj was completely numb. There was no feeling at all in his body, except for his feet and fingers. His mouth was frozen shut, unable to protest against the dangerous looking eyes. The feel of his hair was unclean and sopping wet from the small droplets of water that splashed lightly onto his head.

"The testing is going well," one of them spoke in a loud voice, though it went unheard by Kadaj, who found that he couldn't hear as well.

The silver haired rebel didn't know how to read lips and only watched as their mouths moved mindlessly, ushering words that he could not depict nor wanted to hear. It only strengthened the awful feeling that was growing like a plague inside of his body and mind. This was too much to handle.

One of the scientists motioned to the side, looking at a tall man who held a small case in his right hand, dangling loosely by his side. Kadaj tried to move when he neared, but his vision went black when his body denied him the luxury to be able to at least stretch. Then, as the silver haired rebel slowly regained his vision, he found that the tall man was no longer in front of him, but beside him.

Cold metal plunged into the tender skin on his neck and a icy fluid was injected into his bloodstream. Kadaj tried to move more than ever as the sedative worked faster than he thought possible and could do nothing but let his body give into it.

The cracked ceiling and a few scientists leaned over him and for a few seconds he regained his ability to hear. "The Jenova treatments are about to begin" were the last things that Kadaj remembered before he world was wrapped with darkness and broken apart.

Loz shook his younger sibling's shoulders, trying to get a response from the sleeping Kadaj, who had begun to mumble slurred words and shake violently. Kadaj showed no sign of waking so Loz gave him one more shake, harder than the last, and fell backwards slightly when Kadaj lashed out from his sleeping state. It was not out of anger but of not knowing what was happening. However, Loz was still strong enough, even when he was incredibly worn and weak, to maintain his balance and stand fully before his body collided with the cold ground under them.

Jade eyes, cut perfectly into cat-like slits, shone brightly as the moonlight bore into them. Kadaj surveyed the world he had thankfully been thrown back into and offered Loz a somewhat apologetic shimmer in his eyes when the silver haired rebel rested his gaze upon him, then to Yazoo, who had turned around to see what all the commotion was about.

His pale face showed no expression, neither did his nearly identical eyes. When Kadaj looked almost expectantly at him, Yazoo turned his back and watched silently, wind shifting his hair back and forth, as the speeding shadow came closer and closer with every second and every minute that passed.

Kadaj made a quick glance towards Loz again, finding him looking up at the moon, the look of a lost child illuminated on his facial expression. The silver haired rebel knew they were all lost without their mother, after all, she had been the only reason why they survived through everything and had the will to live in such hard times as these and those of the past. But they would have to move on from here, no matter how ridiculous it sounded.

Their mother was their greatest loss.

Things would definitely change, Kadaj thought as the moonlight pooled down upon him. It reminded him of the water in the church, cold and pure. And at this moment, Kadaj actually missed the secure stone building with its many broken church benches and loud creaking floorboards. He wondered, eyes resting on Midgar from afar, if he would ever return to that place again. But he chances of that looked pretty low.

As sleep slowly overcame Kadaj once more, he was met with incredible pain instead of the comforting warmth and clenched his teeth to the point where he was sure that they would crack, trying to hold it back. He could not stop it, no matter how hard he tried, as the Geostigma made itself known once more, giving Kadaj a small taste of what his future would hold if he could not get rid of the terrible illness.

He reached for his right hand and pulled off the well fit leather glove and tossed it to the side. He reached upwards, the pain slowing his progress terribly, and rested a pale, delicate hand on his neck. Immediately Kadaj was met with a burning sensation, directly in the center of the palm of his hand, and drew back, startled from how awful it felt.

There was a sharp stinging sensation on the left side of his neck, the core of the Geostigma's resting place. "Mother!" He yelled when the pain seemed to rip at his skin, trying to pull it free from his neck. His vision went blurry as his older brothers rushed forward, confused at Kadaj's outburst, but upon seeing the patch of skin that was darker than the night itself, they understood.

"We have to move him," Yazoo spoke urgently, though he remained calm.

Loz lifted Kadaj's now limp arms into the air and placed his muscular ones underneath, pulling the suffering rebel upwards. He looked back to where Yazoo was, getting ready to heave Kadaj upwards, and gave a tight nod before the youngest out of them all no longer lay on the ground.

Kadaj was barely awake, often slipping in and out of consciousness. He looked towards the moon above and ignored the lingering pain in his neck, which had begun to spread further, almost to his chest and his back. Then, just as it had happened while he slept at the bar, those voices began to whisper promises of things he longed for.

"Kadaj ..."

"Do not be afraid Kadaj, everything will get better..."

"... once you complete the reunion..."

His mother was persuading him with her hypnotic words. They were extremely calming and already Kadaj could feel his pain begin to evaporate. But he was slipping away from the real world and he didn't want to, not this time, no matter how hard he fought he was not going to stay awake and away from the hellish world that awaited him beyond sleep.

"Come into the darkness Kadaj ..."

There was a loud ringing noise in his mind as Jenova's voice became slightly irritated. The pain returned shortly too, causing Kadaj to open his eyes, but when he did, the silver haired rebel realized that his mother had not been the only part of the loud noises, but Fenrir, positioned not even ten feet away.

Yazoo dropped Kadaj's legs out of pure shock and reached for Velvet Nightmare, perfectly intact since he had used the gun Loz owned to fight with Cloud on the bridge. His eyes sparkled vengefully in the moonlight, promising nothing but death, and spun to face him, silver hair entangling itself around his face briefly. But he didn't need to see to know where to hit and pulled the trigger, the sound of breaking flesh greeting him pleasantly.

Loz, unlike his brother, placed Kadaj carefully onto the dusty ground, obviously understanding how much pain it caused Kadaj to move the slightest. When he was sure that his younger sibling was well enough not to scream out anymore, he stepped forward, matching the same standing position as Yazoo.

Cloud was unable to move, paralyzed from the intensity of the gunshot wound and fell forwards, slamming his body roughly into the ground. The taste of copper, the taste of his own blood, made itself know as he staggered, attempting to raise himself off the ground, and let out a small gasp of pain as his body screamed in protest when he pushed upwards.

Anger flowed deeply inside of him. His world was beginning to waver and he was becoming too self conscious about his wounds. Then he turned to what the eldest of the brothers seemed to be hiding and his pure mako eyes rested upon a very injured Kadaj, who struggling to stand up.

Loz looked uncertainly at Yazoo, knowing that their lives were about to end soon.

"Do it," the gun wielder snapped.

Yazoo recklessly tossed the Velvet Nightmare to the ground, only glancing at it briefly before turning to face Cloud, arm outstretched. Loz mimicked his actions, though hesitating quite a bit, and began to let out a low growling noise as Cloud dashed towards them after having retrieved one of his many swords from Fenrir, a look of pure hatred painted darkly upon his face.

The darkness, any of it that wasn't touched upon by moonlight, became illuminated as the two brothers arm's began to glow. The materia stood out like colored orbs in a dark room as the light around them grew stronger and stronger.

From his fallen position off to the side, Kadaj struggled more and more to get up. He had managed to prop himself up using his shoulder, despite the incredibly strong pain, and watched as Cloud neared his brothers. Then there was an awful light, the brightest he had ever seen, and it was coming right for him after it consumed Cloud, Loz, and Yazoo.

"Niisan!"

The light hit him and everything went black.