Author's note: Back with another chapter of Abstract Silver! So I left a nasty ending to the last one, mostly on Kadaj's part, but the story only continues. However, the next update (whenever that'll be) will possibly be late. Let me explain myself here. There are these horrible final exams coming up, which I must study for, so I will not have the time to write anything, unless I decide to. But I WILL update when there is time, so please hang tight for now. Also, I just have to give a huge thanks to my reviews and readers, because you're the bestest and free cookies for all! (I'm in a giving mood)

Abstract Silver

Crimson

His body felt like a wild fire. Massive burning rippled through him in a torrent of pain as his body was pushed forcefully towards the ground from unwanted gravity as he stared in horror as what had once been unseen before, turned into massive rocks. They were like pin needles, and he the pathetic bug that was about to be impaled, then hung like a trophy in someone's sick collection.

The tails of his leather coat flapped loudly in his ears as the wind being created by the speed he was falling at brushed the his silvery and unnaturally dirty hair way from his eyes, a blissful feeling, yet it could not drown out the pain and shock he still suffered.

He had only been shot once before, by the same man too, but it pierced through his hand; nothing compared to this. The two bullets must have hit something vital, his lung he feared, for it caused excruciating pain when he tried to breath. No cut from a blade could do such damage. And Kadaj had been hit several times in the stomach, more than often the deadly weapon striking something it shouldn't have.

Thump.

Kadaj instantly became paralyzed. The pain was crippling now and he was sure that besides two bullet holes in his chest, he now had a few broken ribs. Several in fact. He had landed on his side, both sharp and dull rocks bruising his pale flesh underneath black leather. If he ever lived to see the wounds, Kadaj was sure that he'd be black and blue by the time this was all over.

He tried to open his eyes, but was unable. Keeping them clenched tightly to relieve some of the pain, Kadaj focused on trying to hear if his niisan was near by, but the irritating whistling noise the wind was creating blocked anything out as it grew stronger and stronger, giving the silver haired rebel a headache to add to everything else.

As he lay in the most evolved form of discomfort, Kadaj let his mind run, unable to stop it. And as thoughts flowed freely about, one thing came to mind. The height he had fallen from and how short of a time it had taken him to reach the bottom. But it was clearly impossible to have fallen that far and end up where ever he was now.

He hadn't reached the bottom after all. There was a chance at getting out of this.

To confirm his discovery, Kadaj willed anything, any will power or raw strength alone, to pry his eyes open so he could see where he was. It seemed like there was something and with a great struggle, Kadaj was able to open his, though they were only mere slits at first as his piercing jade eyes were granted the luxury to see again.

The first thing he noticed was that there were several other stone shelves above him, quite possible the same kind that he had landed on. Kadaj was in too much pain to look over the edge... wait. There was a ledge, a meter or so away from his limp arm. So his thoughts had been right. But he couldn't go anywhere and the silver haired rebel feared that if he tried to get down or climb up, he'd probably end up at the bottom, lifeless, but more so than how he felt now.

The wind howled loudly for one last time, then died down completely as if the beast itself had been tamed within seconds. That allowed Kadaj to hear as well, returning him of yet another sense. And with the calmness that settled down, deafening and horrid, he began to make out the voices of people above, his niisan and the President of Shinra without a doubt.

The distant voice had a calming effect over him, drowning out the pain and pushing it into hiding as his body began to heal. Shadows of unconsciousness began to appear on the edges of his mind, demanding that now was his time to rest. However, that could not be done as a bitter, angry voice cut through it all, the same one who had thankfully put him in this state in the first place.

Though he could not hear everything, being too far down and the like, Kadaj could feel the anger and winced at it, closing his eyes once more. In no time the tone of his niisan grew worse before small crumbling noises could be heard. Only seconds later, Kadaj felt small particles of dust and pebbles litter his face, now laced with cold sweat and so hot to the touch that one would think he was made out of molten lava.

Opening his eyes slowly once more, the silver haired rebel saw two crystal clear blue eyes starring down at him before they disappeared. Kadaj thought that Cloud may have mistaken him for dead, and wished to not die on a empty ledge, minus himself of course, with nothing but a cold hearted man who used fear to gain what he wanted.

His niisan appeared again, then vanished from his sight again, but this time it was different. From down below, Kadaj fully opened his eyes, searching frantically around for the blond man, and would have jumped if he wasn't in so much pain when a quick breeze stole the air from his lungs and a pair of black boots appeared by his head.

Immediately Cloud bent down, careful not to injure Kadaj as his knees brushed lightly against the silver haired rebel's heaving stomach. He was met with confused jade eyes, clouded over with pain and extremely watery. The expression on his face looked as if he felt very frightened, shy of death and feeling vulnerable. So, quickly reaching towards Kadaj's head, Cloud held him gently in his arms, letting the younger man know that he wasn't entirely alone, no matter how many crimes or bad deeds he may have done in the past or how he felt at the moment. He wasn't going to be alone ever again.

Rocks and dirt, dust and pebbles rained down upon them as Rufus peered over the edge, gun pointed towards the two weary figures below. He took careful aim at Kadaj with practiced hold on his weapon, closing the eye he refused to use and narrowed the open one slightly, finger raising to the trigger slowly, as if he was playing with them.

Cloud lowered himself so that his face was a few inches from Kadaj's and whispered lightly, pretending to check his heart beat as his did so, "Fake your own death." His words barely reached Kadaj, but once the youth realized what was to be done, he threw himself upwards like he was breathing the last breaths of fresh air he'd ever receive.

Cloud moved back a few centimeters, completely stunned that Kadaj even had enough strength to do that. When the younger man placed his extremely cold and pale hands onto Cloud's shoulder, the blond breathed in sharply, then glared over Kadaj's shoulder to meet eyes with Rufus.

"Niisan," the silver haired rebel rasped out, "I can't... can't..."

Kadaj went limp and slumped forwards into Cloud, his breathing uneven and rather forced. The blond looked up, giving Rufus a venomous glare. He waited patiently as the President seemed to think to himself, then gave Cloud and Kadaj the freedom they desired. Only one thing wasn't right.

Kadaj hadn't gotten up yet, even after Cloud nudged him a couple times.

The boy really did an excellent job faking it, even though it seemed too real. So Cloud tried again, this time pulling him lightly upwards, only to find that his head rolled back and forth and that the only response he got was a pain stricken moan.

"Damn it..."

Cloud released Kadaj, lying him back on the ground after he completely made sure that there weren't any sharp rocks that would damage the almost lifeless body he had been clutching onto moments before. Glancing backwards, Cloud got a better look of the ground below, his stomach churning at how deadly the rocks looked and how far away the actual surface was from their ledge.

He couldn't possibly take Kadaj down with him, especially since he planned on jumping off the ledge. Just how he was going to land was beyond him, but to injure the silver haired rebel further was reckless and unnecessary. But there was also no other way down and he couldn't very well jump up, since the cliff they had both been standing on before curved over their heads, only allowing them to barely see over it from below and making it impossible to neatly jump to unless Cloud planned on breaking through the solid rock.

Thinking carefully and weighing the possibilities of being injured further, Cloud came to a hasty decision that their only way out of this mess was for him to jump down from the ledge and hope and pray, then hope some more that he'd at least land with some grace. Not only would it be a huge risk, but it would also allow him to take Kadaj to a hospital or somewhere that supplied medical help.

So, glancing upwards to assure that Rufus was no longer hanging around, Cloud fought a an inner battle with his extremely tired body and won. He bent down, quickly wrapping his arms around Kadaj's frail body, careful not to damage his badly bruised body and looked down for the longest time, reminding himself that he had never paid any attention to the laws of gravity or how high the distance was from the ground to himself. It was time to put those actions to good use.

Feeling his sore muscles bunch up in his legs, Cloud lowered himself to the dust covered ledge momentarily, then used his spring-loaded strength to pivot upwards, wind forcing his battered hair backwards as he soared through the air, further away from the cliff. In no time they were plummeting towards the ground and as they did so, Cloud could only imagine what Kadaj must have thought when he fell over the edge. But he also didn't have two bullet holes in his chest.

Quickly the jagged rocks came clearly into view, glistening dangerously in wait. However, Cloud managed to miss them by a whole ten feet and landed somewhat neatly on the solid ground below. As he did so, Kadaj was ripped from his grip as his body gave out under everything it had been through, leaving him with that hated feeling of weakness.

He landed roughly on the ground, unable to anything but watch as Kadaj landed a few feet away from him, dust clinging to his sweat ridden forehead, giving the silver haired rebel the look of one wearing a mud mask. Cloud noted that he was still breathing, but just enough to confirm that he was still alive, though it wasn't by much.

The wind picked up, whistling dryly in his sore ears. It was completely barren out here, nothing but dust and rocks. They were like bright red, neon flashing signs in the dark of the night being where they were. Fiends of all shapes and sizes were bound to show up, smelling their weakness and the blood that now stained the ground around Kadaj as it transferred itself from his leather clothing onto the dry ground underneath.

There was little Cloud could do. In fact, there was absolutely nothing. As seconds turned into minutes and those long minutes turning into an hour, it was incredibly hard for Cloud to hold onto his consciousness, to stay awake, to make sure that Kadaj was still alive. But it was impossible now, and as his mako eyes kissed the barren land good-bye, Cloud caught a glimpse of something crimson close by, unsure if it was his eyes were playing games or his body was giving up.

Not a game nor mis-functioning of his body, but a ever growing blur of something quite familiar. It neared at such a fast speed that Cloud failed to noticed that it now hovered noisily above, the constant sound of fabric swaying in the wind filled his ears as it drowned out the powerful howls of the wind. And with that noise, Cloud lost all consciousness and merged with the darkness. He reached out for Kadaj before his pale face kissed the ground below.

Hushed voices echoed inside of his throbbing head, only causing it to pulse further. He wouldn't dare of opening his eyes, he didn't want to see the horrible place he must have been in now. Perhaps he was in the Underworld or, maybe, a part of the Lifestream. Either one wasn't idealistic for him at the moment, so he remained still.

The room was dark, no doubt about it. This place felt comforting and somewhat familiar. Cloud didn't know why, but he suddenly felt the urge to wake up, to see where Kadaj was.

Had they made it?

His vision was blurred at first, a jolt of pain from his head causing him to blink several times. Once it had vanished into nothingness, Cloud was able to see the world that lay beyond, half expecting fiends be dancing around and buildings ablaze. However, things weren't like that at all.

He was in his room, back at Seventh Heaven.

The voices stopped, which were coming from the doorway, only made visible as the light from the hallway created a golden-like outline of it. There was no lighting, but at the moment that was a very good thing. Cloud thanked whatever miracle had saved him and struggled to sit upright and was immediately accompanied by two helping hands.

Cloud turned to the side and a lamp was turned on, piercing his mako eyes with blistering light. He drew back, almost falling sideways, but stopped himself once he found that he had regained some form of balance.

"You had us all worried!"

Tifa looked over Cloud, making sure that he was well enough to be up and rested the palm of her hand on his forehead, withdrawing it immediately.

"Cloud, you're burning up. You shouldn't be awake quite yet."

"H-how did I get here?" The blond rubbed the back of his head, flinching at how high his body temperature really was. "I can't possibly be alive..."

"Vincent helped out." Tifa pointed towards the shadowed figure near the doorway, his tattered, crimson cape standing out among the cracked walls of Cloud's room. "He's been watching you two for some time now. We were just trying to be careful, I promise."

"Kadaj?"

Cloud startled the strong willed woman beside him while suddenly moving out of his bed and standing in a rather sloppy fashion. He searched everywhere, now despising the darkness that still lingered in the small space. He couldn't see anything, but noticed that the pile of various amounts of trash had been removed from one corner.

It was there that he found Kadaj, laying on a spare mattress.

From what light was given, Cloud could see that he wasn't looking the best. His once other worldly hair looked frayed, dirty, and completely ruined. His breathing was heavy and forced, long pauses interfering between each breath. He was partially covered with both wool and cotton blankets, trying to keep him warm while he body remained at a deathly cold temperature; the complete opposite of Cloud's.

He tried to move towards Kadaj, but Tifa gently forced him to lay back down. Vincent then stepped forward, crimson eyes locking with pure mako ones as the light battled with the darkness of the room. The silent man remained where he was, at the end of the bed, then ushered a few words, most of which Cloud could barely make out since Vincent used his usual tone of voice.

But the blond had a few things of his own to say, most regarding the welfare of Kadaj. He knew well enough that Vincent would have some information and that his friend would let him know.

"Is he-"

"The body of thoughts," Vincent cut Cloud off, "may be powerful, but not many can withstand two gunshot wounds to the chest, least they be immortal or powered by some great force."

Cloud furrowed his brows in troubled thought. He glanced towards Kadaj, then back to Vincent as the older man spoke dreadfully calm words.

"He might not make it."