Author note: I have returned! So I made some calculations regarding how many chapters were left for this story, and I've gotten the result of two or three. Sadly, that means Abstract Silver will be ending soon, but I'd like to reach a mark of one hundred reviews before vanishing off into the world of FanFiction once more. Now, before random things are hurled at me, I must say that this story has to be my absolute most favorite one to write because one, the reviews are amazing and fun to read, and two, I don't think I've ever written so much for this website before. I'll cut things short by giving out yet again another dish of thanks to the reviewers and the readers. Awesome, awesome, awesome, all of you.

Abstract Silver

Neopolitan

The temperature was dropping ever so slightly, a simple hint that the day was finally coming to an end. The sun, a bright glowing orb covered with many dull clouds, slowly began to lower itself, depriving Midgar of the warmth and light that the people inhabiting it desired so much.

People remained as they were, walking around the dirty streets, some talking to others while those less willing to socialize kept to themselves. Small children bounced about, the fear of the Geostigma now long forgotten in their simple minds. Soon enough, they were ushered into buildings by their parents, friends, or guardians.

Life in Midgar began to dim like a dying fire. Many retreated to their homes, whilst others gathered around burning barrels of fire, trying to keep themselves warm against the ever growing cold of the night. The muffled chatter of people vanished all together, giving Midgar a peaceful break as a comfortable silence settled down upon it.

Streets nearly empty, all signs of life scarce, Midgar was ready to face the darkness once again.

The silence, as strong as it may be, was quietly broken by the sound of light footfalls on the cold cement ground. They echoed all around an abandoned alley, the noise of water splashing appeared when the lone figure stepped in one of many puddles that still littered the ground of Midgar.

A gentle breeze sprang to life, lightly brushing over anything in its path like fresh spring water over smooth rocks. The figure, dressed in dark and seemingly perfect attire for the time of night, turned a sharp corner, the ends of it's coat making flapping noises in the breeze.

This stretch of the alley was covered with small puddles of water. As the moon was allowed a break when the thick storm clouds deteriorated, the strong glow coming off of it created a crystal clear reflection in many of the puddles. With the breeze getting stronger the reflection began to waver, then completely shattered when a leather boot crashed into the water.

The alley was getting darker, making it hard to see. Thankfully, the moon was bright, making it possible to see most of what stood in it's way. The icy rays from the crystalline orb above reflected down upon a pair of eyes that were just as cold as the night itself.

A group of people, huddled around a flaming barrel, looked in the direction of the shadowed figure and went to make space around the flames, but stopped abruptly. Had they not caught sight of it's glowing eyes, eyes that signified an encounter with mako, they would have mistaken the shadowed figure as just another unemployed homeless person.

The person only made a quiet grunt as it passed the group of people who were now watching in morbid curiosity. When they could no longer be seen, the figure turned down another stretch of an abandoned alleyway and glanced around, eyes narrowing in frustration.

Where was he?

They were supposed to have met almost a full hour ago, back at the ancient church. Surely his brother wasn't that confused as to where he was. If there was no sign of him for another thirty minutes, he would have to leave him on his own for the night.

Brushing a piece of silver hair away from his face, Yazoo studied the dark narrow space before him. It was the last alley around, every other one had been searched, some more than once. The breeze was growing stronger and stronger and Yazoo could feel a storm brewing.

Then, as if fate had answered his wishes to find his brother and make for the safety of the church, Yazoo could hear someone groaning up ahead. Narrowing his eyes and preparing himself to fight if he had to, the silver haired man slowly advanced.

The groaning noises came from a crumpled figure slouched against a brick wall. As Yazoo came closer, he could see that whoever it was had a hand placed on their head and was wobbling back and forth. There was trash thrown about on the ground around the person, all of it coming from the garbage can that the person had been thrown into.

"My head," the person groaned.

Yazoo calmed himself upon recognizing the voice that belonged to the obviously injured person. He wondered what his brother had done this time, especially since he was sitting in a garbage can with a welt on his head that was so big it was visible even at night.

"Loz, what trouble have you gotten into now?"

Loz didn't seem to notice that Yazoo was talking to him and continued to hold his head as it pulsed with pain. Several minutes later, he lowered his hands and turned towards his brother, squinting his eyes and seeing double.

"Yazoo?"

The silver haired man crossed his arms against his chest and moved over to the wall opposite of Loz and leaned against it, his silvery hair covering his face temporarily. He let out a frustrated sigh as he tilted his head upwards, watching thick storm clouds cover the moon once again.

"Where have you been? We were supposed to meet over an hour ago."

"I found Kadaj."

Yazoo immediately lost all frustration that had been pent up inside from Loz vanishing. He uncrossed his arms and pushed his silvery hair behind his ears.

"You found Kadaj? Well, where is he now?"

Loz went back to holding his wound, wincing when he sent a wave of throbbing pain shooting throughout his swollen head. He seemed to think of where Kadaj had been, but his mind was too fuzzy at the moment for him to recall all the details clearly.

"He ..uh ... was at this one place, a bar I think."

"A bar? That's impossible."

Loz slammed his eyes shut, gritting his teeth in frustration. He had to remember. He had to. However, every time he tried the lump on his head would act up, sending nothing but blank memories to his brain. He tried even harder this time.

Slowly, a picture came into mind, moving along and without sound. He could see Kadaj leaning against the wall of the bar, or whatever building he had been in. His blurry memory suddenly gave him some audio, and at the exact moment Kadaj announced that he no longer wanted the reunion.

But... But how was that possible?

He knew that Yazoo would either lash out at him for giving him the news, or Kadaj was going to be in trouble. Big trouble. So, weighing his decisions out, Loz decided that he would have to do the only thing that Yazoo wanted to hear. He was going to to tell him that Kadaj wanted the reunion still. He was going to lie.

"Kadaj talked about the reunion again, Yazoo."

"Oh? And what of it?"

"He said..." Loz let go of his head, looking up at Yazoo's glowing eyes and quickly formulated a lie that would be both convincing and undetected. "He said that in order for the reunion to take place..." The injured silver haired man recalled Kadaj refusing to go, and he knew why. It was all Cloud's fault. "We have to eliminate all problems, starting with Cloud." Loz mentally gave himself a reward for being so cunning. "And everything must be done as soon as possible."

Yazoo seemed to think about it. If he recalled correctly, Kadaj had stopped him from attacking Cloud. Perhaps he had changed his mind and was ready to start over. Now, they needed to find the blond nuisance and get rid of him quickly. Just their luck that Yazoo knew exactly where Cloud was headed.

Upon passing one of many groups of people huddled around a barrel of flames, Yazoo had briefly heard someone talking about a man called Strife heading for the Northern Crater and that he was out of his mind. Yazoo had found this as a surprise, but hadn't thought much about it.

"We must be quick," Yazoo stated. He walked closer to Loz and told him to get up.

When the injured man had finally managed to stand upright, he couldn't help but sway from side to side as if he was boneless. Yazoo told him about Cloud's location, and that it would be impossible for them to climb up there on foot, especially in their current condition.

"But how are we going to get there if we can't walk?" Loz asked, leaning over too far and almost falling into the puddle ridden ground below him.

Yazoo seemed to go into a deep concentration, pacing silently. The sounds of splashing water was the only thing that could be heard above the periodic gusts of wind. After several minutes of thinking, Yazoo had come up with an idea, the only one that would work if everything went according to plan.

"Let's see if President Shinra will be kind enough to lend us one of his helicopters." Yazoo laughed at the odds of that happening. "Come on now, we must go undetected."

Strong winds billowed, howling as they rippled over everything. A massive electrical storm was brewing above, one that was not going to be all that pretty. The cold temperatures of the night and of the place itself seemed to drop away and were replaced with thick humidity.

Nobody had visited this place since the Turks had, in search of Jenova. It was as lifeless as a corpse, completely quiet except for the strong winds. Not a blade of grass grew here, not a blade of grass dared. The only characteristics here were rugged rocks and an eerie feeling that came with them.

Now, climbing among those rocks in pursuit of a rumored healing plant, Cloud fought for some decent footing. With every passing second the air seemed to get thicker and thicker, but the blond assumed that it was only the elevation level causing that to happen.

He tried to ignore the fact that a massive storm was about reek havoc upon the land below. It was hard to, but he had to keep his mind centered on getting that plant or else Cloud feared that he may have to stop. There was no time for stopping now.

A strong breeze came up, threatening to pull Cloud off a large rock that he had been climbing. Clinging on to the cold face of it, the blond calculated what he next move would be. He could either climb some more, see where he ended up, or wait until the storm had passed.

The fact that someone's life would be ended if he stalled too much drove him towards looking some more. It was quite hard to see, but Cloud was managing just fine with a gas lamp. It didn't cover that much land and only gave him enough light to see in front of him for several feet, but it was better than wandering around like a blind man.

Reaching for a ledge above him, Cloud placed the lamp in his left hand and pulled himself up with his right. As his fingers dug into the rock, trying to grip onto it, Cloud felt the rock begin to break. He quickly let go, landing roughly on the ledge he had been standing on before.

There was a light rumbling noise, something Cloud assumed to only be thunder. Then, before he had a chance to react, the ledge gave away, taking the blond with it.

Using reflexes that had been perfected over the years, Cloud grabbed onto a piece of the ledge that was still remaining and hoped that it was strong enough to hold his weight. He quickly used his mouth to hold on to the handle of the lamp and placed his other hand on the ledge as well.

The sound of rocks breaking against other rocks could be heard from below. Cloud really didn't want to end up like them so, using a small amount of strength, the blond hoisted himself up and onto the remaining part of the ledge.

Cloud looked towards the rock jutting out above him and decided that simply jumping up there would save him from another fall. Within a few seconds the blond was climbing up another stretch of tall rocks and boulders, always on the lookout for the plant.

He had never been told whether the thing was still alive or just a shriveled piece of vegetation. If it was surviving the strange temperatures and weather that the Northern Crater had, then Cloud still had a chance of finding it. He knew that the plant was somewhere near the highest piece of rock jutting outwards, but he hadn't reached a place that would give him a full view of the area.

There was a bright flash of lightning from above, followed by another strong gust of wind. As long as it didn't start raining, Cloud could manage just fine, but there was still the chance that he could get struck by lighting. Frankly, Cloud didn't care and took the chance of that happening without a second thought.

Another flash of lightning.

Cloud...

Cloud stopped his climbing and looking around, trying to determine if he had been hearing things or not. It was probably the wind anyways. By now it was slowly beginning to die down, but still strong enough to pry him away from his current position.

Cloud...

The voice was real, echoing around inside of his mind. Cloud shook his head, locks of golden hair becoming messed up. He looked around, up at the sky, to his left and to his right, but couldn't see anything.

Cloud...

Another flash of lightning, this time closer.

Cloud...

Cloud...

"Shut up!"

The blond slammed his eyes shut tightly and shook his head one last time. This was only a distraction, something to stop him from reaching the plant. Hoping that he wasn't going crazy, Cloud opened his pure mako eyes and glanced downwards and was suddenly enveloped in a mass of whispers.

This had to be the work of Jenova.

Cloud bit down on the handle of the lamp, realizing that he still had it in his mouth. He forced himself to turn around and began to climb once again, blocking the whispers from entering his mind. After a few more ledges and climbing a few more rocks, Cloud had finally come across a flat surface.

Finally he would be able to rest.

Another flash of lightning came from above.

Cloud looked around and saw nothing that would pose any threat to him. He unslung the bag from his shoulders that carried some healing items and several things to eat. Also hidden inside was a makeshift weapon just in case he was attacked by something out of the unknown.

Another flash of lighting.

Something shone as the lightning forked across the sky. Cloud looked ahead of him, spotting something shaped weird. When the lightning acted up again, the blond could clearly see that it was a helicopter. And on that helicopter was the Shinra logo.

Rufus was after him again.

As the lightning flashed again, Cloud could see that there were two figures standing before it, each holding some form of a weapon. They didn't resemble Reno or Rude, or any of the Turks for that matter, not even Rufus himself.

Everything was quite puzzling. Why was Shinra here anyways? What did they want with him now? And who were these people?

The lightning forked throughout the clouds above. The blond used this to his advantage and squinted his eyes, trying hard to see who it was. Then something caught his attention. The two figures sported silvery hair and immediately Cloud knew who it was.

Yazoo smirked as he watched Cloud withdraw his sword. He had used the storm as a cover up and it had worked perfectly. They had stolen the helicopter from Shinra without much trouble, it was only when they were flying that they were discovered.

To his left, Loz stood, still holding his head in pain. Clutched in his hand was a thin katana, one that they had stolen from a small supply of weapons. Yazoo was surprised to have found a set of handguns and knew that he would be using them soon enough.

Both sides, good and evil, waited for another fight to ensue. Yazoo felt the cold smirk on his lips grow as the lightning flashed again.

He was going to get rid of Cloud once and for all.