The entire company once calling themselves AVALANCHE now gathered in the bedroom with those who had watched over Denzel. Some stood leaned against the wall, like Barret, Cid, and Vincent, strong and stoic, watching Cloud with silent, expectant disapproval. Yuffie and Nanaki had taken seats on the floor, the ninja girl holding the curiously fidgeting Cait Sith in her arms. Marlene now sat on the mattress by Denzel and Tifa on the bed just opposite Cloud, who had settled in the chair again.

It had a distinct impression of that hotel lobby at the Golden Saucer, everyone waiting to be brought up to speed, Cloud not certain he could satisfy everyone's particular curiosity. But Tifa was watching him so anxiously, wanting him to say something that would put her worries at ease… He hated that he would likely let her down…

Leaning his elbows against his knees, Cloud clasped his hands together, trying to think of where he should begin. If he should start with what he'd learned from Shin-Ra, if he should explain exactly what had happened in his battle with Kadaj and Sephiroth, if…

Before he could waste any more time thinking though, trying to choose, Barret Wallace, who had never been a model of patience spoke up first with the matter that concerned him most. "What in hell is that kid doin' here in the Seventh Heaven, Cloud? After all we been through with that punk, after all these kids been through 'cause of him. What is goin' through your spiky little head?"

It was obvious the former AVALANCHE leader was trying not to shout, trying not to lose it on Cloud in front of his daughter and another child. "That boy and his gang took my daughter away, along with all those orphans. What makes you think it's any kind of bright idea, bringin' him 'round here like this?"

Of course, Barret had to pose the most difficult question, the one Cloud would have the hardest time answering, first of all. The entire room had eyes on him now, everyone wondering the same thing. In his place almost every one of them would have left Kadaj to die. Barret saw thing too sharply contrasted, always either black or white. Tifa would fear too much that the nightmare would begin again. Yuffie, Nanaki and Cid, probably the same. Cait Sith, that was, Reeve, would try to erase another of Shin-Ra's old sins and Vincent would quietly consign the child along with the monster into memory.

Though looking up into the former TURKs glowing ruby eyes Cloud believed that one man understood his motivations already, better than them all.

"Not too very long ago, less even than a day ago, I believed myself a waste of skin, a wasted life, not worth the living. I believed I'd failed everyone dear to me, that even if I made the effort I was too flawed to rescue anyone. Every one of you pushed me to see otherwise. Every one of you wanted me to see that I was more than a marionette with his strings cut, that if I tried to move on my own I could do anything I needed or wanted to. Finally, I believed you.

"During my last battle with Kadaj he revealed something to me. The Avatars knew nothing of Jenova's true objectives, only blindly following her will. Kadaj was never meant to be anything but the perfect host for Sephiroth. He said to me, 'At best I am a puppet, like you long ago. The same.' …"

Tifa's chestnut eyes shimmered, fingers twisting in the bed sheets. "You really think he's like you…? You think you need to do this, to really save yourself!"

Cloud met her accusing glare, a little surprised she'd take it that way. "I can't choose my battles, Tifa! Didn't you tell me that? I can't run away just because the responsibility feels too heavy, or because I think I might not succeed. I don't know if I can do anything for that boy at all. Like Sephiroth, he might be lost to Jenova already, but I can't just make that assumption because I want to go back to living peacefully.

"I believe Kadaj stands on a threshold, one I've stood on before. He can give in to Jenova and her madness, or he can pull himself back and fight. She's doing the same thing to him that she once did to me, she's making him believe he should just give in. But I'm standing in her way because he sees me too. He calls me 'brother' and he sees me fight and he knows it can be different. He's already testing the waters, look what he's done for Denzel. He had to thwart Jenova to accomplish that," he took her hand in his, imploring, "Please, trust in me…"

Tifa finally broke down into tears and threw her arms around Cloud's neck, desperately. He did his best to hold her comfortingly, but he wasn't sure she really understood. Barret hardly looked convinced at all and pushed away from the wall, walking with heavy footfalls over to Marlene. "Start packing your suitcase, kiddo, we're leaving in the morning."

The little girl looked up, surprised, putting a hand on Denzel's shoulder, "Papa? Why?"

Barret fixed his features sternly. "I don't trust that kid. After what happened near the Shin-Ra building, I don't believe you're safe around him. If Strife thinks he can handle a time-bomb like that, he can have him. But I won't have you here to end up in the way. Denzel, I'd recommend you come along too."

From her place on the floor, Yuffie turned and asked uncomfortably, "Cid… Do you think you could help me getting the children back to Wutai…? Some of them have families waiting and…" She didn't really want to say out loud that she didn't trust Kadaj either. But Barret had a point. Vincent's prophecy about the boy had quickly come true, and even though Sephiroth had been defeated for now… With Kadaj still alive, could they be guaranteed he couldn't come back again…?

The pilot nodded his agreement, thoughts running along similar lines. While he believed it was more than within Cloud's capacity to handle the insane SOLDIER, it wouldn't do if kids got caught up in the cross-fire. Battles with Sephiroth, even with Kadaj, tended to get destructive. Who knew? Next time they might bring down another plate.

Cid and Yuffie left the room first, to go down and get the Wutain children gathered. Barret followed, herding Marlene and Denzel to their own room downstairs so they could begin to pack their things. Denzel still wasn't sure he wanted to go, but after listening to the adults talk he also wasn't sure he wanted to stay… It sounded like Kadaj had indeed done him a favor, but the older boy had also been more than willing to hurt him before… Rubbing his scar a bit, he wasn't sure this entirely made up for it…

That left just Cloud and Tifa, Vincent and the two felines still present in the upstairs bedroom. Tifa's crying was gradually beginning to subside, and finally she pushed back a bit to look at her dearest friend. Her smile was a little sad as she met the conviction in his luminescent blue eyes, her voice a little thick as she said, "You really have become a hero, haven't you, Cloud Strife?"

Unable to really answer that, the would-be SOLDIER just brushed away the tear tracks staining her soft cheeks.

VIIVIIVIIVIIVIIVIIVII

The break of dawn in the Seventh Heaven found most of its occupants still sound asleep. Despite the few months of freedom from Shin-Ra's regiment, however, Kadaj still found himself opening his eyes with the first few rays, every single day. Discovering himself nestled snug against a TURK, though, was quite a new and unexpected experience! Not really the most pleasant, either, but he moved carefully, rather than recoiling in quick revulsion. He slid himself away gently instead and climbed up onto the table top so as not to disturb the slumbering of either of his "body-guards."

Letting himself back down onto the floor carefully, Kadaj took one last look at the sleeping men, then paced aimlessly away. The front room had apparently become the place of choice for many of the adults, obviously to keep an eye on him… The big cat was curled up near the front entrance, the stuffed animal (which he gathered to be some how 'alive') leaned up against it. The man with the gun-arm was sleeping propped against the wall near a certain closed door and his niisan was actually sleeping in the booth just across from where Kadaj and the TURKs had been. Well, the TURKs still were.

The fighting woman, the ninja, the pilot and the gunslinger were no where to be seen though, and so were all of the children. Kadaj's jadeite eyes scanned the room, trying to figure out where he might find the bathroom, and at last decided to give a shot at that side door. He opened it quietly and only partially, so as not to disturb the sleeping giant, slipping in backward so he could keep his eyes on the front room as long as possible, especially the gun-armed man.

But turning around proved that he'd chosen the wrong door. He was in a children's room, full of toys and two single beds, each containing one sleeping child, each with a set of suit-cases or duffle bags waiting at the end. Despite all his stealth, Kadaj suddenly felt a pair of wakeful eyes watching him.

"Ohayou." It was the little girl. She sat up after greeting him, yawning and stretching her tiny limbs up a moment, before reaching to the table next to the bed. She picked up a brush and hair tie, running the tool through her auburn locks a few times before dropping it in her lap and braiding her hair. "My Papa's sitting right outside, so you shouldn't try anything. You're not planning anything, are you?"

"I… No, I just came into the wrong room…" Kadaj found himself looking about the bedroom, fascinated, wondering if most children stayed in places like this…

"Okay." She picked up a rose colored ribbon, tying it carefully at the top of her braid. "Papa's taking Denzel and me away this morning. He says it's dangerous for us to be near you. My Papa doesn't do anything unless he's got a real good reason for it, so I believe him, but… I wanna thank you, for helping Denzel. I know you don't help out people often, and you didn't have to this time either. But you did, so, thank you."

Kadaj tilted his head aside, unaccustomed to communicating with some one so frank. Adults were always so evasive, and proud, and difficult to trust. But this girl had just honestly told him what she'd thought of him, two contradicting ideas all in one breath, and Kadaj found it surprisingly gratifying.

Marlene slipped out of her bed then, androgynous little body clothed in a white, lace-strap night dress with a little pink rose in the center of the v-neck. Her bare feet pattered quickly across the cold wood floor as she made her way to her dresser, taking the clothes she'd already set aside for today from the top of it. Hugging the bundle to her round little tummy, she regarded the boy in front of the door quietly a moment, before walking forward to get past.

Kadaj stepped aside and held the door for her, smirking as she smiled up at him for being such a gentleman. For a moment she didn't go out, just watched his curving shell pink lips. "Yasashii egao… Chotto… Oneechan mitai." Then she'd rushed out of the bedroom, dashing across the bar and quickly up the steps, and not long after came the sound of a closing door. The cryptic words she's spoken though, distracted Kadaj from realizing she'd beat him to the bathroom.

"Oneechan…"

But the giant man on the other side sounded as though he was waking. Kadaj slipped out of the bedroom fast, not wanting to be caught at something that appeared to have ill intentions, gliding quickly back toward the TURKs before Barret was fully aware of anything.

Up stairs the sound of running water caught the oil driller's attention and Kadaj pointed, "Your… daughter? Just went up there." He received a scowl for his comment, Barret obviously not pleased he hadn't been up before the silver haired boy, and obviously not pleased with the half-challenge to his and Marlene's relation. Not that he felt he owed the kid any explanation.

Kadaj just shrugged off the dirty glare, then caught sight of the strange, other-worldly gunslinger, standing in the now open front door. He didn't even beckon for Kadaj to come, simply fixed the boy with his eerie garnet gaze and walked back out onto the Seventh Heaven's porch. With out bothering to wake either his niisan or the TURKs, Kadaj followed, closing the front door behind himself, ignoring Barret's suspicious looks. The crimson caped man was already down the steps and into the street by the time Kadaj caught up with him, wondering what in hell the strange man could want, and more than a little curious in his own right.

The glow in his eyes spoke involvement with Shin-Ra, as did his impressive stealth and combat skills. Kadaj was still just a little sore that the man had been able to wrest away both Tseng and the woman, Elena, while the brothers had interrogated them… In the long shadows of the early morning, both men melted like phantoms from the public's sight.

They didn't stop until they'd reached the edge of Edge, far enough that no one would disturb them, and it would take anyone searching a good amount of time to find them here. Kadaj actually found it difficult to keep up with the other man sometimes, his footfalls were so silent, despite his strange, long toed shoes, and he seemed to fly between the allies sometimes, he was so fast and fleet.

At last Kadaj caught up with him, inside one of the half constructed buildings, much like the one in which Kadaj had spoken with President Rufus Shin-Ra, not too long ago. Save this building was far less central, and definitely not crawling with TURKs. Small blessings.

The gunman was already perched upon the edge, looking out over the vast barren terrain that spread out beyond the city, when Kadaj took his seat beside him, letting his feet hang.

"Who are you, anyway…?" He spoke up first, not caring that it had been on the other's silent invitation that they had come all the way out here. The man didn't seem to mind the preemptive question though, answering in that midnight voice that Kadaj couldn't decide whether belonged in a dream or a nightmare.

"Valentine. Vincent Valentine. Former Shin-Ra special agent, TURKs department. Filed as missing and presumed dead on assignment in Nibleheim, thirty-one years ago."

Kadaj regarded the other man with skepticism. "Thirty-one years? You don't look older than twenty-five, how do you go missing on a TURK assignment thirty-one years ago?" Though TURK training would explain his combat proficiency, as long as he took it more seriously than those clowns back at the bar…

"Twenty-seven, actually," he didn't sound flattered by the boy's lower estimation. "But then thanks to Hojo and his experiments, the passage of years hasn't meant much to me…" Kadaj glared out at the horizon on the mention of Hojo's name. Vincent took quiet note of this before he began his own line of questioning. "Cloud explained to some of us your origins with Shin-Ra. Though I was not surprised, given your abilities and your equipment. Apparently the President said you were created by Hojo as insurance…"

"And as proof of the Jenova experiment…" Kadaj volunteered briefly. "You said something happened to you in Nibleheim. Was that the… The Nibleheim Incident?" He asked carefully, though the moment he said it he knew it was wrong. He and his brothers weren't around for Shin-Ra to limit, if it had been that long ago.

But Vincent replied, "One of many. I was there as a guard to the initial stages of the Jenova Project. Eventually I came to disagree with Hojo and his lack of ethics, when it started costing lives… Eventually it cost me my own, so to speak," Apparently getting too close to something rather personal, Vincent switched to speaking more broadly. "Nibleheim's history is closely bound with Shin-Ra, Hojo and the Jenova Project. Cursed by it. Haunted by memories, and inhabited by lies. No good or truth has ever come from that place… Save Lockhart and Strife."

But Kadaj was definitely interested now. The raven-haired man knew about Hojo and his experiments. He might have answers, if Kadaj could get at them. For the moment he just concerned himself with the last thing Vincent said, "Niisan was born there…"

When the youth said this, Vincent looked at him through side long eyes. After a pause the former TURK asked, "What did Hojo tell you of who you are? Did he ever explain to you the circumstances of your birth?"

The boy kicked his feet, fidgeting, thinking for a moment before he replied, "I never really understood anything that mad man said. He never explained anything clearly to me… When I was very young, he told me nothing. I learned from tutors, academics as well as combat. The history of the Planet, mathematics, science. Hojo just ran tests on me, but sometimes he'd say strange things… touch my hair and call me his beautiful child…

"As I got older, I started studying psychology to understand my opponents better when I was fighting and the like. The books talked about things like families, lovers, and so I started asking questions about where I came from, if he was my father and who my mother was. He was evasive for the longest time, abusive even, to get me to shut up.

"But, eventually he began to hint at things to me… That I was part of a great and special family, He said I had a brother. An older brother. A great man, who had accomplished many things. He said we were the heirs to the secrets of the Cetra, of our Mother, Jenova, and that we would revolutionize the world some day, our family… He never let me meet Sephiroth… I was still a child when he was at the height of his career, much too young to enter SOLDIER even by the time the Wutai War was over. Though, I don't think Hojo had any intention to put us there anyway.

"That's right, us…" Kadaj smiled sadly, his tone one of mock exasperation with himself for forgetting to mention something. "It was years before I even knew about Loz and Yazoo. We were tutored separately, trained separately, tested separately for the longest time. I never understood, really, why he kept the three of us apart all that time…"

"To run a clean experiment…," Vincent answered with out hesitation. "Sephiroth was the subject being tested in the field, exposed to other people, subject to real combat. The three of you would have been created as controls. First to prove the experiment could be repeated with the same effect. Scientific theory doesn't approach scientific law until results are duplicated. Once this requirement was met satisfactorily, he'd be able to monitor you in a more controlled environment than he could Sephiroth, and gauge your development, one against the others.

"I knew of his intentions to repeat the experiment when it first succeeded. My attempts to persuade him otherwise turned violent, and I found myself the subject of one of his personal side projects," the fingers of his metal arm clicked against one another suggestively and Kadaj found himself drawn to look at it, his understanding of his own life expanding vastly in that one brief explanation. "I assumed, however, that you would be among those drawn north during the first Reunion. I'd no idea Shin-Ra kept you locked away."

"No… and they'd have done better to have let us go to our Mother in the first place!" Kadaj had raised his voice, but wasn't projecting it toward Vincent. He was glaring down the building face at a red-haired figure staring up at them, gesturing that they come down quite emphatically. Looking to Vincent he asked, almost hopefully, "Surely the TURKs were much different in your day?"

The stoic man in red didn't deign to answer. Having apparently learned and said what he'd needed in this conversation, he simply stood and walked back into the shadows, leaving Kadaj on his own.

Finally deciding it would be more trouble than it was worth to make Reno come up here, Kadaj stood and signaled he was coming down.

Remarks: Ah, the fun of trying to write a conversation between two very private characters! But I think now people can understand why Vincent knows more about what's going on than it seems one guy should. He's got at least three decades earlier knowledge of the Jenova project than anyone currently involved, worked personally along side Gast, Hojo and Lucrecia, so he's got a pretty good idea of what's happening now.

Then as a former TURK he's kinda got an in with the current generation. After all, Tseng and Elena actually talked to him about the brothers, rather than keeping their lips buttoned like you'd think good Shin-Ra employees usually would, and on top of that he'd been watching the brothers on his own. This guy's a master at gathering intelligence!

And man, I just love emphasizing how naïve about the world outside the Shin-Ra labs the brothers really are. You really gotta feel sorry for people who'd grow up in that kind of situation. Definitely strong evidence that nurture's a big element in how unstable they are. Not that Jenova cells don't make nature any less, but…

Oh, and if you think you're starting to see where my theories are headed, don't put it in reviews, okay! I don't want conjecture to make for spoilers. :3 Though, apparently a lot of you are still really lost. I promise there are explanations for all this weird shit. I just like makin' you wait for them! : D

Translations:

Ohayou – "Morning!"

Yasashii egao – A gentle smile.

"Chotto … Oneechan mitai." – "You look a little… like Oneechan."

Oneechan – Affectionate yet still respectful form of Oneesan, older sister. No, she's not referring to Tifa

Damn, I'm givin' you people free Japanese lessons, that doesn't seem right…

Edit: Despite a recent review that states the contrary, my Japanese in this chapter is just fine. "Mitai" can either act as the form of "Miru" (to see) that expresses desire, or it can operate as the suffix/adjective conveying the basic meaning "to resemble/ look like/ seem like" etc. This is my college major people, my life. Unless you really know you can top 11+ years of Japanese language education…