Title: Reunion of Brothers
Author: Chimera Dragon
Translations: Nii-San – Big Brother
Nii-chan – Little Brother
Ka-San – Mother
Daijobu – Okay/I'm alright
Gomen nasai – I'm very sorry
Nani – What?
Daijobu desu ka? – Are you alright?
"Concentrate on me and what you want me to hear," Yazoo urged, sitting across from Cloud at the dinning table.
/Can you hear this/ Cloud asked loudly.
Yazoo winced while Kadaj spun around; sword drawn, looking for the source of the trouble. Cloud looked at them confused.
"What did I do wrong this time?" Cloud asked.
"Nothing bad. It was just too loud, but much better. You are truly doing better," Yazoo amended. He had been teaching Cloud to speak with the brothers telepathically since Kadaj had come back in Ajit. They had found that Cloud could hear them even when he was two towns away. Although the farther away, the less distinct and fainter the message and the feeling.
"This is hard work, how long did it take you three to get this down so well?" Cloud asked, looking tired.
"Two months of sleepless days and nights," Yazoo replied solemnly, he looked down at the table lost in memory.
"Hojo wouldn't let us rest until we got it right," Kadaj added, hand tightening on the hilt of his sword.
"He was a horrible person," Cloud replied comfortingly. "He did a lot of nasty things to a lot people."
"Yes he did," Yazoo replied sadly. Kadaj re-sheathed his Renbatou and hugged Yazoo tightly.
"What happened with you?" Cloud asked, mildly curious.
"H-he," Yazoo began, but stopped; trembling in Kadaj's arms.
/Calm down, Nii-San. He can't get you anymore. You're safe with us. / Kadaj soothed as he gently petted Yazoo's hair.
"What's going on?" Cloud asked, noting how badly Yazoo was trembling and feeling the echo of Yazoo's panic and pain. Yazoo was staring at the table, eyes blank.
"Hojo," Loz replied walking into the room and looking worried, he walked right over to Yazoo and knelt next to him before hugging him around the waist.
"What did Hojo do to him?" Cloud asked worried.
"Hojo raised him for four years in the labs before he had contact with Loz or myself," Kadaj began. "He didn't teach Yazoo to speak. He had to learn it from other people and listening to them talk with each other. Hojo would hit and beat badly him anytime he said something wrong, used slang, or mispronounced something. With the accelerated growth that was used on all of us . . . few people in those labs knew or cared that he didn't know how to speak properly. But Nii-San is smart and understood what was being said to him, it just took him a while to say it."
"He freaks out when he mispronounces something or stutters," Loz added. "It doesn't bother him when someone else does, but he's not so forgiving of himself."
"I understand," Cloud replied.
Yazoo moaned and blinked several times before noticing the room around him once again.
Kadaj and Loz both refused to let go of him.
"Daijobu desu ka, Nii-San?" Kadaj asked, nuzzling Yazoo's hair.
"Hai, just bad memories," Yazoo replied still sounding a bit out of touch with reality.
"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Cloud asked, placing a hand on Yazoo's shoulder and looking concerned.
"Yes, I will be," Yazoo replied trying to look normal. He placed a hand on Loz's head, stroking his hair, and at the same time he laid his head against Kadaj. "It usually is not this bad, when I have a panic attack."
Kadaj rubbed Yazoo's back soothingly. Loz continued to hug Yazoo while crying, his sobs somewhat quiet.
"Shh, don't cry Loz," Yazoo soothed, still running his gloved hand through Loz's hair.
"I'm not crying!" Loz insisted still hugging Yazoo.
"Cloud! You have a-," Tifa called walking into the back room of the church. She stopped up seeing the brothers hugging each other. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Kadaj replied, standing up straight but not taking his right arm off of his brother.
"Just . . . had some bad memories got dragged up," Cloud added, knowing that Tifa's caring nature wouldn't let it stay at Kadaj's statement.
"Ah," Tifa replied knowingly. "Well, you have a set of deliveries, Cloud."
"Where to?" Cloud asked, walking over and opening his phone. He stood ready to note where he was heading.
"Well, you have one to Wutai, one to Rocket Town, one to the Golden Saucer, and the last is to Gonoga," Tifa replied looking at the list in her hand.
"That'll take me about three weeks, assuming it goes smoothly," Cloud replied with a small sigh.
Yazoo turned to look at Cloud. "We could help you, Nii-San," he said.
"What?" Tifa asked looking at the three silver-haired brothers, mildly surprised.
"We want to help," Kadaj replied with a long suffering sigh.
"You do?" Tifa asked, inwardly pleased to hear that they wanted to help.
"We would like to get out of here, at least for while. What better way than to be useful?" Yazoo asked, tilting his head a bit, though he continued to run his hand through Loz's hair.
"We could make three of the deliveries for him, or we could go in pairs," Kadaj offered. "It takes less time to deal with the random monsters on the way if we pair up. But it doesn't take us much time to deal with them anyway." He shrugged carelessly.
Yazoo nodded in agreement as Loz mumbled something incoherently.
"Did he fall asleep?" Kadaj asked motioning at Loz, mildly amused.
Yazoo nodded silently as he smiled down at Loz.
"Sometimes he really confuses me," Kadaj said. He turned back to look at Cloud. "Oh well," he shrugged. "So, do you want us to help you make your deliveries, Nii-San?"
"Hm," Cloud looked at the list again. "Yes, I'd like your help. It would mean getting home sooner. With the four of us it would take a week at the most."
"That sounds great!" Tifa said happily. "You'd be home in time for Marlene's birthday party! Everyone is coming to visit."
"You have parties to celebrate the day of your birth?" Yazoo asked suddenly. Loz still seemed to be sleeping soundly with his head in Yazoo's lap. Kadaj turned to look at Cloud and Tifa, questioning them with his eyes.
"Of course!" Tifa replied a little confused. "You know, with cake, and ice-cream, and gifts . . ." she trailed off seeing the crestfallen look in Kadaj's eyes and the way Yazoo's shoulders slumped. Both Tifa and Cloud heard Loz sniffle.
"You never had a birthday party before?" Tifa asked.
"No," Kadaj replied sounding angry. "We grew up in a lab. We didn't get to have a childhood until we left, and by then all we could hear was Ka-San's call . . ."
Tifa was silent for a few moments. "Then we'll throw a party for each of you on your birthdays . . . does that sound like a good idea to you?" Tifa asked walking closer to the three. She slowly put an arm around Kadaj's shoulders; expecting him to pull away from her embrace.
"Thank you," Kadaj said allowing Tifa to comfort him.
"Nobody ever wanted to do anything nice for us," Kadaj said sadly. "Ka-San said she would but . . ."
"What are we delivering?" Yazoo asked Cloud changing the subject.
"They didn't say exactly what was being delivered, but they will be delivered to 7th Heaven tomorrow for delivery. Half of the delivery fee is going to be paid upfront and the rest will be given at each drop off," Tifa answered.
"That sounds interesting," Yazoo replied, head tilted to the side. "It is a good thing that Loz's motorcycle has been rebuilt."
"Who's making which delivery?" Loz asked.
"We could draw for it if you want to do it randomly," Cloud suggested with a careless shrug.
"I'd like to go to the Golden Saucer, if that's okay," Loz replied.
"Okay, take my lifetime pass," Cloud said pulling it out from one of his pockets.
"Thank you," Loz replied as he put the ticket in his pocket.
"I will go to Wutai," Yazoo suggested with a careless shrug.
"I'll go to Rocket Town," Kadaj said suddenly with a grin.
"I'm sure Cid will get a kick out of that," Tifa said with a laugh.
"Then I'll go to Gonoga," Cloud replied. "Now, we should rest up and prepare for tomorrow."
"Sounds like a good idea to me," Kadaj replied.
"Hn," Yazoo added with a nod. The three stood as one and turned towards their room.
/Sleep well, Nii-San. / Kadaj said with a happy sigh that they'd get to help Cloud and prove that they were still useful.
"Night," Loz said cheerfully nodding to Cloud and Tifa.
/ We shall see you in the morning. Sleep well, Nii-San. / Yazoo said as he disappeared behind the door.
/ Good night. / Cloud replied, still a little lout but not as bad as before.
The next morning . . .
The three brothers came out for breakfast the next morning still dressed in their sleep wear. Loz wore a dark grey tank top and baggy black sweat pants. He ran a hand through his messy hair and it went back into place again.
Kadaj was the next to emerge, yawning and stretching. He wore a loose blue t-shirt and dark blue sweatpants. He shuffled into the room with his hair a little bit frizzy around the edges.
Yazoo was the last to leave their room. He wore a loose long-sleeve light grey shirt and black sleep pants; his hair was tied back in loose braid. He walked silently over to the stove to start breakfast.
Kadaj found the orange juice from the fridge and put that on the table with Loz set the dishes out for four. Yazoo began grilling some bacon with scrambling eggs; all the while he was blinking sleepily.
Cloud walked into the kitchen sniffing at the smell of fresh food cooking. "That smells good," he murmured, more to himself than to anyone in the room.
/ Thank you, Nii-San. / Yazoo replied, still cooking with his back to Cloud.
"Come, sit down," Kadaj invited. "We've set a place for you."
"Yazoo is a god cook," Loz added.
Yazoo laughed quietly upon hearing the praise. "Arigato, Loz. Here," he said putting the bacon on each plate. He went back to the stove and got the pan of scrambled eggs. He then scrapped them onto the plates. "Enjoy." He walked over to skin, ran hot water and put the pans in the sink to soak while they ate.
The four of them ate in relative silence and when they were done Loz stood and began washing the dishes in the sink with Kadaj cleared the table and Yazoo wiped it down.
"We'll be heading out today. Meet me at 7th Heaven when you're ready to leave. Okay?" Cloud asked.
10 minutes later . . .
The four men met at the counter of 7th Heaven. Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo sat at the counter murmuring amongst themselves. Cloud was the last to arrive and found the brothers waiting for him. Loz was drinking a glass of milk while Kadaj and Yazoo were giving odd looks at the two glasses of blue liquid that Tifa had put in front of them before heading off to do something in the back.
"What is that?" cloud asked.
"I don't know," Kadaj replied, poking at the glass with one finger. "She put them in front of us and said, 'try this.' Then she walked off."
"Hm, it smells like berries," Yazoo added quietly, as he carefully sniffled at the glass Kadaj wasn't poking at.
"You two still haven't tried them?" Tifa asked exasperatedly. She put her hands on her hips. "There's no alcohol in them. I'm trying to make drinks for the kids during the day."
"It is blue," Yazoo stated, motion to his glass. "A very vibrant blue at that."
"Yeah, so?" Tifa replied.
"Why didn't you give one to Loz?" Kadaj asked.
"Because he already had one," Tifa replied. Loz's shoulders were shaking as he tried to hold in his laughter.
"You!" Kadaj seethed as he pointed an accusing finger at Loz.
"Yes, Nii-san?" Loz asked trying to look innocent.
"You knew!" Kadaj accused.
"Yes, and it's really good," Loz replied. "I thought you two would have tried it already."
"Alright," Yazoo said and took a small sip, looking very much like a tentative cat. His eyes widened and he set down his glass.
"Yazoo, are you alright?" Kadaj asked worriedly.
"Yes, it is just very . . . sweet. A little too sweet for my tastes. I prefer sour," he pushed his glass over to Loz.
"Okay," Kadaj said and took a sip and grinned before quickly downing the rest. "That's really good."
"Thank you," Tifa said writing some in a notebook before clearing the glasses away.
"So, are we free to go?" Cloud asked with a chuckle.
"For now," Tifa replied with an evil smile.
"That woman scares me sometimes," Kadaj said as Tifa walked off. "Really nice, but scary."
"You don't know the half of it," Cloud sighed.
Tifa walked back in with four non-descript looking packages. She set one in front of each of them. Each one had a label with the name of a city on it. "They aren't very heavy, maybe ten pounds a piece. Good luck," Tifa said and handed each a small white box. "These are lunches to get you started.
"Thank you, Tifa," Yazoo said as he picked up his two boxes and turned to walk out.
"Thanks!" Loz said cheerfully grabbing his own.
"We'll be seeing you later," Kadaj said.
"Hn," Cloud said grabbing his boxes as well.
"See you all in a week," Tifa replied watching as the four of them left the bar. "May you all come back safely."
TBC . . .