Vanity Fair

disclaimer: if I owned FFVII I'd be a rich Japanese man. All OC's are mine though!

summary: Post AC. Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo survived. Just when they start to have a normal life, three new people crash

into it. How do they know so much about the SHMs? And why does one of them look so much like Yazoo?

Vanity Fair

chapter one: aftershock

To anyone else, he was just an average kid. To those who knew of him, he was a heartless murderer. That's why

they'd come here. A small town on the outskirts of Edge. Not many people lived here. Probably about one hundred if

he had to guess. Being so close to Edge, those people knew exactly who, and what he and his brothers were, as well

as what they'd done. What he'd done. However, not one of them held it against them. Kadaj even had friends now.

At the moment he was outside the town, racing one of those very friends to test out new motorbikes via the track

they had made, and another stood at the finish line to see who would win. Hard to believe that this was his "job." Building

and repairing motorbikes. He loved it.

As they rounded the final turn, an explosion-like sound came from the direction of Edge. Kadaj stopped his bike

abruptly and ran to the nearby cliff to get a better look. A cloud of smoke hovered above where the ShinRa building

used to stand.

"What was that?" his friend asked, pulling off his helmet and looking towards Edge.

Kadaj shook his head. "I don't know."

"Must've been one hell of an accident," the boy replied, brushing his dark brown bangs away from his green eyes.

"No," Kadaj whispered.

"Huh?"

"I don't think it was an accident."

"Yeah, I think he's right," the third, a blonde girl with brown eyes, said, coming up beside them, "it was too accurate."

It was silent for a moment, until Kadaj's cell-phone went off, causing all three teens to jump slightly. He flipped

it open."Hello?...Yeah, we heard it...I don't know...yeah, I'm gonna go check it out...don't worry, Loz, I won't get

caught...okay...he did?...he has?...alright, I'll see if I can find him."

He closed his cell and turned back towards his motorbike.

"What's the assignment?" the boy, Ace, asked jokingly.

"One: examine attack site. Two: find Yazoo."

"Did he run off again?" The girl, Livia, asked, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, apparently he's been gone all day," Kadaj answered,"Let's go."

Ace mock-saluted him as he and Livia got on their bikes to follow Kadaj into Edge.

There was nobody on the streets when they got there. 'Odd,' Kadaj thought, though he was slightly relieved. He

definately didn't want to be recognized, especially since a building had just been attacked. The ShinRa building, no less.

Speaking of which, he looked up in time to see what was left of it. Windows were missing, walls had crumbled, rubble

covered most of the perimeter. It looked like a bomb had gone off. 'Explains the sound,' he thought. He noted three people

searching through the rubble, and he recognized all of them.

"Looks like Cloud had the same idea," he said.

"You mean, these guys are part of AVALANCHE?" Ace asked. Kadaj nodded.

"Come on, man. It's a babe, a ninja chick, and an old guy for cryin' out loud. You can't be serious."

"He is, Ace. They're Tifa Lockhart, Yuffie Kisaragi, and Cid Highwind...right Kadaj?"

"Yeah, I think so. I really only know about Tifa...since she's the one that beat the hell out of Loz."

"Man, your big, tough brother got his ass whipped by a chick? How wrong is that!" Ace laughed.

"Yeah, it was pretty funny," he admitted.

Livia glared at them. "Are you two implying that girls are weak? 'Cause if you are, then I'll be glad to prove you both wrong

here and now," she threatened.

"Nah, would want you to break a nail, Livi," Ace said.

Livia sent him a death glare from the depths of hell itself and Ace burst out laughing, causing Tifa to look back at them. And

of course, being the intelligent, alert, teenagers that they were, they didn't notice her until she was a mere five feet away.

"And just what are you three doing out here? This is a bomb site, it's pretty dangerous, you know," Tifa said in that sweet

voice of hers. She had a smile on her face but her eyes were skeptical.

"Hey, no worries babe, that's why we're here," Ace chimed. Livia shot him yet another glare and Kadaj rolled his eyes.

"Thank you, Ace, you idiot," he muttered. Tifa turned to look at him, not seeing his eyes because he looked, rather stared, at the

ground, his now-black hair sheilding his mako-green eyes from her chocolate ones.

"I know you from somewhere," she said,"have we met?"

"Not officially."

"Well, I'm Tifa. Tifa Lockhart."

"Very nice to meet you Miss Lockhart. I'm Ace, and this here is Livia. And this..."

"ACE! Shut.UP!" Livia shouted, quite annoyed with her friend.

"I know who you are," Kadaj responded quietly, still not looking up.

"Hey, Kat(1), we should really find your brother."

He paused for a moment. "Yeah."

Livia and Ace headed back out to the main road. Sighing, Kadaj turned to scan the building, which he quickly regretted, for

it gave Tifa a perfect look at his all too familiar eyes and face, and she knew him instantly. "Hey!" she yelled, anger flooding her eyes.

He snapped his gaze to her and she swore he looked completely terrified. She raised a fist to deliver a blow and he shut his eyes tightly,

bracing himself for the blow. He'd been hit before, it was no big deal. Eyes still firmly shut, he called to his friends.

"Ace, Livia, go find him!" he yelled shakily. They nodded and drove off, knowing it was pointless to argue with him.

"Get off the bike, you're not going anywhere," Tifa said firmly. To her surprise, he did what he was told. She lowered her fist but kept

alert for an attack.

"You can open your eyes, you know," she said, "Cid! Yuffie!"

"Great..." he muttered, staring at the ground, which had suddenly become very interesting.

"What is it Tifa? Did you find...oh yes you did," the ninja said.

"Damn kid I'm gonna..." Cid began, a look of insane rage in his eyes.

"Cid..." Tifa warned.

Tifa returned her gaze to Kadaj, who still hadn't looked up.

"You know, if you tell us why you're here, we won't hurt you,"she said.

"The hell I won't!" Cid yelled, balling his fists and approaching Kadaj, causing the teen to flinch slightly.

"Give it a rest, Cid," Yuffie said.

"Well?" Tifa asked.

"I...We heard the explosion. We just wanted to see what happened."

"So you didn't have anything to do with this?" Tifa tested.

He shook his head.

"Tifa, we're heading back. Cloud's gonna flip when he hears this one," Yuffie said.

Kadaj's head snapped up."No! He doesn't need to know. Nobody needs to know. I won't even come back, I swear. Just...please...don't

tell Cloud!"

"We have to tell him," Tifa said. She waved her hand to signal Yuffie and Cid to leave. Kadaj sat down on his bike, his head in his hands.

"Why didn't I just listen to Loz?" he muttered.

"Hey, you don't have to worry. Cloud's really very understanding. I'm sure he's already forgiven you for what you did," she said with an

encouraging smile.

"Yeah, but he thought I was dead. It's easy to forgive someone once they're dead. I should know," he said, staring at nothing in particular.

She raised an eyebrow, "and how's that?"

"I just know, okay?" he snapped.

Tifa looked at him pitifully. His cell went off, causing him to jump again. He flipped it open. "...what?...no, I havn't found him yet...I don't

know what happened, Loz...I was...no...(sigh) you worry too much...Yeah, okay." He hung up the phone and rolled his eyes. He got back

on his bike. "I have to go."

"And where would you be going?"

"To find Yazoo. He disappeared and I'm supposed to be looking for him."

"Oh. Well, if I see him, I'll tell him to look for you."

"Thanks, but he won't listento you. He never listens anymore," he said before driving off. Yazoo had apparently been gone since four in

the morning. It was getting dark, and Kadaj was starting to worry.

A/N

1: Kat is Kadaj's nickname given by Livia. (because of his eyes)

well, do you like? I'm working on CH 2 as we speak, but I need some ideas. review please!