Koinu: Hello everyone. First off, I would like to thank all my reviewrs... all three of them, or was there four...? LOL Anyways, here's another chapter for ya.


The Amarimono

Chapter Three


Yazoo had left, but Loz was back now. And he had someone with him.

The poor girl was close to being traumatized, and Loz's heavy hand kept her in place by his side. Liz couldn't look at her without feeling guilty. Seeing her, so innocent, so helpless, it hurt the half remnant on the inside.

I made a promise… She gulped and turned her head from the girl. Marlene was her name, Liz had found. Kadaj was on his way to see what Loz had been able to accomplish. But, she'll be safer if I don't do anything…

"Look what Big Brother's been hiding…" Kadaj's voice broke through Liz's thoughts. "Powers forged in the Lifestream… With this Materia, that power will be ours." Her head turned to see Kadaj absorbing a piece of Materia, and her sudden thoughts drowned out any other words he might have said.

The whole chest was full of Materia… what use was it to Cloud? And why was this girl important to him?

Because she's small, weak, and absolutely adores him… Liz's lips twitched upwards in a momentary smile just like me…

Before Loz's arrival, Kadaj had given Liz his approval, which translated into trust, and had returned to her the sai that were so important to her. The blades now lay safely in their sheaths, where they would stay until she needed them.

But the female halfling had insisted that Yazoo keep her gun. She had said that she was no good with a firearm and that it was her weapon of last resort. It was the truth.

"Liz… Liz…? Liz!"

The half remnant was startled from her own thoughts, and out of pure instinct, drew one of her sai. She heard the gasp of a little girl, and a surprised shout from Loz.

"Hey, watch it!" Loz used his free hand to push the blade away from his neck.

Liz sighed. "Don't startle me like that! Unless you have a death wish or something!" She put the sai back in its sheath, the blade shining in the light from the trees momentarily.

"Startle you?" Loz raised an eyebrow. "You've been staring off into space for a good five minutes!"

I…Was? Liz blinked a few times. But then a light whimpering caught her attention. Marlene. "Calm down Loz… I'm sorry, 'kay? But we're scaring the girl."

Loz looked down at Marlene. "And since when do you care?"

Since I know how it feels to be at the mercy of someone like you three… But she had a slightly better answer on the tip of her tongue. "Since I don't want to have a crying child on my hands, okay?"

Loz shrugged his shoulders in agreement. "Then why don't you take her for a while."

Liz giggled slightly. "Loz, she hit you in the head with a piece of Materia, how much can that hurt?" Loz's only response was to glower at her. She put her arms up in submission. "Okay, I'll take her off your hands for a while! Jeez…"

As she knelt before Marlene, the girl only shrunk away, hiding behind Loz's leg. Liz sighed, extending her hand to the girl, palm up. "It's okay… I won't hurt you…"

"I think she's attached to me." Loz joked.

Liz glared up at him before turning her full attention back to Marlene. "When faced with a tough decision, always choose the lesser of two evils, right?" She offered her hand again.

Marlene looked from her, to Loz, and then back, before nodding slightly, and hesitantly taking Liz's hand. Immediately, Liz's hand closed around Marlene's considerably smaller one, but gently.

The female remnant smiled as she stood, still grasping the young girl's hand. "Come on, let's go for a walk."

"Hey, if Kadaj finds out-" Loz tried to object.

"Don't worry, we're not going anywhere, and if Kadaj tries to blame you then I'll stop him, 'kay?" And with that she walked off, not giving Loz the chance to argue further.


"So… You know Cloud?" Marlene was being surprisingly open with Liz.

Liz chuckled, resting her head back against the tree. She was sitting with her back to it, one leg outstretched, while the other was pulled up to her chest with an arm resting on it. Marlene was sitting across from her. "You could say we were old friends… sort of…"

Marlene hit the ground with her open palm. "Then why are you helping these guys?" She asked, childish anger in her voice. "They attacked us, and hurt Tifa!"

Tifa…? Oh thank Holy she's still alive! "Marlene…" Liz sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Marlene, Cloud and I haven't seen each other in years. I thought he was dead, and he probably thinks I'm dead. It's all very complicated…"

"So?" The girl was persistent, Liz gave her that. "You could still help him!"

Liz shook her head sadly. "No Marlene, I couldn't… Those three, they're like my brothers, and genetically they almost are… It just wouldn't feel right leaving them…" A slight smile twitched her lips upward for a moment. "And in my gut I feel like Cloud will win anyway, without my help."


"Mother has given me a very special gift." Marlene was back under Loz's care, and Kadaj was just starting his little 'ceremony'. Liz was perched in a tree behind the horde of children. She didn't want any part in this.

So far Kadaj had very little of the children's attention. "The power to fight… against a planet that torments humanity." Liz pondered this. Humanity was killing the world, so wasn't it fare that the world strike back a little? She could easily argue either side.

But Kadaj wasn't finished yet. "She gave this gift to all her children. That's right, you and I are brethren. Brothers and sisters chosen when we inherited Mothers Memetic Legacy though the Lifestream." Liz looked at her own hands. And what if this 'gift' was forced upon you by an insane scientist? Did that still count?

But wait, there was more. Liz turned her attention back to Kadaj. "But the planet doesn't approve of that at all. It's doing everything it can to hold us back. That's why it's racking our bodies with pain, and filling our hearts with doubt!" He pointed at each of the children in turn, but not accusingly. Now he had their attention. The way he had used the word 'our'… it had humanized him, made him one of them. Less of the bad guy.

"Now I shall heal you, and we will go to mother together. We will join as a family, and strike back against the planet!" Liz had to shield her eyes from the burst of energy that temporarily engulfed Kadaj.

"Do as I do…"

Liz turned away, jumping from the branches of the tree. She couldn'twatch what would come next… she didn't have the heart, or lack of one, to watch as these children, these innocents, were brain washed. And for what? To help get mother? To help in the recovery of Jenova's head?

Liz wasn't going to stop Kadaj's plan, but she also wasn't going to help it along if she could avoid doing so.

So she kept walking away. She planned on returning eventually. And she wouldn't get lost. No, even subconsciously her eyes were seeing the area around her, and her mind storing that information away. No, she wouldn't get lost.

But she might run into other problems…

"Well… look who it is…"

"Experiment L-I-Z… Remnant L-I-Z… It's been too long. Where have you been, cause we've been looking all over."


Koinu: Dun dun dun... I'll give cookies to anyone who can figure out who the two mysterious speakers are.