9 June 1985

That stupid kid was still on his mind as the night hours passed by and the dawn of the next day was arriving. His head still throbbed with the mental force that had struck it, and he muttered curses under his breath.

It always led back to that kid. Always. And he was a permanent addition to the family now, and even with Sephiroth gone, he still had some form of protection on him. Even Mother was defending him...though Kadaj had a feeling that it was only because Sephiroth wanted her to.

The sun tried to peek out from behind the thick curtain of the window in the room. It was much too late for him to be awake, but while his thoughts of what he wanted to do with the brat were slowly beginning to die down for the time being, something else began to stir awake.

Unintelligible mumbling came from the other side of the room. Kadaj lifted himself up with one arm and leaned closer, peering down at Yazoo from the top bunk bed.

His second eldest brother was tossing and turning, unable to keep still, but then suddenly stopped. He lay in peace for a few seconds, mumbled something again that Kadaj couldn't catch, and then twitched, practically jumping.

He's doing it again, Kadaj told Loz. He could feel a small amount of anxiety emanating from Loz; it was apparent that Yazoo had woken him up.

"...crow..." he heard softly, slightly distorted by sleep. "...he said – it was there..."

With a small snicker, Kadaj slipped out of bed and approached his sleeping brother. "Crow said what?" he asked in a whisper.

"Yakren, urani zë tengolt mehl..."

Forgive the rabbit's mistakes? That sounded familiar to him, though he couldn't remember the entire thing. He cocked his head and listened intently, curious now that his brother had suddenly spoken in the old language.

Nothing more. Then...

"Kiyi..."

That was the last he heard before Yazoo trailed off and stayed silent, occasionally muttering words that Kadaj couldn't understand. He waited still for any reaction when suddenly Yazoo began to move again. He jerked to one side before beginning to quiver, and then shake seemingly uncontrollably. Kadaj backed away, and when Yazoo went into a fit, he scrambled back up into his bed.

Get off, he told Loz, more than half of his body hanging on the side of his bed.

I'm not going back down there, his brother said, refusing to budge. Kadaj cursed under his breath, looking down at Yazoo who was mumbling nonsense again, and he hoisted himself back onto the bed, pushing Loz to the side as far as he could. Even though Loz moved himself, he still took up too much space. Kadaj was uncomfortably close to his brother and still didn't have his entire body on the mattress.

Yazoo continued to have his fits, calming down every few seconds before starting up again. Eventually, he stopped and didn't move for at least ten minutes. Kadaj waited for any more movement, but there was none.

Get off. Now, he demanded Loz.

His brother proceeded to shove him off his own bed. Kadaj hit his side against the floor and held in the profanities he wanted to shout.

Jackal was the advisor, the friend, the one who was there until the very end.

Rabbit was in trouble again. So Jackal listened.

"Friend Jackal, Crow has told me that a stranger by the name of Serpent is angry, and it is my fault. What should I do?"

"Friend Rabbit, why is stranger Serpent angry? Why is it your fault?"

"Crow says that I have disturbed his dinner. But I have never met stranger Weasel."

"Bring Crow to me. I would like to hear what he has to say."

So Rabbit left to find Crow. Jackal waited, and waited, and waited some more. He waited until he heard the evening song of the cicadas. And then finally, Crow showed up, flapping his wings and perching on a low tree branch.

"Rabbit says you've summoned me. What is it, Jackal? What do you need?"

"Friend Rabbit says that you have told him news of stranger Serpent having his dinner disturbed by him. What did you mean by that?"

"I said no such thing, Jackal. Why, I haven't seen Rabbit at all today until he came to tell me you wanted to speak."

"I have spoken. I will speak to friend Rabbit again."

Crow gave a bird's version of a bow, and he flew off, cawing loudly. Rabbit returned to Jackal.

"Friend Rabbit, Crow has told me that he said nothing about stranger Weasel to you."

"But that's a lie!" Rabbit cried. "Crow told me just this morning!"

"Crow says that he had not seen you at all today until I asked you to summon him."

"But that's a lie!" Rabbit cried again. "Friend Jackal, I saw him, I spoke to him!"

"The stories I have heard are different. One or none is true," Jackal concluded. "Which one?"

"Mine, friend Jackal, it's mine that's true!"

"I will speak to stranger Serpent, then. Have you any idea where to find him, friend Rabbit?"

"None, I have none."

"Friend Rabbit, if you do not know where stranger Serpent is, how could you have disturbed his dinner? How could Crow have known?"

"I do not know, friend Jackal. That is why I am asking you for help."

"But, friend Rabbit, I do not know whose story is true. Yours has many errors."

Rabbit raised a paw, pointing it at Jackal. "My story? What about Crow's? If he has told me these things this morning and now he is saying that he has not seen me at all today until after the evening song, then how is the error mine?"

"Friend Rabbit, both stories have error with each other. But which is the true error is what I need to find out."

"Friend Jackal, I do not think you believe me. I do not think you are trying to help me."

"Think what you will, friend Rabbit. I need to find out which story is true."

Rabbit turned away from the sittng Jack and strode off into the forest, not even saying goodbye. It was two hops later when Jackal saw someone snatch his friend and take him away.

He disliked that story. To him, the jackal didn't seem to really care about his supposed friend. The dumb animal didn't seem to really want to do anything other than make excuses. The rabbit had made a mistake in trusting the crow, and the jackal had claimed to want to help him...

He couldn't really think much more on the subject before he was suddenly seeing that...thing again.

It was in a concrete room with very little lighting, and it lay in a miserable heap. Its legs were broken again, and its eye sockets looked up, black gunk leaking from the empty holes. Its stitched mouth leaked more of the fluid, and it made pitiful whines, crawling forward slowly on its impossibly long and thin arms.

It began to heave, and he heard bones popping, and then a crack as he watched the thing's back slowly begin to cave in and break. The thing made warbled screaming noises and its mouth began to move, appearing to try to open up. The stitches popped, and he could see something making its way out of the thing's throat before it threw up a black blob. Screeching came from both the thing and the wet, black blob, and it pierced through his ears and head, but no matter how hard he put his hands on his ears, he couldn't dull the horrid noises at all, and he couldn't tear his eyes away from the sight of the writhing creatures.

Yazoo hated it. He hated when these types of dreams came to him. He hated that thing. Hated its noises, its appearance, everything about it.

But he couldn't stop looking at it. It wheezed helplessly as it flailed about. He felt no sympathy for the thing. In actuality, he wanted nothing more for it to actually die and for it to stop coming so close, for it to stop giving him false hope when he was nothing more than a disembodied viewer.

The deformities continued to squirm and scream, though the latter soon died down quick. And three eternities later, he swore that the thing was staring straight at him.

11 June 1985

Cloud had taken refuge in his mother's home, and she had been extra clingy to him. He had been afraid of going outside, afraid that Kadaj would attack him when he was unaware. His mother had been afraid for him as well, though it was the most fear that Cloud had ever seen from her. He didn't have much to do during all the time he spent with her, but she tried to keep him entertained with books and small chores to do. Cloud often finished the chores quickly, and the books could only hold his attention for so long.

He was currently sitting on one of the beds, thumbing through a medium-sized book and skimming through the text. The story failed to catch his interest, but he still looked through the pages, looking for any specific sentences that would try to jump out at him.

None really did. He paid more attention to the sounds of his mother's cooking than he did to whatever was going on in his book, and he had no idea what was going on anymore. He'd lost track of the plot a few pages ago.

"Mom?"

"Yes?" Mrs. Strife looked over her shoulder at Cloud for a brief moment before turning back to her cooking.

"When is lunch gonna be ready?"

"In another few minutes."

"Oh. Okay." He looked down at his book again, and closed it. He didn't think he could even pretend to be interested in it anymore. He slid off and walked over to the window, leaning on the sill and looking outside.

He saw two boys running around town, throwing a ball to each other as a dog chased after whoever had it. One boy stopped in his tracks and tossed the ball over the dog to the other boy, and that boy threw it back. They continued to tease the dog until a girl ran out. She shouted something excitedly, though Cloud couldn't understand what she had said through the glass, and the boy who had the ball threw it towards her.

"...can I play outside?" he asked hesitantly. He could hear his mother's racket slow down and get quieter.

"I don't want you to get hurt by them, Cloud," she said quietly.

"But I haven't seen Kadaj at all," he protested. The longer he watched other kids outside, the more his curiosity began to take over his apprehension.

His mother didn't reply to him, but after a long pause, she said, "You can play after lunch. But I will be by the window in case something happens."

"Okay."

She turned back to her cooking while Cloud continued to look outside the window, watching as the girl caught the ball and threw it at the dog. The boys looked disappointed while the dog ran off with the ball, bowing and sticking its butt in the air. The dog let the ball fall out of its mouth and backed up, as if waiting.

It was then that Cloud had to pull himself away from the window and sit at the table. He reluctantly turned to his lunch and began to eat, trying not to shovel everything into his mouth at once. Even so, he ate more quickly than usual, and he ran to the door once he was finished. He looked back once at his mother, who gave him a slightly worried look, and he opened the door and went outside, losing some of his confidence once he stepped through the doorway.

Notes:

Started: 2014年2月26日（水）

Finished: 2014年3月7日（金）

Chapter images!

Chapter 23 - www dot sefirosu347. deviantart dot com / art/Urani - 436534302

This chapter - www dot sefirosu347. deviantart dot com / art/Yakren - 437495328

More gibberish. Yakren - jackal, urani - rabbit, zë - (indicates possession), tengolt - mistakes, mehl - forgive. Kiyi is the sound of a hurt/dying animal.

I'm extremely sorry again for how long this took and for how short it is, but damn, writing has been hard for me recently. T~T I might have to take a hiatus, but I really don't want to. Ugh. But hey, for those that have been waiting for Assistant, there's a light at the end of the tunnel for you. :3