AUTHORS NOTES: Nope, didn't go that much faster for me to update this time either.  Sorry, but I'm just swamped by work right now! I'll just cut to the chase; hope you'll enjoy this quite angsty and a little cute chapter of Ashes and Ghosts and thank you for staying with me this long. This is the second to last chapter. One way or another, this story will soon come to an end!

Oh and as always thank you for all the wonderful reviews!

Kadaj felt that odd tugging sensation in his stomach again. Finding Loz in the corner of his eye, he hurried their tempo as they quickly scouted over the roof-tops of Midgar.

Yazoo awoke abruptly with a pondering headache. Someone must have cast a level 3 sleep on him; you always had such a headache after that. Unlike Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo was not immune to status abnormalities, though they hardly ever worked on the brothers. But this had been cast with such power that Yazoo had immediately fallen asleep and into the mercy of his captors. Well, Yazoo noted, he wasn't dead, at least not yet.

Judging by the poor lighting, the smell of wet coil and the cold uneven floor his body laid on, they had thrown him into the basement. It was hardly unexpected. The cellar of the house had only one window, so small even for Yazoo to crawl out of, and only one door. The only other way out was to dig right through the stone walls and out into the garden, which was a highly unlikely plan of escape.

Yazoo tried to move – unsuccessfully. His arms had been bent back in a very painful position, and whoever tied him (Cloud, Yazoo guessed) hadn't been satisfied with just a normal rope around the wrists, no. The entire length of his arms had been tied together with what felt like leather belts or some other rough, hard material like it. His legs had been treated in the same way and from the waist down Yazoo looked like some kind of bondage mermaid. Breaking free would have been a strain even if he'd been at full strength. Now, he judged it almost impossible. He almost cursed out loud.

Something moved at his side. A little soft bundle of warmth, pressed against his chest. Softy shivering and half-draped in Yazoos hair. He turned his head down to the best of his mobility.

"Marlene?" he whispered.

A faint sob came as an answer.

"Marlene, what are you doing here?" he continued "The floor is really cold, you'll get sick"

"Imnoblevingu" came the mumbled answer.

"What?"

Marlene raised her head and in the light of his own glowing eyes he looked into her tear-stained little face.

"I'm not leaving you!" she repeated with admirable strength.

"Marlene…"

"No!" she exclaimed, burying her small hands in his hair "I don't care what Cloud says. He doesn't know you. He didn't see what you did! He doesn't se you! Not like I do! And I won't leave so don't ask me to!"

And he didn't.

"You don't understand!" Tifa screamed "He's not like him! Without him everyone would be…!"

"I know" Cloud answered calmly "But he's just like him"

Tifa's breath came hard and uneven. She was angry, no furious at Cloud and his emotionless manners. Not as much for his intention to kill Yazoo, as for his complete lack of reaction.

"It's just as it's always been, since she died" Tifa thought while glaring at Clouds unmoving figure and looking into his empty eyes "Please, please be angry! Be shocked, be scared, be sad for Sarah and Aeris and Zack and even Sephiroth if you like! Scream at me, cry, hate me if you must but feel something! You've kept it all inside for you for so long that it stopped hurting. You don't feel anymore. You don't think I notice but I do! You don't think I know what you're thinking, but I do! I always have! You don't want me to know you're sick too. You don't want me to know you wish for it to end you. But I do! And I feel all the pain you're too stubborn or too stupid to feel! I mourn Aeris for you, I hate for you and I love these children for you, until you're able to do it yourself. I hate you! I hate you so much it hurts! But I love you all the same, and it hurt just as much. I hate you, I love you and I'll never be able to let you go and you will never be able to let her go so we're stuck like this and it will always be like this and you will tear me down and it will be the end of me. I hate you, I want to hurt you just to get a reaction! And I will never tell you I love you."

"If he's just like Sephiroth, then so are you!" Tifa screamed, tears burning in her eyes. And finally, he twitched, a quick shot of hurt in his eyes. A reaction from beneath that stone mask.

"I'm not" he answered quietly.

"Yes you are!" Tifa continued "You have Jenovas genes, you have her power. Just like Yazoo. You just didn't get the eyes and the hair! But you're like him too!"

He was hurt.

"Yes! Feel it! Feel the pain like I feel it for you!"

"You're planning on killing people on sight for the good of the planet, just like he did"

"It not the same"

"It's exactly the same! You're just too self-absorbed to see it!"

Cloud took a step towards her, and for a second, Tifa though he was going to hit her. But he stopped, his eyes trailing away and his expression fading back to stone.

"I will kill him" he said calmly "I won't let him turn out like Sephiroth"

He walked away without touching her. Tifa managed to hold back the tears, she always did.

I hate you

AUTHOR: Yeah, I know it was short. Sorry.

Music for this chapter; Bon Jovi – "In and out of love"