AUTHORS NOTE: Here it is. Can you believe it? The last part of the story. The big finally. I loved writing this chapter, and I hope you'll love reading it. You've surly waited long enough for it. Again, I'm sorry for the almost 6 month long wait for this chapter. The full explanation for the slow update can be read at my presentation-site. This is an extra long chapter, and hopefully you're exited to read it. So enough with the chit-chat.
Here it is; the final part of Ashes and Ghosts. Enjoy!
Kadaj silently watched, a sting of jealousy piercing his heart at the sight of the two bodies at the floor. Yazoo never touched any human being voluntarily; he usually hated the mere thought of it. At times, he wouldn't even touch Kadaj. Yet here he was, tied from hand to foot, but his head protectively bowed over the small frame cuddling next to him, sobbing quietly. He instantly hated that child and wanted to rip her away from him. Yazoo and Loz was all he had, and he couldn't, wouldn't, loose them to anyone. They were all he had and he should be all they had! Angry suddenly, he considered making his way down the stairs and killing the girl. He held no sympathy for those who tried to take his brothers from him, weather it was with violence or sympathy. They where his!
He almost took a step, but then stopped in mid air, suddenly scared of himself. What where these thoughts? He should be happy to find Yazoo seemingly unharmed, but instead he thought of killing small children. Just out of spite. The radical mood-swings. Maybe it was another sign that time was running out on him? Like those smells? It was stronger here then it had ever been, and it nauseated him. And the worst part was that he couldn't place it. It was unlike any other fragrance and it just seemed to fleet in the air around him without any centre or midpoint. And even though it sickened his body, his mind was alert. So alert that it almost tormented him, noticing the slightest detail and the lowest sound or the smallest shift in temperature.
But he supposed that those sharpened senses was the reason that he had manage to move trough the entire building, from the window on the second floor from witch he had entered, to the basement door without being noticed by the arguing couple, even tough it was still mid afternoon. The sun wouldn't set in another hour or so, and then the electrical lights would flick on. He'd left Loz outside and instructed him to act as back-up if something would go wrong, so now he was positioned right outside the front door, his back pressed against the facade. Kadaj was clearly aware of his position, as he was Yazoo's. The thing that confounded him the most though, was that he could also sense the male who was currently being scolded just a thin wall away. The fact that he could feel him too could only mean one thing, but Kadaj had no time to dwell on it.
"Brother" he softly called out, as he started to quietly move down the stairs.
Yazoos head snapped up at the sound of the familiar voice and trough the curtain of his now dirty silver hair he stared at his younger brother and an overwhelming mix of utter joy and deep fear filled him. There was something different about Kadaj, as he descended the stairs as quietly and elegant as a feline predator. Something about this aura had changed, and it sent a chill down his spine, even tough his heart was filled with warmth.
Marlene, who had fallen half-asleep at his side, had not yet noticed Kadajs presence and underneath the gaze of his brother, he suddenly felt guilty being positioned so close to this child. No one except Kadaj and maybe one or twice Loz, had ever been this close to him. Self-conscious all of a sudden, he moved his head away from Marlene, but the movement caused his hair to brush over her face, causing her to moan and flicker her eye-lids.
"Yazoo…" she said weakly "What…"
Kadaj was over her in a split second. One movement of his hand a word from his lips and her eyes fell shut and her body fell limp. Icy cold horror struck Yazoo. Just like that she was dead!
Then her chest rose and fell. Yazoo breathed out a lung-full of air.
"Don't worry" Kadaj said, keeping his gaze locked at his brother "I just put her into a light sleep"
Yazoo nodded weakly and for a second he met Kadajs gaze, before looking away. He'd never felt this woundable in his life, not on the lab-tables as a child, not even with Cloud hovering over him and the dark presence of death looming over him. There was something new in those eyes, which he had never seen before.
"Kadaj…" he breathed, unsure of what to say next.
Silence fell between them as Kadaj kneeled by his brothers side. Lightly, he brushed the hair out of Yazoos face.
"Tell me" Kadaj said, and his voice was anxious now "Tell me you can sense it too. Tell me you smell it as well"
Yazoo looked up at his brother, who in an instant had changed from that fear-striking creature into his fragile baby brother, so in need of approval and comfort. His eyes where scared, scared of the answer Yazoo might give.
He needs me. He needs me so badly!
"Yes, Kadaj. I do" he answered.
Tears of relief flooded Kadajs eyes and a pale smile came to his lips. He bent down so far that their foreheads touched.
"Thank you" he whispered.
There is nothing like you.
"We have to get you out of here" Kadaj continued, wiping away the one tear that escaped his eye-lashes. A small knife appeared in his hand from some of the many holds in his leather suit and he started to cut Yazoos restraint, starting with his arms.
"But how are we going to get out?" Yazoo asked "There is no way except trough the house, and he's up there!"
"I know he is" Kadaj answered quietly "But it won't be a problem"
"How…" Yazoo started, but Kadaj interrupted him
"Don't worry, my brother" he said while cutting the last leather-belt that had held his feel. "There, can you stand?"
Yazoo slowly tried to move his limps, who was stiff and hurt from the rough treatment. He was already half-way a his feet when he remembered the injury he'd got when fighting Cloud. Pain shot up his spine and he fell down on his good knee, Kadaj half-catching him before he completely hit the floor.
"I think my knee is broken" he said with an unflattering grin of pain.
Kadaj didn't answer, he just up the hand he was not using to support Yazoo on his brothers knee. Softly he spoke the words of a Cure. The familiar pleasant heat rushed trough Yazoos body as the wound instantly healed.
"That should be good enough to hold you until we get out of Midgar" Kadaj said, rising to his feet, eyeing the half-shut door. "We better hurry. He's coming."
Kadaj headed for the stairs, and Yazoo was about to follow him. When he tried to get up, he found his hair caught in something. Marlenes clutched little hand.
"Yazoo…" she said, here eyes and voiced still clouded by the drowsiness of the light-level spell "Where are you going?"
"I'm going home, Marlene, with my brother" Yazoo answered quietly.
"You're leaving?" Marlene still had problem with focusing her eyes.
"Yes" he said, looking over to his brother who watched the door as if in a trance "Go back to sleep now"
"Are you ever coming back?" she mumbled.
"No, Marlene, I'm not" he answered softly.
Tears quietly traced their way down her pink cheeks and her grip on his hair loosened as she whispered with closed eyes "But I love you"
The words struck Yazoo as a blow to the heart. No one had ever spoken those words to him before. Feelings, confusing and unfamiliar, welled up inside him. He didn't know how to respond. He just stared at her little face in amazement. She'd made him feel more human than ever before. And now…
He noticed the knife that Kadaj recklessly had left by the cut belts. He reached for it, and gripping it's hilt, he cut off the tangle of hair she was holding, then rose to his feet.
"Goodbye, Marlene" he whispered, but she was already asleep.
Kadaj hadn't watched or listened, but he knew. The heat was boiling inside him, but he took comfort in the fact that as soon as they were out of this house, his brother would once again be his and his alone. Yazoo quietly took his place by his side, and Kadaj gently brushed his fingers at the naked skin of his brothers hand. Yazoo didn't shy away.
Cloud never noticed that the door was slightly opened, he was too distracted by the effect of Tifas words. He didn't know that it would hurt so much to hear the things spoken that he himself feared so much.
I am not like him. And I'll make sure no one suffers because of him ever again. I am not like him.
Tifa noticed though. But her scream of warning came half-a second to late. The spell struck them both with immense power and they fell next to each other on the wooden floor. Tifa noticed two sliver shadows with sparkling eyes fleeting by her before the world disappeared from her eyes.
The two brothers met up with the third outside to house. There had been no commotion. No blood had been tasted by the still fertile land. Silently as they had come, the three of them slipped into the gathering night with its flickering neon lights. No one saw them.
Cloud dreamt of Tifa underneath the marvellous night sky. On a never ending flower field she sat playing a piano. Such a familiar melody. A gentle breeze carried her hair.
She was smiling.
He loved her smile
The brothers where back at the lake by witch they had their primitive home. Yazoo sat with his back rested again the trunk of one of the mighty trees. He watched the reflection of the starlit sky on the clear water surface. Kadajs head rested in his lap. Loz was fully awake but lay with his eyes closed next to his brother. The mood was uncomfortable. None of them had spoken a single word on the way back. Yazoo didn't know what to say to Kadaj. To explain what he had done. He wanted to say he was sorry for some reason, but Kadaj seemed beyond words at the moment. He was cold. So distant. What could he do to make it better? What could he say? What had he really watched there in the basement, when he felt that fear? He couldn't take it all back, all the things he had felt, although he felt that he should. He was distantly running his fingers trough the strains of hair which where now shorter then the others. He couldn't take it back.
Loz rose to one elbow, turning his neck so that he was able to se Yazoo properly. He eyed him with a confounded look and then met his gaze.
"Hey, Yazz…" he started "Are you wearing a girl's sweater?"
Yazoo was dumb-struck by the question. He just stared at his older brother. Then Kadaj started snickering. Loz wasn't short to follow.
"Oh shut up both of you!" Yazoo snapped good naturally, a smile coming to his face. He ran his un-gloved hand trough Kadajs hair and breathed in the fresh, cool air. He knew things would get worse, much worse, pretty soon. But he wouldn't dwell on that right now. Now he would saviour the night and the time he spent like this with his brothers, in the shadow of the mighty trees.
Because sooner or later – memories will be all we have
Ashes and Ghosts
End
AUTHORS NOTES (For the last time now peeps):
Wow. I can't tell you how powerful the feeling of finally finishing this is. I know you all waited just as long as I did for an end to this story, and I hope I somewhat made up the long wait. I want to thank all of you who helped to create this story, those who read and told me their thoughts on this and those who started to send threatening mails urging me to finish. Your response has meant more to me then you can ever imagine! Thank you for keeping with me! Special thanks to VampireToy; without whom the idea of the YazooxMarlene plot never would have evolved, Sheridan; Taro who always left such insightful and heart-warming comments, SweetSnowCherryBlossomDarkness who constantly urged me to continue, and all of you who loyaly followed the development of the story even tough I messed up the updates.
I love you all, and I hope this ending will leave you satisfied.
Until next time ///Clownfood