A/N: This is the third chapter everyone! I replaced the Author's Note with the second chapter so go back and read it before you continue on. Okay? Okay. Thanks for the reviews :-D

Chapter 3/Reflections

Cloud stood in his room, once more staring out of the window. The rain had stopped falling that afternoon but the rest of the day remained overcast. Cloud felt disturbed. He knew what he had to do but was reluctant to do it. Seeing Kadaj again had brought up painful memories. The Geostigma, the shell he had kept himself in, the people he had pushed away, and the way he had almost left Denzel and Marlene to the brothers. Cloud sighed and rested his forehead against the window. Thinking about Kadaj reminded him of Sephiroth, Sephiroth reminded him of Aerith, and remembering Aerith was painful even now. What was Kadaj doing with Marlene? Would he callously kill her if Cloud did not give him Jenova cells just as Sephiroth had killed Aerith four years earlier? He knew he had to make a choice. His safety from a memory or Marlene. There was no doubt in his mind which one he must choose, but that did not make the painful reminders vanish like smoke.

A soft hand rested on his shoulder. Cloud looked up and saw Tifa's reflection smiling gently at him. He could not smile back. Hers faded.

"Oh Cloud," she sighed. She lifted her hand off his shoulder and fingered the pink bow tied around his upper arm. "I know this must be painful for you, but think about how Marlene must be feeling. You can't let her down, not now, not again."

Cloud shifted, stepping away from the window. "It's not that I don't want to . . ."

"It just reminds you of her."

Cloud nodded. "Yes . . ."

Tifa sighed again. "I thought we'd been through this already. I thought we agreed on moving on." She frowned at him. "I won't have you retreating into your little self-pity hole again. For one, it's not healthy, and two it drives me crazy!"

Cloud smiled half-heartedly. "Fine then, I'll do it."

Tifa smiled back encouragingly, resting her hand on his arm. He glanced at it, then at her face, his smile widening slightly. The semi-tender moment was broken by Cloud's cell phone ringing. He flipped it open and turned his face away from Tifa. She backed away understandingly.

"Hello?"

"Cloud."

"Vincent?"

"I've located Kadaj and Marlene."

"Where are they?"

"The Forgotten City."

Cloud let his head fall forward onto the window pane. "Why didn't we think of that before?"

"Kadaj's memory bank in the robot must have guided him to a place of apparent familiarity. It does not realize that it is just following in Kadaj's footprints."

"What should I do?"

"Stake it out. Follow it. Watch its movements. Try to figure out whether it is an exact copy or if it has weaknesses."

"Kadaj must have had a weakness."

There was a pause. "Then find that out as well. Good luck, Cloud."

Cloud lowered his arm and stayed facing the window. Tifa stepped up next to him.

"I'm going with you."

"You don't even know where I'm going."

"I don't care, I'm going with you."

Cloud nodded. She was good at reading people. Maybe she could help him.

00000

Kadaj knelt by the water and scooped up a handful in his gloved hand. Watching it trickle though his fingers, he did not notice Marlene approach. He felt someone watching him and turned. Marlene clutched her hands tightly behind her back, willing her body to not tremble.

"What do you want?" Kadaj asked in a tone that suggested boredom and annoyance.

"What are you?" Marlene's voice was steady as she looked the young man straight in the eye.

Kadaj frowned. "I am Kadaj, remnant of Sephiroth."

Marlene noticed his voice sounded slightly bitter as he spoke.

"Then why does your face feel cold? Are you sick?"

Kadaj did not speak. To him being sick meant having Geostigma. He knew he did not have that disease so he shook his head. "No, I am not sick." He glanced sideways at her. "What about your friend? The one with the Geostigma? Died yet has he?" Kadaj smiled unkindly.

Marlene shook her head. "No. He's all better now. Everyone is. There's no more Geostigma."

Kadaj looked surprised. Then he frowned. "Yes there is, and I need to find the children who have them."

"You already did that, and it didn't work. Cloud beat you, and I think he killed you." Marlene was becoming less afraid and more curious. How come Kadaj did not remember these things? He had been there.

"He did not kill me." Kadaj hissed angrily, standing. "Why does everyone keep saying I'm supposed to be dead? Can't they see I'm very much alive?"

Marlene gazed up at him. "Cloud said he watched you die. Tifa said she saw it too."

"Then I supposed you'll be glad when I get rid of those liars and all their friends too!" Kadaj flung his hands over his head dramatically.

Marlene blinked. "I wouldn't be glad. I would be very mad at you if you killed my friends."

Kadaj slowly lowered his arms. "All I want is to be with Mother."

"Then why don't you find a real mother?"

Kadaj froze. His jaw tightened. "I do have a real mother."

Marlene crossed her arms. "A bunch of cells aren't a real mother."

"They are to me."

"That's pathetic."

"You probably don't even know what that means."

"So? I can tell that's what you are."

Kadaj turned away. "I don't want to talk to you any more."

"Fine, I don't want to talk to you any more."

"Fine."

"Fine!"

Marlene marched off in a huff. Sitting down on some scattered pieces of marble stone, she placed her chin in her small palms and watched as Kadaj started pacing back and forth. He stopped took out his cell phone, glared at it, then resumed pacing. Finally, when Marlene had counted up to seventeen, he flipped open his phone and pressed a number.

"I've changed my mind. You don't have three days. I want Mother tomorrow. Give her to me or you'll never see your little girl again." He paused, listening. "You needn't worry. I'll come to you." A small smile crept up his lips. "You don't seriously think I'll believe that story again, brother. I've heard enough excuses. You do have Mother, and you will give her to me tomorrow." His smile disappeared. "I don't care how you get her, just do it!" He frowned and closed the phone. He turned to Marlene.

"Your Cloud doesn't know what's good for him. You'd better get a good night's sleep, little one. We have a big day tomorrow."

Marlene moved to the ground but kept her eyes on Kadaj. "Why do you need those cells so bad?"

Kadaj turned away. "Without Mother, we can't be whole again. We need the Reunion."

"We?"

"My brothers and I."

"You don't have any brothers. They died."

Kadaj jerked convulsively, but when he turned back to her his expression was unreadable. "My brothers . . . are not dead."

"Then where are they?"

"They . . . are looking for Mother . . . somewhere else."

Marlene suddenly felt something in her heart soften towards this young man who was really just a child. Children often have deeper intuitions than most adults. Marlene was no exception. She did not know how she knew what Kadaj was feeling in his heart, she only realized what he was searching for. Reaching up hesitantly, she touched his pant leg softly.

"You want someone to love you, don't you?"

Kadaj jerked away from her touch as if it burned. "What are you talking about?"

"You know," Marlene looked thoughtful. "I don't have a mother, yet I know I'm still loved because I have Papa and Tifa and Cloud and Denzel and all my other friends. You just need a family to love you. That's why you're so mean. You think everyone hates you. That's why you need those cells. To feel wanted and loved."

Kadaj looked down at Marlene in shock. Did the girl even know what she was saying? He glared at her. "I have a family. They're just misplaced at the moment. But I'll find them and once I do you'll regret taking Big Brother's side."'

He crossed his arms and turned his back on her, acting very much like a sulking child. Marlene just lay down and closed her eyes, suddenly tired. As she drifted off to sleep she could hear Kadaj resume his pacing.

Kadaj waited until Marlene seemed to be deep in sleep before sitting down on the stone she had been sitting on previously. Slowly lifting off his glove, he stared at his left hand, turning it around in the moonlight, studying it. It did look almost metallic in the silver light. He ran his fingers through his hair, feeling the end of a strand absently. It did feel like a piece of wire. Was he really just some experiment and not Kadaj at all? Was he really just a worthless robot made of metal? But no, he had to be Kadaj. He had Kadaj's thoughts, his emotions, his . . . feelings. He pulled his glove back over the gleaming hand. Resting his elbows on his knees, he hung his head and stared at the ground. Things were becoming complicated. He did not like complications. He needed Mother and soon.

00000

Cloud moved from his position on the forest floor and crept forward, watching through tangled shrubbery as Kadaj lay on the hard ground not far from Marlene and closed his eyes. Tifa followed close behind. He stopped when he was several feet from the edge of the water. Tifa settled down next to him.

"I know that look, what are you thinking of Cloud?"

"What if Marlene is right? What if all that Kadaj is looking for is love?"

Tifa looked at him. "What's your idea?"

"He calls me his big brother. Don't you think it's about time I started acting like one?"

"You mean, invite him into our family?"

Cloud nodded to the sleeping youth, shifting quietly in his dreams. "Look at him."

Tifa looked, and something in her expression changed. Kadaj looked almost like a small child, his face relaxed and void of troubles. She had overheard his conversation with Marlene and knew a battle must be going on inside the boy. She smiled slightly.

"I don't know what the others will say, but I'm willing to give it a shot. Should we worry about him killing us in our sleep?"

Cloud was silent. After a few seconds he spoke softly. "She gave me a second chance. He deserves one too. We'll try it. I'm sure the others will be on their guards. Let us just concentrate on reaching out to him."

Tifa's smile widened. "Wow Cloud, I never would have thought of you as a sentimentalist." She laid a hand on his arm. "But I trust you."

He turned to give her a small smile. "Let's just hope Kadaj can too."

00000

"I am worried Cloud might go soft during the fight. He has changed a lot these past two years. He has grown more emotional. He may try to convince it to join our side. This cannot happen. It is made to be like Kadaj in every way, shape, and form. Kadaj would not turn to us and neither will this copy of him. I want you to watch them fight. If he fails to complete his mission . . . destroy it yourself."

Reno and Rude nodded in submission to the man in the wheelchair.

"Yes, sir."

"You got it."

Rufus Shinra smiled grimly. "The final showdown is approaching. Sephiroth must not be allowed to continue his legacy."