In the view point of our beloved Loz.

"I open my eyes, I try to see but I'm blinded by the white light,
I can't remember how, I can't remember why I'm lyin' here tonight
And I can't stand the pain and I can't make it go away,
No I can't stand the pain..."

I helped the red-headed Turk bring Yazoo inside. He told me to lay Yazoo down on the couch. I did, but I couldn't stop looking at him. I kept thinking, "He's going to open his eyes soon, he'll be okay." But I knew, somewhere deep down, that he wasn't going to be okay. The redheaded Turk walked back over to us. He tucked a blanket around Yazoo and handed me one too. I was mortified. Yazoo looked like he was asleep, but to me, he looked like something much worse...

His face was pale. His thin lips were the same color as the tan blanket, and his eyes stayed closed. The Turk walked over to Yazoo and leaned down next to him. He took Yazoo's hand in his and laid his head over Yazoo's heart. The Turk looked so gentle, nothing like the ones that had attacked us before. This one seemed to care about us, and I just stared. I tried to say something, but fear froze my words in my throat. Suddenly, without warning, tears began to run.

"No... Yazoo... don't..." Words choked me. I don't know how to describe any of this... it burned. The feeling of loss, my brother... "YOU CAN'T DIE!!!" Crying felt good. I crawled over to Yazoo's still form next to the Turk and laid me head on Yazoo's stomach. " I don't wanna lose you too..."

"How could this happen to me?
I made my mistakes, got nowhere to run
The night goes on as I'm fading away,
I'm sick of this life
I just wanna scream,
How could this happen to me?"

I heard sirens and screeching brakes. A bunch of paramedics in white uniforms came in the door. "Is this him?"

"Yes. His pulse is fast. Too fast. But his skin... it's cold. I... I'm not sure..." The Turk looked at me. "Do you want to go to the hospital with us? You can stay here if you want to rest, that's okay." He walked over to me. I felt his arm around my shoulders. "You gonna be alright, yo?"

I looked at him. "No. I'll never be alright again... Yazoo, he's all I have left. I have nowhere to go... I'm alone... and cold... and I just want him back..." I stood up and followed the paramedics into the ambulance. I sat beside Yazoo. Softly, I stroked his cheek. "Oh Yaz..." I held his hand. It felt different. There was no comfort in the touch of my brother. Just fear. I could feel it in his touch. He was scared. "Don't be scared, brother...I'm still here... I'll always be here for you..." Tears flowed. Gently at first, but soon I could feel the tremors. I shook, and hot tears fell onto Yazoo's face.

"Everybody's screaming
I try to make a sound but no one hears me
I'm slipping off the edge
I'm hanging by a thread
I wanna start this over again"

"D-don't... cry... Loz..." Yazoo's voice was a ghost of a whisper. I felt his grip tighten around mine. I looked at him, then looked away. I couldn't bear to see him, brave, strong, elegant Yazoo look like this... my heart was being torn out. Yazoo's eyes were still clear, but their energy was gone. Yazoo's eyes were always sparkling. They were always so comforting. But now, they were filled with heartache. Yazoo squeezed my hand again. "Loz... I... want you... to... get it... out..." With every word, a muscle in his jaw twitched with a stab of exertion.

I knew what he meant. He wanted me to pull the bullet out. "No, I-I can't."

"Please..." Yazoo let go of mmy hand and laid it on my cheek. "Don't... look at... me like...that. I'm...gonna make... it." He smiled at me. The tiny sliver of hope hit my heart with the force of a train. Even though he was so weak, Yazoo had the same, devious look in his smile. I smiled back. Yazoo hand dropped back to the stretcher he was on. I took it back into my hand and leaned down.

"I know you'll make it. We're strong." I kissed his forehead. "We'll get through this... for Daaj." Once more, tears constricted my throat.

"So I try to hold
On to a time when
Nothing mattered
And I can't explain
What happened and I can't erase the things that I've done
No I can't.."

"Hey Loz, wake up!" Loz, the bulky 12 year-old was shaken awake by his brother, Yazoo. "Come see this! Kadaj is already outside!" Yazoo's bright smile was visible, even in the dim room.

"What? What is it?" Loz rubbed one eye.

"You'll see. Come on, Lozzy!!!" Yazoo was enthusiastic, so whatever it was must be pretty cool.

"Okay, Okay. I'm coming." Loz threw the blanket off. He noticed that Kadaj wasn't in his normal place, sleeping between Loz and Yazoo. Loz got out of bed, his 11 year-old brother leading him outside. "Wow!"

Outside, the sky was lit up by a million sparkling candles. Stars everywhere. "See Loz?" Yazoo pointed at the sky, leading Loz to their sitting-spot by the hand. "Shooting stars!" It was true. Loz and Yazoo went to the spot where Kadaj sat on a blanket laid out on the ground.

"Isn't it pretty?" Kadaj sighed. He loved things like this. Beautiful things were hard to find. Kadaj had a silver pocket mirror he had found in an old building that he kept with him everwhere. One of the mirrors was cracked when they found it, so they took it out and put in a picture of all three of them.

Yazoo sighed. "It's so beautiful..." Yazoo, no matter how dispassionate me may seem, loved beautiful things too. "Hey! Let's all make a wish together." Yazoo's long silver hair glittered as a particularly bright star shot through the sky.

"Yeah! It'll come true if a lot of people wish it!" Kadaj smiled. He laid his head on Loz's lap. "I don't know what we should wish for." Kadaj, the 9 year-old, youngest of the three cuddled into Loz.

Yazoo leaned on Loz too. "What do you mean, Daajy? You always want something."

" I mean, for all of us. We have everything we need. I mean, I can't even think of anything I want in the world more than my brothers when I'm sad." Kadaj's voice was sweet, innocent. Loz sniffed.

"Aww... don't cry Lozzy..." Yazoo wrapped his arms around his older brother. He stroked Loz's hair.

"I know what to wish for..." Loz said. Kadaj sat up and wrapped his arms around Loz, too. "We should wish.." He whispered to both of his brothers. They both smiled in agreement. "Are you ready?" He put and arm around either of his brothers.

The three waited, and soon, they all held each other tightly and whispered in perfect unison, "I wish we could be together for ever and ever and ever."

Loz and Yazoo opened their eyes, but Kadaj kept his shut tight. His soft voice whispered, barely audible. "And ever!"

The three boys laughed and laid down on the blanket under the stars. All three drifted to sleep, and above, three stars, in perfect unison, glided across the sky.

Loz awoke as the ambulance pulled into the hospital. He looked at Yazoo. The younger was asleep, his chest rising and falling. His breathing was stable, normal, and a smile laid on his lips. He opened his eyes as the door to the back of the ambulance opened. For the first time, he spoke without having to pause, a new strength in his voice. "I love you, Loz." Loz smiled, tears forming in his eyes.

"I love you too, Yazoo." Loz began to realease Yazoo's hand. Yazoo gripped his tight once again.

"Here, Loz." Yazoo handed Loz a pair of gloves. Once more, he smiled. His pale lips regaining some color. "I'll see you soon, brother." The paramedics took the stretcher out of the ambulance. Another doctor led Loz out of the ambulance and into the sickly-green colored lobby of the hospital.

"Will he be alright?" Loz looked at the doctor, hoping for some comforting words.

"Well, when we picked you two up, we thought he wasn't going to make it." The doctor looked at Loz. "But on the way, we heard you talking to him. After that, he... it's a miracle, but he has already begun to revive. I can tell you two are brothers." The doctor looked straight at Loz. Loz looked into his eyes. "You really love your brother, don't you?"

"Yes." Loz looked down. "Both of them."

"Both?" The doctor sat down and Loz followed.

"Yes." Loz gulped. " We have... had... a younger brother. Kadaj. He...d..." Loz choked. "di...he..went away for awhile..." Loz felt the tears coming back. "That's why I can't lose Yazoo. I need him... we, as brothers, even when Kadaj was alive, we've always kept each other going. Now, if in the event of..." Loz stopped. He wouldn't think about that. " I love him. Yazoo is my lifeblood." He wiped his tears away, but more came. "Without him, I'll have nothing to live for."

The doctor looked at him. "I know how you feel." He looked down too. "I lost my sister last year. She was everything to me." The doctor looked up, staring into space.

"W-what was her n-name?" Loz asked. Somehow, it felt right to talk to someone who knew how he felt.

"Her name was Aerith. Aerith Gainsborough. She was so amazing. When she died, I shut down. But you know what?" The doctor looked at Loz. "You don't grieve. You remember all the good and beautiful things about your loved one. Kadaj, what did he love? I mean, I just met you and I can tell you love your brothers. What are the good things you remember?" The doctor looked at him. " You can talk to me. It's easier to talk to someone who knows the pain."

"Kadaj loved... looking at the stars. He always said he wanted to be one. He had a poem he used to say. He memorized it from a book. It went something like, 'My Heaven-stars, tell me, I shall become, A living God. My earth-doubts tell me, I am Eternities immortal fool.' He would say that at night." Loz smiled as he remembered times where things didn't hurt. Ever night, he would wait until Yazoo and I were asleep, and then he would go to the window, and... and he would wish on a star... that... we would all, Kadaj, me, and Yazoo, that we would all be together... forever." Loz looked down. " I guess wishing upon a star doesn't work... he had this silver pocket mirror, too. It folded open, and there were two mirrors. When we found it, one mirror was cracked, so Kadaj drew a picture of the three of us and stuck it in there. He always had it with him..."

"Loz, wishes do come true." The doctor put an arm around Loz's shoulders. "Your brothers will always be with you. You just have to keep your mind open. He'll talk to you from his Paradise." The doctor smiled. "I have to go, but I can come back and check on you. Do you need anything? Food? Water?"

"No. I don't think I could eat anything, anyway. But thanks."

"Alright. I'll see you later. It was nice talking to you Loz. Really nice." The doctor gave him a quick hug and stood up. "Really, really nice."

Loz sat alone for awhile, thinking about all the doctor said. He put his face in his hands. He could feel Kadaj in his heart. He cleared his mind of everything. He pictured shooting stars in the night sky. He watched the stars. Soon, he heard, 'Be strong, nii-san. I love you.' He thought it was his imagination, but he could swear he had heard Kadaj.

A gentle, warm hand touched Loz's shoulder. Loz turned to face the source of this touch.

The man had red hair. It was the Turk. "Hey, I heard you talking to him in the ambulance, Yazoo, I think his name was. I was in the front." He paused. "My name is Reno, just to say." He looked at his feet. "You really love him, don't you?"

Loz smiled faintly. "Yeah. I do."

Reno was quiet, his hands were folded and he stared at the floor. "You know, when we were fighting you guys, I... I thought you were just a gang of punks that dyed your hair silver as some kind of Sephiroth Shout-Out." He shrugged. "I guess... I never thought you were brothers. I mean, you were wicked in sync... but..." He trailed off. "I've never had anything like that. Family, I mean." He stared at a lamp, as if trying to make it crack with his mind.

"You don't have a family?" Loz couldn't dream of what it would be like to not have brothers. No one to hold you when you were hurt or scared, no one to shoot at those who hurt or scared you, no one to comfort you... he shivered inwardly. "I...I don't know what that would be like...I've never really... NOT had anyone..." Loz stopped and laughed faintly. "Heh... this isn't helping..."

"Heh... I mean... I grew up in a rough neighborhood, and I was always out... in this gang-thing." Reno scoffed. "It was so stupid... I left one day. Turns out, this other gang really hated me. I was the leader, ya know? So he..." Reno choked. "He took his gang and... went to my house. I came back just in time... I beat the crap outta him and told him to stay away. My mom was inside, scared half to death. My dad came back home drunk... and he was all yelly and stuff. I went upstairs with mom." He shook his head sharply, as if trying to shake the memory away. "She said that we were gonna leave, and go live with her sister, my Aunt Kaire." Reno smiled a bit when he mentioned his aunt. "The next day, I left the gang. I set this other guy in charge, my best friend. Normally, a gang member that wanted to leave got the crud beaten out of him, but these guys were my friends, so they just wished me luck. I got home, and my mom told me to hurry and grab only stuff I needed. I only grabbed one thing. My grandmother's old music box." Reno paused.

"What happened?" Loz looked at Reno. This is the most he'd ever heard anyone besides his brothers talk, and the sound of someone's voice sounded good to him.

"I... my dad came home early. Before we could leave. He got really mad, and hit my mom. She fell, and I just... freaked out. I was about 16, and I already had mako. I just... attacked him. Next thing I knew, he was unconscious on the floor... I ran to mom, but she didn't move. I didn't know what to do. I..." Reno stopped. Loz could see the tears on his face, dripping onto the floor. I touched his shoulder.

"Go on, I'm listening." Loz was surprised by his own voice. It was cracking, too.

"I..." Reno looked at Loz. Their eyes met. "People do crazy things when their hurt. Crazy things. Your brother did a pretty crazy-ass thing because he hurt, too." Reno sighed shakily. "I... I did the only thing I could think of..." He looked at his hands. Loz could see they were scarred. So were his arms. "I... I burned the whole house down..." Reno put his face in his hands. Loz could feel his sobs shaking his entire body. "I should have checked again... she could've been alive still... I'm evil..." He cried. Loz set a hand on his shoulder.

"Why would you say that? You're not evil. You saved Yazoo." Loz looked at Reno. He couldn't even dream of Reno being evil.

"I'm evil..." Reno looked at Loz, his eyes shining with tears. "It's my fault they're dead." Reno shook with new sobs. "If I could've just... seen Mom smile again... tell her I loved her... how much I loved her..." Reno choked again.

"It's not your fault... Reno, it's your Dad's." Loz evaluated in his head. He was made with a great intelligence, so he figured it out."When... when you're dad hit your mom...I... I think it might've...I'm really sorry, but I think it might've broken her neck... she died suddenly... I... I'm not helping am I?"

"Actually... yeah. You... are." Reno inhaled and exhaled slowly. His breathing was shakey. "Would she have felt any pain? If..."

"No. If you die of a broken neck... you don't feel anything." Loz felt strange. Talking about things like this would usually trigger something inside of him and he would cry, even though it was usually subtle. "She wouldn't have hurt at all."

Loz stopped. He wondered now, had Kadaj hurt when he died? When he and Yazoo had gotten there, Kadaj was in Cloud's arms. He had reached a towards the sky and just... turned into a million sparkling things. Loz realized something, now. "Kadaj... when he died... well, when we were little, he loved stars, right?"

Reno nodded, looking at Loz.

"He always said he wanted to be in the sky with the stars. When he died, I think... all those shiny green orbs... were all the stars he had wished on." Loz looked at Reno. He blushed. "I know. That's really childish, huh?"

"No." Reno wiped his eyes and smiled. " I think... that's really beautiful." Reno looked at Loz. "It makes sense. It's kind of... poetic in a way. Yeah." He looked up at Loz. He had an expression on his face like he had just hit a revolution. "My mom... she really loved birds. Red birds, actually. She always called me 'Redbird'. After she died... I was in this field in a tree. I always climbed up somewhere high when I wanted to think. I looked up, and on the branch right above me, there was this big cardinal. Big, red bird. It just... looked at me, and I felt like everything was gonna be okay... Do you think... like... when my mom died, she turned into a Redbird?"

Loz smiled at him. "If Kadaj could turn into a million stars, and his own constellation, anything is possible."

Reno looked at Loz, his face still thoughtful, not really focusing on Loz's face. "Yeah... you're right!!!" Reno smiled brightly.

Loz and Reno talked for awhile. Loz talked and laughed and smiled and for the first time in awhile, he felt hope. Hope for Yazoo, hope for his newfound friend, hope for himself. The future looked different in his perspective now.

Above the hospital, in the night sky, the stars shone. But there were three stars that shone brighter than the rest... Kadaj looked down at his brother. 'oh Loz. I love you. Be brave, nii-san. I'm always with you.'

To be continued...