Summary: Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

Queen's Quornor: This chapter actually gave me a fair bit of trouble. I had to introduce 'Evil Kadaj of Jenova' without the idea I've got in mind coming to the forefront, and I had to show exactly how much Jenova's touch corrupts and hurts when she reaches out to her sons. In the end, this turned out to be a really angsty, kinda fluffy chapter. And while I normally can't stand writing fluff, this is the best version I can come up with to show how much Jenova hurts Kadaj and how much Laura's feelings have changed since she first met him – which was really only two days ago. Talk about a whirlwind romance! The bit with his pupils comes from a few frames in the movie where his eyes look like normal human ones, then narrow to the cat-like eyes. I think this is a sign of when Jenova's got total control of his mind, and makes him do things he normally wouldn't. Anyway, read, leave a review, etc. The lemon should be in the next chapter. Be patient; it'll be a good one. As explicit as my DMC readers have come to expect of me.

Shield Me

"Laur…L…Lau…ra! Laura!"

The frantic desperation in the voice made Laura snap out of her slumber, immediately turning her gaze to Kadaj. He was kneeling on the covers, fingers digging deeply into his arms, blood seeping in thin crimson trails down his naked arm. His eyes were wide, full of terror, and…

She felt her blood freeze, her heart stop.

The pupils were straining, flashing to cat-like slits and then back to normal.

She's trying to make him go under!

"Kadaj!" She reached out to him, grabbing his hands and clutching them tightly in her own. "Fight it, Kadaj! Fight it!"

"Ca…Can't!"

"Yes you can!" She yanked his hands, made him look at her. "Focus on me, Kadaj. Don't listen to her! Don't give in!"

His back arched, throwing his head back to face the ceiling. "Moth…!" he choked.

"No, Kadaj! Not her! Laura! It's Laura!"

His spine snapped the other way, driving him forward so his head was bent nearly to their tightly-clasped hands. "Seph… Sephi…!"

"No! You're Kadaj! Kadaj! Say it with me! What's your name?"

"My name…?"

"Yes! Your name!" She jerked his hands again in emphasis. "What is your name?"

"I… I am…" Another convulsion, this one stronger than either of the previous ones, wracked his body. He fell back onto the blanket, writhing and twisting as if electricity was coursing through his veins. But it was not electrical currents; Laura still had his hands in her grasp, and nothing was passing from him to her. Whatever was tormenting him was in the very fabric of his being.

In his cells…

"Kadaj!" She grabbed his face, cupped it between her hands and forced him to look at her. "Who am I? Say my name!"

His mouth worked soundlessly, eyes still alternating between slitted and oval pupils.

"What's my name, Kadaj? What's my name?" Get your claws out of him, you blue-assed, bodyless jack-o-lantern! Leave him alone!

"Lau…"

Come on, Kadaj! Come on!

"La…"

Kadaj!

"Laura." His body relaxed, so abruptly that she worried he had passed out. His pupils slitted one more time, then returned to the normal black circles and stayed that way.

"Kadaj?" She crawled up to his side, trying to suppress the shaking of her hand as she smoothed some hair away from his sweaty brow. "Are you all right?"

His eyes slowly slid shut, and he exhaled, so carefully. "Thank you… Laura," he whispered.

Thank God…The woman lowered herself by his side, laid her head in the hollow where arm met chest and rested her left hand on his heart. "You're welcome, Kadaj."

His arms slowly crept around her, the fingers winding into and gripping the cotton of her top. As if he needed something to hold onto and know that he was still in control. "Why do you care so much?"

Her voice was equally low, just a whisper in the dark, moonlit cabin. "I don't know. Why do you care so much?"

"I don't know."

Silence reigned, dark and forbidding. Then…

"You make me feel like I'm enough."

She traced her fingers up and down one of the lines of stitching holding the leather together. "What do you mean?"

"I don't have to prove anything around you. I'm strong enough, smart enough, just…enough. You'll take me as I am. Nobody has ever tried to avoid changing me before, not even my brothers."

"It's because I don't want you to change. I like you just the way you are. And I don't want a single thing to change." Because it will be far worse if you do.

"I can't fight her forever, Laura. She's…too powerful." He sounded so resigned, so hopeless and full of despair, that Laura's heart clenched.

"How long have you been fighting her off?"

"Two years. Ever since Meteorfall."

She didn't give a damn about him before Sephiroth died. She's only interested in him because he can be turned into her favored son, not because of his own abilities.

Blue-assed, black-hearted, slime-sucking bitch!

"You've held out this long. Can't you hold out a little longer?"

"Fights have to end sometime. I can't hold her back forever."

Her eyes closed, and her fingers tightened slightly on his chest. "You know what will happen if she takes complete control of you, don't you?"

"I know more than Yazoo and Loz tell me, what I do when she's got me under control. I don't know for certain what will happen, ultimately, but I've got my suspicions."

"I know what will happen. To them, to you." Don't ask me. Please…

"I know you do." She felt his head nuzzle atop hers, his breath hot against her scalp. "I don't want to know the truth."

"Just don't let go of me, Kadaj. I'll be your shield." If you'll let me.

"You protect me, as I protect you. But not as I would my brothers."

Laura felt her heart racing. Did I just hear that correctly?

"I'll protect you because you're my girl. Because I…care about you."

He was about to say something else, wasn't he? Oh my god, he was! He almost said…

Oh my god.

"I feel the same," she softly confessed, knowing it to be true. Her reasons for protecting him from Jenova were now more personal than they were altruistic. Far closer to her heart than she would have ever believed.

And so much faster than I could have dreamed… But it's not too fast.

This is right. I know it is.

"Thanks, Laura."

"For what?" For caring about you?

"For understanding. For being there. For everything."

Laura slid her arm across his chest, holding him to her heart. "You're welcome."

Just as she was dozing off again, lulled to sleep by the steady beat of his heart, she thought she heard him whisper "Don't leave me."

I won't, Kadaj. I promise, I won't.

Just don't let go of me, for both our sakes.