Redemption
A Final Fantasy 7/ Lord of the Rings crossover
Standard disclaimers apply
Lasthas and Orolon are mine. I made them up.
("blah") denotes things said in Sindarin. (I am SO not going to try to translate the dialog myself, LotR fans rejoice)
AN: this chapter is sorta filler…but read it anyway!
By: Lazeralk
0o0o0
The plains were much easier to navigate than the forests as they headed south from Imladris, though they provided little in the way of cover. A band of eight, even if half of them were elves, was a tempting target for any raiding party that passed too near. Cloud studied the maps he'd taken from the library, a fact that had irritated the twins, but they'd grudgingly seen his point when he'd explained why he'd done it. Seeing as how the maps were written completely in Sindarin, Cloud had to rely on Elrohir to translate them for him.
"We have to cross the mountains at some point." Said Cloud, handing the map over to Elrohir. "What will we do with the horses?"
"We'll set them loose. They know their way home. We'll cross at Moria, there's a rough pass that the elves of Lorien and the last dwarves of Moria used at a trade rout after Moria was sealed. It's a long climb, but it's actually the lowest spot in the mountains for miles in either direction. It leads almost directly into Lorien." The dark haired elf explained.
"So, where are we right now?" asked Kadaj, suddenly leaning over the side of his horse to see the map in Elrohir's hands. Elrohir pointed to a spot not far from Imladris.
"We've only gone that far? It's been a week already!" he complained.
"I still say we should fly." Said Yazoo.
"I am not explaining Bahamut to them. Actually, speaking of summons, do you guys still have those big black shadow-dog things that you siced on me that first time?" asked Cloud.
"What, these?" asked Kadaj as he raised a hand before him. The shadows suddenly leapt into vicious looking black dogs, almost skeletal in appearance with sharp protrusions on their shoulders and tails.
The elves immediately cried out in alarm and drew weapons. Kadaj laughed merrily at them and waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. The shadow beasts vanished. Yazoo shook his head in exasperation and Loz gave the elves a teasing smirk. None of the elves returned it.
"Those are Lurkers. They follow us in the shadows and come when called. We can direct them with our thoughts. They aren't very smart, but their strong and loyal." Said Kadaj, smiling happily as he summoned a single beast to him and pet it fondly on its skeletal head. His horse didn't seem to mind the proximity.
"They're Dark creatures! Servants of Sauron! They should be destroyed!" hissed Orolon, refusing to put up his blade.
Kadaj's face immediately darkened.
"They're my pets!" he roared back, his body ridged with tension and his face contorted with rage. He leapt off his horse and onto Orolon's, drawing Souba and placing the twin tips at the elf's throat.
"Don't you threaten my pets!" He nearly screamed, blind with fury.
"That's enough Kadaj." Warned Cloud, half drawing one of his six swords. Yazoo's hands were on the gun blades, but his eyes watched Cloud carefully, knowing that his blonde brother was the biggest threat to Kadaj at that moment. Loz frowned deeply, but moved to support Yazoo.
Kadaj seemed frozen, poised and ready to deliver the killing blow, before his face went slack and he smiled eerily at the silver-blonde elf he was holding at sword point.
"My pets serve my brothers and I and no one else. Not Sauron and not you, not even Mother. And don't you forget it." He whispered menacingly before he released the elf and back flipped easily to his own horse, sheathing Souba along the way.
The twins traded uneasy looks while Lasthas came to see to a visibly shaken Orolon. Cloud glanced suspiciously at the three Advents who were huddled protectively together, Kadaj at the center.
"If what you say about our enemy is true, then the Lurkers will provide additional protection and force against them. Besides, the Lurkers are made entirely out of shadow. They can't be killed." Said Cloud reasonably, directing his words towards the edgy elves.
"How can we trust them?" asked Lasthas, eyes narrowed.
"How can you trust your horses not to turn on you? Or your dogs?" replied Yazoo scathingly.
"We've raised our horses from foals, and our dogs from pups." Argued Orolon.
"The Lurkers have always been with us. They're ours in a way I can't even explain and they've always been with us." Said Loz, pleadingly.
"Sephiroth could call them. Before everything. I only saw it once, on a monster hunt below the Plate when I was still in basic training. He called up one to chase down a fleeing Jack and had the Lurker bring it back to him. Zack said he used them a little in the war against Wutai also. I don't think even Hojo knew what to make of them, but he probably told Sephiroth not to use them too much." Said Cloud quietly, just as much to the Advents as to the elves.
Elrohir urged his horse over to the two Lorien elves and whispered to them for a few moments in Sindarin. The Advents watched suspiciously as they talked, quietly welcoming Cloud when he made his way over to them. Finally, Orolon moved forward.
"My apologies Kadaj. I mean no harm to your pets and will accept their aid against our enemy." He said, stiff but genuine.
"Sorry for attacking you." Said Kadaj, suddenly happy again. Cloud hung his head in relief as all the tension left his shoulders.
"We should really keep moving." Said Elladan from his place on the sidelines. When the small party began to move again he guided his horse towards his brother's, leaning over to speak to him.
("You've got your work cut out for you brother. This will be no easy task.)" he said lowly.
("Yes brother, there seems to be more than meets the eyes with these young Men. I wonder what pushed the youngest to such rage so quickly though. It is unusual, even in Men.")
("Perhaps you might ask Cloud? He seems to be the most forthcoming.")
("I shall. Excellent advice El.")
("Not at all El.")
0o0o0
It wasn't until they were approaching Moria, some three days later, that Elrohir had a chance to speak to Cloud about his youngest sibling. With Lasthas leading both Kadaj and Loz on a game hunt, and Elladan keeping Yazoo occupied, Elrohir approached the moody blond. Cloud had settled himself before the small ring of stones that would be their fire pit when the others returned with food.
"Cloud?" he asked, crouching down beside his charge. The blonde looked at him questioningly.
"I wanted to talk to you about Kadaj. That outburst a few days ago about the shadow beasts? Was that sort of reaction normal for him?" asked Elrohir, trying to be as tactful as possible.
Cloud shrugged and laced his fingers together, elbows resting on his knees.
"I haven't known them all that long, and most of the time that I did know them, we were fighting. Kadaj sounded pretty crazy when he spoke to me before we got here. He seems pretty much ok now. Aerith said something to him." Cloud shook his head.
"He was pretty obsessed with Jenova before, but it's possible he got that from Sephiroth. Kadaj is trying, more so than any of us I think, to make this work."
"Is he?" asked Elrohir.
"Yeah."
Elrohir frowned at him.
"If this is normal for him, what will you do?" the elf asked quietly.
"Deal with it as it comes I guess. What else can I do? I don't know what will make him blow up and what wont." Muttered Cloud defensively.
"Maybe you should ask Loz or Yazoo how they handle it." Suggested Elrohir gently, clasping the blonde's shoulder encouragingly. He frowned and quickly released his grip when the young man flinched violently. Glaring, Cloud clenched his hands into tight fists before deliberately turning his attention away from the elf, his face closed. Recognizing the dismissal, Elrohir stood and left to find his twin, leaving the blond to his thoughts, a troubled expression on his face. After a moment of tense silence, Cloud stood and made his way over to Yazoo. The long haired Advent met his eyes disdainfully when Cloud signaled that he wanted to talk to him away from the others.
With a carefully blank expression, the middle-child followed the blonde into the trees, the elves watching silently.
0o0o0
Kadaj lifted their kills, a pair of pheasants and three rabbits, easily as he lead the three man hunting party back towards their camp. Loz laughed happily and then proceeded to lift his youngest brother, game and all, up onto his shoulders with one easy movement and continue at a trot towards the others. Lasthas followed behind, a small smile on this face as he tried to reconcile the fearsome warrior who'd threatened his fellow guardsmen with the giggling child perched atop his brother's shoulders. He wasn't sure what was going on with the four Men they were escorting to Lorien, but for some reason they made him uneasy.
0o0o0
"What do you want Ni-san?" asked Yazoo quietly, and Cloud could tell he was forcing himself to be civil.
"Is Kadaj ok?" Cloud asked, deliberately ignoring the painfully obvious problems between the two of them.
"Why wouldn't he be?" questioned Yazoo suspiciously.
"He was pretty angry a few days ago, with the whole Lurker thing." Replied Cloud, as neutrally as he could.
"He's fine. Daj is bi-polar. That sort of thing is normal. As long as he's happy, it doesn't happen." Explained Yazoo stiffly, his body tense.
"What if it does happen again? We need these people. We don't know anything about the people, the language, the land, anything. We could survive, but we wouldn't be happy, and I don't think we'd ever get home. And I don't know about you, but I want to get home eventually."
"So, what? You think Kadaj is going to somehow screw this up for you? You think he's going to make it so you can't get home? That's so like you Cloud. You're so selfish! Can't you see that he's doing his best to be nice to you?" yelled Yazoo, working himself up into a fury.
Neither noticed as Kadaj and Loz crept quietly towards them from the camp, their faces drawn into frowns as they listened.
"And you're wrong; we would be just fine without these people. We would be just fine without you! Unlike you, we don't really care what people think of us! Unlike you, we're capable of looking out for each other instead of wallowing in our own guilt!" he continued, jabbing a finger into Cloud's chest. Cloud's posture immediately changed at the contact to something much more hostile.
"So you never want to get back home? You want to just live out here in the wilds, like animals?" demanded Cloud, his voice low.
"We've done it before." Hissed Yazoo, crossing his arms defensively over his chest. He'd backed away from his seething brother, knowing that in a one-on-one fight, Cloud would beat him hands down.
"That's no way to live Yazoo." Started Cloud, relaxing his battle-ready stance to something less threatening once Yazoo had backed off, physically at least.
"What do you care anyway? It's not like you're doing this for us. You just want to get home! We're just a means to an end for you, so why the hell should we listen to you?" growled Yazoo, his lips twisted into a teeth-bearing snarl.
Suddenly, Kadaj announced his presence by slapping his closer brother hard across the face. A shocked silence filled the forest as Kadaj glared murderously at Yazoo.
End part 8