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Final Fantasy VII: Angelic Threnody	By : DarkSeraphim1 Category: Final Fantasy VII > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 1315 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core, Before Crisis, or Dirge of Cerberus. I do not profit from the writing and/or posting of this fic. I am just a humble fan paying tribute to another's wonderful creations.

Chapter List
- 21
- 22
- 23
Chapter Twenty Two

            ’My friend, the fates are cruel. There are no dreams, no honor remains. The arrow has left the bow of the goddess.’ -Loveless, ACT IV
            Cloud found himself surrounded by darkness. He slowly turned, his own footsteps echoed around him, reverberating through the blackness that even his own enhanced eyesight couldn’t penetrate. It was an unnatural night that caused his heart to pound with dread, and his lightly muscled form to tremble with reluctant anticipation. He didn’t know where he was, or how he had come to be here, and he wasn’t ashamed to admit that he was scared, even though he couldn’t have explained the underlying excitement if asked.
            “Nii-san.”
            He came to a halt as a faint sliver of light appeared before him, glowing with a neon-green light that had him shuddering with sudden apprehension. Silver-green eyes formed in the darkness, gleaming brilliantly, a predatory light shining from their radiant, cat-like depths. Cloud paused as those eyes found his, locking onto him with startling intensity. A slight ring of blue tingeing the outer edge of either iris, and he found himself taking a step towards that compelling, incongruous gaze, even as his instincts screamed in warning. They were all that he could see in the inky darkness surrounding him, and they drew him as nothing ever had before.
            “Come,” a light, hushed voice whispered, echoing through not only the room, but through his very mind. “We are waiting for you.”
            “Who are you?” he called out, trembling as that youthful voice cut through him with astonishing pain. “What are you? How can I hear you in my mind? What do you want from me?”
            High, mocking laughter met his words, accompanied by the scrape of metal-on-metal, as the eyes disappeared. “You know who we are, brother. As for what we want. . .”
            He whirled around as the voice sounded behind him, only to find nothing in its place. He stuck a hand out, searching blindly, but for what he couldn’t have said. “I don’t understand,” he whispered, his hand falling to his side as his chest began to ache.
            “Sure you do,” a different, deeper voice said. “You just don’t wanna.”
            A high-pitched giggle came to him, and he whirled to his left, both confused and astonished to see a large silver sword appear in his gloved hand. “Is that your answer for everything, brother?” a smooth, cultured voice asked with amusement. “Will you kill us again for daring to approach you?”
            “Yeah!” the deeper voice agreed indignantly. “We’re your family, you know! We only wanna play with you.”
            Fear began to creep through him at those eerie, childlike words. “Who the hell are you?” he shouted, whirling around as he heard footsteps at his back.
            A slender boy stood before him, a double-bladed katana held loosely in his left hand. Short layers of striking silver hair fell into his face, partially obscuring his features, while leaving one of those devastating dual-toned eyes completely bare. “You know who we are,” the boy whispered, reaching out with his free hand, that single eye pleading with him. “You know who I am. Nii-san, please, don’t let them to do this to you, to us. Not again.”
            “Who?” he asked, his voice hoarse as he struggled with emotions he didn’t understand.
            “Mother,” the boy spat with obvious disgust, adding, “and that bitch-goddess.”
            Fear became full-fledged terror, though he couldn’t have said why. The boy took a step towards him, that tiny gloved hand flexing in a beckoning motion. “We need you,” he whispered, his musical voice wavering as his slim form seemed to flicker in the darkness. “You’ll never know how much. Please, Nii-san, I need you. I always have.”
            Cloud found himself reaching out, unable to fight the compulsion to take that little hand, and the pleasure he somehow knew would come with it. The boy tipped his head to the right, and that smooth fall of platinum hair fell away from his face, revealing pink lips which smiled in welcome. Cloud stopped dead in his tracks as beautiful, angelic, terrifyingly familiar features were revealed to him. He began to back away as the boy‘s form flickered, a taller, slightly broader frame showing through his delicate façade.
            Cloud could only shake his head as denial screamed through him, bringing up the sword he had all but forgotten. “No!” he cried, despair filling him as red-gold flames sprang up around the youth. “I won’t let you do it. I won’t let you kill them. Not again!”
            The boy/man paused, pale green eyes shimmering as they filled with tears. “Is that all I ever was to you?” he demanded, his voice choked with anguished rage as those tears spilled over. “Is he all you saw when you fucked me?!”
            Cloud watched with bewilderment as those tears ran freely down the boy’s face, which had distorted with the same grief that pierced his own heart. Crystal droplets hit the ground at the boy’s feet, forming a small pool that illuminated the boy in silvery light. The flames continued to burn around him unabated, completely unaffected by the water that lapped gently at his feet, and Cloud‘s terror rose as a thick black wing sprung from the youth‘s right shoulder.
            “Please,” the boy begged, the rage gone as though it had never been. He dropped the katana and extended both hands, oblivious to the feathered horror that flapped gently behind him. “Don’t turn me away, Nii-san. I’ve waited so long to see you, again. Didn’t you miss me, even a little?”
            There was a glimmer of empathy, a moment of shared pain, and then it was gone, swallowed by the darkness within himself. Yes, he knew the boy, though he couldn’t have said how. It was more of an instinctual knowledge, a gut-deep certainty that this slender, beautiful youth was somehow important to him. But, that told him nothing, and gave no explanation for the fear that even now rose up to choke him.
            Images began to form around the boy, hauntingly beautiful and yet wholly terrible at the same time. A beautiful girl with sage-green eyes knelt on the boy’s right, her hands clasped together as though in prayer. To his left, a handsome young man with glowing blue eyes and spiky black hair stood, head bowed, a massive sword raised before his closed eyes. Cloud watched with horror as the taller form separated itself from the boy, moving behind the girl and raising an incredibly long sword up before him. At the same time, the long-haired warrior appeared behind the young man, the same sword held on level with his metal-covered shoulder, his intent all too obvious.
            Cloud screamed a warning that neither seemed to hear as the ghostly images moved in unison. The massive sword was pushed through the girl’s back, even as its twin swung at the muscled youth. The other boy whirled around, blocking it with own sword, sparks illuminating his attacker’s rage-filled face in a frightening manner. His gaze shot back to the girl, whose eyes met his as she slowly slumped over the outrageously long katana, it’s extensive length dripping with her blood. The dark-haired man cried out, and Cloud watched, horrified, as he was brutally cut down. He was thrown to the ground, his own blood forming a pool beneath him, his blue, blue eyes filled with pain as they moved to the girl. Her deep green eyes met his, the expression in their depths gentle, as was the smile that curved her lovely lips. The sword was pulled from her back as her killer smiled with smug insanity, leaving her broken form slumped on the ground. The wounded man’s face distorted with grief before he too went limp, his eyes closing forever.
            Rage filled Cloud as both of the silver-haired killers stepped away from their victims and moved towards the boy once more. They merged with him, became him, and Cloud knew what he had to do. His hand tightened on the hilt of his sword, his other coming up to steady it, as he stepped towards the boy. Those exotic, tilted green eyes with their intense glow widened, their shining depths filling disbelief, even as that abominable wing inexplicably vanished.
            “Nii-san, what are you doing?”
            “You killed them,” he hissed, his own eyes narrowing as he took another step forward. “They were helpless, defenseless against you, and you killed them!”
            The boy didn’t move as he slowly lowered his arms, his cherubic features showing a weary resignation that didn’t belong on such a young face. “I thought you were different,” he whispered mournfully. “I thought you saw me. But you’re just like all the others. All you see is him.”
            He shook his head, his asymmetrically cut hair swinging around his face. “I won’t do it,” he hissed, anger narrowing those startling eyes as the double-bladed katana reappeared. “I won’t be him, not ever again. Not even for you!”
            The boy held his sword crosswise before him, the sharply-rounded blades reflecting the fires which still burned, as well as the radiant light from the tear-formed pool. Cloud could only lift his own sword over his head as his body took on a life of its own. He leapt for the boy, who dropped into a defensive crouch, his expression one of defiance. The youth sprang back at the last minute, landing somewhere above him, a silver beacon in the ink-black dark.
            “I am not him!” he all but screamed. “My name is Kadaj, and you will remember me!”
            The dance which followed was hauntingly familiar to Cloud, a dark ballet of clashing steel and vibrant emotion. His body acted on its own, moving to counter the boy’s moves before he could even finish executing them. Almost as though he could read the boy’s mind, he found himself responding to subtle changes in the his posture, correctly interpreting each slight shift of his slim body, leaving the silver-haired youth with no opportunity to defend himself.
            All too soon, Cloud himself standing over the boy, who lay sprawled defenselessly in the shallow pool his own tears had created, his sword gone as though it had never been. Deep blue light undulated over him from the glass dome which suddenly appeared around them, giving the blood that flowed from his wounds a blackish cast. He bled steadily but didn‘t seem to notice as he gazed up at Cloud, one small hand reaching out in a silent plea.
            “Do you see?” he questioned, his voice nearly inaudible as his pale green eyes began to glimmer erratically. “They’re trying to keep us apart, to keep us from becoming whole. You won’t let them, will you, Nii-san? You’ll find us soon, won’t you?”
            “I--” Cloud’s throat tightened as that bewildering sense of grief rose up to choke him, triggering a image of this same boy, bleeding to death in his arms, while he looked on silently. “I’m trying,” he whispered at last.
            “Nii-san.” The boy drew a gasping breath, more tears spilling from his eyes to dampen the silver hair at his temples, as waves of azure light continued to play over his trembling body. “You’re supposed to come for us,” he whispered, his hand falling limply to the floor as the last of his strength deserted him. “You’re supposed to come so I can make things right. Will you let me?”
            Cloud didn’t—couldn’t—answer as anguish brought him to his knees. He knelt in the boy’s blood, reaching for the hand he had rejected only moments before. The boy’s hand gripped his weakly as the glow in his silver-green eyes began to fade, his pink lips curling into a sorrow-filled smile. “It’s all right, Nii-san. I suppose it was too much to hope, that you meant what you said that night. I’m guess, I’m just a monster—a puppet—after all.”
            “No!” Cloud said sharply, a flash of memory stirring within his mind. This boy, naked and sweating beneath him, asking him if he felt whole yet. His own response was a quiet murmur, three small words that had changed both their lives, and ended his only days later. “K-Kadaj?”
            “Yes, Nii-san.” Pale jade eyes closed even as the boy’s smile changed, his beyond pale features showing an inexplicable peace. “I love you, Nii-san. I finally know what that means. Aren’t you proud of me?”
            “Yes,” Cloud murmured brokenly as he gathered him close, “I’m proud of you, Kadaj.”
            Kadaj lied bonelessly in his arms, his smile fading as his heartbeat slowed. “You’ll come now, won’t you, Nii-san?”
            “I promise,” Cloud brushed his lips over the silken skin of his forehead, “that I’ll come for you. I won’t let anything keep us apart.”
            The young boy, a remnant of a greater power, but a being in his own right, sighed with heavy relief as the life finally left him.
            Cloud rolled over with a gasp, burying his face in his pillow as he clutched it to him. Kadaj had found him, he thought with a choked laugh. Somehow, the boy he loved had found a way to reach out to him, even though the dream had been dark and undeniably violent. But that darkness was so much a part of Kadaj that he couldn’t be angry with him for it. Just the knowledge that Kadaj was alive and knew him would be enough to keep him going in the weeks ahead.
            He sniffed and wiped his cheeks on with the heel of his hand, smiling to himself as the tears continued to fall. Kadaj was alive, and more importantly, he wasn’t the nine-year-old he was supposed to be at this point in time. Maybe, that’s what’s the age therapy had been for, Fate’s way of preparing them both for the intensity of their reunion.
            Reunion. Cloud grimaced at the term which had taken on such a dark connotation in his mind. He had to remind himself of how different things were now, of how much he and Sephiroth had already changed. Rufus was soon going to be running Shinra, which was an improvement, even if his future self hadn’t done such a great job. Rufus had meant well when he went after Jenova’s remains, but doing so had shown just how little he really understood the planet he lived on. Gaia hadn’t been happy, but had been too weak to properly defend herself, so the task had fallen to Aerith.
            Cloud sighed and rolled onto his back, gazing unseeingly at the ceiling as he thought of the beautiful flower girl. She was alive here, hopefully traveling to Nibelheim at this very moment. He was glad that she hadn’t tried to contact him, no matter how much he longed for her. She had been his lover, yes, but much like Vincent, she had been a friend too. She had also been Zack’s girl, and had he remembered that when he’d first met her, he would never have gone near her.
            Kadaj, though, he had been different. They might have been lovers, but they had never been friends. It was the first time Cloud had cared for someone that he wasn’t sure he liked, and it had been difficult for him to come to terms with that. He could only hope that, this time, things would be different. He wanted to become friends with Kadaj, he wanted there to be peace between them. He wanted the beautiful young man to see him as more than a quasi-sibling. He wanted Kadaj to see him for who he truly was, and still be able to love him.
            As for the other two, Cloud wasn’t sure how Kadaj’s brothers would react to seeing him again. He had taken their baby brother from them, and they had responded by killing themselves as well as him. They probably wouldn’t be too pleased when he showed up and claimed Kadaj as his own. He could only hope that Kadaj’s control over them was absolute now as it had been a year ago, or things were going to get real ugly real fast.
            Well, he’d deal with that when the time came. He had enough on his plate now without worrying about things he couldn’t control. He still had at least a hundred files to go through, maybe more, and he was still no closer to finding Kadaj. He knew that they were somewhere on the Central Continent, but that was the full extent of his knowledge. No matter how hard he searched, he couldn’t find even the smallest hint of where the boys were being held. At least, he knew that they weren’t in Nibelheim.
            He had called his mother last week, both surprised and pleased to hear her sounding so damned clear as he‘d talked to her for the first time in eight years. Unfortunately, that clarity had lasted for all of ten minutes. It had been long enough for her to tell him that Shinra Manor was still unoccupied, that she was doing well, and that she missed him terribly. Then she had slipped away from him, from the world, once again. She had retreated in to her own mind, as she often had in his youth, and he had been left holding a one-sided conversation with himself.
            Cloud closed his eyes for a long moment, wishing that he knew how to help her. Mom had been ill for as long as he could remember, but Nibelheim’s one doctor hadn’t been able to properly diagnose her, let alone treat her. Maybe, if he went to Sephiroth, he’d be able to get proper medical treatment for her.
            He grimaced at the thought of humbling himself before his nemesis, but if it would help his mother, it would be well worth it. So, he’d ask Sephiroth to send one of Shinra’s doctor’s—not Professor Hojo—to Nibelheim to examine her, and maybe, he’d get lucky.
            Cloud snorted at the thought. He had never been lucky. His life had been a series of luckless disasters. From the bullying he’d suffered as a boy back home to the day he snuffed out his lover’s life with his own sword, he had been plagued by tragedy. Except for a few, too-brief moments in time, he had spent his life absolutely fucking miserable, and he hated it.
            He wanted to be happy, damn it! He wanted to settle down somewhere and live a normal life with the one he loved. But considering exactly who it was he had chosen to love, that probably wasn’t going to happen. Even if Kadaj had somehow managed to change himself enough—which he doubted—it wasn’t like they could have kids together or anything.
            He missed Marlene, with her youthful optimism and her oftentimes disconcerting wisdom. He missed Denzel, too, even if he had always felt uncomfortable with the boy’s hero worship. He even missed Tifa, even though she had always nagged him without meaning to. But Tifa had wanted more from him than he’d been able to give her, and it had strained their friendship more than he would have liked. Even if he hadn’t met Kadaj, he wouldn’t have been able to love her like that. She had been his friend, but he had never felt more for her than that, not even when they’d made love on the eve of that final battle with Sephiroth.
            It had been Aerith in his mind, in his heart, that night. Tifa had to have known, but she hadn’t said a word. She had merely taken him into her arms and given him a piece of herself. He had always regretted that that piece had been her heart.
            “Damn,” he whispered, throwing the covers back and climbing out of bed. He wasn’t going to get any more sleep tonight, not with the excitement of having touched Kadaj still riding him, mingling with twenty-five years of regrets. His adrenaline was flowing, and he needed to find an outlet for it, even if only temporarily.
            He thought briefly of going down to the 49^th floor and using the VR room, then dismissed the notion. The last thing he needed was to be forced to explain why he was out of his room after curfew. No, thought as he grabbed the pouch he kept Hojo’s files in, he’d stay here and continue the search for the boy he loved.
            Cloud turned on the living room light--a tall lamp with a too-bright bulb—and grabbed his laptop off of the wooden crate that passed for his coffee table. He sat back on the lumpy sofa that Zack had helped him procure and set the computer on his lap. He propped his feet up, opened the laptop, and waited patiently for it to boot.
            As he reached for the first flash drive he paused, frowning as the dream came back to him. There at the end, as he’d watched Kadaj bleed from wounds he himself had inflicted, he’d seen something that didn’t quite fit. A gentle blue light had washed over the boy, undulating as waves of water would. A glasslike dome had appeared around them, and the waves had reminded him of—
            Junon!
            Cloud started as the realization came to him. It had been just like that underwater corridor in Junon, the one that had led to the submarine dock when they’d been searching for the Huge Materia. Was it possible? he asked himself excitedly. Could Hojo have built an underwater laboratory somewhere in the area surrounding Junon? There had been rumors of an underwater mako reactor back when he’d been a cadet, but no one had put any stock in them, as it was extremely hard to harvest mako in an aquatic environment. What if, the rumors had been started by Hojo himself, to hide a darker, more sinister truth?
            He set the flash drive down and hurriedly opened up a browser page, going to Shinra Electric Power Company’s main website. He found what he was looking for nearly an hour later. He smiled as he studied a simple sketch, one drawn by Dr. Hollander himself. He’d written a thesis on the advantages of aquatic mako production, but the project had been rejected by the Board, President Shinra in particular.
            Cloud searched for more detailed information, but could find nothing more. Pushing aside a sense of frustration, he saved the page and emailed it to Sephiroth’s phone, alone with a short message. It would probably be morning before he got a response, but he had gotten very good at waiting over the last three years. After all, patience was a virtue when one was trying to save the world.
            He smiled self-deprecatingly at the thought, his eyes closing as he laid his head back. Soon enough, he would be with Kadaj, again. If nothing else, he could let himself believe that. Sephiroth was just as dedicated to finding the boys as he was; he actually seemed to care about them, as weird a thought as that was. The Nightmare was turning out be surprisingly human, for all of his alien genetics, even if he wasn’t the nicest man Gaia had ever produced.
            Cloud’s thoughts turned to Genesis Rhapsodos, and the smile disappeared. Sephiroth loved the man, so much so that he had let Jenova control him just for the opportunity to search for him. He hadn’t even known if Genesis was alive or dead, and he had still risked ending the world to find him. Cloud wondered suddenly if he ever had.
            Sephiroth had never explained exactly what had happened to Genesis, or where he himself had been when world had ended. Had he somehow escaped the Lifestream, even though such a thing shouldn’t have been possible? Why hadn’t his soul, his mind, his will, been absorbed by the fiery conflagration that had destroyed The Planet? Why—how--had he survived when even Zack hadn’t?
            “Fuck,” he whispered as he rubbed a hand over his gritty eyes. He hated this. He was so tired of hating Sephiroth, of being unable to trust the man he was forced to work with. Sephiroth wasn’t the monster Jenova had made of him anymore. He wasn’t the same mad SOLDIER who had murdered his mother and burned his hometown to the ground. He was slowly becoming real to Cloud, in a way that he had never been before, neither as his idol or his nemesis. Sephiroth was just a man like any other, except for all of those astonishing abilities, and Cloud was very much afraid that was starting to like the other man.
            Gods, the man had killed nearly everyone he’d ever loved, had nearly killed him three fucking times, and he was still thinking of him as an ally, if not an actual friend. While it would be nice to have peace between them, he knew better than to trust Sephiroth’s mental state. The man had admitted to being emotionally unbalanced, and Cloud had seen proof of this the last four weeks, as the man struggled with whatever pain Genesis had inflicted on him. The flashes of temper, while mild compared to his post-Nibelheim actions, were uncharacteristic enough that even Zack had commented on them. Sephiroth never did any more than snap at whoever had angered him, but it was enough to worry those who cared about him, including his best friend’s optimistic protégé.
            Still, Sephiroth did appear to be in control of himself. Cloud had seen no signs of Jenova’s presence, nor had he felt her again, thank all the Gods! So far, Sephiroth’s claim that her hold on him was all but gone appeared to be true. Cloud could only hope it stayed that way. He really didn’t want to kill Sephiroth again. All he wanted was to find Kadaj and his brothers and take them somewhere where they would be safe.
            ‘I love you, Nii-san. I finally know what that means. Aren’t you proud of me?’
            Cloud blinked back tears as he remembered those whispered words. Kadaj had wanted to be loved so badly that he had sacrificed himself and his brothers in a twisted attempt to please the mother he’d never known. He hadn’t understood love as it truly was, or what his destructive acts were doing to them all. He had expected Cloud to worship him as his brothers did, blindly and unquestioningly, and he had been enraged by Cloud’s refusal to do so. He’d expected his Nii-san to join he and his brothers, to become a part of their family, as they sought to bring about their mother’s Reunion.
            Instead, he had been both bewildered and hurt by Cloud’s admittedly callous rebuff. Once Cloud realized exactly who—or what—Kadaj really was, that had been the end of their fragile, burgeoning relationship. Kadaj had called him a hypocrite, reminding him that he wasn’t the human he pretended to be, not anymore, and that he was meant to be with them. Cloud had responded by walking away, leaving his beautiful little lover screaming obscenities at his back. They’d been enemies the next time they met, and they had remained so until the day First Tsurugi ended all of their hopes and dreams for the future.
            Never again, Cloud told himself determinedly. He would find a way to save Kadaj and his brothers, and he would show them what it meant to be a real family. He would teach them how to live in the human world, and he would spend the rest of his long life making Kadaj blissfully happy. His little lover would have all of the love and devotion he so desperately craved, and Cloud would take all that he was in return.

            He wondered if Kadaj was ready for that, then shrugged the thought away. It really didn’t matter. The boy’s fate had been sealed from their very first kiss. Once Cloud found him, he would never let him go. He would fight to protect him and his brothers, and he would kill anyone who tried to come between them. It was as simple as that.
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            “Nii-san!”
            Kadaj awoke in a rush, his heart slamming against his ribs, as he bolted upright on his cot. His mako-bright gaze darted around the small, sterile room, his body relaxing as he spied two familiar figures kneeling at his bedside. He glanced down at the pale white hand that clutched his own and clung to it gratefully. “It worked,” he said in an uneven whisper. “I found him, Yaz.“
            “That’s good, tenshi.” Yazoo rose to his feet with the inhuman grace that all three brothers shared and settled elegantly on the edge of the thin, lumpy mattress. He reached out and smoothed a hand over his brother’s silky hair, hiding his concern as he smiled for the baby. “Did he accept you, Kadaj?”
            A shadow of uncertainly hovered in Kadaj’s pale green eyes even as he nodded an affirmative. “He didn’t recognize me, though, not at first. That bitch was fucking with his mind!”
            Loz shifted from his crouch, finding a more comfortable position on the floor, drawing his brothers’ attention to him. “Which bitch, tenshi?”
            Kadaj just shrugged, his thin shoulders rising and falling, as he drew his knees up before him. “I’m not sure,” he admitted reluctantly. “I could feel her there, but it was like Gaia was there, too. It was a little confusing.”
            Loz’ rock jaw dropped at that. “They were both there?” he asked, incredulous.
            Their angel shrugged again, hugging his knees tighter, and Yazoo pulled him close. “It’s quite possible, Loz. Neither of them are very happy with us right now,” he reminded their older sibling calmly.
            “Yeah, but still. . .” Loz shook his silver head as he thought about it. “They’re not supposed to work together, Yazoo.”
            “No, they’re not,” he acknowledged in a murmur. “Of course, we could be wrong. We don’t know nearly enough about traversing the Lifestream’s consciousness to be sure of anything we find there.”
            Kadaj tensed against him. “I’m sure.” He raised his head from his brother’s shoulder, his cherubic features betraying his stubborn nature, and first stirrings of anger. “I felt Mother there, Yaz. She was the one screwing with Nii-san’s memories, but she wasn’t alone, and it wasn’t Father I sensed. No, it had to be Gaia. There’s no other explanation.”
            Yazoo made a non-committal noise as he drew the baby back to him. “The important thing is that you touched big brother. Did you have a chance to show him where we are?”
            That was enough to distract Kadaj from a potentially explosive outburst of temper. “I managed to show him the dome,” he said with a proud smirk. “And he promised to come for us. He said that he wouldn’t let anything keep us apart. He still loves me,” he added with just a touch of relief.
            “Of course, he does.” Yazoo smiled fondly as he laid his cheek on the top of the baby’s head. “You know that no one can resist you, Kadaj.”
            “True,” the younger boy conceded with natural arrogance, “but I was still worried. You know how stubborn Nii-san can be when he’s angry.”
            Yazoo’s smile died at that. Cloud Strife had no right to be angry with Kadaj, not after he had been the one to end his life. But Yazoo didn’t voice his thoughts, nor let his own anger with their older brother bleed over into their shared bond. Kadaj loved his Nii-san with everything in him, and he wouldn’t allow anyone to speak badly of him. He was quite capable of turning on them when he became angry, and that was to be avoided at all costs. He never meant to hurt them, but controlling his flashpoint temper had always been beyond him. He always regretted his actions afterwards, but that didn’t make his outbursts any easier to bear. Kadaj was their baby, their angel, their god, and it always hurt when he was displeased with them.
            “Yaz?”
            He felt Kadaj squirming against him and realized that he was holding him much too tightly. He loosed his hold and looked down at the baby, who was gazing up at him with wide, vulnerable silver-green eyes. “Yes, tenshi?”
            “You really don’t hate Nii-san, do you?” he asked in a small voice.
            Yazoo slanted a glance at Loz, who returned his gaze with a warning in his own green eyes, before looking down at Kadaj once more. “I was angry with him for hurting you,” he answered very, very carefully, “but not any longer. I understand why he stopped us, now. I only regret that I didn’t in time to save you.”
            Kadaj sniffed and threw his arms around him, and Yazoo closed his eyes as relief filled him. “We’re okay, now,” Kadaj whispered the reassurance into his chest. “Nii-san will come, and he’ll bring Father with him, and we’ll all leave this place. I promise, Yaz, I won’t let us die here.”
            “I know, you won’t,” Yazoo assured him gently. “We trust you, tenshi. We believe in you.”
            “Yeah,” Loz piped in, “we trust you, little bro.”
            Their older brother was a study of male perfection as he climbed onto the narrow cot, his over-muscled form causing the cot’s thin frame to squeak alarmingly. He settled in the small space between them and the wall and wrapped his arms around them both. They huddled there, clinging to one another as they always had, their bond stronger than it had ever been before. Their lives and deaths had meant nothing before, merely the last act of a desperate alien entity to fulfill what it believed to be its destined path.
            Things were different, now. There weren’t just remnant’s of Jenova’s power, made over in the image of her favorite son. They were necessary to the future of The Planet, no matter how much Gaia despised them, or what she did to reject them. They had a purpose that didn’t include wanton destruction for another’s sake, and they were going to fulfill that purpose, no matter what obstacles rose up against them.
            Kadaj sent those thoughts to his brothers, smiling happily as their shared enthusiasm bounded back to him. He was going to save them. Even if Nii-san never came, he would find a way out for them, just as he had before. He wouldn’t let Yazoo be experimented on any more, not when he was already so sensitive that he could barely tolerate physical contact with anyone other than them. And he wouldn’t let Loz be bullied by their insensitive guards, either. Loz was a physical fighter, one of the strongest men on The Planet, but his emotions had always been his weak point. If the SOLDIERs guarding them didn’t back the fuck off, they were going to find themselves on the wrong end of his training sword!
            “I miss Souba,” he blurted out suddenly, his eyes welling with tears as he thought of his beloved, dual-bladed sword.
            Loz shared a pained glance with Yazoo, who only sighed and brushed his lips over the baby’s head. “We know you do, tenshi.”
            “Why isn’t it here?” he asked in a plaintive whisper. “You and Yaz got your weapons again, and I had it tonight in the dream. Why doesn’t big sister return Souba to me? Why isn’t it here, waiting for me when I train?”
            Loz looked like he was on the verge of panic as the baby began to cry, and Yazoo quickly stepped in. “Perhaps, big brother has it,” he said smoothly. “He was there when you. . . died, after all.”
            The tears stopped as suddenly as they begun, Kadaj’s angelic face lighting up the thought. “Of course!” he cried, his mood shifting from misery to joy in a matter of seconds. “It makes sense. Nii-san loved me. He’d want to keep a part of me with him, wouldn’t he?”
            “Yeah,” Loz agreed with a hasty nod, “’course he would. You‘re special, Kadaj. Everybody knows that.”
            The baby beamed at Loz and planted a loud, smacking kiss on his lips. “Thanks, brother. You always know how to make me feel better.”
            Kadaj turned back to Yazoo and added, “You too, Yaz. Thank you.”
            “You’re more than welcome, tenshi.” Yazoo shifted, breathing a silent sigh of relief as another emotional crisis was averted, even as he marveled that the baby had actually thanked them—for anything. “Perhaps, you should try to sleep again, Kadaj. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”
            Kadaj grimaced at the reminder. They were going back into those accused tanks again in the morning. He wanted to tell the scientists that they were wasting their time, that they couldn’t be made any older than they already were, but he knew better. Knowledge was power, and they couldn’t afford to give these men any more power over them than they already had.

            “That’s a good idea,” he said with a curt nod. “You two should get some sleep, too.”
            There was no mistaking the command underlying his words as Kadaj slipped under his own blanket. Loz climbed off the bed and headed for his own bunk, and Yazoo tucked the blanket around his younger brother’s shoulders. “Goodnight, tenshi.”
            “Good night, Yaz.”
            Kadaj smiled up at him brightly before burrowing into his flat pillow, and Yazoo couldn’t resist the impulse that had him pressing a kiss to the baby’s soft cheek. “Sleep well, brother,” he whispered before pulling away.
            Kadaj watched through slitted lids as Yazoo did the same for Loz, tucking him in as they had seen human mothers do with their young in the outside world. Yazoo was their caretaker, mother and father both, and he had always taken his role very seriously. Kadaj had taken him for granted before, when he hadn’t known any better, and he was determined not to this time around. His brothers were the most important thing to him, and he was going to make sure they knew it. After all, he was all they had in the world. He would never let anything come between them—not even Nii-san.
            Nii-san would understand, though. Of that, Kadaj was certain. He had been so protective of his human family, and they hadn’t even been related to him. He would be able to empathize with Kadaj, and he would help him protect the older brothers who meant so much to him.
            Kadaj smiled as he imagined the four of them together, living in a house somewhere, like the family they had always been meant to be. He tried to picture Father there, but the image blurred out of focus. He didn’t know Sephiroth. He never had. The closest he’d come were borrowed memories of a certain red-haired kitten, and those weren’t enough to show him who Sephiroth really was.
            He was both eager and afraid to come face-to-face with the man who had made his own existence possible. Nii-san had hated Sephiroth passionately, but that was understandable. Most people on Gaia had spoken his Father’s name in low, terrified whispers, if they’d spoken of him at all. That Shinra guy, Rufus, had said his name with contempt, but that really didn’t mean a whole lot, considering the source. Shinra had been responsible for Father’s instability, just as Mother had been responsible for his descent in madness. None of it had been Sephiroth’s fault.
            No, the fault lied with those who had harmed him, like Professor Hojo and his precious kitten. Hojo may have merged Father’s cells with those of Jenova, but Koneko was the one who had created the perfect monster. He’d seen enough in the admittedly confusing athenaeum of Sephiroth’s intimate memories to know that. Father’s kitten had laid him low, and made a monster of him in the process.
            Nibelheim.
            Kadaj shivered and pulled the covers up around his head. Yazoo had retained more of that time in Father’s life than he had, but what little he remembered was enough to scare him. It had been Koneko who had broken their heart and shattered their spirit, leaving them vulnerable to Mother’s bullshit promises of love and family. Father’s kitten had broken them, and then had the nerve to ask for their help. They had been right to leave him to rot. It was what he had deserved.
            He wondered idly where Koneko was, now. They hadn’t seen him since that fateful night in Nibelheim, even though they had spent years mentally joined in Father’s ultimately fruitless search. Was he still at Shinra, with Father and Angeal and the puppy?
Kadaj cast a glance at the far side of the small room, where Loz lay, already snoring. Poor Loz had gotten a lot of Father’s memories of Angeal, their honor-bound friend. Loz wasn’t quite as bright as Angeal had been, but he was by no means stupid. He just didn’t know how to express himself, most times. Thankfully, that suffocating sense of honor hadn’t stuck with him. Thirteen years being tortured in Hojo’s lab had made sure of that.
            Which was a good thing, Kadaj reminded himself. They never would have lasted as long as they had if they’d had to worry about being lectured on the subject, especially considering some of the things they’d had to do to survive once they’d escaped. No, he liked Loz the way that he was, strong and beautiful and socially awkward, but most of all, loyal.
            There was nothing more important to Kadaj than loyalty. He’d seen what the lack of it had done to them before, when Koneko had turned on them so viciously. Neither he nor his brothers would ever betray one another like that. They loved each other too much to let anger and jealousy come between them that way.
            He could only hope that Nii-san understood just how important their brothers were to him. He could never abandon them, and he was pretty sure he couldn’t live without them. While he might make Nii-san whole, Kadaj could only find completeness with the two who had stood by him all his life. And maybe, someday, with Father.
            Kadaj closed his eyes as a yawn escaped him, and he pushed his confusing swirl of thoughts away. He was tired, and the only contact he’d have with Nii-san this night was through his dreams. Maybe, he’d even be able to find him without Yazoo’s tranquility steadying him throughout the process.

            If not, well, they’d be together soon enough. Nii-san had promised, and he was a man of his word—always.
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Final Fantasy VII: Angelic Threnody