Prophecy's Refrain | By : butabara Category: Final Fantasy VII > General Views: 1018 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0 |
Disclaimer: I do not in any way own FFVII or its affiliates. I make no money from writing this story. |
Chapter 18
Kadaj listened to the tragically beautiful song that Harmony was singing. As the first verse began, he stood from the couch and went to stand on the back balcony. He could still hear clearly the words of the song. Did she really think of him that way?
He closed his eyes and listened, willing his rising anger to fade.
"Guileless son,
I'll shape your belief,
and you'll always know
that your father's a thief.
And you won't understand
the cause of your grief,
but you'll always follow
the voices beneath…"
Was she talking about Jenova? It seemed like it. Her haunting voice brought images to his mind of racing through city streets to Midgar and then looking into the black box to see Jenova's mutated head staring back at him.
It bothered him. He was trying so hard to not be that person anymore. It had been better than a week since the last time that Jenova was able to take over his mind. He could still feel her there, trying to push through, but he couldn't understand the words she spoke. It was as if she was speaking through a soundproof window. He realized that Harmony was slowly changing him. Normally, he had no interest in even pretending to be nice. Now, he wanted to be there for her.
Normally, he would have taken what he wanted from her. Probably not raped her, no. But he would have pushed harder for her to give in. Now, he wanted to go at her pace. He wanted her to want him. It confused him. He was supposed to hate humans. Hate her for taking Jenova away from them. He hadn't even thought about Jenova in days. The music of the violin paused and Harmony's voice rang out again.
"Guileless son,
your spirit will hate her,
the flower who married
my brother the traitor.
And you will expose
his puppeteer behavior,
for you are the proof
of how he betrayed her loyalty…"
Was that verse about her? Should he hate her? It confused him, the feelings he got when he looked at her. She was just a human girl!
A reckless, silly… beautiful, talented, loving, accepting, powerful, strong-spirited human girl.
He was doomed. If Jenova was not defeated here, she would surely kill him and his brothers for their dallying. Why was it that he couldn't bring himself to care? Was death truly what he had to face in the end? Would he care if living meant living without Harmony in his life?
"Guileless son,
each day you grow older,
each moment I'm watching
my vengeance unfold.
Child of my body,
flesh of my soul
will die in returning
the birthright he stole…"
There it was. She was absolutely right. Jenova would kill him. A thought crept slowly into the back of his mind. So slowly, in fact, that he didn't even realize he'd thought it until it almost knocked the breath out of him.
Jenova would kill him anyway. She would kill him, and his brothers, and all of the people here with him that he had grudgingly grown close to. She was wrong.
She was wrong! He had been wrong! It finally hit him. ShinRa were bad guys before, yes. But now? Now, he and his brother's had been the bad guys, trying to free Jenova so that she could use Sephiroth to destroy the planet.
These people here didn't deserve to die. He did. He had taken initiative, taken leadership. He had ordered his brothers to do the things that they did.
He made up his mind.
If they ever went home, he would do everything in his power to help ShinRa rebuild the world, and to kill Jenova once and for all. If Aerith survived to journey back with the rest of them, he would pledge his life to protect her. If he couldn't take Harmony with him, he would keep another very special and powerful woman safe.
"Hush, child
the darkness will rise from the deep, and
carry you down into sleep, child.
Darkness will rise from the deep, and
carry you down into sleep…"
As Harmony finished her song, she noticed a bright blue light flash on the back balcony, and that Kadaj was missing. Sassi raised her eyebrows in question, but Harmony shrugged her off, telling her she would explain later.
"Kadaj?" She said, stepping out into the cool night air. The light still lingered around him, flickering slightly before disappearing into nothing.
"Do you really think that about me?" He asked. "That I'm evil. Molded for Mother's-… Jenova's revenge? Nothing but a puppet?" Kadaj asked, turning around to face her.
"Oh, Kadaj." She sighed, laying a hand on his cheek, "That's not what I think at all. The song is meant to inspire understanding. You are not evil."
"What is the song called?"
"Its called 'Mordred's Lullaby'. Sung by Morgan le Fey to her son. She was molding him. Shaping him to be the villain. The song, Kadaj, is about teaching other's that Mordred was not evil. He never stood a chance against the darkness and his vengeful mother. That is how I see you, Kadaj."
He took a deep breath as Harmony pushed into his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder.
"You pity me?" He asked, his voice turning hard.
"No. Absolutely not. I see you as a very strong person. You faced the darkness for years, Kadaj. Years. And it almost destroyed you. But you beat it. Even if you think you didn't. If you truly wanted to help Jenova, then my spell wouldn't have stopped you from going to her." She admitted, holding her breath and awaiting his reaction. She had just showed him a massive amount of trust, giving away that secret.
Kadaj pushed her away from him, looking into her eyes and searching for anything that even resembled pity. He found nothing but acceptance, and something he couldn't quite name. He let a dark look cover his features and pushed Harmony completely away from him. She watched in confusion until he walked a few steps and turned the switch to start the bubbles and jets in the hot tub. He then removed his shirt and pants, wearing only his boxers, and climbed into the hot water, hissing slightly and then looking at Harmony expectantly.
She gave a small smile and nodded her head. She slipped her shorts off to reveal modest boy short panties, and her shirt followed. She wore another sports-style bra the same cream color as her panties. She motioned for Kadaj to scoot over and climbed in after him, settling on his lap and laying back against his chest. She had a question and she didn't want to look at him to ask it. He ran his hands down her arms soothingly. There was nothing sexual about it, it was comfort, and nothing else.
"Kadaj?" She asked, trying to keep her voice even, without fear.
"Hm?" He asked, brushing one hand across her forehead and pushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
"Will you tell me about yourself?" His hand froze in midair as it was going to repeat its motion.
"What do you want to know?" He asked, guarded. He knew it was only fair, since he knew about her life.
"Where did you grow up? Where are your parents, your family? How did you end up in Hojo's lab?"
"Can I choose which questions I answer and which I don't?"
"Of course, Kadaj. You know I won't push you. You can kick my ass and I wouldn't even see you coming!"
Kadaj chuckled and resumed stroking Harmony's arms. "I was born in Banora." He said.
"Isn't that where Genesis said that Zack left him?" Harmony asked. Kadaj nodded.
"Yes." He remembered something. "Do you still want to know what a 'dumbapple' is?"
Harmony smiled and nodded her head. "Their official name is 'Banora White'. The trees only grow in Banora. They bear fruit at random times during the year, thus, the townspeople call them dumbapples." He explained. "They're delicious. So juicy, and sweet. I miss them. I haven't had one in so long…"
Harmony twisted in his lap. She tried to distract him. "How did you grow up?" She asked. She rested her arms around his shoulders and toyed with his hair, now damp from the steam.
He looked into her eyes, trying to decide if he wanted to talk about this. "I grew up with my sister." He said simply. Harmony raised an interested eyebrow.
"Your sister?"
"Yes. My twin."
Harmony gasped. A twin? "What happened to her?"
Kadaj looked away, obviously trying very hard to avoid eye contact. "She died. Can we not talk about this anymore? Maybe later."
Harmony let her face fall in a sympathetic frown. "Of course. I'm sorry, Kadaj. I didn't mean to-"
"WHOO-HOO! HOT TUB!" Came a shout from the sliding doors. Reno stood in nothing but his boxers, followed by the rest of the Turks and Yazoo.
Harmony sighed, frustrated at being interrupted as the invaders piled into the hot tub that was barely big enough for all of them. Kadaj subtly kissed behind her ear and whispered, "Its okay." He caught her eyeing Yazoo with a look of disgusted awe.
"What is it?" He said.
"The fact that you're all so damned hot!" She hissed, hoping that Yazoo hadn't heard her.
She flushed when he smirked at her, confirming that he had, actually, and thought it was hilarious.
"Where's everyone else?" She asked, trying to take the attention off of herself.
"Well, Cloud took everyone 'cept Sass and Loz to the meadow. They wanted to train. Big Boss went, too." Reno told her, referring to Rufus.
"Oh well that sounds safe. How drunk are they?" Harmony drawled. If they were even half as drunk as she was, they could be in trouble. "Where are Sassi and Loz?"
"Watchin' a movie." Reno answered again.
"Oh. Okay then. Wanna play a game?" She asked, suddenly feeling very playful.
Kadaj blanched. Her last drunken game ended with a hang-over and some very foggy memories.
"What game?" Cissnei asked from Yazoo's lap. She and Elena were attired much like Harmony was, and the men were all in nothing but boxers.
"Truth."
"Don't you mean 'Truth or Dare'?" Elena asked.
"Oh Heavens, no! That would not be a good idea, I think. Just 'Truth'. But!" She qualified. "If you lie- and I will know if you do -you have to take double shot. If you refuse to answer, you have to take one single shot." She pointed to the bottle of vodka that Reno had brought out with him. "And the questions have to be…" She let them hang for a moment, building anticipation. "…sexual."
"Alright!" Reno cheered.
Kadaj groaned and covered his face with one palm, running his hand down to cover his mouth. He noticed Yazoo in much the same condition.
"I'll start!" Harmony said. "Reno." Her tone of voice quickly got his attention.
"Yes?" He said.
"You ready?" she asked as if they were doing something much more serious than playing dirty drinking games.
"Bring it."
"Have you ever slept with a man?"
Reno sat shocked for a moment, staring at the expectant faces of those around him. Finally, he lifted the bottle to his lips, grumbling about not playing nice if Harmony wasn't going to, and downed a single shot.
It was his turn. "Yo, Boss." Tseng looked up, apprehensively.
"Reno." He answered.
"You ever bang Elena?"
Tseng gasped and Elena squealed, turning bright red. "Certainly not!"
Harmony put her hand in the water, pushing her energy into it and in turn, into Tseng as well.
"Liar!" She accused. Tseng glared daggers at her for outing him, and Elena, still bright red, splashed water in her face. "Come on," Harmony pushed. "You know the drill!" Tseng growled and raised the bottle to his lips, downing two shots quickly.
"My turn!" He growled, zeroing in on Harmony. She felt a cold chill run down her spine at the look in his eyes, and almost regretting outing him.
"Well. It sounds like they're having fun." Loz said. He stretched again, intending to slip his arm around Sassi's shoulders once more.
"Oh for the love of God." She reached up and grabbed Loz's arm, pulling it over her shoulder and shooting him an annoyed-amused look.
Loz smiled sheepishly and turned his attention back to the movie as Sassi did the same. Feeling a bit playful, he reached just a little further, grasping her flesh in his hand and effectively 'honking' her boob.
In a flash he was sprawled back across the couch, his jaw throbbing. Sassi stood over him, glowering angrily and wringing the hand she punched him with.
"Pervert!" She growled, and then stalked off into the kitchen.
Loz waited until she left the room before allowing the smile to spread across his face, twitterpated.
'Oh dear Odin, I think I just fell in love!'
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