[Closed] A Reunion of a Different Sort

[silversouba]

Characters: SilverSouba, shotgun_allure, and criesformom
Location: Casualty Communal
Rating: PG?
Time: December 7th
Description: The three remnants FINALLY reunite.

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[silversouba]

He walked ahead in silence. Leader and follower-brothers. Kadaj knew from Yazoo’s reaction that he hadn’t remembered anything that had transpired. He’d have to explain it all again. Annoying. It wasn’t fair that he kept getting the short stick! Aerith left and came back with her memories intact. Other people did too. So why was it when Yazoo left and came back they had to start from scratch again? The last planet reviled them and this one did too.

Kadaj’s jaw clenched as he skipped two to three stairs at a time (faster that way). He headed straight to Loz’s apartment. Once inside he securely locked it.

“You don’t remember anything do you?” He had asked even though he already knew the answer. The young remnant strode past his brother and to a nearby window.

A tense hesitance hovered over everything.

Where to even begin?

“The device BREW brought us here and the Shibusen are the people in charge. Everything is different.”

He stared hatefully out the window and watched the citizens below. They laughed. He scowled.

“The planet here is dead.” He turned to face Yazoo again. “It’s completely useless! That Cetra girl is here and even she can’t do anything with it. They brought us here to fight in their war for a worthless planet.” He gestured to the outside, voice rising. “They don’t even know about us! They don’t know about Mother. Not even Sephiroth! I tried to show them. I’ve threatened and hurt them but it doesn't work! And Sephiroth he . . .” His voice trailed off.

A pause. A breath.

“He’s more of a traitor than ever, Yazoo. He doesn’t care about Mother! He doesn’t want a Reunion anymore! He’s content here. He’s human,” such a revolting word, “and he still likes to think we belong to him.” Kadaj smirked incredulously. “Cloud and Sephiroth are the best of friends now.” He stopped and stared at his brother, sarcasm filtering how he really felt about the situation. “They are partners.” He sneered, disgusted, and shook his head. “Even as a team they can’t beat the Shibusen. The Shibusen are more powerful than anything we’ve encountered, brother. Much more organized and stronger than ShinRa could ever hope to be.”

There was nothing else to tell. Yazoo would ask questions. Kadaj had the answers. He’d give them if he felt he should.

There were secrets. Secrets he didn’t want his brother to find out despite how close they were; despite Yazoo being the one person he had a semblance of trust with here.

There were things that were meant to stay inside his head. That was nothing new. If Yazoo knew about his doubts, about his fears, about his new weaknesses, about everything that had happened, his brother might view him differently. A leader was always in charge. Mother’s sons always knew what to do. He couldn’t afford to lose that.

When Kadaj spoke again his voice was filled with revulsion. The next set of words was hard to say. They were painful to admit. That hurt boiled into a muted wrath he couldn’t fully express no matter how violent he got.

Fists curled at his sides as he glanced back out the window, eyes narrowed.

“As long as we’re here we’ve become the embodiment of the very thing Mother hates.”

[shotgun_allure]

No, he remembered nothing at all of Shibusen. If he had been here before, that was, and he couldn't see how he could have possibly had the time around searching for Mother. But arguing with Kadaj was like digging through water, so he only murmured an agreement and let the youngest remnant vent.

The fact that they did have a base of operations was mildly reassuring. The fact Loz was still conspicious in his absence was not.

Yazoo situated himself by the locked door, just in case, and leaned against it as Kadaj paced and ranted, listening intently to every word. Sephiroth is against us, sided with Cloud. Shibusen may well be the strongest foe we have yet faced.

But one word stood out, and caused the feeling of displacement and displeasure to be swept away by pure shock.

Human.

They were now human.

Such a fact was completely unknowable to beings such as them, black-smoke wraiths born of a demon's stubborn hatred. To be something mortal, something so fragile and grossly weak, fallible and easily injured... he was abruptly glad that the door was there to hold him up.

Fear and disgust sank unfamiliar claws deep into his heart, and all he could say was, "How?"

[silversouba]

“Brew is a machine that grants wishes.” Kadaj’s response came easily, as if he’d known the question would come and it had only been a matter of time. “Before you ask,” he gave his brother a knowing look, “it’s tightly secured and hidden away. Only one wish can be granted at a time. That means until this war is over it is useless.” Kadaj pushed himself away from the window and began walking slowly without a destination.

“At least that’s what they tell us.” He watched his brother carefully. Yazoo’s eyes were a dilated and his chest lifted at a slightly quicker pace than normal. Only Kadaj would have noticed such a thing. He had no idea how to comfort his brother. And to be honest, he didn’t really want to.

“They say we’ll be sent back just as soon as their little feud is over,” he scoffed. “But there’s no end in sight. We know how long wars can go on for, don’t we?” Kadaj gave a grim chuckle. “We’re just flesh to add to the front lines.”

Why wasn’t Loz here yet? The teen sighed, heavily, irritated. He pulled out his communicator to check for any messages. None. He began to send a text while he further explained the situation.

“Coming here limits our superior abilities. We become meisters or weapons. I’m a meister, like Cloud.” He gestured to Yazoo. “You’re a weapon, like Sephiroth. Do you realize what that means, brother? Cloud can now wield Masmune. I’m stuck with Velvet Nightmare and Dual Hound.” Not that they weren’t poor weapons. They were great weapons. They just weren’t Kadaj’s weapons of choice. Neither of them could begin to compensate for the loss of Souba.

“They want us to go on missions to kill these things called Kishins. The more we kill, the more powerful we become.” Kadaj’s brows furrowed as a deep frown of frustration grew on his face. His gripped the communicator tightly, half expecting it would break.

“Do you understand the problem, Yazoo?” Where the hell was Loz? “We can only get stronger by helping the enemy. “

[shotgun_allure]

Kadaj's explaination washed over him, and it was only from sheer inbred reflex that Yazoo absorbed most of it. He was still languishing largely in a state of shock, feeling vaguely as though he had been shattered and dropped into a vat of paste, still the same shape only by a twist of luck. He did, however absently, notice the look his brother gave him, and fought to regain control over his pulse-rate. It would do neither of them any favours to fall apart at this junction.

We're stuck like this. Hateful though the thought was, Yazoo was uninclined to his brothers' fits of uncontrolled emotion and thus was able to 'pull himself together' rather more easily under stress than either of them. He brutally squashed any further threads of panic, and tried to look at the probelm objectively. There's no use dwelling on our situation - we'll have to adapt.

Turning this over in his mind (and recovering enough to be mildly offended at the mention of 'being stuck with' perfectly good weapons) he realised that he didn't have the first idea on how to survive as something mortal. He knew how humans worked, of course - anyone who could torture a Turk to the point of breaking was no alien to basic anatomy - but he didn't know how to make one work from the inside, as it were. This would require research at a later date.

He pulled himself out of his cold musing long enough to actively listen to what Kadaj was saying, and nodded, lifting his chin to dispell any appearance of weakness. "I understand."

Yazoo considered the final line for a long moment, and then drawled, as much for his own confidence as his brother's, "I suppose... we'll just have to bide our time, won't we?"

[silversouba]

“Bide our time?” That was Yazoo’s best idea? Kadaj stared at him incredulously. “Is that IT?”

His brother was supposed to have a better plan than that! Yazoo was supposed to know what to do in a times of crisis. Yazoo should have been able to think of something. But he hadn’t. His best idea was a worthless one.

The teen turned away trying to keep his cool.

“We’re not just going to sit here and do nothing!” He laughed angrily and paced back and forth like a caged animal. This was ridiculous! How did they ever end up in this position?

“What would Mother think?” He paused, only for a moment, before tramping across the room again. Each footstep resounded clearly. “She is counting on us. I am not going to let her suffer while we just sit here and wait!”

They had to do something! Anything was better than just biding their time. So long as they kept moving it would feel like progress was being made.

Inhale. Exhale. Calmer, though his voice still ragged from tension, he said, “If we do nothing we may never return.”

Bide our time?

Kadaj made a pained face, the corners of his mouth turned down. “You don’t know what it’s like here, Yazoo. You don’t know what it means to be fragile. To be … human.”

The young remnant finally slowed to a stop. He stood right before his bother. What if Yazoo left again? Maybe it was better not to get attached. Maybe it was better to expect that he would be alone again.

“We bleed and it hurts.” Kadaj pointed to the various scabs from injures that now adorned most of his body. “I hate this!”

Bide our time? Is that really the best you can do?

“I refuse to do absolutely NOTHING! I don’t care what it takes, brother. How much work it will be, even if our lives need to be sacrificed to help Mother then we’re doing it. No questions asked!” He inched closer, their faces mere centimeters apart. Kadaj stared right into eyes that mirrored his own, daring. “I shouldn’t even have to tell you this, Yazoo.”

A long moment passed, unblinking. Kadaj finally stepped away. It was now he noticed that a toy Loz had purchased was now missing. As were a few of his other belongings.

Kadaj knew what this meant. He knew it too well. Loz was gone. The anger he felt could have choked him. Somehow he managed keep the emotion back--barely.

“If you want to bide your time,” his tone was dangerously placid, “then find big brother.” The remnant gestured half heartedly to the door. Yazoo was probably going to abandon him again anyway. He had already done it once before. “Go.”