Previously....
After a long and thorough conversation, JENOVA assigned Sephieroth and her gang with the mission to deal with a family dispute that was supposedly happening for quite a while between Yuffie and Vincent, and seemed to be giving Kadaj a hard life growing up. JENOVA learned of him running away from home again, raising concern among her and Sephieroth's gang as well. Realizing that Kadaj has run away from home numerous times, Yazoo and Loz were ordered to head for JENOVA Kingdom Outlands to punish Yuffie and Vincent, and hopefully find and rescue Kadaj before they could find him. The WEAPON quests once again have been temporarily postponed.
Chapter 7: A Brother's Sorrow& a Father's Madness
(This section will focus on Yazoo as the speaker) As instructed by Little Sister, me and Loz set out and drove to the kingdom outlands to rescue Kadaj and deal with his supposedly corrupt parents. After several hours of driving, we managed to arrive at our destination. I signalled Loz to stop and we both parked and got off our motorbikes. I walked around a bit, glancing around the area. This place was scarier than the rumors claimed: there were red and black craters that looked to be horribly hot, the ground was ravaged as though Little Sister used meteor, mysterious shadows seemed to creep within the ground itself as though they were alive; this place was awful. I heard Loz slowly approach me, and could hear him crying quietly. He seemed to be afraid of this place already. I turned to face him and said "I know, Loz.... i know this place looks horrible. But we have to keep going, Brother." Loz replied "Its terrible... why would a Little Brother like Kadaj come to a place like this?" I shook my and said "I don't know any more than you do. But if i ran from home, this would be the last place id come to. If Kadaj really does escape into this place every time he runs away, something is definitely wrong in the home. It's not like a 9 year old kid to come to a place like this." We both stood in silence. I tried to think about why Kadaj would go straight here when he runs from home. Very few of his age would last long here; i knew that with just one look at this place. Suddenly, i remembered how Vincent was by nature, and that started to clear things up. I then started "Wait a minute... If Vincent is really his father, that may have something to do with why he wanders here instead of brighter places in the kingdom. I dont know everything about him, but i know enough to assume there are some kind of genetics involved here. You do notice Vincent has a lot of dark powers, right Brother?" Loz nodded and answered "Yes... thats the first thing anyone would notice about him." I immediately continued "If Vincent is Kadaj's father, its very likely Kadaj inherited the same dark power or similar to it. Likewise, he would choose a dark and lifeless place like this to hide out. According to what Mother once told me, a person with dark powers and dark arts expertise is naturally affected by those powers which would cause them to feel more at home in a place like this. I dont have enough intel to prove this, but its very likely. Only beings of the darkest nature would deliberately come here in the manner that Kadaj supposedly did." Loz remained silent, then said "Well, no matter how scary this place may seem, we still have to do our job. Let's drive around and find our Little Brother." Loz started to head for his motorbike, but i immediately stopped him and said "We cant drive here, Loz. The ground is unstable and there's too many things to watch out for. If we even brush those craters, our motorbikes are history. We'll have to go by foot." Loz sighed and said "Alright... if only we had Little Sister here to help us... we'd have eyes in the sky then which would really help here." I then said "I know, but we'll have to make the most of it as is. It sucks, but we dont have a choice." Suddenly, as we both started running to find Kadaj, i heard Mother's voice in my mind saying Wait for me, my son. You cant do this without me. I suddenly stopped where i was, Loz following as he asked "What is it?" I stammered a bit saying "Its... its Mother..." Out of nowhere, Mother appeared directly in front of us. She had an orb in her hand that glowed a blinding and powerful silver; it appeared to be some kind of materia i had never seen. I then asked "Mother.... whats that materia?" Mother replied "It's a very special one i had held on to for many years, Yazoo. However, it was virtually powerless without me in my purest form which is why i never did anything with it. I wanted to give it to Sephiroth, but he insisted i give it to you or your sister." Then i asked "What powers will it grant me, Mother?" She smiled and said "This is the strongest materia on this planet, my son: using it will give you the ability to control the energy of the cosmos and use extremely powerful attacks as a result. You can also fuse with me physically or call for my help midbattle--i'll be there immediately, my son." Loz gave me a hard but friendly slap on the back while laughing a bit and said "Youre really lucky, Yazoo. Powers like that can rival all kinds of bad things." I smiled back at Loz, then turned back to Mother and said "That sounds amazing, Mother... but are you sure you want me to have it?" Mother giggled and said "I insist, my son. It should make navigating this place significantly easier for you two. The area is too vast to scale by foot and i dont advise driving on the ravaged ground either. You can use the materia to open a time-space as well the same way i naturally can, but if you use its powers too much your JENOVA cells will exhaust and you know what that means. Use those up and you cant fight at all." I nodded in understanding, and Mother handed the materia to me. I kept it in my hand, glancing at it thoughtfully. I wondered if i should let Brother Loz have it instead. I spoke after a brief silence "Mother.... what about Loz? Do you have extras for him?" I saw Mother smile and tears fall from her red eye as she put her hands together folded in front of her. I could tell she was happy i thought about my brother instead of just using it on myself. I smiled back at her, resonating with her in happiness. Mother kept her hands folded in front of her, and i saw bright white light begin shining from between her hands that quickly turned to shiny silver. Slowly separating her hands, i quickly noticed there was another materia where she folded her hands: i glanced at the one she gave me and noticed they were exactly the same. I gasped, smiling and said "Mother! How did you do that? That was amazing!" She giggled but didn't respond. I glanced upward attempting to see Mother's lifestream, and noticed it was extremely powerful and charged with her cells. It even seemed stronger than usual to me. I wondered if her emotions caused it to react in a way that allowed her to spontaneously create an exact copy of the same materia she gave me. Returning my gaze to her, i saw her hand the copy of the new materia to Loz. Loz turned to face me with a smile and said "Thanks for thinking of me, Yazoo." I smiled back and said "Ahh, it was nothing, Brother." We both hugged each other, then turned back to Mother. Mother smiled and said "Alright, my children. Go save Young Kadaj before Yuffie and Vincent find him. If youre having trouble, use that materia to communicate with me telepathically. I can try to pinpoint his location and his parents also. Be careful, my children. This may be my kingdom, but i cant give you the evil energy readings--those are off the chart unless theyre powerful enough for me to detect." I nodded and replied "Understood, Mother. We'll proceed with caution." Mother smiled and giggled as she vanished, most likely returning to wherever she was before appearing to us. Me and Loz silently turned to face each other, nodding and then infusing our new materia into ourselves. We each got our weapons ready, preparing to attack anything that came our way. I was the next to speak as we continued treading the area carefully "If Kadaj really did inherit Vincent's dark powers, he could be anywhere.... he could even be one of those shadows creeping inside the ground." Loz immediately replied "If thats where he is, we're in big trouble. We'll be stuck trying to determine fakes from the real Kadaj, and you know how that would go." I shook my head but didn't respond. I knew Loz was right and hoped that wouldn't end up happening. After a long while of searching the wide open area, I said "He's not here. We'll have to cut through a time-space to reach another part of the area." Loz turned to face me said " Alright, but remember what Mother said: if we use those powers too much our JENOVA cells will exhaust!" I replied saying "I know, but we have to chance it or they'll reach Kadaj before we do! We were told to find him before they do which means we have to try." Without saying another word, we both held our hands flat on top of each others, using our powers together and remotely fusing with Mother's purity. We each bolted silver metallic wings and took off full speed after letting go of each other. After we reached maximum speed, a blinding bright wormhole opened in front of us which we quickly entered and felt shut behind us. The mysterious dimension was like some kind of cave id never seen; there were black crystals and ground nearly everywhere. The place was quiet and mysteriously beautiful at the same time, but for some reason it was hard to breathe; like someone was choking me or something. Upon landing, i returned to my natural form and Loz did the same. I tried to reach for my gunblade, but i could barely even stand up straight. I couldnt move; my legs felt like they would give out, breathing felt so difficult i could barely do it, and then i quickly started to get dizzy. It was like some unseen source was trying to kill me! Loz ran in front of me and said "Yazoo, whats wrong?!" I wanted to respond, but it felt almost impossible. I started "I.... i cant.... move or--" I coughed very hard, blood spewing from my mouth. I felt my blood sliding down my lips in small but thick streams. I couldn't even finish my sentence; my vision began to blur all of a sudden. I suddenly felt like i was on the verge of death just from entering this place, but Loz was totally unharmed! I didn't know what was going on anymore. I suddenly fell to the ground, landing on my back. I struggled to stay awake; i didn't want to pass out on the job. I heard Loz shout my name, but my vision was too blurry to see him or anything else except what was now colors with no shape and black spots that quickly appeared large enough i couldn't see anything. I felt something lift my body off the ground gently, but i blacked out before i could do anything at all.
Several hours later....
(This section will focus on Loz as the speaker) I wondered what even happened in that time space we entered. Someone or something was latching on to Yazoo and clearly trying to kill him. Luckily, someone swooped in to save us before things could get any worse. He wasnt very tall, but he was cloaked in a black robe or cloth of some sort that was thick enough i couldn't see much of his face; just his green eyes that all of us had and a small amount of his silver hair. He had knelt down to Yazoo as though trying to see how he was but kept silent. I was the first one to speak "Is he dead..?" The young man put his gloved hand over Yazoo's chest followed by his neck and said "He seems weak, but he's still breathing. What were you two doing in that place anyways? That place is dangerous. Even i know not to go there." I immediately said "We just opened the nearest time-space to get to another part of the kingdom outlands, nothing more. And how do you know about that place?" The kid got up immediately, turning to me quickly as he said "Don't get smart with me! I come here a lot so i naturally know about it! Any other remarks you have?" He narrowed his eyes at me, his silver hair gently draping over them a bit. I knew whoever this kid was that he was awfully angry and agro for some reason. I suddenly paused and asked "Calm down, Little Brother. Im not here to hurt you or cause problems. Can you give me your name?" He suddenly seemed to mellow out, looking downward in a strange way. After staring down in silence for a bit, he said "My name... its Kadaj..." I suddenly saw tears fall from his eyes and noticed he was sad. I then said "Whats wrong, Kadaj? Whats going on at home that has you escaping clear out here in a lifeless place like this?" He immediately locked his eyes on me and said "You know about my parents? Can you... help me..?" I nodded and answered "I can if you tell me everything you know, Little Brother. As a member of Princess Sephieroth's gang and Mother's Divine Guard, its my job to help keep peace within the kingdom and family." Kadaj then said "Ok... i'll tell you everything, Big Brother..." I began listening in silence. Kadaj began "Mommy and Daddy, they used to love me dearly when i was just a baby... they would always do happy things together, even laugh at times.... until the day i turned 6. Then they would argue almost every day, even skirmish against each other. Anytime i caught them fighting like that, theyd drop their weapons and try to make it seem like nothing happened.... but i knew they were fighting. I would hear stuff break, gunshots, and even Mommy's shuriken hitting stuff and Daddy sounding like he got hit by it... sometimes there was blood on the ground. I started running away from home so i wouldn't have to get involved in those fights, so i could feel safe and even learn to fight on my own in case id have to skirmish with them if i got caught.... but theyd always come out and find me here, and Mommy would be angry and rough with me when i got caught. I had to scavenge for materia, and i had a hunch that this place would be the best spot for me to get what i needed so i could hide in a time-space and make it super hard to get caught... i got what i wanted, but Daddy can do the same thing and found me once..." The poor kid was crying as he explained it all. I could tell he was very hurt and scared at the same time; he clearly had rough experiences at home. Its no surprise he would come somewhere this big. After he seemed to finish, i said "Do you know why your parents started arguing and fighting?" He paused in silence, then said "It was something Daddy said, and Mommy got mad at him about it.... Daddy said that i was just Mother JENOVA's pawn or lacky or something, and that was what got Mommy so angry and she threw her shuriken at him and that was the first skirmish. Mommy tried to cuddle in me in bed after that fight, and i felt her crying when she would hold me close. I know she loves me, but Daddy won't even look at me unless he has to.... I don't know whats going on, but im too scared to be at home anymore!" Kadaj broke out in tears and sat on the ground with his face in his gloved hands. I felt awful; the poor kid had a mom who wanted him and a dad who didn't seem to care at all what happened to him. However, he didn't say anything about being physically abused or otherwise. I immediately asked "Did daddy beat you?" Kadaj looked up at me and said "No, but.... he tried to shoot me before, and Mommy took the hit for me before i could get hurt.... ive tried so hard to find another place to stay or hide at ever since, but i always get caught quickly unless i go here! I cant even run around here forever either!" I helped him up, gently lifting him into my arms trying to comfort him. I knew i had to do something about this; and sending him back there was not an option. While holding Kadaj, I heard Yazoo cough and glanced at him. He seemed to slowly open his eyes as though waking up. He slowly stood up and said "We're.... outside? What about the time-space?" I immediately replied "Worry about that later! We have a major case of domestic violence at hand here!" Yazoo's eyes widened as though he were shocked and sad at the same time. He immediately said "What did they do to him?!" I saw him reach for and grip his gunblade as though he was ready to fight. He suddenly seemed like he hadnt blacked out at all. I quickly replied "I'll explain later. We have to chase after Yuffie and Vincent!" He nodded and we both took off without saying another word. I kept Kadaj in my arms to help protect him from his violent parents. Suddenly, a crimson shadow swooped down from nowhere, knocking me to the ground. Kadaj slipped out of my grasp, landing beside me. I immediately tried to get up as quickly as i could and prepared to attack. I shouted "I know you're there! Show yourself!" Yazoo was also on high alert and ready to fight. I quickly saw the crimson shadow begin to take shape directly in front of us, and found myself looking at Brother Vincent. I kept my gaze on him, studying his features. His eyes were green like ours; his long hair was silver like ours. I could hardly believe a man this cold-blooded towards his own son was actually our Brother. Vincent seemed to sneer, then said "What do you want?" Yazoo also grew steely and replied "What did you do to Kadaj?!" Vincent narrowed his eyes but didn't respond. Yazoo didn't even bother waiting and said "Say something! Say something or fight!" Vincent replied "I only came to pick up my son beside you guys. Why are you trying to pick a fight with me?" I quickly said "Don't play dumb, Brother. We both know why Kadaj keeps running out here." Vincent sighed and said "And whats a fight going to do to solve anything? You two can take me head-on if you like, but youre no match for my dark shadow arts." Yazoo immediately said "Thats exactly why we came in the first place. Loz, do we punish Sister too?" I quickly said "No, she was trying to protect Kadaj; let her go. Our Brother here is the one to punish." Yazoo said "Say no more." We both lashed out at Vincent, all three of us fighting a full-blown battle: me and Yazoo against Brother Vincent. I didn't like fighting him in front of his own kid, but there was no choice. All of us went back to back for what seemed like forever, none letting up on either side. Both me and Yazoo were intent on making sure Mother's creed was enforced here regarding domestic violence and even potential child abuse of poor Young Kadaj. We were not going to let Brother unpunished. After a long scuffle, Yazoo managed to surprise Vincent from behind, shooting him while he was caught off guard. Vincent fell to the ground, and i immediately took advantage of this opportunity by stabbing the ground with my weapon, sending strong shockwaves that clearly hit Vincent hard enough he didn't move for several minutes. The battle had clearly ended; a small fissure was left where i had used my finishing move. I glanced around to make sure Kadaj was unharmed, and saw he was sitting calmly on the ground where he was before the fight. He had the strangest look on his face; like he was surprised and happy but without the smile. Yazoo rushed to him, carefully picking him up to make sure he was ok. I focused on making sure we didn't kill Vincent. I saw his eyes open and he was still breathing, which meant we did this right. He took notice of me and glanced back, then said "You two are better than i thought... I seemed to have underestimated Mother's remnants..." He slowly stood up, seeming like he was stiff or had been badly injured. He cried out in pain quickly afterwards, falling back down. I asked "Can you walk?" Vincent seemed frustrated and said "What do you think?" I realized he was too injured to get around on his own. I reached for his hand and lifted him, letting him lay in my arms. I could tell he was badly injured, but we at least didn't kill him which was the important thing. I looked him in the eye and said "Unless you want a repeat of that or worse, so the right thing and be a father to Kadaj--not an abusive maniac!" Vincent grumbled but didn't say anything; he wasnt angry about what i said, but about getting caught and badly beaten by me and Yazoo. I knew he was embarrassed to have lost to us, even though he clearly wouldn't admit it. I turned back to Yazoo and said "Is he ok?" Yazoo answered "Yes, the little guy seems unharmed. But what about Sister?" I stopped and tried to think about what to do next, but nothing came to mind except to contact Mother for a report. However, i didn't have to; Mother suddenly appeared between both of us with a smile on her face. She said "Well done, children. I don't think Vincent will be foolish enough to continue that behavior of his after this." Mother giggled a bit, and both me and Yazoo also laughed. I heard Vincent groan in frustration but didn't care; the mission was successful, Little Brother was ok, and thats all that mattered to me. Mother then continued "I'll take Vincent with me to my throne at the Mako Reactor and have a long talk with him about his actions. As Queen and Mother of this planet, its my duty to make sure something like this never happens again. I want you two to take Kadaj back to his home--Yuffie is waiting for him to be dropped off. I told her to go back home and that everything would be taken care of." I nodded in understanding, and Mother took Vincent from me. I saw her gazing at him with a strong and angry glare. I knew she was furious with him: her eye showed it. Of course, he knew not to sneer back; in fact, he seemed scared of her angry stare. He knew he was in big trouble and i could tell he was terrified of what Mother would do. If you went to such extremes that Mother got angry, you were at the mercy of her power and judgement. That was never to be taken lightly. Mother can in worst cases issue Family Expulsion and seal you in her lifestream permanently. Given the extent of Brother Vincent's actions, i knew that was certainly a possibility; especially since she is taking him to her throne at Mako Reactor. Thats not her resting place where we meet all the time; thats the peak of the place where you would go and stand before her if you were guilty of only the serious of offenses. I knew he wouldn't be wriggling out of this one so easily. After Mother took off and flew away with Brother, me and Yazoo focused on bringing Kadaj to safety. The mission was a success, but with Brother Vincent having to kneel in the face of Mother's fury, this was far from over. Should he receive Family Expulsion, i had hoped Kadaj would be happy at home regardless of such terrible fate.
To be continued...
After a long and thorough conversation, JENOVA assigned Sephieroth and her gang with the mission to deal with a family dispute that was supposedly happening for quite a while between Yuffie and Vincent, and seemed to be giving Kadaj a hard life growing up. JENOVA learned of him running away from home again, raising concern among her and Sephieroth's gang as well. Realizing that Kadaj has run away from home numerous times, Yazoo and Loz were ordered to head for JENOVA Kingdom Outlands to punish Yuffie and Vincent, and hopefully find and rescue Kadaj before they could find him. The WEAPON quests once again have been temporarily postponed.
Chapter 7: A Brother's Sorrow& a Father's Madness
(This section will focus on Yazoo as the speaker) As instructed by Little Sister, me and Loz set out and drove to the kingdom outlands to rescue Kadaj and deal with his supposedly corrupt parents. After several hours of driving, we managed to arrive at our destination. I signalled Loz to stop and we both parked and got off our motorbikes. I walked around a bit, glancing around the area. This place was scarier than the rumors claimed: there were red and black craters that looked to be horribly hot, the ground was ravaged as though Little Sister used meteor, mysterious shadows seemed to creep within the ground itself as though they were alive; this place was awful. I heard Loz slowly approach me, and could hear him crying quietly. He seemed to be afraid of this place already. I turned to face him and said "I know, Loz.... i know this place looks horrible. But we have to keep going, Brother." Loz replied "Its terrible... why would a Little Brother like Kadaj come to a place like this?" I shook my and said "I don't know any more than you do. But if i ran from home, this would be the last place id come to. If Kadaj really does escape into this place every time he runs away, something is definitely wrong in the home. It's not like a 9 year old kid to come to a place like this." We both stood in silence. I tried to think about why Kadaj would go straight here when he runs from home. Very few of his age would last long here; i knew that with just one look at this place. Suddenly, i remembered how Vincent was by nature, and that started to clear things up. I then started "Wait a minute... If Vincent is really his father, that may have something to do with why he wanders here instead of brighter places in the kingdom. I dont know everything about him, but i know enough to assume there are some kind of genetics involved here. You do notice Vincent has a lot of dark powers, right Brother?" Loz nodded and answered "Yes... thats the first thing anyone would notice about him." I immediately continued "If Vincent is Kadaj's father, its very likely Kadaj inherited the same dark power or similar to it. Likewise, he would choose a dark and lifeless place like this to hide out. According to what Mother once told me, a person with dark powers and dark arts expertise is naturally affected by those powers which would cause them to feel more at home in a place like this. I dont have enough intel to prove this, but its very likely. Only beings of the darkest nature would deliberately come here in the manner that Kadaj supposedly did." Loz remained silent, then said "Well, no matter how scary this place may seem, we still have to do our job. Let's drive around and find our Little Brother." Loz started to head for his motorbike, but i immediately stopped him and said "We cant drive here, Loz. The ground is unstable and there's too many things to watch out for. If we even brush those craters, our motorbikes are history. We'll have to go by foot." Loz sighed and said "Alright... if only we had Little Sister here to help us... we'd have eyes in the sky then which would really help here." I then said "I know, but we'll have to make the most of it as is. It sucks, but we dont have a choice." Suddenly, as we both started running to find Kadaj, i heard Mother's voice in my mind saying Wait for me, my son. You cant do this without me. I suddenly stopped where i was, Loz following as he asked "What is it?" I stammered a bit saying "Its... its Mother..." Out of nowhere, Mother appeared directly in front of us. She had an orb in her hand that glowed a blinding and powerful silver; it appeared to be some kind of materia i had never seen. I then asked "Mother.... whats that materia?" Mother replied "It's a very special one i had held on to for many years, Yazoo. However, it was virtually powerless without me in my purest form which is why i never did anything with it. I wanted to give it to Sephiroth, but he insisted i give it to you or your sister." Then i asked "What powers will it grant me, Mother?" She smiled and said "This is the strongest materia on this planet, my son: using it will give you the ability to control the energy of the cosmos and use extremely powerful attacks as a result. You can also fuse with me physically or call for my help midbattle--i'll be there immediately, my son." Loz gave me a hard but friendly slap on the back while laughing a bit and said "Youre really lucky, Yazoo. Powers like that can rival all kinds of bad things." I smiled back at Loz, then turned back to Mother and said "That sounds amazing, Mother... but are you sure you want me to have it?" Mother giggled and said "I insist, my son. It should make navigating this place significantly easier for you two. The area is too vast to scale by foot and i dont advise driving on the ravaged ground either. You can use the materia to open a time-space as well the same way i naturally can, but if you use its powers too much your JENOVA cells will exhaust and you know what that means. Use those up and you cant fight at all." I nodded in understanding, and Mother handed the materia to me. I kept it in my hand, glancing at it thoughtfully. I wondered if i should let Brother Loz have it instead. I spoke after a brief silence "Mother.... what about Loz? Do you have extras for him?" I saw Mother smile and tears fall from her red eye as she put her hands together folded in front of her. I could tell she was happy i thought about my brother instead of just using it on myself. I smiled back at her, resonating with her in happiness. Mother kept her hands folded in front of her, and i saw bright white light begin shining from between her hands that quickly turned to shiny silver. Slowly separating her hands, i quickly noticed there was another materia where she folded her hands: i glanced at the one she gave me and noticed they were exactly the same. I gasped, smiling and said "Mother! How did you do that? That was amazing!" She giggled but didn't respond. I glanced upward attempting to see Mother's lifestream, and noticed it was extremely powerful and charged with her cells. It even seemed stronger than usual to me. I wondered if her emotions caused it to react in a way that allowed her to spontaneously create an exact copy of the same materia she gave me. Returning my gaze to her, i saw her hand the copy of the new materia to Loz. Loz turned to face me with a smile and said "Thanks for thinking of me, Yazoo." I smiled back and said "Ahh, it was nothing, Brother." We both hugged each other, then turned back to Mother. Mother smiled and said "Alright, my children. Go save Young Kadaj before Yuffie and Vincent find him. If youre having trouble, use that materia to communicate with me telepathically. I can try to pinpoint his location and his parents also. Be careful, my children. This may be my kingdom, but i cant give you the evil energy readings--those are off the chart unless theyre powerful enough for me to detect." I nodded and replied "Understood, Mother. We'll proceed with caution." Mother smiled and giggled as she vanished, most likely returning to wherever she was before appearing to us. Me and Loz silently turned to face each other, nodding and then infusing our new materia into ourselves. We each got our weapons ready, preparing to attack anything that came our way. I was the next to speak as we continued treading the area carefully "If Kadaj really did inherit Vincent's dark powers, he could be anywhere.... he could even be one of those shadows creeping inside the ground." Loz immediately replied "If thats where he is, we're in big trouble. We'll be stuck trying to determine fakes from the real Kadaj, and you know how that would go." I shook my head but didn't respond. I knew Loz was right and hoped that wouldn't end up happening. After a long while of searching the wide open area, I said "He's not here. We'll have to cut through a time-space to reach another part of the area." Loz turned to face me said " Alright, but remember what Mother said: if we use those powers too much our JENOVA cells will exhaust!" I replied saying "I know, but we have to chance it or they'll reach Kadaj before we do! We were told to find him before they do which means we have to try." Without saying another word, we both held our hands flat on top of each others, using our powers together and remotely fusing with Mother's purity. We each bolted silver metallic wings and took off full speed after letting go of each other. After we reached maximum speed, a blinding bright wormhole opened in front of us which we quickly entered and felt shut behind us. The mysterious dimension was like some kind of cave id never seen; there were black crystals and ground nearly everywhere. The place was quiet and mysteriously beautiful at the same time, but for some reason it was hard to breathe; like someone was choking me or something. Upon landing, i returned to my natural form and Loz did the same. I tried to reach for my gunblade, but i could barely even stand up straight. I couldnt move; my legs felt like they would give out, breathing felt so difficult i could barely do it, and then i quickly started to get dizzy. It was like some unseen source was trying to kill me! Loz ran in front of me and said "Yazoo, whats wrong?!" I wanted to respond, but it felt almost impossible. I started "I.... i cant.... move or--" I coughed very hard, blood spewing from my mouth. I felt my blood sliding down my lips in small but thick streams. I couldn't even finish my sentence; my vision began to blur all of a sudden. I suddenly felt like i was on the verge of death just from entering this place, but Loz was totally unharmed! I didn't know what was going on anymore. I suddenly fell to the ground, landing on my back. I struggled to stay awake; i didn't want to pass out on the job. I heard Loz shout my name, but my vision was too blurry to see him or anything else except what was now colors with no shape and black spots that quickly appeared large enough i couldn't see anything. I felt something lift my body off the ground gently, but i blacked out before i could do anything at all.
Several hours later....
(This section will focus on Loz as the speaker) I wondered what even happened in that time space we entered. Someone or something was latching on to Yazoo and clearly trying to kill him. Luckily, someone swooped in to save us before things could get any worse. He wasnt very tall, but he was cloaked in a black robe or cloth of some sort that was thick enough i couldn't see much of his face; just his green eyes that all of us had and a small amount of his silver hair. He had knelt down to Yazoo as though trying to see how he was but kept silent. I was the first one to speak "Is he dead..?" The young man put his gloved hand over Yazoo's chest followed by his neck and said "He seems weak, but he's still breathing. What were you two doing in that place anyways? That place is dangerous. Even i know not to go there." I immediately said "We just opened the nearest time-space to get to another part of the kingdom outlands, nothing more. And how do you know about that place?" The kid got up immediately, turning to me quickly as he said "Don't get smart with me! I come here a lot so i naturally know about it! Any other remarks you have?" He narrowed his eyes at me, his silver hair gently draping over them a bit. I knew whoever this kid was that he was awfully angry and agro for some reason. I suddenly paused and asked "Calm down, Little Brother. Im not here to hurt you or cause problems. Can you give me your name?" He suddenly seemed to mellow out, looking downward in a strange way. After staring down in silence for a bit, he said "My name... its Kadaj..." I suddenly saw tears fall from his eyes and noticed he was sad. I then said "Whats wrong, Kadaj? Whats going on at home that has you escaping clear out here in a lifeless place like this?" He immediately locked his eyes on me and said "You know about my parents? Can you... help me..?" I nodded and answered "I can if you tell me everything you know, Little Brother. As a member of Princess Sephieroth's gang and Mother's Divine Guard, its my job to help keep peace within the kingdom and family." Kadaj then said "Ok... i'll tell you everything, Big Brother..." I began listening in silence. Kadaj began "Mommy and Daddy, they used to love me dearly when i was just a baby... they would always do happy things together, even laugh at times.... until the day i turned 6. Then they would argue almost every day, even skirmish against each other. Anytime i caught them fighting like that, theyd drop their weapons and try to make it seem like nothing happened.... but i knew they were fighting. I would hear stuff break, gunshots, and even Mommy's shuriken hitting stuff and Daddy sounding like he got hit by it... sometimes there was blood on the ground. I started running away from home so i wouldn't have to get involved in those fights, so i could feel safe and even learn to fight on my own in case id have to skirmish with them if i got caught.... but theyd always come out and find me here, and Mommy would be angry and rough with me when i got caught. I had to scavenge for materia, and i had a hunch that this place would be the best spot for me to get what i needed so i could hide in a time-space and make it super hard to get caught... i got what i wanted, but Daddy can do the same thing and found me once..." The poor kid was crying as he explained it all. I could tell he was very hurt and scared at the same time; he clearly had rough experiences at home. Its no surprise he would come somewhere this big. After he seemed to finish, i said "Do you know why your parents started arguing and fighting?" He paused in silence, then said "It was something Daddy said, and Mommy got mad at him about it.... Daddy said that i was just Mother JENOVA's pawn or lacky or something, and that was what got Mommy so angry and she threw her shuriken at him and that was the first skirmish. Mommy tried to cuddle in me in bed after that fight, and i felt her crying when she would hold me close. I know she loves me, but Daddy won't even look at me unless he has to.... I don't know whats going on, but im too scared to be at home anymore!" Kadaj broke out in tears and sat on the ground with his face in his gloved hands. I felt awful; the poor kid had a mom who wanted him and a dad who didn't seem to care at all what happened to him. However, he didn't say anything about being physically abused or otherwise. I immediately asked "Did daddy beat you?" Kadaj looked up at me and said "No, but.... he tried to shoot me before, and Mommy took the hit for me before i could get hurt.... ive tried so hard to find another place to stay or hide at ever since, but i always get caught quickly unless i go here! I cant even run around here forever either!" I helped him up, gently lifting him into my arms trying to comfort him. I knew i had to do something about this; and sending him back there was not an option. While holding Kadaj, I heard Yazoo cough and glanced at him. He seemed to slowly open his eyes as though waking up. He slowly stood up and said "We're.... outside? What about the time-space?" I immediately replied "Worry about that later! We have a major case of domestic violence at hand here!" Yazoo's eyes widened as though he were shocked and sad at the same time. He immediately said "What did they do to him?!" I saw him reach for and grip his gunblade as though he was ready to fight. He suddenly seemed like he hadnt blacked out at all. I quickly replied "I'll explain later. We have to chase after Yuffie and Vincent!" He nodded and we both took off without saying another word. I kept Kadaj in my arms to help protect him from his violent parents. Suddenly, a crimson shadow swooped down from nowhere, knocking me to the ground. Kadaj slipped out of my grasp, landing beside me. I immediately tried to get up as quickly as i could and prepared to attack. I shouted "I know you're there! Show yourself!" Yazoo was also on high alert and ready to fight. I quickly saw the crimson shadow begin to take shape directly in front of us, and found myself looking at Brother Vincent. I kept my gaze on him, studying his features. His eyes were green like ours; his long hair was silver like ours. I could hardly believe a man this cold-blooded towards his own son was actually our Brother. Vincent seemed to sneer, then said "What do you want?" Yazoo also grew steely and replied "What did you do to Kadaj?!" Vincent narrowed his eyes but didn't respond. Yazoo didn't even bother waiting and said "Say something! Say something or fight!" Vincent replied "I only came to pick up my son beside you guys. Why are you trying to pick a fight with me?" I quickly said "Don't play dumb, Brother. We both know why Kadaj keeps running out here." Vincent sighed and said "And whats a fight going to do to solve anything? You two can take me head-on if you like, but youre no match for my dark shadow arts." Yazoo immediately said "Thats exactly why we came in the first place. Loz, do we punish Sister too?" I quickly said "No, she was trying to protect Kadaj; let her go. Our Brother here is the one to punish." Yazoo said "Say no more." We both lashed out at Vincent, all three of us fighting a full-blown battle: me and Yazoo against Brother Vincent. I didn't like fighting him in front of his own kid, but there was no choice. All of us went back to back for what seemed like forever, none letting up on either side. Both me and Yazoo were intent on making sure Mother's creed was enforced here regarding domestic violence and even potential child abuse of poor Young Kadaj. We were not going to let Brother unpunished. After a long scuffle, Yazoo managed to surprise Vincent from behind, shooting him while he was caught off guard. Vincent fell to the ground, and i immediately took advantage of this opportunity by stabbing the ground with my weapon, sending strong shockwaves that clearly hit Vincent hard enough he didn't move for several minutes. The battle had clearly ended; a small fissure was left where i had used my finishing move. I glanced around to make sure Kadaj was unharmed, and saw he was sitting calmly on the ground where he was before the fight. He had the strangest look on his face; like he was surprised and happy but without the smile. Yazoo rushed to him, carefully picking him up to make sure he was ok. I focused on making sure we didn't kill Vincent. I saw his eyes open and he was still breathing, which meant we did this right. He took notice of me and glanced back, then said "You two are better than i thought... I seemed to have underestimated Mother's remnants..." He slowly stood up, seeming like he was stiff or had been badly injured. He cried out in pain quickly afterwards, falling back down. I asked "Can you walk?" Vincent seemed frustrated and said "What do you think?" I realized he was too injured to get around on his own. I reached for his hand and lifted him, letting him lay in my arms. I could tell he was badly injured, but we at least didn't kill him which was the important thing. I looked him in the eye and said "Unless you want a repeat of that or worse, so the right thing and be a father to Kadaj--not an abusive maniac!" Vincent grumbled but didn't say anything; he wasnt angry about what i said, but about getting caught and badly beaten by me and Yazoo. I knew he was embarrassed to have lost to us, even though he clearly wouldn't admit it. I turned back to Yazoo and said "Is he ok?" Yazoo answered "Yes, the little guy seems unharmed. But what about Sister?" I stopped and tried to think about what to do next, but nothing came to mind except to contact Mother for a report. However, i didn't have to; Mother suddenly appeared between both of us with a smile on her face. She said "Well done, children. I don't think Vincent will be foolish enough to continue that behavior of his after this." Mother giggled a bit, and both me and Yazoo also laughed. I heard Vincent groan in frustration but didn't care; the mission was successful, Little Brother was ok, and thats all that mattered to me. Mother then continued "I'll take Vincent with me to my throne at the Mako Reactor and have a long talk with him about his actions. As Queen and Mother of this planet, its my duty to make sure something like this never happens again. I want you two to take Kadaj back to his home--Yuffie is waiting for him to be dropped off. I told her to go back home and that everything would be taken care of." I nodded in understanding, and Mother took Vincent from me. I saw her gazing at him with a strong and angry glare. I knew she was furious with him: her eye showed it. Of course, he knew not to sneer back; in fact, he seemed scared of her angry stare. He knew he was in big trouble and i could tell he was terrified of what Mother would do. If you went to such extremes that Mother got angry, you were at the mercy of her power and judgement. That was never to be taken lightly. Mother can in worst cases issue Family Expulsion and seal you in her lifestream permanently. Given the extent of Brother Vincent's actions, i knew that was certainly a possibility; especially since she is taking him to her throne at Mako Reactor. Thats not her resting place where we meet all the time; thats the peak of the place where you would go and stand before her if you were guilty of only the serious of offenses. I knew he wouldn't be wriggling out of this one so easily. After Mother took off and flew away with Brother, me and Yazoo focused on bringing Kadaj to safety. The mission was a success, but with Brother Vincent having to kneel in the face of Mother's fury, this was far from over. Should he receive Family Expulsion, i had hoped Kadaj would be happy at home regardless of such terrible fate.
To be continued...
