Author's Foreword: This is a brainfart inspired by the picture of Cloud holding Kadaj, viewable in heavily-editted word-added form as the current (16 June 2005) profile picture on my Xanga, at : Yeah, I stole it. Sue me. Your court fees will outweigh the compensation, I promise.

Brother

Cloud bowed his head, spiking his sword in the ground bending to inspect the young man’s crumpled form as it lie motionless.

I didn’t think you needed protecting. I was… afraid of you. You’ve done terrible things.

He pulled gently at the young man to roll him over, then lifted the personified stillness in a fireman’s carry. The silver-haired head rolled slightly and came to rest against Cloud’s chest. No sound escaped him. Cloud could barely feel a pulse resonating through the man’s chest, or any warmth at all.

I didn’t know what a child of Jenova could possibly need protecting from.

The man’s breathing became laboured for a moment, before the two green cat-eyes cracked open and peered at him, no longer furious or driven or predatory, but sad. Sorrowful.

“I…” Cloud attempted to speak, but failed at first. He rallied his resolve, then spoke again. “I didn’t know what you needed protecting from. I thought the world needed protecting from you.”

Kadaj’s lips tipped upward in a ghostly smile. “You asked him to protect you… he didn’t know what you needed protecting from. He was afraid of you. You’ve done terrible things to him. He thought you needed protecting from you.”

Startled, Cloud didn’t know how to respond.

Kadaj closed his eyes and shuddered violently. “Brother, he-help… help keep them safe. They were afraid of him. You were afraid of us. They’ll be afraid of you, but you have to keep them safe. I tried… so hard… you were afraid, too…” Kadaj clamped his jaw shut and shuddered again, finally allowing a sound to escape him. When he opened his eyes again, Cloud could see the colour draining from them with frightening speed. “When I die, I can’t return to- to the Life Stream. The planet already hates Mother; it will destroy me.”

“What will happen to you?” Cloud asked, suddenly not wanting his enemy to die.

Kadaj didn’t answer. His breath caught in his throat, then he relaxed completely as his eyes closed and he exhaled gently. His body fell limp.

Cloud closed his eyes and buried his face in Kadaj’s hair. You asked me to protect you. I failed. But you still called me Brother. “I’ll keep them safe, Kadaj,” he said aloud. “I promise… Brother.”

Without his sword, he returned down the slope to where the others were approaching.

“Defeated?” Cid asked without tone.

Cloud wondered why he hadn’t added a subject or reflexive pronoun to the question. He held back a sudden urge to drop Kadaj and pummel the man until he no longer had the strength to pummel.

“Is he--?” Tifa asked with a strange mix of fear and hope.

“Kadaj is dead,” Cloud whispered to them.

“Are you okay?” she continued.

“He--“ the scene around him blurred and began to spin. On some level he knew he was losing consciousness. “He asked me to protect him.”

And then all was darkness.

He asked me to keep him safe.