This fanfic was translated from French by procrazedfan, which I thank a million times with all my heart! You will find the original version illustrated by the Studio Gothika on my web site FF7 YAOI FANFICS (section “fanfics à suivre”) and in Spanish here, on fanfiction dot net. Links in my profile.

Big kisses from France !

Shiva Rajah

ALIVE !

by Shiva Rajah

translated from french by Procrazedfan

Title in french : “VIVANTS !”

***

Part III

D-Day + 1

***

Tifa dried last few glasses and carefully arranged them behind the bar when the telephone rang.

“Denzel!”, shouted Tifa, “ Could you please bring me the phone?”

The small boy obeys but could not prevent himself out of curiosity from answering the phone instead.

“Hello? Who is it?” He asked. After a short pause he looks over to the bar's matron. “Tifa! It is Reeve!”

The young woman took the phone from Denzel's hands quickly chastising him by wagging her finger, with a grimace on her face.

“I told you to bring it to me ,you little monster, not answer it!”

She then focused her attentions to the person on the other end if the line, “Reeve? Whats the latest news?”

“The President admitted our two “guests” under heavy duty surveillance at the general hospital.”

“How are they?”

Denzel climbed on one of the bar stools . It leaned in closer to listen in on the conversation , but Tifa shooed him out of the room so she could talk in private. Before leaving Denzel gave Tifa a rude gesture.

“They aren't doing too good.”

“What's wrong with them?”

“Regarding the bulkier of the two, his lungs are pierced by two large pieces of shrapnel and has quite a few broken bones from being crushed by that ceiling.”

“It's a miracle that he is still alive now...”

“In fact, from what I understand, he was already in bad shape before he was even found down there.”

“How come?”

“The doctors say that the lesions which caused the majority of the cracked ribcage go back to at least four or five days ago.”

“Really?” mumbled the young woman, as she immediately felt guilt. She was remorseful as she remembered the encounter they had at the church.

“Yes. The doctors said that the footprints that was kicked into the boys chest contained pressure that was stronger than a chocobo stampede!”

Tifa covered her mouth of her hand.

“Oh no…”

“Tifa? Tifa are you there?”

“Yes... Yes, Reeve, I am here. Excuse me I… I was closing the bar.”

“Oh, you were busy? Do you want me to call back later?”

Not. Not, not, at all, everything is fine. I just finished. What did the doctor's say about Yazoo?

“Cloud thinks that Yazoo wants to die.”

“What?” the young woman exclaimed. “How did he come to that conclusion?”

“Thats exactly what he told me word for word.”

“How can he be suicidal when he escaped by falling from a building from forty stories and managed to stay alive while he was wedged, wounded, under concrete volumes? That is ridiculous Reeve!”

“Cloud is 100% sure that they did not intend to survive the explosion.”

The young woman had to sit down on a stool of the bar, for her legs no longer had the will to stand.

“They… I thought that their whole purpose was to kill Cloud.”

“Not according to him. He says that they hoped to join their mother and their brother, in the Lifestream while taking Cloud -their “big brother”- with them. These kids are convinced that “Mother” is in Paradise somewhere waiting to make their family whole again. ”

“My God… Aerith!” Tifa realized aloud.

“Aerith?”

“It is because they saw Aerith recovering Kadaj, Reeve! They undoubtedly believe that it is their Mother trying to reunite them. Oh, no..”

“Yes, it is what Cloud thinks too.”

“Those poor souls… call me sentimental if you want , Reeve, but, now that I know what's going on with them I can't help but feel sorry for them.”

“I understand. You are not the only one to feel sorry for them believe me. ”

The young woman shook the head, feeling nauseous.

Is there anything I can do to help out?

“This is precisely why I called you”

“Go ahead, I'm listening.”

“Eh well, it's regarding the more muscular of the two remnants…”

“Loz.”

“Yes, that's his name, Loz. In spite of being half unconscious, he has been only calling your name.”

Tifa's eyes widened.

“What? Why?”

“I don't know, I was hoping you can tell me. Did something happen between you two?”

“Of course not,” Tifa immediately responded, “What makes you think I had any relationship with him?”

She heard Reeve laughing on the other end of the line.

There “I did not say anything about a 'relationship', Tifa. Are you in a relationship with him? You both seem to have quite a his-”

“Cut it out Reeve. It's not funny. In fact our encounter was anything but romantic!”

“What happened then. I'm sorry to ask but I have to be filled in for official reports.”

“Loz and I crossed paths at the church four days ago when decided to steal Yuffie's materia , and kidnap Marlène. Our meeting can be basically summarized with threats, a flight of punches and some kicks, nothing more.”

“Ah..you were fighting... Knowing your benevolent character, Vincent was worried that you let him off the hook too easy out of sympathy.”

Tifa let a small laugh escape.

“It wasn't case, Reeve. On the contrary, that was the hardest that I ever fought in the last two years. But why is the details of our encounter so important to Vincent anyway?”

“Vincent is a hopeless romantic who thinks you can be able to help out with Loz's recovery… Don't worry about it. I'll just talk to you later... , wait one moment, Cloud wants to talk to you. I'll pass the phone to him. See you soon, and give Denzel a hug for me.”

“So long Reeve...”

“Tifa?”

“Yes, I'm still there, Cloud. Is there anything that Reeve forgot to mention about your 'little brothers'?”

“There isn't much else to tell you about except for that fact that these scientists are treating them like a couple of lab rats. If you could see these white vultures whirling around their room waiting for them to die you would be sick at your stomach too!”

“Scientists, why am I not surprised?” she sighed.

“It isn't anything new Tifa. Hey,could you get over here real quick?”

“Yes, of course ...why?”

“Did Reeve tell you about Loz already? He is still calling your name.... ”

The young woman suddenly felt butterflies in her stomach.

“Yes. I…,”she mumbled, “I'll stop by , but I don't understand why he is calling for me specifically.”

“He saw you protecting Marlène like a she-wolf. Maybe he thinks that you are the closest thing to his mother that he will ever know. Listen, I think perhaps that your next encounter is not too risky, We will see how he reacts once he sees you again.”

“Alright, let me get a shower and get dresses then I can get there in an hour...”

“Something still bugs me though...”

“What is it?”

“Vincent said that when they die they won't join the Lifestream. They would be fated to be empty shells, like Lucrecia was.”

Tifa shuddered.

“You don't really think that would happen...do you?”

“I have no idea...but it is most likely...”

“My God”… she gasped.

“Hey, listen. I can't stay on the phone much longer. One of us will meet you in the hall of the D building of the hospital. That's where they are at right now.”

- D? Isn't that the genetic lab? The building where ecologist demonstrate their work ever few days or so?

Cloud laughed with contempt on the other end of the line.

“It is also known as the den of insane scientists. They are even crazier then some of the nuts on T.V!”

“I'll hurry.”

“ I will see you there ASAP.”

Tifa walked to the living quarters section behind the bar on the first floor, and called Marlène and Denzel.

She would have preferred not to have to take them along but it was impossible for her to find a baby sitter in such short notice. She had to take a shower, change, and find a taxi if she wanted to be at the general hospital in Edge in one hour.

***

Behind the plexi glass window of in Loz, and Yazoo's room, Reeve watched the doctors carrying out a battery of test and harvesting almost all samples in any kind: blood, skin, hair, anything they could get their hands on.

“ They are actually enjoying it, the bastards… spit Cloud with contempt.

“They should at least be complaining”… murmured Reeve without paying any attention to him. “It isn't normal.”

“Huh?”

The head of the Turks shook his head and turned to Cloud.

“Forgive me, I was speaking out loud, I was saying that is wasn't natural.”

“What isn't?”

“ Look at Yazoo! He isn't crying, moaning, or even raising his eyebrows. It is… odd. Isn't it?”

An unpleasant shiver came from an agitated Cloud when he saw a doctor inserting a large needle that was as thick as a straw, in order to do a biopsy.

“ Didn't they anesthetize them before the procedure?” , murmured the young man, as he felt his heart beating becoming more tense.

“No.”

“Not even a local anesthesia to make it easier on them?”

“They would still be in pain even with the anesthesia.”

Cloud looked at Yazoo's mako filled pupils , fixed, empty, dilated to the extreme, and shook his head.

“From what Vincent had told me, chances are that when they die they won't be able to join the Lifestream ,because of the Jenova cells. When they die, they will just be living statues, like Lucrecia…”

“And like Sephiroth,” Reeve recalled.

The young man felt an uneasiness as he recalled the time he saw his hero on the Northern Crater. Sephiroth. He remembered Sephiroth's upper half being flawless never aging as if he was frozen in time, while in contrast, the lower half of his body was reduced to a tangled web of green blood vessels and slime covered body tissue.

“You know… The more I think about it, the less I believe that it was actually Sephiroth that I was fighting with on the rooftops.”

“Do you think it was Jenova's doing?”

Cloud shrugged.

“It wouldn't be the first time that she attempted his rebirth… Wait...I see Tifa.”

The young woman came towards them, with Denzel and Marlène in tow.

“I'm sorry,” she apologized in reference to the kids behind her, “ I couldn't leave them in such short notice.”

“Don't worry about it,” Reeve reassured her .He gestured to his robotized cat on the corner of the hallway. “ Cait, and I will watch them.”

They lead both kids toward the cafeteria while Marlène turned her head glancing back at the hospital room.

“ Is what Tifa said true?”, she asked, Reeve, “Was it Jenova who made them bad in the first place?”

The head of the Turks scooped the little girl in his arms with a smile on his face.

“Why don't we have a talk about it over some ice-cream?”

Both kids cheered enthusiastically as he continued to walk with them to the cafeteria.

“What do they make of them?” asked Tifa as she walked up to Cloud who was quietley observing the lab where the renmants were staying. There were at least five doctors already in there.

“I don't understand what's going on but...(An young scientist in white blouse gave them both a harsh glare before closing the blinds on the window, making sure the spectators can't see a thing) some thing fishy must be going on in there,”he spat out distrustfully.

The two young adults waited for what seemed like forever until the scientist and the doctors left the room.

The minutes crawled by slowly waiting until almost an hour went by.

“ I haven't seen Vincent around lately,” Cloud noted aloud to himself.

Tifa sighed in impatience.

“I saw him leave as soon as I was entering the hallway, he said he had some urgent business to take care of...he never told me exactly what.”

Suddenly panicked voices were emitting from both ends of the hall as well as from inside the hospital room. Doctors, patients, nurses, and even security were running around in a panic.

“ What's going on?,” shouted the suddenly alarmed Cloud.

Patients and personnel were scattered in all directions in a panic that was almost unheard of ,while Tifa managed to grab a nurse by the arm before she could enter the remnant's hospital room.

“What's going on? Why is everyone acting crazy?”

“Someone hacked into our computer system, and is messing with our facilities!” exclaimed the young woman before shaking out of Tifa's grip and running into the room.

A few minutes later the nurse ran out of the room , met up with someone, who looked very much like the Chief of Medicine, as they both darted to the elevator pressing the “up” button.

Cloud and Tifa decided to use this chaos to their advantage,and ran into Loz,and Yazoo's room. The only people in the room that didn't include the two patients were two interns that were busy taking the last of the blood samples from the two silver-haired men.

“How are they doing?” asked Cloud while casting a glance toward the two unconscious men.

One of the two young men who was wearing a lab coat removed his gloves, lowered his mask, and turned his head to give his colleague a wink.

“Well you see…”

The young intern began to give them both a needlessly long explanation, but the sound of the droning doctor reduced itself into small buzzing sound as Tifa began to focus her attention on the oldest remnant. His pale skin... his glowing green eyes...

Now that she was able to get a good look...she noticed that there was something almost beautiful about his unnatural features...

“Tifa?”

She snapped her head and refocused her attention to the person speaking.

“I'm sorry...what did you just say?”

“ I was just asking if you are feeling okay... you look pale.” answered Cloud.

The young woman shook her head as she noticed that the two interns had left. Now there were just the two of them and the two platinum-haired brothers.

“ Cloud, did you notice their eyes?” she asked while approaching Loz's bed. Apart from the blinking, his eyes were perfectly still. They almost looked picturesque...but their expression...

She leaned closer to Loz. She expected for his pupils to follow her movement, but they were still fixated on the ceiling vibrating like a tuning fork.

“What, are they staring at,?” asked Cloud while leaning closer to Loz.

“They seem terrified…”

Calling upon all the courage she could gather, she placed a hand on his quivering forhead.

He didn't have a fever, but his body was still shivering.

It was strange...

To be continued...