Inn

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Yazoo vaulted over the boy and blocked his brother's blow. "Hold it-- he's Transferring it to Blood!"

Loz groaned in disappointment. "Not another Transfer-er... whatever happened to the days when we could just beat people up?"

"Just neutralize him and make it quick," Yazoo ordered, swinging at the Blood double with the blunt end of his pistols. Loz shrugged unhappily and powered the pile bunker down, going at it barefists.

Ami noticed Squall was in shock. "Never a dull moment... don't let the clones get you down, love." She sighed and rolled her eyes before flashing him a grin and pecking him on the cheek. With a pat on the shoulder, she charged into action.

[Squall]

Squall stood motionless as Ami charged in on the kid... does anyone else find this a little bit weird? he stared almost horrified as the three of them start being the kid with the blunt sides of their weapons.

" I dont fancy this one very much... But these guys seem to think this kid means trouble!" Squall put away his gunblade, pacing quickly towards the kid and when closely infront of him, swinging his leg and booting the kid in the face. ... That should have hurt at least a little bit! What is this kid?[/i] Squall punched him in the face, the face he seemed to not notice it not making him feel better about doing it.

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Ami got in between the boy and her comrades. "Hang on!"

She glared at the kid... "Something isn't right here." He's just standing there taking it.

She examined the impostor's face. "Listen here... One Blood is more than enough, doppelganger. So take your show on the road, creepy!"

[Squall]

Is this going to work?! Squall stepped back and shook his head, staring at the kid, completely confused at to what was going on. We attack a kid, then stop and tell him to walk away? Squall would have laughed it the atmosphere wasnt so tense.
" What does he want?"
Squall took a step forward and looked him eye to eye. Your pretty damn freaky!

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Yazoo was no mind reader like his younger brother, but emotion and desires were an open book to him. He examined the boy carefully, reading him intently... "He wants something from us... he wants Blood... to eliminate him and..." A quizzical look crossed his face. "It seems he wants to Reunite with him."

Ami turned to him. "Little 'r' reunite, or big 'R' Reunite?"

"Big 'R'," Yazoo answered grimly.

The kid made no comment to affirm or deny this. Ami continued to shoot daggers at this cryptic figure, and Loz muttered darkly about certain painful acts he wished to visit upon this young man's physical self...

Ami waved a hand in front of the creep's face. No result. "I think he's placed himself in some kind of mental stasis."

"Then he can bring himself out," Yazoo concluded. "We're locking him up until we get to the bottom of this."

****

It took a few minutes of uncooperative dragging, but they finally shoved the silent invader into the Inn's cellar and padlocked it shut. "Let's just hope the managers don't need anything from down there in the near future," Yazoo stated with barely a trace of humor.

Ami made a face... Of all my brothers, he's the one I've never been able to really understand. It's like he really IS of another world... we all were, but none of us are purely children of our motherworld. He behaves as if he was never a part of this planet at all...

She shrugged it off as another daily mystery, such as "Does the Loch Ness monster exist?" or "What happened to Amelia Earhart?" Something to think about, but never know the answers to.

She hooked her arm with Squall's. "Let's finish our breakfast before we plunge ourselves back into the global savior business, eh?"

[Squall]

"Good plan my dear!" Squall said jokingly, leading Ami back to their seats, when out of earshot of everyone else he leant over and kissed her on the cheek, whispering " I think well need our energy this evening..." squall winked at her and gave her knee a playful squeeze, trying to keep a straight face but breaking into a huge grin as he made a start on his breakfast.

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Ami smiled at Squall, returning the touch by a long stroke along the outside of his thigh... She nipped a piece of her donut off, took it out of her teeth, and offered it to him with a smile and a giggle, placing her arm around his shoulders and leaning against his side.

Kadaj and Dimitri were still speaking quietly, out of everyone else's earshot. But despite the Remnant's apparent focus on what Dimitri was saying, Squall could hear a whisper in his mind...

You know, I DID ask you to take care of her... but that wasn't quite what I meant.

You should consider yourself very lucky that I happen to like you.

We'll we have a walk after I'm finished here... and no, that is NOT a suggestion.

Ami felt the slight vibration and shot yet another one of her killing glares at Kadaj, who ignored her.

She smiled at Squall again, reassuringly. "Don't worry, he doesn't bite... too much." She giggled and snuggled against him, feeling the lining of his coat tickle her face. Sure, he stabs and slices and disembowels, but I have yet to see him actually BITE anyone...

[mistervillainman]

Dimitri was studying the photos he'd been given of the kids and did a double-take at the boy's.

"This kid looks familiar... He was onboard the Ragnorak during that last fiasco wasnt he? I'm going to need quite a bit of tranquilizer to keep him down..." He said, making a mental note.

[Amnesty Lazuli]

"That's him," Kadaj confirmed. "But don't count on him still looking like that by the time you find him... my guess is he would probably look more like Amnesty." I mean, his mother WAS her other half. "She spent a year learning how to pass herself as a human, and he will bear those memories. Also... be careful with the tranks... I'm not sure how Seraph systems react to them. Any amount could be fatal." He paused to clarify. "Seraphs... the unofficial name of my species." I'm not supposed to know that yet... I learned that from the future refugees, whom no one else but Cloud seems to remember. He examined Dimitri. "Are you ready for me to try finding out where the children are? We will only have three chances at this --one from me, one after Yazoo is modified, and one after Loz is modified-- so we have to use these opportunities wisely." And even if there were more of us... I would not use Ami's ability more than that. Already she is beginning to look older... Jared told me of a future in which she lost her heart to the many whose pain she took away... she became so lost that she disappeared for three years, trying to find herself again.

[mistervillainman]

"Yes, by all means, I'll need something to go on if the job is going to take less than a month or two." He said, still reviewing the documents in front of him.

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Kadaj nodded. He sat back and tried to clear his head... his eyes started to flicker faintly with a strange silver light...

He connected with the kid, for only a moment. He reached into the forefront of his mind, the area of basic information... the place where one could find people's identities, their current level of physical and emotional comfort, the local time, and in this case, their current location. Whether this information was physically stored in the same place in the actual brain was something Kadaj had never bothered to research... they were lumped together in the mind, that strange mental superstructure...

The boy blocked him out again, adapting to his signature. But he had gotten the information he needed. "My G**. They're here... in Midgar. Somewhere in one of the slums... I think near the ruins--"
Kadaj broke off suddenly in a nearly convulsive wince as a young voice threatened him, sending a mental barrage into his head...

I will not kill my own family. Not unless the baby is in danger. But if you dare invade my mind again, I will cripple you... cripple your brain, take away the one thing you value about yourself. Leave me alone.

Kadaj snapped out of it as the pain vanished. "Like I said... talented kid," he said painfully as his head cleared. Not sure I can risk the others after that episode... with any luck, Dimitri won't need our help again. He straighted up again. "Need any more information?"

A nagging, persistent sensation kept bothering him. It almost made him feel ill again... Something about it was painfully familiar, but he couldn't place it... a presence... no, two... he couldn't lock onto them... Then he felt something even stranger... something secreted about this bizarre pair, who themselves felt like shadows cast on the Lifestream... it felt like the equivalent of smelling gasoline or coolant... being in the immediate vicinity of something deadly...

Then the irritant was gone... or disguised.

It clicked. "Patrans."

[mistervillainman]

"No, if they're in the slums I'll find them very quickly..." He said, gathering the files on the table and standing up. "I'll contact you when I've collected them and we'll set a dropoff point that we both agree on. I just need the first part of the payment and I'll be on my way." He explained, packing up.

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Rude passed the money over to Kadaj, who took it over towards Dimitri... but before handing it over, he locked the bounty hunter into an intense gaze. "Things may have just been complicated. There are few who know ofwhat I am about to tell you, and fewer still who have survived learning it, so tread carefully.

"In the ancient days, before Jenova tore apart our home planet, there were four houses that comprised its population, and only three continents. Each house was known according to two identifiers-- the name of its head Matron and the color of its eyes. All the houses were known throughout our home system for cruelty, particularly the house of Jenova-- even then we were known as a plague. But the monsters among monsters were of the house of Patra. None of our planet's codes were written for them, and no tribune was formed for them. They were lawless, reckless... and our greatest rivals, forced to cohabit with us on the largest of the three continents. Each family swore to wipe out the other and take all the territory for itself, adding to its power and reputation.

"The war between the families lasted for centuries. In time, each learned to experiment with the memetic properties of our race, of our planet. Like your Shinra Corporation, we of Jenova's clan learned of the powers that could be weilded by those who could control the planet's life force. The Patrans, however, took a different approach.

"They began to concentrate our homeworld's mako energy, but not into power materia, or healing materia. Instead, they formulated a materia-like memetic toxin. It absorbs slowly into you on contact, dismantling your mind, most particularly your memories. At first the effects aren't too severe, and they can be reversed-- your mental processes slow down, your creativity lags, you find it harder to think straight. But after a while large gaps appear in your recollection. Then degrade into a gibbering mass, and finally, the basic electronic impulses of the brain stop, sending you into total brain death... and without the brain to command it, the body soon follows.

"This new weapon was terrifyingly deadly to us. So in our fear, our anger, and our ignorance, my family asked our planet to help destroy our rivals by withholding its energy from them, or by using it to destroy them. In the end, the strain of our horrific hubris, our belief in the mastery of our world, the bid for a mass genocide that would have consumed a fourth of the motherworld's souls, was too much. At Jenova's command, we literally tore our planet apart, piece at a time.

"Until now, it was believed that Jenova herself was the only one who escaped, her broken body and homeless essence caught within a meteorite that was part of our homeworld's remains. As you know well, she attempted to begin the cycle anew on this world by rebuilding her family and declaring war on humanity. But it seems perhaps that something else may have survived.

"I have sensed what I feel may be two Patrans, a female and a male. Undoubtedly, if they know anything about the children, they WILL try to reach them first... and kill them both. If you see these creatures, don't hesitate or attempt to negotiate. Blow them away. I know killing females defies your own code, but our blood grudge is too strong-- they will not listen to reason, and they will certainly kill you if they think you offer any kind of threat. I have generations of memory in my mind attesting to this." One of the memetic legacy's few blessings... "You will need to watch your back every moment... These creatures are my family's only natural enemies. If they are such a threat to us... they will certainly be a serious obstacle for humans to avoid. About them I can tell you only one last thing, for the intervention of years has obscured all other details-- the color of the Patran eye is amber, the same color as their toxic materia."

He handed over the money. "And incidentally... if you feel the need to test your tranquilizers on a live specimen... consider them free game." A smirk appeared but quickly faded.

Kadaj stood back and regarded the hunter cooly. "If that is all... good luck to you."

[lutz]

Abel sat alone at his table, he finished his food and had already drinken a few beers, he noticed Amnesty sitting at another table.
Suppose I should get to know my new partners a bit better...
He got up and walked slowly over to her table and sat across from her
"Amnesty...is it haha hey, quite the quiet night eh...?"
Think Abel think....
"So whats you and your guys story!? I notice you have a few ex-Turks and a dieing spicies...the Maloki thats some odd bunch if ya ask me..."

Samson: "and now two dashing Sky pirates to add to the mix!
he said from a corner of the room.
"Just came from my room, I got bored and noticed you all were sitting here having a chit chat!"
Samson pulls up a chair and nods his head towards Amnesty followed with a wink.
"Seems your taken your time with the whole Sarsha biz, thats ok ya don't trust me and Abel quite yet, I can relate haha"

********************

Lutz continued studying in his room, hes been in there sense the group got to the Inn and hasn't left sense.
Its best to learn more about your enemy before you face it in combat...
It is said the unknown island is hidden behind the stars and through the quicksand.
hhmmm a Riddle huh? suppose that one is a thinker, might be here awhile thinking it through.....
*******************************

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Kadaj watched the bounty hunter leave before turning back to Squall. "Ahem... that little chat I mentioned earlier? We're going to have it now. As in, immediately."

He began escorting Squall outside. "Pardon us, Amnesty Kathryn... I think our pirate pals want a word with you, anyway."

Ami gulped... Kadaj only used both her names when he had serious stuff on his mind. She glanced at her bite of donut and ate it herself... if she knew her brother at all, it would be some time before Squall returned.

****

They stuck to the side streets where Kadaj would not so easily be spotted. The plain clothes he was temporarily forced to wear made him a bit less conspicuous, but not by a lot. But right now that sort of concern had been placed on hold.

Kadaj had some suitor-scaring to do.

"Squall, my sister is human now. But she is still Seraph in her heart, where it counts," he began. "And Seraphs mate for life. And... we live for an awfully long time. But that's beside the point." He quickly killed a smirk that kept trying to surface. "She has only been sixteen for the past two or three days, understand? She's never been in love before. This is a fact for which I have been extremely grateful for some time now... then you had to come along and break a perfectly good record. Disregard that... I'm joking. I have to. I do that when I get uneasy. Knowing how much my sister loves you makes me VERY uneasy."

He paused near a road rail on the edge of an embankment, leaning on it. "My one consolation is knowing you're a better man than I am. Whether or not you are better to her, I am not yet certain, but at least I am fairly sure you have never been wanted for terrorism. And I know you love her... I can see it in the way you look at her, talk to her, act around her." This time he let the smirk live. "Even so... can you blame me for being somewhat reluctant to share? I WAS here first..." He shook his head and let his good humor fade. "I don't know why I never counted on the certainty that she was not always going to be my girl."

He glanced up at him suddenly with a very sharp gaze. "Good man or no, there is only one reason why I have not already slit your throat from ear to ear." His tone made it impossible to know whether or not he was kidding. "I watched her in that year I was gone. I watched from a place where she wasn't able to see or hear me. But I was there to see something no one else could. I saw her dying." He dropped his gaze and shifted his weight, agitated slightly. "Not literally, no. That would have been far too simple. She'd been cured of her Geostigma, so that was no longer a danger. But when she learned of what her brothers had become... of how they died... something inside her changed."

He laughed dryly. "The worst part about watching it happen was being the only one who noticed. Our parents... they saw a girl who went into her room the night she heard her brothers died, had a good long cry about it, and came out a couple of days later to get a job and go back to school. In their eyes, she had never been more productive, more perfectly well-adjusted, in all her life. It confused them, but it was what they wanted to see. So they kept on seeing it. They didn't see the dying inside... they couldn't."

His eyes locked with Squall's again... this part was the one he needed to remember most of all. "Then one night, a few months after she ran away from home, she came dangerously close to being lost forever. She looked like Jenova then... she looked like me, like Yazoo and Loz... like Sephiroth. By then, there was no one on this planet who did not fear that family resemblance. And she used it to bully the keeper of the Nibelheim Inn into giving her a room. She had money, she could have paid for it... but she was afraid of running out after she got to Midgar, of being stranded here. So she threatened her way into lodging for the night."

He sighed. "And immediately afterward, as soon as she was alone, she started to cry like her heart was breaking. She knew what she had done and what it meant. Amnesty was a heartbeat away from losing hope that night. She would not have made it for another day... I began to seriously believe we were going to lose her."

He looked out towards the recently risen sun. "Then, the next morning, she saw a man whose life was in danger. And the something inside her that had nearly died, that little piece of herself she had almost given up, revived. She moved in to save that man, and abjectly failed to actually make herself useful. But that didn't matter... because in the end, she saved herself. Just trying was enough."

"You know who that man was?" Kadaj gave Squall a nearly amused look. "He was you. If she had not found you in trouble that morning at Mt. Nibel, the girl you love would, for all intents and purposes, be dead today... and I would not be standing here in front of you. My chance for redeption would have died along with her soul. So in a way, we owe you our lives. Apparently, Amnesty has decided to repay the debt in full... which means you suddenly find yourself 'going steady' with one of the last surviving female Seraphs in the entire Universe. Anyone who cannot appreciate something precious as that is an idiot... and I do not suffer idiots to live."

He became completely grim at this point, almost menacingly so. "I was there when she was born. I remember it. One day, if I decide to trust you, I'll tell you about it. But until then, be careful of yourself, because everything you say to her... I'll be listening. Everything you do with her... I'll be watching. And if for any reason I cease to believe you deserve her... your pulse may experience a sudden and terminal decline. Understand?"

He turned and headed back for the Inn... stifling manic snickers. I think... I have sufficiently terrified him.

Too bad he doesn't know I like him... one thing is for sure, he definitely beats those pimple-farming lizard kings who drooled over her in middle school. I scared off those depraved little sex fiends so fast they left flaming footprints behind on the driveway.

****

Ami regarded Samson and Abel with a bit of chill in her demeanor. Is there anyone in this tavern who does NOT know I slept with Squall last night? It hit her... Reno. I'm going to kill him.

"Trust isn't the issue... we all needed some time to recuperate," she explained calmly. "This week has been... somewhat trying, let's just say. I would know a thing or two about being part of a nearly extinct species myself, especially after yesterday... but here, that had better wait. I've been trying to find you two all morning." She lowered her voice. "Where exactly is this 'hidden island' of yours? I'll need to give Cid some coordinates... if he ever wakes up... and also, I need to know everything I can about the Silken before I try leading them into battle. I make a point of being at least marginally familiar with my allies. You don't need to give me the ENTIRE story here and now... I plan on seeing my family home and out of the crossfire before we meet your tribes, Abel." She purposely made an attempt to directly communicate with Abel far more extensively than with Samson. Something about Abel appealed to her... while Samson had been nothing but irritating since she'd met him.