towerofanimus | [Closed]

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Characters: Kadaj & Sephiroth
Setting: Feb 17th after the collar check.
Format: Prose
Summary: For the very first time, these two meet!
Warnings: Who knows…

Light began to shine into Kadaj’s eyes through his lids. Half asleep, he winced, hoping that if he squeezed his eyes closed more tightly the light wouldn’t be a problem. However, he soon found that exerting any sort of effort to rid of the annoyance was just waking him up further. So, tired of trying, he slowly opened his eyes and allowed his catlike pupils to adjust to the pale light overhead.

Where was he? His head ached, but his body felt fine—rejuvenated, in fact. Last he could recall he was trying to pry off the collar which clung tightly to his neck. This wasn’t the outdoors he had been in, and the sky had turned into a white, sterile ceiling. How dull. How irritating.

Rolling his head to the side, Kadaj noticed he was in a bed, most likely a hospital bed. Growling, he jerked himself up and slid off the mattress. His gaze fell to the only other figure in the room. Whatever or whoever it was, was calling him—strongly--forcing him to gravitate closer.

With quiet footsteps the remnant approached it, careful not to wake it. Two gloved fingers curled around the figure’s chin so Kadaj could get a better look.

The teen inhaled sharply and took a step back. His chest tightened with fear as he immediately looked for a way to escape. A door, a window, anything! But his legs wouldn’t move and he was glued in place. The young remnant’s fists hung securely by his sides as every nerve vibrated with anxiety. He glared with a mixture of amazement and hatred at the figure on the bed.
It was Sephiroth!

Sephiroth was the man who haunted his dreams and reality—the very core of his existence—and here he was, for the very first time, right within arm’s reach.

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Sephiroth wasn't recently one for boycotting the collar checks. He'd considered it when he'd seen new people around without collars but then the Q & A that their Hosts had provided had dashed that hope to the ground. The visitors don't need collars because their worlds aren't destroyed, apparently. Until it could be proved otherwise, it wasn't worth the risk of the unknown.

However, that fleeting obsession he'd gone through, or rather - he was convinced - had been made to go through had him entirely pre-occupied on the 16th and the collar check had been the last thing on his mind. Sephiroth doesn't even remember hearing the announcement over the intercom he had been that enraptured.

What was the worst about it all, he remembers everything. He had a feeling that it was going to take a lot more than just a physical scrubbing before he could look at his own bare hands again without seeing how bloodstained they had been. Clearly not being in the mood, when the retrievals had come for him they'd been met with perhaps his highest level of resistance yet. Of course though, they always win in the end. He was lucky he hadn't gotten himself into a position where he'd end up dead.

Sephiroth was swiftly pulled back to the world of the conscious as soon as Kadaj dared to touch his face. It was much too much after the events of yesterday for physical contact in that way to be allowed by anyone. He swiped to knock the arm out of the way first but Kadaj had already moved back so Sephiroth had the chance for this own eyes to adjust. Glowing ember-like green flares burnt into Kadaj'.

"Back off."

He'd known that Kadaj was in the Tower since he'd arrived here and Sephiroth had purposefully not sought him out. It was enough of an insult being stuck in the Tower, having the embodiment (no the reason!) behind his last failure on Gaia around as well, was treading on that fine line of calm that Sephiroth had been getting so good at walking. Until this last week it seems.

“You can’t be upset with me,” Kadaj scowled. “You failed Mother too!” The remnant had done his job. He found Mother and hosted the Reunion just as it was requested of him. What did Sephiroth do? He spent too much time toying with the black sheep to get the job done. It was Sephiroth’s fault that Mother had to be kept waiting! It was Sephiroth’s fault that Cloud got away.

And then it clicked. All of Kadaj’s fears and anxiety melted away. A grin, fiercely similar to one Sephiroth might display, spread widely across his face.

“Not that it matters now.” The young remnant shrugged. “You’re stuck in this place just like I am!” He smirked and raised his chin in confidence as he addressed Sephiroth. “Mother must be angry with you.” Pure. Plain. Simple. It was the greatest feeling of revenge he had never personally enacted. “Besides,” he continued in a mocking tone, “if you were still Mother’s beloved favorite you wouldn’t be here right now.”

Kadaj spread his arms out slightly, bravely looking directly into eyes that mirrored his own. “Looks like you’re not so perfect after all.”

Sephiroth just returned Kadaj' scowl with one of his own but he didn't answer back as he sat up from the Infirmary bed and swung his legs around to the side. The scowl didn't last though. In fact by the time Kadaj has finished his little proud gloat Sephiroth was just looking at him like an adult would look at an immature child; both eyebrows raised but otherwise emotionless.

Mother, Mother, Mother. And why not? That had been the primary purpose of Kadaj' creation after all so why would he have changed. His only purpose had been to find the remaining Jenova cells that he had needed to return to the realm of the living, all the while unknowingly helping Sephiroth to remember who he had been. Sephiroth knew too well, how to use these strings with the teenager, being pretty much an extension of himself.

"If that's true. Then why is she still with me and not with you." Sephiroth allowed a silken smirk to widen across his features. He knows that Kadaj can probably tell that he is still very much Jenova's core, a large part of her essence infused with his own. "Seems to me that you still have a lot to prove, little Remnant."

It was true that deep down, all Kadaj wanted was approval. In fact, he sought not only Mother's approval but Sephiroth's as well. He hated to admit it so much so that it turned into outright denial. The remnant began a quick pace back and fourth.

"Me?" Kadaj scoffed! "At least I still have a chance to prove my worth!" He gleamed. "You've already failed twice now."

He stopped pacing and turned to face Sephiroth once again. “Why have you forsaken Mother?" He asked bluntly. "Whatever happened to becoming a new god?” Remembering his purpose gave him courage and the initial hesitation he felt around his creator began to ebb away. The remnant could be calm when he wanted to be—if it was for Mother’s benefit. To obtain genuine answers in this case he would need to keep himself under control. It was task well worth the effort if he could get his way in the end.

“Is this,” Kadaj spread his arms out in gesture to the white room recovery room, “what you want?" He tugged tightly on his collar. "Is this your idea of being the brand new god you had set out to become?”

"You had your chance." Sephiroth made a point not to look directly at Kadaj, but then shot his gaze up to meet the Remnant as his ranting started to dance on already his already sensitized short-temper. So short-sighted, so naive. Well it was a good a time as any to put the Remnants perspective into check.

Sephiroth stood, not that he needed to put his height on show to force dominance over Kadaj but it sure as hell would help. He glared down at the Remnant, allowing his distaste to shine through in dangerous gleaming eyes. How dare Kadaj think to lecture him.

"I did no such thing. Don't you see, THEY brought us here. Stole the Planet from me no doubt- from her" He would personify Jenova as much as necessary to bring the Remnant to heel, after all it could be the only way to force any control in this despicable relationship.

"Did you even read the letters?"

Not only was Sephiroth blasphemous, he was a liar too. Did Sephiroth forget that Kadaj could hear and see every word that was spoken to Cloud during their short Reunion? The ex-general wanted to use the planet for himself, not for Mother! There were few things that Kadaj tolerated, and even fewer things that he would let slide by. Going against Mother’s wishes and lying were most definitely not on either of those lists—but Sephiroth was. In fact, Sephiroth and Mother were the only two on those lists. The teen didn’t like the power Sephiroth had over him. He could never fully accept it. There would always be a trace of some rebellious nature against him; some may even liken it to sibling rivalry, though it was much more intense than that.

Kadaj flexed his fingers to release tension. It did little to help him. He felt warm, frustrated. The collar itched but even when it was scratched it still itched.

Sephiroth’s words confirmed Kadaj’s fear. “I knew it was ShinRa,” he replied curtly. He didn’t need to be told! Nearly everything was their fault. “The letters don’t matter!” That should have answered that question. “What I want to know is what you plan to do for Mother here.” Because, clearly, it wasn’t working. “Well?”

At the time Sephiroth could not have cared less that there was some fragment of Kadaj still buried somewhere inside when he'd taken over his body for the Reunion. If he'd have had his way Kadaj wouldn't ever have had his own body again. Cloud should have been defeated and that body would have been Sephiroth's, Kadaj might well have been an annoying voice filling the voids of his consciousness but given time voices could be locked away.

Just even more of an insult, how he was being that annoying voice now, and with his own physical form as well. Sephiroth clenched both fists together tightly, carefully resisting the temptation to just snap and send the Remnant flying across the room. It wouldn't do anything for his mood right now so really there wasn't any point.

"Do you really think that if it was ShinRa, I would still be here at all?" Seriously, Kadaj' lack of faith in Sephiroth is almost as galling as the way he persisted in demanding his explanation.

Sephiroth wasn't about to suffer the disrespect in Kadaj' tone for much longer and why should he, he willed Kadaj' entire being into existence in the first place. Without Sephiroth, there would be no Kadaj to be able to stand there attempting to face him down. Though, he'd take great pleasure in having gotten under Sephiroth's skin so, undoubtedly - which is why the taller man kept his tone level.

"Just use more than two of your brain cells; I'm sure I blessed you with at least some passable level of intelligence. This is not Gaia. If the evidence is to be believed we are both now in a new realm and it would be foolish to act as if Mother has any influence here when she clearly does not." Sephiroth refrains from adding a 'yet' to the end since it remains to be seen that it could be guaranteed.

Kadaj may have just been a pawn, but even the weakest piece in a chess match could become the most powerful—if it was played correctly. The remnant didn’t need to be reminded of his place by Sephiroth. He knew what it was from the beginning and became even more painfully aware of it during the reunion.

He abruptly turned away from his creator, favoring to look out the window at the ever gloomy skies. Was this an entirely new realm? The remnant didn’t know. He couldn’t hear Mother before, exactly, and he certainly couldn’t hear her now.
Frustration and disbelief replaced anger and overconfidence. It was abundantly clear. His posture stiffened and his tone fell to a dangerous whisper. “Mother just wouldn’t. . .” he searched for the right word, “abandon us like that.”

Silver brows furrowed as his gaze outside intensified. He didn’t want to look at Sephiorth. He didn’t want to face the truth. “You might not care but I’m still going to find her!” Even if he had to search across universe and different realms. It was his purpose. Finding her was the meaning of his existence.

"You're right. I know she did not abandon us, by choice." Sephiroth's eyes do not leave Kadaj as he turned away from the dominance-heat. Smart move Remnant, get back into line. You'll learn what it is to die here soon enough without provoking it as a punishment. Sephiroth is not about to relax around Kadaj at all though so remains stood, arms folded - watching Kadaj as his demeanor flips from one extreme to the other. ~~Does his own moods swing about that badly?~~

"But if the Planet has been destroyed out from under us then we are the last bastions for her legacy. She wouldn't want us looking for her pointlessly when we should be honoring her by carrying on her work." Keeping Jenova personified as much as possible is the easiest tool to use despite the fact that Sephiroth full well knows that he is the embodiment of Jenova's legacy in it's entirety. Letting Kadaj know the extent of that would not only be pointless to any end he might direct the Remnant later but it would provoke the inflated sense of self-importance in the teenager. With many similar traits between them, Sephiroth should know all too well the stubbornness that might breed.

But then, he had hard-wired the Remnants himself with the all-encompassing need to find Jenova. Sephiroth has his own body here and that could mean only one thing; the cells are already in a Reunited state. Kadaj would continue to search for Mother, regardless and for an eternity be drawn back to Sephiroth as a result; instinct that could not be turned off as that had been the only purpose for Kadaj. A constant reminder of his last failure on Gaia before he'd been brought here. Sephiroth scowled a little at that thought; if there was anything not needed in a place that, for now at least, he is as lost as anyone else within.

“Gaia isn’t gone! It doesn’t work that way.” He sneered, surprisingly he spoke with mirth. “Only Mother has the ability to take planets away like that.”

If Sephiroth were to sense anything from his remnant, it would be an odd form of grief, depression, confusion, and the wild anger that resided in a very vengeful soul, fueling the fire. The steady progression of failed strike after failed strike and constantly being bested by Cloud or Sephiroth weighted on his brain, on his sanity. And now he was brought here without any say and no immediate way out. The resulting cocktail of fervent rage and mental instability was explosive. Luckily for all parties involved, Kadaj’s mind was getting so bogged down attempting to retain his pride and figure out Mother’s wishes that his instinct for denial was, for the moment, vaporized.

“Aren’t you going to fix this?” He asked, as if this should have already happened. He didn’t wait for answer. Most likely because he didn’t want to hear it. “Something brought us here and it can bring us back!” The teen exclaimed. What would usually have been an angry tone was, instead, low but still strong. He was tired and in partial shock. Kadaj considered those signs of weakness and hid them the best he could.

He’d wait until after Sephiroth was gone to have his nervous breakdown. No doubt trash the place, and whoever he set his sights on next would unquestionably get a large chunk of his displaced rage thrown their way.

He recognizes those feelings that he senses radiating from Kadaj; it's a mixture of those feelings that he himself buried deeply within his own consciousness not long after he first arrived here. Lest they play right into the great experiment he's clearly been brought here for. Sephiroth shouldn't have expected anything different from Kadaj, the only difference seems to be the reason why such feelings are boxed away. Sephiroth has more recently resolved to hold his nerve, and be patient.

Sephiroth isn't about to let on that he can so easily read Kadaj but the Remnant would be certainly blind not to know how one-sided their connections is. He relaxes his folded arms and rubs with one hand at the back of the collar as he is want to do when it feels as if silver hair might have gotten entangled around some of the violet tubing; or it might be somewhat of a absent-minded gesture, or simply a check in case circumstances may change.

"Now is not the time for action. I'm not about to go slashing about in the dark, Kadaj." Of course Sephiroth wants to fix this, but if fixing this means that they will all be returned to Gaia...the question remains whether Sephiroth OR Kadaj would even exist. The only 'fixing this' could be breaking their Hosts' hold on him first, and Sephiroth needs to know more first.

He has nothing else left to say to the Remnant, and even if he did have more to reveal, Sephiroth wasn't sure what he would tell his avatar. And so Sephiroth heads out of the Infirmary, he will shoulder barge Kadaj out of the way if he doesn't so move willingly.

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Floor 2 - Infirmary (After the collar check retrival)

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