[OPEN] Holding tight what could have been

[poison_allure]

Characters:  Yazoo and whoever cares to visit him

Location: Shibusen Jail Cell

Rating: PG

Time: Backdated like whoa... Feb 14th

Description: Yazoo stews in his cage. 


Four walls and near-total darkness. If it hadn't been for the superior eyes Mother had blessed him with, Yazoo might have been all but blind in that cell. Thick and dense, no chance of sound penetrating. He  couldn't hear, sense, or smell Kadaj anywhere near. The isolation was almost unbearable.

He dragged his fingertips against the rough stone and comforted himself with the memory of breaking bones, warm blood spurting under his hands, the sweet noise of agonized screams. They had shut down his ability to transform - the treacherous witch and that awful Stien person - but he had dealt without such powers long before he had ever come to this forsaken place, and he would do so again.

If BREW didn't see fit to send them back again, then the only left after that was to play by the rules, at least until those in power saw that he was no longer a threat. It rankled badly on his pride, but all it really needed was patience. Patience, and the ability to deceive, two things that Yazoo excelled at.

All he could do was wait.

Comments

[poison_allure]

This was it, the tipping point on which his life depended. Yazoo knew that if this conversation went poorly, he and Kadaj were likely to wind up spit-roast on Masamune's blade the moment they stepped out of jail. He took a moment to choose his words carefully.

"...we are your creations." he said, after a long moment. "Mother does not exist in this world. If we are to survive here, we must learn from your example. You made Kadaj too well to see reason in that, but I..."

He trailed off. It made him sick to his stomach, already speaking such blasphemy, but survival was more important than Kadaj's feelings right now. "...I am willing to learn, if taught."

[pure_lineage]

There was no doubting the fact that they were his creation. They had served their purpose for him, and he had been reborn because of it. The Remnants were loyal to a fault, and Sephiroth held no illusions to what they were capable of. That was why he couldn't place his trust in their words - not after all that had happened since his arrival here. He had been burnt too many times for that to ever take place.

Still he listened carefully to what he said as his gaze remained lingering on Yazoo. "Kadaj wants nothing but to control me," Sephiroth calmly begun, not giving away any of his thoughts, before he tilted his head to one side curiously and asked, "What are your thoughts?"

Would this Remnant be able to accomplish such a transition?

[poison_allure]

"You are asking me to betray Kadaj." well, he had wanted his thoughts. Just the idea was sickening, but it felt as though he had little choice in the matter if he wanted to go on living.

Yazoo was silent for a long time after that statement, looking away from Sephiroth for the first time since the conversation had started. Eventually, though, he added, "I will not see him harmed by my actions, but you created Loz and I to follow. If Kadaj's leadership is no longer sound, then you are the one I look to."

[pure_lineage]

"I am asking if you are willing to have your own free will," Sephiroth countered with. There was no betrayal involved with that, even if his Remnants would automatically believed otherwise, but it always seemed that they did whatever they could to defy him and the words he offered them. It was what had lead Kadaj and himself to end up as enemies towards each other, even if he felt within that the Remnant's memory would be no better than a fish in that regard.

The ex-General gave Yazoo the time he needed when silence fell between them. Instead he focused his attention on the faint link between them. He searched for any level of deception, for while Yazoo appeared to be compliant and open, Sephiroth also knew that he was the most dangerous out of all of the Remnants. There was too much that was hidden, an aspect Yazoo drew from him, and so he was carefully observing for any indications to such a thing.

"Kadaj will not learn, will not evolve, if you continue on as you have been," Sephiroth simply said. "His life will be stripped of him if an incident such as this happens again." The ex-General knows this because he would be the one to take the Remnant's life regardless of the consequences to himself. He could no longer afford to look the other way. "Your choice, Yazoo, is if you wish to perish alongside your brother, or if you are willing to step towards something new."

[poison_allure]

Free will to die or to join traitors. Oh yes, as if that was any kind of choice. Yazoo returned his gaze to the General's face, tilting his head to one side slightly as he thought, no edge of a sardonic smile making its way to the surface, giving nothing away.

It was difficult for outsiders, even Sephiroth, to truly understand the way the Remnants' minds worked. They weren't human. They had never been human, nor had they been created and nurtured in any kind of human fashion. The way they thought and behaved instinctively was closer to that of some large predator, not the stinking decaying husk of an ape that now held their forms.

"...I want to learn from you." Yazoo said slowly, still thinking. "I want to know how to better survive this pallid, Motherless world. I want to learn better control."

If Kadaj disagreed with his decision, he was sure that he could make him see the brighter side of getting close to Sephiroth - and Cloud, by proxy.

[pure_lineage]

They had not been designed to walk towards death, not in such an open and obvious way. The Remnant's entire purpose was for his revival even if they believed it to be the revival of Mother. That was why they would not willingly run towards death, and that much appeared to be the same here with the Remnant caged in front of him.

Yazoo had taken after him the most, and out of the three, he could learn to adapt into different environments far easier than the other two. His main downfall, however, was that loyalty to Kadaj. Here it would only lead to Yazoo's death as their first mission out proved to him just that.

He didn't bother telling Yazoo the truth about his birth. Kadaj had been unwilling to listen and understand, and while Yazoo was far more logical, he didn't wish to distract the Remnant from this current topic. That would have been nothing but counter-productive.

When the answer was given, he remained standing there while quietly observing the young Remnant. His mind processed the information, and while he didn't have any trust placed in Yazoo, there was some form of pleasure forming within that the Remnant would take this road. Could there be some form of future for Yazoo here in this world? Sephiroth wasn't certain, but it appeared that time would tell soon enough.

"Why?" Sephiroth simply asked.

wow, description kinda got away on me there...

[poison_allure]

Why? Yazoo would have thought that was plainly obvious, especially to the one that created them, and the answer came back almost instantly, without reserve: "I do not desire death."

They had been created to find Mother, and Mother meant life. She was an ugly, black, alien corruption from the point of view of most humans, but she was a living being, and even the bacteria that lived in rotting corspes wanted to thrive, wanted to pass on their legacy.

As convuluted and all-consuming as it was, all She truly wanted to do was to complete her life cycle, and Yazoo was part of that cycle. It was against every fibre of his being to abort his part of it before it was truly finished.

Man that's really weird. I posted this reply this morning but it never posted 8| /reposts

[pure_lineage]

The answer came as no surprise to him. It was one he had been expecting, and Yazoo had delivered without disappointment. However, it was an answer that he would hope would change and evolve in the future as it had with him. He had just wanted to hear the Remnant's thoughts, and to that he hadn't been disappointed.

Until only a few months prior, even he hadn't had a purpose or reason beyond fulfilling the desire to seek out a new planet to live on. That had all changed though with the unexpected events between himself and his partner. Could such a thing also occur for Yazoo?

"We will soon see if that remains your only motivator," Sephiroth murmured. Despite what he knew would be best, he still couldn't help but find himself wanting to find some level of connection. The thought grated on him, and he tiredly pushed it to the back of his mind so that he could later reflect on it. The question that remained was one his mind wasn't yet willing to acknowledge the answer to either way.