The REUNION [Chapter 2]

When the next day rolled over, you'd taken it upon yourself to see to it that he can talk properly. From the few moments you'd spent with him - more like hours, provided you'd woken him before dawn touched the environment -, you'd noticed that he would have a lot of trouble with saying proper sentences and would instead irritably sit there and look at you like he was expecting you to pick up on everything. Luckily for him, you'd done your best and at least got close. Encouraged by the equal interest, you'd written down some sentences, some of them tongue twisters, for him to practice on.

As you're here, cleaning the brute's face, you listen to Kadaj - he'd told you his name once he mastered words like "explanation," "breathing," and so on - as he reads from the list with sheer determination written on his face in the form of furrowed eyebrows and a locked jaw.

"Peter piper... picked a pickled... pecka-pecka-..." He huffs. "Peter piper... picked a pickled... peck of peppers."

"Good job," You praise, smiling as you narrowly avoid sticking your pinky up the unfortunate giant's nose. "Now the next one. It's a bit trickier."

"Rrrrgh," Kadaj grunts. "...She sells sea shells by the seashore... Hey! That's not tricky!"

"Next bit," You instruct.

Upon doing what you imply, he begrudgingly looks at the next bit of the phrase - written beneath the first - and you swear you're able to pinpoint the moment his soul dies. "...She's sold sea shells by the seashore since shapely seashells stay scarce. Since she shells superior-," He stops to blow a quick raspberry, "shells searchers spend centuries searching for..." He looks up at you with anger, holding the paper up to throw it down childishly before returning. "Seldom selling simple sells, so she still sustains solid salalalala -." He finally gives in to his anger, throwing the paper down, reaching up and wiping at his mouth. "Godda-"

"Language!" You scold.

"Is that the last one?" You're pretty sure it is, but you want to be sure; he's the one picking up the paper.."... Yes," He responds, looking back up at you with a pout from checking. "Do I really have to keep reading these?"

"You're beginning to get used to talking, so I'd like to stop you there for right now. The next time we reach water, I'm going to have you swim. After all, something feels off by the way you move around. It's almost like you're not used to being able to move or something," You observe. "It's kind of silly, given you're my age and are well into life at this point, you should -."

"I'm not," He cuts you off with a stern tone accompanying an unreadable expression. "I'm not any of what you said. I'm not used to being alive, I'm not well into life... Anything."

"Why's that?" The question's out before you can hold your tongue. It's unlike you to be this impulsive, especially in regards to a person, but your genuine care for Kadaj's health is outweighing reason despite the little bit of time you've known him.

His furrowing eyebrows quickly throw up the red flag, but to your surprise, his tone is calm. "My brothers and I woke up yesterday, though I'm not entirely sure you were present during that time. We're... well, let's just say that we are your saviors, and nothing more."

"Angels." You smile.

"If that's how you want to call us." Kadaj seems appeased by the positive nickname, cat-like eyes glistening with pride. "As for you... You're not our brethren, but you've been so adorably devoted in making sure we're healthy. Heh, it's almost weird."

"H-Huh? What's that mean?" You ask, frowning a bit.

"Meaning that you have no idea what our story is. We might have a disease, we might be being tailed, or even something worse. But here you are, making sure I'm healthy as my brothers continue sleeping. It's adorable," He hums.

He's right. There's no telling what could possibly be going on behind the scenes. Maybe they're escapees from some sort of experiment? It'd certainly explain how different they look, and with ShinRa's activities... The planet's dying, all because of the crap that company put it through. You're not really an easily forgiving person, though you're not the type to hold grudges either. It's so maddening, how you just can't bring yourself to despise ShinRa after how it's done so much to kill the planet.

All of us are guilty of something, You muse. All our unspoken sins, our intangible crimes, they're...

"Uh, hello, I'm speaking to you." Kadaj is flicking your forehead; it hurts, even with his gloves. "Don't zone out on me. Do you want me to punish you?"

"Sorry." You quickly compose yourself. "What were you saying?"

"I'm saying that despite the fact that you're not a member of the family -"

"Honesty is the best policy."

" - I will see what can be done to see to it that you may walk with us in the new future," He finishes, disregarding your jeer. "You do, after all, seem to care for us like family."

"Of course I do. It's a better alternative to leaving you out to die after you nearly got torn to bits," You hum.

"Hmph." Kadaj crosses his arms, looking away with an angry pout.

"But before we do anything else, we're gonna need to wait for your brothers to wake up. I don't doubt that you're strong - you have to be to have woken up the very night you were knocked out - but I'm not gonna let you run headfirst into danger," You tell him. "Do that and you'll definitely die out there." It's what phoenix stuff is for, but you're running low on the supply as it is.

"So what are we supposed to do in the meantime?" He looks back at you, brows arched.

"Well, therapy, for one thing," You tell him. "I'm trying to find a lake. I'll take you swimming, so as to make sure everything's in order. It's easy to maneuver in water when you know what you're doing. Assuming you're not too sure on how to swim, I will assist you."

"I'm very capable of doing it myself," Kadaj hisses.

You smile.

"...Don't look at me like that."


...



You and yourself concluded that this might as well be the worst idea you've come up with.

Easy as you figured that it would be to get Kadaj to learn how to swim, it all of a sudden proves to be more of a struggle than you thought. As of right now, he's in the water with you, fingers clawing into your clothes as you both wade about. His cat-like eyes are wide, his jaw is locked; every inch of him is stiff and would sink if you so much as let him go under the pretense that he'd eventually learn by himself. Not a single limb of his is moving, aside from the occasional adjustment of his hands to keep a tight grip.

"Take me out of here." Fifth time he's demanded that.

"Kadaj, if you learn how to swim, it's gonna make things a bit easier," You tell him. "Just relax and kick your legs."

"Huh? W-Wait, don't let go!" He cries out, clinging to you despite you gently moving your hands to his stomach, propping him up.

"Relax," You say gently. "Breathe, 'Daj. We're just going to float for now. Once your body is buoyant, we'll be able to practice moving. Just close your eyes and breathe. Nothing bad's gonna happen." You'll make sure of that one.

Reluctantly, Kadaj obeys, slowly closing his eyes. Once he does, his muscles clench and release against your palms, clearly with attempts to calm down and relax like you just told him to. Eventually, his back unclenches, his legs cease to move, and his jaw unlocks, face slowly relaxing into calm serenity. In this moment, it's like he wasn't clawing at your body like a cat; demanding to be released from the water. Rather, he seems like he's... sleeping, forgetting all that had been wrong before. (The only thing that will end up bothering him is the fact that he even let you go through with this; he's that fussy.)

Eventually, you release your hands from his back, waiting on bated breath for him to sink. Oddly enough, he does not, instead floating like any other buoyant object in existence (like a banana). As he floats away from you, you do your best to quietly and discreetly wade beside him, your swimming tunic trailing behind you as you do. Though, provided the wise man's words that everything must come to an end, Kadaj's eyes eventually open and find yours.

Much to your relief, he doesn't seem to have much of a reaction to you being beside him aside from above him. However, your heart sinks into your stomach when his gaze quickly goes down to his body, going back up to you.

"See? Nothing bad's happening," You say softly, giving him a smile. "You're floating. That's good. You're doing really good, 'Daj."

Despite this, he looks a bit put out. "...Can we go?"

You sigh, though not gratingly in irritation but more softly in fatigue. Kadaj wants out of the lake for reasons that are so obvious that you strain to name them, and you want out of here so that you can crawl into your bag and sleep. Maybe he'll wind down too when the both of you are through with this, who knows; he does look like he could use a nap. So, you're not gonna be mean to him and keep him here until he masters the butterfly at sundown.

"Yes, 'Daj, we can," You nod.

"Thank. Minerva." He maneuvers until he's standing properly, taking you by the wrist and dragging you out of the lake and toward the caravan.

There's not really any words spoken before or after you return. Rather, upon drying off, Kadaj takes it upon himself to remove his clothes and crawl into his sleeping bag immediately. Once he does, you look upon his brothers, noting how their eyebrows occasionally twitch or their pale lips tremble slightly for a period of time. If this signals them waking shortly, you don't know, but you're going to keep an eye on them just in case.

With a soft yawn, you crawl into your own bag and drift off, clutching the blanket inside close to your heart.