Chapter 1: The Beginning

Memo: Yo, dudes! This is a 'tribute', shall we say, to Final Fantasy VII – Advent Children. For all those who have seen the movie, you'll know that when Cloud kills Sephiroth, Kadaj comes back. And dies. Well, my fic is here to change that! I'm going to start it off during the fight between Cloud and Sephiroth and move on from there. And now, my wonderful readers… Enjoy!

Disclaimer: No, much as I hate to say it, I do not own Final Fantasy… But, man, imagine how rich I would be if I did!

"Stay where you belong," Cloud said quietly, looking up at the defeated Sephiroth. "In my memories."

A single black, feathery wing unfurled from Sephiroth's shoulder, but the silver haired man's eyes never left Cloud's blue ones.

"I… will never be a memory," he promised, voice as cold and silky as ice.

The sun broke out suddenly from behind the rain clouds, and Sephiroth furled his wing around himself to escape the burning light. With a faint whooshing sound, Sephiroth's form melted back into Kadaj. When the transformation was through, Kadaj fell gracelessly out of the sky.

The Remnant pushed himself onto his hands and knees, panting laboriously. On his own body were the sword marks that Cloud had inflicted upon Sephiroth. Grabbing his sword from where it had fallen, Kadaj made one last futile attempt on Cloud's life. The pain of his wounds was too much, however, and he began to fall.

Things happened very quickly after that.

From somewhere high over their heads, Cloud and Kadaj heard a loud, high-pitched scream. A streak of gold and blue crashed into Cloud from above. The momentum of the falling object forced Cloud to the ground beneath it. And, last but not least, Kadaj lost consciousness and fell heavily onto something very soft.

NOT LONG BEFORE, A CHOICE WAS BEING MADE THAT WOULD CHANGE THEIR WORLD…

Door after door flashed endlessly by; each door containing a dimension. The time had come: it was time to choose. Taking a deep breath, Destiny made up her mind. She shut her eyes. The first door she saw when she opened them would be her choice. Her dimension. Her destiny.

No. She couldn't do it. She couldn't choose. If she did, she would be leaving everything she knew and loved behind.

Destiny sighed and opened her eyes again – watching sadly as the doors continued to rush past. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she thought once more of her family. She took in a deep, shaky breath: she had to be strong.

Looking back at the doors flashing by constantly, she wondered which to pick.

'Doesn't really matter,' she reflected gloomily. 'Either way, I'll be dimensions away from my home… my family…'

Well, she had to pick one, so which would it be?

'Hmm… eenie, meenie, miney, moe; catch a tiger by the toe; if he hollers… Oh, this is stupid! That one!'

The door Destiny had picked glowed and an eye formed on it. All the other doors faded away into blackness, leaving only the one. She approached it, slowly, warily. There was no turning back now. Reaching out, Destiny took hold of the handle. She could feel herself losing confidence. If she didn't go now, she knew that she wouldn't have the guts to go at all.

'Ready or not, Destiny… Here we go…'

Without pausing to think, Destiny threw open the door and pushed herself inside. The door disappeared behind her – she was alone and stranded in an unfamiliar dimension.

The sudden, sickening feeling of weightlessness caused her to look around. 'CRAP.'

It seemed that Destiny had been dumped into the dimension about a mile above even the tops of the buildings. Unfortunately for her, this dimension had the same amount of gravity as her old one. Down she fell.

To put it lightly, Destiny wasn't a fan of heights. To put it realistically, Destiny was more terrified of heights than a cat is of water.

'This is worse than the falling dream!' She thought, feeling her stomach in her throat and the wind whistling through her hair.

Wishing that it would stop soon, Destiny chanced a peek at the ground again. Seeing it rising rapidly to meet her, she let out a desperate, high-pitched shriek.

Bracing herself, she prepared to feel her bones snap and break as they hit the concrete going 50 miles per hour.

"Mother…" She whimpered, unwilling to believe that her short life was about to end.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Destiny slowly blinked open her eyes. She had hit the ground much less violently than she had expected, for some reason. Nothing felt broken, but the wind had been knocked out of her. Breathing steadily, her breath eventually returned… and then she became aware of two things. First of all, she couldn't move any of her upper body except her head and right arm. Secondly, the ground beneath her was breathing.

Idiot, she argued with herself. The ground doesn't breathe! Straining her neck to look over her shoulder, she stiffened at the sight below her. But that does.

Lying underneath her was a man that Destiny had never seen before. He was young and well muscled, with spiky, blond hair. His eyes were shut and he appeared to be asleep.

A sudden thought struck her. If she was on top of him… then she must have fallen on him! That would account for her softer-than-expected landing.

Oops, she thought guiltily. If that's what happened, he's probably unconscious, not asleep.

Slowly becoming more aware of her surroundings, Destiny turned back to see why she couldn't move most or her upper body.

What the…?

Lying on top of her was yet another man Destiny had never seen before. His head rested limply on her chest – much to her discomfort. His hair was silver and smooth, reminding her irresistibly of her father. His eyes, too, were closed.

Wait… why should he be unconscious? I didn't fall on him!

"Um, excuse me…" She began. He didn't react. She tried again. "Hello...?" There was still no reaction from the silver-haired man. Beneath her, Destiny heard a faint groan and knew that the blond guy was waking up. She turned her head to look at him just as his eyes blinked open.

Their eyes caught.

"What…?" He asked quietly, confusion evident in his tone.

Blushing, Destiny laughed nervously. "Uh… yeah. Hi. Sorry 'bout this, but – in my defense – it's not my fault."

For the first time, she took in the fact that she was almost completely on top of him. How awkward can this get?

She could have hit herself for thinking that. It's a common fact of life to never ask if things can get worse – because they can and will. And then they did.

Destiny and Cloud suddenly became aware of pounding feet heading their way… coming from two different directions. Both strained their necks up to see who it was – unable to do much else, as both of their bodies were crushed under someone else's.

"What have we here?" Someone drawled. The question came from a slim, red-haired guy. With him were eight others: a bald guy, a guy in a red cape, a black guy with a machine in place of his hand, a blond guy with a stick, a girl in black leather, a girl in unbelievably long boots, a red wolf, and a gray cat.

"Cloud!" The girl in black leather cried in relief, her eyes on the blond man beneath Destiny.

Cloud? Destiny thought, confused. Didn't know that was a guy name…

Suddenly, the nine friends tensed and stared at something in the opposite direction. Turning her head the other way, Destiny blinked. Two silver-haired men who bore a slight resemblance to the man on top of her stood there warily. One had long hair and seemed more agile. The other had short hair and was more burly. Their faces showed little expression – reminding her once more of her father – but they seemed hesitant to approach Destiny and the others.

For a while, no one moved. No one spoke. Destiny almost thought that everyone had stopped breathing. She quickly grew bored and decided to break the silence.

"Could somebody please get this guy off me?" She snapped. She didn't mean to sound irritable, but her neck was beginning to cramp from lifting it so long. Plus, she had completely lost feeling in her left arm.

Everyone else started and stared at her, as if noticing her for the first time. Reno and Rude exchanged a baffled glance – unsure of what to do. No one made a move to help her.

Destiny groaned. "C'mon, please? I can't feel my left arm!" They still made no move towards her, though they were all shifting restlessly as if trying to decide whether to help or not. Exhaling sharply, she turned her face away. "Fine," she muttered, "I'll do it myself."

Now slightly hesitant, Destiny reached up and gave the silver haired man a slight shove with her free right hand. He shifted and moaned, but remained unconscious.

"Well, at least we know he's alive…" Destiny muttered.

Just then, a soft, limp-sounding voice murmured, "Brother…"

Destiny looked up to see who had spoken. It was one of the silver-haired men. "What did you say?"

The longhaired one slowly turned his head to look at her. "He's our brother." He said in that soft voice of his.

Destiny blinked. "He is?"

"Yeah," the burly one answered in a deep, rough voice.

She rolled her eyes. "Well, why didn't yousay so?" She groaned, impatient. "Can you please get your brother off me? He's heavy!"

The two exchanged glances and slowly approached her. Instantly, the nine companions tensed and readied for a fight. The brothers stopped, looking slightly cautious.

Destiny let out a low, annoyed growl with a faint undertone of warning. "Quit it!" She snapped at the nine. They flinched, as if stung, and stared at her again. "They're only trying to help me out, as you didn't seem to care to! Look, if you want to do something useful, then leave! And take your idiocy with you!"

Destiny's tongue lashed out instinctively, and she let it. At home, she was used to speaking sharply to idiots like them who didn't know what they wanted to do. They slowly stepped back, looking confused and slightly hurt, but still wary. With the threat gone, the two brothers approached Destiny quickly. Kneeling down beside her, they inspected their brother.

"Kadaj…" Murmured the one with long hair in his limp voice.

"B-big brother…" Whined the other hoarsely. Suddenly, he bowed his head, his shoulders shaking slightly.

"Don't cry, Loz," the longhaired one said.

Destiny stared up at the two men, unable to understand what was going on. The nine friends seemed as bewildered as she.

"What are you people talkingabout?" She snapped. When neither answered, she sighed, "You know what? Never mind. I don't wanna know. Talk later. Move now."

Destiny heard whispers from behind her. The unfamiliar names they used and the complete and utter confusion in their tones did not help her understand. Instead, they added onto her bewilderment.

"He's not… is he?"

"Cloud did hit Sephiroth pretty hard…"

"Good riddance."

"I dunno… poor guy…"

"What'll happen to them if he kicks it?"

"Who knows?"

"Guess we're about to find out."

Destiny wasn't a very patient person, and she'd had just about enough. She had left her family, been dumped into a strange new world, fell on, been fallen on, and now nobody seemed to be able to talk sense. One could only take so much. In a chillingly cold, calm voice, Destiny said, "Does everyone here know something that I do not?"

Everyone fell silent. Destiny looked them all over, and every single person dropped their eyes from her searching ones. She turned her eyes to the brothers. The one called 'Loz' dropped his gaze, but the other held it. Perhaps he could tell her what she wanted to know.

Ignoring everyone else, she said to him, "What is going on?" It was not really a question. It was more of a demand. The tone of her voice said clearly, 'Tell me what I need to know, or I will force it from you.' The man seemed to have a sense of self-preservation, because his answer made sense for once.

"Kadaj," he said simply, "is dying." He turned his gaze to the man under Destiny – Cloud, she thought his name was – and finished. "Big brother did it."

Edited 3/12/09, but will probably be reedited sometime in the future...