Author's Note: Disclaimer found below.

This fic is about Loz, Yazoo, and Kadaj as clones, before Advent Children. History, sex, violence. All that good stuff.

Yes. I know. Shinentai. I actually prefer to write them that way most of the time. However, this fic started as back-story for them in an RPG I'm in, where we decided to play them as clones. So, there you have it. Consider it AU if it bothers you. It's just my take on it, after all.

This starts out written fast n' vague, since it was originally not supposed to get as long as it did. It gets more detailed the further it goes. So, um... sorry about the stylistic variability?

Warning: There's sex and sexual situations in here. It's mostly vague, but it's definitely there, definitely homosexual in nature, and, well, technically it's underage (legally speaking, anyway). If that bothers you, you probably shouldn't be reading this.

Don't worry, not springing rape on you readers unannounced or anything. This started out as fluff. (Why is it that my fluff ends up involving violence?)

Enjoy the Silence

The world changed one day.

The scientists began by setting them on each other, but it didn't work. Once they saw each other, realized what they were fighting, they stopped, and stood together, and waited to be punished.

But they weren't. Instead, they were left together for a long time. There were no words at first. They stood and stared at the observation window, mirrored on this side with all beyond invisible to them. And then Loz became impatient and kicked at the artificial ground, and Yazoo looked toward the noise and made a small sound of amusement. And Loz smiled, and Yazoo smiled back, far more uncertain but smiling nonetheless.

So they sat and waited, silently staring. The artificial night fell, and they were still left alone.

They sat close to each other, inches between them, and waited.

Loz slept first, curled on his side while Yazoo sat with his chin on his knees. After a few hours, Loz awoke, and Yazoo slept.

The lights in the ceiling far above, hidden by transplanted foliage, gradually brightened to claim that it was day. Each of them was sure that something had happened, that they'd been abandoned, but neither spoke.

Finally, they looked at each other, and stood as one and began to look for a way out. And when a new monster to fight was released into the training room, they fought it together. It was something larger and stronger than either had fought before, and before they killed it, it tore at the skin of Loz's hand.

After the fight, Yazoo saw the wound. He reached out, cradled Loz's hand in both of his, and they stared at their hands together for a long time.

And then the door opened and they were allowed to leave. The techs waited outside and escorted them to one of the operating theaters. For the first time, there was equipment for two, instead of one. They were obedient, lay on the pair of cots as they were asked, allowed the needles and sensors as they'd been trained. But still they watched each other, tensing when the technicians stepped between and broke their gaze.

Eventually they were loosed again, permitted to eat. And then the lights said that it was night again. The techs came again and led them away, in separate directions, and they looked back at each other, uneasy.

Neither slept.

When they were brought together again the next day, they knew that they didn't want to be apart again. They fought well that day, tried to show that they were better together. That they should not be parted.

It didn't matter. When night came again, they were locked away in their separate rooms.

The next day, when they finished and the techs tried to part them again, Loz told them No.

He was punished, and they were separated.

Sometime in that night, Yazoo casually removed a wall panel next to the door of his room and spliced enough wires - cutting with fingernails alone - to break the electronic lock and open the door.

What frightened the scientists was that he moved as though he could have done it all along, and had simply never had reason.

He walked quickly to the door of Loz's room - they couldn't figure out how he knew where it was - and began to work on the lock there. Inside, Loz awoke, moved to the door, and laid his hand on it, three inches of metal all that stood between them.

When the techs and guards came for Yazoo, the door broke apart beneath Loz's fury as though it had no right to exist. As soon as they stood together, back to back, facing the guards, they stilled and waited.

They were placed in a strong, shield-bound holding cell for the rest of the night - but they were placed there together.

Sitting with their backs against the wall, Yazoo shifted close and leaned against Loz. Loz tilted his head to rest against Yazoo's, and they gave each other their names.

Those were the first words that they spoke aloud to each other.

They were allowed to remain together at nearly all times after that. Their new, more strongly reinforced room contained beds for both of them. For a few weeks they tried to sleep separately, but by the end of the night they were usually sitting together on the floor again, or one of them sat near the bed of the other until morning. Finally, they tore the beds apart, moved the narrow mattresses together and slept that way, inches apart again. Rarely speaking, Staring at each other with gleaming eyes until one or the other fell asleep first.

It became easier to bring down even the strongest monsters thrown at them. The pain of the tests and Mako treatments came to mean little, so long as they were together.

They began to forget what it was like to be apart. Neither wanted to remember.

They vaguely recognized that time passed, marked only by their bodies becoming taller and stronger. They were surprised when they began to diverge, Yazoo remaining slight while Loz became more broad-shouldered and solid. But it was nothing that either minded.

The change came slowly at first; they moved as they slept, awaking close together and touching, and not minding that, either. They quickly moved on to touching as they fell asleep, then holding as they slept. And it was good and right. They were permitted this comfort, because it put them more at ease during the day; their fighting performance improved greatly.

One night, Yazoo awoke to Loz holding him tightly, breathing strangely, straining to remain still against his back. Yazoo shifted, and Loz realized that moving was better, and for a little while they only struggled against each other, Loz with his face hidden against Yazoo's neck and Yazoo looking over his shoulder with a dazed expression, both wondering and learning at once. And then Loz finally shuddered helplessly and moaned and fell still, and Yazoo turned under his arm and held him. They gently pressed their faces together, unaware of any other protocol.

And they were each the most beautiful and wonderful thing that the other had ever seen.

The weeks after that were difficult, in that the scientists tried to tell them things and convince them of things, speaking to them separately or together. They learned much, but the most important thing they learned was that there wasn't a thing that could or would be done to stop them. Their effectiveness together exceeded expectations, and was not to be jeopardized.

And the world changed again. Their existence became more than content, and for a long while, they had all that they needed, and the world was good.

Current Music: Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII, its story, and characters are the property, copyright and trademark of Square Electronic Arts L.L.C., and no ownership or claim on said property, copyright or trademark is made or implied by their use in the work(s) of fan fiction presented here. This fan fiction constitutes a personal comment on the aforesaid properties pursuant to doctrines of fair use and fair comment. This fan fiction is non-commercial, not for sale or profit, and may not be sold or reproduced for commercial purposes.