Thanks again for all the nice reviews, honestly I´m reliefed that you guys took it so casually... :)

So, as promised, the explanation will be at the end of the chapter, but I hope that the epilogue will clear things up anyway.

A big thanks to j.sakurachan1 who proofread this again, you rock so much!!

Enjoy!

Epilogue

With a trail of dust the bike came to a halt, swaying slightly to the side as the pedestal was put up. Yazoo let his helmet hang from his arm as he made his way through the garden on the white gravel path towards the loud noises coming from the back. He stopped in the sheltered backyard, where Loz was standing in just his trousers, hacking wood. Just as the oldest boy was wiping sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and about to put another piece of wood into place, silently cursing under his breath why he had to do this shit in the heat of summer, he noticed his brother's presence and let the axe down with a frown.

"Oy."

Yazoo nodded a short greeting.

"Where have you been?"

Ignoring the slightly irritated undertone and suspicious look on Loz face, Yazoo tilted his head. Since he had more or less forced his brothers to come back with him, Loz had started to act somewhat cold around him. He didn´t show any open hostility, nor had he questioned his decision even once, but somehow Yazoo could feel that a large part of trust had been taken away from them, leaving a maybe unbridgeable gap between them.

Well, it wasn´t anything he couldn´t handle. Pretending that nothing had changed between them at all, Yazoo shrugged and said. "Nowhere special. Just a little shopping."

Inwardly smirking at the unhidden curiosity that took over his brother's features, he kept his face straight.

"Oh. What did you buy?"

"Cell phone."

The frown was back. "But you already have one…"

"It´s not for me…" With a smile, Yazoo magically summoned a brand new black mobile from his pocket and nonchalantly tossed it into a stunned Loz´s direction, who stared at the item wide eyed.

"That´s… for me?"

"Hn." Yazoo looked at him in amusement, pointing out "I thought that you would rather talk to Tifa at home, instead of in a phone box."

Almost instantly Loz's face turned a deep shade of red, murmuring. "Well, yeah… thanks."

"No problem."

The clearly delighted expression of Loz changed once again, after he had examined the phone excitedly, but was asking quiet uncertain. "You… sure that´s okay?"

"Of course, you´re my brother." Yazoo looked slightly confused.

"No, I mean… You now…" Loz made a helpless gesture towards the house, not wanting to speak directly of the general and just hoping Yazoo would understand.

"Ah, don´t worry, that´s alright." The other boy assured him warmly, and the concerned look vanished from Loz´s features.

"Yeah, well then… Thanks again…" He shot his younger brother a grateful look (barely refraining from glomping him and squashing his fragile figure in a sweaty bear hug). Loz wanted to explore his new toy and call Tifa as soon as possible.

"So, where´s Kadaj?"

"In his room. Maybe." Loz shrugged. As if he had the time tracking down the brat's whereabouts all day long…

"Hn." Yazoo made, turning around and walking to the patio door, adding over his shoulder in a slightly dunning but amused manner, "Just don´t forget to finish your work."

"Nah…" came the distracted reply, as Loz was already fully busy with his new phone. Smirking, Yazoo entered the house, marvelling on how pathetically easily Loz was to manipulate. It almost wasn´t funny anymore.

Making his way through the pleasingly cool floors, his steps muffled by the thick carpets, Yazoo came to the rooms that were farthest away from his and the generals. Stopping in front of the last one, he softly rapped at the door and entered without waiting for an invitation.

Kadaj was sitting by the window, head propped into his palms and looked outside. He didn´t look up when Yazoo came to stand next to him, his gaze directed into a far away distance that went beyond the reach of anyone but him. Only when Yazoo placed a hand on his shoulders lightly and bend down to him, did Kadaj notice the other's presence and a somewhat hollow, uncertain smile graced his features. "Hey."

"Hey! Sorry I didn´t notice you were here…"

"That I saw." Yazoo mockingly huffed, but his eyes were gleaming with mirth.

"Ah, don´t be like this…" Kadaj pouted, punching his brother's arm lightly.

"So, what was it that kept you so occupied that you wouldn´t even acknowledge your most favourite, awesome brother?"

A giggle erupted from the boys throat. Shifting his position into cross legged, so as to better be able to face Yazoo, who had taken a seat next to him on the wide sill, the littlest eyed the other boy, the happiness changing to a thoughtful, melancholy look.

"Nothing, really…"

Yazoo narrowed his eyes, as the boy avoided eye contact and nervously observed the wallpaper.

"Kadaj, look at me…" he softly ordered, all cheerfulness gone. When the boy reluctantly obeyed, Yazoo sighed and said in a reassuring manner.

"Remember what we promised? From now on there will be no more secrets between us that can cause misunderstandings. You don´t want something like this to happen again now, do you?" The boy shook his head, nibbling at his bottom lip. "Now, then tell me what´s on your mind, hm?"

"I…It´s just…" Kadaj gulped and Yazoo smiled soothingly.

"I understand what you were telling me, and that I got it all wrong and that it wasn´t his fault but that it was your illness and that you had a fit that night and Sep- father only went to call for help and all but-" it suddenly burst out of him "I still… I mean what if he hurts me again… I don´t know if I want to be here, even if I got my own room and all…"

Hiding behind his fringe of silver hair and biting his lips, Kadaj eyed his brother from out of the corner of his eye.

Sighing, Yazoo was quiet for a while, looking at his folded hands until he finally said. "That´s okay, I understand. But you know, father hasn´t any experience with children at all, so it´s not his fault. I admit that he did things that were not alright, and that he was a little stressed lately, but now that we know about it, we have to help him out a little so that we all can get along, hm? And you have to admit that you weren´t exactly cooperative the last two months now, were you?" Kadaj nodded his head reluctantly, looking a little guilty, but not quite convinced yet. "But… What about Mister Tseng? I mean… Isn´t it really bad for him now?"

"Don´t worry about him. I´m sure he will be alright and that there is nothing to worry about. He´s an adult, he´ll know how to deal with this. And it was his own fault after all, dragging us to his house without informing himself about the situation, wasn´t it?"

Kadaj shot him a strange look, which didn´t go unnoticed by his older brother.

"What? You don´t trust me?" he asked, voice sounding a lot more cold and distanced suddenly.

Eyes widening, Kadaj hurried to frantically shake his head, silver hair swirling around. "N-no, of course I do! I´m sorry…" He kneaded his sleeve between his little fingers, clearly frightened. After all, what was he to do if Yazoo would become angry with him? He was his tower of strength, the one person he could rely on.

"It´s all right now. And as long as you behave there won´t be any trouble, so there´s no need to worry at all. Just finish your chores well and stay out of his way and everything will be fine."

"Okay."

"Okay." Smiling at each other, one reassuring, the other still a little uncertain, the brothers sat at the sill, the still warm evening sun heating their backs and casting everything in a warm orange light.

"Well, I think it´s about time I go down to prepare fathers food." Rising from the sill, Yazoo placed long fingers on his brother's head, ruffling his hair lightly. "Don´t stay up too long and make sure to not oversleep tomorrow. And whenever you have a problem, don´t hesitate to share with me, okay? Good night."

"Hn. Good night. And thank you."

"You´re welcome." With another smile the door shut close behind the middle brother, leaving Kadaj alone in his new, fancy and much desired own room, which seemed much too big to him suddenly.

--

"So? How did it go?" General Sephiroth slouched on the couch, his uniform half unbuttoned and a glass of bourbon resting in his hand.

"Just as you said, he wasn´t very… cooperative." Yazoo pointed out, sliding a finger along the strong arm draped around his shoulder.

"I see." The other man smirked and took a sip from his glass. "Then I take it you took care of this?"

"Yes." The boy affirmed quietly, but with not much interest, due to the generals dextrous fingers ghosting over the delicate skin of his throat.

"What about the other runts?" The voice sounded much cooler, indicating that this special topic didn´t quite please the man. Sephiroth observed the boy leaning against him out of the corner of his eye.

"I took care of this, too. They won´t do anything stupid. Loz is totally occupied with his girlfriend and Kadaj is too frightened to try anythi-"

"I hope so." The older man interrupted, in a hushed voice that bordered on snarling, as he emphasized his threat with a short squeeze around the boys throat. The next moment, everything sinister had vanished from Sepiroth's behaviour, as he had seen the slight widening of the boys eyes.

Sephiroth wouldn´t tolerate another failure. And though the boy had convinced the general that it would be much more effective to grant his brothers light privileges to prevent them from rebelling, Yazoo just shouldn´t believe that he, the great general, would be bossed around by his pet. He was the one to give orders, and he had merely accepted the boy's advice because it was convenient. From now on Yazoo would have to deal with everything concerning his annoying spawns and god help him if he failed.

Yazoo seemed to have understood his point, which rather pleased the general, for he hated it to have to explain himself. Loosening his grip on the boys neck, he instead continue to stroke the sensitive skin and his demeanour became relaxed again.

"I told you they won´t make any problems anymore." The boy pouted. "Besides, if they do misbehave there is always the option of sending them away to a military academy, I´m sure they´ll be able to handle them. Don´t you trust me?" An accusing, sullen look was sent in the general direction of Sephiroth. The general donned a fake, warm smile on his face and leaned forward, tenderly whispering in the boys ear "Of course I don´t. You are far too sly for your own good, kitten."

"Ah? I´m wondering were I got that from…" came the innocently spoken reply, accompanied by a wry smile and a side glance at a certain general.

"Hn." Leaning back, the older man shot his child an approving look. After all, the boy's twisted, reckless character came just in handy, and as long as he knew where his limits were, everything would go smoothly. If not… well, Sephiroth had several ways of making people obedient.

Placing the glass aside, Sephiroth lazily reached for some grapes, putting them in his mouth slowly while he continued to watch his child who held his head tilted and enjoyed his touch with half lidded eyes.

"So, tell me how it felt."

"Mh?" Questioning eyes looked up at him in slight confusion.

Smirking, the general popped another grape in his mouth, explaining. "The killing. How did it feel."

"Oh." The boy shrugged. "He wouldn´t listen, so I guess it´s a relief he´s dead now. Though he was really stubborn and annoying…"

Sephiroth rose an elegant eyebrow, placing his booth glad feet on the table casually. "Is that so? Tell me how he died then."

"His breathing stopped, and voila: he was dead." The boy explained in a bored tone with a slight hint of impatience in his voice.

The stroking stopped, exciting an unhappy growl from Yazoo's white throat. Unblinking the general wrapped his lips around another grape, casually commenting. "Ah, I´m sure you can do better to entertain me than this."

"Of course I can…" Yazoo purred, trailing a finger along the generals exposed, smooth chest, a mischievous, teasing glint in his eyes.

"What a spoiled little kitten you are…" Sephiroth smirked, amused, but stopping the boys hand nonetheless. "Though that has to wait for after the lesson."

Frowning slightly Yazoo let go, giving in and sighing. "Well, he didn´t notice that he was going to die until I pointed it out to him. Then he was all like 'I won´t do anything, please don´t kill me.', and so on, and when he noticed that that wouldn´t work he tried to appeal to my, I dare say rather nonexistent, morals. In the end it was rather pathetic…" he snorted disgustedly.

"Hm." The general made, reaching for his glass again. "And, what you did you learn from this?"

Looking at his nails, Yazoo guessed unenthusiastically. "Well, never mess with the great general Sephiroth?"

"Exactly." Said general smirked, taking a sip from his glass. "You should remember that, kitten."

Raising an eyebrow, the boy looked up at his father with a sceptical look. "Just why do I feel like this was some kind of threat just now?"

"Oh, you noticed? How perceptive." The general smiled sweetly. "It´s just a reminder, though. Like for the next time when you get that crazy idea of trying to blackmail me for child abuse… You know, murder far outweighs 'sexual assault'."

Sephiroth found the petrified face of his child with its big, widened eyes and the slightly opened mouth simply adorable and with a satisfied smirk he downed his bourbon.

However Yazoo didn´t stay like that for long, as his eyes narrowed slightly, and he leaned into the generals embrace with a small smile himself.

"Hn. I guess so. But I think that, for all your brilliance, you are missing something here."

"Oh?" Rising an eyebrow again, the general continued to explore the soft skin that taunt over Yazoo's collar bone.

"Unlike you," he explained, smile getting sly "I am still underage and therefore cannot be charged. Besides, I can always say it was you who forced me…"

"I see," Sephiroth smirked, pulling another grape from the branch and feeding it to the boy thoughtfully, "But I know it´s you who is missing the main point here..."

Licking a small droplet of water from the General's long fingers, Yazoo tilted his head in question. "Poor naïve boy…" Running his thumb over full lips, Sephiroths face came closer towards his child's. "You are forgetting that I am the law here."

As Yazoo´s lips curled into a slight pout again, the general leaned back again a bit, saying "I see we understand each other?"

A resigned "yes" echoed through the dimly lit salon.

"Good boy." Pleased, the longer haired young man patted his sullen child on the head, laughing a little at his frustrated look, for he knew that it wasn´t directed at him, but that the boy was clearly dissatisfied with himself.

"Now, now kitten, don´t be like this. You did well. In a few years you might become a sufficient strategist, though you´ll always be a hundred years too early to compete with me, mh?" he teased.

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Yazoo continued to sourly sulk at his own incompetence.

"Awww. Now, let´s stop this." Sephiroth ordered, lifting the boys chin and smirked. "After all, I still have to punish you for the disaster you caused…"

Satisfied, the general noticed the lightening up in the boy's features. Inwardly shaking his head a little, the general mused to himself, Someone understand kids these days…

End

So, here we are... at the end...

Hn, I´m feeling a little emotional right now...

Oh well, let´s just start with the explanations:

First off, I hope I didn´t offend any Tseng fans, because I really liked that character. But in order to make the story work, he had to die... I first had planned to kill Elena, but since I might plan a sequel, she would be necessary, so I couldn´t do that...

Why did Tseng have to die?

Obviously it was for the twist and to line out the idea I have about Yazoo´s character. It wasn´t that hard to keep Loz or even Kadaj (since here he his only a child, and his psychoses have yet to develope) IC (or so I hope).

It wasn´t that easy with Yazoo, because instead of a caring, over emotional brat I see him as someone who is mainly concerned with his own business. On the other hand, he is not too much of an opportunist either and satisfied with a certain status quo where he doesn´t have to concern himself too much with the circumstances. For reaching that goal, he would stop at nothing, not even selling his brothers. (As it was said in his character description, he is someone who isn´t affected much by worldly matters, therefore I see him as someone rather aloof and amoral. But a great actor and manipulator if need be).

Though at the beginning of the story he is still quite attached to his brothers, despite his liaison with the general, that changes when he feels that they get into his way. As a matter of fact, that whole "abuse" thing, was never really forced, so since Tseng wouldn´t give up on trying to expose the general despite Yazoos efforts to convince him otherwise, he had to take extreme measures.

What got me the idea for the Sephiroth/Yazoo pairing (apart from the fact that they are really hot together XD), was that I read a lot of fanfiction, where Sephiroth was some kind of father/brother figure for the remnants and almost always got in trouble with Loz and Kadaj, but scarcely with Yazoo. I guess that´s because they are very much alike and would settle problems like ´adults´.

So yes, mainly to point out Yazoo´s 'real' personality, Tseng had to die. And for the drama. Sorry if someone liked him...

Uhm... is there something else?

Maybe a few words about the general. As I hope to have made clear, this isn´t some romance thing going on between them. While Yazoo is portrayed as (relatively) sane, Sephiroth isn´t and some of his twisted ideas were rubbing of on Yazoo. As I said, for the general it is all about power. I don´t know if someone saw "Schindlers list" but in one scene, Schindler (the good guy) tells Amon Göth (the bad guy who randomly shoots jews for the ´fun´ of it) that real power is not to take lifes, but to ´forgive´. It´s basically the same concept here. Sephiroth deems it fun to hold himself a pet he can spoil, insteat of beating him into a bloody pulp. Though he know he could if he wanted to. But then on the other hand, he´s loosing it sometimes... That´s the insane part.

... That´s it. If there are still any questions, please feel free to pm me.

But before I finally shut up, there is still a question I´d like to ask:

As I have indicated, I am working on a sequel right now. It would take a closer look on the relationship between Sephiroth and Yazoo and would also feature 'new' characters, such as Vincent, Zack, Aerith/s and Cloud. (They need a new math teacher, after all...)

So, anyone interested? Because if not, I´ll just keep it playing out in my head...

Aiko Celeste: Yeah, that new login thing is strange, uh? According to this, I´m almost never human... I hope you are not too sad about Tsengs dead;)

CountessKitsune: No, you are not an asshole for thinking that! (Besides, what would make that me, the author?!). I´m really glad you liked it!

Flawed Imagination: I hope the explanation helped a little? If not, please feel free to pm me and I´ll do my best to make it plausible!

Yazoo IS superiour: But, he really did it... I´m glad you liked it, though!

whitelanc3r: Oh I really hope I could explain why and how and what...? Hopefully the good feelings outweigh the bad?

CrippledAngle: I´m glad you found it to be unexpected, that was what I was aiming for, after all!

j.sakurachan1: Thank you so much for your help and your kind words, again. I guess it´s beause of you that I was able to finish that story so soon, and if anyone would like to read a sequel, O´d be more than glad if you would be willing to proof read that too!

Review please? Maybe we can make it to 100 reviews ;)