Kadai's Origin : Facing Clones

[Sechmeth]

Kadai woke up suddenly, sat up and moved over to the edge of the bed. It was still night over Paragon City. Next to him he could hear the constant breathing of his companion Ted.
He stared at the darkness in front of him for a while.
"Again?" Kadai felt a hand on his naked back. "Yes." - "This is the fifth time this week. I am starting to worry about you."
Kadai smirked tiredly. "Stop that, Teddie. Worries are not good for your work."
He heard Ted sigh. "No, seriously. What's wrong? What is it that keeps you so busy at night?"
Kadai bit his lip, thinking. He didn't want to explain it, but this time Ted would not allow any excuses. "...I think it started as you showed me the blueprints of that portal of yours.
Somehow... I think it only needs some calibrations and some changes here and there, and it might... it might... I have no clue."
He dropped his shoulders and shook his head. "It's just in my head all of the time."
He could feel Ted's look on his back.
"Did I tell you about my travels?" Ted started. "I was interested in what I am like on parallel Worlds, what happened to me there. I never found you there." The silence was deafening after his last sentence. Kadai turned around. "You think I might... not be from this planet? I thought a lot about it, not remembering anything about my past, but not even being from here..."
Ted fumbled for him and pulled him close. "I didn't mean that I think so, but it could be. If it helps you to sleep again, I can call the Underground tomorrow morning, we get you a visitors card and we let you do what you want to do and have a look for what'll happen next, okay?"
Kadai smiled. "Thank you, Teddie." - "I just cannot refuse you anything."

[Sechmeth]

The moment Kadai finally stood in front of the portal, down in the tunnels of the
Underground, his eyes beamed and he knew perfectly what he needed to do. He grinned widely.
Only an hour later he had finished the changes in the program and the structure, just how his instict had told him to do.
Ted had watched him all the time and now had a look on the first results of the acceptance tests.
"It could really work," he mumbled.
A little while later Ted pushed the power button and the portal began to set up with its violet-blue glow.
Kadai looked into the vortex infront of him, he was very excited. He peered over his
shoulder a few times to Ted, who was checking the stability of the portal, until he nodded.
"Who goes first?" Ted's voice sounded unsure, but Kadai did not hear it anymore. He was already on the other side.

[Sechmeth]

The World on the other side was green and warm. Ted had come after Kadai, bringing something like a survival kit with him, sleeping bags and theresuch.
They had walked and flown for a couple of hours now, and hadn't met anybody except for some weird looking, aggresive animals that left behind some kind of money after you had defeated them. They were finally standing on a beach, with lovely white sand and water as far as they were able to see.
"Wow, nice place for a swim!" said Kadai. He seemed to be strangely happy since they had entered this world, but Ted couldn't fight the feeling that there was something wrong with his boyfriend.
Kadai smiled widely, although he had a racing headache. When he made the first step onto the soil of this planet, a scream had exploded inside his head, a scream of a million voices, as if this whole planet was screaming. The planet was in pain and frightened, and it was because of him. It didn't want to have him here.
And he had realised it the very same moment: he was home.

[Sechmeth]

Soon they reached a friendly-looking village. The sign at the entrace identified it as
"Costa del Sol".They had found a lot of money already by defeating some monstrous animals, so they both agreed on looking for a room over night and getting some supplies.
But strangely, everybody went quiet as they entered the tavern of this small Village, and Kadai had the feeling they were all staring at him. The waitress, a small, round-looking woman with black hair came swiftly to them. Before they could open their mouth though, the lady tried to shove them out the door again with soft pushes. "I am very sorry, but We cannot serve someone like you in here." - "But we only wanted to...", Ted tried. "I am very sorry, but we can't. Please leave immediately." - "But we just..." - "Out! Please!"
Kadai looked at her intensely and spoke up "We need something to drink, please. We will take it with us, we won't stay here."
The woman shrinked under his stare and grew pale. She closed the door before their noses, opened it hastily and handed them two water bottles after some seconds, then closed the door again. They could hear the key turn in the keyhole.
Even more strange was the fact that as they walked through the streets, the whole village seemed to be abandoned.

[Sechmeth]

"Somehow we aren't welcome here," Ted said as they finally rested outside of the village, drinking their water.
Kadai shrugged. He knew it was him who wasn't welcome, they didn't have any problems with Ted. And it wasn't about hospitality. The reason was that the people here were frightened by him.

[Sechmeth]

As the night fell, they slept under open sky. The area they had been led to by the road out of Costa del Sol was sandy and grass-speckled. Ted had made a small fire, not to warm them,the night was comfy, but to keep the animals away.
Kadai listened to Teds continuous breathing as he slept, thinking about what happened during the day. His powers seemed to grow stronger with every hour that passed. The people were afraid of him. Did they know something about him? He had had no chance to ask them yet. The scream inside his head had calmed somewhat, but the headache was still there. And every time he tried to relax a bit, words formed in his mind.
"Unification..." he murmured.
Finally, it was near dawn, he fell asleep.

[Sechmeth]

The second day the surroundings had become mountainous, so they kept flying most of the time. Past midday they arrived in another village called Nibelheim. Different than in Costa del Sol, the inhabitants showed no fear of Kadai, but a distant kind of respect instead.
Kadai bought himself a cloak with a hood. He told Ted that it might be handy when people didn't get a look at him immediately and Ted agreed. He, too, had noticed the reactions on Kadai's looks. They rented a small room inside the inn over night, since Ted wanted to try to talk to the people of Nibelheim to find out the reasons for the disaffirmation of Kadai.

[Sechmeth]

Inside the small cantina of Nibelheim was an old man sitting on the bar. He eyed up Ted as he entered, but without the reluctance of the other inhabitants.Ted chose to take a seat next to him.
"Hello, sir." He gret friendly. "Hello, kid! Interesting traveling companion you have there, didn't know that they are still around." The old man sipped on his tea.
"...they?" Ted asked carefully. "Well, the clones, same as yours. Didn't know he is one, eh? It has been about a year ago, the whole village was crowded with'em. They hung around everywhere, moaning and shivering, only talking nonsense. One was in my cellar, no idea why. Some time later they all left and never came back."
Ted's mind was racing. Was Kadai really a clone?
"...Where did they go?" - "Up north, if I remember correctly. Little Tifa could have told
you more, but she left for Midgard. She was the tour guide here." - "My... companion and me would like to learn more about this. ...Do you know maybe who we could ask?" The old man scratched his head. "No idea. But perhaps you can find something in the old Shinra mansion. The clones gathered there before they left, and there is weird stuff to be found in there, or so it's said."
Ted stood up and payed the tea for the old man."Thank you, sir." - " You're welcome, kid."

[Sechmeth]

The air in the old mansion smelled rotten and of mold, the dust was laying inches thick on the floor and the furniture. At some places were signs of a battle long ago.
Ted walked slowly through the bottom floor while Kadai searched the upper one.
In one room on the right of the building was a thick brickwall and Kadai felt an air draft. He called for Ted, and together they searched the room until they found the small button, opening the door to the secret staircase behind the brickwall. The stairs went down into a deep, dark pit, but there were torches to help them on their way down. At the underground floor were a handful rooms. One of them was empty except for a wooden coffin, one was a big, packed library and the last one was a working room with a desk, chairs and paper piles.
Both of them started to look through the notices and books, finding quite a few very
interesting informations. Several hours later, they decided to discuss their findings.

[Impact]

((*grins* keep it coming Sech...I'm not very familiar with Kadai but I'm enjoying the story ))