Rebirth

Chapter 17 - Defiance

Tifa lay on the bed, shivering under the covers. She had no sense of time without
windows to look through. The room was silent around her. She was thankful for that at
least. She tried moving her legs and cried out in pain. She tried sitting up and fell back
to the pillow. She wept silently, placing her hands over her stomach in a protective
embrace.

In another part of the house, Yazoo watched on the monitor connected to the camera in
her room as Tifa struggled to sit up in bed.

"She's awake," he said. Kadj stood from the chair he had been sitting on and walked
over to his brother.

"You hit her too hard, Loz," Kadj murmured. "You never did learn to pull your
punches."

"Next time, you can take her on, then," snapped Loz, rubbing his back where Tifa had
punched him.

Yazoo chuckled softly at his brother.

"There won't be a next time," snarled Kadj. He turned to look at both of them. "She is
the Mother. Remember that and treat her with the respect she deserves."

Yazoo scratched his head. He wasn't too sure about that.

"How long . . .?" he asked.

Kadj smiled at the question. "Well, it usually takes 9 months, but we'll see what we can
do about that."

He walked through the room they were standing in with its high ceilings and huge
windows, into the kitchen. He had prepared a small meal for Tifa. He picked up the tray
and walked downstairs to the room in the basement.

Tifa heard the door open and slowly sat up in the bed. She felt exposed without the rest
of her clothes and pulled the covers up under her arms. Her legs still ached but at least
her head had cleared enough to allow her to sit.

Kadj walked into the room carrying the tray. He looked over at Tifa and smiled gently at
her. His smile disarmed her. He could see her shoulders relax a bit. "This is good," he
thought to himself.

He walked over to the small table standing next to her bed and placed the tray on it.

"Are you hungry? You need to eat something. I want you healthy," he said in a soft
voice.

She watched him walk towards her. Who was this strange man with the weird eyes? He
was tall. About as tall as Cloud and built about the same, but he had straight grey hair
that fell across his face. His formfitting black leather coat showed a muscular body
beneath. He looked young, about 17, but there was something about him, his walk, the
way he carried himself, that told her he was much, much older.

"Who are you? What do you want with me?" she asked. She thought she already knew
the answer.

Kadj looked down at her. She really was quite lovely with her dark brown hair falling
across her strong shoulders. She had large, dark eyes that caught the light coming from
the single bulb in the room, making them shine.

She squirmed under his intent gaze and slowly pulled her knees up to her chest.

"You're safe here. Do you believe me?" he asked, sitting down on the bed next to her.

"No."

"We mean you no harm," he said quietly.

Tifa passed her hand over the bruise on her ribs and shifted uncomfortably to ease the
pain. Kadj saw that she was still recovering from her battle with Loz.

"I have to apologize for my brother. He can be a little too . . . eager sometimes," he said.

"How long will you keep me here?" Tifa asked, not wanting to look into those eyes.
They reminded her of Sephiroth.

"That depends on you, my dear, but I would think at least until you give birth."

His words cut through her like a knife. She had pushed the thought that they wanted to
take her baby deep down inside her. It was just too horrible a thing to entertain. But
now, she had no choice. He had just confirmed her worse fears.

She looked up at him with a mixture of fear and anger in her face. "You will not take my
baby. I will kill myself and the baby before I let that happen."

Kadj smiled sadly at her. "I thought you might feel that way," he said, looking around
the room.

His gaze around the empty room told her they had no intention of leaving anything lying
around that she could use to help her escape or hurt herself with. She noticed that they
had even taken her clothes away.

"Your health is very important to us. I want you to eat something," he said, placing the
tray of food on the bed next to her. "After all, you are eating for two now."

Tifa looked at the food and the glass of what looked like plain water. She had to admit
that she was very hungry and thirsty, not having eaten anything since before the church.
She picked up the glass and threw it across the room where it bounced off the wall,
unbroken.

"Dammit," she thought. She had hoped it would break and she would be able to use the
sharp shards to escape.

She looked defiantly back at Kadj and said nothing.

Kadj glanced over his shoulder at the cup lying on the floor and sighed. "We can do this
either the easy way or the hard way, Mother," his tone dark and threatening. "If you
continue down this path, we will be forced to sedate you and force feed you. That will
not be pleasant, for anyone."

He stood and retrieved the cup from the floor, placing it back on the tray. "I will leave
you to think it over."

He turned and walked back out of the room. As he locked the door behind him, he heard
her yell after him.

"I am not your Mother!"

He walked away as the rest of the tray's contents hit the door.

He walked back upstairs to his brothers. He had expected that she would not cooperate,
at least not at first. He didn't want to restrain her but he could not let her harm herself or
the baby she carried. That would jeopardize their plans. He even hoped that, over time,
she would start to see things their way. Well, he would give her some time to think over
his last words to her. Either way, willingly or unwillingly, she would join them.

He walked back into the kitchen and picked up a clear vial of thick fluid. He looked at it
and smiled.

"Either willingly or unwillingly", he thought, "she will be mine and together we will
control the child."