Fate

Part 2


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Yazoo watched AJ from the doorway of the shack he and his brothers had been living in for the last few weeks. She was kneeling on the ground not far from the front steps, drawing something in the dirt with a small stick. Loz came out of the cabin and sat on the stoop, a cup of coffee in one hand.

“What are you drawing?” He asked her. She glanced up at him through the long hair that covered her face.

“D-d-dual Hound,” she told him, as if he should know what that meant.

“What’s that?” He smiled at her. She shrugged and went back to her drawing.

“N-not s-sure yet, it’s n-n-not finished,” she replied. Loz looked up at Yazoo, who shrugged. He obviously didn’t know what she meant by that either. It had been just over a week since they had brought her here to live with them. Her distrust of them had lessened only slightly, she still believed that they were going to hurt her; Loz knew. Nothing could convince her otherwise, except time and patience.

“Here comes Kadaj,” Yazoo said. Kadaj had left earlier in the day to go into Midgar and buy some food and other things that they needed. Kadaj pared the truck and got out, grabbing some bags from the back and carrying them to the shack. He stopped by AJ and Loz, holding a bag out towards her.

“I got you some things that I thought you’d like,” Kadaj told her. She looked at the bag warily at first then tentatively took it. Kadaj went on into the shack to put away the other things he had purchased. She took from the bag a package of toy cars, a doll, some coloring books a notepad, box of crayons and some books.

“L-loz?” She said.

“Yeah?”

“W-why does he g-g-get these?” She asked him.

“The cars and the doll are for playing with and you like to draw so the crayons and paper are for that and the books are for reading,” he said. She blinked and she still didn’t seem convinced.

“For me?” She asked. He smiled gently at her.

“That’s right,” he said.

“W-w-why?” She was going to put them back in the bag because she didn’t think they really were for her.

“Every kid needs toys,” he replied. She put the crayons, coloring books, paper and toys back in the bag and opened one of the books. Holding it sideways, a look of bemusement on her face. She turned it upside down, after a moment she looked at him as she held the book out to him.

“What does it say?” She asked. He set his coffee cup down beside him and took the book.

“Grimm brothers fairy tales,” he read from the front cover. She leaned an elbow on his knee and tried to see the front of his book.

“H-how can y-y-you tell what it s-says?” She was confused. He pointed out the words on the cover.

“These are words, people made them a long time ago and now they can write many things with words,” he informed her.

“B-b-but I…c-can’t read, L-loz, I d-d-don’t un’erstand the words,” she told him.

“I know, but don’t worry, you’ll learn,”

“W-will you t-t-teach her h-how to read and wr-r-r-rite?” She asked shyly.

“How about I teach you?” Yazoo said. He sat down next to Loz, he winked at AJ as he elbowed Loz in the ribs.

“Loz here isn’t very patient when it comes to things like that,” he told her. AJ looked at him seriously, not understanding that he was half kidding. Loz shoved his brother.

“I’m plenty patient,” he said. Yazoo snorted a laugh; he looked at Loz with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh, so you want to teach her how to read?” Yazoo asked him.

“Ah…maybe you should teach her numbers as well,” Loz suggested.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Yazoo said. He looked at AJ then.

“How old are you?”

“S-she d-don’t know,” she replied. Yazoo looked at her thoughtfully for a moment.

“I think you’ll make a great student,” he smiled at her.

“Why don’t you go help Kadaj in the kitchen?” He suggested.

“O-ok,” she mumbled and went on into the shack.

“We’re going to have to do something about that,” Yazoo frowned thoughtfully. Loz gave him a confused glance.

“What?” He asked.

“Haven’t you noticed the way that she sometimes refers to herself as ‘she’ and ‘her’? It’s almost like she’s talking about someone else” Yazoo said.

“Why would she do that?” Loz asked. Yazoo shrugged and spread his hands.

“I may be the smart one, but that doesn’t mean I know everything,” Yazoo shrugged.


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They sat on the floor to eat their meals; they didn’t have a dining table. They ate off cracked and chipped plates, using spoons; or in AJ’s case their fingers. The first time Loz had given her a spoon she had looked at it confused and then asked him what it was for. He had tried to show her how to use it, but she seemed to prefer her hands most of the time. Then she had upended the plate of food on the floor, gotten down on her knees and picked bits of it up and started eating. He had just stared at her for a long moment watching her eat, then he had crouched down next to her and grabbed both her hands.

“What are you doing?” He had asked her.

“T-the mother m-makes me eat off the f-f-floor, s-says that’s h-how p-p-pigs eat and I’m a p-p-pig,” she had told him.

“You don’t have to do that here. You’re not a pig,” he had said.

Even now she still ate quickly; not really chewing or tasting her food.

“Don’t eat so fast, you’ll get sick if you do,” Loz told her. She paused a handful of food on its way to her mouth.

“Y-y-you’ll take it away if I d-don’t,” she said. What she said and what he knew Sophie had done to AJ still shocked him, but in a strange way he was beginning to expect that whatever way a child could be tormented then Sophie had done it.

“You need to eat and I promise you I won’t take it away,” Loz said. She shrugged and ate a little slower. Loz began to realise that this was only the beginning.