Reality Check
The whirring of the chopper blades and a rush of cold air were the only things keeping Genesis' mind firmly on this plane.
The helipad was a flurry of activity; doctors and nurses running about and men in lab coats shouting meaningless words to one another- even the highly trained SOLDIER First Classes were in a state of barely concealed panic as they could do nothing but stand and watch in horror.
Genesis stared, azure eyes wide and lower lip trembling, as those from the Med lab rolled a stretcher up to the helicopters entrance and struggled to lift a prone and heavy body onto it without jostling their newest patient around too much.
Whatever they were shouting became lost and unintelligible to the redhead; he had tuned everything else out in favor of focusing on the broken man now laid out before them.
"Seph…?"
xXx
It was supposed to be a short mission- go back to Wutai, locate a few rebel camps and return within a month. Sephiroth had looked at them over his desk and smiled when Genesis bet Angeal that he'd be back in less than two weeks. They both watched his retreating form as it climbed into the helicopter, gloved hands holding silver hair out of his face due to the wind.
He made it back in a week.
Sephiroth and his band of SOLDIERs were on their way to occupy another base when it happened.
The general was more than positive they had determined the location of every minefield the insurgents had set up, so when an unlucky third class took one step too many no one was prepared for the clearing to go up in flames.
Tseng said they found him underneath a half-charred second's body, unconscious and covered in burns, but still alive.
xXx
Later, in the relative silence of their apartment, Angeal sat next to the redhead on the couch and put a comforting arm around his shoulders, pulling him close.
It was strange for either of them to see Sephiroth with so much as a scratch on him. This was something new, something unfathomable.
Angeal attempted to lighten the mood, the other First's gloomy aura covering them both like a shell. Jokes and humor usually worked on the redhead, he had learned from a young age.
"His hair managed to stay untouched, did you see? I'm sure Sephiroth will be glad to know that when he wakes up." The black haired man tried chuckling softly.
Genesis put his head in his hands and cried.