Impromptu Fatherhood
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Disclaimer:
-Crisis Core- Final Fantasy VII belongs to Square Enix. The day I get to claim this as my property is never going to come.
†
Summary: "I... would like to atone to for my sin to her." Genesis said softly.
Being ruthless, selfish, immature and irascible, Genesis was no fathering type. Nobody would have envisaged the First to return from a mission one night with a tiny infant in his arms. Everybody in ShinRa feel quite alarmed.
Warning: Slightly OOC. Completely AU. No yaoi.
1| Doe Eyes
It was another petty mission. Petty, but important.
Genesis sighed as he watched the infantrymen disperse around the area. The moon sent down pale light, showing him his way. He wondered what this particular family had done to enrage ShinRa.
The front door crashed and gunfire immediately exploded around him. Poorly armed servants charged at them. He hated cutting through such unworthy vermin. Genesis walked calmly through the threshold, occasionally flicking his sword at some poor soul.
A large painting loomed over the mantle in the living room. It was a family portrait. The wife was beautiful, with doe-like eyes; the husband was average, save for the scar that ran from his left eye to his chin. They cradled a child between them. The portrait was masterfully done. Genesis admired the valuable painting (to his targets, anyway) for a moment longer. A ghost of a smile floated up his lips. "Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul; Pride is lost; Wings stripped away, the end is nigh." The canvas tore at the slightest contact with the tip of the Rapier.
More incoherent screams, more gunfire.
Fine China crumbled and crunched under his boots as he made his way through the dining room. The infantry buffoons certainly had a flair for demolition. Angeal would have felt bad for the broken antiques. A crystal chandelier—or, what remained of it—lay sadly on the staircase, spraying the red carpeted stairs with dazzling shards. He was sure that the chandelier had been spectacular before the grunts decided to shoot it down. Why would they shoot down a chandelier? Genesis did not know.
More crunching…
"Commander Rhapsodos!" an infantryman shouted.
Genesis ambled to where the trooper's voice came from.
His objectives were there, huddled and shaking violently like leaves on an extremely windy day, on their bed. The strap of the woman's nightdress slid from her shoulder. Her eyes were beautifully wide and frightened. The man looked disgruntled, but nonetheless, terrified.
"Out," Genesis snapped at the grunt.
The infantryman scurried out immediately, leaving the door ajar.
"Y-you! Wh-what the fuck is g-going on!" the man bellowed. Fear seemed to issue from his very pores.
Genesis let a corner of his mouth rise.
"I think you know very well why I am here," the redhead said softly, advancing towards them. "I am terribly sorry for disturbing your slumber. I shall send you back quickly and as painlessly as I can."
A strangled gasp escaped from the wife. Her eyes were on his magnificent crimson sword. Fat drops of tears rolled down the woman's eyes and her thin lips trembled.
The husband unwound his arms from his wife and began to rise from the bed. His knees wobbled and he was on the bed almost immediately. The Commander raised his Rapier and aimed it at his vexed prey. He looked Genesis in the eye and snarled, "You motherfucking—" whatever the man had planned to say was left at the tip of his tongue. Blood gushed out from the man's chest. His wife let out an ear-splitting scream.
Genesis shamelessly wiped the blood off his Rapier on the comforter, before setting his eyes on the poor woman, who looked at the dead man a mere inches away from her. She was crying and shaking violently, she was pale as a ghost. Her nipples strained against the thin satin.
"I do not usually kill women," he told her softly. Of course, it was a lie, he spared no soul that got in his way. He looked at her in the eye. She looked away from him. "So, why don't we have a game?" He placed the Rapier on its scabbard and smirked. "I will let you run out of this room. But I will only give you until the count of twenty. If I don't catch up to you, you are free. Otherwise… my friend, the fates are cruel."
Turning his back, Genesis called for the infantry men to go back to their starting point through his PHS. Their jobs were finished. "It would be such a waste to have your dress stained with blood," he commented when he faced her again. "One."
The bloody comforter was weakly thrown over and the woman tried her best to control her wobbling legs as she half-ran, half-stumbled out of the room. Genesis would have asked for her name but decided not to scare the woman even more.
"The arrow has left the bow of the goddess… Two," he breathed.
With his enhanced senses, he could hear her scampering away. But she had headed into a nearby room. Odd. Genesis walked towards the heavy mahogany desk across the room. "Three," he said loudly. He found letters and fairly thick folders. "Four… five… six…" Genesis scanned and skimmed through the letters and documents. "Seven... eight… nine… ten… eleven…twelve… thirteen…"
A door burst open with a bang nearby and he was sure that the woman had finally calmed down. Her footsteps were a little more coordinated now, quicker. Yes, run, my dear… run. "Fourteen… fifteen… sixteen… seventeen… eighteen… nineteen… twenty! I'm coming, ready or not!" Genesis set the papers down and sprinted out of the room. You shouldn't have gone to where you went.
She was, of course, never going to manage to get away.
She was no match for a SOLDIER First.
Genesis caught her in the staircase. She had been trying to tiptoe through the shards. He wound his arms around her waist firmly. She wriggled faintly, trying to mouse her way out of his hold. "Found you," he whispered in her ear. She whimpered. The woman's hair smelled of roses. "You shouldn't have detoured."
With one fluid movement, Genesis unsheathed his sword, kissed the woman's tear-streaked cheek, and slit her throat. It took a moment for her to completely stop moving. Feeling an inkling of pity and remorse—whatever it was—the redhead picked the woman up in his arms and carried her back to the bedroom and placed her back at the bed. The bed, formerly white, was now drenched in crimson.
She stared blankly. It was really a pity. He closed her eyes.
"To become the dew that quenches the land;to spare the sands, the seas, the skies; I offer thee this silent sacrifice."
He traipsed back to the desk to collect the documents he'd abandoned a moment ago. Stuffing them hastily into his slightly bloodied coat, Genesis walked out of the room. He couldn't wait to get back to his apartment and sleep. Or read.
Just as he was bounding towards the staircase, a shrill cry broke the silence. Genesis stopped mid-stride. The cry came again. Minerva, what was that?
The Commander was a man who lived for lore, but he wouldn't accept the idea of a ghost in the area. Ghosts weren't real. The grunts have killed everyone and everything in the manor, hadn't they?
Gritting his teeth and grumbling about how inefficient the infantrymen were, Genesis listened intently for the source of the shrill cries. Thankful for his ultra-sharp senses, the Commander marched to the room where there was a sign of life.
Genesis walked into a nursery.
The wails grew insufferably louder. Kicking away random stuffed chocobos and toys, the Commander soon found himself standing before a crib. The pink blanket moved. Genesis lifted it. An infant with tufts of copper hair and doe eyes lay wailing on the crib, her fat, tiny arms flailed about. Biting the inside of his cheek, Genesis tightened his grip on the Rapier's hilt.
This was where the woman had gone.
He raised the sword, aiming it at the child's heart.
The child's doe eyes found him and she simmered down slightly. Genesis's sword was a mere inch away from ending the young, tender life before it.
What are you waiting for, Genesis? Finish it. Just one quick thrust and the infant can join her parents in the Lifestream.
But his arm seemed inept at the moment. Scowling, the auburn-haired Commander sighed and let his conflicted thoughts wash over him. What would the grunts think if they saw the erratic First hesitating on an infant? What would his friends say? What would Shin-Ra think?
She hasn't done anything wrong to deserve this, his conscience (that rarely reared its head) reasoned. She is only an innocent child.
She's part of this family, his cold side argued. You heard what the Director said. Eliminate all of them. All of them. No exceptions. Sephiroth would have been done with it by now.
He grits his teeth. What about his SOLDIER honor?
Heroes did not take innocent lives. A man who took innocent lives was nothing more than a savage beast. He didn't want to be a barbarian. But his job was synonymous with blood.
The infant seemed to be staring at the troubled man.
Angeal would have spared the poor child.
If Angeal ever found out about him killing the innocent child he would get a world-class lecture about humanity and obviously, honor— Honor of man... of SOLDIER?
"Damn it," Genesis murmured as he withdrew the Rapier and slid it back to its scabbard.
The infant's pristine chocobo printed pajamas were stained with droplets of her mother's blood from the Rapier. Tiny crimson spots bloomed on the cloth like poppies.
Well, what now, genius? He obviously couldn't leave the child. They had planted bombs around the area. He had the detonator in his pocket.
"There is no hate, only joy; for you are beloved by the goddess; Hero of dawn, healer of worlds…" Genesis leaned down and lifted the infant from her bed.
The infantrymen were all dumbfounded.
The Commander, famed for being ruthless and merciless and having a legendary temper, returned to the base cradling a tiny little baby. A baby. Their jaws seemed to have firmly planted themselves on the ground. Nobody dared to question the redhead, who simply sauntered, as if they were not there.
"Let's move out, ladies!" Genesis suddenly shouted. Dawn was slowly approaching and the Commander's mind was frying itself, as he thought about what he was going to do with the tiny child in his arms. The grunts, thankful for the diversion, thundered to the waiting trucks. One by one, the bombs detonated from a distance.
The helicopter sent clouds of dust everywhere. Genesis had half the mind to cover the child from the dust clouds.
From above the sky, the burning manor looked like a giant bonfire.
"Say goodbye to Mommy and Daddy," he whispered to the sleeping child.
1.2| Midgar
6AM found Genesis emerging from the B1 Alpha. Midgar loomed filthy and imposingly at him. Cold wind bit his exposed flesh. The infant, to his surprise, had slept through the helicopter's racket. That was something he had to learn, the Commander thought, half-amused.
His arms were beginning to tire from holding the child for almost five hours straight.
One would think that the Mako would be able to stunt the dull ache that resonated from his forearm to his shoulders.
A man was waiting for him from a distance.
"Director Deusericus," Genesis said coldly.
The blonde man nodded and his eyes immediately narrowed to the bundle in the Commander's arms. "I was going to congratulate you on finishing your mission within hours, but… what do you have with you, Commander?"
The redhead spared the sleeping infant a glance before finally stretching his arms. "Your souvenir, I think." Genesis said quietly, thrusting the child to his superior's arms. This caused the blonde man to frown. The savvy SOLDIER merely shrugged. "I don't want to kill such an innocent being. Do whatever you want with her. I'll hand in the documents you asked for later." With that, Genesis sauntered towards the elevator. "Even if the morrow is barren of promises; Nothing shall forestall my return."
Lazard stared at the elevator door, slightly gaping. The baby started to whimper.
Genesis rested his head on the elevator's cool metal door. He knew that it was not hygienically advisable, but the coldness was soothing.
'Floor 55. Living Quarter B.' a disembodied voice announced a moment later.
Relieved to finally be 'home', the Commander straightened up and walked out of the elevator.
The Commander prided himself of his apartment, among all the other things he was proud of. There was a short hallway that leaded to his door. He was the only person in the entire building to still door knobs. Brass, vintage knobs. The only one who had a spare key to his apartment was his best friend, Angeal. Nobody ever dared to come up to the Commander's living quarters anyway, unless they wanted to be burned alive. A potted plant stood by the door. He would have to water it after his nap.
Sephiroth and Angeal did not know, wouldn't care to understand, why Genesis spent a ridiculous lot of money on his apartment.
'It is only your sleeping quarter anyway,' the silverette had commented.
Genesis turned to face his friends and rolled his eyes. 'Because, unlike the both of you, I prefer to live leisurely.'
He marched through the ridiculously luxurious apartment, carelessly discarding his heavy pauldrons and coat on the way to the bedroom. Not bothering to kick off his boots, the Commander fell asleep instantly.
Genesis walked into Director's office in a fairly good mood. Director Lazard, however, was not.
Lazard regarded the approaching SOLDIER First stonily. "Commander Genesis," he finally said when the Commander stood in front of his desk. Genesis gave him a salute. "At ease," Lazard breathed. "Take a seat." Before the blonde official could speak, a thick folder was listlessly thrown on top of his desk. Lazard opened it and pored over the contents. "Impressive, Commander."
The redhead merely smirked.
"I will be expecting your mission report this afternoon." Lazard said, setting the folder aside. The First nodded.
Drumming his fingers, Genesis looked at his Director and asked, "Will you at least give me the details on why I just massacred a family in the middle of the night?"
The Director nodded and said, "The company will do dirty things for clean, usable Mako."
"Oh," the First said softly. That was so typical. And here he was, thinking of an elaborately dramatic back story.
"Now about that infant you so graciously handed to me," Lazard said. Genesis looked at the man apprehensively.
"What about the infant?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing," the Director said coldly. "Are you finally going to explain why you brought the child here with you?"
Genesis sighed. "I told you that I don't want to claim an untainted life. I felt... sorry for the child." He looked straight into his Director's eyes, and there was something in the Commander's eyes that the Director had never seen before. Was it warmth, perhaps? The guarded First looked quite vulnerable.
The Director stilled. It was the first time that the Crimson Commander showed any raw emotions. Actually, it was a first for the Commanders. Sephiroth was never going to crack. Nodding, Lazard said, "What are you going to do now? This is no place for a child." He raised a brow at the First. "I would gladly call on Tseng to arrange for the child's transfer to a suitable orphanage."
"I... would like to atone for my sin to her." Genesis said softly.
"Sin to her?" Lazard repeated, incredulous.
Dear Minerva, the man was being eaten by his guilt.
"Rhapsodos," the Director snapped. "Get yourself together! You have committed no sin to the child!"
Genesis shook his head. He had taken away the child's family, happy future to satisfy the company's lust for Mako. "Where is she?"
"I left the child with the secretary. She went out to..." Lazard pinched the bridge of his nose to remember what she had said. "...to buy infant formula."
"I see." Genesis blew a stray wisp of hair from his eye.
"You could have avoided this awkward waiting if you hadn't thrust the child in my arms when you got off the helicopter."
The Commander rolled his eyes. "I was too tired. I could have thrown the poor thing on the couch like one of my pauldrons."
Lazard nodded, biting back a laugh.
Some long, dragging minutes later, the Director's secretary, Shelly, walked in, carrying the infant on her hip. "Oh, I'm sorry... I'll...just come back later." The young girl turned around but was stopped by her boss. Genesis was looking at the baby. Shelly blushed as she walked towards her boss, paper bag in hand. Shelly was a new secretary, young and beautiful. A lot of ShinRa men had their eyes on the lass, but Genesis did not see why they went stupid over her. The girl did not have a good taste in books.
"Actually, Shelly, you can give the baby to Commander Rhapsodos now." Lazard told his secretary. "She is is his responsibility."
"O-oh, of course, Director." Shelly said shakily. She disengaged the child with slight difficulty and handed her to the intimidating First. Who knew that this man had a child? the girl thought idly. Genesis held the child at arm's length before remembering to thank the girl. Blushing furiously, the girl stuttered that it was no problem before escaping to her desk.
"Then, I shall be on my way now as well." Genesis followed the girl out.
What was he going to do now? the Commander wondered.
"Oh, Genesis," the Director called from behind.
"Yes?"
"I'm giving you a one week trial period. If you don't manage to take good care of the child, she's going to the orphanage." Lazard said softly.
Genesis nodded and disappeared into the antechamber.
Author's Note: I'm back to loving Genesis, and to my multiple stories disorder. m(_ _)m The original main character of the fic was supposed to be Sephiroth, but... I love my redheaded poetry freak way too much.
You might all be wondering why the sudden theme. Thing is, this fic sort of roots from complicated personal stuff. You could say that I'm venting, somewhat. (?) Also, I believe Genesis would be a hot father. LOL
Okay! Please do not forget to drop a review.
- Victoria Chrystallis