19/100 Family. Genesis/Vincent.
No Yaoi in this, shock horror, just Gen and Vin talking. There is implied Gen/Weiss/Nero, as always...
They ARE brothers...

Family

Hope Is Good Enough

Silence.

Nothing but endless silence.
It was driving Genesis insane; he'd spent the last four years locked away in the darkness of nothingness, he needed something more than this to know he was still alive.

He missed those days that he had once come so close to forgetting. He had been a pleasant child, one that sat under his parent's apple tree, laughing and talking with his best friend, Angeal, whilst they watched the much younger Rhapsodos children, Weiss and Nero, play with pebbles and fallen leaves on the garden path.

Life was picturesque and there was always something happening, and it wasn't something bad. There was always someone there, someone to talk to, someone to love.

But now…

A scarlet gloved hands slid lazily across the bar, taking a firm grip on the glass of… whatever he had asked for, and downed a good mouthful. Sure the drink had a bite, but it was no where near strong enough to clear his troubled mind.

He'd been strictly banned from any stronger alcohol. The black-haired barmaid claimed she'd seen too many good men fall into the clutches of alcohol, never to be seen again.

He smirked when he heard that. The ex-AVALANCHE girl actually labelled him as a 'good man'?

Would a good man have betrayed his closest friend, caused the deaths of innocent SOLDIERs, tormented his lover to the point of psychosis and let his own brothers down?

Lowering his drink back down to the bar, the redhead was overcome with more uncharacteristic self-hate.

He was a SOLDIER 1st Class, a weapon, barren of emotion, living on nothing but the thrill of the kill, and yet he'd spent the last few days since his awakening, once he was sure Weiss was safe, sifting through the rubble of Midgar, searching for his black-haired youngest sibling, Nero.

He scoured every square inch of the abandoned city, only stopping when he uncovered the young man's lifeless body.

Now, Weiss was lifeless, but he still had a pulse, albeit faint… but Nero, the poor boy who never had much of a childhood because of his constant lapsing into illness on account of the experimentation that had surrounded him even before his birth, was simply lifeless, limp and cold.

It was hard to come to terms with, Genesis thought the drink would have helped him, but it only numbed him as guilt was chewing away at his being.

Nothing could change the fact that Nero was dead.

Then he walked in.

The one who was responsible for Weiss' condition… for Nero's… No, that was Hojo. He had deceived and taken advantage of the youngest Rhapsodos brothers, using them in an attempt to destroy the planet.

It was something Genesis had tried to do himself a long time ago… was he the one really to blame?

Because of a stupid act in a time of desperation, his younger brothers believed there were carrying on his work?

He ran his hand down his face and hung his head against the wooden surface in front of him. Long hair obscured his vision, be he sensed the scarlet newcomer approach him.

Casually taking up a seat besides the silent SOLDIER, the equally as reclusive Vincent Valentine leaned forwards to gain the attention of those perfectly clear azure eyes.

Valentine's eyes were red, hair deep onyx, skin pale and face slim, so much like Nero…

Would Genesis ever be able to get over this loss?

Not when this never-ending silence screamed out for the youngest Rhapsodos' sweet, childish laugh and adoring comments.

"Cloud told me about-"

"I don't want to talk about it," The redhead snapped curtly and turned away.

Anyone else probably would have left it at that, but Vincent knew all too well of what it felt like to have lost everything and believe that he was the only one at fault. He had wasted more than 30 years of his life lamenting over his existence; he couldn't see another do the same.

"Rhapsodos, I have something to say," The older man continued quietly. "Something you will want to know,"

Slowly, that pale face and mako eyes glanced at him coldly again.

Barely venturing out of the security of his crimson cloak, Vincent spoke in a clear voice. "Nero's body is lifeless, because his spirit is no longer held within it,"

The redhead frowned in confusion; the other man went on, not giving him time to process these words.

"When Hojo, in Weiss' body, tried to kill Nero, Nero extracted his own spirit, later merging into Weiss upon his consent, freeing them both, but they still awoke OMEGA,"

Completing Genesis' mistake. His little brothers were so infatuated with him, always wanting to please and be noticed, that they thought that waking OMEGA was what he wanted…

Genesis shook his head, turning to face Vincent fully.

"So, you're saying…?"

"I believe very strongly that Nero is actually conscious inside Weiss," Vincent watched as Genesis' face was suddenly flooded with colour and developed a wide smile, such an expression earned a weird glance from Tifa a few feet away.

The news, though unconfirmed, was enough for the SOLDIER. He fought back the strong urge to embrace the mysterious black-haired man, rather thanking him many times before heaving his half-finished drink on the bar and hurrying up to the room that Tifa and Cloud had kindly let the brothers stay in.

Weiss lay in bed, held fast in his coma, and Genesis could just sense that Nero was there too. No one could have such an aura of the sweetest boy tainted with darkness.

It figured that the pair would do this to themselves. They always had been inseparable, even in those days so long ago under the apple trees in Banora.

"We'll never be apart again, I promise," The redhead SOLDIER whispered to the white-haired man's lips. "I promise to be the brother I failed to be,"

Genesis closed the hair's width gap between him and his brother, kissing him softly, dreaming of a time when he would again be able to feel a response; to hear his brother's moan out his name. He sealed his promise.

He pulled away with a smile, no more sorrow, he just had to wait.

In the end, what they say is true, when everything else has crumbled away, when nothing else is left, your family is always there to pick up the broken pieces.

Always.