Chapter 1: Not quite who he was looking for
Sometimes timing makes all the difference. The truth spoken at one time, before loss and betrayal and suffering, can be managed more easily. And an offer that would have been rejected, finds acceptance.
Genesis tapped his fingers impatiently on bark, watching hiding behind a tree for Angeal to let go of his puppy's leash and set the beast on the Wutai fort. He didn't particularly care if Wutai fell or not, since he wasn't the one claiming the glory. If there truly was glory to be had in a pointless war, a war he had wanted so badly to transform him into a hero. But no, Sephiroth of course got that title, monster that he was. There was nothing heroic hiding behind that apathetic facade, just a willingness to kill and toss aside anything and everyone.
Out of the three of them, only Genesis and Angeal felt the threads of brotherhood.
The only reason the Demon of Wutai was there was because of Angeal's pity. Sephiroth didn't care about any of them! Had never shown much of anything aside from his haughty superiority. Insufferable bastard. Couldn't crack a joke to save his life, couldn't understand them either. No matter how many times Genesis reached out, in his own unique manner, to try to garner a reaction from the man, he drew nothing but basic comradery or minor competitiveness, nothing to show any true hints of brotherhood. Angeal he could count on turning from Shinra and joining him. Sephiroth? Their little toy general? Hardly, he'd turn his back on Genesis if he deigned to ask. And he called them friends?! Hardly...
Pah, what was he doing? Brooding over that silver haired demon again. He had more important things to be doing, like seeking out Angeal now that he had separated from his pup. Genesis cursed to himself, when had Angeal left? How could he be so foolish as to take his eyes off him? Damn, he was better than this.
He took off through the forest along the outskirts of the fort. He could easily guess what Angeal would be setting out to do. It shouldn't be to hard to track him down...
...except for unexpected, and unwanted occurrence of passing into a clearing with Sephiroth in it, the man staring at his phone with barely held tension for some signal he was waiting for. Then the man looked up, and their eyes connected.
Goddess damn it. What was HE doing here? Backup? To steal the glory from Angeal and his pup?
Sephiroth took in his appearance in a single glance. "Genesis."
"Sephiroth," spat out Genesis.
Sephiroth reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Pleasant as always. I see your unsanctioned leave hasn't changed your disposition."
Genesis's lips curled into an amused smirk. "Come now Sephiroth, that wasn't even close to subtle."
"I wasn't trying to be," said Sephiroth, closing and pocketing his phone, "Genesis, where have you been? Angeal and I have been worried."
"Right, you've been worried," drawled Genesis, "Missing the whetstone to grind your sword against and toss aside otherwise?"
Sephiroth had the audacity to look hurt. "You are my friend Genesis, you suddenly going missing was of concern. Especially hearing what little reports have come in of your whereabouts and activities. What is this about copies?"
Genesis grew amused. "Tsk. I hadn't made much of a move yet, I'm surprised Shinra knows. Must be the Turks, annoying bastards."
He frowned a moment, at the mere prospect of Sephiroth actually caring, before dismissing it. "And please, don't pretend to give a damn about those beneath you."
Sephiroth's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Perhaps I am mistaken, but we are both not 1st Class soldiers? The same rank, equals?"
"Bullshit," snarled Genesis, "You, the high and mighty Sephiroth, the undefeatable, not even Angeal and I together can take you. You have all the glory, the title of the hero, while I am the one forgotten, not even in the damn papers as Shinra flaunts you as its prized toy soldier."
Sephiroth scoffed. "You know I don't care about such things, I've told you that."
"All the worse for it!" roared Genesis, "You have it all, and you don't give a damn! You don't care about anything or anyone but where you can swing your sword next!"
Sephiroth stared at him, open bafflement and hurt across his face. "Genesis..."
Genesis blinked a few times, surprised he had actually struck a blow that got a real reaction from the man. "Well well well, did I strike you speechless with the truth?"
There was the crackling of leather as Sephiroth's hands curled into fists. "Would it be that I never had to draw my blade save for our spars and training, I would gladly have it that way. I may enjoy fighting, but war is pointless slaughter. I don't care for you implying that I am some sort of monster."
Oh, poor little Sephiroth, he had no clue, no clue at all.
"And for the record," continued Sephiroth, glaring at him, "You, matter to me. Angeal, matters to me. Even Zackery, hyperactive as he is, is endearing in his own way. Others that I don't appear to care for, did it once occur to you is because I don't know them? That they haven't made any effort to know me as anything aside from a tool to be used, or someone placed on a pedestal to admired or feared at a distance?"
Genesis was the one who went silent for a moment, his eyes searching Sephiroth's, hunting for lies and deception, but finding nothing. "If you cared, why didn't you come for me?"
"I didn't know where you were," said Sephiroth simply, "And searching randomly is a senseless thing that would leave me out of position to come find you if you were located and in need of help. We didn't know if you were lost, injured, or dead, or off on some personal crusade."
Genesis blinked a few times, his mind trying to process the thought that Sephiroth did care, and said offhandedly, "The last one."
Sephiroth scoffed. "Evidently, seeing that you are alive and well."
Genesis scoffed right back. "Well being the questionable term, and alive? Who knows for how much longer."
Sephiroth stared at him in confusion. "What do you mean? You don't appear injured."
Genesis's temper flared, he tore off his jacket, and pulled down the clothing on his shoulder, tearing off the bandage binding the putrid, oozing wound underneath. "Then what the hell do you call this?!"
Sephiroth's eyes widened, his jaw half dropping, and for once, Genesis saw with no lack of shock of his own, fear on his face, for him, for Genesis himself, and it shook him. "Genesis... that was months ago! It still hasn't healed?"
Genesis reached down for his bandages, hiding the confusion and uncertainty on his face. "No, it hasn't."
Swift and heavy footfalls approached faster than Genesis could straighten himself, and Sephiroth was there, green glow around the bangle on his wrist, a Full Cure washing over Genesis's body, but barely touching the shoulder-wound. "It doesn't help, believe me, I've tried."
Sephiroth stared at the wounded shoulder, the offending object, with such intensity Genesis wondered if the man believed he could will it away. "That's not normal."
"Obviously," said Genesis as he began to re-wrap his wound.
"Why didn't you come back to Shinra?" asked Sephiroth with confusion, "Surely we could find out what is going on and how to help you there."
"Shinra? SHINRA?!" roared Genesis in Sephiroth's face, "Why I go back to those who caused this to begin with! Those that did this to me!"
Sephiroth stared at him, confused, and not at all caring about Genesis being up in his face. "How would Shinra have caused your wound not to heal?"
Genesis shook his head and turned away. "I don't even know why I bother. You're Shinra's little wind-up toy soldier."
A hand softly gripped his good shoulder. "Genesis, if Shinra has wronged you, then they are duty bound to fix their mistake and pay damages."
Genesis threw back his head and laughed. "Sephiroth, do you honestly hear the words coming out of your mouth? You know Shinra, duty doesn't mean a thing to them. They, who don't let those who matter retire in any way aside from a pistol to the back of their skull. Whose answer to SOLDIERs who have mental breaks are to put them down like animals. They would kill me as soon as fix me, especially since I know the truth."
"What truth? Explain," asked Sephiroth in a tone that really wasn't a question.
Genesis turned his head, glancing half at Sephiroth, half into the clearing. "I was an experiment. Before I was even born. Project G, sub-project of the Jenova Project."
"My mother?" echoed Sephiroth with no lock of confusion.
Genesis snorted. "I don't know who told you that several thousand year old corpse Shinra dug out of the ice was your mother, it is anything but that."
Sephiroth frowned for a moment, before appearing to file whatever thought he had away for another time. "What experiments did they do? What did Shinra do to cause your wound not to heal?"
Genesis slowly shook his head. "It's so much more than just the wound Sephiroth. My body is slowly degrading, my cells are at war inside my body. It will kill me if a cure is not found. Not that humans would care if I died, such is the fate of a monster."
"Genesis, you are no more a monster than I am," said Sephiroth, "As much as most people annoy me, we are human."
Genesis chuckled. "Poor little Sephiroth, you truly have no clue."
He threw a hand out to the side, and his black wing burst out of his shoulder in a storm of feathers. "If I am human, then what is this?"
Sephiroth's eyes had gone so wide, like a startled cat, as his eyes traced the length of the appendix. "That... would be a wing."
Genesis snorted in amusement and curled the wing back, relaxing it behind his back. "Obviously."
He watched as Sephiroth reached out a hand and caught a black feather, studying it in his hand, before he looked up at Genesis. There was no condemnation or fear or disgust in his eyes. There was only righteous anger that, for the first time, gave Genesis a spark of hope that Sephiroth could be more than the toy general.
"What did Shinra do to you?" demanded Sephiroth.
"The exact details I'm not sure of," said Genesis, "But they injected Jenova Cells into me, warped me before I drew my first breath."
Sephiroth's eyes furrowed. "And it's these... cells... that are causing the issue?"
"I believe so, Hollander hasn't exactly explain how degradation fully works to me aside from my cells are dying," said Genesis, "Perhaps if I squeezed the pig more, he might squeal."
"Hollander?" questioned Sephiroth.
"The one who screwed me up to begin with," snarled Genesis.
"And you turned to him to help you?" asked Sephiroth, incredulous.
"Well who else was I supposed to go to when I stopped healing?" countered Genesis, "Hojo? The one who calls me one of Hollander's failures? Don't make me laugh. He'd rather dissect me then help me."
Sephiroth crossed his arms, a troubled look crossing his face. "Even if I asked him?"
"You'd have asked him?" said Genesis in disbelief.
"For you, I would have sucked up my pride and dislike of the man," said Sephiroth softly.
Genesis said nothing at that for a moment, before shaking his head. "He still wouldn't have, because that could have run the risk of you discovering the truth about yourself."
Sephiroth went very still. "And what truth, is that?"
"That Project-G wasn't the only sub-project of the Jenova Project," said Genesis before hesitating, and grudgingly going for a softer voice, not to insult a man who was hearing him out, "I have even less details for the other one, but... I was born of Project-G, you were born of Project-S."
He wondered, if for once, Sephiroth would actually lose it. The man had shown more emotion in the last few minutes that he had over the last few years. Perhaps the prospect of losing a... friend... gave the man a new perspective. Oddly thought, Genesis's words seemed to have the opposite effect, instead of outrage, Sephiroth merely sighed, resignation on his face.
"You are not surprised," stated Genesis.
Sephiroth slowly shook his head and dropped his hand off Genesis's shoulder, reaching up instead to grasp a bit of his own silvery hair to bring it out before his eyes. "No, not as much as I should be. I always knew mine was a special existence, but this... this is not what I meant. My power, my physical appearance, none of it is natural, not even in comparison to other SOLDIERs. Though I had hoped that I hadn't been grown out of some petri dish of the professors..."
Genesis snorted. "No, even monsters have mothers, unless you count a womb as a petri dish."
Sephiroth gave him a small amused smile. "For the Science Department, I doubt that's far off."
They shared a chuckle at that before growing silent. Genesis stared at Sephiroth, a hope born in his chest that was raising higher and higher. He had come for Angeal, but instead, he had found a comradery with his silver haired friend he couldn't have imagined, knowledge that the man wasn't as distant and heartless as he could appear to be. Or perhaps... perhaps jelousy had simply blinded Genesis to the truth that Angeal could probably see. The question still stood regardless...
Would Sephiroth... would he leave Shinra, for him? If he asked? He wanted to, but feared the rejection.
"Do you think this... degredation will effect me as well?" asked Sephiroth.
Genesis shrugged. "To be honest, I haven't a clue. I don't have the details, but Hollander implied that the processes used on us were different from one another.
Sephiroth nodded, and then sighed. "I suppose we will find out eventually, still, I wish you had come to me sooner."
"Not to offend," began Genesis, "But I didn't even know you were here."
"Then why... oh, Angeal, of course," said Sephiroth bemused, before his face froze, "He's like us, isn't he?"
Genesis nodded. "Project-G doesn't stand for Genesis, it stands for Gillian."
"His mother?!" hissed Sephiroth, betrayal tinting his voice, "A woman he has preached nothing but praise and love for? Has made me yearn for my own ever since he told me such stories?"
Genesis felt his own flare of betrayal at that, as much as he tried to bury the feeling; After all, Gillian had been one of the few at home he had liked. That had treated him with kindness and could withstand and look past his attitude. "Yes."
Sephiroth's jaw was tight. "Was she a willing participant?"
"I have no clue," said Genesis with a shrug, "Hollander implied so, but I don't particularly trust his words."
Sephiroth looked away. "As much as I wouldn't wish it on her, I hope she wasn't. That kind of betrayal, to her own offspring... is unforgivable. It also implies that if she was willing, whoever my mother is, was as well."
"Perhaps, perhaps not," said Genesis, eyes carefully tracing Sephiroth's face, watching the subtle hints of emotions the man was trying to control.
Sephiroth ran a hand through his hair, eyes furrowed in uneasy thought. "Should he be told?"
Genesis scowled. "You'd lie to Angeal? About this?"
Sephiroth slowly shook his head, "His temperament is different than ours. You use this... travesty... to fuel your fire and fury, your passion. I simply accept it as it is, it's not honestly that surprising to me. But him? A man of honor, of purity, the heart of SOLDIER, a man who loves his family, is content and happy with his life?"
"It would all come crashing down, it would destroy him," said Sephiroth softly.
Genesis's throat went dry. Goddess... he had simply wanted his friend to come with him, to be free of Shinra, to be told the truth, he hadn't even thought how Angeal would react, how it could change him. Angeal had near unconditional love for his mother, and loyalty to Shinra despite it's extreme faults. To be betrayed so deeply... was Sephiroth right? Would it crush his friends spirit? He wanted to tell him, but by the goddess he didn't want to destroy the man, one of the few he actually gave a damn about in this world.
"Perhaps you're right," admitted Genesis, "But still... Shinra has to pay for what it's done, even if that means leaving Angeal in the dark, and crossing blades with him in the battles to come. Though I will not bring undue harm to him nor his pup."
"Agreed," said Sephiroth sourly, "This... abominable practice of human experimentation has to stop. Betrayal without, betrayal within, nothing but rampant greed and corruption. We've turned a blind eye for to long, simply because it didn't appear to affect us. But no more."
Genesis's heart skipped a beat. "You'll leave Shinra? You'll come with me? You'll help me?"
Sephiroth looked him straight in the eye and answered, "You only had but to ask."
Author's Notes:
What if Idea I had for Genesis encountering Sephiroth instead of Angeal in Wutai. This is going to turn out so different from canon...
I know, I know, I have to many stories and starts going on, can't help but posting them and getting the concepts out there.
