A/N: Hi guys! Just a small oneshot I wrote while I should have been doing an essay ^_^
Why had things fallen apart, and in such a spectacular way? Why had he chosen to turn his back on them … maybe they could have helped? At least, they would have attempted to help him, if they had known. It was easy to say that now, hindsight was fantastic but it didn't change the past, it simply pointed out the moments where changes would have led to a different outcome.
But why was he down here? She would have expected him to retreat to Banora, not Midgar. Banora had been his hometown, the place where had grown up. Midgar had been the place where he'd worked and learned about the experiments of the past. But he had taken those frustrations out on his hometown too, he had killed his parents and countless others there … maybe he'd felt too ashamed to seek refuge in the town he had torn apart?
She didn't know. She hadn't known him all that well in the past neither had many of her colleagues. Their different departments had kept them on a strictly need to know basis, and no one had ever needed to know about his motives. The objective had always been a simple one; protect ShinRa's image and eliminate its weaknesses. They had found their own problems with that strict rule too. The Turks had always remained loyal to ShinRa, but how could they have chosen between their leader and the company? How could they have expected their leader to choose between them and his own daughter?
The Turks was the only family she had ever known. They had taught her that not everyone was an enemy, that she could afford to make friends; she could afford to care about other people. She hadn't realised that caring about other people also opened a door to getting hurt. What happened when the people you cared about became the objective or target of a mission? She could have stuck by her family and fulfilled the mission, or stuck by her heart and helped her friend … if only he'd realised the Turks could have helped.
The Turks had been willing to help Zack. They had been near-fugitives themselves after their stunt with Veld and his daughter. They had all known what a life trapped in servitude was like, they had known handing Zack over to ShinRa would have resulted in the SOLDIER being kicked back to Hojo's lab. They could have protected him and his friend. They had been ordered to track him and his friend down, to find them before the army did and get them as far away from ShinRa as possible … but things hadn't worked out that way.
She could still remember the sinking feeling in her gut when they'd caught wind of the army's radio announcement, stating that the two escaped subjects had been eliminated; too late as usual.
A different outcome would have been to all of their benefit. Regardless of their separate departments, if he had stayed with ShinRa, things wouldn't have shattered as they had; Nibelheim wouldn't have happened. Zack and Cloud wouldn't have been sent to Hojo's lab. The flower girl wouldn't have been killed. Sector Seven wouldn't have been destroyed. Meteor wouldn't have torn Midgar apart. Geostigma wouldn't have ravaged the planet … would they all still be living on a plate if he had chosen to stay with SOLDIER?
Would ShinRa still be using the Lifestream as a power source, draining the planet itself? Would the company still be the de facto leaders of a capitalist world? Would the line between the rich and poor still exist as a train ride to and from the upper plate? Would society still be driven by materialism and social alienation? Would they all still be trapped in the cave of shadows, staring at their own reflections on the wall, not knowing the true reality of what lay outside?
Would Rufus have realised how wrong things had been? Would he have continued on trying to control the masses through fear alone? Would he have had the realisation, which had led him to funding the WRO? Or the change of heart that had seen him fight tooth and nail against Sephiroth's three remnants? She doubted it, not if they had all remained on the plate anyway.
She would never understand why Genesis had chosen a cave beneath Midgar as his refuge. She didn't know why he was now sealed away … would he return and try to exact revenge on the planet too? Something told her he wouldn't, a small voice in the back of her head pointed towards the lack of degradation on his body. His actions against ShinRa had been born out of his desire to stop his degradation, was it so wrong that he had wanted to live?
He had done many wrong things, but for the right reasons. How was he to know the implications his actions would have on the future? It was easy to look back now and remark on such decisions, knowing full well what happened because of them. But he hadn't known back then, none of them had. Not even the might ShinRa, but maybe they would have done more to help their SOLDIER, as opposed to hunt him, if they had known?
She hadn't been the one to find this flooded cavern, a close friend of hers had. She had followed him on one of his many outings, curious as to why he kept disappearing some evenings. She had found him here, sitting on one of the rocks, telling his past colleague about everything; ShinRa's fall from grace, Midgar's decimation, the construction of Edge, how his Geostigma had been healed by the rain … how he hoped the world wouldn't need his friend's services any time soon.
Kunsel hadn't forgotten his pride or honour as a SOLDIER; he had spent most of his evenings relaying information to the past 1st Class, regardless of whether the man could hear him or not. He had ensured that no one else could locate the cavern; the people of Edge didn't need to start stressing about another rogue SOLDIER, nor had he wanted ShinRa or the WRO to discover Genesis' slumbering state, for fear that they would destroy him.
It had taken the former 2nd Class all of about two minutes to notice her presence in the cavern, despite the care she had taken to mask her approach. He had laughed and simply carried on updating Genesis on the happenings in Edge and Gaia.
She wasn't scared of Genesis, not anymore. She understood why he had chosen such a path to walk. She understood why he had rebelled against ShinRa all those years ago. She didn't know if he would return someday to find his 'mother' or send back three smaller versions of himself, but she wanted to believe Kunsel when he said the SOLDIER wouldn't abandon his honour or pride again.
"Hey, Cissnei - you coming?"
She nodded quickly as she stood from the stone; Kunsel stood waiting for her at the entrance of the cavern. It seemed, the cavern was becoming a favourite destination of hers lately too. The ex-Turk sighed as she wiped off the back of her pants, giving Genesis a final glance before she turned to walk towards her friend. Maybe Kunsel was right? Maybe he could teach them all a lesson about honour and pride?
A/N: These are the questions that go through my mind, late at night on tumblr when I should be doing something more productive :)