Xirel here! This is my first story submitted on and I must admit... I am getting quite a bit confused every so often... This is so different from DeviantArt! (Yes, I am also Xirel from DeviantArt x3) This story is set in the Crisis Core time period and focuses mainly around Genesis, Angeal and Sephiroth.
Just a warning though: later on the story getsa bit... Mature. But don't worry. I'll post at the beginning of the chapters to say if there's anything really you need to worry about, or anything you may not want to see.
Oh yes... And if you like my work, please leave a comment. Besides, although I will update eventually, comments make me submit new chapters a whole lot faster. Even if only one person likes my work, I'll update for them! o Usually I already have the next couple chapters written out... I just need the motivation to submit them. Even one comment will motivate me x3
Anyways... You've listened to me talk long enough... On with the story...?
Disclaimer: If I REALLY owned Final Fantasy, my name would be Tetsuya Nomura, I would live in Japan, and it wouldn't be a game. It would be a manga. And I would have giant plushies of Cloud and Genesis sitting in my room waiting to be snuggled...
Stifling a heartwrenching sob, the young child shut his eyes tight and burried his face into his knees, not daring to move from his position seated in the corner. They had done it to him again... It was just like always. And like always... No matter how hard he would try... The tears would sooner or later manage to leak through his thick lashes.
But something was different about this time... This time... He wasn't alone. Rapid, heavy footsteps ran towards him, speeding up when its owner was close enough to see the now sobbing, broken soul. "Gen!" Strong, muscled arms wrapped around him tightly and the young boy burried his face into the newcomers' chest, small, lithe arms wrapping around his waist, almost afraid that if he didn't hold on strong enough, his last connection to sanity would slip away from him just as everything else had. "Genesis... It's ok. I'm here. I'm here! Don't cry... Please don't cry..."
"Angie... How... How did you find me...?"
"I followed you... Genesis... I saw it. I saw what happened..."
"Don't leave me!"
"Never..." Angeal tightened his grip on the frantic redhead. He was only 9 and already having lived out so many horrors in his life... Only 9...
"Angie... I'm... Scared..."
"Don't be. I'm here for you. I won't let anything hurt you anymore... Never again."
"Angeal..." Gently Angeal grasped Genesis's chin and tilted his face up, staring into frantic, pleading eyes.
While placing a chaste kiss on his forehead, the older 14-year-old whispered, "I promise."
Slowly opening his eyes, Angeal rolled over onto his side, mind filled with the dream he had just had. He could clearly remember that day... He remembered glancing out of his window and across the street, seeing Genesis limping out of the front door of his house, blood streaming from several gashes and falling onto the grass of his front lawn. Frantically he remembered bolting out of his room to help Genesis, but by the time he had gotten out the door his younger friend had already begun running down the street with something being hurled at him and a loud voice yelling, "don't come back you little brat!"
He remembered Genesis taking a few turns and having lost him... He remembered desperately searching, panting, calling his name... Until at last he found him huddled in a corner at a deadend in what seemed to be a familliar place to Genesis. He also remembered wondering if this kind of thing happened to him often... If Genesis was regularly beaten by his foster father.
As he closed his eyes and sighed, another memory made its way into his mind...
"Angie! You're back! I missed you so much!"
"Genesis..." Angeal had hissed. "I told you not to call me that! We're not kids anymore."
"Aww but Angie..."
"Genesis Rhapsodos!" The frisky redhead flinched, shrinking away slightly.
"Sorry... Angeal."
"That's better." Angeal glared down at him, but soon a traitorous smile snuck its way onto his lips and Genesis beamed in reply, almost tackling Angeal to the ground in a tight hug.
"Missed you!"
The black-haired 23-year-old rolled his eyes and laughed nervously. "But Gen... It's only been a few days!" Genesis pouted. "Alright alright... I missed you too. Terribly. I was hoping I wouldn't come home to see you impaled with someone's sword."
"If you get to call me Gen I get to call you Angie!" Genesis complained, letting go of his friend and crossing his arms stubbornly. Once again Angeal laughed, putting Genesis into a headlock and ruffling his hair. "Angeal! Not the hair, not the hair!"
Angeal released him, smirking mischievously as Genesis hurried to fix his, 'precious,' hair. "Genesis... How did you ever get into SOLDIER again?"
"Angeal!"
"Tell me one thing..." Angeal sighed and rubbed his forehead, looking extremely exasperated all of a sudden, perhaps even a little perplexed.
"Angeal? Of course. Anything." Genesis frowned, worried about the sudden seriousness in his best friend's tone.
"You didn't... No... It's nothing."
"Angeal? Tell me! What's wrong? I didn't what? Angeal!"
"Well... When I left..." Angeal sighed and turned away. "Nevermind."
"Angeal!" Genesis jumped onto his back with his arms around the taller man's neck, feet dangling in the air a few inches off the ground. "Angeal I know something's wrong! You have that look on your face again!"
"Genesis... Promise to answer this question truthfully?"
The redhead frowned. "Of course... I'd never lie to you..."
"Then tell me..." Angeal smirked over his shoulder at him. "You didn't... Cry... When I left... Did you?" That question earned him a hard punch to the arm as Genesis slid off his back and began storming away angrilly. "No really, did you?" Angeal snickered, following him. When Genesis didn't reply he frowned and stopped dead in his tracks. "You did... Didn't you."
"I did not!" The flustered 18-year-old whirled on his heal, glaring at Angeal with hate-filled eyes, that appeared reflective, more so than usual...
"Then why are you so defencive?" Angeal kicked himself inwardly, noticing that tears were actually building up behind Genesis's eyes, threatening to escape.
Genesis looked at the ground, biting his lower lip. "I didn't cry... But I wanted to."
Angeal rolled his eyes, gathering Genesis into a hug. "You're such a baby sometimes..."
"Am not! You told me you'd be gone for possibly a month! I... I didn't know if you'd come back to me alive!"
Angeal sighed. "Genesis... Do you trust me?"
"Yes."
"Do you think I've got what it takes to make First Class?"
"Yes!"
"Do you think... If that was only my first mission... That I'd let myself die so soon?"
"Course not."
"Think I'd leave my pretty little girlfriend all alone in this world?"
Genesis smirked. "And who would that be...? Wait... How come you never told me about her?!"
"I didn't? I could've sworn I did..."
"Angeal you ass! Fill me in on her! Now!"
Angeal laughed. "Alright just calm down... Well... She's shorter than me..."
"Shorter's good..."
"Light as a feather too..."
"Also good..."
"She's got short, red hair..."
"Red hair's always sexy."
"Really firey, spirited and quite short-tempered..."
"Those can be pretty endearing, but wouldn't that get annoying after a while?"
"It does. She can be a bitch too when she wants to be."
"Not so good..."
"She's real sensitive and has quite a feminine flair, but keeps that hidden. Oh and she's always tackling me or jumping on my back."
"Sorta sounds familliar... Do I know her?"
"Oh and she's got the same eye colour as you. And she loves wearing leather. /i Tight, i leather..." Angeal looked pointedly at Genesis's red cloak, his gaze then dropping to his black pants.
"That's pretty sexy- Hey wait..." Angeal laughed at him. "That is NOT funny!"
That day... Seemed so long ago now. The days when Genesis and Angeal were inseperable seemed like a distant dream... Every passing minute they were drifting further and further away from each other as darkness threatened to swallow Genesis up whole. The Genesis Angeal knew was barely there... This new, replacement Genesis, was slowly destroying HIS Genesis. His Genesis... He liked that term. He didn't know why but... He just... Did.
His Genesis... He would save His Genesis. No matter what it would take...