Chapter 2: And So Crashes a Storm
A storm he knew would come. A storm he would never, could never ever weather, not even as he looked back at the memory now holding all the answers in his..hand. Not even now, when he flawlessly understood why the child came into their lives, even if the cursed angel deserved not even the ghostliest touch of misery.
After all, there was only hatred left.
There were no traces of godlike humanity in the boy, as Genesis felt in his dream. No maturity, no wisdom. A different person stood before him, but the redhead knew, in a way he couldn't understand, that it was the same person.
Zack Fair bounced every gaia-damned second, but when he salutes, the crisp admiration that shapes the straight line of his fingers is genuine. In those restless, ocean-blue eyes, there was respect for his superiors and dedication to SOLDIER. But what could a child, what could a 3rd-Class know about honor, about blood, about hell, about the undeniable reality of being a soldier, a killer? The doubt crept its way to Genesis' mind, but he surprised himself when he barreled past the thought as if he already knew the answer.
Well, Zack Fair did look promising. Genesis felt Zack Fair looked promising. In a good and bad way. And that was the most unnerving thing.
Angeal cheerily, but not too cheerily listed Zack's outstanding records, taking the reins and making sure to control his voice as to not let Zack's ego swell. The raven-haired man was doing a great job so far, but Zack Fair was Zack Fair and nothing could ever take away that ear-splitting grin, nothing could ever dream of stopping him from bouncing, nothing could ever satiate the excitement and the zeal melted in those cool mako-blue eyes.
Even Sephiroth was impressed. But that meant that everyone had high, heaven-high expectations for Zack Fair.
For the second time of the day, Genesis surprised himself by storming out of the room when Zack saluted him.
Footsteps heavy, breathing furious. The redhead couldn't see past the clouds of hatred and anger that gathered then swarmed at his heart, blocking all logic and reason. He couldn't hear the concerned shouts from Angeal (and Sephiroth's silent ones) back from the office.
When Genesis reached his apartment his sapphire eyes sharpened and distorted until they were mako-green. The surge of emotion - be it anger, sadness, or frustration - triggered this reaction. His heartbeat pounded painfully against his chest, and pure frustration came like another wave. Problem is, he couldn't figure out who to blame this on. He couldn't figure out why, why, he was feeling this way.
The wandering soul knows no rest.
He assessed the situation again.
Zack Fair just became Angeal's apprentice.
A deep breath.
Your best friend is now a mentor.
A deeper breath.
Zack Fair was just introduced to you minutes ago and you stormed off rudely. Worse, you didn't know why.
An even deeper breath. Genesis looked for the answer.
Part of you is jealous. Angeal doesn't spend as much time with you as he did before that brat came.
Yes, the redhead couldn't deny it - Angeal was already buried in paperwork and bombarded with missions and had a heavy responsibility like every other 1st-Class. Yes, Genesis was always buried in paperwork too - he knew exactly how it felt. Sephiroth had the most responsibility, but Sephiroth didn't know the meaning of fun play like Angeal sometimes did, and like Genesis always did. The mentorship program is not easy - it never was and never will be. The life and the progress and growth of Zack Fair both as an individual and a SOLDIER was assigned to Angeal. Of course it won't be easy.
Genesis thought back to yesterday, and the days before. At how things easily changed without any fight. At how their world continued revolving as if there were no changes. Angeal walks with Zack at a distance, and he waves or smiles when he encounters either of his best friends. But duty came first, and Zack was a special duty.
Zack was getting all the attention.
An unbreakable barrier erected between the redhead and Angeal - a barrier neither of them wanted, and both of them knew that. When Angeal passes by, he acknowledges Genesis like always, but there was something so gaia-damned different now. As if the redhead's place in Angeal's heart and memories was shrinking and shrinking each passing second. For gaia, Angeal was his best friend. Of course nothing could stand between them, ever.
What if you're wrong?
He broke his own thoughts with a sigh. Even more frustrated, Genesis played with LOVELESS' leather cover, flipping the pages to occupy himself. But his fingers were shaking, tipped with anxiety.
Love twisted to hate and peace blackened to rage
The goddess loved you
In your own pathetic joy.
She has forsaken you,
And shared none of her blessings.
It was the act Genesis didn't quite like and didn't quite hate. The second act was a bit longer but compared to the last two it was short. The prisoner loses everything. Slowly, painfully. In the midst of the anger and sorrow, he recalls the secret covenant the goddess was supposed to mark him with, and how he's forsaken. How hopeless he is. His hate goes to the person who stole, the intruder -
Genesis swore under his breath.
You rest your faith
On the dawn's hero,
And the champion that will heal the tomorrow
But the prisoner seeks his own joy, nevertheless. A hero was promised. A hero who would fulfill the forsaken covenant after all the prisoner's sacrifices for justice and for the world.
To see the light of another morning,
To see the next smile of the sun
We sold our souls.
It is a tough journey for all the characters. An unbearably painful journey, in every way possible. The wanderer and the prisoner are destroyed in their slow death, but the prisoner never lost faith.
A monster, you have become.
14-year-old Genesis, purer and brighter, smiled his trademark smug grin. It creeped out his fellow cadets especially when he had a Death materia around his hand, but to Angeal, it was Genesis. Materia of highest-level danger was a truly suiting accessory for Genesis. Dangerous, mischievous Genesis Rhapsodos.
"Exceptional work, Rhapsodos," the coach's drone voice blared, but it couldn't hide the laced praise.
Ebullient, Genesis did it again. One more time. Let's do it one more time.
Deep breath.
Accept it.
Deep breath.
Feel the flow.
Deep breath.
Map out the flow, until it bonds with you.
Deep breath.
Connect with it.
Be one, but not too closely.
Be one, but don't let it take over you.
He felt that usual surge of energy flare up in his hand. That flame in his being that was completely his, that added something more to the surge. The magic of the materia is broken from its circular confines - Genesis, a perfect, flawless conductor of the small, small, small portion of Lifestream.
A smile. Pride welled up in his chest. Relief, then, freedom. That was magic. Genesis' magic.
"The Lifestream won't lend you its divine power if you don't open yourself first," the instructor continued, eyeing each and every one of them. "That is how you use materia. Feel the emotion locked within it, but don't let it control you. It will only release energy if you feel it and acknowledge its existence. Even if you don't understand it." The cadets around him yawned. Angeal was getting some of it, but the words were too cryptic. To Genesis, they made sense. Each and every single one.
Genesis jerked back awake when he heard the doorbell's abominable ring. Not quite awake yet, he gulped down the remaining water in the glass and stomped his way to the door.
"Genesis," Angeal's voice.
"My friend," Angeal's smile.
The raven-haired man reached out, pulling him into a casual embrace. Angeal's warmth.
They settled down on two sofas, sitting adjacent to each other as usual.
"My friend...did Zack upset you? Is something wrong, Genesis?" There was no judgment or anger in the voice. Just concern. As always. Genesis felt guilty to be showered with such warmth and understanding, when he could only blame himself. Here he was, making everyone feel unwanted, bad - and Angeal comes, asking him what's wrong, when the man should be shouting at him, demanding why he's ruining things. Genesis swallowed, waiting for Angeal's voice to rise, waiting for a shout, waiting for the anger to crash down between the both of them. Instead, Angeal sighed, closed his eyes. He does this whenever he doesn't understand my feelings. Angeal's warm blue eyes flickered to his tempest-sharp ones.
"Tell me what's wrong, Genesis. You've been acting strange ever since I've announced Zack's apprenticeship."
Dear old friend, you are too forgiving. You are an angel, and that will wound us both.
"I've just had my injection." The perfect excuse. To Genesis' dismay, Angeal sighed again. The raven-haired man knew there was something bigger. Silence thickened the tension until Angeal sighed for the third time.
"Are you uncomfortable with Zack?"
Dear old friend, I am happy for you. But you have absolutely no idea what you are putting me through.
"What if I am?"
Please, 'geal..just let this go.
"Zack is a bright child, Genesis. He has character, and to top that, he is sincere. I am going to listen to you if thre is a story, but I highly doubt Zack did something," Angeal surged out, as if using the words to smooth out a wrinkled blanket. "I don't want anything to affect his progress."
But you fail to see how he and you are affecting me. Gaia-dammit, 'geal.
Genesis took a deep breath. Wished that Angeal would see the truth. And at the same time, prayed hard that he'll just let this slip. "No, 'geal. He did nothing to upset me."
Dear friend, you do not know what I have seen. What I have felt. What he and you are forcing me to feel.
"Are you sure? Are you absolutely sure?" He eyed Genesis again, as if trying to look for the buried answer.
Genesis swallowed, then blinked. Tried to regain his former, original self. "Yes, 'geal. What could an innocent puppy do to upset me?"
Multiple emotions flashed on his face. The raven-haired man didn't look satisfied, but his face smoothed out. "If he does anything, Genesis, tell me." Angeal rested his hand on Genesis' shoulder, both battle-honed and frail. The sore ends picked themselves out of the atmosphere, and Angeal let out a genuine laugh. He poked Genesis' cheek with a finger and winked. "Dumbapple pie in my apartment later. Just us and Seph - Zack has orientation."
"Sure," Genesis washed his face with a pure smile.
"And there's news on Wutai. From Seph."
Pale-brown trees, ancient yet strong branches.
Twisted and contorted, but beautiful.
Home.
Pale-purple apples were the jewels.
Juicy, nutritious. The vitamins deep and ancient.
Sinfully-pure air, thick with the untainted.
The wind was cool, the grass like cushions against their bare feet.
Sephiroth's face knotted into the expression that meant "confused". He never did this in the presence of normal citizens. He did this often with Professor Hojo, but Hojo is always boring when it came to answering questions. Sephiroth only felt comfortable being confused when he was around Angeal and Genesis. He didn't know what's about the feeling it gave off - was it comfort? Amicability? There were so many things the boundless science he knew by heart could never explain.
Why did Angeal and Genesis always smile at him? Why don't the scientists and Professor Hojo? Why is the air so pure here in Banora, when it's just lights and antiseptic in the lab? Why are the scientists and the staff so unemotional, why are they like robots? Why couldn't they be like Angeal and Genesis, always carefree, always -
Countless times, the three of them talked about emotions. Humanity. Feelings. Sephiroth couldn't understand them, but he could feel them. Or maybe he couldn't understand them because it opposed everything he grew up to - labs, following orders, tests, injections, scientists, tests, injections. That was his world. The smell of antiseptic, the glaring lights. The unspeakable abominations in Professor Hojo's lab. The sting of the injections. The unbearable side-effects. Countless nights with no sleep. Pain. Cold. Brutal analytical nature, molded into perfection so accurately and sharply that it hurt. Angeal and Genesis lived in a world so different from his, as if light-years away. But they lived in the same earth, in the same universe.
"These apples have a high nutritional concentration," Sephiroth said. "Is it caused by the fresh, ancient soil of Banora?"
The taste, the perfect combination of sweet-bitter. Endless flavor that came with nutrition. Now twenty-five years old and eating dumbapples since forever, Genesis still believed that they were what made the three of them so naturally strong. The redhead focused on the flavor, the flavor he could never get enough of.
Sephiroth and Angeal had the same intentions, but the news from Wutai couldn't wait. "Last week's loss was a large casualty," Sephiroth began. Anyone could tell that he was fighting not to lick his lips and savor the sweetness of the pie, but Sephiroth was Sephiroth and Sephiroth was brutal when it came to discipline and self-control. His voice was calculating, emotionless and analytical to the point of brutality. General Sephiroth, wargod of gaia. General Sephiroth, the angel of death.
"I am planning to send more operatives and crush their persistence as soon as possible. Lazard agrees, and tomorrow we will decide who to send. Someone serious."
The three of them take it in like a story. No emotions showing on their faces. In war, we think with our brains, not our hearts. We use logic as brutally as possible. There is absolutely no place for the illogical. Gaia have mercy when you start feeling.
"How serious, Seph?" Angeal asked, his voice and face grave all of a sudden. But it was an acceptable emotion to show.
Sephiroth looked to the side, but Genesis and Angeal knew he was calculating a hundred steps ahead, assessing the situation a hundred steps in advance. "We've lost a crucial amount of momentum. It might take us weeks to catch up, even if we send a 1st class."
"So you plan to send any of us three," Genesis commented, trying to sound as uninterested as possible. But he couldn't deny - his brain and his heart was sharpening to that brutal, manipulative danger he never failed to show to anyone.
"Probably Lieutenant Gates or another Lieutenant accompanying Angeal or you. Lazard wants me here for awhile." The raven and crimson commander shared glances seconds or minutes long. Genesis couldn't really guess. He felt more alive and more aware recently - paranoid, if he took out the sugar.
Again, that rising surge welled up from deep down. Again, he was powerless to even control it. It just attacked, like before. And he's completely swallowed. All that Genesis could register was Angeal's name painfully-loud to his ears, his best friend's name urgently sticking to his brain all of a sudden.
Red frustration, white-hot anger. He could register Angeal's sudden embrace - or restraint. Sephiroth's face instantly swept from perfect statue to "concerned". - no, more than concerned.
The next moments were blurry. It's another five minutes, at least, before the redhead could clearly register the urgent calls of "What's wrong" and "Genesis". When the redhead blinked, Angeal's palms were on his shoulders, as if preventing him from doing something. Sephiroth was also standing now, a minor flaw in his usual pole posture.
He couldn't quite point out what just happened.
Very quick update, I know. I'm writing more often now. I hope this made some sense, and I hope I triggered some sort of reaction in you guys - I'm working so HARD on these! I know things are too slow with the main story, and I blame the flashbacks. Anyways. Thank you so much for reading and wasting your valuable time. Please rate and review. Or flame. Please - any criticism and thoughts. Fighting!