Flashback

The wind blew the strands of my hair out of my face and the sun shined brightly on my face. I sat with my eyes closed on hill covered with sunflowers, overlooking the ocean.

"My soul, corrupted by vengeance, hath endured torment to find the end of my journey in my own salvation…and your eternal slumber." I scrunched my nose up and opened my eyes to look at Genesis who was sitting right beside me. "That was pretty dark." I said. He closed his book of LOVELESS and slipped it back in his coat. "What's it mean?" I asked curiously. He pulled his knees up to rest his arms on them.

"I think that you need to figure out what it means for yourself." He said quietly. "That's the only way that you would truly understand it." I continued my stare on him. The wind was blowing strands of his auburn hair out of place just like it was doing to my raven hair. "Ah." I answered him, finally looking ahead towards the ocean. We sat in silence for few moments before I set my gaze back on him. His brow was furrowed in a frown and he seemed to be deep in thought.

"What's wrong?" I asked cocking my head to the side. He just continued to stare at the ground. I frowned and leaned closer to him. "Genesis?" I said concerned. He wasn't usually like this. "I'm fine." He said in monotone. I raised an eyebrow at him. I crawled from the spot beside him to one directly in front of him. "Hey, my eyes are up here." I said jokingly, trying to lighten the mood. The corners of his mouth twitched up in a small smile as he looked at me. "Hey, that's better." I said happily.

He chuckled and met my gaze and I smiled caringly at him. "Hey Genesis, can I ask you something?" I asked him. He nodded his head slightly urging me to continue. "Promise me that we'll always be there for each other and always friends? No matter what?" His face fell when I finished. I was going to ask him what I said wrong but he started speaking before I could.

"Promise me, Wind." He said in all seriousness. "Huh?" I asked feeling confused. He sighed in frustration. "You promise me that." He said. I furrowed my brow. "Genesis, what's on your mind? And don't tell me "it's nothing", because I can read you like a book and I know when something is weighing you down." He shook his head and avoided my gaze. "Nothing is wrong." He said defensively. "Just promise me that you won't lose faith in me. In our friendship." He said quietly. I watched him as he stared at the ground, looking defensless. I was beyond worried at this point; this was not how Genesis acted. Genesis was always smug and sure and confident of himself. And now here he was sitting in front of me looking like he was at rock bottom.

I knew by this point that Genesis wasn't going to crack and tell me what was weighing him down, but that didn't mean I couldn't try to comfort him. I rose from my place in front of him and moved behind him. When he looked up to see what I was doing, I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him from behind tightly and I buried my face in his neck. "I promise." I whispered quietly to him. "Until the day one of us meets their end… I'll stand by you." I tried to get a glimpse of his face and saw that he was staring at the ocean with a look of…was that guilt on his face? "No matter what?" he asked toneless. I just hugged him tighter.

"No matter what." I said with determination. I felt him roll his shoulder from under my embrace. I pulled back a little to get a good look at his face. "How's that shoulder doing, Gen?" I asked him frowning a bit. A smug smirk came over his face. "You know what I think?" he asked. "What?" he smiled to himself for a moment before replying. "I think you don't need to worry about it." He said smugly. I tipped my head back at let out a light laugh. "Well you better hope that it's doing good, smartass, or Wutai won't be easy for you." I teased him back, giggling. I buried my face back in his neck.

"Yeah…" he replied quietly.

End Flashback

"Genesis…" I mumbled as I snapped back into reality. "What did you say, Wind?" Zack asked me. We were walking through the warehouse that Genesis set up as the headquarters for his little army. "Nothing." I mumbled back to him. I wasn't in the mood to talk. I had promised Genesis that I would stick by his side no matter what, and I had meant it with all my heart but…these things he was doing. The worst part was that I felt myself forgiving him. Forgiving him. He killed the citizens of Banora, and his own parents for fucks sake. But…I can't bring myself to be mad at him or scorn him.

What's wrong with me?

"Genesis…what's going on with you?" I whispered to myself. My Genesis would never do this. He would never think about doing anything like this. Genesis always wanted to be the hero and would never do anything that would keep him from that, especially since that had been his dream since he was a teenager. I shook my head furiously, trying to clear it. "None of this makes sense…" I thought to myself. I grabbed my arm when it started to burn again and hugged it closely to my chest. "One thing I and Genesis still have in common…" I thought to myself sadly. Truth was that I missed him. I missed his laugh and his snarky jokes. I missed him racking LOVELESS into my brain. I missed his smile. I missed everything about him and that was probably why I couldn't fault him; I wanted to be by his side.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard Zack start speaking. "Shhh… I think I hear something." He whispered. I realized that we had come to a staircase and we started to descend down it. When we got to the bottom we were in a large room with huge windows that let in rays of sunlight. We stood in V-formation just looking around. Then I heard a very familiar voice speak from the far corner of the room. "Speak of the devil."

"My, my, aren't we a loud group?" Genesis mocked. He was sitting in the corner of the room with LOVELESS in his hand. He had obviously been reading before we intruded. "Genesis!" Zack exclaimed. "What have you done? What were you thinking? How could-""Calm down…"Zack the Puppy." Genesis cut Zack off. He slowly got up, his gaze scanning over us. I froze when I met his gaze. He gave me a smile which I returned weakly. Zack stepped towards him trying to seem threating. "Why?" Zack demanded. Genesis laughed in shook his head. "They kept their mouths shut at first, all it took where some mild threats and-"Zack cut him off violently. "I'm sure they would have lied for you anyway!" he seethed out. "Or at least your parents would have!" I cast my gaze down quickly at that knowing full well that it got Genesis's attention. "My "Parents" betrayed me. They had always betrayed me from the very beginning." Genesis said matter-of- factly. It was Tseng's turn to step forward. "We found our men in the grave as well." He commented darkly. I took a chance to look up and saw Genesis's hand start to glow. "What do you know, Shrin-ra lapdogs?!" he raged out. My life went in slow motion as he pulled his arm back, ready to strike. "GENESIS!" I yelled out as he launched a fireball at Zack, who narrowly dodged it. Instead the fireball crashed into Tseng. Genesis took the confusion to make his escape. "Genesis!" I yelled as I ran after him, hearing Tseng telling Zack to go.

. . .

There was no way that Genesis could run that fast! He disappeared after about five minutes of the chase. I slowed to a walk when I reached the houses. I looked around trying to pick up any sign that he had been here, but I could see none. I shook my head in frustration and walked over to what seemed like the edge of Banora. I looked down the steep cliff and admired the beauty of the river below. Banora was truly a beautiful place. The whole city just seemed to glow in a mysterious light. The river sparkled and was so clear that you could see the fish swimming through it.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

I jumped and spun around quickly drawing my sword, ready to strike. I lowered my weapon when I saw an auburn haired man, clad in red standing in front of me. "Genesis, what's going on?" I questioned him. He just cast his gaze on the ground and advanced towards me. "Why did you hurt the town's people? And…Genesis your parents…" I couldn't finish the sentence when I felt tears stinging my eyes. I absolutely felt beyond over-whelmed. "How could you?" I whispered when the first tear escaped. I turned around ashamed of my weakness, but I couldn't fight the tears. My reality was cracking, and there wasn't anything I could do to hold it together.

"You wish to know why?" Genesis demanded. "I learned the truth, Wind. I found out the bitter truth that Shin-ra had been hiding from me my whole life! The truth they've been hiding from you!" I turned around when he said that. "What are you talking about?" I demanded from him while wiping my eyes clean. "How's that arm doing?" Genesis questioned me. I didn't miss the irony that he was asking me the same question I had always asked him. I just stood there, silent. "That's what I had thought." Genesis commented. "Let me guess, a small wound? Should've healed within a couple days? Sounds a lot like mine was, doesn't it?" my breath hitched. "Do you honestly think that's just a coincidence, Wind?"

I took note on how close he had gotten to me. I shook my head trying to clear it. When the wetness on my cheeks returned I didn't even bother with trying to wipe it off. "Genesis…" I started but he cut me off when he pulled me into a tight hug. "Three friends go into battle. One dies, the other flies away. The one that is left is alone to drown in the darkness." He quoted softly into my ear. I couldn't hold it in any longer, I hugged him back as tight as I could and sobbed into his chest. I cried for him, for Banora, for his parents, and for myself. I felt him stroke my hair and his quiet "Shhhs" as he tried to soothe me. "Do you remember what you promised me before I left?" he asked quietly. Suddenly, it all clicked together. He had made me promise that because he knew that this was going to happen. He had known that he was going to abandon Shin-ra and do these horrible things.

"I intend to keep it." I whispered into his chest, even though guilt swelled in my chest. How was I supposed to keep that promise with the things he was doing? Nether less I felt the want to keep my promise. The need to keep my promise. Genesis laughed weakly and hugged me tighter. "That's good." He said lightly. He looked up suddenly when yelling emitted from one of the houses. He stepped away from me and walked towards it. "The fun begins." He announced darkly. Before long Angeal stormed out of the house. "Angeal!" I yelled as I ran towards him, but he just brushed past me. "So it's you to?" I asked him quietly. He stopped mid step and gazed at the ground. "So it is." I answered myself. Zack ran out of the house calling for Angeal to stop, only to be tripped by Genesis. I took a step forward in defense. Angeal started to walk away again with Zack calling after him.

"My friend, do you fly away now? To a world that abhors you and I? All that awaits you is a somber morrow, no matter where the winds may blow." Genesis said directly to Angeal. "Shut up!" Zack snapped at him as he sprung to his feet "What happened to dreams and honor?" he asked, disgusted. Genesis walked over to the edge of the cliff and stopped. "We are…monsters." He said quietly. He brought his hand to his face then flung his arm out. A feathery, jet black angel wing appeared from his back. I gasped in shock, completely taken aback. "We have neither dreams nor honor." He added bitterly. "Genesis…" I breathed out. I couldn't comprehend what was going on anymore. Not that I could comprehend it in the first place.

He turned his head slightly back and our gazes met. "Let me know when you learn how to fly." He said. And just like that, Genesis was gone.