A/N: Hattress: Whoo, sorry about the late post but I just got back from camping over the weekend and I was waaay to tired to try posting anything at the time. I hope ya'll don't mind… On another note, there is something to take heed of in this chapter; there's light lemon in the middle. Nothing explicit but if you feel uncomfortable about reading it, you can just simply scan past it. For the most part this chapter deals with Aradia's feelings for Genesis and how she copes with it.
Hare: Yeah, we'll have it marked around the lemon so that you can skim past it, if you so desire. As for the rest of it, Hattress had it right, to a point, though there are a few more important details that are mentioned, so pay attention.
D/c: Hare: I don't own anything, Hattress has Aradia. Square Enix has anything from Final Fantasy VII. We just warp and twist it to suit our own needs.
Chapter 9 (Hare: OMG! We've made it this far!)
Aradia sighed as she leaned against the wall. Their Modeohime base wasn't all that interesting. Genesis and Angeal were in the middle of planning. What, she had no idea. They seemed to have it in their heads that she wasn't capable of handling this kind of information so soon after her injection.
She thought they were full of shit. She moved away from the wall as Genesis and Angeal walked out of their little 'conference' room. Genesis smiled at her and wrapped his arms around her waist, nuzzling his nose against her neck and ear. She smiled and rested a hand on his cheek as she looked over at Angeal. "I suppose you want to hear about my past, now?" She asked.
Genesis nipped at her neck and chuckled. "Just the basics." He murmured to her. "If you're uncomfortable, then you don't have to go through all of the horrid details."
Aradia sighed. "Lets go somewhere quiet." She muttered. "I don't want the peons overhearing, no matter how mindless you've made them."
Genesis nodded and pulled away from her, motioning for Angeal to follow. Genesis lead them into a room set away from the general area where the 'soldiers' were collecting. Most of them had no conscious thought beyond what they were told to do, but a few of them retained something, and most were capable of speech.
Angeal sat down as Aradia moved to lean against the wall. Genesis sat down behind the desk with a smile, folding his hands and resting his chin on them.
Aradia sighed and shot him a glare. "Wipe that stupid look off your face, Genesis. This isn't happy fun time." She turned to stare out the window that was next to her. She heaved another sigh and glanced at Angeal. "How much do you know about the inner workings of ShinRa?"
Angeal frowned. "Just the chain of command and the workings through the SOLDIER units."
Aradia sighed once more and launched into her tale. She told him the bare minimum. Very little about the Jenova projects were mentioned.
"So what are we going to do?" Angeal asked.
Genesis rose from his chair and moved to wrap his arms around Aradia. "I've told you everything about what we are." He told Angeal. "Hollander claims that he can heal us, and stop the degradation before it kills us. All we have to do is help him exact his revenge on ShinRa."
Aradia frowned. "What are you talking about, Genesis?"
"Angeal and I are Project G." Genesis stated bluntly. "We are the ones that were the result of the project, and I'm the one from which the genes your former comrades were joined with. I was considered the failed experiment, and Angeal was the more successful one." He told her everything he knew about Project G and everything that pertained to him and Angeal. Most of the information she had. She'd spent enough time in Deep Ground to know most of the history there in.
She turned to Genesis. "So what are the plans to take down ShinRa?"
"Well, once we have a large enough army, we're going to attack Midgar." Genesis told her. "The clones are more than capable of dealing with any of the rodents that would stand against us."
"With the exception of SODLIER First Class Sephiroth." Angeal pointed out. "He's our friend, Genesis."
"He'll join us in due course." Genesis assured Angeal. "We just need the proper catalyst."
Angeal nodded. "I'm going to find somewhere to train." He murmured as he moved to walk out of the room. He turned to Aradia. "Are you alright?"
Aradia nodded. "I'm fine. My past isn't something I like to talk about, but it's easier if I have it out in the open."
Angeal nodded and walked out of the room. Aradia leaned further into Genesis' arms. "Are you sure this is going to work?" She asked, looking over her shoulder at him.
"Yes." Genesis said. "There are very few that could stand in our way, and they'll join us slowly."
"I understand." Aradia said. She pulled away from him. "And what about us, Genesis. You have to know that there's really been nothing happening."
Genesis shook his head. "You've no conception of what love is, do you?" he asked. "To feel the need to protect another person, to care for them unconditionally."
Aradia didn't respond immediately. "Genesis …" She looked at him with a frown. "It's been a long time since I've been able to feel that kind of emotion. Deep Ground strips you of all ability to feel any complex emotion. Love, Envy … Those emotions don't exist in a Tsviet. We only feel to most basic and carnal desires. Contentment, lust, anger." She turned to face him fully. "We're trained to do as we're told, and feel only what they want us to feel. There is no fear. Only hate and anger. A need to kill. There is no love. Only loyalty. Rocky ties easily breakable by the slightest betrayal."
Genesis walked up to her. "Aradia, you're not like them anymore. You have friends. You have me. Someone who cares about you more than you could probably imagine."
Aradia stared at him. "You're right, Genesis. I'm not like them anymore, but I still have a hard time processing those emotions. I do care about you. More than my instincts tell me is smart. I would do anything for you and to protect you. I'll follow you through with this insanity because you're the only one that's shown me any kind of kindness." She frowned. "You're the only one that's shown me anything but blood."
Genesis nodded. "For now, that's enough." He told her. "You'll come to realize that its not just lust and loyalty that you're feeling, but for now, it's enough."
Aradia nodded and rested her forehead on his shoulder. "I'm slipping, Genesis. I'm feeling a lust that I haven't felt for a long time. A lust for blood. A need for the kill. I think I may have spent too much time away from it all, and now I'm losing control. It's been getting steadily worse since Wutai."
Genesis held her against him and pressed his lips into her hair, even as he fisted it in his hand. "You'll be alright, Aradia. You'll have your chance soon. Those ShinRa dogs will bleed rivers for you."
Aradia pulled back and looked up at him. He was so perfect. He was hers. He leaned in and pulled her further into him. He claimed her lips in a fiery kiss, awakening in Aradia something that she hadn't felt since her first years in Deep Ground, when she was just discovering herself and what she had become.
She moaned into the kiss and gripped his arms and pulled him closer. She needed more. She wanted so much more. She needed to feel him against her.
And then her mind froze. What was she doing? She had an objective to complete. She needed to save Genesis not only from his degradation but also from himself. Losing her mind to him wasn't going to help. She pulled away from him and looked down. Genesis pressed his lips to her forehead and heaved a sigh.
"Soon, Aradia." he murmured against her skin. "Soon, you'll be mine, and you won't have this hesitation to take what it is you want."
He moved away from her and disappeared into the hall behind the door. Aradia leaned against the desk and rested a hand against her head. Was it really so wrong to want him like she did? It felt too right, but there were things that they needed to do that couldn't be clouded by lust. They needed to keep their heads intact and not lose themselves in each other.
But he just felt so right. She knew that she wanted him. She had for some time. Ever since he'd taken her to see Loveless.
The goddess descends from the sky
Wings of light and dark spread afar
She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting
The lines came to her from nowhere. They were the last three lines of the Prologue poem.
Was Genesis her gift from the Goddess?
She looked out the window and watched the birds fly free. They swooped and dived with an abandon she could only wish for. True, Tsviets feel no envy, but she wasn't as deadened as the others. She felt envy. She wanted the freedom to do as she pleased, unconstrained by the needs of others. She only wanted to worry about her own needs and the needs of the only man that truly mattered in her life.
She sat there, rolling the thoughts over and over in her mind until darkness fell, and she knew what she would do. She would take what she wanted, and she would have it all.
Aradia sighed as she stepped out of the stair hutch on the roof. Genesis was up here again. As of late he had developed an affinity for high places. She took in his back lit moonlight profile and felt a warmth spread through her. He was standing shirtless, in only a pair of pants and boots.
"Genesis, come inside." She said, walking over to him. She wrapped her arms around his and rested her head on his shoulder. "It's getting chilled."
Genesis didn't even look down at her. He was staring into the water below them. "Do you know what's wrong with me, Aradia?"
Aradia shook her head and buried her nose in his arm. "I'm sorry, Genesis."
Genesis sighed. "This …" He said flexing his wing. "Whatever is happening to me. It's bad. I feel like I'm slipping away."
Aradia held him tighter. He scared her when he got like this. "Genesis…"
"Legend shall speak of sacrifice at world's end, The wind sails over the water's surface. Quietly, but surely." Genesis said. He grabbed her arms and pulled her in front of him, pushing her back against the rail. "Aradia, something is slipping inside me. I can't control it."
Aradia stared up into his fierce eyes, her limbs going weak as they shone deep blue in the night, lit with a Mako glow. "Genesis, I can't help you if I don't understand."
Genesis pinned her against the rail by her hips and leaned over, burying his nose in her neck. His hand raked up her sides, dragging her light tank top with it as his nails dug into her side.
Aradia winced and tilted her head to the side, giving him better access to her neck. How could he make her feel so much with so little? "Genesis, I've told you before. I want to help you in any way I can."
Genesis smirked and pulled away from her, though his hand was now wound in her tank top. "You can't do anything to help me but what you're already doing, Aradia. Having you here gives me strength. After that, it's up to Hollander."
The darkness in his voice, the barely contained rage, caused a shiver to skitter down Aradia's spine.
Genesis pulled her along with him as the sky opened up and began raining. "Come on." He said.
Aradia moved with him, keeping what precious contact she had with him. He pulled her flush against him roughly and spun her into the wall of the hutch. The feel of his wet skin against her's was almost too much for Aradia.
Genesis couldn't take it anymore. He pulled her tank top over her head and threw it away behind him, giving no heed to the rain. His hands sought out her breasts as he leaned over and buried his nose in her neck again. Aradia moaned as her breasts brushed against his roughened hands and his wet chest. "Genesis…"
LEMON START
She found herself pinned against the wall, his hands holding her's off to either side of her head and his hips almost bruising against hers, as he ravaged her neck, biting down nearly hard enough to break skin. Aradia moaned and threw her head back into the metal she was pinned against. She instinctively rolled her hips against his and caused him to press into her harder and move to look her in the eye.
Aradia watched his eyes fade from their usual aqua color to the tempest green of a raging sea. He leaned in and crushed his lips against hers violently, giving her not time to react before forcing her compliance. He pried her lips apart with his tongue and forced his way into her mouth.
Aradia groaned into the kiss as he thrust against her. He let her hands go and captured her hips as she wrapped her arms around his neck and threaded it through his hair. His hands went to the front clasp on her pants and ripped it free with ease. He did the same with his own and pushed them both down.
His hands grabbed her ass firmly, causing her to moan again and roll her core against his length. He lifted her and wrapped her knees around him, thrusting into her sharply. Aradia gasped and threw back her head, reveling in the intrusion as Genesis thrust into her again and again.
She hissed, her arms gripping his neck tightly. He drove them both over the edge quickly. He rested for only a moment before he pulled away and helped her right herself.
LEMON END
"Genesis …" Aradia murmured as he took her hand when she finally hand her, now soaked, shirt back on.
Genesis shook his head and pinned her against the hutch again. "I'm not done with you yet, my little Dia." He said, his face right next to hers as he threaded his fingers through her hair. "I just don't want you to catch cold." She shivered again at the darkness that still colored his tone. "Come with me." He ordered, pulling away, taking her by her hand.
Aradia groaned as she woke several hours later, deliciously sore. She turned her head a little and looked at the man that was half covering her. His wing, amazingly enough, was wrapped around her, warding off the chill in the room. It was surprisingly soft to the touch.
She couldn't resist the urge to study him. He was extremely well built. While it was well known that Genesis was obsessive about his appearance, he never had to work out outside of training. He was just built that way. She rolled towards him and ran her hands up his back, smiling faintly as she felt the contours of his back. She stopped when she got to his wing. She'd discovered last night that it was incredibly sensitive. She smiled as she sat up to study the base of it.
She frowned as she saw what appeared to be cracks in his skin. They were faint, almost like fine lines to the touch. She pulled her hand away and was shocked to see dead skin. She looked down at Genesis to see him watching her, his arm still wrapped tightly around her waist. He noticed her gaze and nuzzled into her hip.
"Are you going to explain this?" She asked.
"I told you about the degeneration." Genesis told her, holding her close. He pulled away and looked up and down her body. "That's the result. This is what the degradation does." He ran his fingers over the scar left in her side from Wutai, and then the one next to it from Wiess. "Where did you get these scars. You're covered in them."
"Most of them are from training in Deep Ground." Aradia murmured. "They made us fight for sport. They wanted us well trained and accustomed to pain. Their favorites involved drawing blood." her voice took on a dark tone and her eyes faded completely black as she stared off into the distance. She ran her fingers over his and the scar that was left from Weiss. "When I was 18, they put me up against the strongest of us Tsviets. Though I was uncolored, I was unique in and of myself. I stood out against the others. He and I were training, he was trying to push me into having a will to live. It was something that I'd lost years prior. The Restrictor called First Blood and I knew I had lost."
"First blood?" Genesis asked. "Colored? I don't understand."
"First blood just refers to who can draw blood first in a training match. The Tsviet I was fighting had me pinned to the ground, and then stabbed me. If we didn't give them a show, something to study, they would force us into something, or they would torture us." Aradia told him. "The title of Color was something that, if you had been implanted with the Project G genes, you gained because you had developed something of importance. One of the Tsviets was called 'Crimson'. She was bloodthirsty and she was in love with the scent and sounds that came with the kill. It was an honorific, though the Restrictors never had much respect for us."
"And you?"
"Instead of a color, I received a mark." She ran her fingers over the tattoo on her right eye in the shape of a crescent moon. "Because I didn't degrade like the others, I was marked different, treated different. The others were proud of me, that I had become one of them, even though I was on a different level."
"You were close with them?" Genesis asked.
"No." Aradia told him. "Not all of them. The female that they called Crimson hated me more than anything. She would love nothing more than to bleed me dry. The leader of the Tsviets, was like a brother to me. His younger brother. Was a great friend as well, though he liked to play with me more than anything. His abilities were absolutely unique. And then there was the youngest one. She clung to me like nothing else because she needed someone to take care of her." She looked at Genesis as he ran his hands down her legs. "It was the first time in years that I felt a need to care for someone other than myself. She was so young. Only nine. She needed protection from the others."
Genesis nodded. "You'll see them again, Aradia. We'll bring down ShinRa and they'll be free too."
Aradia shook her head. "Deep Ground has become separate from ShinRa, Genesis. They have their own army, and they have their own funding now. Even taking down ShinRa won't stop them."
Genesis wrapped his arms and wing around her as he moved to hold her. She was so fragile. She needed someone to hold her and show her that the world was not all bad. There still was some good.
"Genesis, take me." Aradia breathed. "Teach me what it is to love." she whimpered now, tears running down her face.
A/n: Hattress: So there you go, chapter nine. Next chapter is going to be really something because it'll be the big 10. A major step for us in this fic.
Hare: Something like that. More like a record for Hattress. She's never gone past three. I, on the other hand, have a 32 chapter story up on my personal profile.
We also want to say thanks to all of our reviewers, and to the two that sent us a joint review just before posting, yes, it was counted as two, and we sincerely appreciate it. You pushed it up to eight for this chapter to be posted, which is what I asked for LAST chapter.
The Hattress and her Faithful Hare
"Sanity is madness put to good use." - George Santayanna
