"That's impossible" Tseng raised an eyebrow and watched the ex-SOLDIER turn his back to him.
"The Eloise you once knew is gone. She has been gone for a while now" Genesis didn't seem to understand just how bad the whole situation was.
"She's an experiment. She can't die just because there is a disturbance in the Life Stream" The turk narrowed his eyes at him. "I'm sure you noticed. It built a barrier so that no one could get out or come in" He knew something was wrong with the planet.
"Why would anyone want to get out?" Genesis chuckled and glanced at him in that specific way of his. "Does it have anything to do with Eloise?"
"Eloise has nothing to do with it" He smirked and turned to face him. "But it has everything to do with her" He chuckled. He was playing around with the turk. Tseng didn't find it amusing at all. He needed the redhead for more than one reason.
"She's been controlling the energy for a while. Her will to fight almost disappeared. She doesn't have a sword anymore and she doesn't care what happens around her. She doesn't care what happens to her, either. She's broken. She needs you" Genesis listened and stared intensely at the turk. Tseng had been a good friend of Zack's and he became a good friend to Eloise. But Genesis didn't know the whole truth.
"Just because a few people died" Tseng glared at the ex-SOLDIER.
"Because Zack died" Suddenly, Genesis didn't seem uninterested anymore. The mask fell and Tseng could see just how much he cared for her. The redhead glared furiously at the turk and pointed his sword at him.
"Don't joke about such stuff, Tseng. You and I both know how deep the bound between the two Fair puppies was" The turk didn't even flinch.
"Exactly" Genesis seemed overwhelmed by the information. He dropped his sword and moved his head to the side. His bangs were covering his face. Tseng couldn't see his reaction. "Once Zack died, she reached the top. But most of her friends died, her brother died and you disappeared. She had nothing to fight for anymore. She's been building up a lot of pressure over the years and she's reaching the limit"
"I left her. She doesn't want to see me" Tseng rolled his eyes and glanced at his phone. Reno was calling. He responded quickly. His eyes widened when he heard what happened. Genesis was half interested what made the head turk so worried.
"She ran away" Genesis' eyes widened. "In her recent condition, she has no power to protect herself"
Tseng left. Genesis didn't. He was troubled and didn't know what to do.
On the other side, Eloise was walking around with blood running down her leg. She was holding onto her side and was trying not to grab any attention. Her whole body hurt and she was slowly losing consciousness.
She entered an alley and tried to regain her breath. It wasn't easy to sneak out of the Shinra building. The turks were looking after her and she was sure that Reno already called Tseng and they were all searching for her.
She leaned against the wall and sat down. No one glanced at her a second time and no one was going to help her. She was wounded and she looked like she just escaped from the lab. That was kind of true. It did feel like that.
She was losing consciousness and no one was there to help her. They all died. Everyone she ever cared about died. She wasn't far from it either. That thought was really sad.
Genesis couldn't stand in one place. His thoughts were always returning to Eloise. He had no idea what happened after he fainted in Banora. He woke up underground and felt the need to protect the planet. That was the only thing he could do after what happened in SOLDIER. He owed the planet.
Well, Eloise was part of the planet in a way. With that thought in mind, he grabbed his rapier and left his hideout.
He was flying around the center sector when he saw two thugs entering an alley. He found them suspicious and followed them. It proved to be quite a wise decision because they led him to Sector 8. Genesis landed silently, on a darker corner of the street. He could easily blend in the crowd.
He walked and searched everywhere they went before. Of course, the buildings looked different and some of them disappeared altogether. It made him feel a little melancholic. He really missed her, no matter how hard he tried to avoid that. She's been an important part of his life.
He was going down the old alleys. He remembered one especially. It became quite luxurious and populated, but when she saw the wolf, it was nothing but dust and darkness.
He noticed a few women whispering to each other and glancing at a specific place. He followed their line of vision and saw something that somehow made his heart flutter. He gulped. With every step closer, his heart beats were getting faster and louder.
Eloise was barely conscious. She could feel someone approaching her thanks to her reflexes but that was all. In the moment he got in front of her, she opened her eyes. His heart felt like it was ready to explode but she wasn't sure if he was there or it was her imagination.
"Eloise" His smooth cocky voice sounded so melancholic into her ears. She reached out to touch him. He caught her trembling hand and stayed like that, staring at her.
"Genesis" She mumbled his name. For some reason, he started to feel guilty. He knew that she didn't become a victim because of him but he did choose to leave her behind. He left her all alone.
Eloise grunted and shifted. The last thing she remembered was stopping on an alley to catch her breath. She patted the thing she was on and realized it was a bed. She opened her eyes and rubbed her head. It hurt more than her side.
Suddenly, she remembered that she ran from Shinra and that everyone was searching for her. She wasn't feeling honored at all, truthfully. They were making a big fuss over something they couldn't control. They didn't even know what was happening to her.
She got up and inspected her surroundings. It was a normal room that didn't have windows. She got on her feet and swayed a little until she gained balance. She touched her side only to feel it covered with bandages. She stumbled out of the room and entered a long corridor. She kept close to the wall as she made her way somewhere. She hoped it had a door at the end or something.
When she did get at the end of the corridor, she did find a door. Unfortunately, it wasn't working.
"We should stop meeting at the elevator" Her eyes widened and she lost her balance. She almost fell if it weren't for the two strong arms that caught her easily. "Isn't that what you told me once?" She blinked once, twice, but his image wasn't disappearing into air. He was there, for real.
The first thing that came in her mind was to make him cringe for what he did to her. She punched him in the face. It was strong because she sent him straight into the wall.
"I guess I deserve it" He was rubbing his chin when she launched another attack. This time, he caught her hand and pushed her against the wall. He didn't use too much power since she wasn't physically healthy. He leaned in and stared into her eyes.
"You deserve a real beating. One that would make you stay in bed for weeks" Her tone was venomous. He could notice in her eyes that she was indeed different. The joy and innocence disappeared completely. Instead, he could only see a pair of turquoise empty eyes.
"You look like Sephiroth" She stared up into his eyes until she felt like she couldn't anymore. She pushed him away and stumbled back towards the room. "You have a lot to tell me, Eloise" She brushed him off as if it was nothing.
"Where is this?"
She got back into the room and sat on the bed. She only walked for a few meters but she was already tired. Genesis followed her silently but she could feel him there, staring with pity and guilt.
"My hideout" She grunted.
"Where exactly?"
"Outskirts of Edge. I brought you here after I found you unconscious on an alley" She nodded and leaned back. She had a terrible headache. "What happened to you? Why are you in this state?" She looked at him for a moment and rolled on her side. She had her back turned to him especially so she couldn't see how he was looking at her. It was subtle, but she knew those eyes well.
"The mako inside my body is reacting to the Jenova cells" She mumbled. Thankfully, he heard it perfectly.
"Why? One can't live without the other in your body" She closed her eyes. Even if she was not capable of admitting it, she missed hearing his voice. It was smooth and deep, like before. Just like one of an actor or story teller.
"I don't know" Genesis didn't believe her. She turned around so she could hide her face. She might have changed but she was still Eloise Fair. "I stopped fighting a long time ago"
"Only because Zack died?" She cringed. "The world didn't end when he died. He sacrificed himself, just like his mentor" She rolled on the other side and glared at him.
"Then what about me? I'm going to end up like my mentor?" Genesis' eyes softened. He couldn't forget Sephiroth. How could he when he had his eyes imprinted in my his memory. And Eloise, well Eloise' eyes resembled her mentor's.
"You resemble him a lot" She scoffed. "Even your personality and your ideals changed according to his"
"That is my destiny. To end up destroying everything I ever loved" He raised an eyebrow before he got on his feet and walked to the door.
"Rest. I'll show you the way back later" She watched him leave and she couldn't help but remember the day he left her alone in SOLDIER. He left then and he was going to leave now. She was sure he wasn't going to fight beside her. He never did.
