Disclaimer: I own nothing, except for my OC, Mekina.

Entering the SOLDIER lounge, you went over to a couch and when you were close enough, you dropped on top of it, laying on your stomach. The moment your body made contact with the cool, soft cushions, you breathed out a relaxed sigh. You were completely worn out from your training. Angeal had everyone spar with each other for a bit as a warm up, then after that you all went to the virtual room to do some missions.

In the first mission, monsters were attacking Midgar, and everyone had to protect the citizens as well as defeat the monsters. Then in the next one, you had to defend Shinra HQ, the President, and Shinra Operatives from Wutai Soldiers. Since those missions took a while to complete, by the time they were done it was time for training to end. And now, here you laid.

I can't believe I thought 3rd class training was tiring...

You moved your arm a bit, testing if you could push yourself back up, and instantly felt pain in your muscles. This had you just rest your arm back on the couch. With a faint frown, you began to think back to when you were sparring with the others. You escaped from training with some bruises and scars. You clenched your hands tightly, not caring for the pain in them at the moment as you thought about what they said.

So just because I hang out with 1sts sometimes, I didn't earn my rank? I wonder if they would treat me the same way even if I didn't hang out with them, You fumed silently. And now that I think about it... the only times I would hang out with them would be on missions or just training. You smiled a little at the memories. Or when I went on vacation with them along with Zack. And at the time everyone was resting up by doing things like that...

Your PHS vibrated, interrupting your thoughts. Ignoring the soreness, you moved into a sitting possition and got your PHS out and looked at it. A text from the Science Department? That's a first. And with that thought, you began to read.

Hello, Mekina.
It is time for your check up, so please come down to the Science Department. This should take no more than five minutes of your time, and be sure to head over to Hojo's lab.

After you read that, you took a look at yourself, frowning at your injuries. Don't they have Medical Departments around here? You carefully got off the couch, before leaving the lounge and went Hojo's lab.

Hojo's Lab

You knocked on the door, and almost instantly heard Hojo yell for you to come in. You entered the room and looked over at Hojo nervously. He examined you with a raised eyebrow.

"You just don't know how to stop getting hurt, do you? I'm sure you know the routine by now," you walked over to the table and sat on it, waiting for what was to come. Hojo came over to you with the needle, soon injecting it into you. You bit your lower lip, trying not to make any noise, and within a few more seconds the pain went away, and you were able to move around with ease again. "Now stay here. I still need to run a few things on you."

The scientist seemed a bit pleased with how you took the injection. He came back to you with another needle, but this one had nothing in it. Then he injected it in your arm, taking some of your blood. Luckily, this wasn't painful at all. It just stun a little. When it was full, he took it out of your arm, and placed it on his desk so he could run tests on it later.

After that, he ran tests on your heart rate and had you do a few push ups and sit ups, like Genesis had with Hollander. Except you didn't take your top off. Then once that was done, he ran a few more short tests on you, before saying you could leave. Getting off the table, you stretched your body out, happy that you were pain free then walked out of the lab, thanking him. He just nodded to you before beginning the tests on your blood sample.

As you left the room, you decided to just go for a walk since you didn't have much else to do that day. Slipping your PHS out of your pocket, you looked at the time. 3:12 pm. Putting your PHS back in your pocket, you felt your stomach growl. I guess I'll walk around after I eat something, you turned back around and went in the direction towards the cafeteria.

Now sitting at a table, you were eating the usual weird looking food, not including the apple you picked up. When you were about halfway done, you heard someone calling your name. You looked around, eyes soon laying on your friend, Takamo.

"Hey, long time no see!" Takamo said, as he went over to you with his tray of food.

"It's been a while," you greeted. "How have you been?"

"Pretty good, actually. Is this seat taken?" He asked looking at the one in front of you. You shook your head and he sat down. "How are you doing?"

"Okay for now. I just have to get use to a few things though."

Takamo raised an eyebrow at this, before realization crossed his face. "You mean being in 2nd class? Congratulations, by the way!"

"Thanks, and yeah. I just gotta get use to the training," you grinned. He nodded his head at this while taking a bite of his food.

"It took me a while to get use to it too, but don't worry about it. The most it'll take to get you used to it is about two weeks."

Now it was your turn to raise your eyebrows at this. "Two weeks? Wait, you're a 2nd class too! Good job, Takamo!" You got up and reached over the table patting his head, he moved away from you.

"Heeey!"

You laughed at this, before sitting back down again, both of you talking about random things while finishing your food.

After eating, both of you went separate ways since Takamo had a mission, so you just walked around HQ a bit. As you walked around, you eventually came across the library again, and thought on whether or not you should go in, but eventually decided against it before continuing on your way. When you got closer, you saw a figure come out of the library and head towards your direction. After a moment, you recognized the person, and smiled.

"Hey, Genesis."

The SOLDIER looked over to you, a light smile crossing over his face as well. "Hello, Mekina... what brings you to these parts?"

He knew that it wasn't normal for 2nds or 3rds to be near the library since most of the time they always focused on missions, training, or resting. And especially since it was near the science department, so the scientists would go to them quite a bit. So in other words, most of the SOLDIER's wanted to avoid them.

"No reason, really. Just wanted to walk around for a bit," you replied with a small shrug. "And I had a check up not too long ago..."

"I see... well, if you keep going further you'll end up at a dead end," hearing this had you look past him and down the hall seeing an elevator. When he noticed your gaze, he added. "You need a keycard to get higher in the building. And in order for you to obtain that, you have to be a very important Shinra operative or a 1st class."

You frowned at his words. "Understood..."

He began to walk past you.

"I need to give something to Hollander. You can come with me if you desire to, seeing as you don't have much to do," he looked over his shoulder at you as he said the last part smirking a little, before turning back forward soon after.

You watched him walk away before looking back at the elevator curiously. I wonder what they're hiding up there... But aside from that... you turned back to Genesis. At least I can spend a little more time with him now. Even if it's for only a few minutes. You walked after him, soon catching up with him and walked beside him.

Now that you were closer to him, you noticed that he seemed to be pondering over something deeply, and also noted the book in his hand. It wasn't covered in white leather like LOVELESS, but instead was a dark blue. The title said something about 'Mako levels in humans' in bold. Not thinking much of it, you looked back up ahead, letting your mind wander to other things. Eventually, you started thinking about what some of the 2nd class were saying.

Then a thought came to you.

That night when we kissed! What would... what would happen if any of the higher ups found out about that? What if there was some kind of rule against these kinds of things? Most likely there is... I don't think I read all of the rules yet... it never really crossed my mind. Looking to the ground, you didn't really understand what you were feeling now.

Was it fear?

Why did I make the first move? But... it felt so right to do that though, even if it was just a little kiss on the forehead. If only I just stayed where I was! Then... you trailed off on that thought as a little blush appeared on your face. Soon after this, you heard a chuckle.

"You're very amusing... first you seem troubled, then you start blushing."

You looked the opposite way from him, trying to hide your face from view. You didn't know what to say, so you just stayed silent. A small gasp escaped you when you felt Genesis place his fingers under your chin, gently turning you to face him. This surprised you. Your face deepened in color from this new action. Genesis examined your face and a faint smile took to his features.

"There is no hate, only joy, for you are beloved by the Goddess..."

You felt your face heat up even more at his words as well as the tone of his voice. It became soft and smooth. He lightly trailed a finger along your chin before closing his eyes and pulling away, continuing on to Hollander's lab. When he moved away from you, you let out a breath you didn't realize you were holding in.

I never seen him act like that before... you placed a hand over your chest, trying to calm your fast paced heart. After only a moment, you rose your hand to your necklace, grasping it gently for a bit, before following after him. By the time you caught up to him, your blush decreased, but still lingered. He took a glance at you when you were next to him.

"What was troubling you?"

Somewhat timidly, you looked at him, meeting his gaze silently. "Just was thinking over a few things. It's nothing too serious though," you lied.

You knew if you told him about what happened earlier, then he'd most likely do something, and that might only make things worse. And you didn't really know what would happen if you brought up the kiss. You did want to know about the rules some more, but you were sure you could hold off until you got back to your room to skim through them. Besides, asking about it may make things a little awkward for the both of you.

"Is that so? Well, we're almost to Hollander's lab," you had a feeling he knew you didn't tell him the truth, but for some reason just let it go. "And when we get there, you may have to wait outside for a bit. Hollander and I need to discuss over a few things," his tone changed as he said the last part, and you only replied with a quiet nod before hesitantly looking at him.

And I thought we'd go different ways when this was over, you smiled at how your thought was proven wrong. After about another minute of walking, you both arrived outside Hollander's lab.

"I'll be back in a few minutes," Genesis told you before going inside.

You leaned against the wall, wondering what the two of you would do now. There wasn't much to do around HQ, and ever since that accident happened to Genesis in the virtual room, you noticed they stopped going in there. Sure, every now and then you would join them in there, but you wouldn't do it all the time. You didn't want to intrude on them constantly, and you had put much thought into how they held back on you and tried to see it from their perspective.

If I always had to hold back when fighting against a weakling, then I'd be pretty bored of the fight... the last fight you had with them ran through your head. After watching Genesis and Sephiroth fight, I even realized how much Genesis held back when fighting me... the rest of the fight played through your head, and soon, the image of Genesis getting hurt ran through your mind. I wonder how his shoulder's doing now? I remember I saw him holding his shoulder a few weeks ago even though it happened a few months back... and Hollander did say it wasn't healing properly. Maybe I'll ask him about it later...

. . .

When Genesis came back out, he seemed to be slightly annoyed about whatever just happened, but hid most of it well under his calm facade. "I was planning on going in Midgar when this was done. Do you still want to come along?"

With a light push off the wall, you walked over to him, stopping a few feet away from him. "Well I did wait for you."

"True..."

You carefully examined him. He was acting kind of different... and not wanting to pry about what just happened with Hollander, you remained silent. He walked to the right of you, barely visibly rolling his left shoulder. You furrowed your eyebrows before walking as well.

"Genesis... how is your shoulder doing?" He looked back at you, surprise noticeable in his eyes for a moment before he recovered.

"I'm fine, don't worry," he assured as you walked beside him once again.

"I see... so how long do you think we'll be away?" You asked, changing the subject like he did before, not really convinced with his words.

"That depends on how fast something turns up. And if we get side tracked," Genesis said with a light smirk. "It's been a while since I went around Midgar." You both went to the elevator down the hall, and pressed the button, waiting for the doors to open.

"What are we looking for? It's been a while for me too," you said as the doors opened, and both of you stepped inside.

"Just some needles from the drug store for Hollander," you raised a brow at this, expecting it to be more... strange of an item to obtain. "Depending on how fast we find them, we can go around Midgar as much as we please."

"You make it sound like you don't know where the store is," you teased. Genesis rolled his eyes slightly.

"I don't..." he said after a few seconds of silence which had you look to him.

"He should have at least given a map or something."

Genesis shook his head at this. "We are fully capable of finding it on our own."

"But Midgars so big... and in the shopping district there aren't much stores like that. It's mostly clothes, weapons, materia, electronics, et cetera..." the door opened and both of you exited the elevator, entering the entrance room.

"Even so, we can handle it."

Going on about this as you were had you give a little chuckle. It reminded you of some old couple trying to find their way around. Genesis looked at you with a raised eyebrow. Not wanting to say what you were thinking, you brushed him off with a shake of the head as you headed for the exit.

When you got out, you two went to the shopping district, beginning your search for the pharmacy store. When you first arrived at your destination, you looked around the crowds nervously. When they noticed Genesis they either made way for him, asked for an autograph or pictures, and a few even tried to flirt with him. Genesis ignored the latter and continued on his way.

After about half an hour of searching both of you finally found what you were looking for, and now both of you were just walking around Midgar. Both of you found a calm place that only had a few people. The sky was starting to darken since it was evening. Up ahead was a fountain that had benches around it. Street lights were also around the area, but they weren't lit yet.

"I never been to this part before... it looks nice," you said, admiring the fountain.

"I've been here a few times, but never really had the chance to stay for long."

"Do you wanna stay here for a bit?"

"I'll leave that up to you," he replied smoothly.

You smiled a little. "Only for a few minutes."

And with that, you ran over to the fountain to get a better look. Genesis shook his head with a slight smile before following after you at a normal, casual pace. When you noticed the unlit lights inside and around the fountain, you began to wonder what it would look like at night.

Genesis caught up and now stood beside you. After a moment, you turned your gaze to the sky, the small feeling of excitement within slowly increasing, They should turn on soon. Genesis looked over his shoulder, before walking towards a bench. He took a seat and pulled out LOVELESS. About a minute later, you sat beside him, both of you in a comfortable silence that lasted for a few minutes. But it was broken after Genesis decided to speak.

"I'm sure you have figured it out already," you glanced at him inquiringly, waiting for him to continue. "About my shoulder."

"...It's getting worse, isn't it?"

He hesitated before answering with a short nod.

"So what happens if you never...?" You trailed off, not wanting to finish the question. He didn't reply, only continued to watch the fountain silently. "Genesis?" Worry began to consume you. You started to regret asking the question, but couldn't really hold it in. Curiousity got the best of you.

"Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul. Pride is lost, wings stripped away, the end is nigh..." Genesis quoted softly.

Silently taking in his words, you tried to find a hidden meaning in them. After a while of thinking it over, you realized what his words meant. You fell into a short lived denial. That can't be it... he likes to confuse me so maybe that's why he quoted it. But most of the time there are hidden meanings with him... so it could be true... sadness began to overtake you. If he is going to die, how much longer does he have to live?

Looking down at your lap, you wished these thoughts would just disappear. After a while longer of silence, Genesis turned his gaze to your form. You didn't look up at him, feeling your eyes begin to water slightly because of your thoughts. You didn't want him to see you cry, you couldn't help but feel embarrassed and ashamed whenever you did it in front of someone, which thankfully, wasn't very often.

By now, the street lights began to light up as well as the fountain. It began to change different colors, matching with the patterns the water moved in. Still, you didn't to lift up your head to watch. Genesis somewhat tilted his head to the side questioningly, and he watched you in thought for a few more seconds more before noticing something drop from your face. A look of shock ran through his eyes, not expecting you to react this way.

After a moment of thinking again, his eyes softened before reaching a hand over, placing it on your cheek soothingly. Once again, this action surprised you. He chuckled at this while turning you to face him. You accidentally made eye contact for a second before looking down, hoping he didn't notice anything.

"You always think over things too much..." he murmured, wiping away the tear from your cheek with his thumb. "Hollander said that he could cure me, so there is no need to worry."

"Then why hasn't he yet? It's been about two months now," this had you look at him. And since you finally were, you could see how his hues held somewhat of sad essence to them.

"He said he needed some time before it can be done," he looked like he wanted to say something else but was hesitating. "You cried for me..." He lowered his gaze, and furrowed his eyebrows, "I'm just a... why?"

Staying silent for a few seconds, you wondered what he was originally going to say. After a moment though, you pushed it aside, instead focusing on giving him an answer. "Because... I don't want you to die. I care about you..."

Genesis could only stare into your eyes after hearing your words. He seemed a bit surprised. Feeling a bit awkward, you began to turn away from him. The SOLDIER watched you silently, letting your words sink in. And after a minute or so longer had passed, you felt his hand behind your head, bringing you closer to him. Then you felt his lips press against your hair, making your eyes widen.

Genesis remained in place for a moment more before pulling away.

"The arrow has left the bow of the Goddess." Genesis quoted quietly, "Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return..." You never thought that these words would be the last you heard from him. For a while at least.

He disappeared a few days later while on a mission in Wutai.