A/N: Tada! Two chapters only a week apart! What is this, Christmas? Thanks for all the lovely feedback, you guys keep me going :)
Disclaimer: Not even a little bit mine.
Chapter 28
"We can't have this conversation here." Genesis said into his phone, warily eyeing Sephiroth and Angeal who both looked like they wouldn't be letting him off the hook anytime soon. The VR simulation continued running smoothly around them, their sparring match forgotten in the wake of Hawke's call.
"What exactly are you talking about Genesis? What have you done?" Sephiroth asked, sounding far too suspicious for Genesis' tastes.
"I haven't done anything." He said, before lowering his voice so drastically that only the enhanced could hear him, "The same cannot be said of our delightful employers."
Sephiroth and Angeal exchanged an alarmed glance. They all knew Shinra was dirty, though just how dirty was a question best left unanswered. It was something they never spoke about.
"I can call back later." Hawke's voice floated up through the phone's speaker. "Or I can just leave you to it, you don't need my help."
"On the contrary, you're going to do most of the explaining, since you know so very much." Genesis said sharply, giving the phone a suspicious look. "Or did you think you could leave it all to me?"
"That was essentially the plan, yes."
Angeal snorted his amusement.
"No such luck." Genesis said, "I'll text you where you can meet us."
Hawke sighed dramatically.
"Fine, have it your way."
He snapped the phone shut. Then he spun around to face his two friends, who he couldn't remember having ever been so forgiving of him getting a call from a woman during a practise match.
"What exactly is going on between the two of you?" Angeal asked. "Who is she?"
"That is a very good question. Shall we?" He gestured to the exit with his sword.
Genesis and Hawke were standing patiently in the Wastes outside of Midgar. It was late afternoon and the wind was whistling about, leaving them in a dusty barren plain with the silhouette of the city in the distance. Hawke thought it looked like a great rotting carcass.
This was where they had arranged to meet Sephiroth and Angeal for a thorough discussion about things normally kept secret. While it was a nuisance to get there, it made it impossible for them to be overheard. There was nothing to bug with listening devices, no lurking eavesdroppers, no lip reading Turks with binoculars. Maybe they were being paranoid, but this was Shinra's most precious secret they were about to expose. As far as Genesis was concerned there was no such thing as being too cautious. Hawke thought it a wise precaution.
The other two found their caution incredibly ominous.
Hawke and Genesis had arranged to meet each other ahead of time for the sake of figuring out what they were actually going to say. The only thing they could agree on was that they wouldn't mention Aerith. If anyone asked Hawke cured the degradation.
Other than that, neither of them had any idea how to actually explain anything. They could just launch into a rant about aliens and demons and wizards, but that was unlikely to be well received.
Now that it actually came down to it, the truth didn't sound particularly plausible. They didn't have much in the way of proof either. Not tangible proof. 'I had a funny dream' was unlikely to convince an absurdly logical Sephiroth or the ever practical Angeal.
Genesis faced Hawke with his arms crossed and an expression that declared how unimpressed he was.
He did not say the words you got me into this; you're going to suffer alongside me till it's over.
But he didn't say them pretty loudly.
"What exactly did you intend to tell them?" he asked in frustration.
"Whatever came up really." She said with a shrug. "My planning skills are a little rusty."
"As I have observed. Your continued existence is one of the great mysteries of the universe." He said bitingly.
"And what was your great idea? What would you have told them if I hadn't said anything?" she sent him a glare that said she knew exactly what he had planned to do but dared him to admit it.
"I wasn't intending to tell them anything at all." He said, meeting her challenge face on.
"Oh, so you just figured that a rampaging archdemon wasn't something they needed to know about?" she said, her hands on her hips. She hated being the reasonable one. "You know it's probably affecting their minds just as much as yours. They have a right to know."
Genesis' expression became guarded.
"What makes you think my mind is being affected?" he asked.
She scoffed. "I might be crazy Genesis but I'm not blind."
"You were in the Fade right next to me; I can't see why I should be any more troubled then you." He said defensively. She could see why he didn't like the subject matter but there was no point pretending. Not when she knew better. She could see right through him.
"The Fade doesn't treat everyone the same." She said, "I know what I saw, but what did you see?"
His eyes narrowed in thought and suspicion.
"What did you see?" he asked.
"You answer my question then I'll answer yours."
He gave a frustrated sigh then turned away. She waited him out. She could be patient, when she absolutely had to be.
"A strange pulse rang out. In its wake, the very fabric of the Fade appeared brighter and more tangible." He spoke out to the scenery, watching the metal city in the distance. "I heard a voice. Soft and light, it seemed to beckon to me even though I couldn't make out any words. For all its softness though, I felt…" he shook his head. "It makes no difference."
"I disagree." Hawke said, standing next to him and determined to hear the rest. "The Fade is the one place where what you feel makes all the difference. It's built on emotional connections and its denizens are fuelled by them. What did the voice make you feel?"
"At first? Awe. It was so beautiful Hawke, I lack the words."
A rare event indeed, Hawke thought, but she didn't interrupt to say so.
"There weren't any recognizable words or melody in the voice's song but I could have sworn it was calling out me. I heard acceptance and welcome in its lilting tune. It sang of a family reunited and the strength we would have together." His voice was soft and distant, his eyes unfocused as he remembered. "But then the voice grew stronger and I felt… overwhelmed. I was small and helpless in the wake of whatever sang out to me. I recoiled from it."
"What happened then?" she prompted.
"The song changed, or perhaps, I heard it more clearly. It was no longer welcoming. It spoke of vengeance and the will to crush all who didn't accept the song and become one with it. I heard blood and fire in that voice and it terrified me." He turned away from the city, closing his eyes briefly against the recollection. Hawke had heard of the dreams Grey Wardens suffered when an archdemon awoke. This was the gentle beginning to an endless torment.
"What did you see?" he asked when he returned from the depths of his mind.
"After the pulse, there was silence. The colours dimmed and the swirling of the Fade itself seemed to freeze." She didn't see how he could have seen the Fade become more tangible, it had always been entirely tangible to her. When it had frozen for a split second she thought the world had ended.
"I felt a surge of demonic magic in the air and seeping up out of the ground." She continued. "I've had similar dreams before, back during Ferelden's Blight, but it's never been that strong." The demonic tang of the blight had never been strong enough to make the entire Fade lose its lustre. No wonder the planet was panicking.
Genesis seemed troubled at how drastically different their perceptions had been. She knew the knowledge that his own mind wasn't entirely reliable terrified him. Understandable so, but that was just the nature of the Fade. What you saw was a reflection of your own thoughts and how the spirit realm perceived you, not the other way around.
"What would happen if I gave in to the voice?" he asked, watching her out of the corner of his eye.
"It would consume you. Your body would become an empty vessel for the corruption and your own will and consciousness would disappear forever." The Calling, as the Grey Wardens named it. Nobody could resist forever. She wondered if Carver had succumbed yet. Then she forcibly wrenched her mind away from that line of thought. "So, back to the problem at hand, any ideas? Besides keeping all your friends in the dark, that is."
They both took an unacknowledged breath, distancing themselves from the ominous subject matter. There would be plenty of time for brooding on that later.
"If you must know, I had intended to take care of it before they needed to be informed." He said.
"And how were you going to do that, Genesis? Killing it yourself?" her brow was raised in incredulity.
"If necessary." He bit out. "Though I had hoped it wouldn't come to that." He finished, looking away from her.
"You're not going to run off and do something… irreparable, are you?" She asked, a terrible suspicious forming in the back of her mind. Martyrdom could be noble and necessary and Hawke hated it with a passion.
"You gave me the distinct impression that somebody must." He said coldly.
"That's how it is in Thedas." She said, "It could be different here."
"Or it could be exactly the same."
"Are you always this cheery?" she asked. She wouldn't fret over it. He couldn't run off and commit murder-suicide with Jenova anyway, not yet at least. Worrying wouldn't help at the moment so she would postpone it for as long as possible.
"Pardon me for being put out; it's only the end of the world we're facing down." He said, giving her a half-hearted glare.
"The world's always ending, Genesis." She said, as though it were all so blasé. It was a rather good act, she thought. "You could stand to worry a little less."
"You could stand to worry a lot more."
"You're doing enough fretting for the both of us. If you don't remember how to laugh again you might turn into Sephiroth."
That startled a laugh out of him.
"Only you would say that as though it were a bad thing." He said, incredulity and unexpected amusement colouring his voice.
"Bad? It'd be terrible! Honestly Genesis, the day you stop quoting esoteric poetry and being so shamelessly ostentatious I'm going to be heartbroken." She said, melodramatically clutching at her heart.
"Would you just." He said with an indulgent smile.
"You know," she said thoughtfully, giving him a soft smile "I think I would."
He blinked and then looked incredibly pleased. Then he remembered something.
"I am not 'shamelessly ostentatious'."
"Yeah you are."
"I'm nothing of the sort. I'm… sophisticated." He flicked his hair in a most put-upon manner.
"Is that what we're calling it?"
"You're from the Dark Ages; I wouldn't expect you to understand."
Before Hawke could tell him exactly what she thought of that, Sephiroth and Angeal both appeared, out of thin air apparently. The faint aura of an Exit Materia clung to them.
"So," Hawke said quietly as Sephiroth and Angeal dusted themselves off. "Full disclosure?"
"Full disclosure." Genesis said back.
What felt like hours later, but in reality was barely twenty minutes, the four of them stood in absolute silence. The peculiar story Hawke had told was the last thing Angeal and Sephiroth had expected.
The longer it went on the more it occurred to Genesis that this was as unbelievable as it was dire. If he hadn't been completely convinced beforehand, then the story of demons and zombie armies and dream worlds probably would have convinced him that Hawke was just a drug addled hobo after all. For all that her explanation was coherent and well told; the subject matter was indisputably bizarre.
Sephiroth and Angeal's incredulous expressions had grown stronger and stronger throughout the telling. Genesis had been cautious, worried, defensive, and eventually just beyond caring.
It occurred to him that he should really be quite grateful to Hawke, and not just for all the usual reasons. Here she was exposing herself and the secrets she guarded so very carefully, to people she didn't know and had no reason to care about, all because he asked her to. He knew she didn't like revealing herself as a mage or as unique, but she was really going all out here. Being received with scepticism instead of suspicion was probably something of a novel experience for her.
The afternoon became steadily darker. The wind dropped.
"You're insane." Sephiroth said. Genesis didn't know who he was addressing though he figured the word probably applied to all of them at this point.
"Probably." Hawke said, claiming the description. "But I'm also telling the truth."
"You believe all this?" Angeal asked Genesis. He sounded as baffled as he did doubtful.
"Yes. I do." Really, what else was there to say?
"What proof do you have?" Sephiroth said. "You said you have magic we don't. Show it to us."
Hawke stretched out her hand and allowed her mana to build up. Genesis hoped this would convince them as it had himself, but a sceptical Sephiroth as hard to impress, even when he had previously guessed a part of this. He had already seen her technically impossible limit break that day in the VR room, but the accompanying revelation of the Blight was something he looked quite determined to disprove. Genesis could hardly blame him. It all hinged on Hawke being who she said she was. If she was a fraud then the world wasn't about to be eaten by a zombie demon.
A mage light appeared in Hawke's hand. It shifted into a flickering fireball with a fluidity that materia couldn't achieve. The fire changed to a crackling ball of electricity which in turn gave way to a green wisp of entropic magic that swirled like heavy mist in her hand. The accompanying glow of materia was noticeably absent during the entire display. If that alone wasn't enough to convince them then the entropic magic, which couldn't be achieved with materia, surely would.
"You really can use magic without materia." Sephiroth murmured, looking contemplative. "Were you the one who helped Angeal in Rocket Town?" he asked.
"What?" Genesis said, startled at the question. How had Sephiroth known-
"You weren't the only one handing in a mission report," Sephiroth said, "though thankfully Angeal was more honest then you, despite his report being a month late."
Genesis turned a glare on Angeal for selling him out.
"What?" He said defensively, "You didn't tell me it was meant to be a secret, not to mention it'd be dishonourably to keep silent."
Hawke, who had rolled her eyes at their squabbling, interrupted before a far too common argument could start up.
"Yes, I was in Rocket Town. I'm surprised you remember though; you were barely conscious."
"Weren't there two of you there that night?" Angeal asked, his brow drawn down in thought.
"Well, yeah, Genesis was there too." She said, looking slightly confused. The other two appeared to believe her and Genesis thanked the goddess she was a good liar. He also made note of it for future reference.
"And you healed Genesis' shoulder." Sephiroth said.
"Sure did."
"And now there's a war coming." Sephiroth continued, "Being led by a demon who speaks to us in our dreams."
"More or less." Hawke crossed her arms and leaned back casually, looking completely resigned to whatever happened next. She'd done her bit. The rest was up to them.
The wind whistled past them, coating them all in a thin layer of grit and dust. The overcast sky left them in a grey haze of poor lighting.
"Let me see if I've understood all of this." Angeal said, rubbing his temple. "You're an alien. The planet is being attacked by a different alien, one you can't kill but we can because it's technically a part of us and that means something somehow, and now we need to go to Nibelheim."
"Yup. Did I miss anything?" she asked Genesis.
"Nothing springs to mind." He said.
"Then there you have it. Any questions?"
Silence reigned as Sephiroth and Angeal took in all they'd heard and Hawke and Genesis waited for the verdict. Genesis would be lying if he didn't say that he desperately hoped they'd believe them. As much as he liked being enigmatic and secretive, he truly wanted their support in this. Fighting Jenova was going to be hard enough without trying to keep them in the dark, or even worse, fighting them every step of the way.
The indistinct sun started to dip below the horizon. The light wouldn't last much longer.
Sephiroth let out a resigned breathe.
"How long do we have?" he asked.
"I don't know." Hawke said, "How long can you last against the nightmares?"
"Shinra will try to stop us from doing anything." Angeal said. "We'll have to deal with this in secret, at least for the time being."
"You actually believe us?" Hawke said, surprise colouring her voice.
"I heard Jenova calling to me last night. You couldn't have known that, unless you were telling the truth." Sephiroth said. "But I refuse to believe one of us must die. We will look for another solution."
Genesis and Hawke shared a look.
"Let's hope we find one." Hawke said.
With the burden of proof removed from his shoulders Genesis relaxed. The fact that they still didn't have a solution sat in the back of his mind but he held it at bay for the moment.
"What happens if we can't kill it?" Angeal asked, ever the pragmatist.
The sun disappeared beneath the horizon. The great hulking darkness of Midgar blocked out the last of its light.
"Then we're all going to die." said Hawke.
A/N: Thanks for Reading! Comments aren't required but are enormously appreciated :)
Next Time: The siren song, for realsies this time.
