Chapter 38

Act IV

February 26, 2013

Aeron had gone back inside with Genesis after a long talk about Sephiroth, Reno and even Zack. He let her sleep in his bed while he slept sitting against the wall beside her.

Meanwhile, Vincent flew toward the cliffs on one of Cid's air boards. He'd left before anyone was awake and had borrowed the device. Cid would be mad, but it was worth it. Little did he know that Cloud had heard him leave and had followed the raven haired man. He'd be damned if he was letting Vincent go into a fight blind and alone.

Genesis stood up, yawned and stretched, causing Aeron to stir. She reached out for him and pulled him toward her.

"Stay Reno." she whispered. Genesis smiled softly and pulled away without waking her and walked into the main room. Reno was sitting up and staring down at the earthen floor. He didn't even look up when Genesis stopped in from of him.

"You're a fool." he said quite frankly. Reno just sighed.

"She loves you, and you obviously love her. What's your problem?"

"Why do you care?"

"I'm rather fond of her. And you're hurting her." he replied. Reno flinched when he said that.

"I was tryin' to save her pain. That's all that lovin' me will brin', yo." he replied, the pain obvious in his voice.

"Well, you're doing a terrible job."

"Ya think." Reno stated.

"She's still asleep. Go climb in bed with her, hold her until she wakes up, apologize and tell her you love her. How hard is that?" Genesis asked, obviously annoyed by Reno's complete and utter foolishness. As far as Genesis was concerned, it you love someone, you don't let anything stop you from being with that person. Even death. Reno decided that the statement gave him just chance to annoy the ginger haired man a bit. He stood up, stretched and walked past him.

"Is that what you and Sephiroth did?" he asked quickly and darted around the corner before Genesis could tear him limb from limb. In doing so, he missed the sad smile on the older man's face.

"Of course." was his almost silent reply. With that, he sighed and walked out of the cave. He knew Vincent was coming, but not when he would arrive.

"I do so despise surprises." he muttered.

As Reno returned to Aeron's side, Vincent was coming up on Genesis, Weiss and the Remnants. He had discovered Cloud but had allowed the younger man to follow.

"Do you have a plan?" the blonde asked, coming up beside him. Vincent shrugged.

"I am walking into an obvious trap, supposedly alone. I was just going to wing it truthfully." he replied, shocking Cloud. Vincent wasn't one to walk into something unprepared.

"Though with you here, at least I have a back up plan now." Though he was annoyed that Cloud had followed without permission, he was glad the young savior had tagged along. At that moment, a large shadow passed over the two. Vincent reacted too slowly and was knocked off of his air board. He hit the ground with a loud thud and somersaulted, barely managing to land on his hands and knees. He lifted his face to Genesis with a particularly nasty snarl twisting his face.

"Hello Vincent Valentine." he said, his voice soft and sweet like honey. Cloud rushed to Vincent's side and held his sword in a defensive manner. Genesis shook his head in disappointment.

"I told you to come alone and yet, you still couldn't resist bringing this little upstart." He looked over Cloud and sighed.

"To think you defeated the great Sephiroth. A feat not even I could accomplish. It's truly a disgusting thought." he said mockingly. In all honesty, Cloud didn't look like much of a threat at first glance.

Vincent and Cloud glared at the man that hovered menacingly above them. He had the same single black wing that Sephiroth had. Both men had wondered how they managed to fly with only one wing. Genesis drew his sword and pressed his palm to the blade, activating the materia in it and causing it to glow. Without any more warning, he flew straight at Cloud, who was pushed out of the way by Vincent. Genesis continued his attack on Vincent now, who drew his Cerberus and fired three shots before dodging the unhalted attack.

"To slow." Genesis remarked as he flew past Vincent, slashing his right arm viciously. The raven haired man snarled and clutched the wound as Cloud rushed Genesis from the side. Too satisfied in his attack on Vincent, Genesis didn't notice Cloud until almost too late. His sword collided with Cloud's with such force, the blonde's blade was torn from his grip and sent flying.

"Is that the best you can do?" he snarled and backhanded Cloud across the face, knocking him almost into unconsciousness. Vincent had since recovered from the initial shock of the attack and picked up his gun. He fired two rounds at Genesis's back, but they were blocked by his sword, causing them to ricochet back at Vincent. Though he dodged the first one, the second buried itself in his left shoulder. Vincent snarled in pain and gripped his shoulder as blood soaked his hand and oozed between his fingers.

The gunman fell to his knees as Genesis landed gracefully in front of him.

"Stay back Cloud!" Vincent called, his pain obvious in his voice. A stunned and semi-concious Cloud could only watch helplessly as the man approached Vincent.

"I had hoped this would be a bit more of a challenge Vincent. I'm disappointed." he taunted. He rested his hand gently on Vincent's head and twisted his fingers in it. He tilted the wounded man's head up to look into his eyes, wanting to relish in the pain on his face. But instead of agony, he was greeted with a smirk. Vincent pulled his gun and once again fired at Genesis, clipping his shoulder. The ginger haired man jumped back and returned to the sky above them.

"Sneaky bastard." he growled as Vincent's form shifted slightly between himself, Galian Beast and back. Taking the shifting to his advantage, Genesis swooped down on Vincent once again and slashed his right shoulder, thus making Vincent unable to use either of his arms with much effectiveness. Now recovered, Cloud rushed to his injured friends side and tore part of his shirt off to use as a bandage.

"My friend, the fates are cruel.

There are no dreams, no honor remains.

The arrow has left the bow of the goddess.

My soul, corrupted by vengeance, hath endured torment,

To find the end of the journey in my own salvation and your eternal slumber.

Legend shall speak of sacrifice at world's end.

The wind sails over the water's surface, quietly but surely."

Genesis recited poetically with a smirk of pure malice on his face as Cloud and Vincent glared up at him.

A/N: I hope I'm living up to everyone's standards with Genesis. As much as I wanted him to be a good guy, I simply couldn't forget what he did to Zack psychologically. If not for him, Zack would probably still be alive. *cries*

EDIT: Ok, so it's more Shinra and Hojo's fault that Zack Puppy is dead, but I'm still not taking all the blame off of Genesis. *pout*