Cloud's footsteps crunched over the dead grass and overgrown path that led to Banora. Every now and then he would lean down and touch the plants, as if he'd never seen them before. Maybe he hadn't. He'd been in captivity so long now, he hardly knew what the real world looked like. I stroked my hand over his neck, then pat him as I looked back up.

Cloud stopped before a large gorge. Dumbapple trees clung to the side of the crevice, their sturdy roots sticking out through the exposed side of the mountain, thriving despite the seemingly harsh conditions. They were stubborn with their will to live. Just like Genesis had described me.

I slid off of Cloud's back and walked forward to the edge of the gorge. Cloud walked up behind me, nibbling on my hair.

"Kweh…?" He chirped, shoving his beak under my arm so I had to give him attention.

"Don't push me in, Cloud." I warned the blue chocobo. "It's a long fall."

ShinRa had been precise and meticulous when they bombed the village. Not a single house remained, but three years later, the place had started to recover and return to its natural, human-less state. I had a feeling that the glow emitting from the gorge had something to do with it though. The Lifestream was poking through, acting as fertilizer for the vegetation. I could feel a powerful energy below my feet, under the ground. It made my blood rush to my arms and legs.

I turned around and unhooked my bag from Cloud's saddle. It made me sad every time I said his name. But the spiky feathers of his crest, no matter how blue, reminded me of the brave, innocent young man who had died so young. There could be no other name.

I slung the pack over my shoulder and leaned over the gorge, holding onto a branch from a Banora White for support. No Dumbapples hung heavily off the branch. Maybe they were still too afraid to come out yet. I looked over my shoulder at the chocobo that had already started grazing.

"Now you be a good boy and stay here." I braced myself and jumped away from the grassy hill and into the glowing darkness.

I could feel the ground approaching because of the Lifestream, so even though it was dark, I knew when to flip, and land on my feet. My body shuddered with the impact, but I rose and started walking without a moment's pause more. He'd nailed lights into the ceiling of the tunnel. He never liked it being too dark. The darkness wasn't flattering, even for monsters it seemed.

The main tunnel suddenly widened, and I took notice of a desk to my right. It was scattered with books and torn journal entries. I didn't bother reading them, the fancy script was hard enough to focus on without getting distracted by a winding tail or wildly drawn capital letters. All it mattered was that it was his handwriting. And a fresh ink cup sat with a feather in it.

The tunnel started sloping downwards, with a cold draft blowing towards me. The lights ended overhead, at the entrance of a black tunnel. I closed my eyes and walked into it. I counted to ten, in footsteps, then reopened my eyes. They had adjusted like I wanted, and I could see the new cavern with ease. It was enormous, the ceiling itself must have been fifty feet to the closest stalactite. I took a few more steps inside, my boot heels echoing on the stone underfoot. There were half a dozen kinds of monsters floating around, but they did not approach me. Ever since I left Midgar, monsters had not mindlessly engaged me in battle. I once walked right past a pair of wolves with pups near Corel, and all they did was look at me. I must smell like them.

I jumped down one of the small ledges and continued to the center of the room. Mako fountains were overflowing, coating the floor in a watery glow. I sensed a pair of flying monsters flap past my head, and heard the threatening roar of some behemoth of a monster down one of the branching tunnels, but no humans. There were some monsters that I felt resembled humans, but they were coming from the Mako fountains, and I wasn't curious enough to find out what was giving off such an eerie presence. Probably just a pitiful experiment of Hojo's.

I climbed back up the ledge and walked back down the hall, closing my eyes in preparation for the light. The moment I closed my eyes, I felt someone else nearby. I strode headfirst into the light, eager to regain my vision, to make sure I could see my opponent when the battle started.

He was kneeling in the middle of the path, his hand touching the ground. He stood, and his crimson cloak straightened out over his back. Flakes of dandruff fell off his shoulders and broke apart into dust before landing on the ground.

"I had hoped it was you. But I thought you would have visited me sooner." He turned and faced me with a rich smile. "It's been too long."

"How'd you know it was me?" I asked.

"I saw they were a woman's footprints. Even a touch of heel. But since yours had been identical to a boy's for so long, I had my doubts." I raised my eyebrows.

"You still doubt it?" He closed his eyes and chuckled.

"A bit, actually. Just look at you. Dyed your pretty hair brown too." I laughed and flipped my dirt-brown braid off my shoulder.

"Well, being one of fifty people with blue hair, it doesn't help you keep a low profile." I explained, leaning into the stone wall. He opened his eyes again, taking me in.

"You've really become a woman. How was puberty?"

"Just fine, thank you." Same old Genesis. He really was. So I could still count on him snapping at any moment. He gave a heavy sigh, when he still could not elicit a smile from me.

"I feel as though I'm in trouble with you somehow. Can we no longer meet on peaceful terms?"

"I say this had been peaceful. Neither of us have drawn weapons yet." I said, raising an eyebrow.

"I can see your fingers twitching for your swords, my Dear."

"Don't call me that." I warned him, a shadow fallen over my face. "That was Hojo's nickname for me." His eyebrows creased, with a curiosity that I left burning. "I have a lot of things I want to say to you. Like how Sephiroth lost his sanity because of what you said to him." Genesis must have already heard. His reaction was not nearly as surprised as what I'd imagined.

"I didn't mean for that to happen." Genesis stated, his voice low.

"But it did happen. He killed my friends, and tried to kill me. He killed everyone in that village too. And not to mention I'm the one who was framed for it all. And none of it would have happened if you'd kept your mouth shut. And for that…" I touched my swords.

Genesis revealed his sword, held loosely and aimed at the ground, but I knew to treat it the same as if it were already an inch from my neck.

"Hail, let's not do this. Not today, or tomorrow, or ever again. You're not part of ShinRa anymore. You're not in my way." He said, pleadingly. He couldn't convince me.

"But you're in mine."

Genesis still didn't want to fight me. But when I produced my two swords and crossed the distance, he had to.

I discarded the sheathes with a toss of my hand, no intention of reclaiming them for a while. He had just enough time to lift his own sword before we clashed. Sparks leapt from the blades where they met and skidded along each other. We both leapt backwards, regaining our stances before I dashed in once more. Our swords ricocheted off each other in a distinct pattern. I would attack with one blade, he would deflect, leaving an open target under his arm, and he would block again when I aimed for it with my other blade. Each attack grew stronger, but none of us lost ground. His free hand hung at his side lazily at first, then he clenched his fist with strain. He threw a tricky strike at my arm, but instead of dodging, I just blocked it with my shoulder. My SOLDIER uniform was long gone, but I had come to appreciate shoulder guards. Enough to at least wear one. Though my single right shoulder guard was made of a sturdy metal, instead of the cheap leather. His sword bounced off my armor, and our swords connected again.

"You're stronger." He noted as he caught my swords with his. Our faces were only inches apart, our bangs touching. Brown and brown together. Already sweaty, damp like mud.

"And you're slower." I retorted, blowing our hair to the side as I spoke. I pulled away in the middle of the power struggle, defiantly risky, and ducked to the side. He swung his sword as he stumbled, but the blade missed by inches. I sprung upwards, but Genesis had already positioned his sword to block me. The impact was so powerful though, that he was forced to support it with his free arm. Much to his dismay, I grinned.

Sparks, red and white, jumped from the metal as I dragged my sword up his. Before he could pull away, I leapt backwards and kicked him in the chest. The blow snapped something, and finally lost ground as he skidded back a foot or two. He grunted in surprise, and glared as I charged in again. He lifted the crimson blade level with his forehead, and drew his gloved hand across the flat of the blade. As his fingers passed it, the metal alit with runes. His eyes became bright behind his sword.

I gasped when I recognized the move, and almost backed down. He'd never used that on me before. I'd seen it, and it was not a move used for a playful sparring match. Good.

But my moment of eager hesitation cost me. He swung the blade, a half a dozen sparkling flames jumped off his sword and winded towards me through the air. I cut the first one, and it exploded.

The explosions filled the tunnel, pushing me back until I smelled fresh air and a dark night sky above me.

Genesis pierced through the remaining fire, suddenly on the offensive. I blocked, twisting in place. He jumped though, without landing. I looked up as he dove down at me, using his single wing to propel him towards the ground. I cut into my pocket, and threw something to the ground.

"Stop!" I smirked, after the orange light faded, and leisurely walked around my frozen teacher. It had happened so quickly that he didn't even look surprised. "That materia really came in handy." I could have ended the battle then, but it wouldn't have been over. Not really.

Valefor rose out of a cloud of sparklers, and I jumped onto her back just as Genesis finished striking through the empty air. I could feel the air whip in my face from the attack.

"You want to fight airborne?" I nodded at his wing. "Fine." Valefor flapper her wings once, and we shot upwards. The air made a howling in my ears, muting everything else. Then we were above at ground level, surrounded by thick grass and trees, and finally we floated above the twisting Dumbapple branches, close enough to reach up and touch the misty clouds. Genesis watched for a moment from the ground, then followed.

We stared across from each other in mid air, but Genesis was watching me with a satisfied smirk. What was he so happy about? Well, I was about to find out.

I told Valefor to mount our attack, and she warked like a chocobo. Like a pink chocobo. I tugged at her feathers, and she swung her head around and tried to nip me.

"H-hey!" I pushed her head away and leaned back. She flapped in a tight circle and shook her neck.

"You think she would fight her owner?" Genesis called, crossing his arms. I shook my head.

"So I'm still not your favorite?" I sighed. "Oh well then." I stood up on her back, then leapt forward and into the air. Genesis' eyes widened. I was on him before he could flap his wing. I tackled him, and he lurched to the side as if he'd been shot, black feathers spiraling down. We spun wildly, Genesis swearing right into my ear, in that distinct way only Genesis could. I grabbed his collar, throwing one of my swords into the air so I could hold him, and raised my other blade for a strike. His eyes widened with what only could be fear, and I smirked.

"Made you blink."

My sword hand suddenly twitched open, and my blade went whistling out of my hand. The stabbing pain raced down my arm, and I accidently let go of Genesis. But before I fell away, his hand snatched out and caught the collar of my shirt. Then his other hand pulled far back.

His fist drove hard into my chest, knocking the air from my lungs. I gaped silently, lacking the air to yell, and Genesis' grip on me faltered. Air rushed past me, and I punctured through the cloud of fog in seconds. I stared up in a daze and saw Genesis watching me from above. Another spasm of pain rippled through my arm, reaching all the way to my head. And like someone had knocked me in the temple, I slipped into unconsciousness.

Genesis only watched for a moment. Just long enough to be certain that I wasn't going to try anything else. Valefor glared at him, and flapped her wings impatiently. Then, he thrust his wing backwards and dove down after me. His hand tugged my shirt, and he pulled me into his arms only yards from the ground. He unfurled his wing so close to the frost-covered ground that the end feathers brushed past the drifts. He landed heavily on his feet, and lifted me more fitted into his arms. He stared at my bruised face, expressionless.

He put one hand on the back of my head, then leapt back into the air.

We landed back on the grass on the opposite side of the gorge, and I slowly moved away from him, blinking back into consciousness after only seconds. But the pain in my arm remained…and the new aching in my lungs…ow.

"Shall we call this a draw for now?" Genesis asked, keeping a relatively safe distance.

"I think I've gotten that out of my system." I stammered. "Could have killed you for a moment there. Twice. That's all that matters." He raised an eyebrow, then looked at the cloudy sky.

"So that's what it comes down to…" He felt it safe to approach me, and folded his wing against his back until it disappeared under his cloak. "Look at me." I did, impulsively. He said it in the same tone that he used to when I had something on my face, or was cut, and he wanted to get a better look. "I see. It was the infection in your scar that caused you to go blind in that eye." I looked away, and my sightless eye followed. "I didn't even notice it until just then, when I was able to land a strike on that side, even thought I thought you could see it coming." I brushed my bangs back past my ears.

"So you noticed. And I thought I'd been training long enough to have overcome that…though it's relatively new…only last month ago did that happen."

"How? And what happened to your hand?" He asked. "Did I actually hurt you in my attempts not to?"

I shook my head, then glared at the ground, as if it were to blame for the spasm of pain.

"No…It's just some infection. The same on my head, I think." I pulled my arm-long glove down past my wrist, so I could see the top of my hand, where a gray rash was had spread all over the skin. Genesis looked at it, then the darkening scar above my eye. They matched.

"I've never seen it before." He slowly said, unsatisfied with his own answer. I covered it with my glove again and stood.

"I've been traveling. Could have picked it up from any number of- ow!" I wound my good arm around my stomach, then glared at him. That was one injury not caused by a rash. "Jeez, Genesis. I didn't punch you when you were stopped, you think you could have shown some discretion too?" He shrugged again.

"You startled me." I spun in a circle, looking around.

"Speaking of which….oh no…Cloud?" I called. A blue head popped up from behind a far of Banora White. "Oh…I' m sorry!" I wonder how teh chocobo reacted when a pair of winged fighters and a giant Summon suddenly exploded out of the gorge a few feet away from him. Genesis looked over my shoulder, clearly expecting to see a human standing there instead of the large blue bird. "My chocobo." I explained.

"I see you finally got yourself a real-life one. And he's your twin." I smiled to myself.

"Yep…he's the prize from a little bet I won a while back. And ShinRa didn't like it when I came and got him." he chuckled.

"I heard about that. A crazy woman infiltrating the Golden Saucer to steal a chocobo. Part of me guessed it was you, but I ignored the idea at 'woman'."


Cloud loved Banora. I bet the real Cloud would haved loved it too. He actually started climbing up the winding trunks of Banora Whites in his search for more Dumbapples. He found one, and couldn't get enough. Luckily, there always seemed to be a few of the trees with the purple fruit.

Genesis showed me his town. There was nothing left of it, but he knew where each house used to be, and he circled every place and told me about it. I was sad I hadn't been able to see more of it when it was still alive, and Genesis seemed to feel bad for being the reason why.

"And this was Angeal's home." He said, coming to a stop before a sandy patch of grass.

"Don't be so sad. You're the one who destroyed it all." He laughed weakly. He sounded so much older. Then again, I'd been told that so did I. I was barley 21, but people had mistaken me for 35. Poor Genesis looked double his age. I noticed no mirrors in the caverns, and I assumed it was no coincidence. He didn't like ugly things, and he wasn't looking too pretty himself.

"I know that…" He said, and I looked back at him. I thought he was reading my thought until I remembered what I'd said last. His dull-glowing eyes set on another square-shaped patch of shorter grass. "I know…"

We took our conversation downstairs, into his elaborate tunnel system that he resided in. Before I could call on Valefor to help me down, he put an arm around my waist and jumped. He waited until we were nearly at the ground to release his wing, and he grunted in pain as the wing strained to ease our fall. When our feet touched the ground, he pulled away to rub his shoulder where the wing met his back.

He opened a wooden door for me, and led me inside. There was a bed, and desk, but the blankets were covered in journal entries. I doubted he'd slept in a while. The bags under his eyes were proof enough. And I was starting to worry. I hoped our fight hadn't hurt him. He was in bad enough shape already.

"I haven't been using this room as often as I thought." He said, gathering up the loose papers. "Not for sleep, that is. You may use it if you'd like."

"I wasn't planning on staying long." I explained, hesitating at the doorway. "Someone's waiting for me." At that, he lifted his mako eyes.

"And who could that be?" I leaned against the wall and sighed, looking up at the stone ceiling. Then I decided on my choice of words.

"You'd never believe me."

"You've surprised me before." I smiled, but chewed on my mouth instead of speaking. Finally, I pulled up a seat and sat. Then I opened my bag and took out a worn leather journal. He eyed it curiously.

"It's a long story." He took a seat across from me. "And I can't just remember it all anymore. I had to write some things down, or I forget."

"Oh, you're not that old." I touched the scar on my forehead, then looked at my fingers to see if any of the black skin had rubbed off onto my hand.

"…It's impairing my memory too…just like mako poisoning. If I go senile, I want to at least read up on how cool I was." I added with a hopeful smile. He returned it, just to humor me, and rested his chin on his hands.

"I'm in no rush for time."

And so we sat across from each other in the dim lighting of his underground bedroom, mako eyes looking into mako eyes, and I opened my leather book at the beginning, and told him all that I'd accomplished in my four years away from ShinRa.

Not surprisingly, a lot had happened.


A/N~ hey guys! I've decided to write the sequel, and that's a little preview. Let me know what you want to see. That chapter and a few more will finally give the 'Genesis fluff' that had been requested so long ago. I never forgot!

My FF12 fic is taking priority now, but i wanted to give you guys something to look forward to. I hope you liked it X)

Thanks!