Sephiroth stepped into the elevator two floors above medical, no doubt on his way to a late lunch in his apartment, as he was wont to do. Genesis smiled at him, admittedly a bit more warmly than he had since his shoulder had been injured. "Good afternoon, my friend," he said.
Sephiroth blinked slowly, first at his smile, then at the grubby unconscious teenager slung over his shoulders like an unusually eccentric fur stole. "Hello, Genesis," he responded politely, and then fell pointedly quiet.
They stared at each other and rode in silence for a few more floors. Genesis's smile slowly widened. Normally he would have been too impatient to wait for Sephiroth to ask, but today he was feeling like the cat who got the cream.
Something of his mood must have been plain on his face, because Sephiroth finally sighed and relented in their little battle of wills. "Why do you have an unconscious man over your shoulders?"
"I'm taking him back to my apartment of course," Genesis said jovially. By his ear, the blond snored softly.
Sephiroth gave him a Look. "...for what purpose?"
Alright, he was definitely too impatient to draw this out any more. "This darling, idiotic little teenager has done me a substantial favor —an impossible one, in fact. I am doing him a favor in return by making sure he doesn't drop dead of poor life choices."
"Doing him a favor," Sephiroth repeated dryly, not buying his bullshit for even a second. "And why didn't you simply drop him off in medical?"
The elevator came to a stop at their shared floor as Genesis waved a hand. "Oh, we tried, believe you me. Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess. He turned out to be quite wary of any and all doctors, possibly due to some time in an unspecified lab."
This caught Sephiroth's attention. "I see," he said neutrally. "Would you mind if I aided you in tending to him, then?"
"If you wish," Genesis said magnanimously.
Sephiroth followed him to his apartment, steadying the sleeping teen across his shoulders while Genesis fished through his pockets for his keycard to unlock the door. Angeal emerged from his apartment in time to follow them in with the industrial-sized medical kit he meticulously maintained.
"Sephiroth," he greeted. "Did you volunteer or did he rope you into this?"
"Volunteered," said Sephiroth as Genesis none-too-gently dumped the blond on his couch. "You will excuse me for being concerned for any SOLDIER who catches Genesis's eye."
Angeal laughed, but Genesis blew his bangs out of his eyes and said "well, he insists he is not a SOLDIER, so clearly you have no reason to be concerned."
Sephiroth blinked at that. "Oh? You said he spent time in the Labs."
"That is the mystery of the moment," Genesis agreed, flipping the teenager over onto his back and starting to unbutton his shirt. He paused after a long second, halfway down the shirt, and frowned. "This is...an infantry uniform," he said slowly. It was discolored and worn and bloodstained, but now that he'd seen it, it was unmistakable.
Angeal frowned too, pausing in the middle of pulling out antiseptic and gauze. "What? Why is he in an infantry uniform?"
"I do not recognize him from the ranks of SOLDIER," Sephiroth said. "Though it is possible he simply prefers to wear the helmet at all times."
Genesis rolled his eyes as he stripped the shirt all the way off. "He has to be a SOLDIER," he said. "Look, come see his eyes. They have so much mako that there's green in them." Sephiroth came to crouch beside him. He tossed the shirt over the back of the couch and used a thumb to lift one of the blond's eyelids.
The blue-green iris, hazed over with sleep, immediately focused on Sephiroth.
The teenager screamed at the top of his lungs and, in a feat of superhuman dexterity, got a hand beneath him and vaulted backward off the couch. His boots hit the tile with a solid THWACK.
"Goddess!" Genesis exclaimed. Had the kid been a godsdamned gymnast before joining ShinRa? This was rapidly becoming a theme. "What the fuck!"
The boy blurt out something that Genesis didn't catch, reaching for a sword he didn't have. When his hand grasped empty air he blanched and dove for cover behind the side of the couch furthest from them. The wild blond spikes of his hair poked up just enough to be visible, like shoots of wheat.
The whole group stood in bewildered silence for a long moment, Genesis and Sephiroth still crouched in place, Angeal frozen with one hand partially raised toward the couch, and the boy himself stock-still behind his cover.
Finally, the teenager's voice drifted forth to break the silence. "...why'm I shirtless?" he asked, baffled.
Genesis pinched the bridge of his nose and stood, Sephiroth following him. "Infinite in mystery," he muttered. "Truly infinite in mystery. I took your shirt off, kid."
Bright, bright blue eyes poked up over the couch and blinked at him curiously. "Why?"
"Because you need medical attention, you twit."
"Uh." He ducked for a moment, and there was a sound as if he was patting himself down before he popped back up and said "no, I'm fine."
"You are not f—okay, you know what, you're going to pass out as soon as that adrenaline wears off anyways, so believe what you want. Would you like to tell me why the sight of Sephiroth startled you so?"
The blond's eyes widened in realization and flicked to Sephiroth. Again, one hand jerked up to seize a sword he didn't have. His eyes narrowed to slivers. "Oh, wait a second." His head popped up a little more so that his nose and mouth were visible. "You're not nutso yet, are you?"
Sephiroth blinked. "Excuse me?"
The boy nodded, satisfied. "Good. Forgot, for a second there. Everything's been all spinny for a while, it's hard to keep track." He perked up suddenly. "Oh! Since you're here —" He moved in a flash, leaping from the floor to the arm of the couch, then springing at Sephiroth as adroitly as any cat. Glass glinted in his hand.
Unfortunately for him, he no longer had the element of surprise. Genesis snatched him out of the air and slammed him back down onto the couch. He landed with an indignant oof!
"Would you please stop assaulting First Class SOLDIERS!" Genesis snapped, exasperated. It really said something about how his day had been going that he said such a thing with exasperation rather than any other emotion, but he wasn't particularly willing to examine that thought further.
"Assaulting?" Sephiroth repeated, a very faint trace of alarm in his voice.
Genesis waved him off and stared down the pouting blond. "How about you try asking nicely this time?"
The teenager blinked like he hadn't thought of that before. "Oh," he said. Even the brief stillness of being forced back onto the couch was enough that his eyes were starting to close again. Genesis wondered if he was in the hallucinating stage of sleep deprivation. It would certainly have explained a lot. "Okay. Drink this please?" He held out the little vial and wiggled it enticingly, as if he was trying to bait a cat.
Sephiroth gingerly took it. "What is in it, and why would I drink it?" He seemed a bit bewildered as to why he even bothered to take it in the first place. The boy seemed to have that effect on everyone.
"Water," said the blond through a yawn, sagging back into the couch cushions now that his goal had been accomplished.
"Just water?"
"Mmm, yeah," he slurred, rapidly dropping off again. "Special, though. She gave it...to...me…"
Genesis leaned in interestedly. "Who?"
At the twilight edge between sleep and wakefulness, the boy spoke in a voice so soft that it strained even their enhanced hearing. "The...healer…" And then he was back to snoring softly, sprawled across the couch at a very uncomfortable-looking angle.
Angeal dragged a hand down his face. "What a weird kid," he muttered. When the other two Firsts stared interestedly at the vial of theoretically-just-water, he rolled his eyes and moved to start tending to the blond's injuries.
Sephiroth was still holding the vial between two fingers, as if it was likely to explode at any second. "Even if it is just water," he said slowly, "why would I drink it?" Unspoken went this is the strangest assassination attempt I have ever seen.
Genesis shrugged. "I am far more interested in this 'healer,' but when he assaulted us earlier with similar vials they truly did contain only water. Water with miraculous healing powers, but water still."
"And there is another matter," said Sephiroth, eyeing him, "what is this about 'assaulting'?"
Genesis frowned. That was what he wanted to focus on? Not the miraculous healing part? He didn't think he was ever going to understand his silver-haired friend.
"Kid blindsided us and got some water down our throats," Angeal said bluntly as he started cleaning the numerous patches of blood and unidentifiable debris from the teenager's pale skin. "Apparently it did something to Genesis, but I didn't feel —holy shit this kid's got scars!"
"Most people have scars, my fri—oh. Oh, goddess." Genesis lost his sarcastic train of thought when he saw what had so thoroughly startled Angeal. There were...a lot of scars. Far more than what he would expect even on a SOLDIER.
"No, hold on," said Sephiroth, still caught on the earlier subject. "What was that about a teenager successfully introducing a foreign substance into your systems?"
Genesis pointed indignantly. "Does that look like a normal teenager to you!"
"That looks more like a feral cat plucked from a dumpster than anything else," he replied flatly.
Genesis opened his mouth and then closed it. No, that was fair.
Angeal shook his head and stood. "I'm going to call Zack and get him up here," he said. "We'll see if it's one of his friends." He pulled out his PHS and went out into the hall to call his apprentice, pausing at the door. "Make sure he doesn't sustain more grievous bodily harm while I'm gone, please."
Genesis sniffed. Honestly, it was like Angeal had no faith in him at all.
