Genesis couldn't wait to get out of Bone Village.
Over the years, he'd have liked to think he'd grown more partial to sleeping in strange situations and dealing with uncomfortable environments, but this was possibly the worst. Not because he was overly cold-though the frigid temperatures were nothing to sneeze at-but because the populace was just plain iweird/i. It was difficult to get any kind of information out of them without discussing their archaeological ventures to a depth and detail that made him want to fall over and snore. As a child, he'd had somewhat of an interest in the old myths, but this was fucking ridiculous. He didn't care about the accelerated degradation of a fourth lateral rib due to their location, and he certainly didn't care about the possible mitochondria living in the cell of some behemoth that would never walk Gaia again. He'd barely skimmed through molecular biology with top marks, he had no desire to repeat it. Sephiroth seemed to be faring better than he was, but that was likely because the man had spent years listening to Hojo prattle on about who-knows-what in the labs. After a day of listening to an elderly paleontologist wax near-poetic on the apparently orgasmic state of the topsoil, Genesis left intel collection to Shinra's poster boy. It was-he reflected-probably the first time he'd acknowledged the man as infinitely more qualified for a task than he was.
The first night had been strange in of itself. Sephiroth had disappeared around 1930 and didn't return until 0200, crawling into his sleeping bag and apparently passing out without a single word. Genesis-who had been impatiently waiting for a status update while the night slipped out from under his exhausted fingers-was more than irritated. iHe /i spent the remainder of the dark hours quietly fuming over the injustice before realizing that he'd been the idiot who'd decided to 'wait up'...Sephiroth had given him no such orders.
In truth, the memories of days' previous kept creeping back to haunt him. The thought that Sephiroth had never been physically intimate before had crossed his mind on several occasions. It was apparent in the way he moved-fluid yet vigilant, graceful but habitual. Sephiroth had all the trappings of an apex predator; territorial viciousness, unscrupulous pride, inherent cunning...but none of the drive to seek out a partner. Genesis was frankly surprised Shinra wasn't throwing every genetically perfect woman at him to make sure they had a steady line of successors. Explicit banning of sexual liaisons almost seemed counterproductive-let alone monstrous and dehumanizing. He had no idea how the man had survived puberty, though he presumed he had an intimate relationship with his right hand-or left, ambidextrous-at the very least. A part of him wanted to send an email off to Angeal, but he knew if Sephiroth ever found out he'd never confide in him again.
That brought him to another dumbfounding conundrum; why had Sephiroth brought him into his confidence? The man was lukewarm on a good day, but lately his attitudes seemed to fluctuate between totally fridgid and erratically emotional. His comrade seemed to be fighting a total loss of control, and though he didn't like to admit it, Genesis didn't think he'd be able to manage the fallout. He was a damn good SOLDIER, but Sephiroth was a damn good SOLDIER times fifty. If his urges were violently inclined, he'd eventually be a red smear on the pavement. Then again, if a 'belated hormonal anomaly' meant that the General just needed a good fuck, he didn't think he'd mind being on the receiving end. Besides, if Sephiroth lost control in the wilderness, their options would be slim. He couldn't let him screw a mercenary, there was too much mako in his system. Genesis had seen the results of a SOLDIER losing control with an average citizen...it wasn't pretty. He also couldn't let him fuck a tree or a bogleech...that just wasn't a 'bro' thing to do and it would be just Sephiroth's luck to get some non-sentient up the duff. Interspecies urges were rare, but Sephiroth-in his unusually worshipful opinion-was rarer still.
A loud cacophony of intellectual debate jerked Genesis from his thoughts, and he watched with narrowed eyes as a pair of drunk archaeologists nearly fell into a fire pit before being pulled from their brawl by other, slightly better-minded friends. The canvas overlay above him crackled as a sharp gust of wind slithered through the flaps. Bone Village felt...stagnant. Despite the almost fever-minded research that went on during the day, he couldn't help but think of the place as a community frozen by time. He'd had yet to see anyone leave camp for more than a few hours, and when they returned it was usually with wild-caught food, kindling, rock, or lumber. What supplies the village had were hand-made and there was even a kiln for glassware and pottery. The residents showed little to no interest in the outside world and there were a few very young children who had no knowledge of Shinra at all. Here, he and Sephiroth were entities of a different world...and while anonymity was peaceful, it was also disconcerting.
The flap to their chamber rustled and Genesis pretended to be busy logging their mission as Sephiroth strode into the space looking decidedly irritated and smelling of fire smoke. While he might be better at diplomacy it was clear the man didn't get any more satisfaction from it than he did. Soil scraped against fabric as the General pulled his sleeping bag out of his duffel and began rummaging around. Glancing at the sky, Genesis was startled to find that it was nearly dusk. This made for their third sun entrenched in this hellhole, and he'd been desperately hoping to depart that day. He set down his log and watched as Sephiroth unbuckled his boots before placing them carefully out of the way. The weather wasn't cold enough for their thermal suits, but at night the wind raged to a point that both of them were more comfortable sleeping in their clothes. The air that was brought down from the cliffs had nowhere to go once it hit the valley floor, and the steady howl of eddying gusts was both awe-inspiring and haunting.
Genesis startled as a soft sparkling glow the color of new sunlight filled the room; glittering eerily against the backdrop of ivory bone. The materia in Sephiroth's palm was unlike anything he'd ever seen, it's predominant color a backdrop to thousands of others, many of which he'd never seen before. It had an unearthly, netherworld quality to it...and a psychic pull like a siren. Still, even as lovely as it was, something about it brought about a sense of indeterminate grief. Swallowing, Genesis found his voice.
"What is that?"
Sephiroth blinked, his gaze sliding from the materia to Genesis and then back again. After a long moment, he stowed the tiny sphere in his vambrace and moved to roll out his sleeping bag.
"I don't know."
The redhead frowned and folded his arms, stretching his legs out and kicking one foot on top of the other.
"Where did you get it?"
Sinking down stop his sleeping bag, his fellow SOLDIER appeared to gather his thoughts before replying.
"Three men passed this way maybe a week ago" Sephiroth began, tugging 'the brush'-as Genesis had christened it-out of his bag and gathering a thick strand of moonlight-colored hair between his fingers. "Nondescript, plain...wore heavy clothing of a darker shade, paid for lodging in supplies and gave common but likely false names."
"...Like?" Genesis prodded, earning himself a raised brow.
"Sky Mansfield, Jeneth Karr...Dachen Myrr."
"Damn" the blue-eyed man muttered. "I worked with four Skys as a First...and I think there's two in Accounting."
"A child was playing with the materia near the salt marsh, I happened upon him going out to train. He claimed to have pick-pocketed one of them, 'the one with the cold eyes.'"
Genesis pulled himself into a cross-legged position.
"Have you tried activating it?"
Slowly, Sephiroth shook his head.
"...No. I'm not dexterous with materia, and summoning an unidentified one is risky even for a professional. I'd originally brought it back for you to activate but I don't think it would be wise."
Glancingat the vambrace that housed the mysterious crystallized mako, Genesis unsuccessfully fought the shiver that ran up his spine.
"It feels...wrong" he muttered. "It's beautiful, but wrong."
"Yes" Sephiroth said simply.
"Did anyone mention where the men went?"
"Evidently they split up and exited the Village in separate directions" was the murmured reply as his comrade-in-arms threw 'the brush' back into his duffel. "However, a hunter on his way home saw them regroup and head North."
"And there's only one thing that way" Genesis mused. "At least we know our intel is right."
His companion grunted in assent, his gaze fixed on the far wall.
"We'll leave tomorrow" Sephiroth said, his voice distant and distracted. The redhead frowned.
"...Alright."
Silence reigned as each man contemplated his respective thoughts. Genesis returned to his phone to compile a Last Contact report and his silver-haired companion began an organizational campaign against his personal belongings. After a few minutes, the redhead startled somewhat as a sharp rattling sound filled the chamber. Sephiroth had paused, his hand hovering over something in his bag, his brow furrowed. Hastily pressing 'send', Genesis tossed his phone to the side and watched as the General pulled a large prescription bottle out of his bag, his brow furrowed.
"You're the last person I'd think would need vitamins" Genesis joked, but a cold look from his companion sobered him.
"I didn't pack this" was the muttered reply.
He frowned.
"Then who...Hojo" he spat the name out like a curse, rising to sink down next to Sephiroth and peer over his shoulder. "Edimax...no...lithemorphyl" he mused. "You're losing hair?"
"Don't be ridiculous" his fellow SOLDIER snapped, peeling a carefully folded note off the front of the bottle. Green eyes narrowed as they swiftly scanned the missive, which was promptly crumbled into a ball and thrown across the chamber. "It's a suppressant."
Genesis made a face.
"For your...problem?"
Sephiroth'sbangs fluttered as he expelled a deep breath.
"No, for the chocobo we passed on the way here, it's obviously a sexual deviant." The man got up and retrieved Hojo's note as Genesis stared after him in shock and attempted to process the fact that this was the second time in his life he'd heard Shinra's poster boy tell a joke...let alone a halfway decent joke. "I should burn this, it was careless to throw it somewhere it could be found."
The shouting of various research professionals gathered around their fires had increased in volume. Somewhere, a baby had woken and begun to wail. The blue-eyed SOLDIER grimaced and hastened to close the flap to their 'quarters', pausing to watch as four men rushed past, assumably to join the other nerds.
"I'll be glad to get out of this fucking calcium hovel" he muttered, tying off the canvas and turning to watch as Sephiroth activated a minor fire materia and let the slip of paper burn. "Are you going to take them?"
Morefootsteps rushed by outside as Sephiroth's eyes flashed.
"No. Not if I can help it."
Genesis nodded, unsure of how much he should say.
The shouting had reached an earsplitting pitch, and he put an irritated palm to the ear facing the exterior. Sephiroth stiffened suddenly, his nostrils flaring as if scenting something brought in by the breeze that still circulated the space despite its closure. A high, tremulous scream split the air, along with a low, vibrating howl like that off a large wind instrument under several feet of water. Somewhere, a gun was fired, the sharp retort echoing off the cliffs to ricochet around the valley. Their discussion temporarily forgotten, both men threw themselves at the flaps to the chamber, spilling out onto the tightly-packed earth as a throng of panicked people rushed past them.
For a moment, Genesis was disoriented by the press of bodies; his gaze found face after panicked face...some with eyes glazed over in terror, others with a sort of grim resignation to their doom. Sephiroth had disappeared, vaulting the behemoth ribcage to gain a better vantage point. Drawing Rapier, he escaped the panicked mob and turned his gaze to the communal gathering area where the peat fires lay scattered; embers glinting in the dark as the sun disappeared beneath the massive loom of the cliffs above them. Smoke ghosted across the marsh like the march of hundreds of wraiths...writhing into columns of grey as the wind swirled around them and kicked them up into the air. There was another howl and a snapping noise as the ground beneath him shuddered, giving him but a moment to throw himself to the side before it exploded in all directions; giving forth the massive shape of an insectoid abomination.
Eyes as black as pitch huddled close together against a triangular skull the shade of clay and covered in plated scales. Massive pincers hung from jaws slavering acidic saliva, dripping down onto the cold, barren earth to hiss against the discontinuous permafrost. Claws like that of a hideously deformed crustacean dangled from arms covered in rust-colored exoskeleton, and worse were its four legs; deceptively thin but devastatingly strong and fast. He had no memory of Ankheg colonies this far North, but a quick glance around proved that this one was alone...perhaps separated from a migrating column with the onset of winter. There was an upheaval of dust and ash and a soft hiss as Sephiroth landed to flank the creature, drawing Masamune as he did so.
Glancingto the side, Genesis had to force himself to refocus on the battle in front of them as he was privy to the view of a young woman trying to crawl away...her leg bent at a horrible angle...her left side a tangled, ruinous ribbon of bleeding flesh. She had to have been thrown when it came out of the ground, he surmised, but a sharp upward swipe from a mottled leg forced him to push the thought from his mind. Somewhere, a man was shouting something that sounded like an entreaty, but he couldn't afford to lose focus. Ankhegs were attracted to the scent of blood, if they lost its focus even for a moment, the woman would lose her life. Rotating swiftly, he caught the back-end of one of those massive claws, the strength of the blow nearly making him lose his footing. Sephiroth was equally engaged but clearly not struggling. Glowing embers flew up into the air as they danced across the remains of one of the fires and Genesis cursed himself for leaving his boots in their room. His feet were blistering against the roiling heat of the peat fire-searing through his socks-but the mako in his veins made it a process of damage and regeneration...which wasn't any more pleasant. The cool relief of icy soil was a temporary balm before he was abruptly thrown onto his back, the only thing stopping him from being run through was the distraction of his comrade, who ghosted in front of him and lifted Masamune to take the brunt of the blow.
Abruptly, the creature appeared to pause, its focus shifting and Genesis felt a small modicum of despair as it backed away from them making a clicking sound in the back of its throat. Its next move was so swift Genesis was sure that he couldn't have stopped it, and Sephiroth's relative position put him at an impossible angle for intercept. The woman had made it perhaps three meters, but it was three meters too little. Her screams rent the air again as the beast descended, its claws ripping through what remained like a knife through butter. Sephiroth was up and moving before she died, but it wasn't enough. There was a massive shriek and an explosion that forced Genesis to close his eyes even as he rushed toward it. It came to his sudden understanding that his comrade had used a limit-break to attempt to head off the assault, but it came too late. The Ankheg was a bubbling, glutinous mass against the dark soil...but its victim was in no better shape.
Rising from a crouch, Sephiroth appeared to struggle with himself before wrenching Masamune from the creature, wiping his sword on the grass with a hand that trembled but once and then resumed its action with a kind of robotic stiffness. A terrible, heartbreaking cry rent the air and they both stepped back to make room for the young man who rushed out onto the field, his eyes a mess of disbelief and despair.
"Eida! Please no, Eida!"
Genesis turned, unable to watch as he sheathed Rapier and took a deep breath.
"That Ankheg was left here for us" he murmured.
Sephiroth appeared to startle before nodding.
"Yes. They don't make their burrows this far North."
"I don't want to know how they got it here and then managed to have it stay underground until we arrived and made camp."
"It could have been summoned...if there's anything we've learned today, it's that people outside of Shinra are capable of making materia. Give it a manageable food supply and it would be an easy task."
"It takes power to maintain a Summon" Genesis fumed. "So how did they leave and maintain a summon for a week?!"
"A High Summoner could retain the link...and if they're in the Sleeping Forest, his power would only be amplified by the energies there."
The blue-eyed SOLDIER shook his head...uncertainty rising to clog his throat.
"I don't like this Seph. I mean...mercenaries we can deal with but there was no mention of Summoners in our briefing. We're walking into this partially blind. I thought they all immigrated to Wutai when Shinra started taking over."
"Most" his comrade agreed. "But-"
"You!"
To his credit, Genesis was not expecting to get punched in the face.
If he had been, he would have rolled with the blow and not gotten his ethmoid broken. As it was, the fist that connected with his nose sent him reeling backwards before he recovered himself, clutching the affected area and swearing mightily. Even as mako worked to restore his bone structure, the man whose...lover? wife?sister?...was currently lying in pieces on the ground went flying; Sephiroth soaring after him with murder in his eyes. For a moment, Genesis could only stand there with blood trickling down his face as he tried to figure out why his fellow FIRST was going after a civilian. Then his training kicked in and he cursed before sprinting across the field, praying to the Goddess that he could stop the man before he did irreversible damage. A crowd of people had begun to gather around the carnage and they could not-could not-afford to have a PR incident here. Not now. This was a research facility and violence done by SOLDIERS to research personnel could land both of them a dishonorable discharge...though he wasn't sure what Sephiroth's version of discharge would be as he was apparently Shinra property and not really legally a person. They might just chop him into pieces for spare parts and cook up a new Sephiroth who didn't have such beautiful hair-and why was he thinking like this when attempting tactical damage prevention anyway?
The man had landed sixty meters away and had apparently broken his arm but that didn't stop him from spewing potentially life-threatening curses at them.
"You killed her! You could have saved her! All you people do when you come here is kill. You're filthy rotten bastar-mphff!"
"Sephiroth no!" Genesis yelled, as the man stretched a black-gloved hand over his face and began to squeeze.
He noted-with very little relief-that Masamune was still sheathed, but he wasn't sure if it was because Sephiroth had forgotten he had it or because he had some sort of psychotic 'tit for tat' reasoning and had decided to use his fists. He was forced to give up deliberation as he'd barreled into his friend and knocked him perhaps two feet sideways, landing on the frozen ground in an explosion of cold marsh grass and mud. The silver-haired man snarled and tried to throw him off, his superior strength nearly overcoming Genesis for a moment before he placed both palms against that broad expanse of chest and slammed him back down. Green eyes paled to a light aquamarine shot through with amethyst in their rage, a terrible look he didn't recognize at all flashing across those perfect features.
"Stop it! Sephiroth, think about what you're doing!" Another growl, another push and his footing in their tussle was becoming increasingly precarious. Mustering every bit of authority his drill-sergeant had hammered into his head, Genesis threw the man back down and brought his face as close as he possibly could without touching him. "Soldier!" he barked. "Know your place!"
Sephiroth stopped abruptly, the long-fingered hands that had gripped his arms so tightly falling limply to his side as his eyes faded back to their customary emerald green. They focused on him, pupils widening until they nearly overtook the iris. Then...he let his head fall back, baring his neck in a gesture that brought Genesis up short as his friend went utterly still.
"Sir" he said quietly.
The air seemed to get sucked from his lungs. In that moment, Genesis hated Shinra with a ferocity that made him tremble. The rage that soared into his veins choked him like the cloying smoke that swirled around them. The man had long since gotten up and stumbled off, spitting profanities back at them...all fell on deaf ears. It took every ounce of discipline he possessed to drag Sephiroth off the ground instead of enfolding him in a hug. He was sure the man would not appreciate it once the conditioned response to his command wore off. Genesis straightened as they were approached by the project manager...Callium Whitfield...if his memory served him correctly. The man was in his late sixties, tall but graying at his temples with kind eyes that glittered behind large horn-rimmed glasses. Those eyes were filled both with sadness, authority, and an undertone of pitying understanding.
"Gentleman, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you both to leave."
Swallowing thickly, Genesis nodded. Beside him, Sephiroth stirred and blinked, extricating himself from his support in one fluid motion.
"Thank you for accommodating us, Professor."
They were both silent as they exited the field amidst a sea of accusing stares. The man who had punched Genesis was sitting on a log getting his arm set by a physician and he sent them a glare filled with vitriol. His face was a mess of bruises shaped like fingerprints. As they gathered their things inside the chamber, the redhead watched as Sephiroth drew the prescription bottle out of his bag and stared at it for a moment, his gaze expressionless, before unscrewing the lid and downing a suppressant with a kind of resigned bitterness.
"I'm sorry, Genesis."
The blue-eyed SOLDIER exhaled a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"Seph...it's not your fault. You...you can't help it."
"I could have stayed behind. I could have disobeyed-" the man shut up, his mouth snapping shut.
A new kind of understanding bloomed in Genesis' chest, and he dropped his bag, crossing the space between them to put a hand on his friend-his friend's-shoulder.
"It's not your fault" he said firmly, and for a moment, hope flashed behind those beautiful eyes before being suffocated by the cold exterior the man forced himself to exude.
They left Bone Village come midnight, their minds seemingly heavier than their bags...and Genesis could only pray that things would not get any worse. He felt foolish doing so, but maybe the Planet would care more than Shinra did. It seemed fitting, that he might place some hope in the Earth when everything he had worked for seemed to be as twisted and impossible as anything he'd ever known.