Disclaimer Genesis Rhapsodos, Angeal Hewley and all other things relating to Final Fantasy VII belong to and are property of Square Enix AND NOT TO ME XD;
The large, wooden front door of the mansion slowly creaked open, barely allowing enough room for Genesis to squeeze through. Despite his previous reluctance to do so, the young member of the Rhapsodos family gave his mother a quick embrace. Mrs. Rhapsodos was taken aback, surprised by Genesis' sudden actions. Since when did her son have a soft side? Embarrassed, the sixteen year old quickly let go, turning around and continuing outside into the village of Banora.
"See you, mum." Genesis said, with a hint of sadness in his voice. He felt a strange feeling coming over him. He wasn't going to see much of his parents or his hometown anymore. No more nagging, no more dumbapple harvesting, no more careless afternoons of just kicking back and relaxing with his best friend…
Of course, it wasn't as if he wasn't going to see Angeal again. They were going to make the journey of becoming top ranking SOLDIERs together. After all, today was the day that the two of them would be making their mark in the world of ShinRa. They would be comrades, partners together in battle. No, more than just comrades. Friends. True friends. Even in the worst situations, at least I'll have Angeal to cheer me up…
"You promise to call, you hear me?"
Genesis snapped out of his train of thought, giving his mother a slightly confused look.
"And if you can't gain access to a phone, write." Mrs. Rhapsodos eyed her son, giving him a loving pat on the back.
"Yes mum." Genesis rolled his eyes, giving his mother one of his famous 'withering looks'. He already felt weird about hugging her. Not many teenage boys in this age hugged their mothers.
The mother of the Rhapsodos household playfully shoved her son out the door, giving a cheerful laugh.
"Now go and make a hero of yourself! I don't want to receive a letter from you saying you hate it and you haven't made it past the stage of being a lowly ShinRa grunt."
"I'll give it the best I've got." Genesis turned around and gave his mother a confident smile. Okay, here I go. SOLDIER…Sephiroth…my dreams. I'm finally going to reach them.
The bright, cheerful eyes of Genesis Rhapsodos were full of happiness.
Confidence.
This was finally the day he had been waiting for all his life. The whole world of SOLDIER was out there, ready and waiting. Chuckling to himself a bit, Genesis changed his course of direction towards his best friend's house. He quickened his pace, wanting to make it to the house of Angeal Hewley before he really was late. He felt a little awkward, wheeling his suitcase and carrying a backpack on his shoulders. It gave him a sort of nostalgic feeling, like he was going on school camp. Genesis quickly shook his head. He was sixteen. He shouldn't be feeling this way, for being someone who was seen as mature.
He stopped when he reached the Hewley house, his excitement replacing the odd nostalgic feelings that he had been experiencing. He raised his hand to the door, giving a loud, hearty knock to signal that he had arrived and was ready and waiting. Heh, so much for my mother thinking that I was less organised than Angeal. Gillian Hewley, Angeal's mother, appeared at the door, eye level with Genesis.
"Ohh, hello Mrs. Hewley. Is Angeal there?"
Gillian shook her head, a small smile appearing on her face.
"He's already waiting for you by the apple orchard outside of town. He left a few minutes ago."
The chestnut-haired teen slumped his shoulders, being right in the middle of a bad case of irony. Hear he was, thinking that he was early. Mrs. Hewley giggled a little bit, shaking her head at Genesis.
"I guess my mum was right…thanks anyway, Mrs. Hewley!"
With a quick wave, Genesis was off again, this time towards the tunnel of Banora White trees that led outside of the village. By now, his face has turned the colour of a tomato, his previous confidence being shaken quite a bit. Despite this, however, Genesis still managed to put on a huge smile as Angeal came into view.
"Aha! Here comes the early bird, huh?" Angeal laughed as Genesis made his way up the hill.
"Oh, shut up, Angeal! Just because I'm the son of the mayor doesn't mean I should be organised!" Genesis dumped down his backpack and let his suitcase come a stop before giving his best friend a playful shove in the shoulder to signal his mocking annoyance. The two had a good laugh, grins plastered over their faces. Angeal took a quick glimpse at his arm watch, giving Genesis the thumbs up.
"Everything's going to plan, as you said. It may be only five minutes late, but the train doesn't leave for another half an hour or so." Angeal whispered, making sure that no eavesdroppers could here him.
"Awesome. Okay. We'll just leave our stuff here for a moment. Come on, Angeal! I promised you this sometime!' With that, Genesis grabbed his best friend's arm and dragged him back in the direction of his own house. "We'll have to be sneaky. My mother doesn't like me being careless with the dumbapple crop…"
Both Genesis and Angeal took a very stealthy approach, quickly running behind the houses that surrounded the town centre. It was still early, so many of the residents of Banora hadn't risen from bed yet. It was just like the old days, really. Genesis and Angeal getting up to their old tricks again was nothing that surprised anyone, especially when it involved practical jokes or other mischievous things they liked to perform. The chestnut-haired teenager peered his head out from the back of his neighbour's house, checking for any life that might catch them.
"On the count of 3...1...2...3!" Within a split second, the two best friends were off, sprinting down into the large estate of the mayor. Both vaulted the fence that surrounded the Rhapsodos property with ease, with Genesis leading the way. The two of them didn't stop running until they reached the largest dumbapple tree in the whole of Banora. Several metres above the heads of Genesis and Angeal, the last three apples of the harvest still remained, being late bloomers.
"Oh boy…how the heck are we going to reach them?" Angeal whispered, staring up at the three purple apples hanging above his head.
"Like this, my dear friend." Genesis, like some kind of monkey, hopped up onto the trunk of the Banora White tree, gripping it forcefully. "Who do you think gets the really high dumbapples during the harvest, huh? Our ladder isn't tall enough most of the time, so my father often tells me to do it." The Rhapsodos teenager made his way up the think trunk of the tree, showing no signs of fear or struggling. Within a few minutes, Genesis had just picked the first dumbapple off the highest point in the tree, sitting triumphantly on top of the Banora White. "Ready, Angeal?"
"Sure thing!"
"Okay…incoming! Get ready to catch!" Genesis dropped the purple apple, which Angeal managed to catch with good precision. The last two dumbapples followed, with Angeal catching each one without fail. "Wonderful work, buddy!" Genesis grinned, nimbly climbing down the tree and landing with slight 'thump' as his two feet hit the ground. Angeal looked a little uncertain, looking at the three apples he was now holding. "Technically, I was the one who stole them, not you."
"Huh?" Angeal questioned, looking at Genesis with confusion.
"I knew what you were thinking. I saw that look on your face."
"But, Genesis…"
"Hey, look. Don't give me one of those weird lectures on your 'honour'. I did the stealing, you were just the observer, okay? Nothing more to it. No honour lost." Genesis patted his friend on the shoulder, with the two of them beginning the journey back to their luggage.
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Rounding the corner, the two sixteen year olds slowly proceeded up the hill, munching away on the best dumbapples that Banora had ever seen. Angeal was loving every minute of it. A dumbapple had never tasted so sweet to him before in his entire life.
"Enjoying yourself?" Genesis asked casually, taking another bite of his own apple.
"Definitely. This is the most fantastic Banora White apple that I've had. Ever."
"I knew that you'd never ask me for any. So I thought, why not just give Angeal one, hey?" Genesis smiled. Angeal was eyeing the third apple, which rested in Genesis' pocket.
"Hey, Genesis? Who's the third apple for, then?"
"Sephiroth."
"Sephiroth!? You mean the Sephiroth?" Angeal's eyes widened, giving Genesis a strange look. How on earth was Genesis even going to get near enough Sephiroth to give him an apple? Angeal wasn't sure if that was a valid reason to let Genesis meet with the highest ranking SOLDIER in all of ShinRa.
"Yup. The one and only Sephiroth. I've always looked up to him, you know? Ever since that day I decided it was an idea to actually make juice out of these here apples, I've wanted Sephiroth to have one. I would really like to share with him what I've achieved in my life so far."
"If you'd really call making apple juice a significant achievement." Angeal laughed under his breath.
"Shut up! I got an award for that, you know. National Agriculture Awards, first prize, processed foods category." Genesis said defensively.
"Yeah, yeah, alright. So you won an award for making apple juice. Happy now?" Angeal added, smiling cheekily. Genesis gave him another push, laughing along with Angeal. They reached the top of the hill, right where they had left their luggage. Fortunately, everything was just the way the two best friends had left it. Angeal took another glance at his watch.
"Okay, we've got ten minutes before the train leaves. We'd better get moving then." Angeal moved over to his pile of luggage, consisting of a suitcase with a rather large sword strapped to the back. Thankfully, Genesis hadn't noticed just yet. Keeping a surprise was easier than Angeal thought, apparently.
Genesis scooped up his backpack and shoved his arms through the straps, wriggling to get the overly stuffed bag of belongings onto his back. He pulled the handle from his small suitcase and before long, the two best friends were on the road again, following the path towards the train station that existed on the very outskirts of Banora. However, soon after their journey had commenced once again, Genesis was unexpectedly attacked from behind, nearly knocking the teen off his feet.
"What the!? Angeal, look out!" Genesis warned, rubbing the back of his own head where it had been struck. Angeal quickly grabbed the enormous sword that Genesis had yet to notice from the back of his suitcase, turning around with just enough time to thrust the sword above his head and slam it down on the small, flying monster behind him. "Whoa, Angeal! Where the heck did you get that thing from!?" Genesis was shocked, unaware that Angeal even possessed the strength to lift such a large sword.
"My mother gave it to me this morning. She said, a long time ago, my father had used up all his money to buy this sword. My father died when I was still little, so I wasn't aware this was actually for me. My mother said it was for the day I was to join SOLDIER…and luckily that day was today." Angeal explained cautiously, a little disappointed that he couldn't save it for the train to surprise Genesis with. Angeal's best friend's eyes were wide with awe.
"Wow…that's such a big sword though! How did you manage to lift it?" Genesis questioned, clearly mystified by Angeal's sudden power surge.
"I…don't know, actually."
"Maybe it was just the moment. You know…those weird reflexes that kick in during an emergency?"
"Yeah, probably." Angeal mused, feeling quite happy with himself. He really did have what it took to be in SOLDIER. This sword is my honour…my dreams…my pride of joining SOLDIER.
A/N: Personally, I really like how this chapter came out! 8D The first chapter, 'Dawn of a SOLDIER', was a little rusty to me since I haven't written a proper story for a while. This one has more of a flow. Well, at least to me. I'm really enjoying writing Genesis and Angeal as teenagers XD; I hope everyone's enjoying this so far! If you spot any typos, errors or whatever, just let me know so I can fix them 8D
Lioneh the cheetion!