CHAPTER 3

Genesis sighed deeply, letting his exhausted body melt into the soft mattress. He felt nicely limp and drifting, all of his thoughts focusing on the idea of following Sephiroth's advice and just going to sleep. It didn't take long until Genesis was asleep, the stress and the haste of the day catching up with him.

The next morning involved getting up way too early for Genesis' liking, getting yelled at by a superior asshole, being sent on a wannabe mission with Sephiroth, Angeal, and some guy Genesis didn't even bother remembering the name of.

They all had 5 minutes for packing and it sucked.

Sephiroth had his stuff ready since this was routine to him. Of course he had been on missions before, and compared to those, this here would be peanuts. Hence his mood was rather more listless than excited and all the buzzing, wired Third Class SOLDIERS only annoyed him. Out of consideration he kept his expression neutral though, and they generally had the decency to avoid him anyway (some of them had looked eager to ask him for advice earlier as they were instructed, but a well placed glare kept them at distance) .

Half of them wouldn't be here tomorrow anyway, having failed the test, and there was no reason to waste energy and barking at them to get lost.

The silver haired man glanced over his shoulders at his rummaging room mate, wondering if Genesis would pass the mission or...

If he didn't, then all of Sephiroth's 'unwanted room mate' problems would be solved in an instant.

Grabbing his cell phone and his sword (that was all he needed), Sephiroth straightened.

"Let's go."

When Sephiroth said that, Genesis was still struggling with getting on his armor, meanwhile fighting the sleepiness that was wavering at the edges of his eyes. It was firstly, way too early for any kind of activity, he secondly hadn't had any time to wake up at all… and he had forgotten the third point… This wasn't going to be a good day.

With all of the early morning preparations Genesis was surprised when he eventually found himself ready only a few seconds after Sephiroth– and they went to the elevator which was going to get them to the assignment room. Finally in the glassed box, he didn't feel all that tired anymore, moving had done its job in shaking him awake.

"Do you know anything 'bout the mission?" he asked the silver SOLDIER next to him.

"Maybe." Sephiroth leaned against the glass, head lowered, arms crossed before his chest, giving off that cold and distanced attitude again. Inwardly he was still contemplating if it was ethical to get rid of Genesis on the mission. He wouldn't hurt the guy of course, but if he reported Genesis to be utterly incompetent and unfit to be in SOLDIER, no one would doubt his words. Well, Genesis would certainly object noisily, but it was the word of a lowly Third Class against the famous Sephiroth's...

"You will have to wait and see for yourself, just like everybody else. Or are you so unqualified for this job that you need assistance?" he finally said, determined on that being the only comment he would make on the mission.

Genesis' eyebrow rose dangerously, but he just shook his auburn head with a grin spread widely over his face.

"Ah, so we're back to being Mr. I-know-everything-and-I-can-do-everything again, eh? And no, I don't need your almighty guidance during this mission, Sephiroth. I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself, thank you." Rolling his eyes, he turned his head to meet the other's piercing, green eyes. He wouldn't back down on this, no matter what had happened yesterday and no matter how much he had thought that Sephiroth would change because of it. He was fed up with being treated like an unworthy dog.

He buried his anger deep inside, silently shooting daggers at Sephiroth with his eyes, when the elevator came to a halt to let them out. Oh, he was going to show this prick exactly what he was capable of.

"We will see about that," the man simply said, coolly. The elevator doors opened with a light sound and they stepped outside, walking to the courtyard where most of the other students were gathered already. Though the excitement was palpable the SOLDIERs Third Class stood in an orderly line waiting to get the sign to jog to the back of their truck, where they would jump on, sit down, and remain silent. When it was their turn, Sephiroth did not jog and no one really expected him to. One of the instructors graced him with a pitying, supportive look that said, "Just hang in there, the mission will be over soon enough..." and Sephiroth acknowledged it with the slightest inclination of his head. As he sat down in the back of the truck, Genesis following suit, the vehicle lurched forward, taking them into the forest and to the point from which they would start their mission.

The other recruits eyed the two of them curiously, one of them working up the courage to clear his throat and whisper into Genesis' direction,

"You are one lucky bastard, aren't ya, pal?"

It took Genesis some time to get what the guy was even talking about, but when he realized, all he could do was to send him an incredulous look that said, 'Dude, are you out of your mind?'

"That's one way to put it…" he replied with a sigh before crossing his arms in front of his chest, purposefully ignoring Sephiroth. Why was everybody so obsessed with the guy? There was nothing extraordinarily great or fabulous about him, not in the slightest bit.

The ride did take some time and Genesis was more than relieved when it was over. The sickening motion did its best to lessen his already low mood a little more. Now he was annoyed, great. First mission and the red-head could have chopped everybody's head off. This was going to be a fabulous day… at least he hoped it would only take one day.

When they all got off the truck, the first thing he did was to wake up his limbs that had fallen asleep only seconds after they had headed off.

The trees were high here, ordinary for a forest. What wasn't all that ordinary was the light, there was practically no light that shone through the thick canopy of the trees surrounding them. It also struck Genesis as odd that there was no sound whatsoever. Having grown up in idle Banora he knew what true nature looked and sounded like. This was not as ordinary as it seemed at first sight.

"SOLDIERS, line up!" A harsh voice ordered. Genesis did his best not to roll his eyes when the instructor obviously eyed Sephiroth, telling him without words that he wasn't meant at all.

"So… Rhapsodos!"

He turned his head to face the chunky guy in front of him, who seemed to have more muscles than brains.

"You will go with Sephiroth…" 'Oh please, as if I didn't know that!' Your mission is to free this area of as many Kalm Fangs as possible since they've come disturbingly close to the edges of Midgar. They are no threat, but beware of any other enemies that are to be encountered…"

He gave the others a short briefing too, but Genesis didn't listen anymore. Kill a few monsters and get back to Midgar with some proof. A good practice in the end.

"Let's go," Sephiroth said, already turning to leave and not really waiting for Genesis to follow. This was such a waste of time and it was frustrating because he had important things to take care of, things that were a matter of heart to him and instead he was damned to crawl through this bloody forest with a hyperactive loudmouth and kill dogs!

His heavy boots stomped into the soft forest ground, the sounds swallowed by moss and a carpet of green leaves.

"The plan is as follows," he spoke up as they made their way deeper into the woods, his eyes routinely scanning the area for threats.

"You will find the monster's tracks, hunt it down, kill it, and we will go back. I expect it to take no longer than 20 minutes, anything else is unacceptable."

"No kidding..." Genesis murmured before stopping. "You know that the plan is to kill as many as possible, right? Not that I'm all too fond of staying in this damn forest one second too long, but I'm certainly not willing to collect all the shouting when we come back with only one freaking Fang."

And Genesis knew that he would be the one shouted at – even worse possibly. Sephiroth was ShinRa's golden boy, so no way they would mess with him in any way.

Sephiroth simply rolled his eyes. What else had he expected but words of objection.

"It doesn't matter how many of them you kill. The mission is to kill at least one. I will make sure that you will be left alone. Now let's get this over with, shall we?" There was just a slightly unnerved edge in his voice as he stopped at a clearing. He was aware that they were already being traced by the monsters themselves, which was excellent, because it saved them precious time.

"Oh, am I supposed to thank you now?" Genesis answered, rolling his eyes yet again and feeling the dull hints of a head ache. Too much eye rolling sucked.

"So I'm supposed to track those doggies down, kill one and carry the freaking thing back to Midgar? And what are you doing in the meantime, may I ask?"

In the back of his mind, there was a dim feeling of something being wrong, but he couldn't put a finger on what it was.

"I am bearing with your general presence and refraining from slicing you into neat little pieces," Sephiroth replied icily. Just why could this damn boy not do what was expected of him for once? Pinching the bridge of his nose and willing himself to calm down, Sephiroth added in a calmer, but still strained voice, "I do not need this exercise, which is why you will complete the mission alone. I am here for back-up and advice."

"How noble…" Genesis spat out, sending Sephiroth one look of utter wrath. "Let's get this over with; I'm fed up with listening to your shit…" And he was, this was hilarious. The silver haired warrior was already treated like the best fucking guy on earth, did he have to behave like he actually believed – no knew that?

A sudden crackle forced Genesis out of his thoughts and in an instant he had unsheathed his sword, being forced back by the weight of something medium large and furry.

Fangs!

Sephiroth exhaled, holding his sword in hand in case it was needed, but he did not wield it, not for now anyways. Instead he watched Genesis taking care of the problem, and resolve it he did. His movements were fluid, smooth and precise, his swordsmanship was better than solid and he left very few openings. In all actuality, Sephiroth found that the redhead seemed to have quite a bit of potential, which surprised him. The Fangs were no match for him at all and within a few minutes the two, dog-like beasts were on the ground, dead and bleeding. Well, all the better.

"Cut their heads off," Sephiroth ordered neutrally, not showing whether he was impressed or not. "We are leaving."

Genesis sighed exaggeratedly and brushed the blood from his face. Uh, something had dropped into his mouth, how disgusting. He had to look like shit.

He did as Sephiroth told him, for once not arguing with him because it would do no good at all. At least the mission had ended quickly. He separated the heads from the torso and shouldered them.

"You know, for a forest it's disturbingly silent here…" he said in a hush when they had walked for a few minutes.

"Hm." Sephiroth had noticed as well and it alarmed him. There was no bird, no noises of animal feet in the bushes, no nothing... It was deadly quiet and the Fangs that had attacked them had seemed oddly nervous as well; not really as if they had targeted them to hunt them, but more so because they felt threatened.

"Just keep going and be quiet. Something is wrong here," he murmured, his eyes scanning the area over and over. A bad feeling started to curl in the pit of his belly and he gripped his sword tighter.

Hearing Sephiroth say that worried Genesis a little more. He knew that when a forest – any environment – was this quiet, something was at odds and mostly something really bad. He remembered the day when he and Angeal had gone to the fields, finding nothing more than a lifeless area. It had ended with them being attacked by a giant, grizzly bear-like mutation that had come from god knows where. He didn't really want to replay anything like that.

He followed Sephiroth quietly, turning his head from left to right rapidly to scan for any kind of movement. The hairs at the back of his head were sticking out and his skin was itching with misgiving.

All of a sudden there was a relatively loud (compared to the general silence) rustling from their left and, on instinct, Sephiroth lifted his sword, ready to strike with all his infamous might.

What came out of the bushes was no Dragon or Bahamut or other such fearful creature, but a stinking, blood drenched Angeal and his partner. He stopped dead in his tracks as a very sharp sword was pointed at his throat and held up his hands in surrender, until Sephiroth had time to realize who he was threatening. The silver haired man withdrew his weapon eventually, expression morose.

If this had been the source of the awkward silence in the forest they could have at least been done with it...

"I see you are finished with the mission as well," Angeal assessed quietly with a look at the heads that dangled from Genesis' shoulder. He had two of them as well.

"Something is wrong here," he lowered his voice even further, frowning.

When Genesis spotted Angeal he had hoped that his worry would ease at least a little, but it didn't at all. Hearing his friend confirm their dread, he actually felt even worse. There was something deep down in his mind, an instinct, that told him that danger couldn't be too far away.

Shaking off the disturbing feeling, he adjusted the heads again. "Let's get going… I don't want to encounter whatever hides in this damn forest…," he said quietly. There was no mocking in his voice, no mischief, just plain uneasiness. Shifting his weight he turned to start walking into the direction they had originally taken.

Angeal simply nodded and his partner was just about to open his mouth to say something when right behind him the earth shook and a giant tree fell down, almost squashing them.

"Watch out!" Sephiroth barked, rolling over the forest ground and using the force to jump back onto his feet gracefully, sword ready to attack. It was then that he noticed that what had almost fallen onto them was not a tree but something alive, something huge and moving.

"W-what is that?" the nameless guy shrieked, crawling over the dirt backwards, his weapon lost somewhere.

Sephiroth gritted his teeth. Of all the things to encounter!

"Midgar Zolom. Stay close, be quiet, and try to not die! It may not have seen us yet." This was highly unlikely, but there was still a chance Sephiroth wouldn't pass on. He fingered out his cell, quickly pressing in a number and then hissing, "This is SOLDIER Second Class Sephiroth, I report an emergency situation, I repeat: an emergency situation. I require immediate level 2 backup!" They would get his location automatically with the signal and he just hoped that whoever came made it in time.

Genesis leaped back to his feet, covered with dirt all over, and briefly checked if the others were okay. Angeal seemed quite terrified but fine, not a scratch as far as he could tell. Angeal's partner was unharmed, but in obvious shock. Sephiroth was painted in brown and greenish mud, but was fine too.

Observing the giant snake, he put his hands on his weapon, ready to unsheathe it if necessary, but he wasn't too pleased at the thought of fighting the Zolom. Genesis knew it could do some serious harm, and considering its height, that was no surprise really. Angeal and he had dived to the right, while Sephiroth and the other guy had gone to the left. So they were practically separated by the monster in front of them.

Icy shivers ran down Genesis' spine when the Zolom turned its head to face him and Angeal, its deadly eyes mostly focused on him. It eyed him for several seconds that felt more like millenniums to him. Angeal stood still next to him, but he felt the anxiety radiating from him.

When the Zolom let out an ear-battering roar, Genesis pulled his sword out on reflex. At that exact moment, 'nameless-guy' chose to lose his nerves. It was bound to happen, seeing as they were all only shiny and new Third Class Soldiers with no experience in the battle field at all; people had deserted for less. The bad thing was that, whereas staying and fighting till back up arrived left them with a 5% chance of survival, leaving and running meant certain death.

Cursing under his breath, Sephiroth abandoned the half started attack that would have given him a good shot at the beast's neck, turned mid-flight and went after the screaming guy, to push him out of the way of the Zolom's giant tail as it whipped at them. The guy flew into the bushes and vanished between the leaves, but the force of the collision, paired with the hit on the back from the beast's tail, sent Sephiroth crashing into a tree. The sword in his hand was knocked away and the dizzy soldier barely had time to recover as the giant, snake-like monster moved in on him.

"Oh damn," Genesis spat, grabbing his sword tighter. Either he stayed back and let Sephiroth do all the work – and possibly let him die (very possible!) – or he'd help him – perhaps loosing his own life (also very likely!). But when he heard the bloodcurdling sound of Sephiroth's body crashing into the tree, and saw the Zolom begin to attack him when he was defenseless, it didn't matter anymore.

"Angeal, go for its back, but keep an eye on the tale and the teeth, you hear me?" He shifted his stance.

"But…"

"Just do it already!" Genesis shouted, running towards the Zolom's head, to stop it from devouring Sephiroth whole. The impact of the crash left the Second breathless for a moment.

"What are you doing?" Sephiroth snapped, supporting his weight on the tree as he got up, blood running down his face and obscuring his vision. He needed to find his sword; a Zolom wasn't all that hard do defeat, he had done it before, but then he didn't have to take care of three rookies as well! And of course he didn't have any materia with him, as the premises was supposed to be secure and the mission should have been uncomplicated and easy! And where was the damn backup?

Sephiroth wiped over his face to clear his vision and staggered towards the monster because he could see his sword lying nearby.

Angeal meanwhile was having a hard time keeping the Zolom from crushing him with its tail. The beast was damn agile and swatted at him as if he were an annoying fly. Clearly, its main focus was on Genesis and Sephiroth on the ground, as it braced itself to attack again with its large tail, and even Angeal sticking his sword into the hard flesh didn't prevent the Zolom from letting its rear crash down.

"Saving your sorry ass, obviously!" Genesis hissed after the silver haired warrior, seeing in the corner of his eyes that the Zolom had initiated another attack, directed at Sephiroth again.

It's like it wants to eliminate him first. Genesis thought, gritting his teeth and heading for its head again. It wasn't the smartest move, he knew that. The head was the most dangerous area of the Zolom, but what could he do? The head was the area that was attacking Sephiroth after all, who had finally gathered his sword again, able to defend himself now.

Checking on Angeal briefly, Genesis leaped into the air just above its head, missing the swift motion of its tail that nearly hit his head in mid-air. "Whoa, goddamn thing!"

He only hit the Zolom's skin briefly, but it wasn't nearly as hard as it looked.

Sephiroth braced himself, his grip tightening on his sword, his eyes narrowed. Then he leaped at the hissing beast, stabbing it in the opened mouth. The Zolom roared at the lethal stab and thrashed its head. Avoiding the poisonous spit that flew from the snake's long fangs as it tried to retreat, Sephiroth remained relentless, fiercely pushing his sword deeper into the wound until there was a gush of blood and the Zolom tumbled, its tail twitching, its massive head crashing into the ground where it lay still.

With shaking hands, Sephiroth withdrew his sword, exhaling deeply and then stumbling away from the dead animal. The adrenaline that had been pushing him slowly wore off and he looked around as if in a trance, searching for the others to see if they were all right. It was then that, behind him, the Zolom lifted its head one last time in its death struggle and shot forward, the razor sharp, venom dripping teeth aimed at the silver haired man.

Genesis had watched with something akin to awe when Sephiroth brought the Zolom down with just one deadly strike. Landing gracefully on the ground again, he had turned to at least congratulate the other, when he had noticed the slight twitch in the beast's body. No, not slight anymore! The Zolom had raised its head for one last attack, its fangs glistening with what he assumed was poison.

Without noticing how fast he moved, he pushed the oblivious Sephiroth out of the way, just moments before the fangs would have closed over his superior. Unfortunately for him, he hadn't thought as much as acted when pushing the SOLDIER Second Class out of the way. The giant didn't hesitate and now Genesis was its mark, the monster doing its best to cause a fatal wound. Bracing himself for the worst, he raised his sword vertically in front of him, waiting for the clash that was to come.

And it came, with full force. Even though he tried to defend himself, the pain-crazed Zolom managed to land a bite and pierce the skin of his right forearm, making Genesis hiss with suppressed rage and pain before his sword collided with one of its eyes, cutting through and further in. The sound was awful; even more awful was the noise it made while toppling to the ground.

Genesis' chest heaved rapidly, his veins pulsing with fear, ache and anger. He didn't even notice the wound directly, not until it started burning like someone had applied acid to it.

Angeal came running towards them, having seen from afar what was happening to his friend. He wasn't fast enough and a cold fist tightened around his heart when he saw that Genesis was under attack. From above came the sound of choppers as finally the back-up appeared, but way too late.

Before Angeal could reach his friend, Sephiroth got up and decapitated the Zolom with one swift strike and the head tumbled to the ground. Sephiroth didn't take his time to gloat at the monster but bent over his injured room mate. He was sweaty and bloody and very pale. A deep gash on his arm looked horribly painful.

"Don't move," Sephiroth instructed tightly, ripping off a bit of fabric from his uniform to quickly bind it around Genesis' upper arm to slow the blood flow and keep the poison from spreading. "Can you still hear me?" he asked the boy, ignoring his ringing cell.

Genesis wanted to tell him to 'fuck off', because he had been bitten but not been deafened, but he found himself unable to respond. Everything began to swim angrily, colors buzzing in and out of his vision. He nodded, even if just to make Sephiroth stop gripping his already aching arm so tightly.

"Loud'n'clearly…" He said lowly, squeezing his eyes together in a feeble attempt to lessen the blur. The edges of his vision began to darken, but he fought for consciousness.

"Some kick ass poison that is…" he mumbled, at least trying to keep himself awake. He knew that if he fell asleep now, it was quite likely that he would never wake up again and he had actually wanted to prevent that from happening too soon.

Sephiroth's expression grew concerned as the poison spread too quickly. Genesis didn't have mako infusions yet to make him resilient. There was no other way but to slap him in the face, hard, to make him stay awake. Meanwhile, Angeal had arrived by their side, but before he could ask concerned questions Sephiroth gave the man a sharp order to get a medic and some healing materia and Angeal complied.

As Angeal left, Sephiroth focused back on Genesis; it was mandatory that he not slip into a coma before the medics arrived, so Sephiroth had to keep him awake but he couldn't constantly slap him. Therefore he growled, hoping to appeal to Genesis' hotheaded side.

"That was the most stupid thing I have ever seen anyone do, soldier! It'll have severe consequences, so don't you dare escape punishment by kicking the bucket," he growled, pulling the bandage tighter and reaching for Genesis' pulse.

"Hey," Genesis weakly replied, using most of his strength to keep his eyes open. "I saved your sorry excuse for an ass here… and no slapping in the face… 's off limit!" His words were slurred, but at least talking pulled his thoughts away from the pain in his arm...or maybe the pain just faded because he was dying, which wasn't exactly a good thought either. He kept that thought to himself, watching the dead Zolom in front of them.

"Some fucking monster…"

Leaning against Sephiroth, he sighed. His body was using all its possible energies to fight the poison in his arm and he was having a really hard time even thinking straight.

"What's the poison doin'?"

"Obviously not shutting you up," Sephiroth replied, but he was relieved. He kept Genesis in a steady sitting position, trying not to move him. When Angeal came back with a medic he knelt down beside the little party and immediately applied an antidote that would take care of the more acute symptoms.

"We will transport him to the hospital now," the medic informed, as two of his colleagues appeared with a stretcher. Sephiroth nodded, waving them off as they wanted to take a look at him too. Angeal went with the group to go to the hospital while Sephiroth searched for the commanding officer to make his report.

tbc...?

Hm, there are no review replies this time because there ain't no reviews :( Please, if you have a minute to spare, write us a little feedback?

And we thank danslalune for her wonderful and thorough betaing! *huggles*