Before we start: Please read the author's note at the end of the chapter regarding updates of this story.

Blitzkrieg Chapter 9

Hot.

It was incredibly, stickily, suffocatingly hot.

Sephiroth wiped the sweat from his forehead and killed a mosquito that greedily sucked his blood at his neck. The sun was burning mercilessly down on them and the shadows of the big green leaves wasn't helping much at all. Besides the air was too moist and too heavy, but that much they had to expect from a jungle. Sephiroth looked down at the digital map on his phone that pinpointed their location as well as their destination via GPS. Only a few more miles... Pushing aside more leaves Sephiroth cut through the bushes with his sword. He really didn't get why no one bothered maintaining the street any better when obviously it was so important. Looking back at his shoulder he saw that his partner had fallen behind and scowled a bit. "Come on now!"

He wanted to get this over with ASAP and take a nice, cold shower...

This was definitely the most senseless mission ever. Genesis felt like being in a giant sauna, just that he had all his clothes on and it was definitely not relaxing. And had he mentioned that this was just senseless?

"I can't believe it, I'm at full potential again and the first mission we get is checking up on a dumb bridge in the middle of nowhere. As if there is no one else to do this. Angeal is getting the most awesome missions… urgh…" He made a gagging noise, shaking his arms to get rid of the moisture there, but it didn't help at all. His hair was a mess and totally dull and damp.

"I hate it here." He exclaimed loudly, voicing his contempt towards Sephiroth, who walked a few meters in front of him.

"I'm not exactly loving it either," the other young man retorted wryly, killing another mosquito with the flat palm of his hand. The sounds of the wildlife around them were a distraction at least, as was the occasional glimpse at a colorful bird or reptile, though not much. Sephiroth had also spotted the one or other snake and poisonous insect and despite the horrible heat he was glad he wore his full gear. Who knew what else was hiding in this jungle...

"This is an important mission, so stop complaining," he droned, looking back onto their path again. Only two miles left, at their pace they could make it in 20 minutes...

"This is anything but important. We are checking up on a fucking bridge of all things. As if they have no helicopter to look for it or send some Turks." Genesis snapped, catching up with the silver-haired man. Whisking away the sweat in his face, he looked up at the other with a questioning expression.

"How long?" was his only question.

"20 minutes." Sephiroth wanted to say something else: he wanted to snap that if Genesis saved his breath instead of ranting they could already be on their way back. But he didn't say that because he was being social. And because he was too hot. Speaking was strenuous. "Using helicopters costs money and the Turks have other things to do. Those missions are traditionally executed by SOLDIER. You didn't think we would be fighting monsters 24/7, did you now?"

"I at least thought SOLDIERs did something more… exciting and…" He made a movement with his hand that implied that he had hoped there would be more to being a soldier than just this. Walking around, looking after things, killing a few monsters.

"Don't worry, just let's get this over with." Genesis finally said, started to head towards the bridge again, cutting down a few plants here and there. This was just so silly.

They walked the rest of the way in silence, save for their occasional panting and short stops to drink something. Eventually the jungle faded into a small clearing that was cut off by a sharp cliff. Across the abyss led a fragile looking wooden bridge that was half claimed by the jungle, as thick vines had crawled around the railings.

"That must be it," Sephiroth frowned, checking on his phone.

"This has to be ancient." Genesis stated, obviously relieved that they had finally reached their aim, even though it looked like a poor excuse for a bridge whatsoever. "This can't be right, didn't they say this bridge was essential for supplying Midgar?"

He got closer, curiously, poking the wooden bar with his foot. A sick creak was heard and then the first two bars broke, falling down into the deep cliff. Genesis didn't even hear them scattering. "They can't be serious, what is this? This bridge has never in its whole life been able to supply anything."

"And now it never will because you just destroyed a substantial logistic infrastructure to supply Midgar. If people die it is your fault." Sephiroth peered over the cliff with a lifted brow, apparently just as pissed off as Genesis was. Then he sighed. "All right, help me get the vines off, then we will report in."

"If this was a substantial bridge, I'm surprised people even live in Midgar." The red-head retorted, crossing his arms in front of his chest before moving to the other side of the bridge to tear the vines off there. "You think they just tricked us? I mean… I would get that kind of joke really."

"You've never been to Midgar, half of the people there are dead, " Sephiroth muttered, cutting off a thick branch of ivy that fell down into the dark cleft. This was ridiculous indeed and so he stopped, taking out his cell phone again. Strange, just a minute ago he still had had a signal, but now there was nothing. He walked a bit, but it was just the same. "Genesis, you got anything?" he asked frowning, still moving his phone in the air. This was strange indeed...

A redhead emerged from behind the thick clutter of green wildlife, the mobile in his hand, walking around to get a signal. But there was none. "Hm, no, nothing here either. But I know for sure I had one just a few minutes ago in the jungle," he said, raising his eyebrows in annoyance. "This is hilarious, how can we lack signal outside a thick forest, but have it inside? This stupid technology never works when you really need it."

"That is strange indeed..." They had met back by the bridge, staring at the object of their mission, at a loss of how to proceed. Sephiroth had the distinct feeling that something was off, very very off, and he restlessly cramped his fingers around the railing of the bridge. "I suggest we take some picture material and then go ba-" He suddenly stopped mid-sentence, eyes growing wide, his face going ashen. Then he just grabbed Genesis around the waist and and started running back towards the forest.

"Wha…?" He didn't come as far, squeaking when Sephiroth grabbed him rather roughly just to run back towards the way they had come with inhumane speed. "What's wrong?" He called, wincing when he was hit by several leaves and sticks.

Then he heard it. A deafening noise, something crashing, wood splintering and then he looked back, seeing the inferno behind them, crawling into the forest they were finally in. Flames were licking at the broken trees that had been teared into pieces by the explosion. They had both felt it to their cores, Sephiroth had stumbled shortly but was back to running now. He only slowed down when they were far enough from the flames.

"What the hell…" Genesis whispered disbelievingly, staring through the woods at where they had been just moments ago.

"Our phone signal got disrupted," Sephiroth panted, leaning his hands against his knees, "because someone set the bombs off." His hair was disheveled and dark smears stained his face. He didn't want to look behind him. "Are you injured?"

"I'm okay." The other replied automatically, staring at the flaring flames. They could have been killed right there, now, just like that. Of course Genesis had known that this job was risky, to say the least, yet he had never thought about it so thoroughly. Sighing, he closed his eyes, just now noticing how erratically his heart was beating. He tried to calm himself. They were alive, Sephiroth had rescued him, again. "How about you? Everything okay?"

"Yes." At least he wasn't injured physically. He checked his cell phone again but there was still no signal. Great, now how were they supposed to call for back up? And on top of that it would get dark soon! "We should get back for now and wait for the helicopter to pick us up." Getting back would be a pain in the ass though; without the signal they had no map either and the path they had followed up to the bridge would be inaccessible if they were unlucky. The explosion had caused quite some damage.

Genesis nodded at that, turning to look for the path they had walked when getting here, yet he didn't see anything at all. "You see any path?" He asked hopefully. The life around them looked mostly untouched and he couldn't find a hint of the damage they had done to the bushes and leaves on their way to the bridge. This was hopeless.

A short glance at his phone also confirmed that there was still no signal to be found, meaning no map, no GPS, no call for help. Great.

"No, but I have a vague idea." Luckily for him Sephiroth had attended various classes where they taught old school ways of orientation; technology was superior only when it functioned. With the path gone it was even harder getting through the thick forest and the rapidly dimming light wasn't helpful either. There was no chopper to be heard above which was strange, because someone should have come to pick them up. Most likely the signal was still distorted, resulting in messed up instruments.

Sephiroth chopped his way through the bushes, away from the still scorching flames behind them. They probably shouldn't get too far away from that; it was their only source of orientation and the fire would keep away animals. "Let's stay here for now," Sephiroth finally decided, stopping and looking around a small clearing where it wasn't as crowded as the rest of the jungle.

The other didn't reply immediately, but dropped down. With the adrenaline slowly leaving his veins, Genesis was left exhausted from the trip and the shock. Sighing he rubbed over his face, his eyes burning from the smoke and the sleepiness, yet he knew they couldn't just fall asleep like that. They had to keep watch, in case of animals getting too close and being a little too interested in them; that was the most important thing to do now.

"Should we build a fire or… do you think the explosion will keep animals away?" Genesis would definitely prefer a fire on his own because it got surprisingly cold without the sun burning down on them, and it got cold very fast.

"No fire." A fire would make them an easy target, too easy to spot. Sephiroth didn't know why but he had a bad feeling; the wheels kept turning in his mind, but he was too exhausted to make much sense of it. "You can go to sleep and I will do the first watch," he offered, sitting down on a tree trunk after making sure that there was nothing poisonous on it. The sky above them turned a dark blue and the first stars gleamed down on them.

Genesis wrinkled his nose, lying down on the soft grass that still held some of the warmth of the day. Despite the beautiful sky, he couldn't come to rest at all. He was tired, his limps felt like they'd weight ten tons but he couldn't keep his mind off the things that had happened. Additionally the air was chilly and he couldn't suppress shudders anymore.

"There was something at odds with the bridge." He said quietly with his eyes closed.

"Yes." Sephiroth leaned his head on his sword that was resting against his knee. It didn't escape him how Genesis shivered, as it was getting cold indeed, and the fire behind them had gone down to a mere flickering. "Are you cold?" he asked, shifting his weight. They would have to think of something or they would be frozen stiff till the morning.

The redhead wanted to say 'no' because his pride told him to, yet he couldn't deny that itwas cold, and that he was cold. "Yeah, a bit…" He answered instead, glad that he had maintained at least some of his façade.

"It will get worse," Sephiroth muttered, frowning. They would have to deal with this, but he wasn't entirely unprepared. The best way to get warm was sharing body heat. Thus he slipped from the tree trunk and settled next to Genesis, laying an arm around him and pressing their bodies close. "Is this helping?"

It was most obviously helping Genesis' face to heat up uncomfortably. He didn't say anything though, just nodded, leaning a little into the somewhat embrace. It was definitely warmer, a little too warm because his body suddenly decided that he liked this closeness a bit too much. Not helping at all, he thought angrily.

Genesis' hair tickled his cheeks as the slender man moved a bit and Sephiroth stiffened. Then his arm relaxed around the lightly shivering body and his voice turned just a notch softer and lower. "There are ways to provide... more heat." It was an offer, nothing more, a suggestion.

The smaller grinned silently at that. "Are you suggesting what I think you are?" He asked slyly, turning his head to look at Sephiroth with his head on the other's chest. "You know that this could be judged as sexual harassment, right?" The grin on his face told what he was truly thinking about it.

Sephiroth was taken aback for a moment but then his lips twitched into a smirk too. "Only if the counterpart is unwilling," he replied, looking down at the redhead with a lifted brow. The warmth between them was already increasing.

"What tells you that I'm not unwilling?" Genesis fired back innocently, batting his long lashes softly, yet the leer on his plush lips gave him away. This was definitely better than shivering alone on the grassy ground like before.

"I wonder..." Sephiroth drawled, running his fingertips down the other's spine, while pressing himself closer. "Is that a banana in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"*

"That was low, Sephiroth, even for you." Genesis snickered, drawing his hands up the silver-haired man's waist to his chest, while pressing his loins closer. "But I'm used to it by now."

"I can do even worse," the silver haired man offered, while his nimble fingers loosened the strips of Genesis' uniform. They couldnt get out of their clothes or their bodies would be too exposed to the chilling air, but they could get more comfortable.

"Really? Try me." Genesis challenged, wriggling around a little, his hands over the straps of Sephiroth's uniform. He was silently cursing ShinRa for their extraordinarily dump and inefficient uniforms. They weren't useful at all, in a situation like this, they were even worse.

"I wouldn't want to ruin the 'mood'," the elder snorted, his hand slipping between their bodies to massage the bulge in Genesis' lap. It was getting warm all right, he could feel the heat on his cheeks and loins.

Moaning lowly, Genesis leaned his forehead against the other's chest, breathing rapidly against the uniform. "You worry about moods?" He snorted breathlessly, his fingers flexing into Sephiroth's skin slightly.

"Apparently I do. Didn't you notice?" Sephiroth repeated with fake indignation, adding more pressure. His own pelvis started to gyrate, as he opened the zipper of Genesis' pants to pull out the man's erection, his palm meeting naked, warm flesh that pulsed in his hand.

The other's breathing hitched noticeably, his hands moving to the silver-haired man's pants, too, drawing down the zipper and starting to massage his bulge. "I hadn't thought you'd think about something like that." He breathed.

"Seriously, you dare saying that to my face after all the effort it took me finding this place? I even staged a fake explosion. You hurt my feelings." Sephiroth arched into the touch, humming a bit. This felt wonderful and he could feel the stress draining from his body. Removing his hand he got them some cock to cock contact, their hard organs slapping against each other and then rubbing in a heated rhythm.

"Now you are ruining the mood." Genesis stated dryly, though the expression didn't last long because a new moan broke it. "You are a freak, you know that?" He wrapped his hand around both their erections, letting them slide smoothly along and against each other. The at first tiny ball of pleasure that had settled in the pit of his stomach tuned bigger. He did not think about today nor about tomorrow or what they would do to get back to ShinRa, it didn't matter.

"Don't pretend you don't like that," Sephiroth smirked, but then his expression melted into a slightly unguarded, relaxed one. The breaths out of their mouths came in little white clouds and it was too warm in their clothes now. Their movements began to become relentless and uncontrolled, driven by lust and the need for release.

Genesis couldn't catch enough air to answer, his breaths reduced to short pants as his waist ground against Sephiroth's in erratic movement. Their moans were swallowed by the thick leaves and branches around them, their only witness the stars and whatever lived in this forest. Genesis felt the orgasm building up steadily, his body was prickling with want and ecstasy.

Sephiroth felt his muscles tense and his brain turn to mush as his climax built rapidly and he gripped Genesis harder, their bodies crushing against each other. Hot semen spilled forth from his cock as he ground against Genesis' erection over and over again and a small hiss escaped him, before he gradually relaxed, his hips twitching still a few times more.

When the Genesis came, he felt like everything blackened out, nothing mattered anymore, only this moment counted. "Fuck", the curse left his lips without him even noticing it, his hips moving on their own accord as he savored the feeling. Genesis clawed into Sephiroth's uniform with one hand, trying to hold on without even knowing why.

Sephiroth came a few seconds later, his arm around Genesis to keep him close. The exciting, blissful tension that came with his orgasm bled from his body slowly as he relaxed back into a more comfortable position on the forest ground. This was much better; he was warm now, even a bit sleepy and his thoughts had calmed down too. So maybe he was a bit sticky with cum, but at least they were still alive...

He felt the smaller man snuggling closer to him, a content noise leaving the red-head's throat. Genesis had his eyes closed, his face satisfied and settled, as was his body. Only his hands were still clenched in the now crumbled uniform, but Genesis did not care a single bit about Sephiroth's stupid uniform. He was warm, he was pleased, and now he felt like sleeping and so he would do.

Sephiroth lay awake for a long time. Not that he wasn't tired but someone had to be on guard and besides, his mind was preoccupied with thoughts about their failed mission. Had it just been a bad case of human failure that their superiors had sent them to a location that was being blown up because it was obviously useless? It happened from time to time, information got mixed up and he would have to check immediately with Lazard about what had gone wrong. It was strange that this was the second incident now where their lives had been threatened though. The zolom had been an accident as well...

Genesis shifted restlessly at his side as if noticing that the other was brooding over something. "What is it?" He asked sleepily, trying not to fall asleep right after asking the question. He wanted to sleep, of course, yet he felt some kind of sympathy for Sephiroth having to stay awake, even though he looked as tired as Genesis felt.

"It's probably nothing, go back to sleep. I will wake you when it is your turn," Sephiroth muttered. He lay on his back, listening to the nightly sounds of the forest and trying to see through the canopy up into the sky, but the leaves were too thick. Down here it was almost pitch black, neither the moon nor the stars visible. Sephiroth hoped his brothers were all right and briefly checked his cell, but the signal was still missing.

"You wouldn't be messing your head up with nothing." Genesis observed flatly, still keeping his eyes closed and holding on to the near-sleep that was preoccupying his body, yet his senses were awake. "And I can practically feel you thinking, so spill."

"Nothing eludes you, hm?" It was only a bit wry when Sephiroth said it. "I keep thinking about the explosion. Most likely it was an accident, but there's an awful lot of accidents happening lately."

"Right." Genesis agreed slowly, thinking about the two incidents; the first one making him unable to move his arm for a few weeks, this one making them unable to get back. "But it were only two…" He said at last, finally opening his eyes, just to be greeted with pitch-black nothingness.

"Two in less than a month and two accidents in a row," Sephiroth pointed out hesitantly. "Accidents seldom happen with ShinRa," he added quietly. He knew, because he had grown up with their ugly politics; they were control freaks and the more Sephiroth thought about it the less likely it became that indeed it had only been a coincident...

Genesis remained silent, mostly because he knew nothing about ShinRa whatsoever. Accidents were likely to happen, yet if the other was sure, that with ShinRa it was rather suspicious he couldn't shake off the feeling of discomfort. "So you think somebody may have… initiated that? For what purpose then?"

"I don't know," Sephiroth replied honestly. There was a sound in the shadows, but then it was gone and he relaxed again. "If it was no accidents then we will have to assume that someone is targeting us or either of us. For what purpose I am not sure. It could be a test conducted to see if I developed abilities needed to become first class. But you are endangered as well and the last mission was nothing that would tell them anything about my combat or leadership abilities..."

"I doubt that endangering anybody would keep them from testing you… if they really do." The red-head answered coldly, yet his mood was not directed against Sephiroth. "What you say sounds plausible, but I assume they are after you. Honestly, what would they want from me of all people?"

Sephiroth's gaze drifted over to Genesis. The redhead was probably right, but that was not much of a relief for Genesis, because they were involuntary team mates in this. "There is also a third option," he finally said after a pause.

Genesis raised his eyebrow for nobody in particular to see. "A third option…" He mumbled. "What do you have in mind?"

The pause dragged on, because Sephiroth contemplated whether he should tell Genesis or not. Eventually he decided that even if he was wrong more damage would be done if he didn't say anything. "Someone is trying to kill me." And Genesis was just very unlucky to get in the line of fire.

The other flinched involuntarily at that, his head jerking up to look into the darkness where he reckoned Sephiroth to be. "Okay, even though I once or twice threatened to kill you, how could anybody be so god damn stupid to even try?" He asked incredulously. His face showed the disbelief he was feeling obviously. "And what would they gain from it, except for a lot of trouble with you and ShinRa?"

"No trouble at all. I think it is ShinRa who wants me dead." Sephiroth tiredly rubbed over his eyes, wondering if he was going mad. This paranoid conspiracy theory sounded laughable to his ears, now that he was saying it out loud...

"You think ShinRa is trying to get rid of you? Why you of all people?" Genesis huffed with barely suppressed humor. "That sounds absurd, Sephiroth, really… You are their golden boy, no use or profit therefore in getting rid of you."

"Maybe not for ShinRa himself. But everyone who wants to do harm to the company would profit from my death, as it would affect ShinRa's image. There are power struggles within the company, always have been." Sephiroth's voice sounded lame to him. Nonetheless he felt restless. Something was wrong, he could feel it in his guts.

"You may be right, yet you may be wrong." Genesis offered cryptically. "It does no good to worry endlessly about it, we'll see once we get back and then we'll kick somebody's sorry ass." He hoped he would be able to cheer Sephiroth up, he felt like he had to; at least try.

Indeed a thin smirk appeared on Sephiroth's lips, but most likely Genesis wouldn't be able to see it anyway. "You are right. We are going to raise a fuss when we get back." If they got back, but he didn't say that out loud. "You should go back to sleep now."

"You raising a fuss… I'd sell my mother to see that." The red-head teased, nestling comfortably against Sephiroth's strong chest, closing his tired, blue eyes again and letting a content sigh pass by his lips. He prayed to the goddess, that the silver-haired warrior hadn't heard it, simultaneously asking himself what he was actually doing here. His weary body decided for him, practically melting against the other and just shutting down. A sleepy mewl dropped from his lips before he finally fell asleep.

tbc?

AN: Dear readers. *sigh* This is chapter 9. There've been 8 chapters before that, so I assume that if you came back here to read it - you kinda enjoy it (?). Usually I am not one to nag, but this time I will, also because this story is about to die. There are almost no reviews for this story. That is no big deal, as you could think "Well, maybe no one's reading it!" WRONG! This story got 4,776 hits so far and 36 reviews. That means less than 0,7% of you bothered to comment (just for comparison: with my other stories I get a review from every tenth reader - here it isn't even every hundreth!), which is a bit devastating and I wonder why I should bother going through the trouble of editing, rereading, formating and uploading. It all takes time, which I don't exactly have, but I do it because it is fun and because I think this is a good story that I would like to share. Fanfiction is non-profit, as you well know, and the only acknowledgement, the only payment I get is comments.

So, if you got a comment, a suggestion, criticism or whatever, tell us please!

Review replies:

Anonymous Bananas: Aw, no worries dear XD Yeah, I wonder how long their cease-fire will last too, they just seem made to piss each other off XD Ah, there's so much more drama in store for them~

Shadow Haloed Angel: Thank you! I was so glad to have finished my thesis! I enjoy the remnants a lot too, also it is interesting to see Sephiroth take on the rle of a 'real' big brother XD You be well too!

Thank you!