Interference

Genesis stared blankly at the ceiling above his bed. He felt sick. He had never had any patience with ill people before -never having been seriously ill himself- but now he understood all too well why poor health was so awful.

He ached all over.

He felt nauseous.

He was cold despite being bundled up in thick pyjamas and several layers of blankets.

He couldn't think in a straight line for more than a few seconds.

Worst of all, he couldn't remember any relevant LOVELESS quotes and felt as weak as a kitten. Being sick was the absolute low point of his entire life and he never wanted it to happen ever again.

A small redhead with a spiky haircut wearing clothes like Cloud's was in charge of him, which meant he stayed in the Crimson General's room during the day and studied or practiced kata with a pair of jitte. When Genesis was thirsty the boy got him a drink. When he tossed and turned the boy came over and checked his temperature and made sure his pillows and blankets were comfortable and not knotted up. The boy -who Valentine addressed as Wolf- never spoke. Not a single word had passed his lips in six whole days. Genesis would have been bored to the point of going crazy except he didn't have the energy for that either.

Six times in every twenty-four hour period Valentine would check up on him and send tendrils of strange black energy into his body; she also sat with him throughout the night, never sleeping at all that he could see. He always felt better after she did the energy thing, so whatever the process was seemed to be doing something. Genesis just wished he could have avoided the constant, bone-deep exhaustion. It was like dying without ever getting a chance to actually be dead.

The Crimson General had noticed that Vincent's eyes went a solid, luminous gold when she was using the black energy, which was odd. Odder still was that her 'feel' -all SOLDIERs became vaguely aware of other living creatures after getting the Mako injections- changed as well. She went from feeling 'solid' -a sign of high Mako levels- with an unsettling edge to completely and irrefutably skin-crawling, which set off all of Genesis' military instincts. Experimentation could account for the uneasy tinge in her normal everyday signature, but the shift into pure creepiness was another animal altogether.


The door opened and Valentine came in; it had to be that time of day again. Wolf left the room as soon as the incognito Turk entered it, presumably going for a meal. Genesis couldn't even look at food at the moment; he'd lost a lot of weight while he was stuck in bed being sick.

The oddly-dressed woman knelt on the bed next to the SOLDIER first-class and changed, eyes and presence altering as the black tendrils leaked out of her fingertips and sank into his skin.

"You feel totally different when you do this, you know," the General croaked.

"It doesn't surprise me in the slightest, little mage."

Genesis froze. That was not Vincent's voice. It sounded like six or more voices speaking in unison, all of them much deeper than the Turk's pleasant contralto. "You are not Vincent," he rasped, very aware of being at this creature's mercy. "Who are you?"

"I am Chaos, herald of OMEGA, little mage. When the war of beasts brings about the world's end, The Goddess descends from the sky. Wings of light and dark spread afar, She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting. I serve the Goddess by my very existence."

"You just quoted LOVELESS." Genesis was confused.

"It is a prophesy, little mage, describing the end of the Planet. OMEGA is the last and greatest of the WEAPONS, the beasts of prophesy, and I shall go before him as he gathers the Lifestream to himself until the Goddess guides him to a new world."

"You're the harbinger of Armageddon," the General concluded flatly. It was almost surreal. "Why are you walking around in Vincent Valentine's body?"

"The little paradox is my vessel, my avatar and not by my choice or hers. The woman locked me within her, bound me to my paradox's flesh and will in a foolish attempt to prevent her from returning to the Lifestream. My paradox has however proved a satisfactory vessel and her chocobo tagalong is sufficiently amusing. The kitten also has promise, so I am content to wait within and assist my vessel in her chosen path and watch what disorder spirals out around her."

"I suppose Cloud is the chocobo; does that mean Wolf is the kitten?" Genesis asked. The riddles were making his brain ache.

Indeed. I am impressed: even half-cooked you can think," Chaos said offhandedly. "The Calamity is dying within you now little mage, but in a final attempt to linger on it has changed you in ways that will only later become apparent. Nothing that a human would consider disfiguring, I assure you; just a few optional extras you may come to enjoy."

Genesis did not have the energy to either protest or ask for clarification. He wasn't going to slowly decompose into a puddle of toxic slime and the virus was dying. It was enough for the time being.

"I'm astonished my avatar has not yet spoken to you of Deepground, little mage, considering how much of that information involves you in one way or another," Chaos commented. Genesis just knew it wasn't a casual observation. Any being that called itself 'Chaos' and had power over entropy would probably consider havoc of any kind entertaining. It was trying to get a rise out of him.

"Deepground?" he asked anyway. Chaos was the one in control of the situation and he didn't want the creature pissed off at him.

"A secret detachment of SOLDIER with almost poisonously high Mako requirements," Chaos replied, "that answers directly to President Shinra and to him alone. It used to be a medical facility but after your birth it became the site of many deeply unethical experiments using you DNA as a base. They created many, ah, offspring, of which only three have survived: a female and two males. They are called Rosso, Weiss and Nero. The youngest was merged with some of the tainted Mako infused with my power before his birth, making him as much my own child as yours. As you, little mage, rose in rank within SOLDIER, the scientists became afraid of your spawn's power so they recently bound and contained them. Nero was the last child created; after him Deepground recruited from the battlefields of Wutai, stealing the injured and either experimenting on them or pressing them into service."

"I, I have kids?" Genesis stuttered.

"It would be more accurate to call them younger siblings, I suppose," Chaos said conversationally. "Rosso is fifteen, Weiss fourteen and Nero was thirteen yesterday. Like Sephiroth they are lab raised, but the incredibly high pressure all three are under is causing their mental state to deteriorate: Rosso is already showing signs of developing psychological pathology. Humans are incredibly fragile creatures, are they not, little mage?"

"Where? Where are they?" Genesis begged, knowing he looked totally pathetic but not caring in the slightest. Those kids were his family. True, they were Vincent's, Angeal's and Sephiroth's as well since they were all related but they were his first and foremost.

"Ah, time for me to leave. See you around, little mage," Chaos said as the gold faded away and Valentine's eyes returned to their normal dull red.

Genesis glared up at the impassive Turk, one hand fisted in her red cape. "Tell me about Deepground."


Chaos just loves stirring up trouble, doesn't he? Who thinks he planned this when he made the offer? Anyone?

As to nicknames, Genesis is a Materia specialist, hence Chaos calling him 'little mage'. Vincent is 'little vessel, avatar or paradox' interchangeably, Cloud is 'little chocobo' and Shelke/Wolf is 'little copy-cat' or 'little kitten'. Angeal is 'little paladin' -this is an insult; honour is so orderly and dull- Zack is 'little puppy' -naturally- and Sephiroth is 'little dragon'.

More amusingly, Reno is 'little pest' and Kunsel 'little spy'. Rude is 'little rock'... and Tseng is 'little mask'. Veld's nickname will turn up later.

To Chaos, everyone is 'little' except the WEAPONS and himself.