Summary: A look into Angeal's thoughts, and more revelations to the twin's creation.
SOLDIER Outpost
With the twin's fainting spells, Ariana and Aridai are flown to the nearest hospital, their bodies becoming feverish almost instantly.
The twins are kept together, since separating them seemed to only make their states worse, and they are so still, almost as if they were dead. They're so small, laying on a king sized hospital bed, pain written on their faces.
If anything, their pale skin became paler, and if they weren't breathing, they looked like corpses.
The exact cause of the twins falling into a coma is identified as their immune systems are going through shock, and that is when the results from their blood tests come back.
With the tissue samples, and their DNA compared with every single person affiliated with Shinra, there's a match.
There's three matches, in fact.
The revelation has both Angeal and Genesis curse out loud, and Sephiroth is silent.
"What the hell was that man thinking?!" Genesis almost roars, before he leaves to throw around Firaga like no tomorrow in an empty training room.
The twin's DNA matched with Sephiroth, Genesis Rhapsodos, and Angeal Hewley.
"Those two, they're practically our kids," is Angeal's horrified conclusion, the expression on his face stricken.
"How curious," Sephiroth mutters, shifting to a thinking position, "Three parents?"
"Sephiroth, you need to understand. We are essentially fathers now. I don't know anything about children!" Angeal's voice takes an almost desperate turn, sounding exactly as the nineteen year old he is.
"What about the Puppy?" Sephiroth asks, and Angeal's face goes through the five stages of grief in two seconds.
"Absolutely not!" the man shakes his head, "He'll just corrupt them!"
Angeal's PHS rings not too long after the declaration, the brunette picking up with a "Commander Hewley speaking."
The call takes a few minutes before he hangs up, turning to his friend.
"The hospital called to say that twins are awake, and they want to see us. All three of us."
"…I volunteer you to retrieve Genesis," Sephiroth tells Angeal with a straight face, and a look of despair flashes on the dark haired man's face.
"Fine."
At least Sephiroth had grown a sense of humor in the six years they've known each other, Angeal thinks, striding through the halls in this Shinra base not too far from Rocket Town.
Ever since the results of the twin's blood came to light, his mind had been running in circles.
He was a father.
He was a father of two.
He was a father, and his own children were suffering, and he never knew!
It was a revelation that hurt his heart, cursing both Hojo and Hollander to the depths of hell.
If the twins hadn't killed Hojo, Angeal would've done it himself.
Maybe after he got Genesis and sat down.
Seeing the twins face to face again is like a punch in the gut.
Angeal sees them almost as if it was the first time, recognizing the various traits that both Ariana and Aridai exhibited.
The mass of predominantly silver hair in the older twin is obviously from Sephiroth, with the red streaks in Ariana's hair most likely from Genesis.
Aridai's hair is a shade in between Angeal and Genesis, with the somewhat random streaks of silver scattered all around.
The female twin had inherited most of her physical appearance from Angeal, with her broad shoulders, thickly muscled arms and legs, her height of 5', as well as her general facial features, while the male twin is lithe like Genesis, and leaned more towards the redhead's strengths with magic.
Both twins are around the same height, with Ariana an inch taller than her twin and with Aridai's genetic donors, the boy would most likely be at least 6'.
If Aridai tilted his head a certain way, Angeal could see a hint of a high cheekbone under the child's still present baby fat, somewhat resembling Sephiroth's facial features.
Ariana, on the other hand, had a sharper jawline, resembling Genesis', and when she frowned, her grimace looked much like Angeal's own, but with a narrower nose.
Both have an extremely high level of Mako, enough that it was a surprise they hadn't been Mako-poisoned, with their bright green eyes the exact same shade as Sephiroth's.
Angeal wasn't sure if reciting Loveless was considered a trait or not.
The twins certainly look healthier than the last time the three Firsts saw them, with life returned to their previously pale cheeks, and their bright green eyes attentive.
"I see the Doctors were cruel to all of you as well," Ariana speaks first, her voice lilting and soft, "The planet suffers because of men like them."
Ariana is holding hands with her brother, the two's IVs sticking out on opposite arms.
"Apologies for the scare. It seems…our bodies were not prepared for the outside world," Aridai pulls a face, "Being cooped up in a building for at least six years without any outside diseases puts our bodies at risk."
Mana sparks at the fingertips of his non occupied hand before he wills it to die down.
"That just shows how incompetent Hojo was," Ariana's eyes narrowed, "Honestly, even a child with zero medical knowledge would know isolation for developing children only spells disaster. I'm not sure how that man graduated from medical school."
"Even crazier that Shinra sponsored him," the younger twin mutters to his sister, before switching to talking through his thoughts, 'Whoever hired him needs to be shot. Multiple times. And mauled by a behemoth.'
"Your DNA results came back, whilst you were still unresponsive," Angeal starts, unwilling to think even another thought about Hojo.
"Really?" Ariana perks up, forgetting all about her gripes about the doctor, "And? What'd you find?"
"…We're your fathers."
Twin pairs of mako green eyes blink, one pair in surprise, while the other was blank.
"Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess. How delightful!" Ariana grins, brighter than the sun, "Where does that leave us then, hm?"
"Most likely, we would be your legal guardians," Angeal continued, "Which means you'll both be coming back with us to Midgar."
"Is…is it okay?" Aridai asks, looking unsure, and his grip tightening on his sister's hand, "It's probably weird for teenagers to have preteen kids…"
"Hey. It's not your fault," Genesis, surprisingly, was the one who reassured the younger twin, "Neither of you asked for this."
"Can I keep that Broadsword? I won it by rite of conquest," Ariana said, mind going back to the weapon, "It's not like it's old owner needs it."
The girl grunted when Aridai elbowed her in the rib, a scowl on his narrow face, "Please have some semblance of honor, Ariana."
She pulled an affronted expression, scowling back.
The twin's gazes met, telepathically talking to each other.
No honor remains. Ariana quoted.
No, what's not honorable is you wanting to desecrate other people's things. Have some decency, sister, Aridai continued, Forge your own sword if you wish, but do not steal the weapon of a man you killed.
Since when were you the paragon of righteousness?
I don't like killing without a reason to. Not if it can be avoided. There's nothing honorable about mindless slaughter.
Ariana's eyes widens when she realizes that her brother is serious, before she smirks.
And here I thought you were naught but a reflection of me, little brother.
There's still things you don't know about me, Aridai thinks, then speaks out loud, "Make your own weapon."
"I will do that, then."
"How are you doing that?" Angeal asks, and he's met with the twin's eyes.
"Twin telepathy," both of them say at the same time, their voices overlapping.
"Makes it easy."
"To communicate."
"The doctor hated it."
"Hated everything about us."
"However."
"It'd be a waste."
"To restart his."
"Experiment again."
"That's partially why."
"Ana killed him."
"He destroyed my copy of Loveless!"
"It sealed his fate."
"It took three weeks to steal it from that nurse!"
"And you've been plaguing my mind with it every day."
"You have no appreciation of romance, Ari."
"And you have bad taste in literature."
Sephiroth cleared his throat loudly, making the twins stop their argument in its tracks.
"I think the arguing is genetic," the silver haired man sighed, looking like he already needed some aspirin for an incoming headache. Beside him, Genesis looked delighted.
"They're definitely our kids," Angeal agreed.
"Oh, I have someone I can converse with about Loveless!" an impish grin overtakes Ariana's scowl from her bad mood, and it reflects Angeal's smile so much it's hard to look at.
"Goddess, save me from this torment," her brother closes his eyes, nose twitching, "Not another one."
"I'm going to have so. Much. Fun," Ariana's eyes glittered with not even concealed excitement.
Aridai blanched. "No."
"I didn't even say or think anything!"
"No, I know you. You want to see a production, don't you!? And, knowing you, you'll push your audio and visual stimuli towards me!"
"Drat, I've been made," Ariana let go of her brother's hand, snapping her fingers, "You do know me very well, brother, I'm sorry I doubted you."
"I'm your reflection, I know exactly how you think, dumbass."
The girl gave a scandalized gasp, eyes open comically wide.
"How rude! I didn't raise a scoundrel, you know!"
Aridai stuck his tongue out, and for the first time, showed a hint of a child.
"Enough. All you two should be doing is resting," Angeal cut in, making the children look up at him.
"Uh, if you're all technically our dads, what do we call you?"
The question Aridai brought up made them all pause, the three SOLDIER Firsts glancing at each other.
"Just call me by name. Either Genesis or Gen," Genesis decided first, "I'd rather not think too much about having kids at nearly twenty."
"Okay. We can do that," both of the children nodded in sync before Ariana spoke up.
"…Can Angeal be Papa? I like him best," she bit her lip lightly, "And…Sephiroth can be our Father. What'd ya think, Ari?"
"Whatever you want, sister. I don't see any problem. What'd ya think, Father?" Aridai tests in his mouth and looks up at the other Mako eyed male curiously, before he grins, "I think I like the sound of it!"
"You'd better like it because it was my idea," Ariana snipes.
"Shh! Stop being childish."
"We are children."
"We are, aren't we."
"Did you forget?"
"Maybe. Perhaps it is better to forget that we are children, after what we've done."
The twins stopped talking, staring at each other.
"That was kinda freaky," Genesis muttered, getting an elbow jabbed at him by Angeal.
"That's how we've always been," Aridai spoke softly, raising his eyes to meet the other's, "Never one without the other, never me without her. As it should be."
"Luckily, as the only SOLDIER Firsts right now, we have a whole floor to ourselves," Angeal said, as a comfort, "We have a few rooms you can use as a bedroom."
"Really? Well, I want to stay with Ana," Aridai looked up with giant, puppy dog eyes, his eyes slightly glistening with budding tears.
I thought you weren't going that route. Ari, I love you, but you also scare me. Ariana caught the look on her twin's face, well aware that since he developed a sense of self, Aridai was pretty crafty at manipulation.
"O-of course. We weren't going to separate you two," Genesis is taken aback by the sight, mentally recoiling.
"I promised we wouldn't, didn't I?" Angeal smiles, reaching down with a cautious hand, noticing that neither twin looks at him with fear, and puts a hand on Aridai's head, ruffling the choppy brown/red strands streaked with silver.
The boy giggles lightly, eyes closing while smiling, "I remember."
"Aridai wouldn't use a fire materia to warm me up," grumbled Ariana, her memory going back to the car.
"We were in a vehicle, Ana, be reasonable."
"Mmhm, tell another joke, at least it'll be funny."
"…Are you referring to being reasonable?"
"I have never been reasonable a day in my life, and you know it."
"Do you two ever stop arguing?" Sephiroth asked dryly, making Ariana flash him an incredulous stare.
"There is no hate, only joy. We like arguing. It's only a little fun," she answered, then smirked, "I know his arguments before his lips can speak it, Father."
Her smirk was a lot like Genesis' that it wasn't even funny.
The man himself thought so too, looking closer to how her green eyes sparkled with humor, even though the smirk didn't quite reach her eyes.
"That's why she always wins. Cheater," accused Aridai, wrinkling his nose distastefully.
Ariana just stuck her tongue out briefly as a response.
There was a knock at the door, a nurse coming in with a clipboard.
"Good afternoon, sweethearts," the nurse, a middle aged woman, greeted, bowing slightly once she realized that the twins had visitors.
"Good afternoon, Nurse Mila," Aridai gave a bright smile, adapting to the woman's motherly instincts.
"It's lunch time already?" Ariana questioned, sounding shier than a few seconds ago. 'Nurse Mila' smiled at them, before asking them what they wanted to eat.
Angeal was slightly horrified at how the twin children charmed the nurse easily, using their cute faces and soft spoken words like weapons.
When the nurse left, Aridai had a smug glint in his green eyes, looking like the Coeurl that caught the chicobo chick.
"Now that's what I call terrifying," Angeal heard Genesis mumble.
"Huh?" Aridai pretended to know he had no idea what the redheaded First meant.
"Ari's better off being a Turk than a SOLDIER," Ariana commented, giving her brother a weirded out face, "You would totally think he's harmless with this face!"
She grabbed her brother by the cheeks, squishing them together and making him pout.
"Does this look like a menace to old ladies to you?!"
"Ehh?! Geerrroff!"
Sephiroth made a fake cough, watching the children with his and his friend's features except a little chubbier and with a mix of physical traits tussle in the single bed.
"Oh by the Goddess, these two make the Puppy look tame," Genesis couldn't help but point that out to the others.
"Puppy? Not a real one, right?"
Ariana could tell that the three adults were being cautious with them, but she didn't really mind.
"No. My mentee, Zack Fair," Angeal answered, "He's a SOLDIER hopeful."
"He sounds fun! Can we meet him?!" Aridai flashed hopeful eyes, sparkling with unrestricted glee.
"Absolut—" Genesis made an X with his arms, only for Angeal to dryly say, "Not as of yet."
"Aw…" Ari whined sadly.
An annoying beeping came from the oldest of the three SOLDIER's pockets, Genesis digging into his to grab the beeping thing—which was actually his PHS—and read the message.
"Lazard wants to know where we are," the redhead told his companions, before typing a reply.
"Have the nurses said when the twins can be discharged?" Angeal asked, "We'll have to be back at Midgar soon."
Both Ariana and Aridai glanced at each other, communicating silently.
"We can convince them to let us out early," Aridai said first, breaking his gaze with Ariana, "After all, since you're all our parents, it would be such a shame to be separated further, yes?"
"Physically, we are healthy," Ariana added in, "Other than the coma, we feel better after waking up."
"We shall see," Sephiroth decides for the three of them, just as the nurse returns with trays of food.