We're officially back to Midgar folks!

I don't own anything, anyone or anywhere you recognise. Sapphire, along with a few others who'll crop up every now and then, are mine.

And now, with the timeline instructing me that there's a full three months (yikes) before plot resumes, time for me to start making stuff up in earnest!

I suppose that did start last chapter though to be fair. Well, to be really fair, everything but the chapter before that was making stuff up, pretty much. Really I'm just returning to the status quo. Kind of didn't realise when I concocted the idea for this story that the plot exists for like a couple hours and then skips a few months :|

More chaotic freedom for me I guess. More time to torture Sapphire with Genesis' mischief. Assuming that's what you're here to see xD

As always, massive shoutout to the lovely folks who keep reviewing this rambling story! If not for you guys I wouldn't still be here :)

Cheddar, sea sickness is a real thing and if any poor soul had to suffer it had to be Saph. Sad times. As for her encountering Cloud... well we'll have to see, won't we?
(That's code for "I haven't really thought about it yet". In the interest of full disclosure, ya know.)
As for Jenova cells, well we don't know yet what's swimming around in Saph's bloodstream yet do we? ;)
(The code above may also apply here xD)

justme7777, we all need to retain the mental image of Genesis in fisherman's gear. Because let's face it; we'll never see it for real. Plus, just think of the Red Leather fanclub's reaction! They would need a rebrand. Yellow Rubber. They should just do that anyway, that's an excellent fanclub name xD

And so, let the aimless rambling commence!

Chapter 25 - Mischief in the Mako Reactor

"Well."

I studied my newest bedroom with a critical eye.

"I suppose I'm getting what I pay for."

Genesis huffed. "If you only knew how difficult it was to secrete furniture into one of Shinra's own mako reactors."

I had barely seen hide or hair of Genesis lately. A month of planning and arranging transport to the village near Midgar left us with little time to converse, and there was a lot I'd been brushing under the carpet to wait for a better time. Those deepening shadows under his eyes didn't exactly encourage me either.

We'd been separate for almost a week while we both travelled by boat, and then it was straight back into planning for our latest accommodation; namely, Midgar's own Mako Reactor 5. A mad idea on the face of it, and madder when you think about it, but Genesis wouldn't hear any counterproposals, from what Angeal let on. Another two weeks of waiting, a car journey, a flight, a disguise and some heart palpitations later, Genesis was able to introduce me to my newest home. A storage room in the dark, dusty, long-abandoned depths of the mako reactor, with a pile of blankets unceremoniously dumped in one corner.

Thinking of my inevitable future backache, I winced and put a hand to my lower back. "Not even a mattress though?" Seeing the redhead frown, I bit my lip. "Sorry. Banora spoilt me. I know it's important for us to be here, so… this is more than enough," I amended, forcing a smile in an attempt to inject some optimism.

The ex-SOLDIER looked thoughtful, an eyebrow playfully raised. "As I recall, this should be more than enough for you. Seemed during your training you couldn't be forced to sleep in a bed."

A distant recollection came to mind; falling off an elevated bed, being hoisted back up onto it, and when my hoist dismissed my gratitude in Genesis' distinctive voice I was so startled I jumped and fell off the other side.

Good grief, did I ever have any dignity?

To cover it up, I rolled my eyes. "People change, Genesis," I retorted, as childishly as I felt necessary, hands on my hips.

"Indeed they do," he agreed airily, successfully killing the conversation at the same time. His mako eyes shone in the barely-lit, stark room, and burned into my own with an intensity that belied his tone.

I might've thought I'd changed for the worse since back then, but that look went a long way to convincing me otherwise. It also effectively reminded me of that one teeny tiny, incredibly dangerous thing that had happened between us in Banora. That one thing neither of us had addressed since.

Well, why would we? It was an impulsive thing. A last moment of comfort before facing danger. Adrenaline rush. It didn't warrant talking about. Just… we were both on the same page about it.

It wasn't even really a kiss either, was it?

Even thinking the word was enough to justify casting my eyes away from his, to devotedly examine one particularly interesting corner of the room.

Once, I'd have let myself get lost in it all. But no. No more.

"I will have one of my SOLDIERs search for more blankets. I'm afraid you'll be spending a lot of time in here, so I want to make it as comfortable as possible for you."

Genesis' abrupt change in tone told me well enough that he'd noticed my caginess. I winced, but he didn't even give me a moment to react, breezing out of the room and down the corridor, footsteps loud and rattling on the metal grating.

He'd left the door open, but somehow dipping out seemed unfathomable. The thrill of finally making it to Midgar and sleuthing into the mako reactor had left me with a lot of residual energy, but I forced myself to stay in my new room and arrange a 'bed'.

My new, windowless, barren room.

Silent as the grave, but for a constant, slow, dripping.

…

"BOO!"

The SOLDIER: First Class displayed all the prowess his rank had surely demanded of him, by dodging beneath my meticulously-planned assault and spinning around me to push me onward, building my momentum.

Fortunately, I was a (kind of) SOLDIER myself, and was able to halt my momentum.

Unfortunately, my weapon of choice betrayed me. The blanket gathered under my feet, and next thing I knew my face was firmly planted into blanket-covered grating.

"Ow…"

Angeal boomed a laugh that warmed my soul as much as my cheeks. "Need a hand?"

Wordlessly, I flapped one of my own at him, which he correctly interpreted and grabbed a hold of, hefting me carefully to my feet.

"You're settling in well, then?" he asked good-naturedly, after gesturing with one hand that we should walk and talk.

Wrapping up my blanket in my hands, I tried not to hold his apparent busyness against him and complied, walking with him. "That's one way of putting it…"

"What's another?" the ex-SOLDIER asked kindly, handily confirming for me that I'd sounded as self-pitying as I thought I had.

"…The opposite?" I proposed, shoulders drooping. "I know that I'm definitely the last person who should be complaining, since I'm just… along for the ride, basically, but I'm just not sure if I'm gonna be able to stick it out."

Angeal stopped walking, so I stopped. His hand landing heavily on my shoulder, for the second time today, had me looking up at his concerned frown. "You have every right to voice any concerns or worries, Sapphire, the same as we all do, and no matter how trivial they might seem to you. You should never feel you have to suffer in silence."

"Thanks," I made my best attempt at sounding sincere, with a little smile to boot.

Angeal raised an eyebrow, his eyes narrowed cuttingly. I suspected my acting skills were lacking today. He continued even still, saying, "If you feel yourself nearing breaking point, tell me immediately. Your safety is paramount in all of this. However, I think this can be a great opportunity for you both. All your shared memories are here in Midgar."

As we meandered through the desolate, stuffy corridors of the mako reactor, the SOLDIER filled me in, including a walk to a train station and… a rescue from a kidnapping? "And I thought my life was mad now," I commented with a disbelieving shake of the head.

Angeal huffed an amused breath in agreement, "You were a magnet for trouble, you and Zack both."

Zack. I'd caught myself thinking about him rather a lot lately, so it wasn't a stretch by any means to think Angeal was, too. Tugging on a strand of hair, I slanted my eyes at him and asked conspiratorially, "Do you think you'll try to visit him while we're here?"

The SOLDIER looked surprised, as if he hadn't given it any thought. "That's not a good idea."

"That's not what I asked."

Admittedly, his stern frown and sharp look probably weren't funny enough to warrant the laughing fit they received. "That sort of thinking is what got you your trouble-magnet reputation," Angeal berated me through my giggles, though he was smiling now.

"Was just a thought," I brushed off with a shrug, deciding it was worth niggling at in the coming days and weeks. "Maybe you could catch up while Genesis sneaks in and steals back my sword," I half-joked, elbowing him in his meaty arm.

He smiled, but said nothing. The lull in conversation was particularly noticeable as a SOLDIER approached, likely watching us beneath his helmet but skirting past us without a word.

A turn later, the silence squeezed a follow-up question out of me. "Do you… he was only joking about when he said that, right?"

"If there's one thing I believe about Genesis," Angeal answered with a sigh, "it's that he tends to bend the truth to make things sound worse, not better."

"Well that sounds positive."

"What I mean is… I don't think Genesis would lie about that, certainly not as a means to convince you to stay with him. How he'd ever get your sword is another question, but I wouldn't put it past him to try."

"Okay," I acknowledged with a smile, appeased, before glancing around. "Uh, where are we going?"

"Outside." My neck cracked when my head spun to stare at him, eyes wide as dinner plates. Angeal was smirking. "I'll trust you not to run for the hills, okay? We'll go somewhere discreet. Just for some open sky and fresh air."

Well that did sound appealing. With a grin, I replied, "No promises."

In a gesture similar to that of a bygone era, Angeal reached a hand out to give my hair a thorough ruffling. I couldn't even pretend to dislike it, pushing my head up into his hand like a needy chocobo.

Former SOLDIER: Third Class Adams stood to attention in front of her CO, previous fear skilfully hidden beneath a layer of professional calm. "You asked for me, sir?"

A dangerous smirk curled one corner of his lips, as he got to his feet and meandered closer, like a lazy predator, hands tucked behind his back. "I have a proposition for you. But first, I'm curious. What made you want to join me in the fight against Shinra?"

The practiced, elevator-pitch response she'd practiced suddenly felt insincere, so following a clearing of her throat, the ex-SOLDIER slowly answered, "A… number of things, really. Some personal. But simply… I don't like the way they operate. I think the world would be better off without, but failing that, I'd be happy to knock those execs down a peg or two."

A quirked eyebrow. "And if I told you that I have a plan for you to infiltrate the Shinra HQ?"

Beneath the calm, the fear morphed into exhilaration.

At last, something meaningful!

The man waited patiently for her response, so she gave it, "If the plan's good, I'll go right this second."

Maybe Ciara was chancing her arm, injecting that she had presumed an option to refuse. But she had spent years following orders that belittled her potential, and if this wasn't an opportunity to exert some authority, she may never find one.

Genesis' carnivorous grin was enough to both appease her concerns and wrack her nerves at the same time.

Three days later, I woke up in the middle of the night.

I wasn't sure why, but I snapped wide awake, unaccustomed as yet to our new lodgings.

A creeping feeling prickled up my neck. I froze, almost ready to reach up and slap away whatever creepy crawly was trying to find a nest in my hair, but recognised it as a psychological rather than physical feeling at the last moment.

"I think it's just about time for us to take some readings, don't you agree?"

I sprung upright, already cringing because I'd broken that promise to myself already about not showing any weakness. But instead of a sterile metal room filled with laboratory equipment, an empty mako tank and me in my giant, cylindrical, glass cell, I was…

Somewhere similar, admittedly, with all the industrial metal pipes overhead and that constant low hum of machinery in the background, but it was dark and musty.

A pair of blue-green eyes pierced through the dark, rooted to mine.

"Genesis," I greeted in a whisper, without smiling. It was the first I'd seen of him in a while, and with a foggy mind I couldn't quite remember how we'd left things last time we'd spoken.

"It's been a while," he mentioned, and I frowned. Darn mind reader. "Angeal tells me he's helped you get comfortable, that you both went out for a walk."

Was he not supposed to? "I… is that alright?" I knew there were still Shinra engineers on-site, but Angeal had been so sure about where was safe and—

"No," he said.

My heart sunk.

"No, I mean— yes, that's fine," Genesis amended, and pinched between his eyes. "I apologise, I'm… not feeling very well."

"When did you last sleep?"

"How long since we arrived?"

My eyebrows came together, "You haven't slept since we got here?"

"I've been… planning."

"It's been three days, Genesis," I explained, aghast, his sudden blinking enough confirmation that the passage of time hadn't registered with him. I leapt to my feet, and held out a hand to him. "C'mon, where's your room? I'll lock you in there if I have to."

The former SOLDIER bowed his head. "I did not prepare one for myself."

I glared. "Well that makes a ton of sense. Alright then, you can have… five of my blankets. Your stupid coat should count for one so that makes us even. But… if you need any more, in the night, don't even ask, just steal one, alright?"

Genesis didn't say anything, but lifted his head to meet my gaze and nodded with a small smile. I grabbed up some blankets, four of my best and one of my worst (so generous, I know), and arranged them on the floor against the opposite wall in the best bed shape my sleepy self could manage.

"Get some rest," I gently ordered, lying back down in my very noticeably thinner bundle of blankets, drawing one up to my chin and turning to face away from him.

It was only after I lay down that a realisation occurred; did he have different intentions? My breath hitched.

I listened with my lips pressed firmly together. Leather creaked, metal clicked, fabric rustled, and silence eventually prevailed, without any unexpected movement.

Breathing out slowly, I shut my eyes tight and willed myself to chase my dreams. They were evasive but eventually came within my grasp.

When they faded into dull grey and muted green once again, I roused slowly, feeling pins and needles in my left arm trapped beneath me. The other was awkwardly strewn behind me.

Rolling onto my back, I turned to study it, in the grasp of another hand, one that was unfamiliar and pale. My eyes lazily travelled up a bare, similarly pale, toned arm to identify the guilty party by his face.

Wriggling my hand slightly, the hold it was in eased subtly, but not subtly enough for me to think it was unconscious. With his fingers hovering over the back of my hand, I twisted mine just enough to find the spaces between his, and eased them through until our palms came together, an unmistakeably conscious hold.

He was careful not to squeeze back, but he hadn't been that close to a smile fifteen seconds ago.

Sleep followed more easily then.

…

"Angeal tells me you're curious to know when I intend to fill my end of the bargain," Genesis unforgivingly broke the stillness some hours later. I could hear the smirk in his voice halfway through, when I teetered and nearly fell from the pipe I was walking across, ten foot high off the ground.

My teeny tiny phobia of heights was one that had bothered me since I discovered it several months ago and half a world away, and I was determined to rid myself of it.

Not that a ten foot fall would be particularly damaging, if I fell sensibly. It was a small step, but in the right direction.

"That's a bit of an exaggeration," I claimed, when I had rebalanced and put another foot forward. "I barely mentioned it, in passing. More to move the conversation along than anything."

"Certainly, if there's one thing I loathe about Angeal's character, it must be his propensity to bend the truth to his benefit."

Wilfully ignoring the sarcasm, I pouted down at the redhead, arguing, "There's no need to be so harsh, Genesis, that's your best friend you're talking about."

"You have no interest at all in reclaiming your old sword, then?"

"…Shaddup." After a few moments, I crouched down to sit on the pipe, letting my feet dangle. "I admit, that sword… it feels important, somehow. A gift from my father, I know, but… I dunno."

It was frustrating, to be surrounded by people who'd known me so well, but only for four months. Genesis and Angeal knew so much, had told me enough to make my head spin a dozen times over, and that was only about such a small fraction of my life. The sword may be the only relic I had from a life that was long forgotten.

If my childhood friend hadn't disappeared off the face of the planet at the same time I had (Angeal had only needed to speak the first syllable of Nate's name for me to recall where those beads in my hair had come from) I wouldn't be so intrigued by my life before. But he did, so I was.

"I am willing to arrange for one of my SOLDIERs to infiltrate the building and retrieve your sword," he began calmly. Pressing my lips together to contain a manic grin, I swung my feet vigorously instead. "In fact, one has already confirmed to me their interest in doing so. It will happen."

I read between the lines, and let my feet fall still. "But not yet."

"Regrettably, no. There is a lot we expect to achieve from our position here, and I am afraid our research must come first. Until Hollander establishes a means for a cure, or until we know for certain it cannot be found here, we cannot take any major risks."

"I understand," I said, because I did, and pulled myself upright once again on the pipe, aiming for the farthest wall. "You'll have to loan me yours in the meantime."

Amused, and perhaps relieved, Genesis answered, "That can be arranged."

…

Time passed unexpectedly quickly in the reactor, the end of winter tapering off into the first day of spring that, in all honesty, looked and felt no different than when we'd first arrived a month previously. I suppose that's Midgar weather for you.

Genesis scarcely left the building, and yet it felt like I saw less and less of him as time went on. Always in meetings, always planning, always barely sleeping. He still had blankets in my room (though Angeal had stocked up my supply so I wasn't left wanting) and some nights they'd be disturbed but I'd never hear his arrival or his departure.

Once I dreamed a giant rat had slept there. Maybe that was because of the lone grey hair I'd found when I'd brought them to be washed. I'd teased the old man relentlessly for that, for all of seven seconds, until he held it up beside my own head of silvery-grey hair and raised one devastating coloured eyebrow.

All things considered, his hectic work schedule didn't upset me all that much.

I saw much more of Angeal, who made it a point to get me out of the reactor every two or three days. We'd sit outside in a discreet corner, well off the beaten track from any of the staff, and sometimes we'd go for walks in infantry gear he'd rustled up from somewhere.

We never walked too far though. Angeal was understandably paranoid of what Shinra would do next to stop Genesis, and him by extension, given their destructive but wholly unsuccessful last attempt. He was gone for several hours most days, sleeping elsewhere most nights, and with all his coming and going it seemed he'd perfected the art of flying under Shinra's radar.

Early one morning (and I mean early, like pre-dawn early) he knocked on my door and wordlessly invited me out for a wander on the reactor grounds.

"Wutai have officially surrendered to Shinra," was how he began, more of a surprise as a conversation starter than the actual news itself. "No more fighting. Shinra are now officially uncontested."

"No more fighting, huh?" I scratched my head. "'Officially uncontested', except there's an army of turncoat SOLDIERs right on their doorstep."

Angeal offered a sad smirk. "It's interesting timing, certainly."

Frowning, I asked, "Is there something bothering you about it?"

With a sigh, he divulged, "It was Zack, and I— well, Zack mostly, who made that final push and neutralised their last stronghold. That was also when I abandoned Shinra and fled."

Some… three months ago, if my maths were right. Angeal's glum frown had me biting my lip, unsure what to say. "You didn't really… flee, though," I offered limply.

Angeal shrugged, saying nothing.

"Do you…" I was going to say 'want to talk about it', but I figured he wouldn't have brought it up if he hadn't. "Do you regret it? Leaving, I mean," I asked instead.

"Yes," he confirmed with bold honesty, then met my gaze for the first time since leaving my room. "But, it was the right thing to do."

"A company like Shinra, you know I won't disagree."

And for the first time, a revelation struck me. One so obvious that I chuckled hollowly when it registered.

"Kinda funny, that I'd figure that out before I got stuck there, and wound up getting taken back when I tried to leave."

I remembered a discussion, Angeal trying to convince me to stay, and Genesis rebuking that my mind was made up, set upon leaving Shinra. That had startled me, even though I knew it shouldn't have; Genesis had always been very perceptive of people. How else would he know how to push everyone's buttons like he could?

I shrugged, with attempted indifference. "It doesn't matter now. Sorry, for interrupting." He forgave me easily, with a smile that was as badly executed as my indifference. "Tell me if I'm overstepping, but I wanted to ask… why don't you want Zack to join us? Or at least, leave Shinra himself?"

I said his name softly, with reverence. As much as my former roommate meant to me, I'd only known him for four months; Angeal had trained him one-on-one for years. And true enough, he visibly winced at the mention, but nodded, as if to accept the question. After some thought, he answered, "All Zack wants is to be a hero. That's his dream. I won't be the one to deny him that."

As much as I didn't want to, I understood. And it broke my heart, just a little. So I nodded, and said nothing more.

We wandered a little longer, but with the wind taken out of our sails, we soon found our way back into the reactor. My shoulders hunched, already feeling stifled.

To my surprise though, Angeal stopped me with a hand on my shoulder, when I tried to turn down one of many very similar corridors that lead to my room. "Wrong way?" I assumed.

Angeal's head shook in the negative. "I was hoping you would go to Genesis. He's been high-strung, and you seem to be the best at taking him away from his work for a while."

"Really?" Doubtful, but flattering all the same. I was an easy one to please.

"Of course," the SOLDIER's assurance came without hesitation, and was enough to make me smile.

"Well, alright. I'll try. You should come too?"

It had been a while since the three of us had been together, and a lot longer since the topic of conversation hadn't been sobering.

Angeal's gaze dropped away. "You… you don't have to," I said quickly, because I wasn't blind. Angeal wore his heart on his sleeve, and while Genesis was far more effective at deflecting from the obvious tension between him and his childhood friend, I was a dab hand at recognising those strategies of his now. "It'd be nice though."

The former First Class smiled weakly, clapping me on the shoulder, before rhyming off the instructions to Genesis' office. "I will, soon," he offered, before turning and walking back the way we came. I sighed, but continued on, mouthing Angeal's instructions as I went with the certainty that I would get lost.

Turning down the third corridor, I nearly tripped mid-stride. My eyes shot wide open. I wondered whether I could get away with reversing and running back to my room (or somewhere, because even retracing my steps sounded arduous in these twisting, identical corridors).

But, well, the doctor was walking this way, had seen me, and had smiled. Perhaps welcoming, but I perceived it as menacing. So I bared my teeth in response, and stood in place as a compromise, waiting for his leisurely approach.

"Hello, Doctor," I gritted out when he stopped in front of me.

Pushing his hands into the pockets of his khakis brought my attention to his shirt, with its Banora White apple juice logo. "Please, call me Hollander," he instructed, impressing me with how unaware he was of the volume of his own voice; it echoed off the walls, even drowning out the low, steady hum of the reactor. "On your way to see Genesis, I presume?"

A polite enquiry, even if the answer was obvious. I'd think it was an awkward encounter and try to go along with it, but darn if I couldn't get past all the disgusting human experimentation he'd tortured my closest friends with. "Yeah," I answered eventually, suppressing any instinct to give an explanation.

In my experience, people like him only wanted to hear themselves talk.

From over my shoulder, a familiar, drawn-out giggle reverberated eerily off the metal. "Time to draw a new sample, I think. I want to see how well these cells have taken hold. Thus far I have been dissatisfi—"

"Sapphire?"

My eyes snapped to Hollander's, which were narrowed in curiosity. I pressed my lips together, forcing myself to breathe shallowly through my nose instead of the gasping breath that had come before. Clenching my hands into clammy fists, I glared silently.

"I thought I'd ask if you'd like me to escort you. I just came from there."

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. "No." Breathe out.

Legs, move. Move. Move!

Eventually, my left foot cooperated, shakily and desperately slowly lifting an inch off the ground, as if I was balancing a bowling ball on my toes. When it was planted on the ground, the other followed. I edged my way around the scientist without looking his way once again, eventually finding something close to a stride, even as cackles followed me all the way.

After a protracted pit stop in the first bathroom I'd set my eyes on, Angeal's directions repeating over and over in my head, I toed my way into a more upscale corridor, if there was such a thing (the grating on the floors replaced with solid sheet metal, how fancy). It was dark though, eerily so. I knocked on the second door on the left.

Was it… getting darker?

My eyes fell shut, and suddenly I was floating—

"Saph!"

Abrupt, jerking movement made me think I should open my eyes. But they wouldn't…

"If this was... I swear to you, the second that man outlives his usefulness, I'll run him through myself."

Now that was dark. But the words only sounded in my head, my jaw clamped shut.

"Until then, I have been trying my best to keep you both separate. There's no reason you should need to be in his presence."

But what about my various injuries? My mouth moved then, and some noise was made, but it sure didn't sound coherent. My eyes finally flickered open, if for nothing else, to glare at nothing over my uncooperative tongue.

Genesis stood over me, holding my ankles aloft in a sadly familiar position. "Welcome back," he murmured, tone considerably warmer than before. I wondered if he knew I'd heard. I wondered if he cared either way.

I grunted. He softly chuckled.

"I'm starting to wonder, if you'll indulge me. Do you suppose this is a proximity issue? I admit it is flattering, but Sapphire, we can't have you fainting whenever you get within five feet of me; it's impractical."

"Nuisance, am I?" I managed to wrangle out the three words, dripping in irony while I threw him my least impressed stare.

"A thorn in my side," he shot back dryly, though his humour wasn't reflected on his face. "Would you like some water, before you tell me in detail precisely what caused this?"

"I, uh…"

"I need to know how angry I should be, you understand."

After a moment of hesitation, I shook my head. "Not… not angry, at all. Though if it got you out of this room, I wouldn't complain."

Genesis cast his eyes away, and lowered my legs onto the sofa he had set me down on. He sat as well, nudging my heavy feet over to make room for himself. "I've been busy. Planning. Keeping us safe." A gloved hand rested on my shin, as if that made up for his lack of openness or eye contact.

Frowning, I sat upright, peering at his face closely. "Have you lost weight?" I asked, dismayed. He looked paler, and there was a hollowness to his cheeks I hadn't seen before.

He barely shook his head, which did very little in the way of convincing me.

"Genesis," I called for his attention, scrunching up closer, "you asked me to help you keep your head on straight. I can't do that if I never see you. I'm worried about you."

"I've been…"

He trailed off, which was alarming enough, but he turned enough so I could see him past his dumb pretty hair. His eyes were bright, open and earnest, and the corners of his lips were tilted upwards, just a little.

"I've been sleeping better."

Unconsciously, I returned the small smile. "That's good. Though I'm not surprised. Frankly, I'm angry. You've got a sofa in here?"

The redhead half smirked, before retorting, with a squeeze to my shin, "Thank you for reminding me. What happened?"

"Oops," I chuckled softly, before my mood fell. "I just… I saw that guy just outside, and… everything he's done, it just makes my skin crawl. And that reminds me of… him, and I just… can't get away."

Genesis had angled himself to face me, right hand thrown over the back of the sofa. I'd only noticed when it shot out to hold my wrist, when my own hand had risen to rake through my hair. The tilt of his head and careful frown was attentive. "He haunts you?"

The straightforward and quiet question struck a chord in me, though I couldn't pinpoint why. My answer was a breathy, affirmative, "Yeah."

"The two are not so different," the SOLDIER hypothesized of the scientists, "and I intend to make sure they both meet the same fate. By my hand, or someone else's if they wish."

Something passed between us, our eyes connected and unwavering in the quiet.

It seemed like fantasy to me, even now, even with Genesis' army. Funny, how when I'd set off from Nibelheim nothing would have stood in my way. Now it was a tangible possibility, not a far off dream, and yet…

"Let's… not think about it. Just for a minute."

Genesis' knotted brow lifted, and he blinked almost blearily. "Is there something else?"

"Does there have to be?" I asked, attempting a light tone, tilting my head inquisitively. "Let's just… talk. You never told me how your boat ride went."

"There isn't much to tell—"

"Tell me anyway," I requested, then caught myself, pressing my lips together contritely before adding, "please?"

With a small smile, he indulged me.