FIC - CRISIS CORE - COLOUR OF SIN - CH 2 DEATH OF DREAMS
Crisis Core - Colour of Sin
Author: j_cae
Chapter Title: Chapter II: Death of Dreams
Rating: R
Pairing: Genesis/Angeal, hints of Genesis/Lazard
Warnings: Language, violence, yaoi, bad moral example, and dark Angeal
Disclaimer: Don’t own CC, but own the time spent writing this.
Summary: Monster, Shinra. SOLDIER, traitor. Angeal, Lazard-fighting on opposing ends but compelled into sin by a shared loss. This is Angeal and Lazard’s story.
CRISIS CORE - COLOUR OF SIN
BY J CAE
GILLIAN
FIFTEEN YEARS AGO
Genesis ran away from home.
A rebellious ten-year-old with some pocket money could have been anywhere in the world. He could even have left Mideel on a ship to the central continent if it crossed his mind. The villagers organized a search but returned empty-handed. It had been three days.
Gillian shared the Rhapsodos’ distress and promised to interrogate Angeal for anything he might know about his wayward friend.
Angeal claimed he did not know what Genesis’s plans were, but he was never any good at lying. Gillian had made certain the habit never formed. She hated to frighten Angeal too because Genesis’s disappearance was not his fault. She could only explain the possible dangers Genesis could have been in if they did not find him soon enough.
“I’m very worried for him,” she told Angeal.
“He…he made me promise not to tell,” Angeal started to stammer, distressed that he would have to make a choice between his mother and his best friend. But at last, he was about to reveal what Gillian suspected he knew.
“Angeal, trust between friends is very important, but you must also protect Genesis. What if he is hurt? What if he is in trouble? If you don’t tell anyone where to find him, we won’t be able to help him.”
Angeal seemed to make up his mind. “I know where he is.” And with a bowed head, “I have been sneaking food and water to him. I’m sorry, Mom.”
“No, don’t be.” She patted him on the shoulder. “Since you gave him your word you won’t tell anyone, I promise I won’t let him find out you told me.”
Angeal took his mother to the quarry. Gillian never dreamed of finding Genesis hiding in the abandoned mines. No wonder the search team missed him-no one ever came near this area where Shinra left their mess.
“He is inside,” Angeal pointed at an opening in the rocks.
Gillian crouched and held Angeal by both shoulders. “Thank you. I’ve made you a promise, and I won’t tell him. Go home first, okay? I’ll get Gen.”
She climbed into the mako mine. As darkness closed in on her, she wished she had brought a torchlight. No going back now. If the boy could survive down here in the dark for three days, so could she. She felt her way with her hands.
But deeper into the cave, it became brighter. There was a radiance from its centre-the whole cavern was lined with mako crystals.
“Genesis?” she called. “Gen?”
There he was, peeping out from a castle crudely put together from shimmering rocks. The boy made waist-high walls and left a gap for a doorway. He rubbed his eyes with his hands. When he looked at her, his eyes glowed. Mako eyes.
“Why are you hiding here?” She got down so that she could see him through the gap. It was too narrow for an adult to pass through but she could speak to him there. “Your Dad and Mom are worried sick for you.”
“I hate them,” he growled with loathing disproportional to his childishness. “I hate them both.”
“Why?” She crawled halfway through the entrance. The boy did not withdraw from her-it was his trust she needed. “Did you get into another fight? Would you tell me what it is about?”
Earlier in the month, Gillian heard Genesis had been tossed out of school for throwing a huge tantrum. His mother took him home and Gillian could hear Genesis screeching and cursing and breaking things all the way from her house. She could hardly make out a word of what the argument had been about, but maybe it did not matter because Genesis soon resorted to shrieking on top of his lungs. Mrs. Rhapsodos tried in vain to calm him and more things were smashed. Gillian did not know how the ordeal ended-it was none of her business. But she wondered what had made Genesis so troubled and angry lately.
“No.”
“Come on. Tell me.” She thought of a way to bribe him. “I could convince your parents to let you come sleepover some time?”
That seemed to move him a bit.
“Can you keep secrets?” the boy asked. He had many secrets to keep.
“Of course I can.”
He boy’s shoulders sagged. He sat with his back against crystals behind him. “Mom and Dad are not my parents. Not really.”
Of course she knew that. But how could she comfort him? “What makes you think so?”
“I just know it.”
Or had they said something to him already? Mr. Rhapsodos should have mentioned it when he sent off the search party.
“How?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Genesis rubbed his eyes again. This time, his voice cracked like he was crying. “They both have dark hair and dark eyes. But I don’t.” Could that have explained the shouting, the throwing things and the tantrums?
“Stop rubbing your eyes, honey. The residue of the crystals will get into them.”
He complied.
“Who told you they can’t be your parents?”
“No one. I figured that out myself.”
“It doesn’t really matter as long as they love you, right? And I know they do very much,” Gillian assured him. “If you come with me, you can see. They have looked everywhere for you and called everyone they know to help. They’re so anxious to see you safe again. They care for you, and that’s what matters.”
“What happened to my real parents then?” Genesis asked. “Why didn’t they want me? Are they dead? I want to find them.”
Gillian had answers-she only wished she had the courage to give them. Not now. Some day. “I’m sure your parents loved you. And if they don’t, you know that I care about you very much.”
She stretched out a hand, close enough for him to touch. “Come on. Let’s go home.”
He took her hand, and she led him outside, back to his house. He seemed to search for something or someone in the dark-perhaps for Angeal. But she kept her promise and Angeal was nowhere to be seen.
Genesis’s mother wept with relief and thanked Gillian profusely for returning the boy. Gillian avoided questions of where and how and stated only her concern for Genesis’s health.
“Those crystals are mako in high concentration,” Gillian explained to Mr. Rhapsodos. “It is dangerous and could have caused poisoning. Take him to a doctor for a check-up.”
“I think it’s a better idea that we seal the mines so other kids won’t venture into them,” Mr. Rhapsodos said. “Thank you for everything you’ve done, Mrs. Hewley.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“How…how did you know about the mako?”
It was a question she was afraid he would ask. “I used to work for Shinra.”
“I’d like to ask you a bit more about the mako.”
Mr. Rhapsodos came to visit her a week after Genesis was recovered. “What effects does it have on the body? There are some things that even the doctor can’t understand.” His face was scrunched with worry. “His eyesight is undamaged, but the glow is still there in his eyes. I thought it was something that will go away in a few days, but apparently not.”
“The glow could be permanent, but it’s not harmful,” Gillian explained. “Have you…heard of mako treatment?”
“No.”
“Shinra issues soldiers with mako solution to enhance their strength and speed. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t and they get poisoned.” She knew she could not say more. Those were Shinra secrets. If she said too much and breached the terms she signed, it could cause her to lose Angeal. “I’m not an expert on this. I can’t give you an accurate measure of what mako level Genesis has been exposed to, but three days in the cave is pretty significant.”
“So what does that mean?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. The mako soldier project was still in experimental stage when she left Shinra. All she knew was that they had only ever treated soldiers in dilute liquid solutions. She did not know concentrated mako crystals could have the same effect without killing a child.
Gillian’s own husband sealed the cave. Parents were warned, but were asked not to tempt their children with the information of a forbidden adventure place. Gillian knew Angeal never went back again. His eyes never gained the glow until many years later when he joined SOLDIER.
But there was another secret kept.
Gillian returned to the site and discovered another entrance to the cave. She was certain Genesis had found his way back into his covert playground somehow. Sometimes, she would find his diary lying among the crystals. Sometimes she found poetry. She told no one about this, but for the years that followed she kept him under close observation.
CHAPTER TWO: DEATH OF DREAMS
*CRISIS CORE ~ DAY THREE SINCE ANGEAL WENT MISSING
GENESIS
A memory of childhood mischief: From Angeal’s bedroom window, Genesis could monitor his parents’ movements about the house. When he was small, he would sneak out on sleepless nights to wake Angeal, and the two of them would share tales by flashlight. Sometimes, his parents would discover he was missing. He always knew it was time to go home if the lights went on in their room.
Only, his parents were not searching for him now.
It was already late morning and Genesis’s father was still at home dozing with a book in his lap. He never missed a day of work even if he were sick-he would call that a waste of time. Genesis’s mother had her best dress on. She seemed unable to sit still and kept flitting from one room to the next, tidying the already-tidy desks or shelves.
An innocent enough picture, until he saw his mother offer tea and sandwiches to someone next to the window while his father was in another room. His parents were not alone.
Genesis let the curtain fall back in place, and Angeal’s room was dim again. Those agents better not be Turks. Genesis hated Turks with a passion.
He declared, “I’m going in.”
Angeal’s expression said he did not approve. “That’s what they expect you to do.”
Genesis retrieved his rapier and went outside. He knew Angeal would not let him go alone.
There was no point in keeping up their masquerade now that the enemy was aware of their presence. Genesis changed into his red leather coat to make sure the agents would see him. There could not be too many of them-his house could only hold so many people and he did not see anyone from the window. Even if they were Turks, they should be nothing his SOLDIER training could not handle.
But if Lazard had the foresight to swarm him with a team of Firsts, well, it would be hello again, Shinra.
Or hello, lifestream.
Either was better than simply wasting away.
With that thought, Genesis felt cheered. He put on an innocent show to match theirs as he pranced down the dirt road and went home for the last time. Angeal followed like a sombre ghost.
“Mom, Dad. I’m home.”
His parents did not come to him, so he went to look for them. He found his mother on the edge of their living room couch. When she saw him, she jumped to her feet and waved her arms in protest. “Nooooo! He’s my son! Please don’t hurt him! Please don’t hurt him”
She had given him ample warning before an agent in a black suit emerged from behind the couch to restrain her. Genesis drew his rapier and impaled the second assassin who lunged at him from behind the door. The assassin attempted to aim his shotgun but Genesis dispatched him with a gash to the throat. The first agent abandoned his mother to offer belated aid to his team member. Angeal barred his path and dashed his head against the wall.
Ha. They were too fast for these simple assassins. Genesis doubted they were even Turks-Turks did not have the reputation of going down this easy.
Genesis’s mother covered her mouth as she edged away from the two black bodies soaking up her white carpet. She had expected to see death, but apparently not of the agents. Oh, her faith was touching. She must have forgotten she sent her darling boy off to become a SOLDIER.
Genesis asked her, “How many of them?”
“Genesis, are you…are you…they-”
“How many of them?”
“Genesis, please.” That was not an answer.
He had wanted to be reasonable with her. No temper. But she was inciting. “You fed them. You know how many are here.”
She sank back into the couch. She buried her face in her hands, stalling and wasting his time trying to dodge his accusation. If she made him ask her a fourth time, he would… “Six,” she finally said. “I think, six.”
“Did you love me, Mother?”
“What?” She lifted her head. Stunned. As if that was the last question she expected from him after he killed a man in front of her eyes. It was the first time he ever asked her this question and she hesitated too long before she said, “Yes.”
“Then why did you let them in? There are six of them and one of me.”
“Genesis…”
He did not expect she would be able to answer that.
“There are no dreams,” he said. “No honour remains. The arrow has left the bow of the goddess.”
If Shinra could afford to put six agents in his house, Genesis could wager there were more of them in Banora to back up their operation.
How did they get here so fast? Genesis’s plans did not cover Shinra finding out he had left Wutai so soon. He thought he would have more time to work out things out in Banora. He hated to speculate, but one of his companions must have been in contact with Shinra. Hollander needed too much from him to turn on him-there was the matter of Hojo and the stagnant mako. Angeal was all sympathy but… Was he such a horrible person to doubt his oldest friend over some old kook who would murder to become head of science department?
The bottom line was this: He would never forgive Angeal if he tried to take him back to Shinra.
“Let’s split up,” he said to Angeal. “You search upstairs.”
There were two black suits in the kitchen with his father. One of them was a man with long hair and a thin frame. The other was taller, more robust and had a crew cut. His father was sitting on a high stool between the two.
“I think you should go back with them,” his father said.
The proposal was so outrageous it took a few seconds for him to catch up with the logic. “Why?”
“They can help you.”
Genesis sent a spell through his rapier. “These two can’t even help themselves.” The Turks reacted and stood prepared for combat but neither drew their weapons.
Father’s eyes were sad but Genesis could no longer believe the sorrow was genuine. He would not stand with the child he raised. He would not even listen to the other side of the story before deciding Genesis was at fault and should crawl back to Shinra.
“Put away your sword,” father said with a shake of his head. “They told me everything, about your sickness. I’m sorry. I’m sorry this is happening. But you must trust the Company. They will help you if you go back. They will heal you.”
It was bad enough to be denied, but his father actually considered him a fool as well! “What did you think they were planning when I was diagnosed with this degradation? They would terminate my life-contract so they would not have to waste resources on a dead person. I am done with Shinra!”
Lazard. It was Lazard who caught wind of this and immediately sent him off to Wutai leading a special taskforce. Even the president would not dare knick a gil from a general leading his major victory. The director saved him from total disgrace, but he could not worry about Lazard right now. The director was just one of Shinra who wanted to own him.
He raised his sword. His father dropped to the floor and crawled away as the long-haired agent opened fire. Genesis deflected the shots with a Protect spell but the crew cut Turk rushed forward and brandished twin daggers. A dual-wielder-that was more like it. Genesis would have been disappointed if Shinra sent staff only fit for surveillance duty.
Daggers put up a real fight. He was physically strong-difficult to block and left no openings as he moved. Genesis was faster, but Daggers had help from his partner who kept demanding Genesis’s attention. Turks were not always versed in magic, but this gunner knew how to wear down a Protect spell. He fired on kitchen utensils around Genesis, sending glass shards and debris flying into his shield.
Genesis snaked behind Daggers and kicked him behind a knee. The Turk stumbled to the floor. Gunner grabbed the rack of knives on the counter and tossed it at Genesis, forcing the SOLDIER to step back. Genesis flung a dark energy spell at them both.
Daggers charged at him with renewed ferocity. The Turk was stronger when matching strengths, and he had two weapons. When Genesis parried, he trapped the rapier with both daggers, but shifted one quickly to thrust at Genesis’s side. The SOLDIER just managed to avoid a killing blow but the gash hurt so badly. Genesis grabbed the Turk’s shirt with his free hand and burned a fire spell into his chest. One taken care of, at least. He let Daggers drop to the floor.
Killing the second Turk made short work. He finished him off with another spell.
The wound under his rib cage began to darken his shirt. Not a fatal wound to a healthy SOLDIER, but unfortunately he was not a healthy SOLDIER. He cast Cure-Hollander already explained healing spells closed wounds only on the surface but could not repair tissue damage or stop internal bleeding. If his body was not going to mend by itself, Cure was no help and might make him underestimate the injury. But Genesis still had unfinished business here. He could not afford to bleed all over the place and pass out before he was done.
His father pulled himself out from behind the cabinet where he had been hiding. Genesis did not know if his father intended to go to him, but a larger shape entered his sight anyhow.
“Genesis.” Angeal’s eyes were on his bloodstained shirt.
“I’m fine.”
Angeal did not ask anymore. He looked around at the dead Turks. “That should be the last of them. I took care of the others. I think only these two are Turks. The rest are regular staff not even trained for combat.”
Rapid footsteps clacked on the tiles and they both turned with their hands on their weapons. It was only mother who ran to father’s side to see if he was all right.
“You both betrayed me,” Genesis said.
His father pulled his mother close to him and the two held onto each other like frightened children. A happy family reunion, was it not? They were alone together now with no Shinra between them.
Father shook his head. “Genesis, I didn’t mean the words I said.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Genesis replied. “You were willing to say them.”
“We didn’t have a choice,” Father indicated Daggers lying on the floor.
“I forgive you.”
Genesis left their bodies next to each other.
ANGEAL
Genesis did not murder his parents. He executed them.
There had been no torture, no sadness, only a clean insertion of his sword behind their necks, down through their spines. His father first, and then his mother. Instant deaths. It was almost logical.
Thanks to Shinra’s delicate arrangement, this was not even patricide.
The feeling of shock started to come to Angeal when the mother tried in vain to crawl to his feet after her husband died. She did not beg for Genesis to stop. Instead, she appealed to Angeal’s last shred of humanity. “Please help me, Angeal! Please!” She was on her knees, a hand outstretched. That moment of her life had been entirely in Angeal’s hands. He could have said something or drawn his sword to block the finishing stroke. But he did not.
First, there was guilt when her eyes widen and her body slacken. Then, there was rage, this incredible, powerful rage that should not be there. Not directed at Genesis, not at himself, but at the helpless woman who hit the floor with a thump. She was guilty of betrayal-how dare she pass her guilt onto him with her pleading eyes and bloodied mouth? Why had she expected him to help? Him?
“I forgive you,” Genesis said before turning to leave. There was nothing left for him here.
Angeal almost envied Genesis. Always so in touch with his desires. He always knew what he wanted to do. Angeal never had the same clean-cut decisiveness. Too many dreams, too many regrets. That had always been one of their differences and one that attracted Angeal.
Even now, when the parents’ blood was cooling off Genesis’s sword.
They returned to Angeal’s house. Depressive, dark little cottage. They kept all the curtains drawn and the doors locked from the outside.
Gillian was sitting at the kitchen table with her hands clasped. Angeal asked himself if he was tempted to put a sword through her spine. He did not imagine she would plead for her life. She would be accepting of her fate. She would agree to pay the price of betrayal.
Not yet. He had not forgiven her yet.
There was a brief moment when Gillian held his gaze. He could almost see the questions in her eyes she was afraid to voice and he was afraid to answer. But their contact broke when Genesis cut between them. Angeal’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Genesis retching in the kitchen sink.
Angeal wanted to go to him, but he stood shell-shocked by the display of human weakness. Genesis had both hands pressed on the sink ledge, shoulders hunched, heaving gasps. Angeal did not know how he could help. He did not feel he had enough inside him. He stood on the side and waited for Genesis to feel better, for the tremors to stop, for him to pull himself straight.
“I’ll go find Hollander,” Angeal offered. The least he could do.
“No.” Genesis whispered when he could speak again. “I’m fine.”
Angeal watched him walk away. Moments later, he heard Genesis run the shower.
Angeal found Genesis collapsed in his bed.
A cocktail of pills was strewn over his desk. Angeal did not want to mix them up so he left them where they were.
Genesis must have been exhausted. The exertion of the fight, the emotional trauma and the wound he refused to discuss must have drained him. Angeal had no way of knowing how degradation felt. Hollander seemed to think Gillian already cured him of the disease. But what if he was wrong? What if Angeal could somehow contract it from Genesis?
Then, they would die together. It would be the best possible ending.
Angeal felt shocked.
He should not have given in to that thought. He should have found ways to save them both. He should have been strong for Genesis, not the other way around. But he was the one who needed much guidance, needed more consolation, the one who felt so small.
“…I can’t…”
Can’t go on, was what he would have say, but he did not even have the right to say it. He was not ailing. He was not in mourning. He was not the one who could not be free from Shinra. Courage was regrettably so out of proportion to the fortunes he still had.
Angeal inhaled deeply to let the oxygen filter the thoughts.
Spilled pills on the desk. He wondered if Genesis ever felt the same way.
Genesis’s cheek was cool and smooth, lips hot and soft by contrast. Reassurance. Comfort drawn. Powerful as that. Genesis was strength that Angeal was not. Angeal heard his own breath hitch as his fingers lingered on the petal soft mouth. Then, there was shame of his taking from Genesis, needing so much.
Angeal sighed. He withdrew his hand. “I should have been taking care of you.”
*
Nightfall, at last.
Banora was nothing like Midgar. Banora slept after the sun went down and its nights were very long.
Angeal waited until the sounds died down before returning to the Rhapsodos house to take care of the bodies. Now that Genesis made his presence in town known, his parents’ misfortune would have been linked back to him. Angeal could not allow that to happen.
He slipped in through an opened window in the living room and the sight took him aback. The blood-soaked carpets would have been a nightmare to clean but they were spotless-replaced. The blood flecks were painted over and the house still carried the faint smell of varnishing. The bodies were removed. With his hand on his weapon, Angeal made his way to the kitchen with the same miracle. The broken things were swept away and the overturned furniture were put back in place. The corpses of the Rhapsodos and the two Turks were gone.
There were professionals already at work.
Something told him-SOLDIER’s sense-that they left not long ago. Angeal took to hunting their trail.
He went outside to search for clues and found someone beneath the bent apple tree. Two black suits. They were quiet as they worked. They had just finished burying the bodies and soothing out the soil with their shovels. They did not realize Angeal was there until he was close enough to hear their controlled but laboured breathing. When they turned, they saw him with the Buster Sword drawn.
“We are not Turks,” the leader of the pair indicated. “We are not with them.”
“Who sent you?”
“You don’t ask that question, SOLDIER. You will have no answers.”
Angeal searched the black suit’s face. He had a feeling he had seen this man somewhere before but the memories blurred from there. In the Midgar headquarters-that was all he recalled. He did not remember why and how.
The other agent looked around with cold calmness. “The Turks will arrive soon. We must go and we advise you to do the same, SOLDIER.”
“Why are you here?” Angeal interrupted. “Why are you crossing the Turks?”
“Perhaps we will speak another time. This is neither the moment nor the place,” the first agent said.
“If you don’t give me answers now, we will never speak again.”
The agent sighed. “We were never even supposed to meet. But we are only acting in your best interest-”
“And what is that?”
“That you and Genesis stay free from Shinra.”
“Genesis will get sicker on the run without proper medical treatment.”
“Did you really think Shinra would wine and dine you when you return?” the agent’s question was painfully blunt.
Point taken. No. “They’re probably going to execute us both.”
“No, of course not. You are both extremely costly investments and they will make the most of their money. You won’t be First Class again. But you will be specimens of study for the production of future generation SOLDIERs. Who do you think is going to be really happy about your return?”
Have they reopened Project G? Gillian had asked.
Not officially, they have.
Hollander.
“Your point?”
The agent had a look of impatience on his face that oddly reminded him of Genesis whenever Angeal was slow to catch on something. “Do you really have to make me say it?”
Angeal finally began to understand. It was a proposition, from an opponent of Hollander. “Who do I have to jump hoops for this time? Who do I have to kill in exchange of our freedom from Shinra? But no, you’ve said nothing about letting us go free.” Angeal locked gazes with the agent. “So what is your price?”
Dangerous questions. Dangerous to answer. The agent chose his words carefully. “I demand nothing from you. I act according to my orders.”
“What do they entail? Will you help us evacuate Banora? Or are you going to kill Hollander and bomb the science department?”
“I will do whatever is required of me.”
“In other words, you are just saying I cannot trust you.”
“That would be up to you,” the agent said.
Angeal was done. He turned to leave.
“How is Genesis’s health?”
Angeal paused. “What are you getting at?”
“Nothing. Just concerned.”
The agents walked away.
Author: j_cae
Chapter Title: Chapter II: Death of Dreams
Rating: R
Pairing: Genesis/Angeal, hints of Genesis/Lazard
Warnings: Language, violence, yaoi, bad moral example, and dark Angeal
Disclaimer: Don’t own CC, but own the time spent writing this.
Summary: Monster, Shinra. SOLDIER, traitor. Angeal, Lazard-fighting on opposing ends but compelled into sin by a shared loss. This is Angeal and Lazard’s story.
CRISIS CORE - COLOUR OF SIN
BY J CAE
GILLIAN
FIFTEEN YEARS AGO
Genesis ran away from home.
A rebellious ten-year-old with some pocket money could have been anywhere in the world. He could even have left Mideel on a ship to the central continent if it crossed his mind. The villagers organized a search but returned empty-handed. It had been three days.
Gillian shared the Rhapsodos’ distress and promised to interrogate Angeal for anything he might know about his wayward friend.
Angeal claimed he did not know what Genesis’s plans were, but he was never any good at lying. Gillian had made certain the habit never formed. She hated to frighten Angeal too because Genesis’s disappearance was not his fault. She could only explain the possible dangers Genesis could have been in if they did not find him soon enough.
“I’m very worried for him,” she told Angeal.
“He…he made me promise not to tell,” Angeal started to stammer, distressed that he would have to make a choice between his mother and his best friend. But at last, he was about to reveal what Gillian suspected he knew.
“Angeal, trust between friends is very important, but you must also protect Genesis. What if he is hurt? What if he is in trouble? If you don’t tell anyone where to find him, we won’t be able to help him.”
Angeal seemed to make up his mind. “I know where he is.” And with a bowed head, “I have been sneaking food and water to him. I’m sorry, Mom.”
“No, don’t be.” She patted him on the shoulder. “Since you gave him your word you won’t tell anyone, I promise I won’t let him find out you told me.”
Angeal took his mother to the quarry. Gillian never dreamed of finding Genesis hiding in the abandoned mines. No wonder the search team missed him-no one ever came near this area where Shinra left their mess.
“He is inside,” Angeal pointed at an opening in the rocks.
Gillian crouched and held Angeal by both shoulders. “Thank you. I’ve made you a promise, and I won’t tell him. Go home first, okay? I’ll get Gen.”
She climbed into the mako mine. As darkness closed in on her, she wished she had brought a torchlight. No going back now. If the boy could survive down here in the dark for three days, so could she. She felt her way with her hands.
But deeper into the cave, it became brighter. There was a radiance from its centre-the whole cavern was lined with mako crystals.
“Genesis?” she called. “Gen?”
There he was, peeping out from a castle crudely put together from shimmering rocks. The boy made waist-high walls and left a gap for a doorway. He rubbed his eyes with his hands. When he looked at her, his eyes glowed. Mako eyes.
“Why are you hiding here?” She got down so that she could see him through the gap. It was too narrow for an adult to pass through but she could speak to him there. “Your Dad and Mom are worried sick for you.”
“I hate them,” he growled with loathing disproportional to his childishness. “I hate them both.”
“Why?” She crawled halfway through the entrance. The boy did not withdraw from her-it was his trust she needed. “Did you get into another fight? Would you tell me what it is about?”
Earlier in the month, Gillian heard Genesis had been tossed out of school for throwing a huge tantrum. His mother took him home and Gillian could hear Genesis screeching and cursing and breaking things all the way from her house. She could hardly make out a word of what the argument had been about, but maybe it did not matter because Genesis soon resorted to shrieking on top of his lungs. Mrs. Rhapsodos tried in vain to calm him and more things were smashed. Gillian did not know how the ordeal ended-it was none of her business. But she wondered what had made Genesis so troubled and angry lately.
“No.”
“Come on. Tell me.” She thought of a way to bribe him. “I could convince your parents to let you come sleepover some time?”
That seemed to move him a bit.
“Can you keep secrets?” the boy asked. He had many secrets to keep.
“Of course I can.”
He boy’s shoulders sagged. He sat with his back against crystals behind him. “Mom and Dad are not my parents. Not really.”
Of course she knew that. But how could she comfort him? “What makes you think so?”
“I just know it.”
Or had they said something to him already? Mr. Rhapsodos should have mentioned it when he sent off the search party.
“How?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Genesis rubbed his eyes again. This time, his voice cracked like he was crying. “They both have dark hair and dark eyes. But I don’t.” Could that have explained the shouting, the throwing things and the tantrums?
“Stop rubbing your eyes, honey. The residue of the crystals will get into them.”
He complied.
“Who told you they can’t be your parents?”
“No one. I figured that out myself.”
“It doesn’t really matter as long as they love you, right? And I know they do very much,” Gillian assured him. “If you come with me, you can see. They have looked everywhere for you and called everyone they know to help. They’re so anxious to see you safe again. They care for you, and that’s what matters.”
“What happened to my real parents then?” Genesis asked. “Why didn’t they want me? Are they dead? I want to find them.”
Gillian had answers-she only wished she had the courage to give them. Not now. Some day. “I’m sure your parents loved you. And if they don’t, you know that I care about you very much.”
She stretched out a hand, close enough for him to touch. “Come on. Let’s go home.”
He took her hand, and she led him outside, back to his house. He seemed to search for something or someone in the dark-perhaps for Angeal. But she kept her promise and Angeal was nowhere to be seen.
Genesis’s mother wept with relief and thanked Gillian profusely for returning the boy. Gillian avoided questions of where and how and stated only her concern for Genesis’s health.
“Those crystals are mako in high concentration,” Gillian explained to Mr. Rhapsodos. “It is dangerous and could have caused poisoning. Take him to a doctor for a check-up.”
“I think it’s a better idea that we seal the mines so other kids won’t venture into them,” Mr. Rhapsodos said. “Thank you for everything you’ve done, Mrs. Hewley.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“How…how did you know about the mako?”
It was a question she was afraid he would ask. “I used to work for Shinra.”
“I’d like to ask you a bit more about the mako.”
Mr. Rhapsodos came to visit her a week after Genesis was recovered. “What effects does it have on the body? There are some things that even the doctor can’t understand.” His face was scrunched with worry. “His eyesight is undamaged, but the glow is still there in his eyes. I thought it was something that will go away in a few days, but apparently not.”
“The glow could be permanent, but it’s not harmful,” Gillian explained. “Have you…heard of mako treatment?”
“No.”
“Shinra issues soldiers with mako solution to enhance their strength and speed. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t and they get poisoned.” She knew she could not say more. Those were Shinra secrets. If she said too much and breached the terms she signed, it could cause her to lose Angeal. “I’m not an expert on this. I can’t give you an accurate measure of what mako level Genesis has been exposed to, but three days in the cave is pretty significant.”
“So what does that mean?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. The mako soldier project was still in experimental stage when she left Shinra. All she knew was that they had only ever treated soldiers in dilute liquid solutions. She did not know concentrated mako crystals could have the same effect without killing a child.
Gillian’s own husband sealed the cave. Parents were warned, but were asked not to tempt their children with the information of a forbidden adventure place. Gillian knew Angeal never went back again. His eyes never gained the glow until many years later when he joined SOLDIER.
But there was another secret kept.
Gillian returned to the site and discovered another entrance to the cave. She was certain Genesis had found his way back into his covert playground somehow. Sometimes, she would find his diary lying among the crystals. Sometimes she found poetry. She told no one about this, but for the years that followed she kept him under close observation.
CHAPTER TWO: DEATH OF DREAMS
*CRISIS CORE ~ DAY THREE SINCE ANGEAL WENT MISSING
GENESIS
A memory of childhood mischief: From Angeal’s bedroom window, Genesis could monitor his parents’ movements about the house. When he was small, he would sneak out on sleepless nights to wake Angeal, and the two of them would share tales by flashlight. Sometimes, his parents would discover he was missing. He always knew it was time to go home if the lights went on in their room.
Only, his parents were not searching for him now.
It was already late morning and Genesis’s father was still at home dozing with a book in his lap. He never missed a day of work even if he were sick-he would call that a waste of time. Genesis’s mother had her best dress on. She seemed unable to sit still and kept flitting from one room to the next, tidying the already-tidy desks or shelves.
An innocent enough picture, until he saw his mother offer tea and sandwiches to someone next to the window while his father was in another room. His parents were not alone.
Genesis let the curtain fall back in place, and Angeal’s room was dim again. Those agents better not be Turks. Genesis hated Turks with a passion.
He declared, “I’m going in.”
Angeal’s expression said he did not approve. “That’s what they expect you to do.”
Genesis retrieved his rapier and went outside. He knew Angeal would not let him go alone.
There was no point in keeping up their masquerade now that the enemy was aware of their presence. Genesis changed into his red leather coat to make sure the agents would see him. There could not be too many of them-his house could only hold so many people and he did not see anyone from the window. Even if they were Turks, they should be nothing his SOLDIER training could not handle.
But if Lazard had the foresight to swarm him with a team of Firsts, well, it would be hello again, Shinra.
Or hello, lifestream.
Either was better than simply wasting away.
With that thought, Genesis felt cheered. He put on an innocent show to match theirs as he pranced down the dirt road and went home for the last time. Angeal followed like a sombre ghost.
“Mom, Dad. I’m home.”
His parents did not come to him, so he went to look for them. He found his mother on the edge of their living room couch. When she saw him, she jumped to her feet and waved her arms in protest. “Nooooo! He’s my son! Please don’t hurt him! Please don’t hurt him”
She had given him ample warning before an agent in a black suit emerged from behind the couch to restrain her. Genesis drew his rapier and impaled the second assassin who lunged at him from behind the door. The assassin attempted to aim his shotgun but Genesis dispatched him with a gash to the throat. The first agent abandoned his mother to offer belated aid to his team member. Angeal barred his path and dashed his head against the wall.
Ha. They were too fast for these simple assassins. Genesis doubted they were even Turks-Turks did not have the reputation of going down this easy.
Genesis’s mother covered her mouth as she edged away from the two black bodies soaking up her white carpet. She had expected to see death, but apparently not of the agents. Oh, her faith was touching. She must have forgotten she sent her darling boy off to become a SOLDIER.
Genesis asked her, “How many of them?”
“Genesis, are you…are you…they-”
“How many of them?”
“Genesis, please.” That was not an answer.
He had wanted to be reasonable with her. No temper. But she was inciting. “You fed them. You know how many are here.”
She sank back into the couch. She buried her face in her hands, stalling and wasting his time trying to dodge his accusation. If she made him ask her a fourth time, he would… “Six,” she finally said. “I think, six.”
“Did you love me, Mother?”
“What?” She lifted her head. Stunned. As if that was the last question she expected from him after he killed a man in front of her eyes. It was the first time he ever asked her this question and she hesitated too long before she said, “Yes.”
“Then why did you let them in? There are six of them and one of me.”
“Genesis…”
He did not expect she would be able to answer that.
“There are no dreams,” he said. “No honour remains. The arrow has left the bow of the goddess.”
If Shinra could afford to put six agents in his house, Genesis could wager there were more of them in Banora to back up their operation.
How did they get here so fast? Genesis’s plans did not cover Shinra finding out he had left Wutai so soon. He thought he would have more time to work out things out in Banora. He hated to speculate, but one of his companions must have been in contact with Shinra. Hollander needed too much from him to turn on him-there was the matter of Hojo and the stagnant mako. Angeal was all sympathy but… Was he such a horrible person to doubt his oldest friend over some old kook who would murder to become head of science department?
The bottom line was this: He would never forgive Angeal if he tried to take him back to Shinra.
“Let’s split up,” he said to Angeal. “You search upstairs.”
There were two black suits in the kitchen with his father. One of them was a man with long hair and a thin frame. The other was taller, more robust and had a crew cut. His father was sitting on a high stool between the two.
“I think you should go back with them,” his father said.
The proposal was so outrageous it took a few seconds for him to catch up with the logic. “Why?”
“They can help you.”
Genesis sent a spell through his rapier. “These two can’t even help themselves.” The Turks reacted and stood prepared for combat but neither drew their weapons.
Father’s eyes were sad but Genesis could no longer believe the sorrow was genuine. He would not stand with the child he raised. He would not even listen to the other side of the story before deciding Genesis was at fault and should crawl back to Shinra.
“Put away your sword,” father said with a shake of his head. “They told me everything, about your sickness. I’m sorry. I’m sorry this is happening. But you must trust the Company. They will help you if you go back. They will heal you.”
It was bad enough to be denied, but his father actually considered him a fool as well! “What did you think they were planning when I was diagnosed with this degradation? They would terminate my life-contract so they would not have to waste resources on a dead person. I am done with Shinra!”
Lazard. It was Lazard who caught wind of this and immediately sent him off to Wutai leading a special taskforce. Even the president would not dare knick a gil from a general leading his major victory. The director saved him from total disgrace, but he could not worry about Lazard right now. The director was just one of Shinra who wanted to own him.
He raised his sword. His father dropped to the floor and crawled away as the long-haired agent opened fire. Genesis deflected the shots with a Protect spell but the crew cut Turk rushed forward and brandished twin daggers. A dual-wielder-that was more like it. Genesis would have been disappointed if Shinra sent staff only fit for surveillance duty.
Daggers put up a real fight. He was physically strong-difficult to block and left no openings as he moved. Genesis was faster, but Daggers had help from his partner who kept demanding Genesis’s attention. Turks were not always versed in magic, but this gunner knew how to wear down a Protect spell. He fired on kitchen utensils around Genesis, sending glass shards and debris flying into his shield.
Genesis snaked behind Daggers and kicked him behind a knee. The Turk stumbled to the floor. Gunner grabbed the rack of knives on the counter and tossed it at Genesis, forcing the SOLDIER to step back. Genesis flung a dark energy spell at them both.
Daggers charged at him with renewed ferocity. The Turk was stronger when matching strengths, and he had two weapons. When Genesis parried, he trapped the rapier with both daggers, but shifted one quickly to thrust at Genesis’s side. The SOLDIER just managed to avoid a killing blow but the gash hurt so badly. Genesis grabbed the Turk’s shirt with his free hand and burned a fire spell into his chest. One taken care of, at least. He let Daggers drop to the floor.
Killing the second Turk made short work. He finished him off with another spell.
The wound under his rib cage began to darken his shirt. Not a fatal wound to a healthy SOLDIER, but unfortunately he was not a healthy SOLDIER. He cast Cure-Hollander already explained healing spells closed wounds only on the surface but could not repair tissue damage or stop internal bleeding. If his body was not going to mend by itself, Cure was no help and might make him underestimate the injury. But Genesis still had unfinished business here. He could not afford to bleed all over the place and pass out before he was done.
His father pulled himself out from behind the cabinet where he had been hiding. Genesis did not know if his father intended to go to him, but a larger shape entered his sight anyhow.
“Genesis.” Angeal’s eyes were on his bloodstained shirt.
“I’m fine.”
Angeal did not ask anymore. He looked around at the dead Turks. “That should be the last of them. I took care of the others. I think only these two are Turks. The rest are regular staff not even trained for combat.”
Rapid footsteps clacked on the tiles and they both turned with their hands on their weapons. It was only mother who ran to father’s side to see if he was all right.
“You both betrayed me,” Genesis said.
His father pulled his mother close to him and the two held onto each other like frightened children. A happy family reunion, was it not? They were alone together now with no Shinra between them.
Father shook his head. “Genesis, I didn’t mean the words I said.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Genesis replied. “You were willing to say them.”
“We didn’t have a choice,” Father indicated Daggers lying on the floor.
“I forgive you.”
Genesis left their bodies next to each other.
ANGEAL
Genesis did not murder his parents. He executed them.
There had been no torture, no sadness, only a clean insertion of his sword behind their necks, down through their spines. His father first, and then his mother. Instant deaths. It was almost logical.
Thanks to Shinra’s delicate arrangement, this was not even patricide.
The feeling of shock started to come to Angeal when the mother tried in vain to crawl to his feet after her husband died. She did not beg for Genesis to stop. Instead, she appealed to Angeal’s last shred of humanity. “Please help me, Angeal! Please!” She was on her knees, a hand outstretched. That moment of her life had been entirely in Angeal’s hands. He could have said something or drawn his sword to block the finishing stroke. But he did not.
First, there was guilt when her eyes widen and her body slacken. Then, there was rage, this incredible, powerful rage that should not be there. Not directed at Genesis, not at himself, but at the helpless woman who hit the floor with a thump. She was guilty of betrayal-how dare she pass her guilt onto him with her pleading eyes and bloodied mouth? Why had she expected him to help? Him?
“I forgive you,” Genesis said before turning to leave. There was nothing left for him here.
Angeal almost envied Genesis. Always so in touch with his desires. He always knew what he wanted to do. Angeal never had the same clean-cut decisiveness. Too many dreams, too many regrets. That had always been one of their differences and one that attracted Angeal.
Even now, when the parents’ blood was cooling off Genesis’s sword.
They returned to Angeal’s house. Depressive, dark little cottage. They kept all the curtains drawn and the doors locked from the outside.
Gillian was sitting at the kitchen table with her hands clasped. Angeal asked himself if he was tempted to put a sword through her spine. He did not imagine she would plead for her life. She would be accepting of her fate. She would agree to pay the price of betrayal.
Not yet. He had not forgiven her yet.
There was a brief moment when Gillian held his gaze. He could almost see the questions in her eyes she was afraid to voice and he was afraid to answer. But their contact broke when Genesis cut between them. Angeal’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Genesis retching in the kitchen sink.
Angeal wanted to go to him, but he stood shell-shocked by the display of human weakness. Genesis had both hands pressed on the sink ledge, shoulders hunched, heaving gasps. Angeal did not know how he could help. He did not feel he had enough inside him. He stood on the side and waited for Genesis to feel better, for the tremors to stop, for him to pull himself straight.
“I’ll go find Hollander,” Angeal offered. The least he could do.
“No.” Genesis whispered when he could speak again. “I’m fine.”
Angeal watched him walk away. Moments later, he heard Genesis run the shower.
Angeal found Genesis collapsed in his bed.
A cocktail of pills was strewn over his desk. Angeal did not want to mix them up so he left them where they were.
Genesis must have been exhausted. The exertion of the fight, the emotional trauma and the wound he refused to discuss must have drained him. Angeal had no way of knowing how degradation felt. Hollander seemed to think Gillian already cured him of the disease. But what if he was wrong? What if Angeal could somehow contract it from Genesis?
Then, they would die together. It would be the best possible ending.
Angeal felt shocked.
He should not have given in to that thought. He should have found ways to save them both. He should have been strong for Genesis, not the other way around. But he was the one who needed much guidance, needed more consolation, the one who felt so small.
“…I can’t…”
Can’t go on, was what he would have say, but he did not even have the right to say it. He was not ailing. He was not in mourning. He was not the one who could not be free from Shinra. Courage was regrettably so out of proportion to the fortunes he still had.
Angeal inhaled deeply to let the oxygen filter the thoughts.
Spilled pills on the desk. He wondered if Genesis ever felt the same way.
Genesis’s cheek was cool and smooth, lips hot and soft by contrast. Reassurance. Comfort drawn. Powerful as that. Genesis was strength that Angeal was not. Angeal heard his own breath hitch as his fingers lingered on the petal soft mouth. Then, there was shame of his taking from Genesis, needing so much.
Angeal sighed. He withdrew his hand. “I should have been taking care of you.”
*
Nightfall, at last.
Banora was nothing like Midgar. Banora slept after the sun went down and its nights were very long.
Angeal waited until the sounds died down before returning to the Rhapsodos house to take care of the bodies. Now that Genesis made his presence in town known, his parents’ misfortune would have been linked back to him. Angeal could not allow that to happen.
He slipped in through an opened window in the living room and the sight took him aback. The blood-soaked carpets would have been a nightmare to clean but they were spotless-replaced. The blood flecks were painted over and the house still carried the faint smell of varnishing. The bodies were removed. With his hand on his weapon, Angeal made his way to the kitchen with the same miracle. The broken things were swept away and the overturned furniture were put back in place. The corpses of the Rhapsodos and the two Turks were gone.
There were professionals already at work.
Something told him-SOLDIER’s sense-that they left not long ago. Angeal took to hunting their trail.
He went outside to search for clues and found someone beneath the bent apple tree. Two black suits. They were quiet as they worked. They had just finished burying the bodies and soothing out the soil with their shovels. They did not realize Angeal was there until he was close enough to hear their controlled but laboured breathing. When they turned, they saw him with the Buster Sword drawn.
“We are not Turks,” the leader of the pair indicated. “We are not with them.”
“Who sent you?”
“You don’t ask that question, SOLDIER. You will have no answers.”
Angeal searched the black suit’s face. He had a feeling he had seen this man somewhere before but the memories blurred from there. In the Midgar headquarters-that was all he recalled. He did not remember why and how.
The other agent looked around with cold calmness. “The Turks will arrive soon. We must go and we advise you to do the same, SOLDIER.”
“Why are you here?” Angeal interrupted. “Why are you crossing the Turks?”
“Perhaps we will speak another time. This is neither the moment nor the place,” the first agent said.
“If you don’t give me answers now, we will never speak again.”
The agent sighed. “We were never even supposed to meet. But we are only acting in your best interest-”
“And what is that?”
“That you and Genesis stay free from Shinra.”
“Genesis will get sicker on the run without proper medical treatment.”
“Did you really think Shinra would wine and dine you when you return?” the agent’s question was painfully blunt.
Point taken. No. “They’re probably going to execute us both.”
“No, of course not. You are both extremely costly investments and they will make the most of their money. You won’t be First Class again. But you will be specimens of study for the production of future generation SOLDIERs. Who do you think is going to be really happy about your return?”
Have they reopened Project G? Gillian had asked.
Not officially, they have.
Hollander.
“Your point?”
The agent had a look of impatience on his face that oddly reminded him of Genesis whenever Angeal was slow to catch on something. “Do you really have to make me say it?”
Angeal finally began to understand. It was a proposition, from an opponent of Hollander. “Who do I have to jump hoops for this time? Who do I have to kill in exchange of our freedom from Shinra? But no, you’ve said nothing about letting us go free.” Angeal locked gazes with the agent. “So what is your price?”
Dangerous questions. Dangerous to answer. The agent chose his words carefully. “I demand nothing from you. I act according to my orders.”
“What do they entail? Will you help us evacuate Banora? Or are you going to kill Hollander and bomb the science department?”
“I will do whatever is required of me.”
“In other words, you are just saying I cannot trust you.”
“That would be up to you,” the agent said.
Angeal was done. He turned to leave.
“How is Genesis’s health?”
Angeal paused. “What are you getting at?”
“Nothing. Just concerned.”
The agents walked away.