Brother My Brother Chapter 2
Genesis could barely sleep. His shoulder was sore and, when he could get his mind off it, it went to his deployment in Wutai and then to the small cadet down in the infirmary. He had to admit that he could see a bit of a resemblance. Heck, he had looked familiar to him when he first walked in. Only after he found out about their relation, did he realize why.
Other then the hair, auburn vs. blond, Cloud's physical features greatly resembled Genesis before he had joined SOLDIER. Skinny, small, pale, even his face was structured similarly. Genesis however seemed to have the advantage of height.
Cloud had also seemed just as excited to meet him and he had the sense that it wasn't because he was one of Shinra's commanders. He knew that he shouldn't be this worked up, he didn't even really know Cloud, but then he would close his eyes and remember the way Angeal's mother had looked at her son. She had always been nice to him, but her eyes were never full of love when she looked his way. His adoptive parents only ever looked at him like he was a burden.
Then he had told Cloud that they were related and finally someone looked at him like he mattered and not because he was a 1st Class SOLDIER. He'd had hope in his eyes and Genesis knew that he couldn't turn back now.
Cloud would be getting out in the morning and Genesis was going to be there to help him.
8 am found Genesis, coffee in hand, heading down to the infirmary. He opened the door to Cloud's room and found him awake, staring out the window.
Cloud turned to him when the doors opened, a surprised look in his eyes. "It wasn't a dream?" He asked.
Genesis just shut the door behind him, "No, well, as long as you're talking about us being brothers. No, that wasn't a dream."
"Wow." Cloud said, letting out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
"I was serious, too, when I said I'd like you to move in with me. If you want to, that is." Genesis said softly.
"I-" Cloud was almost at a loss for words. Finally he managed to say something. "Can I do that? I mean, I didn't think we could leave the dorms."
"I think I have a little pull." Genesis said, a small smile on his face.
"Oh ya," Cloud said, looking away.
Genesis looked around and noted that there was nothing in Cloud's room, no notes from friends or even a flower. He wasn't the most socially advanced person, but every time he had visited an injured man before, there had at least been something, even when they were only in the ward over night.
"When do I get out of here?" Cloud asked.
"They told me this morning, as soon as the doctor releases you. Do your friends know you're here? I could get them a message." Genesis said, moving to take a seat.
Cloud just looked away and muttered something even Genesis's hearing couldn't pick up.
"What was that?" He asked.
"I don't have any friends." Cloud's eyes were focused on something outside his window. He was terrified that Genesis would find out how pathetic he really was and just leave him here.
Genesis couldn't fathom it, he had always had Angeal and even now Sephiroth. Though, he wouldn't admit to the man's face that he was one of his closest friends. How could someone not have a friend? No wonder Cloud looked so alone.
He still didn't know what to say, so he just walked over and pulled Cloud into a hug. He wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do, but he thought it was what Angeal would have done.
Cloud stiffened for a moment, obviously more unused to physical contact than Genesis himself was. Once he processed what was actually going on however, he relaxed and clung tightly to Genesis. At least he didn't cry, the red head wouldn't have known what to do if Cloud had cried.
"I'll go check on the doctor, let's see if we can get you out of here, alright?" Genesis finally asked.
"That would be good." Cloud agreed, leaning back a bit. Half of him believed Genesis was just changing his mind and looking for an excuse to leave Cloud behind.
Genesis pulled away and winced a bit as Cloud's arm brushed his shoulder. Luckily, Cloud hadn't noticed it. He wanted to breach that conversation slowly and carefully, certain it would affect Cloud one day.
Cloud just went back to looking out the window and Genesis left to find the doctor.
An hour later, Cloud was standing inside Genesis's quarters.
"I've had them send your things up. I cleaned out the spare bedroom, I've been mostly using it for storage. They will be delivering a bedroom set later today, too. I meant to ask if you had a preference, but I didn't think about it before I left you last night and I wanted it to get here. I ended up with dark walnut, if you really don't like it, I'm sure we can exchange it." Genesis rambled.
"That would be perfect." Cloud said with a small smile, he meant it, too, all his furniture back home had been that color. "But please, don't fuss over me too much. I don't want to be a burden."
"Don't ever say that." Genesis said, looking at him. "I'm doing this because I want to and you’re my brother. I'd sit down and talk to you all day, if I didn't have a meeting to attend to."
"My class!" Cloud's eyes went wide. He was supposed to be in the training hall an hour ago.
"You've been given the week off because of your injury. Make yourself at home. I won't be gone long." Genesis said, slipping his coat back on.
Cloud just nodded and sank into Genesis's couch, "I should be back before lunch, but if you get hungry or thirsty, help yourself to anything in the fridge. I don't have a television, sorry, but I do have plenty of books. "
"I prefer reading anyway. We didn't have a television in Nibelheim, so I never really got into it." Cloud admitted.
"See, proof we're bothers." Genesis grinned and stepped out the door.
Genesis was deliriously happy. Lucky for him those in the meeting thought it was solely due to his new deployment. He wasn't ready to share his brother with everyone just yet.
"You'll be landing on the northern tip. We need you to take out as many of the pockets of Wutai troops as you can before we make the final assault on the capital." Lazard said, pointing on a map. Heidegger, Scarlet and President Shinra were present.
"As you know, they've been evading Sephiroth and the rest of the general’s army. I want you to take your troops, go in, fish them out and finish them off. Once they are dealt with, crushing the capital should be easy." Lazard said, standing tall.
Scarlet looked sour, but Heidegger and the President were all for the idea, so she kept her mouth shut. She was thoroughly convinced it was her weapons, not Lazard's SOLDIERs, that would win this war.
"Do you have any questions?" Lazard asked those assembled.
"I think you've covered everything quite thoroughly." Genesis said with a small smile.
"You best make Shinra proud, son, this war is bleeding us dry." President Shinra said with a bit of a laugh before standing and leaving. Scarlet quickly followed.
"Good luck, my boy." Heidegger said, shaking his hand.
Genesis despised the man on a personal level, but now he felt obligated to give the man a smile. "Thank you."
Heidegger just nodded and left the meeting room himself.
"Oh Genesis, the cadet you mentioned. I checked his file, I'm rather confused as why you would want him with you. While he seems rather knowledgeable on theory, he just can't physically keep up with the practical side. The Turks have actually expressed a slight interest in him depending on how the examine goes. To top it off, he's been given medical leave this past week because of a training accident. He hardly sounds like SOLDIER material." Lazard finished.
Genesis's blood was almost boiling. How many times had people told him to give up? That he wasn't good enough, that he would never be Sephiroth. Now here he was, one of the top personnel in the military. His dad had out right laughed at him when he said he wanted to go join SOLDIER with Angeal. His mother told him he'd be crawling back in a week.
"I'll take my chances and decide his merit on my own." Genesis snapped. No one was going to treat Cloud like that, not now or ever again.
"Fine, then I'm officially assigning him to you. If you want him in the military so bad, then you can be responsible for him. That kid has no place here, you'll get him killed, you realize that?" Lazard said, adjusting his glasses.
"You need to stop underestimating people." Genesis said and it was clear that he meant more than Cloud. After that he left the meeting room without another glance back at Lazard.
"So Angeal, what are you doing this evening?" Genesis said into his phone. The meeting had run shorter than he thought it would and, while he wanted to get back to check on Cloud, he decided that Angeal at least needed to meet the boy.
"Nothing really, why, what's up?" Angeal replied.
"I wanted to make dinner, to make up for last night." Genesis replied.
"An apology dinner? Why am I afraid?" Angeal said with a laugh.
"I promised I'd meet your student, but I was going to see if you would leave him at home." Genesis said, Angeal he could handle, Zack, who he didn't even know, was another story.
"How exactly does this make up for last night then?" Angeal asked.
"Look, Angeal I have something really important to tell you and I would like it to just be you. Please. I'll take your puppy out for a walk and ice cream. They like that, don't they?" Genesis asked with a bit of a teasing tone to it.
"Alright, but this better be really really important or I'm calling Zack and telling him to join us." Angeal said a bit seriously.
"It is Angeal, it is." Genesis said, this time very serious. "I'll have dinner on the table at 5."
His shoulder ached again, reminding him of just how many secrets he was keeping from his friend. He had seen the worry in Angeal's eye after the training accident and then when the wound wouldn't go away. He had lied and told Angeal that Hollander had healed him. How long was he going to be able to keep that lie up? He didn't know.
Either way, he had several hours until he was needed anywhere again and it was time to have a heart to heart with Cloud.
He walked in and found Cloud sitting on the couch, reading on of his books. He was slightly disappointed that it wasn't Loveless, but reading was reading. It was more than Sephiroth had done anyway.
"I hope you weren't too bored on your own." Genesis said, sitting on the arm of his couch.
"I was fine, I'm used to being by myself." Cloud admitted and closed the book. Genesis almost winced, if the boy had no friends, of course he was used to being alone.
"I was hoping we could talk a bit." Genesis said honestly.
"About what?" Cloud asked, tone implying he wanted specifics, not confusion.
Genesis's mouth wouldn't work. How did he say he wanted to know about their mother? If she was really his and Cloud's mother and what she was like. Should he even start out the conversation that way?
It almost seemed like Cloud read his mind however when he pulled out his wallet and handed Genesis a picture. "That's mom." He said softly.
There was no doubt in Genesis's mind that this was Cloud's (and therefore his) biological mother. She looked just like the kid, it was like Cloud was a little clone, they even had the same blonde hair. His stomach fluttered when he realized he had gotten his eyes from her.
"You can keep it." Cloud finally said as Genesis kept staring.
"I-" Genesis wanted to refuse as he slid down into the couch next to Cloud.
"It's alright, besides, we can have a copy made, then we can both have one." Cloud insisted.
"Thank you," He really felt like crying, seeing his mother's face for the first time. It was the most precious thing anyone had ever given him. "What's she like?" He finally asked.
"She's really nice and hard working. She used to sing me to sleep when I was a kid and always made sure that there was food on the table, even when times were tough. The town didn't really like us and I feel guilty for leaving her behind, but she supported me all the way. She always seemed so sad though, I assumed it was because of dad, but maybe she was sad about you too." Cloud almost whispered.
"I want to meet her." Genesis finally blurted out.
"I'm sure she'd be happy to have you home." Cloud said, leaning on Genesis's arm so he could see the picture. For his part, Genesis didn't even flinch.
"I just wonder what happened. How she's alive when I was told she was dead?" Genesis spoke almost to himself.
"I don't know, but I have a feeling that, if she knew you were alive, she wouldn't have let someone else raise you. I'm certain she must of thought you were dead. Family always seemed like the most important thing in the world to her." Cloud explained.
"We’ll go right after Wutai, I'm certain I'll have earned an extended vacation by then." Genesis said, before feeling his face, he really was crying.
"Do you want me to write her and tell her?" Cloud said, glancing up at his big brother.
Genesis thought about it for a moment, then looked to Cloud. "Do you think if you did, she would be alright if I wrote her one too?"
"She'll love it, I'm sure." Cloud said with a smile.
"Do you have any questions for me, Cloud?" Genesis asked.
Cloud looked down for a moment, pulling his knees into his chest. "I don't know, this still feels like I'm dreaming. I think I'm going to wake up in the infirmary tomorrow and you're not going to be there and I think I might just break." His tone was still soft.
"Have things really been that bad? I mean, I never had a lot of friends, but I always had Angeal." Genesis said, looking at Cloud's small frame.
"I don't know, I don't have anything to compare it to. I never got along with the kids in the village, they were always so immature. Mother used to tell me that I was just too mature, but still. The only one that was nice to me was my next door neighbor. A girl by the name of Tifa, but after an accident when we were younger, her father wouldn't let her near me. I thought I might make friends at Shinra, but apparently being the runt of your class doesn't make you very popular." There was a bit of bitterness in Cloud's voiced that seemed directed at himself.
Genesis could believe the story, Cloud had never had friends, Genesis had never had a family. Their stories seemed so similar. Never good enough, never strong enough.
"Shinra just doesn't know how to make use of your size. Sometimes I'm amazed I'm in the program myself." Genesis admitted.
"But you're the commander." Cloud said, surprised.
"Doesn't mean I didn't start out as a grunt in the cadet program. I struggled every step of the way and had to work ten times harder than my friend Angeal to get to where I am. No one ever thought I would make it either." The bitterness in Genesis's voice matched Cloud's. "You will make it into SOLDIER, if it's the last thing I do."
Cloud smiled, no one had ever had such confidence in him. "Thank you again, I've always wanted to be in SOLDIER, ever since I saw the first newspaper articles with Sephiroth."
Genesis sighed, of course he would be obsessed with Sephiroth, everyone was, even himself at one point.
"Well, Sephiroth isn't all he's cracked up to be. That's why they’re sending me over. He can't finish the war, I can." Genesis grinned, deep down he felt the desire to show Cloud that he was better than his rival.
"Really? That's amazing. I knew you were good, but ending the war." Cloud was nearly in awe.
"And you're going to help me." Genesis grinned.
"I'm still just a 'grunt'." Cloud said with a sigh, "What am I going to do?"
"Everyman counts in a unit, don't you forget that." Genesis said, poking him in the chest.
Cloud just nodded, deciding right then and there that he really did have the coolest older brother in the entire world.
Other then the hair, auburn vs. blond, Cloud's physical features greatly resembled Genesis before he had joined SOLDIER. Skinny, small, pale, even his face was structured similarly. Genesis however seemed to have the advantage of height.
Cloud had also seemed just as excited to meet him and he had the sense that it wasn't because he was one of Shinra's commanders. He knew that he shouldn't be this worked up, he didn't even really know Cloud, but then he would close his eyes and remember the way Angeal's mother had looked at her son. She had always been nice to him, but her eyes were never full of love when she looked his way. His adoptive parents only ever looked at him like he was a burden.
Then he had told Cloud that they were related and finally someone looked at him like he mattered and not because he was a 1st Class SOLDIER. He'd had hope in his eyes and Genesis knew that he couldn't turn back now.
Cloud would be getting out in the morning and Genesis was going to be there to help him.
8 am found Genesis, coffee in hand, heading down to the infirmary. He opened the door to Cloud's room and found him awake, staring out the window.
Cloud turned to him when the doors opened, a surprised look in his eyes. "It wasn't a dream?" He asked.
Genesis just shut the door behind him, "No, well, as long as you're talking about us being brothers. No, that wasn't a dream."
"Wow." Cloud said, letting out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
"I was serious, too, when I said I'd like you to move in with me. If you want to, that is." Genesis said softly.
"I-" Cloud was almost at a loss for words. Finally he managed to say something. "Can I do that? I mean, I didn't think we could leave the dorms."
"I think I have a little pull." Genesis said, a small smile on his face.
"Oh ya," Cloud said, looking away.
Genesis looked around and noted that there was nothing in Cloud's room, no notes from friends or even a flower. He wasn't the most socially advanced person, but every time he had visited an injured man before, there had at least been something, even when they were only in the ward over night.
"When do I get out of here?" Cloud asked.
"They told me this morning, as soon as the doctor releases you. Do your friends know you're here? I could get them a message." Genesis said, moving to take a seat.
Cloud just looked away and muttered something even Genesis's hearing couldn't pick up.
"What was that?" He asked.
"I don't have any friends." Cloud's eyes were focused on something outside his window. He was terrified that Genesis would find out how pathetic he really was and just leave him here.
Genesis couldn't fathom it, he had always had Angeal and even now Sephiroth. Though, he wouldn't admit to the man's face that he was one of his closest friends. How could someone not have a friend? No wonder Cloud looked so alone.
He still didn't know what to say, so he just walked over and pulled Cloud into a hug. He wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do, but he thought it was what Angeal would have done.
Cloud stiffened for a moment, obviously more unused to physical contact than Genesis himself was. Once he processed what was actually going on however, he relaxed and clung tightly to Genesis. At least he didn't cry, the red head wouldn't have known what to do if Cloud had cried.
"I'll go check on the doctor, let's see if we can get you out of here, alright?" Genesis finally asked.
"That would be good." Cloud agreed, leaning back a bit. Half of him believed Genesis was just changing his mind and looking for an excuse to leave Cloud behind.
Genesis pulled away and winced a bit as Cloud's arm brushed his shoulder. Luckily, Cloud hadn't noticed it. He wanted to breach that conversation slowly and carefully, certain it would affect Cloud one day.
Cloud just went back to looking out the window and Genesis left to find the doctor.
An hour later, Cloud was standing inside Genesis's quarters.
"I've had them send your things up. I cleaned out the spare bedroom, I've been mostly using it for storage. They will be delivering a bedroom set later today, too. I meant to ask if you had a preference, but I didn't think about it before I left you last night and I wanted it to get here. I ended up with dark walnut, if you really don't like it, I'm sure we can exchange it." Genesis rambled.
"That would be perfect." Cloud said with a small smile, he meant it, too, all his furniture back home had been that color. "But please, don't fuss over me too much. I don't want to be a burden."
"Don't ever say that." Genesis said, looking at him. "I'm doing this because I want to and you’re my brother. I'd sit down and talk to you all day, if I didn't have a meeting to attend to."
"My class!" Cloud's eyes went wide. He was supposed to be in the training hall an hour ago.
"You've been given the week off because of your injury. Make yourself at home. I won't be gone long." Genesis said, slipping his coat back on.
Cloud just nodded and sank into Genesis's couch, "I should be back before lunch, but if you get hungry or thirsty, help yourself to anything in the fridge. I don't have a television, sorry, but I do have plenty of books. "
"I prefer reading anyway. We didn't have a television in Nibelheim, so I never really got into it." Cloud admitted.
"See, proof we're bothers." Genesis grinned and stepped out the door.
Genesis was deliriously happy. Lucky for him those in the meeting thought it was solely due to his new deployment. He wasn't ready to share his brother with everyone just yet.
"You'll be landing on the northern tip. We need you to take out as many of the pockets of Wutai troops as you can before we make the final assault on the capital." Lazard said, pointing on a map. Heidegger, Scarlet and President Shinra were present.
"As you know, they've been evading Sephiroth and the rest of the general’s army. I want you to take your troops, go in, fish them out and finish them off. Once they are dealt with, crushing the capital should be easy." Lazard said, standing tall.
Scarlet looked sour, but Heidegger and the President were all for the idea, so she kept her mouth shut. She was thoroughly convinced it was her weapons, not Lazard's SOLDIERs, that would win this war.
"Do you have any questions?" Lazard asked those assembled.
"I think you've covered everything quite thoroughly." Genesis said with a small smile.
"You best make Shinra proud, son, this war is bleeding us dry." President Shinra said with a bit of a laugh before standing and leaving. Scarlet quickly followed.
"Good luck, my boy." Heidegger said, shaking his hand.
Genesis despised the man on a personal level, but now he felt obligated to give the man a smile. "Thank you."
Heidegger just nodded and left the meeting room himself.
"Oh Genesis, the cadet you mentioned. I checked his file, I'm rather confused as why you would want him with you. While he seems rather knowledgeable on theory, he just can't physically keep up with the practical side. The Turks have actually expressed a slight interest in him depending on how the examine goes. To top it off, he's been given medical leave this past week because of a training accident. He hardly sounds like SOLDIER material." Lazard finished.
Genesis's blood was almost boiling. How many times had people told him to give up? That he wasn't good enough, that he would never be Sephiroth. Now here he was, one of the top personnel in the military. His dad had out right laughed at him when he said he wanted to go join SOLDIER with Angeal. His mother told him he'd be crawling back in a week.
"I'll take my chances and decide his merit on my own." Genesis snapped. No one was going to treat Cloud like that, not now or ever again.
"Fine, then I'm officially assigning him to you. If you want him in the military so bad, then you can be responsible for him. That kid has no place here, you'll get him killed, you realize that?" Lazard said, adjusting his glasses.
"You need to stop underestimating people." Genesis said and it was clear that he meant more than Cloud. After that he left the meeting room without another glance back at Lazard.
"So Angeal, what are you doing this evening?" Genesis said into his phone. The meeting had run shorter than he thought it would and, while he wanted to get back to check on Cloud, he decided that Angeal at least needed to meet the boy.
"Nothing really, why, what's up?" Angeal replied.
"I wanted to make dinner, to make up for last night." Genesis replied.
"An apology dinner? Why am I afraid?" Angeal said with a laugh.
"I promised I'd meet your student, but I was going to see if you would leave him at home." Genesis said, Angeal he could handle, Zack, who he didn't even know, was another story.
"How exactly does this make up for last night then?" Angeal asked.
"Look, Angeal I have something really important to tell you and I would like it to just be you. Please. I'll take your puppy out for a walk and ice cream. They like that, don't they?" Genesis asked with a bit of a teasing tone to it.
"Alright, but this better be really really important or I'm calling Zack and telling him to join us." Angeal said a bit seriously.
"It is Angeal, it is." Genesis said, this time very serious. "I'll have dinner on the table at 5."
His shoulder ached again, reminding him of just how many secrets he was keeping from his friend. He had seen the worry in Angeal's eye after the training accident and then when the wound wouldn't go away. He had lied and told Angeal that Hollander had healed him. How long was he going to be able to keep that lie up? He didn't know.
Either way, he had several hours until he was needed anywhere again and it was time to have a heart to heart with Cloud.
He walked in and found Cloud sitting on the couch, reading on of his books. He was slightly disappointed that it wasn't Loveless, but reading was reading. It was more than Sephiroth had done anyway.
"I hope you weren't too bored on your own." Genesis said, sitting on the arm of his couch.
"I was fine, I'm used to being by myself." Cloud admitted and closed the book. Genesis almost winced, if the boy had no friends, of course he was used to being alone.
"I was hoping we could talk a bit." Genesis said honestly.
"About what?" Cloud asked, tone implying he wanted specifics, not confusion.
Genesis's mouth wouldn't work. How did he say he wanted to know about their mother? If she was really his and Cloud's mother and what she was like. Should he even start out the conversation that way?
It almost seemed like Cloud read his mind however when he pulled out his wallet and handed Genesis a picture. "That's mom." He said softly.
There was no doubt in Genesis's mind that this was Cloud's (and therefore his) biological mother. She looked just like the kid, it was like Cloud was a little clone, they even had the same blonde hair. His stomach fluttered when he realized he had gotten his eyes from her.
"You can keep it." Cloud finally said as Genesis kept staring.
"I-" Genesis wanted to refuse as he slid down into the couch next to Cloud.
"It's alright, besides, we can have a copy made, then we can both have one." Cloud insisted.
"Thank you," He really felt like crying, seeing his mother's face for the first time. It was the most precious thing anyone had ever given him. "What's she like?" He finally asked.
"She's really nice and hard working. She used to sing me to sleep when I was a kid and always made sure that there was food on the table, even when times were tough. The town didn't really like us and I feel guilty for leaving her behind, but she supported me all the way. She always seemed so sad though, I assumed it was because of dad, but maybe she was sad about you too." Cloud almost whispered.
"I want to meet her." Genesis finally blurted out.
"I'm sure she'd be happy to have you home." Cloud said, leaning on Genesis's arm so he could see the picture. For his part, Genesis didn't even flinch.
"I just wonder what happened. How she's alive when I was told she was dead?" Genesis spoke almost to himself.
"I don't know, but I have a feeling that, if she knew you were alive, she wouldn't have let someone else raise you. I'm certain she must of thought you were dead. Family always seemed like the most important thing in the world to her." Cloud explained.
"We’ll go right after Wutai, I'm certain I'll have earned an extended vacation by then." Genesis said, before feeling his face, he really was crying.
"Do you want me to write her and tell her?" Cloud said, glancing up at his big brother.
Genesis thought about it for a moment, then looked to Cloud. "Do you think if you did, she would be alright if I wrote her one too?"
"She'll love it, I'm sure." Cloud said with a smile.
"Do you have any questions for me, Cloud?" Genesis asked.
Cloud looked down for a moment, pulling his knees into his chest. "I don't know, this still feels like I'm dreaming. I think I'm going to wake up in the infirmary tomorrow and you're not going to be there and I think I might just break." His tone was still soft.
"Have things really been that bad? I mean, I never had a lot of friends, but I always had Angeal." Genesis said, looking at Cloud's small frame.
"I don't know, I don't have anything to compare it to. I never got along with the kids in the village, they were always so immature. Mother used to tell me that I was just too mature, but still. The only one that was nice to me was my next door neighbor. A girl by the name of Tifa, but after an accident when we were younger, her father wouldn't let her near me. I thought I might make friends at Shinra, but apparently being the runt of your class doesn't make you very popular." There was a bit of bitterness in Cloud's voiced that seemed directed at himself.
Genesis could believe the story, Cloud had never had friends, Genesis had never had a family. Their stories seemed so similar. Never good enough, never strong enough.
"Shinra just doesn't know how to make use of your size. Sometimes I'm amazed I'm in the program myself." Genesis admitted.
"But you're the commander." Cloud said, surprised.
"Doesn't mean I didn't start out as a grunt in the cadet program. I struggled every step of the way and had to work ten times harder than my friend Angeal to get to where I am. No one ever thought I would make it either." The bitterness in Genesis's voice matched Cloud's. "You will make it into SOLDIER, if it's the last thing I do."
Cloud smiled, no one had ever had such confidence in him. "Thank you again, I've always wanted to be in SOLDIER, ever since I saw the first newspaper articles with Sephiroth."
Genesis sighed, of course he would be obsessed with Sephiroth, everyone was, even himself at one point.
"Well, Sephiroth isn't all he's cracked up to be. That's why they’re sending me over. He can't finish the war, I can." Genesis grinned, deep down he felt the desire to show Cloud that he was better than his rival.
"Really? That's amazing. I knew you were good, but ending the war." Cloud was nearly in awe.
"And you're going to help me." Genesis grinned.
"I'm still just a 'grunt'." Cloud said with a sigh, "What am I going to do?"
"Everyman counts in a unit, don't you forget that." Genesis said, poking him in the chest.
Cloud just nodded, deciding right then and there that he really did have the coolest older brother in the entire world.