001 || First Dream

[sixthsefira]

[It begins with a simple gray metallic room. The place where most of the fun the man had managed to have with the two people whom actually cared about him as a person and not as a weapon nor as a science specimen, had taken place. Also the place where everything had begun to go downhill actually. That last spar, the wound Genesis received during it

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[no_hometown]

[It's the cannon again. Or the illusory version of it from the Training Room program. He saw it in the other Genesis' dream, and now he's here again, regarding--himself, it appears, and also Genesis, still reciting that poem, as if there's an endless loop of it playing in the man's head. It's curious, to look at himself, to see that he's aged, but that isn't so odd. Everyone ages.

It seems he can't escape from LOVELESS. Or himself.]

One would almost think there were no other poems in the world.

[sixthsefira]

[A soft sound of humor escapes him as he hears his own voice respond to the verse, despite not coming from his own throat.

Turning to face this new arrival, its as if someone has decided to show him what had been before he'd thrown everything away in his confusion and arrogance. A man, revered as a hero, instead of feared and despised as a killer. Still, he's curious to know why this figment of his past has shown up. Was there a reason behind it or was it merely whimsy?]

Indeed.

[A short pause as he considers the man anew.] Are you a figment of my sleeping mind, as Genesis back there is, or are you... someone else?

[no_hometown]

I could ask the same of you, but as you've asked first, I will answer. I am no figment.

I am myself. [He approaches the older version of himself. Why shouldn't he? He frowns at the redheaded man standing nearby. His last waking encounter with Genesis was far from pleasant.]

I saw another Genesis, not long ago. I wonder how many of them there are, and all with the same borrowed words on their lips. [He's gotten a little more used to these shared dreams, and the people he meets in them, sometimes familiar but sometimes not.]

[sixthsefira]

I would answer the same. [His eyes track the other man as he approaches, but that is the extent of movement, beyond the wind toying with his hair.]

I wouldn't know. Though not all of his words are borrowed, or at least not the words of the man I know currently. Perhaps all that was needed was time to move beyond the need for those borrowed words.

[no_hometown]

I thought you might. [If this version of him is older, alternate, he might well be different, but in some ways, they would be the same, would have some of the same thoughts. The other Genesis had been like the one he knew, too, no matter how changed in some aspects.]

I always hoped he'd reach that point. I knew he had that potential, but I had no chance to see it. [He pauses. What Genesis had told him is different than what he'd believed.] I believed he died, in Modeoheim, but that must have been another lie.

[sixthsefira]

[How does one tell themselves that Genesis in fact outlived him? Then again, how do you explain just why that happened? It's hard to decide if he should attempt to tell the man what he's learned over these last ten years, if only to see if things can't possibly go better for him... or would it would just be a waste of effort..

Or worse.

Perhaps its best to deal with the situation as it comes and not to provoke anything. The truth was hard enough to swallow regardless of how it was told... but if there was a chance things could be changed... it would prove tempting to actually attempt it.]

Yes, ShinRa believed he died there once. As you say, it was a false report. He survived and eventually found the cure he had been searching for.

[no_hometown]

[He's heard many things in these dreams, but none of them are facts. There's no hard evidence to be found here, for aren't these, after all, only dreams? Not truth. He listens to what he hears, but who would allow a dream to affect his actions during waking hours? That would be madness, wouldn't it? Yet the dream seems quite real to him now, as he stands within it.]

This is the second time I've heard as much. Genesis said the same. That is, the female Genesis I spoke to. [He doesn't trust her. He thinks over the words of his other self. He is furious with Genesis. He isn't sure how to feel about him finding his cure, considering what he had done before finding it, but Genesis' degradation hadn't been something he'd wanted.] She also said I died. [This isn't quite a question.]

Modeoheim is my current location. [Which seems odd to say while standing here atop the cannon.] I'm investigating the events that transpired there.

[sixthsefira]

[He can understand the distrust of dreams, but then there are somethings one is forced to acknowledge if it's continuously thrown at you in the same manner again and again. Sometimes, dreams are a way for one's mind to force one to face unpleasant truths a person sought to run away from or ignore in the waking world.

He nods once simply at the statement of death.]

Yes. I died in Nibelheim.

[The confirmation is simple, blunt and straight to the point. Its best like that or else his mind might actually begin to stray toward things he doesn't care to remember currently.]

I remember the investigation. The equipment was gone. Someone had moved it.

[no_hometown]

[He nods at the news of his death, taking it rather well. He heard this already from Genesis, and he remembers that dream. Of course he does not want to die, but he will not believe the future is set.]

You died. And then? [Clearly there must have been more--there's the past tense, not to mention the fact that this man is clearly older.]

It is not what I would call a successful investigation.

[sixthsefira]

[The question ends up bringing up just what he was attempting to avoid thinking of back to mind and with it, comes the at first warping of the dreamscape around them. The city at the other man's back is no longer Junon, but Nibelheim. It does no good to attempt to wrest it back to Junon, the town remains as it is now, the sad remains of a burned out victim of his outrage and insanity.

The scent of the ocean fades and they're no longer on the canon above the Junon coast line either, but standing on solid ground on the path between Nibelheim and it's reactor.]

And then what?

[It's not something he cares to go into, those ten years. Especially when going into it, would call for the explanation of just why they happened as they did. While this was just a dream, how would the man before him take learning what he had in this manner? He took news of his death calmly enough, but learning that you died is far easier to bear than news that you learned you were no better than your friends, an experiment...and then due to their fathers lies

[no_hometown]

[He watches the change, standing still as the world transforms itself around them. There's a change in the atmosphere as well, and he can feel it. It's colder, less welcoming.]

Perhaps I shouldn't have asked. [He examines their new surroundings with a neutral kind of interest. They are not familiar to him, though they don't have to be for him to realize that some tragedy took place here. He decides not to question it, instead focusing on another subject of interest.] What I meant was, if you died, then how was that state of affairs altered?

Hollander again. The absolute depravity of these scientists is repugnant. [A sharpness enters his tone.]

[sixthsefira]

[He's silently grateful to be given the opportunity to bypass the explanation of just what happened to cause his death and what followed thereafter. One just hoped that the explanation of just how he was revived didn't cause a need to actually go back and explain just what he was seeking to avoid.

Focusing on it thankfully allows him to take them away from the unwelcome surroundings to a new setting, the city of Edge appearing behind his younger self and behind him Midgar in all of her ruined splendor. He chooses his words carefully though, replacing atone with a different term, since the suggestion he had something to atone for, might spark questions better off not asked.]

Genesis requested of his goddess Minerva that she grant me a second chance, she saw fit to agree and thus revived me.

On the matter of scientists I quite agree with you. [Especially given what he knows now about all of Hojo's actions.]

[no_hometown]

[Genesis and his goddess. He is partly irked by the thought of Genesis being right. It seems absurd to him, frankly. He does not say that, though his irritation shows on his face for a fleeting moment.

Fortunately, Sephiroth doesn't return to that more sensitive line of questioning, at least for now. There are other matters in the forefront of his mind.]

And Angeal? What of him?

[He might not know the extent of what Hojo's done, but he knows enough to have cemented his distaste for the man.] Instead of a true desire for scientific knowledge, they're lead only by their own greed and vanity. [Or their own madness, though he doesn't mention that.]

[sixthsefira]

[He notes the fleeting emotion but doesn't remark on it, instead moving onto the questions asked of him and the latter statements made.]

Angeal is still within the Lifestream. He accepted his death and has no desire I believe to return to living.

As for the scientists, yes. Most of those within ShinRa's employ, sought only to attempt to play god. They had no respect for the lives they used and ruined. In the end it was the company's greed and lack of morals which brought them down. [At the last sentence, he looks away from the man before him to glance at the ruined shell of a city behind him.]

[no_hometown]

That sounds very like Angeal. [He feels a deep grief for the loss of his friend, so painful and recent, but it isn't something he can easily express.] Yet he should not have died as he did.

[Still, he is pleased to have someone to discuss his feelings about the scientists and ShinRa with--someone who understands. These are opinions that could be considered treasonous, after all. It would be unwise for the general himself to voice them publicly.] I'm pleased they were brought down, at last. I've been considering leaving ShinRa. I thought that, now that this business with Genesis is finished, I could begin to make preparations-- [He frowns.] But you say it is not. [He, too, turns toward the ruins, following his other self's gaze. Yet he doesn't ask the obvious question: What happened here? Perhaps he will, shortly. For now, he contents himself with looking, carefully studying the city he once knew so well in its former state. It seems very likely that this change has something to do with the mentioned fall of ShinRa.]

[sixthsefira]

[The silence which falls between them stretches for a good couple minutes before he apparently makes up his mind about something he was debating on earlier in this dream. He doesn't know if it will make a difference or if the other man will even heed the words, but at least the effort would have been made.]

You should leave now, even if the business with Genesis remains unfinished. Stay and nothing good will come of it... [Unless you count the fall of ShinRa, but then there had to be a way to bring that about which didn't force one to completely abandon one's friends and honor.]