{ all alone, he's holding his breath half to death }
Who: Kunsel Reinhardt (iluphone), Angeal Hewley (banoraboy), Zack Fair neverwinged), and open to Sion Ashe (preposterism) and Cloud Strife (still_moseying).
When: Same morning as when Zack's S.O.S. goes out.
Location: Near Sion's house, Midgar.
Rating: PG-13 for swearing, hallucinations, seizures, Zack, and other distressing things of that nature.
Summary: Sephiroth takes a little more from Kunsel than the Second Class can handle while his mommy dearest is doing Bahamut-knows-what to Zack. Luckily Angeal is around to bail them out. What are you going to do with these boys, Angeal? Hopefully something kinky. ;D
"D..Dad...?"
The ShinRa building was empty save for them, Professor Reinhardt and his prodigal son. Kunsel was not sure how or why he was certain of this fact, only that he simply knew. The lights were dim, almost a pale green in hue. It reminded him of the showers of Mako SOLDIERs were all put through, and unsettlingly enough the reminder only served to make the Headquarters feel more like home.
Home.
Kunsel almost laughed. What was 'home' to him? A long gone pile of splinters that once sat so comfortably above the Plates? Slums which he had never known where he had supposedly been born? These sterile halls, mortared with corruption and the blood of people he had once known as friends? A chocobo farm out in nowhere that offered him some sort of illusion he could ever escape from the long shadow ShinRa cast over them all? Perhaps SOLDIERs did not have homes, only pasts. Perhaps SOLDIERS did not have futures either, only missions. Only ShinRa.
Home.
Briefly, there was a flash of memory he recognized as his own. Or was it? Was it a memory at all? But there was a flash, and an image illuminated the dark ShinRa halls so brightly that it was almost painful to watch. Two SOLDIERs, though Kunsel could only make out their outlines in the light. Walking away from him, down the hall, until he couldn't see them anymore. And then it was just him again, standing across the room from a man he knew to be long dead.
Home.
What was 'home' anyway...?
"Dad," he called out again. He didn't understand where he was, only that it was so vivid that it felt more real than even the last few days of his life. Zack returning suddenly, then Sion and Angeal both returning from the dead. Drinking with them, waking up this morning to-- What? Kunsel couldn't remember precisely, but none of it... None of it had felt as real as this. He could smell the polish on the floors. He could feel the central air against his skin, always two degrees too cold for him no matter what the temperature was outside. And his father, standing with his back turned on his son, hands clasped behind his back. Even his posture was disapproving. There was no mistaking a man like Kunsel's father.
"What are you doing here, Kunsel?" his father finally sighed back, and Kunsel could feel his father's eyes on him through their dark reflections in the window's glass.
"I-- I don't know. Where are we? What is all this? Midgar was destroyed-- ShinRa was--" Kunsel looked down at himself and found himself in his SOLDIER uniform once more, bearing the colors of Second Class. "ShinRa was destroyed. SOLDIER was dissolved. None of this should--"
"Nonsense," his father cut him off sharply, snapping at him as the old scientist turned to glare at his only son. "ShinRa could never be destroyed. Don't you understand, boy? ShinRa isn't just a company. It's a system of beliefs. It's a dream. Everything we've worked for will be realized someday. You will see, Kunsel. What we have done here will echo on in eternity long after our bones are dust."
"If that's so, it'll only be because what's been done here becomes unstoppable. Do you have any idea how much pain you've caused? Me, Dad! Your only fucking son! All my friends are dead! Meteor fell! The house is gone, Migdar is gone, the world I knew growing up is gone!" The more Kunsel spoke, the angrier he became. The last ten years of pain flooded through him all at once, from learning of the monsters that were let out of Professor Hojo's lab to Zack's disappearance to Geostigma to the activity in the Northern Crater now. It never seemed to end, and just when Kunsel thought he had run out of things and people to lose, the world delighted in proving him wrong. Soon he was shaking, tears tumbling down his face, and he screamed at his father the way he had never dared to while Dr. Reinhardt still lived.
"ShinRa isn't a fucking 'dream' or an 'idea' or any of that shit you used to spew when you bothered showing up for dinner, Dad! It's just greed. It's fucking greed and corruption and everything that's ever been fucking wrong with this world! It's where humanity goes to die, and I was fucking happy when your heart finally gave out and you kicked it, you bastard! I was just surprised you even had one! I hate you, I--"
Without warning, vertigo choked away the rest of Kunsel's words. Where there had been blinding hate and rage in his heart was all at once empty, as though it had been bled out of him. In an instant, the floor seemed to give out from under him, and Headquarters spiraled away into nothingness once more. When Kunsel opened his eyes again, unsure of when he had closed them, he was able to vaguely recognize his surroundings as the ruins of Midgar. A dream...?
Kunsel staggered as a spell of dizziness struck him, and his hand went to his collar, tugging at it absently as he tried to regain his balance. He felt strangely light-headed, and his brow furrowed as he tried to pinpoint why this sequence of events felt so familiar. He could hear static, white noise in the back of his mind, a sort of whispering that grew louder and louder as the seconds ticked by. For a moment he thought he saw his father amid the ruins but just as quickly it was gone. The world went in and out of focus.
Letting out a low groan, Kunsel briefly fell out of consciousness, body crumpling to the ground as his muscles went tense. By the time he hit the uneven terrain of the ruins, he was already in convulsions, eyes rolling back until only the whites could be seen.
The last thing Kunsel was aware of was searing pain in his shoulder.
When: Same morning as when Zack's S.O.S. goes out.
Location: Near Sion's house, Midgar.
Rating: PG-13 for swearing, hallucinations, seizures, Zack, and other distressing things of that nature.
Summary: Sephiroth takes a little more from Kunsel than the Second Class can handle while his mommy dearest is doing Bahamut-knows-what to Zack. Luckily Angeal is around to bail them out. What are you going to do with these boys, Angeal? Hopefully something kinky. ;D
"D..Dad...?"
The ShinRa building was empty save for them, Professor Reinhardt and his prodigal son. Kunsel was not sure how or why he was certain of this fact, only that he simply knew. The lights were dim, almost a pale green in hue. It reminded him of the showers of Mako SOLDIERs were all put through, and unsettlingly enough the reminder only served to make the Headquarters feel more like home.
Home.
Kunsel almost laughed. What was 'home' to him? A long gone pile of splinters that once sat so comfortably above the Plates? Slums which he had never known where he had supposedly been born? These sterile halls, mortared with corruption and the blood of people he had once known as friends? A chocobo farm out in nowhere that offered him some sort of illusion he could ever escape from the long shadow ShinRa cast over them all? Perhaps SOLDIERs did not have homes, only pasts. Perhaps SOLDIERS did not have futures either, only missions. Only ShinRa.
Home.
Briefly, there was a flash of memory he recognized as his own. Or was it? Was it a memory at all? But there was a flash, and an image illuminated the dark ShinRa halls so brightly that it was almost painful to watch. Two SOLDIERs, though Kunsel could only make out their outlines in the light. Walking away from him, down the hall, until he couldn't see them anymore. And then it was just him again, standing across the room from a man he knew to be long dead.
Home.
What was 'home' anyway...?
"Dad," he called out again. He didn't understand where he was, only that it was so vivid that it felt more real than even the last few days of his life. Zack returning suddenly, then Sion and Angeal both returning from the dead. Drinking with them, waking up this morning to-- What? Kunsel couldn't remember precisely, but none of it... None of it had felt as real as this. He could smell the polish on the floors. He could feel the central air against his skin, always two degrees too cold for him no matter what the temperature was outside. And his father, standing with his back turned on his son, hands clasped behind his back. Even his posture was disapproving. There was no mistaking a man like Kunsel's father.
"What are you doing here, Kunsel?" his father finally sighed back, and Kunsel could feel his father's eyes on him through their dark reflections in the window's glass.
"I-- I don't know. Where are we? What is all this? Midgar was destroyed-- ShinRa was--" Kunsel looked down at himself and found himself in his SOLDIER uniform once more, bearing the colors of Second Class. "ShinRa was destroyed. SOLDIER was dissolved. None of this should--"
"Nonsense," his father cut him off sharply, snapping at him as the old scientist turned to glare at his only son. "ShinRa could never be destroyed. Don't you understand, boy? ShinRa isn't just a company. It's a system of beliefs. It's a dream. Everything we've worked for will be realized someday. You will see, Kunsel. What we have done here will echo on in eternity long after our bones are dust."
"If that's so, it'll only be because what's been done here becomes unstoppable. Do you have any idea how much pain you've caused? Me, Dad! Your only fucking son! All my friends are dead! Meteor fell! The house is gone, Migdar is gone, the world I knew growing up is gone!" The more Kunsel spoke, the angrier he became. The last ten years of pain flooded through him all at once, from learning of the monsters that were let out of Professor Hojo's lab to Zack's disappearance to Geostigma to the activity in the Northern Crater now. It never seemed to end, and just when Kunsel thought he had run out of things and people to lose, the world delighted in proving him wrong. Soon he was shaking, tears tumbling down his face, and he screamed at his father the way he had never dared to while Dr. Reinhardt still lived.
"ShinRa isn't a fucking 'dream' or an 'idea' or any of that shit you used to spew when you bothered showing up for dinner, Dad! It's just greed. It's fucking greed and corruption and everything that's ever been fucking wrong with this world! It's where humanity goes to die, and I was fucking happy when your heart finally gave out and you kicked it, you bastard! I was just surprised you even had one! I hate you, I--"
Without warning, vertigo choked away the rest of Kunsel's words. Where there had been blinding hate and rage in his heart was all at once empty, as though it had been bled out of him. In an instant, the floor seemed to give out from under him, and Headquarters spiraled away into nothingness once more. When Kunsel opened his eyes again, unsure of when he had closed them, he was able to vaguely recognize his surroundings as the ruins of Midgar. A dream...?
Kunsel staggered as a spell of dizziness struck him, and his hand went to his collar, tugging at it absently as he tried to regain his balance. He felt strangely light-headed, and his brow furrowed as he tried to pinpoint why this sequence of events felt so familiar. He could hear static, white noise in the back of his mind, a sort of whispering that grew louder and louder as the seconds ticked by. For a moment he thought he saw his father amid the ruins but just as quickly it was gone. The world went in and out of focus.
Letting out a low groan, Kunsel briefly fell out of consciousness, body crumpling to the ground as his muscles went tense. By the time he hit the uneven terrain of the ruins, he was already in convulsions, eyes rolling back until only the whites could be seen.
The last thing Kunsel was aware of was searing pain in his shoulder.