Welcome to Adventu, your final fantasy rp haven. adventu focuses on both canon and original characters from different worlds and timelines that have all been pulled to the world of zephon: a familiar final fantasy-styled land where all adventurers will fight, explore, and make new personal connections.
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year 5, quarter 3
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Genesis groaned with his head in the pillow, feeling a dull headache coming on from where he was laying on the couch. He’d arrived back at Zack’s house late last night after he’d finally left the Torensten underground, and he found himself wishing that he’d watched his wine intake more. This was going to be a miserable day.
Even though the sun was starting to filter in through the thin curtains, the entire house was silent. Blearily considering the closed door that led to the spare bedroom, Genesis decided that Sephiroth must not be awake yet. It was unusual for him to sleep past sunrise, but it wasn’t so surprising this time. Genesis had heard him come home sometime in the middle of the night while he had already been asleep on the couch. Sephiroth wasn’t usually one to stay out so late, so Genesis planned to shake him for the juicy details once he actually felt functional.
Genesis usually swore by a hangover cure of the greasiest breakfast possible followed by a warm shower, and he peered at the dark, empty kitchen, feeling a sharp pang at the sight of it. What had he expected? Just because Sephiroth was here now didn’t mean that Angeal was. The broad man was never going to lecture Genesis about excessive drinking again. He’d never shove a plate of eggs at Genesis again or force him to drink a glass of water. He was on his own, like he had been for four years now. Angeal had obviously wanted it that way. If he’d wanted to live, then he’d be here.
He’d been gripping the pillow a bit too tightly without realizing it, and the ends of feathers were starting to poke through the fabric. Scowling, Genesis hurled the pillow across the room until it hit the opposite wall before he forced himself to roll off the couch. His coat and sweater were draped over the armrest of a nearby chair, but he abandoned them for now and padded shirtless and barefoot into the kitchen. Opening the fridge, he scowled into the blaring light before pulling out the eggs and milk.
To his eternal shame, Genesis was actually a decent cook, but he’d take that secret with him to the grave if he could. He never wanted to be expected to help out after all, so it was much better to feign ignorance. Angeal was the only reason that he knew how to cook—He had found it to be a hobby when they were kids, and since Genesis was constantly following him into the kitchen to complain about someone, he took to idly directing Genesis to chop something or to add spices to the dish, which he did without much thought. Only years later when he pondered how many recipes he’d somehow absorbed did Genesis realize what a devious game Angeal had been playing. Genesis had then dramatically informed his friend that he’d never felt so betrayed in his life. If only that were still true.
“What? You wanted me to rely on you less?” Genesis scowled as he dumped the pancake batter that he’d thrown together into the hot skillet. “Well you got your wish, didn’t you?”
By the time that Genesis had finished the scrambled eggs and the pancakes, he had realized a secondary problem. There was no syrup in any of the cabinets. Zack just kept finding new ways to be disappointing, even when he wasn’t here. “The arrow has left the bow of the goddess,” he despaired, glaring at the pancakes as he dropped into a seat at the table with a thump. It looked like he’d have to throw them out. Simmering, Genesis rested his chin on his arms and had almost dropped back into sleep again right at the table when his eyes suddenly popped open.
“It doesn’t make for a bad substitute, does it?”
Leaping to his feet, Genesis marched over to the spare bedroom and opened the door so hard that it bounced against the opposite wall. “Sephiroth! What did Angeal use on French Toast instead of syrup the morning after your birthday?” He demanded. “Remember? It was the one where I crawled through an air duct to break in your apartment because Angeal wanted to know if you had a crock pot.” Angeal had loved to give practical birthday gifts, after all. Genesis not so much.
He had the sudden realization that he probably looked a mess with his unkempt hair, lack of a shirt, and wing full of crumpled feathers.
“What? Nothing to see here!” he said with a huff. “Also there’s breakfast. I guess. Only if you tell me about your wild night. I need details.”
Sephiroth eyed him like an angry bird of prey, which wasn’t a hard comparison to make with his slit pupils. Genesis pursed his lips and met his gaze directly. “Oh yes. I’m just full of intuition on the topic.” He wasn’t going to willingly regale him with tales of his parasitic alien mother, but if Sephiroth was determined to freak out and burn down a town, then that wasn’t on Genesis. Not like this city couldn’t use some razing anyway.
As they came up on the town where Genesis had been staying, Sephiroth pointed out that the kid had enough magic to look after himself. Rolling his eyes, Genesis was about to inform him why that really wasn’t the point, when Vivi suddenly agreed with Sephiroth that he could look after himself. Calling him ‘Mr. Genesis’, Vivi waved at them happily and wished them a good night before running off with the box of puppies. Genesis narrowed his eyes and watched him waddle off into the darkness, torn between relief and annoyance.
“From now on, you may only refer to me as Mr. Genesis,” he informed Sephiroth as he stretched out his wing before folding it against his back. “Also, what do you think? Definitely one of Shinra’s lab rats?”
Yawning, he wondered irritatedly what time it was. It had been the middle of the night when he had first left the inn, and that had to have been hours ago. He wouldn’t have been surprised to see the sun creep over the horizon at any moment.
“I have a room in this town if you’d like to come catch a few hours of sleep with me,” he offered to Sephiroth. “But alas! Only one bed. Whatever will we do?” Throwing a smirk over his shoulder, he started walking off in the opposite direction that Vivi had disappeared down. “My friend, do you fly away now? To a world that abhors you and I?” There was really no better time for Loveless than right before sunrise, after all.
The servant boy finished bringing Mateus his food before sweeping over to Genesis, and he glanced at the boy’s mask sharply for a moment, wondering why even the servants chose to hide their faces. Still, X was engaged in conversation with the majestic blond man at the moment, so he doubted he’d get a chance to ask before they were finished. Pointing out a few dishes that he’d enjoyed back in Midgar, Genesis settled back in his chair and sipped his wine as Mateus answered what he was doing in Torensten.
He chose to needle their host a little, which made Genesis smirk into his glass. But when he finally gave an honest answer, Genesis was surprised to hear the slight hesitance in his voice before he mentioned a companion who had asked him to stay. It was clearly not a topic that Mateus wished to dwell on, because he skewered his steak with more force than was necessary as soon as the words left his painted lips. Clearly he and whoever he was living with were having some difficulties. “Oh? You two must be quite close. That’s always beautiful to see.” Genesis raised his glass to him slightly as a full plate of choice meats and vegetables was placed in front of him. He wasn’t trying to be mocking (well maybe a little), but he thought the man would give something away in his reaction. If Mateus and his partner were going through a rough patch, then Genesis was happy to show him an enjoyable evening before flitting back to where Sephiroth was waiting at Zack’s house.
X went on to ask what they both truly desired out of Torensten, and Genesis hesitated slightly, twirling his fork around some asparagus. But in the end, the weight of the apple in his coat pocket made his answer easy. “The gift of the goddess,” he proclaimed boldly, and while X didn’t seem to miss a beat, her lips twitched faintly into a laugh below her mask.
“I was told that you enjoy poetry. It can be quite the enjoyable art form,” she said smoothly, and Genesis’ opinion of her improved immensely despite the sketchiness of the entire situation. “However, I could take that in several different ways, and I was hoping to get to know both of you without any ambiguity. So if you don’t mind…”
Genesis scowled faintly, though he supposed that he didn’t really mind translating. “A fresh start,” he finally said. “To do everything here that I wasn’t able to in my own world. And of course, to be entertained. I can’t stand to be bored by someone.” He gave her a pointed look as he laced his next line with Loveless. “My friend, do you fly away now? To a world that abhors you and I? All that awaits you is a somber morrow, no matter where the winds may blow.”
X’s eyes behind her mask looked a little piercing for a moment before she laughed softly. “Well, then I certainly hope you’ve enjoyed the entertainment that we’ve provided for you thus far,” she murmured, before turning her attention back to Mateus.
Genesis watched him as well as he finally took a bite of fish. He hoped that they’d get to the point of their masks soon, but he had a feeling that might be explained during X’s mysterious proposition. Pity that patience was never his strong suit.
Genesis raised an eyebrow as Vivi talked about the woman that he’d seen in his dream who had needed help. “You didn’t say anything about a lich before. What’s this about a lich?” He demanded, giving Sephiroth an odd look as the man quietly admitted that a dream had drawn him here as well. “Apparently no beautiful woman for you though.” Genesis rolled his eyes as he took the lead down the street. “Or did the great General Sephiroth warrant a visit from the mysterious lich itself?”
Honestly, Genesis had no idea what a lich was, but it sounded like a dramatic evil king in a play or something. He could get behind that. “There are no dreams, no honor remains,” he lamented as he casually threw Fire down a side street. He hadn’t seen any of the undead down that way yet, but you could never be too careful. And it wasn’t like it mattered if this whole city burned to the ground anymore. That might even be preferable since it would take care of the problem.
Vivi went on to talk about how he had come here to try to help the woman in his dreams, and he scowled faintly as the boy sadly admitted that no one would help him. “To be fair, if you had knocked on my door in the middle of the night because of a fever dream, I wouldn’t have come either,” he said, though he felt a reluctant sort of almost pity for the kid anyway. Ugh. Just their luck to find some kind of orphan experiment with nowhere to go.
Sephiroth seemed uncomfortable and asked about their estimated time of arrival, and Genesis dramatically threw up his hands. “Our ETA? Really? Can you act like we’re not in the military for five seconds? We’ll get there when we get there, Sephiroth. Or we could fly if you’re in a hurry.” He didn’t really expect Sephiroth to agree to that, but he had missed being able to needle the man at every opportunity.
Vivi asked what they were doing in the city if they weren’t there to help the woman in his dreams, and Genesis took a long pause, glancing at Sephiroth out of the corner of his eye. He knew exactly what had brought him here and woken him up in the middle of the night, because he could still feel Jenova’s pull, though it had lessened significantly since he had been in Sephiroth’s presence. Too bad the man was probably horrifically in denial. Maybe it was better that he didn’t remember the last time that Genesis had tried to tell him the truth. And Sephiroth called him the dramatic one.
“Oh yes. We just love to help out.” Genesis waved a hand as he crossed the street with the boy in tow. “I have quite the intuition for these things.” He paused to hop over a crack in the street before turning to glance at Vivi.
“More importantly. Do you have something you can do when we get to a town, or do we have to drag you somewhere?” Like an orphanage. Or Zack’s house. The last one would be worth it purely for the man’s expression.
Genesis paused with the wine partway to his lips when Mateus offhandedly commented that he used to be an emperor. There’d been nothing but the president of Shinra during his lifetime of course, but he knew the term from various plays and histories. Genesis had been only somewhat serious when he had said that the man dressed like royalty, but it appeared that he’d been more correct than he knew. If the stories were to be believed, then emperors supposedly ruled swaths of land that would have rivaled even Shinra’s grasp on the world.
“Coming here must have been disappointing for you then,” he commented with a grimace. “What sort of empire did you rule?” Mateus didn’t seem too pleased to answer his questions, but Genesis supposed that he could understand that when the man returned them in kind.
“In another life I was a soldier,” he said with a slight face. “But I abandoned that path long before I came here. ‘My friend, the fates are cruel. There are no dreams, no honor remains.’” He took another sip of wine as the dance ended and the same attendant from before entered the room to usher them along to dinner.
The dining room was larger than he would have expected for just the trio of them, but that was nothing compared to the spread laid out on the table. Genesis whistled lowly as he glanced between the various platters of meat and vegetables. It looked like no expense had been spared, and he doubted that they could have finished the meal even with triple their numbers. It looked like something the leaders of Shinra would have indulged in. As the servant took his leave, Genesis couldn’t suppress a chuckle as Mateus wondered aloud if the staff would return to serve them.
“Your royal roots are showing,” he teased lightly. “But I’m also certain they will with how the night has been going.”
At that moment, the doors opened again and someone with a more majestic golden mask than the others strolled in confidently with their head held high. Genesis blinked slightly as it turned out that their host was female, but he supposed that he shouldn’t have been surprised. No one had ever stated a gender for X after all. Genesis kept a careful eye on her as the woman took a seat and directed her servant to begin serving them. The boy poured them each a glass of water and a glass of wine before going over to serve Mateus first.
“For you, sir?” Genesis heard him murmur as he took the man’s plate. Meanwhile, X held her wine glass in front of her, twirling it expertly though she hadn’t yet taken a drink as she informed them that she had a proposition for them once dinner had come to an end. Genesis’ interest was piqued, so he scowled slightly when she seemed determined to hold a normal conversation first, though he quickly hid his expression with a sip of wine.
“I think so. I recently moved to Torensten,” he answered her question reluctantly. “I haven’t been in Zephon for long, and I’ve mostly been wandering around up until now. But I recently found someone from my old world who lives here, and I’d prefer to stick close to him for now.” Which was a favor to Sephiroth honestly. He doubted the man knew how to function without an army or orders to stab something.
“I see,” X mused, her expression unreadable behind her mask as she took a small sip of water. “It must have been a relief to see a familiar face. I did presume that you must not have originated here.” Her large eyes flickered to the wing on his left side, but there was only curiosity in her voice, so he didn’t mind it much. He hardly wanted to delve into that unless asked though.
“And you?” X turned her attention towards Mateus as the boy placed a full plate in front of him. “You’re far too bright a jewel to have originated in Torensten. You would have stood out before now.”
Genesis glanced at Mateus, waiting to hear his answer as he adjusted the apple that he’d stowed in his coat pocket during the earlier entertainment. Truth be told, he was interested in the mysterious emperor as well.
Of course this abomination in a pointed hat had to be least annoying child that Genesis had ever come across. Of course. “Stop being cute, damn it!” He complained when Vivi informed him helpfully that he hadn’t crawled out of anything--he had walked. Ugh. This night was turning into a roller coaster of emotions, and Genesis wasn’t prepared to deal with it.
“All that awaits you is a somber morrow, no matter where the winds may blow,” he cursed at Sephiroth when the man mocked him and asked if he was feeling pity. “I don’t do pity! Boring people do pity.”
It was at that moment that Vivi went on to answer that he had no one to go back to, his voice dropping into a sad, soft tone. The goddess was just toying with him now. Throwing up his arms, Genesis walked a few paces before turning back to give Sephiroth an accusatory glare. “You always get us into these situations, Sephiroth,” he complained. “Fine, fine! We’ll either find him somewhere in the village, or we’ll dump him at Zack.” Zack acted enough like a child anyway. Plus it would be incredibly satisfying to throw a problem at him. Or several problems, if you included the puppies in the box.
Sephiroth started walking away after proclaiming that he wouldn’t be responsible for any casualties, and Genesis rolled his eyes as he trailed after reluctantly. What if he was the one who died? Would Sephiroth feel responsible then? He debated asking the question out loud, but Vivi was happily babbling to Sephiroth about his ability to protect the puppies. If this kid didn’t stop being so innocent, then Genesis was going to strangle him from behind. Somehow he didn’t even think Sephiroth would argue now that they were away from Shinra and it wouldn’t cause him paperwork.
“What lady?” Genesis asked with a raised eyebrow when Vivi asked if that was the reason that they were there as well. He had no idea what the kid was talking about, and he glanced at Sephiroth to see if he had any ideas until they reached the entrance to the alleyway. They seemed to be debating about the correct direction to go, so Genesis rolled his eyes and leapt into the air, unfurling his wing as he rose higher and quickly scanned the horizon. The dark walls of the temple lay to their left side, and Genesis remembered flying north to reach it, so he glanced back towards the direction where he had first entered the city. He wasn’t sure if this was the same village that Vivi had been talking about, but Genesis had flown here from 'a' village, so it was a good enough place to start. He supposed that the room that he’d had in the inn was still good until morning, at any rate.
Dropping back down into the alley, Genesis gave no room for argument. “She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting,” he proclaimed, taking the path to their right as he entered the streets again. “How’d you end up in this wreck of a city anyway?” He asked, casually throwing a fire spell down the street towards a group of zombies in the distance. Maybe they’d stumble into a few buildings, but eh. That certainly wasn’t his problem if this place burned down. It would be the least of the city’s problems at this point.
There was a slight twitch to Mateus’ lips as Genesis introduced himself, so he raised an eyebrow as the man expertly twirled his wine glass. The red liquid swished dangerously close to the edge, but not even a drop spilled out over the rim. He wondered what the man had found so funny, but he waved it aside as Mateus mused on his own assumptions about their night.
“A decadence unknown to the world above. Food, art, wine, and a host of the other arts.”
Genesis laughed under his breath, still twirling the apple that he had plucked from the fruit table in between his gloved fingers. “That sounds fantastic to me. I am rather partial to poetry and the theatre. Among other things.” He left the other things unspoken, but he cast a slightly appreciative look at the man’s elaborate, open robe out of the corner of his eye. Wherever this night ended, he assumed that he would have a fascinating story out of it for Sephiroth. Not that Sephiroth would want to hear it, but of course Genesis would tell him anyway. Maybe he’d finally loosen up now that he was away from Shinra. The goddess knew that Sephiroth needed it.
At that moment, the door opened, and Genesis glanced up to see a boy enter the room wearing the same mask in the shape of a dragon as the girl who had led him down here. The boy explained that their host was still “attending to business” but would be down shortly. Genesis cocked an eyebrow at that, glancing at Mateus to see if he found the phrasing suspicious, but he looked more annoyed by the wait than anything. Maybe that wasn’t so surprising. The man’s appearance and demeanor suggested that he was used to being waited on. He looked like an elegant prince that had stepped directly from the pages of a play. The type who would have people burnt if he didn’t get his way. Genesis could appreciate that. All stories needed a villain, after all.
After a moment, the boy bowed and ushered in five people in bronze masks. One of them wore a soft white robe that made their gender difficult to distinguish as they took up residence in one corner and placed a violin under their chin. A cluster of notes swirled out and echoed darkly around Genesis’ ears, and he settled back against the couch as the four others grouped themselves in the middle of the room and began to dance. They were fantastically talented, and he watched the way they leapt and spun perfectly in time to the sound of the violin. Their flowing sleeves twirled gracefully around them, and the dim lighting played off the shimmer in their tights. He couldn’t see their faces, but judging by their lithe and muscular builds, Genesis thought he could pick out two women and two men.
Mateus circled his way around the dancers to make his way back over towards Genesis, and he almost looked a part of them—an ethereal figure sweeping around the masked figures. Sitting nearby, he crossed his legs and considered the group as he asked Genesis if knew the piece.
“I don’t think so, but then I haven’t been in Zephon very long,” he confided with a slightly bitter smile as he glanced over towards the violin player. He was starting to get his bearings in the world, but he supposed that he still had a long way to go. Holding up the apple that he was still clutching, he considered the dancers over the top of it until the music took on a darker tone. The dancers drew closer together, and their moves became a touch more sensual. Lowering the apple, Genesis chuckled to himself as they entwined, starting to wish that he’d brought Sephiroth along on his Torensten trip after all. He would have killed to see his face at a moment like this.
“When the war of the beasts brings about the world’s end, the goddess descends from the sky,” he murmured, setting his empty plate on an end table as he stowed the apple in one of his coat pockets. It wouldn’t hurt to take a souvenir from his time here. “I do believe I’m in need of wine now that I’ve eaten.” He had to circle his way around the dancers to make his way back towards the food table, but he didn’t mind. As he drew closer towards one of the men who spun towards him and extended his arm, Genesis couldn’t resist the urge to trail two fingers over the man’s shoulder and shoot him a wink before starting to pour himself a glass. He’d never been able to resist joining a show, after all. He rather liked being the center of attention.
Making his way back towards Mateus, Genesis sprawled back against the couch and took a sip of wine, savoring the bitter taste. “If you don’t mind my asking, who exactly are you?” He asked with a faint smirk as he glanced between Mateus and the dancers. “You dress like royalty. The wind sails over the water’s surface, quietly but surely.” He paused to take a sip of wine to linger on the Loveless quote. “Or should that topic of conversation wait for dinner?” He crossed his legs in front of him, feeling the weight of the apple in his coat pocket somewhere around his chest.
Genesis leapt from rooftop to rooftop, carelessly tossing fire at the figures below. Flicking his eyes to the side, he noted with some satisfaction that Sephiroth had reached the child and appeared to be making short work of the zombies that approached them. Well, he’d expect nothing less from the great General Sephiroth.
Shooting one last spell towards two of the humanoid figures, Genesis sighed with something like contentment as they collapsed in an explosion of sparks and sizzling flesh. Perhaps this was what he’d been missing on Zephon so far. If he’d been so pent up, then no wonder he’d been unhappy. But taking care of a threat with a friend at his side? He could get used to this again.
That wasn’t nearly all of them, but it was enough to where Genesis was confident that they wouldn’t be approached for a moment. Gripping his sword at his side, he jumped down into the alleyway to join Sephiroth and the child, his wing floating at his side until he carefully folded it in against his back.
“Hero of the dawn, healer of worlds,” he greeted Sephiroth, as he flipped his red hair behind one shoulder. “We should be fine if we hurry.”
He’d just barely caught while he was descending that the kid’s name was Vivi, so he turned to glance at him and jerked back slightly in surprise. “Oh goddess, what’s wrong with its face?” Vivi had a large pointed hat with two bulbous shining yellow eyes peering up at him from underneath. He wasn’t even sure the kid had pupils. Or skin for that matter. His face outside of his eyes looked like an endless black void. Genesis resisted the urge to poke him to see what he was made out of.
“What lab did you crawl out of?” he asked curiously. He looked like something that Hojo would have cooked up after a bender at Costa del Sol. It wouldn’t have surprised him if Vivi came from their world originally, at any rate.
“Could you please help me find the exit? I want to get these guys to the safe village I came from earlier.”
What was he talking about? For the first time, Genesis peered at the box that he had clutched close to his chest, groaning when he heard the whimpers and caught the flash of tiny paws. “Puppies?” Seriously? He whirled around, his coat swishing behind him as he gave Sephiroth an accusatory glance. “Of course you get us involved with some abandoned kid and starving puppies. Of course, Sephiroth.” The silver-haired man was likely going to try to point out that Genesis had told him to come down here, but those were just details, and Genesis refused to listen to them.
“Fine, fine! The wandering soul knows no rest!” Genesis threw up his hands with a dramatic hand gesture. “Just take us to someone we can leave you with, kid. Anyone in that village?”
Genesis noted that the blond-haired man didn’t seem to like him much. He kept a smile on his painted lips as he spoke, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes, and Genesis pursed his lips slightly as the man approached the table to pour himself a glass of wine. Genesis took the time to study him further while the man was distracted by the red liquid pooling in the bottom of the glass. He was almost unfairly beautiful with refined features and perfectly applied makeup. Genesis was by no means a short man, but this stranger still towered over him by a good few inches. His eyes were caught by the gold necklaces shimmering over the man’s toned chest before the blond finally looked up and replied to his suspicions about the food a bit scornfully. He even went so far as to pop a piece of cheese in his mouth, a smirk hovering on his lips now as he returned to his spot by one of the bookshelves.
Genesis laughed under his breath, a little torn between acting offended or not. He suspected that he would have been far more indignant had the man been less handsome. But between him and Kuja, he was starting to think that derisive and beautiful might have been his type.
“I suppose if you drop dead, I’ll know to avoid the cheese then,” he said with a faint smirk as he took a small plate and added a few pieces of fruit to it. He’d had more than enough wine today, and real food would likely be better no matter which direction the night headed. He started in on some cantaloupe as the man questioned if their hosts had pursued him as well.
“I wasn't stalked to your extent evidently,” he said with a slight laugh once he’d swallowed. “Just a winery. In theory, I flew in for only the day though, so I suppose I had no room yet for them to follow me back to.”
The man gave a chuckle from behind him, and Genesis shot him a curious look as the man moved to a location on a nearby plush couch. The smile on his lips was far more genuine now as he waved a hand at their surroundings and commented on their beauty. Genesis tilted his head slightly, not sure what he had done to finally win the man’s favor, but he decided that he wouldn’t look the gift horse in its mouth as he was finally able to put a name to the face.
“Mateus,” he echoed, as he moved over to settle in an armchair across from him, spreading his wing slightly to occupy the space easier. It was an elaborate name, but it did seem to fit him and his appearance perfectly. “Nice to meet you as well. I’m Genesis.”
He took a moment to pluck an apple off his plate, considering the contrast of the red flesh against his crimson gloves. He wondered if anything like Banora Whites grew in this world. If so, then maybe he’d have to remember the apple juice recipe that he’d come up with as a kid, he thought with a twitch of his lips. Perhaps Sephiroth would enjoy it.
“And what sort of people do you think our hosts are?” He addressed Mateus. “There are several ways to interpret the ‘real splendor of Torensten.’” Much like there were several ways to interpret Loveless. But at the end of the day, there was only one correct answer here, and he supposed they'd learn it soon enough. “My friend, your desire is the bringer of life, the gift of the goddess,” he mused as he considered the apple.
Genesis decided on a day trip to Torensten because he wanted a break from Zack’s house. Not that Sephiroth wasn’t good company (though his social skills were lacking as much as Genesis remembered), but staying with him grated on both of them. Sephiroth was orderly and professional, and Genesis let his possessions ooze around the house as he pleased. Not to mention that Sephiroth didn’t seem to know how to handle Genesis when he was bored as well as Angeal had. No, a day away from each other would probably be good for both of them, so he left a short note on the table before flying south to Torensten.
The city seemed more bustling and friendly than Sonora had, and Genesis grimaced slightly at the faint scent of produce in the air when he immediately ended up walking through a marketplace. If you only added a tinge of manure to the smell, then it would have reminded him of a farm. How he hated farms. Especially orchards. Perhaps this had been a mistake.
He hadn’t bothered to hide his wing this time. Maybe it was seeing his own self-consciousness reflected back at him in Sephiroth’s face, but it reminded him of his defiant period after Shinra had bombed Banora when he hadn’t bothered to tuck in his wing anymore. Let them see what they had done to him. Let everyone see what a monster he was.
So Genesis confidently strolled down the street, with his black wing only partially folded in and hanging by his side. He heard the whispers and noticed the nervous glances, but he only pursed his lips and raised his chin slightly as he strolled towards the nearest bar. Let them look. He wanted them to see. And it certainly wasn’t so Sephiroth could feel better about himself. Of course not. So what if he was new and looked so ashamed of himself that Genesis just wanted to shake him until he owned what he was? It’s not like Genesis kept his wing out all the time now to help him be comfortable. Ugh.
Genesis ended up seated outside an upscale bar with a long-stemmed glass and a bottle of wine. He slowly drained a few glasses and watched the sun make its way across the sky until he felt pleasantly buzzed, deciding that he should do this more often. Finally, he stretched his wing a bit and signaled for the check, pausing when he opened the folded leather case and a sealed envelope fell out instead of the bill.
“Hm?” Genesis turned the envelope one way and then the other, but he found no markings on it. Slitting it open with one gloved finger, he pulled out a thick sheet of paper. The letter itself was short.
You've been noticed. Proceed to the entrance to the Underground at sunset if you truly wish to enjoy the real splendor of Torensten. Yours truly - X
Raising an eyebrow, Genesis gestured for the waiter to come back, raising the letter as the portly man bustled back over. “If you’re coming onto me, then I wanted to assure you that you certainly aren’t my type,” he said with a roll of his eyes. The man laughed a bit uncomfortably, his eyes flickering to the wing spread out at his side.
“No sir. Someone paid your bill already and asked that this be delivered to you instead.”
“Oh?” Genesis paused and glanced past him at the interior of the bar. “Infinite in mystery is the gift of the goddess. So that means if I were to order more wine…”
By the time that Genesis left the bar, the sun was descending over the horizon, and he was starting to edge past pleasantly drunk. He generally recovered from that fairly quickly at least. Sometimes he wondered if he had the Jenova cells in his veins to thank for that. Not that he’d ever thank anyone for making him what he was.
Hesitating slightly, Genesis considered the crumpled note in his hand. The letter had an ominous edge to it, and he had a feeling that he knew what sort of hedonistic party he was being invited to. “Well threaten me with a good time,” he muttered, stopping to ask for directions as he made his way over to the underground.
As he reached the entrance, someone of ambiguous gender with a slender frame approached him, a full dragon mask obscuring their face. “I can take you to your destination if you follow me, sir.” Her voice finally revealed her to be a woman.
“Your note failed to mention anything about this being a masquerade,” Genesis said with some amount of irritation as he pushed off the wall and followed the girl down into the lit tunnels.
She laughed, a low tinkling sound that echoed in their close quarters. “It wasn't my letter, sir. And you don’t need to worry. You won’t need a mask.”
Something about this was starting to feel a little off, and he found himself wishing that he’d brought his sword along. Still, he had his materia, and he was legitimately curious about where this was going. If he never came back, would Sephiroth come looking for him?
The girl led him around so many twists and turns that Genesis lost count, before she finally directed him to a large house in the center of the cavern. Now that wasn’t spooky at all.
“The guests are waiting in here, sir.” She directed him to a room on the left, and Genesis walked past her into a room lined with books, pausing to take in the room’s only other applicant.
He was an attractive man with blond hair that was nearly as long as Sephiroth’s, and his ornate makeup, dazzling jewelry, and plunging neckline demanded that all eyes focus on him. Genesis was immediately reminded of his encounter with Kuja. Well, if this was the sort of party that he’d originally thought it was, then he had to say that he was currently impressed with the other participants.
“Well hello there,” he greeted the man, walking over to inspect the trays of fruit and wine that lay in the center of a table. “When the war of the beasts brings about the world’s end, the goddess descends from the sky.” He reached out to pluck a grape off the vine. “I take it you received a mystery invitation as well then. What do you think the odds are that our hosts have poisoned the food?”
