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year 5, quarter 3
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Genesis laughed a bit louder than was called for when Bartz suggested that he tell him about Loveless. The dance club reminded him so much of the old days that it was easy to picture Angeal and Sephiroth over his shoulder, shaking their heads and waving their hands at Bartz as they tried to dissuade him. Pity that was only a fantasy.
“Be careful what you wish for,” he said with a wink as he took a long sip of wine. He wasn’t normally one to refrain from talking about Loveless, but he’d prefer to do it in a different environment. The pulsing of the music made it hard to hear clearly, and he wouldn’t want him to miss a single word. Anyway, he wasn’t quite ready to scare Bartz off. Angeal had often told him that he was off-putting to some people when he got too excited over poetry.
After a moment, he noticed that Bartz seemed to be studying his face, and he smirked faintly and tried to see what he could notice of the man in return in the dim lighting. Bartz had an honest, open face with brown hair that he had probably taken the time to style into the messy, short waves that framed his face. Genesis’ eyes were drawn to the gold bracelets on the man’s wrists before flickering back to his jeweled earring. Bartz took some care with his appearance. Genesis could appreciate that.
Bartz seemed to notice his scrutiny--or perhaps he was just embarrassed by having been caught looking himself--because he quickly glanced away as he got another drink from the bar. Genesis cast him his most reassuring smile, but the man was already pulling something out of his pocket. Genesis looked down at the jagged, glowing piece of crystal and his lips parted slightly in surprise.
“Materia?” He questioned, though he’d never seen any that had looked like that before. Pausing, he listened to Bartz’s explanation before quickly setting down his wine in excitement. “You just woke up here too?” Finally, something he could use. “It’s the same for me. I’ve never seen any of these places before. Or anyone I knew before.”
He chuckled slightly when Bartz looked at him out of the corner of his eye and asked if he’d known him before. “You don’t look familiar to me in the slightest, I’m afraid. Why do you think they claimed to know you? That’s the only part of your story that doesn’t fit with my experience.”
Still, I’m of the firm belief that home is wherever you go. Ah. Genesis could peg his type now. Bartz was a bit too honest and open for his own good--almost like Zack had been. Genesis had to refrain from telling him that ‘home’ was an overrated concept (and certainly not one to be found anywhere). Everyone would always betray you in the end anyway, he could have told him, but Genesis kept his mouth shut. Bartz was naive, but he was friendly and good company. Why spoil the mood? They could probably have an enjoyable evening if Bartz felt like sticking around. From the way his eyes kept darting to the dance floor, he looked like he was itching to return, so Genesis wasn’t expecting to hold his attention for much longer.
He was pleasantly surprised that when Bartz finally chose to return to the dance floor upon the next song change, he made a clear invitation for Genesis to join him. He pointed out a mildly less crowded corner where he said he would be before paying for their drinks like he had promised. As Bartz spun his way back into the crowd, he shot Genesis a clear wink before vanishing between two women as he made his way to the other side of the room. Genesis laughed under his breath as he watched him reappear under a string of colored lights that played off the shine of his hair. Maybe Bartz was less naive than he had first thought.
He finished his wine in no real hurry as he scanned the crowd. It was full of attractive people in tight clothing who were fairly good dancers, but his eyes kept going back to Bartz where he appeared to be having the time of his life as he swayed to the beat of the new song. “My friend, your desire is the bringer of life, the gift of the goddess,” he finally relented as he drained the rest of his glass and left it on the bar counter. Reentering the throng, he navigated his way through the crowd as he tried to ignore the bitter nostalgia that had forced him off the dance floor in the first place. This wasn’t about old times or old friends he’d never see again. This was about enjoying the moment and learning what he could.
Finally, he spun his way over to Bartz and held out a hand to him. “Shall we dance for a few songs then?” He asked with what he hoped was his most winning smile. “Then I’d be interested in hearing the last thing you remember. We both must have woken up here for a reason, hm? Perhaps we have something in common.”
Maybe Genesis would learn something. Or maybe he’d just have a night to drown his sorrows with this optimistic stranger. Either way, he felt better than he had since he’d first stumbled upon that village in the woods.
Thankfully, the black-haired man seemed to realize he was outnumbered and made no move to come after them. Genesis laughed softly as the man wiped wine off his face before turning his full attention to the brunette he had rescued. He realized now that the man was younger than him—probably in his early twenties or so—and his smile was a fairly bright contrast to the dim lighting of the club. He took Genesis’ demand for a drink in good humor, so Genesis trailed after him back to the bar as he cast a long-suffering sigh at the empty wine glass in his hand. At least he’d shortly be getting a replacement for what he had wasted.
“You mean you didn’t know him at all? How pushy of him then,” Genesis commented as he leaned on his hip against the bar counter as they waited for their drinks to be made. The man brought up the Loveless quote that he had made off-handedly and he laughed a tad ruefully, wishing for perhaps the hundredth time that he’d had a copy on him when he woke up here. “No, I didn’t come up with it. It’s from the greatest piece of literature that sadly doesn’t seem to exist here,” he bemoaned before brightening as their drinks were set in front of them.
He chuckled a bit at the additional shot but picked it up and clinked glasses with the brown-haired man. “To not getting stabbed tonight,” he toasted before fighting a slight smirk at his comments about getting skewered. “Well, who can really say what you’d taste like?” He threw out ambiguously before tossing back the shot glass and grimacing at the way the liquor burned on the way down. He quickly followed with a sip of wine and let the mellow taste drown out the liquor. He’d half expected the other man to walk away now that he’d thanked him and bought him the drink, so Genesis was pleased when he stuck around despite the longing looks the brunette was casting towards the dance floor.
”Bartz?” He repeated, glad he had a name to go with the face now. “Pleasure to meet you then, despite the interesting start. I’m Genesis.” He took a long sip of wine, glancing down at Bartz’s open red shirt and green sash. “Do you often change your clothes in a flash of light?” He asked jokingly. “I’ve never seen anyone do that before. Or is that why you almost had your throat slit at the bar?” He risked a glance back towards where they had left the black-haired man, but there was no sign of him over there. Hopefully he wasn’t still lurking around.
”Are you from here by the way?” He added, figuring that he may as well try to learn more about Sonora while he was at it.“I’m afraid I am infinitely new to the area.” Understatement. He hadn’t seen a single thing he’d recognized yet. Hopefully Bartz would have some information for him.
After his encounter with the woman in the village at the edge of the woods, Genesis was itching to leave. The town reminded him too much of Banora for him to want to stay for any extended period of time, but the people were adamant that he at least stay the night in exchange for his help, so he reluctantly accepted a room at the inn and tried to see what he could learn. Reiken-- the town and surrounding woods were supposedly called. Genesis was rather well-travelled due to his missions as a Soldier, but he had never heard of such a place, or any of the other nearby ones the people were able to name for him. Wonderful. It appeared that he had fallen out of the frying pan and into the fire. Still--he tried to remind himself that he wasn’t nearly as bad off as he had been before. He had his life and his previous good looks restored by the goddess and so nothing else mattered. He would find a way forward.
Genesis left the village in the middle of the night after pilfering what he could from the inn. He needed the money and supplies a lot more than they did after all, and they wouldn’t even be alive if it weren’t for him. They owed him a lot more than some provisions and a few day’s earnings, so they were lucky he was only collecting on that. They should be thanking him, really.
Throwing everything in a bag over his shoulder, he took to the skies on his wing and angled to what he thought must be north after considering the stars for a moment. He’d just fly to the next town he was able to find, and then the one after that if he had to. Surely he’d eventually wind up somewhere that wasn’t completely in the middle of nowhere.
After a few days of travelling north and making stops at towns that he had never heard of, Genesis wasn’t so sure anymore.
“Ripples form on the water’s surface. The wandering soul knows no rest,” he despaired as he found himself despondently wandering the streets in the newest town he had stopped in. Sonora--this one was supposedly called--and it was the most heavily populated town he had managed to find so far. The way the light pollution blocked out the stars in the night sky reminded him of Midgar almost as much as the patrolling guards did. He’d never thought that he’d ever be homesick for Midgar, but it was funny what being seemingly cast into another world could cause someone to miss.
The air had grown steadily colder the further north that he had flown, and Genesis was grateful for his warm leather coat as his breath came out in cold visible puffs when he aimlessly crossed a darkened street. The sun had recently set, and he had no real destination in mind. It just felt too early to go back to the room he had rented with some “borrowed” money (the two guards that he’d had to quietly dispose of to enter Sonora certainly wouldn’t miss it), and a part of him still hoped in vain to encounter someone or somewhere familiar.
The low pulse of music was what finally caught his attention, and after Genesis ducked a street over to find the source, he was quickly drawn to a sloped building with a short line stretching from the door to the sidewalk. His eyes trailed from the tight, leather clothing of the people waiting to the colored lights that spilled onto the sidewalk whenever the door opened. A dance club. "Oh praise the goddess. Actual civilization,” he muttered, as on an impulse he slipped across the street to take a place in line. He hadn’t been to a place like this since before his accident. It felt like a lifetime ago.
Eventually, the line moved up enough that he was able to step inside, and he almost laughed out loud at the familiar sights. The colored lights spilling across the dance floor. The pulsing music that pounded in his ears until he could barely hear the people around him. The people thronging around the dance floor in revealing clothes or grabbing a drink at the bar. It was a scene that he would have loved before he left Shinra, and after a moment, he gave into temptation and slipped onto the dance floor.
The music was new to him, but the style was familiar enough, and after a few minutes of hashing out the beat, he felt comfortable enough to sway and spin his way through the strangers around him. He’d always found music intoxicating (though it was infinitely inferior to poetry), and he felt freer than he had in ages by the time a man on the dance floor near him was suddenly illuminated in light. Turning to look at him, Genesis realized as the light faded that the man’s clothes had changed. Pausing, he cast an appreciative glance at the man’s open shirt before wondering curiously what kind of Materia he had used to change clothes like that. None that he was used to at any rate.
Genesis was flirting with the idea of approaching the man to ask him about it (and potentially for a dance), when he caught sight of a black-haired man out of the corner of his eye. Angeal. Startled, he whirled around before realizing that of course it wasn’t Angeal. Angeal was dead. The man moved past him to approach the brunette in the red half-shirt, but Genesis remained staring in the other direction. He had brought Angeal and Sephiroth to places like this before. They had hated it as much as he had loved it. At least they’d never have to pretend to have a good time again. That was something.
Feeling suddenly tired, Genesis left the dance-floor and took a seat at the bar. Sipping on a glass of red wine, he considered the crowd of dancers for a while until the brunette and the black-haired man from earlier took a seat near him. Genesis couldn’t really hear what they were saying over the loud thrum of the music, but he did notice the light that glinted off of something in the black-haired man’s hand as he moved it towards the brunette’s throat. A knife.
The man with the magically changing clothes was attractive enough that Genesis didn’t even need Angeal’s voice in his head to remind him that the heroic thing to do was probably to try to save the man’s life. He was already out of his seat and tossing the rest of his glass of wine into the black-haired man’s eyes as he grabbed the wrist holding the knife. Calling Fire to his fingertips, he burned the man’s wrist until he dropped the knife before falling back a step or two with the brunette in tow.
“I’d say you owe me a drink at minimum,” he complained as he dropped the brunette’s arm. “Lover’s quarrel?” He glanced over the black-haired man as he waited to see if he’d pursue them. “All that awaits you is a somber morrow, no matter where the winds may blow,” he warned him. Loveless always made for the best warnings. Too bad most people didn’t seem to understand its genius.
Genesis stared at the woman in front of him, grimacing and almost taking a step backward when the snake on her left-hand side hissed at him. If that was alive and attached to her, then what was she? He had seen more than his share of monsters come out of Shinra’s experiments—he even had to admit that he was a monster himself. But he had never seen anything like her before. He hadn’t even thought anything like her bad been possible, though there was something familiar in the way her silver hair swept around her that reminded him of Sephiroth. Perhaps she was one of Hojo’s creations born from Project S. That man just couldn’t survive without something to torment.
“An arrow not quite out of the quiver?” He repeated, deciding that he rather liked that response. Perhaps it should have offended him since she was essentially calling him a coward for not attacking outright, but he liked the way that it flowed off the tongue too much to care. “Now that’s a fascinating interpretation. How do you feel about poetry?” He asked, before the dying groans of the man on the ground next to him reminded him that maybe this wasn’t the proper time to ask her for her thoughts on Loveless. He noticed now that a few flecks of the man’s blood had settled on Genesis’ shoes, and he grimaced in disgust. The hand still prepped with a Firaga twitched towards the man on the ground instead before he reigned himself in. Honorable people—he was almost certain Angeal would tell him—didn’t strike people while they were down, and they almost certainly didn’t hurt people they were trying to save. Even when they were being insufferable and almost asking to be put out of their misery.
The floating woman finally banished her ball of magic, and Genesis marginally relaxed as he did the same, though he didn’t really like when she drifted closer to the ground to speak with him easier. That boded somewhat poorly.
One of his creations? Genesis perked up, mind racing as he wondered if that confirmed that she had come from Hojo. “Not the man you speak of I think. But another. One not worth mentioning.” He smirked a tad bitterly, stepping over the body on the ground to get closer to her, though her comments about him being the goddess’ warrior made him pause.
“I’d certainly like to claim that I fight for her, but I’ve rather fallen off the bandwagon as of late,” He muttered, pausing when she called her magic to her hands once more. Now that he was closer, he could feel the power in it. She seemed to be quite adept with Materia. While he suspected that he would still have the upper hand in a fight since she seemed to be unarmed, there was a very slim chance that he would emerge from their encounter unscathed. And if she was one of Hojo’s creations there was no telling what she had up her sleeve.
Hesitating, he glanced over his shoulder at the terrified masses behind him and was slightly annoyed when the quick view of the ramshackle houses and encircling trees reminded him of Banora. Would it really be so bad if this place were to burn? Why was he even bothering to help them? Their lives wouldn’t exactly amount to much. Genesis—Angeal’s voice in his head admonished him, and he quickly scowled and turned to face her again.
“I’ll tell you what,” he said, adjusting the grip he had on his sword. “We certainly could fight to the death over the fate of this no-name village, but I don’t really think that’s worth our time or effort, do you?” He shot her a smile though he wasn’t entirely certain that she had changed expressions this entire time. “What do you say instead that we leave them to their boring lives and go off to compare what we know?”
As he waited for a response, he tried to subtly shift to the side away from her magic. “My friend, do you fly away now? To a world that abhors you and I?” He quoted to try to persuade her. After her initial reaction, he somehow thought it best to avoid lines that mentioned the Goddess.
Final Fantasy VII
27
YEARS
Male
Single
Gay
189 POSTS
Erin
Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return.
To become the dew that quenches the land. To spare the sands, the seas, the skies. I offer thee this silent sacrifice.
Genesis was cold. As he swam towards consciousness, that thought stuck in his mind as being somehow wrong until flashes of memory came trickling back to him. His fight with Zack in the caves. Being propped against a chair below some apple trees in Banora. The sun beating down on him in his leather coat as Zack had taken that comatose blond infantryman and left. He had been blazing hot when he had slipped into unconsciousness.
Genesis opened his eyes, and the sight of tall trees stretched overhead greeted him. There wasn't a single Banora White hanging from the branches, and after a moment of blinking up at the clear blue sky, it occurred to him that there were far too many trees and far too many close together for this to have still been Banora. Sitting up cautiously from where he was stretched out in the dirt, Genesis felt for the wounds that he had sustained in the battle against Zack. Nothing but smooth skin.
Throwing his head back, Genesis laughed out loud at the sky, sending a few birds speeding off in alarm. "Infinite in mystery is the gift of the goddess," he quoted a little breathlessly, still laughing as he pulled a few strands of red hair in front of his face to confirm that they hadn't turned back to white. What did it matter that he wasn't in Banora anymore? He was alive and whole and no longer degrading. Genesis felt better than he had in a long time.
Climbing to his feet, Genesis paused as his boot struck something heavy, and he glanced down to find his rapier stretched out next to him. "Well, whoever brought me here was certainly polite if they brought you as well,"he murmured as he bent down to retrieve it. There was something off about his sword being there, and as he lightly ran a gloved finger down the red metal, he tried to remember if Zack had brought it to the surface along with him or if he had left it in the caves below Banora. Well, no matter. He had more pressing matters to attend to. Like why he was alone in a forest.
Touching at his left shoulder, Genesis fought a slight grimace at the wing he felt protruding from underneath his clothes. Once a monster, always a monster. Still, this did make figuring out his current location easier. If he could just manage to find a clearing where his wingspan wouldn't strike the trees, then he would be able to take to the skies.
Before setting out, Genesis took some time to wrestle his wing through the slit in his coat that he had made to accommodate it, cursing at it and threatening it with Loveless quotes until he was able to stretch it out comfortably. "All that awaits you is a somber morrow," he muttered at it with a scowl before finally setting off along the path, rapier clenched in his right hand.
Genesis might have missed the village that lay a few minutes past where he had woken up if not for the sounds of screams trailing over the air. Finally. Something that sounded interesting instead of just endless boring trees. Turning towards the sound, Genesis crashed through the undergrowth, grimacing as a few of his feathers got ripped out on the branches before he emerged into a clearing with a few houses that must have passed for a small village. People scattered in all directions in front of him, and one girl stumbled into him, turning her terrified face up towards him.
"Are you a soldier?" She begged, seeming to miss his wing in her hurry as she latched onto his uniform and sword instead. "Please, she's killing us!"
"I fail to see how that's my problem," he said with annoyance, but the girl was already gone in her hurry to flee to the forest. What an entitled bitch. Expecting him to help. Still, he felt a small amount of curiosity, so he started edging his way around the crowd, blinking in surprise when he was finally able to see the woman floating near the front. She wore barely any clothing at all, and he would have admired her for that if it wasn't for the golden snakes coming off her and the way her silver hair floated around her. This woman couldn't be human in the slightest. What was she? Another of Shinra's monsters? His eyes suddenly lit on the bleeding man in front of her, and he had the sudden urge to just turn around and pretend he'd seen nothing. He'd succeeded in what he had come to do, after all. He had been looking for a clearing so he could take off, and he'd certainly found one. There was no need to stick around and get involved.
On the other hand, he could almost feel Angeal shaking his head at him, telling him that this wasn't how a hero was supposed to act. And hadn't he literally just vowed to try to do better before he had passed out in Banora? To try to make up for what he had done?
"I'm no hero and I never was,"he muttered angrily, before the woman suddenly called a ball of magic to her hand. The size of it even gave Genesis pause. Normal humans would never survive a blast like that. "Damn it all," he swore, throwing out his wing and knocking several people off their feet as he flew towards the front of the crowd. He landed directly in between her and the rest of the group, calling a Firaga to one hand as he held out his sword with the other.
"The arrow has left the bow of the goddess," he warned her. His voice came out far angrier than a hero's should, but he probably had time to work on that.
Final Fantasy VII
27
YEARS
Male
Single
Gay
189 POSTS
Erin
Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return.
"Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return."
I. BASICS
FULL NAME:: Genesis Rhapsodos GENDER:: Male AGE:: 27 ORIENTATION:: Poet-sexual (If you're into poetry, then he's into you). ALIGNMENT:: Chaotic
HEIGHT:: 5'11'' (I MAY have just looked up Gackt's height) HAIR/EYES/SKIN:: Genesis has chin-length red hair that is cut into shorter layers. He generally wears his hair in a side part. Being a first class Soldier, he has the trademark glowing blue eyes from years of Mako injections. DISTINGUISHING MARKS:: He wears one long earring in his right ear that almost reaches his shoulder. He also has a long black wing coming from his left shoulder that he doesn't normally bother to hide.
II. PERSONA
At his core, Genesis is a selfish man who delights in his own pride and hedonism. He thinks that poetry is life's greatest joy and that the poem Loveless truly was the goddess' own gift to the world. He has the entire play memorized by heart, and he will often sprinkle lines from it into his conversation. He has no patience for people who don't understand the references or aren't interested in humoring his love for poetry. He carries a copy of Loveless tucked into his coat at all times despite knowing it by heart.
Genesis is very loyal to the few people he deems worthy of his time, but he will still always put himself first. He has no problems with stabbing people in the back if it's to his benefit or to save his own life. He rarely opens up to people outside of Angeal and Sephiroth, and he can be incredibly petty and insulting to people he doesn't like. He is not above tripping people or setting things on fire when he's caught in the wrong foul mood.
After the events of Crisis Core, Genesis adopted a slightly more somber outlook. He now wonders what his friends would think of the actions he took to save his own life, and he feels just the tiniest amount of shame for taking everything so far. This doesn't mesh well with his brash personality and his own sense of pride, so he compensates for this by burying the feeling entirely in poetry and red wine.
III. HISTORY
Genesis was the illegitimate and unwanted son of someone high up in Shinra who was more than happy to get rid of him by donating him to the science department. This was shortly after Jenova had been unearthed and the scientist Hollander had been granted approval for Project G. As a part of Project G, Hollander injected Gillian Hewley with Jenova's cells, and her cells were then transplanted into Genesis while he was a baby. However, after Sephiroth's birth, Hojo's experiments were deemed superior, and Hollander lost all funding for Project G. Genesis was labelled a failed experiment, and he was sent to live in a farming village on a different continent to get him out of the way. His adoptive parents were wealthy landowners who were very happy to receive a monthly check for looking after him and less than happy to actually have to raise him.
As a child, Genesis never really liked Banora, despite being from the richest family in town. He didn't like the bugs. He didn't like the heat or the cold. He didn't like how boring it was. And he didn't particularly like his parents. The only things he really latched onto were the Banora Whites that grew around town, the caves that he found and played in below the city, and a poor neighbor boy named Angeal. They had a very unlikely friendship that only flourished once Genesis' mom told him that she didn't like him talking to lower-class people. Genesis was determined to be friends with Angeal out of spite after that, and he eventually grew to adore him. He started spending more time over at Angeal's house than his own, to the point where Gillian started joking about buying him a bed. He would follow him into the fields and chatter incessantly when Angeal had to work. Sometimes he could even be persuaded to help. Sometimes.
Genesis found his true love at the age of 12 when he discovered a copy of Loveless in his parent's library. This poem--he was certain--held the answers to all of life's greatest mysteries. He loved everything about it: the tragic tale of three friends all doomed to separate fates, the role of the hero, the way the lines of the poem rolled off his tongue. He became obsessed with it and would read it for hours on end until he could say every line perfectly. He annoyed everyone in his life with it until even Angeal asked him to stop. He did. For about a week. Then he was back with a new obsession--he was going to become a hero just like one of the men in the story. He was positive that this was what his life was destined for.
In an effort to secure his dream of becoming a hero and fulfilling Loveless, Genesis left Banora at the age of 14 to join Soldier. He missed almost nothing that he had left behind except Angeal, and he was thrilled when Angeal joined him in Midgar a few months later after he too had turned 14. Angeal's presence ended up being exactly what Genesis needed to be accepted into Soldier. Despite running circles around most of the other cadets and being exceptionally talented with Materia, Genesis had a lot of problems with listening to authority and being anything other than an angry teenager with attitude. Thankfully, Angeal was a moderating influence, and they were eventually both accepted into Soldier.
Genesis was initially very excited to meet Sephiroth, who he had idolized as a kid. But after their first introduction, he changed his mind. That man--he complained to Angeal--was a cold and aloof bastard, and he would be damned if he would show him any respect again. What followed was a very one-sided rivalry that left Sephiroth more perplexed than anything, but Genesis was always very vindicated when he regaled Angeal with every tiny slight he was able to make against Sephiroth. Eventually, the three were assigned on a mission together, and Sephiroth let slip something about his lonely upbringing and lifestyle, though he himself didn't seem to see a problem with it. After that, Genesis changed his tune. He was going to be friends with Sephiroth whether Sephiroth liked it or not. He started dragging him to the training room for sparring matches, to plays at the theater, to shopping districts, to wild parties that Genesis threw himself. He wasn't sure if Sephiroth appreciated those efforts or not, but he at least started relaxing and opening up to both him and Angeal, so Genesis considered it a success.
After Genesis had been a first class Soldier for several years, there was a sparring accident in the training room. He and Angeal had teamed up to train against Sephiroth, but Genesis grew frustrated about his skills compared to Sephiroth's. Enraged that Sephiroth was always ahead and more likely than him to become a hero like in Loveless, Genesis took things too far and accidentally destroyed the room and broke Angeal's smaller sword. The sword piece hit Genesis in the shoulder and gave him a nasty wound. He attempted to walk it off, but the wound refused to heal, and he was eventually forced to Shinra's medical ward. There, Hollander attempted to treat him, but nothing would work. It was beginning to look like Genesis was going to die, but one night, Genesis feverishly and painfully sprouted a wing from the same shoulder where he had been struck. Horrified, he confronted Hollander who told him the truth about his origins in Project G and theorized that the wound had triggered his genetic structure to start unraveling from Jenova's. Unless something was done, Genesis was going to start degrading and he would eventually die.
Genesis was beside himself and begged Hollander to cure him. He agreed--on one condition. That Genesis abandon Shinra and take as many Soldiers with him as he possibly could. Hollander claimed that Genesis would be easier to cure if Hollander had access to all of Shinra's technology, and he would have that access after their successful rebellion. Genesis wasn't hard to convince since he now despised Shinra for what they had done to him, and he sweet-talked several Second and Third Class Soldiers into running off with him. He was a little uneasy when Hollander suggested that they turn these Soldiers and some kidnapped local townspeople into copies of himself so that they'd be easier to organize. But he quickly brushed his own concerns aside. He needed an army to overthrow Shinra, after all. And he'd do anything at all to keep himself alive. Really, what were a few atrocities if it helped him reach his goal?
Eventually, Angeal confronted Genesis in Wutai, and not wanting to fight Angeal, he told his friend the truth of both of their origins and all about Project G. Disturbed, Angeal left Soldier to join Genesis' rebellion and their search for a cure, but he was quickly appalled by Genesis' forcible creation of copies and the callous murder of his adoptive parents. Eventually, Angeal turned on him in favor of helping Zack instead. Genesis didn't understand in the slightest. Why couldn't Angeal see that all of this was for them so they could live? Who cared what they had to do to make that happen? Regardless, he would push on and find the cure for them alone if he had to.
However, Genesis' degradation suddenly worsened and his hair started to turn white. Enraged, Genesis turned on Hollander and tried to kill him, declaring that he was useless and that he would find Jenova and a cure himself. He was stopped by Zack, and after being defeated, he was heavily injured and crawled off to recover for a while. After he reemerged, he learned that Angeal was dead. Genesis' sanity died a bit too upon hearing the news. Loveless! Why hadn't he seen before that Loveless was clearly the answer? Loveless had always been the answer! It had always been there for him! Unlike those fickle friends who would rather die and leave him alone!
Newly motivated, Genesis set about turning the tunnels under Banora that he used to play in as a kid into an elaborate dungeon reflecting the first three acts of Loveless. If he could just force someone to go through the dungeon and then force a reunion between the three friends like in Act IV, then Loveless would be complete. He would have to receive the gift of the goddess and be cured if Loveless was complete. There were clearly no flaws in this completely sane plan! Except that Angeal was dead. Oh. Disheartened, he decided to hedge his bets and keep searching for Jenova cells while continuing to build his underground Loveless tribute.
His search eventually led him to Nibelheim where Zack and Sephiroth were visiting the reactor. In an attempt to get Sephiroth to side with him, Genesis told Sephiroth the truth of his origins in Project S, informed him that he was a monster just like him, and followed that up by asking for some of his cells. Sephiroth did not take kindly to this and told him he could go rot. Offended, Genesis took his leave. A week later, he learned that Sephiroth had burned down the entire town in a fit of rage. Oh. Well how was he supposed to have seen this outcome? Was he supposed to be psychic now? Clearly Genesis was not responsible in the slightest.
Still, he was incredibly distraught that both of his friends were dead, and he retreated below Banora for several years in despair as he planned his next move. He couldn't reenact Loveless with his friends dead, and he couldn't obtain pure S-cells with Sephiroth gone. Maybe this was the end. Maybe he was really going to die. Just as he was about to give up hope, some of his copies brought him news--Zack had been spotted alive. He hadn't died in Nibelheim after all, and after a quick stop there, Genesis learned that both he and the blond infantryman had been experimented on using Sephiroth's cells. Truly the goddess was looking out for him.
With his hope renewed, Genesis set about trying to obtain S-cells from Zack, and then from Cloud when his didn't work. But after observing Zack for a time, he came up with a different plan. Why couldn't Zack stand in for both Angeal and Sephiroth in Loveless? He had Sephiroth's cells and he'd clearly inherited both Angeal's spirit and his sword. It was perfect. This was clearly a flawless plan.
Retreating back to Banora, Genesis completed the final area of his dungeon by setting up a goddess statue holding some Materia that he had found in one of the tunnels. They would do wonderfully as stand-ins for the goddess and the gift of the goddess. After that, he lay in wait for Zack to follow him to Banora and complete the first three acts of Loveless on his way through the dungeon. Finally, he and Zack faced each other in front of the goddess statue and so the three friends were reunited. Genesis recited all the lines from Act IV to prepare for their battle and explained the brilliance of his completely sane plan to Zack, but Zack did not appear to understand in the slightest. Clearly he was just too simple to grasp the brilliant intricacies of Loveless.
As they clashed in battle, the goddess materia activated, and Genesis was finally cured of his degradation. Thrilled, he challenged Zack to one last battle as a Soldier, and Zack managed to strike him down. However, the goddess Minerva found Genesis in the lifestream and spared his life, returning him to the cavern. Looking down at Genesis' unconscious form, Zack took pity on him and carried him to the surface. He then fulfilled an old dream of Genesis' to give Sephiroth a Banora White by taking a bite of one in his place. At that point, Genesis realized that he had been wrong. The goddess materia hadn't been his gift of the goddess for curing his degradation. Zack had been his gift of the goddess for carrying on the spirit of his two friends and helping him to restore his honor as a Soldier.
Thoroughly ashamed of everything he'd done and thoroughly grateful to Zack, Genesis slipped into unconsciousness. He could see now that he'd never been meant to play the role of the hero. Zack was.
IV. AUTHOR
PLAYER ALIAS:: Erin works. OTHER CHARACTERS:: None hi I'm new ROLE-PLAYING EXPERIENCE:: Proboards. IT'S BEEN A WHILE. HOW YOU FOUND US:: I'm married to Fin. I've been peer-pressured for years and finally I am here. NOTES FOR CONSIDERATION:: Does sleeping with an admin get me an edge on having applications accepted? ROLE-PLAY SAMPLE:: (The context here is that this takes place after his sparring accident but a few days before he sprouts a wing).
The hospital room was quiet except for the low thrum of the heart monitor hooked up to the man lying down in the room’s only bed. Despite the early hour, he was already awake, and glowing blue eyes stared mournfully up towards the plaster ceiling, though he occasionally shot the heart monitor a scathing glance. The beeps were starting to drone in his ears.
“If I’m dying, I do hope you’d actually bother to say something to me about it, Hollander,” he called to the only other occupant of the room. His voice came out much weaker than he would have liked, and ignoring the stabbing pains in his left shoulder, he gingerly eased himself up so he could sufficiently glare at the middle-aged, portly man across the room. Hollander had his back to him as he looked over the numbers in Genesis’ medical chart, and Genesis scowled at him, shaking a little at the effort of staying upright until Hollander finally decided to look at him.
“We’ll need to run a few more tests,” he finally said, and Genesis might have thrown a Firaga at his face and burned down the entire hospital if the staff hadn’t removed his Materia when he was admitted. “I have some theories, but we still haven’t confirmed why your wound isn’t responding to treatment.”
Useless. Everything was useless. Falling back on the bed, Genesis felt at his heavily bandaged left shoulder and noted despondently that the fabric felt damp. Even after everything they had tried, it was still bleeding. “Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul,” he despaired at the ceiling. “Pride is lost. Wings stripped away, the end is nigh.”
“If you have time for Loveless, you must be feeling better,” Hollander remarked, and Genesis dramatically threw one arm over his eyes as he heard the scuffle of Hollander’s shoes on the linoleum as he walked closer to the side of the bed. “But your case isn’t hopeless. We’ll continue administering potions to you once on the hour until we find something. We’ll need to continue giving you blood transfusions from Commander Hewley as well, but I wouldn’t start thinking of your last words yet.”
Genesis didn’t remove the arm from over his face. Somehow it was easier to think without the overhead lights blaring into his eyes. Imagine that. “My last words will be that whoever told you it was acceptable to wear sandals with your lab coat deserves to be shot,” he muttered, and he felt a hollow sort of victory at Hollander’s offended spluttering.
“Are you capable of taking anything seriously, Genesis?” He was, as a matter of fact. And if Hollander wanted serious, then that's what he would get. “Why are you even here, Hollander?” He asked, moving his arm just enough so he could peer up at him through the strands of red hair that had fallen in his face. It was probably just the cocktail of pain medication that he was on, but Hollander resembled an overweight Angeal from this angle. “Surely they don’t usually send Shinra scientists to do a doctor’s job…”
The older man visibly tensed at that, and Genesis didn’t miss the way his eyes darted towards the door. “They’ve brought me in as a specialist. I’ve administered your Mako injections for years, and since they believe the issue might be the Mako that seeped into your wound…” What a terrible liar. If Genesis lived through this, then maybe he’d offer him lessons. “My soul, corrupted by vengeance, hath endured torment to find the end of the journey in my own salvation, and your eternal slumber,” he quoted softly, and Hollander looked relieved, as if he didn’t understand that Genesis had just threatened him. It wasn’t too surprising that it had gone completely over his head. Hollander was too simple to appreciate the beauty of Loveless.
“I’ll take my leave then,” he said a little too quickly as he turned towards the door, and Genesis bit at his tongue as he contemplated being alone with his thoughts and the unrelenting pain again. “Wait! I’d like to see Angeal. And Sephiroth.”
Hollander hesitated with his hand on the doorknob. “You’re still too weak for visitors. What do you want them for anyway?” Was he serious? Genesis laughed, feeling a bit light-headed from all the blood loss. “Clearly I just want Sephiroth’s conditioner,” he bit out, and then was sorry for it when Hollander rolled his eyes and started to open the door. “Wait, wait!” Goddess, but scientists were touchy. “You said Angeal was the one giving you blood donations for me?”
“He was a viable match,” was all Hollander supplied, but Genesis still felt a stab of something he couldn’t have named in his chest. Angeal must have been worried if he had come forward to be a donor. Maybe he even felt responsible since it was his broken sword that had put Genesis in the hospital.
“Is he staying here?” He asked suspiciously, and Hollander’s hesitation was answer enough. Well that wouldn’t do. Picturing Angeal being concerned enough to sleep on a chair in the waiting room was enough to make him want to throw his pillow at the scientist in the doorway. “Tell him to go home then,” Genesis muttered. “Tell him…'Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return.' That should put him at ease.”
Hollander stared at him with furrowed eyebrows for a moment, and some mixture of confusion and dislike played over his features. “I’ll be back to do more tests later,” he finally settled on, pulling the door shut between him and Genesis’ answering scowl.
Your bedside manner is terrible!” He yelled at the closed door in frustration. And if I die here, then I’m taking you with me, Hollander!”
There was no answer except for the quiet shuffling of his sandals down the hallway, and Genesis was suddenly alone with the numbing pain in his shoulder and the quiet beep of the machines monitoring his vitals. He had meant his last threat to Hollander in jest, but now it replayed in his head as he turned his eyes back to the ceiling. There was no possibility that his life was actually in danger, of course. That would be ridiculous.
