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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[attr=class,lyric1]infinite in mystery is the gift of
[attr=class,lyric2]the goddess
[attr=class,bulk] Lady Hildagarde didn’t seem to appreciate Genesis’ inner struggle as he was on his knees in the grass. She seemed much more concerned about how he could get them both killed. Ugh, somehow everyone always seemed to think the worst of him. He couldn’t imagine why that would be the case. What had he ever done in his life to deserve this?
Personally he couldn’t think of anything.
“I could still strangle you,” he complained through clenched teeth. Though honestly, the sharp pain in his left foot rivaled his headache now. “And your heels are like knives.” Of course, her quick thinking in stomping on his foot with her heel was probably what had briefly shocked him out of his confusion, but he still wasn’t going to thank her for it. Clearly Genesis was the real victim here.
The blonde noblewoman was perplexed when Genesis tossed her the materia, and she seemed frustrated that he couldn’t do it himself. “Pride is lost, wings stripped away, the end is nigh,” he explained through Loveless as he managed to halfway drag himself to his feet. It was quite a clear explanation to him at any rate, but thankfully Lady Hildagarde seemed to figure the problem out anyway as she silenced the statue. At least it wouldn’t be able to confuse him anymore now. Or even worse, confuse her. They would be really lost then if both of them were.
He couldn’t resist a laugh as she chewed the Bahamut statue out like a misbehaving child—he appreciated the sentiment, he really did. If it weren’t for the stabbing pain in his head, maybe he would have even asked if she was going to assign the statue chores next, but as it was, there were more pressing matters at hand. Like Lady Hildagarde not knowing how to use materia. Which was natural, really. Genesis had to learn when he was a 14 year old cadet, but there wasn’t exactly time to give her a crash course. “Just feel for its magic and channel it. I’ll buy you time, just hurry it up! That’s my only offensive one.”
He really needed to start bringing his sword to parties.
To keep the zombies at bay, Genesis relied on his Restore materia as he threw out Cure and Cure2 spells in a circle. It kept at least most of them at a distance, though the one on the ground managed to latch onto his boot and he was forced to stomp on its head to put a stop to that. It was disgusting and somehow simultaneously squishy and crunchy, and he hated everything about this maze even more. He was probably going to need new shoes now on top of everything else.
To make matters worse, the huge monster was finally on the move, proving once again that it was possessed by the fiance’s spirit before just straight up vanishing. Despite being surrounded by zombies, Genesis had a much worse feeling about that particular disappearing act. “I’m sorry, did that thing just go invisible?!” He demanded, hurriedly digging through his remaining materia to see if he had anything that could deal with that. Not really, beyond throwing out his wing and escaping, but that was assuming he could even stay air-borne with whatever the statue had done to him. He’d prefer not to learn that in mid-air, so he chose to stay on the ground for now.
Still, he did pause as his fingers landed on the only summon materia that he’d brought with him to Zephon. He hadn’t had a single cause to call on Phoenix yet since coming here, but it occurred to him that he did in fact have a way to spread fire if Lady Hildagarde couldn’t work out the materia. He could even do it passively so the statue’s spell wouldn’t interfere. A little too passively for his taste since he’d be unconscious, but those were details.
“Hurry up, or I’m killing myself!” Really, that had sounded less dramatic in his head when he knew his own plan.
[attr=class,ooc-notes]
[attr=class,tagline]@ladyhilda
I hope I'm not derailing your plans for the thread or anything!
[attr=class,lyric1]infinite in mystery is the gift of
[attr=class,lyric2]the goddess
[attr=class,bulk] As Hilda worked on setting up her circle of protective herbs, Genesis was surprised to learn that she was actually some kind of ruler. He only had the vague idea of what a regency was—Shinra had dominated the planet for so long that other forms of government only existed in Wutai or in stories, but he’d never had a high opinion of people with power. Everyone on the Shinra board of executives was either malicious or just plain incompetent, so his rodent nose twitched in surprise as he looked over Lady Hildgarde. She didn’t exactly fit the bill of what he’d come to expect.
“You govern the land where you’re from? But you’re just doing this job to be nice. You’re not even asking for anything.” It made him a little suspicious as to her motive, but she didn’t seem to be hiding anything. It was odd. She even went on to be a little vulnerable as she confessed that some sorcerer had held her hostage for several months, which had left her plenty of time to do magical research. The admission made Genesis a tad uncomfortable. Ugh. Feeling sorry for other people was the absolute worst. “Well I hope he got what was coming to him,” Genesis said with a flick of his tail. “He sounds like a storybook villain if he’s keeping women in a tower.” Or a melodramatic play. But truth be told, Genesis would still watch it.
She also asked him about the nature of his magic, and he shook his little Mu head. “Natural magic is almost unheard of where I come from. The rest of us have to use rocks called Materia that are infused with the planet’s magic. You could use black magic as well if you had the right one, but they seem to be in short supply here. I only have the ones that were on me when I came here unfortunately.” It was a major blow to lose access to the others. He had a stash on Gaia—particularly summons—but they hadn’t been equipped on him at the time and so they were lost to him now.
As Lady Hildagarde was finishing up her circle, that was unfortunately when Genesis looked at the Bahamut statue for a little too long and ended up in the predicament of touching it while balanced on a fountain. Hilda yelled for him to stop—somehow still as eloquent and polite as ever—and she snatched him out of harm’s way while the ground rumbled beneath them. For his part, Genesis was feeling dizzy and confused as to how he had even gotten up there, and it didn’t help matters when Hilda placed a small kiss on his fuzzy forehead. Genesis very nearly got up the energy to tell her ‘I’m flattered, but we’ll both end up disappointed,’ but he bit back the snarky comment at the feeling of her magic washing over him again. As she set him down in the grass, he was conscious of growing larger, watching his limbs stretch out in front of him and lose their fur until he was just himself again, sprawled out in a heap with his robe fluttering in the wind.
Oh thank the goddess, he wasn’t naked.
Still, the situation wasn’t much better as he climbed to his feet. The remnants of the statue’s magic clung to him, making it hard to ignore the pressing command to protect it at all costs. Meanwhile a monster straight from the bowels of someone’s nightmares had hauled its way out of the earth. It appeared to be possessed by the girl's fiance, assuming it wasn’t just him to begin with, and at its command, more zombies appeared to surround them.
Too many. He could see the realization on Lady Hildagarde’s face as she asked him to burn the herbs, and while he automatically raised a hand to carry it out, he found that he just…couldn’t. The statue seemed too important to work against, and he pressed a hand to his forehead as even the idea of harming it sent a spike of pain through his head.
God, this maze was the worst.
Genesis would have normally preferred to hold Hilda at sword-point, but he hadn’t brought his weapon to the party, so he attempted to just restrain her arms from behind instead. He had no doubt that his strength was superior to hers, but he still wouldn’t put it past this woman to stab him with one of her heels or turn him into something worse than a garden rodent, so he did his best to move quickly. Still, he hesitated as he brought one hand up to close around her throat, and his hand ended up clenching on nothing as he just as suddenly released her while staggering to his knees. He so loathed being a puppet to anything’s will.
The zombies were closing in on them now, and it occurred to Genesis that he didn’t feel the same pull towards them that he did towards the source of the Charm spell. Remembering Hilda’s actions earlier, he called on the Restore materia that was part of his collection and swept an arm out towards them. “Cure2,” he managed through his headache, and it was a relief when one of the creatures staggered back. He didn’t have to be completely useless then. Only against the statue.
“Change of plans!” Grasping at his shoulder armor, he unhooked the Fire materia, feeling a little vulnerable without it as he tossed it over to the blonde noblewoman. “You’ll have to burn it. And I want that back!
[attr=class,lyric1]infinite in mystery is the gift of
[attr=class,lyric2]the goddess
[attr=class,bulk] Genesis had instinctively used his fire materia on the zombie that had once been the family gardener, but he found himself wishing that he had cast something else. Not only did the flames singe his fur and sting his paws, but his increased sense of smell made the scent of burning flesh absolutely nauseating.
“I regret everything,” he bemoaned, climbing up Lady Hildagarde’s skirts and burying his nose against the fabric in an effort to block out the scent. It helped, but only a little since the smell of smoke was already catching onto the fabric. It was a shame really—her dress had been rather beautiful. Hopefully it could be cleaned and she wouldn’t have to throw it out. “I’ll be a rodent forever if I never have to bite a zombie again.”
Lady Hildagarde suggested they continue onward, and he hurriedly squeaked his consent, only scurrying back up to her shoulder when they were further away from the burning body and the stench that accompanied it. “...How did you know white magic would hurt them?” The question was a bit begrudging and accompanied by a tail swish, because there was an underlying compliment there. She really was quite capable, and even if Genesis hadn’t stepped in for the zombie, he suspected that she would have found a way out of that. Not that he’d ever tell her that of course. He doubted noblemen or noblewomen needed any boosts to their egos. He still didn’t even know what she was a Lady of.
She seemed to think that the center of the hedge maze was close by, and Genesis squeaked in agreement. It hadn’t seemed that far off when he’d been at the top of the hedge wall, so he shrunk a little lower on her shoulder as she rounded the corner in case he needed to run off. Surprisingly enough though, there was no one in the center despite the celebration that they’d heard when they’d first entered the maze. Every table and chair looked as if it had been abruptly abandoned. The only thing that even looked out of place was a small statue of Bahamut on a pedestal to the side.
Genesis immediately perked up, since this was obviously the very object that the Children of Bahamut were paying him to bring back. He didn’t like the look of the dark crystal hovering above its outstretched wings though—the heirloom looked to be far more dangerous than they had warned him about, but that wasn’t too shocking where they were concerned. The cult had been shady since the day that Genesis had met them, but they paid handsomely, and his morals had always been a bit loose anyway. It didn’t bother him much whatever they were planning as long as it didn’t affect him.
Lady Hildagarde warned him to stay back from the artifact as she started to sprinkle some sort of herbs in a protective circle. She requested that he burn them for her once she was done with them, and he nodded his rodent head as he hopped off her shoulder so she could work. “You don’t have to tell me twice to burn anything. Just let me know when you’re done.”
He scurried off a foot or two to let her work as he sat up on his hindlegs and sniffed at the air. There was a musty, sinister smell here, and the source seemed to be coming from the pedestal. He considered the lifelike statue for a moment, but he started feeling a bit…strange the longer that he looked into Bahamut’s eyes. Before he had scoffed a bit when Lady Hildagarde had warned him not to touch anything. Obviously he wasn’t planning to do something as dangerous as that. But the longer that he looked at it, the more appealing the idea became…
Hopping forward towards the broken fountain in the distance, Genesis hesitated before hopping upward onto the edge of the bowl. Once he was level with the figurine, he couldn’t resist stretching out one paw towards it.
[attr=class,lyric1]infinite in mystery is the gift of
[attr=class,lyric2]the goddess
[attr=class,bulk] Zack reassured him that how Genesis had reacted back then wasn’t his fault, but if anything, that just made him more uncomfortable. It would have somehow been easier if Zack was antagonistic. It would have made more sense to him at least, but the dark-haired SOLDIER had always been far too forgiving for his own good. “You would have handled it fine, and we both know it,” Genesis muttered with a wave of his hand, but he didn’t want to dwell on that too much even if it were true. It would have been a very different story for them if Zack had been the one to sprout a wing and learn that he was degrading.
Zack got a little more grim at the mention that Sephiroth didn’t know about Jenova yet, and Genesis couldn’t blame him for that. He hadn’t been around for his friend’s meltdown, but he knew that it had ended with Zack nearly dying and being experimented on by Hojo. Not exactly an enviable position for anyone to end up in.
Genesis didn’t really know what to say to that since he wasn’t the best at offering comfort, but Zack seemed to cheer up anyway at Genesis berating him for dying. Really, it was an odd thing to cheer someone up, but he supposed that none of them had ever been the most normal. “You gave that blond infantryman the buster sword? I thought he was comatose.” He wasn’t sure if he liked the idea of Angeal’s prized sword ending up with someone who couldn’t even make it into SOLDIER, but it wasn’t exactly his call to make. Anyway, the boy was bound to be less useless now that he carried pure S cells. Sephiroth’s blood had to count for something, right?
Zack also pointed out how weird it was that he still had the buster sword when had given it up, and Genesis shook his head a bit grimly. “That’s not the half of it. Angeal still has it too, which makes at least two copies of it in this world.” It didn’t make much sense, unless they had all been grabbed from different points in time. That led to its own problems with the timeline though, so Genesis didn’t want to focus on it for too long until something was actually confirmed. Anything else was just speculation.
Angeal’s pupil seemed absolutely thrilled at the offer to go back to their apartment right now, and Genesis just rolled his eyes when he referred to him as boss. “Don’t call me that. None of us are with Shinra anymore.” True, he had been a commander in the SOLDIER program once, but that felt like another lifetime ago at this point. Not to mention that Sephiroth had outranked him, and he absolutely refused to refer to him as his general anymore unless Genesis was making fun of him. He’d still break it out for those occasions of course.
“Well, come on then,” he said, turning away from the lake and back towards the direction of Torensten. He had flown all the way out here and didn’t exactly relish the long walk back. If only Zack could fly too, but Genesis wasn’t about to offer to carry him. Walking it was.
“Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return.”
[attr=class,lyric1]infinite in mystery is the gift of
[attr=class,lyric2]the goddess
[attr=class,bulk] Zack protested that he would never punch Angeal, and Genesis rolled his eyes in response. “To be fair, all three of us likely deserve one from you.” That was as close to an apology or an admission of guilt as Zack was likely to get from him, and he better appreciate it. Genesis hated admitting his own mistakes. It felt so demeaning.
Thankfully, Zack was distracted by the news of Sephiroth’s amnesia, so they didn’t have to linger there for long. He nodded as the other SOLDIER agreed to behave as though nothing had happened around him. “Probably for the best. I haven’t broken the news about Jenova to him for the second time yet. Not that it was my fault the first time around of course!” So what if Genesis had been the one to tell him the truth about his origins? He hadn’t made Sephiroth fall into a self-loathing research spiral that had ended with him burning down a town. Anyway, Sephiroth had told him to rot which was way more rude if you asked him. So really, who was the victim here? Clearly it was Genesis himself.
Zack also gave him more details about his death at the hands of Shinra troopers, which snapped Genesis out of his self-delusional spiral. Apparently they had overwhelmed Zack with sheer numbers, and the red-haired SOLDIER had to frown as he pictured it. The thought of the man’s death bothered him more than he cared to admit, so naturally he had to pour on the snark to cover for it. “I suppose if you weren’t so tired after our fight, you may have stood a better chance. Now there’s some irony for you.”
Uncalled for? Probably, but it was better than admitting that he cared even the smallest amount.
Zack seemed thrilled to learn that the three SOLDIERs were currently all staying together in Torensten, but Genesis couldn’t contain a snort when he suggested that they have a movie night sometimes. “Oh goddess help us,” he protested as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Pride is lost. Wings stripped away, the end is nigh.” Despite the overly dramatic Loveless quote, he couldn’t help the quirk of his lips upward into something resembling a smile.
“The real difficulty of course is in getting the three of us to agree on a movie. Sephiroth likes documentaries. Documentaries. And you didn’t hear it from me, but Angeal is secretly fond of romantic comedies.” At this point, the three of them hadn’t done much more than tip-toe awkwardly around each other, so it was surprisingly nice to remember a time when there had been nothing to complicate their friendship. As loathe as Genesis was to admit it, perhaps introducing Zack into the dynamic would do them some good. He was at least better at keeping things light-hearted than the rest of them put together.
“...I could take you I suppose. If you wanted." The offer may have been made with crossed-arms, but it was still an offer.
[attr=class,lyric1]infinite in mystery is the gift of
[attr=class,lyric2]the goddess
[attr=class,bulk] Lady Hildagarde was maybe enjoying this far more than she should have, and Genesis gave her another glare when she said this was something he’d be able to talk about at parties now. “Oh yes! Let me tell you all the men I could impress with -squeak-!” He complained, though she wasn’t entirely wrong. This was hardly an experience that most people would ever have in their lifetime. Not that he was thanking her, and he made sure to flip his tail against her face so she’d know it. Of course, his tail was more fluff than anything, so it would do literally nothing, but it was the principle of the matter.
The blonde noblewoman shielded them from further attack with a spell before she followed his advice and took the rightmost path. Genesis looked up a little curiously at the light magic before it vanished, his improved nose twitching at the almost floral scent. It looked a little similar to MBarrier or Wall, and he imagined the effect was close enough. It was sweet for her to consider him too at any rate, though he might have just happened to receive the benefits since he was currently still perched on her shoulder.
As they walked, Lady Hildagarde reassured him that she had no intention of dying when someone was relying on her, and Genesis twitched his ears back in response. “Ah, you’re the heroic type. I can -squeak- it now.” Lady Hildagarde was infinitely more interesting than most heroes he’d encountered at least, and she certainly had more wits than Zack. Not that that was the most difficult of bars to clear.
The mist from before coalesced into a solid form behind them, and Genesis snapped out of his thoughts in favor of staring at the pair of unsightly ghosts that blocked the path. They were skeletal figures with rotting flesh and horns, and Genesis would have noped right out of this had he still had a human body. As it was, he just had to hold on for dear life as Lady Hildagarde raced forward and took the only path available to them. She seemed to be afraid for the first time since they’d entered the haunted maze, and Genesis couldn’t resist poking at her about it even if she’d been remarkably calm until this point. And truthfully, he was probably more afraid than she was. Not that he’d ever tell her that.
“Oh, is that all it takes to rattle you? Just the most hideous things I’ve ever -squeaked- in my life! What is your deal anyway?” Perhaps he’d never know, because she tripped on a tree root that was probably strategically placed, and they both went sprawling down to the grass. Genesis managed to catch himself on all four paws, but the relief was short-lived at the moaning of an undead figure in front of them. They were surrounded.
Lady Hildagarde told him to run somewhere safe, which was incredibly noble of her really. He almost felt bad that he was already halfway up the hedge wall as soon as the words were out of her lips. As soon as he’d reached the top, he turned around to watch the scene going on below him, his tail twitching anxiously. His fate rested on hers after all, and he wasn’t much combat help in this form. Thankfully, healing magic seemed to hurt the ghosts, which was curious. Even more curious was that the blonde woman had known to do that, but perhaps she’d encountered something like this before. It would explain her confidence at any rate.
“When the war of the beats brings about the world’s end, the -squeak- descends from the sky-” The zombie was faster than Genesis would have thought, which interrupted his Loveless quote. It was almost upon her by the time that Hilda had dispatched the ghosts. Genesis had only a split second to react, and with his new animal instincts, he simply launched himself from the top of the hedge maze directly at the undead creature. As he smacked directly into the zombie’s face, he used his momentum to bite the creature’s cheek, which was disgusting and left him sputtering as he tore off a chunk of flesh and landed hard near its feet. The zombie was still on the move as it tried to grab for him, and Genesis panicked as he reached for magic that he wasn’t entirely sure was still there.
What happened to one’s equipped materia when they were changed into an animal anyway?
“Fira!” He tried, and was rather pleased when he felt the familiar draining sensation of magic as the undead monster’s body went up in flames. Still, his fur was a bit too close for comfort to the source of the fire, so he squeaked and retreated back to Lady Hildagarde’s side. “You’re welcome!”
[attr=class,lyric1]infinite in mystery is the gift of
[attr=class,lyric2]the goddess
[attr=class,bulk] Genesis stopped his chittering when Lady Hildagarde laid her cheek upon his fur. He should have been annoyed by the action, but there was something appealing about it in his animal brain, and that realization made him squint his beady eyes at her. She apparently had no intention of turning him back into a human yet, and while her reasoning that it was safer this way made sense, he still bristled his tail at her. How did her magic even work? Would he still have his clothes when he was turned back? These were important questions that he didn’t think he could ask without speech!
Genesis let out a rodent huff, but clung to the shoulder of Lady Hildagarde’s dress as she strode forward deeper into the maze. The mist was even thicker at the next crossroads, but several shadowy figures could be seen striding into the path straight ahead. Without his sword or his materia, Genesis shrank a little lower on the blonde woman’s shoulder at the sight of them, but Lady Hildagarde herself seemed rather unconcerned as she informed him that the lady of the Maxillar house was a big patron of the arts. The suggestion that this could help him get Loveless published caused him to perk up and sniff at the air excitedly, his black nose twitching a little. If that was the case, then forget this job that the Children of Bahamut had given him. Loveless came first before rent money from shady cults. Whether or not Sephiroth agreed was his problem.
The noblewoman then informed him that he could still talk like this, and Genesis gaped at her with his little rodent jaw. What. What.
“Are you serious?” He chirped out in a voice reminiscent of his own, though it was a tad higher. Clapping his paws over his mouth, he took a moment to process that before going on. “You could have -squeak- something sooner! Squeak!” Maybe that was besides the point when they were stuck with which way to go next, so with a little huff, Genesis launched himself upward at the hedge wall. His paws turned out to be great for climbing, and in no time at all, he found himself seated on top of the maze, his tail swishing in triumph. The mist was less thick up here, and after skittering forward a few feet, he could see that the way the shadow figures had taken appeared to be a dead-end. More than that, the ground below the mist in that direction appeared darker than the surrounding grass, and after squinting at it with his new eyes, he could just barely make out the shape of a pit.
Oh no. He’d had more than enough of this maze, and it had been about ten minutes.
Creeping back over the hedge wall, he leapt back down onto Lady Hildagarde’s shoulder. “Definitely don’t follow the shadows. Right looks like it leads closest to the center.” Fixing his tail, he curled up to settle in for the way forward. “And you better not die before you can -squeak- me back!”
[attr=class,lyric1]infinite in mystery is the gift of
[attr=class,lyric2]the goddess
[attr=class,bulk] He didn’t like the somber mood left behind when Zack mentioned that Angeal had only been trying to stop his degradation as well. It was true of course—his oldest friend had been in a lot of pain and only sought to end it. Genesis had come to terms with that. He didn’t blame Angeal for it anymore necessarily, but that didn’t change how much his actions had broken everyone that he left behind. They always were a mess without Angeal.
Zack protested that he wouldn’t just go running off, so Genesis let out a defeated sigh as he glanced over at the lake next to them. It was sparkling in the light of the sunset, and he was annoyed at the scenery for having the audacity to look beautiful during this sort of reunion. “Don’t excuse him just because it’s the first selfish thing he’s ever done,” Genesis finally muttered, giving up on pretending that Angeal wasn’t around. “If anyone deserved to punch him in the face for what he did, it’s you.”
Come to think of it, Zack probably needed a warning on Sephiroth as well. Genesis hadn’t been around when that particular carnage went down, but he knew that Zack had encountered the silver-haired SOLDIER while he’d been out of his mind. It was a massacre that he wasn’t sad to have missed. Particularly when the only survivors were picked up by that sadist of a scientist, Hojo. “Oh, and do be careful what you say to Sephiroth. He’s in a delicate situation with his amnesia, and I’d prefer not to set him off.” The last thing they needed was Zack charging in the door to their apartment and asking him questions about Nibelheim and Jenova.
Zack seemed shocked that Genesis had been there for over a year, and he protested that it had been just recently that he’d left him in Banora. Genesis probably should have stopped to explain that people could be plucked from different times, but he was too distracted by Zack’s other revelation. “You were what?” He demanded at the news that the SOLDIER had been gunned down by Shinra. It should have been tragic, but since the man was standing directly in front of him alive and well, Genesis was more annoyed at the implication than anything. “Really? You struck me down just to leave and die ten minutes later? Ugh.”
Throwing up his hands, Genesis paced off to the side towards the water as another Loveless quote that fit the occasion rose to his lips. “‘Ripples form on the water’s surface, the wandering soul knows no rest.’ And neither do the dead apparently.” Turning back towards Zack, Genesis crossed his arms. “Well. If you’re living in Torensten too, then that’s perfect I suppose. Sephiroth and I have an apartment there. Angeal is our recent plus one.”
[attr=class,lyric1]infinite in mystery is the gift of
[attr=class,lyric2]the goddess
[attr=class,bulk] Dangling upside down from a hedge wall was maybe not the ideal time to talk about Loveless, but Lady Hildagarde had asked and it was rare that someone in this world was interested enough to come to him about it. He had been one of the world experts on the poem—he’d even compiled his research notes on its interpretation into a book—and yet he was trapped in a world where no one had even heard of it. It was tragic, really.
“You have an ear for poetry. Loveless originates from my world, though I’ve been inscribing it to hopefully be published here. A five-act structure with the final act lost to history.” He had his own ideas on how the fifth act resolved of course, but that was another story. And one he didn’t have time for while he was being strangled by vines.
The blood was beginning to rush to his head, and that made him irritable with everyone and everything. Including the blonde noblewoman in the fog, even though she hadn’t done anything to specifically set him off. Yet. “Do you have a nickname by the way? And what exactly are you a lady of-?”
She lamented that she had nothing to cut him down with before the air suddenly seemed to change. The wind flowed around her and gently pulled at her skirts as her eyes took on an ethereal white glow that was brighter than his own pair. Genesis was startled into silence for a change, watching her curiously as she spoke words that made no sense to his ears but still carried weight to them. If this was magic, then he hadn’t seen anything like it before. Materia felt like a parlor trick by comparison.
Lady Hildagarde’s magic washed over him and the vines that held him in place, and he felt almost dizzy as the spell set in. His constraints were steadily loosening, so Genesis assumed that had been the purpose of her spell, but as he tried to pull away from the hedge wall he was struck by how disoriented he felt in his own body. Something was off with his vision, and he was perplexed to find his limbs smaller and the blonde woman in front of him much taller than he remembered. In fact, it was bizarre how big she seemed compared to both him and the shrunken vines. She held out a hand for him to join her, and the ethereal wind around her ruffled at his tail fur-
His tail?!
“Squeak!” Genesis protested, but as the vines were still around his new body’s size, he had no choice but to take her offer and leap forward onto her hand. He fit quite easily in her palm, but that didn’t stop him from skittering up her arm to sit on her shoulder as she stepped on the now tiny vines. He had no idea if his words could be understood by humans or not, but that didn’t stop him from chittering angrily in her ear. A rodent of all things?! Is that how she saw him? She could have at least picked something more majestic.
[attr=class,lyric1]infinite in mystery is the gift of
[attr=class,lyric2]the goddess
[attr=class,bulk] Zack agreed with his Loveless interpretation, even though the blank look on his face suggested that he had no idea where Genesis was going with it or even what he’d just said. Genesis was torn between finding that annoying or annoyingly endearing, so he let it slide with a suspicious look in Zack’s direction. How dare Angeal’s student be so stupid and so nice. Emphasis on stupid.
The First-Class protested that it really was good to see him as he actually was and not how he’d been during their last encounter. The distinction left Genesis a bit lost for words as he stared at the dark-haired man across from him. Maybe Zack was more observant than he tended to give him credit for. After all, they’d only ever encountered each other as enemies, so he wouldn’t have blamed Zack for thinking that he had always been a monster. But it appeared that he’d seen through to the heart of things, and Genesis didn’t know how to feel about that.
“...I only wanted to stop my degradation.” It wasn’t quite an apology, but the admission left him feeling vulnerable anyway. All of his actions and all of his lost honor really boiled down to that, didn’t it? He’d failed to take down Shinra or to cause any meaningful changes there, but he had his health and his life. And that was something. Selfish, but when had Genesis been anything else?
It appeared that Zack had only been there for about a month or so, and his reaction to being asked about others told Genesis all that he needed to know. Zack was definitely alone. A pitiable state for the extroverted man, but it’s where he’d been during their last encounter too. Exiled by Shinra and hunted down with only a comatose grunt for company. It was almost enough to make him feel bad for Zack. Almost.
“Do you really think it would just be you and I?” Genesis asked with a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m not going there yet though. Knowing you, you’ll just get excited and run off before I’m even finished speaking.” As soon as he heard Angeal’s name at any rate, though Genesis wouldn’t blame him for that one. It wasn’t every day that your friends came back from the dead.
“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.” Genesis mused before crossing his arms. “Regrettably, I’ve been here for over a year. Though the scenery is considerably better than Midgar I suppose.” The lowest of bars really, but it warranted being said.
It occurred to him that he should ask where Zack was staying. Hopefully he wasn’t just camping out in a cave somewhere in this wilderness. “You don’t live out here, I hope? We have an apartment in Torensten if you haven’t been to that city yet.”
Genesis himself wasn’t quite sure where he was going with that line of questioning, and he dearly hoped that he hadn’t just accidentally offered Zack space on their couch.
