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Genesis stared at Hollander in shock, silently processing what the man had just told him.
He was dying because of something wrong in his cells? His body would start rotting, slowly killing him from the inside while his mind did the same?
There was no possible way that that could be true!
But it did explain why his wound still hadn’t healed and why he was struggling to do things he had once found as easy as breathing. It also explained why he had been having trouble concentrating and remembering things lately.
Perhaps it wasn’t as preposterous as he thought it was.
Was that truly to be his fate? Losing himself to the decay of his mind and body?
He’d rather have Sephiroth run him through with the Masamune.
But, if Hollander knew what was happening to him, then he must know of some way to cure it!
“Can you fix this?!”Genesis questioned, voice desperate. “You know how to fix me, correct?!”
Hollander dithered for a moment, focusing on the pages in front of him. “Not like this, I can’t” He eventually responded, turning away from Genesis as if unconcerned about the fact he had such a volatile warrior in the room with him. “I can’t do anything within Shinra.”
“What do you mean?!” Genesis barked, causing the scientist to flinch at the anger in his tone. “Why wouldn’t Shinra want to save one of their best SOLDIERs?!”
“Shinra wouldn’t care to go so far for you, boy.” Hollander stated, leaned away from where Genesis was seated. “After all, you are replaceable.”
Genesis froze at that, all the fight leaving his body at once. It was true, the only person that Shinra couldn’t replace was Sephiroth. Angeal was already training his own replacement; they would be used until a newer version came along and made them obsolete and unneeded.
There was no hope for him.
“I may be able to do something outside of Shinra though,” Hollander said, turned away from him so that Genesis was unable to see his expression and Hollander couldn’t gauge his response.
“You mean to abandon Shinra?” He scoffed, staring at the man as if he had just suggested to face Sephiroth with only a fork. “You’ll be hunted down and executed for your desertion!”
“Not if you’re protecting me, boy.”
Genesis was stunned by Hollander’s presumption. How dare he assume that he would abandon everything he had just because he was now very aware of his shortened mortal coil.
If anything Genesis should return to Midgar as soon as he was able, Shinra’s war be damned! If he wasn’t able to lead his men into battle with a clear head then he had no purpose being here; he’d much rather Sephiroth here in his place than to be responsible for unnecessary casualties.
He should return to Midgar to get his affairs in order, he still had things he wanted to do before he died. He needed to make sure Angeal and Sephiroth would be alright without him, he needed to ensure that his parents gained nothing from his death.
He wanted to spend more time with his sweet Cloud.
He had promised the younger that he would return to Midgar safely, he didn’t want to abandon him without explanation.
But if there was a way to save himself from his demise, then shouldn’t he take it?
The silence pervaded for several minutes. Then Genesis broke it, speaking in a soft, defeated tone, “You’re sure you can cure me?”
He was a coward, too terrified to accept the inevitability of his death.
“It’s a certainty.”
Genesis took a deep, steadying breath, gingerly rolling his wounded shoulder. He was going to be late returning to Cloud.
He’d explain everything to him once Hollander cured him.
Hopefully Cloud wouldn’t be too angry with him by then.
He had been foolish to think that Hollander had any intention of helping him. He had willingly became a monster for the man and for what?
He had lost everything. His position, his respect, his friends, his Cloud. Everything.
He deserved death after all the wrong he had done; after all the pain and sorrow he had caused the people he cared for, all the destruction he had done in order to obtain a ‘cure’. After all that he didn’t deserve to be saved.
But he was grateful to Fair for trying to help him and for letting him see Cloud one last time before he died. He wanted to be selfish and ask that Fair let them die together but he saw that Fair was adamant that he could find someway to save Cloud then he wouldn’t stop the man.
Fair had been kind enough not to ask why he was so glad to see Cloud when he dragged him from the mines, instead he had guided him over to where Cloud was seated and set him down next to him.
Cloud had changed so much since he had last seen him, he was obviously older and sickly from whatever had been done to him. He didn’t even seen to realize that Genesis was in front of him, he was still as beautiful as the day Genesis had left Midgar.
Goddess, how he had missed him.
He remained conscious long enough to watch Fair hoist Cloud onto his back and walk away before allowing himself to fall into the darkness creeping across his vision.
It seemed it would be his turn to wait for Cloud.
But that wasn’t the case.
He woke up, not in the next life as he had been expecting, but in a cell deep under Midgar, surrounded by people sharing his cells and twisted beyond all moral boundaries. They were people shaped into monsters by Shinra’s cruelty and inhumane practices.
He closed himself off from the rest of the facility, ignoring the others pleas for freedom. He couldn’t save them from Shinra any more than he could save himself, not that he wanted to do either. These people, the main three barely older than his Cloud, knew little else than violence and power, they’d wreak havoc.
He couldn’t allow them out into the world, not if Fair had somehow managed to save Cloud.
He didn’t want to cause any more trouble for his sweet Cloud.
He fell into slumber, oblivious of the world passing around him.
When next he awoke, the world was vastly different from what he remembered.
Midgar had been reduced to rubble and ruins, Shinra was but a shadow of itself and SOLDIER was all but gone, the last few remainders struggling to find purpose in a society that had no use for them.
Time had truly passed him by.
He didn’t know what to do with himself at first so he stayed within the ruins of Midgar and avoided society all together. Things were difficult those first few weeks awake, he managed to find an abandoned theatre that wasn’t too destroyed to hold up in even if it was missing the basic necessities of food and water.
He was a SOLDIER though, one of the Holy Trinity, he managed.
He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, now that he was awake again. He didn’t know if Fair or Cloud had survived, so trying to search for them might result in an endless fruitless search. He spent several days in the theatres figuring out the best course of action to take and several more searching for whatever food he could get his hands on.
It wasn’t like he had to worry about anything like food poisoning.
He had been planning on rejoining society eventually, just not at that time.
And then Cloud showed up and dragged him out of his theatre.
He was so stunned at Cloud just being there, alive and in front of him, that he didn’t put up any sort of fight until they were already well out of Midgar and Cloud was dragging him towards the settlement that had been erected a few miles away. He started struggling then, trying to break free of Cloud’s grip as he was dragged through the streets towards what looked to be an apartment building.
Cloud dragged him up several flights of stairs, ignoring Genesis’ struggles and the looks being shot at them by the civilians they passed. Genesis knew exactly what he looked like’ dirty, unkempt, long-knotted hair and filthy clothes barely held together, of course they were staring.
But Cloud didn’t care, moving quickly through the building until he stopped them in front of a door and quickly dug out a key. The door was swiftly opened and Cloud dragged him inside, closing the door behind them.
Genesis was only able to glance around the apartment before Cloud forced him deeper into it, shoving him forcefully inside a bathroom. “We’ll talk once you’re clean.” Cloud shut the door before Genesis could say anything in response, leaving him alone in the bathroom.
Left with no other option, he followed the order he had been given.
The hot water felt heavenly.
Genesis was rather reluctant to leave it.
He reached the realization that he didn’t have anything to change into after he turned the hot water off, he certainly wasn’t going to put his filthy clothes back on. He dried himself off as much as he could before securely wrapping a towel around his waist and tackling the issue of the wet mass that was his hair.
How on earth had Sephiroth managed with it?
He exited the bathroom once he had it as dry as he could, moving hesitantly towards the front of the apartment. Cloud was waiting for him in the living room, sitting on the couch with a pensive expression, he focused on Genesis the moment he appeared in the doorway, unconcerned with Genesis’ state of dress.
Genesis felt something lodge itself in his throat at the sight of the other, Cloud was still as beautiful as he had ever been. He looked phenomenally better than the last time he saw him; his skin had a healthy colour to it and his eyes were bright and aware, far different from the sickly appearance he had had in Banora.
He approached Cloud, deciding not to try the other’s patience and sat on the chair across from him. He sat down carefully, fully aware that he was wrapped only in a towel while Cloud appeared to be garbed for battle.
He waited silently for Cloud to begin speaking, nerves freezing the words in his throat.
Cloud sighed heavily, slumping in his seat and running a hand over his face in an exhausted manner. “What happened?” He asked after a few moments, voice tired and weary.
Genesis spent a moment thinking through his answer before he started his recount of events.
Cloud deserved a proper explanation, he had left him waiting for far too long.