Chapter Text
The clouds were gathering along the darkening horizon, a storm coming in along with the night.
It signaled to Angeal it was time he went home no matter what Genesis said about staying out ten more minutes to watch the storm roll in. As much as it was beautiful to watch the lightning strike the sea, he didn't want to be caught out in it. There was no rain yet, but if he showed up at home after dark and drenched to the skin, he was going to end up grounded and if he was grounded, he couldn't sleepover at Genesis's tomorrow as planned. When it came to this stuff, he had to be the one to put his foot down since Genesis never seemed to think things through enough to catch what the consequences would be to his hare brained ideas.
It didn't help there never seemed to be as many consequences for him either way. Genesis's parents were leaving for whatever it was they did when they left the island and may not even really notice if he came back late from their packing up to go. Even though Genesis had badgered them even more than usual and insisted he was fourteen in only two months, he wasn't allowed to go with them and had been in a sour mood all day from it. It probably hadn't helped his case to insist he was absolutely mature enough to handle keeping himself out of trouble when Genesis seemed to have 'finding trouble where there was no trouble before' listed under his special skills, right between mage and whatever he did with his hair.
So his best friend had been told he needed to stay here and work on studying independently, which naturally meant there wasn't likely to be much studying at all.
Despite what Angeal's own parents seemed to believe about the two of them needing adult supervision, his parents were more willing to let him stay with Genesis if only Genesis was there. It didn't make a lot of sense to him, but he did understand there was some animosity between their parents and that Genesis's parents had a habit of looking at him like his very being there was an insult to their living space. It was just one of those things he'd started to notice more and more as he got older, the undercurrent of annoyance between his mother and Genesis's.
His dad said it was just because Genesis's mom didn't work and thought she was better than people who did and his mom was very hardworking so they butted heads. Angeal didn't know what that had to do with him.
“You could stay over tonight,” Angeal offered, brushing the sand off his pants as he stood up. They'd do another day if he was careful.
“I don't need a pity sleepover,” Genesis told him. “I'm perfectly fine on my own.”
Angeal suspected being on his own was part of the problem, that Genesis just didn't want to wake up to an empty house. He was a social person and tended to let his dramatics get the best of him if he was left alone too long. Half the time, Angeal woke up to find his best friend had climbed into his window to sit with him anyway. If he hadn't been doing it for years, it might have been a bit creepy to wake up with one more person on his bed than had been there the night before.
“Angeal,” Genesis said, standing slowly as he stared over Angeal's shoulder.
“I'm not falling for that,” Angeal said. “There's a reason you didn't go to the theatre school in Midgar.”
Genesis turned his eyes to him. “That was uncalled for,” he said. “Lots of people are not appreciated for their artistic talent in their youth.”
“I bet those people could sing,” Angeal said.
“Angeal!” Genesis said, pointing over his shoulder again as there was a low rumbling of thunder.
“Genesis,” Angeal echoed.
“Oh, for the love of the Goddess!” Genesis huffed, grabbing Angeal's shoulders and turning him around to face the ocean.
It was definitely thunder and with another low rumble, the sky lit up suddenly. “I've seen lightning before.”
“There's a weird noise!” Genesis insisted. “Can't you hear it?”
“It's called thunder,” Angeal replied dully. “It happens when lightning causes air to get hot and expand.”
“I know what causes thunder!” Genesis said, then frowned. “How do you know what causes thunder?”
“Mom told me,” Angeal said.
While Genesis had tutors for his education, Angeal relied on his mother and weekend lessons at the village hall that mostly taught them about history, laws and about things in their local community or in Midgar. His mom was fussy about him going to those lessons as it was; she said they skewed things in favour of the educational distributor, the Shinra company. If she had time, she preferred to teach him herself but she didn't always have the luxury of time.
“Mine tried to tell me it was angels moving their furniture around,” Genesis grinned. “I swear she still thinks I'm five.”
“You're stalling,” Angeal told him. “If I'm late, I might not be allowed to stay over tomorrow night.”
“Alright, fine, I suppose–“ Genesis went still, then pointed out to the sky. “There's something out there!”
“Genesis, cut it out!” Angeal stopped still as he saw the lightning brighten the clouds and he realised Genesis was right! There was something out there! “What is that?”
“Looks like propellers,” Genesis exclaimed excitedly. “A carrier!”
“What kind of idiot goes flying in a thunderstorm?” Angeal waited as another lightning strike showed the silhouette of a large looking helicopter of some kind out at sea. It was at the edge of the storm and now he was listening, he could hear a low hum coming from that direction. “How far out do you think they are?”
“Closer to the north than us,” Genesis said, as a few droplets of rain began to fall on the skin on the back of his hand. The continent to their north had the self proclaimed planetary capitol city, so maybe they were trying to head there. “See how weird their flying is? I think they were trying to outrun the storm!”
“Should we get someone?” Angeal asked. If they flew too close, they could crash. Someone could get hurt.
“And tell them what?” Genesis asked. “Some helicopter was flying weird in the distance?”
Okay, true, it wasn't any of their business. Unless – “You don't think it's to do with the war, do you?”
War in the west had broken out between Shinra, a power company that regulated magic and military force alongside pretty much everything else and Wutai, a nation on the far western continent. Shinra wanted to put in a mako reactor to supply energy to the region, but for some reason Wutai didn't want it and talks had broken down. Now there was talk about Shinra forcing a conscription; they had a lot of pull with the government and if anyone could do that, they could.
Angeal had never seen war, but he'd heard stories from his dad about the fighting he'd seen when he was younger. It was frightening to think they were on the brink of something like that. Nothing ever seemed to happened here and as much as he wanted a little excitement, he didn't want it at the cost of others.
“Wutai's on the other side of the planet,” Genesis said, which was true but maybe it was something from Midgar? That was north of them. “Unless they've been trying to get away from the storm for a while, why else would they be here?”
“Maybe it's an enemy helicopter,” Angeal suggested. No, that would mean it was going towards Midgar. “Or a military one.”
“What military stronghold's near here?” Genesis pointed around them. “There's an office in Mideel, but dad said it's only got a couple of people there. They'd have to be pretty stupid to target that. What's the point of flying all the way there to kill only a couple of people?”
No one said inciting terror meant you had to be smart.
There was another crash of lightning and Angeal could feel the rain in his eyes as they watched the aircraft try to maneuver around the pockets of lightning. They watched as the pilot dodged over and over until there was a loud crack and the sky lit up in fire and smoke; the craft fell out of view somewhere in the ocean, but in the dark all they could hear the sound of it hitting the water. There was a flash of glowing green, like it slammed into a mako spring and then there was nothing but wisps of smoke in the distance.
“Where do you think that went down?” Angeal asked, trying to think where the ports were on the island north of them. It had a lot more established cities and towns than their small island and someone was bound to have seen them, but what if they hadn't? What if they were in danger?
“Somewhere in the ocean,” Genesis said. “Craft like that probably has a lifeboat, right?”
“Are you sure?” It was one thing to stay out because Genesis wanted to and another to try and help people who might be in trouble. “We should tell someone in case they're stuck out in there in the storm and they're hurt.”
Genesis finally pried his eyes from where the smoke was still billowing from the dark water. “If they survived,” he said. “We should swim out!”
“And do what with injured people?” Angeal said. “Give them a swimmers piggyback?”
“What do you suggest?” Genesis said, wiping the drizzle from his forehead. “I don't have my healing materia with me. I could go and get it, but it'll be a terrible pain to get out again if I'm seen.”
“We'll ask mom,” Angeal said. If she thought they were blowing out of proportion, she'd tell them so.
It also meant he was less likely to get a sharp talking to for being late if he had a legitimate reason.
They ran back to the village, the rain coming down heavy and staining their clothes dark. It had been a while since they'd had a storm like this, but February was temperamental as a season. They tried to avoid the more slippery mud that squelched beneath their feet, but it wasn't easy as they had lost most of the light on the run back and Angeal knew his shoes felt heavier so they had to be caked in mud by now. He was going to have to sit and clean these when they got in, but if people really were in danger, it was more important than his shoes.
“Mom!” Angeal banged the door open to find his mother on her chair, looking him over with Lecture Face. Damn it.
“It's after dark,” Mom said, using her mug to indicate the lack of light outside their windows. “You're late.”
“I know, I'm sorry,” Angeal rushed the words out. “But there was some kind of aircraft that got hit by lightning!”
“What?” his mother said, standing up to look out the window in the direction they came from. “Where?”
“Out in the distance,” Angeal said. “Somewhere north.”
“It went up in flames then crashed down out in the ocean,” Genesis added. “We heard it hit the water!”
“I don't like you playing down at the beach in the dark,” Mom said. “It's dangerous, especially in this weather.”
“Shouldn't we check and see if whoever it was is okay?” Angeal asked.
“If it was that far north, someone will go and find them from a closer port.” Mom looked down and grimaced. “Get those shoes off before you wreck them.”
“We could go out,” Genesis suggested.
“Not in this storm, you can't.” His mother was looking over Genesis critically. “Are you staying?”
Genesis played with the edges of his untucked button down, wringing the water over his fingers. “I should go home,” he said. “If it turned out they were air pirates and they broke in while I was here, I'd never hear the end of it.”
“Air pirates,” Angeal echoed.
“It could be!” Genesis insisted. “No one controls the air, it's ripe for piracy and other organisations of ill repute.”
“Where do you come up with this stuff?” Angeal asked.
“I read,” Genesis replied defensively.
“Angeal,” came his mothers warning tone. “You're dripping all over the floor.”
“Sorry,” he said, “And sorry I'm late. I just wanted to know if everyone was okay.”
“That's in the hands of the goddess now,” Genesis replied solemnly. “We'll have to entrust their souls to her guiding hand.”
“And you not catching your death in my doorway must be entrusted to my hand,” Mom replied. “Either come in and get changed, or get home quickly before I get an earful from your mother.”
“I think you'd have better luck with the goddess than my mother,” Genesis replied, pushing his hair back. “I'll see you in the morning?”
“As soon as I'm done with chores,” Angeal confirmed. He'd need to make sure his clothes were ready for a few days.
“I could come early and help,” Genesis offered.
“Your version of help or what the rest of us think is help?” Angeal asked.
Genesis grinned at him, sharp and knowing. “Come over after?” he asked. “They're leaving first thing, you can just come in.”
“Okay,” Angeal agreed. It was better that way; he didn't have to deal with Genesis's parents staring since they were only putting up with him being there so they didn't have to deal with a Level 10 Genesis screaming fit over it if they tried to say no.
Angeal took his shoes off and put them by the door before running to change. He could come down and clean them once he was dry as if he tried now, he'd just drip all over the chairs. By the time he was done drying himself enough he wouldn't make a mess and had changed into his night clothes (some old holey clothes he couldn't really wear outside anymore), it was pitch black outside. He took the wet clothes downstairs and hung them over the clothes horse in front of the fire to dry. So much for getting another day out of his pants. He'd have to remember to wash them in the morning.
At least it was warm and dry here. Out somewhere in the north, he hoped the people who were in that helicopter were also somewhere warm and dry and if they weren't and would never be again, he at least hoped Genesis was right there there was someone there for them to help them go onto whatever came after you left this life.
“Do you really think they're okay?” he asked his mother, who caused in her sewing to look at him.
“My job is to make sure you're okay,” his mother replied quietly. “That includes not letting Genesis get carried away with himself and swimming out in the middle of a storm where there could be only a wreckage.”
“It could have been an interesting wreckage,” Angeal said, feeling the need to at least defend him a little.
“You'll see enough death when you're an adult,” his mother said. “You don't need to go seeking it out. If something happened all the way out there and you couldn't get back to land, you'd be the ones who needed rescuing.”
“I guess,” Angeal said, taking a few steps backwards before going up to bed. Mom would be up for a while yet working on things, he knew and he wasn't sure when his Dad would be back. Sometimes he took the extra hours.
The thoughts of wreckages and air pirates played on Angeal's mind well into the night, it was only to be expected since nothing interesting ever happened in Banora. Not even in the distance. By the time he got to sleep, it was much later than he would admit because he'd half expected Genesis to climb back in and suggest they go out there anyway. Angeal didn't know if he was disappointed or relieved that he hadn't.
In his dreams, Angeal was back down on the beach watching as someone washed up on the shore, rolling over onto their knees to cough up water. All he could make out through the hammering rain was the way their eyes glowed in the darkness.