Archive of Our Own ^beta

It started out as a very small thing, as most things did. 

It was a few months after Genesis Rhapsodos had appeared in their lives with no warning. When they first met him, it hadn’t been long after the Deepground incident. Seeing an ex-SOLDIER with a single black wing, all of them had collectively flipped out on him and attacked on sight. Even after they eventually calmed down enough for Rhapsodos to explain that he meant them no harm, they were all understandably wary of him. 

Cloud, of course, had more reason to be wary than most. 

But Cloud had dealt with Sephiroth several times over. Compared to that, this stranger was about as threatening as an oversized Zu. Cloud would be able to handle him if it came to it. If anything, he was more surprised Rhapsodos was alive; he hadn’t heard anything about him since his days as a trooper, and those memories were blurry even at the best of times. 

Rhapsodos had made no threatening moves against Edge, and in the following months, they had a built a weird, tentative peace between them. If anything, he was more of an annoying occasional visitor Cloud couldn’t get rid of. On occasion he would show up at random times to stick around Seventh Heaven or shadow Cloud on his delivery runs before leaving whenever it suited him. 

(The conversations Cloud had with him were enlightening and sobering. A few times he talked about Zack and his mentor Hewley, and even Sephiroth once, before he’d gone insane. Cloud appreciated some of the stories about Zack that he offered. Mostly, though, he talked about LOVELESS.) 

(Cloud could also appreciate that Genesis could carry most of the conversation with minimal input from him, and didn’t seem to get offended by Cloud saying an average of two words every five minutes.)

The people in town were wary of Rhapsodos. Some remembered his days as a SOLDIER and his insurgency against Shinra, others saw the black wing and immediately went on edge. Either way, the adults of Edge weren’t comfortable with Rhapsodos, and the man in question made no moves to bridge that rift. 

The kids, however… 

It seemed like they’d decided that if Cloud was fine with Rhapsodos, then they could be too. 

For some reason, most kids in Edge seemed to like Cloud ever since Advent Day. Which was… a scary thought. He kind of wished they didn’t look up so much to a washed out screw-up like him, but he’d learned his lesson the hard way about running away, so he’d try and work with it. 

And of course, being as obvious and on display as the wing was, it was inevitable that one of the kids would ask about it. 

“Mister Cloud?” asked one kid, a friend of Marlene’s. “You know the man with the red jacket and the funny looking wing, right?”

He’d never heard it called a funny wing. Somehow, the mental image of saying that to someone like Sephiroth threw him off more than anything else. 

“Yeah?” he said. “His name’s Rhapsodos.”

“Um… well…” The little girl stammered. “Why does he have one wing?”

Cloud blanked momentarily at how to answer such a loaded question. 

How the hell was he supposed to answer that?

Cloud figured Rhapsodos wouldn’t want to talk about how he got his wing. Hell, Cloud always wanted to skip town and drive around the wastelands for hours anytime he remembered the hollowed-out shell Sephiroth had once reduced him to. Besides, Cloud had a very strong suspicion of how it could have happened; most things of that nature had Shinra written all over it. Combined with him being ex-SOLDIER, it wasn’t hard to guess. 

On the other hand, kids were relentlessly curious about the world around them, and didn’t always realize when they’d overstepped boundaries. He’d spent enough time around kids to learn that, especially raising Denzel and babysitting Marlene for Barret. 

So Cloud made up a lie on the spot. Nothing big, just a little white lie to satisfy her for now. 

Looking back, Cloud could trace the whole thing back to that first incident. 

1. “He’s part bird.”

”Really?”

“I dunno. Probably,” he said. Gaia, Cloud hoped she would drop it. 

She looked skeptical in the way children did when they suspected an adult was lying to them but couldn’t do anything about it, but thankfully she dropped the subject. Cloud watched her run off to go home just as Marlene turned to corner him. 

“Cloud!” Marlene said, upset. “Why‘d you tell her that?”

“What did Cloud tell who?” asked Barret, who had only just come back to overhear Marlene’s protests. 

“Cloud told my friend Kylee that mister Genesis was part bird,” Marlene tattled. 

Barret chuckled, looking at Cloud. “Oh he did, did he?”

“I didn’t know what else to tell her,” Cloud argued. 

He really hoped this embarrassing moment would end here, and hopefully wouldn’t come back to bite him. 

(Cloud should have known he was never that lucky.)

2. “He ate too much grilled chocobo and one day started turning into one.”

If Cloud had accidentally started it, Barret had gleefully continued it as a way to simply screw with Rhapsodos. Being so reclusive around Edge and sporting a large black wing that gave all of them bad memories, trust was slow to build with the man. 

The second time, it was one of the neighborhood kids that asked him while he was tuning up his bike outside the garage.

“No he didn’t!” The kid argued.  

“Did too,” said Barret, clearly trying to suppress a shit-eating grin. “That’s why your mom tells you to eat your vegetables.”

Cloud rolled his eyes and asked him to pass him the wrench. Figured he would say something like that, considering he was an adoptive father himself. 

The kid argued with Barret some more, before running off. 

“Kid’s bold, I’ll give ‘im that,” said Barret. 

“So. Spreading rumors about me, are we?” said a familiar voice.

Genesis landed lightly on the ground next to him, his wing dramatically flaring out before neatly folding up against his jacket. 

Cloud looked up from his bike, ignoring his theatrics. “You overheard that, then?” It wasn’t surprising, given his enhanced hearing. 

“I did,” Genesis said, looking towards Barret. “I know you and everyone else here doesn’t like me, but I assumed you all were above such petty acts. My mistake.”

“Hey, don’t look at me, SOLDIER boy,” said Barret, earning a glare. “Cloud here’s the one who did it first.”

“Oh, he did, did he?” Genesis said, turning a dangerous look at Cloud.

Cloud tried not to roll his eyes, because this was getting ridiculous. “It was that or tell them the real story,” he said, turning back to his bike. “And I figured you don’t want to talk about it.”

That sobered Genesis up real fast. 

After a moment, he folded his arms, looking as if none of it had ever bothered him at all. “…Do what you wish. It hardly matters. Pride is lost,” he muttered to himself, turning away. “Wings stripped away, the end is nigh.”

“Act Two,” Cloud replied. 

Genesis paused. “You remembered?”

“How could I forget when you’ve hammered it into my head,” he said dryly. “It’s all you ever talk about.” 

Genesis gave him a long, complicated look before wordlessly leaving. 

It was a better reaction than he’d expected. At least Rhapsodos wasn’t trying to kill him or Barret, so Cloud took it as a win. 

3. “It’s a costume.”

At this point, several kids had caught on to the fact that Cloud was making up some other bullshit excuse every time they asked, and for some reason this only seemed to make them ask even more. Because of course they did. They were kids. 

Cloud was starting to think he made a huge mistake. At least the kids thought it was funny. Cloud certainly wasn’t laughing. 

“A costume for what?” they asked. 

“He really wanted to play a part in LOVELESS. So he made himself a wing. For the, uh, ‘the one that flies’.”

“But it’s real! I saw him fly with it!”

“Yeah. It even works,” Cloud flat-out lied. Was it a bad thing that he was getting better at this? He didn’t know. 

“It’s not ’the one that flies’, Strife,” said Genesis, making all of them jump. 

“That’s what it said,” Cloud defended. 

“Outside of the texts, they are colloquially referred to as the Traveler,“ Genesis continued, having clearly forgotten about the kids watching them argue with wide eyes. “The other two are the Prisoner and the Hero.”

“Okay, fine. But it's just a poem.”

“Just a—” Genesis started. He then took a deep breath, before continuing with his forced calm. “…Clearly, as the foremost LOVELESS expert, I need to educate you more on this subject, because otherwise I’d have to set you on fire just for the insult.”

“Please don’t do either of those.”

The following argument lasted almost an hour before Tifa walked in, saw the scene, and told them to please knock it off because half of Edge could probably hear the one-sided arguing. 

4. “I was cursed to turn into a monster.” 

Genesis’s appearance the last time the kids asked must have had some kind of effect, because one of the children finally approached and asked him directly. 

“Mister Rhapsodos, why do you have a wing?”

It was Marlene. One of her friends was with her, but it was clear that she was the one who had asked. 

Genesis slowly turned to face her. His expression was unreadable. “…Why do you want to know so badly?”

Marlene looked away. “Dad won’t tell me. And you guys keep saying something different every time someone asks. Is it really that bad?”

Cloud remained on alert as he considered her question. He sincerely hoped Genesis wasn’t going to lash out at Marlene, but he couldn’t tell what he was thinking with the way he was acting right now. 

“…I was cursed to turn into a monster,” he finally said. The words sounded like they had a heavy weight behind them, at least to Cloud’s ears. “Satisfied?”

The two of them seemed to think about it. After a moment, Marlene shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”

“Yeah,” said the other kid. “Mister Cloud and Miss Tifa and Marlene’s dad are all nice to you, so you can’t be a monster.”

For once, Genesis looked to be at a complete loss for words. 

5. “Ever seen a touch-me frog? Turns out a version of those exist for birds.” 

After Genesis’s first direct answer, it was pretty much open season. There was no stopping it at that point. Besides, the kids loved the running joke. 

“That’s not a real thing!” said the kid. 

“It could be. The world’s a big place,” Cloud replied with a straight face. “He discovered the rare touch-me bird. He hasn’t found it since.” 

“But he only looks like half a bird! Touch-me‘s make you change all the way!”

“Maybe it works different for birds.”

(“Cloud, that doesn’t even make sense,” Genesis said afterwards, unimpressed.

“You try and make something better, then.”)

6. “...Materia accident.” 

“There’s no materia that does that!” 

“It is,” said Genesis. “It’s a rare, unique transform materia.”

“Did someone say rare materia?!”

“Yuffie, no—”

It took an hour for Cloud to convince Yuffie that no, Genesis wasn’t hiding a rare and unique morph materia. Given that Genesis was almost as much of a materia collector as Yuffie, it was much harder than Cloud would have liked. 

(“That the best you could come up with?” 

“I don’t want to hear that from the one who said touch-me birds exist.”) 

7. “How else? It grew there.” 

This one came on a day where Genesis was clearly running low on patience towards answering the same question for the twentieth time. 

Fortunately, it had been an adult that asked this time. Cloud didn’t want Genesis lashing out at the kids, but dumbasses hanging around Seventh Heaven clearly looking for a good laugh or a fight were fair game.

“Hey, pretty boy! So how’d that happen, anyway? And I don’t wanna hear none of the bullshit excuses you’ve been spoutin’,” said a stranger one night in Seventh Heaven; Cloud was helping out Tifa with the rush, and Genesis had decided to stick around for once, minding his own business.

“It grew there,” Genesis gritted out. “How else?”

“...Ain’t natural,” they slurred out. Clearly, they were drunk. “Looks like that— that silver freak. Freaks, all of ya were. SOLDIER was always full of ‘em.”

Genesis’s eyes glowed dangerously as the man went on.

Which was why Cloud was surprised he himself acted first.

“Wha— hey!” the stranger said as Cloud grabbed him by the back of his shirt and started dragging him away. “Hey! Hands off!”

“I’m kicking you out,” Cloud said coldly. He didn’t look twice as he shoved them out, probably more roughly than necessary.

Genesis’s expression was unreadable as Cloud returned to the bar where Tifa was working.

“Jackass,” Cloud muttered darkly. “Sorry, Tifa.”

“I was actually about to kick him out myself,” she admitted. “Thanks for saving me the trouble.”

Cloud hummed in acknowledgement as she went back to serving customers on the other end of the bar.

“I’m surprised you didn’t punch him,” Genesis finally said.

“No fighting in the bar,” Cloud explained, repeating one of Tifa’s ironclad rules in Seventh Heaven. The fact that she was strong enough to physically throw out anyone who broke that rule helped. 

“You didn’t have to do that. I’m hardly a helpless maiden.”

“He was talking shit about you and Zack.”

“...He was talking about you too.”

“I wasn’t a SOLDIER.”

“You think it makes a difference to someone like that?”

Cloud was quiet at that. 

“My friend, do you fly away now?” Genesis quoted, not waiting for a response. “To a world that abhors you and I?”

No one else bothered them for the rest of the night.

8. “I’m a powerful witch.” 

Okay, Cloud was there for this one, and he still wasn’t entirely sure how it happened.

It was late enough in the year that the annual fall pumpkin festival had come around again. Midgar used to celebrate it as a full blown holiday before Meteorfall had destroyed it, despite having no harvest traditions and importing everything. 

Cloud remembered a similar festival in Nibelheim from when he was a kid, but those details were blurry. Something about pumpkins and dressing up as monsters. Tifa explained that it was the time where dark spirits led by the Pumpkin King could most easily cross the veil into the world of the living, so dressing up as monsters fooled the spirits and kept them safe.

And then she handed them both costumes to wear: Cloud got a headband with a pair of wolf ears stuck on it, while Genesis got a pointy black witch hat. The others were sporting their own costumes for the festival as well.

Considering it was something from home and Tifa had actually made them herself, Cloud didn’t have the heart to say no. At least Genesis seemed to be somewhat enjoying himself.

“If only I could show you real Banora White cider,” he reminisced, sitting up on the roof away from the crowds and away from prying eyes; Genesis explained that he had no desire to spoil the festival’s mood with his presence, and was content to watch unseen from above. Tifa was busy handing out candy in front of Seventh Heaven on top of running the place, so Cloud decided to keep him company for a bit. He needed a break from all the people, too. And the staring. “We’d have it at every harvest festival. More than you could ever possibly drink. Unfortunately, the orchards were all destroyed.”

“Figures,” said Cloud. “Tifa told me once how she misses the Banora White stuff. It was a favorite of hers.”

“My friend, the fates are cruel,” said Genesis, looking up at the evening sky. “I actually prototyped the preservation method for that, you know.”

“...You’re telling me you invented Banora White juice?”

“Is that so surprising?” Genesis asked, looking over at him under the brim of the floppy hat he was wearing. “I wasn’t always a SOLDIER, you know.”

The two of them were interrupted by Tifa’s voice yelling up from below.

“Cloud! I can’t find Marlene or Denzel anywhere!”

Alarm shot through Cloud, and he immediately jumped down. 

“They should have been back by now. I’m worried something might have happened,” she explained.

“Does Barret know where they are?” asked Cloud. Denzel and Marlene were supposed to be having fun exploring the festival. Barret was still protective of Marlene, but Marlene was getting older and wanted to explore on her own.

Tifa shook her head. “He’s out looking. He actually asked me to help. Can you two go look for them?”

Cloud nodded and headed out into the streets, wasting no time. The streets were crowded with people in various costumes, making it difficult to find anyone.

After fifteen minutes of fruitless searching, Genesis landed next to him in a flurry of black feathers, startling him (and terrifying several people nearby).

“I saw something near the Midgar ruins,” he said, before taking off again. Cloud swore loudly (as well as several other people) before running to follow him.

Cloud arrived to find Denzel and Marlene and several other children surrounded by a gang of adults, none of which looked friendly. (He later learned that they were all there daring each other as a ‘test of courage’, which made him suddenly want to apologize to his mother for every stupid thing he’d ever done in his life.)

Before he could really act, though, Genesis suddenly dropped from the sky directly on top of one of the thugs threatening them, immediately drawing all of their attention to himself.

“What the fuck are you supposed to be?!” one of them demanded.

Genesis idly fixed his coat and the costume hat Tifa had given him on his head before turning to the thug.

“...According to tradition, for now it appears that I’m supposed to be a powerful, scary witch,” he said, holding up a glowing materia and stepping towards them threateningly. The leather coat, loose leather straps, and long auburn hair flaring around him only added to the effect. “Boo.”

What the hell. The image was so absurd Cloud would have laughed, if it wasn’t somehow actually intimidating.

Genesis dispatched the men that wanted to hurt the kids with terrifying ease, weaving spells from his material with the kind of skill and ease that even Cloud couldn’t dream of reaching. And he did it all while still wearing the damn hat.

(Combined with the fact that everyone knew the wing was real, the witch theory circulated for almost a month.)

9. “It’s a medical condition.” 

The fall festival incident had significantly warmed up the others to Genesis’s presence. Enough that some of them started taking part in answering the question Genesis was starting to enjoy and dread answering.

Nanaki had decided to answer this time, since he was present and both Cloud and Genesis were busy. However, it was clear that the excuse he’d come up with had hit a sore spot; Nanaki looked alarmed at the death glare Genesis shot him. 

Before Genesis could give Nanaki an earful, Cloud pulled him aside and told him in no uncertain terms that he didn’t mean anything bad by it. The anger quickly fizzled out when Cloud mentioned that Nanaki was a victim of Hojo’s tender mercies as well. 

…Genesis could let it slide just this once. Next time, though, he would seriously consider setting the rest of him on fire to match his tail. 

It would be a shame to do so, since Genesis was starting to like the talking fire-lion. 

10. “He wanted to beat Cid’s record for flying and decided he didn’t need a plane to do it.”

Okay, Cloud could admit this was not his best one. It didn’t make any sense, but then again, the longer this went on, the more nonsensical the excuses got.

“That wasn’t even a good one,” said Genesis, after they had left.

“You take the next one, then. I’m running out of ideas.”

(“What’s this about beatin’ me in a flying race?!” Cid had asked when he later heard that one. The resulting competition actually ended in Cid’s favor, surprising Genesis.)

11. “I had two, but I lost one to a tonberry.” 

Cloud still remembered the tonberries in the North Crater on their way to confront Sephiroth. Despite how slow they were, the things were terrifyingly deadly once you got up close and personal.

“...Okay. I can believe the tonberry, but that still doesn’t explain how you got them in the first place,” Tifa pointed out.

“Perhaps not,” Genesis conceded. “But if they don’t notice, I don’t see the point in bringing it to their attention.”

“Are you ever going to actually tell any of us the real story?”

“...Eventually, perhaps.”

12. “He lost a game of Queen’s Blood, and there were consequences.” 

“Like I would ever!” Genesis protested when Reeve of all people made this claim. Genesis and Cloud were making a rare visit to the WRO, and some hapless soul had asked; Genesis really wished this hadn’t gotten so out of hand.

“Is that so?” asked Reeve. “Perhaps we should play a game sometime, then.”

“Don’t misunderstand,” said Genesis. “I never bothered playing. It simply doesn’t seem worth the time that I could devote to other pursuits.”

Reeve looked somewhere between disappointed and relieved. “That’s for the best, I think.”

The secretary who had asked nodded and scurried off, considering his answer. Most people had heard the stories about Queen’s Blood being cursed, with the creator’s death and the history of disappearances before Meteorfall. 

So while it sounded far-fetched, it wasn’t completely off the table.

13. “Shinra.” 

This response came when Genesis was clearly having a bad day. He had been moody and reclusive and downright unpleasant to deal with even before the hapless person who’d decided to ask.

Genesis had such a haunted look when he said this that no one asked him to elaborate.

Recalling his own muddled memories of being submerged in a mako tank and called “Specimen C”... Cloud probably didn’t need to.

14. “Jumped off a cliff on a dare to see if I could fly. Turns out I can.” 

From what Cloud remembered of SOLDIER, this one was… actually surprisingly believable. 

Turns out most people in Edge agreed with that sentiment. Truly, SOLDIER candidates had been a special kind of completely insane. Some of the stories he heard from Genesis made Cloud sound normal.

15. “He’s still changing. The other one should sprout eventually but he got stuck halfway.”

“Would that fall under the ‘materia accident’ one, or the ‘touch-me’ one..?” Tifa quietly wondered as she, Genesis, and Cloud watched Barret explain this one. 

“Dunno,” said Cloud. “Could be its own thing.”

Genesis really hoped this particular theory didn’t turn out to be true. While it would be nice to look less unnatural with a complete set, he couldn’t stand the thought of going through the agonizing process that resulted in growing a mutated wing a second time. Once was more than enough. 

16. “Never make a moogle angry.” 

No one in Edge ever seen a moogle, much less made one angry, so this was naturally met with skepticism. Still, in a world where people somehow sprouted wings and had survived a meteor crashing into the planet, it wasn’t like anyone could disprove it, either. 

The kids that heard this one went nuts over the idea that moogles were real, though. In fact, they liked it so much that it became Cloud and Genesis’s problem when several of them got lost out in the Midgar Wastes to go moogle hunting. Fortunately, nothing had happened and they found them fairly quickly.

“This is ridiculous,” Genesis complained after they returned the kids home to Edge. “If any of them ever try anything like this again, I’m not going to help search for them. What the hell were they thinking?!”

“They probably weren’t,” said Cloud. “They’ve been through a lot. They should get to be kids.” 

Besides, it could have been worse. A lot worse. Geostigma was still a fresh memory in everyone’s minds, and Cloud remembered the way all those kids had been lured away by Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo. 

“They can be children without attempting to get themselves eaten by a behemoth,” Genesis retorted. “My soul, corrupted by vengeance–”

“More like annoyance.”

“Hath endured torment, to find the end of the journey,” he continued, “In my own salvation, and your eternal slumber.”

“You’re just mad that one of the kids said the wing kinda looks like a moogle’s,” Cloud deadpanned, earning a withering glare.

17. “He’s Vincent’s distant cousin.” 

Several members of Avalance glanced over to Vincent, who was leaning against the back wall watching them. They then looked back to Genesis.

“...I kind of see it, actually,” said Tifa.

“What,” Genesis flatly said.

Yuffie nodded sagely. “Yeah, it makes sense.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Genesis demanded. Cloud decided not to answer, instead moving to head outside to finish his deliveries. “Cloud, why are they agreeing– and where are you going so quickly?!”

18. “I wished to be able to fly, and a goddess granted it.” 

The two of them were out in the wastes, taking a break from hunting all the stray monsters that were getting too close to Edge.

“Stopping already?” Genesis asked, landing on a nearby outcrop of rocks. “I would have thought you’d last longer than that.”

“Not all of us can fly,” Cloud shot back, stretching his legs from riding his bike for hours. 

“Jealous?”

Cloud looked up. “Absolutely not.”

Genesis huffed. “Good. You shouldn’t be.”

Cloud finished his stretching and flopped down on the ground, laying face up to look at the sky. 

“...He tried to make me like him,” Cloud said after a long silence. Genesis looked over at him, knowing exactly who he was talking about. “I don’t want wings. I’m fine on the ground.”

Genesis nodded, and a comfortable silence stretched between them.

“You know… I wished for the freedom to fly away, once,” Genesis admitted. Cloud turned to see him looking up at the sky. “When I was a child. I suppose, in a twisted sense, the goddess may have granted that wish.”

“You don’t sound happy about it.”

“That’s because I’m not,” Genesis replied, bitterness in his voice. “It is a reminder of everything I’ve done. I wanted Shinra to burn, and everything else with it. Make no mistake, Cloud: I had a hand in shaping this world into what it is now.”

Cloud didn’t like how familiar Genesis’s wallowing was beginning to sound; after all, Cloud had thought similarly while he’d been plagued with Geostigma. Seeing it from the outside, he was starting to get why the others didn’t like his attitude.

“So? Shinra would have taken everyone down with them anyway,” Cloud pointed out flatly, surprising Genesis. “We went around bombing reactors. People died because of us, too. You’re not that special.”

“...You have an unparalleled talent for comforting others, Strife,” Genesis dryly commented.

Cloud turned away a little too quickly, moving to mount his bike. “Whatever. Let’s just finish finding all those monsters.”

Genesis was right about the state of the world, though. Life was slowly improving in Edge as they rebuilt their lives from the ruins of Midgar, but it was still hard. The toll it took for the world to be free of Shinra was clear, and everyone had paid for it. Many with their lives. 

Zack was right. The price of freedom was steep.

19. “I was born with it.”

“What, you’ve never seen anyone with a wing before?” Genesis berated the stranger who had asked this time. 

“...Well, no—”

“How presumptuous of you. Didn’t anyone ever tell you it's rude to discriminate by appearance?” Genesis scoffed, slightly exaggerating his behavior as he acted this out to continue messing with the stranger, who was looking more and more flustered by the second. 

(They had been fairly rude asking in the first place, so Genesis didn’t feel terribly guilty about it.)

“I— no— I mean, yes, but—”

Genesis actually had to suppress a laugh as the stranger continued to stammer out excuses under his scrutiny before finally excusing himself. 

Genesis had to admit, he could see a certain appeal to all this. The shroud of mystery they’d built with this little game of theirs did wonders in keeping people from knowing the ugly truths he would rather keep to himself, all without keeping everyone at arm’s length and resigning himself to the life of a hermit. 

It was annoying most of the time… but occasionally, on better days, Genesis could even go as far as to say he was having fun. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone run out of here that fast,” said Cloud. “That was painful to watch.”

“Shit, yeah. You’re one hell of an actor, I’ll give ya that,” Barret admitted.

“Thank you,” Genesis said, suddenly seeing an opportunity. “But who says I was acting?”

“…Wait. Is he serious?” Barret asked Cloud, frowning. “I know you didn’t always have it, but damn, now I’m starting to wonder.”

Genesis simply smiled knowingly, and didn’t answer. 

After all, no one knew that it was technically true. 

20. “Aliens.” 

“Hear me out,” said a very drunk Reno visiting Seventh Heaven that evening, Rude sitting next to him completely sober in the meantime. “If you’re gonna say all this crazy shit, you gotta tell ‘em it was aliens.”

“No,” said Cloud. 

“Come on, it’s a classic conspiracy theory. They’ll never know!” Reno laughed wildly.

Genesis and Cloud definitely weren’t laughing with him. Genesis wanted to slam his head against the bar counter.

Shit. Of course the Turks knew the truth. Reno was bad enough, but Rufus was going to be insufferable, Genesis just knew it.

“I am not,” Genesis gritted out, “telling anyone that it was aliens.” Most people would have no idea how uncomfortably close to the truth Reno’s suggestion was, and Genesis would rather keep it that way. Next to him, Cloud looked equally uncomfortable.

“Killjoy,” said Reno. “That damn thing made our lives hell, at least make fun of it once.”

“Reno,” Rude warned.

“What? It did!”

After a while and further debate, Rude decided he had enough. He dragged his partner out of Seventh Heaven, all while Reno loudly complained the entire time. 

“...Screw her,” Cloud finally stated once they were gone, voice hard. 

“On that, we agree,” Genesis added bitterly. 

“Hear, hear!” chimed in several of the others, crowding in around them. For once, Genesis felt right at home here with them.