[The silence runs long. He's right about one thing; Sephiroth is not a man made of kneejerk reactions, but his gut wants him to declare this a lie. All of it.
And yet he cannot help but think back to the others from their planet, their hesitations upon meeting Sephiroth. How some of them looked at him, with fire or shock in their eyes, when he made his presence known. As if they knew something that he did not; as if time gave them an advantage, whereas he was left in the dark.
They are vague pieces that can slot into each other, to form a bigger picture, should he allow them. Should he allow them?]
Even if I believed you, what is that I hear in your voice now, Genesis? Don't tell me that's regret.
[Genesis so nearly let "old friend" slip from his lips, but he knew better. There was a bridge he broke when he let the degradation and the desperation for a cure take over him. A bridge that had once connected him to both Angeal and Sephiroth.
But Angeal had been lost, and Sephiroth an enemy to him for all the destruction he had caused.
Three friends, torn apart by war. He feels the urge to recite from LOVELESS, recalling a verse from Act II, but he decides against saying it.]
It's always been so difficult to wring a straight answer out of you.
[And yet, the irony is that despite all of the questions, Sephiroth would distrust or deny any answer that came. What once was their friendship is now tainted with betrayal, and it colors every interaction, every word, of the former SOLDIER's.
Even if some of these apparent new revelation will stick in his mind like nails punched through it.]
Let me be the one to be straightforward, then. What do you plan on doing now that you're here?
[Sephiroth wouldn't see, but on the other side of the line, Genesis is just shaking his head, feeling every bit like a criminal. But, of course. That was what he was. A deserter, a murderer...
He doesn't deserve any sympathy or pity. Times like these the kindness he had found in Lunatia becomes all for nothing.]
To be absolutely honest, I don't know.
[The goddess probably had some kind of intention behind bringing him here, but at the same time, he's just... absolutely clueless to what it could even be.]
[Not unlike him, in a way. Ripped from Shinra's expected influence, from his role as a SOLDIER, it's almost impossible to know what to do with the odd sense of freedom. The openness of agency, vast and wide as an ocean; what direction does one take?
Not that Sephiroth would seek solidarity in this feeling with Genesis. Not now, not any longer.]
I should make one thing clear, then. Whatever your new motivations might be in this world, however you choose to adapt, it doesn't change a thing between us.
[He has no context for that particular line; there's heat and a sting behind phrasing like that, and Genesis has not yet given him reason to utter that rhetoric, nor does he have any remembrance of it.]
[Genesis is a bit surprised. When he had last encountered him in Nibelheim, considering the way they interacted, he felt so sure that he had wanted him to rot for so long.]
... the last I saw of you, you told me exactly that.
[His voice was softer, just the touch bit more vulnerable.]
[The pause is a lengthy one, but Sephiroth uses them liberally and to his advantage, as always.]
...Words you must have deserved if you earned that kind of ire from me.
[Suddenly this all seems like pointless banter. Dancing around their once-friendship as if it can be a thing salvaged after what's happened.]
I do not remember saying that... but it doesn't surprise me to hear it. But after all that's happened, do you honestly think things will ever return to the way they were?
[ Those words just now hurt as much as when he was told to rot. It's awful. Genesis shakes his head. Seems like it's all just a lost cause. Like everything he is really is. Whatever friendship they had...
... it was that fragile, wasn't it? And it was all Genesis' fault, anyway. ]
[ Genesis isn't even sure what he would do if their paths even do cross. Is this going to be some kind of special hell for him now? To live with the weight of what he had done on his shoulders, with a constant reminder hovering around him?
There is only silence for a while on the other line.
Uncertain of what to even say to that, to everything said earlier, to something that appears impossible to repair, Genesis just drops the call. ]
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no subject
And yet he cannot help but think back to the others from their planet, their hesitations upon meeting Sephiroth. How some of them looked at him, with fire or shock in their eyes, when he made his presence known. As if they knew something that he did not; as if time gave them an advantage, whereas he was left in the dark.
They are vague pieces that can slot into each other, to form a bigger picture, should he allow them. Should he allow them?]
Even if I believed you, what is that I hear in your voice now, Genesis? Don't tell me that's regret.
no subject
[Genesis so nearly let "old friend" slip from his lips, but he knew better. There was a bridge he broke when he let the degradation and the desperation for a cure take over him. A bridge that had once connected him to both Angeal and Sephiroth.
But Angeal had been lost, and Sephiroth an enemy to him for all the destruction he had caused.
Three friends, torn apart by war. He feels the urge to recite from LOVELESS, recalling a verse from Act II, but he decides against saying it.]
no subject
[And yet, the irony is that despite all of the questions, Sephiroth would distrust or deny any answer that came. What once was their friendship is now tainted with betrayal, and it colors every interaction, every word, of the former SOLDIER's.
Even if some of these apparent new revelation will stick in his mind like nails punched through it.]
Let me be the one to be straightforward, then. What do you plan on doing now that you're here?
no subject
He doesn't deserve any sympathy or pity. Times like these the kindness he had found in Lunatia becomes all for nothing.]
To be absolutely honest, I don't know.
[The goddess probably had some kind of intention behind bringing him here, but at the same time, he's just... absolutely clueless to what it could even be.]
no subject
Not that Sephiroth would seek solidarity in this feeling with Genesis. Not now, not any longer.]
I should make one thing clear, then. Whatever your new motivations might be in this world, however you choose to adapt, it doesn't change a thing between us.
no subject
That you'd like me to go rot? Is that it?
no subject
[He has no context for that particular line; there's heat and a sting behind phrasing like that, and Genesis has not yet given him reason to utter that rhetoric, nor does he have any remembrance of it.]
sorry for the wait! Busy week.
[Genesis is a bit surprised. When he had last encountered him in Nibelheim, considering the way they interacted, he felt so sure that he had wanted him to rot for so long.]
... the last I saw of you, you told me exactly that.
[His voice was softer, just the touch bit more vulnerable.]
no worries! i am obviously in the same boat lol
...Words you must have deserved if you earned that kind of ire from me.
[Suddenly this all seems like pointless banter. Dancing around their once-friendship as if it can be a thing salvaged after what's happened.]
I do not remember saying that... but it doesn't surprise me to hear it. But after all that's happened, do you honestly think things will ever return to the way they were?
no subject
... it was that fragile, wasn't it? And it was all Genesis' fault, anyway. ]
No. I suppose they won't.
[ A pause. ]
I suppose this is farewell.
no subject
[And perhaps this has set the tone for what is to be expected in the future.]
You're not the only one here from Gaia. And yet you all weave incomplete tales; I'm sure you'll know what I'm talking about when you run into them.
no subject
[ Genesis isn't even sure what he would do if their paths even do cross. Is this going to be some kind of special hell for him now? To live with the weight of what he had done on his shoulders, with a constant reminder hovering around him?
There is only silence for a while on the other line.
Uncertain of what to even say to that, to everything said earlier, to something that appears impossible to repair, Genesis just drops the call. ]