A Tale of Two SOLDIERs

By:

Mystwalker

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII.

A/N: Because finals are upon me and I needed something random to get a break. Readers of my story Final Fantasy VII: Another Side might notice that this has to do with that vague line by Sephiroth in Chapter 18. Yes, this is that story. It's the Wutai War, and Sephiroth, Angeal, and Genesis are 19, and at this point they're all still wearing standard SOLDIER uniforms. Sephiroth, as I'm imagining him, has his hair not fully grown out yet, so just a little past his shoulders.

Note: This is a two-shot. Second part will be posted sometime this week, either before or after Another Side's update.

XxXxX

Sephiroth looked up from his book as the tent flap swung open. He had been sitting on his cot, his back resting against the harder surface of the work desk behind him. Angeal was on duty for the night, and Gaia only knew where Genesis had gone off to, so Sephiroth had decided to take the rare peace and quiet and read. There wasn't likely to be an attack that night, considering their forces were still awaiting reinforcements, before taking on the Wutaian fort they were now stationed outside.

Genesis had tried to convince headquarters that they were strong enough to take the fort with the resources they had at hand, but they had been in several major skirmishes over the past few months, and given the fort's location and fortifications, the company had insisted on a siege strategy until reinforcements arrived from elsewhere on the front or until the fort surrendered, whichever came first. For the most part, although the fort itself was relatively well-defended, they didn't have much in the way of offensive capabilities, and Shinra had their supply routes. Conflicts between both sides had been few and far between lately, the two settling into an uneasy stand-off.

It was...admittedly, very boring. But orders were orders.

Angeal stepped through the open tent flap, a heavy box balanced on his shoulder. The young SOLDIER First Class set the box down on the ground with a thump, the sound of glass clinking echoing throughout the command tent. Sephiroth frowned at the stern look on Angeal's face, his eyes drifting towards the auburn-haired SOLDIER that entered the tent after him. Genesis caught his eye, rolling his eyes exasperatedly and gesturing at Angeal as if that would explain everything.

At least it told him that whatever happened wasn't completely serious. If it was, Genesis would probably have been the first one in the fight. But the look on Angeal's face was telling. He had been around the other two Firsts long enough by now to tell that it had probably been a disciplinary issue. Something with the men.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Angeal's being a killjoy," drawled Genesis, folding his arms.

Angeal shot him a glare. Sephiroth sighed inwardly, sitting up a little straighter in case he suddenly needed to get between them. Angeal and Genesis were great friends, but their interactions had been rife with tension lately. Genesis was chafing at the bit to attack, and Angeal, unsurprisingly, was the defensive strategy's biggest proponent. The two had almost come to blows on several occasions, which made sharing the command tent...eventful, to say the least. Sephiroth, who was still unused to sharing command with anyone, let alone these two Firsts from Banora, wasn't sure how he felt about his new role as mediator.

Thankfully, Angeal didn't rise to the bait, turning towards Sephiroth instead. "I caught some of our Thirds drunk on duty," he said. "I sent them to the brig for the night until we can figure out what to do with them." He nudged the box with his boot. "I also found their stash. Apparently they'd been importing it from one of the villages."

"Oh, come on, Angeal, it's not such a big deal," said Genesis, stepping forward. "It's not like they were doing anything important."

Angeal turned, shooting Genesis a look of disbelief. "We're in a war zone, Genesis!" he said. "And they're SOLDIERs. Proper conduct is always important. The infantry look up to us. We have to maintain—."

"Yes, yes, honor and all that," said Genesis, waving his hand dismissively. "They're bored. They wouldn't be bored if we would just stop sitting here and take the fort already. We came out here to fight, not walk in circles everyday for two weeks getting eaten alive by these Goddess-cursed insects."

"Be that as it may, we can't excuse misconduct like this," said Angeal, in a tone that said that the conversation was over. He turned towards Sephiroth. "I have to get back out there. Can you keep an eye on this until I figure out what to do with it?"

"Of course," said Sephiroth, nodding once.

"Alright," said Angeal. "I'll see you in a few hours."

"Mm," said Sephiroth, lifting his book again. Genesis lowered his eyes to the ground, kicking at it with his boot.

"Yeah, see you," he said.

Angeal gave Genesis another annoyed look, turning around and walking out of the tent. Genesis waited until the sound of his footsteps faded away, before letting out an exasperated sigh, collapsing backwards onto his cot. Sephiroth spared him a quick glance before pointedly ignoring him, turning his eyes back towards his page. It was always best to let Genesis let out some steam before attempting to have a civil conversation with him.

"I can't believe Angeal sometimes," said Genesis.

"He takes his duty seriously," said Sephiroth neutrally, keeping his eyes on the page.

"Too seriously," said Genesis, "He didn't used to be this stuffy."

Sephiroth frowned, looking over the top of his book at Genesis. "This isn't about the intoxicated SOLDIERs, is it?" he asked.

"No, you know what, it's not," said Genesis suddenly, sitting up. "You can't possibly be happy with this either. We're SOLDIER Firsts, and we're babysitting a fort we both know we can take for no good reason."

Sephiroth flipped the page. "Orders."

"You're just as bad as Angeal," said Genesis, getting up. "Come on. You can't tell me that if we didn't have orders, you wouldn't be the first one out there breaking down that door." He pointed in the vague direction of the fort.

Sephiroth shot him a look. "Of course I would be," he admitted. He turned his eyes back to his book. "But orders are orders."

Genesis sighed, running a hand through his hair. He glanced at Sephiroth out of the corner of his eye, a small frown on his face as Sephiroth turned another page. "What are you reading, anyway?" he asked. In response, Sephiroth marked his place with his thumb, turning the book so that Genesis could see the title. Genesis stared at him in disbelief. "Military strategy?" he asked. "Gaia, do you even have a life?"

Sephiroth shrugged. He had never really found a reason to read many other books, but he wasn't going to tell Genesis that. "I have nothing else to read," he said.

"Wait there," said Genesis, turning on heel and walking over to his own trunk of belongings. He rummaged around inside it for a moment, his back turned towards Sephiroth. Curious in spite of himself, Sephiroth set the book aside onto the desk, leaning forward and resting his arm across his knee. Genesis promptly returned, carrying a leather-bound novel. "Here," he said, handing it towards Sephiroth.

Sephiroth stared at it suspiciously, reaching up a hand and taking it. "Tell me this isn't LOVELESS," he said.

"It's not," said Genesis, letting go of the book and turning around. "I do read other things too, you know. That's a classic. It's about a war, so it shouldn't be too much of a change for you. There's a goddamned siege scene in there too." He kicked at the crate in the center of the tent, removing the lid with his boot. Sephiroth arched an eyebrow as he reached down, picking up one of the glass bottles. It was filled with clear liquid.

"You really shouldn't be doing that," he said as Genesis turned around, sitting down on his cot.

"And who's going to stop me?" asked Genesis. He snorted. "You?" He reached up and grabbed the lid, twisting it off and tossing it onto the ground. "Besides, I can hold my liquor." A smirk appeared on his face. "Probably better than you can."

"Was that supposed to be a challenge?" asked Sephiroth.

"Only if you want it to be," said Genesis, gesturing magnanimously at the open crate. He raised the bottle to his lips, taking a long swig. His face wrinkled up. "Gaia, that's foul." He pulled the bottle away, examining the front of it, before shrugging and taking another swig.

Sephiroth looked away, turning to the novel in his hand. "I'll pass," he said, opening it to the first page.

"Chicken," taunted Genesis.

"I am not going to get drawn into this," said Sephiroth.

"Wark, wark wark!"

"Genesis, that's a chocobo."

"Oh come on," said Genesis, taking another drink. "Live a little! What do you have to lose anyway? It's not like they're ever going to demote you."

"It wouldn't be right."

"You're not on duty," said Genesis. "What do you care? Come on. One drink, and I'll shut up."

Sephiroth frowned, lowering the book in his hands and glancing over at Genesis. He had to admit, the stress of the past few weeks was starting to wear on him. And he was a SOLDIER First Class, infused with mako energy. He knew for a fact that he wasn't going to get drunk after one drink—let alone become completely impaired.

He sighed, setting the book aside as well and swinging his legs over the side of his cot. Sephiroth reluctantly walked over to the crate, glancing down at the assortment of identical bottles. "One drink," he said, looking up at Genesis. "And then we throw out the bottles and close the crate up before Angeal gets back."

"Sounds good to me," said Genesis, raising the bottle to his lips and taking another sip.

Sephiroth frowned, reaching into the crate and picking up one of the bottles.

Suddenly, he had a really bad feeling about this.

XxXxX

If Sephiroth learned anything about alcohol that night, it was that drinks multiplied exponentially. One drink turned into two, which turned into four, which turned into eight, which turned into...well, by that point he wasn't particularly concerned about the statistics.

Two hours later, he found himself sitting on the ground across from Genesis, laughing about—oh Gaia, he couldn't even remember—with several glass bottles scattered on the tent around them. Genesis was grinning from ear to ear, sitting cross-legged as he took another drink, nearly spilling half the bottle onto himself in the process.

"And then Angeal jumps straight out of the tree, and I swear, I've never seen him run that fast before—and that old lady was chasing him—with her cane...and that dog..."

Sephiroth laughed. He couldn't help it. For some incomprehensible reason, the image of a teenage Angeal running away from an old lady with a cane and a toy poodle was unreasonably funny. A small voice at the back of his mind told him that he had probably had too much to drink, but he quickly silenced it by reaching out for another bottle, unscrewing the top with much more difficulty than he might have otherwise had and taking a long drink.

"You know what," said Genesis, his speech slurred as he leaned over and patted Sephiroth on the shoulder. He leaned a little too far forward, nearly falling into him. "You're not so bad, Seph."

"You're drunk," said Sephiroth, reaching up with both hands and attempting to shove Genesis off, although oddly enough he could feel himself grinning.

"Naw, you're the one that's drunk," said Genesis, pointing vaguely in Sephiroth's direction. He laughed. "You're blurrrryyyy..."

He couldn't argue with that logic. "It's your fault I'm drunk," said Sephiroth, succeeding this time in pushing Genesis away. He turned over, landing on his back on the ground and staring up at the tent ceiling. "I said one drink..."

"I didn't make you drink more," mumbled Genesis, closing his eyes. He looked like he was about to go to sleep. Suddenly, that sounded like a good idea. Sephiroth lay back as well, staring up at the ceiling. Well, that was interesting. Did the ground always move like this? It was probably an earthquake. He should probably go find Angeal to alert the men. Yes, that sounded like something he was supposed to do. After a quick nap. Maybe the earthquake would get tired and go away. He closed his eyes.

Unfortunately, it happened to be at the same time that Genesis opened his. "You know what, I've been thinking—."

"I'm sleeping," said Sephiroth.

"Well, sleep later," said Genesis, sitting up. "Listen now." Sephiroth cracked open an eye, glaring at him. It was hard, because there seemed to be more than one of him. That was new. He wondered where Genesis had learned that trick.

"What?" he asked.

"We can take that freaking fort," said Genesis, grinning madly at Sephiroth. "Who needs the men? You and me! Right now! Screw Angeal."

Sephiroth frowned, sitting up. "We can't take the fort," he said.

"Why not?" asked Genesis. "C'mon, think about it! We're strong enough—we're The Hero of Wutai and...you too, I guess."

Sephiroth stared. That wasn't a good idea. He knew somehow that that wasn't a good idea, but he was having a hard time trying to figure out why. He was strong enough to take the fort, wasn't he? And if Genesis was going to help...

But no...there were orders or something, right?

Genesis tilted his head, a cocky grin appearing on his face.

"Bet'cha I can take it first," said Genesis.

"You can't take a fort first," said Sephiroth. "You either take it or you don't."

"Well I'll get their stupid flag first," said Genesis. "And if I don't, then...I dunno, I'll do...something."

"No LOVELESS for a month," supplied Sephiroth.

"Deal!" said Genesis. "And if I get it first...um...next time we get leave and return to Midgar...you...change your uniform."

"That's it?"

Genesis grinned. "And I get to pick the new one. And you have to wear it for at least a month. No takebacks."

"Why uniforms?" asked Sephiroth, frowning.

"Because I want to change my uniform," said Genesis, tugging on his SOLDIER First Class outfit. "It's so...boring. But I don't want to be the only one." He leaned forward, holding out his hand. "So, what do you say?" asked Genesis. "Do we have a deal?"

He considered it for a moment. He was really having a hard time finding a downside to this. He reached over, clasping Genesis's hand. "Fine, deal."

Genesis grinned.

XxXxX

Elsewhere in the Shinra camp, Angeal looked up from his patrols as a chain of small explosions appeared across the side of the Wutaian fort. He reached over and placed one hand on the Buster Sword's hilt, looking around in alarm as the camp scrambled into activity. The men around him stared at the fort, immediately turning to him for orders. Angeal opened his mouth, about to issue them, when he saw a breathless Second Class running up to him, his helmet slightly askew on his head.

The Second Class SOLDIER reached him just as another large explosion occurred, drowning out his voice so that no one could hear him but Angeal.

Angeal's eyes widened, his hands clenching into fists.

"THEY DID WHAAAAATTTTTT?"