Life Finds a Way

Chapter 7

Genesis was at a loss for words, and that didn't happen often. The girl that was now in the floor in front of him and the other firsts was still an enigma, but he now doubted she was a threat. When she finally looked back at them it was obvious that she wasn't seeing them. He had no idea what she was seeing but it wasn't the three Soldiers. Seeing her tears also bothered him, she looked almost broken. This woman had found a way to push almost all his buttons without trying it seemed, but despite that she had impressed him. Even if she had not thought them the superhuman threat they were, there was still the fact that she stood up to three men that were all nearly twice her size with no show of fear. He wasn't sure if she was brave or stupid.

After her display in the break room he had expected her to fold when they brought her here. He used his office because he wanted to make sure it was secure when she finally did. Seeing her collapse was unexpected. There were several moments of silence after her admission, when she realized she was actually in Midgar. None of the men knew what the next step should be as they all concluded there was very little possibility she was acting at this point. She would have had to be better than even Veld or Tseng and that was nearly impossible.

Finally, Genesis moved to help her stand. Once she was on her feet she looked at him, but her gaze was still distant. It was easy to see that she was suffering from mild shock. He couldn't figure out why the sight of the city had caused it, but it was evident she truly had not been expecting it.

He had let her go to give her some room when her gaze finally focused on his face. Her eyes widened, and she stumbled backwards. For the first time he saw fear in her eyes as she looked at him. "Oh dear god! If I'm in Midgar that means you really are Genesis!" In her rush to get away she nearly fell, causing Genesis to reach out to try and catch her. She flinched away and managed to trip over one of the legs of the office chair, her eyes went even wider and her arms flailed when she fell over backwards. Genesis tried to catch her before she fell but didn't make it before her head hit the edge of the desk with a cracking noise. He managed to catch her before she fell to the floor, but she was already out cold.

He gathered her up in his arms and turned to the other two firsts, a contemplative look on his face. "That did not go the way I expected it to."

"No, but this does make me think there is much more to her presence here than we thought. I will agree that it looks like she truly did not know anything about how she got here but that begs the question of who placed her in the building and why in your bed." Sephiroth had a slight scowl when he looked over to Genesis. His gaze hard on the girl in his arms, trying to figure out what secrets she was hiding. "My previous orders still stand. At this point I believe we will have to get the Turks involved. You will keep her under observation until further notice and I will ask Veld to look into how she might have arrived."

Angeal gave Sephiroth a troubled look. "You do realize that if you get the Turks involved there is no way the Science Department won't hear about her. If Hojo or Hollander find out there is a female that has that much mako in her system, they will want to examine her."

Sephiroth was silent a moment. He put up with Hojo's poking and prodding, but he had grown up with it. He wasn't thrilled about the idea of exposing her to the scientist when she was most likely not a threat, but he still needed the Turks. "I am aware that is a possibility. We don't have a choice but to ask for their help though. It may be best for her to be examined by one of them anyway. Since she is a civilian we can limit how much time they spend with her but there are too many unanswered questions."

Genesis gave Sephiroth a glare as he made the decision but didn't counter him. He knew it was the logical choice. "If I'm going to be assigned to watch her then I will go with her to the labs."

Angeal looked over with a raised brow but didn't say anything. When Genesis caught the look, he scowled back. "There may still be many mysteries surrounding her, but it is obvious she was used in some way. Think about what it took to get her to the state she's now in. The last thing we need is for her to have some sort of panic attack when she's exposed to that environment again. We would never get answers at that rate."

Angeal held both hands up in a conciliatory gesture. "Okay, okay, I'll give you that much. I'm just surprised you volunteered."

"I was assigned to watch over her. It shouldn't be that surprising." He huffed at his friend's assessment. He hated paperwork but everything else he did superbly. "For now, we need to get her back to the infirmary. I'm sure a knock like that wouldn't have done much damage but she'll still need to be looked at." Sephiroth gave him a nod in agreement before walking out of the office. Both he and Angeal turned to go back to the duties they had been interrupted from while Genesis headed back to the infirmary.

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Clarissa sat up in nearly complete darkness. When she remembered where she had been she reached back to touch her head and winced slightly at the knot she found. After rubbing it for a moment she had a brief moment of panic, wondering if it was dark because she was blinded. She brought her hand back in front of her eyes and was pleased to find she could see it just fine. She also noted that it was getting brighter. She stood and looked around to find glowing green wisps surrounding her to the point the area was so bright she had to shield her eyes.

Her curiosity was interrupted by a woman's melodic voice. "Welcome Clarissa."

At those words Clarissa tried to see passed the brightness. She could see the outline of a person, but the light was too bright to see anything else. "What's going on here?"

"I must apologize. I tried to give you warning once already but it seems your body was still under too much stress. We don't have much time now, so you must listen."

As Clarissa looked around again she realized where she was. She wasn't entirely convinced this wasn't a dream, but she had more of an open mind about it than she would have before seeing a mako reactor in person. "Minerva? Am I... am I in the lifestream?"

"Yes child. Now listen, I can't keep you here for long. You must prevent the Champions from falling." The brightness was finally starting to fade, and Clarissa got her first glimpse of the Goddess in her magnificent armor.

"Are you telling me I have to save the three Firsts?"

"Yes, keeping them from failing will save many more, and the planet. We are out of chances, so you cannot fail."

Clarissa was almost dumbstruck but managed to find her voice. "How am I supposed to do that? Why me anyway? How did I get here?" Once she started talking her questions all poured out and she couldn't stop them.

"We are out of time for now, you are already fading. I will lend you aid when I can but remember you cannot afford to fail!"

Clarissa noticed the goddess was correct. The bright green of the lifestream was fading. She blinked a few times as the darkness returned along with a strange pull. She felt like she was being pulled into unconsciousness.

edit 11/7/19