Vagaries of Fate

Late Night

Chapter 7

It hadn't even been a full day yet, and Genesis had to work at keeping a glare off his face. He did let a smirk grace his lips when he noticed several people move quickly to get out of his sight. They had stopped for the night, and camp was already set up. He was trying to walk off his excess irritation before he decided to face his empty cot. He had gotten far too used to having another person in his bed and was looking forward to the cot even less than usual.

His irritation wasn't helped by the fact that Kunsel had already started looking into the first site as it had only been a few hours outside of Midgar. It would have been bad had there been monsters, but it was worse that it was empty. His initial report had been skeptical, but after a thorough sweep, they still had not turned up anything, not even traces of what might have been done there. That fact had everyone on edge, since they had no way of knowing if it had been cleared at some point by Hojo, or if Avalanche had beaten them there. That thought was not a comfort inducing one by any means.

Genesis had left Angeal going over the remaining details with Sephiroth. He knew none of it was new information, so he saw no point in staying and losing his temper at his friends when it really wasn't their fault he was irritated. He wished, not for the first time, that he could bring Hojo back just so he could kill him once more. Both Hojo and Hollander were proving to be more trouble than they were worth.

He had just passed by a group of troops that included one of the Soldiers from his own contingent. He didn't really care what they were so intent on and had planned to keep going and ignore them, but his attention was caught by an all too familiar voice. He wasn't sure why he heard his fiancé's voice coming from the huddled group, but he planned on finding out.

He immediately did an about-face and headed back to where they were gathered. One of the Soldiers caught sight of him before he drew even with them, and hurriedly moved to put something up before they all turned to him with wide eyes. The one that had sighted him first was the first to speak. "C-commander, is there something we can do for you this evening?"

"Why did I hear Lieutenant Commander Williamson's voice just now?" Genesis' voice was even, but his hard tone was clear.

The gathered men looked visibly nervous before the one from his division finally answered. "It was nothing important, sir. Some of the men back at headquarters just shared a video of how her first day went. Her speech to them was supposed to have been pretty awe-inspiring, sir."

Genesis narrowed his eyes at the man. He could tell he was lying but wasn't sure of the reason. Finally, he took a step closer and let his infamous glare loose. The men shifted slightly when he spoke. "I'm not sure what you are hiding, but you will show me now."

None of them moved for a few moments. Genesis took another step forward before the same one that spoke up stood and held something out to him. Genesis gave him one last glare before he took the man's phone. They all stood in awkward silence as he started it over and watched from the beginning. He watched it once more before he carefully handed the phone back. He had almost crushed it but knew it wasn't his troop's fault. He finally managed to speak through gritted teeth. "Why were you hiding this? Was there anything else?"

Several of the men shifted nervously, but the same man stepped forward again. "Commander, I apologize for trying to hide it. I only thought that she handled it well, and I didn't want you to get upset for no reason."

Genesis felt the flames trying to ignite in his palms, but he pushed the feeling down. Even he could understand that the man had been correct in the assumption that he would lose his temper. There had been spotty sound with the video, so he had no idea why she was fighting one of the Soldiers, but it had been apparent that it had been a one-sided fight. That much at least had him smirking. He finally managed to calm enough to speak normally. "That doesn't tell me what happened. Was there anything in addition to the video?"