Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Voices of the Lifestream ❯ Voices of the Lifestream ( Chapter 1 )

Title: Voices of the Lifestream
Author: GuiltyRed
Rating: NC17
Warnings: brief sex, lots of weird
Word count: 901
Prompt: Final Fantasy VII, SOLDIER: mutation - Mako causing a mutation that isn't tentacles
Summary: Genesis and Angeal discover that not all changes are physical.
A/N: With the prompt specifically vetoing tentacles, I wanted to do something I personally hadn't seen here before. Do let me know if I got away with it.

Genesis sighed and relaxed into the gentle flow of mako, riding it as it filled and shaped him. The world reflected liquid blue in his eyes.

And as always, there were the voices: legions of them, whispers through history, songs out of time. Great and small, young and old, snatches of memory with no more self-awareness than the stars - always the same, and always different.

::Damn I'm tired…::

Genesis frowned slightly, but not so much the scientists noticed. That one had sounded…familiar. He tried to find it again, but the wash of noise and sensation flooded his mind with light.

* * * * *

The next day, as expected, Genesis met with Angeal and Sephiroth to train. They never were allowed to rest long after their mako treatments; Genesis supposed with some bitter humor that the scientists worried they might otherwise rust. Invigorated and yet bone weary, he greeted the others with a vague wave of his hand. “Guess whose turn it was yesterday?”

“Not you too?” Angeal grumbled, leaning heavily against the wall. “Hardcore session yesterday, for me, anyway. Still tired as hell.”

Genesis suppressed a shiver. The voice - he remembered the voice within the mako and its plaintive complaint. That was Angeal's voice! But how?

A black-gloved hand waved in front of his face. “Hello? You with us today or no?” Sephiroth frowned down at the smaller man. “I swear, sometimes I think the scientists just want to know how far we'll bend before we break.”

“No, I'm all right,” Genesis murmured. “Just thinking.”

“Let's get to it, then,” Angeal stated gamely, stepping away from the wall and drawing a practice sword.

Genesis grinned and gave himself over to adrenaline.

* * * * *

Mako-sweat gleamed on skin as Genesis pushed Angeal down to the mattress. All day they had worked to synchronize with the treatment through exercise and swordplay, but the mako still ran hot in their veins, refusing to cool. Eyes blazing, Genesis claimed Angeal's lips with as much a bite as a kiss, fierce and demanding as Angeal gripped him under the ass and lifted him into position.

::I want you so damn much…::

Genesis gasped, then sank down onto Angeal's waiting cock. With Angeal pinned to the bed, Genesis set a punishing pace, riding him with wild abandon. Auburn hair clung to his face, veiled his eyes like summer sunset.

::Goddess, you're beautiful!::

A shiver started at the base of his skull, then raced quickly down his spine. He tried to concentrate on the fucking - the perfect, sweet, frantic fucking - but a corner of his mind couldn't let this pass. Genesis concentrated on the man beneath him and thought, Angeal, did you just call me beautiful?

Angeal gaped up at him. “Geni? What did you just say?”

Genesis smiled and leaned down to kiss him. “Never mind. We'll talk later.” He sat back up slowly, dragging his fingernails down Angeal's broad chest.

* * * * *

::This is crazy!::

::No, it's not.:: Genesis grinned at Angeal and took a sip of coffee. His lips didn't move as he said, ::I heard you, during my mako treatment. You said you were tired. Tell me I imagined it, or this.::

Angeal frowned, logic and reason no longer in agreement. Jumbled thoughts raced each other before one coherent statement came to the fore. ::It's just too weird, Geni.::

::I think it's caused by the mako,:: Genesis mused silently. ::Maybe this is why some people don't make it into SOLDIER, they can't handle the voices.::

::For certain,:: Angeal agreed, ::though…I don't think telepathy is what the scientists were talking about. No one else has ever mentioned such an effect. I'd think they'd tell us.::

::Maybe…the scientists don't know, Angi.:: Genesis met his gaze with concern now. ::If they don't know…::

::…we don't dare tell them.:: As they'd often done aloud, Angeal finished his friend's thought without faltering. ::They can't know this.::

::What about the others? How do we know if this is just between you and me, or if it's everyone?::

Angeal pondered this a moment. ::I think we shall have to be very, very careful…::

* * * * *

As Angeal and Genesis practiced their new talent, they began to notice other familiar voices in the mako. Some were newer recruits, only just getting their first taste of the treatment; of these, a few remained coherent, and Angeal knew that these would continue with the process.

The ones who couldn't hack it, who lost themselves in the wash of voices - for those, Angeal wept.

Genesis began keeping a secret list of possible safe contacts among the voices.

But for all their trying, neither Angeal nor Genesis could hear Sephiroth.

* * * * *

Angeal selected his future trainee from the strength of his mental voice. Zack Fair had a powerful sense of self, the kind that would never be broken; for that, Angeal swore to train him, and when the time was right, to tell him everything.

* * * * *

Sensing his own private space invaded by another bright star, Genesis grew ever more moody and withdrawn.

Into his brooding came a new voice, wise and cold.

::Monster…::

* * * * *

Asleep within the mako reactor, the ancient being that was not an Ancient turned her dreams toward the new hive mind she had discovered. Some were broken, yes, but those could be the greatest allies. A touch, a whisper, a push, and they bent readily to her will.

Though unexpected among the humans, this was a most favorable mutation indeed…