Holiday Ficlets
Dec. 26th, 2009 08:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bofoddityFiclets for the request post!
Title: Alliance
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Characters: Zack & Tifa
Rating: G
Words: 441
Summary: A group of SOLDIERS visit Nibelheim, and one of them talks to Tifa. Slight AU.
A/N: Written for![[profile]](https://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
windrider1.
When a group of SOLDIERs visit Nibelheim, one of them comes to Tifa. The SOLDIER isn't Cloud, but he turns out to be almost as good.
"Cloud and I are pals," Zack Fair says, and smiles to her in a way that probably gives grandmothers urges to pinch his cheeks. Both pairs. "He's on another mission right now, but he's been thinking about you. He's sorry he didn't make it."
Tifa nods as if she understands, and waits long enough that Zack's relief shows on the outside. Then she asks:
"If he misses me so much, then why doesn't he ever answer my letters?"
Zack's face falls, and Tifa can see how he starts searching for excuses. She looks away from him and bites her lip. "Does he not like me?"
"Not at all!" Zack shouts, and pauses when he realizes his objection sounds more like a confirmation. Tifa can't help but find that a little funny, and she looks up at him just in time for his explanation: "He just didn't become a SOLDIER as fast as he wanted to. He thinks you're going to eat him for that or something."
Tifa snorts with laughter. "He thinks I'm going to eat him?"
"Yeah." Zack glances down at Tifa's hands. "Or maybe it was 'eat' with a 'b'. I heard you do martial arts."
"Not when he was here," Tifa points out, and feels disappointed. It doesn't sound like Cloud thinks much of her. She should try to do something about it. "What do you think he would do if I visited him?"
"Run away." Zack's tone doesn't even leave any room for second-guessing. Tifa hesitates before charging on with her next suggestion: "Do you think you could soften him up?"
Zack frowns in thought, which Tifa takes as a positive sign. Her hope is rewarded when Zack says: "People say I can talk them into doing stuff. I think it's possible."
"Then could you?" Tifa smiles to him, and hopes it's a smile that makes boys say 'how high?' when she asks them to jump. When Zack looks like Tifa may be able to make him bounce all the way to the sky, she feels victorious, and adds: "I'll write to you."
"I have a girlfriend," Zack whispers, suddenly breathless.
Tifa raises her eyebrow, watching Zack's cheeks go red. She lets him off the hook fast this time: "I'll write to you as a female friend." She offers him her hand. "That sound good?"
"It sure does," Zack says, and grins wide as he takes her hand.
It's not the stuff of legends, but that's how they become friends.
Title: Once A Thief
Fandom: Final Fantasy IX
Pairing: Zidane/Dagger
Rating: G
Words: 383
Summary: Zidane has hard time letting old habits go.
A/N: Written forblauerschnee.
It's not easy to be a thief, and it's not easy to be a thief who has mouths to feed. Zidane learned that well as a child when Baku didn't always succeed in bringing enough food home, sometime failing to eat himself, sometime failing to feed any of them. Acting for real didn't always help either, so hunger is a familiar feeling to Zidane, and the one he always takes as a sign that things aren't as well as they should be. Even after hunger stopped being the norm. Even after it stopped being a threat altogether.
"If you want something to eat, just ask the servants," Dagger advices him gently after discovering the bread he has smuggled into their bed chambers from the dining room, and Zidane responds with an awkward smile. He doesn't think being the prince consort of Alexandria will ever stop being weird for him.
For a while, that really seems to be the case. He joins Dagger in her royal duties and keeps his eye instinctively out for things to slip into his pockets and other available places, and every once in a while a temptation slips through. He keeps bringing food to their bed chambers and picks the locks of the palace doors whenever he's bored. He keeps waiting for Dagger to notice, and is embarrassed when he finds out she's known all along.
"You must regret marrying me," he says upon the revelation, and lowers his head. He doesn't blame her for thinking so, but it feels bad nevertheless.
He hears her laugh, and jumps at the touch of her hands when she cups his face and tilts it up.
"Do you know what I did when I thought you were dead?" she asks him.
Had lots of lovers, Zidane wants to say, but he knows that it isn't true. Though he wouldn't have minded a bit; the idea of Dagger being lonely for the rest of life makes him sadder than any poets could describe. He shakes his head.
"I never wore my royal wardrobe or my crown. I carried my staff everywhere I went and kept preparing for Eidolon attacks. I thought about war all the time." The mirth on her face fades with every word, and Zidane reaches up to stroke her arms. Dagger smiles at that and continues: "Steiner and Beatrix weren't happy about it, but they didn't stop me either. Do you know why?"
"Because you'd get over it?" Zidane says, and nods as he gets it. He's puzzled when Dagger shakes her head.
"Because it was necessary for me." Dagger's thumbs brush along his cheeks in gentle strokes before settling on the bones, near his temples. "Because it gave me peace of mind and because they loved me. Do you understand?"
This time he does. He grins to her as he reaches out for her waist, pulling her near.
"So you love me? Thanks, a reminder is really handy."
She frowns at him. "What is that-?" she starts, but melts into a smile in the middle of the sentence, sliding her hands down to his neck as she pulls him closer. "Yes, I love you," she says, and pecks him lightly on the mouth. "I want you to be happy."
"I am happy," he replies, and turns the peck into a deeper kiss.
He keeps hoarding food for one month more before the need finally leaves, and he doesn't miss it at all.
Title: Independence Day
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Character: Sephiroth
Rating: PG
Words: 372
Summary: Sephiroth finds a meaning for his life.
A/N: Written formerfilly.
For Sephiroth, joining SOLDIER is a chance to be more.
Before that he is an unwanted child in Hojo's care, spending most of his time with various tutors and assistants or on his own. The tutors and the assistants are mostly decent, but none of them are ever warm. Unless there's a check-up or an experiment Sephiroth needs to go through, Hojo pretends he doesn't exist at all.
"What do you want?" is his usual greeting if Sephiroth happens to visit his labs, and often Sephiroth does that just to irritate the old man. He's starting to accept that dull routine as the only interesting thing in his life when President Shinra comes to his rescue.
"You'll always have a home at Shinra Inc.," the President finishes his marketing speech of the SOLDIER program, smiling to him as warmly as an unfeeling man can. Sephiroth doesn't buy either that or his words, but he takes his chance.
Career as a SOLDIER comes with a leash of its own, but Sephiroth prefers it to the one that ties him to Hojo. The new leash lets him move around the world, though only so that he can kill; he doesn't care enough to mind. He gets to experience the brotherhood that is born in war and for a while that's good enough. In a war it doesn't matter that he doesn't look or act like the others, and others keeping their distance to him is only acceptable. He's a hero and an idol, revered but never approached. Everybody else is small but him.
For a while, that's good enough. Then it isn't.
Sephiroth has no idea why before Nibelheim.
Before Nibelheim, Jenova is yet another why in his life, despite being the only one with a clear answer; she is his mother and she is dead. She left him to Hojo and made him for Shinra and he should hate her for that, but he doesn't feel anything. Jenova has no importance and no meaning, just like the rest of his life, and the only thing that makes Jenova different is that he can't even bother to be disappointed about her.
Before Nibelheim, Jenova is just a name.
Now, she's everything.
In Nibelheim, the leashes burn, and all his questions why finally have an answer.
Title: Alliance
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Characters: Zack & Tifa
Rating: G
Words: 441
Summary: A group of SOLDIERS visit Nibelheim, and one of them talks to Tifa. Slight AU.
A/N: Written for
windrider1.When a group of SOLDIERs visit Nibelheim, one of them comes to Tifa. The SOLDIER isn't Cloud, but he turns out to be almost as good.
"Cloud and I are pals," Zack Fair says, and smiles to her in a way that probably gives grandmothers urges to pinch his cheeks. Both pairs. "He's on another mission right now, but he's been thinking about you. He's sorry he didn't make it."
Tifa nods as if she understands, and waits long enough that Zack's relief shows on the outside. Then she asks:
"If he misses me so much, then why doesn't he ever answer my letters?"
Zack's face falls, and Tifa can see how he starts searching for excuses. She looks away from him and bites her lip. "Does he not like me?"
"Not at all!" Zack shouts, and pauses when he realizes his objection sounds more like a confirmation. Tifa can't help but find that a little funny, and she looks up at him just in time for his explanation: "He just didn't become a SOLDIER as fast as he wanted to. He thinks you're going to eat him for that or something."
Tifa snorts with laughter. "He thinks I'm going to eat him?"
"Yeah." Zack glances down at Tifa's hands. "Or maybe it was 'eat' with a 'b'. I heard you do martial arts."
"Not when he was here," Tifa points out, and feels disappointed. It doesn't sound like Cloud thinks much of her. She should try to do something about it. "What do you think he would do if I visited him?"
"Run away." Zack's tone doesn't even leave any room for second-guessing. Tifa hesitates before charging on with her next suggestion: "Do you think you could soften him up?"
Zack frowns in thought, which Tifa takes as a positive sign. Her hope is rewarded when Zack says: "People say I can talk them into doing stuff. I think it's possible."
"Then could you?" Tifa smiles to him, and hopes it's a smile that makes boys say 'how high?' when she asks them to jump. When Zack looks like Tifa may be able to make him bounce all the way to the sky, she feels victorious, and adds: "I'll write to you."
"I have a girlfriend," Zack whispers, suddenly breathless.
Tifa raises her eyebrow, watching Zack's cheeks go red. She lets him off the hook fast this time: "I'll write to you as a female friend." She offers him her hand. "That sound good?"
"It sure does," Zack says, and grins wide as he takes her hand.
It's not the stuff of legends, but that's how they become friends.
Title: Once A Thief
Fandom: Final Fantasy IX
Pairing: Zidane/Dagger
Rating: G
Words: 383
Summary: Zidane has hard time letting old habits go.
A/N: Written for
blauerschnee.It's not easy to be a thief, and it's not easy to be a thief who has mouths to feed. Zidane learned that well as a child when Baku didn't always succeed in bringing enough food home, sometime failing to eat himself, sometime failing to feed any of them. Acting for real didn't always help either, so hunger is a familiar feeling to Zidane, and the one he always takes as a sign that things aren't as well as they should be. Even after hunger stopped being the norm. Even after it stopped being a threat altogether.
"If you want something to eat, just ask the servants," Dagger advices him gently after discovering the bread he has smuggled into their bed chambers from the dining room, and Zidane responds with an awkward smile. He doesn't think being the prince consort of Alexandria will ever stop being weird for him.
For a while, that really seems to be the case. He joins Dagger in her royal duties and keeps his eye instinctively out for things to slip into his pockets and other available places, and every once in a while a temptation slips through. He keeps bringing food to their bed chambers and picks the locks of the palace doors whenever he's bored. He keeps waiting for Dagger to notice, and is embarrassed when he finds out she's known all along.
"You must regret marrying me," he says upon the revelation, and lowers his head. He doesn't blame her for thinking so, but it feels bad nevertheless.
He hears her laugh, and jumps at the touch of her hands when she cups his face and tilts it up.
"Do you know what I did when I thought you were dead?" she asks him.
Had lots of lovers, Zidane wants to say, but he knows that it isn't true. Though he wouldn't have minded a bit; the idea of Dagger being lonely for the rest of life makes him sadder than any poets could describe. He shakes his head.
"I never wore my royal wardrobe or my crown. I carried my staff everywhere I went and kept preparing for Eidolon attacks. I thought about war all the time." The mirth on her face fades with every word, and Zidane reaches up to stroke her arms. Dagger smiles at that and continues: "Steiner and Beatrix weren't happy about it, but they didn't stop me either. Do you know why?"
"Because you'd get over it?" Zidane says, and nods as he gets it. He's puzzled when Dagger shakes her head.
"Because it was necessary for me." Dagger's thumbs brush along his cheeks in gentle strokes before settling on the bones, near his temples. "Because it gave me peace of mind and because they loved me. Do you understand?"
This time he does. He grins to her as he reaches out for her waist, pulling her near.
"So you love me? Thanks, a reminder is really handy."
She frowns at him. "What is that-?" she starts, but melts into a smile in the middle of the sentence, sliding her hands down to his neck as she pulls him closer. "Yes, I love you," she says, and pecks him lightly on the mouth. "I want you to be happy."
"I am happy," he replies, and turns the peck into a deeper kiss.
He keeps hoarding food for one month more before the need finally leaves, and he doesn't miss it at all.
Title: Independence Day
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Character: Sephiroth
Rating: PG
Words: 372
Summary: Sephiroth finds a meaning for his life.
A/N: Written for
merfilly.For Sephiroth, joining SOLDIER is a chance to be more.
Before that he is an unwanted child in Hojo's care, spending most of his time with various tutors and assistants or on his own. The tutors and the assistants are mostly decent, but none of them are ever warm. Unless there's a check-up or an experiment Sephiroth needs to go through, Hojo pretends he doesn't exist at all.
"What do you want?" is his usual greeting if Sephiroth happens to visit his labs, and often Sephiroth does that just to irritate the old man. He's starting to accept that dull routine as the only interesting thing in his life when President Shinra comes to his rescue.
"You'll always have a home at Shinra Inc.," the President finishes his marketing speech of the SOLDIER program, smiling to him as warmly as an unfeeling man can. Sephiroth doesn't buy either that or his words, but he takes his chance.
Career as a SOLDIER comes with a leash of its own, but Sephiroth prefers it to the one that ties him to Hojo. The new leash lets him move around the world, though only so that he can kill; he doesn't care enough to mind. He gets to experience the brotherhood that is born in war and for a while that's good enough. In a war it doesn't matter that he doesn't look or act like the others, and others keeping their distance to him is only acceptable. He's a hero and an idol, revered but never approached. Everybody else is small but him.
For a while, that's good enough. Then it isn't.
Sephiroth has no idea why before Nibelheim.
Before Nibelheim, Jenova is yet another why in his life, despite being the only one with a clear answer; she is his mother and she is dead. She left him to Hojo and made him for Shinra and he should hate her for that, but he doesn't feel anything. Jenova has no importance and no meaning, just like the rest of his life, and the only thing that makes Jenova different is that he can't even bother to be disappointed about her.
Before Nibelheim, Jenova is just a name.
Now, she's everything.
In Nibelheim, the leashes burn, and all his questions why finally have an answer.
