Twin Beds

When Cloud entered the bedroom, Tifa was already in her bed, breathing softly. He lay down in the bed beside hers and shortly was asleep.

It was another twenty minutes before he was dreaming, twisting and murmuring. Tifa opened her eyes and stood beside him.

“Aeris… too far…” he whispered, his voice strained.

Tifa hesitated, but waited less than she had last time. “It’s okay, Cloud,” she said softly, pitching her voice higher.

He relaxed as she slipped an arm around him, and soon she was in the bed beside him.

“Love you, Aeris,” he murmured.

“Love you too, Cloud.”

Generic Mistletoe Fic

“Headmaster!”

“Stop calling me that.” Zell pushed past Squall into the headmaster’s office. Zell dropped a box on his desk, knocking over documents. “Solstice is coming up.”

“Is that my present?” Squall asked, his voice dry.

“Not even close. Decorations. Selphie insisted.”

“Whatever.” Squall ignored him as he worked, refusing to acknowledge the box long enough to move it.

“That’s sufficiently jolly,” Zell finally declared. “Oh! I almost forgot.”

“Forgot what?” Squall asked, regretting it.

Zell pointed up, where mistletoe dangled.

“No.”

“Rinoa’s request,” Zell held up his hands innocently. “But as long as I’m the one who caught you…”

Traces

It seemed too good to be true when the fliers went up underplate: free homes out in the country. He rushed to the cramped apartment he shared with his girlfriend. Too good or not, they had to try.

It was everything Shinra promised and more. They settled in, talked about raising a family.

Then he woke up just before dawn to the smell of fire. He shook her awake and they searched the house, then went outside. Their neighbors were wandering outside too, looking, wondering, but they didn’t see anything burning.

And the wind carried laughter…

Fading

Don’t think about it, Kain told himself. He tried to enjoy Rydia’s attention. She was beautiful, smart, and watching her drive Edge insane always brightened his day.

And yet…

Every time she got close, or smiled with grown-up eyes, he saw her as a crying, mourning child again. Maybe she’d had years in the Land of Summons to let the fire go out, but Kain hadn’t.

When she touched him, he heard Golbez laughing. Maybe, he hoped, if he went along with her, it would fade. He let her hug him, kiss him, and waited for the crying to fade.

This drabble first appeared in Phoenix Down Monthly.

Sibling, Rivalry

Ellone watched the moon over the Garden and wondered how to get her brother back.

She’d watched, worrying over him during her years in hiding, and been crushed when Ultimecia overtook Matron Edea. When she finally found her brother, another sorceress was there.

She knew him better than Rinoa could. She’d spent years with him in the orphanage, when he cried and held her hand tightly. She’d been inside his head, after all.

An idea: fight a sorceress with magic. Show Squall something, make him love her. Her mind unfolded.

Oh yes, Ellone loved her brother. And he’d love her.

This drabble first appeared in Phoenix Down Monthly.

Fairy Tale

I was sweeping dirt and pine needles off the walk when the stranger opened the gate and stepped inside with a flourish.

“Don’t worry, young man, I’ve come for the Sorceress. You’ll be free soon.”

I just stared at him for a minute. “What?”

Letters: Much Too Young

“Don’t be such an old man!”

“Yuffie, I am an old man.”

She wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out at me. “You don’t look it. I don’t know why you have to act it.”

Midlife Crisis 3

Tifa met me at the door to Seventh Heaven. “That explosion. That was you, wasn’t it?”

Letters: Unspoken

Neither one of them spoke, as if asking would jinx it. Words and sentences would mean thinking about what was happening. Better to just go with it.

Cloud’s hands were in Vincent’s hair, tightly tangled, but the taller man didn’t care. His attention was on Cloud’s lips and neck, how smooth the skin was.

This wasn’t about beds or clothes, it was too insistent for that. Both stayed quiet aside from the occasional moan, worried about what name might slip.

They dozed afterward, before Vincent startled awake and Cloud was jarred to consciousness. They looked at each other.

“Now what?”

Vacation

“Next time I take a vacation, I’m going alone,” Hojo grumbled. He was sitting on the narrow bench in the Gold Saucer holding cell and considering the logistics of releasing an airborne mutagen to make them all suffer.

“You’d have to quit before they let you, old man.” Reno laughed, sitting on the floor.

“That’s sounding better by the minute.”

The Turk snorted. “Tseng’ll be here soon, yo. Don’t freak out.”

“Freak out? I’m not the one who started the fight.”

“Fucker deserved it.”

“Who deserved what?” Tseng spoke quietly, “And why are you in jail?”

“Funny story, that…”

for Drakon