Final Fantasy VII 100 Word Challenge

Title: Strange Night
Pairing/Characters: Cloud
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Author's Note: A bit more Dia de las Muertas than Halloween, but enh.

Dusk, and two candles burned side by side in the church window. Cloud lit a third and set it in its holder by the others, a silver taper too-tall and awkward beside the black and pink pillars already spilling their light generously over the sill.

Harvest Night was supposed to be the night when ghosts walked the world to visit their loved ones. Cloud was not superstitious, but he knew better than most that hope came in strange forms. He kept his vigil by candlelight, and in their glow imagined that his own loved ones were coming to see him.

Title: Say Yes to the Dress
Pairing/Characters: Cloud, Aeris, Tifa
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Author's Note: Playing around in sekrit!girl!Cloud'verse again, first explored here.

Cloud had known it was a bad idea even before Aeris got that devilish twinkle in her eye, but she'd been focused on rescuing Tifa from Don Corneo. Now, wearing the first (and last, she swore) dress of her life and standing before her childhood friend, Cloud had never more wanted to sink into the floor.

With the truth out, Cloud expected anger, outright rejection. She didn't expect Tifa's slow, appreciative grin. "You look fantastic, Cloud," she purred.

"That's what I told her!" Aeris put in, and the two exchanged grins.

Cloud groaned. "I never should have introduced you two."






Title: Ghost in the Machine
Pairing/Characters: Cloud, Sephiroth
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

Four years after the explosion, the Gongagan air still smelled like scorched metal and mako. Cloud put his head in his hands and breathed in the barren taint of it.

I attacked Aeris. Aeris is gone.

He felt rather than saw the presence of his constant shadow beside him. "It wasn't you," Sephiroth's ghost murmured, casting an insubstantial hand over Cloud's knee. "You know that."

Cloud shuddered. "I'm staying right here. Where I can't hurt anyone else."

"Cloud, no." Sephiroth leaned against him, hair falling like spidersilk over them both. "I feel my not-self near her. She's in terrible danger."

Title: Cloud's Last Order
Pairing/Characters: Sephiroth, Zack, Cloud
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

"Leave," the General ordered, heavy with fatigue. Zack reluctantly turned to leave Sephiroth to his solitude and his endless journals. He was almost out the door before he realized Cloud wasn't with him.

"No sir," the blond was saying- stubborn to the core.

Sephiroth's eyes narrowed dangerously. "That was an order, cadet."

Cloud only flinched a fraction. "I know. I'll accept any punishment you want. Just-" He leaned forward, one hand outstretched, just shy of touching the general's own. "You shouldn't be alone right now," he pleaded.

Without a word, Sephiroth allowed Cloud to take the journal from his hand.





Title: Oread
Pairing/Characters: Vincent, Sephiroth
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

Despite its harshness, Mount Nibel had sheltered them both, taught them lessons they needed. For Vincent, who longed for the safety of a coffin and the solace of his nightmares, he learned that living in the world was a greater penance than withdrawing from it. As for the fey child he'd stolen and raised as his own- what lessons he'd learned from the mountain, Vincent had no way of knowing.

"Father," said Sephiroth, slipping his little hand into Vincent's claw without fear. "It's time to leave the mountain."

Though he feared, Vincent allowed the wild, wise boy to lead him.





Title: On That Day, Five Years Ago
Pairing/Characters: Cloud, Tifa
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

"Tifa," Cloud whispered, gripping the edge of the bed. "You almost died that day. Your memory- is probably messed up. That's why you don't remember me being there."

Tifa shook her head. "I don't know, Cloud. I remember a lot of things clearly." She placed a hand over her hidden scar. "Do you remember- at all- a Soldier named Zack?"

Outside, the Kalm night was breathlessly silent. Cloud rocked back, glowing eyes shut tight. "Zack. Zack? I... know that name. Somehow. -Why can't I remember?"

"Don't force it." Tifa caught his hand. "We'll figure it out together. Little by little."





Title: Guardian Angel
Pairing/Characters: Aeris/Zack
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

Aeris fell into the Ancients' crystal heart- and into a pair of warm arms holding her tight before she could be swept away. "Zack," she breathed.

"Hey." Rough with emotion, the voice of Zack's shade sounded all too real. "Sorry about this."

"You idiot." Aeris watched her tears crystallize and spiral away into the Lifestream. "If I'd known Mom's materia would bring you back, I would have prayed to it before."

"Well, it's not quite like that. I'm still dead. By the way, on the count of three, dodge. One, two-"

Aeris snapped back to reality- and evaded her death.

Title: Yes Sir Ma'am Sir
Pairing/Characters: Sephiroth, Cloud, Zack/Aeris
Team: Avalanche
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 100
Author's Note: I had a little too much fun with these. ^_^;;; This one is a bit AU.

( By the time her boys were settled... )






Title: You Either Got It Or You Don't
Pairing/Characters: Reno, Rude, Rufus/OC
Team: Avalanche
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 100

( This party sucks. )





Title: Mechanically Inclined
Pairing/Characters: Cid/Vincent
Team: Avalanche
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 100

( Though he was no slouch... )





Title: ...*And* I'm Happy To See You
Pairing/Characters: Zack/Cloud
Team: Avalanche
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 100

( Cloud shifted his bag of groceries... )

Title: A Study in Contrasts
Pairing/Characters: Cid/Vincent
Team: Avalanche
Rating: PG-13, sexual themes
Word Count: 100
Author's Note: *perv perv perv*

( Cid. Are you...? )

Title: Bitter Over Sweet
Pairing/Characters: Rude/Tifa
Team: Avalanche
Rating: R, sexual themes
Word Count: 100

( Tifa leaned back with a sigh... )

Title: A Plethora of Pushpins
Pairing/Characters: The Silver Angels, Midgar's premier Sephiroth fanclub
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

The Weekly Gaia News's article claimed that Sephiroth had been sighted flipping burgers in Mideel; a website claimed he'd been kidnapped by Wutaians as a love slave for their princess. Val frowned, unconvinced, but gamely stuck two pushpins in the appropriate places on her giant wall map. From the floor, Jeanne silently passed up another printout: a grainy photo of a snow-veiled, long-haired ghost.

Val stabbed the Northern Continent through the heart with another pushpin, then stepped back to count them all. "Let's face it," she told Jeanne. "If even half these reports are true, Sephiroth has a hundred clones."






Title: The Healer
Pairing/Characters: Aeris, two OCs
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

Hope is rare in the slums. For the young mother soft-footing it up to a quiet house in the early morning hours, her toddler clutched in her arms, hope is a painful thing, clawing at her throat and heart.

"Please," she whispers to the girl at the door. "I've heard the rumors- everyone has- but I wouldn't ask for myself. My baby's so sick, and nothing's helped..."

"Come inside," Aeris tells her, and ushers woman and ill child past her; as she closes the door, she looks out into the garden, green eyes sad and worried and much too old.

Title: Ascent of the Heart
Pairing/Characters: Tifa
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 128
Author's Note: First line from The Llewellyn Tarot Companion.

Nibel is the highest mountain on the continent, and on my last visit it was hidden in mist, creating an atmosphere to conjure legends and hold back time. I told myself some of the old stories as I began my ascent, and by 'happily ever after' I could no longer see the false Nibelheim for the wreaths of mist.

I had ascended Mt. Nibel for the first time at twelve, training with Zangan. Then again at twenty, chasing Sephiroth; and now at twenty-five I challenged the mountain alone. The caverns and climbs I knew from my childhood carried me upward, more solid than my memories of them, until I reached the summit and touched the endless sky. The prodigal daughter had returned.

Nibel heim: Cloud's home, and mine.





Title: Sheol of Dragons
Pairing/Characters: Unnamed Soldiers
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 106
Author's Note: First line from Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett.

This is where the dragons went.

It is bitter cold at the top of the world, and before them the Crater slopes down into a darkness that even their glowing eyes cannot penetrate. The site of the planet's first Crisis gives up no secrets to them, except this: this is a place of doom and sorrow.

They know this. This is the site of the Reunion, where most of their brothers-in-arms were cut down, and their murderer-General was slain in his turn. They are the last, save for Cloud Strife.

One by one, the last remaining Soldiers turn away. They've seen all they needed to see.

Title: Late-Night Intellectual Discussions
Pairing/Characters: Cloud and his company
Team: Avalanche
Rating: PG
Word Count: 100

"Bikinis."

"No, totally boxers."

"He's too uptight for that. I think it's briefs. Tighty-whiteys all the way."

"What, no way. That man goes commando."

"The hell he does!"

"He does! You ever see panty lines on his ass?"

"Leather doesn't show panty lines, idiot." The sun-browned erstwhile ringleader leaned over the top bunk to grin at the shorter boy below. "What d'you think, Strife?"

Cloud glanced up from his manual. "What?"

"Not even listening," his bunkmate complained theatrically. "The General. Boxers or briefs? Or au naturel?"

Cloud flushed scarlet and hid behind his manual; the other troopers cracked up laughing.




Title: Best Girlfriend Ever
Pairing/Characters: Zack, Aeris
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Author's Note: Admit it. You'd wear them too.

"Look at this," Zack crowed, tugging an article of clothing free.

Aeris rolled her eyes and tugged his arm. "Zack, stop fondling the kids' underwear."

"But!" Zack pouted at her, though he went along willingly out of the clothing store. "It was Transformers-themed underwear! That's so cool!"

Aeris couldn't help a fond grin. "I don't think they would have fit you."

"If they made adult sizes, I would totally wear them."

Aeris laughed at him, but when Zack's birthday came, she presented him with three pairs of Zack-sized underwear painstakingly (if inexpertly) painted with the visages of his favorite Transformers.




Title: Violence in Pink
Pairing/Characters:
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

Reno had been thrown through plenty of windows, but this trip was a doozy. Dragging himself up on his elbow amid broken glass and what felt like some serious bruising, Reno squinted up at the blurred figure above him. "You sleep in your unmentionables, princess?"

"Don't make me get the Buster, Reno." Tifa scowled down at him, a vision in soft pink panties and matching T-shirt. "And you can tell Rufus that if he ever pulls this stunt again, I will personally kick his ass."

Reno flashed an apologetic grin and fled. Tifa was a terror, girly undies and all.

Title: Ex-Soldier, S Class
Pairing/Characters: Barret, Sephiroth
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Author's Note: Inspired by a YouTube vid that I can't find anymore.

The train rocked to a shuddering, screeching halt, and the troopers approached at a bored jog to check the passengers' IDs as they disembarked. They never saw the terrorists coming until it was too late.

Barret waved to their fifth member, perched at the train's roof hatch. "C'mon, newcomer- follow me." As he left the station, the newest Avalanche member leaped from the train and landed hard on the walkway alongside. Two more faceless troopers moved in and skidded to a halt when they spotted the silver spectre before them.

Ex-General Sephiroth lifted his sword: time to go to work.

Title: Snow Leopard
Pairing/Characters: Sephiroth, Aeris, Cloud
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Author's Note: All three follow this fic.

If you wanted to escape Shinra, the place to be was the northern continent. There was no Mako here, nothing to exploit. The environment was too harsh for most people, the solitude all-encompassing.

It suited Sephiroth down to the ground. He'd go out early, wearing only his leathers (no matter how much Aeris fussed), and return hours later encrusted in ice and snow. He claimed he didn't feel the cold, but he never protested when Cloud wrapped him in chocobo-down blankets and cuddled him warm, occasionally stroking the fine fuzz beginning to grow in on the shell of his ear.




Title: Paradise Deferred
Pairing/Characters: Aeris
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

Aeris stood on the front step, thick tail wrapped around her in a vain attempt to keep off the cold. The sun was just rising, and with its light came a call that rang distant-sweet in her mind. Aeris's ancestors- her family- was waiting for her to the sunlit east, to welcome her forever to her own Promised Land.

But her other family was waiting for her too. Her boys, and her dear girl- they still needed her, with a precious urgency that the dead couldn't match.

"Just a little longer," she told the voices, and firmly shut the door.





Title: Cannot Be Caged
Pairing/Characters: Tseng, Rude, Sephiroth, Aeris
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

Tseng lashed his tail at himself, annoyed and worried. He hadn't thought much beyond finding their quarry in this snowswept wasteland; even with Reno and Rude with him, Tseng knew he'd never force the lost General to go with them. Just find him first.

Rude nudged him, prompting Tseng to look up. For a moment he didn't recognize the figure he saw, though his companion was clearly Aer- the Ancient. Only the General had hair like that, but there was a new wildness in his eyes, in the set of his furred ears and the lash of his spotted tail.

Title: Die Another Day
Pairing/Characters: Cloud, Zack
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

Cloud was so upset that evening, prickly and monosyllabic; he only opened up about two in the morning, when we were both too tired to fight anymore.

"Professor Hojo pulled the General out of his training time with us," he said through gritted teeth. "Just 'Come' and that was it." He stuffed his face in my neck and confessed, "I wanted to kill him."

I haven't told Cloud much about Seph's past- either what I know or suspect- but he's a smart kid, he's figured enough out already. "Yeah," I heard myself say roughly, "whaddya say we kill him someday."

Title: Thicker Than Blood
Pairing/Characters: Cloud, Cid
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

All Cloud knew of his father was that his mother saw him in Cloud's face. So when he met Cid Highwind, he succumbed to the habit he'd developed every time he met a light-haired man old enough to be his father: he scrutinized the other's features, hoping to find a shadow of himself.

Like always, Cloud was disappointed; yet he understood the stories of loss and struggle etched in Cid's skin. The two men shared no blood, but through their long journey, and the restoration of a motorcycle Cloud called Fenrir, Cid and Cloud became closer than father and son.

Title: Return to the Planet
Pairing/Characters: Ifalna, Aeris, Elmyra
Team: Avalanche
Rating: PG
Word Count: 100
Author's Notes: If you knew how much willpower it took not to write "do not grieve, soon I will be one with the Matrix..."

Her life had been over the day they had killed her husband, but for Aeris- for her little girl, even wounded she would take this final trek, spend the last of her energy to bring her back below the plate where the pulse of the Planet would embrace her.

Ifalna lay on the stone steps outside the train station, pain accompanying her last breaths, as her daughter wept in the arms of a stranger with kind hands. "Please take Aeris somewhere safe," Ifalna whispered, and reached up to touch her baby's cheek. Her fingers left Aeris's face streaked with blood.






Title: Blood Bound
Pairing/Characters: Sephiroth, Zack
Team: Avalanche
Rating: PG
Word Count: 100

"The- the basement. Green, too much green..." Zack thumped his head against Sephiroth's shoulder, lean face furrowed with pain. "Don't go in there, boss, don't."

Sephiroth carefully hoisted the smaller man in his arms and kept walking. "You're delirious from blood loss, lieutenant. Try to stay with me."

He didn't expect Zack to listen, but a measure of lucidity returned to the man's Mako-bright eyes. "You're bleeding," he murmured, and lifted an aimless, blood-streaked hand in the air. "Hah. Blood. Does this make us blood brothers?"

Like most times Zack said something that didn't make sense, Sephiroth did not respond.






Title: Maiden's Blood Destiny
Pairing/Characters: Aeris, Ifalna
Team: Avalanche
Rating: PG
Word Count: 100

It came early for Aeris, and it frightened her to death.

She ran out into the garden in the middle of the night, thighs slick with blood, and threw herself down among the last autumn blossoms to clutch her stomach and weep. It hurt so much, a dull tireless ache that spread from her belly to her legs, and Aeris was sure she was going to die just like her mother.

Cool, ghostly fingers swept across her brow, and Ifalna's voice whispered, You're becoming a woman.

If becoming a woman meant pain and blood and death, Aeris didn't want it.

Title: Reclaim the Thunder
Pairing/Characters: Barret
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

It wasn't Marlene that woke him, but the rapid thunder of guns inside his head. Barret sat up in his own bed as sweat dripped off his body and his breath came in ragged gulps. Even awake, the nightmare plagued him: Corel in the distance, consumed by flame. The burnt-out husks of his friends and family. And Dyne, falling away from him into darkness.

He'd been wondering, all this time, why he'd been the one to live, but Barret's sin was his pragmatism. It didn't matter anymore why.

Barret knew who to blame.

It was time to reclaim the thunder.





Title: Cosmo Phoenix
Pairing/Characters: Barret, Marlene, Avalanche members
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Author's Notes: The name 'Averus' appears as graffiti when you're climbing the Shiny Golden Wire of Hope. I appropriated it as the name of the terrorist group Barret belonged to before he started Avalanche.

The last four members of the terrorist group Averus gathered around the Candle at Cosmo Canyon, the only place left that was safe for them. Barret, the gun-armed enforcer, came encumbered with a tiny child; with her in his arms, he spoke as a leader.

"Y'all know why we're here. Shinra stole everything we had, each of us. It's stealin' the life of the Planet to feed its own hunger for money an' power. That's why we can't stop fightin' now. That's why we gotta rise from these ashes."

Barret lifted his gun-arm proudly. "Averus is dead. Long live Avalanche!"






Title: Dear Marlene
Pairing/Characters: Barret
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

If you're hearin' this, it means... I'm gone. You're probably gonna be mad at me, but that's okay. Hell, I'm mad too. But I did what I had to do- for me, yeah, but for you too.

You probably know already, but I ain't your real papa. Your papa's name was Dyne, an' your mama was Eleanor. They were my best friends. Shinra killed them when you were a baby. That's why I fight- for justice for them, an' to stop them killin' anybody else.

But I never wanted to leave you. My heart was always with you, baby girl.






Title: The Art of Improv
Pairing/Characters: Barret, Cloud
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

"It's the Evil Dragon King!" the actors announced as Barret stomped onstage in his costume. Gonna kill that spiky-headed punk.

Cloud, as the Legendary Hero Alfred, charged forward, grabbed the Dragon King's paw, and planted a smooch on the back. "It's the power of true love!" the actors chorused as 'Rosa' ripped Barret's costume away to reveal the man underneath. Cloud's face shone with triumph, and Barret grimaced as the crowed roared with laughter.

Deciding what the hell, Barret slung Cloud over his shoulder and stomped offstage as the narrator twittered, "Well, um... I'm sure they'll be very happy together!"






Title: Miner's Daughter
Pairing/Characters: Barret
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

Coal!

The word echoed through the camp, filling every man and woman with a giddy joy.

Coal... enough to power a whole city for generations.

There would be jobs- plenty of work for everyone. There would be homes to house the workers, and schools for their children, and roads to ship the coal to other towns.

Corel will live again!

Inside his station house, Barret whooped and shadow-punched the air, jubilation lighting a fire in him he could barely contain. He nearly tore the little shack apart looking for his PHS.

After all this time, Marlene could finally come home.

Title: Good Intentions
Pairing/Characters: Marlene, Denzel, Tifa
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

No matter what Tifa said, it was still Cloud's birthday, and that meant there needed to be a cake. And Marlene and Denzel were exceptionally smart for their ages, everyone said so. How hard could it be?

"I think cake batter's supposed to be runny," Marlene offered as Denzel prodded at the mix dubiously with a spoon.

"I don't think it's supposed to be that color," Denzel returned, making a face. "Maybe there's too much chocolate sprinkles in-"

"Kids!" Tifa called. "I'm home!"

Both kids froze, staring at the unholy mess they'd made of the kitchen. "Uh oh," Marlene whispered.







Title: From the Ashes
Pairing/Characters: Jenova
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100


It was intolerable. Jenova watched as her offspring was immolated on the sword of a broken doll, and knew rage.

With Sephiroth's death, Jenova was sent hurtling into the core of the planet she hated, into the endless green flow of life. It was anathema to her, poison, and this time it pressed against her with power she had not felt since the days of the Cetra. Sometimes it smiled at her sweetly, and she knew the beginnings of fear.

But in the Lifestream, Jenova came upon the shattered soul of her son, and clutched it tight.

She would rebuild.

Title: Paper WEAPON
Characters: Yuffie, Cloud
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

Cloud lifted a skeptical eyebrow as Yuffie came trotting back, flush with victory, her prize clutched in one hand. "You're kidding."

"Nope"

"A pinwheel?"

"In the hands of a true ninja, anything is a weapon," the girl informed him loftily.

"But it doesn't even have materia slots."

"Like you should talk, mister bat-with-a-nail-through-it."

Cloud rolled his eyes and gestured- okay, fine, show me what you can do. Yuffie grinned fiercely, cocked her arm back and threw.

A sapling two hundred yards away fell, severed at the trunk, and the pinwheel was back in Yuffie's hand. "I give up," said Cloud.






Title: The Fate of a Ninja
Characters: Yuffie
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

On the eve of her sixteenth birthday, the daughter of Godo was escorted to the Mountain of the Five Gods and left in a cave of fire to meditate on her duties as the Kisaragi heir.

Once she was certain she was alone, Yuffie whipped off her voluminous red robe and hauled her star from its hiding place behind a rock. She was a ninja and knew her duty to Wutai, but it wasn't getting stuffed in a stifling cave, only to return to the stifling palace come morning.

Yuffie offered one last bow to her homeland's gods, and disappeared.






Title: Beast
Characters: Yuffie/Galian Beast
Team: Avalanche
Rating: NC-17, xeno sex
Word Count: 100

( Sexual themes )

Title: Something To Tell
Characters: Aeris, Zack
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

Zack, there's something I've been wanting to tell you...

Aeris paced, head down, watching the cobbles at her feet. He deserved to know, she told herself for the millionth time.

You know how you catch me talking to myself sometimes?...

She glanced up at the sound of her name and grinned brightly. Zack was really handsome, smiling just for her in his Shinra-issue charcoals.

And about those flowers...

"Ready to go?" Zack asked, then, "You okay?" He had an uncanny sense of her, Aeris thought ruefully as she shook her head.

Zack, I'm an Ancient.

She'd tell him next time.






Title: Corrupt
Characters: Sephiroth, possible Hojo
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

There are many things Sephiroth does not know about himself. He's figured out that he is not quite normal- it's hard to miss that, and Sephiroth is not an unintelligent man- but he does not know the scope of it, nor the ultimate purpose written into his body.

For with every breath and heartbeat, he feeds the cells injected into him before his birth. As he gets stronger, so do they. They are dormant, for now, but their day is coming.

Sephiroth doesn't know what is brewing within him. If he did, he might make a violent end of it.






Title: Dimorphism
Characters: Cloud, Zack
Team: Avalanche
Rating: PG
Word Count: 100

Cloud has trouble with undressing in public. "Guys don't shower together where I come from," the blonde explains, and the other guys smirk and make lewd comments and leave it at that. Then Zack catches Cloud in the shower at an hour so late it's early, and notices at least two things right off the bat.

"I still don't see the big deal," he says after he gets her calmed down. "You're still you, right? But I promise I won't tell." Cloud rolls her eyes fondly and tries not to let on how his easy acceptance makes her shoulders unknot.

Title: Abusive Motivation
Characters: Zack, OC
Team: Avalanche
Rating: PG, language
Word Count: 100

They called it 'boot camp' because you were lower than the scum on your sarge's boot, and he never let you forget it.

"Move those asses, maggots! I've seen more hustle at the old folks' home!" Sarge's face was screwed up in a squinty-eyed bawl, like the very presence of the new recruits offended his delicate sensibilities. Zack shouted out his yes sir along with the other guys and fed that look into the slow burn of anger that had powered him long after mere muscle and breath would have failed.

He'd show that asshole he had what it took.






Title: Cockfight 1
Characters: Zack, Sephiroth
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

It would have fallen under the category of 'minor disagreement' until the wild-haired Third had insulted his sword skills to his face, and that was more than even Sephiroth could be expected to bear. Swords leapt and clashed, Sephiroth pushing Zack into a retreat and giving way to his own anger until it blinded him and Zack used the speed he'd kept hidden until just that moment- body-checking his General into his own hastily-erected command tent, sending it collapsing around them both.

By the time Sephiroth cut them both free, Zack was laughing too hard to even lift his sword.






Title: Cockfight 2
Characters: Zack, Cloud, a chocobo
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

"Uh, Zack..." Cloud hedged, eyeing the ruddy chocobo with the broken talon. "I don't think that's a good idea."

Zack waved off his concern with an easy grin. "Relax, the birds love me. Just watch the Choco Whisperer at work." He hopped the fence and approached the big male, movements smooth and slow. "That's right, big fella," he crooned, "come to Uncle Zack n-ow!"

Zack looked so betrayed that it was hard not to laugh, even as the red started chasing him around the pen. Cloud could have told him not to mess with an insecure male during mating season.





Title: Letters Home
Characters: Zack
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

Dear Mom, I met a girl today.

Zack chewed the end of his pen, wondering where to start.

I met her in kind of an interesting way...

No, can't tell her that. She'd only worry.

She grows flowers under the Plate...

Except nothing grew under the Plate. Everybody knew that, as hard as Shinra tried to pretend otherwise.

She has this weird healing magic...

No, can't tell her that either. Zack sat back, weighing the few things Aeris had told him about herself against all the things she hadn't said.

Dear Mom; I met a girl today. She's really nice.






Title: Eglantine
Characters: Zack, Sephiroth, Cloud
Team: Avalanche
Rating: PG-13, blood
Word Count: 100
Author's Note: In the Victorian language of flowers, eglantine, or sweetbriar, means "I wound to heal."

Shock was screwing with his vision, but if he turned his head Zack could just about see the jerky-limbed puppet Sephiroth had become, the grip on- Mother- that thing's head the only sure thing about him. Oh gods, Zack thought, feeling his body shudder.

Then- hope, or a twisted mockery of it, Cloud sweating as he dragged Zack's Buster behind him, stained with Sephiroth's blood. He'd gotten the stubborn bastard and was still breathing, and that meant this could still end.

"Cloud," he croaked, startling the boy nearly into dropping the sword. "Kill Sephiroth."

The words alone nearly killed him.





Title: Constant As Your Shadow
Characters: Aeris, Zackwolf
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

In her dreams, she walked beside a green river, and a wolf patiently shadowed her.

Loneliness and weariness stuck in Aeris's heart, sharp as a blade, even though she knew why she had to go on alone. The river would lead her, but it was a cold and distant companion compared to (Cloud) her friends.

Suddenly sick of walking, Aeris threw herself to the ground like a child. The wolf was there in an instant, licking her tear-damp cheek, sitting still as a tame thing when she hugged him close. The wolf's eyes were violet, and his fur was warm.





Title: Never Let Go
Characters: Zack, Sephiroth
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

Aeris had her hands full, being the goddess of the Lifestream and all, so it was up to Zack to burn out the little remaining pockets of space bitch and collect the pieces of Seph's soul she left behind.

"Hey," he crooned, curled around the soul too broken to have his own form yet, weaving it together again. "This is a good memory, right? Shh..." He held Sephiroth close as he trembled through the agony of remembrance. "Not letting go," he murmured. "Not until you're whole."

One day, Seph would be whole enough that Zack could say, "I forgive you."

Title: Mirror Distortion 1
Characters: Cloud
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

Five years is an eternity when you're sixteen. It's hell in captivity and torture.

Sometimes Cloud wondered who he would've been if those years had not been stolen from him. He was grateful that his only memories of being Hojo's captive were indistinct, but it left him in a body and mind that were not his own. He worked hard to develop them both and told himself that he would get used to them in time.

It was no good. No matter how much time passed, Cloud would look into the mirror and always see the face of a stranger.





Title: Mirror Distortion 2
Characters: Sephiroth
Team: Avalanche
Rating: G
Word Count: 100

Hojo called him his property, and it would be easy to believe him except that he'd known for a long time how easily Hojo lied.

The President called him 'General' to his face and 'that creature' behind his back. The rank and file addressed him as 'sir'.

The Shinra papers called him a hero. The Wutaians called him a demon.

Lieutenant Fair called him Seph.

What Sephiroth himself saw when he looked in the mirror rarely varied: his flaws and his old scars exaggerated by his abnormal size and coloring, his glowing slit-pupiled eyes marking him out forever as Other.