kristinmachina (kristinmachina) wrote in kinkfest, @ 2008-11-01 23:18:00 |
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Entry tags: | a: kristinmachina, f: final fantasy vii, november 01, p: aeris/zack |
Pin-Ups [Final Fantasy VII, PG-13]
Title: Pin-Ups
Author: kristinmachina
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Reference to nudity
Prompt: Final Fantasy VII (any of the compilations), whomever wants to play (or gets drug in kicking and screaming): dirty pictures - My blood runs cold, my memory has just been sold, my angel is the centerfold
Word count: 743
Summary: Cloud receives an unexpected package.
It showed up one day, without warning–a small foot-locker on the doorstep of Tifa’s bar. The proprietress was wary of touching or opening strange boxes. It was something she learned as a member of AVALANCHE. Unsolicited gifts could be traps in disguise.
Yet the box was not for her.
"Cloud!" Tifa called up the stairs. "You’ve got a delivery!"
Cloud read the note attached to the box, then looked at the foot-locker; dark green with gold numbers, twelve-by-six-by-six inches, stainless steel. Standard SOLDIER issue lockers.
Cloud recognized the serial numbers, "It’s Zack’s."
Shin-ra had fallen months ago, and Cloud was certain that some if its ex-employees and officers still held grudges against AVALANCHE. It would be a rather cruel joke, or a clever trick, to place something deadly in the foot-locker of a fallen comrade.
The note read: "I think you might want to hold on to these–Reno."
If this was an attack, why wait until now?
"Stand back," Cloud warned Tifa before opening the locker. Someone had popped the lock on the metal case, and replaced the padlock with a short length of wire, twisted to hold the box closed. Cloud untwisted the wire, then with the tip of his sword, standing a couple of feet away, tipped the lid upwards and open.
No explosives, nothing obviously hazardous inside. Just a few personal effects; some clothes, a set of dog-tags, and an envelope, sealed with a flower across the flap. One of Aeris’ flowers.
"I’m taking this upstairs," Cloud lifted the box and took it to his room.
Tifa remained at the bar. She got the hint that Cloud needed to be left alone.
Putting the locker at the foot of his bed, Cloud looked through its contents more closely. He knew Zack. Or at least he thought he did. Cloud even thought he was Zack for a while. Zack was a SOLDIER, Cloud didn’t make the cut. They worked together. They were captured together, imprisoned together, altered and experimented on together...
Cloud then looked at the envelope sealed with the flower. It was a bit thick. It could contain letters from Aeris. Cloud broke the seal and opened the envelope.
Not letters. Pictures. Pictures Cloud was not prepared to see. Pictures that made the blood in Cloud’s veins run cold and fast.
They were pictures of Aeris, and she was naked. She was doing imitations of the pin-up girls in naughty magazines, the kind that the other cadets would hide under their mattresses. Some photographs showed Aeris lying on a bed, legs crossed, breasts pointed upward. Some showed her on her stomach, with her soft, round buttocks in full view. Some had her legs open, with just her hands concealing what was in between. All had that sweet, but not-so-innocent smile, directed to the camera.
Cloud found himself staring long and hard at the photographs, trying to reconcile his memories of Aeris with the concrete images in his hands. The blood rushed through his ears and...to other places on his body.
Cloud’s momentary arousal turned to anger. Aeris was not some centerfold floozy. She was the girl on the corner selling flowers. She was the girl who grew a blooming garden in the middle of a dark, dank slum. She was the girl who fought alongside Cloud and his friends.
Cloud was on the verge of ripping every last photo to shreds, furious at Aeris, furious at Zack for staring at these photos and...who knows what he did when he looked through them.
But then Cloud reasoned to himself: she and Zack were dating. Maybe girlfriends do these things for their boyfriends, especially when they are separated for long periods of time. Plus, Zack was not the type of man to flash these pictures around.
Cloud’s blood ran cold again; Reno must have seen these. He is the kind of man who would flash these around. And make copies.
Whatever Aeris and Zack had between each other, maybe it was none of Cloud’s business. Cloud debated destroying the photographs. On one hand, Aeris’ dignity would be preserved.
On the other, these were the only photographs Cloud had of Aeris.
Cloud came to a solution. He returned the photographs to the locker, and twisted the wire back around the enclosure. A piece of Zack and Aeris would have a proper burial in Aeris’ old church garden, even if it was a bit overdue.
Cloud reasoned. What would be the point?