QNC: Okay, so Shiva's not as pretty in 7 as she is in 10, but as far as I can see, the CC summons look cool anyway, so why can't Shiva be a beautiful ice princess in this too?

Zack: Where's my yaoi? (whines)

QNC: (rolls eyes) On with the fic...

Disclaimer: Don't own, DUH!

Summon

Summary: In which Shiva teaches Zack to think before he speaks...

Focus: Zack, Angeal

"Zack..."

Red...so they were working with summons today, then? It wouldn't be so bad. He did already have the Chocobo and Cactuar summons...cactuars were annoying little buggers on the field, but as a summon, they were actually quite fun to play and fight with...cactuar dances were fun as hell when you didn't step on the cactuars.

"Zack."

The man in question blinked in surprise and grinned when he saw the unamused face of his instructor gazing back at him in exasperation. "Yeah, Ange?"

Angeal grimaced at the nickname but ignored addressing it in favor of scowling at his student. "Did you hear a single word of what I said?" He asked gruffly.

With a sheepish smile, Zack scratched the back of his head with a few quick, nervous brushes of his hand before admitting, "No, not really."

Rolling his eyes, Angeal pointed to the red orb in his hand and said, "We're summoning today, kid. That means you have to be careful to pay attention to each summon's personality or you'll find yourself fried by your own summon or drained of magic that they refuse to use to help you with."

"Sooo...which one's that?" Zack asked, genuinely curious as he couldn't really see much besides a tiny ball of blue in the center of the orb.

Angeal gave him a long look of disbelief before muttering, "You really weren't paying attention..." Shaking his head, he eyed the materia he loosely held and decided that some things, you had to learn on your own the hard way. He lightly tossed it, not in the least surprised when his student's eyes lit up in delight and the boy snatched it out of the air with a crow of triumph.

"Summon," he ordered.

Zack nodded and concentrated on the materia, noting the coldness seeping into his hands through his thick gloves. Okay, so this was obviously something that dealt with ice...He clasped his prize lightly in both hands, feeling the incantation for summoning and chanting it in his mind.

The first thing that heralded the approach of the summon was the sudden biting chill in the air.

What was essentially a warm, spring day turned into a winter wonderland, crystallizing his breath as soon as it left his mouth. An enormous crystal of ice appeared, and Zack peered inside it curiously as he noted the blue, humanoid shape inside. When cold, sapphire blue eyes snapped open and looked back, he jerked back in surprise, avoiding the ice shattering outwards as the summon inside broke free of her own ice prison, whipping her head to the side and flinging away her shimmering veil of cloth in a sassy display of attitude.

Her blue hair fanned out in long braids from a high, elegant forehead and her blue-tipped nails trailed down pale, blue-skinned thighs with slow, caressing movements as if worshiping her own body before she landed in front of her summoner with a graceful bow. Zack could only gape in shock at the display. Angeal only hoped that Zack wouldn't be rude enough to notice or say...

"She's naked, Angeal!"

As the ice queen on the ground stiffened, his mentor snapped out sharply, "Zack, you idiot—"

But the offended summon had already lashed out in a jingle of bangles and ice shards and caught Zack by surprise with an elegant,well-placed roundhouse to his chin, effectively causing Zack to bite his tongue.

Angeal winced. Ouch.

But the summon was far from done as she picked the stunned teen up by his shirtfront and gathered a beam of energy in her free hand, only to fire it point blank in his surprised face, instantly freezing the expression on contact.

Angeal winced again, feeling a bit of sympathy for the kid despite his taboo.

After tapping on the solid ice-block that was Zack's head, the ice queen gave a cold, tight-lipped smile of approval before snapping her fingers. The ice shattered in a burst of cold stardust and Zack's teeth began chattering. With a huff, she put him back on the ground and leaned close, her lips moving slightly; she then leaned back and took a few quick, efficient slashes at his clothing with her dagger-like nails, leaving him in nothing but his dark blue boxer shorts, gloves, and boots.

After a long moment of appraisal, the blue-skinned summon promptly turned her back on him and disappeared with a distinct, "Hmph."

Angeal grinned at Zack's stunned expression and glanced down at his watch.

The whole incident had taken less than two minutes and Angeal merely approached Zack with a solemn expression on his face, even as he delighted at the disbelief playing over the younger man's face.

"So, I see you and Shiva have met," he drawled in amusement.

Zack nodded with a brief grimace before shakily spitting out a mouthful of still-fresh blood.

Angeal clucked in sympathy as he clapped the boy on the shoulder. "What'd she say to you, Zack?"

Zack's lips twitched unevenly as that look of disbelief flared even brighter in his eyes. It was as if he didn't know whether to be amused or amazed. "She said..."

"Yes?"

"She said...'That's no way to pick up a lady.'"

"Really? I always did think Shiva was rather kind and patient," Angeal murmured with a hard grin.

Zack's teeth audibly chattered a bit more and he blew out a puff of air, more than a little relieved to see that there was no fog. "Kind my ass," he muttered bitterly, chaffing his arms to get rid of the chill Shiva's presence had brought.

"Well, I did tell you to pay attention to the summon's personality, didn't I?" Angeal asked, with a raised brow as he motioned for Zack to follow him back to the training wing.

"Yeah, but you didn't say she'd be a bitch," Zack huffed out with a pout, glaring down at the pretty red orb winking innocently at him from his still-gloved palm. He yelped and dropped the materia when it suddenly seared ice-cold pain into the palm of his glove. He stared in amazement at the solid ice covering his gloves before sidestepping the entire thing and walking past Angeal, shaking his head the entire way.

Angeal smiled down at the orb before carefully picking it up and murmuring, "Nice touch with the frozen head trick."

The blue light inside of the red orb winked innocently in return.

End

QNC: So, yeah, crazy, weird, but that's my sense of humor for ya. I still love Zack, I just like to tease him a bit.

Zack: Why'd she haveta freeze me? That was kinda harsh, dontcha think?

QNC: Not particularly, it's what all females do to jerks: the cold shoulder.