Zack's First Snow
By Leash
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII or Square Enix
The Great General Sephiroth could not believe it. His second in command was a complete imbecile. Not that he hadn't known it before, it was just never thrust into his face like this.
Zack Fair had done many idiotic things in his life. The most memorable of those things being the time he had 'accidentally' caught his desk on fire which just so happened to have his paperwork on it. Then, to extinguish the fire, he cast an ice 3 spell. It put the fire out, and completely destroyed his desk and all work. Needless to say, he got out of doing any paperwork for a while.
Now getting back to what Zack was doing now. . .
It had all started as a simple Show-off-the-General-and-SOLDIERs mission. Sephiroth had received the prompt two weeks ago. He and any other SOLDIER first class, of his choice, were to go to Icicle Inn on the North Continent and put on a sort of show. This was to inform the people there of the power the Shin-Ra military had, and to scare them into remaining loyal to the electric company. Obviously, Sephiroth chose Zack Fair, his closest friend.
Zack was ecstatic to be going. Evidently, it never snowed in Gongaga, and this was going to be the first time Zack had ever seen snow. That's when it all started. . .
The next two weeks were filled with Zack asking questions about snow. How does it feel? How cold is it? Are there really no two snow flakes alike? Are there really different colors of snow that you can't eat, and if there are, what are they? Many more questions of this type followed.
Then the day finally came for them to be shipped out. For probably the first time in his life, Zack woke up earlier than Sephiroth, which was really early, and was happy to go on this next mission. They boarded the helicopter and were off.
The flight was about two hours to reach the North Continent, and Zack stared out the window the entire time, his face only betraying true excitement. During this time, Sephiroth gave Zack a coat and pulled a thicker one on his own body. He also tied a scarf around Zack's neck, and placed gloves on his hands. This made Zack tease him about how much like a mother chocobo he was. Sephiroth quickly ended that by telling Zack that they had made it to the North Continent. Zack turned to look out the window so quick that he nearly hit his head on the glass.
Zack stared at the white, snow cover ground with amazement. Sephiroth was actually considering tying Zack down to keep him from diving out of the helicopter and into the snow. Luckily, he didn't have to.
The helicopter landed about an hour later and Zack ran, but upon exiting, he froze in his tracks, staring upwards. Sephiroth walked up behind him, and peered up as well. It was snowing.
"It's beautiful," Zack stated breathlessly. Sephiroth nodded at the simple, but true, statement and studied his friend.
Zack raised a gloved hand and watched as snowflakes landed on him. Then ever so slowly, he brought his hand towards his face to examine the small crystals. As he peered down at them, his breath melted the snow before he had a good enough look. He raised his head to look at Sephiroth, his eyes asking 'Why?'
"Snow is fragile. Even the smallest amount of heat will melt it. Hold your hand a bit further away." Sephiroth said to Zack.
Zack did as he was told, but the new distance was too far for him to make out each snowflake. He frowned, and then turned to his commanding officer, not understanding what was wrong.
Sephiroth chuckled and stepped up next to Zack. He gently wrapped his hand around the young man's wrist, and held it out for more snow to collect on it. Once a sufficient amount had been gathered, Sephiroth slowly brought the hand back for Zack to examine. He held it far enough away so that Zack's breath wouldn't melt the snow, but he could still see every little flake perfectly. They stood like that for several minutes. Sephiroth ever so slightly leaning towards the warmth radiating from Zack.
"Thank you," Zack said quietly, turning to look up at Sephiroth.
Sephiroth gave Zack a quick, small smile. "You're welcome. Now come on. We have to check into the inn."
Sephiroth left Zack's side abruptly and headed toward the inn of the small town. Zack followed until he saw some kids throwing balls of the snow at each other. He stopped to watch them.
A small girl not any older than six, walked over to Zack, snow ball in hand. Zack knelt down to her level.
"Hello," The girl said, stopping in front of Zack.
"Hello. I'm Zack. What's your name?"
The little girl giggled then replied, "My name is Emily."
"Hello Emily. What is that game you and your friends are playing?" Zack asked while smiling.
The girl's eyes widened. "You don't know?! How come that is?"
Zack chuckled. "Because this is the first time I've ever seen snow."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Oh," The girl looked at Zack shyly. He just gave her a goofy grin and she laughed.
"Well, are you going to tell me?" Zack asked, still smiling.
"We are having a snowball fight, Silly. You pick teams, build forts, and throw snowballs at the other team. It's really fun! Do you wanna try?" Emily held the snowball that she had been holding out to Zack. He gingerly took it into his hands.
"I don't think that I can throw this at anybody, I might hurt someone." Zack said looking at the white ball in his hands.
"Then throw it at some one who you wouldn't hurt, like your friend." Emily said happily.
Zack smiled, and turned to look for his friend a.k.a.: his target.
Sephiroth had been stopped by a swarm of younger people. They all looked to be in their teens, and were all asking questions left and right. (Not to mention from in front of and behind him too.) So Zack decided to help his friend out of his current situation.
Zack tossed the snowball up and down in his hand a little bit to get a feel for it. Once he realized just how much force he needed, he pulled his arm back, and threw it.
Zack had sent the snowball on a perfect trajectory for the side of Sephiroth's head, and, because he was so distracted, the ball made contact.
Everyone around Sephiroth turned to look. They saw Zack lean down, and give a little girl a 'high five'. The other kids came running over to Zack and surrounded him. They were all asking him questions, and he was laughing. Then they heard two words come
from the General. . .
"Snowball, now."
The teens looked a Sephiroth and saw him glaring at Zack. They quickly jumped to the task at hand.
Once Sephiroth had a snowball handed to him, he compacted it even more, and threw it. He smiled as he watched it fly through the air, hitting an unsuspecting Zack square in the chest. He held out his hand, and another snowball was placed into it.
Glancing back, he said, "Make sure that I have a steady stream of these at hand."
The teens smiled and set to work feeding Sephiroth all the ammunition he needed.
Zack saw this, and told the kids around him the same thing. They all mock saluted, and happily obliged.
Both SOLDIERs were enjoying themselves greatly. They were the only ones throwing, but it looked like twenty people on each side were throwing as well. They were both hitting, and being hit, both laughing out loud and smiling.
The battle finally ended when Sephiroth threw three rock hard snowballs at Zack, all hitting him in the center of his chest. He fell backwards landing with a solid 'thump'. Sephiroth walked over to him.
"Nice one, Seph!" Zack said completely out of breath. His cheeks red from the cold and exercise.
Sephiroth quickly looked away because the sight of Zack laying there sprawled out below him, red faced, and panting was just a tad too much for the General to handle.
"I'll be at the inn." Sephiroth turned and left.
Zack was about to stand up when one of the other kids yelled, "Snow angels!"
"Snow angels? What are those?" Zack asked sitting up.
"We'll show you!" The kids pushed Zack back down and showed him how to make snow angels. After that, Zack helped the kids make the world's biggest snow man. (at least according to the kids.)
Zack continued to play with the kids until they were all called home. At this time, Zack made his way to the inn. Walking there, he realized just how cold it was. He was shivering, and no matter how tightly he wrapped his arms around himself, he couldn't get warm.
Zack was grateful to see Sephiroth open the inn door for him. He walked past Sephiroth and into the warm fire lit inn.
"It—it—it's c—cold!" Zack said through chattering teeth.
Sephiroth nodded, and shut the door behind Zack. He then turned to Zack, and helped him remove his coat.
"My p—pants," Zack said rubbing his arms.
Sephiroth chuckled upon seeing the usually dark blue pants nearly completely white with snow, "Take off your boots, and then go stand by the fire."
Zack nodded and did so. Sephiroth went and got a towel for Zack to stand on. He was back before Zack had gotten the first boot unlaced due to his stiff fingers. He laid the piece of cloth in front of the fire place. Then he turned to watch Zack.
Then Zack gave Sephiroth what others call his 'kicked-puppy-look'.
"Need help?" Sephiroth asked, smiling.
Zack just nodded, still shivering.
Sephiroth walked over to Zack and knelt down. He made quick work of the boots
and tossed them in front of the fire place. He then led his frozen friend over to stand on the towel.
"Now, remove your pants," Sephiroth said.
"You have no idea how much I want to do that right now, especially since you said it all sexily, but my hands don't wanna work." Zack held out his hands like a little kid showing something to an adult.
Sephiroth chuckled and stepped towards Zack, taking both of Zack's hands into his own. He slowly kissed each finger tip, instantly warming them.
"Looks like I'll have to do that for you, won't I?" Sephiroth said, looking up from Zack's hands.
Zack grinned, "I guess you will, but what about the owners of the inn?"
"Don't worry about them," Sephiroth said as he slid his hands down Zack's chest and to his belt, slowly undoing it. "This was an unexpected visit, they're too worried about what to serve us for dinner to worry about what we are doing."
Zack's pants dropped to the floor, and he stepped out of them.
"And what exactly do you plan on doing, General?"
Sephiroth smirked. "I plan on teaching you a wonderful trick to warm yourself up quickly. Follow me."
Sephiroth left Zack and headed for the bedroom, the younger man hot on his heels.
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A year or so later, Zack used this same phrase to lead a young blonde into the same bedroom.