The sun was setting on Christmas day, and all was fairly peaceful and quiet, when suddenly the calm was pierced by a terrified shout and a cacophony of jingle bells and chocobo cries. An "all-terrain sleigh" built out of a recycled wooden crate and a discarded skateboard and sled careened down the streets of Midgar, pulled by a wild-caught chocobo who was clearly out of its element on the slightly icy paved streets.
The driver of the sleigh, however, was bent on reaching his destination. His last mission had gone sightly wrong, and that slight wrong turn had caused him to take far longer than he had expected. He still bore cuts and bruises for it, and under the red and white fur cloak he had stolen from an enemy merchant, his clothes were torn to shreds.
The chocobo - who had a pair of antlers strapped to its head - made a break for it, sending the "sleigh" crashing into the tree in the city center. Zack was stunned senseless for several seconds before he managed to fight his way out of the tangle of branches, and he groaned as he shook pine needles from his hair.
"So much for fun seasonal transportation..." he grumbled as he kicked at the wreckage of the makeshift sleigh, before stepping down on a plank from what was once the front, his toe over a bullet hole. Well, at least he was back.
He reached into the pile of splinters and picked up a sack of items and laughed to himself, rubbing the back of his neck but still smiling as he stepped away. "Uh, sorry about the mess, there. I'll pay for the cleanup, don't worry about it!" The green tinge forming on his cheeks suggested that he was worried about it, but he hardly had time to think about it.Ā
Instead, the one thing that weighed on his mind was the Christmas party. He missed the Christmas party. Having just been promoted to SOLDIER Second Class, he was nobody; he was lucky to even be invited and he missed it.Ā That was bad enough as it was - it only made it worse that he threw his name in the hat for Secret Santa and happened to be assigned to get a gift for Veld. Failing that could have destroyed him even with the very valid excuse he had. He'd be lucky to get off with just a lecture to make him wish for his family's cooking.
He stared off at the Shinra building in the distance. It had far fewer lights on than usual. Nearly the only people around were the guards. He sighed. All this scrambling for...what?
"Lousy timing. Sure everyone's having dinner right now." His stomach growled at the thought and he shivered, pulling his cloak up around him as he sat down on a bench -
Only to notice a split second later that someone was sitting right next to him.
Someone he wanted yet dreaded to see.
"S-Sir!" he exclaimed, nearly tripping over his own feet as he shot back up, "I- I - I'm sorry about missing the party the other night. I, uh...I know I was responsible for your gift. I know I dropped the ball. I'm sorry."
The man's expression changed from an annoyed stare off into the distance in the other direction to an amused glance at the young SOLDIER. "Angeal told me that you'd been caught up on a mission. I fail to see how missing a party for being taken hostage constitutes irresponsible behavior."
Zack chuckled in relief. "Uh, thanks..." He rubbed the back of his neck and found a branch still tangled in his hair, and gave it a sour look as he picked it out. "So...what are you doing out here?"
"Taking a break from work."
"On Christmas?"
Veld didn't speak any more and Zack groaned and shrunk away in understanding. "Uh...well, I did remember to get you something even though I missed the party! I, uh...hope you don't mind that I didn't actually buy it. Call it spoils of war," he joked, as he pulled a crudely-wrapped gift box out of his sack. Inside was a finely-crafted silver pocket watch with a compass in the back.Ā
Veld took the box and looked it over, the amusement on his face growing stronger by the second. "Thank you, Zack." There was the slightest hint of laughter in his tone as he spoke.
Zack's eyes widened in shock - mostly for the fact that someone so important remembered his name so easily (even if he did owe him a present).Ā "So, uh - merry Christmas!"
Zack turned to run toward his own apartment, before suddenly turning back toward the older man, with a solemn expression well beyond his 15 years, and certainly unexpected for a teenager with a glass ball dangling off the hood of his cloak, a plastic French horn in his hair, and tinsel still all over him. "By the way...I know I'm nobody important, and I'm just a kid, and all that," he said, with a pained tone to his voice, "and I don't want to press the matter of why you're out here tonight, but I do want you to know...if you ever want to talk to anyone about anything, you can talk to me. I'll listen, okay? And I won't judge. Believe me, I'm in no place to judge. Promise."
The moment was over as suddenly as it began, when he cracked a smile again and began to jog back toward his apartment, the usual spring back in his step and thensome.
