A Quartet of Short Pieces

((A/N: Hey all! Long time no post huh? Sorry about that, life has been really tough for me this past year. I promise I'll be better when it comes to updating LiNS. I have a few chapters that I'll try my best to post soon. Anyway, this story was entered for a contest about how Final Fantasy characters would spend the holidays! This won first place in the contest, so please enjoy it!))

I. Til I Hear You Sing

~Tseng~

Tseng was sitting on the couch in his immaculately clean apartment. In one hand he was holding a warm glass of Wutai's finest sake and was sipping on it occasionally. It was New Years Eve, and there was a party going on at ShinRa. Tseng very curtly and very repeatedly refused to go to this one. He rolled his eyes annoyed as he heard the noise of the celebrations going outside and above his apartments. There was no way that he was going to this party or any other future New Years parties. He had his own way of bringing in the New Years.

In his other hand was his most secret and most prized possession, a small and faded photograph of a woman with brown hair, holding a basket of flowers in her hands.

Aeris Gainsborough..

Tseng was on assignment to find her and bring her into ShinRa headquarters. He tracked her down to an old abandoned cathedral in Sector 5. He did have to admit that she was very brave in risking going to Sector 5 as often as she did. It was just supposed to be a simple mission, catch and subdue.

Then she started singing.

Tseng's breath caught in his chest as her heard her singing. It was that moment that he knew he was a goner. He had fallen hard for her. He leaned against the door of the church and listened to her song. He couldn't make out the words to the song, but it was beautiful nonetheless. He knew he had to hear more of the song. However in order to hear the song he would have to do anything, even defy ShinRa's orders to keep her singing.

He lost count of the number of times he snuck down to the church to listen to hear her song. Each time he swore that today was the day, that he would go in there and listen to her and introduce himself and ask to hear her song, each time he chickened out.

He took another sip of the sake, forcing himself back into the present. She was dead. He was never going to be able to hear that song life felt empty without the song, nothing was the same without her music. It was hard, but he did what to do to hide his grief, hide his true feelings.

Which was why most days the picture was hidden securely in a special compartment in his apartment. He very rarely took the picture out, only when his memories couldn't do her voice justice. He hummed softly under his breath as he looked at the picture.

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

He jumped a little, completely caught of guard by the screams and fireworks coming from outside (and above his apartment). He was so lost in thought, that he didn't realize what time it was.

"Happy New Year Aeris." He whispered as he gently kissed the picture and stroked her cheek a little. "Please sing one more time for me." He sighed a little, as he downed the rest of the sake and continued singing to himself.

II. Party Rock Anthem

~Reno~

The music was blaring, the makeshift dance floor was...well, it wasn't empty, and the drinks were free flowing...up to a certain point. This was Reno's type of party! So what if the number of "sexual harassment" charges tomorrow would most likely be at an all time high? He was a Turk! That was nothing! He'd have the charges dropped by the end of the day.

He took a sip of his drink and sighed, relieved to be off his short leash. There was no reason to drink so quickly. He knew that he couldn't hold his liquor (he wasn't going to mention that to Rude of course) and he actually wanted this night to last a bit longer before he got completely wasted.

He looked at the dance floor and noticed several very beautiful women on and grinned a little. Maybe this night wouldn't be a complete bust! He "straightened" his suit and made his way over to the two women. Hopefully by the end of the night, at least one if not both of them would end up in his bed.

Most people spent their New Years Eve thinking about ways to better themselves in the coming year and all the changes that they could make. Reno on the otherhand, he never made any resolutions. Why change something that didn't need fixing?

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

As everyone around him cheered and kissed someone, Reno grabbed the nearest girl next to him and gave her a kiss on the lips. The girl gasped and gave him a smack that resounded throughout the party. He just laughed again as he placed his hand on his cheek and walked away, smiling to himself.

III. Crush

~Rude~

While Reno was on the other side of Edge celebrating in style and most likely already wasted, Rude was at a more subdued and civilized party. The relaxed atmosphere of 7th Heaven was much more his style than anything.

There were some who did have a problem with is presence there, but all he had to to was just glance in there direction and they would automatically shut up and run away from him, which was just the way he liked it.

In his head he was going over what he would say to Tifa if he ever got the courage to say more to her than just what his drink order was. Of course, the ex-Solider man of hers was there and she was hanging on his every word like a love-sick school girl.

Rude sighed a little as he signaled for another drink and he gave her a strained smile and tried to say something to her, but found he couldn't. So he just stared dumbly at her, thankfully his sunglasses hid his embarrassment.

Tifa walked back over and handed him another glass with a smile. "Have a happy New Year Rude." She said giving him a soft smile. She then turned and walked back over to Cloud and grinned up at him, her feelings for him perfectly clear.

"Same to you Tifa." He said to himself and he slapped himself on his forehead a little, knowing he had once again missed his chance to say something to her. Maybe at midnight he could steal her away from him and give her a kiss.

He scoffed to himself and lamented to himself, "Reno would get his act together before I have a chance with her." He watched her laugh at something another patron said.

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Just as he thought, as soon as the clock struck midnight, Cloud leaned over and gave Tifa what looked like an affectionate kiss on her cheek. "Maybe by next year, I'll have a chance with her." He thought to himself as he finished his drink, placed his gil on the table and walked out of the bar.

IV. Girlfriend

~Elena~

She sat on a stool by the bar at the ShinRa party, hoping beyond hope that Tseng would show up. Of course she heard from almost everyone that she talked to that there was no way that Tseng would make an appearance, the President had a better chance of attending than Tseng.

It took her several hours to decide what she was going to wear. At first, she decided to wear a black dress, to show off some of her looks, but then she changed her mind several times before finally deciding on her regular uniform. She remembered hearing him say that he didn't like to see ShinRa employees out of uniform, even if it was a social event. However, she did decide to wear a bit more make up than she usually would, to make herself seem a bit more beautiful.

So now, several hours later, she sat at the bar, several sheets to the wind, she was still waiting for Tseng to show up. Of course as drunk as she was, Tseng could have shown up and she wouldn't have known it. She just sat and stewed angrily about the unfairness of dead flower merchants getting more attention than an actual living girl. Where was the fairness in life?!

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Elena picked up her glass and held in front of her and said in a loud voice, "I swear that next year Tseng is finally going to notice me! And we're going to get married and have very beautiful children together!" She said as she took a large gulp of her drink and then slammed it on the table.

The next day at work, after seeing the sorry state of all his workers, the large mess to clean up and the countless complaints, Rufus stated in a very public speech (much to the complete dismay of Reno) that there would be no more ShinRa sponsored parties for the foreseeable future.