It rarely snowed in Midgar.
Zack stood on the roof of the SOLDIER 1st Class' apartment building, watching the fat flakes drift down through the Mako tinted night. Every crystal glittered and glowed in the green spill from the nearby Mako reactors like jewels carelessly strewn through the bitter cold night.
He opened his gloved hand and let the flakes settle on his palm, watching them flare for a moment, before dying a wet death and dripping to the floor. Tears of ice, falling instead of his own.
Lifting his cold face to the cloudy sky, for a moment there was no snow, only a flurry of soft, silvery feathers, kissing his reddened cheeks. And then the emptiness and the ice returned, settling deep in his heart, where only warmth and joy had been before.
The snow continued to fall, unnoticed.
