A/N: And thus we mark the first of my Christmas Gift stories leading up to Christmas. This one is a gift for WynterSolstice0332 on deviantART who requested a story about Zack.
So! I'm thinking that in a few days I will post another Christmas related story and so on and so forth until we reach Christmas! I have a lot to write but I'm certain I will succeed. And I really hope you enjoy reading my Christmas-related stories! There will also be a few that aren't related to Christmas at all, but they're mostly just overdue kiribans/prizes that I still haven't finished for people ^^;
I'm wanting to enter the new year with no out-dated requests or anything so that I can feel lovely and refreshed. =]
Without further ado... ENJOY!
Zack was stuck. Completely, irrevocably and beyond any doubt, stuck.
It wasn't his fault at all, just for the record. He had been doing everything exactly as he had been told, but something had gone wrong and he had ended up in this very situation. So, naturally, he blamed Angeal for giving him incorrect instructions. That had to be the problem here, and not the way he himself had carried out the instructions.
Letting out a sigh as he rolled onto his back, Zack let his mind wander over what had happened that day to lead to his current problem.
Angeal had come to him an hour ago with a box that had no visible description on it that would tell what it contained, giving it to Zack and then firmly telling him that he needed his help with decorations as he couldn't do it all by himself. Zack had promised he would help as well as he could and then had come the instructions.
The older man had told Zack that the box contained Christmas lights and that they were to be hung up around the SOLDIER floor in ShinRa – where they were during that conversation. Angeal had explained how to get them out, unroll them and carefully stick them up around the halls of the SOLDIER floor before leaving to go fetch "a Christmas tree, baubles, tinsel, and why can't Sephiroth do some of this?".
Zack, being the loyal friend he was, immediately set to work with the Christmas lights. He opened the box, took them out and unrolled them exactly how Angeal had told him to. Then he had grabbed a chair from a nearby room and began stringing them up along the corridor.
But in no time at all he had suddenly found himself twisted and tied, teetering on his feet as the Christmas lights cut off his circulation and threatened to bring him crashing to the ground. He had hopped around desperately for three minutes before the lights won out and he did in fact topple over onto the ground.
But it wasn't his fault. Either Angeal's instructions were faulty or these Christmas lights had a mind of their own and had deliberately wound around him just because they could.
Zack wasn't quite sure which of the two options he was going to go with just yet, but he was sure that if he didn't get help soon he was going to die. Yes, die. As in cease to exist.
Gulping, Zack tried to wiggle out of the Christmas lights for the hundredth time, wincing as they only dug harder into his arms and legs. Honestly, how had this happened? He had been in control of the lights and then suddenly they had been in control of him! He couldn't believe that he was so firmly tied he couldn't even get his hands up to try and pull it off of him.
"Angeal," he called pathetically, hoping that the man would randomly show up in the corridor and come to his rescue. He could really do with some rescuing right about now.
Alas, no one showed up.
Zack was fairly sure that he was now turning purple, but since he could hardly move he couldn't exactly look down to see whether what he thought was true. Since it was clear that no one was about to come and find him, he decided it was time to take matters into his own hands.
Metaphorically, of course.
Rolling over onto his stomach, Zack grinned. Next, he rolled over onto his back again. Then onto his stomach. Then onto his back. Then onto his stomach. And so on.
As Zack did all this rolling, he was slowly making his way down the corridor. If no one was going to come and find him, he would just have to go find someone who could help him. Even if it took a while.
So he rolled. And rolled. And rolled. And bumped into a wall. And rolled. And rolled. And slammed his feet against a doorpost painfully. And rolled.
Finally, after much effort and more circulation being cut off in his system, Zack found himself staring at someone's black boots.
"Help!" he immediately exclaimed, rolling over onto his back so that he could look up at whoever it was that he had found. He wanted to know the identity of his rescuer.
"...You're purple," Sephiroth said as he frowned, staring down at Zack and appearing thoughtful. "Did you know that?"
"Aha, I thought so!" Zack confirmed.
Sephiroth continued staring down at him with furrowed eyebrows and Zack squirmed, really beginning to feel the effects of having so much blood circulation cut off. He took a deep breath and plastered his puppy-dog expression on his face, staring into Sephiroth's eyes.
"Would you please get this off me, Seph?" he asked, a slight whine to his voice as he let his bottom lip tremble to add to the effect.
"Who did it to you?" Sephiroth asked.
"Wha-?" Zack frowned. "No one did it to me. It just happened. I was trying to hang them up because Angeal asked me to, but then they tangled around me and I couldn't get out! So I rolled and rolled and rolled and... found you!"
Sephiroth folded his arms and raised one eyebrow.
"This kind of thing does not just happen, Zack," he pointed out.
"But it did!" Zack protested, wriggling angrily. "I can't explain it!"
"Well in that case," Sephiroth said with a sigh, letting his arms fall to his sides again. "You got yourself into it; you can get yourself out."
With that, he stepped over Zack's form and continued striding down the corridor, leaving Zack behind to wail in despair.
It was a good ten minutes later when someone else came across Zack's bound form and stopped to see what was wrong. He was so upset from being left by Sephiroth, however, that he barely even noticed until they had bent down over him and waved a hand in front of his face.
"A-Aerith?" he asked in disbelief.
"Hello Zack," she giggled. "What on earth happened?"
"I was trying to hang them up for Angeal," Zack explained. "But then I got all tangled and couldn't get free again! So I went looking for help – I had to roll along the corridor – but when I found Sephiroth he left me here to get free myself! But I can't! I've tried!"
"Here, let me help you," Aerith offered, searching for the end of the Christmas lights and beginning to unwind them. Every now and again she had to get Zack to roll over again, but in no time at all he was freed and standing up, jogging on the spot and rubbing his arms to try and get the circulation going again.
"You have," Zack panted, "no idea how weird this feels."
"I'm just glad I was able to help! It looked really painful!" Aerith said sincerely.
"Hey, yeah!" Zack stopped his movements and fixed his gaze on her. "What are you doing here, anyway?"
"I saw Angeal out shopping," Aerith shrugged. "And he asked me to come check on you to see if you were okay. As well as that, though, he invited me to the Christmas party tonight!"
"Really? That's great!" Zack beamed. "You'll have loads of fun, trust me! Although I'm a bit annoyed I wasn't the one to invite you. I was going to! Just as soon as I finished putting these lights up."
"It's okay," Aerith smiled. "Do you want me to help you get them up now?"
"Wow," Zack said, scratching the back of his head. "That would be awesome! I kinda think... I know this sounds weird but, I think they've got something against me."
Aerith giggled lightly and picked the lights up off the ground, walking with Zack back to where he had left the chair he was using.
"I'm sure it won't take long at all to get these up with two sets of hands," Aerith said.
"Yeah," Zack grinned at her. "I've still got no idea what I would have done if you hadn't shown up."
Aerith smiled and passed one end of the lights to him, steadying the chair as he stepped up onto it and got ready to stick the lights up. Somehow, in the next moment, there was a loud crash as Zack tumbled to the ground with part of the lights wound tightly around one wrist.
"They hate me!" he exclaimed, flopping back to lie still.
Aerith laughed again and moved over to him, carefully removing the lights from his wrist and then helping him stand.
"Um," she said thoughtfully, beginning to realise just how pointless this really was for Zack to continue trying to do it himself. "How about you let me try?"
Shrugging, Zack allowed Aerith to step up onto the chair and take the end of the Christmas lights, attempting to stick them up just as he had been trying moments ago. Zack trailed his hands along the line of Christmas lights away from Aerith carefully, ensuring that there were no horrible tangles anywhere that could cause a problem.
"Almost-" Aerith said, standing on tiptoes. Zack flicked the end that Aerith wasn't holding further away to doubly ensure that it wouldn't become a problem, but part of the lights whiplashed back and caught a leg of the chair, wrapping around it tightly.
Zack had time to stare at it with wide eyes before Aerith was shrieking and coming crashing towards him. He gaped and reflexively held his arms out, catching her and then also tumbling backwards onto the floor.
"Sorry!" he apologised.
"W-what happened?" Aerith asked, trying to get up. "Um... Zack?"
"Hmm?" Zack looked at her curiously, waiting for her to continue. "What is it, Aerith?"
Aerith shifted again and then flopped down against Zack's chest with a sigh.
"I'm stuck," she said. "You were right – these lights must have something against you!"
"Oh..." Zack bit his lip and frowned, although the hint of a smile could be seen on his lips as he fixed his eyes on Aerith. "That's um... a shame."
"Zack, be serious! What are we going to do?" Aerith asked, trying to get an arm around in order to prise the Christmas lights off of them. Unfortunately, it didn't work. She simply could not move her arm around enough.
"Well, do we have to do anything?" Zack asked nonchalantly. "I mean, they're not as tight as they were last time. So we can still breathe, and everything!"
"Zack..." Aerith said in a warning tone, looking down at him with a firm expression.
"I'm serious!" Zack said. "We'll just have to wait for someone to come alone and help us out of this mess, because if we try and get out of it ourselves we'll just tangle even more. Trust me, I know from experience."
Aerith groaned and quietly murmured, "Alright, fine. But I hope someone comes and finds us soon because this is really not very comfortable at all."
Zack considered keeping his mouth shut and not commenting. But what fun would that be?
"Look on the bright side, it's not that bad. I'm pretty comfy-"
"Zack!"
"Wha-at?" Zack asked in annoyance, wondering what he had done this time to deserve such a harsh tone from Aerith. Catching her gaze, he noticed she was staring in horror down the corridor, so he quickly looked as well.
Genesis, Sephiroth and Angeal stood there watching them. Genesis could not hide his amusement, Sephiroth merely had one eyebrow raised and Angeal did not look impressed.
"Really, Zack?" Genesis asked with a laugh. "The only way you could get a girl was to literally tie her to you?"
"What? No! That's not what happened!" Zack protested as Aerith promptly buried her head in his shoulder. "These Christmas lights have got something against me!"
"Something against you?" Genesis enquired. "It certainly appears that they're working in your favour right now."
"Eheh," Zack blushed. "Okay, but can you help us up?"
Genesis turned to look at Angeal casually, seeming to ask his friend silently whether they should help Zack and Aerith. Angeal glared back at Genesis, who then shrugged and looked back to Zack apologetically.
"I'm sorry that you got pulled into this Aerith," Genesis said. "I really am."
Aerith mumbled something unintelligible but didn't lift her head.
Genesis chuckled and then said, "Well, you two have fun then."
Turning around, he, Angeal and Sephiroth walked back the way they had come and left Zack and Aerith by themselves to get out of their mess on their own.
Aerith began shaking and Zack's eyes widened as he momentarily considered the terrifying possibility that she was crying. If she was, Zack would never forgive himself. He had never wanted to make her cry, never!
"A-Aerith?" he asked tentatively.
She slowly lifted her head, showing to him the huge grin on her face as her body continued to tremble with silent laughter. As she looked at him, her laughter became audible and Zack began laughing as well, immensely thankful that she was finding amusement in the situation instead of misery.
"See? What did I tell you? You just need to look on the bright side!" Zack said happily. "And you have to admit, it's really not that uncomfortable-"
Aerith promptly stopped laughing and looked into Zack's eyes dangerously, making him gulp.
"We've had a laugh, now please get these off of us," she said.
Zack stared. "Right. How, exactly?"