Author's Note: Disclaimer found below.

Warnings: Shonen-ai if you squint, but it doesn't have to be read that way; they do refer to each other as brothers, after all. More importantly, there's a bit of angst and definitely some horror/squick in here. Beware!

Explanation: Short piece spawned by the evil belief that there should be one of these in ever fandom. XD

Well Done

When they'd found the cabin, they'd thought it was a gift from Mother. They broke the lock, stumbled in out of the cold white world, and took refuge from the wind. Before long, they had a fire going - there was no lack of firewood - and were able to huddle together in front of the fireplace, wrapped in the large quilts from the bed.

By nightfall, they realized that there was no food, and nowhere for them to go. They couldn't even try to leave until the storm broke.

It was ten days without food before the sky showed blue through the high, small windows of the cabin.

Kadaj was the smallest of them. On the tenth day, he couldn't rise. He curled in front of the fire and trembled and finally slept, too exhausted to even be angry that the storm had lasted so long.

For a few hours, Loz and Yazoo could only sit with him, still and hopeless. Then Yazoo crawled to the far side of the one-room cabin, and drew his gunblade.

He stared at it in his lap for a long time before he finally reached up and began to unfasten his coat.

Loz staggered toward his brother, blanket clutched around his shoulders, and flopped down to sit next to him. "What are you doing?" He asked in a low voice. He didn't want to wake Kadaj - he'd suffer less if he slept.

"We have to get out of here," Yazoo murmured, shrugging his coat from his shoulders.

"Yeah, I know."

"But we can't. Now that the storm's broke, we're too weak. We'll die if we try to leave now. We can't make it with only two of us even able to walk."

"There's snowshoes," Loz said uncertainly. "And some planks. We can make a sledge and drag Kadaj."

Yazoo stared down at the gunblade in his lap again, shivering. "Do you have the strength left to do that for long? We don't even know how far we have to go."

Loz was quiet for a bit, frowning. Admitting defeat did not come easy for him.

Yazoo took a deep breath. "So we need to eat something. At least... Kadaj does..." He rubbed at the gooseflesh on his upper arm, pinching a little and frowning. "We've still got the Heal Materia. It can't give us sustenance on its own, but maybe..."

"None of us are strong enough to cast much of a Cure spell."

"I know."

Loz looked at the sharpened edge of the gunblade, then at Yazoo, whose limbs were more thin than his own. He lay his hand over Yazoo's on the gunblade. "Let me do it."

Kadaj awoke to the scent of meat cooking over the fire, and tore into the offered food without question. They struck out as soon as they could, and reached the next town before the second nightfall.

He knew better than to ask where the meat had come from. Loz limped the entire way.

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII, its story, and characters are the property, copyright and trademark of Square Electronic Arts L.L.C., and no ownership or claim on said property, copyright or trademark is made or implied by their use in the work(s) of fan fiction presented here. This fan fiction constitutes a personal comment on the aforesaid properties pursuant to doctrines of fair use and fair comment. This fan fiction is non-commercial, not for sale or profit, and may not be sold or reproduced for commercial purposes.