Summary: Somebody has a very cruel sense of humor when it comes to Christmas gifts... Pity Cloud and Tifa! PITY THEM!
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I don't own the song in its original form. I do, however, own this new version of it!
Queen's Quornor: Day five. I think it's time they got something nice, don't you? Besides, I always wonder what it must look like when Yuffie does her little jump-in, jump-out trick in Wutai.
Day Five
On the fifth day of Yuletide, someone evil sent to me...
"Mother, there's somebody at the door!"
Tifa cursed. She was elbow-deep in cookie dough, with Kadaj and Yazoo helping her turn it into cookies. Loz was out in the bar, watching for their mysterious gift-giver. Unfortunately, since the security camera was useless in catching footage of the man (or woman), the only instruction she had been able to give him was 'watch for anybody suspicious'.
It just figured that 'somebody suspicious' would show up at the exact moment she was unable to run to the door and kick his (or her) ass.
"Cloud! Door!" she screeched.
Heavy boots pounded down the stairs a moment later, followed by the surprised curses of two still drunk Turks. Reno and Rude were mobile today, something Tifa was yet unable to declare either blessing or curse. They hadn't done anything yet, but they also hadn't done anything yet.
They would sooner or later. Drunks always did.
The front door banged against the wall, and the martial artist listened for either her friend's call to 'come look at this' or (hopefully) the sounds of a chase. A chase would mean that Cloud had identified the likely giver, and was in hot pursuit.
She got neither.
Cloud came back inside a moment later, shutting the door quietly behind him. Tifa looked up from her dough just as he and Loz entered the kitchen, each carrying a pair of small, glowing...
"Materia?" she asked, surprised.
"Mastered." Cloud put his three down on the table and Loz put the two remaining orbs beside them. "We've got a Bahamut Zero Summon, am Elemental, a Luck Increase, an Earth, and an Ice."
Yazoo reached out and picked up the Ice materia. "Who left them here?" he asked softly.
"Somebody who's been giving us people to take care of," Tifa told him. "Like you three."
The Remnants beamed, and Cloud rolled his eyes. Tifa was growing fond of the three silver-hairs, but her friend most definitely was not. He still saw them as a threat, even though they hadn't done anything threatening yet. They didn't even have their weapons!
"So what will you do with this materia?" Kadaj asked, reaching for a tree-shaped cookie cutter.
"Keep it, of course," his adopted mother replied, rolling out some dough. "We just have to make sure that..."
"Materia!" Yuffie leapt out of nowhere, snatched the materia, and disappeared into the bar. Cloud and Tifa exchanged looks, and the swordsman raced after the ninja.
They both hated it when Yuffie did that.
...five mastered materia, four Shadowfoxes, three Remanents, two drunk Turks, and a clumsy little thieving brat.