Work Text:
“Oh, please don’t worry,” Aerith said sweetly into the PHS, even as she anxiously paced the length of the living room and back. “Of course…” she continued, straining to listen. “The storm, and it being Christmas Day tomorrow… No no no, we can wait it’s no trouble… thank you, yes… Merry Christmas to you too!”
She snapped the PHS shut with a frustrated huff, then shivered. A glance out of the cabin’s windows showed a valley swirling with snow as the weak winter sun set behind white-capped mountains. Snow gathered on trees and danced in the air, catching on fence posts and mounding in great, unpassable drifts across the roads. This should have been beautiful, and under different circumstances Aerith would have enjoyed watching the storm, but tonight she could only gaze out with a mounting sense of desolation as the last rays of light died and darkness crawled in their wake. The temperature, already somewhere around freezing, was rapidly starting to drop, and with the electricity blown out the cabin sat in chilly, isolated darkness. The gloom of the storm seemed to seep inside the walls, causing gooseflesh to prickle on her skin while somewhere above, a floorboard creaked. Just the wind, Aerith told herself, rubbing at her arms. Just the wind.
Laughter from the cabin’s small kitchen caught her attention. She poked her head around the door to make out the shadow of Tifa on her hands and knees, half-in and half-out of a cupboard as she fiddled with a fuse box hidden at the back. Zack was crouched beside her, one hand helpfully shining a torch over her shoulder, the other less helpfully resting on the curve of one firm ass cheek. He grinned and flicked the torch up at her, and something in Aerith’s chest loosened slightly. Her eyes lingered on Zack’s hand casually stroking Tifa’s ass, before travelling up to her narrow waist and back down to thick, toned thighs. Suddenly she was a little less chilly, too.
“Any luck with the BnB owners?” Zack asked.
“No.” Aerith sighed. “They can’t get an engineer out until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. We’ll have to make do until then.”
The thought had her shivering once more. Zack stood and chaffed her arms to get some blood flowing, before wrapping her in a hug. At his loving touch Aerith felt tears spring to her eyes. The cabin in the middle of nowhere had been her idea, a silly fancy of getting them all away from the stress of the holidays, only to end up with the stress of spending Christmas Eve stuck in a drafty, dark, dank cabin. She knew Tifa was missing out on peak business in the bar for this, and the boys had made time by cancelling a whole week of deliveries. Guilt made her throat seize, but Zack sensed her little hiccups and held her tighter.
“It’s okay.” He murmured into her cold ear, then kissed it with his soft, warm lips.
“I feel like I’ve spoiled Christmas.” She muttered against his chest.
“You have not.” Tifa had stood up, wiping her hands on a rag before ducking under one of Zack’s large arms to crowd into the hug. Aerith breathed in the scent of her cinnamon shampoo, sighed it back out at the feel of Tifa’s lips pressed to her temple. “You’ve brought us all together, and nothing could be better.”
A sudden, cold gust made them collectively gasp as the kitchen backdoor flew open, letting in flurries of snow as a bundled-up figure stepped inside. For a moment, the figure was nothing but shadow backlit by the unnatural light of the storm, but then the shadows resolved into arms laden with a basket of logs. Aerith hurried to shut the door as Zack reached for the basket, and Tifa pulled down a snow-speckled scarf.
It revealed Cloud, cheeks and nose red from the cold, lips quirked up in a crooked smile.
“Did I interrupt something?” he asked, blue-green eyes sparkling. Tifa laughed and reached up to place a gentle kiss on his chapped lips.
“Nothing that can’t be continued… After we get the fire lit.”
Aerith whole-heartedly agreed and went to help Zack in the living room, relieved beyond measure to see him already crouched over the fireplace, blowing gently on smoking twigs to coax tiny flames into life. Aerith watched him for a moment, melting slightly at the way her lover gently and intently drew forth the fire, patience evident as he fed it small scraps until it began to crackle merrily. Soon, the whole room would be filled with warmth and light. She went about shutting doors and drawing curtains, determined to speed up the process. Cloud, now stripped of his coat and scarf, wondered into the living room with a bottle of wine and four glasses. Tifa appeared with duvets, pillows and blankets pulled off the beds upstairs, and between the four of them they pushed back furniture and made a nest right in front of the fire, padded out with couch cushions, pillows, and whatever else they could find.
“Should we drag the mattresses down too?” Tifa started to get up, but Zack caught her wrist and pulled her down, right on top of him.
“Nah,” He said, cuddling her close. “This is good.”
They laughed, and Aerith opened the wine. Soon it was gone, and another bottle opened. The fire grew, spreading warmth and light as they laughed and chatted, swapping stories and memories. Outside the storm raged, but was quickly forgotten as a different heat began to build. Cloud snuggled close to Zack, leaning in to press a kiss to his neck. Zack sighed and gently tipped Cloud’s chin up to meet his lips. Aerith watched, enchanted, as Tifa stroked down Zack chest on his other side, hand sliding beneath blankets and doing something that made Zack inhale sharply. At the sound, Aerith felt her heart jump and she crawled over to press soft kisses against Tifa’s shoulder, hand sliding around her waist and up her shirt. The evening dissolved in sighs of pleasure, skin pressed to sweat-slicked skin, a tangle of limbs and whispered endearments by firelight.
Only Aerith heard the tapping at the window, and would have said something, but that was the moment Cloud pressed himself into her and she felt her mind go briefly blank with pleasure, all else falling away.
Some hours later found them curled around each other in the nest of blankets, fire burning low in the grate. The room was now stuffy with heat and sex, not that anyone cared. Pale skin gleamed where a blanket slipped from one bare shoulder, or was folded back to expose a long, muscled thigh. The wind had died down outside, and the only sounds, except for the crackling of the fire, were the content sighs of four utterly spent lovers.
Tifa stretched with a yawn. “Anyone hungry? I’ll fetch snacks.” It was a brave offer. Any room outside of the cozy living room would certainly be below freezing. There was a murmur of dissent, countered by an audible gurgle from Zack’s ever hungry stomach. He looked up sheepishly, and Tifa laughed. She stood, naked and glorious in the firelight, and scooped up the nearest garment. It happened to be Cloud’s woolly chocobo Christmas jumper. It drew tight across her chest and barely covered her ass, but the sleeves fell past her hands. She rolled them up as she picked her way over the others.
“I’ll be right back.”
Aerith and Zack snuggled closer, closing the gap Tifa’s body had left. Cloud watched her go, desire rekindling in half-lidded eyes. Wordlessly, he rolled himself up to follow, wrapped only in a blanket. Aerith snorted as he left the room. “Think those snacks might be a while.”
Zack hummed in agreement and pressed his face into the crook of her neck. One of his big hands smoothed up her naked thigh, ghosting over her ribs to cup one small, pert breast. Aerith arched into his touch, finding hunger in her own desire. Zack gently pushed her onto her back and began kissing down her body, lips worshipping every dip and scar as he moved south.
“I guess I’ll just have to eat-”
His awful, silly, sexy pun was interrupted by creaking from above them. He paused and huffed a laugh.
“Did they go upstairs?” he wondered aloud. “Must be freezing up there.”
Aerith strained to listen. The creaking came again, and it did sound like footsteps. Suddenly she remembered the tapping on the window from earlier and a spiral of fear wound through her.
“Zack, before, did you hear…?” She trailed off at different noise that came from above. It sounded like a marble being dropped on uneven floor, rolling along the wooden floorboards. They both frowned up at the ceiling, The footsteps came again, quicker now, pacing back and forth across the floor.
“What are they doing up there?” Zack said, but at that moment Cloud and Tifa spilled into the living room from the kitchen door, breathless and giggling. Tifa clutched a few bags of chips in one hand, the other steadying herself with an arm around Cloud neck. He held her tightly, kissing every inch of skin possible while Tifa laughed, propelled backwards until they collapsed in a heap next to Zack and Aerith in the nest. Cloud didn’t stop, hands sliding up the Christmas jumper as Tifa half-heartedly threw the chips at Zack.
“Sorry,” she panted as Cloud’s lips found a nipple. “Didn’t have time to plate them up.”
She hardly looked sorry. Her beautiful face was pink and flushed as she grasped Cloud’s face to bring him up for a kiss. Zack and Aerith watched, amused, as Cloud crawled up her body to obey, Christmas jumper rumpled up somewhere between them.
Aerith glanced up at the ceiling again. The footsteps had stopped. Had that been Cloud and Tifa upstairs? But that was impossible. The door to the kitchen was on the opposite side of the cabin, and there was no way to reach the stairs from there. She looked at Zack, saw him coming to the same conclusion. His frown deepened, lips thinned.
“Stay here.” He said quietly.
“Like hell.” She whispered back.
He flashed her a brief grin, as if he knew she would say that, and chucked her his shirt before pulling on some sweatpants. Cloud and Tifa noticed them dressing and paused. Aerith grinned at them, not wanting to stop their merriment.
“We’re going upstairs for our coats then out to get more firewood, while the storm isn’t so bad.”
She lent down and pressed a kiss to Cloud’s cheek, then Tifa’s lips. “It’s my turn for Tifa when I come back, Cloud.”
Tifa hummed in anticipation and Cloud grumbled something unintelligible, lips to Tifa’s throat. She closed her eyes in a happy sigh as Aerith and Zack silently slipped from the room, heading for the stairs.
XOXOXO
The hallway was dark and cold, Zack’s bulk only a shadow in the silent stairwell before her. The cottage was old, built in a time when windows were a luxury and glass expensive, and not a drop of light reached beyond the bottom of the living room door. Aerith had loved the old-world charm in the photos when she booked the cabin, but now it felt ominous, and slightly claustrophobic. Aerith shivered and wished she had picked up her PHS, even the weak light of her screen would be a comfort right now. As they crept forward, she tried to calculate the time. When had the sun set? When had they finished the second bottle of wine? How long were they all wrapped up, making love? Sunrise must be a few hours away, at least. She wished it was sooner.
A stair creaked under Zack’s foot and he froze. Aerith held her breath as she strained her ears to listen for any noise upstairs. At first it seemed like there was only silence, but she realised it was more than that. It was the eerie absence of noise she had heard only once before, in the Train Graveyard all those years ago. Suddenly, every pock in the wattle-and-daub walls seemed to be an eye watching them, every gust from the wind outside a screaming laugh. She quietly released her breath to steady her nerves even as her heart began to race and Zack crept forward once more.
They reached the narrow landing, which split off into two bedrooms and a bathroom. They paused, listening. This time, footsteps could clearly be heard, along with whatever was rolling along the floorboards. It seemed to be coming from above them and Aerith sighed as she spotted the trapdoor on the ceiling, hung slightly ajar.
“Of course, it’s coming from the attic.” She murmured, mostly to herself.
Zack followed her gaze, just as a particularly loud rush of steps went over their heads. Aerith thought she heard a quiet, childish giggle. She gasped and looked at Zack, but he was frowning at the ceiling, swearing under his breath about the Buster being in the truck outside. He tensed, and in that moment several things happened at once.
Firstly, Aerith realised what her senses had been trying to tell her. This wasn’t just like the feeling she got at the Train Graveyard, this was exactly the same spooky sense of undead dread. Somewhere, a child giggled again.
Secondly, Zack reached up and flung open the attic trapdoor. It was testament to his striking height that he could even reach the handle, and before Aerith could stop him, he crouched, muscles bunching as he leapt vertically to catch the edge of the hatch and pull himself into the darkness above. Chaos ensued as he crashed into something and yelled. Something rolled along the floorboards, followed by a thud.
Aerith yelled something up at him, but it turned into a scream as one of the bedroom doors slowly creaked open. She skittered backwards to the edge of the stairs as a marble rolled out and stopped at her bare feet. Heart thundering in her chest, arms flung out to the walls either side to stop her falling, Aerith panted as she stared at the bedroom door. There, just visible in the open crack, a little white face gazed back. For a second Aerith froze, terror seizing her throat. Then the little face looked down at the marble at her feet, and back up again. There was hope in the strange, opaque eyes. Aerith swallowed her terror and forced herself to breathe. The face did not move. Slowly, she shuffled away from the edge of the stairs. She bent down to the marble, managing not to flinch when the bedroom door creaked open further to reveal a tiny, ghostly figure stood in the doorway. It was smiling, Aerith realised, and so very young. Oh Ifrit, so very, very young. Her fears vanished as her heart broke for the small spirit before her. Gently, she rolled the marble back and was rewarded with the echo of a childish laugh. She smiled, just as two sets of feet came thundering up from below.
Cloud and Tifa rushed up the stairs in a semi-naked tangle of limbs and blankets. Tifa still had Cloud’s Christmas jumper on, and Cloud was tripping over a blanket wrapped around his waist. In one hand he held an empty wine bottle like a club.
“What’s wrong?” Tifa cried, panting and scanning the shadowy darkness. “We heard screaming!”
Aerith turned to them, just as a dazed Zack stuck his head out of the attic hatch above.
“M’okay…” he mumbled, rubbing his forehead. “There’s a lot of crap up here. Who keeps loose marbles in a dark attic?”
Aerith laughed, a rush of relief that flushed away the last of her worries.
“I think we have a little friend.” She said and looked back to the bedroom door. To her surprise, it was empty, no little face visible. The others stared at the space too, confused.
“Oh. Perhaps a shy little friend.” She crouched again and smiled into the empty doorway. “It’s okay, little one. You can come out.”
For a good minute, nothing happened. All four stared at the empty space, unsure of what was going to happen next. Cloud shifted, and Tifa put a staying hand on his arm. Then, suddenly, without warning, a single marble rolled gently out of the door to stop at Aerith’s feet.
XOXOXO
The rest of the night passed without incident. They retired back downstairs to build up the fire. Cloud and Aerith went out for more logs, Tifa and Zack made snacks. They ate and laughed, dressed properly in pyjamas and snuggled down to sleep in their improvised nest. The morning found them lounging around, drinking coffee made in a cast iron pot over the fire and opening presents. It was, after all, Christmas Day. The storm had passed, and the valley was a spectacular white blanket of fresh snow. They were just making plans to go out for a walk when there was a polite knock at the door. Aerith answered it, curious about who would be visiting on such a day, and how the hell they got here. An older woman was on the doorstep, squat and round with a merry, pink face and wiry grey hair sticking out beneath a woolly hat. Aerith stared down, surprised.
“Hello dear, hope you don’t mind me popping by.”
Then she recognised the voice. “Oh! You’re the BnB owner! We spoke yesterday.”
“Yes, well I just wanted to make sure you young folk are alright. I felt terrible about the power outage, during Christmas- of all times!”
Her accent was wonderfully mid-west matron, and it made Aerith smile. “We were fine. How did you get up here? I thought all the roads were closed.”
The woman thumbed over her shoulder to a snowmobile sitting pretty in the morning sun. “Gotta have one to live around here, you know. I called by last night. I felt awful you know, thinking about you folk all cold and dark in the cabin, and brought some more logs for the fire.” Here, the woman paused, and blushed. “I er, tapped on the window but I guess you folk were… busy.”
Aerith stifled a laugh, suddenly remembering the tapping on the window she heard last night, right in the middle of a rigorous bout of passion. She coughed and grinned. “I guess we were.”
The woman was suddenly looking anywhere but at Aerith. “Yes. Well. Nothing wrong with that, dear. Well, I just wanted to make sure you and your… friends were okay. Can I get you anything? You okay for food? The engineer says he’ll be out as soon as the turkey’s cooked and eaten.”
Aerith laughed, shaking her head. Then she hesitated. The old woman smiled up at her, waiting. Aerith dropped a hand into the pocket of her dressing gown, fingers touching something round and cool. For a moment she considered the marble in her pocket, and the little face that had gazed up at her last night. There was a loneliness in that gaze, she thought, a longing for connection. Slowly she withdrew the marble and held it out to the old woman.
“I think there is someone you should meet.”