FFVII ~ 7 minutes in Heaven: Angeal

Special Setting:
The night after the party you go to sleep in your bed, laughing at all that had happened. No sooner do you close your eyes, you reopen them to find yourself back in the living-room, where the party had been. The room is full of people you have never met. You look around and spot three males sitting just away from you on the sofa, all looking at you. One of them smiles.
“You didn't think we'd let our old friends have all the fun, did you?”
You take a step back.
“What do you mean?”
”Let's just say we all used to know Cloud...”
“No, I mean what do you mean by have all the fun.”
One of the males, a boy with black hair and a goofy grin on his face, says,
“You're playing seven minutes in heaven with us!”
You nearly fall over.
“C-come again?”
To cut a long story short, you realise you must be dreaming and decide to play along with it. You end up sitting in between two of the males, and then the third passes you a...
“A glove?”
The boy shrugs.
“It's all we've got.”
You laugh and pull out a piece of paper. What's on it?
“W-w-wings...?” You say.
The stuttering isn't because you're nervous, not at all, it's more to do with the fact that you're freezing. You don't even know why you're so cold. From the moment you woke up in this place you had been feeling a cold chill running up and down your spine. It doesn't help that you're only wearing your pyjamas.
One of the three stands up – the oldest looking. He has thick black hair and a firm jaw. In your opinion he doesn't really seem the type to be playing this sort of game...
You shrug. It's only a dream. Anything can happen...which is really what you're dreading most.
The pair of you walk across the room to the closet, then the younger black-haired boy with the goofy grin closes the door behind you two, blocking off the light and a lot of the sounds from outside.
You walk forward and put your hands firmly on the back wall, holding yourself steady, then you turn round and lean your back against it, crossing your arms in front of you.
You can't tell where the man is so you stop moving- even holding your breath- to try and figure out where he is. That's when your teeth start chattering. Damn it's cold!
“Are you cold?” says a voice from the other side of the closet. You roll your eyes.
“W-well isn't that o-obvious?!”
You hear a half-hearted laugh, then shuffling. Your eyes widen when you realise he's walking over to you. You ask,
“W-what are y-y-you doing?”
Before you can say anything else, you can see him right in front of you, he's so close. You start to panic.
“H-hey!”
“Here.” He says softly. You have no idea what's going on until you feel his arms encircling you. You let out a yelp and throw your hands out, shoving him hard in the chest and sending him stumbling backwards. You hear a crash, knowing you've sent him to the floor.
You're still panicking... until you feel something drop across your shoulders. You don't know what it is so you reach a hand up and touch whatever it is. You feel soft material.
You frown, puzzling over what it could be. You pull it off your shoulders and hold it in front of your face, trying to view it in the dark. In the end you realise it's a jacket.
'Ohhh, snap-' you think. '- he was only trying to give me his jacket to wear...'
“Umm.. excuse me..?” You say, putting the jacket back on to show his attempts were not in vain. “Thank you for the jacket... and sorry for pushing you away.”
There is a short pause where you hear the movements of the man rising to his feet, then he says in an annoyed tone.
“When a man offers you his coat you're supposed to be grateful...not assault him.”
“Sorry...” you say quietly. There's a short silence again, and then the man says,
“My name is Angeal, what's yours?”
“Oh, it's _____.”
“Well, _____, despite your actions, it's a pleasure to meet you.”
“You too...”
Angeal seems to realise there's something bothering you.
“What's the matter?”
“Nothing!... well... it's just-” You stop, not really wanting to say the next part.
“What is it?”
You sigh nervously.
“You're a guy.”
He doesn't reply. You don't know what to do next so an almost awkward silence washes over you. It's he who breaks the silence again.
“Being a man... is a problem to you?”
“Well yeah. I have this thing... this weird thing. I just don't trust guys, that's all.”
Angeal almost smiles. “But this is a dream. I can't hurt you.”
“It doesn't feel like a dream though! I felt cold! That doesn't happen in a dream!”
He smiles. “You do catch on quick, _____.”
You almost stumble over yourself. “W-what? Care to repeat that?”
You're right. This isn't a dream. It's an alternate universe.”
“Are...are you serious!? That means you're rea-...” The words fade from your lips as it dawns on you that you are stood in a small space, completely pitch black, with a guy you have never met before.
“Are you okay, _____? You look worried.”
You laugh nervously. “Do I? Sorry... I just... I need to get out of he-”
“I won't be trying anything with you if that's what you're worried about.”
You look at him curiously. “Really?” You frown. “Aren't you out to get what all other guys are out to get?”
He raises his eyebrow. “And what exactly is that?”
“Well... you know...it.”
“It?” He says, laughing at your innocence. “No, don't worry. My honour is too high to do something so horrible to a defenceless girl.”
“R-really?”
He nods. “Don't worry, I'm safe.” He pauses. “Though I am intrigued as to why you are so afraid of men. Would you mind talking to me about it?”
He sits down on the floor, then looks up at you patiently, waiting. You are quite shocked. He seems to be very different...
You slowly make your way to the floor, sitting down on it and crossing your legs, then you proceed to tell him the reason.
It turns out that your father left when you were just a baby, so you never really knew him, and from then on your mother had been planting horrible thoughts of him into your head, but not only him, but the whole of the male race – horrible, nasty thoughts that scared you from a young age. Having grown up with those ideas, its hard for you to even speak to a man, let alone anything else.
Angeal listens to you intently, rather intrigued by the whole thing. After you're finished he says,
“But surely... you don't believe all men are like that, do you?”
“Umm.. well... until recently I though they were.”
Angeal raises his eyebrow. “Oh really? What changed your mind?”
You become nervous and lower your head. “Well... it's just... you... you haven't tried anything... and you're listening to what I have to say. It totally contradicts what my mother used to tell me so... maybe...”
Angeal gives you a sympathetic smile, though he is filled with a sudden sense of pride as he has been the one to change – if only slightly – your views on the world.
The room fills with light as the goofy-grinning boy opens the closet door and looks between the pair of you.
“Oh man, you really didn't do anything? After all the trouble we took getting her here!?” He turns and walks away, laughing to himself. Angeal smiles.
“I guess our time tonight is up then...” He picks himself up off the ground then looks down at you. He offers you his hand and gives you a reassuring smile. You look at his hand, then at his face, then back at his hand. You reach yours out slowly and slip it into his palm. You seem to get a little shock from the touch, not really used to the feeling of holding hands with a guy before, so when Angeal wraps his hand around yours and pulls you up off the floor, your stomach erupts with butterflies and you're even somewhat saddened that he removes his hand from yours in the end. He steps aside and says politely,
“Ladies first.”
“Thank you... Angeal.”
You walk through the threshold of the closet, back into the living-room, only to have a lot of eyes lock onto you.
'So... so many guys...this is bad- I need to wake up- wait... Angeal said it wasn't a dream... how do I get out of here? ALL OF THESE GUYS ARE REAL!'
You panic, really beginning to wish you weren't here. That's when Angeal stands beside you and looks at your face. He whispers down to you, “So many males... I don't believe that's fair on you.”
He walks off into the room. You watch him go and stand there, not really knowing what to do. A moment later you see Angeal reappearing with a girl with long brown hair, held in a plait. They walk up to you and Angeal says,
“You'll only be here for another ten or so minutes so I think spending it in comfort would be best. This is Aerith.”
The girl steps forward. “Hello, ____. Angeal told me you don't like men all too much, so follow me out the back! It's where we girls go to escape at these parties.”
“Really?”
Oh dear sweet sanctuary!
You follow Aerith through the crowds, sticking very close to her until you are both outside.
It's seven minutes later and your realise you're still wearing Angeal's jacket. You turn to Aerith and say,
“I better get this back to Angeal before I go.”
She gives you a smile. “Okay, ____. It was lovely meeting you. Please say hello to Cloud and the others for me when you see them.”
You give her a smile and nod. “I will!”
You get up from the ground and make your way into the house again. You slip through the crowds again, making your way into the main room. You look around, spotting Angeal getting up from a sofa. You walk over to him and clear your throat, catching his attention.
“Ah! There you are.”
You take the jacket off and hold it out to him. “Here you go. Thank you again for letting me borrow it.”
He looks at your cautious face and smiles. He takes the jacket from you and says,
“____.... if you wouldn't mind... perhaps we could go on a date the next time you're here?”
You look at him, unsure of what to say. “W-well... I...I don't know.. I don't even know when we'll see each other again.”
“Tomorrow night.” He pauses. “Please honour me with a date. I would like to get to know you better.” He gives you a smile. “And of course, no funny business.”
You giggle at his expression and nod your head. “I would... I would love to go on a date with you, Angeal.”
He smiles. “I'm glad.” He bows slightly. “Well, until tomorrow night then.”
Your eyes widen in shock as Angeal starts to fade, along with everything else around you. You don't know what to say. It's so strange. Everything is dissolving away to nothing...
“See you... Angeal.”
Your eyes open. You sit up and rub the sleep away. There is a bird chirping outside. You get out of bed and walk over to your window, watching it sing in the morning lights. You smile to yourself, clutching the piece of paper with the drawing of a pair of wings on it.
“I'll look forward to our date...Angeal.”