DISCLAIMER: I do not own FF7 or its characters, they are the sole property of Square-Enix. With that being said...

I'm taking a detour from The Life of Aeris Gainsborough and just playing around and putting some random things together. Hope you enjoy!

Final Fantasy VII Compendium

LifeStream

The river flows on forever,
Courses through our veins
Connecting us together
And every life it sustains

We live, we grow, we perish
and to the planet return
Leaving behind all we cherish
To begin new life in turn

Our thoughts and minds combine
Joining memories and dreams
Into a beautiful design
That's much more than it seems

Amid the ocean of light
We find the promised land together
Bathed in peace, our spirits take flight
And the river flows on forever

The Road Stretches On

The sky was blue...
A vast sea overhead broken only by soft white clouds that gently drifted across on currents of air high above. The breeze below was warm and bent the grass as it blew across the plain making waves on land. A lonely road weaved its way around the rolling hills and was traveled on this day by a man dressed in black and riding a motorcycle he called Fenrir. He was working, on his way to deliver a package, and didn't notice how beautiful it was today. His phone buzzed at his hip, but he ignored it for now. I'll check who called when I'm done. He thought to himself as he rode on.

When he was moving, he felt in control. He decided where he was going and how fast he was going to get there and he took comfort in that, especially when so many times his world had spun out of control. He was happy he had this one thing at least that was constant. His friends were always there, he knew, but they looked to him to take charge and be the leader. The responsibility sometimes made him feel more alone than when he isolated himself. He had one of those moments when this job had come up and he was eager to take it. Before anyone had much of a chance to say anything, he got on Fenrir and rode off letting them know he'd be back soon.

He would have to face whatever he left when he did return, but he was thankful for the reprieve. His phone buzzed again and after a few minutes, he decided to check the display to see if maybe it was something serious. Tifa had sent him a text message probably figuring he wasn't going to answer her calls and that he would at least glance at his phone to see who it was. He opened the text and read what she had written:

/Fenrir is burning thru oil. Tried 2 tell u b4 u left./

As if on cue, the engine started smoking and grinding and he was forced to pull to the side of the road.

"You've gotta be kidding me." He said to himself feeling the crushing blow of irony hit him hard. He kicked the stand, got off the bike and dialed Tifa. Then an unexpected message flashed on his screen.

/Lost Signal/

Cursing and swearing, he moved his phone all around trying to find the signal again. He ran back the way he had come and then out the way he was going and still nothing. He wanted to smash his phone against the ground and stomp on it until it was nothing but shattered bits of plastic.

"What the hell?!" He ranted, yelling at the phone. "I just got a text, how is this suddenly a dead zone?! You piece of....!" He threw it with all his might out into the field and watched as it soared through the air and finally came down, hitting the ground with a satisfying thud. Suddenly feeling very foolish, he dropped his head and rubbed the back of his neck. He looked down the road behind him and was glad that nobody had seen him do that. Then he heard the faint sound of his ringtone. "Great, now I have a signal. Wait..." I never took it off vibrate.

He waded into the waist high grass walking cautiously toward the sound. It never stopped playing and it took him a few minutes to get to it. Once he found it, he looked down at it for a minute wondering if he had broken it, then he glanced around him for movement in case this was some sort of trap. Finally, he crouched down and picked it up and immediately it stopped ringing. The display lit up telling him he had missed a call. He checked who it had been, but there was no number. It beeped at him, he had gotten a new text message from he guessed was the same person. Reluctantly he opened it and took a sharp breath in.

/You need to relax. It's a beautiful day, why don't you enjoy it?/

He closed his phone and looked up at the sky. "It's not always that easy." He said aloud not really knowing if there was anyone listening. A gust of wind swept past him and gently ruffled his spiky blond hair and he swore he felt soft fingertips caress his face. "Fine, you win."

He laid back in a soft patch of grass and sighed. He watched the clouds change shapes as they sped across the sky. His eye settled on one that looked like a chocobo and thought to himself he needed to deliver his package, but he remained on the ground tracking this cloud as it passed by. Soon it altered and became a tonberry and he cringed remembering his encounters with the deadly creatures, but it didn't stay very long. It was a boot, a sword, a shuriken and finally morphed into a flower before it drifted out of sight.

"It's been awhile..." He said, plucking a flower from beside him and spinning it around between his thumb and forefinger. He watched as the petals twirled around and thought about the last time he had seen her. After he had defeated Sephiroth again, after he had been cured of his geostigma, was shot in the chest and woke up in the pool that had formed in the church. She had been there, waiting for him to wake up. Then she left with Zack back into the light. "I...I guess everything did turn out alright. It's hard to see it sometimes though."

He didn't say anything for awhile, just listened to the wind blowing through the grass and stared up into the endless blue sky. "It is a beautiful day." He finally admitted to himself feeling calm and relaxed. His phone beeped and he turned his attention back to it. Another text message.

/Better get back to your bike now./

He smiled to himself and decided to go along with it. "Why not?" He picked himself up, brushed off the dirt and dead grass and trekked back to the road where he had left Fenrir. When he got to his bike he checked it over. This is going to take awhile to fix up. He thought and checked his phone again. Still no signal... He looked around, then gazed back up to the sky. "Am I missing something here?" As he spoke he heard a vehicle in the distance coming his way. It sounded old. As it came into view his jaw went slack. The truck was old and rusty, but still ran fairly well. The driver, spotting him, pulled over and stuck his head out the window.

"Hey there son," He called out, "do you need some help?"

At first, he just nodded dumbfounded then pulled his thoughts together. "Yeah, my bike broke down. Can't get a signal. I was on my way to make a delivery."

"Where 'ya headed?" He asked.

"Chocobo Ranch."

"I'm passing by there." He got out of his truck and inspected the bike. "Why don't we load this up and I'll drop you off on my way." Together they wrestled the bike up into the truck bed and strapped it down securely. Then he jumped into the cab with the driver and they drove away. The driver, an aged man who had obviously worked hard his whole life, glanced sideways at him from time to time and kept getting a perplexed look on his face.

"Do I know you, son?" He asked finally, his face crinkled from frowning. "I'm gettin' the feeling we've met before."

"I...well, I don't think we actually met..." He stammered and rubbed the back of his neck. "I think you gave my friend and me a ride once...awhile back."

"Midgar!" He shouted in triumph as the memory returned to him. "That's right! Hard to believe I forgot, I should've remembered that hair of yours. Of course you were in sorry shape then. You don't even seem to be the same person."

"...You could say that."

"That friend of yours though, I don't think he stopped talking for more than a few minutes that whole trip." He shook his head as he thought back to that long drive. "You two seemed to be pretty close though. I thought you were family the way he was taking care of you. It's hard to find a friend like that. Where is he now?"

"He, uh...he died."

"Oh, now I'm sorry to hear that, son." He said sincerely, "Be glad, though. Be glad you had a friend like him. Like I said, they are hard to come by."

He sat back a moment and absorbed his words. His phone buzzed and he looked down. Twelve missed calls and four text messages. He smiled to himself and closed his phone and held it tightly in his hand reminding himself how fortunate he was.

"Yeah, they are hard to come by."

Before long they came up to the ranch and the driver helped him unload Fenrir. "There ya go." He said once they were done. "Do you need anything else now?"

"No, actually." He said with a smirk, "I think I'm good."

"You know, I don't think I ever caught your name."

"Cloud."

"Cloud huh?" He extended his hand, "I'm glad I could help ya again, Cloud."

"Me too." Cloud said as he took his hand. "Thanks again."

The driver got back in his truck and drove off, rolling down his window and waving one last time before he was out of sight. Cloud stood there and went over how his day had unfolded. He had thought that a quick ride was what he needed to get his head together. It turned out to be nothing like he expected. He looked at his phone again and thought, I always have more than I think I do.

"Thank you." He said softly glancing at the flower he had picked in the valley. The breeze picked up again and gave him a warm embrace as if to say, You're welcome. Looking back down the road again, he wondered where it would take him and he began to hum a familiar tune to himself. "Do, Re, Mi, Ti, La, Do, Re, Mi, So, Fa, Do, Re, Do."

A/N Thank you for reading! The short story about Cloud is set after AC and a little before DoC. I plan on adding more short stories and poems every now and then when I take a break from my other writing. Hopefully it won't suck. Thanks again and please R&R.