Hi Everyone, this is my first fanfic ever, so please be gentle..I've been reading all of the various fanfics here for about...a year?? and now I decided to write 'em my own. So yeah, please tell me what you think, I'm sorry if I have a grammatical error, English is not my first language though.
Disclaimer : I don't own any of these characters. They belong to Squeenix.
The morning light shone through the window, leaving a trace of warmth within the sleeping figure on the bed. Mussed of blond hair bristles swiftly as the figure moved to a fully awaken state. He glanced at the alarm clock beside his bed. It was still pretty early in the morning, and he smelled a delicious aroma of pancakes. Cloud then dashed to the bathroom to brush his teeth, take a shower and get dressed. He ran down the stairs and greeted with cheer by Tifa, Marlene and Denzel. "Good morning Cloud!" Tifa smiled, "Here, have some pancakes!" Tifa put a stack of pancakes in a plate and went to the table to put it down. Cloud gave a little smile to her and on his way to the table, he realized that Marlene and Denzel were sitting on the floor, busy gluing something that looked like a scraps of colorful papers to a big book.
"Hey, what's that?" He asked. "We're making a scrapbook! Yesterday our teacher Ms. Farley taught us how to make a scrapbook. So I and Denzel decided we should try to make one at home." answered Marlene. Confused a little, he bent down to look closer and he found that besides the colorful papers, there were also bits and pieces of printed clip-arts, drawings, fancy stickers, and photos, scattered all the way on the floor. "You wanna see the photos?" asked Denzel. "Hmm…maybe later, better eat breakfast first. I'm starving…"
Cloud moved to the table and sit face to face with Tifa. "The kids woke up very early to make those scrappy things. I think it's a really good way for them to spur their creativities" Said Tifa, delicately munching on a bite of pancake. Cloud nodded, not giving any answer because he was practically busy gulping down the pancakes. Tifa laughed,"Hey Cloud, hungry much?"After swallowing a big lump, cloud managed to give a faint smile "Hmm...I just realize that you really make the best pancakes that I've ever tasted." Tifa grinned slightly and continue to eat the rest. The kids stopped their activity for a while to join the breakfast. "Hey Cloud, do you have any pictures that you want us to put on the scrapbook?" asked Marlene. Cloud looked down at the starry brown eyes before him and says "Umm... I don't think I have any photographs left, except some pictures on top of my work desk."
"Do you have any poems or some kind of writing or articles that you wish to display?"asked Denzel. Cloud shook his head"No…Don't have any of that either..." Marlene sighs, "Well then, we probably just going to post our drawings and stuffs…let's get back to work Denzel!"
"Okie Dokie!" Marlene swallowed the last bite of her pancake and rush to her 'work station' again, followed by Denzel.
"So what's this scrapbook thingy is all about?" He asked Tifa. "Scrapbook is some kind of way to preserve memories, Cloud. Kinda like family album, but more than just pictorials. Usually people attached some things that are really precious to their memories, like written notes, piece of cloth, love letters, even hair and buttons from a newborn baby clothes…stuffs like that..." Tifa went to the kitchen sink with dirty plates in hand. Cloud just sat there, watching the kids laugh and bickering about whose drawing should be on the first page. 'Preserving memories…'he thought. Cloud had lost so many things before…his home, his friends, his one and only family member...even his own memory about the Nibelheim incident was someone else's, and nothing was left to be preserved. The sudden clanking noise of plates sent his mind to reality and he blushed slightly when he saw Tifa was watching him from the kitchen sink. "Are you okay Cloud?" She asked. "I'm fine…I think I'm going to take a morning run, would you like to join me?"
Tifa shrugged. "I don't think I can. Still got home chores to do, I also need to go grocery shopping, our fridge is empty…" Cloud stood up and walked over to Tifa "Let me do the groceries, just hand me the shopping list." She took a piece of paper from her skirt pocket and handed the list to Cloud. "Don't be late for lunch. It's Sunday, and you promise to spend every bits of holiday hours with us."
Cloud nodded, and gave Tifa a slight embrace before he went upstairs. He opened the door to his room, and headed to the small cupboard in front of his bed. He started to search for his training shoes inside the cupboard, at the same time he noticed a very dusty shoe box underneath the pile of old magazines, ragged toys and other junks. Curious, he took the box out of the stack and blew the dust away. Slightly coughing, he opened the box to see what was inside, and he suddenly stoned.
Inside the box, was a picture of Zack, Tifa, and Sephiroth, standing in front of the Nibelheim Mansion. Cloud's eyes darted to the image of Zack. He looked as easy as he was always been, and then Tifa, she looked really cute with her cowboy outfit, smiling ever so slightly to the camera, and Sephiroth….still the sane Sephiroth that he once idolized, standing upright looked like he's ready to challenge everyone in sight. Cloud turned the picture around, and found a scribble in the back, 'To: Cloud' There was a big smiley figure drawn in the middle of the blank white space, with a 'Cheers!' written underneath. 'From: Your best buddy, Zack'.
Cloud was startled…he didn't even remember how he got this picture. Did Zack manage to give him this before they were caught by Hojo? Or probably Zack carried this photo inside of his pocket, and somehow managed to slip it inside Cloud's clothes while he was in a state of coma? Tifa once said that she had a copy of her photo together with Sephiroth, but then it was burnt to crisp during the Nibelheim Incident. He sat down on the carpet, still staring close at the picture not aware of the footsteps outside his bedroom door.
Tifa knocked the door softly, "Cloud? Are you ready to go? I would like to add more stuff to the shopping list if you don't mind…" Her voice muffled behind the door. She heard no answer. Tifa slowly opened the door, and walked silently toward the hunched figure in front of the cupboard. She glanced at the picture in Cloud's hand, and slightly gasped."Oh….wow….That was a very long time ago….How did you-"
"What date is it today, Tifa?" burst Cloud. "Why, it's May 25 of course…"Tifa said, a little confused. Suddenly, cloud stood and rushed himself out of the room "I'll be back before lunch, I promise." He gave Tifa a little peck on the cheek and proceeded to go downstairs. He passed the bar tables and chairs and out of seventh heaven onto his Fenrir. He drove it to the nearest market, bought everything that listed on the paper and a pack of birthday candles. 'Damn, how can I ever forget something this important…' he inwardly cursed himself. Cloud took the Fenrir to the plains outside Midgar, straight to the place where Buster sword remain untouched.
Cloud stopped the bike right beside Zack's buster sword. He opened one of the shopping bag, and took out a small cupcake. Then he lighted a fire to one of the small birthday candle and placed it on top of the cupcake.
"Zack……."
"I don't know if you can hear me now, or see me standing here………But I truly wish that you were here….right now…."
Cloud held the cupcake with his two hands, he lifted his blue eyes to the sky, as if looking for an answer from above. Slowly he said "Happy Birthday, Zack…..I want you to make a wish, and you may blow the candle….." The sunny sky above him suddenly covered with puffy light grey clouds, darkening the plains as the clouds poured trickles of water. He held the cupcake higher, closed his eyes and felt the soft water dropped to his face. The light raindrops fell on top of the candle, shut it off, leaving a trail of soft smoke. As if on cue, the rain stopped, and the puffy clouds faded revealing the blue skies.
Cloud opened his eyes, and smiled. "You can hear me….."
Tifa was busy preparing lunch in the kitchen when she heard the Fenrir roared outside The Seventh heaven. She smiled to herself when she saw Marlene and Denzel jumped and shriek in unison "Cloud! You're home" Marlene ran to the front door and she was greeted with a hug. "Cloud, our scrapbook is done, would you like to see it?"Denzel said enthusiastically, dragging cloud's arm to the stairs. "Whoa...slow down Denzel…"Cloud laughed and put the groceries on the Bar table. Marlene was at his back, pushing him forward.
Upstairs at the kids' room, he saw a magnificently colorful piece of artwork, which the kids called a scrapbook, placed open in front of the drawer. He turned the pages eagerly and looked at every photograph, and pieces of drawings, pictures, and scribbles, scattered uneven, but in a very unique, beautiful way. And he pointed at a wide blank page in the middle of the book "Why did you leave this part blank?"
"Can't you see the letters on top? It says 'Cloud Strife's Moments and Memories', we provide this whole page just for you cloud, even if you don't have anything to post for now."Marlene said with a big smile on her face. "Oh..I DO have something to post.."Cloud rushed to his room and took the photograph that he left there earlier this morning. He slipped the picture to the slot in the middle of the blank page, and wrote a name underneath every person there, Zack, Tifa, and Sephiroth, and a birthday date scribbled underneath Zack's name."So today is Zack's birthday!" exclaimed Marlene. "Good thing we have this Scrapbook, we can post everyone's birthday here as a reminder…umm…by the way, who is Zack?" she asked. "Zack was someone precious to my past" He stood there, Marlene and Denzel by his side. "You see Cloud, I'm sure there will be plenty of memories of us to fill these pages…in the future…"
Cloud smiled a genuine smile. He had found another way to preserve his precious memories….now, with his family.