Post-Advent Children, Cloud POV, absolutely pointless, and a prime example of what happens when TheDonutMistress thinks too much.

I don't own any of the Final Fantasy VII characters or locations or anything of the sort. Also, to be honest, I haven't read a lot of Cloud fics, so I hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes with this. (I'm always paranoid that I'm ripping someone off, or something. XD Bear with me, I'm weird.)

Rock, paper, scissors. I was playing it with Marlene. She was so excited to teach it to me, as if I didn't already know. I played dumb and let her think it was news to me. Truth is, I didn't play a lot of games as a kid. But I watched plenty of other kids play games. I knew what people with friends liked to do to pass the time, even if all my knowledge came from observation rather than experience.

"Okay!" Marlene began, excitedly. "You go like this!" She flattened one hand, palm facing up, then made a fist with the other.

I nodded, to assure her I understood.

"Then you count to three." She proceeded to put her fist to her open hand in time, "One, two, three."

I nodded again.

"Then, on three, you can be like a rock." Marlene demonstrated 'rock.'

A rock. Yeah. I really was a like rock, back then. Before Meteor. Another rock. How ironic. Everyone treated me like a rock, that's for sure. Even when she was coddling the living shit out of me, Tifa leaned on me, depended on me, and trusted that I was strong enough to see us all through the mess we'd gotten ourselves into. I didn't move, think, feel. I was still and dark and heavy. I had even fallen victim to erosion, worn down by the past.

"Or...!" Marlene shouted, a little urgently, as if she sensed she was losing me. "Or you can be like paper," she explained, showing me 'paper.'

"Okay," I said, deadpan.

"Paper," Marlene repeated, "paper covers rock. So, paper wins. Kind of."

But paper is weak; flimsy. You can see through it in the light. In the right light... You could see right through me if you just knew where to look. There was only one person who did. But even then, I'd float away with the tiniest breeze, and when I finally stopped to rest, people left their mark all over me. I couldn't get it off. No matter what I did, it was still there. Someone else on me, in me.

"But that's not it!" Marlene chirped. "There's one more."

"Scissors?" I guessed.

"Yup!" Marlene said, happily, and spread her index and middle finger into a 'V.' She made cutting motions, no doubt to add to the intensity of our game. "Scissors cut paper!"

Scissors. Sharp. Daring. Dangerous. They destroy. They make you bleed; they make you hurt. They cut the paper. The paper that covers the rock. I'm cold and I'm quick. I tear my way through things. Rip everything wide open and leave pieces of me everywhere. Torn in half. I guess I brought it on myself.

"But the rock dulls the scissors, too!"

Yeah. The rock dulls them, because it doesn't hurt, it can't feel. And so the scissors lose their strength; they have no power anymore and in the end all you're left with is a rock.

I don't know how many rounds of this stupid game I've been through; I zoned out for a while there. Rocks don't have much of a concept of time, after all.

Marlene pouts. "Come on, Cloud. You keep doing rock!" She scowls at my tightly closed hand to further her point.

Her childlike frustration, the simplicity of it all makes me smile. I open my hand and stand up. I hear Marlene let out a little squeak. She is just a kid, after all; I can't expect her to be able to make sense of me. I can't even do that most of the time. But she's a smart one, so it doesn't take her long to catch on. She smiles and springs up, putting her little hand in mine.

Rock.

Paper.

Scissors.

I'm a rock.

I'm paper.

I'm scissors.

I'm Cloud.

...I'm done. It's bedtime, and now I have "I am a Rock" stuck in my head. I am a rock, I am an iiiiiieeeeeeeeiiiiiiisland. Oh yeah. Review and stuff. :)