DISCLAIMER: I do not own, nor did I create any of the characters in the original FF7 universe. However, Squaresoft Inc. does, and all credit goes to them for all of the unoriginal characters, locations, and organizations in this story.

Chapter 1: Hit The Ground Running

Cloud sat atop the water tower in Nibelheim with a guitar in his lap scribbling furiously into a spiral notebook with a thoroughly gnawed pen. It had been almost a year since the events in which he and his companions had rescued the planet from Sephiroth's devious plan to destroy it. It seemed almost impossible that in a little less than a year everyone was able to return back to their normal lives, going back to the regular daily routine and seemingly forget all about the epic adventure that had been recalled in several books, including the Midgar Times bestseller Final Fantasy VII (Cloud still couldn't figure out how the hell the author came up with that title). Although he was sure the public was eternally grateful for the apocalyptic deaths he had spared them all from, Cloud and the rest of the gang's 15 minutes of fame were long over, no longer did people wave at him and thank him for what he had done, the time had passed for that, and the truth was, Cloud secretly missed it.

Cloud remained in contact on a weekly basis with the rest of AVALANCHE, who all had the luxury of continuing on with the lives they had established in the old, corrupted days when Shinra ruled over the continents. because Cloud's old life thrived on extinguishing that corruption, he did not have that ability, and now that it was gone he was left in the wake of the worlds now peaceful progression to start a new life from somewhere near scratch. Of course, he still managed to get by, He moved all of his belongings to his mothers house, which was now his, as it was stated in her will, and currently resided there. Immediately after AVALACHE disbanded Cloud had spent many of his days venturing the planet, which he had traveled across several times. It was on one of those days that his new ambition sparked, He wanted to start a band.

In one of the newly formed towns, Kentwing, which is located on the island just north of the one Mideel rests on, An elderly musician by the name of Sean Landburgh opened a shop where he crafts instruments. At the first chance he got, Cloud eagerly made the journey to Kentwing and had a custom guitar crafted for him by the wise old man. He also received lessons for about six months from Sean on the house because of something the wise man saw in Cloud, who assumed it may have been his determination. None of Clouds friends knew about this, with the exception of Tifa, since she lived right down the street from him and was probably his closest friend out of all of them, since Cloud and her visited each other on pretty much a daily basis.

Cloud was going to announce his plan and possibly show off to his friends the progress he had made in composing music at the upcoming anniversary of AVALANCHE'S thwarting of Sephiroth and his twisted quest., which was taking place at Tifa's new bar, the respectively named Tifa's 7th Heaven (in memory of her original establishment that was lost in the destruction of Sector 7), in four days. But there was one problem, he was having a writer's block, so now Cloud was looking toward the anniversary celebration as an opportunity for inspiration, guidance, and possible to recruit musicians for his currently nameless band, which still needed a bassist, drummer, and if there was an offer, a rhythm guitarist.

Cloud scratched out another failed attempt at writing a catchy riff, slung his guitar over his shoulder, and climbed down to the town square where he began the short stroll to his front door. That was when he heard a crash, and whipped around just in time to see a very muscular figure land on the cobblestone street amongst the shattered remains of the front window of Tifa's 7th Heaven. Sure enough Tifa hopped through the remains of the busted window just in time to see the man rise, her fist met the drunken attackers face with an incredible amount of force, causing him to stagger back. He regained his balance and was about to charge at Tifa when he was tapped on the shoulder, the shitfaced fighter turned around and stared, perplexed, at a smirking Cloud for a millisecond, but in that millisecond Cloud wound up as hard as he could and let lose a menacing right hook, which rendered the barfly unconscious.

"You know, you didn't have to hit him that hard…." Tifa began
"I was just a little frustrated ." Cloud replied with his excuse, still staring at the man, who now had blood trickling out of his mouth.

"So which side do you want?" asked Tifa, this was normal business for her, every now and then a customer would loose their temper easily after drinking too much and she would be the one in charge of disposing of them.

" I'll take him by myself this time Tiifa" and with that, Cloud slowly hoisted the stranger up and slung him over his shoulder. He strolled down the alleyway to the left of the bar and tossed the man onto a pile of trash bags. He walked back out into the street casually, dusting his hands off, it was just one of the many times he had made that trip. He found Tifa staring at the gaping hole in the window with a look of concern on her face.

"So, what are we going to do about that?" Asked cloud, now observing the hole alongside his friend.

"I supposed we could get Midgar Maintenance to repair it before the party…" said Tifa optimistically "But what we have to do now is clean up this mess!" and with that she began gathering up the larger pieces of glass while Cloud went inside to get the push broom.

"Wow, I haven't done this since… two Thursdays ago I think." Cloud announced, his voice laced with sarcastic nostalgia.

Tifa giggled and then replied "Well, I think this means its time for me regulate my customers' drink limits a little more so they don't get pissed off at last call. You know, this never happened when I had my bar in the slums." Tifa stated thoughtfully.

"That's most likely because this is the only way you can get to Rocket Town on foot, and with that now becoming a more industrialized place, due Cid and Shera finally mustering up enough money to start building the new rocket. A lot of people are going to be coming through here And even the bad guys get thirsty every once and a while." Tifa nodded in agreement, and they went back to cleaning up the remaining glass shards. The two finally finished cleaning up in the wee hours of the morning and sat down on the window sill of Tifa's 7th Heaven. Cloud yawned with exhaustion while he stood up and slung his guitar over his shoulder again, he had taken it off before knocking out the drunk, and picked up his red spiral notebook. "Well, I think I should head in for the night." he said drowsily

Tifa jumped up "Oh wait! I have something to show you! Just hold on a sec!" Cloud was about to protest and ask her to wait until tomorrow, but she was inside before his brain could register the thought.

"Aw, screw it…" he muttered, and sat down again.

Tifa came back outside with a what appeared to be a guitar case, but the neck was a little longer, even with tiredness overcoming him Cloud recognized what she had instantly,

"A bass!" he exclaimed "when did you get it!"

"I went to pick it up this morning, but you were visiting Cid when I got back so I never got to show you"

"Open the case! I wanna see it!" Cloud was so excited, now all he needed was a drummer for him to get started on the long path to his dream. Tifa giggled at Cloud's enthusiasm and opened the case. The bass had a glittery blue body with a white center, It had a nicely sanded neck with baby blue fret markers, and the headstock was carved and painted to look like a breaking wave.

"NICE!" exclaimed Cloud, a second wind of energy had filled his senses, but then faded away as Tifa put the bass away.

"The only thing is I…uh…don't know how to play…." She said, trying to still sound confident.

"Did you talk to Sean about lessons?" Cloud asked eagerly.

"Yeah, he says weekly lessons are 60000 gil a month." Tifa answered "I don't know of I can start them just yet, I've already had to replace the front window twice…."

"Hmm…" Cloud muttered as he thought out the problem "I could probably lend you some money, I've got plenty after going monster hunting around Bone Village last week, but before you pay Sean, mention that you are starting a band with me, and he might just give them to you for free. Well, that's a nice bass you have, make sure nothing happens to it! I should head in now, see ya Tifa!" Tifa hugged Cloud goodnight and they went back to their respective houses. Cloud walked at a crawling pace toward his front door, his head now swirling inside with droopiness, as soon as he was inside he propped his guitar up against the wall, locked and bolted the door, tossed his notebook onto the otherwise clear floor, and threw himself onto his bed, where he nodded off almost on impact.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Authors note: Yeah, I hope you liked the first chapter, as I am most likely going to continue the story since I enjoyed writing this very much. What I am aiming for in this is a sequel with a unique plot that ties much of the original story into it logistically. What I don't want to happen is for this story to turn into a big joke. have any comments, questions, or criticism? Leave it for me on the reviews pages. Thanks.