Holy shit, she's writing fic.

Title: The Traveling Companion (1/4?)
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Characters: Cloud, Zack, Kadaj, Jenova and cameos by as much of the cast as I can get in.
Rating: PG-13
Notes: Fairy tale AU. Yeah, you read that right. This thing has been fermenting in my head for ages, and finally, I can go about and do it.
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and its characters aren't mine, it belongs to Square-Enix. The Traveling Companion is also not mine, it belongs to Hans Christian Andersen.


Cloud thought he saw his mother smile at him. The sight was impossible. She was dead. Yet, she still moved closer and beckoned him to do the same. Sure enough, it was her, as vibrant as ever. "Let me take a look at you," she said.

There was movement to his left. Someone was beside him, also moving towards her. Out of the corner of his eye he saw silver and black. Try as he might, Cloud couldn't turn to see the person's face. He could turn to see that he, his mother, and the stranger were in an empty white place. He could turn back towards his mother. When he tired turning towards the stranger, he froze. The silver and black were just beyond him.

"Companion to a prince!" Cloud's mother exclaimed. Her voice had that same tone it took whenever she was very happy about something. "How you've been able to look up in the world!" She started to laugh. Cloud began to smile, in spite of himself. Her laughter had always been infectious.

Thunder clapped, and Cloud woke up. The dream was over.

He walked towards the doors of the church. The storm that had driven him indoors for the night was dying down. Moonlight filtered through the church's windows, making the place that much brighter. As Cloud's eyes adjusted to the change in light, a creak at the front of the church called his attention. An open coffin, ready for burial, was at the altar. Two men were near the coffin, carrying a body, frozen for a moment after being discovered.

Cloud took a deep breath and went down the aisle to the coffin. "The man's dead. There's nothing more you can do to him."

The leaner of the men looked at him. "We can throw him outside, and have him lie in the mud like the beggar he was. The bastard owed us money and how we won't get it back. A little humiliation'll go a long way." He nodded to his partner, and they continued on their way.

Cloud reached for his bag. His inheritance wasn't much, and who knows how long he'd last without it. Part of him cursed his morality, but in the end, it won out. "Wait," he called out. "I've got five hundred gil." He held out his bag. "It's all I've got, and I'll give it to you if you leave the man alone."

"We won't stop you from being stupid." They dropped the body and snatched Cloud's bag. They stayed a moment to watch Cloud drag the body back to the coffin. Amazed that someone could be so naive, they left him. Cloud placed the man back in his coffin, gathered the rest of his things, and left the church.

The affair with the dead man had taken much longer than Cloud realized. The sky was already pink and gold in the east. At least he had an early start. He walked on, his mind on how to make his things last as long as possible, now that his inheritance was gone.

He really needed to be a bit more mercenary. Learning how to fight should be high on the list of priorities, too. Those two men back at the church could've killed him after taking his money, and it had been foolish of him to take that chance. This line of thinking went against a lifetime of his mother's teachings about charity, and it seemed a dishonor to her memory to even consider it. Things were different now, Cloud realized, and that required different ways of seeing the world.

As he mentally debated which of his things he could sell, Cloud reached a crossroad. Standing there was the first person he'd come across since the two men in the church the night before. Strapped at the stranger's back was the largest sword Cloud had ever seen.

The stranger turned to face Cloud and smiled. "Oh, hey." The stranger had clear, purple eyes that lit up along with the smile. "Maybe you could help me with something." He unstrapped his sword and planted it into the ground. "See, the choice is either the forests or the mountains. I'm from the forests, so it'd be easier for me, but I want to see new stuff, so going to the mountains would be interesting. What would you suggest?"

Cloud blinked. "Well, er, I'm from the mountains, so I guess I can't--"

"Oh, you can be my guide! One mountain's the same as another, right?" The stranger reached for his sword, lifted it up with one arm, and strapped it on again. "Uh, I guess I should introduce myself first." He held out a hand. "I'm Zack."

Cloud took the hand and shook. "Cloud."

"Cloud," Zack repeated. "Well, d'you need to get anywhere, Cloud?"

"Not really," Cloud replied, "I guess--"

"So it'll be okay! Let's go!" Zack strode towards the fork headed for the mountains.

Cloud paused for a minute, then ran after Zack to catch up.