I wanna pet Fenrir too. But I know to never touch another mans bike or woman...

` It must have been several months after opening the bar. Tifa got a phone call from Cloud, who was out securing provisions.
` He had a request. "Would it be okay to print up a lifetime voucher to eat and drink for free t Seventh Heaven? Just one." Tifa agreed, never asking for a reason. She knew Cloud must have wanted something desperately if he was offering to trade something that odd.
` Night fell, and Cloud came home on a bike unlike any she'd ever seen. After that, whenever he got even a little time between work at the bar, he would fix it up. He would bring along engineers he met who-knows-where and talk to them about souping it up. There seemed to be any number of them who were helping Cloud complete the bike. Marlene and her neighborhood friends would watch on, transfixed. The sight reassured Tifa. We, as a family, are becoming part of this world.
` Cloud frequently left Midgar to get provisions. His main destination was Kalm. He would rent a bike or truck, and from the look of it, the occasional chocobo as well. But now he had his own bike. On occasion he would take longer trips, and more and more often he would come home with rare foods he'd obtained.
` One night, someone called Seventh Heaven looking for Cloud. After talking with the man a little and hanging up, Cloud immediately announced he was going out.
` "Where are you going?"
` "How do I tell you this..."
` Cloud explained. On the way home from securing provisions, he was often asked to make deliveries to Midgar. The man on the phone was from a household that always shared vegetables with him, and now he was claiming he desperately needed something delivered tonight. Cloud gazed at Tifa with the expression of a child whose worst secret had just been let out of the bag.
` "Why are you making that face?"
` "I'm just...sorry I kept it from you."
` "Kept what?"
` "I know I was selfish."
` Tifa burst into laughter. Cloud explained how he'd accepted a small payment for making the deliveries, and it was eating at him. Apparently, he poured all the money into tuning up his bike. He's like a child, Tifa thought. While it made her sad that Cloud could see another world she knew nothing about, the idea his world was expanding at all was a welcome one. Yes... Maybe this is kind of what a mother feels like. Once she saw Cloud off, Tifa was alone with the new emotions growing inside her, and was happy.

from FINAL FANTASY VII ADVENT CHILDREN - THE NOVEL
D'AWWWWWWW! Do wish these comments supported indents, though (or that I knew how).

T5J8F8 said:
from FINAL FANTASY VII ADVENT CHILDREN - THE NOVEL
D'AWWWWWWW! Do wish these comments supported indents, though (or that I knew how).

D'awwwwwwwwww!! Damnit that's fucking adorable....do you know where I can find the rest of this?

wigglepuss said:
do you know where I can find the rest of this?

It was released in English (barring some italics flubs) in the FFVIIAC Limited Edition Collector's Set, which also included the script's booklet, some postcards, the LAST ORDER featurette (subtitled only, unfortunately), and, IIRC, better movie subtitles.

The booklets contents, at least two of the three stories, were taken from the On the Way to a Smile novellas released in Japan. Since the movie was first released here with nothing in the way of those stories, they were, of course, extensively translated and hosted on the 'net. I haven't compared the two translations, but allegedly they're pretty close to each other, though I know for sure that I like how well the official translation is written.

Keep in mind, though, that the Maiden story isn't considered canon.

That's awesome, thank you...but why isn't the Maiden story considered canon?

I don't remember exactly why, if I ever truly knew. You could poke around for a reason. IIRC, it wasn't written by Nomura, but was included in one of the ULTIMANIA guides; whether Nomura gave the OK for it, I'unno. Then again, I wanna say LAST ORDER's not rightly canon [anymore], either (it definitely conflicts with VII and CC).

T5J8F8 said:
I don't remember exactly why, if I ever truly knew. You could poke around for a reason. IIRC, it wasn't written by Nomura, but was included in one of the ULTIMANIA guides; whether Nomura gave the OK for it, I'unno. Then again, I wanna say LAST ORDER's not rightly canon [anymore], either (it definitely conflicts with VII and CC).

Well LAST ORDER doesn't exist in my eyes, they were several things wrong with it, most glaring was Sephiroth leaping into the lifestream, instead of Cloud flinging his ass in it. They at least kept that in CC. But I nearly threw something at the tv screen when I saw that in LO.

I for the life of me can't understand how you can screw up your OWN game's story...anyhoo, thanks brah!

wigglepuss said:
I for the life of me can't understand how you can screw up your OWN game's story...anyhoo, thanks brah!

Dunno if there was official word on it, but one fan theory is that LAST ORDER is sort of an unreliable narrator: either Tseng's report of the incident and/or how the incident was reported/witnessed by those who could give it. Thus, inaccuracies.

Ya Cloud, even you'd have to smile.

> w >

Awesome art.

:D