Disclaimer: I do not now or before and most likely not in the future, own Final Fantasy, Square Enix or any of the characters.

A/N: This is a crossover of FFVIII and FFVII and it starts out in the FFVIII world. I don't know about how or why I started writing this, but it just came to me the other day and so I had to get it out of my brain. Please let me know what you think, whether I should continue this story.

Reviews, critiques, and flames are welcome. I absolutely love all reviews about the story as it gives me motivation, I utilize good constructive criticism to help my writing and I feed the flames to the fires of my imagination!

Thanks to my wonderful beta SubZeroChimera!

"Heed the still small voice that so seldom leads us wrong, and never into folly." -Marquise du Deffand

Binary Fusion

Chapter 1
~Worst Case Scenario~

Squall's breath stuck in his throat as he lowered his office phone's handset back to the cradle; his heart raced as quickly as his thoughts did. Under his breath he muttered his distaste of the new situation that presented itself, "How could this happen?"

Since the defeat of Ultimecia ten years ago, they all had gone their separate ways, but still maintained contact with each other, getting together once a year for small reunions. It was during those infrequent meetings that Squall began to welcome the friendly physical contact that his comrades-in-arms so eagerly showered him with.

Irvine, with his boisterous personality and fun-loving jabs at Squall's arms and ribs, told his terrible jokes and made the inappropriate innuendos that he was well-known for. It was in those moments, that the SeeD Commander's sore bones began to miss the prods, days after they went back to their daily lives. Squall's muscle memory, the tender flesh of his torso jerking away from being met by the cowboy's boney elbows, told the Commander that he missed his friend more than he would ever let the sniper know. For the last couple of years now, the marksman now enjoyed his position at the Galbadian Garden as the sniper instructor.

Rising from his desk he held his hands, suddenly sweaty, palms down on the cool wood, Squall swallowed a hard lump of uncertainty. Closing his eyes tightly, he squeezed down the threatening emotional outburst.

Quistis, her over-protective mothering, was always received as annoying by him. Always keeping her at arm's length, he fought her every time she tried to fawn on him as though he was her little brother. She was always asking if he was eating well, keeping up with his exercises, or getting enough sleep. As always, he would roll his eyes with a sigh and answer her inquiries with utter disinterest. Squall could see her inner fight to keep from smacking him upside his head in frustration, but being the one always in control of her emotions, she refrained. For that, he was glad, he wouldn't welcome the headache it would have caused. Quistis's status of the mayor of Dollet was hard-earned, and she made it possible to create the special programs that the people needed to rebuild after the war.

Circling the desk, Squall's toe met with the foot of the large wooden antique. Catching himself, he straightened and adjusted his SeeD uniform, crooking his neck to fix the collar, he exaggerated his movements in disgruntlement, covering his rising feelings of the unknown.

Selphie's ability to bring out the best in anyone, her nature of selflessness had always held her a special place in Squall's heart, just like a little sister. Her eyes eternally held innocence, joyful and playful, so it came as no surprise when she settled down and married a fellow SeeD from Trabia, Evan. Together, they welcomed two little girls, whose inner lights were as bright as their mother's internally blazing sunshine. She was happy to be a mother and help run the newly rebuilt Trabia Garden's committee of festivals and extra-curricular activities.

The SeeD Commander's long strides took him swiftly down the hall and into the elevator. Pushing the button to the ground floor, Squall leaned against the side and listened to the whirr of the cables running through the wheels that smoothly moved the car down. Again, closing his eyes, he thought of his first real friend here in Balamb Garden.

Zell, as most people described him as the hot-head, had always blatantly kept himself in the forefront of Squall's life as the Commander. Zell was the second-in-command here at Balamb Garden, but lived in town with his wife of almost three years, Elizabeth the police commissioner's daughter. With a baby on the way, Zell's energetic disposition promised an equally energetic little boy due next month. Zell always had a way with Squall, keeping him on his toes. If there was one thing that Squall didn't worry about around Zell, was that the martial artist always had his back, never did he wonder if anyone would sneak up on him in battle. Whatever discipline or rule that the Commander had to enforce, he knew that when it came down to it, Zell didn't question his orders, didn't refuse an assignment and didn't allow anyone to challenge Squall's authority.

That night, they were having their annual reunion, and Squall was hosting the weekend this year, here at Balamb Garden, but now, things had changed. Pushing his way through the infirmary doors, his thoughts went to his own wife.

Rinoa and her fierce determination always led to him making better decisions in his personal life. The way her eyes sparkled with fascination at his inability to make the connection of another's own personality quirks. For years, she was patient, for years she stayed by his side; through everything that happened between them, she was his constant, until he couldn't give her what she wanted, what she longed for more than anything anymore, children. Everyone else was able to move on, make a life, but something happened to Squall, before the final battle with Ultimecia, and after. Something in his heart tore; broke open at the thought of the fleeting concept of life and what it meant to be a family.

Despite his inability to want to have children, he committed himself fully to her and they were in the process of moving on, to the next part of their lives. She was visiting her father in Galbadia and should be on her way back.

Doctor Kadowaki stood with files in her hands, visibly shaken.

Standing in front of the doctor, they both were silent for several moments. Neither one wanted to speak first, but Squall decided to break the silence first, "Where-?"

In a quiet voice, she urged her tone to stay steady, "-Squall."

Squall's steal grey eyes narrowed and he lowly asked, "Where are they?"

Stepping aside, the doctor silently nodded in the direction of the back room. His footsteps echoed in the short hallway and bounced around off the walls and back to his ears, but he didn't hear anything but the blood flashing past his ear drums and the inner turmoil of his mind screaming at him. A simple fabric curtain separated him from his friends:

It was clear that Zell had been ambushed, the bruises littered his face as trickles of blood had dried at the corners of his mouth and clotted around his nose. Eyes swollen shut, the knuckles on his hands were broken, fleshy pulp; the beating he received included them smashing his hands and breaking his ankles. The voice behind him stated what was obvious, "He has a fractured skull, broken jaw, eleven broken ribs, his left arm is broken, both knees are dislocated, all the bones in his hands and feet are shattered; manner of death, blunt force trauma."

He didn't allow Doctor Kadowaki's words to sink in before his eyes traveled over to Selphie. Her slightly bloated body had a purplish hue from the poison that had been administered. Her jaw was rigid making her lips purse as if she was blowing a kiss, her eyes hung half-open and stared blankly at the opposite wall where Quistis lay. Dark ligature marks on the former instructor's neck showed a struggle as she had been hung. In one of the bright red scratch marks above the ligature marks, one of her nails had ripped from her nail bed, lodging it into the soft pale skin of her neck.

Next to Quistis, lay Irvine. At first glance, it wasn't clear what killed him, then the bright crimson trickled, still fresh. The gunshot wound was above his temple, within his hairline and the exit wound was on the other side of his head; thankfully, Squall was unable to see that part very well.

In a tone that he pulled from his experience as a Commander, he firmly asked the attending SeeD, "Where are Evan and Selphie's girls? Where is Elizabeth?" A singular thought raced through his mind, "Where is Rinoa?!"

"Unknown Sir."

Snapping his eyes to the young SeeD, he growled, "What do you mean, unknown? They always travel with their families."

"There was no one else found near, or with the bodies sir."

Hanging his head, Squall fought the overwhelming urge to strike out, to hit the body of his second-in-command for getting killed. Swallowing down a swelling of bile in his throat, he bit back his seething remark, and said as calmly as he could, "Find them."

"Commander Squall, you have an urgent phone call on line 3!"

The screeching of the microphone on the loud-speaker hanging up sent Squall into a tailspin. Rushing to the phone at the doctor's desk, he picked up the receiver and spit out, "This is Commander Squall Leonheart of Balamb Garden."

"Hello Squall."

Squall could see her in his mind, see the way her lips moved as they gently swished across her white and perfect teeth as she spoke the sweet sounding words that he took as the venom that was intended. This was not the Rinoa that he fell in love with, the woman that he spent the better part of his life with, it was just a shell now and her voice funneled through his wife. Gritting his teeth, he inhaled and signaled for a pen to write with.

Getting a writing utensil shoved in his hand, he pulled a full medical file folder across the desk and feverishly scribbled to a SeeD cadet that stood near the entrance; Run a trace. Taking off down through the door with his orders, the SeeD cadet left for the security office right next door.

Squall exhaled angrily, "Ultimecia."

"You remember? I'm flattered."

The sound of a girlish giggle sent a rage of emotion surge through Squall. His fist reached up and smashed into the desk top, with a crack, the sound of bone breaking brought the doctor's attention but he waved her off, "What have you done? Why?"

"Now that is a silly question, I think you know the answer. They got what they had coming to them."

Through his teeth he ground out, "What do you want?"

"I think the answer is more easily answered with what I don't want."

"Are you going to answer or am I going to have to ask you as you are dying?"

"World Peace… I hate peace, I hate life, I hate the thought of you existing. If you think you can stop me now, while I inhabit the one you… love, then come to me. I will show you what it means to suffer."

The click of the receiver singled to Squall that the caller hung up. Paling face, he lowered the handset back to the cradle, as his eyes met those of the doctor. A crash through the infirmary door didn't faze the devastated Commander.

The newcomer muttered into his phone, "Okay, got it," Quickly closing his phone, Seifer asked frantically, "Squall! What the fuck happened?"

Turning to his security officer, Squall slowly raised his eyes to the blue-green eyes, "We have a problem Seifer." Leaning over to block his view of the back of the medical bay, Squall asked firmly, "Did you get the trace?"

Blinking, Seifer's eyes lowered to the doctor wrapping Squall's hand carefully in a bandage and immobilizer, "Uh," Clearing his throat, he blinked again, "Uh, yeah, we got it."

Seeing his security officer distractedly trying to see down the hall and noticing the feet of their friends, Squall raised his voice, "Seifer! Where was the call made from?"

"Uh, it was in the area around the orphanage." With age, came a sense of calm in Edea's former knight. It wasn't very often that he got worked up anymore, but he seemed extremely agitated.

"I guess you've heard?" Squall asked solemnly. Visibly swallowing, Seifer just nodded minutely. Squall placed his other hand on his companion's shoulder and whispered, "Now is not the time to lose it, remember your training, okay." Seifer blinked and his face shifted from one of grief and sadness to all business, "Okay, gather up all the upper classmen to take over classes and assemble the licensed SeeD's in the quad. I'll be there as soon as I can."

Without a word, Seifer nodded and left. Having found a place here in Garden, the former enemy of SeeD now did his job better than anyone else could. When Squall put him in charge of Garden security, many balked, but Squall wanted to hold out hope that the man was redeemable and it seems that the Commander was right after all.

Knowing that Squall would refuse an x-ray, the doctor finished with his hand and wrist and searched the cabinet for a cure. The Commander had stopped carrying spells for the simple reason that he had Rinoa, the sorceress had magic flowing in her veins. It wasn't necessary for him to have any unless he was taking trainees out on a training mission, or going out on a mission himself.

This was a fear they all hoped wouldn't happen, they had held on to the hope that Rinoa was strong enough to fight Ultimecia from taking over, but apparently they'd underestimated the evil sorceress from the future.

A/N: Thanks to all of you who read, favorite, subscribed and/or reviewed, I appreciate your time and I dedicate all of this to you. To quote another author, "Getting reviews makes me feel all warm and squishy."

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