Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII! The only things I own in this story are the plot and my OC, Seia. That is all.

"I lie awake and try so hard not to think of you

but who can decide what they dream?

And dream I do...

I believe in you

I'll give up everything just to find you

I have to be with you to live, to breathe

You're taking over me

Have you forgotten all I know

an all we had?
You saw me mourning my love for you

and touched my hand

I knew you loved me then."

-Evanescence, Taking Over Me

The Ghost-Girl and the Dream Child

By: Sparxyu

The new girl was strange.

No one knew where she had come from. As she made her way off of the sidewalk and onto th campus, everyone stopped what they were doing, whether it was sitting on the steps, talking to friends or merely trying to get to class on time.

In her arms, the new girl held what a typical high school student might: history books and a math book, but strangest of all she carried a small stuffed skeleton toy. Circles of jet-black kohl rimmed her violet eyes and her thin legs were covered by a pair of gray cargo pants along with a dark, burgundy skirt that was slit in the middle. Her hair was a mess of a striking shade of blinding silver-white, with red and black streaks that were caught back in a loose braid. A shark-shaped mood charm dangled from around her neck. Her name was Seia.

Time went by quickly as she adjusted to the new atmosphere. Day after day in the tennis courts, she could be seen, spinning with her head thrown back and her back arched as she danced. Her peers thought that the way she danced was the strangest thing they had ever seen. The way she spun was ghost-like and thus, in this way, she earned her nickname; they called her "Phantom."

By most, Seia was hated and even feared because she was non-conformist. As calm and as fluid as the moon. The small amount of friends she had soon saw that she trusted no one and let her be. Due to her solitary nature, she slept often; feeling that in her dreams was the one place where she was safe. It was there, in her dreams, that she met him.

He was short with silver strands of hair and black leather clothing that covered him from shoulder to foot. But most of all, Seia was struck by his eyes. They were a shade of dark cyan, ringed around the pupils with bright acid green. Within them, insane madness and twisted humor shone, but there was also something about those eyes that told Seia that this man felt incomplete and lost.

Brushing her fingers against his cheek, she whispered, "What's your name?"

He never answered her question. He only said, "You're here, Seia Phantom. It's good to see you again."

"'Phantom?'" the repeated question radiated confusion. "How do you know my name?"

"We'll see each other again," he said quietly. "I can see you don't remember yet." Then he took her into his arms and disappeared beneath her arms.

Night after night these dreams continued and every night it occurred, Seia saw the mysterious silver-haired man in her dreams. Finally, when she felt that she would never remember who she was, she asked him for his help.

He took her to a cliff and they stood there, overlooking the remnants of what had once been a great city. "Do you remember, Seia Phantom?" As he placed the tips of his fingers to her forehead, images flashed through her mind as her body went limp and fell to his waiting arms.

Seia crouched on the brink of the cliff, her hands touching its rough surface. At her waist, a scabbard held a thin sword and a holster at her calf held a sleek black pistol, her weapon of choice.

Two men she knew, with names she couldn't recall flanked her on either side. One was tall and burly with short, spiky silver hair while the other was cat-like and as thin as a willow branch with long silver tresses that trailed down his back. Both were clad in black leather and shared the same turquoise eyes as the mysterious young man in Seia's dreams. He stood before her, challenging her with an insanely gleeful look in his eyes.

The tall, burly one addressed his comrades. "Let's go. They're off their guard now."

"C'mon, Phantom," the cat-like young man with longer hair added.

The three of them jumped from the cliff, while the mysterious one stayed. The three of them landed on their feet, each in a crouching position that suggested menacing intentions. Seia's ears pricked up and she motioned to the men to be quiet. She stepped out from their hiding place and plunged the blade of her sword into the abdomen of a black-haired man who grasped her shoulders threateningly. Someone knocked her in the head with something made of metal and then everything went black as she sank into unconsciousness.

Seia's eyes opened as his fingers left her brow. She stumbled as she tried to rise to stand with him, but she fell. He extended a hand and helped her to her feet, examining the questioning look in her eyes.

"W-what was that?" she managed to stammer out.

"Images from your past," he replied, letting go of her hands. When she nearly fell to her knees, he grabbed her wrists to steady her, lowering her to a sitting position. "I was trying to... refresh your memory."

She stared at him blankly. "About my past?"

He gave her a look that was both serious and blank at the same time, sitting beside her. "Don't you remember anything?"

"I-I can't. It's just... images."

"Perhaps I can help." He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked seriously into her eyes. "Seia, do you remember my name?"

Seia shook her head. "Please tell me."

"If you can't remember my name in the next two times we meet, then I'll never be able to see you again."

"I'll try. I promise."

"Try your hardest. You must never forget who you are." He tapped the shark charm that hung around her neck. "That could also help to give you a clue. Good-bye."

Seia woke again in her world with a sigh. Her favorite book, a story about three brothers, sat in her nightstand, but she paid no attention to it until she decided to slip it into her bag.

Through all of her classes, she sat in a daze, wondering, "Who am I?" She brushed away a stray strand of silvery-white hair that hung in her face and stared out the windows at clouds.

When she arrived at her home, she popped an Evanescence CD into her stereo and listened as the lyrics to "All That I'm Living For" filled her ears. With a sigh, she pulled the book from her purse and began to read, searching for clues to her past among the printed words within the pages. There was nothing there that was even seemingly significant.

"I'll never be able to see him again," she whispered. Tears flowed and the charm changed by the heat of her hand to a shade of cyan with acid green around the edges. "Huh? It's just like his eyes! I'm not gonna give up!" She clenched her fist around the charm and let go of it, then turned back to the book, intent on finding clues to her past.

For the next two days, she searched for clues to her past. At school, she became even more distant than she already was among her peers, who she refused to speak to.

Seia fell asleep on the night of their last meeting in her own bed and when she opened her eyes, he stood above her. He reached to her, and she took his hand, realizing that she had been laing against the tiles of the bright white floor. She smiled at him.

He returned the grin. "Do you remember, Seia Phantom?"

"No," she replied softly. "But I remember your name." She leaned to his ear and whispered it so softly that it almost went unheard. "Did I get it right?"

"Yes, you did." A slow smile crept across his lips, but a sad look crossed his face. "But you still remember nothing of your past?"

"No, I'm afraid not."

"That's really too bad." Three tears slipped down his cheek.

Seia was startled. Her new friend seemed like he would never let anyone see him cry, especially a girl. "Don't do that," she said, brushing the tears away with her hand. "I'll tell you what. I promise I'll never forget you as long as we live if you will. Do you promise?"

"I never break a promise."

She held up the silver chain, its charm swaying back and forth as it dangled. "I want you to have this."

"But that's your prized possession; I could never take that."

"Not anymore," she replied firmly. "I want you to have it as something to remember me by."

He lowered his head and she hooked the charm there, around his neck. "I have something that want to tell you."

Seia wanted to ask him what it was, but she disappeared and everything in her line of vision went black. Once again, she woke in her own world. Immediately, her fingers searched for the charm. It was gone.

"Where is it?!" she yelped aloud. She glanced at the clock that sat on her desk, only to find that she'd have no time to look for the charm. "Six o'clock! Crap! I'm gonna be late!"

She got ready for school, all but flying out the door. As she headed to her first class, she felt her regret at the loss of her charm. But something that was meant to happen then occurred.

"We have a new student today," the teacher intoned. "He just transferred here from manother school. If you'd stand up and introduce yourself, please."

The student in question shuffled to the front of the class in his baggy, black bondage pants and battered black Doc Martens, his head down. Snagging a stick of bright red chalk, he wrote his name on the chalkboard.

With a devilishly shy grin, he gazed at the students. "Thank you for making me feel welcome. I hope to make plenty of new acquaintances while I'm here." At the teacher's cue to find his seat, he walked toward Seia's desk and sat in the seat beside hers.

"I'm Seia," she whispered timidly, leaning over. She stole a glance at him for the first time. Familiar dark cyan eyes rimmed around the pupils with acid green stared from behind the haphazard strands of silver that partially hid his face.

A smile touched his rosebud-colored lips as his eyes met her violet ones. "Hi," he murmured shyly. His skeletal-hand printed, leather glove-clad hands fiddled with something that hung around his neck underneath his long-sleeved black thermal. "I want to show you something."

A single mood charm in the shape of a shark dangled from his fingers from a silver chain. "I don't know where I got it, but somehow I can tell I'm with you for good."

Fin.